by L S Barron
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Becca
Becca took just a moment to remember what she had to do next. She then grabbed a bag of fertilizer and a container of fuel that she had hidden under the stairs of one of the compound’s buildings. Ducking behind the jungle foliage she then made her way to the building that housed the drug lab. There was a waste drum on the side of the building that she poured the fertilizer into along with the fuel. She placed a charge on the barrel and set the timer for 3:55 am. She wanted this charge to go off first and hopefully draw the attention of the guards to that area. She hoped the extra homemade explosive, along with whatever chemicals were inside the drug lab would make for a bigger blast. Just to be sure, she also set a charge on the opposite side of the building.
Becca had been scouting out the drug lab for about two weeks. While posing as the laundry lady she assessed the best possible way to rescue the three Americans being held captive by one of the drug lords of the Rodriguez family. The compound was one of the largest drug labs in Colombia that was run by the Cali Cartel. It was hidden away in the tropical jungle just south of the city of Santiago de Cali. The compound had armed guards at the main gates as well as at the building housing the prisoners. There were also guards at the main drug lab facility and the office building. Everyone was checked going in and out, and double checked while entering or exiting any of the main buildings. However, they would be more suspect of unfamiliar men than women and had been on high alert for any military activity. That is why Becca was picked for this particular mission. It would be much easier and unexpected for a single women to take down the entire lab and get out of the country with the three prisoners.
Rebecca, or Becca as her friends and family called her, was a young lady from Colorado. She grew up in a small town on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The small town was about as far away from civilization as one could get. Becca didn’t mind though, she loved growing up in the Colorado wilderness. Becca’s father was a good man and worked hard for a natural gas company manning the gas wells in the high country of Colorado’s western slope. Her mother stayed at home watching after the five kids. Becca was the youngest and the only girl. This is probably why Becca grew up so tough. She spent most of her days following her older brothers around and trying to do whatever it was that they were doing. Whether it was playing “kill the guy with the ball” or hunting rabbits in the local mountains, Becca was always involved. Becca’s father also loved the outdoor life and had the kids involved in hunting, fishing, camping, and just exploring the countryside.
Becca’s grandfather gave her the nickname of “Enapay”, pronounced Ehn ahp ey in the Siouan language. Her grandfather told her that it meant “brave one”. When she was young he used to tell her, “It’s usually a name used for a boy, but in your case it fits you well.” It would make her stand like she was proud and then he would just laugh as usual. Her grandfather had nicknames for all the kids, but of course Becca thought that hers in particular was the best one. She would live up to her name as well, and on more than one occasion.
It was a cold winter day and Becca had just got out of school. She raced down the dirt road to catch up with the boys as they walked home together. Duke, the family yellow lab always met them about half way home. It was a small and closely knitted community and no one made any issues of a dog running around town. Duke made his rounds around town every day. Everyone seemed to love Duke and the whole community spoiled him rotten. Becca always thought it was amazing that he wasn’t a fat roly-poly dog, with all the treats he got each day from the townsfolk.
On that particular day as they came up to the local pond, a flock of geese took off in front of Duke. For Duke there was nothing better than a good bird chase, so off he went, but before the boys could get him to stop he took off across the frozen pond. It wasn’t until he reached the middle of the pond the ice gave way. Becca and the boys were all standing at the pond’s edge screaming for Duke to get out, but he just couldn’t make it. He was struggling to keep his front legs out on a piece of broken ice and was getting no where when he would try to paw his way out of the icy water. Thomas, the oldest brother stepped out onto the ice, but it immediately started to crack under his feet and he stepped back. They all watched in horror not knowing what to do, when Becca, still just a young small girl then, pulled on Thomas’s jacket and said “I’m the lightest. I can do it.” It probably wasn’t the smartest thing, but they were still all just young kids, so Thomas and the others agreed. Becca slowly started walking out on the ice. She was getting close to Duke, who was still struggling to get out, when she could hear the ice begin to crack underneath her. She was a quick thinker though, and instinctively knew to drop to her belly and spread out her weight onto the surface of the frozen pond. She crawled forward on her belly until she reached the edge of the hole. She brought her right shoulder forward and outstretched her arm until Duke was able to claw his way up and over her shoulder and halfway down her back. Even in the immense pain as Dukes claws dug into Becca’s back, she didn’t withdraw until Duke was completely out of harm’s way. She then started pushing herself backwards along the ice. Poor Duke was half frozen and just he just let Becca slide him back all the way to the boys. The boys took off their Jackets and wrapped up the poor shivering Duke. Thomas hugged Becca under one arm and said “Truly, as grandpa would say you are Enapay!” Of course everyone got a lecture later from father for doing something so risky, but Becca could tell as stern as her father was trying to be that he was actually happy they had saved Duke.
By the time Highschool came about, Becca had grown to be about 5”7 and had a lean build. She wasn’t very pretty, but she wasn’t ugly either. She was just what you would say was an average looking young girl. Her long dark hair and olive skin tone came from her great grandmother, who was a native American. This would later in life make it easier for Becca to fit in with the local South American population. Becca wasn’t much into looking pretty, so she kept her looks simple. She kept her hair in a simple ponytail and hardly ever wore any make-up. Her normal daily outfit consisted of a pair of 501 Levis, a t-shirt, and a sporting pair of Adidas tennis shoes.
