Baby Be Mine (23 page)

“Look carefully at this photo of Branson Perry on the website. Look at this photograph, too. Have you ever seen this boy?”

Rogers denied ever seeing his picture before. “I surfed the web often and may have come across this webpage, but I never met Branson Perry in person. And I never had any contact with him in person or on line. Never seen the boy, never talked to anyone about him.”

Then Merrill handed Rogers a copy of the Internet chat log that included Rogers' discussion of meeting, torturing and killing Branson Perry.

Rogers swallowed hard and shifted in his chair again. His face flushed and small tremors flashed around his eyes. “It appears that I may have been playing a game with someone,” Rogers said.

“What do you mean, Jack?” Merrill asked.

“I think I better have an attorney.”

With that, the questioning of Jack Rogers came to an end.

Roberts arrested Rogers on just the child pornography charges on April 10, 2003—one day before the second anniversary of Branson's disappearance. In Jo Ann Stinnett's yard in Skidmore, the yellow ribbons of hope had faded to a stark white.

For the last three years, Rogers had worked as the lay pastor for Manse Bellflower Presbyterian Church in Bellflower—a tiny town of 400 just thirty-four miles up the road from Fulton. He was appreciated by the congregation for his lively, inspirational sermons.

The congregation reeled at the news of his arrest. They cancelled their annual Vacation Bible School—a project led by Rogers. They feared that some of the 50-75 children who attended the session in previous years may have been harmed by the monster in their midst.

The revelation that a small number of members held a closely guarded secret about Rogers' past rattled them again. In 1992, Rogers was director of Ecumenical Ministries, a cooperative organization of Catholic and Protestant churches providing community services programs. He was also involved in the Great Rivers Council Boy Scouts and took a group of boys on a camping trip to Arizona.

Rogers was identified in a sting operation involving the controlled delivery of child pornography conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service. A search warrant led to the discovery of pornography throughout Rogers' home and in his Corvette, including visual depictions of minors performing sex acts. They also found a photograph of Rogers with his penis nailed to a wooden board and another with his testicles clamped in a bloodied vise.

Rogers pled guilty to the interstate transportation and receipt of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually
explicit conduct. He admitted in court that he paid a Houston supplier $55 for a magazine and photographs of child pornography. He received a 4-month jail sentence and 3 years of probation. Those in the know at the church overlooked this transgression because Rogers convinced them that he was innocent and others set him up for a fall.

With his new arrest on child pornography charges, the full truth of his previous criminal record was revealed. The parishioners in his Presbyterian church were appalled and chagrined.

On November 12,2003, a subdued Rogers—in an orange jumpsuit and Velcro sneakers—pled guilty to ten of the eleven counts in the indictment issued by the grand jury. In a plea agreement, he offered four statements of fact. He admitted there were images of child pornography on the two computers removed from his home. He agreed that images and video of the same had been on the two computers and compact disk removed from his office. He said that he'd sent four emails with an attached photograph of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Finally, he admitted that he sent three emails with an attached photo of male genitalia on a dinner plate and another picture of an adult male after his penis and testicles were removed.

“Is your mind clear?” U.S. District Magistrate Judge Scott Wright asked Rogers.

“I have a bit of a headache this morning, but yes, sir,” Rogers replied.

When the judge pressed him for an admission of guilt, Rogers equivocated. “I believe I would probably be found guilty.” Then, he added, “I want to get this behind me.”

That last comment made Branson's mother, Rebecca Perry, more outraged than she'd ever been in her life. The man who probably stole her son's life was looking to his own future. In her mind, he did not deserve a future at all.

T
wo days after Rogers' court appearance, Sergeant David Merrill of the Missouri Highway Patrol sought and received authorization for another search. This time the specific purpose was to seek any evidence of human remains or biological material.

In the affidavit, Merrill presented his assessment of the nature of Rogers' perversions.

