Cry for Me Read online

  “I’m getting ready to head over to Chief Tanner’s office, Lynn. Want to walk with me?”

  “Sure. I could use the exercise. Eating Chinese takeout is starting take it’s toll” chuckled Lynn.

  Rick and Lynn chatted about some department gossip as they took the short walk over to Chief Tanner’s office. Lynn loved being in the company of Rick and wondered what he really thought of her. “I have known Rick for a long time, you would think I could read him better by now” thought Lynn.

  Chief Jim Tanner was busily going over his new budget proposal for the police and fire commission board meeting next week, when Rick and Lynn reached his door. “Door’s open Rick”, stated Chief Tanner.

  “Good Morning Chief.”

  “Good morning Rick. Where are you at with this case? I’m expecting a call from the Mayor at any moment.”

  “I just received evidence collected by county and plan to go over to the Coroner’s later this afternoon”, replied Rick.

  “Good, because I need to give him something to get him off my back for awhile so I can finish tweaking my budget proposal.”

  “Well that’s one the reasons I’m here.”

  Chief Tanner looked up from his desk with a puzzled look on his face, “My budget proposal?”

  “No sir. I am here to ask for Dan Keyes to assist me with the case since Parker is off watching ice bergs float, or whatever he’s doing.”

  “That’s fine. You’ll need the man power. Go see Lt. Jones and let him know, so he can pull Keyes off his shift temporarily, and assign new coverage.”

  “Thanks Chief. I’ll do that now.”

  Lt. Mike Jones had been on the department for twenty four years and was next in line to be Chief when Tanner retired next year. When Miller joined the force Jones was his Field Training Officer. Jones was a Sgt. Back then. Rick had great respect for Mike. He was one of the biggest reasons Rick decided to take the eligibility test for South Elgin Police. Jones had visited Miller’s high school on career day and made quite the impression on the 15 year old. After that day Rick made a decision that he was going to be a cop, and hopefully, a South Elgin COP!

  Rick reached Lt. Jones office and he was not there. He decided to head to the communication center and see if he was in there checking out the new dispatch equipment. While in route to communications, he heard Mike laughing and it was coming from the squad room. Lt. Jones was in talking with a couple of the officers and they were telling him of a call they had over the weekend where a twenty five year old male had stripped off all of his clothes and proceeded to run down the middle of Rt. 31 yelling, “I’m naked and I’m NUTS!”.

  “Sounds like you had fun weekend!”, chuckled Rick. Lt, Jones and the two officers greeted Rick and they shared a few stories for a few minutes before the officers had to return to the street.

  “Hey Rick, that’s quite the case you got.”

  “Oh, I know. It’s the reason I came looking for you.”

  Mike was just about to take a sip of coffee when he paused and looked at Rick, “oh?”

  “I went to see Tanner this morning to get some help on this, Parker is on vacation, so that leaves me Keyes. I asked Tanner for Keyes, and he agreed. He told me to let you know so you can make adjustments to the roster.”

  “How long you think you’ll need him for?”

  “A few days to a week, I hope. I need to move fast on this.”

  “Well Rick, I can make a few adjustments to the duty roster. He is on the street now. I will have dispatch send him in. You have Keyes as long as you need him. I hope your right about only needing him for a week, Rick. But my gut tells me this may just be the tip of the ice berg.”

  “Oh, I hope you are wrong Lieutenant. I sure hope to hell you are wrong!”

  Chapter 3

  Officer Keyes was just pulling up to the station when Miller stopped him. “Hey Dan, with Parker on vacation you get assist on this. You game?”

  “Hell yes I’m game!” exclaimed Dan.

  “Good, because I could sure use your help. On my desk is a packet from the county E.T. In it you will find thumb drives containing hundreds of photos. Start with those photos. I want you to scour those pictures and make notes on anything you see that’s out of the ordinary or needs attention. Track down Lynn and tell her we will need the conference room to set up our “war room” and grab a couple spare laptops and put them in there. I’m headed over to the Coroner’s office now to see how they are coming with the autopsy. I will be back as soon as I can. Then we can go back to the crime scene and start knocking on a few doors.”

  “You got it Rick.”

  Rick was about half way to the Coroner’s office when he got a call on his cell phone from Keyes. “Hey, Rick. We got a hit on the finger prints.”

