Hometown Killer

by Carol Rothgeb

  Sergeant Moody explained that Marciszewski showed visible signs that something was bothering him and that the detectives had already obtained information about his involvement in the murders of Phree Morrow and Martha Leach.

  Doughty: How do you know God is not going to forgive him?

  Moody: This is just something said to appeal to his moral sense of decency.

  (Doughty pointed out that when the detectives questioned David, they told him that there were security cameras outside near the crime scene, and that this was a lie. Sergeant Moody replied that it was a ploy used as an interrogation technique.)

  Doughty: Are all confessions similar to this one?

  Moody: No.

  Doughty: What did you mean when you told Marciszewski that police officers were “God’s angels” on earth?

  Moody: I don’t take myself literally as an angel. I was trying to get across that we’re duty bound to protect.

  Doughty: Do you tell everyone that police are “God’s angels”?

  Moody: No.

  (Sergeant Moody explained that he didn’t learn this at any seminar and that each officer develops an individual style.)

  Doughty: You had him admit to everything you asked him.

  Moody: He made statements about the murders containing information that only someone at the crime scene would have known.

  (When asked about Marciszewski’s mental capacities, Moody replied: He appeared “street-smart.” If he didn’t understand, he’d ask.)

  On the third day of the hearing, Dr. Erhard Eimer, a professor of psychology at Wittenberg University, testified that fear and coercion were used by the detectives in the interrogation of David Marciszewski. He said that the combination affected Marciszewski’s statements. He claimed that when the detectives told David that he would “burn in hell” if he didn’t cooperate and that he was going to “fry,” it amounted to “spiritual coercion.”

  Dr. Eimer, who had interviewed Marciszewski, said that David had an IQ of 74. Therefore, David interpreted the detectives’ comments literally, and some of their statements would be considered physical threats. Eimer went on to say that the confession was not an exercise in free will and that Marciszewski would give answers he thought were expected of him.

  Dr. Eimer also told Judge Geyer that psychological tests indicated that Marciszewski had very little moral standards and that he had to rely on his environment and the people around him to know what was acceptable: “It is very important for him to gain the approval of others.”

  Very early on the morning of August 16, 1994, there was a horrible fire at a house on Miller Street. A four-year-old boy named Avery Bailum died from smoke inhalation.

  His mother’s boyfriend, Donald Mosier*, had tried to go down the stairs, but the lower floor was engulfed in flames. Desperate, he gathered the large family at a second-floor window; there he jumped out first and, along with neighbors, caught four of Me-Chelle Bailum’s children as she dropped them, saving their lives.

  But when Me-Chelle turned to pick up Avery, he ran away from the window into the burning house. She searched frantically but could not find him in the smoke-filled rooms. When her own clothing caught on fire, she finally jumped out the window.

  Me-Chelle’s mother lived on the other side of the large double house, and after she made it safely out of the burning building and realized the horror of what was happening, she grabbed a garden hose with the intention of going in to save her young grandson. The firefighters, who arrived within minutes of the alarm, would not allow her to enter the house.

  Avery’s body was later found under the bed in his bedroom, where he apparently had gone to hide.

  It was determined that a large amount of gasoline had been poured onto the front porch and ignited.

  On October 31, 1994, John Balser went to police headquarters and talked to Detectives Eggers and Graeber again. During the course of another long, rambling statement, he gave them at least three more names of men who were supposedly at the crime scene the night Phree and Martha were murdered. More DNA testing followed.

  As it turned out, a decision never had to be made concerning the suppression of David Marciszewski’s statements to the detectives or about his competency. In November 1994 David Marciszewski agreed to testify before the grand jury and to assist in the investigation as part of a plea agreement.

  He pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated murder. Prosecutor Stephen Schumaker dismissed four counts of aggravated murder, two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of tampering with evidence, two counts of abuse of a corpse, and one count of felonious sexual penetration.

  According to the agreement, common pleas judge Douglas Geyer sentenced Marciszewski to life in prison, with a chance for parole no sooner than 2014. He was spared the possibility of facing the death penalty.

  The plea agreement was signed in Judge Geyer’s courtroom on November 7, 1994.

  The next morning, Sergeant Moody and Detective Graeber interviewed Robby Detwiler again.

  Robby told them again about staying at Wanda’s house the weekend of August 22 and 23, 1992. He said that he, John Balser, David and Wanda Marciszewski, and Willie were at a house on Linden Avenue painting earlier in the day on Saturday, August 22. Then Wanda left for work. The rest of them went to Wanda’s house on Light Street.

  Frank Fisher came over and the three of them were in the basement drinking beer. Later in the day, everyone else left and he and Willie were there by themselves for about four hours.

  Moody: So, who’s the next person to come home?

