Paul Madriani: The Jury Part 8

"Yeah."

"And what is that name, Lieutenant?"

"Jigsaw Jane, or John, depending on gender," says de Angelo. "Usually you find heads bobbing in the water."

One of the older guys on the jury, a retired navy demolition expert, sn.i.g.g.e.rs and covers his mouth with his hand. His forearm under the hair is a mosaic of tattoos. The women on the panel do not smile; instead, they are looking at my client for a reaction. Crone offers none. He is busy as always, taking notes.

"I believe, Mr. Tannery, that there was an objection. I'll overrule it, allow the witness to answer the question." Coats has not even lost his place.

But de Angelo has. "What was the question?"

"Was there something unique about the dismemberment of Kalista Jordan, say from the other cases you've seen?" asks Tannery.

"Oh, yeah. That's right. Yeah, there was."

"And what was that?"

"Two things, really. The legs and arms were severed cleanly at the joints. And the head was still connected to the torso."

"Let's take the legs and arms first," says Tannery. "Did you draw any conclusions from the manner in which these were severed?"

"We did. There was a kind of surgical nature to the dismemberment. We concluded that the person or persons who did it knew what they were doing. We believe that they probably had some special training."

"Objection."

"Overruled," says Coats.

"What kind of training?" asks Tannery.

"They knew something about medical science, particularly anatomy. Might have had at least minimal experience dissecting or performing surgery on the human body."

"Are you saying that it is likely that the perpetrator was a medical doctor?"

"It's possible," says de Angelo.

Tannery looks toward our table and Dr. Crone who doesn't even suspend his note taking to lift his gaze.

"You said there was something else unusual about this case, something having to do with the victim's head?"

"Yeah. It was still attached to the body," says de Angelo. "We wondered why. Usually, if a perpetrator goes to all the trouble to cut off arms and legs, he's . . ."

"Objection. a.s.sumes facts not in evidence." I'm into it before he can finish.

"Restate your answer," says the judge.

De Angelo gives the D.A. a blank stare. He doesn't understand the problem.

"It a.s.sumes a male perpetrator," says Tannery.

"Oh." He thinks for a second. "We a.s.sume they go to all that trouble, whoever it is"-he looks directly at me for emphasis-"is gonna take the head off, too. But here they don't. You have to wonder why?"

"Why would you a.s.sume they'd cut off the head?"

"Why do they go to all the trouble to cut up the body in the first place?" says de Angelo. "Because they're trying to make it difficult to identify. You take off the hands, there's no fingerprints a.s.suming the hands aren't found. You take off the head, it makes it that much harder. But they didn't here."

"I see. And you don't have an answer as to why?"

De Angelo shakes his head. "It's just unusual. Doesn't fit the normal pattern. If anything like this can be called normal," he says. "So we thought whoever killed Kalista Jordan was trying to do a copycat."

"Can you explain for the jury?" asks Tannery.

De Angelo turns toward the box. "There were two murders almost three years ago now. The bodies of two women were dumped in the harbor. We found the torsos with the heads attached. Arms and legs had been cut off. It was in all the papers. Those cases got a lot of publicity because it looked like a serial murder. Papers always pick up on that," he says.

"Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes an invitation for somebody who's looking for an opportunity. You get a person, wants to kill his wife, or his girlfriend. He sees the article. So he tries to make it look like the same M.O. They copycat it. Usually they don't succeed."

"And why is that?"

"Little details," says de Angelo. "Things we never disclose to the media. For example, in this case, the earlier jigsaws, out in the harbor. They were in fact done with saws. Bones cut right through like a butcher would do it with a saw. We found tool marks from the teeth of a saw blade. Probably a hacksaw. But that wasn't done in this case."

"You're talking about Kalista Jordan?"

"Right. Here, the amputation of the arms and legs was done clean, at the joints. Somebody knew right where to go, and they used a sharp instrument to get all the ligaments and tendons."

"And this clean amputation, at the joints, is what causes you to believe that the killer possibly had medical training?"

"Correct."

"Therefore, you don't believe these earlier cases are related?" Tannery is driving a wedge, antic.i.p.ating that we may try to defend using the age-old SODDI, Some Other Dude Did It, in this case some crazed serial killer. If we could produce an alibi for Crone in the earlier cases, this would present complications for the state.

"No. But we think that's why the killer left the head attached. Because it was reported in the press in the earlier two cases. It was also reported that the arms and legs were not attached to the bodies, but there was no report as to how this was done. The killer screwed up," says de Angelo. "And it wasn't the only mistake they made."

"What else?"

"We don't want to get into too many details. The other two murders are still open."

"Unsolved?"

"That's right."

"But there are other discrepancies?"

