Crime Wave Part 4

Bill and I discussed it. Bill's take: Polete f.u.c.ked up inside or was recognizably psycho and unable to con the parole board.

He was locked down at CMC. He couldn't hurt women there.

It wasn't enough. He was up for parole late in '98.

The DNA prescreen flopped. They found blood on the victim's sweater and no s.e.m.e.n on her panties. The next step: to examine the rest of the garments for s.e.m.e.n.

The result derailed Bill's plan of attack. He needed a verified s.e.m.e.n stain. The lab could run it against Bill Scales's DNA. A negative hit would indicate unidentified e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e. Bill could take that result and get a search warrant. The warrant would empower him to extract a fluid sample from Robert Leroy Polete.

We discussed options. Bill said it boiled down to a face-to-face talk. He would interview Polete.

We went back to the file. We wanted to make sure we didn't overlook a single bit of data. We pulled odd note sheets and found new names to run. We got one positive hit.

John Fentress rode bikes with Bill Scales. He joined the El Monte PD in '73. His wife knew BettyJean.

We met him at the El Monte Station. I said, "Tell me about BettyJean."

Fentress said she was talkative and mentally slow. She was totally in love with Bill Scales. Scales was the boss. Betty went along with the program.

Betty struggled with her marriage. He doubted if Scales ever hit her.

Bill and I went back to the file. We reviewed the physical evidence and hypothetically reconstructed the crime.

Bloodstains on the truck seat. Small drips and spatters inconsistent with the victim's ma.s.sive head wounds. Hypothetical conclusion: Polete or the unknown a.s.sailant did not transport the body to the gravel pits. The seat would have been badly bloodstained if he drove the body any good distance. It all went down in the truck.

He kidnapped her. He hijacked the truck. He drove her to the gravel pits. He a.s.saulted her and killed her there and dumped her immediately.

Hypothetically: She's nude. He raped her on the seat. He orders her out of the truck. She refuses. She thinks he intends to take her somewhere and kill her.

He's standing outside the truck. He grabs the staple-bat. He tries to pull the victim out of the cab. She resists. She's facedown. He hits her on the back of the head and caves her skull in.

He pulls her out of the cab. Her head brushes the seat back and pa.s.senger door and leaves stains. He throws her into the pit.

A sound hypothesis. In sync with aspects of Polete's MO. Suitable for other unknown suspects.

Bill called the prison. He arranged to interview Robert Leroy Polete. I felt the case veer toward a dead-end metaphysic.

I knew that static level intimately. It defined my mother's case.

Knowledge did not equal provability. Faulty memories sp.a.w.ned misinformation. Hypothetical renderings imposed logic on chaotic events and were rarely confirmed by firsthand accounts. Evidence was misplaced. Witnesses died. Their heirs revised and retold their stories inaccurately. Consensus of opinion seldom equaled truth. The pa.s.sage of time and new perpetuations of horror deadened the reaction to old horror. Victims were defined as victims exclusively.

I was able to deconstruct my mother's victimhood. I gathered an ambiguous array of facts and sifted them through reminiscence and my will to claim and know her. I had memories and personal perception to guide me. My witnesses supplied me with diverse testimonial lines. I was able to discredit or credit them from an informed perspective. I was able to establish the extent to which my mother's free will raged and smeared the ink on her own death warrant.

Betty's death defied deconstruction. Her witnesses defined her unambiguously. I reluctantly bought their consensus. I wanted to acc.u.mulate odd bits of data and credit Betty with a bold streak or a secret mental life. I did not want to form her in my mother's image or remake her as anything but who she was. I only wanted proof that she'd lived more. I wanted it for her sake.

The dead-end metaphysic blitzed my shot at my mother's killer. We never approached a live suspect.

We had a live suspect now. We had knowledge and a shot at provability.

5.

10:20A.M. Thursday, 11/20/97: THE CALIFORNIA MEN'S COLONY AT SAN LUIS OBISP0. SERGEANT BILL STONER REPRESENTING SHERIFF'S HOMICIDE. DETECTIVE GARY WALKER REPRESENTING EL MONTE PD. THE SUSPECT: INMATE ROBERT LEROY POLETE JR. PRISON #B84688.

The interview was held in a small administration office. A window overlooked the prison yard. Bill Stoner sat at a desk. Inmate Polete sat in a chair directly in front of him. Gary Walker sat to the side of the desk and faced Inmate Polete diagonally.

Bill Stoner's first impression of Inmate Polete: "He looked soft. He was about thirty pounds heavier than his '73 arrest statistics. He had a paunch, and his body wasn't toned. His hair had receded in front. He looked like a blond surfer kid who didn't take care of himself as he got older. He didn't look in any way menacing."

