The views and opinions expressed in Cold and
Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All
parties mentioned are considered innocent until
proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing
also contains adult themes and languages. Listener
discretion is advised. I'm your host, Allie McLaughlin
-Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover
cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone
and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host Ali . And I'm your co -host Eli. Welcome
back everyone. Thank you as always for your patience
with us. I know we were off again kind of unexpectedly
last week. Our dog has been going through some
health stuff and he had surgery last week but
he's doing better. He's almost back to his normal
self so... Thank you all so much for the kind
wishes and positivity that still came through.
Like, we still got some great reviews over this
last week. So thank you all so much for sticking
with us and coming back for another case. And
with that, we are on episode 133 this week. And
we are on a cold case. So should we just go ahead
and get into it? Let's do it. Today, we are talking
about the cold cases of Grover Cecil, Joyce Reason,
and Johnnie Rankins. otherwise known as the Be-Lo
Murders, and this takes place in June of 1993
in Windsor, North Carolina. But first, a little
bit about Johnnie, Joyce, and Grover. Johnnie Rankins,
he is 48 years old in 1993 and lived in nearby
Edenton. I could find very little details about
him, but we do know that he worked on the cleaning
crew. Joyce Reason is 36 years old in 1993. She
was a single mother to two young girls. and she
was also engaged and the wedding was planned
for later that summer. She worked as a cashier
at the B -Lo grocery store. And Grover Cecil,
he went by the family name of Bud. He was 47
years old in 1993 and was the store manager of
the B -Lo, a position that was newer to him as
he had only been the manager for a few months.
He was married and a father. And now, a timeline
of events. Sunday, June 6, 1993. It was nearing
closing time at the B -Lo grocery store. The
grocery store is located in Windsor, North Carolina.
It's a small community with a population of around
2 ,400. The employees are busy trying to get
closing cleaning done and helping the last few
customers check out. As it neared the 6 p .m.
closing time, the overnight cleaning crew was
starting to show up and gather their supplies.
Since it was Sunday, there was a plan to clean
and wax the floors. The cleaning crew consisted
of four guys, Johnnie Rankins, Thomas Hardy, Jasper
Hardy, and Sylvester Welch. 6 p .m. came and
the last customers left. The doors were locked
and most of the employees had left for the evening.
Two employees remained, Joyce Reason, a cashier,
and Grover Cecil, the manager. A few minutes
after 6, Jasper, a member of the cleaning crew,
looked up and saw Joyce and Grover walking towards
them with a strange look on their face. Behind
them was a man that Jasper had never seen before.
He's described as a black man in his 20s or 30s,
around 6 foot tall, slender with medium complexion.
His nose had a noticeable bump, like he had had
an injury to it prior. The man had hidden in
the store and waited until the doors were locked
before approaching Grover first with a gun. The
man had the gun to Grover's back. Grover tells
the cleaning crew, quote, do what he says. He
means business. The gunman seemed at ease and
even seemed to anticipate how many men were part
of the cleaning crew. He asked where one of them
was when he only encountered three of them, according
to reports. The gunman is able to get all four
members of the cleaning crew and Joyce and Grover
to the back of the store near the meat counter
very quickly. The man gathers cash and money
orders from the store. He ordered the hostages
to bind each other up at the wrists and ankles
using duct tape and dog leashes that he had found
in the store. Grover was ordered to bind the
hands of the rest of the hostages, and then the
gunman bound Grover's hands. Once everyone was
tied up, the gunman had the hostages lay down
and put them into three piles of two so they
were lying on top of each other. Jasper, one
of the cleaning crew members, thought everybody
was going to be okay. Everyone was complying
with the gunman. Jasper said that the man kept
saying, quote, I don't want to have to kill anybody.
He also kept promising that no one would get
hurt as long as they followed orders. He also
told the hostages that he used to be a police
officer and he had been fired from his job. He
didn't have anything left to lose. Jasper was
lying on the floor with another person on top
of him. He was laying with his face turned toward
the wall and was praying for the ordeal to be
over. Then, suddenly, the man fired a bullet
into each pile. Jasper said, quote, I heard the
shots, pop, pop, pop. Sometimes there would be
a grunt when someone was hit. It appears that
when the man went to fire a fourth time, the
gun jammed or he ran out of ammunition. The gunman
then rolls each victim onto the stomach and leaves
them on the floor. He leaves for a couple minutes
and returns with a knife that he had found. The
gunman approached Jasper and his brother Thomas.
He asked them if they would identify him. Thomas
told him no. To which the man shouted, quote,
I don't believe you. Jasper was still lying facing
the wall, so he didn't see the gunman approach
his brother and stab him. Thomas is violently
attacked. His throat is slit and the butcher
knife breaks off in his back. The gunman then
approached Jasper and asks him as well, quote,
will you identify me? To which Jasper responds,
quote, no, man, I don't know you. The man then
replies, quote, okay, big man. I'll let you live.
