by James Keene
Hall’s out-of-body experiences and inability to distinguish dreams from reality . . . Ibid., 123.
Citing the research of neuropsychologists . . . Ibid., 185.
During the acts of violence . . . Ibid., 186.
For those who rape and murder . . . Starr, “Random Killers.”
But with men like Hall . . . The strange affection that killers have felt for their mothers was noted in a 1921 landmark study by Swedish lawyer and psychologist Andreas Bjerre, who wrote, “Time after time during my studies among murderers I was struck by the fact that just the most brutal criminals—men who . . . had a stereotyped incapacity to conceive their fellow creatures as anything but dead matter or as the means to the satisfaction of their animal lusts . . . were nevertheless frequently attached to their mothers by bonds which seemed even stronger than those which one ordinarily finds between mother and son.” Andreas Bjerre, The Psychology of Murder: A Study in Criminal Psychology (Da Capo Press, 1981), 81.
(who would call Berniece “darling” . . . Levin, Smith, Amones interview.
the mother’s dominance leads to “inadequate socialization” . . . Egger writes, “Theories regarding inadequate socialization or childhood trauma are frequently cited in the homicide literature and often referred to regarding the serial murderer.” “Serial Murder: A Synthesis of Research and Literature,” in Egger, Serial Murder, 20.
To assume Norris’s “mask of sanity” . . . Norris, Serial Killers, 226–29.
According to Norris, these extracurricular activities . . . Ibid., 231.
“Many killers have extraordinarily high mileage . . .” Ibid., 233.
The “megamobile” killer, such as Bundy . . . Egger, “Serial Murder,” 26.
Whether a serial killer is “stat” or “mobile” . . . Researchers believe that some of these classifications of serial killers may be the result of “hindsight bias” exacerbated by “a small sample size.” Katie A. Busch and James L. Cavanaugh, “The Study of Multiple Murder: Preliminary Examination of the Interface Between Epistemology and Methodology,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 1, no. 1 (March 1, 1986): 15.
As Norris writes, because the serial killer’s homicidal behavior . . . Norris, Serial Killers, 19.
Norris compares serial killers to “wild animals” . . . Ibid., 18.
Even after the burial, he explains . . . Ibid., 88.
Hall’s return to the scene of the crime . . . Hall trial transcript at 250.
what the police later described as “an abduction kit” . . . Jennifer McSpadden, “New trial ordered for Hall,” Wabash Plain Dealer, August 29, 1996.
Again, this is in line with Norris’s research . . . Norris, Serial Killers, 231.
On the bottom of one defaced magazine pinup . . . Hall trial transcript at 585.
In fact, Hall meant “Samhain” . . . “The Myth of Samhain: Celtic God of the Dead,” Religious Tolerance, http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_sa.htm.
he is also what FBI profilers would call both “disorganized” and “organized” . . . Busch and Cavanaugh, “Study of Multiple Murder,” 14–15.
no physical evidence . . . Hall trial transcript at 36.
Get one . . . Find one . . . Find one now . . . Ibid., 562, 567.
“Trolling or cruising activity . . .” Norris, Serial Killers, 233.
Seen several singles . . . Hall trial transcript at 567.
The notes instruct him to find a plate . . . Ibid.
He must always remember . . . Ibid., 579.
Take 300 to 500 [Bradford Pike] east into Jay Line . . . Ibid., 562.
Take out east wilderness . . . Ibid., 567.
His directions repeatedly refer to the “Jay Line” . . . DeLorme, Indiana Atlas & Gazetteer, 27, 34.
Things to have done for trips . . . Hall trial transcript at 579.
He includes the following on one list . . . Ibid.
Next to another reminder about covering the rear of the van . . . Ibid., 562.
Now, I know it’s hard . . . Ibid.
Here, too, a Marsh supermarket is a few blocks . . . Ibid., 569.
The early-evening walkers . . . Ibid., 562.
Ready end of February? . . . Ibid., 567.
Some of the evidence was as explicit . . . Michael Bayer, “Evidence could tie area man to slayings,” Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, December 14, 1994.
Within days after Hall’s extradition . . . Cathy Kightlinger, “Probe of Wabash man continues,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, November 19, 1994.
