Kill the Ones You Love (9 page)

Gabe purposefully had Jessica and Kalea wait in the pickup while he made his way up the hill. Robin and Bob generally slept late in the morning, and Gabe did not want to have them hear the pickup approaching the residence. Jessica recalled, “Gabe said that it would be best if we did not let them know that we were there. Just because of what happened previously, we didn't know how Bob would react to us.”

Gabe made his way stealthily into some brush, where he could watch the house, unobserved. Incredibly, Gabe took a portable radio set along with him; he had given Jessica another one. By this means, they communicated with one another about what was happening.

One of Gabe's messages became garbled, and Jessica understood him to say that he wanted her to drive the pickup truck up the hill. She started up the driveway. Gabe came tearing out of hiding and told her he didn't want her doing that. Rather than drive the pickup back to its original spot, however, he had her pull it off on the side of the driveway, partway up the hill.

This did not seem to satisfy him for long, so then he had her pull the pickup truck behind a barn and hill so that it couldn't be seen from the house. Gabe returned to a place of hiding, this time behind a group of trees. And once again he watched the house and communicated by hand-held radio with Jessica. Perhaps in Gabe's mind, this was like a secret operation he had talked about so much. To him, he was scouting out the “enemy”; and in his mind, Bob was that enemy. He even perceived Bob as being armed and dangerous, since he knew that Bob had a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

After watching the house for several hours, Gabe saw Robin and Bob leave the residence. Gabe walked over to the house and checked out all the rooms, making sure that they were empty. When Gabe determined that things were the way he wanted them in the house, he went and got Jessica and Kalea. Then all three of them went into the house. There they showered and got something to eat. Once this was accomplished, Gabe walked Jessica and Kalea back to the pickup truck and had them wait once more. And Jessica later admitted that Gabe smoked a couple of joints while he was up on the hill. He also apparently drank a beer, because she found an empty bottle of Heineken later. He even told her to take a swig, because she'd had nothing to drink for hours. She did as instructed, but she didn't enjoy it.

Jessica recalled, “Gabe went back in the house alone, and Kalea and I sat there in the pickup and she played with her toys and she was watching a movie on Gabe's laptop and she calmed down. I was on the passenger side and she was on the driver's side, and she had brought some stuffed animals with her that had been inside the house. She put them on the dashboard and watched a movie. And I could tell she was tired, so I laid a sleeping bag out on the front seat. And we covered ourselves and took a nap.”

 

 

Jessica and Kalea stayed in the pickup truck for hour after hour as Gabe roamed around inside the house. Just what he planned to do when Robin and Bob returned, he did not convey to Jessica. Then once again, Gabe came and got them and escorted them to the residence.

Jessica remembered, “Kalea and I were both ecstatic because we could actually eat again. We had no idea where Bob and Robin had gone or when they'd be back. After we ate, Kalea and I got into our pajamas.”

Jessica remembered, “It was about seven
P.M
. when Kalea and I got in our pajamas and we went to bed. We went to sleep in our room upstairs. Gabe stayed awake so he could talk to Bob and Robin when they got back.”

Meanwhile, Gabe kept his vigil—waiting and watching for his mom and Bob to return. By now, he was primed and ready. He had discovered Bob's .40-caliber handgun, and he had at least two full clips. That meant he could get off twenty shots in very short order.

 

 

Robin and Bob finished their activities in North Bend and around Bandon, where they had dinner. They finally arrived back in their driveway at some time after 8:00
P.M
. At that time of year, it was very dark outside the home. Unbeknownst to them, Gabe was watchful and waiting on the upper balcony, which had a commanding view of the front room.

Robin and Bob entered their home and walked toward a couch in the living room. Robin even managed to put her purse and some items down on the couch. Who knows what thoughts were racing through Gabe's mind at that point? All his failures, anger and frustration had boiled down to this one moment. And in his delusional mind, he may have thought that Bob was reaching for a gun in his coat pocket.

In one version that Gabe later gave, he said that he yelled at Bob to take him seriously. Most likely, however, without a word, he began firing. Bob was hit multiple times and made it as far as the door before collapsing. Robin was also hit multiple times. Wounded and in shock, she still managed to make it outside the front door, before Gabe followed her, took aim and shot her in the head. Mute evidence was left near her body. It was a spent shell casing from the pistol. Gabe had to have followed her outside and shot her to death at close range.

CHAPTER 17

After Gabe made sure that his mother and Bob Kennelly were dead, he riffled through Bob's wallet and got a little bit of cash and Walmart gift cards. Then he ran upstairs, where Jessica and Kalea were now awake.

Jessica recalled, “I woke up to the sound of gunshots. Kalea had woken up first. She was crying and scared. I think I heard Robin's voice, but it was really, really, really distant. It was extremely muffled and distant.”