Jasper waited. He didn't believe the man and
he thought he would be attacked next. But the
man doesn't attack him. He gathers up the money,
a little over $3 ,000 in cash and money orders,
and places them into a grocery bag along with
keys to the store and heads out the door. Jasper
was alive and unhurt, but still bound. Sylvester
Welch and Thomas Hardy were also clinging to
life. Thomas had been stabbed and Sylvester had
been shot in the back. Sylvester is able to free
himself from the binds and drag himself to the
office and call 911. The phone call comes in
at 6 .56 p .m. When police enter the B -Lo grocery
store, they find Sylvester in the front office,
but everyone else were in bloody piles in the
back rear corner of the store. A first responder
said, quote, I remember the smell of blood. There
was blood everywhere. Sylvester Welch and Thomas
Hardy are still alive but in critical condition.
They are rushed to Pitt Memorial Hospital in
Greenville. Johnnie Rankins, Joyce Reason, and
Grover Cecil are all dead inside of the Be-Lo.
Jasper Harding was left unhurt and is able to
provide police with details from the terrible
night. Police begin combing the scene. We know
they find two spent casings from a .45 caliber
pistol. As more police gather at the B -Lo, neighbors
start to come out. A man who was visiting his
girlfriend who lived across the street from the
B -Lo, and they were both home during the attacks,
they said they didn't hear anything. Witnesses
tell police that they saw a white car with Maryland
license plates speeding north on U .S. 17 after
the shooting. The next day, Monday, June 7, 1993,
Thomas, who was stabbed, is still listed in critical
condition, while Sylvester, who had been shot,
was in a serious condition, according to the
hospital. The brutal slaying sent shockwaves
through the small community. Police say that
they saw an uptick in applications for concealed
carry the very next day. Jasper, who walked away
unhurt, says, quote, and you can believe I plan
to stick to every one of them. Police are still
working their way through the crime scene. Sheriff
Perry believes that the gunman might have piled
the victims up so that one shot would kill two
people. Police say, quote, We think he may have
been low on ammunition. Only in military executions
have I heard of it. I've never heard of it in
a robbery. I've heard of the enemy stacking our
soldiers and killing them this way. Jasper is
on edge. He says, quote, Local police are able
to rule out all former officers for their departments,
so they send out an alert to other departments
in the state and other states to see if any recently
fired officers fit the description of the gunman.
On Tuesday, June 8th, two days after the murder,
police tell media that there may have been a
second man involved in the crime. Sheriff Perry
tells media that the white car that was seen
speeding north after the murder was also seen
in the parking lot just before the killings took
place. A man was seen waiting in the car in the
parking lot, and then two men were seen in the
car when it was speeding north. The second person
is described as a black man with a darker complexion.
He would have been between 6 foot and 6 foot
2 in his mid -30s and was described as being
very muscular. Police are still at the Be-Lo
combing through the store in search of more evidence.
Altogether, $3 ,324 was stolen from the store.
On Wednesday, June 9th, it's been three days
since the murder, and there is some good news.
Thomas and Sylvester are doing better. Their
condition is upgraded to fair and they are healing.
Investigators are still sorting through officers
who had been fired from other departments. But
investigators also wonder if he really was a
police officer. Sheriff Perry says, quote, At
this time, most police officers would carry a
9mm pistol. or older officers would sometimes
carry a .357 revolver. However, the casings that
were picked up at the store were from a .45 caliber
pistol. Police don't think that he knew the victims.
They believe he was an outsider, and investigators
alerted Maryland authorities due to the license
plate seen on the white car. Police continue
to investigate, but the updates slow down. The
next one comes in November of 1993, so it's been
five months since the murders. And the FBI have
gotten involved along with the State Bureau of
Investigation. The FBI have created a profile
of the suspect and they release it to the public.
They believe that the gunman would be a threat
to his family and friends because of the stress
he is under. They believe that this is not the
first time that he is killed and that he has
likely served time in the past on felony charges
of some kind. While in prison, he likely thrived
and was a model inmate. He could have even found
religion there. He would be very manipulative.
They believe that he could convince anyone of
almost anything. The FBI say, quote, think back
to Memorial Day. Who came to this area for a
visit? Who came to this area for a funeral? We
are asking that anyone who knows this person
to please give us a call. The reward for information
has grown to $30 ,000. Over the next year, police
continue to work on the case, and they even create
a task force. But still, in June of 1994, so
a year since the murders, there's no suspect
in the case, and the B -Lo has closed down. Investigators
strongly believe that the killer likely has had
or is in a relationship with a woman who lives
in the area. Police say, quote, the investigation
has led us to believe that this woman may also
be in danger and is possibly afraid to come forward
with information about the killings. The task
force is willing to provide complete anonymity
and a safe haven for her and others she may have
told about the incident. There's even more of
a probability that this woman has mentioned the
murders to friends or other family members, but
has made them assure secrecy in order to prevent
her own death. Police believe that the woman
would have likely been in an abusive relationship
with the man. Investigators also give more of
the profile of the murderer. They say, quote,
He is not an ordinary killer. He would be a neat
person, but still someone who would rather wear
jeans than suits. He would be very, very smart.
