Bad Boy From Rosebud (53 page)

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Authors: Gary M. Lavergne

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #General, #Law, #True Crime, #Murder, #test

BOOK: Bad Boy From Rosebud
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Page 183
live. Like her other victims, she could not have known that such pleas only fueled his lust for brutality and torture. He took her socks and the laces from her tennis shoes and made ligatures to tie her feet and her hands behind her back. Except for Robert Brand and Marcus Dunnam, his only known male victims, those McDuff are known to have murdered died slow, agonizing deaths. But unlike most of his other female victims, McDuff did not bury Melissa. After he "used her up," he threw her into a flooded gravel pit.
Image not available.
Melissa Northrup's car as it was found on James Road near
gravel pits in a remote area of southeast Dallas County.
Courtesy Travis County District Attorney's Office.
 
Page 184
II
In 1992, every Saturday and Sunday morning, like clockwork, at 6:50
A.M.
sharp, Pepper Cole left her home near Seagoville to head for work. Her route took her on Bilingsday Road past the intersections of Bois D'Arc and Malloy Bridge Roads. At about 6:55
A.M.
on Sunday, March 1, she drove by what she described as a clean-cut, tall, man with dark brown hair walking northbound. She remembers seeing him because of the remoteness of the area, which is about seven miles from any community; and no one ever walks that area at that time of the morning. Also, she did not recognize him as being a local resident. It was pretty cold that morning and he was by himself. He was neither thin nor fat. He wore a blue jean jacket and had his hands in his pockets. He also wore a baseball cap and kept his face down, as if to protect it from cold winds. She does not remember much more because she passed him up from behind, and saw his front from her car's rear view mirror.
12
Later that same day, Shari Robinson answered a knock on her door. She and her family lived in a trailer near the gravel pits. She remembers McDuff standing on her porch dressed in dirty clothes. She also remembers that he was on foot. He told her that he and his "old lady" had gotten into a fight and he wanted to know if he could have a sandwich. She said "no," but she had some leftover beans that he could have. Her husband, a tough-looking man, was clearly visible and seated near a shotgun. McDuff ate his beans and left.
13
Richard Bannister and the abandoned Thunderbird placed Kenneth McDuff near the scene of the abduction of Melissa Northrup. Pepper Cole saw someone who fit McDuff's description on Bilingsday Road, and Shari Robinson placed him on foot, and in dirty clothing near the gravel pits where Melissa's body was found. That he abducted, transported, and killed Melissa near those gravel pits is no mystery. What is
still
a mystery is how McDuff got out of the area. Or more specifically,
who
helped him get out of there.
On the night of February 29/March 1, 1992, Kenneth Allen McDuff left a trail of evidence that led to his downfall. Coincidentally, on those same days, a gifted attorney named Mike Freeman had begun a long journey from Nebraska to Waco, Texas. He was about to start a new career as an Assistant District Attorney for McLennan County. That, too, later contributed to McDuff's downfall.
 
Page 185
III
Since Melissa had complained to deputies that she continued to be harassed by her former boyfriend, he was immediately the prime suspect. It did not take very long, however, to clear him. At the time, the young man had a relationship with a teacher in the small town of West. He had spent the entire weekend with her, and she provided an airtight alibi for him. Her statement was given even more credibility when she readily agreed to take a polygraph test and passed it. The boyfriend, however, was arrested anyway. A "Blue Warrant" was issued for him for a parole violation and he was brought to the McLennan County Jail.
14
The Northrup abduction case was assigned to Detective Richard Stroup of the McLennan County Sheriff's Department. Originally from Pennsylvania, he was retired from the Air Force. His military career included two years in Vietnam. His first job with the sheriff's office had been in the records section; he was hired because he could type. In 1991, he moved to the criminal section.
During a search of the area soon after the abduction, Stroup had seen the tan Thunderbird parked in an odd way near the New Road Inn, but he understandably concluded that it belonged to one of the guests.
15
Aaron was never seriously considered a suspect, especially after he took and passed a polygraph test. During those first few hours, investigators considered the possibility, however remote, that Melissa had run off. For the first few days, there was no hard evidence that she had even been abducted.
16
Solving this case would require a break, or at least the discovery of something somewhere other than at the Quik Pak. The first real break came from a most unlikely sourceAddie McDuff.
On March 3, 1992, Addie phoned the Bell County Sheriff's Office to report a missing personher son, Kenneth. Following established procedure, a deputy was dispatched to take the statement, get the facts, and forward them to the Criminal Investigations Division (CID). Deputy Ralph Howell drove out to Addie McDuff's house where she insisted that the last time she saw her son was on February 29 at about 11:00
A.M.
She told Howell that Kenneth was trying to get a machinist job in Victoria and that he went to a parcel mailing service located on Main Street in Temple. Howell took the information and returned to headquarters for it to be forwarded to CID.
17
 
