Pathological

by Henry Cordes

  But for the Hunter, Waite and Brumback families, that was not coming anytime soon, if ever.

  “That’ll never happen,” Brad Waite said. “When you have someone taken from you in such a vicious, inhumane manner . ... It will never happen.”

  Waite also accepted that it would be a long time, if ever, before Garcia paid for the killings with his own life. Garcia was facing years, even decades, of appeals. Just the previous month in Nebraska, a man convicted of killing two Omaha cab drivers was finally put to death by the state more than 40 years after his crime. “We’ll get a sigh of relief upon his death,” Waite said. “The sooner the better.”

  As Claire Hunter walked from the courthouse after the sentencing, sons Rob and Jeff by her side, she reflected thoughtfully on Tom and his happy, abbreviated life. He would have been 22 by that day, graduated from college, perhaps following in his parents’ footsteps and enrolling that coming fall in medical school.

  “It’s hard to picture what he would be like,” she said with a grin. “He should be remembered as a talented, playful boy. He was a joy in everybody’s life. And he didn’t deserve what happened to him by any means.”

  It was typical Claire. Even in the wake of the horrible tragedy, she and her husband had always focused on their happy memories of Tom. It was why even after the boy was murdered right there in their dining room, they continued to live in their lovely Dundee home. To them, it wasn’t the place where Tom died. It was the place where their family had made their life and created so many joyous memories together.

  Still, the loss of her son would always be keenly felt. Earlier on the day the sentence was handed down, Claire Hunter had told the judge of the impact of Garcia’s ruthlessness on her family’s life. She compared it to throwing a stone in a pond, ripple upon ripple arcing and spreading and touching everything in their path.

  Indeed, the curious case of Anthony Garcia would long linger for all who lived through it. That would include the detectives who dedicated years of their lives to solving the crimes.

  * * *

  When detective Scott Warner appeared in court to hear the verdict against Garcia, he was struck by how much Tom Hunter’s brothers had aged. “It was a reality check to see how much time had passed,” Warner later recalled.

  By then, Warner was no longer in the Omaha police homicide unit. He’d been promoted to sergeant and become a supervisor in the unit that worked with social service agencies in Omaha to protect children from neglect and abuse. Warner remained proud of the role he played in putting Garcia away.

  “But that verdict was not going to change the fact Thomas was not allowed to grow up and become what he was supposed to, or that Shirlee’s life was cut short, or that Roger and Mary were robbed of the chance to move on to a new chapter in their life,” he lamented. “And for absolutely no reason whatsoever.”

  * * *

  Even months after the trial passed, Nick Herfordt still fumed about Motta’s efforts to impugn his integrity. He said he considered Garcia’s attorney to be a worse human being than Garcia himself. At least we know Garcia was mentally deranged, Herfordt said. What was Motta’s excuse? “He tried to say I was manipulating data,” Herfordt said, “so he could get someone off who killed four people, including a child.”

  Herfordt could not have foreseen back then just how profoundly Garcia would impact his own career. For the Omaha police department, the Garcia investigation had been a game-changer, revealing just how critical digital forensics could be in gathering evidence and obtaining convictions. Mine the memory chip on that phone, and you never know where it might take you. Chief Schmaderer decided in the wake of Herfordt’s cyber sleuthing on Garcia that it was time for the department to dive deeper into digital detective work.

  Herfordt was named the full-time head of a new, standalone digital forensics squad, with two additional detectives and even bigger plans for the future. Herfordt moved out of his desk in homicide into a new lab, with still more high-tech gadgets at his disposal.

  Soon, it became rare for Omaha police to work a major case that did not in some way come through Herfordt’s unit. He was analyzing data not only from phones, but also fitness watches, vehicle GPS systems and electronic personal home assistants. In one 2017 case, Herfordt even used a murder victim’s phone to solve a case, the location stamp on a photo the victim had snapped not long before he was killed helping Herfordt determine the identity of the killer.

  “We really are just scratching the surface of what we can do,” Herfordt said as he sat in his lab, set up in a former storage room at police headquarters. True to his offbeat persona, Herfordt refused to let anyone take the “Storage” sign off the outside door. He kind of liked it.

  “I would like to have an office with a window,” he said. “But I love my job.”

  * * *

  Some might debate whether Anthony Garcia fit the definition of a true serial killer. But Ryan Davis, the Omaha police department’s resident expert on the topic, had no doubt he did.

  Well, Davis said, you start by the fact he murdered four people, and that the killings spanned five years. Garcia had a consistent motive. He planned the slayings out, utilizing a similar M.O. that evolved somewhat as he went along. He, of course, had his deadly signature, that knife to the jugular. And like many serial killers, he only stopped when he was caught.

  “He was looking for that jugular vein,” Davis said in 2017. “I think that was his way of saying, ‘I’m a good doctor. I know where that anatomy is.’ ”

  Davis spent another four years in homicide after the Garcia case, investigating dozens of other killers. But he said he would always take pride for the role he played in bringing Garcia to justice. He knew his hometown may never see another killer quite like him.

