Death's Shadow (19 page)

“I Hate Cops”

Mike Maloney now had a list of possible Kitchener-based friends of Kyro Sparks. But had any of them been with Sparks at O’Grady’s? If Sparks was living or working in Hamilton, he could have an entirely different set of associates in the city. He needed more. Tips were flowing in, sightings of men in the area near O’Grady’s on Upper James Street the night of the homicide.

Maloney reflected that when a solid citizen was murdered, there was always lots of information that came in from the people who had cared about the victim. When it was someone living on the fringe in Hamilton, that was not the case. In that sense Art Rozendal’s reputation was actually helping the investigation into his death.

The second investigator in the Rozendal homicide was Greg Jackson, a broad-shouldered detective who stood six foot two and weighed in at 210 pounds; he looked like he could play receiver for the Ticats. Policing in Hamilton ran in Jackson’s family. His late father, Cliff, had been a cop. So, too, had his grandfather, Ernie. As a boy Jackson remembered seeing Ernie at the old Criminal Investigations Division, a dusty office that looked like the set from the
Barney Miller
TV show.

Jackson viewed notes taken by uniform officers who had reported to the scene at O’Grady’s Roadhouse, and witness statements taken in the early hours of the investigation. Most homicide scenes in Hamilton are populated by few people; a crowded bar was a different matter. It meant more legwork for investigators, but was also a great advantage in learning what had happened and who might have been involved. Every eye holds a tiny piece of the puzzle. What did they see?

Jackson called in more than a dozen witnesses to provide statements or expand on those already given to police. Jackson, Maloney, and the other detectives would eventually interview about 45 people who had been there the night of the murder. The killers had by all accounts simply walked out the front door, out onto Upper James Street. One suspect had been arrested in the area — but what about the others?

Maloney interviewed a cabbie who said he gave a ride that night to a fare that fitted Kyro Sparks’s description. The fare had been rude to him, called him a “Paki,” spat and swore at him. An interesting bit of detail: the guy also mentioned that he had a girlfriend in town who went to Mohawk College. The cabbie — who had once been a major in the Pakistani army — ordered the guy out of the cab.

The cabbie added that he had picked up the guy in front of the Double Double Pizza on Upper James Street. Maloney went to the pizza place, asked if they had a working video camera on site that night. They did not. The Mohawk tip was something, though. The detectives worked through Mohawk College, posted notices on campus about the crime, suggesting that a suspect may have visited a student in residence there. Reward for information was offered: $2,000. Jackson interviewed a woman who cut hair on campus, who said she had a customer who fitted the description of one of the suspects offered up by police. The lead did not pan out.

Maloney reviewed another Crime Stoppers tip. It was from a customer who had been shopping at a No Frills store at Mohawk and Upper James Street, on Friday, January 14, around 2:00 p.m. Art was killed that night. The tip described two men in the store “not really shopping, just pushing a buggy around and watching the customers.” One of them fitted Sparks’s description. The other “had an afro with pony tail and a white pick (comb) sticking out of his hair. Navy blue puffy hip length winter coat, five-eleven, slim build, no facial hair.” Maloney was impressed — pretty good description from a customer who just happened to be shopping there. In a perfect world, the No Frills store would have working video cameras. He phoned the store.

“How long do you keep your security tapes for?”

“Three months,” the manager said.

On Wednesday morning, January 19, Maloney drove to the store and watched a section of the video. Between 2:07 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., he saw two males on camera pushing the buggy. It was the first video tape of many. Peter Abi-Rashed ordered officers to retrieve every store video in that part of Upper James Street. Viewing the No Frills video was simple enough because the tip had specified what time of day to look at. For the rest of them, it meant viewing recordings from around January 14 from start to finish. A constable named Sarah Watson was seconded to view hundreds of hours of footage.

That same day Maloney put in a phone call to the Barton Street jail. Kyro Sparks’s known associates had been in trouble with police in the past. Might one of them actually be in jail? The jail had access to data listing the names of every person currently housed in a detention centre in Ontario. An official told Maloney that one of Sparks’s friends, the one named Cory McLeod, was currently incarcerated at Maplehurst institution in Milton. Clearly, Cory McLeod would not have had opportunity to attack Art Rozendal if he was in jail already. Except McLeod had turned himself in to Kitchener police on an aggravated assault and weapons charge on January 15 — the day after Art was killed. He appeared in court three days later and was taken to Maplehurst not long after that. Cory McLeod had been a free man at the time Art was killed. But if he was involved in the homicide, why would he turn himself in? The detectives talked about it. McLeod was hiding in jail. Had to be. After the homicide the guy had figured that he would take off for Kitchener, out of the Hamilton Police jurisdiction. He could turn himself in, hide out in jail, and let the dust settle. Wait for his assault beef in Kitchener to be dealt with, then take off. Police weren’t going to look for a murder suspect in prison.

Maloney knew they didn’t have to immediately visit McLeod at Maplehurst. Not yet. He wasn’t going anywhere. What they needed was evidence putting him in Hamilton at the time of the homicide. On Thursday, January 20, Maloney phoned a security officer at Maplehurst. What personal effects did Cory McLeod have with him? The officer said McLeod had white Nike running shoes, a black ski jacket, grey sweater, beige pants. Maloney passed along the information to the Hamilton constable reviewing the store videotapes.