Becca was very athletic and was much stronger than she looked. Her aggressive and independent personality traits made her highly competitive in everything that she wanted to accomplish. Her brothers would often torment her with mind games until she snapped. Becca would lash out with a physical eruption of rage towards her brothers beating on them the best she could, but of course they would just laugh at her efforts and then tease her even more. Becca would finally give into her brothers and just enjoy a good family brawl. Sometimes her father would even join in giving the older brothers more of a challenge. It was on many occasions that the living room turned into a wrestling ring which in turn would end up with the super glue coming out of the drawer to fix a broken lamp. Becca swore her mother kept a never ending supply of super glue around the house.
After graduating from high school in 1982, Rebecca or Becca as her friends called her, was off to college. She was actually accepted into West Point, but declined in the end and decided on a Colorado State School. During a summer job in Denver hauling rolls of grass sod around, some of the men talked her into applying for the police academy. At that time the Police Department was looking to add women to their ranks and were looking for physically fit and strong women that could possibly do the job. So she applied just for the fun of it. In her last semester of college she got a phone call from the Police Chief. He had offered her the job. So as any young person would do she looked at the salary. She only needed to complete her student teaching to be a teacher, but when it came down to salaries, the police department paid so much m
ore than the local school districts. So off to the Police academy she went.
Becca was a great fit for the Police department. Her common sense, athletic ability, and independence made it easy for her to adapt well to the male dominated profession. Since she had been a Tomboy growing up she fit in well with most of the men on the job. She excelled quickly on the job and promoted as soon as she was eligible.
She had many police friends, but there was one she had come to be very close to. He was older than she was, by quite a lot. He was also a Police captain, Robert, but that didn’t seem to bother their friendship off the job and that is all they were, just friends. Although as their friendship grew so did Becca’s attraction towards Robert, but she kept that to herself not wanting to ruin the friendship she so enjoyed. Besides that, Robert had a girlfriend he was romantically involved with. Becca didn’t really think that this woman was a good choice for Robert. She thought the woman, Jenna, was a little bit on the psychotic side. It seemed as though Jenna was highly jealous and seemed to make up a lot of weird stories. At one point she showed up on one of Becca’s dates, a night out at a dance club and started whispering things to Becca’s date. Another time Becca found Jenna sitting outside her house at three in the morning just watching the house. Jenna did a lot of crazy things like this, but she was an old flame of Roberts and seemed to have his attention. She also had a young son, whom Becca thought maybe resembled Robert and maybe that is why he was interested in this women, but she decided not to say anything.
So things over all were going great for the young Becca. That would come to an abrupt end. It was late in the afternoon, Becca wasn’t expecting anyone. She was just relaxing at home on a day off when she heard a knock on the door. Becca opened the door to find two police officers, that she knew. They were both detectives on the department that Becca had talked to once in awhile on the job. First thoughts to Becca was that someone she knew had been killed. She quickly invited the detectives in and asked “What’s up, is everything ok?” She noticed the two detectives seemed to pause and looked awkwardly at each other as if not knowing what to say. It was then detective Delgado asked Becca where she had been last night. “Really, why the heck do you guys want to know where I was? What is really going on guys?” Delgado motioned to the living room chairs, “We need to talk to you.” “Oh shit,” Becca thought. This didn’t seem good.
Delgado didn’t beat around the bush. He went on to tell Becca about the murder of Captain Robert’s girlfriend Jenna and her young son. “What, really? Are you guys messing with me?” Becca said looking to see the detectives reaction, but after there was no laughter she knew they were serious. “How was she killed? How is Robert?” Becca said with concern in her voice. In the back of Becca’s mind she wondered why they two detectives were here telling her this. She all of a sudden had a bad feeling about this. “Where were you last night Becca?” asked detective Delgado. Becca knew now this was trouble. Her father was out of town and she had gone to check on his house, pick up the mail, water the plants, and so on. She went there on her own and didn’t know if anyone would have seen her there. She had parked the car in his garage and he lived on the edge of town with no neighbors near by. Becca answered “I was at my dad’s house, but no one saw me there if that’s what you’re wondering.” The two detectives stood up. Detective Delgado said “I’m really sorry Becca, but we have to do this,” and started reading Becca her rights. “How could this be? Oh this is not good,” Becca thought, “but it will be OK in the end when they figure out I had nothing to do with this.”
Back at the station Becca was placed in an interrogation room she was familiar with. She had seen Robert on the way in and noticed that he was glaring at her from a distance as he talked with some of the detectives on the job. “What? Surely he didn’t believe she had anything to do with this,” she thought. She wondered what had really happened, what were the details, could she set this straight? If she only knew what was really going on.
