Never See Them Again (11 page)
Read Never See Them Again Online
Authors: M. William Phelps
CHAPTER 14
O
NE OF THE
first things Brian Harris did was familiarize himself with the case on an intrinsic level. He sat and read through the reports, closely taking in everything he could, paying mind to the notion that he needed to develop a strategyâof course, all under Tom Ladd's direction. Ladd was still running the show.
NE OF THE
first things Brian Harris did was familiarize himself with the case on an intrinsic level. He sat and read through the reports, closely taking in everything he could, paying mind to the notion that he needed to develop a strategyâof course, all under Tom Ladd's direction. Ladd was still running the show.
Two names popped out to Harris immediately: Michelle and Craig Lackner. The Lackners were the couple who lived next door to Tiffany Rowell and had reportedly seen two people walking toward the Rowell house on the afternoon of the murders. As Harris read through their statements, it was clear that they had likely seen what Harris now believed to have been the two murderers, or certainly two witnesses who could help move the investigation forward. Michelle Lackner had gotten out of the shower, and not long after she and her husband saw two “kids,” as she and her spouse had described them, both dressed in black, walking sketchily toward Tiffany's house from the walkway out front.
Why hadn't anyone made anything more of this connection?
Harris wondered.
Harris wondered.
Next door to the Lackners', two houses away from the Rowells', on the same side of the street, on that same day, July 18, Nancy Vernau was inside her living room, feeling tired and sleepy. Nancy had been a Millbridge Drive resident for twenty-seven years. She knew the ins and outs of the community, maybe better than most, and had viewed the area as a safe haven. She had retired from her kindergarten teaching job and was enjoying the golden years of her life in a place she believed, like mostly everyone else around her, to be a wonderfullyâand certainly securelyâsuburban neighborhood, where nothing much of anything happened.
“The neighbors all get along well,” Nancy said later. “We visit with each other and take care of each other.”
Harris settled himself at his desk and read the interviews with these witnesses carefully. After finishing with what the Lackners had to say, Harris was interested in what Nancy Vernau had reported. In fact, he couldn't believe it.
On July 18, Nancy was waiting for someone to visit her at her Millbridge Drive home. The person had called Nancy at exactly 2:55
P.M.
and said she was on her way. Nancy thought,
Heck, I have about forty-five minutes to kill
.
Might as well lie down on the couch and catch a little nap.
She had been working around the house and outside in the yard that day. She was bushed. It was about three o'clock when Nancy plopped down on the couch and fell asleep almost as quickly as her head hit the pillow.
P.M.
and said she was on her way. Nancy thought,
Heck, I have about forty-five minutes to kill
.
Might as well lie down on the couch and catch a little nap.
She had been working around the house and outside in the yard that day. She was bushed. It was about three o'clock when Nancy plopped down on the couch and fell asleep almost as quickly as her head hit the pillow.
Minutes later, Nancy remembered distinctively, she was startled “awake . . . [and immediately made] aware of a noise I heard coming from the general direction of, well, what I thought was Craig and Michelle's house.”
The Lackners lived next door.
“I was thinking the noise was coming from [there] because I knew that Craig had been out working with tools in his yard or . . . garage.”
Harris was excited about this. It was as close to eyewitness testimony of the actual time of the murders as they'd had.
To Nancy, the noise, as she stood up from the couch, sounded “like a metallic pinging sound. . . . There were two pings at regular intervals with a slight pause in between, and then a light pause, and then five
very
fast pings.”
very
fast pings.”
She even referred to the noises as fireworks.
Pop . . . pop.
Then . . .
pop, pop, pop, pop, pop
.
pop, pop, pop, pop, pop
.
Nancy looked at the VCR on top of her television as she got up from the couch, thinking about her visitor coming over and an appointment she had later that day. The LCD clock said 3:17
P.M.
on the nose as those “pings” went off.
P.M.
on the nose as those “pings” went off.
Those
pings,
Harris knew, were Adelbert, Marcus, Tiffany, and Rachael being shot to death.
pings,
Harris knew, were Adelbert, Marcus, Tiffany, and Rachael being shot to death.