On Tuesday, January 25, at 9:30 a.m., Maloney called the security manager at Barton Street jail. He asked if inmate Kyro Sparks had received any visitors lately. He had two visitors who came to see him on January 17, and January 19. Names: Katrina McLennan and Sherri Foreman, both of 643 Upper James Street, apartment 2. In the register, Sherri had written “friend,” Katrina wrote “girlfriend.” Maloney called Maplehurst. Cory McLeod had not been receiving visitors. Letters? He had not received any letters — but he had mailed out letters of his own. He had written two females who lived in Meaford, Ontario, and there was a letter he mailed to a woman in Hamilton. The name written on the envelope was “Sherri McLeod,” and the address was 643 Upper James Street, apartment 2. Cory McLeod and Kyro Sparks both had a Hamilton connection. Their girlfriends lived in the apartment around the corner from O’Grady’s Roadhouse.

At 8:20 the next morning, Wednesday, an anonymous caller left a message on Maloney’s voicemail: “I think I might know who one of your suspects is from Kitchener,” the caller said. He said he knew Kyro Sparks, and that Kyro hung out with a guy named Cory McLeod. Said the guy had a big afro and put his hair in a ponytail.

“Cory is the type of guy that snaps when he gets drunk. He brags about it. Brags about killing someone.” The caller added he was offering the information because “the guy they killed was a contributor, a millwright. And now his kids are orphaned.”

At 10:00 a.m. Maloney and Detective Greg Jackson checked out an unmarked car and drove to 643 Upper James. They knocked at apartment 2. No answer. Someone moved a drape in the window. They were there all right. Maloney knocked again. No answer.

The detectives entered a sewing shop at the front of the building. A woman there said her husband was the building superintendent. apartment 2? Tenant was a girl named Katrina. She was a student at Mohawk College, but was from Kitchener. Her parents were really nice people. Back at apartment 2, the woman knocked on the door for the detectives, while Maloney and Jackson stood off to the side out of view. Katrina opened the door. When the detectives stepped out, she looked surprised — and did not invite them in. Maloney and Jackson stepped inside. Sherri Foreman was sitting in the room.

“We’re investigating a murder at O’Grady’s Roadhouse,” Maloney said. “A man named Kyro Sparks has been arrested. We have information that he’s been here.” He said nothing about Cory McLeod.

In fact the detectives had no information that put Sparks in that apartment. But they had a strong suspicion. An eyewitness at the bar who had followed the killers outside O’Grady’s said they had hopped a fence near that building. Sherri said they both knew Kyro from Kitchener, but added that he had not been in their apartment on Upper James Street. Guys come by the apartment, she said, but he was not one of them. The detectives warned them: “This is a murder investigation. Obstruct police and we will arrest you.”

“We’d like to talk to you down at the station,” Jackson said.

They left the building and got in the car; the detectives drove them down the Mountain. Better to take Katrina and Sherri downtown, interview them separately, and get statements from each on the record, on videotape.

“How long have you known Kyro Sparks?” Maloney asked to start the interview.

“I don’t know,” Katrina replied.

As the camera rolled, Greg Jackson transcribed. Sherri Foreman waited in the hallway.

“Are you Kyro’s girlfriend?”

“No.”

“How did you sign in at the jail to visit him?”

“Girlfriend.”

Maloney asked her about January 14, the night of the homicide at O’Grady’s Roadhouse on Upper James Street.

“Do you remember the night it happened? It was Friday night, a week ago last Friday.”

“I honestly don’t know about that.”

“Do you recall where you were that Friday night?”

“At my place?”

“Were you there or are you not sure?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Can you guess when the last time was that Kyro was at your place? I’m trying to assist you in recollecting the last time he was there.”

“Who said he was there? You have people telling you that he’s been there? Did I not tell you how many black guys came to my house? How do you know one was Kyro?”

“I don’t.”

“So how are you going to believe these people?”

“Are you telling me Kyro has never been to your house?

“Hmm.”

“Is that a no? He has or hasn’t?”

“I met him in Kitchener.”

Maloney told her at least two guys left O’Grady’s that night and were seen by a witness heading toward the apartment.

“Did anyone come to your apartment that night? Did anyone come to your place and say, ‘I can’t believe what happened; I just beat up a guy in a bar?’“

She giggled.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“It’s not funny. Someone got killed. If that was your father, I don’t think you’d be laughing.”

“I know. I don’t think it’s funny; I just laugh all the time. It’s just me. You say the most serious thing and I’ll laugh.”

“What does Kyro think about all this?”

“I don’t know. Ask him.”

“Do your parents know that Kyro is a friend of yours and has been arrested for murder? What would they say?”

“Why are you going to involve my parents?”

“I’m not involving them; I’m just wondering. What would your parents think?”

“I don’t know; they probably wouldn’t be too happy. But he hasn’t been found guilty.”

Maloney told Katrina she may end up on the stand in court and be asked by a defence lawyer to provide an alibi for Kyro for his whereabouts that night.

“I know, it’s a big show. I know what goes on.”

“You know what goes on.”

“Uh-huh.”

It was Sherri Foreman’s turn. Maloney was careful to not mention Cory McLeod’s name. He knew McLeod had been in contact with Sherri.

“How long have you known Kyro Sparks?”

Sherri Foreman and Katrina McLennan were interrogated by police.
Hamilton Police Service.

“I don’t even know how long I’ve known him, I’ve just met him a couple of times.”

“When?”

“I don’t know, I just met him in Kitchener. I don’t know when.”

“When?”

“It was warm out.”

“Warm out?”

“Summer. That’s all I know.”

Maloney asked what she was doing the night of the homicide.

“Probably was in Kitchener. Or even Hamilton. I don’t remember that far back.”

“I want to explain something to you, Sherri,” Maloney said. “There’s a thing called accessory after the fact. That means if someone committed the crime and afterward you didn’t even know they committed the crime, but you assisted them hiding in your apartment or something like that, you could be charged. It’s a very serious crime.”

“I know, I’ve heard of that.”

“So you didn’t do anything like that; no one came saying, ‘Hey, can we stay here a while?’“

“I’d be, like, ‘Get out of my house.’”