PART III Chapter Ten
Kate and Cindy sat at their desk as they went through the notes they made at the interview. James was cooperative but didn’t seem to know much about Susan the last few years. He told Kate he hadn’t had any contact with Susan except for the call he made after reading about the robbery online. He said it was a short call just to see if she was alright after such a traumatic experience.
Kate looked through her notes of the day and Cindy read them over Kate’s shoulder. She circled the information about Susan working long hours while they were a couple. She scribbled a note to ask Susan’s friends and boyfriends if she ever worked late. She wanted to make sure if that was legitimate or just an excuse she gave James because something else was going on.
Kate called Susan’s boyfriend Todd and then both couple friends to ask if Susan worked late very often. All of the friends, including her boyfriend, told her the same thing. Kate learned that Susan had worked late when they first met her but after Todd and her became a couple, Kate put her foot down and didn’t work late much after that.
Kate noted that answer but wasn’t sure what it told her. Maybe the late hours were voluntary and she stopped agreeing to them when Todd came into her life. Kate still thought the robbery was somehow connected even though there was no physical evidence to connect the events, at least not yet.
Kate had a team following the gang of Dan Winters to see if there was any evidence revealed. That included his wife Angela. The surveillance had been going on since the gang had been interviewed and so far there had been no information obtained from the effort. Although Kate was confident the robbery and arrest of their leader was the motive, she had to keep an open mind for other evidence that may present itself. She didn’t want to miss other evidence because she was too focused on one theory.
She would keep looking hoping for something to turn up and she knew that Megan would keep her informed if any new forensics became available. It felt good to have her daughter on her team and she would rely on that fact as she looked over evidence. Kate still thought the bank robbery and apprehension of Dan Winters was the reason Susan was killed but until they got additional evidence to support that she would have to keep looking.
Kate and Cindy were both going through photos of the crime scene while reading through the notes. They were taking a slow journey back through the details of the crime that they did know hoping to find something they missed the first time. They knew their victim actually called 911 to report being shot but died before she got to the hospital.
They knew from what the evidence told them that their victim was awakened by an intruder who kicked the back door in, leaving his size eleven and a half prints right on the door. The prints were high enough to tell them the intruder was fairly tall. He fired three downward shots with two misses recovered from the wall and one nine millimeter shot recovered from the victim’s head. The shooter apparently didn’t hang around to see if the victim was dead, leaving his prints in the backyard and twenty inch Michelin tire prints in the back alley.
The tire prints were matched to a model made for SUVs but none of their suspects so far had an SUV. The bank she worked at was robbed three months before the murder. She was the teller they chose to hold at gunpoint and she got an accidental look at the gang leader Dan Winters who was eventually arrested for the robbery. Susan was set to testify against the leader before she was shot.
Susan knew that the bank robbers had the most obvious motive, but she also knew the most obvious is often not the correct one. The lab had the forensics including the shells, footprints, DNA found inside Susan and the tracks in the alley. The intruder didn’t walk through the house and there was no sign of robbery there. Whoever perpetrated this crime, just wanted Susan dead.
Susan was busy studying the photos with Cindy when Megan called from the lab. She wanted to tell her mom about getting DNA evidence back with surprising results.
Megan said in a surprising tone, “Mom, the DNA doesn’t match the current boyfriend. It came back as an unidentified male. The coroner reported the sexual contact as consensual with no signs of force. I think we need to get some DNA samples from the other males in Susan’s life. I don’t see any reason to tell Todd just yet, this creates a new motive, jealousy.”
Susan added, “It also means that Todd would have that particular motive. Let me talk to some of her friends again to see if any of them knew about whoever this guy might be.”
Cindy said, “We need DNA samples from the ex-boyfriend for starters and both of the males from their group friends.”
Kate said, “To save some leg-work, I will call James and both Chad and Justin to see if they will voluntarily come down and give samples.”
Cindy asked, “What about the bank robber?”
