“ ‘What happened next?’ ”
“ ‘My partner had stayed out front. When the patrol cruisers arrived, I had him take the three men out of the cars and have them stand together on the sidewalk. I asked Sarah if she recognized any of them.’ ”
“ ‘Did she?’ ”
“ ‘Not at first. But one of the men-Jessup-was wearing a baseball hat and he was looking down, using the brim to guard his face.’ ”
Bosch flipped over two pages of the testimony at this point. The pages had been X-ed out. They contained several questions about Jessup’s demeanor and attempt to use his hat to hide his face. These questions were objected to by Jessup’s then-defense counsel, sustained by the trial judge, then resculpted and reasked, and objected to again. In the pretrial hearing, Breitman had agreed with Royce’s contention that the current jury should not even hear them. It was one of the only points Royce had won.
Haller picked up the reading at the point the skirmish had ended.
“ ‘Okay, Detective, why don’t you tell the jury what happened next?’ ”
“ ‘Sarah asked me if I could ask the man with the hat to remove it. I radioed my partner and he told Jessup to take off the hat. Almost immediately, Sarah said it was him.’ ”
“ ‘The man who abducted her sister?’ ”
“ ‘Yes.’ ”
“ ‘Wait a minute. You said Derek Wilbern was your suspect.’ ”
“ ‘Yes, based on his having a record of a prior arrest for a sex crime, I thought he was the most likely suspect.’ ”
“ ‘Was Sarah sure of her identification?’ ”
“ ‘I asked her several times to confirm the identification. She did.’ ”
“ ‘What did you do next?’ ”
“ ‘I left Sarah in her room and went back downstairs. When I got outside I placed Jason Jessup under arrest, handcuffed him and put him in the back of a patrol car. I told other officers to put Wilbern and Clinton in another car and take them down to Wilshire Division for questioning.’ ”
“ ‘Did you question Jason Jessup at this point?’ ”
“ ‘Yes, I did. Again, time was of the essence. I didn’t feel that I had the time to take him to Wilshire Division and set up a formal interview. Instead, I got in the car with him, read him the Miranda warning and asked if he would talk to me. He said yes.’ ”
“ ‘Did you record this?’ ”
“ ‘No, I did not. Frankly, I forgot. Things were moving so quickly and all I could think about was finding that little girl. I had a recorder in my pocket but I forgot to record this conversation.’ ”
“ ‘Okay, so you questioned Jessup anyway?’ ”
“ ‘I asked questions but he gave very few answers. He denied any involvement in the abduction. He acknowledged that he had been on tow patrol in the neighborhood that morning and could have driven by the Landy house but that he did not remember specifically driving on Windsor. I asked him if he remembered seeing the Hollywood sign, because if you are on Windsor you have a straight view of it up the street and on top of the hill. He said he didn’t remember seeing the Hollywood sign.’ ”
“ ‘How long did this questioning go on?’ ”
“ ‘Not long. Maybe five minutes. We were interrupted.’ ”
“ ‘By what, Detective?’ ”
“ ‘My partner knocked on the car’s window and I could tell by his face that whatever he had was important. I got out of the car and that’s when he told me. They had found her. A girl’s body had been found in a Dumpster down on Wilshire.’ ”
“ ‘That changed everything?’ ”
“ ‘Yes, everything. I had Jessup transported downtown and booked while I proceeded to the location of the body.’ ”
“ ‘What did you discover when you got there?’ ”
“ ‘There was a body of a girl approximately twelve or thirteen years old discarded in the Dumpster. She was unidentified at that time but she appeared to be Melissa Landy. I had her photograph. I was pretty sure it was her.’ ”
“ ‘And you moved the focus of your investigation to this location?’ ”
“ ‘Absolutely. My partner and I started conducting interviews while the crime scene people and coroner’s people dealt with the body. We soon learned that the parking lot adjacent to the rear yard of the theater had previously been used as a temporary auto storage point by a towing company. We learned that company was Aardvark Towing.’ ”
“ ‘What did that mean to you?’ ”
“ ‘To me it meant there was now a second connection between the murder of this girl and Aardvark. We had the lone witness, Sarah Landy, identifying one of the Aardvark drivers as the abductor, and now we had the victim found in a Dumpster next to a parking lot used by Aardvark drivers. To me the case was coming together.’ ”
“ ‘What was your next step?’ ”
“ ‘At that point my partner and I split up. He stayed with the crime scene and I went back to Wilshire Division to work on search warrants.’ ”
“ ‘Search warrants for what?’ ”
“ ‘One for the entire premises at Aardvark Towing. One for the tow truck Jessup was driving that day. And two more for Jessup’s home and personal car.’ ”
“ ‘And did you receive these search warrants?’ ”
“ ‘Yes, I did. Judge Richard Pittman was on call and he happened to be playing golf at Wilshire Country Club. I brought him the warrants and he signed them on the ninth hole. We then began the searches, starting at Aardvark.’ ”
“ ‘Were you present at this search?’ ”
“ ‘Yes, I was. My partner and I were in charge of it.’ ”
“ ‘And at some point did you become aware of any particular evidence being found that you deemed important to the case?’ ”
“ ‘Yes. At one point the forensics team leader, a man named Art Donovan, informed me that they had recovered three hairs that were brown in color and over a foot in length each from the tow truck that Jason Jessup was driving that day.’ ”
“ ‘Did Donovan tell you specifically where in the truck these hair specimens were found?’ ”
“ ‘Yes, he said they were caught in the crack between the lower and upper parts of the truck’s bench seat.’ ”
Bosch closed the transcript there. Kloster’s testimony continued but they had reached the point where Haller had said he would stop because he would have all he needed on the record.
The judge then asked Royce if he wished to have any of the defense’s cross-examination read into the record. Royce stood to respond, holding two paper-clipped documents in his hand.
“For the record, I am reluctant to participate in a procedure I object to but since the court is calling the game, I shall play along. I have two brief read-backs of Detective Kloster’s cross-examination. May I give a highlighted printout to Detective Bosch? I think it will make this much easier.”
“Very well,” the judge said.
The courtroom deputy took one of the documents from Royce and delivered it to Bosch, who quickly scanned it. It was only two pages of testimony transcriptions. Two exchanges were highlighted in yellow. As Bosch read them over, the judge explained to the jury that Royce would read questions posed by Jessup’s previous defense attorney, Charles Barnard, while Bosch would continue to read the responses of Detective Doral Kloster.
“You may proceed, Mr. Royce.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Now reading from the transcript, ‘Detective, how long was it from when you closed and locked Aardvark Towing and took the three drivers over to Windsor, and returned with the search warrant?’ ”
“ ‘May I refer to the case chronology?’ ”
“ ‘You may.’ ”
“ ‘It was about two hours and thirty-five minutes.’ ”
“ ‘And when you left Aardvark Towing, how did you secure those premises?’ ”