Jessica was groggy and confused. She continued, “Gabe came up to the room and ran in and said, ‘Let's go!' Then he ran back out. I had been wearing my glasses, and they were on the counter. I stood up, and then I grabbed Kalea. I didn't have shoes on, so I grabbed some shoes out of the closet. They were Gabe's shoes. I couldn't find any that matched. So I just wore Gabe's mismatched shoes. I carried Kalea. I ran down the hall with her, went down the stairs, stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and that's when I saw them. I told Kalea to close her eyes and not open them for any reason. And I ran out and stepped over Bob and Robin. She was outside. Bob was bloody. He had blood behind his head. I didn't look at Robin.

“Gabe was in Bob's truck and I ran up with Kalea. And we got in and he had the truck started. He took off and sped down the driveway. We hit the embankments and I thought we were going to tip over and go down onto 42 South, but we didn't. It was very dark outside on the road.”

It was from there that Gabe made the drive to Fred Eschler's neighborhood and concocted his story about terrorists. Of this whole incident, Jessica's recollection was “He told me when we went up to the Eschlers' door, ‘Follow along. Do what I say.' And he went in and he told them that we were part of the air force and that he was like an air force special ops, or whatever it's called. And there had been terrorists that had come and just murdered his mom and her boyfriend, and that Gabe shot one of them. And we needed help.

“Fred told Laura to go clean out the car. And I think Gabe asked Fred something about borrowing it or having to drive us. But Fred said he couldn't do it because he had to work in the morning. Fred put together a bag of food for us. Some cottage cheese, apples, other things, and I was holding Kalea the whole time.

“Fred gave Gabe the gun and they put the bullets in the slidey thing. I don't know what it's called for a gun. And Fred gave him that gun. I asked for a car seat for Kalea, but Gabe said it wasn't necessary. And I wasn't sure how this was going to work. I wasn't sure if he was going to drive. So Kalea was put down in the backseat and he wanted me to drive. I got behind the wheel and we drove off.”

As Gabe and Kalea hid in the backseat of the Eschlers' Ford Taurus, Jessica drove down the darkened road away from Coquille. She already knew there were no terrorists, nor were they fleeing for their lives from some radical cell of killers. She had seen no one else in the house, no other dead bodies except those of Robin Anstey and Bob Kennelly. She surmised correctly that Gabe had killed them.

Jessica recalled, “I drove to Roseburg (on Interstate 5) and I asked him which way we should go. Then I said, ‘South?' And he said, ‘I totally agree.' And so I turned south.”

Working up her courage, she asked why he had killed them. Gabe didn't even try to lie to her. His answer was “It had to be done.” He gave no further explanation than that.

Once again, on a darkened road, they were heading south. This time it was not to collect money or to look for new job opportunities. It was to try and get beyond the reach of the law. Behind them they had left two bodies lying in pools of blood at a hillside residence on Highway 42 South.

No one except for Gabe, Jessica and Kalea knew about Robin Anstey and Robert Kennelly lying dead at their residence. This state of affairs went on for two days, until the afternoon of Wednesday, February 10. A citizen of Coquille complained to the Coquille Police Department about a pickup truck parked in front of his home on Dean Street. The police checked on this pickup truck and ran the license plate number. It turned out to be a pickup owned by Robert Kennelly, of Highway 42 South.

Since the address was beyond the CPD's jurisdiction, they asked the Coos County Sheriff's Office to make contact with Kennelly about the pickup truck. Deputy Adam Slater pulled the assignment.

Deputy Slater arrived at Kennelly's place at around 1:45
P.M
. on February 10. He thought he was there just to check on a very minor infraction. He drove up the hill from the highway and parked his vehicle where everybody else parked their vehicles, behind the residence near a shed. Slater walked down some steps toward the house and was stunned to see a body lying on the deck in front of the house. It was the body of Robin Anstey. As Slater moved up toward the house, he saw a second body sprawled on the living-room floor, near an open door. This was the body of Bob Kennelly.

Deputy Slater confirmed that both victims were dead, pulled back from the scene and called for help. This was obviously something far beyond a deputy's duties. A detective and other sheriff's officers were going to have to be called in. As it turned out, CCSO detective sergeant Daniel Looney was about to get a case that surpassed anything he had ever seen before.

Looney had been in the sheriff's office for twenty-six years by 2010 and had been a detective for twenty years. As he recalled later, “We received a call from the Coquille Police Department about a white Dodge pickup truck illegally parked on Dean Street in Coquille. They advised us that the registered owner was Robert Kennelly and his residence was out on Highway 42 South. That was in the Coos County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction.

“Deputy Slater's job was to drive out to the residence and make contact with the registered owner and ask him to move the vehicle. About one forty-five, he arrived on scene, found the bodies of a deceased male and female there and called it in.”

Soon Detective Looney was on his way; and when he arrived, he noted that this location was known as the Flower Hill Ranch. A steep driveway wound up the hill from the highway, and it was wooded along its side. Pampas grass grew along two small spur roads, which were parallel to the main driveway. The main driveway eventually led to a garage area and shed. There was also a barn off to the side and a large two-story main residence.

When Sergeant Looney got to the deck area outside the back entrance of the house, he noted a middle-aged female lying faceup. He immediately looked for blood in that area and noticed blood smear marks and lots of blood, where she had bled out. There were also small, scattered droplets of blood on other areas of the deck.

