The Body at Midgley Bridge

by Charles Williamson

  Mike called Peter Barbour’s cell. It was answered after the first ring. The caller ID would have listed the Sheriff’s Department.

  “Peter, this is Mike Damson. Are you still in town?”

  “Yes. Hanna and I leave in the morning for Bakersfield.”

  “You were a member of the Pentecostal Flame Mission out on Old Highway 66?”

  “Yes. They were very nice to me there. It reminded me of my hometown church.”

  “Did you ever mention to anyone at the church that Ms. Riley had distributed her assets to her sons and the rest were willed to various charities and NAU.”

  “No, of course not. That would be embarrassing. I did try to get Millie to give twenty thousand to the church’s building fund, but she did some investigating and decided against it. She didn’t think Reverend Doctor McIntyre was entirely reputable, and I couldn’t convince her otherwise. He is truly touched by the Holy Spirit.”

  “Thank you Peter. Please call and let me know where you’re staying in Bakersfield and LA so I can keep you informed about the case.”

  “Sure Mike. OK and thanks. I really did care about Millie, and I hope you get her murderer.”

  Chapter 8

  When Mike got home that evening, the smell of freshly baking French bread and the saffron and seafood odor of bouillabaisse filled the kitchen. Margaret hugged him and said dinner would be ready in thirty minutes. She suggested that he watch the Phoenix newscast to see if his press conference made the news. She had timed dinner so it would be ready after the local newscast.

  About ten minutes into the newscast, a reporter who’d been at the press conference began her report. The scene showed the backdrop of downtown Flagstaff.

  “Flagstaff is grieving for Ms. Mildred Riley. Usually regarded as the wealthiest resident of this northern Arizona community, Ms. Riley was murdered yesterday near Midgley Bridge in Sedona.”

  The scene changed to a photo of Midgley Bridge and its parking lot probably taken by a drone, and then to a shot of Mike at the press conference. He was only on screen for about fifteen seconds, but it was the section of his report that asked information from anyone who drove across Midgley Bridge during the time of the shooting. On screen, he explained that law enforcement was hoping for information about any vehicles parked near the bridge at that early morning hour. Mike gave the Sheriff’s Department’s phone number and the scene cut back to the reporter.

  She continued, “Ms. Riley was shot by a sniper from half a mile away. She was chairperson of the Democratic Party of Coconino County and an active blogger about liberal causes. Several residents that I interviewed on the streets of Flagstaff thought the assassination might be related to her political activism. The Riley family financed the lawsuit that is currently fighting uranium mining near the Grand Canyon and also the lawsuit that is trying to reverse the governor’s decision to charge out-of-state tuition for DACA recipients who graduate from Arizona high schools. Ms. Riley was the heir of one of Flagstaff’s earliest ranching and merchant families and reportedly the third richest woman in Arizona. She is survived by four sons and fifteen grandchildren.”

  The scene cut back to the presenters in Phoenix who began a report on a wildfire that had destroyed three homes near Prescott Valley, Arizona. Mike was pleased that the request for information was reaching a wide audience. He channel surfed and found that ABC, NBC, and CBS Phoenix stations covered the murder and his request for more information. If FOX had covered it, he missed that segment of their newscast.

  As the national news came on, he turned off the TV and went back to the kitchen for the excellent meal Margaret had prepared. They talked about the case as they ate. Margaret was especially interested in the details of his meeting with Reverend Doctor Paul John McIntyre of the Pentecostal Flame Mission of the All-Knowing God.

  She asked, “How many people attend this church and tithes to it?”

  “I don’t know, but I’d estimate that it could only be twenty to thirty families judging by the number of seats in the chapel. Is that important?”

  “If they average an income of forty thousand, that would make its annual tithing income eighty to a hundred and twenty thousand. Although the actual total is probably less when people fail to make their regular contribution. I’d guess that he probably spends thirty or forty thousand on rent and utilities for the church. The Mercedes SUV you described would have cost at least a hundred and twenty thousand. Mike, I suspect the Reverend McIntyre is making additional money some other way.”

