Mystery at Deadfall Lake

by Terry McGhee

  He walked about ten feet up on the bank and emptied the net bag. A human skull rolled onto a towel that Sam had laid on the rocky beach. Sam turned the skull over. “It appears death could have been caused by severe blunt force trauma. Look at the shattered rear part of the skull.” I stood back, staring at the stark white skull as Simpson snapped some digital images of the find. There were still several teeth still fixed into the jawbone. I couldn’t shake the ‘butterfly’s –in-the-stomach’ feeling.

  Sam was excited as he pounded the diver on the back. “Good work. Go back and retrieve everything you can.” The diver began rummaging through his pack and took out two larger, fine net bags. He waded out again into the cold water, turned over his shoulder, and told Sam, “Better request a forensics professional and maybe an expert on human skeletal remains. We also should locate Wendy and Roy’s dentist just in case. I think most of the skeleton is still undisturbed on the bottom.”

  Twenty minutes later, we all were looking at the skull, several rib cage bones, and what I guessed was a pelvic bone. The rest of the skeletal bones—including an arm, leg, and a couple of finger bones—were identifiable. A few more teeth were also lying out on the towel. Agent Simpson crowded in for close-up photos of the skeletal finds. Sam picked up the pelvic bone, turned it over in his hands, and said, “I am guessing that this victim was a female.” I audibly sighed. “It is much wider than those of the male species of this size that I studied at Quantico. He turned to Hannity and said, “We need to get all this back to your office, or maybe even stored at your local morgue.”

  Looking at his watch, Sam said, “The investigator sent out to check on the activity of our Mr. Jerkovick should, by now, be checked into the motel. There may still be time today to get him introduced to the college records office to see what we can find out about Jerkovick’s movements at the time of the disappearance. He’ll also need to get busy on tracking down the whereabouts of Jerkovick’s relatives, if any exist.”

  “If these are Wendy’s remains, then why wouldn’t the remains of Roy be right next to them? If both were murdered, it doesn’t seem logical that the killer would dispose of Roy in a different place. The longer the killer took to get rid of the bodies, the greater the likelihood of being discovered by a hiker. This really complicates matters. Where the heck is Roy?” I asked.

  Sam was massaging his forehead deep in thought. “It could mean that the two victims might have been in different places when they were surprised and killed. After all, killing two adults in the same place at once is a difficult task for one person, when you think about it. It actually makes more sense that they would have been killed separately. If Roy was killed, let’s say, away from the lake, it would have been easier to dispose of the body at that location. If buried deep enough, and given the passage of seventeen years, the odds of the cadaver dogs finding anything would have been very small if the body was far enough away from the camp site area where the dogs were worked.”

  Agent Simpson had backed away to get some wide-angle shots of the crime scene and general topography of the lake and mountains. He had us all line up side by side to document just who was present during this part of the investigation. I wasn’t sure if I should smile, so I tried out my serious look with brow furrowed, hands on hips, and a scowl on my face. Our local paper later ran the photo along with a story line about the FBI working here in our town. Barb said I looked like a dork.

  We gathered up everything we had brought in, and Sam did a walk-around to double check. “Alright,” he said, “let’s head back to the station where we can go over a checklist of findings and our next action assignments. Let’s remember that at this point Roy is still a suspect.”

  I felt a deep emptiness and sadness in my stomach as I watched the diver load the skeletal items into the back of the SUV. Hannity and I would have to be the ones to tell Wendy’s mother if the news was bad. I wondered if we should also call Roy’s folks to give them a progress report as I had promised. I suspected that decision would have to be made by Sam and Hannity. Roy was still missing and we really had no news to report on him. Which, I guessed, would still mean Roy was a suspect. I sensed that the FBI would be taking over this case. In a small way, I was relieved if that were to happen. I was thinking I would suggest I assume a lesser role in the whole affair anyway. Like I would have a choice in the matter, anyway. Besides, Barbara would be relieved if I was taken off the case.

