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I'm your host Mark and this is Mountain State Mysteries.
The case I have for you today is about a husband and his wife that went to Babcock State Park
to enjoy a romantic getaway. That is until intruders broke into the cabin and killed his wife. Or
is that really what happened? This is the case of Cheryl Flippo, better known as the murder
at Cabin 13. April 30th 1996 seemed like it was going to be an easy shift for Sergeant Charles Bryant
of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department. He said there wasn't a lot of traffic out so at 2
20 a.m. he decided to grab some dinner. As soon as he walked into the restaurant he got the radio
call. A man called 911 to tell them about how several people had broken into his cabin at
Babcock State Park. He said they attacked him and his wife. So he left the restaurant and headed
to Babcock State Park. When he arrived he pulled up to the park's headquarters and he saw a man
there in nothing but his underwear. Detective Bryant noticed that his legs were scratched.
When Bryant approached him he said that he was hysterical. He told him to calm down that he
was a police officer and that he was there to help him not hurt him. He asked him if he knew who
he was and he told Detective Bryant that he was Michael Flippo. After that he told Bryant that
his wife Cheryl was still at the cabin. So he asked Michael which cabin he was at and he said
cabin 13. So Bryant told him to come with him and he placed him in the police cruiser. While in the
police cruiser Bryant asked Michael what happened. He told him that several people broke into the
cabin and attacked him and his wife. So the distance between Park Headquarters and cabin 13
is about seven tenths of a mile down a very small one lane road. When you leave the headquarters
parking lot you turn right and go over a bridge then you turn right again and go past the grist meal
then you just stay straight until you're at the end of the road. There's a small area to park on
the left then you walk across the road down some steps to even get to the cabin. Cabin 13 is very
secluded but not like you think. There's other cabins around but they aren't as close as they are
to other ones. In 2024 it still looks the same as it did in 1996 which to me is kind of creepy
but if you stay there you're honestly there to disconnect from the world. There's little to no
cell service and you're miles away from any restaurants or anything else. When officer Bryant
and Michael arrived to the cabin there was a Camaro sitting on the left side of the road across
from the cabin. Officer Bryant said that it looked like there was a white t-shirt or something hanging
off the side view mirror. Detective Bryant asked Michael if that was the car they arrived in. Michael
said no I don't know who owns that car so Detective Bryant asked Michael if he remembered how he got
to Babcock State Park. Michael told him all the details but he said he drove a green Cadillac.
From the park headquarters to the cabin there was no green Cadillac anywhere. Detective Bryant
told Michael to stay in the cruiser while he went to check the cabin. He made his way down the steps
and opened the door to the cabin. He saw a rocking chair turned over him ice cream that was left out.
When he looked at the bed he saw a large bloodstained then he looked down to the floor
and he saw the feet of Cheryl Flippo. She was laying between the bed and the wall. Detective
Bryant walked out of the cabin and went back to his cruiser and radioed for other assistants
and an ambulance. In the show Cabin in the Woods on investigation discovery officer Bryant said
that he was trying to keep Michael as calm as he could while he was trying to get medical attention
for him. Once the ambulance got there an attendant took care of Michael. Detective Bryant and another
attendant went to check on Cheryl. They knew she was dead when they were checking on her. Cheryl's
sister Anita said quote you never think anything like that would happen. She was a beautiful person
and she brought joy to many people and to us end quote. Cheryl grew up in Gary West Virginia
which is a small coal mining town. She grew up with six brothers and sisters. Her family went to
church almost every Sunday. Terry one of Cheryl's brothers said that as far back as he can remember
Cheryl was always very devoutly religious. When Cheryl met Michael he was in college to become
a minister. Cheryl was very interested in him because she felt like the Lord worked in wonderful
way. When the two got married Cheryl was 19. After Cheryl and Michael got married the two moved to
Nitro West Virginia. Michael was a pastor of the Church of God in Nitro. They say he was a typical
church of God minister. He spoke in tongues and he did his altar calls. Cheryl took her role as a
pastor's wife seriously. She was always doing things for the church for the people of the church.
She was part of the women's group. She was a youth leader and a Sunday school teacher. Cheryl
loved doing all of those things. The two would always be busy either going to church, going to
hospitals, and going to people's houses. Michael said that they were just riding around one day
and decided spur of the moment that they would like to stay the night at Babcock State Park
so they could have a romantic evening. The police had to tell him that his wife was dead.
It's said that he was very sad and grieving but police still had to ask him questions while they
move forward with the investigation. Police said that Michael was confused and incoherent at times.
Michael said that the two was having a pleasant evening eating ice cream and other snacks. They
decided to call it a night and go to bed. He said that the intruder broke into the cabin while him
and Cheryl were sleeping and started to attack them both. Michael told police that the intruder
just hit him in the middle of the night. While he was knocked down on the floor, the intruder got
on his legs to hold him down, facing him, and took a knife and started to cut his legs. Michael
ended up being unconscious for a little bit. When he came back, he crawled to check on Cheryl.
