by John Coston
There was a lot of traffic on this warm September evening. As she headed south on Tucker, she passed right in front of Police Headquarters, as she always did, both coming and going from work. Sergeant Burgoon saw the light blue Lumina as it approached. He and his old pal, Detective Bender, were sitting in wait in an unmarked car. The plan was to follow Ellen, then pull her over.
The rush hour was heavy, and they watched as Ellen blasted through the light at Tucker and Clark just as it was changing red. They pulled away from the curb and started to follow, and watched as she then made it through the next light and headed straight for the highway. They realized they weren’t going to make the light themselves. In another few seconds they would be stuck in traffic, watching Ellen drive away.
Joe hit the siren, and they rocketed after her. With their sudden acceleration and the rush of warm air into the car, they both eased up, and even joked about how they better not let Ellen slip from the arrest. Their boss, Captain Bauman, had delayed leaving for his weekend place that Friday night. He wanted to be there when they brought Ellen in.
“We miss her, brother, we better keep going,” Joe said, breaking into a big smile.
They caught up to Ellen in the stream of highway traffic and followed her south to the Broadway exit, where she stopped at a red light past the off-ramp. Detective Bender hit the siren. Joe was at full alert, and it was some small reward to watch the blue Lumina pull over, almost in slow motion, to the curb. The two detectives got out of the car and walked over to the driver’s side. Joe flashed his badge.
“Hi,” Ellen said.
Joe then introduced Detective Bender. That’s all he said.
“I knew you were gonna get me,” Ellen blurted.
They asked her to come downtown. She agreed, saying nothing more, and proceeded to get out of the car and lock the doors. It was 5:15.
There was no conversation in the detective’s car, just an eerie silence. Ellen sat alone in the back. Joe kept his eyes straight ahead, and they headed back downtown.
He had made arrangements for Stacy to be picked up by Juvenile Court authorities, who would find her after school at home with her grandmother. The priority team had also made other significant arrangements, which would become evident to Ellen as soon as she stepped off the elevator on the fourth floor. Joe and Detective Bender escorted her to the conference room, which was through a door that had a sign placed at eye level. It read: BOEHM TASK FORCE.
The sign was new, of course, and was all part of the plan. They led Ellen inside and asked her to wait while they went to get Captain Bauman, who was in a meeting. Then they left. Joe and Detective Bender informed Captain Bauman that they were ready, and while he wrapped up his meeting, the two old partners took the time for a cup of coffee. Ellen, meanwhile, was left sitting in a room surrounded by what appeared to be a round-the-clock, ongoing investigation. At a desk another detective pored over paperwork, saying nothing to her.
The team had pitched in to make the setup look exactly that way. It was showtime! They had brought in extra tables and file cabinets. To lend the appearance of an investigation grinding away at all hours of the day, they had scrounged used coffee cups and placed them on the desks. As if they were set designers, they even rifled the trash for old cigarette butts and arranged them in ashtrays on the tables.
Ellen could see eighteen charts upon which the police had plastered the records from EMS about Steven and David’s fatal accidents. On several others Ellen’s bank records were laid out for all to see. So were records from State Farm Insurance, Shelter Insurance, and United of Mutual.
The hope was that this roomful of statistics would overwhelm her, prompting an immediate confession. When Joe and Detective Bender returned, they were accompanied by Captain Bauman. Detective Richard Trevor remained in the room, continuing to fuss with some papers.
Ellen was asked if she wanted a soda.
“Yeah,” was all she said, and Joe took her with him out into the hall. Ellen used the opportunity to go to the women’s room, while Sergeant Burgoon got her a diet Pepsi out of a machine. When they returned to the room, everyone was waiting. Detective Trevor, however, still didn’t appear to be focused on Ellen. He was now writing some kind of report. This too, Ellen had no way of knowing, was a ruse.
Going by the book, Joe showed her a copy of the suppressed indictment, charging her with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault. He then advised her of her rights, which Ellen stated she understood.
