Dance of Death

by Dale Hudson

  Chris Horne from News Channel 12 was there waiting and tried to get her to talk with him. He walked alongside her, pushing a microphone in her face, asking her a series of questions he knew would remain unanswered in front of the camera. “Renee, what really happened to Brent? Are you sorry your husband is dead? Did you arrange to have your husband killed?”

  Renee kept her head down and lumbered toward the police car, where Detective Altman stood waiting at the open rear door of the passenger side to help her in the backseat.

  After the vehicle had pulled away, Forsyth County sheriff Ron Barker told reporters the words “crying and staring” best described Renee’s demeanor while in jail. “She has run the gamut somewhere between crying and staring,” he said.

  That night, Channel 12 profiled Renee’s arrest with the catchy lead-in:

  “Renee Poole is on her way back to Horry County for the first time since someone killed her husband, but this time she is making the trip in handcuffs.”

  The feature followed with an update on the investigation and an exclusive interview with Dee and Craig. Dee said her family was still numb from her brother’s death and Renee’s arrest; they were just getting by, day to day.

  “I was just over with my dad, and he’s struggling very much, knowing what Brent was doing now a week ago. He was happy, he was at the beach and he thought his life was everything he wanted it to be. He was with his wife and his two-and-a-half-year-old, and to think this was basically his last few days has been very difficult.”

  Dee said the only positive thing about all of this was knowing that Brent had rededicated his life to God about a month before he died.

  “He was back in church, and like the pastor said at his funeral, it was like God was preparing his heart to be in His presence again. Knowing that my brother is in heaven, is about the only thing that has gotten us through it.”

  Craig talked about Katie and how she was a daddy’s girl. He said Brent had loved every minute of it.

  When the reporter asked how Katie was handling all that had happened, Dee said she believed Katie had no impression whatsoever of what was going on.

  “The phone rings and she asks, ‘Is that my daddy?’ We went downstairs to where we had some of my brother’s belongings and she asked, ‘Are those my daddy’s shoes? I want my daddy to put those on.’ And I say to her, ‘So do I, Katie. I really wish he could.’ ”

  A little eight-year-old girl from Yadkinville, North Carolina, had watched Brent’s story unfold on television and told her mother her heart was breaking for his little girl. She wanted to know if she could do something for Katie, and together they picked out a white teddy bear with angel wings. They sent this to the Pooles, along with a bag of guardian angel pins.

  “All your life you watch TV and hear these stories and you say, ‘Oh, how sad,’ and turn it off and go to bed. Now it’s my life, my parents’ life, and it’s Katie’s life. It’s like I am in a dream. This is a movie script—it’s really not happening to us.”

  Dee choked back her tears, then talked about what lay ahead for her family.

  “As bad as this weekend began, we are already prepared that this is the very beginning in terms of how bad it is going to be . . . because people will be fighting for their lives and we understand that. We feel like truth and justice will prevail, but it’s going to be a long process.”

  The first week of Renee’s arrest, she told her parents she was being treated like a common criminal. “Everyone’s looking at me and whispering, ‘That’s her, she killed her husband,’ and things of that nature. I am being treated worse than I would, had I been a mange animal.”

  CHAPTER 25

  MBPD detectives Altman, King and Frontz met with WSPD detectives Mike Rowe and Penny Kearns to prepare search warrants for the Pooles’ and Frazier’s residence. Detective Rowe would spearhead all police efforts in Winston-Salem and coordinate both searches on June 14.

  The Pooles’ home at Blue Bonnet Court was turned upside down and inside out as police searched for evidence that would expose Renee’s part in the plot. Renee’s Daytona Datsun two-door red truck was also searched. Police confiscated, among other things, several minicassette recordings, floppy disks, CD-Rom disks, an IBM computer and two cards in a dresser drawer signed by John.

