Gone, But Not Forgotten Read online

  “Be seated,” Cobb said. Betsy took her place beside Martin Darius and glanced briefly at Alan Page, who was sitting next to Randy Highsmith.

  “Call your first witness, Mr. Page,” Norwood ordered.

  “The State calls Ross Barrow, Your Honor.”

  Harvey Cobb had Detective Barrow raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth. Barrow sat in the witness box and Page established his credentials as a homicide investigator.

  “Detective Barrow, sometime in mid-August did you become aware of a series of unusual disappearances?”

  “Yes, I did. In August a detective from our missing persons bureau told me that a woman named Laura Farrar was reported missing by her husband, Larry Farrar. Larry told the detective that …”

  “Objection, hearsay,” Betsy said, standing.

  “No,” Norwood ruled. “This is a bail hearing, not a trial. I’m going to permit the State some leeway. If you need to examine some of these witnesses, you can subpoena them. Let’s move on, Mr. Page.”

  Page nodded at Barrow, who continued with his account of the investigation.

  “Farrar told the detective that he had come home from work on August tenth, about eight o’clock. His house looked perfectly normal, but his wife was missing. None of her clothes was missing or her makeup. In fact, nothing was missing from the house, as far as he could tell. The only unusual circumstance was a rose and a note Mr. Farrar found on his wife’s pillow.”

  “Was there anything odd about the rose?”

  “Yes, sir. A lab report on the rose indicates that it had been dyed black.”

  “What did the note say?”

  “ ‘Gone, But Not Forgotten.’ ”

  Page handed a document and a photograph to the judge’s clerk.

  “This is a photocopy of the Farrar note and a photograph of the rose, Your Honor. The originals are still at the lab. I talked about this with Mrs. Tannenbaum and she’s willing to stipulate to the introduction of these and other copies, solely for purposes of this hearing.”

  “Is that so?” Norwood asked Betsy. She nodded.

  “The exhibits will be received.”

  “Did the detective from missing persons tell you about a second disappearance in mid-September?”

  “Yes, sir. Wendy Reiser, the wife of Thomas Reiser, was reported missing by her husband under identical circumstances.”

  “Nothing disturbed in the house or missing?”

  “Correct.”

  “Did Mr. Reiser find a black rose and a note on his wife’s pillow?”

  “He did.”

  Page introduced a photocopy of the Reiser note and a photograph of the Reiser rose.

  “What did the lab say about the second note and rose?”

  “They are identical to the note and rose found at the Farrar house.”

  “Finally, Detective, did you learn about a third, recent disappearance?”

  “Yes, sir. Russell Miller reported his wife, Victoria, missing under circumstances that were identical to the other cases. Note and rose on the pillow. Nothing disturbed or missing in the house.”

  “Several days ago, did you learn where the women were?”

  Barrow nodded gravely. “The three women and an unidentified male were found buried in a construction site owned by Darius Construction.”

  “Who owns Darius Construction?”

  “Martin Darius, the defendant.”

  “Was the gate to the site locked?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Was a gaping hole located in the fence near the area where the bodies were found?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Were tire tracks located near that hole?”

  “They were.”

  “On the evening Mr. Darius was arrested, did you execute a search warrant at his residence?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Did you locate any vehicles during the search?”

  “We located a station wagon, a BMW and a black Ferrari.”

  “Move to introduce exhibits ten to twenty-three, which are photographs of the construction site, the hole in the fence, the tire tracks, the burial site and the bodies being removed from it, and the vehicles.”

  “No objection,” Betsy said.

  “Received.”

  “Was a cast made of the tire tracks?”

  “It was. The tracks at the site match the tread on the BMW we found at Darius’s house.”

  “Was the trunk of the BMW examined for trace evidence, such as hairs and fibers, that might have belonged to any of the victims?”

  “Yes, sir. None was found.”

  “Did the lab report explain why?”

  “The trunk had been recently vacuumed and cleaned.”

  “How old was the BMW?”

  “A year old.”

  “Not a brand-new car?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Detective Barrow, are you aware of any connections between the defendant and the murdered women?”

  “I am. Yes. Mr. Reiser works for the law firm that represents Darius Construction. He and his wife met the defendant at a party Mr. Darius threw this summer to celebrate the opening of a new mall.”

  “How soon before the disappearance of the first woman, Laura Farrar, was this party?”

  “Approximately three weeks.”

  “Were Mr. and Mrs. Farrar at that party?”

  “They were. Mr. Farrar works for the accounting firm that Mr. Darius uses.”

  “And Russell and Victoria Miller?”

  “They were at the party too, but they have closer ties with the defendant. Mr. Miller was just put in charge of the Darius Construction account at Brand, Gates and Valcroft, the advertising agency. They also socialized with Mr. and Mrs. Darius.”

  Page checked his notes, conferred with Randy Highsmith, then said, “Your witness, Mrs. Tannenbaum.”

  Betsy looked at a legal pad on which she had listed several points she wanted to bring out through Barrow. She selected several police reports from the discovery she received from the district attorney.

  “Good morning, Detective Barrow. Teams of criminalists from the Oregon State Crime Lab went through the houses of all three women, did they not?”