Without much hesitation, Ellen started to talk about Stacy’s bathtub incident. It was an accident, she said. As they had heard before, Ellen told the detectives that she was putting groceries away in the kitchen. Steven had gone to bed and Stacy was taking a bath, when she heard a scream. Ellen said she ran to the bathroom and saw that Steven had plugged her hair dryer into the wall outlet in the hallway. Ellen said she pulled the plug from the outlet, got Stacy dressed and took her to Children’s Hospital.
The detectives asked Ellen to look at the charts around the room, especially the one that showed how much insurance she had obtained on Steven and Stacy. Ellen didn’t have anything to say about the insurance, but she began to talk about Steven’s death, and the version of events was all too familiar. Ellen said he had become ill over the weekend after receiving immunizations on Friday, and that he wasn’t completely recovered by Monday morning, so she stayed home with him. Ellen described the rounds she made with Steven that morning, stopping at her mother’s apartment, at the drug store, at Taco Bell, and even included the trip to the cemetery this time, which she had left out in her initial interview with Joe in December. Ellen then said when they were back home, Steven was watching Sesame Street when she noticed that he had stopped breathing.
When Ellen continued to describe what happened next, she omitted the fact that she had taken the elevator to the eighth floor to get help, but the detectives—who now knew her story by heart—reminded her of that part.
After she had finished describing Steven’s death, the room fell dead silent. They were all seated at the big table. Ellen was directly across from Joe. There was an empty chair at one end, which was next to Ellen. In the quiet, Detective Bender got up from his seat and walked over to the empty spot. He pulled the chair over a little closer to Ellen and sat down. Then Detective Bender put his arm around Ellen, and in a very soft voice he said:
“We know what you’re going through. We know you’re under a lot of pressure. You need money.
“We know that you killed your son. We know you did it. We don’t know why. Why don’t you tell us how?”
Ellen’s head was down. Sergeant Burgoon’s eyes were riveted on her. Ellen said nothing.
“Was it for the insurance?” Detective Bender asked.
Ellen nodded affirmatively.
“Would you tell us about it?”
Then Ellen began to tell a different story. Steven had fallen asleep on the couch. He didn’t just stop breathing. Instead, Ellen described how she had taken one of the couch pillows and placed it over his face, holding it there for about forty-five seconds. When she pulled the pillow away, Steven was white and did not appear to be breathing. Then she went for help.
When Ellen was finished talking, Joe didn’t wait long to ask her to look again at the charts in the room. He specifically drew her attention to the EMS reports.
“Ellen, do you notice that the reports are identical for both boys?’
Then Ellen started to talk about Thanksgiving night, 1988. They had heard most of it before. Ellen started out by saying she had cooked all day and was tired—in fact, she bought a heat-and-serve turkey spread at National. After a jaunt downtown to see the Christmas lights, Ellen said she had brought the children home, and Steven and Stacy had gone to bed. David refused to go to bed, so she let him stay up with her as she watched Knots Landing. She was sitting on the couch and her son was lying on the floor, watching the show, too. He was lying on his right side with his back to her. El
len said she got off the couch, taking one of the cushions and kneeled at his feet. She said she then placed the cushion over his face for about forty-five seconds or a minute.
Ellen said the next thing she did was sit back on the couch and call her friend, Sandy Nelson. While David lay there, Ellen and Sandy talked about how their day was, and she noticed that David was very white. She told Sandy that David wasn’t breathing and asked her to call an ambulance. (Joe and Detective Bender would learn later from Sandy Nelson that Ellen had said only that she had to get off the phone because something was wrong with David. Ellen didn’t mention that his lips were blue or that his skin was white, and Sandy only found out about the urgency of the situation when she called Ellen back about ten minutes after they had hung up. Ellen told her then that she had called an ambulance.)
Ellen said that at the time she had just lost her home, and was trying to work two jobs, and was very depressed about her life.
When Joe pressed again on the subject of Stacy’s accident, Ellen continued to insist it was just an accident.
