Bitter Remains

by Diane Fanning

  “She kept a log of when she fed them, what times, when she had diaper changes. She kept a log of every activity she did with the children and every contact she made with Grant. . . . Laura loved her children more than anything and it showed in every action that she took.”

  Heidi wrapped up her direct testimony by telling the jurors about Laura’s prescient statement that if anything ever happened to her, Heidi should know that “Grant did it.”

  On cross-examination, Heidi insisted, “She told me she would never go to his apartment.”

  When Cutler pressed her on that belief, pointing to Laura’s obvious visit on July 13, Heidi said, “The only reason I can think of was because he was going to give her custody of the kids. That’s the only reason I can think of that she would have gone.”

  With those words, the court adjourned.

  —

  THE following morning, Friday, August 30, 2013, when court resumed but before the jury was brought in, the judge said, “I’ve been advised at the bench that the witness on the stand, Heidi Schumacher, is a witness who has information in reference to what we refer to as 404(b) evidence, dealing with other acts that might constitute crimes for which the defendant is not charged. In previous motions, I have deferred ruling on the admissibility of any such evidence, and since the witness is here and the jury is out, it would seem appropriate to listen to what that evidence would entail so I can be in a position to make some ruling on it in the event that the state decides, at this time or at some time later in the trial, to offer the evidence.”

  Heidi resumed her seat in the witness box, wearing the same black cardigan she’d worn the day before but replacing the previous day’s drab gray dress with a bright blue one. First, she related to the judge the incident of her phone conversation with Laura in 2008, when Grant was ranting in the background and she’d arrived to find Laura injured. Heidi then moved on to the time Grant threatened both her and Laura in a parking lot.

  Defense Attorney Cutler got Heidi to admit that Laura never “specifically said that Grant hit her,” although Laura had said that Grant caused her injuries.

  “When Laura told you Grant went to the US Virgin Islands, did she tell you he went with another woman?”

  “No.”

  Heidi also said she’d seen the pictures of Grant and Amanda’s wedding in Las Vegas and that little Grant had been in the photos. She testified that it was her understanding that Laura did not know they were married until she received the photos from Grant.

  Cutler tried to discredit that statement by claiming that Laura had sent an e-mail to Grant talking about his marriage to Amanda before it happened. He claimed in one of them Laura wrote, “I’m glad you found your perfect match, Grant.” The defense however, did not produce that e-mail or any other proof to corroborate that statement.

  Cutler did, however, have Heidi read the January 2011 e-mail chain between Grant and Laura (in which Grant made a number of negative comments about Laura) into the record. In the e-mails, Laura didn’t argue about the validity of Grant’s remarks, but did say that she was laughing at what he said.

  The judge reached a decision, saying that anything regarding arguments and physical confrontations was relevant. “I’m inclined to hear testimony from Heidi Schumacher on anything she actually saw, but not what happened out of her sight, based on what the victim said to her three years prior to her death.” In short, Heidi’s testimony about the threats and the physical injury were admissible, as long as Heidi didn’t mention Laura’s comments.

  The jury took their seats in the courtroom and the direct examination continued with a recitation of the events that occurred on the day Heidi saw Laura with a black eye and a bloody nose. She then related Laura’s surprise when she realized that she was not legally married to Grant.

  When the prosecutor asked Heidi about introducing Laura to Oksana Samarsky, she said that she had done so because “Laura was always good at meeting people and marketing and Oksana was a fantastic artist and Laura was also an artist. I introduced them because I thought they would hit it off and I thought they could help each other.”

  The state then questioned her about Laura going to Grant’s apartment. Heidi insisted that Laura would not go. “She would not be alone with him.” Heidi said Laura was afraid of how a situation could be twisted when there were no other witnesses.

  She continued on with testimony about Laura’s physical fears, telling the jury about the threat Grant had made to both of them in the parking lot, and how it had led to her getting a concealed-carry permit, and—since Laura was uncomfortable with guns—why Heidi gave her a knife for her protection.

  On re-cross, the defense tried to shred her testimony, but Heidi stood her ground. The defense accused her of never having previously said anything about Grant’s threat to kill both of them, but she vehemently denied that allegation.

  Finally, when asked about what she told the police when Laura went missing, Heidi testified that when she spoke to them, she’d shared her belief that Grant had either had Laura murdered or had murdered her himself.

  —

  THE next witness on the stand that day was Kinston Detective James Gwartney. Gwartney, a man in the proximate vicinity of forty with brush-cut light brown hair, sharp cheekbones, deep-set eyes and a downturned mouth, wore a light gray suit, a blue oxford button-down shirt and a yellow tie. After Chevon Mathes had filed the report about Laura with the Kinston police, his supervisor had given him the missing persons file to investigate.

  Through direct and cross-examination, Gwartney detailed the steps he took during the two brief days the case had been in his hands before he turned it over to the Raleigh homicide unit.

