by Irving Munro
Jack Johnson jumped in, “Once they get the tip, the Feds will issue an arrest warrant and pick Jim up. We would have to get approval to help them search the properties looking for any clues regarding that rape and our case, but that shouldn’t be a problem. We can brief them on the evidence gathered to date. Federal jurisdiction would trump ours, Jim would be tried on the Nashville rape and if found guilty, it could be a death sentence!”
Jack briefed Chief Dunwoody. The chief got Sheriff John Gordon on the phone.
“Good morning John. My team met this morning after I gave them the news that your DA had rejected our request for a search warrant of Fisher’s place. A suggestion has been made that we bring in the FBI,” said Bill Dunwoody.
There was a brief pause and then John Gordon responded.
“Why would we do that Bill? You’re going to have to walk me through your rationale. I’ve had limited experience working with the Feds but they have the reputation of a bull in a china shop on cases like this. Help me understand why your team want to go down this route.”
Dunwoody cleared his throat and said, “As you know John, our problem with the warrant is that we have no evidence linking Luther Fisher to the dead woman. We have circumstantial evidence and we wanted the search warrant to help us get what we needed. The DA was right to reject our request.”
“Where we do have strong evidence, based on Jim McCord’s confession, is the rape of the woman at Vanderbilt by Fisher, McCord and Billy Pell. Based on the reading of the Tennessee statute, the rape is a Class A Felony with the possibility of a death sentence. We have an obligation to turn it over to the Feds.”
Gordon replied, “I see. Now it makes sense. Not that I like it but we might spend weeks and months trying to get the evidence linking Fisher to Galina Alkaev. This is the most expedient approach and as you say, based on the evidence we have on the rape, we have an obligation to pass it to the Feds.”
“I agree, Bill. How do you want to handle it? My suggestion is that you make the call, as your team has the evidence on the rape. We’ll have to remain involved, as the arrest will be made on our turf, but the Feds will coordinate that with us.”
Dunwoody replied, “Agreed. I’ll make the call and send you an email confirming everything we’ve discussed. I’ll give you a heads up when I’ve talked with the Feds. Stay tuned.”
Chief Dunwoody ended the call and asked Jack to stay while he made the call to the FBI.
~
The main FBI field office for Tennessee is located in Memphis. Bill Dunwoody made the call and was connected with Special Agent Harold DeWalt. DeWalt was acting regional director for the FBI for the State of Tennessee. Harry listened to what Bill had to say and then said that he would discuss it with his colleagues and get back to him ASAP. It only took a day before Bill got a call back.
“Hi, Bill, this is Harry DeWalt. I spoke with my team here in Memphis and with our satellite office in Nashville. When we go to a state to arrest a suspected felon, we work with the local law enforcement agencies. In this case, that would be the Archuleta Sheriff’s Office. If you’ve been cooperating with them, as it sounds like you have, and they have no issue with you tagging along, then it’s fine with us. Just stay out of our way and let us run the show.”
With the FBI now involved, this was a whole new ball game and Bill knew it.
“Fucking feds,” said Bill under his breath and then regained his composure.
“OK, sounds good, Harry. We’ll talk with the Archuleta boys and then coordinate back. Does that sound like a plan?”
“Sure does, Bill. Now remember when we do get rolling on this one…”
Bill Dunwoody interrupted the FBI agent before he could say it, “Stay out of your way, right, Harry?”
“Right, Bill!”
Bill imagined that Harry DeWalt had a big smile across his face as they ended the call.
~
The team set up a conference call with the Archuleta Sheriff team. Sheriff John Gordon and Detective Raul Ortiz were on the line from Pagosa Springs and in the Travis County Police Department conference room were Chief Bill Dunwoody, Jack, Tommy, Marie, and Bill.
John Gordon spoke first. “Biggest risk in bringing in the Feds with a guy like Luther Fisher is that this could end up like The Gunfight at the OK Corral. Feds and survivalists are a volatile mix. Throw in the fact that if found guilty, Luther Fisher could face a death sentence. He would likely opt to shoot it out rather than face execution.”