  One of the letters written from Renee to John was penned on Champion Products stationery:

  I know now you’re wondering exactly what is going [on]. Am I interested? Do I like you? Am I crazy? Well, I’ll be honest. At first, when we “first” went out I enjoyed myself so much, but I just felt like, “nope, it’s not time to let loose and see anyone.” But the more we hang out the more I enjoy your company and appreciate you. I guess I am weird in that I just can’t dive into this, because, just as most people have been I’ve been devastated. See, I don’t even trust my own father as I should. But I see in you a heart of gold and I appreciate it and I don’t want to see you any other way. Funny or not, the way we are seems so very romantic to me. It’s exciting and mysterious and with time it could get better, but for now, I don’t need any physical relations, just a best friend to spend time with and sip wine with in front of a “blazing” fire (haha). You fit my description. Don’t quit now—don’t change a thing. My heart is coming around. I love the flowers, all flowers and lots of ’em.

  John you came around at the perfect time—and I wish you only could know. Thanks for your help last night. See ya @6pm sharp—time to do clothes (hahaha)! Let me know!

  The lawn at Frazier’s home on Kingswell Drive had been neatly manicured and a banner of Snoopy hung from the front porch when police arrived. Neighbors remembered first seeing the striking dark-haired Poole at his house as early as last summer and as recently as last week. Robert Probst, Frazier’s attorney, was there to challenge the police’s entrance at his client’s home, stating Frazier’s home could not be searched unless he was present. When he was presented with a copy of the signed search warrant giving them the authorization to execute the search, he took a set of keys out of his pocket and opened the door.

  The police seized notebooks, photographs, a holster, two cellular telephones, videocassettes and players—anything they believed would provide a link to the suspect and Poole’s murder. Detective Altman had not been surprised to find numerous pornographic materials in Frazier’s residence and a Sony 8mm camera set up in his bedroom and pointed directly toward the bed.

  In June 1997, Thomas Mitchell Parnell, senior manager of employee relations at Champion Products Incorporated, began an internal investigation regarding the theft of a Macintosh computer, a monitor and other computer products from their corporate offices located in Winston-Salem. The system alone was valued in excess of $8,500. During Parnell’s investigation, he developed leads identifying John Boyd Frazier Jr., a computer operator with their company, as a possible suspect.

  Frazier was questioned the following month about the stolen equipment, but he denied any knowledge or involvement in the theft. He even took a polygraph and his residence was searched with his consent, but the equipment was not found at his home. But during the search at Frazier’s home, the police observed a Macintosh computer, a Macintosh monitor and a graphics software program inside an interior room. The next day, Detective Rowe called Champion Products and learned that all of the equipment and software seen at Frazier’s home matched the identification of the equipment that had been stolen from their corporate headquarters. A second search warrant was executed and the merchandise was recovered and held until it could be returned to its previous owner. Rowe was informed by the district attorney’s office that there would be no local state charges regarding Frazier’s embezzlement investigation pending the outcome of his murder trial in Myrtle Beach.

  As the investigation progressed, MBPD quickly found out John Boyd Frazier had also left behind quite a collection of bad relationships. One of Frazier’s former girlfriends, Wendy Collins, told Detective Altman, “The motherfucker is crazy!” She said about eight years ag
o, he had beaten her up on several occasions. In one incident, she had received medical treatment for injuries sustained by his actions and that he had pointed a pistol at her. She also said that she had filed charges against Frazier for this incident, but did not follow through with it and the charges were eventually dropped.

  Megan Dayton Gilliam had dated Frazier in 1993 and 1994, and said he ran hot and cold. “He could go from the nicest person in the world to screaming and ranting and raving. He could just snap like that.” Near the end of their relationship, Megan said she and Frazier got into an argument while sitting in his car, and when she opened the door to get out, he pushed her out and then came around the car and pushed her down again. She got into her car and drove away and Frazier came after her. She had to call 911 to get him to leave her alone.

