Tag: motive

Getting to Know Him

March 2015

(Post Six)
Pat replied to my letter later that week.   Yes, I know being in jail does afford
him a fair amount of spare time, but I still appreciated the quick
response.   I could tell he was eager to
continue this relationship.Like when
you give a guy your number and he texts you right away.  It’s a nice feeling.

His letter was written in pencil in his very neat printing on six pages, double-sided,
on yellow legal pad paper.
I bet he’s not allowed to have pens! Pens can be taken
apart.  There are probably a lot of
things that you can make with pen parts.I should ask about that.

 

Pat’s Letter

Pat thanked me for writing to him again and said he’d try
to answer all my questions as honestly as possible.   He also asked for honesty in return.
But he didn’t say what he wanted me to be honest about.  Just that
“a foundation cannot be built on lies and/or distrust.”It makes me feel a little guilty about the
blog.   Does writing it make me
dishonest?

Pat told me he was happy to get my pictures and remembered
me “quite vividly.”  He said I “came across as a very easy-going genuinely nice person” (I think I
am a nice person.  Being remembered as
“hot” would be good, too).
“Freedom” was brought up again.  He’s tried to adapt to life behind bars;  he wants to use his time to help others any
way he can.
One point he has made hits me where I live. He feels like his years being incarcerated
have allowed him to strip away the false faces he used to wear.  In jail, he can be himself.
He wrote this letter to me at the end of September.  When he quoted Bill Cosby “I don’t know the key to success, but the
key to failure is trying to please everyone,” he had no idea that, ironically, Cosby would be all over the news in a couple months.  It’s still a pretty good quote, though.
Then Pat answered all the questions I’d asked! 

Pat’s Answers

 

  • The Drugs: Pat used Crystal, Heroin, Ecstasy and he mixed a lot of pills (so some serious perspective and reality altering kinds of drugs).
  • He defended himself against the accusation that he had massive financial problems and said he was only a month or 2 behind on rent. The media completely over-exaggerated his debt
  • Overcoming addiction is still an on-going battle (in other words – getting drugs behind bars isn’t too difficult).
  • He told me that I was the only person to ask him if he likes his lawyer. He seemed impressed by that. Pat has a Public Defender lawyer who he really likes his lawyer and he talked about fighting for the greater good…
Which now makes more
sense in the light of some major developments happening around Pat’s case in
the past month!  His lawyer is making
major waves about the DA’s Office infringing on the rights of inmates.Now, Pat is getting a new judge after 5
years.  Meaning this trial isn’t starting
any time soon.

 

  • Pat’s free time is spent meditating, reading, studying theology, yoga, working out, taking counseling correspondence classes (he wants to be a rehabilitation councilor for other inmates), Bible classes, watching sports on TV… He showers and visit his fellow inmates during his 1-2 hours outside of his cell.
  • He wrote that inmates share whatever books and magazines they get sent in.
  • Visits are always a surprise. They only get visits on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They can only have one visit per day.
  • Pat’s visitors have included:
    • His parents – regularly
    • A few of his theatre friends
    • The parents of an old girlfriend
    • A Dateline Producer!!!!!
    • Writers from New York (hmm – I’m not worried)
    • The Vet’s father (The “Vet” is one of Pat’s alleged victims. So having the guy’s dad visit Pat in jail is pretty astonishing).
    • and now ME
  • He has NEVER been scared inside the jail. He’s a big guy (6’2” and 200 lbs) and he’s in jail for a big crime. He isn’t affiliated with any gangs and he tries to promote “an atmosphere of peace and unity.” It seems like Pat gets along well with the inmates and the guards. He’s personable. He has been depressed, but never afraid.
  • Answer about the quest for God was quite extensive, so I’ll summarize. He is interested in all religions and has studied with many religious and spiritual leaders. He quotes Gandhi “All religion is true. I just want to love God.” Pat believes there is one true God that created us all. He believes that Jesus died for our sins. Pat is a LOT more religious than I am.
Pat ended his letter by inviting me to write to him again
and to feel free to inquire more.He
thanked me for just treating him like a human being.  He lost a lot of friends when he was
arrested.  He knows and understands that
many people think he is an evil man.

I don’t.
Pat may be 100% guilty of this crime.  That doesn’t mean that this crime is 100% who he is.
He’s funny.  He’s
silly.  He’s geeky.  Hell, he might not even be a murderer (more
on that later).
A present was also enclosed for me.
My first drawing from Pat.
Awwww… right?