Kate answered, “We got his DNA when he was arrested and Megan didn’t mention a match. I wouldn’t think she would have consensual sex with that robber or any of the gang.”
Cindy replied, “Unless the robbery was an inside job and Susan was part of it.”
Kate replied, “I never got that feeling at all throughout the investigation.”
Cindy said, “Neither did I but I was just covering all the bases.”
Kate said, “I understand and we will look at that too as a possibility but I am pretty sure nothing will turn up there.”
Kate made the calls and all of the men agreed to come in and donate samples. She was pretty sure it would lead nowhere but she wanted to clear these guys from being with the victim the day she died. Everyone she called agreed to come in and supply their DNA.
Kate was impressed with the level of cooperation she witnessed from the friends in Susan's life. She didn’t expect any matches but at least the results would help clear those men and she could concentrate on someone else.
Kate and Cindy continued to look around the crime scene but didn’t find anything they didn’t already know about. They had plenty of evidence of the murder, all they were looking for now was evidence of whoever the other male was. They looked carefully throughout the house, not really knowing what they were looking for.
Kate and Cindy even vacuumed under the couch and chairs in the living room and looked through the contents in the vacuum bag. It was obvious that Susan kept her house clean when the vacuum bag yielded very little contents.
The tables in the living room didn’t show any activities. There were no drink rings from glassware, no papers out, no mail found anywhere. Susan was well organized and kept things put away. Kate went to a desk in the corner of the bedroom and began looking through the drawers.
It was clear to Kate that Susan used this desk as her home office. She paid bills and any other personal business at this desk and Kate went through stacks of papers and the file that was in the bottom drawer. Kate got an evidence box and put all of the files and papers in it to take back to the station to carefully go through.
Some of the drawers had blank envelopes, stamps, pens and other office supplies. Kate grabbed anything with notes and information. She found notepads, stamps and a journal that Susan kept her thoughts in. Kate would spend some time reading through the journal. Kate thought Susan might reveal if she was having problems with anyone.
Kate packed everything she found into her car and Cindy rode back with Kate to begin searching through the items removed from the desk. The detectives spent days searching through bank statements, invoices and receipts. There wasn’t much else found at Susan’s house, but there was ample paperwork to go through for both detectives.
Kate received a phone call from Megan while she was going through the contents she had recovered from Susan’s house.
Megan said, “I got the results back from the DNA samples supplied from the other men in Susan’s life. None of their samples provided matched the DNA found inside Susan.”
It was the results that Kate expected and now she could concentrate on someone else. There was still a large box of evidence waiting for her to scour over. She divided up the paperwork and handed half of it to Cindy to lighten her load. She would go through as much as possible but had thoughts of taking home anything she didn’t get through at work.
Kate looked through the bank statements first to see if there were any unusual deposits. One of the things she looked for in the house was items that appeared to be gifts from a male admirer. Kate had to be suspicious by nature and the fact that Susan had a male friend that was unknown by any of her circle of friends made her question what type of relationship it would have been. Kate had seen all too often young girls having a sugar daddy to help with their finances.
Kate had noted the surroundings at the house Susan lived in. It was a nice house, but a little small. The furnishings in the house were not extravagant by any scale she could apply to them giving no signs of living beyond her means. She obviously worked hard and bought the things she knew she could afford.
Kate looked through everything she could find in the house to see if anything indicated a gift from a man. The house was well kept and clean except for the pesky blood stain in her bedroom. There was damage on the backdoor from the break-in but there wasn’t anything else out of place.
The house was adequate but not furnished in an overly expensive manner. Kate would still reserve any judgement until she had gone through all of the bank statements and paperwork. The house didn’t give them any motives or potential shooter to look at. She had spent a long day searching for any available clues and it was time to call it a day.
She gathered the box of collected paper evidence and was ready to take it back to the station before eventually taking it all with her. She wanted to look through as much as possible. She thought she had all the physical evidence this house was going to give up.