A Sense of Justice

by Jack Davis

  Turning to RAIC Scott from Syracuse, he said, “Meyer, I’d like you to marry up with the detectives and conduct interviews of the neighbors and other acquaintances. Antonescu can’t have been in two places at once. Let’s see if he was here during the recent murders, for a start.”

  Morley moved to the agents on the phone. “Jaime, start looking for other homicides that match this profile over the past ten years. I’m gonna call a buddy of mine over at the Bureau and ask him to jumpstart the process and send you the results to sift through. Start with domestics, then depending upon what you have, look at Canada.

  “Kay, whoever the killer is, he travels. Start looking into that angle. Start with our friend here and see if there is anything else you can come up with on his travel habits.

  “Doc, you coordinate all computer searches, but open the aperture a bit and see if you can find anything that might link Antonescu to the killings or to a killer. We’re going to have to go at this case a little differently now.

  “With three sets of homicides, we can look for patterns: time of day, time of year, geographic location, zodiac sign, anything that might give the group something else to work with or to associate other cases.

  “Jaime, create two folders on the ECTF share drive and password protect ’em. I want everyone to upload all their information to these folders. I’ll start pulling it together into some semblance of order. I want the case broken down into everything about the federal cases against the four original defendants in the first folder, then everything about the local murders in the second. Jaime, I want you and Kay to coordinate the link analyses of the investigations, and put that chart up on both share drives and on the whiteboard in the conference room. I’d like to see something by 1700.”

  Posada’s reply was immediate, “On it.”

  Morley continued, “Guys, we—and it appears others—have been working on the underlying assumption that the hacking and the murders were unrelated. Today was the first time we realized we might be wrong. I’m going to say we have to be very careful about any assumptions about these cases. Let’s make sure we know for certain what is fact and what isn’t.

  “We need to keep working this the way we have been. If our criminal happens to be a serial killer, it just ratchets up the scrutiny we’ll face at trial. For all we know, we have a pervert who has infected every porn site out there to get free video and pics. At the same time, there is some psycho out there killing mom-’n’-pop porn owners. We can’t link the physical and the logical at this point. We’re gonna have to keep doing the basics and build the case one step at a time. Good police work is still the key.

  “Call me immediately with anything new for the group, and I’ll make sure it gets distributed. The detectives and I are going to brief the chief now, and I’ll give our front office a call and fill them in. If nothing else comes up, we’ll meet back here at 1900 to go over anything new; any questions?”

  Greere, never shy, asked what they had all been wondering. “Is the case gonna get pulled from us and given to the Bureau?”

  Morley had a response ready, “We have no solid evidence that the hack, which we have primary jurisdiction over, and the homicides, are related. We’re still working on the intrusion investigation. We’re providing everything we have to the local authorities to further their investigations. I’m gonna brief the people upstairs who need to know and tell them we are continuing the investigation. I’ll tell you what I’m going to tell them. I will not jeopardize the outcome of the case by not advising the Bureau. I have a good friend over there I trust that I’ll run this past. He’ll do the right thing, and make sure we get the support we need without having to relinquish the case unless it’s necessary. You just keep working the case and let me worry about where it falls out. Does anyone else have any questions?”

  When there was no comment Morley continued, “Thanks, talk to you later, and see you back here at 1900.”

  The FBI (10/18/09, 0947 hours)

  After the impromptu morning meeting, Morley’s first call was to his friend at the FBI, ASAC Henry Shaw. Shaw, although officially Brown’s counterpart, became fast friends with Morley soon after arriving in New York. The two circumvented Brown whenever possible for the good of both agencies. The son of an NYPD detective, Shaw knew that interagency rivalries didn’t help anyone but the criminals. He shared Morley’s view that there was enough cyber crime in the Big Apple for both agencies.

  “What can the New York FBI do for the New York Secret Service? You got some hard cases you need solved?”

  “Yeah, how’s that Hoffa case coming along?” replied Morley good-naturedly.

  After more banter Morley got down to business and explained the situation as completely as possible. He outlined the Service’s current stance with regards to the case and asked for his friend’s help.

  Shaw had an analytical mind and processed everything his colleague was telling him. Without hesitation he promised the Bureau would offer any support needed, officially or unofficially.

  Shaw went right into details and said he wasn’t aware of any similar cases the Bureau was working. He offered to send out a nationwide query that would only come out as an FBI New York Field Office inquiry and shouldn’t draw undue attention. He would also run the information through all of the FBI and DOJ databases that the Service might not have access to and get back to Morley later that evening.

  The last thing Shaw asked for was a copy of the program the suspect was using. It sounded interesting, and Shaw wanted to send it to their lab in Quantico for analysis, testing, and cataloguing.

  Morley assured his friend a copy of the program and the source code would be sent out the following morning by 0800 hours.

  And that was that. Cooperation between two of the premier law enforcement agencies in the world without MOAs, principals’ meetings, working groups, or the requirement for third parties to broker deals. Cooperation based upon mutual friendship, trust, respect, and a desire to put criminals in jail.