The Crime

 January 2015

(Post Two)
 
I’ve read everything I can find on this case. I’m not asking Pat for any specifics. Yet.

 

My understanding is that the Sheriffs only wanted to question Pat about a missing man and his ATM card.  And then Pat supposedly confessed immediately…

…to murder.

The Story

Pat and his fiancee lived in an apartment complex two floors below a 26 year old Army combat soldier.

The Vet (as I’ll refer to him) had recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan and had started attending a local college.   Word around the complex was that The Vet had about 50,000 dollars savings in the bank and the police say that Pat wanted that money.

They also say Pat was in major debt… that Pat was about to be evicted from his apartment…  that Pat was getting married in the middle of a terrible financial situation…

Money was motive for murder.

The Vet and his parents were close.  He was their only child.  When their son didn’t come over as expected that morning and couldn’t be reached on the phone, the worried dad went to his son’s apartment to check on him.

Inside the bedroom, he found the partially clad body of a young woman.

She was a friend of his son’s.  She had been shot.

She had writing scrawled on her.  The words indicated she’d been killed because of some kind of romantic relationship that had gone terribly wrong.

With no sign of his missing son, The Vet’s dad called the police.

I want to point out that everything I know about this case so far is from what I’ve read and seen on TV.  None of my information is from Pat.  We were not yet in that point of our relationship.

I’m not sure what exactly was written on the body of the murdered girl.   My understanding is that a black marker was used to write on her body or her clothing. It supposedly said something like “now you can fucking have her…”

I will be very interested in finding out the specifics when Pat goes to trial
(likely this February).

Tutor Girl

The murdered woman was a 23 year old; The Vet’s fellow student and his tutor.   Even though she had a boyfriend (A Marine combat engineer stationed in Japan),
the police immediately suspected that the relationship between The Vet and Tutor Girl was actually romantic. A logical conclusion.  It appeared she’d been sexually assaulted and The Vet was nowhere to be found.

The dad protested profusely that his son would never have hurt Tutor Girl, but evidence showed otherwise. The previous evening, she was at dinner with her brother when she received texts from The Vet.  He was depressed.  He really wanted a “girl to talk to.”  Tutor Girl was never one to abandon a friend in need, so she agreed to drop by his apartment later that night.  Her brother got a text around midnight letting him know she’d arrived safely to The Vet’s apartment.

Now she had been found dead in the apartment of that man who had “lured” her to his home… and he was missing.

The police tracked the missing man’s activity through credit card and bank activity.  The Vet’s ATM card led them to a 17 year old kid who had been taking out money.  The 17 year old immediately told the police that he’d been given the card and asked to take out the money by… Pat.

Now, obviously, the police wanted to how Pat came into possession of a missing man’s ATM card – especially when that man was wanted in questioning to a murdered girl found in his apartment. This is when they tracked Pat down at that restaurant.  It turns out that Pat didn’t realize that the police only wanted to question him about the ATM card.  He thought they knew much much more.

You see, The Vet wasn’t on the lam.

He was dead.

The Confession

According to the police, Pat confessed to murdering them both.

The police say that Pat told them he’d asked The Vet to help him move some furniture at a local theatre building (not my theatre – a much larger one that was not operating at the time, on a Joint Forces training base) on a Friday afternoon in May.
In the attic of the building, Pat allegedly shot The Vet once (he thought he’d gotten an electric shock) and then shot him a second time in the head. Pat left the body, but took The Vet’s wallet and cell phone. He had a show to do that night. He was the lead in the musical at our theatre, and the show was sold out.
When Tutor Girl was receiving texts from her friend’s cell phone,  The Vet was already dead. According to the confession, Tutor Girl was greeted by Pat when she arrived at The Vet’s apartment. She knew Pat casually.  They were Facebook friends.

He invited her in and shot her in the head.

Wow, right?  Hold on… it gets worse.

Pat decapitated The Vet’s body.  He also cut off the man’s left arm and right hand.

He left the torso and legs at the theatre and hid the head, arm, and hand in a nearby park.

After that… he had another performance.

 

No one at our theatre had any idea that the man singing on stage had just murdered two people… according to police.

When I use “allegedly” and “supposedly” to discuss Pat’s crime and confession, I  do this because his trial hasn’t happened. He is innocent until proven guilty.

I’m pretty sure Pat is guilty. He’s also my friend.