  Frazier was charged with assault on a female, but the charges were dropped when he begged Megan to forgive him. He was ordered into twenty sessions of a local abuse-counseling program as a result of the charge, but Jenny Hemmrick, a counselor at a domestic-violence-counseling center called Time Out In, reported to police that Frazier had been in counseling there, but had been thrown out of the program. Three months later, Megan filed a misdemeanor stalking charge against Frazier for harassing her, but the judge found him not guilty.

  Before their investigation was complete, the police would hear from several other victims of John Frazier, male and female, who would tell similar stories to those of Wendy Collins and Megan Dayton Gilliam.

  The MBPD met with Kayle Schettler, the owner of the gray Acura that Frazier had borrowed the week of Brent’s murder, and he agreed to have his vehicle searched and processed for any possible evidence in the case. Kayle was a close friend of Frazier’s, but he was upset that his car may have been used in the incident. He said he would help in any way.

  A real neat freak, Kayle stated he had cleaned the car after Frazier returned it, because there had been cigarette ashes and gravel on the floor mat. He didn’t know if Frazier had cleaned it or not, and had not looked at the odometer to see how far it had been driven. An SBI crime technician, Jerry Webster, processed the car, both inside and out, and checked for blood, hair and fibers, using an ultraviolet light. All areas of the car were checked thoroughly, including the doors, trunk and windows, but the only possible bit of evidence found was a lip print located on the outside of the windshield on the passenger side. The police got very excited when Webster advised they could match this print with one of Renee’s lip prints and possibly tie the two suspects together. If the two prints matched, then it would be probable to conclude that Renee had kissed the windshield as a signal to Frazier their plan was still on. It could be the most damaging and diabolical evidence they’d have against her to prove she had conspired to murder her husband.

  Renee was asked and agreed to provide samples of her lip imprints, but the SBI could not lift a suitable print from the windshield for comparison. Other than the lip print, that was all Webster could find in or on the car. There was no visible blood droplets, no beach sand in the floor mats, seats, underneath the car, on the wheel wells or inside the wheel rims. In spite of the distance the car was alleged to have traveled from Winston-Salem to Myrtle Beach and back, there was no significant evidence to indicate that.

  A check had also been run by the Davie County Sheriff’s Office to determine if Frazier had been stopped the night of June 9 or June 10, either in the 1990 Acura or his 1996 Chevy Blazer. When the results of that search produced nothing, it occurred to the MBPD that their only hope for placing Frazier at the crime scene the night of the murder were the eyewitness accounts. On June 16, at the request of MBPD, Detective Rowe was asked to complete a photographic lineup of Frazier and five other subjects.

  With the photographic lineup in hand, MBPD contacted their eyewitnesses in North Carolina and Virginia and asked them to pick out the suspect. All but one of the four immediately identified John Frazier as the man they saw dressed in black on the beach that night.

  CHAPTER 26

  The arrest of the two suspects greatly calmed safety concerns in Myrtle Beach. It was obvious to everyone now that Brent Poole’s murder was not a random act of violence, but rather a deliberate and planned act of murder. The city of Myrtle Beach and the Chamber of Commerce assured all tourists vacationing in the Grand Strand they were safe, and there was nothing to fear.

  Renee had already waived extradition to South Carolina and her first court appearance in Horry County came quicker than the Pooles expected. On Friday, June 26, 1998, she was herded through the courthouse lawn dressed in prison-issued clothing and shoes and chained to four other inmates. She looked very tired and weary from her short week’s stay at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center, in Conway. In her hands, she clutched a fistful of legal papers.

  Reporter Adam Shapiro greeted her at the courthouse’s front steps, hoping to get his exclusive interview finally.

  “Renee, did you lure your husband to the beach?” Shapiro asked, moving in closer as the human train slowed.

  Renee looked past Shapiro and smirked, before answering, “All I want to say is I love my daughter.”

