Dead And Buried (13 page)
Authors: Corey Mitchell
TWENTY-NINE
June 14, 1987
Trader Nicks Restaurant, Pismo Beach, California
3:30
P.M.
Trader Nicks Restaurant, Pismo Beach, California
3:30
P.M.
Thirty-one-year-old waitress Anishka Constantine (pseud.) called it an afternoon. The Colombian-born Constantine’s shift at the Trader Nicks restaurant ended and she looked forward to going home and seeing her seven-year-old daughter,Adina. She put away her food-stained smock, grabbed her purse, and said good night to her coworkers. Normally, Anishkawould stop by the San Luis Obispo gym for a brisk workout between 5:00
P.M.
and 6:00
P.M.
This particular day she opted to go straight home.
P.M.
and 6:00
P.M.
This particular day she opted to go straight home.
Nine days earlier, June 5, 1987, someone had broken into Anishka’s cozy three-bedroom, two-bathroom home located on Fair Oaks Avenue. Her house was situated in a flag lot off the main street, along with four other homes, in a cul-de-sac.The intruder apparently snuck in through her partially opened bathroom window. Anishka and her daughter were not home when the break-in occurred; however, Anishka could tell someone had been inside her home. She noticed her clothes had been rearranged in her closet, so she contacted the Arroyo Grande Police Department and filed a report.
After the break-in, Anishka took extra safety precautions around the house. She wanted to make sure nothing would happen to her or her daughter. Each night she locked every door and made sure every window was sealed shut. She turned on the outside lights in her backyard, and flicked even more lights on inside her house. She also locked her bedroom door so no one could easily walk through.
On June 15 Anishka came home and spent a quiet evening with her daughter. Anishka and Adina’s father had been recentlydivorced and the daughter split time between Oceano and Nipomo, where her father lived. When she stayed in Oceano, Adina slept in her mother’s bed with her. The mother and daughter fell asleep around 10:00
P.M..
P.M..
At 1:00
A.M.
, Anishka jumped out of bed. A noise startled her, so she decided to look. Her neighbors across the way owned a cat that would sneak out and terrorize the neighborhood.Anishka thought the cat might be the cause of the racket outside, but she wanted to make sure. She went to her bathroom, which had been broken into only a week-and-a-halfearlier. She pulled back the thin curtain and peered outside. Darkness stared back at her. She could not tell what made the noise. Nor what may be outside her window.
A.M.
, Anishka jumped out of bed. A noise startled her, so she decided to look. Her neighbors across the way owned a cat that would sneak out and terrorize the neighborhood.Anishka thought the cat might be the cause of the racket outside, but she wanted to make sure. She went to her bathroom, which had been broken into only a week-and-a-halfearlier. She pulled back the thin curtain and peered outside. Darkness stared back at her. She could not tell what made the noise. Nor what may be outside her window.
She backed away from the window and let the curtain drop back into place. She turned toward the bathroom wall and flicked on the light. She walked out of the tiny bathroom and left the light on so it would shine in her bedroom. She tiptoed back to bed.
Adina slept like a mouse.
Anishka stealthily slid under the covers and pulled them up to her chin. Her daughter looked like an angel sleeping beside her. After fifteen minutes of listening, Anishka could not hear anything else. She fell asleep.
Without warning, a crash sounded as her bedroom door rocketed forward. Anishka bolted upright, but before she could get out of bed, someone grabbed her by the throat and told her to be quiet. He gripped a screwdriver in his fist with the metal end pointing at her eye like a knife. Adina, startled by the intrusion, looked up at her mother and began to scream. Anishka tried to calm her down.
The scene was total chaos.
“Please don’t hurt us. Here, take my money,” Anishka pleaded with the intruder. “I will give you money, jewelry, anything, just leave us alone. Please don’t hurt us.”
“I don’t want your money.” The man breathed in her face with the stench of marijuana. “I just want you.”
Anishka knew what he was after. She heard Adina screamingat the man to leave her mommy alone. Anishka turned to her daughter and cried, “Get under the bed, baby. Get under the bed, now.”
Adina did as her mother told her. She pounced off the bed and crawled underneath, squeezing under the coiled springs that strained close to the floor due to the extra weight of the intruder. Adina noticed the Princess telephone receiver and cradle had been knocked off the nightstand during the scuffle.She picked up the receiver to dial 911. The line was dead.
