Cruel Death

by M. William Phelps

  Because of this, Arcky made it clear to Erika that if she came clean and was willing to cooperate, he could possibly cut her a deal.

  A sweet deal, at that.

  In turn, Joel Todd would probably want to use Erika as a witness in BJ’s potential trial, and if all went as expected, Erika wouldn’t face prosecution herself for the murders.

  Erika indicated that she understood clearly what Arcky was telling her.

  “As far as I’m concerned,” Arcky said later, “she understood.” Both Scott Bernal and Brett Case backed this up.

  What was strange was that Erika had negotiated a deal already with the state’s attorney through the detectives, before Arcky had even arrived. It was back on Friday night and early Saturday morning. She had made a promise to receive immunity from the burglary if she showed detectives where she and BJ had dumped the bodies. Why she tossed only the burglary on the table was the question no one could really answer.

  “Apparently,” Joel Todd said later, “she wanted to shoulder all the blame on Benjamin and get herself out of trouble completely. I recall when Detective Bernal came to me with her proposal, my response was ‘I’d gladly trade a burglary for a homicide.’ I’m like, ‘Give me some information about these murders and I’d be glad to drop the burglary charges.’”

  Why was Erika so concerned about receiving immunity from the burglary? A Hooters burglary was nothing compared to double-murder charges—the least of her problems, in other words. Apparently, Erika wasn’t worried about any potential murder charges. It was as if she didn’t think she needed to protect herself from those charges in any way whatsoever. And yet, after Arcky arrived and explained things differently, it was clear that she needed to rethink that earlier position.

  And then the idea came up that Erika had not given detectives the right information, anyway. So perhaps she did know what she was doing when she cut that earlier deal and then lied to police about where she and BJ had dumped the bodies.

  As would be the case in the coming days, it would be clear that it wasn’t what Erika had said to detectives that mattered most. It was, instead, what she hadn’t told them that was going to be of immediate concern.

  51

  Unfathomable

  Detective Scott Bernal had gone in to see Erika periodically throughout that weekend. His goal was to see if she wanted to talk. He had to keep making himself available. There was one time when he was interviewing Erika with Joel Todd and Arcky present and Erika said something that in Bernal’s almost twenty years of law enforcement he had never heard, and would most likely never hear again.

  “After he cut Geney’s head off,” Erika said of BJ, “he—he . . . he put her head up on the corner of the tub, like propped it up, and then he had intercourse with her corpse.”

  Bernal studied Erika while she told this horrific story, as she went into great detail. She also said that BJ needed a certain type of stimulation to get him excited, and this was it, she said, killing people and chopping them up.

  Bernal watched her body language as she told the story.

  “It was the same as when she had told me other things of which I knew to be truthful.”

  52

  Just Another Roll of the Dice

  Sitting with Erika, Arcky explained the situation in the simplest terms he could manage. From a legal perspective, two facts remained certain where it pertained to what he could do next: One, there was a double murder that somehow involved BJ and Erika. Two, Arcky had no idea, at this point, what the actual facts were surrounding those crimes. The truth of the matter was, Erika had told several different versions of one absolute: Geney and Joshua were dead, their body parts placed in two separate Dumpsters. Beyond those two knowns, there was a litany of unknowns.

  It wasn’t that Arcky didn’t trust his client; like the detectives and state’s attorney, he just didn’t know what was true and what was false. That said, BJ not saying anything was actually working to Erika’s advantage. Even after being briefed by his court-appointed attorney, BJ continued to be tight-lipped. Not a word. He wasn’t interested in making deals or sharing information with police. He opted to wait for his chance to speak in court.

  The other constant in this for Arcky, viewing the situation as a capital-crimes attorney, was the notion of how a double murder was going to play out in a court of law. In the state of Maryland, not all murders fall under the legalities for a potential death sentence. Mitigating factors involved in the crime rule. Murders that are subject to a prosecution involving the death penalty include deaths involving certain “aggravating conditions.” One of those includes the act of two people being murdered around the same criminal event. In other words, if somebody kidnaps a couple, holds them hostage, and, for whatever reason, murders the couple during that additional (kidnapping) crime, the murder charges would be subject to the death penalty if a jury voted for such punishment. Same as if a bank robber kills someone in the event of a heist.

  “Granted,” Arcky commented later, “all I know for sure at this point is that we have two people dead. I don’t know who did it. I know that Erika is certainly not admitting to it. But I know by then that she’s told the police that Benjamin kind of ‘freaked out’ and he was the one responsible for the murders.”

  But Arcky was skeptical. He didn’t feel that all the facts were being put on the table. All he could be certain of was that his client was somehow involved. Beyond that, he had to take Erika at her word and make decisions based on what she was telling him.

