by Robert Scott
There was a gunshot wound in the front part of the neck, one inch above the sternal notch, which fractured the first thoracic vertebra along the left side and went out through the skin, one and a half inches below the seventh cervical vertebra. There was also a fracturing of the first and second cervical vertebrae right beneath the base of the skull.
There was no perforating or exit wound from that, but there was a flattened copper-clad lead slug within the decomposed head. This second shot severed the spinal column and at that area “would produce instantaneous death,” since it severed all neural connections from the brain to the respiratory center and the heart.
The pathologist gave the cause of death as follows: The killing shot was an open-mouth shot. The shot went in through the mouth when it was opened, struck the first and second cervical and was deflected into the cranial vault. The victim died from shock and hemorrhage.
Victim Number Two was also that of a badly decomposed and partially mummified female. In fact, it was in further mummification than Victim Number One. The principal injuries were to the face and head. In the upper jaw the second incisor was partially fractured and the left canine was almost completely broken. The first premolar had a fracture along the inner margin; and inside the mouth the greater portion of the hyoid bone had been fractured as well.
Irregular defects were noted in the scalp area. One was over the occipital protuberance and another was in the midvertex, which is directly on the top of the head. The third was at the midtemple area. The right side of the front portion of the skull had been crushed; the entire area of fracturing was five inches in diameter. It was fairly uniformly depressed and disc shaped.
Cause of death was shock and hemorrhage due to blunt-force trauma, and it was noted that wounds such as these “required” a “tremendous amount” of force. The pathologist postulated that because of the asymmetrical fracture of the large wound, a rock might have been used on the victim’s head while it was on the ground. This was backed up by a rock taken into evidence that had blood on it. Also, the injuries to the hyoid bone indicated manual strangulation, probably before the deathblow by the rock.
Frances Evans, a criminalist with the California Department of Justice (DOJ) lab in Redding, later examined the rocks seized from the murder scene. The human blood and human hair were matched to Victim Number Two.
By now, the Chico Enterprise Record was looking into all of this, too, especially as it concerned Linda Slavik. It reported that dental charts and fingerprints on one body found at the Igo dump matched those of Slavik. Her badly decomposed body and that of another victim, possibly also a woman, were discovered along a rural road by a motorcyclist, the newspaper reported.
The article went on to state that Shasta County Sheriff ’s Office investigators were now in Chico, talking to anyone who might have seen Linda before she disappeared. Captain Jim Carter did not say much about this, but he did bring up the fact that investigators were looking into whether the two dead women at the Igo dump were somehow related to the unsolved murders of Annette Edwards and Annette Selix.
As far as who the second person might be, whose body was found next to that of Linda Slavik, all that investigators had to go on was that the person had worn a pair of red-and-white pin-striped jeans. The body was very badly decomposed, which was not unexpected because of the extreme heat during the last few weeks.
The Oroville Mercury Register was also interested. It reported that jewelry and eyeglasses found on one dead body linked that person to being Linda Slavik. These items had been positively identified by Linda’s husband. In these days before DNA testing, tissue from both bodies had been taken to try and determine approximate time of death. This, of course, did not lend itself to trying to figure out who the second individual was, or why she was lying near the body of Linda Slavik. All that could be determined was that the body appeared to be that of a female, between the ages of fifteen and twenty.
By now, the place where Linda Slavik had worked was offering a reward for the arrest of whoever had murdered her. The reward was being offered through the Oroville Secret Witness program. It was particularly hoped that someone who had been at Madison Bear Garden on the night of her disappearance would now come forward with vital information.
And by the next day, reporters learned that one of the dead bodies discovered near Igo was indeed that of Linda Slavik. All the police would say at that point was that she had died from a gunshot wound to the head, and the other victim had died “from a blow to the head.” About the second body, Jim Carter said, “We don’t have much to go on. We’re checking with other agencies about missing females between the ages of fifteen and twenty.”
