He still went to work in the morning looking forward to what the day would bring. It was only rarely that he was handed a job he would rather not do.
This “observation” of a Homicide investigation fell into that category. It was the worst kind of job. The moment he showed up on the scene, whichever Homicide detective had the job—for that matter, the whole Homicide Unit—would immediately and correctly deduce that they were not being trusted to do their job the way it should be done.
And he would feel their justified resentment, not Lowenstein or Mayor Carlucci.
As he followed Harry McElroy, crossing over Old York Road and onto Hunting Park Avenue, then onto Ninth Street, he tried to be philosophical about it. There was no sense moaning over something he couldn’t control.
The street in front of Officer Kellog’s home was now crowded with police vehicles of all descriptions, and Mike was not surprised to see Mickey O’Hara’s antenna-festooned Buick among them.
“I don’t have to tell you what to do,” Chief Lowenstein said as he got out of the car. “Call me after the Milham interview.”
“Yes, sir,” Mike said, and walked toward the District cop standing at the door of the row house.
The cop looked uncomfortable. He recognized the unmarked Plymouth as a police vehicle, and was wise enough in the ways of the Department to know that a nearly new unmarked car was almost certain to have been assigned to a senior white-shirt, but this rumpled little man was a stranger to him.
“I’m Staff Inspector Weisbach. I know your orders are to keep everybody out, but Chief Lowenstein wants me to go in.”
“Yes, sir.”
Captain Henry Quaire and Lieutenant Lou Natali were in the kitchen, trying to stand out of the way of the crew of laboratory technicians.
They don’t have any more business here than I do. You don’t get to be a Homicide detective unless you know just about everything there is to know about working a crime scene. Homicide detectives don’t need to be supervised.
“Good morning, Henry, Lou.”
“Hello, Mike,” Quaire replied. His face registered his surprise, and a moment later his annoyance, at seeing Weisbach.
“Inspector,” Natali said.
Weisbach looked at the body and the pool of blood and quickly turned away. He was beyond the point of becoming nauseous at the sight of a violated body, but it was very unpleasant for him. His brief glance would stay a painfully clear memory for a long time.
“Shot twice, it looks, at close range,” Quaire offered.
“I don’t suppose you know who did it?” a voice behind Mike asked.
Mike turned to face Mr. Michael J. O’Hara of the Bulletin.
“Not yet, Mickey,” Quaire said. “The uniform was told to keep people out of here.”
“I have friends in high places, Henry,” O’Hara said. “Not only do I know Staff Inspector Weisbach here well enough to ask him what the hell he’s doing here, but I know the legendary Chief Lowenstein himself. Lowenstein told the uniform to let me in, Henry. He wouldn’t have, otherwise.”
“He’s out there?” Quaire asked.
O’Hara nodded.
“Talking to Captain Talley.”
“I want to talk to Talley too,” Quaire said, and walked toward the front door.
“So what are you doing here, Mike?” O’Hara asked.
“‘Observing,’” Weisbach said. He saw the displeased reaction on Lieutenant Lou Natali’s face.
“Is that between you and me, or for public consumption?” O’Hara asked.
“Spell my name right, please.”
“‘Observing’? Or ‘supervising’?”
“Observing.”
“Exactly what does that mean?”
“Why don’t you ask Chief Lowenstein? I’m not sure, myself.”
“OK. I get the picture. But—this is for both of you, off the record, if you want—do you have any idea who shot Kellog?”
“No,” Natali said quickly.
“I just got here, Mike.”
“Is there anything to the story that the Widow Kellog is—how do I phrase this delicately?—personally involved with Wally Milham?”
“I don’t know how to answer that delicately,” Natali said.
“Mike?”
“I heard that gossip for the first time about fifteen minutes ago,” Weisbach said. “I don’t know if it’s true or not.”
His eye fell on something in the open cabinet behind Natali’s head.
“What’s that?” he asked, and pushed by Natali for a closer look.
“It’s a tape recorder. With a gadget that turns it on whenever the phone is used,” Weisbach said. “Has that been dusted for prints, Lou?”
“Yes, sir.”
Weisbach pulled the recorder out of the cabinet and saw that there was no cassette inside.
“Anything on the tape?” he asked.
“There was no tape in it when D’Amata found it,” Natali said. “And no tape anywhere around it. There was an empty box for tapes, but no tapes.”
“That’s strange,” Weisbach thought out loud. “The thing is turned on.” He held it up to show the red On light. “Did the lab guys turn it on?”
“D’Amata said you can’t turn it off, it’s wired to the light socket.”
“Strange,” Weisbach said.
“Yeah,” Mickey O’Hara agreed. “Very strange.”
A uniformed officer came into the kitchen.
“Lieutenant, the Captain said that Detective Milham is on his way to the Roundhouse.”
“Thank you,” Natali said.
“I want to sit in on the interview,” Weisbach said.
“You’re going to question Milham?” Mickey O’Hara asked.
