Investigation Discovery’s ‘Does Murder Sleep? No Checking Out’ chronicles some of the perplexing real-life locked room mysteries in Beaumont, Texas, in mid-September 2010. 55-year-old businessman Greg Fleniken used to be discovered murdered within a resort room, and the fixing of the murder gave the look to be something immediately out of an Agatha Christie novel.
How Did Greg Fleniken Die?
Gregory “Greg” Joseph Fleniken used to be born to the late Carroll J. Fleniken and Jane N. Fleniken on December 26, 1954. In his adolescence, he had navigated the huge expanses of the sea as a Chief Engineer on oceanic vessels, dedicating months to maritime existence. However, as middle age beckoned, Greg reworked himself right into a landman—a familiar vocation in South Texas — involving facilitating the utilization of mineral rights on private land for fuel and oil enterprises. He used to be lean with a closely-trimmed white beard and a lifelong outdoorsman’s rugged complexion.
Greg teamed up along with his brother, Michael Fleniken, and established a flourishing enterprise that involved in leasing oil-rich lands. The epicenter in their wealthy undertaking lay within the small town of Beaumont to the east of Houston, Texas. Greg’s weekly regimen comprised a two-hour power from Lafayette, Louisiana, as he steered his pickup truck westward alongside Interstate 10 to the MCM Eleganté Hotel, strategically located close to a cloverleaf junction in Beaumont. On the night time of September 15, 2010, the 55-year-old stayed in Room 348.
According to studies, Greg lounged whilst indulging in a Reese’s Crispy Crunchy bar, sipping root beer, and being engrossed within the film ‘Iron Man 2.’ The following morning, his spouse, Susie Fleniken, grew involved when he didn't call her as usual. Greg’s colleagues went to the hotel when he didn’t arrive at paintings. After repeated unanswered knocks, the resort manager unlocked the door to find the 55-year-old’s dead frame sprawled at the floor. He clutched a spent cigarette between rigid palms, and his skin had assumed a light, bluish tint.
The clinical examiner, Dr. Tommy Brown, performed the postmortem investigation, locating an abrasion on Greg’s left cheek — possibly from the have an effect on with the rug — and a perplexing half-inch laceration on his scrotum. Further examination unveiled interior injuries marked by means of in depth bleeding and damage. The sufferer’s abdominal injuries incorporated cuts and damage to essential organs, reflecting a distressing degree of aggression. Notably, the center had sustained a hollow in the proper atrium, whilst damaged ribs indicated the ferocity of the assault.
Who Killed Greg Fleniken?
The scientific examiner instructed retired Beaumont Police Detective Scott Apple that Greg had suffered inside injuries in most cases associated with serious injuries where heavy items had fallen. However, the physical proof contradicted the alleged nature of the crime in the locked room. Unless Greg were fatally beaten in other places and his frame intentionally placed again within the room, there was once no apparent crime scene. Besides, he may just no longer know how the sufferer were in this kind of violent altercation without traumatic the scene.
The cause remained similarly elusive, with Greg seeming to haven't any enemies. Detective Apple maintained shut conversation with Susie, the victim’s wife, who portrayed their affectionate courting, recounting how they had reunited and remarried after separation. Moreover, Greg’s co-workers and brother, Michael, vouched for his amicable nature, describing him as universally widespread and first rate. He led a quiet lifestyles at the Eleganté, seldom interacting with others, by no means visiting the bar or attractive in over the top ingesting or socializing.
Detective Apple explored a large number of avenues of investigation. One risk centered around an unintended electrical circuit disruption led to through Greg whilst cooking popcorn, affecting nearby rooms. Two theories emerged — one involving a possible sexual attack through the upkeep guy, which lacked substantial evidence, and another linked to a group of union electricians staying next door. Yet, their interactions with Greg at the night of his loss of life seemed inconsequential, and the investigation introduced a frustrating deadlock and not using a leads.
Over the following six months, Detective Apple exhaustively explored each and every street to get to the bottom of the thriller surrounding Greg’s dying. Just as when the case looked as if it would flip chilly, former Long Island cop and DEA particular agent turned Florida non-public detective Ken Brennan entered the scene. He used to be advisable via attorney Kea Sherman, who shared Susie’s frustration with the stalled investigation into Greg’s death. Ken to begin with puzzled Susie to get rid of her as a suspect due to her lack of motive. He then headed for the MCM Eleganté Hotel.
Upon visiting the crime scene in Room 348, Ken and Detective Apple meticulously search for inconsistencies. Their efforts proved fruitless until the previous noticed an anomaly—an indentation in the wall close to the adjacent door of Room 349. Upon inspecting the adjacent room, they came upon a small, patched hollow in the wall, matching the size of the wall indentation in Greg’s room. A bullet had pierced throughout the wall from Room 349, with the access point marked via a neat hollow and the exit point in Room 348 exhibiting a miles bigger hole.
Crime scene investigators in Beaumont joined within the efforts, confirming the trajectory led directly to where Greg have been sitting. Ken reviewed the post-mortem pictures and related paperwork with the medical examiner until they established the taking pictures principle via locating corroborating injuries within the sufferer’s body. On June 1, 2011, they interviewed Tim Steinmetz — one of the vital electricians residing in the adjacent room — till he confessed his under the influence of alcohol good friend, Lance Mueller, had fired a 9-mm Ruger while taking part in with the weapon on September 15.
Lance Mueller is Out of Jail Today
Another electrician, Trent Pasano, who was once also in Room 349 that day, showed Tim’s model. Already under the influence of alcohol, Lance had asked him to fetch whiskey and his 9-mm Ruger pistol from his car. He playfully aimed the gun at Tim and Trent, causing panic. Inadvertently, a shot used to be fired into the wall, and an agitated Lance stashed the gun in his automotive. They discovered the gravity of the situation day after today after seeing police in Room 348.
Tim knowledgeable Ken they hadn’t identified of occupants next door until allegedly hearing late-night coughing. When Ken heard Lance may get a plea deal, he flew to the District Attorney’s place of work and emphasized it was no twist of fate. He claimed the latter’s reckless actions led to the fatality, and his legal intent was glaring from his try to quilt up, including the use of toothpaste to hide the bullet hole and mendacity.
Ken also said Greg would possibly have survived if Lance had called 911, who surrendered only after incriminating himself on a recorded telephone call with Tim. He pled no contest to manslaughter in 2012 and was once sentenced to 10 years on October 29, 2012. Given his absence from the prison roster, Lance used to be seemingly launched in 2022 after serving his sentence.
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