Michael Benson's True Crime Bundle

by Michael Benson

  “Did you talk to Sarah about fighting?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Was there conversation in the car about fighting?”

  “Not from me and Sarah.”

  “Were there weapons in the vehicle?”

  “There were no weapons anywhere in that car,” Jilica said confidently.

  “Did you even know why you were going to Javier’s house?”

  “No. I kind of put two and two together because Sarah was mad, but I didn’t.”

  Hanewicz asked if Sarah was driving with the headlights on or off. With a slight smile, Jilica said that she hoped they were on.

  Were the headlights on when the van pulled up in front of Javier’s house? Jilica thought about that. She’d seen Rachel and the two boys pretty clearly, so it was possible that the headlights were still on.

  “When you talked to a police officer right after this happened, was it a one-on-one conversation between you and the police officer?”

  “No, ma’am, it was just everyone standing around.”

  She spoke with a number of police officers, in fact.

  Hanewicz was done.

  Judge Bulone told Jilica that she could leave, but that she was on standby. This meant that if she was called back, she had to come in.

  Court recessed for lunch.

  After the lunch break, the state called a very pregnant Janet Camacho to the witness stand. Janet had wavy black hair combed back off her forehead that fell to the middle of her back. She wore a pretty, off-the-shoulder aquamarine dress.

  Janet told ASA Wesley Dicus that she was twenty-nine years old. She had known Sarah Ludemann through her brother Joshua. She considered herself close to Sarah and had allowed Sarah to babysit her kids.

  She said Sarah and Joshua were “inseparable.” They had dated on and off, true; but “romantic” separations didn’t physically separate them. “Even when they weren’t together, they were together,” Janet said.

  Janet testified that she knew Rachel also. She’d met her through her brother Jay.

  Wesley Dicus asked if Rachel and Sarah got along.

  “No,” Janet replied emphatically.

  “Do you know Ashley Lovelady?”

  “Yes, that’s Sarah’s best friend.”

  On the day before the stabbing, Janet got home at four or five in the afternoon. She didn’t remember exactly. It might have been later. She had four children, and they were home that night. Also over at the house were Sarah, Joshua, Jay, and Jilica. Janet knew Jilica because she was family.

  The witness explained that at one point that evening she was in a car with her friend Jeremy and they were talking. Sarah and Joshua were playing video games with Janet’s kids. They were also sending out texts to persons unknown while talking to each other.

  Two things were occurring simultaneously. Rachel was cruising Janet’s street, looking for trouble, and Sarah’s parents wanted her home because it was a school night.

  Dicus asked Sarah how she knew Rachel was on the street, and Janet said she’d seen her. “I saw a car parked near a stop sign. I asked Jeremy to turn on his headlights.”

  “Was the car just stopped at the stop sign, or was it actually parked there?” the prosecutor inquired.

  “It was stopped.”

  “The headlights were not on?”

  “Right. Jeremy flashed his lights and I saw Rachel.” The headlights allowed her a clear view into the vehicle. Janet identified the person in the parked car as the defendant.

  Dicus asked if she did anything. Janet said yes, she had Jeremy flash his headlights. Rachel flashed back. Janet got out and started walking toward Rachel’s car. Rachel left.

  Later that night, Janet and Jilica decided to go to McDonald’s—which wasn’t unusual. They asked Sarah to drive them. Dicus asked why, and the witness replied, “She was the McDonald’s queen. We always go to McDonald’s. I knew she wouldn’t mind taking us.” Janet didn’t recall the exact time—but it was late.

  Once Sarah started driving, she stopped texting, but there was a phone call. Janet didn’t know who called whom, but Sarah had Rachel on the speakerphone in the car. Janet recognized Rachel’s angry voice, cussing, yelling. Sarah was yelling back.

  One thing in the conversation stood out: Rachel said she was going to stab Sarah and her “Mexican boyfriend.” That pissed Sarah off. Janet sensed they weren’t going to McDonald’s anymore. Instead, the hunt was on; they were looking for Rachel.