  Before talking to Joel Todd about a possible deal, Arcky considered that Erika needed to be protected from the possibility of a death sentence, should it later turn out that she was somehow held partly responsible for killing the couple. In order to be subject to the death penalty, beyond killing a police officer or committing a contract murder, the individual being prosecuted has to be the actual killer. If things turned out different from what Arcky had been told, he knew enough about the law to make a decision to protect his client from herself and/or her own stupidity. One other problem was that Erika had been arrested at Hooters with a gun in her possession, while spent bullet casings and one live round (from that same weapon) were located inside her purse, among other items belonging to the missing couple. More than that, a serrated knife with “fresh blood” and “human flesh” on its teeth was stuffed inside Erika’s front pocket. Her husband was telling the police, “Talk to my wife . . .” At best, it seemed as if the gun had been fired and the knife used. “By whom” could be the subject of argument later. But why was it in Erika’s possession if she hadn’t used it, or hadn’t planned on using it? Also, the gun matched the spent bullets with blood and tissue found on them inside the Sifrit condo during the OCPD’s search. In addition, why would Erika have a knife with human flesh and blood on its teeth tucked inside her left front pocket? There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that when the lab came back with its results, the human flesh and blood on that knife was going to match Joshua, Geney, or both.

  And then there was the necklace Erika was wearing: the OCPD had confirmed there was blood on a ring.

  Walking in to speak with Joel Todd, Arcky’s main objective was to negotiate a way to get the death penalty taken off the table, regardless of the outcome of the case later on. He needed to save Erika’s life first. The second condition he demanded was that life without parole be taken away, which would give Erika the opportunity to get out of jail one day, if everything in the case went against her.

  Nobody, save for Erika and BJ, knew what had happened inside that condo bathroom. In effect, Todd and Tuminelli were rolling the dice, Joel Todd maybe gambling a little more than his defense counterpart.

  53

  Midnight Special

  It was close to midnight when Joel Todd and Arcky Tuminelli sat down to discuss and hack out a deal for Erika. This closed-door, midnight meeting would be subject to raised eyebrows and questions in the days to come, especially from BJ’s camp. But it was, when all the facts later em
erged, quite legally appropriate—not to mention something competing attorneys did all the time.

  “If she gives you the information that would help you to find the bodies,” Tuminelli explained to Todd after exchanging pleasantries, “death and life without parole have to be taken off the table. Period! No matter what you find out later.”

  By now, the OCPD officers were confident that Erika had led Bernal and Case on a wild-goose chase when she took them around to various Dumpsters. Erika knew damn well where BJ had dumped those body parts.

  Joel Todd agreed, though apprehensively. According to both attorneys, Todd said, “That’s fine.”

  “Now, that will be in exchange for the information you want,” Tuminelli explained. “We also want Erika to be able to cooperate in any future litigation or trial against Benjamin. For that, we want a deal that she not be prosecuted for any count, any type of murder charge against either victim.”

  Todd looked unsettled by this. Was the guy crazy? It was a lot to demand—even more to agree to without stipulation.

  Arcky Tuminelli was more or less doing his job, trying to cut the best deal he could for his client.

  “Listen, Arcky,” Todd said after some reflection on the matter, “the first part is fine with me . . . but how can I do the rest of that? She won’t be subject to death or life, no matter what the facts are. OK. But how can I promise she won’t be prosecuted for murder until we know that she did not participate in the murders?”

  There was still that apprehensive notion lingering that Erika was not the innocent little Altoona businesswoman she might have liked to project.

  “Let me go talk to her,” Tuminelli said.

  In good faith, how could Joel Todd and the OCPD be certain that Erika wasn’t involved in the murders? This became the question of the night. Or, actually, early Monday morning. Todd couldn’t allow Erika to slide on everything.

  What if she signed the deal and then admitted to the murders?

  Arcky spoke to Mitch first, who assured him that Erika was telling the truth. These were serious crimes, Arcky said. “We have to be sure she’s telling the truth and not hiding anything.”

  “I know that my daughter is telling the truth,” Mitch said sincerely. “I trust her. She’d never lie to me.”

  “OK.”

  Arcky walked in and sat with Erika. They needed to complete this deal as quickly as possible, but Arcky needed more facts. According to court documents, Arcky told Erika, “Listen to me. I can protect you from a life sentence and a potential death sentence, but I cannot protect you from murder charges, unless the state’s attorney is confident you’re telling them the truth.”

  Erika nodded. She understood.

  Arcky demanded that Erika tell him the truth. He needed to know. No matter what the truth was, whether she was involved or not, it didn’t matter. He needed to know the facts of the case so he could protect her.

  Erika made it clear she understood and that she was telling him and her parents everything. Later, Mitch Grace backed up this claim, saying that his daughter was telling the truth. She’d had nothing whatsoever to do with the murders.

  Arcky felt a slight twinge of confidence building.

  “She knows better,” Mitch said as Arcky headed back to meet with Joel Todd. “She’s smart enough to know better. She’s not going to lie to you.”

  After going back and forth with Joel Todd, discussing various ways in which they could all agree, Arcky Tuminelli was able to get a commitment from Todd that the state would not prosecute Erika for murder if she didn’t have anything to do with the murders. In order for the state to be convinced Erika was telling the truth, Todd explained, she needed to take a polygraph.

