Murder at the President's House

by J. R. Johnson

  Royster’s position as White House Counsel generally demanded that he work from between 7:30-8:30 a.m. in the morning until 9:30 p.m.or later, within six of seven days per week The White House is an institution that never sleeps in direct comparison to New York City which is the city that never sleep. .During his first few months in Washington, Royster actively involved himself in most of the important pressing matters within the White House Counsel’s office. At any given time there is at minimum thirty-one members (31) of staff working seemingly day and night in the White House.

  He took no vacation or weekends off until the weekend prior to his death. The demands of the White Counsel’s office were severe, requiring him to be accomplishing a wide range of tasks in a short period of time. Royster had become a master juggler with his time and ultimate multi-tasker as well.

  In the last six or eight weeks of his life those close to Royster observed that he appeared exhausted much of the time, his face appeared to be drawn and grey. He confide to some that he was having problems sleeping, and on certain morning commented that he had not slept at all.

  Royster had a prescription for sleeping pills but did not want to take them for fear of becoming addicted. Although no one noticed a loss of appetite, it was obvious to many that he had lost weight. In last few weeks of his life Royster seemed uncharacteristically fretful, and more quiet and subdued than usual. Family members noted that he had lost his sense of humor and appeared distracted.

  Rebecca Royster described him as constantly worried and under stress. She believed that the White House Office of Communications matter was the single greatest cause of Royster’s stress and anxiety in the weeks leading up to his death.

  Linda Jones, Royster’s secretary observed that spent much of the day on June 19, going through paperwork on his desk and in his desk drawers, dictating letters and taking care of unfinished business. She described Royster’s day as one of “straightening and cleaning.” Jones recalled that he spent much of the day with his office door closed.

  Jones approximately six hours before his death, she recalls that at one point Royster came out of his office and placed three envelopes in the out-box on her desk for mailing out on that day. The envelopes had already been addressed and sealed by Royster,which was unusual thing for him. She looked at the envelopes to make sure they has postage and recalls that one was addressed to Royster’s mother in Nashville, Tennessee, and another was addressed to an insurance company. She could not recall how the third envelope was addressed to. Deborah Hughes was with their mother when she received correspondence from Royster a day or two after his death. The letter contained oil leases which had been left to Royster’s mother after his father died in 1990. Royster wrote a very brief typewritten cover letter providing instructions to his mother regarding the oil leases.

  Rebecca Royster believes that the correspondence sent to the insurance company and the third envelope mailed by Royster were bill payments that she had asked him to make.

  Linda Jones described Royster often as a “Southern Gentleman” with extremely genteel manners. He was especially courtly towards women. He seemingly had a healthy relationship with his mother. Despite this, his letter to his mother, sent only hours before he was murdered, does not contain a single expression. This is no hint whatsoever this would be his last communication with his mother.

  On June 16, four days before his death, Royster showed up at the White House doctor’s office, complaining that his heart was “pounding.”

  William Bell stopped by Royster’s office on June 19, and Royster told him that the weekend had been good for him and that he and Rebecca were planning to go away the following weekend. Rebecca Royster recalls she and Royster had spoken about going away the following weekend but that no plans had been made as of later.

  He told Bell, a close friend who at the time was serving as the Associate Attorney General, that no laws or rules of law had been broken but that in Washington you are assumed to have done something wrong even if you have not. He told Bell that he thought that the matter would never end. He became increasingly obsessed with the White House Office of Communications matter in the weeks before his death. Royster told Kennedy in connection with the Communications Office matter.

  He told his sister Deborah Hughes, as well as his wife Rebecca, and his friend, Kennedy, that he was considering resigning from his position his position. Both Deborah Hughes and Rebecca Royster believed that personal humiliation, he would have felt had he returned to Tennessee under those circumstances prevented him from resigning.

  Royster recommend that outside counsel be hired to represent the White House Counsel office in connection with the issues relating to the Communications Office firings. He was deeply disturbed by the Communications Office issues.

  Royster had been Ashley's personal lawyer in Memphis, and he worried that he faced a serious conflict of interest. Royster began shopping around for his own lawyer, and frantically phoned Jack Peyton, an attorney located in Denver, Colorado , about the likelihood of Congressional hearing into the White House Office of Communications firings. Peyton who helped the Reid’s fend off questions about Clearwater during the presidential campaign.

  Royster’s concerns that his role in the Communications Office matter might affect his objectivity in advising the Reid’s. Peyton advise Royster, after reviewing the White House report, that he saw no conflict of interest.

  On the morning of June 21, Peyton called the White House to confirm plans for a meeting with Royster the next day. But it was too late. Rather than return the call Royster left his office shortly for lunch and continued his busy work in his office several hours later.

  During the particularly busy periods of late May and June, however, Royster was virtually involved.