That’s when detective Delgado came into the room. “You need anything?” Becca shrugged, “I don’t think so, do I?” Delgado asked if Becca wanted a lawyer. “Don’t think so, I didn’t do anything. You’ll see.” Delgado went on to tell Becca that Jenna and her young son had been shot in their home and then the house was soaked in fuel and set to burn. He went on to explain how Jenna had told Captain Robert on several occasions that Becca was scaring her and she was afraid for her life. Jenna also told Robert that it was Becca following her around. Becca interrupted Delgado and said with an angry tone “Wait a minute, I wasn’t following her around, she was the one following me around.” Delgado paused and then went on to tell Becca of the evidence they had already found at the scene and told her of the warrant to search her house. Becca’s own leather work boot prints were found at the scene along with one of her bracelets that was caught on a jacket by the door of Jenna’s house. He also said that Jenna and her son were killed by a hunting rifle before their bodies were burned beyond recognition, but the items found on the bodies made them identifiable to friends and family.
Becca knew then that Jenna had pulled off a great crime that would leave Becca presumed guilty by all those who looked into the scene. Becca had known Jenna was trouble from the start but never thought she would do something so drastic. She truly was psychotic. “This would surely come out, she was being set up. Wouldn’t they see the truth?” thought Becca. Becca’s mind raced. “Where was Jenna? Was this really her body at all? Whose bodies were these?” Dna testing for Becca would have been a great test, but in the 1980’s a city in Colorado would not be using such technology yet. No dental records could be found for Jenna. However, dental records for her son were found and used to identify the body. It was definitely Jenna’s son. Blood types were also a match, but it was a common type O positive. Plus with friends and family identifying the bodies, the bits of burned clothing and shoes that were left, and Jenna’s personal jewelry that was still on the body, no one would question otherwise and for Becca the evidence against her was tremendous, especially when Becca’s hunting rifle ballistics would match her own rifle that was found tucked away in her own closet.
The Aftermath
In 1988 the trial for Becca would start. It would be swift and easy for the prosecution. Luckily for Becca they did not seek the death penalty believing it a crime of passion, but instead were going for two life sentences without parole. At first it was hard for Becca to come to terms with the fact that most likely she was going to be found guilty of a crime she didn’t do, that Jenna had gotten the best of her and everyone else for that matter. Somewhere half way through the trial, Becca had given up hope that justice would prevail. She had passed the lie detector but her defense lawyer said it wasn’t admissible in court. “That sucks. What’s the point then of the stupid things?” she thought. Over and over again she wondered “Where was the God that she believed in and how could he just let this happen to her? What did she do to deserve this?” The worst thing about the whole thing was the look that Robert gave her each day as she looked up to see his face.
Becca just stood there in front of the judge not showing any emotion because she knew that her hope for truth was gone. The verdict was in and it was guilty in both counts of murder. Becca looked to the courtroom doors just hoping that Jenna would walk through the doors at the last minute to set her free, but no such thing happened. It was over. Two life sentences without parole were handed down. Becca actually laughed at the sentencing, not on purpose but she just laughed as she was thinking “How do you serve two life sentences?”
She was processed into the maximum security women’s prison in Colorado. Orange seemed to be the color of the day, the new color that would be of everyday. Becca was booked into a single room, no roommates, no outdoor window, nothing but a toilet, sink and bunk. There was still a sense of disbelief for Becca. “Could this be a dream,” she thought over and over again. Then the anger and bitterness begin to grow. “What the shit is this?” Everyday seemed to be t
orturous, but slowly Becca came to the realization that this was it, this was what would be the rest of her life. So after about three months of mentally torturing herself, Becca decided to adapt to her new life.
It wasn’t long before Becca had the routine down. She used her time wisely. Working out in the rec room and shooting hoops in the yard became a big part of keeping somewhat sane. Getting to know some of the prisoners was helping with the loneliness. She had found that just telling the other women she was a murderer kept things simple. No one seemed to ask any questions about the details and it kept the more violent women a little leary of her.
One of the girls she decided to befriend was Rachael Rodrigues. Rachael was a little slow witted and pretty mousy. She got picked on alot, so Becca decided taking on her friendship would be a good challenge. She would start by sitting with her during meal times, using the excuse that she wanted to know if Rachael would help her learn spanish. Ends up Becca enjoyed Rachael’s simple sense of humor and Rachael felt needed when Becca wanted to learn spanish from her. No one had ever needed Rachael for anything. So Becca and Rachael quickly became friends, true friends.
Before Becca knew it another three months had gone by. Her father and her brothers had been by during visiting days, but no one else had come around, none of her friends from work. She guessed maybe they weren’t really friends after all. To Becca’s disappointment there was no surprise word of Jenna showing up alive somewhere. She had dreamed a few nights ago that someone found Jenna living a secret life, but in the real world there was no word of Jenna being alive anywhere. Maybe Jenna had killed her own son and herself, but how she would have got it done didn’t make sense. She had to be alive somewhere. Becca’s father was looking because he believed his daughter, but had no luck thus far. It was frustrating for her to think that she had been had by a mentally ill crazy lady, so she tried not to dwell on it at all and just go day to day best she could.