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On December 20, 1996, in Oklahoma, 21-year-old Juli Busken, a University of Oklahoma dance student and resident of Benton, Arkansas, was abducted from her apartment's parking lot and subsequently raped and murdered by an unknown assailant. The case remained unsolved for years before the killer was caught while he was in jail for burglary.

The murderer, Anthony Sanchez (November 1, 1978 – September 21, 2023), whose DNA profile matched that of the sperm on Busken's clothing, was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death in 2006. Sanchez, however, protested his innocence and claimed that his father was the real killer. Sanchez was eventually executed on September 21, 2023.

Murder

On December 20, 1996, 21-year-old dance student Jewell Jean "Juli" Busken was found murdered near the shoreline of Lake Stanley Draper after she disappeared from the parking lot of her apartment in Norman, Oklahoma.

Prior to her disappearance, Busken, who had completed her final semester in the University of Oklahoma and was set to graduate on a later date, planned to return to her parents' home in Arkansas and enroll in the master's teaching program at the University of Arkansas, and her parents were scheduled to arrive on the day of her disappearance to fetch her back home. Busken gathered with her college friends on the evening of December 19, 1996, and exchanged Christmas gifts and goodbyes. Busken spent the night with a friend named Megan Schreck at the latter's apartment in West Lindsey Street. After bringing Schreck to the Will Rogers Airport on the morning of December 20, 1996, Busken returned to her own apartment and it was the last time she was seen alive.

At around 5.30am, at the apartment of Busken, at least three witnesses heard a woman scream in terror. One of them was a police officer named William Alves, who was an off-duty security officer of the apartments. Alves heard the scream but did not witness anything suspicious. A neighbour, Jackie Evans, who lived across the parking lot from Busken's residence, testified that right after the woman's scream, she also heard a man saying "Just shut up and get in the car." A police report was filed thereafter, and police officer Kyle Harris responded to the scene, but she found nothing suspicious.

Ryan James, a close friend of Juli Busken who worked together at the OU Golf Course, had planned to meet for lunch on December 20, 1996. James, who arrived at her apartment around 11am, noticed that her car was missing. After he went to work and returned to Busken's apartment at 4pm, James found out that she never returned. Out of concern, James contacted his grandparents to inquire them about the whereabouts of Busken, who often visited them, but she had not been there either. James, joined by his grandfather, searched for her everywhere, and even drove to the airport, but they failed to locate Busken. Together, the men contacted OU Police Chief Joe Lester and filed a missing persons report, prompting a search for her.

Simultaneously, on that same day at noon, a fisherman named Randy Lankford noticed something strange along the shoreline of Lake Stanley Draper. Lankford left the scene before he returned with his wife after nightfall to check the mysterious object, and it turned out to be the body of a woman. The couple reported the gruesome discovery to the police, who later identified the body as Juli Busken, based on her description in a missing persons report.

An autopsy report showed that Busken sustained a single gunshot wound to her head. The wound, which was located at the rear side of Busken's skull and penetrated the brain before ending at the skull's frontal side, was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. There was forensic evidence to prove that Busken was raped before her death, based on the traces of human spermatozoa found on her vaginal area and bruises found on her face and lower part of the body.

Police investigations

Charge sheet and possible suspects

After the revelation of the crime, the police investigated the case of Juli Busken's murder, which remained unsolved for the next eight years.

The police managed to extract DNA samples from the discarded underwear and leotard last worn by Busken before her death, as well as the vaginal and anal swabs done on her corpse. Several suspects were summoned for investigations and had their DNA tested in order to identify the killer(s) responsible for the rape-murder of Busken. The police also released a composite sketch of the suspected killer, described to be White and around 23 years old, with a height ranging from 178 to 183cm, weighed 160 to 175 pounds with light brown, collar-length hair and a medium complexion.

In February 1997, a homeless man named Isaac "Ike" Gibson was classified as a suspect after he was found to resemble the prime suspect. Gibson, who was in prison for public intoxication, was later cleared of all suspicion after he was ruled out as the killer through thorough investigations.

