Cause of Death (Det. Annie Avants Book 1) (9 page)

"What do you mean, she's not here?  Where is she?" Carmen's mom said to Julio when she and her husband returned from Modesto at 10:00 AM and found out Carmen hadn't come home the night before.

"She walked to the market and never came back," Julio said.  "I went out looking for her, and didn't find her.  I talked to AnaMaria who said she saw Carmen at the market when she arrived and when Carmen left to return home.  I thought she took off with some friends, so I bought my own food.  I expected her to be here when I got back, but she wasn't.  So, I ate and then fell asleep on the couch."

"God in heaven!  You know she wouldn't do something like that!  Roberto, call the police and say she's gone missing."  Carmen's mom covered her eyes with her hands and sobbed.  "Something terrible has happened to her, I just know it.  She doesn't do things like this."

When Roberto returned from making his phone call, he told Julio and Alana what he found out.

"The officer I talked to, Officer Jose Rubio, said he will be over this afternoon to take a missing persons report.  C'mon, Julio, let's go out and see if we can find her."

Officer Rubio arrived around 4:00 PM.  Julio opened the door and invited him in.  Carmen's parents sat on the couch in the living room, trying to keep their composure.  Mrs. Gutierrez wrung a shredded tissue in her hands and her red-rimmed eyes searched the face of the officer for some sign of hope.  Mr. Gutierrez and Julio found no trace of Carmen when they went out driving around the area.

"I'm sorry that your daughter appears to be missing.  I will ask the standard questions first so I can put the information in the missing person's database, and then you can tell me more about her.  Do you have a fairly recent photograph of Carmen you can give me?"

Mr. Gutierrez got up and went over to the sideboard.  He picked up a framed photograph of an attractive young woman, took it out of the silver frame, and handed it to Officer Rubio.

"Thank you," Officer Rubio said.  He took down the basic information on Carmen and then turned back to the family.

"Now, when is the last time any of you saw Carmen?"

Julio spoke up.  "She left last night about 8:00 PM to go to La Mexicana Market to get some burritos for our dinner," Julio said.  "We were going to do some shopping earlier in the day, but didn't want to go out in the heat.  By evening, we started to get hungry, so Carmen decided to walk over to La Mexicana.  I was watching a program on TV, so she went alone.  She likes to take walks by herself sometimes."

"Then what happened?" Officer Rubio asked, as he took notes.

"By 9:30 PM I became concerned because she wasn't back yet.  My first thought, of course, was that she was gossiping with some friends she met in town.  I wasn't worried, but I was hungry.  So, I decided to walk to town and see if I could find her.

"I saw her friend, AnaMaria DelaFuentes on the street and asked her if she happened to see Carmen.  AnaMaria said Carmen had been to the market, finished her shopping, and headed off east on Bear Mountain Road to come home."

"Is that the way she normally would walk home?" Officer Rubio asked.

"Mostly, she walked up C Street to 4th Avenue, then over to Derby.  But, hey, sometimes we like a little change, so I didn't give it much thought."

"I followed the route AnaMaria said Carmen took and returned to our house.  I expected to find her here, and it came as a surprise that the house was still empty."

"I bought some other food to eat when I was in town, so I just let the matter go and continued watching television until I fell asleep on the couch.  When I woke up this morning, she still wasn't here and that's when I started to worry.  Before I could do anything about it, my parents returned from their trip to Modesto."

"Do you have a phone number or address on AnaMaria?" Officer Rubio asked the family.

"She just lives down N. Derby, the third house north of Arvin Avenue.  It's a small house tucked back from the road, but you can't miss it.  I think she has a day job, but one of her parents should be home and can tell you where to find her," Julio said.

"Is Carmen employed?"

"Yes," Mr. Gutierrez said.  "She works part-time at Arvin Lumber., but she was off yesterday.  One of the first things I did this morning was contact Arvin Lumber to see if she showed up for work, but they said they hadn't seen her and she didn't call in, which is unusual for her."