“Yes, sir,” Natali said, not quite succeeding in concealing his displeasure.
“Routinely, Mick,” Weisbach said. “If there’s anything, I’ll call you. All right?”
O’Hara thought that over for a second.
“You have an honest face, Mike, and I am a trusting soul. OK. And in the meantime, I will write that at this point the police have no idea who shot Kellog.”
“We don’t,” Weisbach said.
THREE
Detective Wallace J. Milham, a dapper thirty-five-year-old, who was five feet eleven inches tall, weighed 160 pounds, and adorned his upper lip with a carefully manicured pencil-line mustache, reached over the waist-high wooden barrier to the Homicide Unit’s office and tripped the lock of the door with his fingers.
He turned to the left and walked toward the office of Captain Henry C. Quaire, the Homicide commander. When he had come out of the First Philadelphia Building, Police Radio had been calling him. When he answered the call, the message had been to see Captain Quaire as soon as possible.Quaire wasn’t in his office. But Lieutenant Louis Natali was, and when he saw Milham, waved at him to come in.
Milham regarded Natali, one of five lieutenants assigned to Homicide, as the one closest to Captain Quaire, and in effect, if not officially, his deputy. He liked him.
“I got the word the Captain wanted to see me,” Milham said as he pushed open the door.
“Where were you, Wally? We’ve been looking for you for an hour.”
“At the insurance bureau in the First Philadelphia Building,” Milham replied, then when he sensed Natali wanted more information, went on: “On the Grover job.”
A week before, Mrs. Katherine Grover had hysterically reported to Police Radio that there had been a terrible accident at her home in Mt. Airy. When a radio patrol car of the Fourteenth District had responded, Officer John Sarabello had found Mr. Arthur Grover, her husband, dead against the wall of their garage. Mrs. Grover told Officer Sarabello that her foot had slipped off the brake onto the accelerator, causing their Plymouth station wagon to jump forward.
Neither Officer Sarabello, his sergeant, or the Northwest Detective Division detective who further investigated the incident were completely satisfied with Mrs. Grover’s explanation o
f what had transpired, and the job was referred to the Homicide Unit. Detective Milham got the job, as he was next up on the wheel.
“I know she did it,” Detective Milham went on. “And she knows I know she did it. But she is one tough little cookie.”
“The insurance turn up anything?”
“Nothing here in the last eighteen months. They’re going to check Hartford for me.”
While it might be argued that the interest of the insurance industry in a homicide involving someone whose life they have insured may be more financial than moral—if it turned out, for example, that Mrs. Grover had feloniously taken the life of her husband, they would be relieved of paying her off as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy—the industry for whatever reasons cooperates wholeheartedly with police conducting a homicide investigation.
“You weren’t listening to the radio?”
Milham shook his head.
“You know a cop named Kellog?”
Milham nodded.
“They found him, this morning, in the kitchen of his house,” Natali said. “Somebody shot him, twice, in the back of his head.”
“Jesus Christ!”
“He’d probably been dead about six hours.”
“Who did it?”
“They had trouble finding his wife. She apparently didn’t live with him. So the neighbors say. They just found her a half an hour ago.”
“She works for the City,” Milham said. “The neighbors should have known that.”
“I think that’s where they finally got it, from the neighbors,” Natali said. “Where were you last night, Wally, from, say, midnight to six in the morning?”
“So that’s what this is all about.”
“Where were you, Wally?”
“He was an asshole, Lieutenant. I think he was also dirty. But I didn’t shoot the sonofabitch.”
“So tell me where you were last night from midnight on.”
“Jesus Christ, Lieutenant! I was home.”
“Were you alone?”
“No.”
“Was she with you?”
Milham looked at Natali for a moment before replying.
“Yeah, she was.”
“She wouldn’t make a very credible alibi, Wally.”
“I told you I didn’t do it.”
“I didn’t think you did,” Natali said.
“She was with me, I told you that.”
“You wouldn’t make a very credible witness either, Wally, under the circumstances.”
“So we’re both suspects? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Of course you are,” Natali said. “Think about it, Wally.”
“So what are you telling me?”
“You’re going to have to give a formal statement. Joe D’Amata was up on the wheel for the job. I’ll do the interview. You know Mike Weisbach?”
“Sure.”
“He’ll sit in on it. Chief Lowenstein has assigned him to ‘observe’ the investigation. He’s upstairs with the Captain and Chief Coughlin. They ought to be here in a minute.”
“OK.”
“Unless you want to claim the Fifth.”
“If I do?”
“You know how it works, Wally.”
“I’m not claiming the Fifth. I didn’t do it.”
“I don’t think you did, either.”
“What’s with Weisbach?”
“I guess they want to make sure we do our job. I don’t like that any more than you like being interviewed. You want a little advice?”
“Sure.”
“Go through the motions. Don’t lose your temper in there. And then go back to work and forget about it.”
Milham met Natali’s eyes.
“I start midnights tonight,” he said absently.