A police spokesperson added, “Shasta County sheriff’s detectives are working diligently on this case and have several suspects in mind.” (Interestingly, not one of these suspects was Darrell Rich.) “They also have leads in regards to several witnesses.” By this point there was more than one person who might have seen Linda Slavik leaving Madison Bear Garden with a man, and they had a rough description of him.
As far as where the bodies were found, Carter said, “There were no signs of struggle there, but there were signs that the murders took place there. There’s no way of knowing at this point if either person had been sexually molested.”
Various agencies had been working on the rapes and murders in the region since the Brenda Simmons rape on June 13. After the brutal rape and murder of Annette Selix, the agencies were all now in high gear.
One of the SCSO detectives was Francis Brewer, who generally went by the name “Randy” Brewer. By August 22, Detective Brewer alone had interviewed ten to fifteen people about the Annette Selix case. Other detectives had interviewed fifteen to twenty people about Selix, and ten polygraph tests had been given to various individuals.
On August 22, Detective Brewer visited Darrell Rich at his residence. Darrell was cleaning up a partially disassembled motorcycle. Asked about this, Darrell said it had been dirty and greasy when he bought it. He said he was cleaning it up for that reason. Darrell said he planned to add chrome accessories to increase its value.
Detective Brewer was just there to talk to Darrell because he’d learned that Darrell worked at Superior Molding, the same place where Annette Selix’s mother worked. Detective Brewer wanted to find out if Darrell had any new information about Annette Selix. Brewer was telling the truth when he said that Darrell was not a suspect in that case or any other case. In fact, detectives were talking to anyone and everyone who had known Annette Selix.
Darrell said he’d known Sharon Selix for seven or eight years. He knew her quite well, in fact. He was also acquainted with David Tidwell and David’s brothers. Darrell said that he’d been over to Sharon Selix’s house several times and was acquainted with her daughter Annette.
Detective Brewer asked about Darrell’s activities on August 13. Darrell first said he thought he’d been out of town looking for a motorcycle in Chico, Redwood City, Sacramento and other places. Then he changed his mind and thought he had been in Cottonwood that day and evening.
Detective Brewer asked if Darrell would be willing to take a polygraph test about this. He said that he would. The test was set for 4:00 P.M. on August 23. Not long after Darrell agreed to the polygraph test, he ran into Robert Severe at the Sports & Spirits liquor store in Cottonwood.
Robert said to Darrell, “It must have been pretty weird finding those bodies.”
Darrell replied, “Yeah, they smelled pretty bad. And now they want me and anyone that was with me who found them to take a lie detector test.”
Actually, that wasn’t true. Apparently, Carl Frank did not have a request to take a polygraph test. And Darrell assumed at the time he would be going in to take a polygraph test only about Annette Selix.
The questions to Darrell were originally just going to be about Annette Selix, but Detective Brewer knew that Darrell was the first person to report about finding a body at the Igo dump. It was decided to change the que
stions to be about that matter as well.
Darrell did show up at four o’clock on August 23 and agreed once again to take the polygraph, administered by Tom Hodges. The test lasted for an hour and forty-five minutes. (Another report said it only lasted fifteen minutes, although the setup and debriefing lasted much longer than that.) Once it was over and the results looked at by Detective Brewer, he was stunned. Outside of Darrell’s presence, the examiner told Brewer that he believed Darrell was lying about having not killed a woman at the Igo dump.
Brewer went back in and told Darrell that he had failed the test in all areas about the two bodies found at the Igo dump. Darrell was as absolutely stunned as Brewer had been. He thought he’d done a good job. Darrell told Brewer that he was very impressed with the examiner and couldn’t explain why he failed the test. Brewer later wrote in a report that Darrell had been very relaxed and conversational before the test. Afterward, however, he would not make eye contact: He would delay an unusually long time between his answers. He got very pensive, looked at the floor a lot, and became noticeably nervous.