It was about three and a half hours later when Nancy Vernau and Craig and Michelle Lackner realized that what they had heard and seen, in their own separate ways, was something more than what they had originally thought: which was, at the time, nothing but the sights and sounds of life going on around them.
It was 6:45
P.M.
when Nancy walked outside and considered that what she had heard earlier wasn't Craig working with his tools in the garageâit was gunfire. Looking at the Rowell house, with all the cops pacing about, all of the people around the front on the street not knowing what to do with themselves, Nancy first thought maybe someone inside Tiffany's house had had a heart attack. Then someone at the scene, a neighbor, came up to her and said, “You heard what's going on, right?”
P.M.
when Nancy walked outside and considered that what she had heard earlier wasn't Craig working with his tools in the garageâit was gunfire. Looking at the Rowell house, with all the cops pacing about, all of the people around the front on the street not knowing what to do with themselves, Nancy first thought maybe someone inside Tiffany's house had had a heart attack. Then someone at the scene, a neighbor, came up to her and said, “You heard what's going on, right?”
“No. What?”
“There's been a shooting inside.”
Nancy put her hand over her mouthâ
Oh, my goodness
. (“I realized then that's what I had heardâand
only
at that point.”)
Oh, my goodness
. (“I realized then that's what I had heardâand
only
at that point.”)
At nearly the same moment, Craig and Michelle had been driving down Millbridge. They spotted the commotion going on next door to their house. Craig parked. They got out and walked to where Nancy stood. Craig later recalled how Nancy looked flustered.
Nancy explained what she knew.
The Lackners told Nancy what they had seen earlier: those two kids dressed in black.
“Oh my,” Nancy said, “you've
got
to tell the detectives.”
got
to tell the detectives.”
The Lackners found a detective, gave their statements, and eventually sat with a sketch artist. And that's where those leads had stayed, Harris recognizedâwith the sketch and reports inside one of many boxes marked “Clear Lake homicide.”
As Harris took a look at it all with fresh eyes, he could not get over how crucial this information seemed to be to the investigation. Yet nothing had been done about any of it. Not only did it give Harris an all-important time frame for the murders, but the possibility that
two
suspects, not one, became a significant part of the focus for the first time. Two shooters might lend itself even more systematically to the drug execution-style slaying theory.
two
suspects, not one, became a significant part of the focus for the first time. Two shooters might lend itself even more systematically to the drug execution-style slaying theory.
Harris immediately thought, Homicide would have to get Craig and Michelle Lackner into the station house for a sit-down and have them take a look at a spread of photos and perhaps pick out a suspect via a photo lineup. The Lackners could be the key to identifying the murderers and solving the case. Or at least point investigators toward additional witnesses. More than that, Harris knew while looking at the Lackners' backgrounds, theyâand Nancy Vernauâwere upstanding people in the community. They had good jobs. Had never been in any trouble. The type of untouchable witnesses a prosecutor dreamt of. The Lackners, unlike a lot of the kids lining up to throw their friends under the first bus speeding by, could be trusted. On the other hand, Harris needed “quality” suspects before he could play the identification card. So, as promising as the Lackners' descriptions seemed, Harris was going to have to wait.
Harris then found out (from telephone records that had just came in) that Rachael Koloroutis's cell phone had dialed 911 at 3:14
P.M.
and put that up against the information from the Lackners and Nancy Vernau. Now a direct timeline came into focus. There was no one on the other end of Rachael's phone when it called 911. Rachaelâif she was the one using the phone at the timeâmust have realized danger, dialed 911, but was killed before she could complete the call; or the killers noticed what she was doing and hung the phone up. It was still helpful information: very solid circumstantial evidence coming together to tell a story.
P.M.
and put that up against the information from the Lackners and Nancy Vernau. Now a direct timeline came into focus. There was no one on the other end of Rachael's phone when it called 911. Rachaelâif she was the one using the phone at the timeâmust have realized danger, dialed 911, but was killed before she could complete the call; or the killers noticed what she was doing and hung the phone up. It was still helpful information: very solid circumstantial evidence coming together to tell a story.
Then something worried Harris:
Why hadn't Tom and Phil done anything with the sketch or any of this
?