  The drive back over the mountain pass was a quiet one for Hannity and me. I suspected Hannity might be feeling some embarrassment. I guessed the FBI guys were chatting about the events of this day and probably about what should go into their report to headquarters.

  Sarah and a man were standing at the rear door to the police station as we pulled into the rear parking lot. The guy was most likely the FBI agent sent out to help with the investigation. He was wearing a three-piece suit and tie. Talk about standing out like a swollen bee sting on the tip of a nose. I’m pretty sure most men living in our small mountain town didn’t even own a suit and tie. Even funerals here were casual dress. Someone told me when we had first moved here that dressing up meant wearing socks.

  Would a funeral be scheduled for Wendy if in fact these were her remains? I guessed that would be up to her mother. I decided I would offer my services to Mrs. Johnson and help with the funeral arrangements, if she allowed.

  Sarah gave us an excited wave as she eagerly anticipated the news we would pass on to her about our great adventure. Hannity called out to her, “Sarah, could you fetch the key to our storage shed and round up one of our spare plastic tarps? We have some material findings we need to examine more thoroughly.”

  Sarah rushed back inside as the newly arrived agent walked out to introduce himself. Agent Moore announced that he had called the college after he landed and spoken to the records office manager. “I gave her the name of Albert Jerkovick and said we needed access to any records they had. I also was able to reach Sue on the telephone”—he looked at his notes—“she was Wendy’s friend according to her mother. Our local case investigator here,” he nodded in my direction, “has also interviewed her and two other friends.” We all did a more informal greeting of our new FBI agent. Moore seemed quite self-conscious in his three piece suit. His wing tip shoes were covered in dust…a substance not easily avoided when living in the mountains.

  Moore continued to brief us on what he had found. “The records manager at the college will try to find out what she can about where our suspected perp had lived and what friends he had that might be available for us to contact. I will call her back tomorrow if I don’t hear from her this afternoon. If he did have any relatives living here, he would have had to note nearest one.” Or maybe not, I thought. Fat chance of a criminal doing that.

  “Sheesh,” I muttered under my breath. These FBI guys didn’t spend any time dawdling. I was impressed. Things were moving fast, and in different directions. I could never have done all this work myself. The point was moot in any case as I was pretty sure I would be relieved of my investigative tasks soon.

  The diver and Simpson hauled their bags into the storage shed and set them on a large stainless steel table in the middle of the room. Sam, Agent Moore, Simpson, and myself gathered around the table as Sam set out the bone fragments and piece of plastic tarp. He moved the bones to where they physically might appear on a complete human skeleton. He stepped back and said, “Well, this is it. These may be the only clues that we are going to get on this mystery. I called our office, and they are sending out a forensic expert. Agent Angela Dickson will arrive very early tomorrow morning and Simpson will pick her up at the airport. She will be here at 8:00 a.m. to inspect the remains. Let’s plan on sitting down at 8:30 a.m. to review.”

  “Someone needs to call Wendy’s mother for a meeting,” Sam said. “We don’t want her finding out about our skeletal recovery in the lake. I’m betting keeping all this under wraps in this small town is next to impossible. I believe that Jake and Angela should be
the ones to bring her up to date. She should volunteer a hair sample for DNA analysis in case we need it. Inspector, I will leave it up to you if you also wish to attend. It’s important that she understand what we have found but that we are still trying to determine the identity of this victim. The first step is to try and match some of the teeth we found with records kept by Wendy’s dentist.”

  Back inside the front office, we all agreed that we would meet back here at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.

  I drove home slowly as I watched the sun drop behind the lower mountains to the west. The tall trees were casting their long shadows across the road, and I thought of all the mountain critters scurrying about, making final forage for food before bedtime.