  Rachel claimed to be at Sarah’s house, so that was the first place they checked. It didn’t take them long to get there. No sign of Rachel. Then they ran into Ashley Lovelady—the one and only person on the road that night who knew where Rachel was.

  This, of course, contradicted the testimony of both Ashley Lovelady and Jilica Smith, who said the meet-up between Sarah and Ashley occurred only seconds after they left Janet’s house. Janet recalled the order of events differently: they were headed toward Janet’s house when they ran into Ashley, and the two vehicles were pointed in opposite directions when they stopped for a brief conversation.

  Ashley said Rachel was at Javier’s house. Janet didn’t know where Javier lived, but Sarah did—and, zoom, off they went.

  Speeding?

  “A little bit,” Janet said, but not so much that she felt unsafe. Not reckless. Maybe five miles per hour faster than the speed limit. It was just a few blocks, and they were there.

  Janet was allowed to waddle down from the stand so she could testify regarding crime scene photographs, which were placed on an easel so the jury could see.

  “When you first arrived at Javier’s house, what did you see as you pulled up?”

  She saw Rachel standing to the driver’s side of the car, near the front, close to the grass. Sarah stopped the car in the middle of the street, in front and to the side of Rachel’s car. The photos were accurate.

  When Sarah stopped, Janet did not get out of the car. She looked through the windshield and saw Rachel, walking fast, crossing in front of her own car, holding a knife in her hand. Rachel headed for the driver’s side of the van. Sarah was only a step from the driver’s door when the tussle started.

  Janet didn’t remember which hand Rachel had the knife in or how she was holding it, but she did see the knife. It was a kitchen knife, black handle, silver blade. She and Jilica were still inside the van.

  And the tussle?

  “Sarah was trying to defend herself. She grabbed Rachel by the hair.” The witness waved her own hands on either side of her head to demonstrate flailing. Janet admitted that because she was on the passenger side, and the fight was on the driver’s side, “there was not much I could see.”

  The fight lasted about five seconds. It ended when Rachel “just walked away.” Then Janet got out of the van. Rachel headed toward Javier’s house.

  When they first pulled up, Janet noticed there were also two guys at the scene, standing on the grass. She didn’t recognize them. She later learned that one of them was Javier, of whom she’d heard, but she still didn’t know who the other guy was.

  When Janet got out of the van, she had no idea that Sarah had been stabbed. Her focus was on Rachel. Janet recalled saying: “We’re not Mexican. Why don’t you start with me?” Rachel just said she was done, and faced Janet. She still had the knife in her hand. Janet took off her flip-flops and held them in her hand. At first, Janet hit Rachel only to get the knife out of her hand, but Rachel held tight. Rachel kept saying she was done, so Janet turned and got back in the van. Then she heard Jilica say Sarah got stabbed.

  Janet was allowed to return to her seat on the witness stand.

  “And what did you do when you heard that?”

  “I got out of the car and went to see if it was true.”

  “What did you see?”

  Janet started and stopped speaking a couple of times as her emotions took control. Finally she managed to say, “Sarah was on the road, foaming….” She couldn’t say the rest, and gestured with her hand
to her mouth.

  ASA Dicus took a sympathetic tone. He noted that Janet had described Sarah as “family,” so seeing her in distress like that might have been heart-wrenching.

  Janet nodded that this was true.

  “What did you do when you saw Sarah in the road foaming like that?”

  “I approached Rachel again and said, ‘Are you serious? You stabbed her!’ I was yelling,” Janet said, glancing at the defense table with fresh fury.

  Rachel focused her attention on the prosecutor. She took quick glances at the witness stand, didn’t like what she saw, and quickly looked away.

  “What was the defendant’s reaction?”

  “She said she didn’t care,” Janet said, now glaring at Rachel. “She started laughing and she walked toward Javier’s house.”

  Janet was wild with fury that night. She ran up behind Rachel, grabbed her by the hair, and pulled till she fell. Rachel was still holding the knife. Janet hit her, screaming, “You stabbed her! I can’t believe you did it!” She yelled that again and again.

  “Did the defendant do anything to defend herself?”