"One in particular," says de Angelo. "The use of cable ties around the victim's throat. It was reported in the earlier cases that the victims were strangled with a nylon ligature and that a similar nylon tie was probably used to bind the hands and feet. In those cases, we found a set of arms and hands. They floated up on the beach. These were tied together at the wrist. The item used to tie these was referred to as, and I quote, 'a nylon tie,' in one of the local papers. Actually it was a piece of nylon rope. The paper was using the word tie in the general sense," he says. "We didn't correct it because we didn't want to get into the details. We think that whoever killed Kalista Jordan read that newspaper article and a.s.sumed that a nylon cable tie was used."

"In other words, they tried to copycat and got it wrong?" says Tannery.

"That appears to be the case."

"Let's talk about the cable tie, the one found around Dr. Jordan's neck. Did you have an opportunity to examine that cable tie?"

"I did."

"Was it still affixed to the body when you first observed it?"

"It was."

"Did you remove it?"

"No. The coroner, at the time of the autopsy, removed it."

"Was there anything unique about this particular cable tie?"

"It was an industrial tie, if that's what you mean. It was heavy-duty. Used for bundling things together. Almost anything," he says. "Old newspapers. Stacks of rags. Industry uses them a lot. Electricians would use these particular ones for bundling heavy loads of wire before they run 'em into a chase on large jobs. As I recall, that particular tie had a high tensile strength. Two hundred or two hundred and fifty pounds."

"I believe Dr. Schwimmer said it was two hundred and fifty pounds."

"Then that would be right."

"So this was not something that the average consumer could find in your ordinary hardware store. Is that what you're telling us?"

"That's right. You'd probably have to order it from an industrial supply house."

"Do you know where this particular cable tie was purchased? The one found around the neck of Kalista Jordan?"

"No."

"Were there any other similar cable ties found on the victim's body?"

"No."

"Did you have occasion to find other similar cable ties during the course of your investigation in this case?"

"I did."

"And where did you find these?

"I found two other cable ties. The same length, and width. In fact, after examining them we determined that these two ties appeared to be identical in all respects to the cable tie found around the neck of the victim, Kalista Jordan. We found these in the pocket of a sport coat belonging to the defendant, Dr. David Crone."

There are a few murmurs in the audience, and the judge slaps his gavel.

Tannery treks to the evidence cart and comes back with two clear plastic bags. He has the witness identify the first one.

"Do you recognize the contents of that bag?"

"I do. It's the cable tie that was removed from around Kalista Jordan's neck during the autopsy, the ligature used to strangle her."

"Are those your initials on the evidence bag?"

De Angelo takes a closer look. "They are. And the date that I placed it in the bag and sealed it, at the coroner's office."

"This second bag, I ask you to look at it. Are those your initials on the bag?"

"They are."

"And what is in this bag, Lieutenant?"

"The cable ties that we found in the pocket of Dr. Crone's sport coat."

"And where was that coat when you found these two ties?"

"It was hanging in a closet near the front door, the entrance to the defendant's house."

De Angelo tells the jury about the search, that they'd turned the house upside down, found the cable ties in the pocket of what they later discovered from co-workers was Crone's favorite coat, a herringbone tweed with large patch pockets, and leather on the elbows. Tannery produces the sport coat from the evidence cart, and the witness identifies it.

"Now when you found this sport coat, which pocket were the cable ties in? You found this yourself, I take it?"

"I did. The nylon ties were in the left side pocket."

"Did you find anything else in the coat?"

"A set of keys. To the defendant's car."

"What else?"

"A cash register receipt."

Tannery takes another trip to the evidence cart, fumbles with a few envelopes until he finds the one he wants, looks inside, then asks the judge if he can approach the witness.

Coats motions him on.

"Lieutenant, I would ask you to look at the receipt in this envelope and tell us whether you recognize it?"

De Angelo takes out a small white slip of paper, looks at it, then nods. "It's the one I found in the defendant's sport coat pocket."

"Can you tell the jury what that receipt is for?"

"It's a cash register receipt from the university dining room. U.C." he says. "Dated April third for . . ."

"Stop right there. April third. Isn't that the day before Kalista Jordan disappeared?"

"That evening," says de Angelo. "The receipt is time-stamped at seven fifty-six P.M. We checked, and the clock in the cash register is accurate. It is maintained."

Tannery has closed the loop, made the connection between the earlier testimony of Carol Hodges, who saw Crone arguing with the victim in the faculty dining room the night before she vanished. He has done this in a way that causes maximum damage, with a doc.u.ment that puts Crone there, date- and time-stamped, sharing the same garment with the incriminating cable ties.

Several jurors are taking notes. Like a dazing blow to the chin, Tannery has scored points and he knows it. He takes his time, allowing the testimony to settle in for full effect.

"Now when you searched the defendant's house, did you find anything else?"

"We did. We found a tensioning tool."