  Royster’s friends and associates who knew him well, uniformly described him as man of honesty and integrity, respected for his intelligence and solid judgment. His professional reputation was of paramount importance to him, particularly among his colleagues in Tennessee.

  Royster was characterized as quiet, reserved, and one who rarely showed anger or any emotion. Although difficult to get close to, he could be relied upon as a trusted and loyal confidante. Colleagues within the White House described him as a calming influence during stressful periods.

  Royster’s family and friends said that Royster did not experience any extended periods of depression prior to the spring of 1993. Although he experienced some brief episodes of depression and anxiety, these appeared to be resolved with medical treatment.

  From time to time Royster experienced what his wife Rebecca described as anxiety or panic attacks, marked by heavy sweating and a strained voice. In late 1992, he told his primary physician in Memphis, Dr Harry Burns, that he was feeling depressed and anxious. At least two of Royster’s closest relatives have suffered from periods of depression.

  Royster remained at the firm until January 1993, when he moved to Washington, D.C. to assume the position as White House Counsel. At the same time, Kennedy joined the White House Counsel’s office and Bell became Associate Attorney General.

  One of the small cadre of disciples who followed the Reid’s from Tennessee to Washington, D.C in 1992. Royster settled in as White House Counsel, a powerful position in which he interfaced with Ashley Reid daily. He wasn't use to the intensity of the work pace and the relentlessness of the political foes of the new administration.

  Royster nicknamed “Stretch” for his tall skinny , lanky frame, has mastered the legal environs in Memphis as a partner in the Hart Law Firm. He had been very happy there, with time leftover to spend with his family and serve local charitable causes. But the Capital beltway is long way home from the country roads and tree lined streets of Tennessee.

  Then he came from the little known and even less understood southern locale as a handpicked member of Reid’s governing team seems to have spurred the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board to write four editorials in May and June. These editorials questi
oning Royster’s adherence to the rule of law, ethics and even his identity, as the White House Office of Communications had refused to release a photo of the new White House Counsel.

  Richard Royster was a Tennessee lawyer which would invoked the visions of Mayberry RFD and apple pies cooling in the window sill. An imputation of a happy overstuffed, slow paced life in the south and satisfactory lived but long to be forgotten in time. An era frozen in time and memory.

  But the phrase “Tennessee Lawyer” took a sharp turn to the dark side during the 1990s, and Royster was dragged effortlessly along with it.

  A private burial was to be held at the Royster family crypt at the Heavenly Acres Cemetery in Nashville. Royster’s father Joseph was also interred there after he died of cancer three years ago.

  Ashley Reid was deeply saddened by the untimely death of Richard Royster, she became depressed after the funeral was over, refusing even to get out of bed to carry out her official duties as First Lady for several days. She had her Chief of Staff to cancel her appointments due to the mourning period for Dick Royster.

  TIMELINE

  14 Feb 1946 Dick Royster born, Nashville, TN

  1962 Graduates Osborne High School

  1966 Graduates Wilkinson College

  1969 University of Tennessee School of Law, first in his class

  1970 Married Rebecca Bailey

  Jan 1993 Royster accepts a position as White House Counsel for the Reid Administration

  21 June 1993 Royster attends a Rose Garden ceremony to announce William Freeman as FBI chief

  21 June 1993 Dick Royster murdered at White House with a .38 revolver

  21 June 1993 At 8:48 pm, Chief Medical Examiner confirms Royster’s death

  22 June 1993 Chief Pathologist conducts an autopsy at George Washington University Hospital

  Three days after Richard Royster’s murder, the much delayed trust declarations were delivered to the trustee’s office.

  The paperwork carried Royster’s signature. Whoever completed the papers remains an absolute mystery, but one thing is very clear here. The paperwork and records for the blind trust had to have been among the dozen boxes of records looted from Richard Royster’s office prior to its being sealed properly off by the investigating officers.

  However, some inconsistencies have led many conspiracy theorists to suggest why Richard Royster was murdered, presumably to prevent him from revealing some deep dark secrets about one or both of the Reid’s. A really interesting and intriguing proposition to be pondered in the inquiring mind of our great detective.

  Detective Michael Cradle has his investigative work cut out for him. The real work began now to find out who, what, why and how Richard Royster was murdered. The long enduring process of conducting an investigation is the tall order for Cradle to be carried out. He has the experience, competency and ability to take on the task with much enthusiasm and eagerness to get the job done right..

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE INVESTIGATION

  Oh what a tangled web to weave, When first we practise to deceive!

  Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17

  Scottish author & novelist (1771-1832)

  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would have had the primary investigative jurisdiction if the circumstances fell within the Presidential and the Presidential Staff statute, Title 18, United States Code, Section 1751. The statute makes it a federal crime to, among other things, kill the President, Vice President,or a specified number of persons appointed by the President or Vice President.