They believe he drives a small to medium two
-door vehicle, which is possibly medium blue
in color with rust spots. They also believe the
killer is connected to the drug world and wouldn't
keep a legal job for long, but he would have
a strong ability to do detailed work with his
hands and mathematical skills. He is physically
fit but not muscular. Smooth skin and light brown
-green eyes. He also has a large Adam's apple.
Police say, quote, this is a person who probably
stays home a lot during the day and comes out
at night. He may even stay away from home for
several days but always returns. Investigators
hope that the woman will come forward and once
again offer protection to her. But another year
comes and goes. in June of 1995, so it's been
two years since the murder, and police say they
are still actively working the investigation.
The SBI is still working the case, and agent
Dwight Ransom says, We have taken countless leads
into this case. Many of them turned out to be
dead ends. We've worked every lead we've been
given, exhausted every single thing reported
on this case, no matter how trivial the information
might have been. but we have not had enough to
move close enough to an arrest. The suspect or
suspects may very well be in or around the area,
and we firmly believe somebody knows something
that may very well lead us to the suspect or
suspects in this case. But the case goes cold.
Years pass without an update, but investigators
work behind the scenes on any leads that trickle
in. The next update is in 2018. so it's been
25 years since the murders. A lot of the original
investigators have retired at this point, but
the case continues to puzzle them. Retired investigators
now theorize that robbery was a secondary motive.
The man's real intentions was to hurt people.
They also question his claim that he was a police
officer, something that they've done since the
beginning. Quote, it has always puzzled me that
he had only one magazine for his pistol. A person
trained in the military or as a police officer
always carries more than one magazine. That leads
me to believe he wasn't military or a police
officer. All I do know is he is a cold -blooded
killer. As of 2023, there have been no new updates
in the case. However, there is still a $30 ,000
reward for information. So if you know anything
about the murders of Grover Cecil, Joyce Reason,
and Johnnie Rankins at the Be-Lo grocery store
in June of 1993, please call the Windsor Police
at 252 -794 -3111 or the North Carolina State
Bureau of Investigation at 1 -800 -334 -3000.
So that is the unsolved case of the Be-Lo murders.
I thought that I had known this case or maybe
heard about it prior to tonight, but I'm just
glad that you brought it back to me, at least.
The details of this case are so bizarre and terrifying,
and I know that this case is actually a little
different from ones that we've covered prior,
but I'm really glad to be... to be talking about
it. And just to jump right into the timeline,
that closing shift exhaustion, while you provided
great detail of what those moments were during
the crime, but as someone who has worked closing
shifts before in a store setting, this kind of
scenario is something that I've... played out
in my own head or just like worst case scenario
where someone is still in the store. And yeah,
it's terrifying to think about. I think anyone
who has worked in a retail or maybe service setting
where there is a closing, you go and lock the
doors. I think this kind of thing runs through
a lot of people's heads. Unfortunately, it's
It's something that we run into in the true crime
world where a closing shift is kind of targeted.
That's actually the next question I had. And
I have my own answers so far. But why was this
place targeted? And I'm curious to know your
thoughts. I think that's a really good question.
You know, police seem to feel that. the suspect
is an outsider that this he didn't know any of
the people there this was not like a personal
vendetta against anyone um this this was um an
attack like almost like a random attack but to
me there are some details that seemed to suggest
that this person at least studied the store a
little bit to know to hide what time closing
was and he seemed to know how many men in the
cleaning crew would be there like he anticipated
four of them so it does seem like he planned
it out but why this store why June why why right
now I have no idea that was a similar question
that popped up for me Or something that I just
believe that maybe he did, which was study the
store, study the closing and cleaning crew, like
clock out times, arrival times, just maybe eyes
on the building. But again, just, you know, begs
the question, why? And I know that's the crux
of this case and that it's the reason we're covering
it now. The randomness of it just really sticks
out in my head. Well, yeah, and it just doesn't
really make any sense because it's like, well,
if this was a robbery, he got all the money really
quickly. He didn't need to kill anybody. Everybody
was complying. They were doing exactly what he
said. So if this was purely a robbery, why turn
it into a triple murder? I mean, it seemed as
if he... thought he had killed five people there.