  Before the call to headquarters, Morley decided to talk to Mak. He wanted to have her spies listen to the wires in DC, and make sure no one at HQ went off script to advance their own agenda. He also wanted her to make sure Brown didn’t foul things up. Now that Kensington wasn’t worried about the senator’s credit card, she had much more latitude. She loved the case now, and assured Morley she would look out for Morley’s interest, to the degree she could.

  Briefings, Brown Takes Center Stage (10/18/09, 1030-1415 hours)

  For Morley the next step was akin to having a root canal without Novocain while simultaneously passing kidney stones.

  The briefings to USSS hierarchy started with the NYFO brass. Those took three separate conference calls and the better part of two hours. It led to a similarly excruciating set of conference calls with the Criminal Investigations Division staff in headquarters. This in turn set up calls with the AD Investigations and his DADs. All of which culminated in a call with the Director and his staff.

  By the last two series of meetings Morley had strategically been bumped from the speaker’s platform by ASAIC Brown. By the briefings to AD INV, Brown had heard the story enough times to effectively parrot it. Those on the last call were given the distinct impression that Brown had been instrumental in day-to-day running of the investigation from the very beginning. It appeared that he had single-handedly guided the case through the murky waters of criminality to bring it to its current state. Morley was at the same time disgusted and fascinated by how artfully Brown had cloaked himself in the glow of the case.

  It did make Morley laugh when he heard Brown deflect blame from himself when two angry DADs questioned who had notified the FBI. “AT Morley felt he was doing the right thing for the case overall when he overstepped his authority by including the FBI. We’ve discussed it.”

  Morley had to hand it to his boss—he could spin a nice yarn.

  As painful as the briefings were, the results were more so. From that point forward, HQ required daily
briefings, which required a pre-briefing at the NYFO level. All information dissemination had to be preapproved by NYFO and then HQ. And probably worst of all, Brown would be coming to Johnson City early the next morning to “maintain personal control over the investigation.”

  For Morley, the earlier euphoria of the case had been covered by the pall of administrative burdens. With that in mind he made one more decision without HQ.

  When he finally had a free minute, he sent a request for information to all ECTFs with the new information. It was a follow-up to his previous MichaelTAA email. This iteration asked for any and all information regarding cases involving hacking of porn websites and murders related to websites or web masters. He indicated it was a priority investigation, and asked personnel to check with all their sources. He did not send it to Brown for review/approval.

  Canvas the Neighborhood (10/18/09, 1052 hours)

  Unlike what Morley was facing, the other agents and officers, were able to move quickly. They contacted the SAICs of the local Washington, Savannah, and Cleveland offices. They briefed the supervisors and explained they were going to be contacting the local police to provide everything they had in their cases.

  The local detectives in the three cities had hit brick walls in their investigations and were excited about the new leads. They set up a joint telephone call each day at 1600 hours to share information.

  The first tantalizing piece of information eventually turned out to be a pair of dead ends. During the Sunday morning phone call, Pencala had pointed out that all the bodies had been found in houses that were for sale. She recommended the agents ask if contact had been made with the realtors who had listed the houses or any that had shown them. Indeed, the detectives had followed that string and come up with no leads. The initial reviews had shown no unidentified individuals or individuals without alibis.

  Interestingly though, the records available in both Savannah and Cleveland did indicate that prior to the murders an individual had emailed the realtors asking for listings that were “remote” or “someplace with privacy.” The other requirement was that the prospective house had to be empty. The potential buyer had said he had to move in quickly and couldn’t wait for people to move out of a house he was going to buy. The realtors had sent the individual a list of houses in the higher price range that fit his criteria—he had claimed he was a doctor. Not surprisingly, both realtors had tried to follow-up with phone calls but were only able to reach an answering service. The individual had never re-contacted the realtors.

  The detectives in the cases obtained copies of the emails from the realtors and checked out both the email accounts and the phone numbers. All were dead ends.

  The only movement forward in the investigation by the end of the initial coordination meeting was that the names matched those previously developed by the Service.

  After the morning meeting, RAIC Scott paired up with local detectives to start interviewing Antonescu’s neighbors. The first interview produced evidence.

  Tyler Reese, a European Arts major, and his girlfriend, who was getting her master’s in medieval literature, lived in the apartment right next to Antonescu. They’d known Anton, as they called him, for over a year. They had not wanted to talk to the police, and even less the “Gestapo from Washington,” but their curiosity and fourteen unpaid parking tickets combined to lessen their idealistic fervor.

  They started with a defiant, “Why are you picking on a poor, hard-working immigrant?”

  The detective took out his handcuffs and moved toward Tyler. “Listen, unless you’ve got fourteen hundred dollars to resolve those unpaid parking tickets, you’d better just sit there and answer them like good little professional students.” The young man quickly became more cooperative.

  “Anton’s one of the nicest people we’ve ever met,” Tyler said, looking at Henna for confirmation.

  “He is. He’d do anything for anyone.”

  “Do you know him well?”

  Henna looked at Tyler. “As well as anyone. Anton’s quiet and keeps to himself.”

