by Irving Munro
Alyana quickly realized that Garrison McMullen had a dark side. He was given to fits of anger and frequently would be physically abusive of Alyana. My father arrived on the scene in the spring of 1968 and, in addition to his many tasks, was given the responsibility of looking after the two horses that Garrison McMullen had bought for his wife to ride.
On many occasions he would see the bruises on her face and arms and he would see her wince when trying to mount her horse. He would fetch ice for her to apply to her injuries and over time he became a shoulder to cry on. A physical relationship soon developed and they fell in love.
Alyana fell pregnant in the fall of 1968 and in May of 1969 she gave birth to a son. Garrison McMullen was over the moon and he chose the name Gavin for the child, as he thought that his family had originally come to the U.S. from Scotland and that Gavin was a good Scottish name. The boy had dark black hair similar in color to Garrison McMullen’s and he had olive-colored skin from his mother.
A year later Garrison McMullen fell from his horse and sustained severe injuries to his lower abdomen. One result of the injury was that he was impotent and could never father another child. He decided at that moment that all of his power and fortune would be channeled for Gavin’s success in life as his sole son and heir.
You probably are now guessing where this might lead, and my guess is that you are right. Alyana became pregnant again during the time when Garrison McMullen was bedridden with his injuries. He had no idea who the father was and didn’t really care; he just wanted her out of his house, and Alyana was banished. Soon thereafter he officially divorced her, and by that time my father had quit the job on the ranch and he and Alyana were living together in Houston where my father got a job working in the oil industry.
I was born in April 1971 and my parents were having a tough time financially. In November of 1971 they drove to Oklahoma and left me with my grandparents and returned to Texas.
After Alyana was banished from the ranch, the responsibility for raising young Gavin McMullen fell on the McMullen ranch housekeeper, Antonella Aguilar. I tracked Antonella down and it was she who gave me much of the information I am sharing with you today.
Garrison McMullen never married again and he devoted his energy to ensuring that Gavin would have the best education; he eventually graduated UT Austin with a Ph.D. in Law and Comparative Politics.
Garrison McMullen has been a major contributor to the Republican Party for many years and, with the help of others in the party, he architected a plan for Gavin to enter the political arena, first in local and state government and then hopefully in the future at the national level. The fact that he had a Hispanic mother was a key component of the strategy, as with the changing regional and national ethnic mix the party saw a huge need to find a charismatic white/Hispanic leader.
Although my mother was banished from the McMullen home, I can’t imagine that she did not try to make contact with her first son, Gavin. My guess is that Antonella Aguilar would be able to help shed some light on this, but since my first meeting with her at her home in Round Rock, she has disappeared. I feel also that she may be key in finding my mother’s family, the Reyes, and they might know something also.
I ran recon on Jimmy Rodriguez to see if I could find a connection through him. He has a driver named Pepe Vivar. Vivar is Honduran and a real piece of work. He has a scar down his left cheek, and I’ve followed him and seen him extort money from the hundreds of Mexican workers who frequent the cantinas in the Venture Point, Leander and Lago Vista neighborhoods. He lives in a wing of the home of Jimmy Rodriguez.
I followed Jimmy Rodriguez and Pepe Vivar on two occasions when they drove down to the Colinas Verde Ranch and saw them meet with Enrique, Garrison McMullen and a bunch of other high rollers I didn’t recognize. After the first time following them, I decided to set up the surveillance equipment that my buddy Joe Nichol got me in Boston. I recorded them all celebrating Christmas at the Colinas Verde Ranch. It was a huge barbecue and again there were many high rollers in attendance.
One group arrived in a convoy of five vehicles with front and rear security vehicles. When they arrived the muscle got out of the front and back cover cars and formed a security perimeter for their bosses to make an entrance to the party. All these cars had Mexican tags and two were official Mexican police cruisers.
These recordings are on a backup hard drive that you will find in my U-Haul locker in Houston. Claudette Weiss has the information on the locker and can get you access. You can get the contact details for Claudette from Bob if you do not have them already.
