Of Guilt and Innocence (26 page)

A very large black man casually approached his car. Tom asked for Jemile, but quickly found out through a string of profanity that Jemile was not there and he would have to deal with the large gentleman before him named Dantrelle. He made his request known to Dantrelle, and while he waited for him to get the handgun, he looked at the different houses in the neighborhood. His eyes focused in on a rundown home just a few houses away. Yellow caution tape tied to the mailbox in the front corner of the property flapped in the wind. He assumed some type of gang crime had occurred there and didn't focus much more attention on it. He had no idea that this home had been the location of two recent homicides that had nothing to do with gang violence.  

With the gun secured, the pair continued with their plan to eradicate the world of an evil man. They discussed several different possibilities and the inherent risks to all of them. One plan seemed the safest and that was the one Tom had carried out flawlessly thus far.   

Julia, of course, needed an alibi and set up the appointment at the salon with Vikki. As soon as she left, she phoned Tom on the disposable cell phones, which because both had paid cash for them and the prepaid minutes, couldn't be traced to either of them. Tom had already been in the Coral Gables area, parked in a restaurant parking lot approximately one half mile from the entrance to Las Islas. He left his car there and walked to the house. Though the entrance had a security guard working at it at all times, there was also a footpath entrance that was just out of view of the guard, a flaw in the community's design that a vast majority of homeowners regularly complained about. Clean cut Tom, dressed in his khaki pants and blue polo shirt, a ball cap and backpack, seemed to blend in with the residents of the posh community. He walked to the Hernandez residence with little fanfare or recognition.

Once there he gave a quick glance around the surrounding yards and up and down the street. It appeared to be clear. He quickly swung the backpack off his shoulders and reached into one of the smaller front compartments for the surgical gloves. He then pulled out a small black handgun from a different compartment and put it down to his side, trying his best to conceal it if anyone happened to come by. With the other hand he dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a house key, given to him by Julia.

Once inside the foyer he had to determine where Julia's husband was. Julia had expected him to be home all afternoon, but if Tom had discovered him to be gone from the house, he was to call her and let her know, then lie in wait somewhere on the first floor. Julia had said that if he was home as expected, he would most likely be in his office, where he spent the majority of his time. It didn't take long for Tom to verify that she was correct. He heard Carlos call out to his wife, telling Tom his exact location. He sharpened his focus.  This monster, Tom thought, would get what he deserved.  

 Tom approached slowly, his finger on the trigger. He tried to imitate police officers he had seen on television; it was the only frame of reference he had. He looked like Don Johnson minus the flashy suit as he slowly walked down the hall, arms bent, barrel of the gun pointed to the ceiling. Finally, he turned the corner and stood in the doorway of the office. He saw Carlos for the first time. Their eyes met. He remembered the look of surprise on his face. He pulled the trigger. Tom was amazed at how easy it was. He had never fired a gun before and he hadn't known what to expect. He didn't know if he would miss, or if there would be an alarming recoil after firing. The flash of the gun went off and in that quick moment before Tom knew his aim had been true, he thought of Ashley. If she had given a momentary look of surprise when she saw a monster before her, about to take her life. But Ashley had been an innocent victim; the man now bleeding on the floor was not. And Tom hadn't made the man suffer as Ashley had; it was all over in an instant.

  

They had decided that Tom should leave the gun behind to make it look like a professional hit. Tom had seen a lot of gangster shows and movies and that was always what professional hit men did.  He would drop the gun where he stood and quickly leave. Julia had told Tom that a hit would be believable to police because she claimed Carlos gambled a lot. She also claimed he had had many affairs with married women.

Tom felt he should change afterword because he expected to be covered in blood. When he discovered he didn't have a drop on him, at least that he noticed, he debated momentarily if he should change or just leave the house quickly. Ultimately, he changed into the shorts and t-shirt because he felt he might appear as two different people to anyone who had seen him come in and leave. If police questioned neighbors they would get two different descriptions of someone walking alone.  