So why escalate it to there when everyone was
complying, everyone was listening, you know,
he got everything he wanted. So why this carnage?
Yeah, the headspace he seemed to be in was chaotic
and erratic, which granted, you know, You think
that maybe most people committing crimes like
this are in that headspace, but I don't know.
A lot of people are very methodical and calm
when they're committing crimes, especially that
involve causing physical harm and or murdering
multiple individuals. That's one person with
a lot of power over multiple people. Yeah, and
some of the choices he makes, you know, some
of them. do lean towards like you know he studied
the store he knew how many men in the cleaning
crew to anticipate but then at the same time
it seems like he didn't bring enough ammunition
for how many people are going to be there he
didn't bring the duct tape or the dog leashes
those were things he found in the store so those
things kind of seemed spur of the moment or chaotic
in that sense not thought out but then other
aspects of it do seem more calculated so Yeah,
this case is really puzzling, trying to sort
that out. Just was this planned? Was it random?
Did he study it or did he just kind of know?
I don't know. There's so many questions here.
The FBI profile is also something that brings
up a lot of questions for me because there is
such specificity. in their description that it
almost sounds like they are describing a person
that they think committed this and they are just
waiting for somebody to come forward and say
like yes he did this you know to the point where
it's like he you know he drives um you know like
a a two -door medium blue car with rust spots
like that is highly specific and seems like they
are talking to some to somebody you know directly
saying we know it's you So that's really interesting
to me. I would wonder if the FBI would stand
by that profile today, if they would release
as much, or if that's still along the lines of
who they think did it. I think it says a lot
about even the time period, how seriously they
took this case. And it kind of surprised me,
honestly, to see that the FBI was involved and
came up with a whole... profile at all that they
were able to. And the way law enforcement responded,
it's so infrequent in these cases that we cover
that we see, you know, law enforcement really
step up. And this was a case that I feel like
they did. Yeah. You know, the local police were
really up against like a horrific crime scene
and something that they did not see in their
day to day or even their like year to year, something
as horrific as this murder. So for them to reach
out quickly to the State Bureau of Investigation
and the FBI because it did seem likely that this
person crossed state lines, I think it was a
really smart move to just bring bigger forces
with bigger resources into this investigation.
But even with the FBI, the SBI, we're still covering
this case today. Even with three survivors who
were able to give testimony and a really good
composite sketch, we're still talking about it
today because this person has not been caught.
Yeah, the fact that there are, you know, some
survivors of this, I want justice so badly for
this case because it's almost like he was like
slipped out of their fingertips, you know what
I mean? The fact that they survived and could
describe this person, it's like it's a ghost.
I just I would love to see justice for them.
And, you know, with such a specific description,
like we know a lot of details. We know he has
a bump in his nose. We know he has a large Adam's
apple. You know, the description of him, what
he would have looked like in 1993. I think somebody
would recognize him. And, you know, police investigators
feel very certain that. He told somebody about
this crime. People know that he committed it.
So I am hopeful that, you know, so many years
have passed. Circumstances have changed. You
know, people die. Conscience gets heavy that
I am hopeful that somebody comes forward with
information that they know about this case, maybe
that they've known since 1993. But I hope that
they come forward and just say what they know.
So again, if you know anything about the murders
of Grover Cecil, Joyce Reason, and Johnnie Rankins
at the B -Lo grocery store in June of 1993, please
call the Windsor Police at 252 -794 -3111 or
the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation
at 1 -800 -334 -3000. On our Instagram, we will
have the suspect's sketch and a picture of the
Be-Lo. This week, we don't have pictures of our
victims. I was able to find a picture of Grover
and his family, but it seems like the rest of
the families are really looking for privacy and
the survivors as well. So out of respect and
since they were not readily available. I'm not
including pictures of the victims of the attack,
but just the suspect and the Be-Lo grocery store,
which you can see on our Instagram at coldandmissing.
If you could share that suspect sketch, just
get it out there. Get people looking at it. That
would do huge things for this case just to get
people talking about it. And we would appreciate
it so much. We also have on our website transcripts
of all of our episodes. So if you or someone
you love is hard of hearing, you can follow along
with the podcast there. It's the official transcript.
So I go through, I edit, I make sure all the
names are spelled correctly and everything's
correct. Podcast players, I know they do. transcripts
now but they're not always accurate so if you're
looking for the accurate ones they are on our
website www .coldandmissing .com and if you could
take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast
player five stars goes a long way in getting
this podcast into the hands of other people into
the ears of other people so if you could rate
and review us in your podcast player it would
mean a lot and share the podcast with Those in
your community, people who also like true crime,
like engaging with this content, share our podcast
with them. We would appreciate it oh so very
much. But that is all I have for you this week.
Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.
I'm your host, Allie. And I'm your co -host,
Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y 'all.
Stay safe, y 'all.