  SBI Special Agent Lolita Chapman, a black woman with short, neat hair and a prominent chin, followed him on the stand. An investigator with the State Bureau of Investigation, assigned to Greene and Lenoir Counties, Chapman became involved in the case on July 19, when she received a request from the Kinston police for assistance with interviews because of a manpower shortage. On cross-examination, Cutler directed her to read passages from Laura’s journal that reflected poorly on Amanda.

  Sergeant Dana Suggs of the Raleigh Police Department testified about the discovery of Laura Ackerson’s Ford Focus in the parking lot of her former residence at Camden Crest apartments.

  Oksana Samarsky next took the stand. She had long, light brown hair, parted in the middle, with long bangs; deep, dark eyes; and smooth skin. Oksana described how Heidi Schumacher had introduced her to Laura in February 2011. She remembered that first encounter well. Laura’s two little boys had crawled all over their mother, who displayed a bubbly personality. “We became very quick friends,” Oksana said. “Laura believed in me and thought I could make money on my art. She was going to help me with marketing and was going to try to use her connections to get me into a gallery.”

  Oksana chatted with Laura on July 12, and they were going to try to get together on the evening of the thirteenth. Laura left Oksana a voice mail message that night but they didn’t connect. “I was in study group and I saw my phone ring. I wish I’d picked it up. If I’d known what would happen . . .” Oksana said, choking up with emotion as she fought tears and her voice cracked. “I would not let it ring and then just kind of ignored it because she left me a voice mail. And I listened to the voice mail and it said she couldn’t make it, she’s doing something else. And that’s fine, it happened before, it didn’t work out. But two weeks later, it was very important that I should have picked up the phone.” She paused to capture her composure, pulling out a tissue and blotting her eyes. “I got a call two weeks later from a detective who asked to meet me to get that message off my phone. I ended up meeting him and he had a tape recorder and I played the message and he recorded it,” she said through sniffles.

  “Have you listened to that message?”

  “Yes, several times.”

&n
bsp; The state entered the taped message and a transcript of it into the evidence and then played the tape of Laura. By the time it ended, Oksana’s sobs ripped through the courtroom.

  The prosecution continued. “After that message, did you ever talk to Laura again?”

  “No,” Oksana choked out through her tears.

  The judge gave her a moment to compose herself. She blew her nose and looked up at defense attorney Will Durham.

  Durham asked her about a Facebook chat she’d had with Laura on July 12. “You and Laura talked about how the custody case was going and Laura said, ‘It’s going. I joined a group online of ladies in a similar situation—people who have had to deal with assholes. LOL. And my situation is so, so, so, so good comparatively.’ She said that to you on that Internet chat, didn’t she?”

  “Yes,” Oksana admitted.

  On re-direct, the state had Oksana read a chat string from earlier that summer, when Laura expressed confidence that she would soon be regaining custody of the boys and congratulated her friend for selling some of her art online. The defense then asked if Laura ever showed her any cell phone cases with art on them.

  “Yes. Ones Grant did. She spoke very highly of his work.” With that, Oksana, with a tear-stained face, was finally released from the stand.

  —

  ANOTHER young woman stepped into the box in her place. Sha Elmer, now Sha Guddat since her marriage the year before, was twenty-four years old and had short, thick, light brown hair and a pretty, sweet-looking face with a warm smile that lit up her eyes. She told the jury that her mother, Amanda Hayes, was married to Grant Hayes.

  On direct examination, she sketched out her family history for the jury. Then, she told them about picking up the boys and taking them to Monkey Joe’s on the morning of July 14, 2011. She admitted her frustration about having to drive across town and back to loan her mother the vacuum cleaner that belonged to her boyfriend. She talked about the cancelation of the weekend’s moving plans and her surprise at her mother’s sudden trip to Texas.

  On cross-examination, Sha went over her mother’s comments about the trip to visit her sister halfway across the country. She said that, although she did not know it until after the fact, her mother wanted to move an antique piece from the 1800s that she inherited from her second husband to Fort Bend County, Texas, for safekeeping.

  When asked about her relationship with Grant, Sha said that it was pretty good. She told the jury that on April 30, 2011, she’d posted a message on his Facebook page that read, “Happy Birthday, Daddy.” She added, “That’s what I called him because that’s what the boys called him.”

  Questioned about what she told police about Grant, Sha said, “Grant thought he was a good dad and not in danger of losing custody. He just wanted it to be all over—we all did.” She said she’d assured detectives that she’d never seen Grant lose his temper or raise his voice and that he’d never been violent in front of her.

  On re-direct, the state asked, “During the summer of 2011, how would you describe the financial situation of your mother and Grant Hayes?”

  “Swirling down the drain.”

  “Would you say they were losing money?”

  “Anything my mother had at that point had been sold.” She continued in that vein, describing the many items her mother had lost: a Rolex, an engagement ring, a wedding ring, a diamond tennis bracelet and other jewelry from Nicky Smith, as well as an unset green-yellow diamond.

  The state handed her exhibit 45, a manual for a handheld reciprocating saw. Sha testified that she found it in a stack of papers when she was packing up the family’s belongings after the arrest of her mother and Grant.

