Scene of the Crime

by Les MacDonald

  At about 10:30pm the police responded to “unknown trouble at 2323 Washington Blvd”. Orren led them to the grisly scene in the basement. Paramedics soon arrived and started working on Carol and Cortney. Carol died in the ambulance. Cortney was in deep trouble. When the doctors cut into his throat to get to his trachea a bubbling pink froth came oozing out. The Drano had done a terrible job on the 16 year old. His face and lips were badly burned. The doctors sprayed ethyl alcohol into Cort’s trachea in an effort to break up the Drano. Two holes were drilled into the back of his head to relieve the pressure on his brain. If Cortney Naisbitt was to survive, it would be a long road ahead.

  Carol Naisbitt

  The next morning two young boys collecting bottles found two purses, and three wallets in a dumpster near the Hills Air Force Base. The boys literally ran into Airman Robert Wheldon who called the phone number on one of the identification cards. The ID had belonged to Michelle Ansley and Wheldon was told that Michelle had been murdered the night before. The police were notified and detectives arrived at the dumpster as more airmen were arriving at the scene. One detective played on a hunch that the killer or killers could possibly be in the crowd. He waved around each piece of evidence as it was being removed from the dumpster. Most of the crowd was silent but the reactions of two airmen in particular raised their suspicions. These two men were walking around and speaking loudly as each new piece of evidence was shown by the detective. The detective observed this and the two men were soon identified as Pierre and Andrews. Soon after this another member of the Air Force placed a call to the detectives working the case. He told them about a conversation that he had with William Andrews. Andrews had told him that…”one of these day I am going to rob that Hi-Fi Shop. If anybody gets in my way, I’m going to kill them.” A police search of their barracks turned up written information on the Hi-Fi Shop as well as an address for a storage locker. You’ll never guess what they found in the locker. Yup, all of the stereo equipment taken from the Hi-Fi Shop. As if this wasn’t enough evidence already, police also found a nearly empty bottle of Drano in the locker. Pierre, Andrews and their getaway driver Keith Roberts were all charged with first degree murder as well as armed robbery.

  Bodies being removed from the Hi Fi Shop

  William Andrews in custody

  It was decided that the two suspects could not receive a fair trial in Ogden. The trial was moved to Farmington, a mere seventeen miles away. Somehow, I don’t think the move was far enough away to make a huge difference. There were racial overtones almost immediately as an all-white jury was selected to determine the fate of the three black men. During a lunch break at a restaurant, juror James Weaver was passed a napkin with the words…”Hang the niggers” written on it. The defence immediately called for a mistrial as three jurors had seen the napkin. The judge refused the defence’s request. From that moment the trial moved swiftly. If there was any doubt as to what the verdict would be (and there wasn’t), the testimony of Orren Walker sealed the deal. He testified as to how the victims had been forced to drink the Drano. He testified to watching his son being shot to death and to hearing Michelle’s screams as she was being raped before she too was shot to death. The defence had no chance. David Selby Pierre and William Andrews were both convicted on three counts of first degree murder and two counts of aggravated robbery. Keith Roberts was convicted of armed robbery. It was determined that, while he was the getaway driver, he had no knowledge of the murders.

  David Selby Pierre

  Pierre and Andrews both received the death penalty. The NAACP as well as Amnesty International both protested the death penalty sentences. However, on August 28, 1987, more than 13 years after the murders and with all of his appeals exhausted, Pierre became the first person in the state of Utah to be put to death by lethal injection. Andrews kept appealing but eventually his appeals also ran out and he was executed on July 30, 1992. Keith Roberts was paroled in 1987 after serving thirteen years. Orren Walker passed away in 2000 at the age of 69. Cortney Naisbitt was plagued by pain for the rest of his life and passed away in 2002 at the age of 44.

  The Poster Boy for Capital Punishment

  “Killing a woman is like killing a chicken. They both squawk.”

  -Kenneth McDuff

  Texas 1989-1992: The man who came to be known as the poster boy for capital punishment displayed his antisocial behavior at a young age. In school Kenneth McDuff was your typical bully who preyed on the weaker students. He dropped out of high school and began his criminal career by breaking into homes in and around his hometown of Rosebud, Texas. In 1965, at the age of 18 he was charged with 14 counts of burglary. He received a four year sentence but was released in less than a year.

