Who Killed Chrissy?: The True Crime Memoir of a Pittsburgh girl's Unsolved Murder in Las Vegas (15 page)

After
two years of fear and anxiety, I finally realized that Fred was not coming to
get me. Why would he? As far as Marty was concerned, I feared him like I always
feared him, and I still fear him. I did find him while writing this book and
all I will say about it is that he did not offer me any assistance. Chuck
Werner told me, “Marty isn’t going to help anyone unless there’s something in
it for him.”  So I just left it alone, as I could simply not imagine ever
confronting him with serious questions. I don’t think I would have been able to
do it.

I
interviewed a few people who grew up with Chris from the North Side, and they
also feared Marty, noting that his reputation was scary as hell and they didn’t
even want their names mentioned in my book. I’ve decided not to mention them at
all for that reason. I know what living in fear is like, and I don’t wish it on
anyone.

Chuck
did manage to calm me down about Marty by explaining to me that he had no
motives. I had to agree with him on that because the only motive the two of us
could come up with was that they had fought over the phone, which is not a
motive for murder. Of course there may have been something else, but who will
ever know if there was?

I
will never speak of Marty again. I am done talking about it and thinking about
it. I wanted to tell my story, which I have done to the best of my ability.

While
digging for information on Marty, I found out things that I didn’t want to hear
or know, and as of today, I’ve pitched them out the window and will never think
about them again. I simply don’t want to know anything more about this
mysterious man because I am well aware that my very first inclination to write
this story was because of the stories Chris herself had told me about him. I
don’t like mystery people—people who live in the shadows of real life, who
slink around corners and avoid other people. They are too close to being
monsters for me—I don’t want anything to do with monsters.  

It
seemed like fate that no one ever contacted me to ask me to tell my story. I
realize that I would not have been able to tell it back then; I was living with
secondary trauma and too much fear over the entire event. I was unable to speak
of it to anyone until I started thinking about this book.

Pulling
out the memory of this story was painful, tearful, and wrought with the same
feelings of fear and anxiety that I had in 1982. More than a few times I
convinced myself I couldn’t finish writing the story and I gave up.

I
can honestly say that writing this book has been cathartic for me in many ways.
It has helped me purge the story out of my psyche, and now it’s gone forever; I
doubt that I’ll ever dwell on it again. It was yanked out of me like a rotten
tooth and the ache is now gone....

Having
something sit in your psyche for years and years is like having a splinter
lodged in there that aches and aches and never goes away. Sometimes it’s
strong, sometimes it’s nothing, but it’s always there, and sometimes it
squeezes itself in a little more on certain bad days and the pain sneaks up and
grabs you. Having it gone is a relief, a big relief.

I
hope that someone remembers something. I hope that someone will read this story
and remember the Woodbridge Inn during the Holmes Cooney fights. I hope that
the Las Vegas police will make Chris’s murder a homicide, as it should have
been from day one, and then an official cold case so that it can be registered
as such.

As
for my truth…the honest truth being that my personal torture and haunting
superseded the need to find Chris’s killer. I do not apologize for this, as I
believe that the other motivating factor in my writing was guilt. Telling the
story releases and purges it from the deepest unhealed wounds inside the body
and mind.

Whatever
the motivations, I can say that I am satisfied that I have told the story, and
that Chris’s death is now exposed to anyone who wants to read about it. During
my research, I found several cold cases that were thirty or more years old that
had been solved, so I believe that it is never too late to find Chris’s killer.
There is a killer out there; no one could ever convince me otherwise.

Most
importantly, I no longer have to keep shushing my brain when it nags me to tell
my story—it’s quiet now.

In
the next two chapters of this book, I will be speaking about theories and
discoveries I made over the last six years of research. In the final chapter of
this book, I have included a Question and Answer page for the reader, and I
have tried to include everything I personally feel the reader will ask at the
end of this book.

I
welcome all comments and theories from readers on my author’s Q&A page—I
would love to hear from you!

M
y story is my story, and not knowing anything for
twenty plus years after Chris’s murder, I understand that there are numerous
other theories about why and how she died in Las Vegas. There are people who
still believe that she “just died,” but after running that scenario through my
brain a hundred times over, I can’t comprehend the body being found in the
position it was in and calling it anything but murder!  It’s like saying that
she first turned off the air conditioner on a day that was a hundred degrees
outside, then decided to take the sheets and comforter off the bed and launder
them in the bath tub, then she took off her panties and her shorts, yanked her
tank top and her jacket up over her head, and then proceeded to go back into
the bathroom and wash the comforter in the extreme heat—somehow she passed out
while doing it and died. Oh, but wait, then after she passed out, she fell face
first into the tub of water and managed to stay submerged in that position
until she actually did die. There isn’t any possible way that I can twist this around
in my head to make any sense, no matter how hard I try. 

Chuck
Werner is still alive and was willing to sit with me for hours to discuss my
theories, my fears and all my crazy rants. Again, I thank you Chuck for your
candor and your willingness to entertain my sometimes lengthy rants and raves
about this mystery.

Periodically,
when I would receive an old memory blast, I would call Chuck to discuss it with
him, and we would dissect it together for all that it was worth. Chuck was my
sounding board since I started this project close to six years ago, and no,
this was not a steady informational process over the years. This was “a bit
here and a bit there” process, with very long periods of no information
whatsoever and enormous frustration.