As soon as her daughter slipped under the bed, Anishka began to fight. This man did not break in to steal anything. He wanted to rape her. She knew she must defend herself. Anishka lashed out at the man with her hands, striking him squarely in the face. She clawed at him with her long nails and scratched him repeatedly. The man fought back and thrust her down hard on the bed. He continued to poise the screwdriver toward her face with his right hand.
He then managed to unbuckle his belt and unzip his pants with his left hand. As he did this, Anishka spotted something ominous on his belt. It was a large Buck knife, encased in a black snap-on sheath. She reached for the case and somehow flipped up the button enclosure. The man pushed back at her and they continued to scratch and claw and slap one another. In the process Anishka successfully struck the sheath and the knife fell to the floor, two feet from the bed.
In a flash she stopped fighting.
She looked at the intruder and said, “Why don’t we go into another room?” She glanced down, as if to acknowledge the presence of her daughter. The intruder fell for the ruse and stood up to get off the bed. He gently grabbed Anishka by the arm and pulled her up from the bed. Anishka, however, managedto squirm free from his clutches and dropped to the floor. She spotted the knife and grabbed it. The man, unaware that she had armed herself, violently jerked her other arm and dragged her out of the bedroom.
Once in the hallway the man told her to stop and turn around.
“I want to tie you up,” he said quietly.
Anishka did not comply. Instead, she fought the man. He was fed up with her antics so he grabbed her by her long, thick black hair and thrust her head into the wall. Not once, not twice, but three times. The dazed woman, however, still had some fight left in her. Fearing that he would increase the ferocity of his attack, she opened the retractable 7 ¾“ blade. She haphazardly thrust the knife upward, then down toward the man’s right arm.
She connected.
Unfortunately, she only nicked his belt buckle. The man was furious. He grabbed her by the right wrist and inched her hand toward his face. He opened his mouth and clamped down on one of her fingers with his teeth. Anishka, her hand bleeding, screamed and dropped the knife. In a state of panic, she lurched for the front door. She thrust it open so hard it left a door handle impression on the entrance wall. She screamed and tore off outside.
Adina remained inside underneath the bed.
The man took off to the back of the house. He struggled to open the sliding glass door, which led to Anishka’s backyard. He escaped by climbing over her six-foot-high wooden fence.
Anishka scrambled to the house across the street and banged on the front door. No one answered. Frantic, she ran up to the front window and smashed in the louvered glass. The resultant cacophony awoke her neighbor, who, along with his brother and a friend, ran outside to see what was going on. The neighbor saw the tiny woman shivering with fear. He also noticed a man running down the street in a big hurry. Two of the neighbors set out on foot after the man, but they were too late. The attacker jumped into what looked like an old white Volkswagen Bug parked along the main portion of Fair Oaks Avenue. The man hurled himself into the car, cranked the engine, threw it into gear, and sped out making a U-turn. Dust and the smell of burned rubber were the only things left behind.
Arroyo Grande police officers Steve Harris and Barry Bridge received a call for a break-in on Fair Oaks Avenue in Oceano, at 1:36
A.M.
Officer Harris arrived first. He spoke to seven-year-old Adina Constantine, who told him about the intruderand how she attempted to call for help. The officer then spoke with Anishka’s neighbor, who saw the man flee the scene just minutes before. Officer Harris made a call to the Grover City Police Department and gave them a description of the vehicle that left the scene. He told them to be on alert as the crime had just occurred. Officer Harris walked inside the Constantine residence and found Anishka Constantine lying down on the carpeted floor in her den. He contacted paramedics, who arrived in no time and whisked Anishka off to Arroyo Grande Community Hospital emergency room.
A.M.
Officer Harris arrived first. He spoke to seven-year-old Adina Constantine, who told him about the intruderand how she attempted to call for help. The officer then spoke with Anishka’s neighbor, who saw the man flee the scene just minutes before. Officer Harris made a call to the Grover City Police Department and gave them a description of the vehicle that left the scene. He told them to be on alert as the crime had just occurred. Officer Harris walked inside the Constantine residence and found Anishka Constantine lying down on the carpeted floor in her den. He contacted paramedics, who arrived in no time and whisked Anishka off to Arroyo Grande Community Hospital emergency room.