Stoner and Walker identified themselves. They said they were investigating a 1973 murder. Inmate Polete was a suspect then. They read Inmate Polete his Miranda rights.

Inmate Polete waived his right to have a lawyer present. He said he knew the murder they meant. He took a polygraph test in '73 and pa.s.sed it. The test guy asked him some questions about this woman's murder.

Stoner said he did not pa.s.s the test. The result was "inconclusive."

Inmate Polete explained. He said the cops asked questions about the other cases before he took the test. The cops asked him about the murder. He got scared and confused. He said, "Yes, I did it," out of fear and frustration.

Koury and Meyers had not stated that he made a flat-out admission. They said he got right to the brink and retreated.

'My dad's got heart trouble. This would really kill him."

Inmate Polete insisted that he did pa.s.s the test. Stoner told him that he did not.

Detective Walker asked Inmate Polete to describe his life in 1973. Inmate Polete said he worked in his dad's print shop. They lived behind the shop. Him, his dad, his mom, and his kid brother.

He went to Sierra Vista High School. He played the cymbals and the sousaphone in the school band. He went to the Pentecostal Church at Five Points in El Monte and dated the minister's daughter. He worked at C&R Printing part-time.

Bill Stoner's second impression of Inmate Polete: "He was getting agitated, because he knew we weren't going to just go away. He came off more and more juvenile emotionally. He had a 17-year-Old personality and att.i.tude stuck in the body of a 42-year-old man."

Inmate Polete said his DNA was on file with the state. It would prove he did not kill that woman. He was very emphatic.

Inmate Polete said he only did two crimes total. He was trying to reach out. He thought no one cared about him.

Stoner asked him which two crimes he meant. Inmate Polete said the Bakersfield thing and that thing with the woman who stabbed him. The women did not understand. He just wanted to be held and loved.

Stoner contradicted him. Stoner told him that he sodomized a teenage girl on 3/8/73. The a.s.sault occurred in Baldwin Park. The victim identified him.

Inmate Polete denied the a.s.sault. He said someone else copped out to that case.

No one else copped out to that case.

Stoner read from a Baldwin Park PD report. It was dated 3/20/73. A Baldwin Park PD detective stated: Robert Leroy Polete admitted the kidnap/rape of 3/8/73. Robert Leroy Polete admitted two other attempted abductions. The dates: 2/16/72 and 3/13/73. He wasn't tried for the crimes.

Stoner asked Inmate Polete to explain the report. Inmate Polete said he did not commit those crimes. He could not explain the report.

Stoner read from a Temple City Sheriff's report. It was dated 4/25/73. A Sheriff's detective stated: Robert Leroy Polete said he blacked out while watching girls at the shopping center on Durfee and Peck. He woke up back at C&R Printing, one and a half blocks east. He was sweaty. He could not recall what he had done. A woman identified Robert Leroy Polete. She told detectives he a.s.saulted her in front of Durfee Drugs. The event occurred at 1:30 P.M., 4/23/73.

Stoner asked Inmate Polete to explain the report. Inmate Polete said the facts were wrong. He never told anybody he blacked out that day. He was never at Durfee Drugs.

Stoner read from a Sheriff's Homicide report. It was dated 4/25/73. Deputy Hal Meyers stated: Robert Leroy Polete said that he suffers from blackouts. He cannot recall any of the a.s.saults that he was accused of. He snapped out of blackouts twice and found himself hurting women. He said he may have done things that he cannot recall.

Stoner asked Inmate Polete to explain the report. Inmate Polete said he never committed crimes during blackouts. The only crime he committed as a kid was that thing with the woman who stabbed him. The only crime he committed as a grown-up was that Bakersfield thing.

And: He felt guilty about the Bakersfield thing and turned himself in at the air base.

And: He knew why he blacked out. It was anger at his father. His father used to beat him with his fists and a belt.

And: He was never alone when he went into blackouts.

And: If he did cop out to some crimes, it was just to anger his parents.

Stoner did not say, "You never turned yourself in.,, He did not ask Inmate Polete how he knew what he did in blackouts. He did not challenge his "I was never alone" statement. He was letting his lies acc.u.mulate. He'd contradict them at the right moment.

Stoner asked Inmate Polete how he got along with girls and women. Inmate Polete said he got along with them fine. Stoner mentioned an old file note. It stated: Polete told a cop that fourteen girls beat him up in the seventh grade. His girl troubles started then.

Inmate Polete said he never had girl troubles. Fourteen boys beat him up--not fourteen girls.

And: He knew why that thing happened with that woman who stabbed him. It was because his mother was contemplating suicide. He was mad at her because she wanted to leave him. He just wanted to be loved and held.