  The statute further provides that violations shall be investigated by the FBI. 18 U.S.C. Section 1751 covers “any person appointed under section 105 (a) (2) (A) of title 3 employed in the Executive Office of the President…”Title 3, United States Code, Section 105 (a) (2) (A) provides that the President may appoint twenty-five employees at a specified rate of pay. Because the preliminary investigation by the FBI provided no indication of criminal activity, the FBI did not determine whether or not Royster was covered by this statute. The FBI’s inquiry into this matter was closed

  The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was immediately assigned to the investigation. Normally an investigation into the violent death of one of the highest officers of the federal government is handled by the FBI. However, it now seems clear the entire time the MPD worked on the case, the FBI was secretly involved. Did the White House direct this subterfuge? If so, for what purpose?

  Cradle obtained telephone records from the White House reflects that in the early afternoon of June 16, Royster made two calls to one of psychiatrists recommended by his sister. At 12:41 p.m. and again at 1:24 p.m., Royster called the psychiatrist from the telephone in his office, and charged the calls to his home phone. Each call lasted one minute or less. Calls of less than one minute are reflected on a telephone bill as one minute in length.

  The psychiatrist called by Royster often uses an answering machine during the lunch hour when no one is in the office. It is possible that Royster reached the answering machine and did not attempt to leave a message. Neither the psychiatrist that Royster attempted to reach nor the other psychiatrist recommended by Deborah Hughes ever spoke to Royster.

  However, the list of psychiatrists was found on a handwritten piece of paper inn Royster’’s wallet following his death. Royster told Deborah during a telephone conversation on June 19 that the weekend had gone well,and he was contemplated getting away more often.

  He also said that he was not yet ready to contact a psychiatrist. On the same date, Royster contacted Dr. Harry Burns, his personal physician. He told Burns that he was under a great deal of stress and was depressed. Burns prescribed an antidepressant drug called Desyrel, which has the generic name trazadone. Burns stated that he had never before prescribed an antidepressant for Royster.

  A CVS pharmacy in Washington filled the prescription for thirty (30) tablets, a dosage of 50 milligrams per tablet, and had the tablets delivered to Royster’s Georgetown home in the late afternoon on July 19. The pharmacy had no previous record of having filed any prior prescription for Royster. Rebecca Royster saw Royster take one tablet during that evening. Royster left work earlier than usual that particular day and arrived home around 7:45 p.m.

  During the evening Royster received a call from President Reid. The President had heard from White House staff that Royster was feeling down about the White House Office of Communications matter and called to invite Royster to watch a movie with him and others at the White House theater.

  Royster politely declined the President’s invitation. After chatting about Royster’s weekend in Maryland, the President told him that he wanted Royster’s advice on making some possible White House organizational changes. They agreed to meet on Friday, June 21. The President did not perceive during the conversation that Royster was downcast or depressed at the time.

  The main investigation is being led by Detective Michael Cradle who received a call from the Duty Sergeant about the car which was discovered parked outside the White House during the crime scene , was a vehicle from a Capitol Hill dentist reported stolen, several weeks ago from her parking space behind her office. The car was impounded and searched, but nothing significant to the investigation was found.

  During that he was depressed, he asked her to recommend a place he and his wife Rebecca could go to relax for the weekend. She called Rebecca Royster with two bed and breakfast inns located on Maryland’s picturesque Eastern Shore near Ocean City. Before they left, Royster told his wife that he was depressed, and she could tell that he was still under same telephone call in which Royster told his sister Deborah Hughes that he was under great stress while they were driving through various cities in Maryland.

  Coincidentally, William Bell and his wife were also on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for the weekend staying with friends, Michael and Carolyn Cardozo in their two (2) bedroom condominium timeshare, who also knew the Roysters.

  On Saturday, June 17, the Cardozo’s invi
ted the Royster's over to their home, and the group spent Saturday evening and Sunday together. Bell described it as a relaxing weekend during which Royster jogged, went boating, hit some golf balls, read the newspaper, and ate some fresh Maryland Blue Crabs for the very first time. Royster and Bell spoke about the need to change their lifestyles and spend more time away from work. Royster mentioned that he missed spending more time away from work during the summer months of June and July at his vacation home in city of North Muskegon, Michigan, as he had while at the Hart Law Firm.

  Somewhat in contrast to Bell’s perception of the weekend, Rebecca Royster stated that the weekend did not go particularly well for Royster. When Royster returned on Sunday , June 18, he spoke to Weaver by telephone. They discussed the White House office of Communications matter for approximately thirty (30) minutes in detail and that they would plan to meet face-to-face in Washington to further discussed it further on June 21.

  Next, Detective Cradle decides to re interview the White House housekeeper, Anna Chavez, who was first to discover the dead body of Richard Royster in his office at the White House . He schedules the interview to take place promptly at twelve noon on July 1st. The White House’s housekeeper’s work shift does not start until 4:00 pm. in the White House Facilities and Maintenance Department.