HIGHEST PRAISE FOR M. WILLIAM PHELPS
NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN
“This riveting book examines one of the most horrific murders in recent American history.” —
New York Post
“Phelps clearly shows how the ugliest crimes can take place in the quietest of suburbs.”
—Library Journal
“Thoroughly reported . . . The book is primarily a police procedural, but it is also a tribute to the four murder victims.”
—Kirkus Reviews
TOO YOUNG TO KILL
“Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers.”
—Allison Brennan
LOVE HER TO DEATH
“Reading anything by Phelps is always an eye opening experience. His writing reads like a fiction mystery novel. The characters are well researched and well written. We have murder, adultery, obsession, lies and so much more.”
—Suspense Magazine
“You don’t want to miss Love Her To Death by M. William Phelps, a book destined to be one of 2011’s top true crimes!”
—True Crime Book Reviews
“A chilling crime . . . award-winning author Phelps goes into lustrous and painstaking detail, bringing all the players vividly to life.”
—Crime Magazine
KILL FOR ME
“Phelps gets into the blood and guts of the story.”
—Gregg Olsen, New York Times best-selling author of Fear Collector
“Phelps infuses his investigative journalism with plenty of energized descriptions.”
—Publishers Weekly
DEATH TRAP
“A chilling tale of a sociopathic wife and mother willing to sacrifice all those around her to satisfy her boundless narcissism . . . a compelling journey from the inside of this woman’s mind to final justice in a court of law. Fair warning: for three days I did little else but read this book.”
—Harry N. MacLean, New York Times best-selling
author of In Broad Daylight
I’LL BE WATCHING YOU
“Skillfully balances a victim’s story against that of an arrogant killer as it reveals a deviant mind intent on topping the world’s most dangerous criminals. Phelps has an unrelenting sense for detail that affirms his place, book by book, as one of our most engaging crime journalists.”
—Katherine Ramsland
IF LOOKS COULD KILL
“M. William Phelps, one of America’s finest true-crime writers, has written a compelling and gripping book about an intriguing murder mystery. Readers of this genre will thoroughly enjoy this book.”
—Vincent Bugliosi
“Starts quickly and doesn’t slow down.... Phelps consistently ratchets up the dramatic tension, hooking readers before they even know they’ve been hooked. His thorough research and interviews give the book a sense of growing complexity, richness of character, and urgency.”
—Stephen Singular
MURDER IN THE HEARTLAND
“Drawing on interviews with law officers and relatives, the author has done significant research and—demonstrating how modern forensics and the Internet played critical, even unexpected roles in the investigation—his facile writing pulls the reader along.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Phelps expertly reminds us that when the darkest form of evil invades the quiet and safe outposts of rural America, the tragedy is greatly magnified. Get ready for some sleepless nights.”
—Carlton Stowers
“This is the most disturbing and moving look at murder in rural America since Capote’s In Cold Blood.”
—Gregg Olsen
SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE
“An exceptional book by an exceptional true crime writer. Phelps exposes long-hidden secrets and reveals disquieting truths.”
—Kathryn Casey
EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE
“An insightful and fast-paced examination of the inner workings of a good cop and his bad informant, culminating in an unforgettable truth-is-stranger-than-fiction climax.”
—Michael M. Baden, M.D.
“M. William Phelps is the rising star of the nonfiction crime genre, and his true tales of murderers and mayhem are scary-as-hell thrill rides into the dark heart of the inhuman condition.”
—Douglas Clegg
LETHAL GUARDIAN
“An intense roller-coaster of a crime story . . . complex, with a plethora of twists and turns worthy of any great detective mystery, and yet so well-laid out, so crisply written with such detail to character and place that it reads more like a novel than your standard non-fiction crime book.” —Steve Jackson
—Steve Jackson
PERFECT POISON
“True crime at its best—compelling, gripping, an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Phelps packs wallops of delight with his skillful ability to narrate a suspenseful story and his encyclopedic knowledge of police procedures.”
—Harvey Rachlin
“A compelling account of terror . . . the author dedicates himself to unmasking the psychopath with facts, insight and the other proven methods of journalistic leg work.”
—Lowell Cauffiel
Also By M. William Phelps
Perfect Poison
Lethal Guardian
Every Move You Make
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
Murder in the Heartland
Because You Loved Me
If Looks Could Kill
I’ll Be Watching You
Deadly Secrets
Cruel Death
Death Trap
Kill For Me
Failures of the Presidents (coauthor)
Nathan Hale: The Life and Death of America’s First Spy
The Devil’s Rooming House: The True Story of America’s
Deadliest Female Serial Killer
The Devil’s Right Hand: The Tragic Story
of the Colt Family Curse
Love Her to Death
Too Young to Kill
Never See Them Again
The Dead Soul: A Thriller (available as e-book only)
Murder, New England
Jane Doe No More
Kiss of the She-Devil
CRUEL DEATH
M. WILLIAM PHELPS
PINNACLE BOOKS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
HIGHEST PRAISE FOR M. WILLIAM PHELPS
Also by
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
Part 1 - Memories Are Like Raindrops
1 - Ebb & Flow
2 - Intuition
3 - Backtracking
4 - Moving Forward
5 - New York Born and Bred
6 - Third Wheel
7 - Star Athlete
8 - The Ghost Husband
Part II - Snakes, Crocodiles, Drugs, Murder
9 - Pill Snorter
10 - Everyone Has Secrets
11 - Don’t Shoot
12 - Natural Born Lovers
13 - Hot Tub
14 - Stranded
15 - The 130 Ways to Torture a Person
16 - Control Freaks
17 - “911 . . . ?”