  “I cannot just go on her word, Arcky,” Todd said at one point.

  “I understand, Joel, I completely understand.”

  “I have to be satisfied. I need at least some assurances that she is being truthful.”

  A lie detector test would soothe some of those feelings for Todd. It wasn’t infallible, of course, nor could it be used in court. But it would at least serve as a starting point. If Erika passed the polygraph, Todd would agree not to prosecute her for murder. Thus, all Erika had to do was pass a lie detector test, and she would be, literally, free and clear. She would walk away from jail, at least for the time being, out on bond and, in the end, perhaps for good. She’d face a few charges of illegally disposing of the bodies, but the major charges would be washed away like that salty foam along the Ocean City shoreline.

  54

  The Search Begins

  Inside Joel Todd’s office, Arcky Tuminelli and the state’s attorney worked out the specifics of the deal, writing and rewriting an agreement until each party was happy with the content. They worked tirelessly into the early-morning hours of Monday, June 3, 2002.

  Afterward, Arcky traveled back to Worcester County Jail and had Erika sign it. Mitch and Cookie were overjoyed that Arcky was able to negotiate such a promising deal. If all went well, Erika would face a handgun possession charge, beside an illegal disposal of bodies charge, at worst, and she’d probably be able to knock that down to time served with a plea. As Cookie and Mitch had wanted all along, their daughter might even be out of jail and back home within a month.

  That morning, Erika gave the information everyone had been waiting for to Arcky. As it turned out, she was more help than anyone could have imagined. Not only did she give detectives the actual location of the dump site, but she explained that BJ had packaged the body parts in various SEAL bags, which were distinctively different from normal trash and duffel bags. This way, the OCPD knew exactly what type of bags to be on the lookout for when the sun rose on Monday and the real search began.

  After Erika gave up the locations of the Dumpsters, town officials pinpointed a landfill in Sussex County, Delaware, about forty-five minutes from Ocean City. What turned out to be a significant breakthrough in the case was the way in which this particular dump site layered its trash. Each layer, or section of the site, was laid out by days of the week. In other words, in one quadrant of the site, a town in Delaware had its trash. Each layer was a week, each cube a day. They could backtrack right to the day of the week Erika said she and BJ had dumped the body parts and begin searching what was a specific section of the landfill.

  By late Monday afternoon, while what was left of Martha “Geney” Crutchley and Joshua Ford was being searched for in a Delaware landfill, Erika and BJ Sifrit were brought into court to face a judge regarding bond. No one—save for maybe Mitch and Cookie—expected Erika (or BJ) to be bonded out of jail after what was being reported in the newspapers as one of the most disturbing, heinous, and shocking crimes to hit the region in over a century. With that said, Worcester County district judge Richard Bloxom agreed, refusing both accused killers bail of any kind.

  When that issue was settled, Bloxom scheduled a preliminary hearing for Erika on June 17 and a June 11 hearing for BJ, both of which would take place in Ocean City District Court. Each faced two counts of first-degree murder, Bloxom explained, and were to remain held at Worcester County Jail pending those court appearances.

  Walking out of court, Arcky knew that the hearing was a formality. He still had that deal on the table with Joel Todd. Erika would undoubtedly take and pass her polygraph, walk out of prison, and soon retire to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, in seclusion at her parents’ house until BJ’s trial—where she would emerge to withdraw her marital privilege and testify against him.

  55

  What Remains

  In total, fifty-five law enforcement officers from Delaware and Maryland planned to bring in lights and continue to search for Geney and Joshua’s remains overnight. At first, it looked as if, Joel Todd later said, “the search was going to be like a needle in a haystack.”

  The problem was that too much time had gone by. Those Dumpsters had been emptied and they had a range—or a part of the week in one quadrant—where their contents could be, but it was such a large landf
ill that as the day went on, and with the hot and humid weather and the smell and rotting garbage and squeaking seagulls, it all became too much.

  When Detective Scott Bernal got out to the landfill, it was around 4:30 P.M. The air quality, he recalled, was worse than he could have ever imagined. Wasps, bees, flies. “It was like shit floating through the air and it just stuck to you.”

  But then, one hour and twelve minutes into the search, someone found something.

  “We did find human remains, but at this point they’re unidentifiable,” Delaware State Police spokesman Bruce Harris told reporters.

  In truth, they had uncovered a leg, a torso, and two arms—all of which were badly decomposed, and yet eerily intact. One of the arms had a tattoo on it that family members of Joshua Ford had described. What were the chances that the body parts were someone else’s?

  “I would have liked them to continue looking,” Todd added later, “but I absolutely understand why they stopped. So I cannot quarrel with them for not going another day. But I guess I’ll always wonder if we continued looking would we have found other body parts or not.”

  Joel Todd could have made a decision at that point to prosecute both BJ and Erika together, but he would have had to use Erika’s statements against BJ.

  “Her statements include inculpatory information as to him—information that would be hearsay if I tried him by himself. And there’s no way I could introduce her statement without including the information about him, which means that I had to do separate trials.”