Finding Amy (11 page)

The search for Amy took as many forms as detectives could conceive of. Sergeants Joyce and Coffin headed up a group of detectives who searched all the hiking trails on Mount Agamenticus, near Amy's home in South Berwick. They visited every hotel and motel on Route 1 from Falmouth to Saco. Young and Harakles checked motels in other towns. Detectives drove around, trying to think like their suspect, searching pond areas and sand pits. Peering under cars in junkyards.

State police conducted ground searches of the entire potential route of travel from exit 6 on the turnpike southbound along the pike to the Wells exit and then along Route 9 to South Berwick. Everyone walked roadsides and examined gravel pits, woods, roads, fields, abandoned houses, and anything that caught their eyes as a potential disposal site. MSP used troopers and tracking dogs and detectives on foot. Detective Lance McCleish and Sergeant Stewart did aerial surveys with the state police pilot.

The Portland Department of Public Works searched all the storm drains—an event Gorman learned about because a friend's father worked for the city DPW, and which Gorman reported to another friend with a sneer.

Following the trail of potential witnesses was like working in a gigantic maze and consumed hundreds of hours. Detective Mark Teceno and evidence technician Chris Stearns conducted many of the follow-up interviews with young women who had known Gorman through the Old Port bar scene. Often one witness would lead them to another, and to another, and another. Each casually dropped name, or “Oh, you should talk with so-and-so, she used to hang out with Russ,” or “I've heard that this girl knows something she isn't telling,” or “Russ said something to so-and-so, but she's afraid to talk to the police,” or “So-and-so knows more than she's telling but don't let her know that I told you” led to a name on the dryboard, a phone call, and often an interview.

Over and over, detectives would say: Tell me about Russ. How do you know him? Have you ever seen or experienced Gorman being violent toward women? Have you heard anything about Gorman supplying drugs or using drugs to obtain sex? If Gorman were going to take a girl somewhere for sex, where would he go? Where did he take you? Have you or anyone you know ever seen Gorman with a gun? Has he ever mentioned Amy St. Laurent or spoken about what happened that night?

As the days ticked by without a body or a break, Lieutenant Loughlin decided to consult a psychic.
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He had heard Vicki Monroe on the radio and read a very convincing article about her in the newspaper.

I call Vicki Monroe, a popular local psychic who has turned many nonbelievers into believers. What the hell? It can't hurt. We're at the point where we'll check anything. Everything.

I explain who I am and she has heard of the case. I say, “Tell me where Amy is, Vicki.”

Vicki tells me that something happened in a car with Amy. This is what we believe and at this point there is nothing in the press. She gives me the first name Jeff or Jay. Amy is telling her that she is underneath something but cannot say where. It is near water. There were other guys around and in the car but “J” is responsible. She tells me that the suspect has an enraged personality and a criminal record, which I suppose is pretty obvious.

She also thinks that Amy was given drugs and she would not normally go with a stranger. This we also believe was true, as does Amy's mother, Diane. Vicki tells me that Amy is definitely deceased and keeps saying it was violent and that she is under something. Vicki tells me that we're looking in the wrong direction and we should look north. Vicki wants to talk to Diane, as well.

We receive a lot of calls from psychics, and although we never discuss or reveal anything in an investigation, some of their thoughts may trigger events or thoughts in us. Dan told me he had had calls from another woman named Marie Roberts of Westbrook. Marie drew a map of where she believed Amy was but could not say exactly where the body was.
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These individuals are passionate about what they do and sincerely believe in their abilities. I do not dismiss the possibilities of another developed sense or sixth sense.

I agreed to meet one psychic near my home on a sunny November Saturday. This woman had had a vivid dream of Amy calling to her from her burial spot. It frightened this woman, the hideous image that she saw of Amy buried in the sand around a river in Yarmouth. She was very convincing. We often worked through weekends anyhow, so we met and drove off to the woods of Yarmouth.

We walked through fields, woods, down to the river for several hours. One vivid memory I have is of this woman hugging a tree and telling me she feels Amy's presence and message but Amy cannot place exactly where she is. A few feet away, I'm wrapped around another tree, pleading with the spirit world and this woman, “Okay, okay. Just tell me where she is! Tell us where you are, Amy.” Silently praying to God.

On the way back to Portland, empty handed, I heard Danny Young over the police radio calling for a patrol car to meet with an officer. Danny just couldn't stop.

Missing person poster given to police personnel searching for Amy St. Laurent. Similar fliers were posted in store windows throughout Portland and southern Maine.

Photo: Stewart Smith Photographers

Video monitor photograph of detectives Danny Young and Mark Teceno interviewing Jeffrey Russell Gorman

Portland Police public record

Amy St. Laurent

Stewart Smith Photographers

Maine Warden Service overhead team. From left, Glenn Annis, Sergeant Joel Wilkinson, Kevin Adam, and Lieutenant Patrick Dorian

Portland Press Herald

Amy St. Laurent's mother, Diane Jenkins, and Lieutenant Joseph Loughlin speak with the press on the day of the search.

Portland Press Herald

Detective Danny Young uses a trowel to dig a test hole at the site MASAR searchers and cadaver dogs identified as a possible grave site.

Portland Police public record

Detectives walking down the rubble-choked road off Route 22 in Westbrook

Portland Police public record

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Margaret Greenwald and Detective Danny Young hold up the wooden form for poured concrete removed from Amy St. Laurent's grave.

Portland Police public record

Portland Police Detective Sergeant Bruce Coffin with state police divers as they prepare to search Portland Harbor for the murder weapon

Portland Police public record

A strategy meeting in the conference room 109. Clockwise from front left: Detective Lieutenant Brian McDonough, evidence technician Chris Stearns, Detective Herbert Leighton, Detective Sergeant Bruce Coffin, AAG Fern LaRochelle, Detective Sergeant Tom Joyce, Deputy AG Bill Stokes, Detective Danny Young, Detective Scott Harakles, Sergeant Matt Stewart

Portland Police public record

Gorman in Cumberland County Superior Court after being arraigned on probation violations

Portland Press Herald

Aerial photograph showing Route 22, the tote road, and the black ponds. Dot indicates where the body was found.

Portland Police public record