"Operation Catch a Toe" leads to murder suspect with distinctive foot

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In December 2006, conscionable days earlier Christmas, Tammy Myers vanished. The 29-year-old parent of 3 had separated from her hubby and was surviving with a caller man, William Greer, successful a suburb of Houston. Within days of Myers' disappearance, Greer besides vanished.

Investigators believed Greer was liable for Myers' decease and spent years hunting the fugitive.

In 2010, Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch of the Southern District of Texas U.S. Marshals Service heard astir the lawsuit and asked to beryllium assigned. "This feline virtually thought that helium could victimize not lone Tammy, but everybody other that helium encountered portion helium was connected the run, and benignant of conscionable thumbing his chemoreceptor successful our face," Welch told "48 Hours" analogous Peter Van Sant. An encore of Van Sant's report, "The Day My Mother Vanished," airs Saturday, June 14 astatine 10/9c connected CBS and streams connected Paramount+.

Tammy Myers' girl Nicki Myers-Bates told Van Sant that she and her brothers liked Greer. He was benignant and generous to them, but it wasn't agelong earlier his narration with their parent turned dark.

"As a small girl, you retrieve seeing your parent successful pain?" Van Sant asked.

"Yes," Bates replied. "She was bleeding, she was bruised, she could hardly walk."

As acold arsenic Bates knows, her parent ne'er reported the alleged maltreatment to police. Tammy Myers had, however, begun making plans to permission Greer and get backmost unneurotic with her husband, Ryan Myers. Through tears, Ryan Myers told Van Sant that helium inactive loved her. "Tammy was loving and caring," helium said. "An wide large idiosyncratic to beryllium around."

Bates was lone 7 years aged erstwhile her parent disappeared — 9 years aged erstwhile she gave her archetypal interrogation astir the lawsuit to "America's Most Wanted."

"You benignant of went connected a mission, didn't you?" Van Sant asked Bates. "I did," she replied. "To not lone find William, but to conscionable support my mom's sanction and her lawsuit alive."

In 2012, Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin joined the hunt for Greer. "The household wants idiosyncratic who's going to propulsion hard to bash what needs to beryllium done," helium told Van Sant.

Deputies praised Bates' committedness to uncovering Greer. "She'd beryllium a large Deputy U.S. Marshal," Deputy Marshal Josh Wright said. "We emotion that."

Ramin gave the hunt for Greer a caller nickname: "Operation Catch a Toe." It's a notation to a toed the Marshals learned Greer had mislaid successful a bicycle accident. That distinctive diagnostic was mentioned connected wanted posters and Marshals hoped it would assistance extremity radical disconnected to Greer's identity.

"If you person a murderer successful your location and … this murderer is missing a toed … they're going to easy enactment 2 and 2 together," Ramin said. He was right.

On Nov. 22, 2017, the Marshals received a extremity that Greer had been spotted successful Mexico. He had present been connected the tally for implicit a decade. Within days, a swarm of undercover Mexican constabulary captured a antheral they each hoped was William Greer.

"He wholly denied that it was him." Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch told Van Sant. "I conscionable privation I could person been determination to spot his look erstwhile they removed his shoe."

"What did they see?" Van Sant asked. "The missing toe," Welch replied.

"Operation Catch a Toe" had yet succeeded. Greer was aboriginal convicted of second-degree manslaughter aft agreeing to a plea deal.

For Bates, the heartbreak continues. She is determined to find her mother, who investigators judge Greer buried determination successful a wooded country of Cleveland, Texas.

Van Sant was with Bates successful February 2024 arsenic she acceptable retired with dozens of volunteers from a nonprofit hunt and betterment organization, Texas EquuSearch. The time began with prayers for Nicki and her family.

"Seeing each the volunteers retired present … I don't cognize immoderate of them, and they person kept maine updated and just, you know, made maine consciousness truthful loved," Bates said.

That day, 3 cadaver dogs reacted to thing successful the aforesaid area. The hunt squad didn't person the close tools to excavation properly, truthful they committed to trying again. Until then, Bates, who is present a parent herself, volition beryllium retired searching connected her own.

"My kids are, they're young, but they are afloat alert of what's happening," Bates said. "They conscionable privation truthful severely for her to beryllium found. So, I'm conscionable trying to enactment hopeful for myself, but besides for my children and, you know, conscionable support looking 'cause I don't privation to springiness up."

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