Hometown Killer
Page 8
Graeber: Did you guys already kill the girls when you cut her clothes?
John: Huh-uh.
Graeber: Was she still alive when you cut her clothes?
John: Yes. I didn’t . . . I didn’t cut the girls. What I mean . . . I wouldn’t harm the girl like that. Okay, I did cut her pants. Cut it like this. Straight down. Across here. I was careful around that girl’s—around her stomach. I didn’t want to cut those.
Moody: Did you cut her a little?
John: I did it on accident.
Moody: What did you do with the panties?
John (giving several conflicting answers): Me and Jamie left those laying there. Me and Jamie throwed those away. They’re laying up there still. Probably in my house—in my bedroom—in my drawer . . .
Moody: What did you guys throw away?
John: Her clothes. Me and Jamie kept some of it. Just those panties.
Graeber: Okay, now this is a big question, okay. Now I want you to give me a straight answer, okay? Was it the girl you had sex with the first time or the second time, when you made this statement: “Kill the tramp”?
John: I didn’t call those “tramp.” I didn’t call her no names.
Graeber: But you just said, “Kill her.” Who were you talking to?
John: I was talking to my own self.
Graeber: When you said, “Kill her” . . . What did Jamie do?
John: Jamie did it.
Graeber: You told Jamie to kill the girl, right?
John: Yeah. I walked away. I said, “Jamie, I ain’t hurting those.” I said, “I’m too drunk to do anything, hurt any girls.”
Graeber: Hey, John, you’re wandering again, buddy. That’s not the way that happened, was it?
John: I know that I was drinking that night. I wish . . . I wish it never happened. They wasn’t dead when I left, sir.
Moody: Yes, they were. What did you do?
John: Cover those up—me and Jamie did—a bunch of wood. That other guy killed that other girl—with a board. Will I have to stay down here tonight? I was wanting to go home. I’ll lose my job.
After a break John told the detectives: “They said, ’Please don’t hurt me.’ I said, ‘I won’t.’ They was alive. That what I can’t get—me and Jamie didn’t kill those. I don’t know how they was dead back there.”
Moody: John, were they dead when you left them there?
John: Huh-uh.
Moody: Were they talking?
John: Yeah. That one girl was.
Moody: You know they were both dead when you left them there. Don’t you?
John: I thought they was alive. They was—dead. Me and Jamie only hit those once [with] our hands. The other guy, he did it with a pipe. Me and Jamie didn’t want to hurt those, didn’t want to kill those.
Moody: But you did, didn’t you?
John: Yeah.
Graeber: Who all went back in there to throw that stuff in the Lion’s Cage?
John: Me, Jamie and that other boy.
Graeber: Where’s the bike at now?
John: Should be in water still. That all I know. Down where the ladder was at.
Moody: Who threw it down there, John?
John: I did.
Graeber: Why did you throw the shorts down in the water?
John: I just thought if I did it—me and Jamie stays out of trouble. I knowed sooner or later me and Jamie would got caught. All I took was those underwear.
Moody: Who took those rocks away from there?
John: What rocks?
Moody: The pretty rocks.
John: I didn’t. I don’t know nothing about pretty rocks.
Moody: There’s no pretty rocks at your house?
John: No. I didn’t take those. Jamie and that other boy . . . that other boy got those. In his—in his garage.
Graeber: Did you tell your mom you killed those girls?
John: No. And I didn’t use my knife on those.
Moody: You used your knife to cut the pants?
John: Yeah . . . I didn’t cut nothing else.
Graeber: Yes, you did. You cut a pair of underwear, didn’t you?
John: No, I didn’t. I am sure. I didn’t cut no underwear.
Moody: What were the girls’ names, John?
John: I don’t know.
Moody: Do you care?
John: I care. I don’t know their names.
Moody: Are you sorry for what you did, John? Are you sorry for raping and killing those girls?
John: See, when I come down, I said I didn’t do it.
Moody: But you lied to us, didn’t you?
John (denying everything he had just told them): I know that I didn’t do it. I was at home at ten.
Moody: Are you telling us now that you didn’t kill them?
John: I wasn’t down there.
Moody: You’re telling us now you didn’t have sex with them?
John (agitated): I was never there! I didn’t hurt no one. And I didn’t kill those. I just . . . I just got . . . When I’m drinking, I don’t know what I’m doing. I was drinking today when I come down.
Moody: Are you sorry for what happened to those girls, John?
John (insisting angrily): I didn’t do it! I’m trying to tell you guys. Jamie and another boy . . . I wasn’t in that that time. I gave you guys my blood.
