Where Should Boulder Police Start?

[Maikai]

Tip was in 2001....

Chase tip referred to girl 'killed with baseball bat'
Boulder police didn’t act on 2001 tip that named Alcalde as suspect
By Heath Urie (Contact)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009


Susannah Chase.

Diego Olmos Alcalde is charged in the 1997 murder of Susannah Chase.
Susannah Chase Homicide
Special Section and Archives

BOULDER, Colo. — An anonymous tip sent to Boulder police in 2001 contained the subject line “girl that was killed with baseball bat” and the misspelled name of suspect Diego Alcalde.

But it went unconnected to the baseball-bat beating death of University of Colorado student Susannah Chase three years earlier, and was lost inside a box at police headquarters, investigators testified in Boulder County District Court on Tuesday.

Alcalde, 39, who was arrested in the case in 2008 after his DNA matched crime-scene evidence, is in court all week for motions hearings. The hearings resumed Tuesday with defense attorneys questioning detectives about the tip, which was submitted to Crimestoppers and forwarded to Boulder police on Jan. 9, 2001.

The tip, which investigators have since learned came from one of Alcalde’s former girlfriends, indicated that “Diego Ivan Olmos Alcalad” had hit a man with a black-handled, blue baseball bat. The description matched the bat used in the Chase homicide on Dec. 20, 1997, but the tipster never referenced the case or mentioned Boulder.

“At one point, she had seen something on TV about the Chase homicide and had called Crimestoppers,” Sgt. Kerry Yamaguchi said.

Yamaguchi, who was in charge of the investigation for the first 10 months, testified Tuesday that the tip indicated “Alcalad” had been arrested by Denver police in 1997 or 1998 on assault charges.

The tipster wrote that police should “see if there is a connection.”

It’s unclear how Crimestoppers knew to send the tip to Boulder, police said.

Alcalde’s defense attorney, Mary Claire Mulligan, asked why police didn’t follow up on the tip or make the connection to Chase.

“Do you recall any other cases in the Boulder Police Department that involved a girl that was beaten to death with a baseball bat?” Mulligan asked.

Yamaguchi answered that there are not other such cases, and he “probably would have made that assumption” if he had seen the tip. But no one appears to have followed up on it, he said.

Boulder detective Chuck Heidel, who is now in charge of the investigation, said the tip apparently made its way into a box of paperwork that officers assumed was “mostly duplicates” of information already filed with individual cases.

He said investigators had no way of knowing who Alcalde was at the time, and the tip didn’t include a birthday to help run background checks.

Mulligan questioned that logic, and said police surely had ways to check alternate spellings of names. They also could have called Denver police, who likely would have had information about Alcalde’s arrest in January 1998 on suspicion that he assaulted two women — one of them at knifepoint.

“Do you know how (the tip) may have gotten into that box?” Mulligan asked.

“I don’t know,” Heidel answered.

The tip was finally found and attached to the Chase file in January 2008, after Alcalde had been linked to the case by a DNA sample he had to submit following an unrelated kidnapping conviction in Wyoming, Heidel said.

The defense is asking Judge James C. Klein to impose sanctions on the prosecution for failing to act on the tip, because too much time has passed now for Alcalde to mount an effective defense. Several of the witnesses and possible alternate suspects are now dead, deported or missing, according to Alcalde’s attorneys.

The motions hearings resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

 

[Sophie]

Lou Smit has a track record of solving cases---over 200. If anyone thought they were Columbo, it was Steve Thomas. Lou's past actions speak volumes about his ability. His strong suit is putting together case files and organizing evidence. It's the reason Hunter hired him.

To be honest, some would argue that this case was so simple that it didn't need a Columbo: it just needed a DA who would issue search warrants. However, I agree with your praise for Smit up to a point - someone on one of the JBR sites listed the cases that he had failed to solve: it was pretty scary, too. I'm off out shopping now but I'll try to find the list when I get home.

 

[Sophie]

Susannah Chase was brutally murdered and sexually assaulted a year later. She was bludgeoned with a baseball bat (which was found) and left for dead. They had DNA and the perp was arrested last year, due to his DNA finallly being put in a database when he was in prison in Wyoming.