18 - “Guilty Pleasures”
19 - The Abuse Excuse
20 - “I’m Sure in My Brain . . .”
21 - Military Man
22 - The Civilians
23 - “What . . . Did You Do?”
24 - All Jacked Up
25 - The Inconceivable
26 - Dump Site
27 - The Real Me
28 - Killer Wife
29 - Fish T
ales
30 - Purse Strings
31 - Guns Don’t Kill People . . .
Part III - Oh, the Mistakes We Made
32 - Missing
33 - Greene Turtle
34 - Busted
35 - Hostages
36 - There Are No Coincidences
37 - Probable Cause
38 - The Robot
39 - The Trade-off
40 - Girls on Film
41 - Fifty-Fifty
42 - Pulling Teeth
43 - Black and White
44 - Lawyer Up
45 - A Picture’s Worth . . .
46 - Let’s Make a Deal
47 - The Great Pretender
48 - Hometown Girl
49 - Hubris
50 - Circumspect
51 - Unfathomable
52 - Just Another Roll of the Dice
53 - Midnight Special
54 - The Search Begins
55 - What Remains
56 - Divine Intervention
57 - The Fighter
58 - No More Tears
59 - The Right Button
60 - Training a SEAL
61 - Hide in Plain Sight
62 - The Test
63 - Door Problems
64 - Truth or Dare
65 - Her (Latest) Story
66 - Snakes on a Plane
67 - Déjà Vu
68 - “People with Diseases”
69 - The First Cut
70 - My Girl
71 - Can It Be True?
72 - Horror Show
73 - Deal’s Off
74 - Technicalities
Part IV - He Said, She Said
75 - Judgment Day
76 - The PI
77 - Letters
78 - Flashbacks
79 - Love (Jail) Birds
80 - Mind Games
81 - Dead Serious Talk
82 - Brutally Honest
83 - Break These Chains
84 - A SEAL Finally Squeaks
85 - The Blame Game
86 - Whose Idea Was It?
87 - Showdown
88 - On the Ropes
89 - The Details of a Crime
90 - Closing One Door
91 - Shock and Awe
92 - Stealing the Spotlight
93 - Her Turn—Again
94 - Pathology
95 - Pain and Loss
96 - The Setup
97 - Subtlety
98 - Daddy’s Turn
99 - The Ring
100 - “Miss Scrapbook”
101 - Circumstances
102 - Judgment Day
103 - The Butcher
104 - The End of Her Humanity
Epilogue
Update 2014
Teaser chapter
Picture Section
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright Page
For Peter Miller, the roaring literary lion.
Acknowledgments
Thank you . . .
Deborah Dawkins, Donna Dudek, Amanda Evans, and everyone else at Jupiter Entertainment. Deb, Donna, and Amanda were extremely helpful to me during the early stages of considering this case for a book, introducing me to the right people, and pointing me in the right direction.
The Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) as a whole was incredibly obliging. Several detectives opened up their lives and made this book truly what it is. I can never thank them enough for their time, input, expertise, and commitment. Scott Bernal and Brett Case were always willing to answer my questions, even when those answers did not suit their own needs; and that, to me, shows immense integrity and honesty. Scott Bernal inspired me in ways I could never explain. He is one of the most candid, passionate, dedicated lawmen I have ever met. Finally, great appreciation to OCPD chief Bernadette DiPino for allowing her detectives to speak with me about this case.
Kensington editor Mike Shohl and copy editor Stephanie Finnegan.
I dedicated this book to my agent, Peter Miller, president of PMA Literary & Film Management. Peter has been championing my career for years, and any success I achieve would not be possible (or worth much to me) without his guidance and friendship. Likewise, without the help of Peter’s assistant, Adrienne Rosado—well, I would be far less efficient.
Of course, none of this would be possible without my editor, Michaela Hamilton, who has been by my side for all ten books, or my family.
Law without a foundation in morality becomes injustice.
—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), The Spirit of the Liturgy
Author’s Note
Throughout my years of writing true crime, I’ve always drifted away from the more gruesome cases. Granted, every murder is an act of evil; every untimely death a tragedy. But I have not waded in terribly bloody waters, if you will excuse my frankness. I have generally written about those murders we tend not to cringe at—those deaths that have been quick and rather painless.