Moody: Are you mad at us now, like you got mad at those girls?
John: No, I’m getting tired of getting accused down here. If I didn’t do it!
Graeber: You were down there with the girls, the two little girls. . . .
John: No, I wasn’t!
Graeber: Two little girls died.
John: No, I wasn’t. I was at home at ten.
Graeber: Guess what, John? You could have been home at ten, okay?
John (his reasoning making no sense to anyone except him): And I didn’t do it. I didn’t hurt no one, Mooo-nee. If I’m going to hurt someone, why I didn’t hit my uncle today?
Graeber: We said you were down there at the time those girls died and you said you were and you helped cover them up and you had sex with them.
John: That all I did. I had sex with . . .
Graeber: The girls died.
John: Jamie hit . . .
Graeber: They’re dead.
John: With some pipes. . . .
Moody: The girls are dead.
Graeber: You hit them with a board.
John: I didn’t hit those with no boards. I didn’t hurt those. I sat right here in front of you and Mooo-nee and told my uncle. Why lie to my own uncle? I didn’t hurt those.
Graeber: But you were all messed up. Remember you and Jamie were drinking all day?
John: Yeah, and I didn’t go down. I went after my doughnuts and cookies for Robby and Willie.
Moody: Did you go down when the police were down there?
John: Yeah. I seen a bunch of cruisers.
Moody: Were you down there when we found the girls?
John: No, I wasn’t. I came down after I got off from working on Linden [Avenue].
(As they continued to talk, John became more and more agitated.)
Moody (finally): Let’s take a break. You need to calm down.
Graeber: Yeah, you do.
9
Now that it’s all over . . . they were actually pretty smart. . . . They were street-smart.
—Sergeant Barry Eggers
On Saturday afternoon, March 27, 1993, John Balser and David Marciszewski, accompanied by Joe Jackson, went to police headquarters and stated that they had more information on the homicides of Phree Morrow and Martha Leach. Barry Eggers and Al Graeber questioned John Balser again, in the presence of Jackson, after reading him his rights.
Balser didn’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation.
John: I want to get this behind me. I want to go back to work Monday.
Graeber: Who all was with you?
John: Me, Dave, and Jamie and Lloyd.
Graeber: What about
the other guy (Alex Boone) we already arrested?
John: I couldn’t see him. He stayed up in behind all that woods. I remember, when I turn around, someone did run. Lloyd stayed after that. Me, Jamie, and Dave all left together.
Essentially, it was the same interview they had had a few days earlier. John insisted that Lloyd was there and admitted that he didn’t like Lloyd. And this time he implicated David Marciszewski. But, as in the earlier interview, the “who, when, what, where, and how” kept changing.
John also insisted throughout the questioning that he tried to help Phree. Even though in the earlier interview he said he didn’t know the girls’ names, he now knew which one was which.
“I tried help Phree to live. Me and Jamie tried. I grabbed Lloyd and pulled Lloyd back off of Phree,” Balser revealed.
He claimed that Phree told him to go find her dad: “I said, ‘Phree, hang with me. . . . Tell me what you can. Tell me where your dad live at.’ I couldn’t get no address—nothing. I did hit her. I didn’t have sex with her. I tried. . . . I didn’t mean to hit Phree. I tried to hit Lloyd, get Lloyd off of her. Instead, Lloyd moved and I hit Phree. That made me mad. I said, ‘Damn it, I didn’t want to hit you, Phree. I wish you moved so I would hit him instead of you.’ I hit Phree with a two-by-four. I didn’t rape those.”
Graeber: Who did?
John: Lloyd Tyler.
Graeber: Who had sex with the girls, John? Serious. Now the truth—no bullshit—the truth. Who had sex with the girls?
John: Boone.
Eggers: Either you or Dave had sex with those girls. John: It wasn’t me.
Eggers: So it was Dave?
John: Yeah, it wasn’t me. I’m telling you the truth.
Eggers (unwavering): We’re telling you when the blood comes back, we’re going to know.
The detectives moved John to Lieutenant Schrader’s office so they could bring David into the interrogation room. Barry Eggers was joined by Steve Moody to interview Marciszewski, and David’s rights were read to him.
Moody: Before when I asked you about getting blood from you, you told me we could have it. Is that still . . . ?
David: Yeah.
Moody: We can still get your blood?
David: Yeah, you sure can.
(According to David’s statement, he, John, and Jamie walked to the bakery that evening. John and David went into the bakery, and when they came out, Jamie was gone.)