The Boulder Camera reported a couple weeks ago, that the Boulder Police had the tip on this guy soon after the murder. Someone reported that he had said he hit someone with a bat. This wasn't pursued. I don't have much faith that the Boulder Police can solve murders, unless they have some new talent. At the time of Susannah's murder they also missed the trail of blood. A citizen reported it.

Wasn't there an issue with the Chase case? Namely that Eller - who was shortly leaving under a cloud- was heading up the investigation. No excuse, of course, but it was predictable that he'd do less than a stellar job. We also don't know credible the informant was, either. Having said that, I'd have thought most leads would be followed up - no matter how loopy the source - on the basis that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

[Ames]

The relevance is ONE packing peanut was found in the wine room.....and they were in the window well. It shows the intruder could have come in through the window, and the peanut was on his clothing or shoes. They should have analyzed it to see if the same kind of dirt was found on it, as those in the window well, but I don't think it was even taken in as evidence. I think it was just the photos that showed it.

I don't remember ever reading that packing peanuts were found in the window well. Why in the heck would packing peanuts be outside..and therefore, dragged in by the intruder, anyway? You would find packing peanuts INSIDE not outside.

 

[Ames]

I don't think that is correct. The bat had fibers from the carpeting in the basement on it...most likely why Patsy was questioned about bats ever being in the basement. You would think Burke would know if he had an expensive metal bat...but I don't recall anything coming out about that one way or the other. There was writing on the bat....another thing you would think a kid would know about if he had one.

Bats and stun guns were favorite weapons in Boulder/Denver at the time. Several assaults were committed using one or the other prior to the murder of JBR.

Trust me...Rashie is correct, and knows this case inside and out.

 

[BBB167893]

To be honest, some would argue that this case was so simple that it didn't need a Columbo: it just needed a DA who would issue search warrants.

Quite right.

However, I agree with your praise for Smit up to a point - someone on one of the JBR sites listed the cases that he had failed to solve: it was pretty scary, too. I'm off out shopping now but I'll try to find the list when I get home.

I'll be waiting on that one. I've got a list, too. A list of times where Smit, thinking he was Columbo, Sherlock Holmes and Quincy all in one, refused to consider evidence and thought he knew more than the actual experts, even though he never spoke to them.

 

[Maikai]

Wasn't there an issue with the Chase case? Namely that Eller - who was shortly leaving under a cloud- was heading up the investigation. No excuse, of course, but it was predictable that he'd do less than a stellar job. We also don't know credible the informant was, either. Having said that, I'd have thought most leads would be followed up - no matter how loopy the source - on the basis that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I think Eller was already gone by the time Susannah Chase was assaulted. The Ramsey case did him in, and he left on his own and moved to Florida. Missing the lead in the Chase case just makes me wonder how many of the JBR tips were discounted in the beginning. Steve Thomas made statements about the hundreds of leads they got in the Ramsey case, and how the BPD determined which ones were credible.

Eller initially said the Ramseys should get special treatment by the BPD--he sent word out that Access Graphics was a big deal. That was not only his downfall, but the start of all the problems with the case. I think Eller's wanted to be the hero to a millionaire.

 

[Maikai]

I don't remember ever reading that packing peanuts were found in the window well. Why in the heck would packing peanuts be outside..and therefore, dragged in by the intruder, anyway? You would find packing peanuts INSIDE not outside.

I don't know why they were in the window well, but crime scene photos show them, along with leaves. Possibly something was unpacked outside and the peanuts blew into the window well. Lou Smit theorized that the intruder came in through the window and at least one of the peanuts stuck to him, which is how it got into the windowless room.

 

[Jayelles]

I don't think that is correct. The bat had fibers from the carpeting in the basement on it...most likely why Patsy was questioned about bats ever being in the basement. You would think Burke would know if he had an expensive metal bat...but I don't recall anything coming out about that one way or the other. There was writing on the bat....another thing you would think a kid would know about if he had one.

Bats and stun guns were favorite weapons in Boulder/Denver at the time. Several assaults were committed using one or the other prior to the murder of JBR.