  “The Flagstaff Police have had reports from family members claiming that he’s defrauding elderly parishioners. He persuades them to turn over their assets to redeem themselves from their lives of sin.”

  Margaret nodded in understanding. It was a very old story. The great cathedrals of Europe had often been financed in the same way. “He’s a possible suspect because he might think ten percent of the Riley estate would be enormous, but he could not be certain her husband would actually end up with any of the money. It’s difficult to believe he’d commit a murder on the off chance of collecting a large amount from Peter Barbour. His current ministry is financing a nice lifestyle, and his revenue is probably growing regularly.”

  “I don’t have any other suspects without alibis.”

  “I understand. Millie Riley may have been a target of opportunity, and that’s really bad news. Let’s hope the press coverage provides some leads. Your FBI contact said the Park Sniper kills at least once a week.”

  The following morning, Mike was up early after having a vivid nightmare about an assassin on the rampage in Coconino County. He tried not to wake Margaret as he went to watch the small TV in the office. He channel surfed to see if the previous nights reports of the murder were repeated. They were. After a marvelous breakfast of Oeufs en Cocotte, Mike headed up to his office in Flagstaff hoping to find some tips from people who had driven past the Midgley Bridge parking lot the morning of the murder.

  When Mike reached his desk, he was relieved to find a stack of phone notices from the night shift operators. Six people who had driven up State Highway 89A past Midgley Bridge, reported that a white or light-colored van had been parked at the otherwise empty parking lot. Two of the calls had mentioned a camper van with a popup roof, a feature that could add headroom when the camper was parked. Since there is no overnight camping allowed at the Midgley Bridge parking lot, two of the callers had wondered why it was there at five thirty in the morning. While several of the other witnesses did not see the van’s top was up. No one named the model or make of the vehicle, but Mike asked Sean to find photos on the Internet of all similar popup style small vans. He planned to show the photos to the witnesses to try and determine vehicle type.

  Mike’s reaction to the news about the van was that the popup feature provided a perfect resting pace for a weapon that could be braced against the vehicle’s roof. An open plastic ventilation window in the fabric area of the popup gave a place for the rifle to rest and an unobstructed view for the sniper. In addition, the popup feature would keep the actual shooter completely out of sight to passersby and allow him to wait until no vehicles were nearby to take his shot. Camper vans all had curtains or shades to provide privacy when used for sleeping, and from the timing of the sightings, Mike could tell the shooter waited for about half an hour and left immediately after taking his fatal shot. Mike was becoming more convinced that the Park Sniper was in Arizona.

  About 10:30, Sean came back with fifteen photos of various vans modified for camping that had popup tops. They were based on vans from several large automakers, but most of them had been modified for camping by smaller companies and had many different interior styles. However, it was only the exteriors that mattered because that was all that the passersby had seen. What struck Mike from the photos was how similar the vans looked with their tops up. There were actually two types of tops, a flat one where the whole roof had been raised two to four feet, and a second type that had slanted tops in which only the forwa
rd part or rear section extended up for the full elevation creating a slanting roof. That was the type that the two witnesses had seen at the Midgley Bridge parking lot. Mike sorted out those six photos. He’d already located the two witnesses who were daily commuters to jobs in Flagstaff and had reported seeing a van parked at the appropriate time. Mike and Sean planned to go see both men with the photos.

  They decided to visit with a mechanic at Findley Toyota, Harley Arthurs, who had reported that he saw a van at Midgley Bridge on his morning commute. Mike assumed that a mechanic was most likely to remember the make and model of a vehicle he saw on a drive to work. The popup top had not been raised when Mr. Arthurs made his early morning drive by Midgley Bridge. He was the earliest driver who’d reported seeing a van at the parking lot. He’d passed that location at 5:45 and the shot was fired at 6:18 according to Tim Bernhardt.