"OK," Officer Rubio said as he stood up to leave.  "I'm going to talk to Miss DelaFuentes, and as many other people as I can, to see if we can get an idea of where she might have gone.  If you see officers in the neighborhood talking to the neighbors, that's perfectly normal in this type of situation.  Here's my card with my cell phone number on the back.  If you hear from her, or receive any other information about her whereabouts, please give me a call."  He handed the card to Mr. Gutierrez and returned to his patrol car.

Officer Rubio arrived at the home of AnaMaria DelaFuentes a few minutes later and knocked on the door.  An older woman answered.  The surprise of seeing a police officer on her porch showed on her face. 

"Good morning.  I'm Officer Jose Rubio from Arvin PD and I was wondering if I could speak briefly with AnaMaria DelaFuentes?"

Puzzled, the woman frowned and said, "Why?  Is she in trouble?"

"No, I want to ask her about her friend Carmen Gutierrez.  Is Miss DelaFuentes here?"

"No, she's at work.  She works at Grimmway Farms and will be home after 5:00 PM.  You can come back then and talk to her."

"Thank you, I'll do just that.  Here's my card.  If she happens to come in sooner, please have her give me a call."

Later that evening, when Officer Rubio met with AnaMaria, he learned nothing new.  He went back to the police station and wrote up his report. 
I don't have a good feeling about this disappearance
, he thought. 
We need to canvass the town thoroughly to see if anyone has a clue as to the whereabouts of Carmen Gutierrez.

Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 1:30 PM

"Arvin Police Department, Officer Orlando Lamantia, how can I help you?"

"Hello, this is Detective Thomas Weston with the Kern County Sheriff's Office, Robbery/Homicide Unit.  Are you aware of the murder victim we found yesterday near Lamont?"

"Yes, we sure are.  Terrible thing."

"I'm calling because our victim is still a 'Jane Doe'.  We're checking with all the Police Departments in Kern County to see if there are any reports of a missing person who fits the victim's description, but the report may not be in the FBI databases yet."

"When I heard about your case, I went through our reports, but didn't find anything recent or relevant.  All of our missing person's reports are in the FBI database but, if anything new comes up, I'll give you a call."

"Thank you, I appreciate that very much."

Tom hung up the phone and called the next police department on his list.  Each police department in Kern County would receive the same call and information. 

In the meantime, Annie searched missing person's databases online.

Tom hung up the phone and looked over at Annie.  "Anything in the databases?"

"Nothing that matches our victim and this time frame, no."  

Annie said.  "This doesn't look good."  She picked up her coffee cup, took a sip, and immediately thumped the cup down on her desk.  While she searched, her coffee had turned cold.

"Well, we need to get her picture out to all the towns in Kern County as well as on major media statewide," Tom said, as he walked over to the break room and poured Annie another cup of coffee.  "I have a bad feeling about this.  We're not looking at a 'crime of passion'.  There is no doubt in my mind that we are looking at a deliberate, pre-meditated murder," Tom said.

"The autopsy bears that out, Tom.  Someone held our 'Jane Doe' for several days and tortured her with spiders," Annie said, with a shiver.  "I can't imagine the terror and pain she experienced."

Annie wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her hands up and down her upper arms, while the knot in her stomach, got larger.

Tom looked up and said, "I hope we don't have a psychopath on our hands and I hope he or she doesn't plan to strike again."

Wednesday, 15 August 2012, 10:00 AM

"Is Jesse meeting us here?" Tom asked Annie as they entered the Technical Investigations office.

"Yes," Annie said.  "He needs to stay up to speed on anything that Laine finds.  Especially evidence that might help us determine who 'Jane Doe' is and where she was between her abduction and when her body was placed at the crime scene."

When they entered the conference room, Laine looked up from the head of the table and greeted them.  A few minutes later, Jesse arrived.