He said that he put his head down on his wife's chest and he could hear her heartbeat. He told
Detective Bryant that he couldn't find a cell phone so he ran out the door and ran to the
pay phone at the park's headquarters. Detective Bryant said that it was obvious what happened
to her. What wasn't obvious was who did it. On the morning of April 30th, the entire park was
searched. Babcock State Park is huge. It's mostly woods to be honest. It wouldn't be easy to get out
of there without being seen. So police started to look to see if they could find any possible clue
of this intruder. An officer was placed at the beginning of the road. So if anyone left the
area, they'd know about it. Officers went to every camp, which until a few months ago, I had no idea
there were so many there. They went to every cabin, talked to every single person who was in the park,
asking them if they heard anything. They told them to stay in their cabin until someone said it was
okay to come out. Anyone who was near cabin 13, which would be very few, said they didn't hear
or see anything. Officers was trying to collect evidence as quickly as it could. They had the
license plate ran on the Camaro parked across the road from cabin 13. They also had the registration
checked. After this, they started to process the crime scene. There was a table with Cheryl's purse
on it, along with a briefcase. There was a bloody fingerprint that was discovered in the bathroom
on a roll of duct tape. There appeared to be a real struggle in the cabin. Blood was splattered on
the wall. Items in the cabin were turned over. The bedding was actually pulled down to the foot
of the bed. While the scene was being processed, officers found a piece of wood that they believed
to be the murder weapon. Cheryl's brother, Ricky, said that he drove to his mother's house on the
morning of April 30th because his kids were staying there. He said he opened the door and heard Pamela
screaming. Cheryl's son called and told them Cheryl was dead, that she was murdered. Michael
was being treated at a local hospital. There was a small wound on his forehead and he got
struck in the back of the head and he had some cuts on his leg. Everything was very minor,
so it was released from the hospital. He was taken to the sheriff's department, where a more
in-depth interview took place. When Michael was questioned about who could have done this to him
and his wife, he appeared to be scared. He said that someone had been sending him threats. He said
someone was stalking him, that the stalker was in and out of their lives. In 1988, eight years
before Cheryl's murder, Michael made several reports about his alleged stalker. Cheryl actually
called her family and said that they thought someone was following Michael and that they threatened him.
His alleged stalker was even entering their house and leaving notes taped to different things around
the house. Like the typical generic stalker, the notes were made from cutting letters from magazines
and gluing them on paper. The notes were brief saying things like, I'm watching you or you're
next, but they indicated that someone was going to try to hurt them. The idea of the stalker being
able to come into their house and leave a note, the idea of the stalker being able just to come
in their house and leave a note and just disappear, was actually terrifying to Cheryl. Cheryl told a
friend that she believed someone was going to try to kill her. Police ended up finding out about an
incident that happened at the church in Nitro. Michael was in the church and right after he left,
the church caught on fire. Everyone thought that the stalker was in there and whoever it was
started the fire. The Nitro police took the alleged stalker very seriously. They were at the home and
church on multiple occasions. In March of 1996, one month before Cheryl was murdered, Michael began
to tell his church family, Cheryl and the Nitro police that his stalker came back. He reported it
to the police that one of the many things that would indicate that the stalker was there was a
note that said, quote, April showers bring May flowers to your grave, end quote. Most of everyone
in the church had a plan to protect Michael and Cheryl. Men would come in and stay with Michael
and Cheryl to make sure nothing happened to him. Michael said that the stalker left a voicemail
that said, quote, I tried to kill you eight years ago and failed, but I won't this time, end quote.
On April 30th, police had been at the cabin all day. Sheriff Burke said that the crime scene
took a long time to process. Police wanted to preserve and collect as much evidence as they
could. Back to the briefcase that was on the table. You probably remember me talking about this last
year when I covered the case briefly in a state haunts episode. When police opened it, there was
some papers in it that had Michael's name and address on it. There was an envelope that had
photos in it. There was a man in the photos who appeared to be undressing. The man was standing
by a car taking his pants off. At the time, police had no idea who this man was. So police went to
Nitro, West Virginia to talk to members of the church. The members were actually leery to talk
to the police, which to me seems really odd. You would think that they would want to talk to
and try to get the person who killed a member of their church put behind bars. Police actually
rented a hotel room in Nitro to interview the ones who would talk to them, but they would only come
super early in the morning, like when it's still dark outside, so they just wouldn't be seen.
During the interviews, they determined that the person in the photos was a man named Joel. Joel
was a very close friend of Michael's. At the time, he was 25 years old. It's said that Michael was
trying to counsel him and provide spiritual guidance. The two started to hang out all the time
to the point where Michael was trying to work out a land deal with Joel and they were going to start
some type of business, which Cheryl was very anxious about. She had her own opinion on it,
and people think that she never really trusted Joel. One couple from the church told police that
the relationship between Michael and Joel had developed. They said strange things were happening
in church. Joel started to sit in the seat that was reserved for Cheryl, which made Cheryl very
uncomfortable. Michael was gone a lot and she was nervous about why he was gone. During the
investigation, police learned that Michael and Joel had went to a ski resort together. They were
there for a weekend and spent the night together in the same room. Everyone thinks that this made
Cheryl nervous and that her gut was telling her something wasn't right. Cheryl told a friend
that the alleged stalker situation got so bad that Joel started to stay in their house.
