Joe Kenda - Killer Triggers

Also by Joe Kenda

I WILL FIND YOU:
Solving Killer Cases from My Life Fighting Crime

Copyright 2021 by Joe Kenda
E-book published in 2021 by Blackstone Publishing
Cover design by Kathryn Galloway English
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced
or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the
publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious.
Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental
and not intended by the author.
Trade e-book ISBN 978-1-982678-37-1
Library e-book ISBN 978-1-982678-36-4
True Crime / Murder / General
CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Blackstone Publishing
31 Mistletoe Rd.
Ashland, OR 97520
www.BlackstonePublishing.com

I dedicate this book to my wife, Kathy;
our son, Dan; and our daughter, Kris,
because they were kind enough to stand by me over the years
despite the toll taken by my career in pursuit of killers. Im doing my best
to make it up to them by sharing in the rewards of my more recent
unlikely and totally unexpectedsecond career as a true-crime
television show host and author.

CHAPTER ONE:
A Runners Fatal Walk

the trigger: money

Once I became the lieutenant in charge of the homicide division, my role was like that of a symphony conductor. Id walk into the scene of a murder and try to pick up on the melody so that I could orchestrate the investigation.

My team of detectives were like symphony musicians. They each had distinct talents and levels of experience. My job was to get them to work in harmony. Sometimes, things went smoothly. Other times, wed have to stop and start over, maybe even more than once.

As the conductor, I had to monitor our progress and make sure we were all in tune and in sync while moving toward a resolution. Murder investigations rarely compare to beautiful music. They are more like a cacophony of clashing notes, but it is in the clashing that crimes are solvedclashing alibis, clashing eyewitness reports, and clashing interrogations.

We didnt like complications, but we were very good at sorting things out. This case from 1993 had many complications. It began when our 911 operators received a call from an east-side laundromat operator who reported that a customer had found a man shot in a nearby shopping center parking lot.

A lady came in and told us we should come outside, and we saw a woman bent over an older man giving him CPR and screaming, Breathe, motherfucker! Breathe! the caller said.

Our officers rushed to the scene and found an older man dressed in pink running shorts, a red T-shirt, and fancy running shoes. He had been shot once. The small-caliber bullet passed through his left arm and into his chest. Although he had been breathing when the woman found him, he died shortly after our EMTs took him to the hospital.

His wallet and its contents were intact, and his drivers license identified him as Robert Elshire, seventy-one, of Heber Springs, Arkansas. My guys also found a card from a local executive-suites hotel, room 2G, which was within walking distance of the crime scene.

I sent a couple of detectives over to check it out.

As these initial reports came in, I tapped my baton and asked my team of detectives to answer the first flurry of questions that came to mind:

Who killed Robert Elshire, and why?

What was this midwestern guy even doing in my town?

And what the hell was the deal with the dozens of neon-colored packets of condoms scattered all around the crime scene and along the killers apparent flight path?

Weve found a lot of crazy stuff at crime scenes, but the six-months supply of condoms was a strange twist. At that point, we had no idea whether they were connected to the murder.

We rounded up several witnesses who had seen two young males, one Black and one Black or Hispanic, running from the parking lot after the shooting. One woman was driving by when the two suspects ran from the scene. She had to hit the brakes to avoid hitting one of them. She got a good look at him, saying hed worn a bandanna over his face and gray pants.

Several others in the area heard Mr. Elshire yelling before a shot was fired. Then they heard a younger man scream out before running away and joining another across the street.

Early indications were that Mr. Elshire might have resisted during an attempted robbery. We would soon learn that this World War II veteran, union electrician, and fitness enthusiast wasnt easily intimidated. He was a strong, tough guy, but hed taken a bullet directly to his heart. It had passed through his left arm and into his chest, where it punctured his lung, passed through his heart, and lodged in his spine.

breaking bad news

There is no easy way to break the news to the family of a murder victim. We receive no training for it, but we take it upon ourselves to do it as gently as possible. Otherwise, the coroner would do it, and that was the worst possibility. Theyd just call family members and say, Your son is dead. It was that cold.

I always tried to soften the blow somehow, which was futile most of the time. The heart never heals from this sort of tragedy.

As a homicide detective, all too often you find yourself standing on the front porch, in a cheap suit and holding a badge, and then the door opens and you can see it on their faces. Someone is not home who should be home. They havent heard from a family member who usually calls. They know its coming, and you have to be the bearer of the worst news theyll ever hear.

Im very sorry to inform you that your (fill in the blank) is no longer alive.

I never said killed or murdered, because those words are like bullets. Id just say they were no longer alive, and wait for the reaction. Ive seen all types. Some people just stare at you. Some laugh nervously. Some scream, or collapse, or punch the messenger.

I always told my guys just to do it quickly, gently, and as simply as possible, and then be prepared for anything and everything in response. You just never know whether the loved ones will collapse on you, turn on you, or throw you out the door. In another murder investigation, when we told a woman her husband had been killed, she grabbed a rookie detectives tie and went down, yanking him to the ground and nearly strangling the poor guy.

In this case, our detectives pulled into the hotel parking lot and saw a woman on the balcony outside room 2G. She looked distraught, especially after she spotted their car.

That must be his wife, looking for him, one of our detectives told the other.

Helen Elshire opened the apartment door with her hand in front of her mouth.

Oh, God, what has happened to my husband!

One detective embraced her immediately because he was afraid she might collapse in grief.

Your husband was shot in an apparent robbery attempt, he told her.

She slumped against the hallway wall. Her knees buckled, so our detective held her tighter. She convulsed with sobs and moans.

How bad is he hurt? she asked.

Im afraid he did not survive the gunshot wound to his chest, the detective said.

You wont often see a television or movie detective serving as a compassionate grief counselor, but that is part of the job, too. Some are better at it than others, of course, and this detective was a very empathetic guy.