Page 186
Of course, Addie could not have known it, and she certainly did not mean to do so, but when she reported McDuff missing, she contributed greatly to his eventual apprehension. Throughout Texas, virtually all law enforcement agencies had access to databases that now listed Kenneth Allen McDuff as a missing and possibly endangered person from Bell County. Virtually all inquiries would henceforth land on the desk of a Bell County Investigator, a central location. More significant was whose desk it would land onInvestigator Tim Steglich.
A native of Central Texas who had lived for some time in Houston, Tim Steglich looked into the reputation of various police academies and chose to enroll in Houston's. Upon graduation, he worked as a Houston Police officer, a goal he set for himself as a young man. As he grew older, he wanted to raise his daughters in the more agrarian Central Texas, so in the mid-1980s, he moved to one of the Blackland Prairie's hamlets. He became heavily involved in the activities of its public schools. In truth, he always wished he could have been a football coach; and he would have made a good one. Tim Steglich never watched much television, and has little patience for reading. His gifts as an investigator lie in how he deals with people. He can find anyone, and when he does, he never burns bridges. Over the years, he has nearly perfected methods of effectively communicating with even the smallest of intellects; he gets information out of them. He is an astute observer of body language, and can analyze responses as well as many, more highly trained interrogators. And he never, ever, gives up. "Every once in a while, in some small towns and rural sheriffs' offices, you come across an investigator who is every bit as good as anyone, anywhere. Tim Steglich is one of them," said ATF Special Agent Charles Meyer.
18
On the day Addie reported him as a missing person, McDuff was scheduled to report to his parole officer in Temple. Naturally, he failed to do so. The next day, one of McDuff's sisters went to Sabine Hall and cleaned out McDuff's room. Meanwhile, Tim Steglich, who had never heard of McDuff, did a criminal history on him to determine if he wanted "to make himself missing." As Tim stood and gazed at the printout near the only computer the department had to do such searches, immediately, and long before he had any idea of who Melissa Northrup or Colleen Reed were, he had a bad feeling about the entire case. Tim decided it was time to call Addie McDuff.
19
 
Page 187
From the beginning, Steglich believed Addie had been coached and told what to say about McDuff's disappearance. When he called her on March 5, the mind games began. She repeated her story about how Kenneth thought he had a job in Victoria and was upset at how it did not work out. She insisted that he had only one more test to take at TSTI and that he was looking forward to graduating. "He would never have missed that test. He loved that school," she said. According to Addie, Kenneth left her house to fax materials in a desperate attempt to land the job. She never saw him again. Moreover, she was convinced that someone had killed himKenneth was dead.
Addie never fooled Tim. "Most people do not immediately assume their child is dead. Particularly a grown man," Tim thought to himself. And as he spoke to her further, he got her to admit that in the past Kenneth could be gone for days at a time. "Why is it that this time he is dead," thought Tim.
Tim was in an odd situation; he was searching for Addie's missing boy, and at the same time he had grave reservations as to whether she really believed he was missing.
20
But why? At the time, Tim could not understand what purpose these mind games served.
On March 6, Larry Abner of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office responded to a complaint from the manager of the New Road Inn. One of the housekeepers, Janell Kinder, had noticed as early as March 1 that a tan Thunderbird had been parked in an odd position, making it difficult for truck driving guests to park. Abner arrived to look at the vehicle, parked in the shadow of a large truck, and ran a license plate check. When the Waco Police Department reported that the vehicle belonged to a missing and endangered person, Larry Abner immediately impounded the car. Within minutes Richard Stroup had a complete criminal history of the car's owner. According to Lieutenant Truman Simons, after the criminal background check had been done, everyone knew they were on to something. McDuff's car being located that close to where Melissa had been abducted could not be a coincidence. Soon, police helicopters hovered above taking aerial pictures of the Quik Pak and the New Road Inn. Before the day was out, Tim Steglich and Richard Stroup, who had never met each other, were comparing notes on the cases of two missing personsMelissa Northrup and Kenneth McDuff. They agreed that Tim should continue his communication with Addieespecially since she had requested it.
21
 