Two weeks later, the same group . . . Cathy Kightlinger, “Wabash man may face Illinois grand jury,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, December 13, 1994.
By the end of December, a federal grand jury in Illinois . . . Bryan, “Hall indicted in kidnapping.”
word . . . finally reached a crescendo . . . Associated Press, “Report: Hall linked to 20 murders,” Wabash Plain Dealer, January 21, 1995.
By the state line with Illinois . . . Katherine Skiba, “Serial killing suspect wrote about Depies,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 20, 1995.
Two miles from where Tricia Reitler . . . Stacey Lane Grosh, “Some missing persons cases linger for years,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, March 29, 1998.
The third cluster was in central Wisconsin . . . Skiba, “Serial killing suspect.”
Looking back on those heady days . . . Levin, Miller interview.
7. America’s Most Wanted
Keene peered up at the window . . . According to the Springfield News-Leader, Gotti was transferred from the Super Max in Marion, Illinois, to Springfield for his diagnosis of cancer in 1996 and then again for surgery on September 13, 1998. “Medical Center Housing Mob Boss: John Gotti’s Health Is Being Evaluated During Incarceration in Springfield,” Springfield News-Leader, December 27, 1996; Rick Veach, “John Gotti in Center for Throat Surgery,” Springfield News-Leader, September 24, 1998; “Elusive Don Left ‘Family’ in Ruins,” Springfield News-Leader, June 11, 2002.
As Keene later learned, “that thing” was surgery for cancer . . . Selwyn Raab, “John Gotti Dies in Prison at 61; Mafia Boss Relished the Spotlight,” New York Times, June 11, 2002, New York edition, sec. A.
What Jimmy never knew . . . Selwyn Raab, “With Gotti Away, the Genoveses Succeed the Leaderless Gambinos,” New York Times, September 3, 1995.
where they kept the most unmanageable psychiatric prisoners . . . Westermann, “10 Building.”
8. Innocence
Through most of Gary Miller’s career . . . Levin, Miller interview.
Emboldened by his attorney . . . Gannett News Service, “Hall: FBI framing me,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, February 4, 1995.
Between Hall’s remarks to reporters and motions filed by DeArmond . . . Robert Bryan, “Hall’s lawyer plans alibi defense,” Wabash Plain Dealer, January 31, 1995.
Miller had no doubt who really orchestrated the interviews . . . Levin, Miller interview.
As the Hall family went around town enlisting witnesses . . . Levin, Davis interview.
When Garry Reitler thinks about his daughter Tricia . . . Hillel Levin, Garry and Donna Reitler interview, August 2008.
She stood out on the conservative Christian campus . . . Tammy Kingery, “Friends remember Tricia,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, March 30, 1994.
A bubbly free spirit, she could take two aerobics classes . . . Linda Renken, “Missing student’s friends still waiting,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, July 4, 1993.
According to a journal entry . . . Tammy Kingery, “A Test of Faith,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, March 29, 1994.
Her freshman year at IWU had been tough on Garry, too . . . Levin, Reitler interview.
Tricia had entered IWU as a psychology major . . . Hillel Levin, Donna Reitler interview, October 2009.
She returned to memories of her family in an essay . . . David Nelson, “Missing student makes university nervous, worried,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 2, 1993.
Two weeks after she submitted her e
ssay . . . Levin, Donna Reitler interview.
By the time Donna and Garry reached IWU on Wednesday . . . Nelson, “Missing student makes university nervous”; David Nelson, “IWU in state of vigil until Reitler returns,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 3, 1993.
Earlier that morning, they had discovered the clothes . . . Linda Renken, “Woman last seen near Reliable Drug store,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 4, 1993.
Although it was not initially reported . . . Kingery, “A Test of Faith.”
In all the horror of this information . . . Ibid.
If there was any comfort in the midst of the Reitlers’ nightmare . . . Cindy Losure, “Search team looking for volunteers,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 3, 1993.
A literally iconic poster . . . Susan Schramm, “Skull found in Marion isn’t of missing student,” Indianapolis Star, March 25, 1994.
As much as the town focused on the missing girl . . . Linda Renken, “Law officers keep noses to grindstone to find missing girl,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 6, 1993.