Why hadn't Tom and Phil done anything with the sketch or any of this
?
“Tom did not release the sketch because he and Phil thought the Lackners were possibly describing an event from the previous day,” Harris explained later.
This comment, in all of its simplicity and perhaps assumption, puts into play the question of how important it is for law enforcement to synchronize information as it comes in, and to work as a cohesive unit.
“They [Tom and Phil] also considered that those two people the Lackners saw were drug dealers and did not want to tip them off,” Harris added, “which would be the reason why
I
would not release the sketches. Some said Tom and Phil simply overlooked it. But I never thought so. Tom was a man who
always
had a strategy.”
I
would not release the sketches. Some said Tom and Phil simply overlooked it. But I never thought so. Tom was a man who
always
had a strategy.”
Harris wasn't going to judge. He was going to use the information, now that he knew about it, to help him solve the case.
Tom Ladd had shown the sketches to George and Ann Koloroutis weeks after the murders. Ladd arrived one day at the Koloroutis house with two photographs: one of a female, the other of a male.
“Do you recognize these people?” Ladd asked George and Ann, who said they had never seen them. Putting the photographs aside, Ladd then pulled out the sketches. “The reason I showed you those photographs [first] was because here is something that a witness reported.”
George and Ann looked at the sketches, but nothing rang familiar. Weeks went by. George called Ladd and asked about the photographs and the sketches. Was anything happening with either of them?
“How come we haven't gone public with those sketches?” George pressed. It seemed like the logical next step.
Ladd said that after carefully examining the lead, the Homicide Division believed the sketches were of two people wandering through the neighborhood that day and were likely heading toward someone else's house, not the Rowell residence.
“Tom Ladd believed it was JU and some sort of a revenge killing gone wrong,” one source later said. “He had good reason to make that determination. The evidence pointed in that direction.”
So it was easy, in other words, for the Homicide Division to write off those sketches early on. They didn't mean much in the scope of JU and his girlfriendâthe two people in the photographs Ladd had shown to George and Ann before revealing the sketches.
CHAPTER 15
T
HERE WAS A
day some weeks later when Ann Koloroutis was reading through Rachael's autopsy report. George could not bring himself to read the report in the same manner as his wife. Ann was studying it: looking for anything HPD might have missed, or some clue the murderers might have left behind. This was their life nowâGeorge and Annâfocused on catching their daughter's killer. It was the only fuel in the tank keeping them from going insane at the thought of losing their daughterâthat and the secret desire George had to find these killers before anyone else so he could execute the death penalty without a trial or verdict.
HERE WAS A
day some weeks later when Ann Koloroutis was reading through Rachael's autopsy report. George could not bring himself to read the report in the same manner as his wife. Ann was studying it: looking for anything HPD might have missed, or some clue the murderers might have left behind. This was their life nowâGeorge and Annâfocused on catching their daughter's killer. It was the only fuel in the tank keeping them from going insane at the thought of losing their daughterâthat and the secret desire George had to find these killers before anyone else so he could execute the death penalty without a trial or verdict.
“I was fixated on the drawings accompanying the autopsy reports,” George recalled. “I could not get over how many holes were in my little girl, and I am wondering, âWho would do this?' It's driving me crazy.”
And filling him with revenge and anger.
As Ann read through the report, she noticed there had been a hat found near Rachael's body. It was black.
“Wasn't the girl in those sketches Tom showed us wearing something on her head that was black?” Ann asked George.
“Yeah, you're right.”
They wondered if maybe the killer had left a hat behind at the murder scene.
George got Brian Harris on the phone.
Harris told them to come down to the station.
Ann and George explained the scenario, telling Harris about Ladd and how he had shown them the photographs and then the sketches.
According to George, Harris said, “What drawings? What sketches?” It was as if Harris had not heard about them and had no idea they existed.
But Harris had never been told that the Koloroutisesâor anyone, for that matterâhad seen the sketches. So he really didn't know how to respond to George and Ann.
