Savage Son (17 page)

Whitaker Residence
Heron Way
Sugar Land, Texas

Kent wanted Bart to know how much it meant to have his son live in his childhood home. In addition to a core group of male friends, known as the FAT-men, who stuck around with Kent to help him deal with the grief of losing Tricia and Kevin, Bart provided Kent with a sense of belonging he was sure would not exist without his son’s presence.

The two men would arise in the morning, chat quietly over breakfast, then go about their separate ways during the day. They would both return home in the evening and spend time reading inspirational books together, such as
The Purpose Driven Life
by Rick Warren and
If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat
by John Ortberg. They would read passages aloud to one another and then spend time discussing the meanings behind the works and how they pertained, not only to their grief-stricken situations, but to their roles as men of God.

Lynne Sorsby noticed the positive change in Bart after the murders of his brother and mother. Bart furthered that belief by delving deeper into church and reading religious tomes as well. He also decided to add to the attitude adjustment by asking Lynne to marry him. She eagerly agreed, and the couple set a date for July 24, 2005. Kent Whitaker was ecstatic for the young couple. He believed their union was further proof of God’s will in attempting to allow him to heal over the losses of Tricia and Kevin. Though life ends, there are always new beginnings around the corner. He looked forward to having Lynne as his daughter-in-law, and the prospect of becoming a grandfather appealed to him beyond anything else in his life.

June 28, 2004

Bart began to feel claustrophobic. He knew that Detective Marshall Slot was going to be coming after him any day, and he had to be prepared. Of course, he was ready.

One week, he spoke with Rogelio “Rudy” Rios, a busboy at the Bank Downtown restaurant. The two men had been workplace acquaintances ever since Bart took a job there in late January. Over the next few months, Bart began to open up to Rios and tell him about what had happened to his mother and brother. The media’s version of the events, that is. He told Rudy that he believed he was the main suspect, and that the police would be after him any day.

For his part, Rios did not want to hear what Bart was telling him. He believed Bart to be a good kid, and thought he was nice, but Rios simply wanted to keep his nose clean. According to Rios, he had a bit of a criminal history—two theft convictions and another for drugs, which led to time in prison, back in 1982. Now he was merely trying everything in his power to stay out of trouble.

Bart would constantly complain to Rios that the police were out to get him, and that they wanted to prosecute him for the murders. Rios politely nodded and feigned interest, but he mainly wanted to be far away from Bart’s potential criminal issues.

Over time, however, Rios began to learn more about Bart. The main thing that piqued his interest was the younger man’s access to money. Bart never shied away from talking about his family’s economic status. Rios also noticed Bart usually dressed well, drove a nice vehicle, and never seemed to want for the finer things in life. One day, after hearing Bart’s repeated fears of being arrested, Rios decided to get involved.

“You know,” Rios addressed his coworker, “I go to Mexico all the time. I’ve got family down there. If you ever want to go there, I can take you.”

Bart seemed to perk up. “I appreciate your offer, Rudy. I may just have to take you up on that one.”

“Just let me know,” Rios replied.

On, or around, June 21, Bart let Rios know. “So, remember your offer to take me to Mexico?” he mentioned.

“Sure,” Rios replied.

“Can you do it soon?”

“No problem,” Rios answered. “Just give me a few hours so I can get some things in line and we will head out right away.”

“Sounds good. But let’s wait until Monday to take off,” Bart replied. He seemed distant and concerned.

“Of course, you’ll need to give me some money,” Rios stated.

“Of course, I will. How much do you need?”

“Three thousand,” Rios confidently asserted.

“I’ll have it before we take off,” Bart replied, with nary a flinch. Rios wondered if he should have asked for more money.

The following Monday, Bart did not go to work. Neither did Rudy Rios. Instead, both men were on a decidedly more adventurous trek. They met at a predetermined locale, picked by Bart, in a mini–strip mall parking lot, in front of an A-1 Dry Cleaners located on South Braeswood Boulevard and Fondren Road, near the BraeBurn Country Club. Bart suggested the spot because it was located in what he believed to be a higher-crime-risk section of Houston. Rios assumed it was so someone would steal Bart’s Yukon and draw attention away from Bart. Bart stayed inside his vehicle and told Rios, who was driving his mother’s car, to follow him to the Wesley Gardens apartment complex, on the southwest side of Houston, so he could drop off the car. Once they arrived at the complex, Bart parked the truck and left the engine running, plus the front door unlocked and open. Then he ducked inside Rios’s mother’s vehicle.

Minutes later, Bart Whitaker was on his way to being escorted across the border of the United States into Mexico. They were headed for the tiny town of Cerralvo, where some of Rios’s family still lived.

According to Rios, the eight-plus-hour drive was quiet and uneventful. Neither he nor Bart uttered a single word during the entire excursion. Instead, it was more of a silent send-off for the lonely gringo desperado.

