Body Count. Burl Barer
and carefully, the detectives began a strategic excavation, much like that of an archeologist.
“Excavation continued from a distance of approximately twelve inches to approximately thirty-six inches from the body’s left foot. This was again excavated to a depth of approximately six feet with the soil removed and sifted,” explained Sergeant Walker. “It was then excavated approximately an additional six inches to facilitate removal of the body at a later time.”
“The sifting of soil and the gathering of evidence didn’t stop there,” said Grabenstein, emphasizing the procedure’s detailed thoroughness. “After initial excavation of the area east of the body, further material was removed nearer to the body and sifted. As items of possible evidentiary value were located, they were recorded as to the area from where the soil bearing the article had been removed. As the articles were located, they were photographed with their designated item number, and then the number was again photographed in the area of excavation where that portion of soil had been.”
During the excavation, circumstances of significant interest came to the detective’s attention. The victim’s head and left shoulder were resting on grass and vegetation. This indicated that it had been lying on the original surface of the ground at the time of burial.
“In other words, the area where the head was resting had not been dug out to form the grave,” he said. “Soil was mounded near the head, on top of the vegetation, indicating that soil had been dug up and placed on the original ground surface.”
By 4:00 P.M., excavation was completed on the east and south side of the body to a point where the body could be removed. Coroner Amend was summoned to the scene, as well as Ray Corkrum of the Cremation Society.
A piece of black plastic sheeting was placed in the bottom of the excavated area east of the body, and further minimal excavation was done along the west side of the body to allow it to be moved more easily. “The body was then rolled from its resting-place onto the plastic,” recalled the detective. “Some of the dirt adjacent to, and adhering to the body, dislodged, and the larger portions were collected.”
The body and remaining material were placed in a white body bag and delivered to the Forensic Institute by Corkrum. Due to darkness and a threat of rain, the area was covered with nylon. The following day, excavation continued while Detectives Madsen and Francis went to the Forensic Institute for the autopsy conducted by Dr. Lindholm. The victim was determined to be a white female, estimated live weight approximately 120 to 140 pounds, height 67½ inches, and her age range was twenties to thirties.
Dr. Lindholm’s preliminary examination of the body determined that the victim suffered two gunshot wounds. One bullet entered the left temporal region, approximately one inch above the auditory canal; the second passed through the upper helix area of the ear. “The direction of the gunshot wounds,” explained Francis, “was from left to right, exiting the victim from the right upper side of the skull. The victim, it was determined, was female, and the cause of her death was two gunshot wounds passing through the brain. The size of the perforations in the head suggested a .25 caliber or smaller. Other evidence collected at autopsy included oral, anal, and vaginal swabs.”
On November 12, at 10:30 A.M., forensic odontologist Dr. Frank Morgan, using dental records, was able to identify the remains as those of Darla Sue Scott, born as a twin on September 18, 1968. “Detective (Dave) Bentley and I attempted contacting Darla’s sister at her residence, but she wasn’t home,” reported Francis. “We then telephoned the Tacoma and Yakima Police Departments to have their chaplains notify Darla Scott’s parents.”
“Weighing in at just over three pounds at birth, Darla could have fit in a shoe box,” recalled her mother. “She struggled for life for two months. On her child’s fifth birthday, we said farewell to our Darla. Once again, fitting in a shoe box.”
“Getting pregnant and having a baby was Darla’s idea,” said the child’s father. “She believed that somehow that would keep her from going back to the street life, but it didn’t.” Scott got off drugs during her pregnancy “for the baby’s sake,” but her rehabilitation was short-lived.
“Darla went through at least five drug-treatment programs,” he recounted to detectives, “but she would only last in there for maybe two weeks, or as little as three days, before she would be back on the street selling herself for drugs.”
“No amount of love,” confirmed Darla’s mother, “could keep her feet from traveling a dark path. If left to choice, Darla would not have totally abandoned her parents, her twin sister, and her father, and the father of her child.”
Prior to her disappearance, Darla would call her daughter’s father at least every two or three weeks. “Sometimes she would be out of town with a truck driver,” he said. “When she called, I could tell that she was clean and sober.”
The last personal contact between Darla Scott and her child’s father was in early October, not long before her disappearance. “She was on East Sprague by Kmart,” he recalled. “She was waiting for a drug deal. I tried to convince her to come home with me, but she wouldn’t do it.”
The truck driver he mentioned enjoyed Darla Scott’s companionship, convivial conversation, and sexual virtuosity—but he insisted that Darla remain drug free. “Darla liked traveling with him,” said one of Darla’s longtime acquaintances, “because it took her out of the scene and kept her clean.” Ironically, Darla Scott logged more time drug free with the truck driver than she ever did in a rehab program.
The six-foot-tall, 185-pound truck driver frequently hauled frozen foods for his employer. He rented a room when in Spokane, and the woman who was his landlady spoke openly to Detective Grabenstein about her tenant and his relationship with Scott.
“The last time I saw Darla, she had just returned from a trip in his truck, and it was the day before her birthday,” she said. “Apparently, he had plans to take her out to dinner for her birthday, but she left to meet one of her friends and never came back. This upset him quite a bit. You see, when Darla was with him, she wasn’t using. So when Darla went back to her other friends to resume her normal lifestyle of drug use, he was very aggravated.”
“I love Darla,” he reportedly confessed to his landlady, “but I can’t stand what she’s doing any longer. I’ll only be rid of her and all her problems when she’s dead.”
Another longtime beau was good-hearted and good-humored Arthur, who spoke of her with lingering, bittersweet affection. “I was her boyfriend until Christmas of 1996, but I couldn’t tolerate her working the streets. It just got to me. I wasn’t jealous; that wasn’t it. It was just the whole scene was unhealthy and dangerous, and I was just getting either too old or too mature to put up with it. She couldn’t give it up, or wouldn’t give it up, I don’t know which, but I just wouldn’t stay in a relationship with her under those conditions. We were going to get together on her birthday, and she said she would call me that day, but I never heard from her.”
When Darla Scott’s twin sister first reported her as a missing person, many of Darla’s friends were not concerned. “I figured she was on the road with that truck driver,” confirmed one prostitute. “She’d mentioned that he’d asked her to take off with him, and that meant that she could be out of town for quite a while.”
There were rumors that associates of murdered heroin dealer Vito Tombari pegged Darla Scott for murder. “The rumor was that Darla turned in Vito on a drug charge, and some folks were out to get her,” explained a Spokane street person formerly in Darla’s circle. “I dunno—Vito is, I heard, the father of her sister’s kid, so it gets too weird. They say that five pounds of heroin disappeared when Vito was killed. I’ll tell ya one thing, Darla was heavy into drugs—mostly crack, but toward the end, she was doing heroin. Darla’s life was mostly about buying dope, selling dope, stealing dope, and get this—she was a fuckin’ snitch for the cops.”
“Darla was one of our number one informants,” confirmed Sergeant Walker. “When her drug-world associates asked her what she was doing in a police vehicle, she would tell them that she was dating that particular officer,