Another caller said she was in Dr. Azevedo’s office at 4:30 p.m. on April 1, 1981, waiting for her appointment. While she was waiting, Dr. Azevedo told her that he heard something on the radio that had him upset. He did not mention what it was he heard. The lady changed her appointment and left. Murder is considered a crime of passion. The altercations often trivial to anyone but those involved: quarrels over money or girlfriends. Murder is swift for the victim and can happen to anyone—rich, poor, old, young. It can happen anywhere, day or night and all to often it is one spouse killing another. Meanwhile, detectives from the Carbondale Police Department and the Illinois State Police began questioning family members to determine Marie’s activities before she disappeared. Police interviewed her three oldest children first. Six-year-old Allison Azevedo told the police that she had last seen her mother when she dropped her and her eleven-year-old brother, Andrew, off at school. She told the police her mother was in good spirits and acted like she did on any other morning. The police entered the information into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and started patrolling the last area Marie had been seen.

Murder in the Heartland: Book Two - Harry Spiller - Google Books Murder in the Heartland: Book Two - Harry Spiller - Google Books

The next day the story hit the local newspapers. Immediately the police began to receive calls with information in reference to the homicide. One person said that he and his wife were in need of some dental work and some friends recommended Dr. Azevedo. Their appointment was in January 1980 during the divorce of the dentist and Marie. He told the police that all Dr. Azevedo talked about was the difficult divorce he was going through. He said that Dr. Azevedo was very bitter toward the wife because this type of proceeding was not acceptable in his Indian culture. Another caller told the police she had known Marie since August 1980 and occasionally had lunch with Marie. She said that Dr. Azevedo seemed to upset Marie very much and there appeared to be problems with child abuse on the part of the father. She said Dr. Azevedo came over to the United States before the rest of the family. Later, when Marie and the boy came over from India to join him, his son did not remember him. Dr. Azevedo beat him, trying to get him to remember. Marie told her that when they lived in Chicago, she turned him into the Department of Children and Family Services after he placed the boy in a trash can and said, I don’t want you if your not going to love me.The doctor gave Tammy verbal approval to get surgery but said he would need a few other specialists to sign off before she could go under the knife. Tammy has to meet with a cardiologist and a therapist for a psych evaluation before she can officially get the approval for the surgery. This information was enough to implicate Jim Williams, Sr., as a suspect on Sharon’s death and also gave the sheriff probable cause to get a search warrant for the cesspool behind the home belonging to Williams. The sheriff was right. The body of the missing spouse was found in a cesspool wearing clothing that fit the description given on the day he was reported missing. The evidence was enough to arrest Jim William, Sr., for the double murder of his wife and his girlfriend’s husband. He would be convicted of both murders a year later.

Murder in the Heartland: Book Two (Murder in the Heartland, 2

The police gathered the evidence, dusted for fingerprints and then the body was removed from the vehicle and taken to a local hospital for an autopsy. Soon afterward the car was impounded for further processing by the Illinois State Crime Lab. At the hospital, Ellis’ condition became worse. He was transferred to St. Mary’s Hospital on Nov. 7 in Evansville, Indiana, where he died on Nov. 20. Tammy Slaton gets approval for weight loss surgery in the same episodeShe stops for gas sometimes. She gets gas at the Martin station in Murphysboro and sometimes in Carbondale.