It was now after nine o’clock. The time had flown by. Ellen had been in the trumped-up Boehm Task Force room for hours now. At no time did she indicate that she wanted the questioning to stop, nor did she ever request an attorney. At close to ten o’clock, Ellen was asked if she would be willing to make a videotaped statement, and she said she would.
Joe and Detective Bender then walked Ellen next door to the department’s television studio, which was located in an adjacent building that also housed the city’s Police Academy on South Tucker. The studio was a point of pride for the department, because St. Louis was the first police department in the United State to have its own television studio. Now Ellen would be under the lights. Robert Steckhan, the technician, loaded a fresh cassette of Maxell 120-minute VHS tape. He adjusted the Sharp XC-800 camera, and the Shure Mike Mixer, the Electrovoice Microphone, and the QSI Time/Date Generator. At 10:26 P.M., he was ready to start. Ellen was seated at a table between Detective Bender and Joe. On the table, Ellen had another diet Pepsi. Mr. Steckhan brought the camera into focus. What he saw was a heavyset blonde, whose dark roots were beginning to show underneath her shoulder-length haircut. Ellen was wearing a red jacket over a white blouse. Her nails were painted with red polish. She wore a thin gold necklace and a gold, moonphase wristwatch. Ellen looked beat. Her skin was shiny and she was breathing somewhat hard. The blue eyeshadow she wore that day was still there, and the cameraman knew from experience that the tears that were surely soon to flow would ruin that makeup touch.
Then it began:
BURGOON: This is Detective Sergeant Joseph Burgoon from the Homicide Section. Seated next to me is Ellen Boehm. Sitting next to her is Detective George Bender of the Homicide Section. Ellen, previously we had talked to you and we advised you of your rights. And you signed a waiver form. And I’m going to again advise you of your constitutional rights. You have the right to remain silent. Anything that you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand that, Ellen?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: You have the right to have a lawyer. And have him present with you while you’re being questioned. Do you understand that?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand that?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: At any time while being interviewed, if you decide to stop your statement, I will no longer question you and the interview will cease. Do you understand that?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Do you wish to waive and give up these rights at this time, Ellen?
ELLEN: Uh-huh.
BURGOON: The time is 10:27 P.M. Today’s date is Friday, September the 13th, 1991. And we’re at the Police Academy TV studio. We’re at 315A South Tucker. Ellen, have you noticed that the TV camera is running?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Okay. I’d like to ask you your full name, please.
ELLEN: Ellen Kay Boehm.
BURGOON: How old are you?
ELLEN: Thirty-one.
BURGOON: Date of birth?
ELLEN: Six-nine-sixty.
BURGOON: And where were you born, Ellen?
ELLEN: Missouri. In St. Louis.
BURGOON: Your occupation, ma’am.
ELLEN: Secretary.
BURGOON: Who do you work for?
ELLEN: Andersen Consulting.
BURGOON: Are you married or single?
ELLEN: Divorced.
BURGOON: And your home address.
ELLEN: 5015A South Broadway. [Ellen had moved from the Brazillia Apartments.]
BURGOON: Okay. Ellen, we’re here regarding a suppressed indictment, which was returned by the grand jury yesterday, charging you with two counts of murder first-degree and assault first-degree. Regarding the death of David Boehm, two years old. He was originally brought to Cardinal Glennon Hospital from your former residence 4720 South Broadway on November 24th, 1988. David subsequently expired on November 26th of 1988. I think it was Children’s Hospital. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Also, you have another boy, Steven Boehm, who was four years old, and he was found at his residence at 4720 South Broadway on September 25th of 1989. And he was taken to Cardinal Glennon and he later died that day. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Ellen, the assault first charge is regarding an incident that happened with your daughter, Stacy, while she was taking a bath at 4720 South Broadway, Apt. 501, on September 13 of ’89 in which a hair dryer had somehow gotten in the bathtub and she received a shock and she was taken to … you took her to Children’s Hospital. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Those are the … what the suppressed indictment’s about. Uh, we talked earlier about this and uh, you’ve agreed to tell us in your own words what happened regarding these incidents. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Okay, Ellen, just go right ahead.
