Body Hunter

by Patricia Springer

  “You were going to buy Catie a bike for Christmas. You didn’t get to do that, did you?” Macha asked.

  Boone momentarily broke down, tears flowing from her eyes. While she wiped them away, Macha waited patiently. She muttered a muffled “No.”

  “This has changed my life completely,” Boone said sadly. “I still won’t go into a house by myself. I was an underachiever. It took me five more years to finish school. I miss her terribly.”

  The tears of regret and sadness spilled from Leza Boone’s eyes as she left the stand and walked slowly past her best friend’s killer.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  After a short recess, District Attorney Macha said loudly, “The State calls Jeff Gibbs.”

  A fortyish man with brown hair took the witness stand and told the jury that he was the older brother of Toni Gibbs. Jeff, his older brother, Walden, and Toni were raised in Clayton, New Mexico. In 1985, he had been living in Wichita Falls, not far from Toni. She had graduated from Midwestern State University and worked as an RN at Wichita General Hospital.

  “On January 19, 1985, Toni was working at the hospital,” Jeff Gibbs testified. “It was a Saturday morning. She got off at 7:30 and she was scheduled to go back at 10:45 P.M. I was notified on Sunday that Toni was missing. I called my older brother and he came down. We were told Toni hadn’t shown up for work. That was highly unusual. We went to her apartment. She wasn’t there. We went to the police and reported her missing. We went back to her apartment, the Rain Tree Apartments on Barnett Road, but Toni still wasn’t there. Her car wasn’t there either. I feared the worst. Toni had told me she had gotten some obscene phone calls. She didn’t go into specifics, but she was very upset and very scared.”

  Several jurors stared at the witness with wrinkled brows. It was as if they were asking themselves, “Who is Toni Gibbs and what does she have to do with the murder of Terry Sims?”

  Jeff Gibbs identified photos of Toni and her 1984 white Z28 Camaro. He told the court that when her car was found on January 22, 1985, he didn’t recall seeing any blood in the car.

  Gibbs tilted his head back and took a long, deep breath before telling the jury that Toni had been found in a field in Archer County. She had been raped and murdered.

  “How has Toni’s death affected you?” Macha asked.

  Gibbs closed his eyes and moments later cleared his throat. In a raspy voice that strained to hold back the emotions that welled within him, he said, “I’m sorry.” He sobbed while he held his hand to his mouth a full minute before regaining some degree of composure and continuing his testimony.

  “I don’t think words could explain what I felt or my family felt. It was a horrific nightmare.” Then the loving brother of Toni Gibbs broke down and cried.

  As Jeff Gibbs left the courtroom, his eyes still filled with tears, Bill Gerth, a retired Department of Public Safety Texas Ranger, was called to the stand. The large man pulled on the bottom of his black-and-white-checked coat as he settled himself in the witness chair.

  Gerth testified that a woman’s body was found in Archer County one mile south of the Wichita Falls city limits and the Wichita county line. The body was in a pasture at the southwest corner of Highway 281 and West Gents Road.

  Toni Gibbs’s car had been found legally parked on Van Buren Street in Wichita Falls. The car was processed and photographed. A small smear of a red substance had been found on the inside door handle and on the outside door handle on the driver’s side.

  “On February 15, 1985, I went with the chief deputy, Ed Daniels, and Trooper Miller to the crime scene around an abandoned bus. Two individuals made crime-scene drawings. There was an evidence-recovery team and an evidence-search team. A list of all the officers at the scene was made.

  “The first thing we did was check out the nude body of a female. She was on her back. The victim’s hands and arms were above her head. Her head was turned to the south. There were wounds to her upper and lower chest. There were distinctive paw marks on her thighs and breasts. Part of her upper leg, arm, and lower calf had been eaten by animals.”

  The description of Toni Gibbs’s wounds caused by wild predators visually disturbed some of the courtroom spectators. Some flinched; others covered their mouths with their hands. Jeff Gibbs hung his head; his shoulders shook from the painful thought of his beautiful young sister devoured by animals.

  “The bus sat in a pasture. The motor and wheels were gone,” Gerth said. “It was open-ended to the south. You could see the floorboard, pipes, debris, and a stained nurse’s uniform.

