A portrait of Sheree Warren taken on an unknown date. (Warren family)
Weber County investigator Shane Minor had reason to believe Sheree Warren died at the hands of her boyfriend, Cary Hartmann, on the night of Oct. 2, 1985. But Shane had not been able to corner Cary Hartmann into an interview.
Cary initially cooperated with investigators in the Sheree Warren case. That changed after Cary’s arrest and conviction in 1987 on counts of burglary and aggravated sexual assault. Cary’s crimes earned him two 15-years-to-life prison sentences. Once incarcerated, he’d stopped talking to police.
Police suspected Sheree met with violence on the night of her disappearance, but they could not locate her remains. As a result, the investigation had gone cold for nearly a decade before detective Shane Minor picked it up again in 1998.
“I kind of had to start at the beginning,” Shane said in an interview for COLD.
Shane spent the next several years re-interviewing witnesses, compiling reports and evidence and honing in on a single suspect: Cary Hartmann.
By 2005, Cary Hartmann was headed before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole for a hearing. He’d served 18 years on the sexual assault conviction, three more than the 15-year minimum mandatory term required by his sentence. That meant Cary was eligible for release.
Shane Minor realized the members of the board did not know Cary Hartmann remained a suspect in an unsolved, cold case homicide investigation.
“I felt maybe the board should be aware of that,” Shane said.
Days ahead of Cary Hartmann’s parole hearing, Shane sat down and typed out a letter to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. The letter summarized the circumstances of Sheree Warren’s disappearance. It also described Cary’s lack of cooperation with investigators since his arrest.
Shane told the parole board about emerging information from witnesses and informants that possibly placed Cary Hartmann and Sheree Warren together on the night of her disappearance.
“Some of this information has been consistent with information known only to a handful of investigators,” Shane wrote.
He concluded the letter to the parole board by saying his investigation would continue, but only at a slow pace.
Hear what happened when investigators questioned Cary Hartmann’s brother in COLD season 3, episode 8: Fool Me Once