  The cast of characters in this whole investigation had grown quite large. I felt like I was being shoved to the back of this stage. I was still feeling sad about what I strongly felt would be a positive identity of Wendy, whom I felt I had begun to get to know. The good news was that I had a satisfying sense of accomplishment. I wiped away the start of a tear as I thought of Mrs. Johnson. I hoped any bad news would relieve her mind so she could live more in the present. My detective work was leading to a conclusion, good or bad, about the mystery at Deadfall Lake.

  Chapter 9

  I walked into our police station at exactly 8:25 a.m. Sarah had grown used to our meetings and simply did a thumb gesture over her shoulder. “Sam Spade is already here. The forensics expert, Agent Angela Dickson, Inspector Hannity, and Agent Simpson are with him. They told me the diver is getting the day off, and the lucky guy is getting to sleep in.”

  The smell of the burned coffee greeted me as I knocked once and opened the door to the small conference-interrogation meeting room. All heads were bent over pieces of paper. “Good morning, Jake, here is your copy of our action outline.” Sam handed me a copy of what everyone was reviewing.

  Sam introduced me to Agent Dickson. She was tall and very thin. Her hair was pulled back into a small ponytail, and she wore black framed glasses. “Angela has identified the skeletal remains as that of a young adult female. It now relies on a visit to Wendy’s dentist to check the teeth we recovered from the lake against the records in her dental files. We may still need a swab and a hair sample from Mrs. Johnson. Agent Dickson and I will meet with the dentist late this morning. I called Wendy’s mother last evening, and she was most helpful giving us the dentist’s name and phone number. She seemed relieved that she would be getting a possible answer after all these years. She asked about you, Jake. I told her you were fully engaged in the investigation.”

  Maybe I wasn’t to be put out to pasture yet.

  “Please refer to the bullet items on the page in front of you. Item number one is Angela’s finding. Number two notes that Agent Moore will sit down with the college records person to review what information she has on Albert Jerkovick at the time of the alleged crime. Item number three has Inspector Hannity and Jake meeting with Wendy’s mother to update her on where we are at the moment.” Sam ran his finger down the bullet list to the next item. “I will call Roy’s parents back east and let them know what is going on. I will try to find out if they have heard from their son since his disappearance. I suspect they have not.” Right. I loved an organized person even though I seldom was, but didn’t they think Roy’s parents would have called if they had heard from their son? Maybe I was missing something here.

  Sam nodded to me and said, “Jake, can you and Hannity arrange another meeting with Wendy’s friends, or at least talk to them on the telephone? That would be Sue, Brad, and Jean,” he said, looking at the paper. “The purpose will be to ask again about Albert Jerkovick. Do any of the friends remember the whereabouts of Jerkovick around the time of the notice of Wendy and Roy’s disappearance? Also, we need to try and find out where Jerkovick lived at the time he attended classes and was pestering Wendy. Advise them that you cannot disclose any information as this is still an on-going investigation. Do not reveal any info on our find at the lake.”

  I raised my hand and said, “I’m getting this feeling that we can no longer keep a lid on this investigation. This small town, I’ll bet, is aware that the FBI is now involved. Should some sort of story be released in the local paper?”

  Sam and Hannity looked at each other. Hannity said, “We are talking about this, and you’re probably right, Jake. Sam, Simpson, and I are putting together some notes on what to say. We don’t want to wait much longer. Sarah says that there have been a few calls from some local folks asking questions about our out-of-town visitors.”

  Sam then stood and addressed everyone. “Can we meet back here at about 4:00 p.m. if not sooner? Hopefully, we will have gained some positive information. We need to review the data and decide what action is needed. If the college record’s office is unable to supply any useful information, Agent Moore has been authorized to fly to Boulder and meet with Officer Jordan about arranging an interview with Jerkovick’s lawyer. An outline of questions has been prepared for Officer Jordan to present to Jerkovick’s legal counsel, if he has any. Jerkovick needs to know he is a suspect in a murder investigation. So he can prove where he was or wasn’t on certain dates. I will call each of you if there is any change to our meeting time.”

