Bad Boy From Rosebud (71 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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24
State of Texas v Kenneth Allen McDuff,
SOF in Cause #93-2139, Volume 25, pgs. 75, 239.
25 Tim Steglich; BCSO Files:
Supplement Report,
by Tim Steglich, dated March 3, 1992;
State of Texas v Kenneth Allen McDuff,
SOF in Cause #93-2139, Volume 25, pgs. 29596 and Volume 26, pg. 8.
 
Page 261
17
"As Nice As I Could Be"
"Hank, what on Earth made you believe you could walk away from this?"
Charles Meyer
I
The Bell County Sheriff's Office is not far from Bloom's Motel. It just seemed like a long trip late in the afternoon of April 20, as Tim Steglich drove Hank to make a statement. At 5:25
P.M.
, Tim read Hank his Miranda warning. Tim tried to get in touch with a number of officers but could find no one. He did not want to leave Hank alone so he asked Deputy Ted Duffield to get in touch with Don Martin and J. W. Thompson of the Austin Police Department as soon as possible. Getting in touch with APD was the top priorityit was their case. Other officers could be contacted later.
Tim had to make an immediate decision. At the time, Hank was not a suspect or under arrest. Since he was making a voluntary statement, he could have asked for a lawyer at any time. Tim decided to get a brief statement first; he wanted the bottom line on papera girl was abducted from a car wash and McDuff did it. And so, Tim began slowly and carefully taking a statement for a case he was not that familiar with. As Hank spoke of kidnapping, rape, torture, and probable capital murder, Tim forced himself into a mode of extraordinary concentration. It was more important to get the statement than allow himself the luxury of normal emotion.
1
The statement began with a sentence that said that all of the information in Hank's April 8 statement was true and correct, "but I do know about something that Mac did that I need to tell you about." Hank got
 
Page 262
very vague whenever it came to what he did to Colleen, but throughout the evening, what he said about McDuff was consistent. After Hank finished his first statement, Tim took it to Bill Miller, the head of Criminal Investigations, and they witnessed it at 7:50
P.M.
In Austin, Don Martin received a page to call the homicide detail at the Austin Police Department. He and his family had just ordered dinner at a Red Lobster's restaurant. A sergeant at APD headquarters gave him Tim's number and told him to call right away. Tim told Don about Hank and what Hank was confessing to. After that, Don called his captain and an assistant chief and advised them that he and J. W. were going to Belton. Don then called J. W. at home and the two men agreed to meet at APD.
2
On the way to Belton, Don briefed J. W. about his short telephone conversation with Tim. They also talked about how to go about interrogating Hank. Don was the case agent and senior officer and he stated that they needed to take a "good-guy-bad-guy" approach. J. W. understood that Don was to lead in the questioning.
Don and J. W. arrived at about 9:15
P.M.
Mike, Parnell and Bill were already there, and shortly afterwards, Bill called Chuck Meyer. Hank was going to "need a little interrogating."
Don asked Tim about how Worley ended up giving a statement. Tim described the events of the evening. Then he handed the APD officers a copy of Hank's statement. The men were astounded at what they read. Don looked up from the paper and asked if Worley was under arrest. Tim said "no." Worley had never asked for an attorney and was still cooperating, but J. W. saw immediately how self-serving Hank's statement really was. Don and J. W. walked into a small office, normally used by Ranger John Aycock, to talk to Hank.
3
Inside the small office, Don and J. W. introduced themselves. J. W. re-read Hank his rights. Hank did not admit to much of anything, and both men knew that Hank was holding out. As Hank related the horrible story, J. W. thought "everything terrible that can happen to a woman has happened here." Dealing with Hank was going to be a slow process. An effective method of interrogation is to allow a suspect to minimize their role in order to move on to the whole story, then go back and fill in the holesespecially before the suspect asks for a lawyer. They were going to have to do that with Hank.
As planned, Don did most of the talking. Most of the half-hour interview was about Worley's background, beliefs, occupation and family life.
 
Page 263
Don then moved to the Reed abduction. He warned Hank that the incident could be a capital offense and that Worley could "get the needle." Quietly, J. W. began to squirm in his chair. (At the time, other officers of the Austin Police Department were coming under intense scrutiny over tactics used by officers to get confessions. The controversy endangered two previous murder convictions and eventually every detective in the homicide unit would be reassigned to other units.) Don added that it would be nice for the Reed family to be able to give Colleen a decent burial. Hank quickly stated that he did not know where Colleen was buried.
During the interview, Don's questions began to get more and more direct. At one point, Hank avoided Don's direct glare and looked at J. W. For Don this was a clear indication of lying and guilt. Don slammed his hand on the desk, making a loud, hollow sound. "You better look at me when I'm talking to you!" Don shouted.
4
In the hallway outside of the small office, Bill Johnston was standing very, very close to the door. He could hear everything Don and Hank were saying. (Today, that small room is Tim Steglich's office, and over the years Tim has learned that even with the door closed much of what is said in a normal volume can be heard outside in the hallway.) All of a sudden Bill straightened up, looked at Tim and said, "You need to get back in there and get Don Martin out."
"I'm not going to tell anybody anythingit's their deal," replied Tim.
Bill then began talking to Mike and Parnell. Chuck decided to knock on the door. He asked to see J. W. and they spoke for a short time. J. W. reentered the room and saw that "Don was on a roll." Shortly, Chuck knocked again and spoke to J. W. again. "They [The Boys] don't like Don's talk about a burial." Additionally, Chuck told J. W. that other officers wanted to talk to Worley. If Don "drove him too far" he might decide to stop talking and ask for a lawyer. J. W. then reentered the room and told Don, "We need to talk." In the hallway, he told Don about how the others were upset about talk of a burial. Now, Don was angry. In nearly thirty years of police work, he had never been treated in such a way. This was an Austin Police Department case and he was the case agent. But Don decided to back off. Moreover, Worley indicated that he wanted to talk to Steglich and Don thought it might just be best to let Chuck and Tim take over. "I wanted what was best for the case,'' Don said years later.
 
