Finding Amy (31 page)

Sergeant Stewart summed up the relationship between the agencies in this way:

This case showed the reality of having two experienced and capable homicide units, both staffed with a bunch of “alpha dogs,” go after a case together. Add to that some fairly blurred jurisdictional lines and an outspoken and media-savvy Chief of Police whose press philosophy is basically opposed to that of the MSP and AG, and you've got quite a challenging situation. There was always mutual respect between the investigators and supervisors on both sides because we all knew we were dealing with fellow homicide detectives who had been “there.” So maybe the real story is how this bunch of cops rose above all of the distractions and confusions of this kind of blended investigation and prevailed to successfully bring a killer to justice.

Scott Harakles gives the credit for their positive working relationship to Amy, to the goodness of her spirit and to the way she got under their skins and made them
need
to solve her case. The situation with Amy was so important that everyone focused on getting justice for her. He also talks about the unusual nature of his reception at the Portland Police Department. In many situations, when the state police come into an investigation where they have superior authority, the welcome may not be very warm. People often don't greet him or make eye contact. In Portland, where he had to go every day, he was treated like one of the guys, welcomed and made a member of the team.

Danny Young now has Tommy Joyce's job, as CID sergeant, while Joyce has left the department to teach criminal justice. Danny Young and Scott Harakles continue to be good friends, maintaining the bridge between the two agencies that was built while solving Amy St. Laurent's murder. Recently, they have begun to work together on some of Young's cold cases, the cases he would never give up.

Another significant, and in many ways even more surprising, legacy of the Amy St. Laurent case was the involvement of the Maine Warden Service. When Lieutenant Patrick Dorian made his initial phone call, asking if the warden service might offer its search and rescue expertise in helping to find Amy St. Laurent's body, he knew it was a long shot. It was unheard of at that point for the warden service to get involved in what was essentially an urban murder case.

Every police investigator went into that initial meeting skeptical about the possibility that the wardens would have anything to offer, and came out of it convinced that it was a chance worth taking. On the Saturday of the massive search operation, even as some of the detectives rolled their eyes in cynical disbelief about the possibilities of finding a needle in a haystack or, as one of them put it, a buried needle in a buried haystack, Danny Young and Scott Harakles woke with the firm belief that they would find Amy before the day was over. They ended that day grateful that Amy had been found and firm in their conviction that Amy's spirit had guided them.

It is also part of Amy's legacy that, having succeeded in that initial effort, the Maine Warden Service emerged more willing to offer its search expertise to other law enforcement agencies, and its success encouraged other agencies to call on them.

Warden Kevin Adam says that these days, when there is a high-profile missing person case in Maine, the state police or local police will get the call and they, in turn, will call the warden service. Wardens have assisted in finding the body of David Langway, in Glenburn, where the police, following up a tip, had located the skull but couldn't find the rest of the remains. They searched the site with dogs and MASAR volunteers, and on the last pass a warden spotted an out-of-place piece of dirt in the woods the size of three silver dollars. The dogs were brought back in, and they found the dismembered remains. Wardens also located the crime site in the disappearance of a Colby College student. And they used their dogs to find the body of Cody Greene in Brunswick, camouflaged with brush in the yard of the house where she was last seen.

In the spring of 2003, the wardens and MESARD (Maine Search and Rescue Dogs) went north to Miramichi, New Brunswick, to assist in locating the body of a homicide victim. The first effort failed, but a second effort, in June, eventually led investigators to the body after one of the wardens noticed, from their mapping, a gap in the area initially searched.

In the summer of 2004, a teenage girl named Crystal Higgins went missing. The warden service was called in and searched hundreds of miles of roads. Finally the wardens sat down and had a meeting, applied their training and experience, and said that either she had left the area or she was in the water. Based on what they knew about the missing teenager, it seemed unlikely she'd left the area. They got the Marine Patrol out and found that her car had gone off a pier.

As with all areas of expertise, the more searches the wardens do, the more experienced and better at it they get. And the impetus came from Lieutenant Dorian and Amy St. Laurent.

In Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, facing the ocean, is a granite memorial bench donated in Amy's memory. Here, in a place of quiet beauty, those who loved her can sit and remember the lovely, vibrant girl Amy St. Laurent was. It is a fitting memorial to the thoughtful, wistful young woman who wanted to be more attuned to the beauty of the world. She touched many lives with her warmth and generosity in the brief twenty-five years of her life. She has touched many more through the actions of those who strove to bring her killer to justice. And she continues to reach forward into the future through the efforts she has inspired to bring closure, justice, and safety to others.

A portion of the proceeds from this book is being donated to the Amy St. Laurent Foundation, to continue the work being done in Amy's name. Readers wishing to send contributions to the foundation should send them to:

The Amy St. Laurent Foundation
P.O. Box 664
Yarmouth, ME 04096

Chapter 1 (pp. 5–19)

  1.
Edgar Allen Beem, “Teflon Tough Guy,”
Boston Globe Sunday Magazine
, July 28, 2002.

  2.
In his preface to
Practical Homicide Investigation
, 3rd ed. (CRC Press, 1996), Vernon Geberth writes, “Homicide investigation is an aggressive business. Not everyone is qualified for the mission-oriented commitment of death investigation.
Your
homicide case is
yours
forever.” Detective Young keeps the files from unsolved cases that he hasn't given up on, and has families he has stayed in touch with for years.

  3.
Under the SOP (standard operating procedure) in place at the time, unless extenuating circumstances such as suicide, an elderly person, a mentally handicapped person, etc., existed, reports were not taken on adults until they had been missing for twenty-four hours. In Portland, 99.5 percent of missing persons cases are resolved within a few days.

Chapter 3 (pp. 29–40)

  1.
A background check on a suspect begins in-house, with a check of the internal database for criminal history. Detectives also check with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) for a record of all state convictions. For criminal history beyond state borders, detectives use the NCIC computer, which can supply a national printout of arrests and convictions. Once one of these checks reveals a criminal record, detectives often call the police department where the arrest took place to get the inside story on the suspect.

  2.
The “homicidal triad,” or triangle, is bed-wetting at an inappropriate age, starting fires, and cruelty to small animals or children. At least two of these three characteristics are frequently found in the histories of serial killers. See John Douglas and Mark Olshaker,
Journey into Darkness
(Scribner, 1997).

  3.
At this point, police had no grounds on which to arrest Eric Rubright. His presence at the police station, as well as his decision to take a polygraph exam, were purely voluntary. One of the constant challenges to detectives is to create an environment in which suspects will speak with them willingly. As Lieutenant Albert Joseph, Jr. says in his book,
We Get Confessions
(A. J. Book, 1997): “Treat them with respect + bullshit them a little + get them to like you = sell them that vacuum cleaner or get that confession.”

  4.
Although suspects and witnesses may view polygraphs as a trap, and defense attorneys reflexively counsel their clients not to take them, police routinely use the polygraph as a way of eliminating suspects. As with Rubright, observing an individual take a polygraph provides valuable information, not simply through the person's words or the polygraph results, but through the body language.

  5.
It is a fact that anyone has the right to refuse to speak with the police after the initial phase of stopping if requested and identifying oneself. There is usually no legal obligation to cooperate. The obligation to cooperate stems from the moral obligations of membership in a civilized society and the simple recognition that there are many citizens and few police, and citizen cooperation is essential for an orderly society (known as the Thin Blue Line argument).

Chapter 4 (pp. 41–52)

  1.
Practical Homicide Investigation
, p. 719.

Chapter 6 (pp. 65–80)

  1.
Portland Press Herald
, Tuesday, November 11, 2003.

Chapter 7 (pp. 81–100)

  1.
Locard's Exchange Principle, a cornerstone of forensic science, states that when an offender comes into contact with a location or another person an exchange of evidence occurs.

  2.
Except for Gorman's own call to the police, reporting the thirdhand information that someone had told him that someone had seen Amy outside the Industry at 2:30 a.m. on the morning she disappeared.

  3.
Among the things the evidence techs found in Gorman's car was a stolen library copy of
The Boston Strangler
. Inside the back cover was written: “Get fucked up. Stay fucked up.” Signed: Jeffrey Gorman.