  “Excellent! Who is it?” exclaimed Rick.

  “They came back to a James Rush out of Elgin. He is 21 years old and has a fairly extensive arrest record. Looks like most of his arrests are from Elgin PD for disorderly conduct and prostitution. Should I put a call into Elgin, Rick?”

  “Absolutely we need to find out every thing we can on our victim. Send his name and information over to Deputy Coroner Schauer so he can update the pathology report and pull the John Doe status, we also need to get some information on any family he may have so we can contact them.”

  “On it!” replied Dan.

  Rick arrived to the Coroner’s office. The Kane County Coroner’s office is located in Geneva, Illinois in the Kane County Government Center. It consists of a cluster of buildings housing such departments as the Clerk’s office, Emergency Management, etc.

  Rick had been here a few times before over the years, although never on a homicide. His occasions to visit the Coroner’s office were mainly fatal traffic accidents and the occasional suicide. He never liked coming to the building. It always seemed cold to him. He has always tried to avoid it even though his friend Jim worked there.

  Rick met Schauer for the first time at the scene of a horrific motor vehicle accident where a young mother had been fatally injured. Her vehicle had been struck by a speeding dump truck with such force that it severed her upper dental pallet from her mouth, and it had resembled a set of bloody dentures.

  From that moment on they had been friends. Rick has always admired the way Jim has handled cases they worked on in the past. He had a real gift for preserving the scene while removing the body. For example; a badly decomposing body had been found lying in bed in a sleeping room above one of the local taverns. A 400 lb. male had died in his sleep in mid August, on the 2nd floor. The body had gone unnoticed for a couple of weeks before the other tenants had called police about a foul odor.

  The sleeping room had no air conditioning and temps were in the mid 90’s. The body was basically a gelatinous mess. But somehow, Jim was able to bag and tag the body, so that the case could be closed as death due to natural causes.

  Once inside Rick was hit by that all too familiar sent of stainless steel and death. Yes. Death has a smell. Outside of the decomposing smell associated with a rotting corpse. This is a smell of its own, and is present within moments of expiration. Rick could never put his finger on it, nor could he accurately describe it, but he never mistook it.

  The smell grew stronger as he walked the corridor, getting closer to the morgue. The smell of death was now overcoming the smell of the stainless steel. The building is always kept cool for obvious reasons and with recent temperatures this felt good. Once inside the autopsy room he was greeted by Jim. “Hey Rick how the hell are ya?” asked Jim in a joking manner, knowing how much Rick did not care to visit him at his office.

  Rick just grunted. “That good eh?” laughed Jim. “Well, I hope you’re ready to dive into the deep, interesting, and at times, dark world of science, because I have quite the report for you!” exclaimed Jim.

  Jim headed over to his office to grab the report leaving Rick alone in the autopsy room. Rick wandered around looking at the scale used to weigh organs and the h
ead block on the table.

  The autopsy room was spotless. All the stainless steel was very clean and shiny. Rick thought that this was odd. “It’s not like they have to worry about giving their patients an infection.” he thought to himself. Soon Jim returned with a file and handed it to Rick. “Here you go. Have at it. This is all your copy. You’re free to take it with you, but I prefer you read through it here, so if you have any questions, and you will, I can do my best to answer to answer them.”

  “Ok” replied Rick staring at the file before him.

  Rick sat down at a desk in the autopsy room and placed the file in front him. The file was not very thick and Rick guessed it might contain approx. 25 pages. He opened the front cover of the manila file folder and pulled out the first sheet and began reading to himself.

  The Office of the Kane County Coroner

  CORONER CASE NUMBER: CASE NUMBER:

  2014-0245 001294-23-2014

  DATE and HOUR AUTOPSY PERFORMED: FULL AUTOPSY:

  7/15/2014; 08:30 by Yes

  Edward Martin, M.D.

  719 South Batavia Av. Bldg. A

  Geneva, IL. 630-555-1243

  ASSISTANT:

  Steven Cohen, M.D.