Page 264
The incident is more significant because of the hard feelings it caused among investigators than for its legal or investigative consequences. Bill indicated that he was concerned over Don's talk of a burialciting the "Christian Burial Case" of
Brewer v Williams
(1977). Of course, Bill did not have his law library with him at the time. He was, quite properly, being prudent. But in
Brewer
the issue was the denial of legal representation for a suspect who was already under arrest and assigned an attorney. The attorney had instructed the accused not to answer any questions and the police officers not to engage in an interrogation. In Hank's case, he had been read his rights at least twice by the time Don spoke to him. He had also signed a statement indicating he had been told his rights and that he understood them. Don did not violate Hank's rights during his questioning because Hank knew his rights and had not asked for an attorney. Mentioning a decent or a Christian burial,
per se
, was not improper. No one ever got violent or abusive and Hank was never deprived of anything. As Worley later testified at one of McDuff's trials, he went to the Bell County Sheriff's Office "freewillingly." Additionally, telling Hank that he could "get the needle" is not improper eitherbecause it was the truth. Hank was looking at a possible capital murder charge (and, indeed, he was later charged with that).
Whether it was
wise
for Don to bring up the issues with Hank in such a brusque way was another question altogether. Hank had been cooperative and informative since Tim brought him to the sheriff's office. Now he was angry. In his own report, Don indicated that as he and J. W. walked out of the room, Worley said that maybe he ought to think of getting an attorney. If Hank had asked for one, there could have been no more questionsat all. The investigators would have had to wait for an attorney, who would certainly have told Hank to stop talking and give no more statements. With characteristic directness, Chuck summed up the problem: "Look, Worley is a mouse. He didn't want to be told, 'You sat there and let this happen.' Everybody was thinking it but it was Don who said it. True or not, it was not conducive to getting information." Chuck added that things like what Don told Hank should be said "after the last line" of a statement is firmed up.
Bill wanted Don out of that office. Don wanted what was best for the case. It was not pretty, but both men got what they wanted, and the incident never became a serious issue at McDuff's trial. Except for the
 
Page 265
hard feelings, as Tim Steglich said years later, "In the end it didn't amount to much."
5
After J. W. and Don left Hank for the last time, Tim and Chuck went in and easily calmed Hank down. After about twenty minutes, Chuck managed to get Hank to admit that he had sexual contact with Colleen. Tim then prepared another statement that Hank signed at 12:05
A.M.
Chuck also managed to get Hank to agree to take the officers on a trip to the murder site. At first, Hank claimed not to know where the murder took place. Very quickly, Chuck talked him out of that lie.
Hank rode in Tim's car with Tim and Chuck. Mike and Bill followed in Bigfoot, Parnell drove his own truck, and J. W. and Don completed the convoy to the abandoned road connecting Cedar Creek Road with Highway 317. The road looked even more remote in the dark, stillness of night. They all knew that just up the road, only a few hundred yards away, slept J. A. and Addie McDuff. On the way, Hank seemed indifferent to the content of his statements. But when he got out of the car, he began to cry. At last, Hank Worley began to appreciate and come to grips with what he had done.
Every lawman at the scene later described a profound sense of sadness followed by outrage. J. W. was a member of APD's Assault Unit; this was his first in-depth murder investigation. He asked himself, "What have I gotten myself in to?" Mike McNamara's eyes watered as he walked off in a futile attempt to find the remains of a young woman he never knew. "We were raised to be very respectful of women. A woman is to be revered," Mike remembered more than six years later; his lips still trembled and his eyes still showed his pain. Bill Johnston and Parnell McNamara stood silently; their sad eyes staring into the darkness. They tried mightily to keep up their faces of stone, but their hearts broke when Hank said, "Her screams were so loud they hurt my ears. And finally, she could not scream any more." Her cries made no difference; Bill could not get that out of his mind.
Chuck thought of the screams, the long ordeal, and the torture. "This was not some doper shooting another doper. How could somebody be this weak? I found myself getting madder and madder at [Hank]," Chuck remembered.
6
The Boys from Waco left the scene in a state of anxiety. Had McDuff done this to anyone else? Was he doing it to someone at that moment? Who would be next to scream? Was there another Hank Worley out there?

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