Love Story: In The Web of Life (28 page)

We would like you to understand that Mr.
Manteo's is highly credentialed as a psychic resource. He has
served as an intelligence resource of the US Government for over
twenty years, dealing with the highest level of government,
including two Presidents. We will review his credentials, those
credentials presented to Sheriff Bogend on the evening of Lucy's
loss.

We will show that Lucy's death could have been
avoided if Sheriff Bogend had not negligently refused to act on
available information and fully utilized his available search
resources.

Elizabeth paused and then added, "Here is the
defense's opening statement:"

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury:

We all go to the movies and watch TV. Some
popular movies and TV series have mediums and psychics solving
complicated criminal cases. Those stories all come from
screenwriters. None are ever a real on-the-scene coverage of a
psychic solving a case. In the movies, Superman can fly; Spiderman
can swing through Manhattan on treads of webs; mediaeval Merlins
can conjure Dragons; and psychics identify killers. You all can
rely on your own experience to know what is fact and what is
fiction.

The essence of this case is whether Sheriff
Bogend should have listened to a stranger, claiming to be a
psychic, diverted his search and rescue resources down Bear Creek,
and lessening his search in Sheffield Valley where tracks indicated
Lucy had gone. Sheriff Bogend acted as a reasonable man should and
concentrated on searching Sheffield Valley.

We will present scientific experts who will
testify there is absolutely no scientific evidence to show that
psychic phenomena exist as a means to find a missing child in a
situation such as this. Science can show that there is no physical
way for a man at the Rawhide Cafe to receive communications from or
know the location of a child two miles away.

Many law enforcement agencies have had
experience with so-called psychics who have volunteered to help
solve cases. We will describe a study that polled law enforcement
agencies all over the country and concluded that, in the words of
one respondent, 'Psychics are of little value in
investigations.'

You must find that Sheriff Bogend was not
negligent in his search for the lost girl.

Elizabeth finished reading. She outlined the
general strategy of the trial to the group. She passed the laptop
to me to read the reporter's comments to Dore that preceded the
opening statement:

To Dore Hamilton

Subject: Summary of first day of
trial.

It took me a long time during jury selection
for me to figure out that Mr. Willard was not a local country
lawyer. He did a good routine of 'I was raised in a small town like
this and am a country boy at heart...'and 'we need to use our
horse-sense in evaluating this case.'

However, when he questioned witnesses, I could
see the razor-sharp mind of a lawyer from a long letterhead law
firm coming through.

"It worked," I thought.

****

Tuesday was a more exciting day in court. As
Elizabeth and I drove back to the ranch after the day in court,
Elizabeth said, "Here in the big leagues we sure put in long days.
You should get hazardous duty pay. I thought the good Sheriff was
trying to kill you with those hatred beams from his eyes. Did you
see that his hand started to go down for his gun before he
apparently remembered he was not wearing his belt. Several members
of the jury were cringing at his anger in his answers to your
questions. Before we came up here I thought you were a patent
attorney, you should specialize in personal injury,
slip and fall
cases."

"Thanks," I said. "I noticed my nemesis in the
back of the courtroom after lunch today. He was the guy with the
crew-cut grey hair and the gold-rimmed glasses. Buster was sitting
right behind him and Buster's other man was sitting two seats away.
Did you see him?"

"I saw him. I thought he was weird. Not a Rocky
Butte local. He had a terrible vibration, like a crazy man. He was
making faces in response to what people said like an undisciplined
third-grader."

Exhausted we didn't talk much the rest of the
trip.

When we made the car switch at the old
Williams' place, I climbed in and asked Buster, "Do you know who
that guy sitting in front of you was? He is the man who has been
stalking me."

"We had Mr. S. under surveillance before he
even got to the courthouse. We made sure he was thoroughly searched
by security at the entrance to the courthouse. You know that person
in the blue lab coat that runs you through the metal
detector?"

"Yes, the same man every day," I
observed.

Buster smiled and said, "He also works for us.
Don't worry about Mr. S. I assure you we have him
covered."

Buster didn't elaborate.

After we were in the lodge having a glass of
wine, Elizabeth downloaded the reporter's dispatch to Dore. It
said:

"To Dore Hamilton:"

"Subject: Summary of second day of
trial."

The day started with Ed Sodastrom's tragic
report of the evening Lucy was lost. Here is an excerpt:

"While we were finishing dinner, about six
o'clock, at the Rawhide Cafe, on the highway north of Rocky Butte,
Lucy asked whether she could go to the area behind the cafe and
make a snowman. A light snow had begun falling and there was about
an inch of snow accumulated in the area behind the cafe. When we
finished dinner and went behind the cafe to get Lucy, she could not
be found. We found her tracks in the light snow but lost her trail.
We searched and called for Lucy with no response. Alarmed, my wife,
Ann went back into the cafe and called 911 while I continued the
search.

Sheriff Bogend and his deputy arrived at the
cafe at about a quarter after six. After a brief search, they
called the county for assistance in a full-scale search operation
and set up a command post in the cafe. By seven, county resources
began to arrive, including search teams, paramedics, and
communication equipment.

Two search parties began the search for Lucy.
Sheriff Bogend believed that Lucy has gone down the trail into
Sheffield Valley and sent the first search parties down that trail.
A deputy told us that one party reported that they had found faint
tracks. Sheriff Bogend directed a full-scale search into the
Sheffield Valley area.