Source - John & Patsy Ramsey's Atlanta Interviews. Voice Levin:-

1 Q. If I can change gears for just a
2 second, one of the things that you found
3 significant, and, obviously since you found
4 it significant, it was of great interest to
5 us, was the baseball bat, the second baseball
6 bat, aluminum bat.
7 And we have, through confidential
8 grand jury investigations, found that that
9 bat, that second bat was Burke's. Was there
10 anything else that you thought about,
11 assuming that is true?

http://www.forumsforjustice.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4665

 

[Sophie]

I think Eller was already gone by the time Susannah Chase was assaulted. The Ramsey case did him in, and he left on his own and moved to Florida. Missing the lead in the Chase case just makes me wonder how many of the JBR tips were discounted in the beginning. Steve Thomas made statements about the hundreds of leads they got in the Ramsey case, and how the BPD determined which ones were credible.

Eller initially said the Ramseys should get special treatment by the BPD--he sent word out that Access Graphics was a big deal. That was not only his downfall, but the start of all the problems with the case. I think Eller's wanted to be the hero to a millionaire.

According to ST, Eller was in charge of Chase case for a few weeks.

 

[Ames]

I don't know why they were in the window well, but crime scene photos show them, along with leaves. Possibly something was unpacked outside and the peanuts blew into the window well. Lou Smit theorized that the intruder came in through the window and at least one of the peanuts stuck to him, which is how it got into the windowless room.

And how do we all know that John R. didn't bring in that one packing peanut, when he crawled through that window, because he had locked himself out of the house? One packing peanut found in the basement...does not an intruder make. That one packing peanut, may not have even been from the same group that was outside in the window well.

 

[Ames]

Source - John & Patsy Ramsey's Atlanta Interviews. Voice Levin:-



http://www.forumsforjustice.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4665

Thanks Jayelles...

I thought that it was funny how Patsy tried so hard to distance herself from that bat. When told where it was found, she said...something like...well, Burke and his friends didn't play in that area, he wouldn't have left it THERE. Like it had been left in the street somewhere, miles and miles away.

 

[thelmadawg]

I know there are many who are convinced that the R's had something to do with JonBenet's death.

I think it is entirely unfounded. There is no historical precedence for this kind of behavior from either. Both were loving parents with no history of violence or aberrant behavior. I could go on, but won't.

So where should the Boulder Police look? IMHO

1. Any and all evidence, of course, that currently exists.
2. A pedophile
3. A pedophile with a history. This was no clumsy first attempt.
4. A pedophile with a history who was in Boulder at the time, not necessarily a resident.
5. A pedophile with a history, who was in Boulder at the time with a knowledge of rope knotting and a penchant for the garrote.
6. A pedophile, if not from Boulder, who encountered and, thus, was present or saw publicity from one of her pageants, became fascinated and stalked. In her short life, surely we know which pageants she participated in.

I have some favorite suspects, but hopefully we'll someday know the real truth.

1. Anthony Tony Shore: On death row in Texas. Killed several young women and girls by garrote, molested his own daughters, worked for SBTC (Southern Bell Tel Company) and laid off. Was lineman, climber, familiar with prusick knots (Google images), and do you remember the strange telephone call and rope? Talented musician -- played in bands and for young teens -- I believe -- highschool talent competitions. Could he have played for a Jon Benet competition? Very smart, manipulative and cunning. JonBenet, her lifestyle and family would have been a perfect target. I'm hoping they've checked his DNA, but although I've written the BP several times, no response. Just like to check him off the list!

2. Helgoth, of course.

3. Gary Oliva -- don't know how thoroughly he was checked out, maybe some of you do.

I haven't visited this forum for some time. Are there others who have popped up and remained as viable?

 

[Tadpole12]

Hi Thelmadawg.

"3. Gary Oliva -- don't know how thoroughly he was checked out, maybe some of you do. - TD"

http://www.webbsleuths.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=27&forum=DCForumID79

re Oliva: "Boulder police detectives took a saliva swab from him to do DNA tests, and grilled him for four hours. FBI agents had him give writing samples."

 

[Maikai]

And how do we all know that John R. didn't bring in that one packing peanut, when he crawled through that window, because he had locked himself out of the house? One packing peanut found in the basement...does not an intruder make. That one packing peanut, may not have even been from the same group that was outside in the window well.

We don't know, except the packing peanut was found in the wine cellar room, where JBR was found. It was just something Lou Smit took note of when he reviewed the crime scene photos.

 

[Maikai]

Source - John & Patsy Ramsey's Atlanta Interviews. Voice Levin:-

I'm suspect of anything Levin said. He was purposely putting false information out to the Ramseys. He also said the dark blue fibers in JBR's underwear were from JR's sweater--Lin Wood made a point of refuting that.