  Robby: Wanda—asked where Dave and them was. She just sat down and then when they came back . . . Dave, John, and I don’t know the other guy. Like kind of tall, like blond hair, maybe—dirty blond. She asked them where they was and John told her to come with him. She told me to come on.

  Moody: Where was Willie?

  Robby: The front room.

  Moody: Okay, but he didn’t go?

  Robby: Huh-uh.

  Moody: And how did you leave there? What were you in?

  Robby: Car. Kind of an old one—I don’t know—the color was like off-red maybe.

  Moody: Who was driving it?

  Robby: A guy. I don’t know who it was.

  Moody: Who’s in the car?

  Robby: Jamie. Me, Dave, John, and Wanda.

  Moody: And this guy?

  Robby: Yeah.

  Moody: Nobody else is in the car?

  Robby: Boone.

  Moody: Who’s driving the car, Robby?

  Robby: I don’t know. I don’t know him.

  Moody: Do you know him or you just don’t want to tell us?

  Robby: I don’t know him. When we got out of the car, John went over to the girl. Everybody else was standing, and he was saying . . . yelling about something . . . Phree . . . Wanda goes over there. . . . (Robby speaks haltingly.)

  Moody (coaxing): Just let it go, Robby. Just tell us what happened.

  Graeber: Wanda goes over there and what?

  Robby: She checks her pulse. She comes back. And she looked at John and told him to kill them. She said, “Kill them.”

  Moody: What did Wanda tell you, Robby?

  Robby: That if I ever told anybody, they’d kill me.

  Graeber: Had you ever seen that guy before? First time you’d ever seen him?

  Robby: Uh-huh.

  Moody: Have you seen him since then? I mean, this guy comes into your life for an hour, you know, two years ago and you’ve never seen him again?

  Robby: Uh . . .

  Moody: Don’t make something up.

  Graeber (reassuringly): If you know who it is, it isn’t going to hurt you. No one’s going to hurt you.

  Moody: Robby, I tried to tell you, buddy, this is over with and the only way it’s over with is if you tell the whole truth. So if you lie to us about something now, you’re not relieving yourself of it, okay. You’re not helping yourself forget about this. You’re not putting it behind you. So you n
eed to be honest with us about what went on down there at the scene and who this other guy was, if there was another guy. You need to tell us the truth. Now, some of this stuff I know that you’re telling is the truth. Other stuff I know that you’re not. You got to tell it all. I mean that’s just—

  Robby: Can I use the bathroom? Skip . . . I don’t know the name. I think that’s what they call him.

  Moody: How do you feel about all this? How do you feel about these girls?

  Robby (hanging his head): I feel like I should have done something.

  Moody: Well, and that’s exactly right. But look at me . . . how old were you?

  Robby: Fourteen.

  Moody: Okay. What are you going to be able to do?

  Robby: Pick something up and hit them.

  Moody: All of them? Are you going to be able to take them all out?

  Robby (softly): Should have tried.

  Moody: What do you think would have happened to you if you would have tried to beat them off?

  Robby: Got killed.

  Moody: Did you help cover them up?

  Robby: Yeah. Leaves . . .

  Graeber: Which one of these girls did you help carry over there?

  Robby: The blonde—John helped me.

  Graeber: Who carried the dark-haired girl over?

  Robby: Wanda and Dave.

  Moody: So you tell me who this other guy is.

  Robby: I don’t know his name.

  Moody: Robby . . .

  Robby (insisting): I don’t know his name.

  Moody: Well, let me point something out to you here, okay. When we first started out here—you didn’t have anything to do with this. You didn’t even go down there. But we all know now that wasn’t true. And when we first started out here, you didn’t have anything to do with covering the girls up. And now we know that you had something to do with that too. But you’re not responsible for this because you’re a juvenile. Do you hear what I’m saying?

  Robby: Yeah.

  Moody: You’re just a kid. And before—you didn’t even touch the girls. So, now you’re helping John carry one of the—the blonde over. And you’re there helping them cover them up. Okay, and then you’re telling us that you didn’t have anything to do with all this stuff, but now you’re trying to get rid of—how you feel. Right?

  Robby: Uh-huh.

  Moody: Okay, and then you’re telling me now you don’t know who drove you down there. Now I want to tell you something. You know how we know you’re telling the truth about Wanda being there? Because someone heard her scream. And someone saw that red car driving away from there. Now you can’t tell me that you don’t know who was driving that car. I don’t want you to lie anymore. You need to let it go. There is no one that is going to hurt you. We are not going to let anyone hurt you. Carrying this around inside of you, Robby, has wrecked you. We can see it physically on you over the last two years. I told you that. We can see how it’s affected you. You don’t even hang with Willie that much, do you?

  Robby: No.