  “Bloodstains, splatters, and drops were inside the bus. The directions were erratic. Cast-off blood was on the left and right sides of the bus. Whatever happened there, there was a lot of violence.”

  Gerth told the jury that the body was found four hundred and thirty feet off of Highway 281. There was an offset metal gate, and on the east side, a downed barbed-wire fence. At the scene, two Bic pens were found, one blue with a cap and one red. Ten feet north of the gate a crumpled, weathered one dollar bill was found. Inside the bus there was a lady’s white bra, still clasped, located among the pipes.

  Macha asked Gerth to step down from the stand and point out the location of the crime scene on a map he had set on the easel.

  Gerth’s strong voice carried throughout the courtroom as he pointed out the mesquite tree, the body, and the place where the dollar bill was found in front of the locked metal gate.

  “The bus resembles a trolley car,” Gerth said. “Clothing could be seen under the floorboard of the bus. There was a lot of action in that area of the bus.”

  “Was a weapon found?” Macha asked.

  “Thirty-five officers made up the search team. They walked side by side. We used metal detectors. We found nothing that looked like a weapon,” Gerth replied.

  “I’d like to present a videotape of the crime scene,” Macha said, placing the tape into the machine that had been moved in front of the jury.

  “Is this a fair and accurate presentation?” Macha asked before pressing the PLAY button on the video machine.

  “Yes, it is,” Gerth said.

  For the second time that day, the jury sat in their places in the jury box and viewed a disturbing crime-scene video.

  Macha and Gerth pointed out scrub brush, tire tracks, white nurse’s shoes, dark blood splatters, blood on pipes, broken windows, and the burned-out bus.

  While the jury watched the video, some slight confusion registered on their faces. Faryion Wardrip stared at the Bible Dorie Glickman had taken from her hotel room.

  The camera moved across the crime scene and focused on the body of Toni Gibbs. She lay faceup. Her arm had been eaten at the elbow. Dried blood was visible across her right forearm. She had two holes in her chest, and her left knee had been eaten away. There were bruises on her left hip.

  A male juror shook his head, signaling his disbelief at the sight of Toni Gibbs’s mutilated body. Another put his hand to his mouth. A reporter from the Wichita Falls newspaper abruptly left the isolated media room where the video could be clearly seen. “I think I’ve seen all of this I need to,” she said.

  Gerth continued to explain the scene. “You can’t see the body unless you know it’s there, or happened on it,” he said.

  There was a slight incline from the bus down to the body and the body was lying between the bus and a pole. Businesses outlined the distant skyline above the nearly barren pasture.

  “What was done with Miss Gibbs’s body?” Macha asked.

  “Justice of the Peace C. D. Cox of Archer City pronounced her dead and ordered an autopsy. We covered the body with a sheet, put her in a body bag, and she was picked up by All’s Funeral Home,” Gerth said.

  After returning to the witness box, Gerth flipped through a stack of photos handed him by the district attorney. He handed them back to Macha, who then gave them to the defense counsel for their review. Curry and Glickman studied each of the photos for a long time. Wardrip kept his gaze rive
ted to the book in front of him.

  “No objection, Your Honor,” Curry said as he handed the photos back to Macha.

  Wardrip’s mood was clearly deteriorating. His shoulders were lowered and his head nearly rested on the Bible. Glenda hadn’t come to the afternoon trial session, and Wardrip’s mood reflected her absence.

  As Macha and Gerth stood before the jury to go over each of the still photographs, a couple of the jurors in the back row stood for a better view.

  Gerth casually put his right hand in the pocket of his black pants and stood with his weight shifted to one side while he described the photos for jurors. Again the jury had to listen to a description of Toni Gibb’s wounds and look at the gruesome pictures of her tortured body.

  “Her feet were toward the west, her hands over her head to the east,” Gerth said. “There were several bruises under the chest wound. There was a defensive wound on her right wrist. A scratch ran from her hairline down her cheek. She was wearing a gold necklace.”

  “Was anyone ever arrested for the murder of Toni Gibbs?” Macha asked after Gerth had moved back into the witness box.