Detective Brewer now told Darrell that he thought it was strange that he would take a nice motorcycle out to the dirty, dusty Igo dump to ride it like a dirt bike. Darrell replied that his first intention was to go riding with Carl Frank, and he didn’t intend to go out to the Igo dump. Rather, he had planned just to cut across at that location to Clear Creek Road. It was when he was cutting across the dump area that he said he spotted the body.
Detective Brewer was not satisfied with that answer and told Darrell so. What happened next would cause a lot of problems later. On two occasions Darrell said he wanted to leave. Brewer asked that Darrell stay and they talk some more. Since Darrell was not under arrest, he had the right to leave at any time.
Darrell finally stood up and once again said he wanted to leave. Then he added, “I’ve got something to tell you, but not now.” He asked Brewer for his business card and home phone number. Darrell also may have said something about an attorney. At least he later claimed he did. This would cause further problems. Darrell left the office at around 7:30 P.M.
Chapter 12
Looking for an Alibi
A short time after he left the office where he’d been polygraphed, Darrell went to see his friend Gale Croxell and Croxell’s girlfriend, Shelly Hartshorn. They were both at the Cottonwood softball field when Darrell showed up. Gale recalled later, “Darrell was nervous, edgy, flittering around and talking a lot. He said that he’d taken a polygraph test about finding bodies at the Igo dump and had not done too well.” In fact, he added, “About the only thing I got right was my name.”
Darrell told about riding his motorcycle to the Igo dump, and Croxell wanted to know why he rode it there and not a dirt bike. Darrell had a strange answer: “I wanted to know if they were still there,” meaning the bodies.
At that point Darrell invited Gale and Shelly to come over to his house because he’d made some improvements there. Once they got there, Gale was stunned by what he saw. Gale recalled later, “Darrell was always a neat freak when I lived there. Everything would be in order and very clean. Now it was very messy and unkempt. That wasn’t like him at all.”
While they were there, Darrell started talking once again about flunking the polygraph test. Shelly recalled, “He said he had gone to the dump looking for some pot he had, and that was what he’d tell the police.”
Gale was very dubious about Darrell having ridden his motorcycle at the dirty Igo dump. Gale even said later, “Darrell just didn’t take his bike on dirt, he kept it very neat and clean.”
Finally Gale asked Darrell if he’d done the murders. Darrell unexpectedly replied, “I did.” Then he lied and added, “I did it for seven thousand dollars and the Hells Angels paid me. She [Linda Slavik] had snitched on some guys in their group about something to do with drugs and they had gotten put in jail and they wanted her snuffed. So they said they would pay me seven thousand dollars to do it. I did it to kind of be a hero.
“I met the girl at a bar in Chico, the Madison Bear Garden. I’d been following her for a couple of days. I danced with her and asked her if she wanted to go outside and smoke a joint, just to get her outside. After I got her outside, I took her in my car to Cottonwood.”
Gale interrupted Darrell and asked how he’d gotten her to stay on his bike if she was being kidnapped. Darrell said that she wasn’t on his bike. He’d driven his Toyota Celica there and used that. To keep her compliant, Darrell said, “I punched her out. I also held her head on the floorboard with one foot.”
Asked how he had killed her, Darrell said, “I shot her in the neck the first time. Shot her twice. She was lying on the ground on a Howard Johnson’s towel [author’s note: actually a Motel 6 towel] and she had her hands in the air, saying, ‘Don’t do it! Don’t do it!’ ” Darrell mimicked her voice in a higher octave than the one he generally spoke in. “But I just shot her with a twenty-two pistol,” he stated in his normal tone. “Later I threw the pistol in the river so the cops wouldn’t find it.”
Gale wanted to know about the second body that had been found at the Igo dump. Darrell only replied, “She had been in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
Gale recalled later, “He was really nervous when he said all of this. He cried some of the time. Even though he had a bottle of whiskey with him, he didn’t seem to be drunk.”