Bill Dunwoody stepped in and said, “With your permission, John, I would like to send three of my officers up there to be part of your team when the feds make the arrest.
“I see no issue with that, Bill. We will all be working in a supporting role with the Feds anyway. Our teams have worked hard on this, so it’s only fair that they be there to see the cuffs put on this son of a bitch! I’ll call DeWalt and let him know that this is our plan. We can then coordinate with them on timing. That OK with you, Bill?”
“Agreed, John. We will stand down and wait to hear back from you then,” said Bill as they ended the call.
Dunwoody turned to the team and said, “Jack, Tommy, and Marie should be the ones to go. Sorry Bill. I don’t want to put a civilian in the line of fire. You have done great work on this and I’m sure you would have wanted to go but we should leave it to these guys. Hope you’re OK with that.”
“Fully understand, Bill. I’m in complete agreement,” said Bill Ross. Tommy noticed a touch of disappointment on his dad’s face. Once again, he was playing the good soldier.
~
Three days later, Jack got a call from Harry DeWalt.
“I’m sending a couple of agents down to arrest Jim McCord and bring him to Memphis. They will interview him there and get his agreement to cooperate for the chance that the judge might consider some reduced sentence. We need to get all our ducks in a row before we go charging into Colorado!”
There was no hint of a request. The FBI was in charge and this was their show now. A couple of days later, the federal agents landed at Bergstrom Airport and were met off the flight by agents from the Austin FBI field office and Jack Johnson. Later that day, they sat in a Travis County interview room across from Jim McCord and his attorney Marilyn Williamson.
A young man in his early thirties walked into the room and sat down across from Jim and his lawyer. With a thick Tennessee accent, he introduced himself as Special Agent Vernon Bailey and began his questioning.
“This is your chance to tell your side of the story, Mr. McCord. You’re going to a federal penitentiary and for how long will depend on what you tell us now and what you are prepared to testify to in court.”
Jim instantly became panicked. “I didn’t rape anyone, Agent Bailey! I was so sick at what I saw and the ferocity of the attack that I took to my heels and ran!”
“So you say, Mr. McCord, but we only have your word for that, don’t we! You told Detective Johnson that there were three of you, the third being Billy Pell. Have you any idea where we might locate Mr. Pell?”
“The last I heard he was somewhere in Florida. Perhaps the Vanderbilt Alumni Association could help locate him.”
“If he is alive and breathing, we will find him, Mr. McCord. Are you confident that he will confirm your version of events?”
Jim’s eyes were wide with fear. “Yes, Billy will confirm. He was just as disgusted as I was and ran off with me.”
Vernon shuffled his papers and glanced at Jack Johnson. Jack had a satisfied smile on his face. Everything was going exactly as they planned.
“We can’t make any promises on what sentence you might end up with, Mr. McCord,” continued Vernon. “That will be up to the federal prosecutor and the judge. However, if you and Billy Pell can testify on your version of events, then there maybe some consideration given. That is all I can say right now.”
McCord’s attorney, Marilyn Williamson, made the normal statement on behalf of her client.
“Mr. McCord is fully cooperat
ing with you, Agent Bailey, and he has made it clear that he did not participate in the rape. He is a person of good standing in the community and I would ask that he remain here in Austin until such time as a trial is set and his testimony is required at that trial.”
“This is a Class A felony case, Ms. Williamson. However, I will call my boss right now and get his reply to your request.”
Vernon Bailey left the room and returned a few minutes later.
“The best we can offer is that he will remain here in Austin in federal custody. We need to track down Billy Pell and get his side of the story. Until that time, he will remain in custody and then we can perhaps revisit the issue. That is the best we can do.”
Marilyn Williamson conferred with Jim and then nodded in agreement. Jim McCord looked like death warmed up. His ashen grey face and his pleading eyes were evidence to the fact that he now knew all was lost. His life was over and he hoped that Billy Pell would tell the same lie as he had done to save his skin. He and Pell had participated in the rape but he clung on to this last lie like a drowning man clinging to a leaky lifeboat.