  “Danny Laughlin was arrested and tried. It was a hung jury. The charges were dismissed,” Gerth answered.

  “Was any DNA testing done?” Macha asked.

  “In 1985–1991, it was attempted to have DNA testing done. Miss Gibbs had been vaginally and anally raped. DNA testing was done to see if Laughlin was the perpetrator, but the technology just wasn’t there,” Gerth said.

  “Was Faryion Edward Wardrip ever a suspect?” Macha asked.

  “Faryion Wardrip was never a suspect,” Gerth replied.

  “The State passes the witness,” Macha said.

  “No questions, Your Honor,” Curry said.

  Glenda Wardrip had silently slipped into the courtroom. She faced forward, not looking at anyone until defense investigator Dana Rice moved over and sat beside her, giving her client’s wife a smile of encouragement.

  “The State recalls Dr. Allen Stilwell,” Macha announced.

  The pathologist took the stand for a second time during the first day of Wardrip’s capital murder trial.

  “Did you perform an autopsy on Toni Gibbs?” Macha asked.

  “No, Dr. Roger Fosum performed the autopsy. Dr. Fosum is now dead,” Dr. Stilwell responded.

  “Can you tell us about what was in Dr. Fosum’s autopsy report?” Macha questioned.

  “Yes. Toni Gibbs was five-foot, one-inches tall and weighed ninety-four pounds. She was dead for some time because there was some decomposition, insect and animal activity. Her injuries consisted of stab wounds by a sharp instrument, three areas on the front of the chest, three areas on the left side of the back, a slice on the back of the left forearm, and a defense wound to the base of the left thumb. There were six stab wounds, two or three defense wounds. There were bruises to the leg area, particularly the left leg, and scratch marks by an animal. There were contusions on the chest. One stab wound to the lower portion of the mid-chest caused damage to a lung. It was consistent with a knife wound,” Dr. Stilwell testified.

  Dr. Stilwell told the jury that sperm was found in both the vagina and anus of Toni Gibbs. Swabs were taken from Gibbs’s mouth, vagina, and anus. Privately, Dr. Stilwell had been personally astounded, and pleased, that the swabs had been preserved for fifteen years, awaiting the capture of a suspect.

  “Are there any similarities between the death of Miss Gibbs and Miss Sims?” Macha asked.

  “Several aspects of wounds were almost identical,” Dr. Stilwell said. “One aspect is dissimilar—the depth of the penetration of the blade. The maximum depth of wounds to Miss Gibbs was six inches, to Miss Sims, four and one-half inches. Those numbers are explained by the strength of the person being stabbed and the stabbing person. The width was the same, one and one-half inches to one and one-fourth inches.”

  “Did Miss Gibbs struggle with her assailant?” Macha queried.

  “Yes, in some respect,” Dr. Stilwell answered.

  “How long did it take Miss Gibbs to die?” Macha asked.

  “Only one lung was punctured. She didn’t die as quickly as Miss Sims. She lived five to ten minutes before she died from a loss of blood. She obviously had difficulty breathing.”

  “Did she know she was dying?” Macha asked.

  “She knew she was seriously hurt. I have no way of knowing if she knew she was going to die,” Dr. Stilwell said.

  “Was it possible for her to have wound up from the bus to the location of the body on her own?” Macha asked.

  “Yes, it’s possible,” Dr. Stilwell said.

  “Could the injuries on her knees have been caused by trying to get to this location?” Macha asked.

  “I believe so,” Dr. Stilwell replied.

  “I pass the witness,” Macha said.

  “No questions,” Curry said.

  Once Judge Brotherton had recessed trial proceedings until the following morning at nine o’clock, Wardrip jerked the knot of his tie and began to remove it from around his neck as he approached Curry.

  “Why aren’t you doing anything?” Wardrip asked irritably. “You’re just sitting there. Why don’t you object or something?”

  “We didn’t want to keep him on the stand any longer than necessary,” Curry answered, knowing the doctor’s testimony would have a negative impact on his client.

  Wardrip, who either refused to admit it or truly believed he hadn’t sodomized Gibbs, wanted his attorney to ask the doctor if gravity couldn’t have caused the sperm to travel to the anus. Curry just shook his head.