That being said, as I began this book, I knew it would involve a certain amount of horror I had not yet covered: the brutal dismemberment of two human beings. What I didn’t know was that this act of savagery by the killers was only the tip of the iceberg. What I would uncover while researching and writing this book—some of which has not been yet reported—affected me in ways I had never experienced, in all my years reporting on murder. There were times when I had to leave the book alone for a day or two to catch my breath and think about things. Now and then, as you write these books day in and day out, you can get caught up to a point where some of what you’re doing doesn’t seem real. Sure, I used dozens of interviews, thousands of pages of court records, trial transcripts, photographs, police reports, military reports, depositions, interviews with the perpetrators, and scores of other documents to write this book. A process of which becomes, at times, like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. But here, within this case, the way the victims were treated before, during, and after death was so profoundly evil and cruel—there are not enough adjectives in the English language to describe the treatment these people received—that as I wrote about it, a part of me began to drift into a despair I had not experienced while writing true crime. It made for an incredibly bumpy experience—emotionally. There were days when I had to put this project aside—due to the graphic nature of what I had uncovered—and work on something else. There were also days when I thought I could not go back to it.
In the end, though, I am glad I did.
There are sections of this book family members of the victims should not read—parts of this case that were never made public. For some time, I weighed whether to include all of my findings in the text. I have left things out of this book that were not important to the story, the dynamic of understanding these crimes, or the psyche of the murderers. I wish certain things in this case did not happen and I didn’t have to report them. As a reporter, however, I believe that what I have included is imperative to the greater scope of these crimes; it allows us to take a deeper look into the most evil part of the human soul in order to recognize what some people are truly capable of.
My goal is always to tell the most complete, unreported story I can. In addition, it is a story that needs telling. If one person reads this book and understands that the strangers we meet at clubs and bars and out in society at various places and stages of our lives every day might not be who they claim to be, it was well worth the effort.
Part 1
Memories Are Like Raindrops
1
Ebb & Flow
It was midmorning, May 29, 2002, when Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) detective Scott Bernal took a call from Fairfax City, Virginia, police officer Mike Boone. Fairfax City was a good three-and-a-half-hour hike from Ocean City on a good day, without traffic. Although the OCPD routinely received calls from various police departments for different reasons, Detective Bernal sensed right away that this call had a different smell to it. Something, his gut instinct told him, was amiss.
/> “We have a woman whose coworkers are reporting [her] missing,” Boone said. “This woman never misses a meeting, apparently. She had a meeting scheduled with fifteen coworkers for yesterday at ten. She didn’t show up or call.”
“She came here?” Bernal asked, meaning Ocean City.
“Yeah, with her boyfriend. I called his employer. He hasn’t returned to work, either—and should have on the same day.”
Bernal took down a description of the couple’s vehicle. It was a red or maroon Acura with the recognizable license tag that few would have a tough time forgetting: GENEY C.
“Where are they staying?”
Boone said, “Atlantis Condominium.”
“Let me check it out.”
Bernal finished up what he was doing at the station house in midtown Ocean City and took off down the strip to check out the Atlantis.
There is a repetitive, soothing, and rhythmic flow to the steadiness and cyclical nature of ocean waves. No matter how high or low the tide, waves begin from an unknown, initial source out in the middle of the sea and ripple into shorelines around the world at a continuous, melodic pace, speeding up and slowing down. One can sit for hours and become mesmerized by their sheer beauty and elegance, while getting lost in the meditative genuineness, sound, feel, and even smell of simple seawater lapping against beach sand. Perhaps a gull or two squeaking in the remote background adds to the ambiance. But ask those who live for it, and you’ll hear about an unexplainable grace assigned to the ocean that they all crave: the one place where your troubles seem to melt into the salty foam left over along the shoreline after the baptismal power of the water fades into the wet sand.
How healing.
How omnipotent.
How uncomplicated.
Ocean City, Maryland, is one of those places along the East Coast where one can indulge in such summer splendor and magnificence. For some, though, mainly the younger crowd, Ocean City is more of “Party Town, USA,” where you can let your hair down when the sun sets, violently crack crab legs with wooden mallets, and party at any one of the scores of nightclubs and seaside bars located along “the strip,” or as Random McNally deems it, “the Coastal Highway.” In fact, the one day of the year that almost every bar owner, resort keeper, hotel manager, and seasonal worker waits for is the Friday before Memorial Day. This is the day when summer unofficially begins, and tourists and beachgoers and partiers and graduates start filing into town: to spend money, sun themselves, dance, drink, eat, and hang out poolside. Interestingly, between Labor Day (September) and Memorial Day (May), Ocean City is home to about twenty-five thousand people. Just a normal community of working-class folks, who love living by the sea. Yet between those two summer holidays, the number of people fluctuates from 250,00 to 500,000, depending on weekend weather.
Cruel Death Page 1