In the investigation of Jack Rogers, the offender's collection reflects not only his specific sexual interests with regard to desired age and gender characteristics (underage or youthful males), but also with regard to particular sadomasochistic sexual practices (among them impalement, castration and cannibalism.) Individuals who have a demonstrated willingness to turn their fantasies into reality by acting on them may be more likely, having overcome the internal and external inhibitors such as guilt
and fear, to continue acting on those desires and possibly to escalate. Investigation has confirmed that Jack Rogers indulged in at least one of his sexual interests, specifically, he caused pain and suffering by performing surgical castration on an individual. Jack Rogers also claims to have consumed the male genitalia removed during surgery. It must be noted that of the small number of cases reviewed by the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit involving cannibalism, it has rarely been seen without an associated psychiatric history, which frequently does not rise to the legal definition of insanity.

Jack Rogers has identified himself as a sexual sadist during online conversations and described an event in which he claims to have abducted and tortured a young adult male hitchhiker. Since Jack Rogers has already acted on other sadomasochistic fantasies, it increases the risk that this abduction scenario actually occurred. An individual who is sexually aroused by adolescent males and also sexually aroused by the pain and suffering of others, may victimize young-looking adults or actual child victims with whom he can satisfy some or all of his sexual desires.

Additionally, he noted that when an individual persisted in criminal activity when they have reason to believe the conduct had come to the attention of law enforcement—as Rogers did—they were particularly dangerous.

This is desire-driven behavior characterized by a persistent pattern of behavior involving a willingness to commit significant time, money and energy in furtherance of the specific sexual preferences, often resulting in multiple offenses.

On November 17, Sergeant Merrill returned to Nichols Street with Officer Pat Horn and his dog, Sabra, and Officer William Albright and his dog, Cinder. The dogs sniffed the four flower beds in the backyard and the paving stones on the
patio. They did not alert at those areas, but when they approached the Crown Royal Silver Eagle travel camper, Sabra made digging motions indicating the presence of human biological materials. Cinder alerted at the same location. From the trailer, they seized couch cushions, a backpack, two plastic tubs and tent items and took them to the highway patrol lab in Jefferson City for processing and analysis.

The officers got busy digging. First, they tackled the four flower beds. Each seventy-two-square-foot bed was above ground and held in place by wooden timbers stacked two feet high. Then they removed the paving stones on the patio and dug beneath them. They tore the backyard apart, but to their great disappointment, they found no incriminating evidence buried in there. Investigators still did not have the proof they needed to charge Rogers with the murder of Branson Perry.

On April 28, 2004, Rogers returned to court for sentencing. The prosecution put six witnesses on the stand to support their position that an extreme sentence was warranted on Roger's child pornography charges.

One of those witnesses was nursing student Madison Abercrombie. After online contact, Michael—now Madison—Abercrombie and his wife met Jack Wayne Rogers and an unidentified male in at the Travelodge motel in Columbia, Missouri, for gender reassignment surgery—the surgical removal of the penis and scrotum.

“I didn't know his motivation when I went into it. I was under a lot of emotional stress and it seemed like there was no alternative,” Madison told the court.

Rogers promised that the procedure would be over in four hours or less. When that time had passed, Rogers was nowhere near done. Complications caused excessive bleeding and Rogers struggled to get the bleeding to stop. Madison survived but the botched operation left her in need of additional surgeries to complete her transformation from male to female. Madison identified herself as the subject of the before
and after photographs seized in the search of Rogers' business.

The unnamed assistant of Rogers admitted to participation in similar operations performed on three other men—handing surgical tools to Rogers and taking photographs. He said that Rogers had a standard agreement with all of his “patients.” The body parts removed became Rogers' personal property to use as he pleased. Sometimes that meant Rogers would eat them.

The surgical assistant also told authorities that Rogers admitted that one man he operated on died during the procedure. Rogers, he said, kept that man's teeth, and thrown them out the car window as he drove down the road. He did this as a routine part of disposing of a body and obscuring the victim's identity. He added that Rogers often picked up hitchhikers and other transient people and that he was always ready for sexual opportunities—including torture—at any time.