  NAME: AGE: SEX:

  James Allen Rush 21 Male

  DATE of BIRTH: BODY IDENTIFIED BY:

  3/23/1993 Illinois State Police Crime Lab (finger prints)

  INVESTIGATIVE AGENCY:

  South Elgin Police Department

  EVIDENCE OF TREATMENT:

  N/A

  EXTERNAL EXAMINATION:

  The autopsy is begun at 8:30 A.M. on July 15, 2014. The body is presented in a black body bag. The victim is not wearing any clothing upon presentation.

  The body is that of a normally developed white male measuring 84 inches and weighing 140 pounds, and appearing generally consistent with the stated age of twenty-one years. The body is cold and un-embalmed. Lividity is fixed in the distal portions of the limbs. The eyes are missing. There are two sutures affixing the upper eye lid to the skin of the brow area on both eyes. There are two sutures affixing the lower eye lid to the skin of the upper cheek area on both on eyes. It appears sutures to be 3.0 nylon. The scalp has been shaved in it’s entirety within 4 hours of death. Ears are intact and show no signs of injury. The right ear lobe contains 2 small punctures holes conducive to earring piercing. There is notable stretching around the outer skin area of both nostrils. The left nostril contains 1 small puncture hole conducive to that of a piercing hole. The lips, cheeks, and forehead show no signs of injury. There is an incision below the chin measuring 2.5 inches in length and has been sutured using 6 - 3.0 nylon sutures. There are no visible injuries on the throat.

  The breasts have been removed and an incision placed horizontally over each breast area measuring 5.5 inches and has been sutured containing 18 - 3.0 nylon sutures.

  The genitalia have been removed. An incision is in place of the genitalia measuring 9 inches long vertically and has been sutured containing 24 - 3.0 nylon sutures. Pubic hair has been shaved in its entirety within 4 hours of death. Limbs are equal, symmetrically developed and show no evidence of injury. The fingernails are of short length and fingernail beds are clean. There are no residual scars, markings or tattoos.

  INTERNAL EXAMINATION:

  HEAD--CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: The brain weighs 1,303 grams and within normal limits.

  SKELETAL SYSTEM: No injuries are seen.

  RESPIRATORY SYSTEM--THROAT STRUCTURES: The oral cavity shows no lesions. The mucosa is intact and there are no injuries to the lips or gums. Front left tooth is chipped. The sinus cavity has been removed. There is no obstruction of the airway. The mucosa of the epiglottis, glottis, piriform, trachea and major bronchi are anatomic. No injuries are seen and there are no mucosal lesions.

  The lungs weigh: right, 355 grams; left 362 grams. The lungs are unremarkable.

  CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM: The heart weighs 253 grams, and has a normal size and configuration. No evidence of atherosclerosis is present.

  GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM: The mucosa and wall of the esophagus are intact and gray-pink, without lesions or injuries. The gastric mucosa is intact and pink without injury. Approximately 125 ml of partially digested semisolid food and approximately 10 ml of semen is found in the stomach. The mucosa of the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, colon and rectum are intact.

  URINARY SYSTEM: The kidneys weigh: left, 115 grams; right, 113 grams. The kidneys are anatomic in size, shape and location and are without lesions.

  MALE GENITAL SYSTEM: Genitalia have been removed.

  TOXICOLOGY: Sample of right pleural blood and bile are submitted for toxicological analysis. Stomach contents are saved.

  SEROLOGY: A sample of right pleural blood is submitted in the EDTA tube. Routine toxicological studies were ordered.

  LABORATORY DATA:

  Cerebrospinal fluid culture and sensitivity:

  Gram stain: Unremarkable

  Culture: No growth after 72 hours

  Cerebrospinal fluid bacterial antigens:

  Hemophilus influenza B: Negative

  Streptococcus pneumoniae: Negative

  N. Meningitides: Negative

  Neiserria meningitides B/E. Coli K1: Negative

  Drug Screen Results:

  Urine screen {Immunoassay} was NEGATIVE.

  Ethanol: 0 gm/dl, Blood (Heart)

  Ethanol: 0 gm/dl, Vitreous

  Isoquinoline: .715 mg/kg

  Martin A. Schmidt, Ph.D.