"Sorry I'm late.  It's been one of those days," Jesse said as he sat down across the table from Annie.

"They're all 'one of those days'," Annie said as she laughed.  "I rarely have a day that isn't 'one of those days'."

Laine handed them each a packet of reports and other papers. 

"This is what we have so far," she said.  "There's not much here yet.  What trace evidence we found is in the process of evaluation.  Mainly, there were dirt samples from under the body and around the boot print and tire track, some olive leaves and twigs, and the second black widow spider that was in the dirt.  We didn't find her missing earring."

Laine continued, "There was a tire track in a wet spot along the west side of the roadway just beyond the space between the rows of vines where he placed the victim.  The direction of the track leads us to believe that the vehicle was coming from the north on South Fairfax Road.  The way the vehicle pulled off the side of the road left the front of the vehicle, including the doors, beyond where the track was so the driver, when he exited the vehicle and removed the body - assuming that's what happened here - wouldn't have been aware of the wet area and the tire track left by the vehicle.

"There were no footprints around the vehicle that we could ascertain.  Therefore, when he removed the body he only stepped where it was dry and the wind probably blew any tracks away.

"However, we did find one boot print in the vineyard, shielded by overhanging vines, just to the left of where the victim was placed.  We checked the weather and there had been a slight breeze the night before which explains why any other boot or footprints weren't discovered.

"This boot print is rather distinctive.  It wasn't from a common boot, but appears to be from a line of boots the government developed for the military for Desert Storm.  See the DESX on the bottom?  They aren't available commercially, but can sometimes be found at Military Surplus outlets.  It's definitely not from a boot that you would find at Wal-Mart or KMart. An expert in military footwear verified this.

"I'm also running checks on boot prints found at other crime scenes to see if I can find a match, but no luck so far."

"Do you have any indication as to what kind of vehicle left the tire track?" Tom asked.

"It appears to be from a larger vehicle, probably a truck or SUV.  We are running a comparison right now to see if it's standard issue on any particular vehicle.  The tread isn't worn down, so the tire is relatively new.  There's no way to know if it's original issue or a replacement tire.  In addition, there were no distinguishing marks on the print we lifted that would definitely tie it to a specific tire.

"I've included all the photographs and sketches from the scene as well as the boot and tire tracks."

"Thank you.  I will see that they get placed in the Murder Book when I get back to the office," Annie said.

"Does anyone have any ideas about this case, or the perp?  I've never seen a murder by black widow before.  Dr. Richards says the actual cause of death was a ruptured brain aneurysm and he is leaning towards the venom from the spiders raising her blood pressure to an extreme level, resulting in the burst blood vessel.  His thought is that the vessel was probably weak to start with and couldn't handle the rise in blood pressure," Jesse said.

"Does Doc know the approximate time of death yet?" Laine asked.

"He's estimating less than 12 hours from the time we arrived at the scene.  However, the condition of the spider bites indicates that the first one occurred between 8 to 10 days prior to her death.  She probably suffered horribly," Annie said, cold chills running up her back at the thought.

"I suggest you talk to a Criminal Psychiatrist to find out what kind of person would kill another person this way. Maybe an FBI Profiler could be of help.  I have a friend who is a retired FBI Profiler, and a Criminal Psychiatrist.  He teaches Criminal Investigation and Profiling Terrorism at the Modesto Junior College in their Administration of Justice Program. Would you like his contact information so you can give him a call?" Laine asked.

"Yes, that would be great," Tom said.  "I don't want to involve the FBI at this point, but a talk with a Criminal Psychiatrist could only help."

Laine picked up her phone and punched in a number.  "Merilee, would you check my Rolodex and get me the phone number of Dr. Lydell Goodkind?"

A few minutes later, Merilee entered the room with the requested information and handed it to Tom.

"If that's all for the moment, we need to get back to work," Jesse said.

Laine looked up from her reports.  "That's about it for now.  As more info comes in, I'll keep y'all posted."