To Probe A Beating Heart

by Wren, John B

“That’s a good lad. Now then gentlemen, this will be a very brief call and you’ll never hear from me again. The kidnapping and murder of little Melissa Winton year or so ago caught our attention and we were able to build a connection with the kidnapping and murder of our own Annette Shelton. The authorities were restricted in their investigation and one of their suspects, a Mr. Averell Danker was questioned. Now then, a lacking in the necessities allowed Mr. Danker to be walking about free as you please. No evidence, no arrest and certainly no justice. Well now, that’ll just not do. I know that what we did was not strictly within the limits of the law, but we did get results, and Mr. Danker will be dealt with, severely. The evidence, even though gained in an illegal manner will be sent to your office by courier within the next day. There is a separate duplicate package that is being sent to a Detective in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, one James McClarry. This information includes the locations of some of the people that Mr. Danker murdered and guesses as to several other locations. We could not keep this questioning up any longer as our teams have lives to live and they had to get back to home and hearth. Now then, we intended for Detective McClarry to be informin’ the authorities and we will, of course, let both you and Detective McClarry know the whereabouts of Mr. Danker all in good time. I expect someone else will be makin’ that call. Now, I have a plane to catch and a little bit of livin’ to do before my time is up. Jimmy, you can tell the authorities everything that you know, and I recommend that you try to keep the envelope and the phone out of everybody’s hands, the boys at the FBI will be wantin’ it. Well that’s about it. I hope you don’t have any questions because I’ve just told you everything I know. Good luck to you, and good day.”

  With that, Aaron’s phone went silent. Jimmy reached over and was

  about to push the disconnect button when Al said, “No don’t touch. Let’s leave that to the police.”

  The package addressed to Jim McClarry was placed in a FedEx box on the first floor of the law firms office building.

  * * *

  The several packages were labeled and all sent to Jim McClarry at CHPD. These included the recordings of Averell discussing George Deitz and Marlene Fielding.

  Jim received a FedEx delivery and after ripping the pull string to open the package and dumping the contents on his desk, he froze, “Nobody touch anything,” he said to Vince as he practically ran the three steps to Georges office door. “George, you gotta’ see this.”

  The entire squad room stood surrounding Jim’s desk as he and George discussed touching the individually wrapped packages labeled “George,” “Marlene,” “Candice,” “Kathy,” “Allison,” “Rebecca,” “Barbara,” “Emily,” “Melissa” and “Annette”. Each package was a zip lock storage bag with a video cassette and folded paper.

  Jim looked at George and said, “I don’t want to touch anything till it has been checked for prints, or whatever other trace may be present.” Jim’s phone rang and he answered, “CHPD, Detective McClarry.”

  “Jim, this is Sean, you are going to receive a package any minute now.”

  “I already have.”

  “Okay, nothing to be afraid of, in fact I was just informed that the

  contents are completely clean, you will not find any prints or other trace on anything, so you can go ahead and touch whatever you want, but I know you will wait for clearance from George.”

  “He’s right here,” and Jim handed the phone to George.

  “George, Sean, this is awkward.”

  “Yes it is, you best get in here, I don’t think there is any rush to open these packages.”

  Sean arrived within twenty minutes and the packages had been relocated to the conference room. The CSI guys were present and the package labeled “George” was being inspected.

  “Good morning all,” said Sean as he walked into the room. “I got a call this morning from a man named Aaron. Said that Jim here was going to get a package this morning and it would answer a bunch of questions that have come up over the last few years. Asked me to call Jim and let him know that it was due by 10:00 this morning and he could open it and share with everyone else. Said that there were ten small packages all together and Jim could send them to the proper folks at the other PD’s.”

  The CSI team found nothing of any use and opened the first bag. The film was the type that could be fit into a special video tape cassette

  and played in a cassette player. The television was ready and the tape was placed in the slot and turned on. The screen came to life with Averell Danker’s face. He looked exhausted, his eyes bloodshot, dark circles below his eyes and as the camera panned out, he was seen to be wearing an orange jump suit, no shoes or socks and was seated in a folding chair. The room was obviously a concrete floor and the walls were all white. There were no windows or doors visible and the camera angle was from above, perhaps at the seven foot level. No other person was in the picture, but it was obvious that Averell was not alone. As if being directed, Averell looked at the camera and began to talk.

  “My name is Averell Danker, and I killed George Deitz on July tenth, nineteen ninety in Mentor, Ohio.”

  There was a blip in the film, obviously, the camera was turned off for a minute or so and Averell spoke again. “George was drunk and asked me to buy him some wine, I said okay and hoped to just drive away, but he followed me to the rest area on 90. He wouldn’t leave me alone and I stabbed him. Then I finished him.”

  Blip

  “Yeah, I cut his throat.”

  The recitation of facts, complete with periodic “blips,” continued

  for about fifteen minutes, giving details that were not given out to the

  press and correcting the misunderstanding of the evidence found at the

  scene. When the recitation was over there was another Blip and the screen showed the time and date of the confession. The tape had no further images and no erased images.