  The scuttlebutt in the courtroom was that solicitor Ralph Wilson had already been talking about seeking the death penalty in this case. Voters in Horry County had elected Wilson chief prosecutor in 1990 and they had great confidence in the judgment and abilities of the first black prosecutor elected in South Carolina since Reconstruction.

  Renee’s parents were there to support her, sitting nervously on the end in the front row of the gallery. Renee appeared calm and smiled frequently at them during the proceedings. She had already told her attorneys that rarely did forty-eight hours go by without her thinking about her dead husband. Even worse were the nightmares. Sometimes she got so scared, she would just start crying and shaking. She needed to be around someone who laughed, someone who had hope, but it was impossible inside a jail cell. At night, she would phone her parents and cry incessantly: “Oh, Mom, I thought you were always too strict on me. If I’d only listened and did what you said, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  Randy Mullins, her court-appointed attorney, did not ask for bond, knowing the judge would order a mental competency to determine if Renee was fit to stand trial. He knew the interview and complete psychiatric assessment could take up to as long as six weeks.

  Bill and Agnes Poole were also present in the courtroom, making certain those who were responsible for their son’s death would be punished. After the judge suspended his daughter-in-law’s bond hearing, Bill Poole walked directly toward Renee and looked her in the eye. On the way out of the courtroom, he spoke to reporters about his feelings toward her.

  “We just want those responsible for Brent’s death to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. With each day bringing new information to light, it keeps the pain right up front. Renee’s arrest kind of finalized what we hoped was not true. It has just added tragedy to tragedy. What the police say they have done is the coldest premeditated act that could have ever been committed. In television, you don’t see this degree of premeditation and coldness.”

  Renee’s attorney overheard Poole’s comment and warned, “The public should always be skeptical about any prerelease of information. The police may not be telling the whole story.”

  If the truth were known, the police didn’t know the whole story. Their investigation was still ongoing and they still had uncovered no physical evidence linking Frazier to Poole’s murder. Investigators were busy interviewing acquaintances and friends, hoping to generate enough information to build a solid case beyond Renee’s confession to the police. Forensic teams had been issued search warrants a second time to enter both Renee’s and Frazier’s homes again and they searched for any connections the two suspects may have had with the murder. They had already seized computer equipment, photographs, negatives, a videocassette, notebooks and miscellaneous papers.

  “That’s why I am not sending him down to be tried for his life bas
ed on the testimony of Renee Poole’s word,” Robert Probst, Frazier’s attorney, said in his extradition hearing in the Forsyth Superior Court. Probst’s contention was that Frazier was not involved in any way and he planned to contest the warrant that called for extraditing him to Conway to stand trial.

  Probst already knew there was little chance that his fight against extradition would succeed. It was inevitable. All the MBPD had to do was get South Carolina governor David Beasley to sign the warrant and file it with Governor Jim Hunt, in North Carolina. Finally the papers were served and Frazier appeared with his attorneys in Forsyth County Courthouse for his last court hearing relating to his extradition on July 1, 1998.

  Frazier came swaggering into the courtroom, smiling and nodding, with Probst and his newly acquired South Carolina attorney, Morgan Martin. Even though nothing stood in his way to be extradited to South Carolina and face murder charges against him, his defense team was hardly throwing in the towel. They were confident any evidence against him was rather flimsy, and those kind of cases were always tough for the prosecution to win. Dressed in a tiny white-and-black checked sportcoat and a white shirt with an open collar, Frazier wanted everyone to know his attorneys were gaining steam and were eager to prove he had been wrongly accused.

  “It’s time we go down to South Carolina and start to prove his innocence,” Probst announced. “Even though we think there is a defect in this warrant, we waive his extradition.”

  Probst stated the reason they had fought the extradition in the first place was to have the time to hire a defense attorney. They had found that person in Morgan Martin. Martin and his partner, Tommy Brittain, had a reputation as one of the best defense teams in South Carolina and they came highly recommended. Martin quickly revealed to the press how he had earned that reputation.