Bart, the man who once had everything of material possession—a nice home, an expensive rugged truck, the finest clothes that an aspiring clotheshorse could desire—now was stripped down to the bare essence. He had given Rios a mountain-climbing backpack a week earlier and began to rifle through its contents. He had very little in way of creature comforts—a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, a nice button-down long-sleeved shirt, shoes, socks, some clean underwear, and his toiletries. That was it—except for a large stack of currency, $7,000, to be exact.

As the two men drove onward toward the Texas-Mexico border, Rios nodded toward Bart’s backpack and said, “If you have anything illegal in the backpack, get it out.”

Bart did not even rifle through the contents of the backpack. He merely removed the wad of cash and stuck them in his pants pockets. Rios noticed the money but did not say anything about it. Besides, he already had his money. Of course, the excessive amount that Bart flashed, intentionally or not, reminded Rios that he should have learned to perfect his negotiating skills.

Rios continued to drive in silence toward the small town of Roma, less than fifteen miles west of Rio Grande City, which is located near the border. It was a familiar route for Rios, who would usually travel to Cerralvo, just forty miles, or a forty-five-minute drive, south of the border, to visit his rather large family, which included eighteen brothers and his father. This was the route that Rios always traveled each time he returned home.

When Rios and Bart finally arrived at the border, they were greeted by Rios’s father. Rios had arranged it so that Bart would drive with his father to Cerralvo, where he would be welcomed by the Rios family and allowed to live with them. Rios claimed his brothers were much lighter-skinned than he was, and that Bart, due to the fact that there were so many Rios brothers, would easily blend in as one of the Rios clan. Bart would also adopt Rogelio’s Americanized name of “Rudy Rios.” Rogelio hadn’t even asked his father if this would be an acceptable arrangement, but his father would have no qualms about welcoming Bart into his home.

After saying his good-byes and expressing his gratitude to his coworker, Bart made his way to Rogelio’s father’s vehicle. Rios turned his mother’s vehicle around and headed back to Houston. Bart and Rios’s father, who spoke very little English, drove off in silence as well. They went only a few miles before encountering the Mexican version of border patrol. Rogelio Rios had made it a point that Bart would have the necessary papers to allow him to continue on into Cerralvo. As a result, the checkpoint diversion went without a hitch.

Bart Whitaker was finally headed toward his new home. He had little in way of clothes and personal items. He did, however, have cash and a place to stay.

Bart Whitaker also had an entirely new identity. He was no longer Bart Whitaker. Nor was he the criminal mastermind Keyser Soze. He was now, simply, Rudy Rios. A gringo desperado on the lam in a small, rundown hovel of a town in Nowhere, Mexico. It was exactly where he never wanted to be at any stage in his life; however, as far as he was concerned, he had no other choice.

After Bart Whitaker split for Mexico, three letters arrived in various mailboxes across the Houston/Sugar Land area. Lynne Sorsby, Kent Whitaker, and Dan Cogdell were all surprised to find correspondence from Bart Whitaker.

Bart’s letter to Lynne was a paean to bad choices, forgiveness, and running away. He told his fiancée that he could not face her, because he knew any emotional display she put on would make him reconsider fleeing, and he had to escape the people coming after him. He pretended he was doing her a favor, by selflessly sparing her the misery of a trial. He pledged his love to her, but ended by asking her not to inform anyone of the contents of his letter, to better facilitate his escape.

The letter to Kent Whitaker said:

The letter to Dan Cogdell, the Whitaker family friend and attorney, said:

Summer 2004
Cerralvo, Mexico

While Kent Whitaker spent his days fretting about the whereabouts of his only remaining immediate loved one, Bart had somehow managed to infiltrate himself into the Cerralvo lifestyle. He was instantly accepted by Rogelio Rios’s family, who welcomed an additional potential wage earner.

Surprisingly, this came rather easily for Bart. He was able to procure employment from a friendly Hispanic gentleman, Omero Salinas, who owned and operated a sizable furniture warehouse and store. Salinas also happened to be the father of a nice young lady, Cindy Lou Salinas, whom Bart began dating soon after his arrival in town.

Bart made quite an impression on the people of Cerralvo. The young ladies took an instant shine to the handsome, gregarious, easygoing, and gringo-looking newcomer they knew as Rudy Rios. They were smitten with his charm and his less-than-stellar command of the Spanish language.

According to an interview that aired on
48 Hours Mystery,
one of the women, Gabriella Gutierrez, spoke very highly of Bart, or Rudy as she knew him. “He was a friendly person,” she recalled, a huge grin on her face. “He liked to drink. He liked to go with the girls. He was very charming.” She stopped and smiled from ear to ear. “He had a way with the ladies,” she stated, giggling slightly.

It wasn’t only the ladies who warmed up to the newest person in their tiny town. Bart wasted no time befriending as many of the young men as possible as well. Bart would invite many of the young men over to his new apartment, which he had purchased after just a few months of work. In many ways, the gatherings resembled Bart’s townhome get-togethers in Willis, with Steven Champagne, Chris Brashear, and his employees from The Dining Room. Bart was the quiet, yet cool, ringleader who loved to open his doors and share his generosity with those around him.