In March 1998, Gregory Michael Taylor, a 26-year-old man under charges of drinking under influence and absconding bail, was arrested for these charges and in turn, he was listed as a suspect behind Busken's murder after an anonymous tip-off revealed that Taylor fitted the description of the suspected murderer. Taylor was found innocent after the DNA test results showed that his DNA profile did not match the suspect's.

In August 2000, twin brothers Dennis and Travis Stuermer, and their father Pete were summoned by the police to submit DNA evidence; the twins were then facing charges for unrelated minor offences. The Stuermers were all later found innocent after their DNA profiles did not match to the DNA profile of the killer(s).

In February 2002, 24-year-old Kevin Lee Cassil, who was charged with the first-degree rape of a 17-year-old girl and two attempted abductions of women, was also investigated as a suspect behind the murder of Busken and the 2003 disappearance of a Japanese college student. After the DNA tests showed that Cassil's DNA did not match to that of the murderer, Cassil was ruled out as a suspect.

In February 2004, 31-year-old Mark Christian Every, who was in a California prison for sexual assault charges, was investigated as a suspect behind the murder of Busken after the police found out that Every lived near the crime scene where the murder happened, and that Every moved out of Oklahoma and relocated to California soon after the killing. Two months later, DNA tests confirmed that Every was not involved in the murder due to the DNA profile not matched to the suspect.

Breakthrough

In 2004,

The inmate, Anthony Castillo Sanchez, was serving an unspecified jail term for burglary at the time when DNA tests linked him to the murder of Busken. Sanchez, who was 18 when he allegedly raped and murdered Busken,

Trial of Anthony Sanchez

On January 30, 2006, the jury selection phase of Sanchez's trial commenced.

On February 15, 2006, the jury returned with their verdict on conviction, unanimously finding Sanchez guilty of first-degree murder, rape and sodomy in Busken's death.

On February 17, 2006, the same jury recommended the death penalty for Sanchez on the charge of murdering Busken. Imprisonment terms of 40 years and 20 years were simultaneously imposed for the charges of rape and sodomy respectively.

The trial judge, Justice William C. Hetherington, formally sentenced Anthony Sanchez to death for the murder of Juli Busken on June 6, 2006, nearly ten years after the death of Busken.

Appeal process

After he was sentenced to death, Anthony Sanchez appealed against his death sentence. On December 14, 2009, Sanchez's direct appeal was rejected by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

On October 3, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Sanchez's final appeal, and his death sentence was therefore confirmed. On that same day, two more condemned inmates from Oklahoma, Julius Jones and Phillip Dean Hancock, also lost their final appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. All three of them (including Sanchez) became one of Oklahoma's 11 death row inmates eligible for execution, and the list increased to 16 as of March 2018.

A year after all his avenues of appeal were exhausted, on August 21, 2017, Sanchez's petition for a re-hearing of his case was dismissed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

By February 2020, Sanchez was one of the 26 death row prisoners in Oklahoma who were eligible to be executed after exhausting all available appeals against their respective death sentences.

Sanchez, along with 27 other death row inmates, filed a lawsuit against the state challenging Oklahoma's execution protocol. However, the lawsuit was dismissed in June 2022 when the courts determined that there was no violation of the constitution in Oklahoma's death penalty laws.

Execution of Sanchez

In August 2022, six years after depleting his appeals, Anthony Sanchez was given a death warrant with a tentative execution date set for April 6, 2023. However, in January 2023, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals issued a court order to reschedule Sanchez's execution to September 21, 2023. Additionally, the execution dates of six other death row inmates — Jemaine Cannon, Phillip Dean Hancock, James Ryder, Michael Dewayne Smith, Wade Lay, and Richard Glossip — were also postponed between 2023 and 2024.

During the final months before he was to be executed, Sanchez filed a final series of appeals to avoid the death sentence. Sanchez argued that he was innocent and the real killer was actually his father Thomas Glen Sanchez, who died in 2022.