  “It was a case that haunted Omaha for a while,” Davis said. “It was a real whodunit.”

  * * *

  As Derek Mois sat being interviewed by a reporter in a detective bureau break room, another detective butted in to grab some coffee. The colleague couldn’t resist razzing Mois about all the attention he’d been receiving. Mois gave it right back.

  Before he had helped crack the Garcia case, Mois was already inarguably one of Omaha’s top homicide detectives. But after Garcia’s trial and conviction, Mois became, in the words of one longtime department veteran, “a rock star.” He, Herfordt, Davis and Warner shared Omaha’s officer of the year award. Mois was prominently featured when NBC’s “Dateline” and CBS’s “48 Hours” aired news documentaries on the Garcia case.

  Still, Mois was having none of the talk of his new celebrity. He was quick to point out he just happened to be the detective who first set foot in the Hunter home. The detective who by chance was on call when the Brumbacks were killed. And the one who for whatever reason was handed Garcia’s binder. True to how he saw the world, Mois said it had not been fate. It had not been divine intervention. It was simple dumb luck.

  “If any other guy in this unit had gotten the Garcia book, you’d be talking to them right now,” he said. “Honestly, I didn’t do anything that anybody in this unit wouldn’t have done. I just got the right guy.”

  As much as Mois left his mark on the Garcia case, Mois would see over ensuing years it also left a mark on him — one that was as indelible as the sleeves of tattoos down his arms.

  Years later, he could be doing almost anything when something, a sound, or a smell, would trigger it. A vivid image of Tom would flash into his mind’s eye. “This is one of those that has always come back to me,” he said in 2018. “I’ve always kind of felt I can’t let that one go.”

  But in those moments, Mois would try not to think about the Tom he first saw when he entered the Hunter home that beautiful, awful day in 2008. He never wanted to dwell on the boy’s final moments.

  Mois chose to freeze time that day. To forever think of Tom in the simple moments before evil came calling: A brigh
t, sweet and innocent 11-year-old boy, happily playing his video game into all perpetuity.

  Photos

  Tom Hunter. Family Photo

  Shirlee Sherman. Family Photo

  Tom Hunter exits bus the day of his murder. Evidence Photo

  The scene detectives encountered when they entered the Hunter home. Evidence Photo

  Omaha Police stand in front of the Hunter home in March 2008. Jeff Bundy/The World-Herald

  Omaha Detective Derek Mois.

  Matt Miller/The World-Herald

  Knife used to kill Shirlee Sherman. Evidence Photo

  Shirlee Sherman’s wounds. Evidence Photo

  Dr. Bill Hunter talks a year after his son’s murder. Kent Sievers/The World-Herald

  Omaha Detective Scott Warner.

  Matt Miller/The World-Herald

  Brumback crime scene. Evidence Photo

  Screenshot of last FaceTime conversation between Roger and Mary Brumback and their daughter. Evidence Photo

  The scene outside the Brumback home on May 14, 2013. Alyssa Schukar/The World-Herald

  Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer announces formation of a task force. Ryan Soderlin/The World-Herald

  Garcia’s 2001 termination letter, signed by both Bill Hunter and Roger Brumback. Evidence Photo

  Anthony Garcia during his pathology residency at Creighton University. Evidence Photo

  Frederick Garcia proudly wears a University of Utah medical school sweatshirt, the school from which his son, at right, graduated. Evidence Photo

  Omaha Detective Ryan Davis.

  Matt Miller/The World-Herald

  Omaha Detective Nick Herfordt.

  Matt Miller/The World-Herald

  Video captures Garcia making a purchase just outside Omaha the day of the Brumback murders. Evidence Photo

  Garcia escorted by deputies during his trial on Sept. 26, 2016. Matt Miller/The World-Herald

  Witness Cecilia Hoffmann enters the courtroom on Oct. 13, 2016. Chris Machian/The World-Herald

  Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine, left, and prosecutor Brenda Beadle, after Garcia is found guilty on Oct. 26, 2016. Megan Farmer/The World-Herald

  Garcia appears unresponsive during his sentencing hearing on Sept. 14, 2018. Kent Sievers/The World-Herald

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  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer had just announced the arrest of Dr. Anthony Garcia in the biggest criminal case to rock Omaha in decades. As a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald who had been on the story since the day Tom and Shirlee died, I followed Schmaderer back to his office right after the press conference. I wanted to pump the chief for more information that would be exclusive for our readers.

  But I also posed another question that day in the chief’s office: When the case wraps up, would he make his investigators available for in-depth interviews? At that moment, I didn’t even know who those detectives were. But I had a sense that the story of how they had tracked a serial killer and unraveled the case would be a fascinating one.

  Little did we know that it would take three years before Garcia would even go to trial, which needed to happen before we could get time with Schmaderer’s detectives. Or that it would take another two years before Garcia was sentenced. But in the end, once I was able to sit down and meet the free-spirited Derek Mois, the quirky Nick Herfordt, and the dedicated Ryan Davis and Scott Warner, the story far exceeded any expectations. Their dogged detective work proved truly amazing.

