Justice Delayed (Innocent Prisoners Project)

by Marti Green

  “Got the Bradens. They’re living in a retirement community northwest of Orlando called The Villages. I’m still striking out with Lisa’s info.”

  “Why don’t we both catch a flight out today and meet up in Orlando? We’ll go see the Bradens together.”

  “Hold on a sec.” There was quiet on the phone for a few minutes, and then Tommy returned. “There’s a two-thirty out of JFK, arriving at five forty-five. How does that work for you?”

  “Sounds good. I’ll coordinate a flight with that and text you the time.”

  As soon as Dani hung up, she checked the flights from Atlanta and booked a seat on a plane leaving at 2:15 p.m. She packed her bag, checked out, then decided to swing by the Hicks home once more before leaving for the airport. She drove up to the house but remained in her car, checking out the trees that flanked the residence. Just as she’d remembered, there were two tall trees in the front and another pair on each side of the house, but none in the back. Satisfied, she left five minutes later and headed south.

  Dani had some time before her flight to Orlando, so once she arrived in Atlanta, she headed to the office of Dr. James Fein. She pulled up to a row of medical offices in West Midtown. Tucked in between a cardiologist and a pediatrician was Fein’s dental office. She hoped he was the same man who’d testified about the bite mark on Kelly’s arm at Jack Osgood’s trial.

  She walked into the reception area. A row of empty chairs was lined up against one wall, and on the opposite wall, a middle-aged woman sat behind a window, reading a magazine. Dani first said, “Hello,” then ten seconds later, “Excuse me,” before the woman looked up. Dani took out her card and handed it to her. “I’m hoping Dr. Fein can find a few minutes to speak to me in between his patients.”

  The woman looked over the card, then asked, “What’s this about?”

  “I believe Dr. Fein testified in the case of a man I’m representing. About bite marks on the victim.”

  “Sure. He did a lot of that years back. Not so much anymore.”

  “Is he in?”

  The woman picked up the phone and spoke quietly into it, then nodded for Dani to go through the door. “His office is first room on the right.”

  “Thank you.”

  Dani entered the small office and found a slightly built man with just a few wisps of white hair left on his mostly balding scalp. As he stood up to shake Dani’s hand, she noticed his back was bent. The ravages of age, she thought, then wondered why he still came into the office every day. He had to be at least in his seventies.

  “Have a seat, Ms. Trumball. How can I help you?”

  “My office is representing Jack Osgood.”

  He stared at her blankly, then asked, “Is he the one that took a girl from her bedroom, then killed her? Up north in Stone Ridge?”

  “Yes, that’s him. You testified at his trial that a bite mark on the girl’s arm matched up with Osgood’s teeth.”

  “That sounds familiar.”

  “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about it?”

  “Well, now, I haven’t testified in over a decade. Doubt I’ll remember much about your specific case.”

  “I’d just like to ask you general questions about your methodology.”

  “Go ahead.”

  Dani riffled through her briefcase and pulled out several sheets of photographic prints, each containing pictures of bite marks from various angles. Under each photo was a picture of a ruler, measuring the width and height of the mark. She handed the papers over to Dr. Fein and pointed out his name above the pictures and the notation at the bottom—State v. Osgood, State’s Exh. 36. “Do you rely on pictures such as these when you compare the bite of a suspected perpetrator?”

  Dr. Fein nodded. “Everyone’s teeth wear down differently. They’re as unique as fingerprints.”

  “Let’s get to that in a minute. I just want to understand your methodology.”

  “Well, it’s quite technical, but basically, when the police have identified a suspect and there’s a bite mark on the victim, I make an impression of the suspect’s teeth and do various measurements to determine whether it’s a match.”

  “You know, there’s been a great deal of controversy about whether it’s true that teeth marks are unique. Is it possible that you were mistaken about the bite being made by Osgood?”

  Dr. Fein narrowed his eyes and tightened his mouth. “I’m old, not addled, Ms. Trumball. I’m aware of the literature on the subject. Mistakes were made because the guy doing the analysis wasn’t qualified. I knew what I was doing, and my opinion hasn’t changed. Those bite marks were made by Jack Osgood. He murdered that poor girl.”