  Wardrip wasn’t satisfied. He wanted his attorneys to ask questions and dispute testimony. But his defense team knew they were facing a wall that was unscaleable. A wall built with the bodies of five innocent women violently slain by their client.

  The jury, who had been selected to hear the evidence concerning the murder of Terry Sims, had already been exposed to one more killing than they had expected. They were visibly shaken from the testimony. What would be their reaction when they heard about the deaths of Blau, Taylor, and Kimbrew?

  Chapter Twenty-three

  On the second day of Faryion Wardrip’s murder trial spectators filed into the courtroom, choosing their seats much like guests at a wedding. Prosecution supporters on the right, defense backers on the left. The right side of the courtroom was nearly filled, while, except for a few reporters, Glenda Wardrip sat alone behind the defense.

  As usual, Faryion Wardrip was escorted into court by deputies from the Wichita County Sheriff’s Department. He had abandoned the tie he had worn the first day of court for the comfort of a red-and-white-striped, open-collared shirt and Dockers. His mood appeared solemn, until he noticed Glenda sitting two rows back.

  “Mornin’,” Wardrip said to Glenda with a smile. “You all right?”

  Glenda nodded.

  “Good,” Wardrip said.

  Wardrip studied the people in the gallery, looking for new faces. He spotted Floyd and Pauline Jackson, his first wife’s parents.

  “What are they doing here?” Wardrip asked Dorie Glickman irritably.

  “Who?” Dorie asked.

  “The Jacksons. Johnna’s parents,” Wardrip snapped.

  “I don’t know,” the defense counsel responded.

  Wardrip’s attention was redirected to Judge Brotherton as he entered the court, followed by the jury.

  The State called Banita Harwood Robbins as their first witness of the day.

  “Would you tell us where you are from and what you do, Ms. Robbins?” Macha instructed her.

  The attractive, well-dressed witness replied, “I live in Flagstaff, Arizona. I’ve been a forensic serologist for twenty-one years. I have a BA from the University of Texas and I’ve had some FBI training.”

  “Where were you working in 1984 and 1985?” Macha asked.

  “At Southwest Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas,” Robbins said.

  At Macha’s request, Rob
bins explained testing she had performed in relationship to Terry Sims and Toni Gibbs.

  In the Terry Sims case, Robbins had tested vaginal and oral smears and swabs, bed sheets, pillows, blood samples from the bathtub, a Kleenex, a bar of soap, and Sims’s clothing for both blood and body fluids.

  In the case of Toni Gibbs, Robbins tested vaginal and anal swabs and smears. She found semen present. Blood from four galvanized pipes, a bra, a rubber hose, a floor mat, a left shoe, a stick, and a steel angle brace were examined by Robbins, and all were found to have been splattered with type-B blood, the same type as Ms. Gibbs.

  “Ms. Gibbs had sexual intercourse prior to death, both vaginally and anally,” Robbins testified. “Ms. Sims had semen present in both her mouth and vagina.”

  “Did you perform any DNA testing?” Macha asked.

  “No. The first case for DNA in court was in 1987. I now do DNA testing as part of my regular duties,” Robbins answered.

  “No further questions, Your Honor,” Macha said. “Pass the witness.”

  From his seat at the end of the defense table came John Curry’s familiar response, “No questions.”

  Ken Taylor slowly walked to the front of the courtroom. He appeared shaken by his mere presence in court. It had been fifteen years since his wife’s death. So much had happened to him. All because Faryion Wardrip hadn’t confessed to Debra’s death when he admitted killing Tina Kimbrew. Taylor had lost everything dear to him; now he had to relive the nightmare for the Denton jury.

  “Mr. Taylor,” Macha said, “tell the jury where you were living in 1985.”

  “I lived in Fort Worth with my wife, Debra Taylor. We had been married five years. We had two girls, Tarrah, seven, Debra’s daughter from a previous marriage, and Jennifer, four,” Taylor said, his voice shaky.

  “What happened on March 24, 1985?” Macha asked.

  Taylor told the jury about Debra wanting to go somewhere that evening with her cousin. She’d left the house after he’d gone to sleep and he had never seen her again.