Once back to his car, Tom called Julia and told her it was over. She was still at the salon and didn't say much other than, OK, thank you, and then she hung up. He felt no remorse as he drove home, just anger. Anger for a world that could create such monsters. In that brief instant in which their eyes met, he thought he remembered seeing fear in the eyes of his victim. He superimposed that look on the image he had of his daughter. He began to weep. His whole life was different now. He was a different Tom Wooten. There were no simple joys in life anymore.

Despite feeling confident he had left no evidence of himself behind, he still would have the worry every day for the rest of his life that he could be found out and go to jail. And what now for Lisa? He had done this act to save Julia's life, at least that's what he told himself. But he had also done it so they could be together. Julia's name had been left out of Jim Brekenridge's notebook. Tom knew she wasn't involved in Ashley's disappearance. Of all his previous mistresses, she was the only one he truly cared about. The only one he loved and saw a future with. He knew he couldn't be with Lisa anymore, even if she wanted to stay with him after finding out about his affairs, which he wasn't sure she knew about because she was still heavily medicated and they rarely spoke. He certainly hadn't told her of them.

He shook all these thoughts from his head for an instant and was hit with a moment of clarity, a sort of enlightenment. He was completely unrecognizable to who he had been just a month ago. He had thought that before but now he could see it in his mind, he could picture two images of himself. He could see himself smiling, sitting at the dining room table watching Ashley. He could see Lisa walking, talking, alert. Happy. He golfed, he worked in peace, he did fun things and took pleasure in them. And then he saw what he had become. What he was at that moment. Tears streaming down his cheeks. Paranoia setting in. There was nothing to look forward to and now no way to even attempt to salvage and rebuild the life he had once known. With what he had just done he had hitched his horse to one very distinctive wagon, Julia's. And it was all or nothing.

 

 

CHAPTER 19

 

 

Jim finally got the call he had been waiting for, not that he could be excited about it. He had already been told of Louis's suicide via a phone call from Jorge. The two men, at least at that time, were still at odds over what crime Louis was ultimately good for, but that would soon change. Two days after discovering Louis's decomposing body, Jorge had gotten word from the crime lab that the DNA retrieved from the back of Anne's neck had been analyzed and a profile had indeed been created as he had hoped. That profile was then compared to the DNA profile of Louis Bradford. They were not a match. Jorge was crushed. Anne's DNA had been located on the bottom of Louis's shoes, along with some dirt and a type of green algae, but he knew it meant nothing to his case. Louis had admitted to hovering over Anne's body when he found her.

But the bad news for Jorge didn't stop there. The hairs collected in the garage during the initial search did not match those of the South Florida Strangler's victims either. As devastating as it was to Jorge, being a man of true humility and integrity, he called Jim right away, as he said he would, to let him know that he had been wrong: Louis Bradford was not his guy. That Jim's theory seemed more likely.

Jim immediately requested the DNA collected from Louis Bradford's apartment and car be tested against Ashley's DNA profile. Not only did Ashley's DNA match what was found in Louis's apartment, but one of the hairs collected and analyzed matched hers as well. This, however, did not prove to be the only evidence. The fibers collected from Ashley's body matched a quilt found in Louis's car and the green algae found on the bottom of Louis's shoe also was consistent with algae found in the waters of the canal where her body had been found.

When that phone call finally came telling Jim this, that he had found the murderer of an innocent child, it was bittersweet. There would be no arrest. He wouldn't get to slap handcuffs on the person who had done this. In that way he felt justice couldn't ever be fully served. But Jim saw the bigger picture as well. He knew that Louis Bradford's fate would have been the same had the state of Florida been the one to impose it on him, and that even though Louis had had the power to choose it on his own, he had still gotten what he deserved.