The
research that a person can do in an actual homicide case is vast, but I had
none of that to work with. From the very beginning when I took on this project,
I knew it would be difficult to finish it in a way that would leave the reader
having as much information that was available; I wish it had been more. It is
what it is.

I
did contact surviving family members of Christine Casilio, but I cannot, and
will not, make any reference to them in this book. The two aunts who raised
Chris are deceased at this writing.

One
family member (FM) had a theory that Chris had been set up and murdered by
someone from Pittsburgh who had a personal vendetta against the family, and
that this person of interest was someone prominent. FM believed that it was a
professional hit, and explained to me that the apartment was immaculate when
they found the body, and the only piece of evidence found in the front room was
Chris’s social security card in an empty wastebasket. FM further explained to
me in great detail that the way the body was found was a sign for the family
that this had been a revenge murder. The explanation FM gave me was as follows:
“When a body is found exposed and naked, it is a sign left for the family to
know that there was a reason the murder happened, and the nakedness of the body
meant disgrace and embarrassment. When a body is found and the face has been
disfigured, as hers was, due to the long period of time under water, this is
another sign to the family that this was a revenge killing meant to cause great
pain and suffering.”

The
family member who told me this chilling story was thoroughly and completely
convinced that this was the way it happened. I listened intently and it was an
interesting theory, but I would have no way of knowing if such things this
person described were true or not, because there is no file on the
investigation; or if there is a file, they are in possession of it and not
willing to disclose it. FM explained to me that they had seen the entire file
when it was shipped back to Pittsburgh along with the body, and that their
theory came about from the facts that were in the actual report from the police
in Las Vegas. I have no way to verify this story. 

FM
described to me that the apartment had been cleaned out and stripped of
everything, including sheets and pillowcases. There were no belongings left in
the apartment whatsoever, only the social security card in the empty
wastebasket. The comforter was submerged in the bath water in order to hold the
face down in the water after she was killed.

Furthermore,
this family member explained to me that after committing the murder, the killer
had instructions to clean out the apartment and rent another unit in the same
apartment complex to store everything. Someone else came a day later, removed
all the goods and disposed of them without anyone knowing. This makes me wonder
if the police ever searched the dumpsters during their initial investigation.
Remember that the newspaper article claimed that the apartment
was
immaculate
and that robbery didn’t seem to be a motive—very strange indeed. I also have to
wonder if the police ever looked into who was checked into the Woodbridge Inn
during that same time period.

One
more thing—this family member was implying that the Las Vegas police were
somehow in on this conspiracy theory, which I found much too bizarre to even
consider as a theory. A girl from Pittsburgh with all this intrigue?  I simply
could not buy that angle of the story…but if the original police report had
said that the apartment
was
completely cleaned out of everything, then I
would have to wonder WHY, and I would have to also wonder why the police did
not think this was strange?

Not
having the original police report or knowing what possessions came back to the
family in Pittsburgh is the key to solving the mystery of whether the apartment
was cleaned out or not.  Frankly, the family may know and they just didn’t want
to tell me. I don’t have those answers.  Yes, I asked the questions, but got no
answers. The FM did not tell me what they thought was the motive in this
supposed vendetta against the family.

I
know what you, the reader, is asking at this point, “Did you feel that your
interviews with the surviving family members were honest and trustworthy, and
with a sincere desire to give you the truth?”—my answer is NO. I believe that
the fact that no one ever contacted me to hear my story, they were left with
only one story from one person—Marty—and some of the things they told me
strongly indicated that.

The
theory of this family member on revenge intrigued me, but again, I have no
possible way of knowing what was in the original police report from the Las
Vegas Police.  My first attempt at obtaining records was in 2008 by
recommendation of the LVPD cold case detective, Mike Blasko, who responded to
all my requests in a timely and professional manner. But he himself found
nothing left of the original investigation. 

Here
are the pertinent emails I received from Detective Mike Blasko:

Dear Beverly,

I just got a chance to
address the e-mail you sent to our cold case corner. I read the two
articles in the newspaper clipping you sent me. I also tried to get the
coroner's report but they had nothing in their system. They directed me to the
Nevada Department of Health in our State Capital. I currently have a call
into the supervisor up there to see what information they can provide me.

Reference you talking to
a records super-visor that told you all we need to do is find the case and dig
it out. If they didn't investigate this case as a homicide then there will
be no file to dig out. If it was ruled an accident that she slipped, fell, and
accidentally drown in the tub, there might not be any investigation at
all. I just used this as an example.

Were you in contact with
one of our ladies in our records section?  This victims name sounds
familiar when I first got up to this unit back in June. Give me a number to
contact you at.  I will let you know what our department of Health says.

Detective
Michael J. Blasko

The Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Robbery/Homicide
Bureau - Homicide Section

4750 W.
Oakey Blvd 3rd Floor

Las
Vegas
, Nevada 89102

Dear Beverly,

I am sorry for taking so
long to get back to you. I was playing phone tag with the State of Nevada
Department of Health for the past week. One of the directors at our state
health department looked up the death certificate for Christine
Casilio. She told me over the phone that Christine's' cause of death was
undermined, meaning they could not determine what she died of. Her toxicology
report was negative for any drugs or alcohol they tested her for. Her death
certificate also listed there was no trauma to the body that was found during
an autopsy.