  McDuff was not one to make friends easily but one who did stick by his side, at least temporarily, was Roy Dale Green. On a hot summer night in 1966 the pair were out driving around when they found themselves in Fort Worth. They came across a car with a group of teenagers in it. The car was parked by itself at a baseball diamond. Robert Brand was trying to teach his 16 year old girlfriend, Edna Louise Sullivan, how to parallel park. Along for the ride was Robert’s 15 year old cousin Marcus Dunnam. McDuff and Green approached the teenagers and ordered them out of their car. They locked the two boys in the trunk of one of the cars and Louise in the other. Then they drove the two cars into a secluded area. McDuff opened the trunk and shot both boys in the head. Then they opened the other trunk and pulled out a terrified Louise. McDuff and Green took turns raping her. When they were done, McDuff raped her with a broken broomstick handle. He then used the broomstick to kill the girl by pressing it against her throat and slowly strangling her to death. McDuff commented to Green: “Killing a woman is like killing a chicken. The both squawk.” The killings would come to be known in the media as the broomstick murders.

  Louise Sullivan

  The next day Green’s conscience got the best of him. After hearing a news report on the radio about the murders he confessed. In his confession he admitted raping Louise but said that he only did so under pressure from McDuff. He also pinned all of the murders on McDuff. For his cooperation and a guilty plea the prosecution did not seek the death penalty against Green. He was given a life sentence and then disappeared into the prison system. He served 13 years for the crime and then was released. Meanwhile McDuff decided to fight and pleaded not guilty. It didn’t matter. The evidence and the testimony of Roy Dale Green was enough to ensure a conviction. Kenneth McDuff was sentenced to death. This should have been the end to a nasty story. Unfortunately it was not anywhere close to the end. Texas would be hearing and seeing a lot more of Kenneth McDuff.

  McDuff cheated the executioner when, in 1972, the US Supreme Court struck down the death penalty. His death sentence was reduced to life and he became automatically eligible to apply for parole in 1978. While in prison McDuff, with help from his mother, attempted to bribe a parole board member by offering him $10,000 in exchange for an early release. He was convicted of bribery and more time was added to his sentence. By now though, the state of Texas had itself a major problem. Prisons were grossly overcrowded and conditions were poor. Governor Bill Clements ordered the Texas Parole Board to release 750 “low risk” offenders every week. Even after 75,000 criminals had been released, more relief was needed for the beleaguered prisons. The Parole Board eased up on the requirements for parole and, in 1989, 20 Death Row inmates and 127 killers were set free. In 1989, one of these would be Kenneth McDuff.

  Falls county Sheriff Larry Pamplin had this to say…”I don’t know if it’ll be next week or next month or next year but one of these days dead girls are gonna start turning up and, when that happens, the man you need to look for is Kenneth McDuff.” Sheriff Pamplin did not have long to wait to see his prediction come true. Three days after his release, 29 year old Sarafia Parker was found dead in a field in Temple, Texas. Temple just happened to be the town where McDuff took up residence when he was paroled. There was not enough evidence for the police to
make an arrest but they were pretty sure that McDuff was responsible. Shortly after this his parole was revoked when he threatened the life of a young boy. It was just a short reprieve. McDuff was soon a free man again.. It seemed like being a prime suspect in a murder investigation (Sarafia Parker) and threatening the life of a child was not enough to keep him locked away. In 1990 McDuff was a free man and he decided to move to Waco, Texas where he enrolled in the Texas State Technical College. All of a sudden prostitutes began disappearing in Waco. Twenty-two year old Valencia Joshua was found dead behind the college. She had been last seen at the college looking for Kenneth McDuff. This next one is even more disturbing. Regenia Moore was a passenger in a pickup truck being driven by McDuff when he drove through a police roadblock. Regenia had kicked out the rear window and was screaming. Inexplicably, the truck was not stopped.

  McDuff was in Austin, Texas for the holidays as 1991 was drawing to a close. Colleen Reed, a popular accountant with the Lower Colorado River Authority, would not see 1992. Her body was discovered on the banks of the Brazos river. Back in Waco, on March 1, 1992, Melissa Northrup was working her shift at a convenience store. She was the mother of two children and was pregnant with a third. She was taken from her store and wasn’t found until two months later in a gravel pit almost 90 miles away from the store. The police were looking for McDuff to question him as he had been seen in the vicinity of the convenience store not long before the incident. An acquaintance of McDuff called the police to tell them how Kenneth had tried to recruit him to help in the robbery. The hunt was now on for Kenneth McDuff.

  Melissa Northrup

  Colleen Reed

  By now McDuff had been feeling the heat in Texas and had moved to Kansas City. He found a job as a garbage collector and was using the alias Richard Fowler. McDuff had been lucky with having the death sentence commuted and also with being released early due to overcrowded prisons. Now his luck was about to run out. John Walsh, host of television’s popular America’s Most Wanted, decided to do an episode on McDuff. The show aired on May 1, 1992.