David: John and I was starting to walk home from the bakery. We heard screams, about three or four times. And we went back there . . . and that’s when we seen Alex. We seen Alex there and we seen Lloyd there. Jamie was there too. They was raping the girls and beating them with the board. John tried to grab the board and, uh, Lloyd came back and tried to swing at John. And I hit Lloyd. Either Alex or Lloyd—one of them . . . and, uh, we was trying to help the girls. I’m not lying to you. I’m telling you the truth. Lloyd had the board in his hand. They was—all three of them was raping them.
Moody: We know that only one person had sex with those girls.
David: I didn’t touch them.
Moody (very firmly): Who did? You know because you were there and you watched it. And you helped destroy the evidence. Didn’t you? You may not have killed them, but you’ve got problems. You know you’re going to be in trouble for destroying evidence, don’t you? Yes or no?
David (softly): Yes—I didn’t touch the panties.
Moody: You know who had sex with them and you watched it. So why don’t you tell us. As soon as the blood comes back, we’re going to know for sure who it was. Then we’re going to know you lied to us. Who had sex with them, David?
David: John. I don’t know about both, but I know he had the one. I think it was the dark-haired girl. She was trying to fight.
Moody: What’s the other girl doing?
David (barely audible): Trying to help her friend.
Moody: You grabbed ahold of her, didn’t you?
David: I did; I did grab the other girl, you know, not thinking. I don’t know why I grabbed her. I was trying to, uh, trying to stop her from helping her friend. Just grabbed her, I didn’t hit her. She is screaming.
Moody: You want her to shut up, right? Somebody’s going to hear her, right?
David: I didn’t hit her.
Moody: What did you do to stop her screaming, David?
David: Tried to put my hand over her mouth.
Moody: Did that work?
David: No. She started screaming again.
Eggers: How did you finally shut her up? You want to feel better? You’ve got to tell us then. What did you do to shut her up? She’s screaming, you’re scared, right? You’ve got to shut her up—now what did you do?
David: Okay. I did hit her. I did hit her with my hand, that’s all (crying). . . . I guess the board made her quit screaming.
Eggers: The board that you hit her with?
David: Yes.
Eggers: Did she shut up then?
David: Yeah.
Eggers: Did she fall to the ground?
David: Yes. I didn’t have sex with her. I didn’t touch her. Just took her pants and panties off.
Moody: You kept them (the panties), didn’t you? David?
David: Yes.
(Later he denied taking the panties. He also admitted to “having sex” with one of the girls, but would only say that he “played with her” with his fingers. He denied putting his penis in her.)
Eggers: How did you lay them?
David: Facedown.
Eggers: Which part of their body was closest to the water, David?
David: I’d say their feet.
Eggers: Were their shoes on?
David: No.
Eggers: What part of their clothes was on?
David: Their blouse.
Moody: Who else was there? Anybody else? You’re lying about Lloyd, aren’t you? Because you guys don’t like Lloyd, do you? Was Lloyd there?
David: No.
Moody: Who all was down there with you guys? Name names.
David: Me, Jamie, Alex, and John.
(He told them that Jamie fell in the pond.)
About a half an hour after Detective Eggers and Sergeant Moody started questioning Marciszewski, Detective Graeber went into Lieutenant Schrader’s office so he and the lieutenant could continue questioning John Balser.
Detective Graeber picked up the interrogation where he had left off earlier.
Graeber: Okay, but you hit her with a board?
John (admitting innocently): Yeah, on accident. I was trying to help Phree get loose of that rock. I couldn’t get that rock loose. I didn’t hit her hard. Then when I tried [to] get that rock off, I use that board to get that rock loose.
Schrader: Dave’s telling the truth. He’s telling the truth and it isn’t like what you’re saying.
Graeber: John’s coming around to it, aren’t you?
Schrader: Is he getting closer to what Dave’s saying?
Graeber: Yeah, he’s getting closer.
Schrader (to Graeber): Did you find out who made the date with them before they went up there?
Graeber: He hasn’t got into that yet.
John: Wasn’t no date supposed to be set. Jamie said he got a couple friends going up there. Jamie knowed those. I knowed Phree longer than Jamie did. Phree lived next door to me. (Phree and John had been neighbors years earlier—not at the time of the murders.)
Schrader: Okay, so Jamie told you that those girls were going to be up there? How did he know that?
John (sounding bewildered): I don’t know. That what I can’t figure out to this day. I don’t really know how in the world he knowed.
Graeber: What all did you take over to the Lion’s Cage?
John: Someone took a big brick. When it all got out of control . . . None of us started about keeping nothing.
Schrader: Except the pants.