  Janet said Rachel managed to kick her one time, kicked upward while she was lying on the ground. In retaliation Janet dragged her by the hair across Javier’s front yard, punching and scratching her.

  “What did Rachel do with the knife?”

  “She didn’t do nothing with it.”

  “Nothing? She didn’t stab at you?”

  “No, sir,” Janet said.

  Jilica finally pulled Janet off Rachel. Who could tell how long it lasted? Longer than five seconds!

  Now free of Janet’s grasp, Rachel continued toward Javier’s house with the knife still in her hand. Janet said her attention was divided at this point because of concern over Sarah’s injury. The next time she looked at Rachel, the blonde was “in front of Javier’s house, throwing something at his house.”

  Janet couldn’t see what Rachel threw. After that, Rachel sat in front of Javier’s house, no knife. Police arrived, and Janet ID’d Rachel.

  Wesley Dicus finished with a line of questioning designed to combat a claim of self-defense, reestablishing that Rachel was the only one on that street carrying a deadly weapon—or any weapon at all, for that matter—if you didn’t count flip-flops.

  “No further questions, Your Honor,” Dicus said, and sat down.

  “Mr. Hebert?” Judge Bulone said.

  “Thank you, Your Honor,” Jay Hebert said, rising. “Good afternoon, Ms. Camacho.”

  “Good afternoon.”

  Hebert asked if it was Janet’s testimony that at the time of the incident, her brother was dating Sarah. Janet said that it was not. Her testimony was that she didn’t know. Were they friends with benefits? Janet didn’t know that, either.

  Hebert drew Janet’s attention to a deposition she gave in December 2009, on the first floor of this same courthouse. Janet said she remembered giving the deposition, but she didn’t look sure. Hebert reminded her that, at that time, a court reporter was present, and she had sworn to tell the truth. She was asked at that time if Joshua was dating Sarah, and she said no.

  Did she recall saying that? Yes, she said—but she still didn’t sound convinced.

  Hebert wanted to know what everyone was smoking and drinking that night. Janet said she wasn’t smoking or drinking. She didn’t see Joshua smoke or drink, either.

  Hebert asked again if Janet’s kids were home “the whole time,” and Janet said they were. She was aware of the drama between Sarah and Rachel, that there was a “lot of commotion” going back and forth, a lot of cell phone activity, social networking. She was less aware, however, of drama between Joshua, Sarah, and Erin. She’d heard of it, but she hadn’t seen any of it.

  “You testified at some point in time that you went outside and saw Rachel Wade’s car parked in the street with its lights off. Is that correct?”

  “With the lights dimmed,” Janet corrected. “It was not totally off. There’s a button where you turn it and the little lights come on, turn it again and the big headlights come on. It was not the big lights. It was the small lights.”

  Hebert asked if Janet recognized that vehicle as belonging to Rachel Wade, and Janet said she did not. She only recognized Rachel after Jeremy turned on his high beams so she could see into the car. Hebert asked how long the car was there. Janet didn’t know. It was there when she first came out of her house. When her company came, she went outside and got in his car.

  Hebert pointed out to the witness that it was her testimony that the car at the end of the block had flashed its lights at her. Janet corrected him. Rachel flashed her lights back “after I did it,” Janet testified.

  Jilica was on the other side of the street in a car pointing in the opposite direction. Janet got out of the car and began to walk toward Rachel. Sarah was still inside the house, with Janet’s brother and her kids.

  “There was a lot of texting going on during this, wasn’t there?”

  “Yes.”

  Sarah had a curfew, eleven o’clock. Sarah had made an earlier comment about her parents wanting her home.

  Hebert asked a good question: If Sarah had to be home by eleven o’clock because that was her curfew, why, in fact, didn’t she go home? Why did she agree to give the other girls a ride to McDonald’s?

  Janet said it was because “I had asked her.”

  “Were you aware that Rachel and Sarah had talked in the past about fighting?”

  Janet thought about that for a moment and said, no, she didn’t know that. She didn’t know in advance that there was going to be a fight.