  Dani wished she could question Owen Richmond, the forensic dentist who’d testified on Osgood’s behalf. Not that he’d been particularly helpful at the trial. Although he stated that the bite marks on Kelly’s arm didn’t appear to match Osgood’s teeth, on cross-examination he admitted that he couldn’t rule out Osgood. Unfortunately, Richmond had passed away four years earlier, so she couldn’t probe his findings. Instead, she drove to the airport and flew to Orlando, arriving there shortly after four o’clock. She rented a car, then checked online for hotels near The Villages. There was a Holiday Inn nearby, and she booked two rooms for herself and Tommy. There was nothing to do but wait for Tommy’s plane. She found the food court, bought a cup of coffee, and settled in. Two hours later, she and Tommy were on their way to find the Bradens.

  “Should we go to their home first, or check in to the hotel?” Dani asked.

  “They’re retirees. It’s going to be hit or miss finding them home. I say let’s swing by their house before the hotel. Maybe we’ll be lucky.”

  By the time they pulled up to the single-story, cement-finished concrete house, it was dark outside. Each home on the street had a lamppost in front illuminating the walkway. Hanging from the Bradens’ lamppost was a metal plaque with the house number and the names Carl and Susan Braden. Under that, the name Molly. At the top of the plaque was a metal dog bone. “I guess they have a dog named Molly,” Dani said.

  They pulled into the driveway, walked up to the front door, and rang the bell. Almost immediately, the high-pitched bark of a dog rang out, but that was all. No footsteps. Dani peeked through the glass panels of the door and saw that the entrance foyer and living room were dark. They rang once more, but still the only response was the sound of a dog barking.

  “Probably out to dinner,” Tommy said. “We can wait here for them.”

  “No. Let’s go check in, then get dinner ourselves.”

  As they drove to their hotel, Dani marveled at the size of the development. It seemed never ending.

  “A hundred and twenty thousand, and still growing,” Tommy told her. “It’s a golfer’s paradise. More holes than any place in the country. In the world, maybe. I’ve got a few buddies who retired here.”

  They checked in to their rooms, then backtracked to an Olive Garden they’d passed on the way. Once they were settled in their booth, drinks in hand—pinot grigio for Dani, Scotch on the rocks for Tommy—Tommy said, “You’re hoping he’s innocent, aren’t you?”

  “I always hope someone we take on is innocent.”

  “No, it’s more than the usual client. With someone else, you’d walk away if you thought he was guilty. You won’t with Osgood, will you?”

  Dani knew Tommy was right. Perhaps, if his mother were still alive, if he had some relative who worried about him, it would be different for her. But he was alone in the world, and he needed someone in his corner. “Even if he killed Kelly, maybe he didn’t understand what he was doing. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be punished, but certainly not put to death, and maybe not even a life sentence. He’s already served twenty-two years.”

  Tommy shook his head. “You’re a marshmallow, through and through.”

  “I wasn’t when I was a prosecutor.” She’d spent five years as an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York. “I was tough as nails
then. Motherhood changed me. Or maybe it was working at HIPP. I’ve just seen too much injustice now to let it slide off me. So, yes, I’d rather err on the side of freeing a guilty person than incarcerating an innocent one.”

  “So, the guilty ones would be free to commit more crimes.”

  Dani sighed. “It’s not a perfect world.”

  Tommy picked up his Scotch and took another sip. “Well, maybe Osgood actually is innocent. There are two men I’ve been looking into for the crime.”

  “Who?”

  “First, Kelly’s boyfriend.”

  “He had an alibi.”

  “Yeah, his roommate. Not very reliable as far as I’m concerned. Friends cover for each other all the time.”

  “But why would he kill Kelly?”

  “She was thinking of breaking up with him. Maybe she did, and he didn’t take it well.”

  “That’s a pretty extreme reaction.”

  “Still, worth checking out.”