Chapter 43 - They’re coming
2014 - The Cold Case Investigation
Luther Fisher was seated at his kitchen table cleaning his rifle. He sensed that they would be coming back. “Why did that bitch ask about Summer? Why had they been looking at the telescope?” He was running through in his mind all of the careful steps he had taken to protect himself from an eventual doomsday scenario.
Luther had purchased the property across the valley and built the cabin for a reason. It was a key component of his overall defensive infrastructure. This was his bunker if he needed to fall back from the main house. His mind went through a systematic review of all of his assets; ordinance, food & water, fuel, transportation, and real-time intelligence. He had installed a network of wireless sensors and cameras that would give him a real-time assessment of any threat. There wasn’t an inch of his property that was not “seen” and relayed back to his control center.
The perimeter of his property was not only visible from any angle; it also had motion detectors that automatically alerted him to any breach of the perimeter. If a penetration occurred, it triggered the arming mechanism on several antipersonnel weapons. The final pieces in this impressive array of assets were a series of smoke and percussion grenades linked into the infrastructure that could be detonated to provide perfect cover for his exit from an engagement, if necessary.
His armory was equally impressive. Handguns, shotguns and rifles had been selected with great care to provide long, medium and short-range advantage. His rifle was an AR 15 with a free-floating barrel and Winchester 223 Remington jacketed ammo, accurate up to 1,000 yards. His midrange weapon was a Remington 870 Express tactical shotgun, 12 gauge, pump action with an 18.5 inch barrel loaded with Federal Premium LE reduced recoil buckshot. For his handgun, the Sig Sauer P250 9mm 2SUM had been chosen to allow him to configure two guns with different but complimentary capabilities.
“If they want to fuck with me, they better come prepared!” he mused.
He had spent a considerable part of his inheritance in the design and construction of his main home. From the outside, it looked like any normal, albeit up market home in the Colorado Hills. What lay behind this benign exterior was a complex network of hidden passages that allowed him to move about the house unseen. One minute he could be in the kitchen or the main living room and then, in an instant, he could disappear via a silent automatic door disguised as a full-length mirror or a decorative alcove.
These hidden passages led to a central elevator that linked the main level of the house to a basement that contained separate living quarters complete with kitchen.
The escape route from this was via an automatic garage door that was unseen from the front of the property and exited on to a gravel road that linked the main house to the cabin property across the valley. His Jeep with a 3.6 Pentastar V6 Intercooled engine and JK supercharger sat ready for an instant high-speed exit.
He knew that there was an Achilles’ heel in this elaborate, complex and costly compound—gas. If they used gas, he would have to get out of there quickly. He had planned to install a high-capacity exhaust system but had not been able to get it done. This had been a mistake. He knew that and cursed silently at his stupidity.
Luther sat in his control room, looked out across his monitors and weighed his options. His psychosis drove his flawed and twisted reasoning. They had arrested McCord because he had not returned Summer to the water after he had finished with her. Luther couldn’t believe what a stupid and weak man he was. If they did come, which he expected they would, it would be to get additional evidence against McCord, wouldn’t it? He had been so thorough and meticulous in his planning and execution that they would never suspect him of being involved. Luther thought to himself that maybe he should call the police and tell them that he had seen McCord with Summer in her new job in the bar. That would convince them that McCord had abducted her, taken her to Austin, and killed her.
Luther’s mind quickly negated that plan. That Texas detective bitch saw a photograph of Summer in his house. They would know who she was. Fire grew in Luther’s eyes. His plan was almost perfect.
“If I get the chance, I’ll kill that bitch!” yelled Luther Fisher.
Chapter 44 - A joint operation
2014 - The Cold Case Investigation
Bill Ross was as good as his word. The weekend following the decision to bring in the FBI, he organized an end of summer BBQ and as he had promised Elaine, invited Jack Johnson as he had missed the last one when he was down mending fences on his ranch. They were all seated together on the deck waiting on the latest succulent output from the Green Egg.