  When the defense asked questions again, Sha told the jury that sometimes when Laura called, Grant would put the phone on speaker or just set it down and let her rant. Grant, she said, wouldn’t yell back in front of the baby.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  ON the third day of the trial, September 3, 2013, Tracy Tremmlet, certified crime scene investigator with the City/County Bureau of Identification, explained her part of the investigation—photographing, videotaping and collecting evidence at the scene where Laura’s Ford Focus was found.

  She was followed by Grant’s longtime friend Lauren Harris, the general manager at Monkey Joe’s. Lauren had long blonde hair, pouty lips and dark eyes. She wore oversized earrings and chewed gum on the stand. She testified that she and Grant met at Cinelli’s, a restaurant in North Raleigh. They’d seen each other all the time for a while and then lost touch for a few years. They renewed their friendship after that and saw each other several times a week. She said she met Laura when Laura was dating Grant, several months before she became pregnant with little Grant.

  Lauren added that, occasionally, Laura would be with Grant and the boys at Monkey Joe’s. The admittance charge was seven dollars, but she always let Grant’s kids in for free.

  —

  LAURA’S half brother Jason Ackerson told the jury about the good relationship he had with Laura and the negative one with Grant. His sister had been told not to see him, but he said that they’d continued to maintain contact in secret—just as she had done with her friend Heidi Schumacher.

  —

  THE next person to testify for the state was Matt Guddat, Sha’s husband, who had been her fiancé at the time of Laura’s murder. He related the vacuum cleaner loan, the trailer hitch story and Sha’s trips to the police station for questioning.

  —

  DETECTIVE Mark Quagliarello, with the homicide unit of the Raleigh Police Department, a balding man with tight lips and deep-set eyes, told jurors about his role in searches and interviews for the investigation. He was the one who’d initially brought Sha in for questioning about Laura, Amanda and Grant.

  On cross-examination, the defense asked Quagliarello about his interview with Sha. “Do you recall her telling that Laura had told Grant that if he didn’t come down to North Carolina, his kids were going to be abused?”

  “In my supplement, I do note that.”

  After making the detective repeat that remark in a different way, Durham asked, “And [Sha] said that Grant would put the phone on speaker phone sometimes when Laura was calling, and Laura would be screaming and threatening Grant.”

  “I don’t recall that.”

  “Did she tell you that Grant didn’t respond angrily? He would always just say, ‘Laura, I can’t do this right now. I’ve got to go’?”

  “I don’t recall that specifically.”

  When defense attorney Jeff Durham asked if Sha told the detective that she remembered times in the past when Laura was yelling at her mother, Quagliarello said, “Yes.”

  “She told you that she never saw Grant Hayes being abusive to her mother?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “And that she never heard him even raise his voice at her?”

  “I don’t remember that specifically.”

  On re-direct, the state established that Quagliarello did not know the source of any of Sha’s information. Then, Assistant District Attorney Becky Holt asked, “Mr. Durham also asked you about times in the past where she remembered Laura yelling at her mother. Did she also tell you that her mother, being Amanda Hayes, was always cordial with Ms. Ackerson?”

  “Yes.”

  —

  THE next witness was Detective Amanda Salmon, head of the homicide unit for the Raleigh police in the summer of 2011. Her round face and small nose were framed by brown hair pulled back tight in a bun. She told of her involvement in canvassing the apartment complex where Laura’s vehicle was found, helping in the search of the bedroom and bathroom area of Grant and Amanda’s apartment, interviewing some of Laura’s friends and other investigative tasks.

  The defense wanted to know if the Hayeses’ sofa could have been moved with the table and chairs in place as they were. Sh
e said it was possible. Then they tried to obtain testimony from her allowing that the bleach stain by the front door could have been there because the children had made a mess at the dining room table. Salmon did not give them what they wanted.

  —

  THE seventh person on the witness stand that day was Raleigh Police Detective Keith Heckman, with the Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU). He testified that there had been no activity on Laura’s cell phone after 4:59 P.M. on July 13, 2011. He also tracked the record of pings from Grant’s phone’s location on Google Maps to a remote area in Texas backed by a creek.

  On cross-examination, the defense went over the times of the text messages between Lauren Harris and Grant Hayes and the messages and calls between Grant and Laura on July 13, 2011. The point of this exercise was nebulous at best.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  THE day’s final witness on September 3, 2013, was another investigator from Raleigh, Detective Sergeant Robert Latour. Latour had a blond buzz cut, round face and downturned eyes, and wore a light khaki suit that made him look quite pale. He testified that on the first day of his involvement in the investigation, he’d interviewed a distraught Chevon Mathes and secured videos from the security cameras at Sheetz that tracked the movements of Grant and the boys on the preceding Friday as well as those from Laura’s apartment complex that showed what she’d been wearing on July 13, 2011. He’d worked all day and had still been at it at three in the morning, arranging to secure Laura’s spare car key from Chevon in Kinston.

  Latour told the jury about his involvement that week in other interviews, in searches of Laura’s and the Hayes’s apartments, in researching U-Haul rentals and trash pickups and his trip to Texas with Detective Dexter Gill that Friday.