  “I agree. Who else?”

  “An itinerant worker. Was in both the Bradens’ and the Hickses’ homes, then disappeared.”

  “I like that possibility. Do you know where he is?”

  “Not yet. But I’m working on it.”

  At nine the next morning, Dani and Tommy rang the doorbell of the Bradens’ home. A woman answered—still dressed in pajamas and holding a cup of coffee—a small dog yapping at her feet.

  “Yes?”

  “Mrs. Braden?”

  The woman nodded.

  Dani handed her a business card. “I’m Dani Trumball, and this is Tom Noorland. We’re representing Jack Osgood.”

  A frown passed over the woman’s face for the briefest moment. “I’ve been expecting you. My sister told me you’d been to see her. Come on in.” She held the door open, and Dani and Tommy entered. The open rooms were decorated in a tropical style, with casual furnishings and walls painted a sea-foam green. Out past the back wall of glass sliding doors was a screened-in lanai, and beyond lay the manicured fairway of a golf course.

  “Mind if I take a few minutes to get dressed?”

  “Go ahead,” Dani answered.

  Fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Braden emerged from her bedroom dressed in a pair of linen shorts and a sleeveless white blouse, with makeup expertly applied. Dani had seen pictures of Kelly in the files, and it struck her that Kelly had gotten her pretty looks from her mother. When Mrs. Braden sat down opposite Dani and Tommy in a rattan chair, Dani asked, “Is your husband home?”

  “No, he’s playing golf. Won’t be back for hours.”

  “I know our visit must be difficult for you,” Dani said. “After all these years, I’m sure you want closure. But we want to make sure that Jack Osgood truly is responsible for your daughter’s death. From what we’ve learned, the police honed in on him very quickly, and sometimes when that happens, they don’t look carefully at all the evidence.”

  “But my niece saw him.”

  “Your niece was five years old, awakened from sleep, and saw a man in a dark room.”

  “Still, there was other evidence that backed up her ID.”

  Dani knew she had to tread carefully. This was a grieving mother, no less so because of the passage of time. Her daughter’s death would always feel like a sharp stab in the heart. She leaned toward Mrs. Braden. “If Jack Osgood killed your daughter, he should be punished for it. But for more than twenty-two years, he’s continued to insist he’s innocent. If there’s some possibility that’s true, wouldn’t you want Kelly’s real murderer to be apprehended? Wouldn’t you want that person to pay for what he did?”

  Mrs. Braden wiped back a strand of golden-blonde hair from her face. At her age, which Dani guessed was somewhere in her late fifties, it was no doubt a color that came from a bottle. “What is it you want from me?”

  “I promise I’ll keep this as brief as possible. I’d like to start with Kelly’s boyfriend at the time, Greg Johnson. What can you tell me about him?”

  “I didn’t like him, but I don’t think he’d ever have hurt Kelly.”

  “Why didn’t you like him?”

  “He was too old for her. You know, college boys want more from a relationship than I thought Kelly was ready for.” She hesitated, then smiled weakly. “At least, more than I was ready for her to have.”

  “Why do you think he wouldn’t have hurt Kelly?”

  “Stone Ridge is a small town. I knew Greg and his family long before he and Kelly started dating. I can’t imagine anyone there committing a murder.”

  “But Jack was from the same town. And you believe he killed your daughter. Before it happened, would you have thought him capable of that?”

  “I’d like to say yes, because he was different from the other boys, but if I’m honest, then no. I wouldn’t have thought it of him, either.”

  “So, let’s go back to Greg. Did you ever see him display a temper?”

  “No. He was all charm, all the time.”

  “How do you think he’d handle it if Kelly broke up with him?”

  “Oh, I suppose he’d tell everyone it was what he wanted.”

  “You don’t think he’d get angry?”

  “Maybe. But not so angry he’d kill her.”

  Dani understood denial. Greg was a boy to whom Susan Braden had entrusted her daughter. If she’d been wrong in allowing Kelly to date him, then she’d open herself up to a flood of recriminations. Nothing she’d said, though, changed Dani’s view that he was a person of interest. But there was still another. “I’d like to change gears here. Do you remember that you hired a handyman to do some work on your house shortly before Kelly’s murder?”

