Kiss of the She-Devil
Page 34
“Have you looked underneath the pillow?”
“I haven’t removed it, no,” Boetz responded.
Both investigators had been told by then that the entire area had been searched, around and inside the house, and “no other persons had been found.” The only wound visible to Boetz and McAllester was on the victim’s left bicep. It was clear that he had been shot in the arm.
Boetz had Detective Penny Judd come into the room and photograph the wound on the man’s bicep.
Looking closer, Boetz noticed a hole through the laundry bag/pillowcase. He could see gunpowder residue.
Judd snapped a photo. And she continued to take photos of the entire room, the victim, and anything else Boetz pointed out.
Standard operating procedure (SOP).
“That gunpowder residue,” Boetz said, “means he was shot at close range.”
Someone had placed the laundry bag over the man’s face and fired—almost like an execution. Organized-crime figures do this. Sneak up on someone while he sleeps, place a pillow over his face, and fire a few shots into the head. Just like in a Hollywood film.
But that wound on the bicep?
Strange.
There was a pair of men’s jeans on the floor by the side of the bed. McAllester walked over and, carefully, being certain not to disturb what could be an important piece of evidence, reached inside the back pocket and took out what appeared to be a wallet.
He looked for a license. Found one.
The Cruz family had it right. The guy’s name was Robert “Bob” Dow. He was forty-nine, his fiftieth birthday about a month away. Bob had a potbelly stomach on him, but he was otherwise in what was average shape for an American by today’s standards. He was butt naked underneath the covers. Either he had been getting himself ready for bed when someone shot him, was already sleeping, or his killer had surprised him.
As Boetz stood near Bob Dow, he looked closer at the walls, where they had spied the missing pictures.
There was blood on the wall.
“Vic’s?”
Was it blood spatter from the gunshot wounds?
Boetz and McAllester didn’t think so.
It appeared to Boetz that whoever removed the pictures had cut himself or herself during that process and was bleeding.
Over near the northeast corner of the room was a green chest—like a pirate’s—sitting on the floor. Boetz bent down and had a look. It seemed that someone had forcefully pried the chest open. With latex gloves on, Boetz had a look inside.
And that was where, Boetz said later, “we found some ammunition and a gun.”
Gail Fulton with her husband George during one of the couple’s happier moments.
(Courtesy of Emily Fulton)
Gail felt secluded and alone after George moved the family from Corpus Christi, Texas to this new house in Lake Orion, Michigan.
(Courtesy of Emily Fulton)
Gail had always confided in friends.
(Courtesy of Emily Fulton)
After moving to Lake Orion, Gail found a job at the local public library.
(Author’s photograph)
The employee entrance where Gail walked out—and into a killer’s sights—on the night she was murdered.
(Author’s photograph)
These stills from the library’s security video tape show Gail’s killers.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
The killers drove into the parking lot and approached Gail’s van.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
This grainy close-up shows Gail Fulton (the white figure facing the driver’s door) approaching her killers.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
These stills show Gail standing next to the car with her killers looking on from inside.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Here, Gail’s killers leave the scene after shooting three rounds into Gail’s upper torso and head.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
With her killers speeding toward the exit, Gail Fulton lies barely breathing, fighting for her life in the parking lot of the Orion Township Public Library.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
This document from Gail’s autopsy shows how the three rounds fired into Gail’s body ricocheted off bones and organs and reentered and exited her body.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
These documents—one of which was drafted by Gail’s killers—show how the murderers pulled into the library parking lot, quickly mowed her down in a hail of gunfire, and left.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
A murder plot began to come together for police after these two motel receipts (one dated the night of Gail’s murder, the other dated weeks before), came to light.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators discovered a map with Donna Trapani’s fingerprints all over it, which detailed Gail Fulton’s every move.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Sybil Padgett, 36, Donna Trapani’s employee and friend, was the first domino to fall as the plot to murder Gail Fulton unfolded for cops.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Sybil’s 19-year-old boyfriend, Patrick Alexander, did not need much convincing to give up his girlfriend and their co-conspirators, Kevin Ouellette and Donna Trapani.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Kevin Ouellette was the muscle and—arguably—the brains behind the murder.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Donna Trapani, George Fulton’s mistress, was the mastermind behind Gail’s murder.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators uncovered the car used in Gail’s murder, matching its broken taillight up to the grainy video taken the night of the crime.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Much of the evidence against Gail’s four murderers was in this house Sybil Padgett rented in Defuniak Springs, Florida.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Today, Sybil Padgett and Donna Trapani are still good friends. Both are housed in the same Michigan state prison.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Patrick Alexander was a young man when he entered prison. He’ll be an elderly man when—and if—he is released.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Today Kevin Ouellette is not the same man he was when he murdered Gail Fulton.
(Courtesy of Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals connected to this story.
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Copyright © 2013 by M. William Phelps
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