But the first night in Marion, Donna and Garry also remember . . . Levin, Reitler interview.
They did the best they could to be helpful . . . Linda Renken, “Few clues turn up in search for student,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 5, 1993.
The Reitlers tried to rally the search parties . . . Levin, Reitler interview.
A week after they arrived in Marion . . . Linda Renken, “Missing IWU student’s parents return to Ohio,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 7, 1994.
They had left him and his two older sisters . . . Levin, Reitler interview.
there would be more massive search parties of hundreds . . . Traci Miller, “150 seek clues in disappearance,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 18, 1993.
Two weeks after her disappearance . . . Tammy Kingery, “Parents say hope fading,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 11, 1993.
Still, for the Reitlers, the mission could never be complete . . . Jennifer Hamilton, “ ‘I want a place to put flowers,’ ” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, March 29, 1997.
A few weeks later they even took to the national airwaves . . . Tammy Kingery, “Reitlers to tell their difficult story on TV,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, May 25, 1993.
It would start eight months after her disappearance . . . “Marion police interested in body,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, November 10, 1993.
A few tantalizing days would pass . . . “Found body not Reitler’s,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, November 11, 1993.
The next year, more heartbreak followed . . . “Skull not Reitler’s, police say,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, March 25, 1994.
Each time a call came . . . Levin, Reitler interview.
In retrospect, the most important development . . . “Police won’t connect Reitler with La Porte case,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, April 29, 1993.
common to many victims of serial murder . . . Richard N. Kocsis, Serial Murder and the Psychology of Violent Crimes, 1st ed. (Humana Press, 2007), 125.
The local newspapers were quick to see a possible connection . . . “Police won’t connect,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune.
From the start no one became more closely associated . . . Caryn Shinske, “Probe never far from Kay’s mind,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, March 29, 1996.
“I can’t even tell you my feelings for Jay” . . . Associated Press, “Family losing hope in search for missing college student,” Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, March 30, 1997.
Posters of Tricia, aerial photographs of the campus, and diagrams . . . Shinske, “Probe never far.”
Unlike most local detectives, Kay reached . . . “Police won’t connect,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune.
In Rison’s case, the most obvious target for investigation . . . Scott Squires, “Waiting for Justice,” The La Porte County Herald-Argus, April 4, 2008.
In Marion, detectives were convinced that they already had the culprit . . . Cairns, “Reitler Riddle.”
copper secretions in the liver of a corpse . . . Tung-Pi Chou and William H. Adolph, “Copper metabolism in man,” Biochemical Journal 29, no. 2 (February 1935): 476–79.
But for Marion police, nothing about Searcy . . . Craig Cairns, “Searcy: One man under suspicion,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, May 28, 1995.
On the one-year anniversary of Tricia’s disappearance . . . Kingery, “A Test of Faith.”
That afternoon, in the neighboring town of Gas City . . . Hall: Motion to Suppress, 4–9.
Detective Bruce Bender took the call . . . Hall trial transcript at 838.
He had been assigned to the Reitler case . . . Hall: Motion to Suppress, 280.
Bender called Kay at home . . . Ibid., 61.
Hall would later charge that Pence’s commanding officer . . . Hall trial transcript at 1020.
While a few Gas City officers guarded Larry . . . Hall: Motion to Suppress, 40–49.
Just as alarming was a newspaper story . . . Ibid., 67.
By this time, Gas City police headquarters had completed a check . . . Ibid., 10–13.
After Patrolman Pence issued the ticket . . . Ibid., 839.
Kay stayed behind to sort through the items . . . Ibid., 51.
Larry Hall remained in the custody of the Marion police detectives . . . Hall trial transcript at 1038.
He spent much of the time with Bender . . . Ibid., 1028–35.
Instead of booking Hall or even holding him . . . Ibid., 1038.
Marion PD’s quick dismissal of Hall’s confession . . . Miller, “Hall’s parents.”
In his eyes the memorabilia about Reitler . . . Hall: Motion to Suppress, 275.
“Marion PD was never going to let Hall become the suspect” . . . Levin, confidential interview.
Deputy Sheriff Gary Miller admits that serial killers are the UFOs . . . Levin, Miller interview.