While investigating, police actually found Michael's diary on a computer at church. In an
entry from April 21st of 1995, he said, quote, I do not understand those feelings. I did not allow
them to control me or use me. I asked him to go with me to DC because of the feelings I had. I
think it's because I see so much of me at 19 in him. God forgive me for those feelings, but God
is great and his spirit overpowered those feelings to give me the victory. In another entry, he said,
quote, I love my new friend Joel. In quote, he also says, quote, I'm not gay or anything like that.
I have sometimes wanted a man to just sit down and hold me. In quote, in another entry, he said,
quote, I am so thankful that God gave me a friend like Joel. In quote, all of the entries made
everyone think that Michael was living a double life. Police wanted to get as much information as
they could about their marriage. Inside Cheryl's Bible, which was actually at the cabin, there was
a letter written to Michael. In the letter, you could tell that Cheryl was expressing frustration.
In one part of it, she said that she was so tired of going to bed punished. She also said,
I do love you, but I hate having this competition that you created. It's clear from her letter
that she wanted to be put before Joel. After police found this, the results from the registration
check came back. The car parked across from the cabin belonged to no one other than Joel.
Police called Joel to the sheriff's department so that they could speak with him. Joel denied that
he was ever involved with Cheryl's murder. He said that it was his car, but he wasn't there.
He said that Michael was threatened by a stalker and wanted to just get away. So he volunteered
to let them drive his Camaro. Joel did tell police that on April 27th, just a few days before the
murder, him and Michael actually visited Babcock State Park. The two just drove around. Joel was
actually the one who told Michael about cabin 13. Joel grew up going to Babcock State Park.
He always wanted to be baptized in the park, so they found a spot where they could pull over
and do the baptism. Joel said that the pictures found in the briefcase recorded the time after
the baptism, changing from wet to dry clothes and that Michael took the pictures to capture a happy
moment. He said that him and Michael were just friends and when he was asked about the marriage,
he said he thought that Cheryl and Michael had a good marriage. When Michael was questioned again,
he said that he did borrow Joel's car to be in somewhat of a disguise so that the stalker
couldn't find them. Anytime he was asked who he thought the murderer could have been, he would
just say that he thought it was his stalker. Police went back and looked over the crime scene
photos to see if there was anything that they could have missed with the naked eye. At first,
it looked like the attack happened in the bed, but when police looked at the pool of blood on the
floor, they could see that something was dragged through the blood. Turns out it was a pillow
from the bed that was placed in the blood, then on the bed to let it soak through the sheets and it
made it look like the attack started in the bed. It made it look like Cheryl died in the bed and
not on the floor. When they looked at the overturned rocking chair, it gave the impression of a struggle.
However, there was folded clothing under it. Then it was noticed how the footprints were very evident
at the cabin. It rained that night, so you would have gotten mud on your feet. You could see Detective
Bryant's footprints in the footprints of the medic that was going in the cabin. So police started
to wonder where the intruder's footprints could be. Police came to the conclusion that Michael
couldn't describe the stalker because there wasn't one. They believed that they were dealing with a
staged crime scene and that Michael was no longer a victim, but the main suspect. When Detective Burke
looked further into the church fire, he learned that the fire chief suspected it was Arson from
the beginning. Police found out that Michael took out a life insurance policy on Cheryl,
making himself the sole beneficiary. If Cheryl would die, he would end up getting $100,000.
On March 1st, the life insurance policy was taken out and it was put into effect on April 1st.
Police got a search warrant to have Michael's body examined. The medical examiner checked the
wounds and the way the cuts were made on his leg. They were self-inflicted. The blood that was found
on the duct tape also came back matching Michael's blood type. By that point, police believe they had
the reason Michael killed Cheryl. On April 27th, when Joe and Michael visited Babcock,
Michael actually reserved Cabin 13. He chose Cabin 13 because it was so secluded. I mean,
he did murder his own wife and no one heard or saw anything. What police think occurred is that
Michael and Cheryl had laid down in what was her mind to go to sleep and Michael started to strike her
with a piece of firewood. After he murdered his wife, he made the scene look like the stalker came
in and had attacked them. He fled the scene and made his cover story that removed him from the
crime scene. The day before Cheryl's funeral, police went to Nitro and arrested Michael.
On October 23rd, 1997, Michael Flippo was charged with first-degree murder of his wife,
Cheryl Flippo. He was sentenced to life in prison. Cheryl Lynn Jewel Flippo is buried at the Taylor
Mountain Memorial Gardens in Cross Lane, West Virginia. We will be back next week with a new
episode. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, all at Mountain State Mysteries.
For the show notes, check out our blog, MountainStateMysteriesPodcast.com.