Regardless of why, or the politics involved in the reasoning, the sketches and the information surrounding them were buried under what had been, incredibly, about two hundred witness statements and one hundred additional interviews with various people involved in the case on so many different levels it was hard to keep track of anymore. Add to that the idea that up until this point there had been, at any given time, fifty-seven law enforcement personnel involved in the investigation on different levels, and you can see how easy it would be to overlook
one
item, suffice it to say whenâfull-timeâall you had were two investigators working the case, both of whom had additional murder cases to contend with. Sifting through reports made by all those cops, along with hundreds of new leads and additional pieces of evidence being continually collected and processed, was not easy for two investigators to handle. It was a blessing, truthfully, that more had not been overlooked.
one
item, suffice it to say whenâfull-timeâall you had were two investigators working the case, both of whom had additional murder cases to contend with. Sifting through reports made by all those cops, along with hundreds of new leads and additional pieces of evidence being continually collected and processed, was not easy for two investigators to handle. It was a blessing, truthfully, that more had not been overlooked.
“And remember,” George Koloroutis said, “there's a sense of entitlement that comes with being a victim's relative. You are not patting detectives on the back. You are constantly badgering them about the case. They do not get
any
credit whatsoever.”
any
credit whatsoever.”
Whipping posts, indeed.
So there is a tremendous amount of pressure on them: from their bosses, the department, the family members of the victims, the public, the media. Everyone is looking at them to solve the cases posthaste.
Detective Brian Harris was on it now. And that's what ultimately mattered most to the families. Here was a new investigator: someone without all the baggage of the past few months trailing behind him. The only problem Harris had at this juncture was that it wasn't his caseâTom Ladd had logistical jurisdiction over everything until he retired. Harris had been brought in, yes; but he had been
assigned
to look into Adelbert Sánchez's life and background. He'd have to wait if he wanted to take things further on his own.
assigned
to look into Adelbert Sánchez's life and background. He'd have to wait if he wanted to take things further on his own.
Harris thought about it. The Lackners and the Nancy Vernau info was too important to push aside and “get to later.” He found Phil Yochum one day and asked him why the sketches had not been released. Not in a way where Harris was trying to one-up Yochum and Ladd, make them feel or look bad, but maybe they had a bigger purpose in mind: something about the sketches Harris wasn't being brought in on.
“I don't know why we didn't release them,” Yochum said. “We just had so much info. Plus, the pictures resemble so many of the kids we interviewed, we just didn't do it.”
Maybe the Lackners had confused the day and the peopleâperhaps those two kids dressed in black were friends of Tiffany and Marcus's? Michelle Lackner had said herself in her statement that people were coming and going up to the Rowell house at all hours of the night. There was also a report that Marcus and Adelbert had started hanging out in front of the house, smoking and talking, constantly looking in all directions, as if they were expecting someone, or afraid someone might sneak up on them. At a time when they had been using the backyard as a place to hang out and smoke.
Whatever the case might be, the Homicide Division had to decide what to do with the information now that it seemed important.
George Koloroutis said he wanted to gather up some funds, donations and the like, and get a reward started. Some of the other families pledged to help out. George even said he'd start a website with information about the crime and the victims, and maybe put the composite sketches on there at the right time. He planned to set up a memorial fund and offer what he hoped to be a Crime Stoppers $100,000 reward “for information leading to the arrest and charges filed in the case.” George was determined. He told Brian Harris and Tom Ladd that if he couldn't come up with the money through donations, he was going to fund the reward himself.
This was huge, in Harris's view. Taken into account what the Lackners had witnessed, what Nancy Vernau had heard, a report of the Lackners' dog going uncharacteristically wild during that same time period (3:17
P.M.
), and Rachael's 911 call, the case was moving forward.
P.M.
), and Rachael's 911 call, the case was moving forward.
Meanwhile, Harris was onto another lead regarding a relative (by marriage) of Adelbert's that Harris had traced to Jacksonville. So he contacted the Feds and made plans to head east to Florida.
For the first time in the investigation there was a sense of urgency and a feeling of the case moving. Little did anyone know then, though, that it would be an additional two and a half years, several more red herrings, and scores of interviews before detectives had those two young people dressed in blackâwho were, in fact, the murderersâin their direct sights.
Suspects, everyone would learn, who were in the midst of the case the entire time.
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