  Moody: Well, it’s time to let go of this. You have admitted what’s going on here, Robby. You couldn’t control it. You’ve got to let it go. There was nothing you could do for those girls. If you had tried to do something, you’d have been there right beside them. You know that and I know it. And these people are supposed to be your friends? You knew in your heart that they’d kill you just as quick as they could if they thought that you’d betrayed them.

  Robby: Uh-huh.

  Moody: Well, those days are gone, Robby. Dave understands it. He’s gone. You don’t have to worry about him. But Dave was never really a threat to you, was he?

  Robby: No.

  Moody: Okay, who is? Who are you scared of the most? Or are you scared of anybody right now?

  Robby (with more bravado than he actually felt): I ain’t scared of them.

  Graeber: Who worries you the most, Robby?

  Robby: The guy that was driving. Everybody said he’s mean.

  Moody: Who was driving the car?

  Robby: I don’t know his name. I’ve seen him a couple times. Wanda’s . . .

  Moody: And this was after everything happened?

  Robby: Yeah.

  Moody: When was the last time you saw this guy, Robby?

  Robby: A pretty long time ago.

  Moody: Did he ever threaten you?

  Robby: Huh-uh.

  Moody: Well, then, what are you afraid of him for?

  Robby: I ain’t.

  Moody: Who are you afraid of?

  Robby: John.

  Moody: Are you afraid of Wanda?

  Robby: Not really.

  Moody: She threatened you anymore?

  Robby: Not since it happened.

  Moody (slightly annoyed): Robby, you can’t lie to us about things now, do you understand me? I’ve tried to tell you. I don’t know what else to do. If you’re making this guy up, you’ve got to . . . You know what I’m saying. Are you telling us the truth?

  Robby: No.

  Moody: What? What aren’t you telling us the truth about? Right now, let’s get it over with.

  Robby: About the guy. Weren’t never there.

  Moody: So why would you make that up?

  Graeber: You’re protecting someone, aren’t you?

  Robby: Boone. I’m afraid of Boone.

  (Robby changed his story and insisted, repeatedly, to the frustrated detectives that Alex Boone was the one driving the car.)

  Moody: Did they ever talk about getting rid of evidence in front of you? John or Dave?

  Robby: No, but they made us move boards—into that hole—over by the house. Made us throw boards and stuff away.

  Graeber: Was there any blood on them?

  Robby: Yeah. I mean you couldn’t tell it was blood. It was stained.

  Graeber: What else did you throw down in the hole?

  Robby: Sack. Wanda went and got it for us. Told us to throw it down there.

  Graeber: Who brought the sack home?

  Robby: Dave had it in his hand.

  Moody: What was in it? Robby, what was in it?

  Robby (whispering): Girls’ panties.

  Graeber: Did you see them?

  Robby: No, but that’s what Dave said was in it.

  Graeber: What kind of stories did Wanda and John tell you to tell us?

  Robby: To tell you that I don’t know nothing.

  Sergeant Moody and Detective Graeber interviewed Wanda Marciszewski that afternoon. Al Graeber dreamed of the day they would be able to put handcuffs on her and take her to jail.

  Moody: Well, I want you to understand something. David has testified in front of the grand jury. He has testified to the truth of what happened down there. Do you understand that?

  Wanda: Yeah.

  Moody: That’s why he pled guilty to two counts of murder and that’s why he’s going for the rest of his life.

  Wanda: Yeah.

  Moody: Okay, so when you got down there and you saw what they had done and you checked their pulse and found out that they were still alive—I want to know why . . .

  Wanda: That I didn’t go for help.

  Moody: No, I want to know why you said, “You’ve got to kill them.”

  Wanda: I did not say that.

  Moody: Well, I’m going to explain something to you. Mr. Marciszewski testified to the grand jury, and other people that were there have told us that you said that.

  Wanda: No, I did not say that. That is a lie.

  Moody (keeping sarcasm out of his voice, barely): Oh, is it? And I want to tell you something, Wanda. You haven’t lied to us at all, have you?

  Wanda: I know some of it I have told you fibs on. Everything I have told you today is the God’s truth. I mean . . . I wish to God . . .

  Graeber: We’ve got four people that have testified that you told them to kill the girls and clean the area up.

  Wanda: I did not tell them guys to kill the girls. I would never tell anybody to hurt any kids because I lo
ve kids myself.

  Moody: You love your son, don’t you?

  Wanda: I love my son. I love any kid.

  Moody (trying to reason with her): This is your baby. This is somebody you’ve tried to raise, tried to raise right, tried to do the best job you can under the hardest circumstances. People have made fun of him. Made life hard for him. Sometimes he gets angry; he’s hard to control, but you still love him. He’s still a part of you. And all you could think about, you know—not only are you going to lose your husband, but also you’re going to lose your son.