  Any acknowledgements in this book must start with those detectives who freely gave hours of their time to walk me through their work, in the process opening up emotionally on what the case meant to them. They are great representatives of the proud force they represent — thoughtful, truly vested and caring individuals. All of Omaha has been lucky to have them on the job.

  We also must thank Chief Schmaderer for providing that access, not something every chief would do. And to thank the chief and command officers Mary Newman, Stefanie Fidone and Ken Kanger for offering their own insights into the Garcia case. Special thanks to Lt. Darci Tierney, the department’s longtime PIO, for advocating for this project and for her everyday professionalism in working with Omaha’s news media. Don Kleine and Brenda Beadle from the Douglas County Attorney’s Office also shared with Todd Cooper the back story of all the legal maneuverings behind the case.

  We owe much thanks to the Hunter and Waite families. I have been inspired from the beginning by their strength and perseverance. I in particular spent many hours with Bill and Claire Hunter. The Brumback family from the moment I wrote Roger and Mary’s obituaries expressed a desire for privacy, which we always respected. But one of the things I loved most about this book was the ability to detail the personal stories of Tom, Shirlee, Roger and Mary — to show just what is lost when society breaks down and people kill.

  In addition to those interviews, this narrative drew heavily from trial testimony, police reports, the previous work of World-Herald colleagues and that of other news media, including the 2017 documentaries by “Dateline” and “48 Hours.” Special thanks to Judge Gary Randall, court reporter Sonya Kennedy and Kleine’s staff for digging out evidence files upon request.

  On a more personal note, I want to thank my family and my bosses at the Omaha World-Herald, including former publisher Terry Kroeger, former editors Mike Reilly and Dan Sullivan and current editors Melissa Matczak, Deb Shanahan and Kristine Gerber. And it was a privilege to work on this project with longtime colleague Todd, truly one of the nation’s best courthouse journalists and a gifted storyteller.

  We should never forget this entire project was grounded in the day-to-day work of local reporters. Books like this, and the opportunity to write them, are great. But I hope we never fail to appreciate the vital role journalists play in keeping the public informed, holding institutions accountable, documenting daily life and telling our community’s stories. It is that every-day work that I take tremendous pride in.

  Henry Cordes

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  CHAPTER ONE

  TURNABOUT

  Green Bay’s television stations led off their newscasts with a chilling mystery on Thursday night, November 3, 2005. A fiercely independent, happy-go-lucky young woman from the heart of dairy country was gone. No one had seen or heard from her during the past four days. Television anchors painted a grim outlook as photos of Teresa Halbach flashed across the screen. Viewers were left uneasy and fearful of a worst-case scenario. Surely someone watching the distressing news would remember encountering Teresa over the past few days. At least, that’s what the small-town Calumet County Sheriff’s Office in Chilton, Wisconsin hoped.

  But it was not Teresa’s face displayed on the television screen that drew a red flag with one of the Manitowoc County residents. It was the image of her missing sports utility vehicle, a Toyota RAV 4.

  During that time frame, Kevin Rahmlow lived around Mishicot, a small but proud Wisconsin town of 1,400, people of German, Swiss, and Bohemian heritage. Back in the day, Mishicot had six hotels, three general stores, a movie theater, a grist mill, and a brewery. By 2005, the community’s three original churches still stood the test of time but Mishicot looked different. The town’s gas station, owned by Cenex, was one of the local hangouts. People came there for
fuel, a cup of coffee, and to buy their cigarettes. The popular business was at the corner of State Highway 147 and State Street.

  Kevin Rahmlow vividly remembers when he pulled into the Cenex. It was Friday, November 4. Inside the convenience store, the missing person’s poster caught his eye. Teresa Marie Halbach, the flier noted, was 5-foot-6, 135 pounds. Brown eyes and light brown hair.

  “I remember that the poster had a picture of Teresa Halbach and written descriptions of Teresa Halbach and the car she was driving,” Rahmlow said.

  As it turned out, Cenex was one of many small-town businesses, bars, and cafes where Teresa’s concerned friends and family slapped up posters. They were desperate for answers, hoping somebody, anybody, remembered a sighting. And if the locals didn’t see Teresa, perhaps they saw her Toyota RAV4. It had a large Lemieux Toyota sign on the back of her vehicle where the spare tire hung.

  When Rahmlow saw the poster, he remembered something.

  “On November 3 and 4, 2005, I was in Mishicot. I saw Teresa Halbach’s vehicle by the East Twin River dam in Mishicot at the turnabout by the bridge as I drove west of Highway 147. I recognized that the written description of the vehicle on the poster matched the car I saw at the turnaround by the dam.”

  That Friday afternoon, Rahmlow happened to spot a man in a brown uniform. The man was sporting a badge. “While I was in the Cenex station, a Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department officer came into the station. I immediately told the officer that I had seen a car that matched the description of the car on Teresa Halbach’s missing person poster at the turnaround by the dam.”