“I don’t think that anybody thinks you had anything to do with it. We’re just doing this strictly by the book.”
“A staff inspector ‘observing’ is by the book?”
* * *
STATEMENT OF: Detective Wallace J. Milham Badge 626
DATE AND TIME: 1105 AM May 19, 1975
PLACE: Homicide Unit, Police Admin. Bldg. Room A.
CONCERNING: Death by Shooting of Police Officer Jerome H. Kellog
IN PRESENCE OF:
Det. Joseph P. D’Amata, Badge 769Staff Inspector Michael Weisbach
INTERROGATED BY: Lieutenant Louis Natali Badge 233
RECORDED BY: Mrs. Jo-Ellen Garcia-Romez, Clerk/Typist
I AM Lieutenant Natali and this is Inspector Weisbach, Detective D’Amata and Mrs. Garcia-Romez, who will be recording everything we say on the typewriter.
We are questioning you concerning your involvement in the fatal shooting of Police Officer Jerome H. Kellog.
We have a duty to explain to you and to warn you that you have the following legal rights:
A. You have the right to remain silent and do not have to say anything at all.
B. Anything you say can and will be used against you in Court.
75–331D (Rev.7/70) Page 1C. You have a right to talk to a lawyer of your own choice before we ask you any questions, and also to have a lawyer here with you while we ask questions.
D. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, and you want one, we will see that you have a lawyer provided to you, free of charge, before we ask you any questions.
E. If you are willing to give us a statement, you have a right to stop anytime you wish.
1. Q. Do you understand that you have a right to keep quiet and do not have to say anything at all?
A. Yes, of course.
2. Q. Do you understand that anything you say can and will be used against you?
A. Yes.
3. Q. Do you want to remain silent?
A. No.
4. Q. Do you understand you have a right to talk to a lawyer before we ask you any questions?
A. Yes, I do.
5. Q. Do you understand that if you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, and you want one, we will not ask you any questions until a lawyer is appointed for you free of charge?
A. Yes, I do.
6. Q. Do you want to talk to a lawyer at this time, or to have a lawyer with you while we ask you questions?
A. I don’t want a lawyer, thank you.
7. Q. Are you willing to answer questions of your own free will, without force or fear, and without any threats and promises having been made to you?
A. Yes, I am.
75–331D (Rev.7/70) Page 28. Q. State your name, city of residence, and employment?
A. Wallace J. Milham, Philadelphia. I am a detective.
9. Q. State your badge number and duty assignment?
A. Badge Number 626. Homicide Unit.
10. Q. Did you know Police Officer Jerome H. Kellog?
A. Yes.
11. Q. Was he a friend of yours?
A. No.
12. Q. What was the nature of your relationship to him?
A. He was married to a friend of mine.
13. Q. Who is that?
A. Mrs. Helene Kellog.
14. Q. What is the nature of your relationship to Mrs. Helene Kellog?
A. We’re very good friends. She is estranged from her husband.
(Captain Henry C. Quaire entered the room and became an additional witness to the interrogation at this point.)
15. Q. (Captain Quaire) Wally, you have any problem with me sitting in on this?
A. No, Sir. I’d rather have you in here than looking through the mirror.
16. Q. Would it be fair to categorize your relationship with Mrs. Kellog as romantic in nature?
A. Yes.
17. Q. You seemed to hesitate. Why was that?
A. I was deciding whether or not to answer it.
75–331D (Rev.7/70) Page 318. Q. Was Officer Kellog aware of your relationship with his wife?
A. I suppose so. I never had a fight with him about it or anything. But I think, sure, he knew. She moved out on him.
19. Q. How long have you h
ad this relationship with Mrs. Kellog?
A. About a year. A little less.
20. Q. You are aware that Officer Kellog was found shot to death in his home this morning?
A. I am.
21. Q. How did you first learn of his death?
A. Lieutenant Natali informed me of it a few minutes ago.
22. Q. That is Lieutenant Louis Natali of the Homicide Unit?
A. Yes.
23. Q. Did you shoot Officer Kellog?
A. No.
24. Q. Do you have any knowledge whatsoever of the shooting of Officer Kellog?
A. No. None whatsoever.
25. Q. How would you categorize the relationship of Officer Kellog and his wife?
A. They were estranged.
26. Q. Do you know where Mrs. Kellog went to live when she left the home of her husband?
A. With me.
27. Q. Do you have a department-issued firearm, and if so, what kind?
A. Yes, a .38 Special Caliber Colt snub nose.
28. Q. Where is this firearm now?
A. In the gun locker.
75–331D (Rev.7/70) Page 429. Q. Would you be willing to turn this firearm over to me now for ballistics and other testing in connection with this investigation?
A. Captain, I go on at midnight. When would I get it back?
(Captain Quaire) I’ve got a Cobra in my desk. You can use that.
30. Q. Do you own, or have access to, any other firearms?
A. Yes, I have several guns at my house.
Badge of Honour 06 - The Murderers Page 5