  The room was buzzing with low conversation. George tapped on the conference table, “Does anybody think that this would stand up in court?” The response was a room full of blank stares.

  “Who did this, I mean, who.”

  “It’s a long story,” said Sean.

  “Are we ready for the next one?”

  “If we take them in order, that would be the one labeled ‘Marlene’,” said Jim. He looked around the room and asked where Alex was.“Not in yet,” said one of the admin.

  “Maybe we should let him review these before we see any more.” Jim suggested.

  George agreed and the first tape was placed back in the bag. Jim picked up Annette’s bag and said, “I want to read the piece of paper in this one,” as he looked at George.

  “Okay, kinda’ curious myself.”

  He opened the bag, removed the paper and unfolded it. “This is where

  she is buried. It’s a cemetery. George?”

  George immediately told Jim, “Check ‘em all, see if they are the same. Then we go back to work, Jim you handle notifying the other PDs then get hold of that Cemetery and the local law and set up a visit to check it out.” George turned and looked at Sean, “We have to talk, in my office.”

  Jim started opening the other bags and reading the notes. Each one described where the remains of the victim were to be found and he dug into the file to get the contact information for each PD. They would all go through the same process of contacting the cemetery and arranging to investigate the burial sites.

  George closed the door to his office and stared at Sean, “Okay, what’s the short version.”

  Sean began with the story of Liam and quickly jumped to today. “Look George, I have no idea what they are or have been doing, they act on their own without me. I have no control and not even a way to offer input, I have no idea who is running this operation.”

  “Okay, but if you do catch wind of anything, I mean anything at all, you come to me. This is not how we function and their involvement is completely unacceptable. Are you getting all this.?”

 
; “I hear you loud and clear and yeah, if anything comes up, I will bring it directly to you. You do understand that I do not have any control over these people. Whatever they have or may have done is not part of my doing.”

  “Yeah, I know, Sean, but damn it, I gotta’ yell at somebody. “

  “Okay then, we are good, right?”

  “Yeah, now get outta’ here, go write some tickets.”

  Jim finished notifying the other PDs and was looking up the

  information on the cemetery. He contacted the cemetery’s office and

  spoke to the on-site director. The director checked the records for the

  days around Annette’s disappearance. Three burial sites were identified

  as possible locations where Averell might have buried Annette. When

  reviewed, one was determined to be too close to the highway and probably not the one, another was three days after her kidnapping and ruled out, but the third was the same day as her abduction and on the next day the ground would still be in need of compacting, seeding and watering. This would most likely be the one.

  A court order would not be needed if they just dug the ground down to the vault. If they had to go lower, then they would need to get the order. The next day was dedicated to confirming names and cemeteries. Each one of the cemeteries warranted a search, but now the team felt confident that Averell would have used recently excavated grave sites. They would be easier to dig and a little mess after the fact would not seem unusual. So armed with the information he had, Jim established the date that could be used for establishing where each victim had been buried.

  The Alton Memorial Park south and east of Cleveland, cited as a possible location for Annette, was visited and the specific grave was identified. The FBI had a ground penetrating radar rig brought in and checked the site. A positive result was noted. It could be a body, but the arrangement of the bones was not right. They excavated and found three separate plastic bags, each with human bones that were photographed, inspected and then sent directly to the coroner’s office. The remains contained in the plastic bags had decayed and the remaining fluids and gasses in the bags made an on-site inspection non-feasible. The bags were transported to the morgue where a team of medical examiners would conduct a forensic autopsy of the remains. The second site, Spring Hill Cemetery where Candice Brighten was buried yielded another three bags with the same body parts in each bag. These first two sites were in northeast Ohio as were the two Portage County burials where Allison Kinsey and Rebecca Markum had been hidden. The burial of Kathy Callen was in the western part of Ohio and both Barbara Harkin and Emily Molin were buried in one the Finger Lakes Parks in New York state.

  The Portage County site was located and the FBI team was searching the area when a pick-up truck drove in. The driver parked and approached the four men as they searched the woods. Three men dressed in street clothes and one local police officer.

  “You fellas lookin fer somthin’?” asked Phil.

  “Hey Phil, this is being treated as a possible crime scene, so we should stay right here while these boys do their work,” said the officer.

  “Sure Joe, whatever you say. What kinda crime?” asked Phil.

  “Well it was some time ago, coupla years maybe. Some fella says he buried a body out here.”

  Phil stood up straight and looked stunned, “No kiddin’, a body. Who is the fella, maybe a guy named Davis, Al Davis?”

  “No. “

  “Excuse me sir, did you have a name of someone who may have been involved?” asked the FBI agent.

  “Phil, this is FBI agent Dan Weller, he’s in charge of this expedition. Dan this is Phil Samuels, he has the next farm down the road. Phil does a little huntin’ in these woods, both on and off season,” said Joe with a grin.

  “So, Phil, who is this fella that you’re talking about?”

  “Don’t know him very good, he stopped in a few times on his way to Cincinnati to visit family. He didn’t have no gun with him though, so he just looked around and left.”

  “Anything odd about him?” asked Dan.