As a result, a cliché was born: The guys wanted to be him. The girls wanted to be with him.

But only one girl would catch his full attention. Cindy Lou Salinas was instantly attracted to the sweet-looking young man who seemingly appeared in a magical puff of smoke. Cindy Lou and Bart (or Rudy) met in church. Cindy Lou was overwhelmed by Bart’s physical features and softened up by his seemingly softer side, as evidenced by his attentiveness during church services.

“I saw him,” she recalled, “and I said, ‘Wow! He’s gorgeous.’” She had never been around someone so handsome and sophisticated. He seemed so worldly to her that she was determined to get to know him better. “I found him very interesting,” Cindy Lou fondly remembered. “The guys that I’ve known, I don’t know…” She trailed off at the memories of previous paramours. “He just had something no one else had,” she said, sounding like a schoolgirl.

Bart and Cindy Lou seemed like a mismatched pair. She was one of those rare individuals whose name perfectly represents her true essence: sweet, innocent, and starry-eyed. Bart, or Rudy, seemed more serious and steely-eyed, like a person who had seen things he wanted permanently erased from his memory bank. Theirs was a simple courtship with little to no fanfare.

It was an added bonus when Omero Salinas welcomed Bart not only as a suitor for his daughter, but as an employee in the family business. Salinas thought very highly of Rudy, as he knew Bart. “He was a very good worker. Very obedient,” he recalled admiringly. “I really liked him and held him in high esteem. I ended up loving him like a son. Very, very much.”

Bart’s ability to woo the members of the Salinas family even extended to Uvaldo, her brother. Like the rest of the Salinas family, Cindy Lou’s brother was also entranced by Rudy. Unlike most brothers of a sister who meets a new guy, Uvaldo was not interested in keeping a watchful eye over her new boyfriend. He was more interested in getting to know him even better. Uvaldo enjoyed being regaled by Rudy’s fanciful tales of serving in the United States Marines in Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in the War on Terror. Uvaldo was fascinated by the many tales of adventure and bravery spun by Rudy. One epic stood out in the young Hispanic’s mind. It involved Rudy’s explanation for the bullet wound in his left arm.

“He said he got it in the Afghanistan War,” a wide-eyed Uvaldo Salinas passed along the story. “He said there was a surprise attack on his group (of fellow Marines) by the Afghans. Most of those in his group were killed.”

Bart, of course, was the most heroic soldier. Uvaldo continued in reference to him, “He said he shot at one with his rifle, but there was another Afghani soldier who got him in the shoulder.” It is not clear how Bart escaped the clutches of the evil Afghans. Nonetheless, Uvaldo was duly impressed with his sister’s new boyfriend. He graciously welcomed him into the folds of the Salinas clan, as did Omero and, of course, Cindy Lou.

Over time, Rudy allegedly began to open up to Cindy Lou and the Salinas family. When it came to his personal background, though, Bart never mentioned the murders of his mother and brother, for obvious reasons. Instead, he began to spin another familiar tale, just like he had with his college buddies, Will Anthony and Justin Peters. He told his new girlfriend that he had a horrible relationship with his family.

“He used to tell me he was an only child,” Cindy Lou recalled. Rudy also told her that “he never loved his mother, because his mother never loved him, either. He also said that his mother was a prostitute, and that his family never gave him the love that he wanted.” She added in a morose manner that “Instead, they gave him money, and they just ignored him.”

According to an interview with
20/20,
Cindy Lou recalled an argument she had with her mother. The young girl, an avid guitarist, became so upset that she smashed her guitar in front of Bart. He consoled her by saying, “No, relax. Let’s fix things. Don’t be angry at your parents anymore. If you want, we can kill them.” She was a bit freaked out by his suggestion, but she decided he must have been joking. She believed she knew Rudy was not capable of such behavior and simply blew it off.

The poor, pitiful background of Bart Whitaker once again had been securely cemented in the minds of those he needed to manipulate. He further endeared himself to the Salinas family members and Cindy Lou when he informed them that “they were the family he never had.”

Not only did Bart endear himself to the Salinases, he also won over the entire town of Cerralvo during a true act of heroism. According to Rogelio Rios and members of his family, the tiny village was hit by a severe flash flood that nearly devastated it. Apparently, Bart helped the local authorities save some people, including a little girl who nearly drowned. He was hailed as a hero by practically everyone in town, including the Rios and Salinas families. As far as they were concerned, Bart was one of them.

Other times, however, Bart tended to keep a low profile while in town, mainly during various holidays. Rogelio Rios believed it was because there were many people from Cerralvo who lived in Houston and would often come back to celebrate the holidays with their families. He believed that Bart did not want any of these returning Cerralvo residents to spot him and return to Houston and report him to the authorities.

Bart did have an idea as per the status of his disappearance. He had access to an Internet café and was able to keep track of any news updates on the Web. It wasn’t like having an inside man at the police station, but he could at least take some solace in knowing that they had no idea where he was, nor were they any closer to proving he was guilty of murdering his mother and brother.