Of Guilt and Innocence Page 2

  Jim noticed Tom looking over the form he had given him to sign. He knew Tom was having reservations about signing it and allowing the intrusion into his privacy. “Listen, our goal here is to find your daughter, that’s all. We aren’t insinuating that you or your wife have done anything wrong. We just don’t know what happened, and until we exhaust every avenue it will be more and more difficult for us to do our jobs. We are going to search the interior and exterior anyway, this just allows us to begin right away without waiting for a search warrant. Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of time.”

  Tom signed the paper and slid it back in front of the detective.

  Dan stood on the sidewalk with Lisa, who was still barefoot and with her arms crossed, having finally composed herself as best she could. She explained to Detective Jones everything that happened from the time she left her home to go to the mall to the time she discovered Ashley missing. He was trying to transcribe word for word everything Lisa was telling him in a small notebook. Dan Jones did not have the eight years of experience as a detective or the seventeen years of general police work experience his partner had. He had been a police officer for seven years, and a detective for only two. Dan was the mirror opposite of his partner in almost every way. Physically they looked nothing alike, with Jim being tall, heavyset, and white and Dan being short, thin, and black. Their personalities were even more diverse. Where Jim could be loud, crude, and quite often lacked social graces, Dan was a quiet man, very polite and soft spoken. These were the differences that made them such an efficient team.

  “Did anything or anyone stand out to you at the mall? Maybe you noticed someone following you or had a strange encounter with someone?”

  Lisa retraced her entire mall outing in her head. She realized how focused she was on shopping and how little focus she had on her daughter or anything else. She had always felt secure in her neighborhood and her home, as well as places she had been hundreds of times, such as the mall. But now that feeling of security had been stripped away. Tears trickled down her cheeks again as she felt waves of guilt wash over her.

  “No, nothing” she replied, trying to catch her breath enough to answer amidst her tears.

  “I noticed you have a security gate that everyone has to come through, did anyone or anything stand out to you as you entered the gate? Someone loitering in the area, or cars behind you that seemed out of place?”

  “Not really, I wasn’t paying attention when I got to the gate and I didn’t push the clicker right away. Cars started lining up behind us; there were probably four, but nothing that would stand out.”

  Jim peeked his head out of the front door and motioned for Dan and Lisa to come back inside. Lisa sat down at the bar next to Tom as the two detectives conferred in private for a moment in the hallway. “All right, folks,” said Jim in a booming voice as he and Dan re-entered the kitchen. “We are very sorry to be meeting under these circumstances, but for now that’s all the questions we have for you. We will have more follow-up questions as the investigation develops, so we will be in touch.” Jim paused for a moment to gather his things off the kitchen counter, then continued as if reading from a card or out of a textbook. “What’s going to happen now is crime scene should be here shortly and they are going to process your house, inside and out, for any clues to your daughter’s whereabouts. An officer will stand by with them while they are here. We are going to speak with the officers who are doing a neighborhood canvass right now and find out what information they have. After getting any pertinent information from them we will initiate an Amber Alert.”

  Lisa cried aloud upon hearing this. Just the words “Amber Alert” made it seem so real. It made her feel even more detached from her missing daughter and fearful she would never see her again. Issuing an Amber Alert was the modern day equivalent to the faces on the back of milk cartons she used to see when she was younger. Now the image she was envisioning on the back of a fictitious carton of milk was her own daughter’s.

  “Don’t give up hope just because we are going to these lengths already,” Jim said, sensing Lisa was becoming more hopeless with every detail of their planned investigation that he laid out. “There still is a good chance she could have wandered off and may simply turn up. But it is best for us to treat it as something more than that right now, just to be on the safe side, so we don’t miss out on a possibly important piece of evidence by waiting. We are going to go run down some other avenues, but we will be in touch and we will keep you informed every step of the way. If there is anything you think of later on that might be important, please call us immediately. Nothing is too small. Also, before we go, if we could just get a recent picture of your daughter it would be very helpful.”

  Through a puddle of tears caught in her eyes Lisa looked at Tom, terrified. Tom knew what she wanted without her having to say it, and slowly walked into Ashley’s bedroom. He tried to block everything out; just get the picture and be back out of the room as quickly as possible. What was once a happy place inside the house was now a virtual snake pit, full of memories that would serve to hurt if dwelled upon. Tom reached up and grabbed a picture frame off of a shelf. The picture, taken two weeks prior, was of Ashley holding the Wooten family dog in her arms and had been put in a frame and placed in Ashley’s room just days ago. The look Ashley displayed was of pure happiness, a beautiful smile consuming her face. Though he tried not to, his eyes flashed across the picture, then slowly across her bedroom. He felt a pain like he had never felt before. Not the sharp, stabbing pain and shortness of breath he had felt when he learned his daughter was missing. This was a dulling pain that slowly became greater and greater.

