Evidence in the Eye of the Beholder

Lifted from Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, a motto of the Hells Angels proclaims, 'Three men can keep a secret if two are dead.'

Silencing a victim or a witness is certainly a motive for murder. Absent the mystic talents of television's Allison Dubois -- the central character of NBC's Medium -- dead persons supposedly tell no tales. If you are ever a suspect in a homicide and your accomplice utters this statement, be prepared to spend a sizable portion of your life in prison.

In a literal sense, homicide victims can no longer speak for themselves. Figuratively, however, dead human bodies often tell very candid tales. Whether it's skin under the finger nails, a small amount of crusty semen, defensive wounds, gunpowder tattooing, or the torn entrance of a body canal, the deceased and the surrounding crime scene have something to say.

To memorialize the final chapter of a victim's life, investigators carefully and methodically photograph major crime scenes. But there is one particular thing that photographs cannot capture -- the odor of death. Some detectives carry cigars, while others prefer to make use of nasal vaporizers. These items help dilute the smell, although nothing fully suppresses the stench of rotting human flesh.

Most Americans have never experienced the smell of death. For those of us who have, this is a scent not soon forgotten. Having worked more than my fair share of death investigations, I can't even begin to fathom the odors at the Nazi death camps, although video footage graphically depicts battle hardened American troops cringing.

Yet as it relates to putting the pieces of a homicide investigation puzzle together, rotting flesh isn't just a terrible odor -- it's the smell of evidence. Evidence is the impetus for proof, proof may lead to charges, and charges generally result in convictions.

It is difficult, but not impossible, to prove a case of homicide absent a dead human body. Last week, the Oregon man convicted of the 2004 kidnapping and killing of 19 year-old Brooke Wilberger led police to the former Brigham Young honor student's body. Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson told ABC News, "that he [Joel Courtney] hid her body in such a way that it was unlikely it would ever be found." Five years earlier, investigators found Wilberger's flip-flops in an apartment complex parking lot. A green van linking Courtney to two earlier botched abductions sealed the killer's fate.

Brooke Wilberger's tragic death resulted in a homicide conviction absent the proof the young woman was deceased, which brings me to one of the most troubling cases I have ever investigated: the disappearance of seven year-old Alexis Patterson.

According to Alexis' stepfather, LaRon Bourgeois, he last saw the young girl crossing the street to Hi-Mount Elementary School in the spring of 2002. "Bourgeois," writes Jesse Garza of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "who received immunity for his involvement in the 1994 bank robbery that resulted in the fatal shooting of Glendale Police Officer Ronald Hedbany, angrily denied any role in the girl's disappearance."

To date, the body of Alexis Patterson remains missing. I have no doubt foul play was involved and that this young girl's soul is no longer with us. As one of the primary investigators, I have my own beliefs as to what transpired. There are, in my opinion, at least two people who know what led to Alexis' demise.

Fortunately, there is no statute of limitations for homicide. As was the case with the North Side Strangler, detectives, I am sure, will use every new technology available to obtain the evidence necessary to bring Alexis Patterson's killer to justice. That being said, during this investigation, I was present when the body of this young girl figuratively spoke on her behalf. Alexis, I believe, left investigators with a clue, if only a particular someone would have listened.

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Steven Spingola is a retired Milwaukee Police Department lieutenant and author of The Killer in Our Midst: the Case of Milwaukee's North Side Strangler

Copyright Steven Spingola, Milwaukee, WI, 2009