  “That’s true.”

  “Isn’t it also true that none of these fine scientists found a single piece of physical evidence connecting Martin Darius to the homes of Laura Farrar, Victoria Miller or Wendy Reiser?”

  “The person who murdered these women is very clever. He knows how to clean up a crime scene.”

  “Your Honor,” Betsy said calmly, “will you please direct Detective Barrow to listen to the questions I ask him and respond to those questions? I’m sure Mr. Page will try to explain the problems with his case during argument.”

  Judge Norwood glared at Betsy. “I don’t need an editorial from you, Mrs. Tannenbaum. Just make your objections.” Then Norwood swiveled toward the witness. “And you’ve testified enough times to know you only answer what you’re asked. Save the clever answers. They don’t impress me.”

  “So, Detective Barrow, what’s your answer? Was a single shred of physical evidence linking my client to any victim found at any of the homes of the missing women?”

  “No.”

  “How about on the bodies?”

  “We found the tire tracks.”

  “Your Honor?” Betsy asked.

  “Detective Barrow, were there tire tracks on the body of any of those women?” the judge asked sarcastically.

  Barrow looked embarrassed. “Sorry, Your Honor.”

  “Are you catching on, Detective?” Judge Norwood asked.

  “There was no physical evidence at the burial site connecting the defendant with any of the women,” Detective Barrow answered.

  “A dead man was also found at the burial site?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who is he?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “So there’s nothing connecting this man to Martin Darius?”

 
; “We don’t know that. Until we find out who he is, we can’t investigate his possible connection with your client.”

  Betsy was going to object but decided to let the remark pass. If Barrow kept fencing, he’d keep pissing off the judge.

  “You told the judge about the tire tracks you found near the fence. Don’t you think you should tell him about the interview you had with Rudy Doschman?”

  “I interviewed him. What about it?”

  “Do you have your report of that interview?” Betsy asked, as she walked toward the witness stand.

  “Not with me.”

  “Why don’t you take my copy and read this paragraph?” Betsy said, handing the detective a police report she had found in the discovery material. Barrow read the report and looked up.

  “Mr. Doschman is a foreman with Darius Construction who was working on the site where the bodies were found?” Betsy asked.

  “Yes.”

  “He told you Mr. Darius visited the site on many occasions, did he not?”

  “Yes.”

  “In his BMW?”

  “Yes.”

  “He also explained that the hole in the fence was there for some time?”

  “Yes.”

  “In fact, it may have been the way the arsonists who burned down some of Mr. Darius’s town houses entered the site several weeks ago?”

  “It could be.”

  “There is no evidence connecting Mr. Darius to the roses or the notes?”

  Barrow looked like he was going to say something, but he choked it back and shook his head.

  “And you stand by that statement, even though officers of the Portland Police Bureau made a thorough search, pursuant to a warrant, of Mr. Darius’s home.”

  “We found nothing connecting him to the roses or the notes,” Barrow answered tersely.

  “No murder weapons either?”

  “No.”

  “Nothing in the trunk of the BMW connecting him to the crimes?”

  “No.”

  Betsy turned to Darius. “Anything else you want me to ask?”

  Darius smiled. “You’re doing just fine, Tannenbaum.”

  “No further questions.”

  Barrow hoisted himself out of the witness box and walked quickly to the back of the courtroom as Page called his next witness.

  “Dr. Susan Gregg,” Page said. An attractive woman in her early forties with salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a conservative gray suit, took the witness stand.

  “Will counsel stipulate to Dr. Gregg’s qualifications for purposes of this hearing?” Page asked Betsy.

  “We assume Dr. Gregg is well known to the court,” Betsy said, “so, for purposes of this hearing only, we stipulate that Dr. Gregg is the state medical examiner and qualified to give opinions on cause of death.”

  “Thank you,” Page said to Betsy. “Dr. Gregg, were you called to a construction site owned by Darius Construction, earlier this week, to examine the remains of four individuals who were found buried there?”

  “I was.”

  “And you conducted the autopsies of all four victims?”

  “Yes.”

  “What is an autopsy, Dr. Gregg?”

  “It’s an examination of a body after death to determine, among other things, cause of death.”

  “Will you explain what your autopsy involved?”

  “Certainly. I examined the bodies carefully for serious injuries, natural diseases and other natural causes of death.”

  “Did any of the victims die a natural death?”

  “No.”

  “What injuries did you observe?”

  “All four individuals had numerous burns and cutting injuries on various parts of their bodies. Three of the male’s fingers had been severed. There was evidence of sharp cuts on the women’s breasts. The nipples on the women had been mutilated, as had the genitalia of the man and the women. Do you want me to go into detail?”

  “That won’t be necessary for this hearing. How did the three women die?”

  “Their abdomens had been deeply cut, resulting in serious injuries to their bowel and abdominal viscera.”

  “When a person is disemboweled, do they die quickly?”

  “No. A person can stay alive for some time in this condition.”

  “Can you give the court a rough estimate?”

  Gregg shrugged. “It’s hard to say. Two to four hours. Eventually they die from shock and loss of blood.”

  “And that was the cause of death of these women?”