  “Did we? It was so long ago.”

  “His name was Tony. Tony Falcone. He repaired some shingles on your roof.”

  Mrs. Braden got up from her chair and stood over it, her hands resting on the head cushion. “I don’t know what you want from me. You say Jack may be innocent; you ask me about other people, as though they might be guilty. I don’t remember anything from back then. It all became a blur after Kelly died. She was everything to me, my whole world, my—” She stopped talking as tears ran down her cheeks. She reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out a tissue, then wiped away the wetness. After a few minutes, she sighed deeply, then returned to the chair.

  “Do you have any children?” she asked Dani.

  “I do. A son and a daughter.”

  “I doted on Kelly. I would have gladly died in her place if that were possible. When I lost her, I sunk into a deep depression that lasted more than a year. Drugs pulled me out of it. But I can’t think about her or talk about her without feeling the loss all over, as if it were fresh.”

  “I’m sorry to have put you through this.” Dani stood up, Tommy along with her, and said they’d leave her alone now. As they reached the door, Dani turned back. “If you think of anything, please call.” She opened the door, and they walked out.

  Just as they reached the driveway, she heard Mrs. Braden call out, “Wait.”

  “There is something,” Mrs. Braden said when she reached them. “That worker, Tony. He told me he had a daughter, a toddler. Said her name was . . .” She stopped, bent her head down, and squeezed her eyes closed. After a moment, she looked up. “It was Abigail. That’s it. I remember thinking it was the same name as one of my cousins. Do you think that’s helpful?”

  “It might be,” Tommy said. “It just might be.”

  CHAPTER

  11

  1994

  He wondered if it would feel the same if he did it again. If he killed another girl. But had the thrill come from the act of murder, or had the abduction been part of it? If a girl went with him willingly, would he get the same sense of excitement? Sneaking into a room in the middle of the night was risky—if he woke the parents or another child in the house, he could get caught. But maybe the risk was part of it. He had to test it. Find someone he could convince to go with him to someplace isolated.

  It w
as past 11:00 p.m. when he entered the tavern. It was crowded with young people from the nearby college. It was important that the next one be in a different town. He couldn’t have the local police putting things together. He walked up to two coeds sitting at the bar—neither was especially pretty, but not ugly either—and squeezed in next to them. When he caught the bartender’s eye, he ordered a Budweiser on tap. After it was handed to him, he turned to the two and started a conversation. He had to shout over the music. It sounded like screeching to him, but he saw girls swaying their bodies to the pounding beat, so they must have liked it.

  “You go to this college?” he asked the girls.

  “Sure, don’t you?” the nearer, less attractive of the two shouted.

  “Nope. I’m finished with school.”

  “What do you do, then?”

  “I’m a pharmaceutical rep. Go from town to town meeting with doctors. I’m supposed to persuade them to prescribe my company’s drugs, then leave samples with them. Hey, what’s your name?”

  “I’m Bonnie, and this is Sasha.”

  He smiled brightly at the two of them. “Can I buy you girls another round?”

  “Sure,” they yelled in unison.

  He focused on Bonnie, and not just because she was closest to him and they could talk without shouting. He suspected Sasha, the more attractive one, was used to boys’ attention, so it would be harder with her. At least Bonnie had long blonde hair, he thought. Like Kelly’s. “What year?”

  “Sophomore.”

  “You know what you want to do when you finish?”

  “Medicine. Hopefully my grades will be good enough to get into med school. If not, then physician’s assistant.”

  “So, maybe one day I’ll be visiting you to give you samples of my drugs.”

  Bonnie smiled at him. She looked nicer when she smiled. He noticed dimples in her cheeks. He kept chatting with Bonnie until some guy waltzed up to Sasha and pulled her away.

  “Hey,” he said, leaning in close to her, “want to get out of here? It’s too loud to really talk.”