And: He knew why that thing in Bakersfield happened. He was mad at his father. He was having marital problems on top of his thing with his dad. He wanted to prove he could still perform s.e.xually.

Bill Stoner's third impression of Inmate Polete: "He had a defensive and poorly reasoned answer for everything. I couldn't tell if he believed his lies or not. I got some details on his parole hearings before the interview. Polete never took responsibility for his Bakersfield rape and continued to state that the victim came on to him. He wasn't smart enough to feign simple remorse in order to get out of prison."

Stoner switched gears. He mentioned Betty Jean's children. They grew up with no mother.

Inmate Polete started sobbing. Stoner thought they might be getting close. Walker asked Inmate Polete if he'd like to give it up.

Inmate Polete stood up. He wiped his eyes and balled his fists. He looked flat-out scary.

He yelled at Stoner and Walker. He said he didn't kill anybody. He said the interview was over as of now.

The interview was terminated at 12:30 P.M.

Bill called me. He described the interview in significant detail. I asked him if he thought Polete killed her. He said yes. I asked him if Gary Walker agreed. He said yes.

I asked Bill what he planned to do next. He said he wanted to talk to some people and brace Polete with more information.

12/1/97:.

Bill Stoner calls the Beaverton, Oregon, PD. He talks to Lieutenant Jim Byrd. Lieutenant Byrd worked Baldwin Park PD in 1973.

He remembers Robby Polete. He calls him a "choirboy rapist." He tells Stoner that Polete admitted the entire series of a.s.saults that he was initially accused of. Polete supplied details to substantiate his admissions. Polete said he was admitting the crimes because he did them. He tried to s.h.i.+ft the blame to his victims. He said they all came on to him.

Stoner brings up the 3/8/73 case. Polete contends that someone else copped out.

Lieutenant Byrd says no. Another man was arrested that night--but the victim exonerated him immediately.

Stoner asks why Polete was never charged with the 3/8 crimes: Kidnap/Sodomy/Oral Copulation.

Lieutenant Byrd says the victim moved out of state. Her parents didn't want her to testify and relive her ordeal in court.

And: Lieutenant Byrd attended a hearing on Polete's attempt-rape case. He observed Polete and his father outside the courtroom.

The father was dispensing advice. He told Robby to say that the woman who stabbed him came on to him first.

12/2/97:.

Bill Stoner calls Roger Kaiser--Baldwin Park PD, retired. Kaiser remembers Robby Polete and his father.

Polete Senior was the treasurer of the Baldwin Park Little League. League officials accused him of embezzling league funds. The case was settled out of court. Polete Senior made rest.i.tution.

12/4/97:.

Bill Stoner calls the music director for the Baldwin Park school district. The man supervised the Sierra Vista High School band in 1973.

He remembers Robby Polete. Robby was scatterbrained, undependable, and a lot of talk that never turned into action. Robby and his brother were very afraid of their father.

12/8/97:.

Gary Walker calls the former pastor of the Pentecostal Church of G.o.d in El Monte. The man does not recall Robby Polete. He doubts that his daughter dated him.

Walker talks to the pastor's wife. She recalls Robby Polete and his brother.

They went to her husband's church. Sometimes the boys would walk. Sometimes she and her husband would give them a ride. The pastor and his wife had two girls at Sierra Vista High School then. They didn't socialize with Robby or his brother outside of school or church. She knew that Robby was arrested back in '73. It surprised her. He didn't seem to be a violent boy.

Stoner ran checks on Polete's ex-wife, parents, and brother.

The father was dead. The mother and brother were living in Oregon. He couldn't locate Polete's ex-wife--Vonnie Polete. He found a Bakersfield file note that surprised him.

Robert Polete and Vonnie Polete were undoubtedly divorced. Polete had remarried.

8/12/87:.

A woman named Lori M. Polete writes to the Kern County courthouse. She identifies herself as Robert L. Polete's wife. She requests a copy of his 1977 court records.

She was living in Oregon then.

Bill held off on the mother and brother. He put the wives aside.

He wanted to brace Robby first.

Thursday, 12/11/97: THE CALIFORNIA MEN'S COLONY AT SAN Luis OBIsPo. SERGEANT BILL STONER REPRESENTING SHERIFF'S HOMICIDE. DETECTIVE GARY WALKER REPRESENTING EL MONTE PD. THE SUSPECT: INMATE ROBERT LEROY POLETE JR. PRISON #B84688.

The interview was held in a parole-hearing office. Stoner and Walker sat at the long end of a T-shaped table. Inmate Polete sat at the T end.

Bill Stoner's first impression of Inmate Polete: "He was scared now. But I could tell he was curious. He wanted to know what we had."