  “We invite him over for cookouts or to watch sports or other get-togethers a few times a year. He always comes…”

  Henna cut in. “I think he feel obligated and is afraid to hurt our feelings by not coming.”

  “Yeah, I think so too. He’s always the first to leave.”

  Henna broached the obvious. “He’s so shy because of his looks. It looks like he had some type of plastic surgery over in Eastern Europe.” She grimaced. “It didn’t go well. I think that’s why he always wears that mask, to hide it.” She cocked her head in sympathy for the Romanian. “He’s almost a recluse when he’s not working.” She paused. “In the entire time we’ve known him, I can’t ever remember seeing anyone come over to his apartment.”

  Tyler nodded in agreement.

  “Do you know if Mr. Antonescu has any hobbies?”

  “I know he plays a lot of computer games. There was one in particular, world of…something, warcraft, I think. At a barbecue we had last summer he explained it to me and said if I ever wanted to play, he’d show me how.”

  “Did you ever take him up on it?”

  “Nah, I’m more of an ultimate frisbee, outdoors sort a guy.”

  When Scott asked if Antonescu traveled, he got the second incriminating piece of evidence.

  “Anton traveled a lot,” Henna said. “He goes back to Romania twice a year and also travels all around the US. We pick up his mail for him while he’s away. He just got back a little while ago as a matter of fact. We have his cell number to reach him in case of emergency.”

  “Does he talk about the trips when he comes back? Show you pictures or anything like that?”

  “When he came back from Romania, he had a lot of pictures, of the orphanage and the countryside.” Tyler thought for a second. “The other trips, no. He just tells us when he’s leaving and comes by to pick up his mail when he gets back. He always brings us movie tickets or a gift certificate to say thanks. He’s so nice.”

  Once the couple could provide no additional information, Meyer and the detective helped them pinpoint the days they had picked up the mail for Antonescu. The travel dates corresponded to the dates of the most recent murders.

  Written statements were taken, and the detective explained they needed to do something about the parking tickets—and soon.

  The other neighbors had pretty much the same story. Antonescu was one of the nicest people they knew, and they couldn’t conceive of him ever doing anything illegal. He kept to himself and only talked if asked a question. They said he was shy beyond comprehension.

  Back at the PD, Murray had the job of forwarding the photos of Antonescu to the local offices. Based upon Mihai’s distinctive features, the group was sure the identifications would be easy and go quickly. They were overly optimistic in their hopes of getting a positive ID from at least one witness before nightfall. Like so many other aspects of the case, past and present, their anticipation was rewarded with disappointment.

  Western Union, WoW, and Remote Access (10/18/09, 1214 hours)

  At about the same time Scott was being assured by neighbors that Antonescu wouldn’t hurt a fly, Swann was running down a hunch. While waiting for one of his string searches to run on Antonescu’s machines he did what came naturally to him—he multitasked.

  Calling his Blizzard contact, he asked if there had been any drop-off in account activity for MichaelTAA during two separate ranges of dates. From what Swann had seen of the account, the individual played the game almost every night for at least a few hours. He was sure there had to be a deviance from the killer’s normal pattern due to travel.

  The Blizzard contact called back confirming Swann’s suspicions. The records showed that for the dates in question there were about eight days prior to and two days after where there was an abnormal absence of activity in the account. There was activity, but it was noticeably less, and not during his normal times. The contact also noted it was on differen
t characters, and not on the main MichaelTAA character. Within two days of the dates given, account activity was back to normal again.

  Swann asked if there were any other dips in activity, and how far back they could track that type of information. The contact said he would check on the activity issue, but he knew they only had account records that went back three years. The game had gone through a complete overhaul in 2006, and Blizzard had used that as a break point in account activity. Swann asked for records as far back as possible. He was assured he would have them within two days. After he thanked his contact, Swann emailed the group the updated information.

  While waiting for a response from Blizzard, Swann told Greere, now working on the machine next to him, his account activity idea. Greere immediately called Western Union.

  Fifty minutes later Greere got his response. There were cash withdrawals from the account eight days prior to each murder. Both of the withdrawals had taken place in NYC, but at different locations in Manhattan. The amounts had been twenty-four hundred dollars and two thousand dollars respectively.

  Greere requested the videotapes from all the transactions from that account. His WU counterpart explained that the tapes were never kept more than sixty days unless there were mitigating circumstances. The tapes corresponding to the dates of the Cleveland case would have already been overwritten. The Savannah tapes, on the other hand, should be available.

  Greere now took Swann’s idea to the next level. He contacted the SUNY CISO and asked two questions, both with two parts.

  First, if Antonescu had been on leave during various dates, part B, if not, did he remote access in at all during that time frame. He figured it would be one more confirmation that Antonescu was or was not in the Triple Cities during the time of the murders.

  The second question concerned access to the faculty file containing pictures of the mature women. He asked if the Blairs—the victims in Savannah—were in the file. If not, Greere asked if backups were made that could be reviewed to see if the couple had been in the file prior to the dates of the murders.