Page 188
After impounding McDuff's car, the McLennan County Sheriff's Department had it towed six miles to Big Boy's Wrecker Service in Robinson. The trunk and doors of the Thunderbird were still locked and Abner ordered that they be opened. One of the smaller employees of the wrecker service had to crawl into the trunk to unlock it from the inside. Ronnie Turnbough and Larry Abner took an inventory of its contents. (No search warrant was necessary as this was routine and consistent with the Texas Uniform Traffic Code; after a vehicle has been abandoned for more than seventy-two hours, it is seized and towed away, and its contents inventoried.)
The owner of Big Boys knew the car must have been important; by the end of the afternoon, law enforcement officers crowded around the vehicle. Two FBI agents watched the inventory carefully. They found a number of items, including personal papers with the name of Kenneth Allen McDuff on them, a wallet with his driver's license, a Goodyear Tire Protection Plan, a crumpled up, white cowboy hat and a receipt for the purchase of gasat the Quik Pak on February 29. The police officers and the employees of Big Boys Wrecker also determined that the car could be started; they hot-wired it and it ran.
22
Image not available.
Investigator Tim Steglich
of the Bell County Sheriff's
Office. Steglich became 
involved with the McDuff
case when Addie McDuff
filed a Missing Persons Report.
Author's Collection.
 
Page 189
Image not available.
Richard Stroup of the McLennan
County Sheriff's Office. Stroup was the
lead detective for the Melissa Northrup
abduction and murder case at the
McLennan County Sheriff's Office.
Author's Collection.
Image not available.
Aerial photo of Waco, Texas, showing:
1. the Quik Pak #8.
2. the New Road Inn.
3. New Road.
4. Kenneth McDuff's car (in the shadow of the truck).
5. Interstate 35.
Courtesy Travis County District Attorney's Office.
 
Page 190
IV
On March 6, the same day that the McLennan County Sheriff's Department identified McDuff's car and discovered his criminal history, over 100 miles away, patrolwoman Aletha Jesttes of the Dallas County Sheriff's Office conducted her routine patrol of the southeast section of the county. She noticed a vehicle parked on James Road. She knew that the road had no outlet and that it was unusual for passenger vehicles to be down there. At the time, the road was in such poor condition that she parked her unit and waited for two other vehicles, pickup trucks located down James Road, to come to her. The drivers of the pickups were the owner of the property and his son. The son reported that the Buick had not been there on February 29, but was there on March 1. He was certain of that because on that day they had intended to grade the road. He apparently happened upon the car shortly after sunrise and remembered that the muddy water near the tires was still foamy and bubbly.
One of the trucks brought Officer Jesttes to the car, where she got information needed to do a check. In a very short time, Jesttes learned that the vehicle was reported stolen and had been involved in a robbery/abduction. Soon, several deputies arrived. They decided to force open the trunk to see if Melissa was there. They found only two large plastic bags of clothing Melissa had intended to give away to a Goodwill station in Waco.
23
Later, Tim Parker of the Dallas Sheriff's Office arrived to process the scene. When he sat in the car, he immediately noticed that the driver's seat had been pushed as far back as possible. His first impression was that the driver had to be a very tall person. He also knew that the 4'11'' Melissa Northrup could never have driven her car with the seat in that position.
24
Indeed, March 6 had been a busy day in the efforts to bring Kenneth Allen McDuff to justice: McDuff's Thunderbird had been located and as a result the McLennan County Sheriff's Department had a prime suspect in the abduction of Melissa Northrup; Melissa Northrup's Buick had been discovered by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, and a search for Melissa commenced there; Tim Steglich's initial hunch, that there was much more to the missing person's case filed by Addie, was confirmed, and he approached the case from a much different perspec-

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