On September 21, 2023, 44-year-old Anthony Castillo Sanchez was put to death by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

Prior to his execution, Sanchez ordered a last meal of chicken fried steak, fried okra, mashed potatoes and gravy, a roll, sweet iced tea and apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Aftermath

When the rape and murder of Juli Busken happened, the students and staff of the University of Oklahoma were shocked and saddened to hear about her death. Many of her friends described Busken as a woman who took "immense delight in life" and contributed to the community. Mary Margaret Holt, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts, described Busken as a "gritty little girl" who had much discipline and physical strength in fulfilling her passion as a ballet dance teacher. Many of Busken's fellow students attended her funeral, which was held on December 23, 1996.

In memory of Juli Busken after her death, the University of Oklahoma created a dance scholarship in her name for the College of Fine Arts. In an 2011 interview, David Boren, the president of University of Oklahoma, stated that he was acquainted with Busken and fondly remembered her performance in the musical Swan Lake the semester before she was killed. Boren described Busken as a "beautiful spirit" who exhibited the grace and aura of a ballet dancer even as she walked daily on the campus.

In 2011, Joe Lester, then police chief of Norman who had since promoted to Cleveland County's sheriff, revealed in an interview that he vividly recalled the horrific death of Busken, whom he described as a young woman with a brilliant future, and sympathized with her plight. Former Cleveland County District Attorney Tim Kuykendall similarly recalled the case, remembering the grisly details of the crime and recalled the moment when Busken's parents sat in court to hear the trial of their daughter's killer.

See also

• Capital punishment in Oklahoma
• List of people executed in Oklahoma
• List of people executed in the United States in 2023

References

1. ^ Sanchez v. State , Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (United States).
2. "Scream Linked to Abducted Woman Norman Church Packed for OU Graduate's Funeral". The Oklahoman. December 24, 1996.
3. "Drawing Spurs Calls In Dancer's Slaying". The Oklahoman. January 31, 1997.
4. "Man Released in Death Case Leads Still Being Received in Dancer's Slaying". The Oklahoman. February 4, 1997.
5. "DNA Tests Clear Man, Police Say". The Oklahoman. March 12, 1998.
6. "DNA results awaited in dancer's slaying". The Oklahoman. August 7, 2000.
7. "DNA test clears father, sons in ballerina murder". The Oklahoman. August 17, 2000.
8. "Charges filed against man held in abduction attempt". The Oklahoman. February 20, 2002.
9. "Cleveland County charges city man in rape". The Oklahoman. February 21, 2002.
10. "Rape suspect charged in Cleveland County Defendant appears after assault arrest". The Oklahoman. February 22, 2002.
11. "Cassil not suspect in Busken case". The Oklahoman. March 2, 2002.
12. "Inmate's DNA to be tested against 1996 evidence". The Oklahoman. February 25, 2004.
13. "OKLAHOMA CITY Man cleared in 1996 slaying". The Oklahoman. April 8, 2004.
14. "US Supreme Court rejects 3 Oklahoma death row inmate appeals". Associated Press. October 3, 2016.
15. "Three more Oklahoma death row inmates lose final appeals". The Oklahoman. October 3, 2016.
16. "Three more Oklahoma death row inmates lose final appeal". The Oklahoman. October 4, 2016.
17. "Executions to be set for 16 Oklahoma murderers, if nitrogen gas method passes court scrutiny". The Oklahoman. March 18, 2018.
18. "Oklahoma Death Row: 26 inmates eligible for execution dates". The Oklahoman. February 14, 2020.
19. "28 Oklahoma death row inmates could be executed over next two years after judge's ruling". The Oklahoman. June 6, 2022.
20. "The next Oklahoma death row inmates scheduled for execution". The Oklahoman. August 25, 2022.
21. "Richard Glossip, six other Oklahoma death row inmates get new execution dates". The Oklahoman. January 24, 2023.
22. "Man executed for the 1996 killing of a University of Oklahoma dance student". Associated Press. September 21, 2023.
23. "Slain OU ballerina delighted in life". The Oklahoman. January 19, 1997.
24. "OU remembers Busken 15 years after student's death". Associated Press. December 20, 2011.
25. "OU remembers Arkansas ballerina 15 years after death". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. December 20, 2011.