  “Well, yeah, sorta, I mean he was standin’ here one day, few years back, when I come over and we found a hole in the ground, big open hole, so we filled ‘er up so nobody would fall in. Al said he thought it might a been a boar trap. Ain’t no boar aroun’ here in years.”

  Dan went to his car and returned with a file. He fumbled through the file for a few seconds and pulled out a picture. “Was this guy with your friend?”

  Phil looked at the picture and smiled, “Nope, that there is Al Davis.”

  “Phil, that man’s name is Averell Danker. He is suspect in the kidnapping and killing of at least eight little girls and two adults over an

  nine year period.”

  “Whoa, I thought he was a little off but not like that,” said Phil.

  “Do you recall the location of that hole that the two of you filled

  in?”

  “Oh, let me see here,” and Phil started to walk toward the tree line, “yep, I reckon it’d be right there.” Phil was pointing into the woods.

  “Show me,” said Dan.

  Phil walked them about twenty feet into the woods to a small clearing.

  “It’s growed over some, but I’m sure it was right here.” He was pointing at a slightly depressed spot. “See, it’s been dug up at some time,” he said pointing out the depression.

  “How deep was this hole?” asked Dan.

  “Best guess, ‘bout four foot, maybe five. Not gonna’ catch a boar in that, but you could bust a leg fallin in it,” said Phil.

  The radar was used to scan the area. No results.

  “You sure about this location,” asked Dan.

  “Yep, damn sure.”

  “Well there’s nothing there,” said Dan.

  “Well I didn’t see nothin’ in the hole when we filled ‘er up. So no

  surprise to me.”

  “There should be two grave sites here,” said Dan.

  “Oh, okay,” said Phil, “Let’s look around a bit.” With that Phil began to rummage through the woods.

  Dan was about to ask Phil to please not disrupt the crime scene when Phil shouted out, “Here’s another one.” He continued through the brush and before the team got to the site Phil identified, he called out again, “And another one. You say there’s just two of these,” Phil yelled back at Dan.

  “Yeah, two.”

  “Okay, and Phil and he came out of the woods.

  The team marked each location and was trying to figure how to get the radar unit to each site when Dan said to Joe,” How did he do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “He went right to them.”

  “I don’t know, ask him.”

  Dan walked over to Phil and said, “how did you know where to look?”

  “Easy, I looked at the ground, see the way it drops off where there was a hole.”

  “Yes, but, you went directly to each one.”

  “Oh, I see, well look at the woods, see anything different about where I looked?”

  “No.”

  “Answer is yes, son, you look for a small clearing, about ten to twenty feet into the woods, makes for easy digging and probably nobody will step on it and see the hole.”

  Both sites were scanned and each site produced a set of three bags. The bags were tagged everything photographed and the bags were taken to the coroner’s office for inspection and identification.

  Phil was quizzed by the FBI at length and he told them everything he knew. Dan had to go to the Finger Lakes Area next and locate two more graves. He spent a few extra minutes with Phil learning what he could about where Averell would look to dig a hole and bury someone. The remains were identified as Allison Kinsey and Rebecca Markum. Once again DNA testing would be conducted.

  Dan and his team drove to New York and went to the Thruway exit defined by Averell. They followed the direction he spelled out and came to a clearing in a wooded area a short wal
k through the woods to a view of one of the Finger Lakes. He stood there admiring the view of the lake and remembered that the first grave was marked with some stones. A brief walk about, found a pile of stones that fit the description and radar found the remains. Dan poked around, remembering what Phil had told him about spotting a hole that had been dug and filled back in. Sure enough, he identified an ideal location from thirty feet away and walked straight to it. There was a depression in the ground and radar found a skeletal pattern. The site was excavated, the remains were taken to the local coroner and through dental records, identified as Barbara Harkin and Emily Molin.

  Averell’s victims were all accounted for and identified. The final confirmation would be by DNA analysis. That was going to take a few

  more weeks.

  In Cleveland Heights, Clare and Dave Shelton were visited by Dan

  Weller with the FBI, George Penderson and Jim McClarry from the Heights police. They were told that Annette had been found. Her remains along with the remains of the other seven girls were being examined as thoroughly as possible and then they would be turned over to the family for a proper burial. They were told also that the lead to finding Annette had been through some mysterious source, involving an attorney in Boston.

  “Who is the attorney?,” asked Dave Shelton.

  “His name is James O’Leary,” said Dan and he proceeded to relay the story as he heard it. “An official report will be assembled and you will be given a copy, if you would like.”

  “Thanks,” said Dave, “How did they —?”

  “Apparently the guy who did this opened up to someone and word was sent to us. It’s all very mysterious, but we have a tape of the guy confessing to everything. Looks like the confession was not legally obtained and we may have difficulty prosecuting. But that’s another story. First we have to take custody of the guy and then listen to what he says when not coerced, well, that’s not your problem. We will keep you informed as to the progress.”

  “Thanks again,” said Dave, and he and Clare sat down together quietly and said nothing. Jim was going to stay a little longer, but left with the other two. The next week when Jim was in the station, he was asked to join Alex and Sean on the second floor. He walked into Alex’s office and sat down.