Hometown Killer. Carol J. Rothgeb
That’s what he’s doing, Joe. He’s putting himself right in the middle. See, we know Jamie was there.
John (protesting): I know Jamie was with me at twelve.
Jackson: I know something happened that night that shouldn’t have happened because John has been upset and his moods has changed terrible.
Graeber: Since that night?
Jackson: Real bad, yes. Well, he’s so close to Jamie. Jamie graduated with him. We were there at the graduation. They were just like two brothers.
(The detectives talked to John for over two hours and got at least six different stories from him. At the end of the statement, John agreed to have his blood drawn for DNA testing.)
It had been a long day and it was far from being over. By the time Detectives Barry Eggers and Nathaniel Smoot interviewed David Marciszewski that evening, their patience was wearing a little thin. David was John’s thirty-three-year-old stepfather and was also mentally impaired, although not as severely as John and Jamie. Unlike John, he was meek, mild-mannered, and soft-spoken. He wore slightly baggy blue jeans and a sport shirt.
Smoot: Tell us what John told you.
David: He was saying that Jamie and this other guy did have something to do with the murders.
Eggers (exasperated): What is that supposed to mean? What exactly did he say? How did he put it? Did he tell you that he was there? Now if somebody tells you something like that—it’s not going to be something you’re going to have to sit here and think about.
Smoot: Look at your face—we know the answer is “yes”—but the thing is you know he told you that.
David (hanging his head): Yeah.
Smoot: John was there, wasn’t he?
Eggers: He told you that, didn’t he?
David: That’s what he said. He said the girls was raped and murdered. He told me that he was holding the girls down and he had something to do with the murder of the girls.
David, a slight man at 5’5” and 130 pounds, became increasingly nervous and reluctant with his answers, but the detectives persisted until they elicited the following information from him: “They stabbed them, after they raped them. Beat them, really beat them—beat them to death too. I think it was a board. Either a board or a lead pipe . . . I’m not too sure what they beat them with. Jamie and that other guy was with him. I think he said Lloyd. I think that’s what—I’m not sure about Lloyd. He did say there was three or four of them. He said that they buried them with leaves.”
Eggers: Did John ever show you anything that belonged to those girls?
David (quickly and firmly): No, he didn’t.
Smoot (to Detective Eggers): Did you see that?
Smoot (to David): Did John ever show you anything that belonged to those girls?
David: No.
Smoot: But you answered that so fast.
David (insisting): No, he didn’t show me nothing about that.
Smoot: You never answered a question like that—that fast before—all the time we’ve been sitting here.
Eggers: What did he do with the evidence?
David: I’m not sure what they said. I do know that he said that they buried something. I don’t know what it was.
Eggers: Buried at the house?
David: Yeah. I don’t know where at. It ain’t in the house. Somewhere in the backyard, I think.
Eggers: This is your chance to prove to us what you’ve told us is the truth. . . .
David: About what?
Eggers: All that’s happened here. So you tell us where the evidence is.
Smoot: Were you with him when these girls . . . ?
David (protesting): No, I wasn’t. No, I wasn’t. I was right there at the house. I was there at the house.
After a break to get some coffee, Sergeant Moody came into the room and read David Marciszewski his rights. He was firm with David, and to the point:
Moody: All right. You have big problems. Do you understand me? You are protecting someone that has committed a very serious crime.
David: Who? John?
Moody: I’m asking you.
David: I know it ain’t me because I wasn’t there.
Moody: If you have lied to these officers about your knowledge about any evidence that was disposed of, you’re going to be arrested. Do you understand that?
David: Yes.
Moody: I want you to start at the beginning. How do you feel about John?
David: Love him. As a stepson—I am his stepdad. Even though him and I get into arguments at times, I still care. He needs help with his . . . his alcohol. He’s got a problem with that.
Moody: What else does he need help about, David?
David: I guess about the girls. Because of what happened to them—they was murdered. He said that he held the girls down. That’s what he told me. I don’t know what to believe. If he didn’t do it, he wouldn’t say something like that.
Moody: Tell us what he told you, so we can get on with it.
David (hesitantly): He said that they had intercourse with the girls, him and Jamie and the other guy. I don’t know who the other guy was. He did say that. And he turned around . . . Well, they turned around and murdered them somehow. But first they, they was holding them down to . . . I guess they took turns. He said that the girls were screaming and, uh, like I said, he said that he was holding the girls down and had . . . sex with them. That’s what I was getting ready to say.
Moody: David, did you help him get rid of some things that they took from those girls?
David: No, I didn’t.
Moody: Do you know where some of those things are?
David: No.
Moody: Now you told the detectives something else.
David: Wait a minute. At Leibold’s (a junkyard across the street from Strahler’s Warehouse), from what he was telling me.
Moody: All right. If we go to Leibold’s and they’re not there and we go to the house and we find them there, what do you think is going to happen to you?
David: I’ll go to jail.
Moody: Why would you think that?
David: I don’t know.
Moody: Yes, you do. You’re not a dumb man. Why are you protecting him? Are you afraid of him? Or did you help kill those girls?
David: No, I didn’t help kill them girls.
Moody: Were you there when it happened?
David: Huh-uh. No, I wasn’t there.
Moody: Do you understand something? I want you to understand something here. You know we got John’s blood today. John told you that, didn’t he? He showed you where we took the blood out of his arm. You know it’s just a matter of time; we’re waiting for a phone call now. When that phone call comes in, we aren’t going to be able to help anybody. Anyone that has knowledge of something in this crime . . . The arrests aren’t over. The arrests haven’t stopped with Jamie Turner or Alex Boone. This community wants everyone responsible punished, but this community also understands someone that is brave enough to come forward. Someone that is brave enough with some evidence to come forward. You can’t help what happened to them, but you can do them some justice and do yourself some justice right now. It’s the hardest thing in the world to tell on yourself. You tell me you weren’t there, I believe you.