  Knowing even the make of the vehicle would help narrow their search. Coconino County was a mecca for campers because of the extensive national forests, the national monuments, and the national parks in the area, the Grand Canyon being the most important and most visited one. It was a short fifteen-minute drive to the Toyota dealer. They went first to see the manager who was very cooperative and said he would bring Harley into a private room for their discussion.

  Harley Arthurs was a burly man with tattooed sleeves in a colorful oriental design. Mike guessed he was in his mid thirties and might be ex military. He had a firm grip when he shook their hands and commented that he’d seen Mike on the newscast and immediately knew he needed to call the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department.

  “We believe that the shot came from the Midgley Bridge parking lot. We have a witness, a former Marine, who saw the flash and heard the echoing retort before the body of Ms. Riley came tumbling down a red rock cliff. Anything you can do to narrow our search would help.”

  “I’m glad to help, captain.” He sat back in his chair for a few seconds and then leaned forward again after reviewing his memory. “I’m about forty percent certain that it was a Mercedes symbol on the front, although a Chrysler logo is also possible. It wasn’t light enough to be certain of anything except that it was a light-colored, midsized van, maybe the 144 inch Mercedes Sprinter or a similar vehicle from some other manufacturer. Of course, I know it wasn’t a Toyota.”

  Mike smiled and nodded his encouragement.

  Harley continued. “There is no Mercedes dealer in Flagstaff, so I sometimes work on their vehicles, but I spend my time looking under the hood. I’m better at engines than body styles. I especially noticed this specific van because it was pointed front out near the lot’s entrance and not in a regular parking spot for the trails. I thought someone might have been visiting the trailhead outhouse. I need to get to work by 6:30 every morning, and I occasionally see very early morning hikers who have left their vehicles at that parking lot. However, that’s mostly in the summer months when people who want to climb Wilson Mountain start before it gets too hot. I’m sure that hikers wouldn’t have parked that way in the entrance. They would have parked farther back so other vehicles could get past. I know the parking lot is checked by the Forest Service every night to prevent overnight camping or in case a hiker is lost or in trouble so I assumed the camper hadn’t been there all night.”

  “Could you tell if the van had a popup top?” Mike asked.

  “Maybe. Now that I think about it, it probably did because the top was a slightly different color, maybe a little whiter in the dim light.”

  Mike thanked Mr. Arthurs and headed for the second man on their list. He worked at Wal-Mart, a short drive from the dealership. His name was Oscar Hernandez, and he’d passed the parking lot at about 6:10 and saw the van with it popup top raised. The interview with Mr. Hernandez produced some additional information. He thought the van was silver rather than white and that the fabric sides of the popup were tan. He agreed that the van was pointed at an odd angle with the front toward the ridgeline where Ms. Riley had met her death.

  Back at the office, Mike made phone contact with all the others who’d reported seeing a van the morning of the murder. Their reports were similar, but none could give the make or model. The points of agreement were that it had a popup top and was either silver or white. That was enough for Mike to start a search of all the developed campgrounds in the area. He phoned Neil Cooper, the chief law enforcement officer of the Forest Service, and asked that his officers be on the lookout for a midsized silver or white camper van with a popup top. They would be driving remote roads away from the major campgrounds and might see a van parked in a remote area. There were hundreds of miles of Forest Service roads around Flagstaff and thousands of remote campsites where a single vehicle could be parked. Most of the Coconino National Forest allowed camping anywhere you could pull off the Forest Service roads.

  In addition, Mike also organized a team of ten deputies to search each of the permanently developed campgrounds in Coconino County. Mike met with the deputies in the Sheriff’s conference room to explain the task. He asked for the deputies, seven men and three women, to check every local campground for minivans similar to the photo of a 144-inch silver Mercedes Sprinter with a forward facing popup top. He asked them to photograph the vehicle, get the tag number, and the driver’s ID. They had no right to search the vehicles, but if they found a vehicle that matched the description, he wanted to know immediately. Mike handed out eight by tens of the photo Sean had taken from an Internet camper sales site, but he mentioned they were not certain of the actual make and model. The deputies would complete their checks before the day was over, but if the van was not parked in a regular campground, it would take luck by the Forest Service team to find it.