Shelly recalled Darrell in a slightly different light. She didn’t think he was shook-up about killing. In fact, she remembered him saying, “Once you’ve killed, you can always kill again. It just doesn’t bother me.” And she thought he had used a .22 rifle to do the killing, not a pistol, and said that the rifle was still at his mother’s house.
When Darrell left, Gale and Shelly were very shaken by what they’d just heard. They discussed what they should do; they decided to call the police. It was actually Shelly who phoned the Shasta County Sheriff ’s Office.
Meanwhile, Darrell wasn’t through meeting with friends and telling them a story. Around 9:00 P.M., he met Tony Baldwin and Robert Severe at the Sports & Spirits liquor store. Robert was in a phone booth talking to his girlfriend, and Darrell rode up to him on his motorcycle and said, “Hey, you remember about that lie detector test I told you about? Well, I missed about eight out often questions they asked. I’ve got until about seven o’clock tomorrow to come up with an alibi or they’re going to come and pick me up. I’ll tell you the truth, I can’t remember where I was that night.”
Robert got the immediate impression that Darrell wanted him to lie to the police. Robert said to Darrell, “Why don’t you ask the girl you’re going out with about it.” It’s not apparent if he meant Darlene or Lori Lewis.
Darrell answered, “I can’t ask her, because I wasn’t with her. The cops would know I was lying about that.”
While Darrell had talked to Robert at the phone booth, Tony Baldwin had been sitting in Robert’s car, listening to a tape. When he saw a young woman he knew come out of the liquor store, he got out of the car to talk to her. When the girl left, Tony was heading back to the car, but he heard the word “murder” in the conversation going on between Robert and Darrell. Tony went over to see what was going on.
Tony arrived in time to hear Darrell say that he’d been over on the coast on a motorcycle trip and had gotten fairly drunk and needed an alibi as to where he’d been. Just like Robert, Tony thought that Darrell did not act drunk, even though he said he’d consumed a bottle and a half of whiskey.
Then Darrell dejectedly said he was the only one to flunk the lie detector test. He lifted up his jacket and showed Robert and Tony a pistol that he had tucked into his belt. After that, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a handful of bullets.
Darrell declared, “The cops have been following me. If they try to take me . . . Well, they aren’t going to take me alive! I’ll shoot it out with them.” He showed them a bottle of Yukon Jack, which was half full. He said he’d already drunk one full bottle of
whiskey. Nonetheless, Robert later said that he didn’t think that Darrell was anywhere near being drunk. Robert recalled, “He was able to maintain on a motorcycle and talk and walk naturally.”
Robert excused himself and said he had to leave. Before he did, Darrell spoke up and said, “Hey, I’ll level with you guys. I snuffed her [Linda Slavik] for seven thousand dollars.” And then Darrell rode off on his motorcycle.
Both Robert and Tony were shocked by this conversation. They drove to Tony Baldwin’s parents’ home. After discussing with Tony’s father what they’d just heard, they called the police department.
At around 10:30 P.M., Darrell went by Superior Molding and spoke with two men who were working there on the second shift. These were coworkers of Darrell’s. One was named Kenneth Simmons, and the other was called Randy. Darrell told the men, “Well, this is the last time I’ll see you guys for a while. I guess I’ll see what the inside of San Quentin looks like. I just flunked a polygraph test.”
Randy asked, “How did you do that?”
“They asked me how the women died at the Igo dump and [I said] I didn’t know. And the needle went way up.”
Kenneth said that he’d read somewhere in a newspaper that the woman had been shot. Darrell responded, “That’s what I tried telling the police, but they said that information hadn’t been in the papers.”
Then Darrell lied and declared, “They said if I didn’t know any more than that, they’d have to let me go. But I said I’d been dancing with one of the women at a bar in Chico the night she disappeared. So they asked me if I left the bar with her. I told them I left with another broad. I was drunk that night and I didn’t know who she was or where she lived.”