In their defense, the Marion detectives were not the only ones . . . Hall: Motion to Suppress, 272.
But the next time Marion detectives heard from Amones . . . Ibid., 226.
the Marion detectives picked up Hall from the Wabash police station . . . Ibid., 246–49.
When they deposited him at the Grant County jail in Marion . . . Ibid., 274–77.
Although Lieutenant Kay continued to call Searcy the “prime suspect” . . . Cathy Kightlinger, “Officials look for Reitler,” Marion Chronicle-Tribune, July 1, 1995.
Other Marion officers working on the investigation . . . Cairns, “Reitler Riddle.”
For example, he refers to the Marsh supermarket . . . Hall trial transcript at 569.
But most telling is an entry . . . Ibid., 571.
Just as intriguing are the final lines . . . Ibid.
Many different roads in the area . . . Google Maps lists a Frances Slocum Trail, an Old Slocum Trail, and a Slocum Boulevard—all with directional variants. Google Maps, http://maps.google.com/.
Elsewhere in the notes he reminds himself . . . Hall trial transcript at 567.
two young women recognized Hall and came forward to testify . . . Ibid., 130–33.
a guard soon spotted the van as well . . . Ibid., 143–44.
For Beaumont and his investigators . . . Levin, Beaumont interview.
When looking back at how the law enforcement agencies . . . Levin, Miller interview.
When he produced a list of the defendant’s witnesses . . . Hall trial transcript index.
On May 23, 1995, when the curtain lifted . . . Ibid., 18.
John O’Brien, then a seasoned court reporter . . . Hillel Levin, John O’Brien interview, December 2007.
First he established how Jessica suddenly disappeared . . . Hall trial transcript, 37–79.
Beaumont next presented eleven witnesses . . . Ibid., 129–42, 253–311, 322–33.
discovered, jurors learned, by a farmer . . . Ibid., 338.
He was followed to the stand by a parade of forensic experts . . . Ibid., 341–84.
To place Hall in the area at the time of Jessica’s disappearance .
. . Ibid., 522–52.
Monte Cox, a gas station attendant returning from a late shift . . . Ibid., 612–15.
he waited two months before he called Crime Stoppers . . . Ibid., 614–15.
his vague memories of both Hall and his van . . . Ibid., 622–31.
The two government witnesses who spent the most time on the stand . . . Ibid., 82–92, 171–82, 389–416.
Beaumont’s case culminated with . . . Ibid., 561–79, 592–94, 599–603.
“You may not like Larry Hall,” he told the jurors . . . Ibid., 26.
As he explained, “[My client] suffers from a number . . . Ibid., 29.
As DeArmond admitted, it was hard to understand . . . Ibid., 28.
his most persuasive argument pointed out what the prosecution lacked . . . Ibid., 36.
Leading off these witnesses was a stooped Robert Hall . . . Ibid., 747–53.
He was followed by Larry’s twin, Gary Hall . . . Ibid., 785–87.
Beaumont reviewed the answers Gary had given FBI agent Temples . . . Ibid., 796.
For those who knew the Hall family history . . . Ibid., 853–54.
But some of the other friends who testified . . . Ibid., 769, 828.
The alibi was shredded even further by shop owners . . . Ibid., 1220, 1223.
Ross Davis, who produced a shipping receipt to prove . . . Ibid., 1245.
But as Beaumont pointed out, no newspaper reported on strangulation . . . Ibid., 1343–44.
As DeArmond pointed out, the day after the deputy sheriff’s first interview . . . Ibid., 33–34.
Indeed, he didn’t even question the first line of the statement . . . Ibid., 176.
Eventually, the cross-examination tried even the patience of the judge . . . Ibid., 471.
Having observed DeArmond so often in the past . . . Ibid.
DeArmond planned to build much of his coercion argument around the testimony of Richard Ofshe . . . Ibid., 912–13.
But Ofshe never personally interviewed Hall . . . Ibid., 918.
But in a hearing outside the presence of the jury . . . Ibid., 928.
Judge Baker then dismissed Ofshe . . . Ibid.
In contrast to the defense testimony that he had a “low-average” IQ . . . Ibid., 1178.