The skeletons found in Louis's backyard, three in all, all were identified through DNA as missing children from Broward County. Julie Burrell was five when Louis lured her into his car at a local park, pleading with her to help find his dog. Karen Schierholtz was eight when Louis stopped her as she walked to school in the rain and asked if she wanted a ride. Michelle Cain was six when she asked Louis for help finding her parents at the beach. Despite only four of his victims ever being found, two others were linked to him through the DNA left behind.  They had been missing children up to that point, but now those families could at least have closure. And the other two children Louis had abducted, brutalized, and murdered would forever remain missing as he had been quite successful in making them completely disappear.    

 

After dismissing Louis as his prime suspect, Jorge wouldn't have to wait long for a new one. Less than a week after finding out the man he suspected of being the serial killer he had been chasing was actually a serial killer someone else was chasing, he and the rest of his group were called to the taskforce headquarters in Miami for a briefing. As the room filled and the two obligatory raspberry donuts remained, Lieutenant Greer took his position behind the podium. He explained about Carlos Hernandez's murder and a picture of Carlos appeared on a slide show he had put together. The picture was from his driver's license; he was smiling. He looked like a regular guy. Jorge remembered him and was surprised by his murder. It had gotten some attention in the Miami area because of Carlos's status as a doctor and his wealth, but not the same amount of attention in Broward County and so Jorge knew nothing of it until then. He became anxious as he waited to hear how it tied in to the Strangler killings. The next photo was a crime scene photo of Carlos as he lay dead on the carpet of his office. Lieutenant Greer began to slowly, thoroughly explain the investigation into Carlos's death. He explained how his wife had found him and could think of no one who wanted to hurt such a gentle man. He explained about the gun being left at the scene and the early indication being that it was a professional hit. He told of a locked desk drawer in the room Carlos had been found and how, when opened, a cigar box full of pill bottles was discovered. And then he read the names on the pill bottles.  Jorge began to perspire. His mouth went dry. Had he really shaken the hand of a killer, looked him square in the eyes, and not only not known it was him, but actually complimented him? He felt embarrassed yet again and sunk down in his seat.  

Of course, as time passed Carlos was determined to be the South Florida Strangler. His DNA matched what was retrieved from Anne's body and when truly investigated, the links between Carlos and the victims became apparent. Most importantly the murder weapon was located where it had always been kept, under the driver's side front seat of his car. The fibers of the pantyhose had maintained DNA profiles from some of his victims and that was the smoking gun needed to name Carlos Hernandez publicly as the South Florida Strangler. The name of one of Florida's most notorious serial killers was finally known. Posthumously, Carlos finally got the recognition he craved for himself and not his alter ego.

The only murder never connected to Carlos was Rebecca Sullivan. Mika Jackson remained incarcerated for it until his death at age thirty-eight when he was bludgeoned by another inmate. The South Florida Strangler had finally claimed his last victim.

After Carlos was officially known as the South Florida Strangler, the taskforce disbanded. There was only one murder left to solve, and despite it being handled by taskforce members and not the detectives who were initially assigned it, it was not investigated with the same gusto as their victim's victims had been. The media sensationalized Carlos's death at first, but as time went on the murder of Carlos Hernandez became less important than the acts he committed while alive. The investigation itself was headed by Detective Tony Petrulia.   

Tony had bought in immediately to the idea that someone had discovered Carlos was the South Florida Strangler, a loved one of a victim perhaps, and taken revenge against him. He cared very little about the case and harbored resentment towards it and its victim. His enjoyable run in the taskforce was over and he would soon have to go back to reality, both at home and at work. It was his opinion the killing was done by a professional, hence no sign of forced entry, the use of an unregistered weapon, and the lack of physical evidence left behind.  

Julia had been considered a suspect initially, but she was quickly crossed off the list. Her alibi had checked out and, most importantly, Tony was more interested in trying to sleep with her than connecting her to the crime.  

And knowing she had another one on the hook, Julia played the game with him. She would have slept with him if it came to that and she found it necessary, but thankfully for her it never did.