  Chief Toxicologist

  July 15, 2014

  EVIDENCE COLLECTED:

  1. One (1) White piece of cloth measuring 32” x 32” made of silk.

  2. Samples of Blood (type O+), Bile, and Tissue (heart, lung, brain, kidney, liver, spleen).

  3. Eleven (11) autopsy photographs.

  4. One postmortem CT scan.

  5. One postmortem MRI.

  OPINION:

  Time of Death: Body temperature, rigor and livor mortis, and stomach contents approximate the time of death between 5:30 and 7:30 P.M. on 7/13/2014.

  Immediate Cause of Death: Massive rapid blood loss.

  Manner of Death: Homicide

  Remarks: Decedent was administered a dosage of Curare subsequently paralyzing all voluntary muscle control. Involuntary muscle control was still in effect. Decedent lost sufficient blood during the removal of the male genitalia, breast glands, saliva glands, sinus cavities, tear glands, and eyes to the extent as to be the cause of death.

  //Edward Martin, M.D.

  Kane County Coroner's Office

  July, 15, 2014

  Rick finished reading the autopsy report. He was glad he followed Jim’s advice and read the report there. He had more questions now than before he read the report. Rick sat back in his chair and looked up at Jim who was standing to side of the desk.

  Jim is a tall thin man over six feet tall and around 190 lbs. At 50 years of age he has salt and pepper hair worn short and combed neatly to left side of his head. He has a thin salt and pepper mustache that tapers to the corners of his mouth.

  He spends as much time as possible lounging in his pool in the summer and is very tan. The sun has taken somewhat of a toll on his skin over the years. There are thick deep wrinkles in his chin and lower corners of his mouth.

  His forehead has thick wrinkles horizontally and crows feet at the corner of the eyes. His face looked weathered. Rick could not help but wonder how much of that was due the sun and how much was from his job. Jim’s typical work attire was of a business casual look often consisting of casual slacks and a polo type shirt with the Kane County Coroner emblem on the left breast. Today he was wearing his normal casual slacks and a bright Hawaiian button shirt. No doubt in quiet protest for Rick dragging him off his vacation.

  “Nice shirt.” blurted out Rick.

  “Huh? Oh, I didn’t notice I grabbed my vacation shirt this morning” answered Jim sarcastically.

  “Touché”, chuckled Rick.

  “Yo
u read one of craziest autopsy reports, than most Detectives do in an entire career, and all you can comment on is my shirt?!” exclaimed Jim.

  Rick laughed and said, “You’re right. I should be grilling you on what exactly all that means. Why don’t you give it to me in layman terms?”

  “I thought you would never ask! Jim replied excitedly.

  “Let’s skip all the obvious stuff I figure you were able to take from the report like the fact that the genitalia had been removed, time of death, etc. and jump to the first thing I want to point out. He had semen in his stomach. Couple that with the genitalia being removed, maybe a sex crime? But what is really puzzling in the toxicology report, is where .715 mg of Isoquinoline was found in the victim’s blood.”

  “What is that?” asked Rick.

  “Isoquinoline is better known as Curare.” replied Jim.

  “Curare? Like from the old murder mystery movies?”

  “Precisely, my dear Watson.”, joked Jim. “Here let me explain. Curare originated in Central and South America. It functions by competitively and reversibly inhibiting the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor found at the neuromuscular junction.”

  “In English please.” interjects Miller.

  “I’m getting to that, just relax and absorb the info you are about to receive.” replies Jim. “It causes weakness of the skeletal muscles and, when administered in a sufficient dose, eventual death by asphyxiation due to the paralysis of the diaphragm. Now in this case, our victim was administered just enough to effectively paralyze the voluntary muscles. Your voluntary muscles are muscles that you make move. Most of them are connected to your bones. Your arms, legs, eyes, eye lids, mouth, tongue, etc. When you go to take a sip of your coffee you are using voluntary muscles. There was not enough administered to effect the victims involuntary muscles, his heart and diaphragm for example. Essentially he was totally paralyzed. He could not move any of his arms or legs; he could not speak, blink or even move his eyes around. But he was still very much alive. He still had sight, hearing and all pain sensory. Rick, what I’m about to tell you is quite disturbing. The victim could see, hear, and feel everything that sick son of bitch did to him. He could feel all the pain associated with his eyes being removed, his breast glands being removed, and, god help me, his genitals being removed and could not do a thing about it. He could not even cry out in agonizing pain!”