  He walked back out of Ashley’s room, shutting her door behind him. He handed the picture to the detective without saying a word, then quickly walked into the master bedroom. The dull pain had finally consumed him. He sat on the edge of the bed with his back to the door and began to cry. Harder and harder he cried, still trying to be as quiet as he could. He knew he was going to have to be the strong one for Lisa. He knew he would have to remain positive and hopeful for Ashley. He just didn’t know how he was going to accomplish those things, or if he even could.

  The detectives and the Crime Scene Unit seemed to trade off with one another. Sergeant Stokes sat with Lisa and Tom, who had now re-emerged from the bedroom more composed. He ran his fingers through the sides and the top of his short brown hair, which he always kept well manicured— however, due to the excessive fingering it was now anything but. He stared blankly at the counter in front of him as he bit his lower lip nervously. He thought back to the last time he had seen his daughter. It seemed like an eternity ago, though it was just this morning. He had sat at the dining room table, which had a clear view through the glass doors into the backyard where she had been. He watched as Ashley ran and played and laughed. Her strawberry blonde hair was tangled and uncombed as it fell over her tiny shoulders. The sun shone down on her porcelain skin as she ran. He didn’t know why, but at the time he could focus on nothing else but watching her. He remembered the hug and kiss she had given him before he left for his round of golf. He could still smell her shampoo and feel her soft skin. He still heard her voice telling him “Good luck” and that she loved him.

  Now his heart was breaking and his stomach churned. Then he remembered something else. He remembered that as he sat at the dining room table, the few occasions when he was able to take his eyes off his daughter, he glanced at the day’s edition of the Palm Beach Post. He remembered commenting to Lisa about an article that took up the bulk of the front page. It was about the serial killer known as the South Florida Strangler who had been terrorizing southern Florida for years. The article described the common belief that the killer had moved on in one way or another due to his body count remaining the same over the past six months. He had jokingly remarked about it to Lisa, feigning fright of the faceless killer. For some reason he thought back and felt a twinge of embarrassment over it now. Embarrassment for not truly see
ing that the world could be evil. That evil things actually do happen in real life, not just in black print. He was certain that the so-called South Florida Strangler had nothing to do with his daughter’s disappearance, ninety nine percent so, but someone else had still performed this unconscionably evil act—that much he was one hundred percent certain of. His fear was now real.

  As Jim and Dan left the Wooten’s neighborhood they felt the pressure that came with an investigation like this. They knew that it was very rare to find a missing child alive after forty eight hours had passed. For now, they still had time on their side.

  They spoke with the officers doing the door-to-door canvass of the street and the officers driving the area looking for any signs of Ashley, but no one could offer any useful information. They were able to speak with the community property manager on their way out. He provided no positive information, only that there were no security cameras anywhere on the grounds and no one had called him about any suspicious activity today.

  Two hours had now passed and Tom and Lisa still sat in their kitchen in disbelief. The hysteria that gripped them both in different ways had subsided a bit, but the worry and longing still had a hold on them. As crime scene technicians continued processing each room of the house, Lisa’s tears gave way to anger and rage.

  “Why are they looking inside the house? I told them she never came inside, someone took her from outside. Why are they wasting time in here?” Lisa’s voice was a combination of desperation, anger, and annoyance as she glared at Sergeant Stokes and waited for an answer.

  “We need to cover all our bases. We have officers all over right now looking for your daughter. Having crime scene look for clues inside your house isn’t taking anyone away from looking for her. We just want to be thorough, that’s all.” Sergeant Stokes gave Lisa the same sheepish smile he had been giving since his arrival in the house. It was what he did when he was nervous. His response seemed to defuse Lisa’s anger for the time being as she just nodded she understood and began sobbing again.

  While Lisa, Tom, and Sergeant Stokes sat on the three barstools that lined the kitchen counter, sometimes making small talk, sometimes saying nothing at all, a knock on the front door came that made all three spring to their feet. Lisa tore off toward it, screaming “Ashley, baby, are you there?” Tom and the Sergeant followed close behind. Lisa opened the door and much to her dismay did not find her daughter standing there. Instead, a deputy holding the leash of a blood hound that sat at his feet stood before her. “I’m losing it!” She screamed and ran into the master bedroom crying hysterically.

  The deputy looked heartbroken as he remained in the doorway. “I’m sorry,” he said to Tom. “I know I’m not the one you were hoping to see. But Ranger and I are going to do our best to find your little girl. If you could just get me an article of her clothing, something she may have worn recently, we can get started.” Tom turned and walked to Ashley’s room’s closed door. He stood in front of it for a few seconds with his eyes closed. He knew what torture it would be to go back in there again, but he knew he had to. He slowly crept in and grabbed the first thing that he saw. Quickly, he darted out of the room and shut the door behind him. He handed the K-9 officer a small pink blanket.

  “She, uhhh . . .” His breathing quickened, “she uhh . . . slept with it . . . every night.” Tom’s voice became high pitched at the end as his hand rose to his eyes as he finished the statement.

  “Great, thank you, I will get this back to you shortly.” The officer placed the blanket in front of the dog’s nose and gave some commands and words of encouragement to his four-legged partner.