  America’s Most Wanted helped nail Kenneth McDuff

  A co-worker just happened to be watching that night and couldn’t help but notice the resemblance between the man they called Kenneth McDuff and the new garbage collector known to him as Richard Fowler. The garbage truck was pulled over the very next day and McDuff was arrested and charged with the murders of Melissa Northrup and Colleen Reed. In the first trial he acted as his own lawyer and did everything he could to disrupt the proceedings. None of it mattered. He was quickly found guilty and sentenced to death. He was then tried for the murder of Colleen Reed and once again was found guilty and sentenced to death.

  In 1998, more than 32 years after his original death sentence, Kenneth McDuff was executed in Texas. In those 32 years many people suffered at the hands of McDuff. He is known to have killed eight times and suspected of murdering up to 14. Partly due to his crimes the state of Texas overhauled their prison and parole system. “McDuff laws” are now in place to help ensure that the likes of Kenneth McDuff cannot be paroled and set free. Unfortunately it was far too late for the victims and their families.

  The Yogurt Shop Murders

  Austin Texas 1991: On December 6, 1991 a police officer on patrol spotted smoke and flames coming from the strip mall on the corner of Anderson Lane and Rockwood Drive in Austin. When he got closer he could see that the fire was at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt shop. The firefighters arrived, put out the fire and then came upon a grisly scene. Four teenage girls, Jennifer Harbison,17, her 15 year old sister Sarah, Amy Ayers, 13 and 17 year old Eliza Thomas were found dead inside the shop. Three of the girls were stacked on top of each other. All were nude and bound and gagged with their own clothes. Each girl had been killed by one bullet to the head.

  The investigation ran into problems right away. The well intentioned firefighters, in fighting the blaze, washed away any evidence that may have been left by the killers. One of the detective’s first interviews was with the serial killer Kenneth McDuff. He denied any involvement, telling the detectives…”Had I done it I would tell you ‘cause I’d be proud of it.” To make matters worse for the investigators, more than 50 people falsely confessed to committing the crime. In 1992 two Mexican men in a Mexican jail confessed to the murders. The investigators thought they may have their men but the trouble was the guys just did not commit the murders. The police did not have much to go on. They knew that $540 was missing from the cash register and that two different guns were used that night. A 16 year old, Maurice Pierce, was picked up at the Northcross Mall. He was carrying a gun. He appeared nervous when questioned and the detectives felt sure that they had at least one of the shooters. Ballistics could not match his gun to the bullets at the scene and Pierce was set free. The three boys that Pierce had been hanging out with – Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were all questioned and released eight days after the murders.

  Seven long years went by before there was a serious break in the case. The same four boys, now young men, were again picked up and grilled by investigators. This time it was different. This time the investigators obtained a confession from Michael Scott. Scott said that he had raped and killed one of the girls. Then Springsteen caved and confessed to raping and killing one of the girls. Forrest Welborn, 15 years old at the time of the murders, did not crack. Welborn claimed that the investigators tried to tell him what to say. “They got right in my face and tell me everything I said was a lie.” With no evidence apart from the confessions of Scott and Springsteen, the cases against Pierce and Welborn were dropped. Then Robert Springsteen recanted his confession. Springsteen’s lawyer Jim Sawyer said…”They were going to get a confession out of Robert Springsteen. Period. They weren’t leaving without it. They got him isolated and went to work. You’re going to confess. And God Damn it you will confess. And by God he did confess.” The trial lasted three weeks. Springsteen testified on his own behalf, claiming that his confession was coerced. It didn’t matter. Springsteen was found guilty and was sentenced to death. In 2002 Michael Scott, who by now had also recanted his confession, was also convicted. He was sentenced to life in prison. The families of the victims finally felt that their girls had received justice. There may have been more guilty parties out there but at least two of them would pay dearly…or would they?

  Shortly after the trial Springsteen’s death sentence was reduced to life. In 2006 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction based on an unfair trial. In February 2007 the US Supreme Court refused to reinstate the conviction. The appeals court found that Michael Scott’s constitutional rights had been violated and that he should get a new trial. The Texas District Attorney wanted to take no chances and sought to get more evidence. He ordered new DNA tests on the old evidence. It included testing swabs that contained bodily fluids from the victim that Springsteen had claimed he had raped in his “confession.” The results were a bombshell. The DNA results did not match either Scott or Springsteen. In addition to that it also did not match the other two boys who were thought to be involved. The DA still felt that Scott and Springsteen were guilty but now there was only the tainted confessions as evidence. On October 28, 2009 under pressure to set a new trial date, the District Attorney asked the judge to drop all charges against Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott.

  On Christmas Eve 2010 an Austin police officer stopped Maurice Pierce for a routine check. Pierce, who was now 35 years old, pulled a knife and stabbed the police officer in the neck. Pierce was shot dead. The other three suspects all remain free. There are currently five cold case investigators still working on this case. The I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt shop is now a nail salon. There is a plaque in the parking lot that reads “In loving memory of Amy Ayers, Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas. Forever in our hearts.”