You would think a kid would know if the bat was his or not....especially since it had writing on it. It had carpet fibers on it from the basement--if it was out there for any amount of time you'd think the elements would have washed away any threads. They may know the answer to the bat---but nothing has been reported on that, just like the rope.

 

[Maikai]

I know there are many who are convinced that the R's had something to do with JonBenet's death.

I have some favorite suspects, but hopefully we'll someday know the real truth.

1. Anthony Tony Shore: On death row in Texas. Killed several young women and girls by garrote, molested his own daughters, worked for SBTC (Southern Bell Tel Company) and laid off. Was lineman, climber, familiar with prusick knots (Google images), and do you remember the strange telephone call and rope? Talented musician -- played in bands and for young teens -- I believe -- highschool talent competitions. Could he have played for a Jon Benet competition? Very smart, manipulative and cunning. JonBenet, her lifestyle and family would have been a perfect target. I'm hoping they've checked his DNA, but although I've written the BP several times, no response. Just like to check him off the list!

2. Helgoth, of course.


3. Gary Oliva -- don't know how thoroughly he was checked out, maybe some of you do.

I haven't about Tony Snow......you would think his DNA would have been checked, and also his whereabouts on l2/25/96, or if he was even in Boulder around that time.

A lot of unanswered questions on Helgoth, not to mention statements made about him by Kenady. Weird to me that there were Hi-tech boots and stun guns in the crime scene photo. Also, a tape recorder with no cassette in it (was there a taped confession removed?)....the TV news clips of another murdered girl....dog/wolf hairs found on JBR that were the same as dogs he had?

Gary Oliva's DNA apparently didn't match--he seemed like a good suspect--especially since he made statements to a friend shortly after the murder that he killed a young girl---but he was schizophrenic, so who knows what was in his head after the murder was publicized.

A lot of possible suspects from time to time, and a case could be made for many of them regarding motive....but no DNA match.


I know I'm in a minority, but I don't think it was necessarily a pedophile motive. I think the sexual assault was incidental to the true motive of a kidnapping gone bad by an amateur(s), and I don't rule out someone from outside the US that left and may never be found.

 

[GingBreade]

I haven't about Tony Snow......you would think his DNA would have been checked, and also his whereabouts on l2/25/96, or if he was even in Boulder around that time.

A lot of unanswered questions on Helgoth, not to mention statements made about him by Kenady. Weird to me that there were Hi-tech boots and stun guns in the crime scene photo. Also, a tape recorder with no cassette in it (was there a taped confession removed?)....the TV news clips of another murdered girl....dog/wolf hairs found on JBR that were the same as dogs he had?

Gary Oliva's DNA apparently didn't match--he seemed like a good suspect--especially since he made statements to a friend shortly after the murder that he killed a young girl---but he was schizophrenic, so who knows what was in his head after the murder was publicized.

A lot of possible suspects from time to time, and a case could be made for many of them regarding motive....but no DNA match.


I know I'm in a minority, but I don't think it was necessarily a pedophile motive. I think the sexual assault was incidental to the true motive of a kidnapping gone bad by an amateur(s), and I don't rule out someone from outside the US that left and may never be found.

No DNA match to the new "touch DNA" they found? It bugs me that since DNA made it's "debut" people depend on it so much...yes it is EXTREMELY important but sometimes it is taken too literal. That DNA could have come from a lot of different places. WHY THE HELL weren't Patsy's clothes taken that day after she lay on JB? Surely her clothes would have intruder DNA on them? And John's clothes since he carried her upstairs? Isn't that called CSI 101? Bugs me.

 

[Ames]

No DNA match to the new "touch DNA" they found? It bugs me that since DNA made it's "debut" people depend on it so much...yes it is EXTREMELY important but sometimes it is taken too literal. That DNA could have come from a lot of different places. WHY THE HELL weren't Patsy's clothes taken that day after she lay on JB? Surely her clothes would have intruder DNA on them? And John's clothes since he carried her upstairs? Isn't that called CSI 101? Bugs me.

IMO..there needs to be testing on alot of other things...the garotte, the blanket that JB was wrapped in, the Sharpie pen, the list goes on...

