The veranda turned to quicksand under my feet, and the shrew’s open mouth looked like an invitation to the easiest resolution in the world. I went for my holster, but she spoiled my target by bawling, “I knew Ross had a mean streak, but I just can’t believe that he’d—”
I ran to the Deathmobile. Monsters danced on my windshield as I drove away into hiding.
Transcript of the initial interrogation of Ross Anderson. Conducted at Westchester County F.B.I. Headquarters, New Rochelle, New York, 1400 hours, 9/8/83. Present: Ross Anderson; John Bigelow, his attorney, retained by Richard Liggett Sr., Lt. Anderson’s uncle; Inspector Thomas Dusenberry and Special Agent John Mulhearn, of the Federal Serial Killer Task Force; S.A. Sidney Peak, Agent in Charge, New Rochelle Office.
Suspect held in custody since 0340 hours, 9/8/83; informed of his rights in the presence of his attorney, 12:00 hours, 9/8/83; agreed to questioning after consulting with Mr. Bigelow — 1330 hours. This interrogation was both tape-recorded and transcribed in shorthand by Margaret Wysoski, Stenographer, Division 104, Westchester County Superior Court.
Inspector Dusenberry: Mr. Anderson, let’s start—
Ross Anderson: Call me Lieutenant.
Dusenberry: Very well, Lieutenant. Let’s start by having you clarify something, if you will. Have you volunteered any statements since you were arrested early this morning?
Anderson: No. Just my name, rank and serial number.
Dusenberry: Have you been physically abused at any time — either in the course of your arrest or during your detention?
Anderson: You served me instant coffee at the holding tank. Tacky. Make it fresh ground next time, or I’ll check into another hotel.
John Bigelow: Be serious, Ross.
Anderson: I am serious. You didn’t taste it, Counselor. Evil shit.
Bigelow: This is very serious, Ross.
Anderson: You’re telling me? I’m a French roast junkie. I’ll be going into withdrawals soon. Then you’ll be sorry.
Bigelow: Ross—
Dusenberry: Lieutenant, did Mr. Bigelow tell you about the charges you face?
Anderson: Yeah. Murder.
Dusenberry: That’s correct. Do you have any idea whose murder or murders?
Anderson: How’s Billy Gretzler sound? I blew him away in the line of duty back in ’76. He’s the only person I ever killed.
Dusenberry: Come on, Lieutenant. You’ve been a police officer how long?
Anderson: Ten and a half years.
Dusenberry: Then you know that homicides within individual municipal police jurisdictions are not federal crimes.
Anderson: I know that.
Dusenberry: Then I’m sure you also know that as far as federal statutes go, you’d either have to kill an employee of the federal government or engage in interstate flight after killing an ordinary citizen to interest us.
Anderson: I’m an interesting guy in general.
Dusenberry: You certainly are. Do you know what my job is with the Bureau?
Anderson: What, pray tell?
Dusenberry: I’m the Agent in Charge at the Serial Killer Task Force in Quantico, Virginia. Do you know what serial killers are?
Anderson: Psychopaths who commit murder under the influence of Rice Krispies?
Bigelow: Ross, goddamnit.
Dusenberry: That’s all right, Mr. Bigelow. Lieutenant, are these names familiar to you? Gretchen Weymouth, Mary Coontz, Claire Kozol?
Anderson: Those are the names of murder victims in Wisconsin back in late ’78 and early ’79.
Dusenberry: That’s correct. Who do you think killed them?
Anderson: I think it was a man named Saul Malvin. I discovered his abandoned car and later his body. He was a suicide.
Dusenberry: I see. Are these names familiar? Kristine Pasquale, Wilma Thurmann, Candice Tucker, Carol Neilton?
Anderson: No, who are they?
Dusenberry: Young women murdered in a manner identical to the ones in Wisconsin.
Anderson: That’s too bad. Where were they killed?
Dusenberry: In Louisville, Kentucky; Des Moines, Iowa; Charleston, South Carolina and Baltimore, Maryland. Have you ever been in those cities?
Anderson: Yes, I have.
Dusenberry: Under what circumstances?
Anderson: Serving extradition warrants and returning prisoners from there to various cities in Wisconsin.
Dusenberry: I see. Can you recall the exact dates you were there?
Andersen: Not offhand. Sometime during early ’79 to late ’81, though. That’s when I worked the extradition assignment. If you want the exact dates, check the W.S.P. records.
Dusenberry: I have. You were in those cities at the time the four women were killed.
Anderson: Wow. What a coincidence.
Dusenberry: You were also on patrol at the time and near the area where Claire Kozol met her death.
Anderson: Wow.
Dusenberry: And you patrolled the general area where the first two Wisconsin victims were found, and you found the body of their alleged killer.
Anderson: Inspector, I pride myself on my good humor, but this shit is getting old. We’re both college men and ranking officers, so I’ll give you my informed opinion on what you’ve got. Ready?
Dusenberry: Go ahead, Lieutenant.
Anderson: You’ve been cross-referencing chronological factors against the two sets of homicides and compiling lists based on suspect opportunity. I was involved in the Wisconsin Whipsaw investigation, and apparently I was in the other cities when those other girls were killed. So I fit into your pattern circumstantially. But you’ll have to do a lot better if you want an indictment. You’ll get laughed out of court with what you have.
Dusenberry: You or me, Jack?
Agent Mulhearn: You, Tom. He’s your boy.
Dusenberry: Lieutenant, since last night a team of ten agents have been turning Huyserville upside down. They’ve searched your apartment—
Anderson: And found nothing incriminating, because I’ve done nothing criminal.
Dusenberry: Do you know a man named Thornton Blanchard?
Anderson: Sure, old Thorny. He’s a retired switchman for the Great Lakes Line.
Dusenberry: That’s correct. He also likes to take walks through the nature-study woods adjoining Orchard Park. You know the area?
Anderson: Sure.
Dusenberry: Last night Mr. Blanchard told one of the Milwaukee agents that he’s seen you digging in the woods on three or four occasions. He pointed out the approximate area to the team at about three this morning, and they brought in arc lights and started digging. At about eleven A.M. they found two triple-wrapped plastic baggies. One baggie had a Buck knife and a hacksaw in it. We found a latent thumbprint on the knife handle. It was yours. There was brownish matter and gristle on the saw teeth. It’s being tested now. It’s obviously blood and hardened tissue, and we’re going to try to type the blood and compare it to the blood types of the seven girls. The dimensions of the knife blade and saw teeth exactly match the dimensions of the knife and saw marks on the last four victims. The other baggie was filled with photographs of those four girls, naked and chopped up. We found dried semen on three of the photographs, and it’s being typed now. We got a total of five viable latents off the photographs. They were all yours.
Bigelow: Ross? Ross? Goddamnit, somebody get a doctor.
Dusenberry: Get one, Jack. Let the transcript show that at 14:24 hours Lieutenant Anderson experienced an attack of nausea and fainted. We’ll break for now. Talk to your client, Mr. Bigelow. We’re booking him on Interstate Flight to Avoid Prosecution for Murder. He’ll be arraigned tomorrow morning. Representatives of the Louisville, Des Moines, Charleston and Baltimore D.A.’s Offices are flying up to confer with me on the murder indictments and extradition proceedings, so if Anderson wants to talk, I want his statement by this evening. Do you understand?