  4.
The FBI description of post-offense behavior includes altered physical appearance, pronounced anxiety, atypical media interest, noticeable mood swings, withdrawn behavior, unusual level of preoccupation, unusual absenteeism, and altered sleeping and/or eating habits.

  5.
Over the next few months, he would offer varying explanations for this. He told one person he was cleaning it because he had a date, a second that he was loaning the car to someone, a third that Amy had been sick in the car.

  6.
Learning to listen to instinct, one of those hardwired, primitive senses designed to keep us safe, is especially difficult for women who've been socialized to “be nice.” Still, this small thing, not divulged at earlier interviews, would stay in the detectives' minds, rising to haunt them again and again throughout the case. If Sharma had told the truth—no, he's not okay—might Amy have been saved?

  7.
A reserve police officer is an officer with partial police training, in Campbell's case, a hundred hours, who serves on an on-call basis when needed. Many departments do not subscribe to this expediency and require much more training. Portland, for example, does not have reserve officers. A person seeking to become an officer must attend the 16-week police academy, spend sixteen weeks with a field-training officer and then undergo a two-year probation period.

  8.
As an example of the way detectives check and recheck facts, the girls from Munjoy Hill were located, and one of them later confirmed, in an interview, the incident when Gorman took Campbell's gun out of the car and showed it to her.

  9.
Campbell's behavior regarding the loss of his gun ultimately lost him his job as a part-time police officer and his bid to become full time.

10.
At one point, Westbrook police went to interview Campbell about his missing-gun report and Gorman was there, standing outside. As they were leaving to take Campbell down to the station, Gorman banged on the side of the police van, yelling, “You found the gun, right?”

Chapter 8 (pp. 101–111)

  1.
From an investigative point of view, anything that has proven to be successful in one investigation should certainly be considered in other cases, especially in cases where there is limited information. The use of a psychic can be considered as an additional investigative aid. Geberth,
Practical Homicide Investigation
, pp. 665–666.

  2.
Marie's drawing, which had roads and bodies of water but no street or town names, later turned out to be uncannily correct.

Chapter 10 (pp. 123–136)

  1.
A part of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, under Maine statutes, 12 M.R.S.A. sec. 10105(4), the search and rescue arm of the warden service, upon “notification that any person has gone into the woodlands or onto the inland waters of the State on a hunting, fishing or other trip and has become lost, stranded or drowned, the commissioner shall exercise the authority to take reasonable steps to ensure the safe and timely recovery of that person.” Maine is unusual in having search and rescue in a conservation agency. In many states, the state police do it.

  2.
DOJ study: “Case Management for Missing Children Homicide Investigation, May 1997.” Kenneth Hanfland, Robert Keppel, and Joseph Weis, Grant No. 93-MC-CX-K006, Office of Juvenile Justice.

  3.
In 2002, Guay and Reba received the Search and Rescue Canine Case of the Year award at the Maine Warden Service Awards Banquet.

  4.
Detectives knew it was crucial to keep this discovery from the public. Subsequently, Sergeant Stewart would get a heads-up call that a curious reporter was enroute to the Westbrook Police Department to look at records and had to persuade the reporter that revealing the traffic stop would seriously damage the state's case.

  5.
The next most dangerous are domestic calls.

Chapter 12 (pp. 149–168)

  1.
“Under ordinary circumstances an outdoor scene should not be searched during nighttime hours. Weather changes the rules. Under no circumstances should the crime scene and/or body be left unguarded and unprotected until daylight hours.” Geberth,
Practical Homicide Investigation
, p. 807.

  2.
Crime scene response instructors teach that “the amount of destruction to a crime scene is proportionate to the number of people having access to that scene … non-essential persons must be kept out if the criminal investigation is to proceed in an effective and efficient manner.” Training bulletin developed by the Portland Police Department.

  3.
“The ultimate goal is to recreate as accurately as possible the circumstances of the crime committed, identify and apprehend the perpetrator(s), and successfully guide the case through the criminal justice system.” Robert M. Boyd, “Buried Body Cases,”
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
, February 1979.