Below is a post from Elle 1 over at FFJ


Originally Posted by Elle_1
http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2009/03/26/phantom-killer-a-myth/police-track-DNA-of-cotton-bud-maker-for-two-years.html[/URL]



Police in Germany hunted a sinister phantom killer for two years after finding the same DNA at 39 different crime scenes - only to discover that the source was a woman who made the cotton buds used to collect the sample!


But there was no progress, despite investigators finding her DNA at so many crime scenes.

The police were stumped. They eventually offered a 300,000 euro reward to find the killer.
It's no surprise the money was never claimed, however, because the so-called ‘phantom killer’ was a complete myth!

Detectives had apparently been tracking the DNA of a factory worker who packaged cotton buds used by the police to collect samples, according to ‘Stern.de’

Police linked the 'killer' to seven murders.
The most notorious case was in April 2007 in Heilbronn where a 22-year-old policewoman was shot dead and her colleague (25) seriously injured. On the back seat of the police car, detectives found what they thought was DNA from the mysterious killer.
As part of the investigation, 800 previously convicted women were questioned - but there was no match to the sample.
Her DNA was found over and over again: in bottles, tank lids, on bullets – and once even on a biscuit!
Traces were found in southern Germany, Austria and France. Thousands of saliva tests were taken but there was still no answer.
In April 2008, detectives ran out of ideas, so an internal inquiry was launched.
And yesterday Bernd Meiners, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Saarbrucken[/URL], revealed: “There are considerable doubts about the existence of the ‘phantom killer’. The DNA has instead been linked to investigation materials.”
An employee at the cotton bud manufacturer has apparently been pretty careless!
According to reports, the maker of the buds is a company in Hamburg, with branches in Baden-Wurttemberg and the Saarland as well as Austria and France.
The company has been supplying the police investigators with cotton buds since 2001.

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[Ames]

From Delmar:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7966641.stm


'DNA bungle' haunts German police
Police investigating the murder of a police woman in 2007
This 2007 murder was believed to be the work of the phantom killer

Police in Germany have admitted that a woman they have been hunting for more than 15 years may never have existed.

Dubbed the "phantom of Heilbronn", the woman was described by police as the country's most dangerous woman.

Investigators had connected her to six murders and an unsolved death based on DNA traces found at the scene.

Police are now acknowledging that swabs used to collect DNA samples may have been contaminated by an innocent woman - possibly during manufacture.

'Serial killer'

Police suspected the unnamed woman of being a serial killer who over 16
years carried out a string of six murders, including strangling a pensioner.

She was alternatively called the "woman without a face" and the "phantom of Heilbronn" after the city in southern Germany where she allegedly killed a policewoman.

Police suspicions were based on traces of identical female DNA they found at 40 crime scenes across southern Germany and Austria.

After finding her DNA at the scene of the murder of a 22-year policewoman from Heilbronn in 2007, police offered a 300,000 euro reward for information leading to her arrest.

However, police did not come any closer to identifying their most-sought
suspect.

First doubts

According to prosecutors in the south-western town of Saarbruecken, doubts about the existence of the "phantom killer" were raised when her DNA appeared on documents belonging to a person who had died in a fire.

When police first tried to identify the victim, they found the phantom's DNA on the dead person's ID. But in a subsequent test, no trace of the phantom's DNA could be found on the document.



It shouldn't have happened Ulrich Goll, Justice Minister for Baden-Wuerttemberg

That was the point at which alarm bells started ringing and investigators
began to suspect that the test material itself may have been contaminated with DNA, prosecutors say.

Police in the south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg are now
investigating if the cotton buds used to gather DNA at the crime scenes may have come in contact with DNA before being packed.

Thousands of cotton buds are being tested for contamination and workers at the cotton buds factory are being asked to give DNA samples.

'Very embarrassing'

The justice minister for the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Ulrich Goll,
believes the case is now closed. He thinks the DNA found at the scene of the crimes is probably due to contamination at the factory.

"It shouldn't have happened," he told a regional radio station said.

"The investigators are not to blame. They can't tell if a cotton bud has DNA sticking to it."

The state interior minister, Heribert Rech, wants to wait until the
investigation is finished. "Hasty conclusions are misplaced," he said.

The head of the union of police officers in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Josef
Schneider, also wants to wait until the results of the investigation are
published.

However, he admitted that "if the trace does belong to a woman working in the factory, it'll be very embarrassing".
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