  The dog turned away from the front door and began a steady trot toward the mailbox. It then made a sharp left turn and began heading down the street toward an intersection. At the intersection, the dog and his handler turned left again and made their way to the front gate of the property. After getting the gate open the dog went to the end of the community’s entrance way and made a right turn, heading south on State Road 441. After trotting a short distance southbound along the roadway, he lost the scent.

  Jim and Dan were in the police department’s substation within the Boca Towne Center Mall when Jim received the report of the police dog’s findings. “She left the complex and headed south on 441,” he whispered to Dan. “Looks like this one’s legit.”

  “Great,” Dan said aloud as he watched the security supervisor fumble with the controls to the closed circuit television in front of him.

  The camera system at the mall encompassed both the interior and exterior and allowed for security footage to be pinpointed by time of day on each camera. Footage of set intervals of time could then be burned to a DVD. The detectives requested footage from every camera between the hours of ten a.m. and two p.m. All in all there were forty cameras between the common areas and parking areas, and there were even more they had yet to get information on from the individual stores Lisa and Ashley had entered.

  After providing the detectives with the DVDs, the security supervisor also gave them the name of an individual who had caused problems at the mall in the past. He could not say for certain if the man was at the mall that day, but he had been there the previous weekend and had been reported to security by two women who felt he was following them. The individual had been ejected from the mall when he refused to obey any commands given by the crime prevention officers, and the actual police officers assigned to patrol the mall that day were called to assist in his removal.

  The detectives made stops in each store Lisa had told Dan she and Ashley had gone in, and were able to obtain security DVDs from two of them. No one they spoke to at the mall gave any indication that they had observed Lisa and Ashley being followed, nor did they advise that they knew of any problems occurring at the mall that day.

  Lisa returned from the bedroom and resumed her position with Tom and Sergeant Stokes at the kitchen counter. As the Crime Scene Unit finished their work and began packing up to leave, Sergeant Stokes stood up to accompany them out. “All right, I’m going to get going. If anything comes up at all, please call us. I gave you my card before, and it has the main phone number to the department. You also have the detectives’ cards. Do not hesitate to call. If you notice or remember anything at all that might be important or if someone tries to contact you in reference to your daughter, no matter what they say, call immediately.”

  Tom acknowledged that they would and shook the Sergeant’s hand and walked to the front door. As the door opened, a fair amount of people standing on the sidewalk across the street perked up. Several boom mics and cameras maneuvered for better angles.

  “Damn it. And don’t hesitate to call if these idiots start harassing you either,” Sergeant Stokes said gruffly to Tom. The sergeant had placed one of his patrol officers in the front of the house while the crime scene techs worked. Because the early indications were that Ashley may have been abducted from the area of the mailbox in front of the house, that area needed to be left undisturbed until it could be processed, and so the officer had put up yellow crime scene tape that spanned the perimeter of the Wooten’s property and all the way across the patch of road directly in front of their house. The media that had begun funneling in as the hours passed were told sternly to stay back from the tape and stay off of everyone’s property, which left them relegated to the small strip of sidewalk.

  Sergeant Stokes walked slowly down the front sidewalk as Tom quickly closed the front door behind him. Sergeant Stokes told the officer to remove the yellow tape and reopen the road after he and the crime scene units left the area, but to make crystal clear to the media outlets that stayed that they were not to be on anyone’s private property or they would be arrested. The officer agreed and the sergeant lumbered forward across the street and to the edge of the taped off perimeter.

  “OK, folks,” he shouted, looking over the crowd. “We don’t have a statement to make right now, but one will be forthcoming. I just want to remind you this family has been through a l
ot today and to give them the privacy they deserve in this trying time. Thank you.”

  With that, Sergeant Stokes turned his back to the media personnel and began walking to his car, ignoring the questions shouted at him. Soon the yellow tape was taken down and the media made their descent on the house.

  As Tom walked back in the kitchen where Lisa still sat on a barstool, the cold truth suddenly hit him. They were alone. All alone. No police officers asking questions, no radios chirping. No technicians dusting for prints or looking for clues. More importantly, no child’s laughter or constant questions. The eerie silence made the house seem lifeless and empty.

  Fear gripped him again, but not the same gut-wrenching fear that had originally engulfed him when they realized their only child was missing. This was a fear of not knowing what to do, or what they should do. It bordered on guilt, not knowing what the “protocol” was in this situation to try to get their child back. Who would they ask? Who should they compare themselves to? They certainly knew of no one who had been in this position. Were they to become the people they had seen on news programs throughout the years? The people who made impassioned pleas on Good Morning America? Was that how these things were supposed to go?

  “We need to look for her ourselves,” Lisa said staring straight ahead, finally breaking the silence. “She’s our baby, we need to be out there looking, not leaving it to the police.”

  “We need to call our families . . . they should hear it from us first.”

  “I don’t care how they hear it, if I’m not out there looking, if I don’t get out there to look today, I don’t think I’ll ever live with myself. I don’t know how we sat here for so long without going out there and looking. What is wrong with us?” Her voice cracked again as her guilt again began to show.