The primary reason I have recorded this at this time is that I have been given a warning. They are on to me and I have two choices, I go back to Germany and forget this, or I continue on. Pepe Vivar delivered this warning. He met me outside the Gold’s Gym on Lamar Blvd in Austin where I work out sometimes. He told me that if I continued to upset his employers, I was a dead man. I propose to continue on. I have adequate ordnance for a firefight; however, I doubt that if they come for me it will be head on. My guess is that they will have done their homework on me and realized that that would be a bad idea.
That’s all I know. If you find my body, I would like to be buried on Comanche land. Bob has the instructions for this. If you find the bodies of my mother and father, I would like that they be buried with me. There are adequate funds to cover all of the expenses for this to be done.
Good luck. My spirit will be with you. These are dangerous people; please tread carefully. My guess is that there is a lot we don’t know and if drug cartels are involved, which I suspect they are, they won’t lie down easily.
~
When the video ended, there was total silence in the room. Bill and Tommy just shook their heads and stared at each other in almost total disbelief of what they had just seen and heard. It was Bob Corbin who broke the silence.
“So it was worth the trip?” said Bob Corbin.
Bill Ross was immediately focused on the content of the dead man’s speech.
“So where’s the hard drive? It wasn’t in the storage unit. We now know that the driver’s name is Pepe Vivar and that he’s Honduran. We suspect that Jimmy Rodriguez was present at the killing and that he ordered Pepe Vivar to take care of the details. I think we now have enough to move on Pepe Vivar. Mike said that Pepe gave him the warning outside the Gold’s Gym, so we can re-interview the manager at the gym and see if he recognizes Vivar. We need to see if Marie has made progress and if there’s a photograph of him on file.”
“I agree, Dad, and we can talk to Chief Dunwoody about how we move on him when we get back to Austin. My suggestion will be to get a search warrant for his home immediately. He lives at Jimmy Rodriguez’ place so that would give us the chance to see what we might discover in the process of the search that might implicate him.”
“The issue is still the motive and who ordered the hit and why make it look like a lynching? Was it Garrison McMullen who ordered it? Was it the cartel people? If it was the cartel people they would have done it themselves and not made it so elaborate; it would have been pop, pop and you’re in the lake. This was not a cartel hit, I’m sure of it.”
“So if it was Garrison McMullen, what was he trying to protect? What is most important to McMullen? His son and his rise to political stardom? His business dynasty, his money and his reputation? So how did Mike threaten any one or all of these things? That’s what we need to find out.”
“We also need to find Antonella Aguilar and see what she knows. Before we go to dinner tonight I’d like to give Marie a call and find out if she’s made progress on her research work on Pepe Vivar. Based on what we learn from her, we can then call Bill Dunwoody and ask him to get a search warrant issued for Jimmy Rodriguez’ place so that we can access the apartment in his home where Vivar lives.”
~
Bob Corbin left the conference room so they could make the call to Marie. Marie picked up on the first ring.
“How goes your visit
to Oklahoma?”
“Great, Marie, we can give you a full report later but we’ve made a real breakthrough here, which is the reason I’m calling. Have you made any progress on background on Jimmy Rodriguez’ limo driver?”
“Yes, let me pull it up on my laptop. There’s quite a lot of background on this guy and he’s in our system.
“His name is Pepe Vivar and he’s from Honduras. Enrique Rodriguez sponsored him as he is the son of Enrique’s brother. Enrique has six brothers, by the way, and this brother married a Honduran and moved home to Honduras. As it happens, he was the son of the woman that Rodriguez’ brother married. She was a single parent when the Rodriguez brother met her; hence, his last name Vivar. If he was not the son of a U.S. citizen, it raises the question about how he got into the U.S. in the first place.”