  Chapter 9

  Next, Mike called Adam Goldman, team leader of the Park Sniper Task Force, to give him an update. After going through an operator and two assistants, Adam Goldman finally came on the line. “Captain Damson, are you calling with news of another death?” His voice sounded impatient. His tone seemed almost resentful of the intrusion.

  Mike decided to state his new information as quickly as possible. “Fortunately, not yet. I called to let you know that we have five witnesses who saw a midsized camper van parked at Midgley Bridge’s parking lot during the time of the homicide. I can email you a photo of what it might look like, but we don’t have the exact make and model. I have ten deputies visiting all regular campgrounds in the county, and the Forest Service is also on the lookout at remote campsites.”

  “Good, that’s better than any other lead we’re working,” Goldman said. His tone was no longer impatient.

  Mike continued, “The five witnesses agree that it was the type of camper with a roof that folds up in the front to give more headroom when it’s parked. Ten minutes before the homicide, the top was down, but the witnesses who drove by closest to the shooting reported that the top was raised. This type of van modification often has a bed in the top section that can be moved up out of the way when not in use. The synthetic fabric sides all have zippered openings for ventilation. The front of the van was pointed in the direction of the ridge where Ms. Riley was shot. Although it was more than a kilometer away, the sniper would have been able to rest his weapon against the vehicle’s roof for support while lying prone and unseen within the popup top.”

  There was a long pause, so long that Mike wondered if he’d lost the connection. Finally, Goldman said, “That’s useful, Captain. I’ll have one of my team look through the other Park Sniper homicides and see if there is any other report of a camper van with that sort of top. Keep me informed. I thought Arizona was a desert where it would be difficult to hide a vehicle from an aerial search.”

  “Flagstaff is at seven thousand feet and surrounded by a ponderosa pine forest, and Coconino County is 18,600 square miles. If we get nothing from the ground search of regular campgrounds today, I can try to requisition the county’s small plane for a search tomorrow.”

  “Good. Call me if there’s another death. That seems a
lmost certain unless you really get lucky.” He hung up without another word.

  Linda Surrett had been just as abrupt when they first met. He wondered if this was an especially stressful time to be an agent because of the current political mess, but he decided that it shouldn’t have any impact on a serial killer task force.

  Mike waited for information about the search while he worked on two other cases and finished some paperwork. By 5:00, he had reports from the searchers that they’d found eleven campers with popup tops, but none met the exact description from his witnesses. None were either silver or white and had the popup that sloped up from the back of the vehicle to reach its highest point near the front. Both vehicles that were the correct colors had families with young kids. Arizona’s spring school break was over, but schools were still out in parts of inland California and other nearby states. Both families were at a campground at the Grand Canyon.

  The deputies sent their digital photos by cell phone and Mike studied them closely, but he didn’t find a good prospect to be the sniper. It seemed impossible that the sniper was traveling with his family. Two of the vans contained only a single adult male, but neither van was the correct color. One of those was at a campground in Page near Lake Powell and the other was at a campground near Walnut Canyon National Monument. The deputies would bring in the details of their search, and he would be able to review them the following morning. He was not optimistic.

  Before leaving the office, Mike called Neil Cooper of the Forest Service. Their rangers had not found any vehicles that matched the description. Before leaving for the day, Mike went to see Sheriff Taylor with an update on the case and a request for the use of the county’s airplane in the vehicle search. The sheriff agreed, but only for the use of the plane for three days. Any more expenses would need the county commissioners’ approval. The budget was tight. Mike also asked Sheriff Taylor to call the sheriffs of Yavapai, Mohave, Apache, and Navajo counties to ask that they also be on the lookout for a similar vehicle.