Body Count. Burl Barer
also died from gunshot wounds to the head, but from a .25-caliber handgun. Fingerprints identified the victim as twenty-year-old Heather Hernandez, supposedly of Phoenix, Arizona. Hernandez was an enigmatic drifter who lived on the streets. At the time of her death, no one in Spokane knew complete details of her life, exactly where she came from, her family history, likes, loves, or aspirations.
As for the body found in the alfalfa field, she was identified as nineteen-year-old “Jennifer Kim,” one of the city’s youngest and prettiest prostitutes. Kim and Hernandez knew each other, but they were not directly associated. Kim was not the young woman’s real name. Her true name was Jennifer A. Joseph.
At 6:00 P.M., on August 29, 1997, Detective Rick Grabenstein telephoned Chaplain McKinney of Pierce County at the Spanaway, Washington, home of the victim’s father, John Joseph. McKinney broke the news of Jennifer’s death, but it was left to Grabenstein to provide the unpleasant details.
“I spoke with him briefly,” confirmed the detective. “He was advised that his daughter had been shot to death, of the general condition of her body, and the date that it had been discovered, and that he could contact the coroner’s office to make arrangements to obtain her remains. Further details of her murder were not discussed.”
It was then that Mr. John Joseph revealed his daughter’s true age. “She was born October 6, 1980,” he said. Jennifer Joseph was only sixteen years old.
Chaplain McKinney asked Grabenstein for assistance in contacting Jennifer’s mother in Hawaii. With the aid of Communications Officer Victor, a fax was sent to the Wailuku Police Department. Within four hours, Mi Hae Joseph learned of her daughter’s tragic death. At the request of detectives, both parents provided investigators with samples of their blood in the event that it ever became necessary to establish a biological link between themselves and their beloved daughter.
Jennifer Joseph was an army brat who followed her father around the world, growing up in such places as Denmark, South Korea, and on both coasts of the United States. Between the ages of nine and thirteen, she took piano lessons. “Jennifer had a beautiful voice, singing in a church choir and the school choir as she grew up,” recalled her father.
Emotional, impressionable, and irrepressible, Jennifer Joseph had a mind of her own, a strong will, and an aggravating allergy to pets. Denied the companionship of live animals, Jennifer opted for a room full of plush pups and other stuffed substitutes. “She’d been popular, did well in elementary and junior high school,” her father said. “But when she started going through adolescence, things changed. She started hanging out with the wrong crowd, her grades slipped, and she eventually dropped out of school.” She did, however, promise to return to school in the fall if she could continue her travels during the remaining summer.
Just prior to her disappearance, she told her father not to worry about her, as she could take care of herself. John Joseph, who heard from his daughter regularly, was unaware of her foray into prostitution. “He knew that she was in Spokane with her new boyfriend, who was also from Tacoma,” said Detective Grabenstein. “He believed that the boy, with some help from him, was covering expenses. The boyfriend recently returned to Tacoma and was anticipating that Ms. Joseph would soon join him.”
Detectives Ruetsch and Grabenstein made plans to get hold of Joseph’s boyfriend in Tacoma. First, however, they delivered several items to the forensics division for laboratory examination. Among the thirty items, each sealed in a plastic bag, were Joseph’s clothes, shoes, hair samples, a towel, the broken car radio antenna, and a test tube containing two swabs with iridescent material.
“The items were examined for the presence of trace evidence,” recalled forensic scientist Kevin C. Jenkins. The results were more than favorable. “The following items,” Jenkins reported, “may be evidentially significant: shoes and towel (Items two, three, and seven). A total of seven blue carpet fibers of two different shades were found, one from each of the shoes and five from the towel. In addition to the carpet fibers, green cotton fibers are common as well as brown acrylic fibers commonly used in sweaters and stocking hats, and [they] may be found in upholstered items.” Jenkins also found several hairs not belonging to the victim. The trace evidence was preserved for future examination and comparisons.
The best way to know when somebody died is to find out when was the last time somebody saw him or her alive. All the pathologist can do is provide time parameters based upon physical characteristics.
While Jenkins was doing microscopic investigations, Detectives Ruetsch and Grabenstein were handling the macroscopic. As a general rule, one of the standard procedures in a homicide case is conducting a neighborhood canvass. As the two women were not murdered in their homes, were transported after death, and were far more mercurial in their social interactions, the sphere of search and inquiry was far vaster than if they had been victims of a “traditional homicide.”
“When you’re dealing with the murder of a woman with a high-risk lifestyle, “commented Sergeant Walker, “it’s difficult to get cooperation from their friends and coworkers. The last thing prostitutes and drug dealers ever want to do is talk to a cop. After all, most of our interaction with them is not to their liking—law enforcement personnel tend to arrest them. This doesn’t exactly build great bonds of affection and camaraderie. Face it, even the most law-abiding citizens often refrain from getting involved with the police—you can imagine how difficult it is to get prostitutes, drug addicts, pimps, or drug dealers to confide in us.”
Victimology, the study of the victim’s life and lifestyle, is one of the most critical parts of an investigation. Detectives Grabenstein and Ruetsch wanted to find out as much about Jennifer Joseph, her habits and associates, as was humanly possible.
“The crime Analysis Fl computer was used to attempt to determine any associates or addresses that Jennifer Joseph may have had in the Spokane area,” explained Ruetsch. “The results indicated a strong possibility that Joseph was well acquainted with D.D., a local gentleman associated with an escort service who had also recently been arrested for possession of a controlled substance. His address on Montgomery Street was the same address Jennifer Joseph supplied to law enforcement officers on a number of police contacts. The only difference,” said the detective, “was the apartment number.”
The apartment’s resident manager told Ruetsch and Grabenstein that the man they knew as D.D. called himself “Roberts,” and he moved in on March 7, 1997. “I’ve probably seen more than thirty girls going in and out of his apartment since he moved in,” she said. “All the girls are very pretty and well dressed. They would all load up together in a car and leave until about three or four A.M. Right now, he’s behind in his rent, and if he doesn’t (pay) he’ll be getting a letter from the company.”
Grabenstein showed her photos of Jennifer Joseph and Heather Hernandez. “I have seen a small, petite Oriental girl in and out of the apartment in the past, roughly in the last part of July,” she said, “and that photo looks a lot like the girl I saw, but I can’t be positive. Anyway, the guy who rents the apartment used to drive a white Cadillac exactly like the brown one he has now, but I haven’t seen it in a while. He leaves several days at a time,” she told detectives, “and he says that he’s a roofer and that his working crew is doing a job in Gresham, Oregon.” The last time she saw “Roberts” was Wednesday, August 27, the day after Jennifer Joseph’s body was discovered.
“We need to speak with him,” Ruetsch told her. “When he comes back to the complex, please notify us immediately.” His hasty departure following the body’s discovery could be coincidence, or it could be flight to avoid capture. At this point, all was speculation.
Systematically seeking out everyone who could have seen Jennifer Joseph the night she vanished, Grabenstein and Ruetsch treaded the same Sprague Avenue path as Spokane police detective Miller, who was investigating the Hernandez homicide. “Police and sheriff’s detectives are working together,” said Undersheriff Mike Aubrey, “to find a possible link between the deaths of Heather Hernandez and Jennifer Joseph.”
On August 27, the day after Joseph’s body was found, and the same day Roberts left Spokane, a pimp on East Sprague was seen brandishing a broken piece of car