“Since his arrival in the U.S. in 1978 he has accumulated a criminal record as long as my arm. Mainly bar fights and other assaults. He went to jail for a year in 1994 for sticking a broken bottle in a guy’s face. He has been joined at the hip with Jimmy Rodriguez since he came out of jail in 1995 and has the same address as Rodriguez, so maybe he rents a room there or something. Jimmy Rodriguez has never been married. so maybe there’s more going on there than meets the eye, but at any rate that’s where he lives.”
“I can email you the details if you want.”
“Yes, do that, Marie, and copy Bill Dunwoody and tell him that I’ll be calling him later to ask him to get a search warrant for Vivar’s place, as he is now a prime suspect in the murder of Mike Muguara,” said Tommy.
~
After a nice Italian dinner at Luigi’s, they thanked Bob Corbin for all his help and assured him that they would keep in touch and update him on progress. Bob said that he would brief the Comanche elders on their meeting. Bob had already informed them that it was very likely that Mike Muguara was dead. They had asked him to update them regularly on the progress with the case.
When they arrived back at their hotel they got on the phone with Bill Dunwoody.
“I got the email from Marie and I have already called the DA. He said we will have a search warrant for Vivar’s place in hand for your return tomorrow. So update me on the day with the attorney.”
Tommy gave the sheriff a full report and then he hit the sack.
Chapter 24: Pepe Vivar
They arrived at the 34th Street HQ at lunchtime the following day and went straight to the conference room, where Marie was sitting and talking with Bill Dunwoody.
“Here’s your search warrant. When do you plan to go search his place and what additional backup do you need?” asked the chief.
“My plan is to do it at 6 a.m. tomorrow. Marie and I will hit the front door with the warrant. As a seconded civilian my dad will have to stay back in the vehicle, and then he can join the search once it’s underway. I would like another team of two to come in the front with us to help us with the search.
“We will then need a second team to cover the rear of the residence by the deck in case they try to throw things off the cliff into the lake. It would be a real pain in the ass if we ended up needing to deploy dive teams to go looking for stuff.”
“Good plan, Tommy. I’ll get the teams lined up and we’ll meet here at 4:30 a.m. and then drive on out there. I suggest you two get yourselves home and get some rest; you’ll have a big day tomorrow,” said the chief.
~
The following morning the team assembled in the parking lot at 34th Street. The duty officer checked that everyone had the necessary bulletproof vests and that all weapons were checked to ensure they were fully functional. If they needed to engage in a shootout they wanted no mishaps. The three cruisers then set out for the residence of Pepe Vivar and Jimmy Rodriguez.
It was still dark when they arrived. In early December sunrise is about 7 a.m. so it was still an hour or more away. Although the home was spectacularly large, for some reason they didn’t have any security gates that needed to be opened by the resident, so they were able to drive up the long driveway right to the front door. They could see security cameras in the trees. They may have triggered some kind of warning; however, it was impossible to tell. They were in stealth mode, no lights and no sirens. They gently coasted up to the steps leading to the front door.
Team Two exited their vehicle and took up their position at the rear of the home on the deck, preventing any exit to the lakeside. Tommy, Marie and Team One climbed the steps to the double-hinged metal front door and rang the bell.
A few seconds later the intercom sprang to life.
“Who the fuck is it at this time in the morning? Someone better have died or I’ll shoot you myself, you fuckers!”
Jimmy Rodriguez had obviously not checked his security system or he would have seen the cruisers in his front yard.
“Travis County Police Department, can you open the door, please? We have a warrant to search your property!”
The front door opened and Jimmy Rodriguez, obviously still drunk or at least significantly hung over, stood in front of them wearing a long silk robe. He had made an attempt to look like Liberace and failed miserably. Marie concluded that perhaps her earlier suspicions of the relationship between Jimmy and his driver did indeed extend to the bedroom.
Tommy had been wise to have Team Two on the deck. The sliding patio doors flew open and an apparition that was Pepe Vivar burst out on to the deck, his arms full of packages of cocaine and marijuana.