  Hebert tried again: “During the days and weeks and months leading up to the incident, Rachel and Sarah had discussed fighting each other. Wasn’t that correct?”

  This time Janet said yes, but her face was uncertain. She was shaking her head from side to side.

  “And up until that time, you had never paid much attention to that kind of talk because there hadn’t been any action taken. Isn’t that right?”

  “It was always name-calling and threats. That’s about it,” Janet agreed.

  Hebert tried to paint a picture of the inside of that minivan as it headed to get fast food.

  Was Jilica sitting behind Sarah or her? Janet didn’t remember.

  Janet added, to the defense attorney’s delight, that the minivan never did head toward McDonald’s. They had barely pulled out of Janet’s driveway when Rachel called, and Sarah put her on the speaker.

  “So the phone call during which Rachel supposedly said, ‘I’m going to stab you and your Mexican boy friend’ occurred before you ever saw Ashley Lovelady. Is that correct?” Hebert inquired.

  “Yes,” Janet said.

  “So you are in the van when a phone call comes in, allegedly from Rachel Wade’s phone, and you allegedly hear Rachel Wade’s voice.”

  Janet said that was true.

  Other than that one oft-quoted statement, did Janet remember anything else that was said during that conversation?

  Janet recalled hearing “I’m going to kick your ass,” stuff like that—but only that one comment stuck out in her mind. After the threat from Rachel, Sarah decided to go look for Rachel at her house, and they drove past Sarah’s house. Rachel wasn’t there.

  Hebert wanted to make sure the jury understood. Sarah was looking for Rachel. Janet agreed that was true.

  Even as Sarah searched, the phone call with Rachel continued. Rachel said she was at Sarah’s house, and Sarah now knew that wasn’t true.

  “‘Where you at? Where you at?’” Janet quoted Sarah as saying.

  “And yet no one in that van called the cops?” Hebert asked. Janet didn’t bother to answer.

  Hebert said, “Sarah wanted to end it that night, didn’t she? She wanted to end the drama, and she was looking for Rachel.”

  Janet started in again about going to Sarah’s house and seeing Rachel wasn’t there, so Hebert nudged her narrative forward in time: “Okay, okay
, you’ve been to Sarah’s house and now you’re back on your street and you run into Ashley Lovelady, right?”

  Right. Ashley offered without prompting that she’d seen Rachel at Javier’s house.

  Hebert, unhappy, wanted to make sure he had it straight: At no time did Janet ask Ashley where Rachel was, right? And if someone said she had, they were not telling the truth, right? They were lying, right?

  Janet begrudgingly said yes, but she looked like she wanted to smack Hebert with her flip-flops when she said it.

  “How fast was the van moving when it pulled onto Javier’s street?”

  Janet said Sarah was driving the same as when she left Janet’s house.

  Hebert wondered how familiar Janet was with the neighborhood, and the witness replied not very. Hebert asked if it was true that Janet only lived a block from Javier’s house. Janet said she didn’t know where Javier lived. Hebert decided a glance at the aerial photo might help. It didn’t. Janet wasn’t in the mood to be helpful. As Hebert put the large photo away, Janet took the opportunity to shoot Rachel another hateful stare.

  Janet testified that Sarah still had Rachel on speakerphone during the ride to Javier’s.

  Hebert asked, “Is it your testimony that Sarah and Rachel were on the phone right up until the moment the van arrived at Javier’s?”

  Janet thought about that and backed off her earlier statement. At some point the phone conversation had broken off, but she wasn’t sure when.

  “Didn’t Sarah say she wanted to kick Rachel’s ass?”

  Janet agreed that among the cussing and yelling back and forth, Sarah had threatened to kick Rachel’s ass.

  The defense attorney now spoke slowly and dramatically, an important point was being made: “And you were going to have Sarah’s back, weren’t you?”

  The question made Janet’s temper flare. She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and took a deep breath before responding: “Um, depending on which way you’re trying to say it. I was there because I knew nothing was going to happen. I didn’t think nothing was going to happen. I mean, she didn’t come to my house or in front of my house because I was there. So I figured if I was there with Sarah the whole time, nothing was going to happen.”