At the conclusion of testimony, the judge said, “Okay. Well, if you want to come forward here by the lectern and I've heard the evidence here,” he said, referring to the testimony about surgical castration and cannibalism the state provided in support of their motion of upward departure from the federal sentencing guidelines. “And I'm going to depart upward. And based on the number of images, the extreme nature of the conduct, I can't imagine any more extreme conduct. And, of course, then it was a serious injury that—it's a wonder she didn't die from it. Just a wonder. So, it'll be the judgment of the Court on Counts One through Seven, it'll be the judgment of the Court that the defendant be sentenced to the Bureau of Prisons for a term of thirty years.”

Rogers' attorney claimed the sentence was excessive, going far beyond federal sentencing guidelines of 57 to 61 months in prison. She vowed to appeal this violation of Rogers' right to due process.

Meanwhile law enforcement kept digging. They hunted for the evidence they needed to convict Rogers of the crimes
they suspected he committed—cannibalism, practicing medicine without a license and the torture and murder of Branson Perry. To their surprise, they discovered there were no federal or state statutes prohibiting cannibalism.

September 2004 was a month of reckoning for Rogers. He received word that the appeal of his child pornography sentence was denied. He also faced a trial on charges of first-degree assault and practicing medicine without a license for the procedure he performed on Madison Abercrombie.

He entered the Boone County courtroom in a zebra-style prison uniform with handcuffs on his wrists and shackles on his ankles. He pled guilty, on the advice of his attorney. He received a sentence of 17 years for the assault and 7 years for the illegal surgery. Both sentences, however, were to be served concurrently with his current 30-year sentence for child pornography.

Law enforcement authorities were gratified that he was behind bars, but still they struggled to build a case against Rogers for murder in the disappearance and presumed death of Branson Perry. They hoped to file charges one day, but feared that the case would never be officially closed.

Of course, the evil heart of Jack Rogers was not touched by the pleas of Branson Perry's family. Not moved by the glares Branson's mother cast in his direction while in the courtroom, he would not divulge any further information about Branson. He would not reveal where he had left the body of a confused young man who should have had a lifetime to find himself.

In 2006, investigators continued to actively pursue the evidence they needed to charge. Rogers for the murder of Branson Perry—and of any other possible homicide victims as well. The results of the forensic analysis of the items seized from Rogers' home, office and vehicles was a closely guarded secret. One day, authorities believed they would have the proof they needed to make a guilty verdict a foregone conclusion.

*    *    *

On March 10, 2004, Branson's father, 49-year-old Bob Perry, who suffered from dark bouts of depression all of his life, had a fatal heart attack. He died without knowing the whereabouts of his oldest son. To Jo Ann Stinnett, Bob Perry was one more victim of the force of evil known as Jack Wayne Rogers.

Now the Stinnett clan faced a third nightmare—the lives of three young people in one generation snuffed out in four short years. First Wendy, then Branson and now Bobbie Jo—the wounds cut deep, the pain would not end. The town of Skidmore clutched one more nightmare to its bosom and turned its back on the world.

I
n Skidmore, Jo Ann Stinnett said she might have to let a recent family tradition die. She made scrapbooks about every family member who died of an illness, an accident or a murder. She made one for Wendy Gillenwater. She made one for Branson Perry.

But with all of her accumulated grief and pain, she did not know if she could bring herself to start one for Bobbie Jo Stinnett. “They say time heals, and it does,” she said, “but time does not make you forget.”

In Lyndon, Kansas, in the aftermath of Lisa's arrest, her ex-husband, Carl Boman, told WDAF-TV that Lisa was so wrapped up in her pregnancy story that she needed to come up with a baby to save face. “I believe it drove her, this fact that she didn't want to be proven wrong in this situation. People were looking at her like something wasn't quite right.”