“Thanks for bringing us your stash, Pepe, and we didn’t even need to ask,” laughed the two officers with their guns drawn. “Is that a weapon you have sticking out under your robe or are you just pleased to see us?”
The deputies led Pepe back into the residence and had him put all the drugs on the coffee table. Jimmy Rodriguez was beginning to focus and the realization hit him that he was in deep shit.
Tommy took the lead.
“Jimmy Rodriguez and Pepe Vivar, we are arresting you both for being in possession of controlled substances, namely, cocaine and marijuana, with the intent to distribute. There may be further charges that we will bring at a later date. We have a warrant to search this residence.”
They cuffed them and the officers from Team Two took them off to the cruisers parked outside. As they walked out of the house they passed Bill Ross walking in, and Jimmy Rodriguez recognized his golf partner immediately. All he said was “You!” and he walked on by to be put into the back of the police cruiser.
~
The drugs were a godsend. It enabled Tommy to arrest them immediately and get them out of the house. They began their search.
It was a treasure trove. They found many more packages of cocaine that they estimated had a street value of a couple of million and over $500,000 in cash stacked on the bed in one of the spare bedrooms. There were hand guns, shotguns and four AK47 rifles configured for automatic fire. Boxes of ammo, crates of liquor and boxes of Cuban cigars completed their haul.
In Vivar’s bedroom they found the Hugo Boss leather jacket, and when they checked the right sleeve they found Jacob Goldman’s signature patch. On the nightstand at the side of his bed was a solid silver money clip with a two-diamond inlay and an engraved insignia that looked like the ace of spades. Propped up in the corner of the bedroom was a Louisville Slugger baseball bat.
Bill took out his cell and dialed Claudette Weiss’ number in Heidelberg. She answered immediately.
“Guten tag, wer anruft?”
“Guten tag, Claudette, Bill Ross calling from Austin.”
“Oh hello, Officer Ross, how can I help you today? Are you making progress with the investigation?”
“We are, Claudette, we are making significant progress. Tell me, did Mike own a solid silver money clip?”
“Yes, he did, Detective Ross. It was made special, one of a kind, and my grandfather gave him two diamonds to inlay. It was engraved with the Special Forces Marine Corps insignia, the same as the tattoo under his right arm. Have you found it? I would so much like to ha
ve it back!”
“Yes, we have it, Claudette, but we’ll have to keep it for a while. I assure you that it will be returned safely when our work is done here.”
“Oh, that would be wonderful, Officer Ross.”
“Enjoy the rest of the day, Claudette. I will be in touch again soon.
“Got you, you bastard!” said Bill when he hung up the phone.
~
There was so much stuff in the home that they had to call for a truck to come and haul it back to 34th Street. When everything was loaded and dispatched, they drove back to start the interview process, beginning with Pepe Vivar.
Vivar had been processed and was in a holding cell. On the way back to the office they stopped by Gold’s Gym and showed Alan Archer the mug shot of Vivar that the desk officer had sent to Tommy’s cell phone earlier. Alan Archer confirmed that Pepe was the man he had seen arguing with Mike in the parking lot.
They had Vivar brought from his holding cell into the interview room. Marie, Bill and Tommy sat opposite him. The side of his face where the scar was twitched uncontrollably, and his eye occasionally twitched as if he were winking at them.
Each time it happened they winked back. He was a seething cauldron ready to explode.
“I bet yesterday at this time you never thought that 24 hours later you would be having breakfast in this fine establishment, eh, Pepe?” said Tommy, opening up the interview.
“I want to call my lawyer,” barked Pepe.
“Oh, come on, this is just a quiet chat. You are under caution, of course, but is there anything that you would like to say about all the toys we found?”
“I want my fucking lawyer!”
“That was a real nice bathrobe you had on this morning and the Viagra was obviously working. This fucking lawyer you refer to, is that a lawyer you fuck? Can’t imagine that a limo driver can afford a big-city lawyer.”