Tommy and Marie sucked on their Dos Equis as Claire ran around the backyard, trying to catch a butterfly as it searched for the last remnants of sweetness from the flowers Elaine had planted in the early spring.
“Have you had much experience working with the FBI, Jack?” asked Bill who had only read about FBI exploits while growing up in Scotland. He had seen the movie G Men with James Cagney and that was the image that stuck in his mind: tough, uncompromising, gun toting, hard men.
“No, not really, Bill. The only other time was when I was a young officer and was involved in a case regarding a bank robber from Chicago trying to make it to Mexico. He was holed up in a house in San Antonio. They got their man, but he was carried out in a body bag.”
Before long, the steaks were cooked to perfection and Elaine had prepared a delicious salad of spinach, walnuts, blue cheese, and cranberries.
As they ate, Tommy was the first to get the conversation going. “They’re called Preppers for a reason. For them, it’s about survival and survival is about preparation! Many of them follow the methods developed by military strategist, Air Force Colonel John Boyd. Boyd developed the OODA Loop—Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. To adopt this rapid decision-making methodology while in the heat of an engagement, there must be complete trust in the assets that have been put in place in advance.”
“You sound like you’re a fan of Boyd, Tommy?” asked Jack.
“The Marine Corps taught me a culture and belief system that will be with me for the rest of my life, Jack. As the Chinese military general Sun Tzu wrote, If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you have no need to fear the results of a hundred battles. Winning is about preparation. Good planning and preparation prevents piss poor performance. He will be prepared. I just hope that the FBI are!”
~
The following morning, Harry DeWalt called Bill Dunwoody.
“Hi Bill, Harry DeWalt here. I have John Gordon and his team on the line and wanted to conference you in on our plan.”
“Good morning, Harry. Can you give me a couple of minutes? I’d like to get my team in hear on the call, if that’s OK with you.”
“It’s OK with me, Bill.”
Bill Dunwoody quickly got them all together is his office. The stage
was now set for Harry DeWalt.
“We’re all here Harry, over to you,” said Bill Dunwoody.
“OK, thanks Bill.”
Harry DeWalt laid out the plan.
“My second in command Vern Bailey and I will fly into Denver on Tuesday morning and have a final pre-arrest coordinating meeting with the local Denver FBI boys at 1100 hours. We will then get a chopper up to Stevens Field in Pagosa Springs with two of our Denver agents and meet up with the Sheriff Gordon and his team. Bill, if you want to be part of this thing, you better get your team up there by Tuesday, 1500 hours to meet us at the field. I’ll let you coordinate that with John. Any questions from anyone?”
There were no questions and Bill Dunwoody called Sheriff Gordon directly after hanging up with the FBI. Everyone was in sync and Sheriff Gordon was happy that the Travis County team would be involved in the take down of Luther Fisher.
Tommy Ross had listened in on the call and his first reaction was that he hoped that the FBI team was as efficient at execution as they were at theatrics. He hoped that the chopper would be large enough to accommodate four FBI agents and their enormous egos.
~
It was the day before the FBI operation to take down Luther Fisher. Jack, Tommy and Marie landed in Durango at 1100 hours as planned and were met by Detective Raul Ortiz. It was mostly silent in the SUV during the drive up to Pagosa Springs, each person lost in his or her thoughts about the drama that might unfold the following morning.
“I hope he doesn’t go postal when he sees a dozen folks arriving for breakfast,” laughed Marie, trying to ease the tension.
“And four of them G Men,” added Tommy. “He sure as heck won’t think it’s a social visit and we’re there looking for a donation to the Sheriff’s Department Widows and Orphans fund.”
“I think it’s a genuine concern,” said Jack. “If what you say about this shit head is true, he may just put up the shutters and start firing!”
Both law enforcement teams were at Stevens Field to meet the chopper. After the rotors stopped spinning, the chopper doors flew open and four FBI agents looking like “the men in black” marched in lock step toward the welcoming party.