ELLEN: Well, when David died, like you said, it was Thanksgiving, and that’s when it happened. Uh, I fixed Thanksgiving dinner, and we ate dinner. I went and got my mom and she joined us for dinner. After I took her home, the kids and I went downtown to see the Christmas lights. And we got home about nine o’clock or a few minutes before. I told the kids to go to bed, and David didn’t want to. And, as we were driving home, he fell asleep in the car. And, when we got in the apartment, Stacy and Steve went to bed and David stayed up with me and I had TV on and at that point I was just getting ready to iron. And, so I was sitting on the couch and David was laying on, and he was about six or eight inches from my feet on the floor and he was laying on his right side watching TV. And, I guess with just the frustration of having to cook dinner all day, and he didn’t want to go to bed. I tried to put him to bed a couple of times. He didn’t want to go to bed. And as he was laying there watching TV, I took one of the couch pillows and got down on my knees, right behind him, by his feet, and I put the couch pillow over him. And my hands were on both sides. And he was really strong. He did struggle a little. And, then I put that right there for about forty-five seconds at the most. Then I put the pillow back on the … on the couch and at this point he was lying on his back.
And, I called my girlfriend Sandy and we talked, you know, about what each of us did for our Thanksgiving. And then, I looked down at David, and noticed he was turning white and his lips were … were blue. And I didn’t, I didn’t realize. I guess at that point I did realize what I did. And I told my girlfriend Sandy that I had to let her go. I had … that David stopped breathing. That I had to call 911 to get an ambulance there. To try to get him revived.
So I did that. I called 911 to get an ambulance. And I also tried to go up to some of my neighbors for help. And when I was gone, the paramedics came. Before I went to get help, I woke my two children, Steve and Stacy, up and I told them that David had stopped breathing and that we were go
ing to the hospital with him. So, while I was trying to find someone to get help with, the paramedics came. And I wasn’t there, but Stacy told them, I assume she told them that I went to get help. And I came back down and they were doing CPR on him then. They took him to Cardinal Glennon, and I thought … I called my girlfriend Sandy back and I told her they were taking him to Cardinal Glennon. And she said her mom would watch Steven and Stacy and that she would go with me to the hospital. So I took Steven and Stacy over to her mom’s house. I picked her up, and then we arrived at the hospital shortly after the ambulance did. And they were working on David. They couldn’t get him to come to.
And, uh, he stayed there overnight and then, that very morning he was transferred over to Children’s Hospital because that’s where his doctor was on staff there. And he was in an ICU and they couldn’t get him to. He was already brain dead. And they just had him on a machine. And his fever Friday night went up past 101 and they packed him in ice. And it was because of his fever being so high they just froze his whole body. And uh, then Saturday afternoon—I took pep pills all night—and then Saturday afternoon the doctors all came in and told me, and I had a friend from work, uh, Deanne, and she came over and stayed with me Friday night at the hospital and then Saturday.
They tried to get him revived and everything and then Saturday, the doctors came in and said, “You know, we’ve done everything we can for him. He’s just on our machines, and there’s just nothing else that we can do for him.” So at that point I said, “Well, what are you saying?” And he said, “Well, I think we need to take him off the machine, because he’s suffering. He’s just brain dead. And he’d never be right.” And I said, “Okay.” And at that, that there was some part, some organs, or you know anything that could be donated to science, you know to help somebody that … You know, they could do that. But he said because his fever was so high that it cooked everything, and you know, we couldn’t do that. And, I said, “Okay.”
So they took all of the machines off of him and I asked if I could hold him. And so the doctor and everybody gave him to me to hold. And I held him. And I cried, rocking in the rocking chair. Made me realize that I poured life away. I think it was the realization that he was gone, and I loved him so much.