We sat in the cafe for a while until Ann became
so stressed that we moved to our car in the parking lot. I got a
blanket from the trunk, and we sat in the back seat waiting for
word. About eight a man with three bloodhounds on leashes knocked
on our car window. He asked whether we had any clothing of Lucy's.
I gave him her extra sweater, and he let the dogs smell it. After
searching around behind the cafe for a short time, the dogs began
heading to the Bear Creek trail. I saw Sheriff Bogend come out of
the cafe and shout at the man. After some discussion with the
Sheriff, the man and his dogs returned to the parking
lot

About eight thirty, a man we now know as Steve
Manteo arrived on the scene. We noticed him because he was such a
big man and was not wearing heavy clothing like the search and
rescue team members. He talked to the deputy outside the cafe for a
while and then was led inside to talk to the Sheriff. We were
watching him intently because we thought he might have had some
news. Sheriff Bogend looked angry and had his deputy escort Mr.
Manteo back to the parking lot.

In the parking lot, Mr. Manteo talked to some
men of the County Search and Rescue team. We saw that they showed
him the picture of Lucy we had given the Sheriff. Mr. Manteo viewed
the picture and then went to his car and sat for a minute. He got
out of the car and went back to the Deputy, outside the door, spoke
for a few seconds and then pushed the Deputy out of the way and
went into the cafe to the topographic map hung on the wall that the
Sheriff had showed us earlier. He marked the map as the Sheriff
came up and was shouting at him, with his gun drawn. Two deputies
took Mr. Manteo by the arms and drug him out to the parking lot.
Mr. Manteo sat in his car for a few minutes and then drove
away.

At midnight, a Deputy drove us home because Ann
was collapsing.

At a little after 2:00 am a deputy came to our
house and told us they had found Lucy and that she had
died."

Both Ed and Ann Sodastrom, along with several
members of the jury, were visibly weeping, so the judge called a
ten-minute recess.

After the recess, Ed Sodastrom was asked
whether there was anything he would like to add.

Ed continued, "This case for us is not about
money for us. We have all we need. We would like to put all
Sheriffs and the people that insure them on notice that they should
use all resources, including psychics if necessary, for finding
lost children."

Dean Buttress stood and said, "I object...."
Judge Cartright interrupted, "Sustained."

Mr. Willard quickly asked, "Is there anything
else?"

Ed continued, "We shouldn't have to be here."
He slumped dejectedly in his chair.

After an appropriately long theatrical pause,
Mr. Willard said, "Thank you."

Testimony continued with a member of a
volunteer search and rescue team who said he had been on dozens of
S&R efforts. He described the search scene as chaotic. He stood
idly by from six forty-five until nine o'clock. When asked to rate
the organization of the search from one (totally disorganized) to
ten (very well-run operation), the S&R man scored the night as
a three.

A retired deputy sheriff, from the neighboring
county, now living in Rocky Butte, had heard about the search
effort on his police scanner radio and gone to volunteer for the
search effort. He supported the idea that the effort was
disorganized, the Sheriff had failed to act on several suggestions
by the professionals around him. He gave the effort a
five.

The next man to testify was Tim Holtz, the
bloodhound handler that Ed Sodastrom described above. He said that
he had come as a volunteer after hearing of the search on a police
scanner. He said he had acted on his own in starting his search
with the dogs. He was going to talk to the Sheriff, but when his
dogs smelled the sweater, they were off on a charge on Lucy's
trail. From his experience, one should follow the dogs when they
want to go. The Sheriff called him back and accused him of
interfering with police work and said he would be arrested if he
continued his own search. He said he stood around in the parking
lot until his dogs got too cold. Since it seemed apparent that the
Sheriff would not call on him, he went home.

When questioned about his credentials, Mr.
Holtz said he had only recently moved to the area and was unknown
here. He said he and his dogs had worked for seven years off–and–on
for law enforcement agencies in the Sacramento and Northern
California area. He was well instructed in the California Incident
Control Procedures and knew he had to obey the Incident Commander,
the Sheriff, when told to call off his dogs.

When asked whether the Sheriff had asked about
his credentials, he said, "No, all he did was rant threats at
me."

Sheriff Bogend's testimony was ideal for the
case. The sheriff admitted he had heard of other police Departments
using psychics in missing person’s cases but had no personal
experience with psychics. The Sheriff kept getting angrier during
the detailed questioning, When asked why he didn't use the
bloodhounds, the Sheriff said he did not know the dogs, how well
they were trained, or the reputation of their handler. He said that
he had called for bloodhounds from someone he knew and had worked
with in Pine Mountain: they didn't get there until much later, at
which point, too much snow had fallen. When the issue of the
bloodhounds was perused, the Sheriff admitted that he figured the
handler would later want to be paid and he didn't want to go
through the paperwork for using unbudgeted or non-county resources.
The county already had a dog handler on contract.

When quizzed about whether budgetary
considerations had entered his decision not to take Mr. Manteo's
advice, he got very angry and shouted, "He isn't a county
recognized contractor. Search and rescue is a job for people on the
County payroll."

Mr. Willard was cool and let the jury observe
Sheriff Bogend's embarrassment for a long minute before he
dismissed the witness.

In cross-examination, the defense attorney
tried to restore Sheriff Bogend's credibility, but, the damage was
done.

Steve Manteo was called after the Sheriff. He
recalled his experience the night of Lucy's loss. His testimony was
right along the deposition you provided me in the background
papers. At the end of his testimony he was visibly moved, almost
crying. The jury saw that.

Candice Montgomery was called and did a good
job of explaining how people can mind-to-mind communicate at a
subconscious level through shortcuts in eight-dimensional space. I
had read the background paper by her that you gave me. I really
understood her ideas after her testimony. The jury seemed attentive
throughout her testimony.