  Good job, Sam. I was now fully content with following Sam’s lead and considering any assignment that may be tossed my way.

  “Agent Simpson has scheduled a meeting with the local newspaper editor. We want them to run photos of Wendy, Roy, and Jerkovick. We have prepared a brief—but not too detailed—statement of our search activity. This story should answer Jake’s question about letting the public know what is going on. We will ask readers to come forward if they knew any of the three people in the photos at the time of the incident.”

  Jake had just finished organizing his notes from his additional conversations with Wendy’s friends. He zipped up his brief case and drove to the police station. At 4:15 p.m., everyone gathered around the table at the police station. Those that were immune to burned, bitter coffee helped themselves. I declined. We each pulled out our notes on the results of our particular task for that day. I was growing weary of the investigation and almost wished that I could just bow out and return to my quiet, uneventful retirement life. I missed those relaxed times on our deck with Barb and the Murph.

  Agent Jenkins thanked us all for making the meeting. He thumbed through his own notes and looked at all of us and announced that the meeting should come to order. “I want Agent Moore to report on his findings at the college records office.”

  Agent Moore had retired his three-piece suit for cargo pants, hiking boots, and a tee shirt that was emblazoned with ‘Our Town, More Than just a Mtn. High.’ He had definitely adapted to his local environment.

  “OK, I learned today that our Mr. Albert Jerkovick not only had pre-registered for his next college semester classes, but that he had completed a list of those particular courses he wished to take. The records show that he did not show up for his course selections on the actual registration day where he would know if he was actually enrolled in the classes of his choice. The registrar’s office did not have any record of him formally withdrawing from school. He didn’t attend any class on the start of that new semester of instruction. The specific dates would have put him in town after our alleged victims were reported missing. Jerkovick did have the opportunity to commit the crime for which he remains a suspect. Sam pointed at me indicating I was to present my findings. “Wendy’s friends confirmed that he was in town at the time. His just being angry at Wendy for her rejection hardly seems a logical motive for murder, but we really just don’t know his state of mind. There is no further information regarding his whereabouts while he attended school, at least that the college records show. I’m suspicious as to why he never offered a place of residence.”

  Sam announced, “Agent Moore and I will call the Boulder PD and talk again to Officer Jordan. We will try to get Moore scheduled for a meeting with Jerkovick’s mouth piece and Jordan at t
he prison. We have learned that the parole board has temporarily suspended his hearing pending positive evidence we may be able to introduce that could possibly implicate him in this crime.”

  Sam thanked Moore and I for our reports, and paused briefly while we all scratched in our notepads. My own note said Jerkovick = opportunity and means.

  I raised my hand indicating that I had more input. “Both of Wendy’s friends told me again that they could positively testify, if needed, that Jerkovick was definitely in town after our couple went formerly missing. They saw him at the college on pre-registration day. They also both gave me the location of a boarding house where they thought Jerkovick was renting a room. I will go there early in the morning to see if the owners can remember anything about their renter. They may have rent payment records that will help us nail down the dates. It is clear that our suspect received all of his mail at the college. He never recorded a local address with the school.”

  I continued my narrative as I read from my notebook. “The inspector has advised that he will wait until we have positive information on our victim’s I.D. before meeting with Mrs. Johnson—that’s Wendy’s mom. We just didn’t think it made sense to advise her that we had found remains of a female and after a dental record check would get back to her.” Agent Jenkins gave Hannity and me a look that implied he should’ve been advised of this procedure change. So fire me, I thought.

  Sam leaned in close to confer with Simpson. “I’m afraid that Angela and I did confirm that our victim was the missing woman—Wendy. The dental records confirmed this without question.” My stomach did another turn-over and I closed my eyes for a second. “While this is both good and bad news, it should finally bring some closure for Wendy’s mom.” He looked at me and Inspector Hannity and said, “I will accompany you both if you wish.”