  “Yes.”

  “And the male?”

  “He suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the back of his head.”

  “Did you order laboratory tests?”

  “Yes. I had the blood tested for alcohol. The results were negative for all of the victims. I ordered a urine screen for drugs of abuse. This involves testing the urine for the presence of five drugs: cocaine, morphine, marijuana, amphetamine and PCP. Our results were all negative.”

  Page studied his notes and conferred with Highsmith before turning the witness over to Betsy. She reread a portion of the autopsy report and frowned.

  “Dr. Gregg, I’m confused by some remarks you made on page four of your report. Were the women raped?”

  “That’s hard to say. I found bruises and tears around the genitalia and rectum. Tearing that would indicate invasion by a foreign object.”

  “Did you test for semen?”

  “I did not find any traces of seminal fluid.”

  “So you can’t say conclusively that the women were raped?”

  “I can only say there was penetration and violent injury. There was no evidence of male ejaculation.”

  “Did you draw a conclusion concerning whether the women were murdered at the construction site?”

  “I believe they were killed elsewhere.”

  “Why?”

  “There would have been a large amount of blood at the murder scene because of their massive cutting injuries. There were also organs removed from two of the women.”

  “Would the rain obscure traces of their blood?”

  “No. They were buried. The rain would have washed away the blood on the surface, but we should have found larger quantities under the bodies in the graves.”

  “So you believe the women were killed someplace else and transported to the site?”

  “Yes.”

  “If they were transported in the trunk of a BMW, could you erase all traces of blood from the trunk?”

  “Objection,” Page said. “Dr. Gregg is not qualified to answer that question. She is a medical doctor, not a forensic chemist.”

  “I’ll let her answer, if she can,” the judge ruled.

  “I’m afraid that’s outside my area of expertise,” the doctor answered.

  “The male was not disemboweled?”

  “No.”

  “Nothing further.”

  Alan Page stood. He looked a little unsure of himself.

  “Your Honor, I’m going to call myself as a witness. Mr. Highsmith will examine.”

  “Objection, Your Honor. It’s unethical for an attorney to testify as a witness in a case he’s trying.”

  “That might be true in a trial before a jury, Your Honor,” Page replied, “but the court is not going to have any trouble deciding my credibility as a witness, if that comes into question, simply because I’m also arguing the State’s position.”

  Norwood looked troubled. “This is unusual. Why do you have to testify?”

  “What’s he up to?” Darius whispered in Betsy’s car.

  Betsy shook her head. She was studying Page. He looked ill at ease and grim. Something was troubling the district attorney.

  “Your Honor, I’m in possession of evidence you must hear if you are going to make a reasoned decision on the issue of bail. Unless I testify, you’ll be without the most important evidence we have that Martin Darius is the man who killed Laura Farrar, Wendy Reiser and Victoria Miller.”

  “I’m confused,
Mr. Page,” Norwood said testily. “How can you have this evidence? Were you an eyewitness?” Norwood shook his head. “I don’t get it.”

  Page cleared his throat. “Your Honor, there is a witness. Her name is Nancy Gordon.” Darius took a deep breath and leaned forward intently. “Ten years ago, an identical series of murders occurred in Hunter’s Point, New York. The day before we found the bodies, Detective Gordon told me about those murders and why she believed Martin Darius committed them.”

  “Then call Detective Gordon,” Norwood said.

  “I can’t. She’s missing and she may be dead. She checked into a motel room after leaving me. I called her several times starting around eight, eight-thirty, the next morning. I think something happened to her shortly after she checked in. It looks like she was unpacking when something interrupted her. All of her possessions were in the room, but she hasn’t come back for them. I have a team of detectives looking for her, but we’ve had no luck so far.”

  “Your Honor,” Betsy said, “if Mr. Page is going to testify about this woman’s statements to prove my client murdered some women ten years ago, it will be pure hearsay. I know the court is giving Mr. Page leeway, but Mr. Darius has state and federal constitutional rights to confront the witnesses against him.”

  Norwood nodded. “That’s true, Mrs. Tannenbaum. I’ll tell you, Mr. Page, this bothers me. Isn’t there another witness from Hunter’s Point you can call who can testify about these other crimes?”

  “Not on such short notice. I know the names of the other detectives who worked on the case, but they don’t work for the Hunter’s Point police anymore and I haven’t traced them.”

  Norwood leaned back and almost disappeared from view. Betsy was dying to know what the missing detective had told Page, but she had to keep the testimony out if it was the ammunition Page needed to keep Martin Darius in jail.

  “It’s eleven-fifteen, folks,” Norwood said. “We’ll adjourn until one-thirty. I’ll hear legal argument then.”

  Norwood stood up and walked out of the courtroom. Harvey Cobb rapped the gavel and everyone stood.

  “Now I know why Page thinks I killed those women,” Darius whispered to Betsy. “When can we talk?”

  “I’ll come up to the jail right now.”

  Betsy turned to one of the guards. “Can you put Mr. Darius in the interview room? I want to talk to him.”

  “Sure, Mrs. Tannenbaum. We’re gonna wait for the court to clear before taking him up. You can ride with us in the jail elevator if you want.”