And then something really caught his eye. It appeared to him that initially she might have been facedown in a planter box. To his eyes, it seemed as if someone had dragged her to the position where she now lay on the deck and positioned her faceup. Near her present position, there was a spent bullet casing and a pair of glasses.

The deceased male was lying in the living room, faceup. It appeared that he had been running for the door when gunned down. Since Sergeant Looney had concern about the increasing clouds and threat of rain, an awning was placed out on the deck area to cover the female's body and other evidence, but not contaminate the scene. Then Looney closed the French doors to the house to keep any rain out.

As part of the investigation, Looney tried to determine when the crime had occurred. One thing that helped him in that regard were several bags from a convenience store, with a receipt inside one bag. In the living room on the couch was also a purse. When Looney looked inside the purse and a wallet there, he found a driver's license for Robin Anstey, aged sixty-two. Nearby was also a bag from Ross Dress for Less in North Bend. The receipt was dated 5:24
P.M
. on February 8. Another bag was from a drugstore in Bandon, with a timed receipt for 8:02
P.M
. on February 8.

Moving back to Robin Anstey's body, Looney and the other investigators set up strong lights and found a shell casing for a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun. Nearby was an upside-down plastic pot with a bullet hole through it and a bullet fragment in the pot. Also there was a human tooth lying on the deck and an ammo clip, which was empty. On the French doors, there had been a bullet strike, where the bullet had hit and glanced off.

Moving inside, law enforcement noted that when people entered through the French doors, they were greeted by an open-style living room, which went clear up to the ceiling of the second story. Around this second story was a balcony, which ran around the open area. A stairway to the balcony was on the right side of the living-room area, and to the left were the kitchen, dining room, pantry and laundry room. There was also a master bedroom and a small office on the first floor of the house.

It began to be apparent that whatever happened here had begun inside the house. There were two spent shell casings near a kitchen counter on the floor, and one more near a table. A candle in a dish was near the stove, and right next to that dish was another spent shell casing. There were shell casings on the kitchen floor, in the sink and under a couch in the living room as well. In all, thirteen expended shell casings were found in the area.

What caught Sergeant Looney's eye was the fact that an empty ammo clip that could hold ten bullets was found. That meant the shooter had to reload at some point to keep firing.

Trying to determine angles of trajectory and where the shooter might have been standing at different times, Looney and the others looked for where bullets lodged and for strike marks as well. There was a bullet hole in the edge of a chair near the right side of Bob Kennelly's body. There was also a bullet hole in the leaf of a plant in the living room. A dowel was placed in one of the wounds on Bob Kennelly's body. Using a laser, the beam shone from the wound, through the plant leaf and up to the balcony area. Apparently, the shooter had begun shooting there and then had come down into the lower portion of the house.

A bullet strike in the French doors confirmed that theory. The angle of the strike mark proved that particular bullet had traveled in a downward angle from the balcony area. In fact, a .40-caliber bullet was found in a door when the molding was removed.

There were bullet strikes all over the living room. One was found in a chair near the French doors and another on the floor. The flooring was removed and a bullet found in the subfloor.

As they looked around for paperwork in the house, it was determined that not only did Bob Kennelly and Robin Anstey live in the house, but so did a man named Gabriel Morris, his wife, Jessica, and their daughter, Kalea.

Moving up to the second floor, Sergeant Looney noted a room that “looked like the spire in a castle.” He notated it as the “Castle Room” on the diagram of the house and in his report. Looney added, “There was a lot of kid's stuff in there. It was apparently where the daughter slept.”

In that room were some things that were very jarring for a child's room. Looney noted in the room an ammo clip with bullets in it, a flare and a plastic bag of marijuana. There was also a bong in the room for smoking marijuana. Near the bong was a matchbox, which contained marijuana residue.

A middle bedroom was used as a storage room, and the bedroom at the end of the balcony was used by Gabriel and Jessica Morris. There was a gun safe in a walk-in closet, where Looney found a clip for a Heckler & Koch pistol. This was sometimes referred to as an HK pistol. There was also a box nearby with a receipt in it; the pistol had been purchased by Robert Kennelly in December 1995. A search all over the house and property did not turn up the pistol.

What was very interesting to Sergeant Looney was a photo found in the bedroom of Gabriel Morris in a sheriff's deputy uniform. Also interesting was a plaque for Gabriel attesting to his fine performance as an LDS Church missionary in Australia. And further investigation around the house turned up a passport for Gabriel Morris in the Castle Room.

 

 

Taking the investigation back outside, Sergeant Looney's trained eye noted something very interesting. Looney was a firearms instructor and range master for CCSO. Part of his duty was to train officers what to do if they got into a firefight with an individual. What he noticed on the deck was the position of the empty clip in relation to the dead body of Robin Anstey and what he now knew about Gabriel Morris being a deputy sheriff. Looney said later, “In regard to ammo clips, what you are trained to do as a police officer is, when you've emptied the clip and change magazines, you drop the clip and don't touch it. Because touching it takes time. You let it drop where you're at. You immediately put in a new clip and keep firing.” That could explain why there were no fingerprints found on the empty clip on the deck.