Chapter 13 (pp. 169–186)

  1.
There is endless cop lore about how to deal with death smells, which linger in the clothes and sometimes in the nose, for days. Often an officer returning from a death scene will strip down in the laundry room and throw the clothes into the washer with ammonia or bleach, leaving shoes outside the door to be dealt with later with water and ammonia. Some bury their clothes in the yard for a few days. Sometimes the odor gets so bad the officers simply find a dumpster and throw their clothes away. Often there will be “phantom” smells the next day or in response to events that recall the death scene. Cops also use other smells to mask the odor—Vicks, piña colada, or mint. The risk is that, later, those scents will be associated with the death scent and become unpalatable as well.

  2.
Danny Young, who in part of his detective career was a rape and sex crimes investigator, said that based on the condition of the body and on his experience, he felt certain that a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault had taken place. Although Gorman was never charged with a sexual assault, Young said the medical examiner, based on her experience, concurred with his opinion.

  3.
Later, Tammy Westbrook would send her teenage daughter, Britney, to stay with Mary Young in Florida to get her away from all the turmoil and stress surrounding the investigation.

  4.
This was in a probation officer's notes in connection with the Probation and Parole Department's request to issue an arrest warrant for Gorman as a result of his probation violation.

  5.
Gorman's grandmother would later tell police that she didn't ask her grandson to leave because of his Uncle's expected return but because he had a gun.

  6.
Police would subsequently obtain phone records from Dot Gorman's house and Tammy Westbrook's cell phone that confirmed a twenty-two-minute call from there to Tammy Westbrook's cell phone on 12/9/01 at 2:27 p.m. EST.

  7.
As with so many of the tests that were conducted on Amy St. Laurent's body, the search for gunshot residue had been complicated by the decomposition process. Amy's body was taken from Augusta to the University of Maine in Orono, where Dr. Sorg conducted X-ray procedures. It was then returned to the medical examiner's office where subsequent testing was able to identify lead in the area of the exit wound, allowing the examiners to confirm that it was a gunshot wound.

Chapter 14 (pp. 187–205)

  1.
In retrospect, different players would remember this evening differently, but Harakles would say, of himself, “I certainly am a team player, but on this issue, I was a little pigheaded.” And Sergeant Stewart, acknowledging this, would agree that, “Scott can be a handful.”

  2.
This girl never voluntarily contacted the police. As Tommy Joyce says, “no one ever thinks to pick up the phone.” She eventually mentioned knowing about the case in earshot of a security guard at a Marshalls store where she was working. The security guard contacted police. In a subsequent interview, she reported meeting Gorman the Sunday morning after Amy St. Laurent disappeared and seeing his pants and shoes covered with blood. He explained the blood was the result of his mother's dog having puppies. Investigation showed the puppy story to be a lie.

  3.
It is a fact of human nature that most people are deeply troubled by knowledge of a crime. As in so many other aspects of police procedure—it's a peculiar balance. Cops are cynical about the level of citizen cooperation, often with good reason, and yet the system relies on the existence of a conscience and the witnesses' willingness to exercise it. Often the detective's biggest challenge is to appeal to that conscience in a way that will cause the person to do the right thing. Some willingly come forward, while others have to be found and talked into talking. Frequently, though, once they are found, they are relieved to have a chance to talk.

  4.
Scott Harakles notes that, in Gorman's confession to his mother, part of his motivation was clearly to hurt her and blame her for what had happened. In his confession to Mamma E, he was more frank, but he still tried to put an innocent gloss on things. He still made the abduction a moonlight walk by the pond and tried to blame his behavior on drugs and alcohol, even as he was describing a cold and calculated effort to get rid of evidence and cover up a crime. Even to himself, he was unable to admit that he was a sexual predator.

  5.
Gorman and his uncle, Daniel Gorman (Dot's son), had been involved in many criminal incidents during Gorman's adolescence, including stealing Dot's car.

Chapter 16 (pp. 214–234)

  1.
The decision to use divers to do the search brought out one of the occasional conflicts between Portland and state police. Once Sergeant Joyce and Detective Young decided the search was necessary, they wanted to do it right away; Sergeant Stewart and the MSP wanted to have a meeting to discuss and plan it before proceeding. Sergeant Joyce just said, “Well, we're doing it tomorrow.” As with most such conflicts, this wasn't a conflict of purpose or a disagreement about the value of the proposed event; it was a question of command structure and internal process.