Officer John Tooley, Arroyo Grande crime scene investigator(CSI), received a call from Lieutenant William Andrews to check out a report of an attempted rape and burglary. He arrived at the Constantine household at 2:15
A.M.
Officer Tooleyconferred with Officers Harris and Bridge, who updated him on the attack. Harris informed Tooley that he confiscated a black Mini Maglite flashlight from Adina. She picked it up from the bedroom during the scuffle between her mother and the man.
A.M.
Officer Tooleyconferred with Officers Harris and Bridge, who updated him on the attack. Harris informed Tooley that he confiscated a black Mini Maglite flashlight from Adina. She picked it up from the bedroom during the scuffle between her mother and the man.
Officer Tooley walked around the perimeter of the house and began to take notes. He walked up to the west side of the house, next to the garage. He glanced down and noticed a plastic white bag of fertilizer on the ground next to the wooden fence. The intruder probably stepped on it and used it to hurdle over the front gate. Tooley noted that this gave the suspect access to the Constantine backyard. The suspect must have then walked over the dry soft sand and weeds that coveredthe area that led to the garage. Tooley walked up to the west side of the garage and directed his flashlight toward the door handle. He instantly noticed scuff marks on the bolt and striker plate. He noted that the marks were made with a pointed instrument, possibly a slotted screwdriver. He also noted that the door remained open. It appeared as if this was where the man entered the home.
Officer Tooley continued to peruse the perimeter of the residence. He also noted a window screen that lay in the grass of the backyard. He wrote down that someone had recently opened the sliding glass door. He also noted a cut screen windowover the master bathroom from the prior break-in.
Officer Tooley continued his observation of the exterior of the house. He walked around to the driveway and entered the house through the front door. As soon as he walked in, he spotted a large black Buck hunting knife. Officer Bridge walked up and informed him that the brown Princess phone in the kitchen had its coiled vinyl cord cut. Someone slit it with a sharp knife.
Officer Tooley headed back out the front door. He returned to the garage and found that the door from inside that led into the house also had marks on the bolt and striker plate. Again it appeared as if a slotted screwdriver was used to gain access. He continued to observe the garage area when he came across a bundle of colored wires near the back wall. It was an assortmentof severed television cable wires and phone lines.
Officer Tooley noticed a small spatter of blood on the front-door threshold. The blood markings indicated to him that whoever bled in this spot was leaving the house, not cominginside it. He also noted the impression left in the wall by the door handle when Anishka slammed it open during her escape.
Officer Tooley proceeded to the master bedroom. He noted someone forced the door open, not with a kick of a foot, but rather with a shoulder. It appeared as if the intruder rammed the door so hard that he knocked off the striker plate and two of its screws. The striker plate actually flew a couple of feet into the entrance of one of the other bedrooms.
Officer Tooley walked through the damaged door into AnishkaConstantine’s bedroom. As he slowly looked around the room, he scanned for additional pieces of evidence that might lead him to the person responsible for the attempted rape. One clue jumped out at him. He spotted a brown corduroy snap-bill cap on the floor in front of the mother’s closet. OfficerHarris, who followed Officer Tooley into the bedroom, informed the CSI that the hat did not belong to the Constantinesor anyone they knew. Adina stated unequivocally that it belonged to the suspect.
Officer Tooley continued to scan the bedroom, where he spotted a large clump of thick black hair. Officer Bridge informedOfficer Tooley that the suspect had grabbed Anishka’s hair during the struggle. Tooley noted the “messed-up condition”of the sheets on the bed. The bottom fitted sheet had been pulled up from the mattress. He then knelt down on his knees to observe underneath the bed. He found a black Buck hunting-knife sheath with no knife.
THIRTY
At 2:47
A.M.
, an Arroyo Grande reserve officer received a 415 PC call, disturbing the peace, at the 7-Eleven food store at Halcyon Road and Grand Avenue in Grover City. The store is located only one-and-a-half miles from Anishka Constantine’s home. Twenty minutes later, at 3:07
A.M.
, OfficersVasquez and Sweeton spotted a man stumbling along Thirteenth Street and Grand Avenue. He stood out quite conspicuously with his pink long-sleeve shirt. He was more than ten blocks west of the 7-Eleven; however, he appeared to be heading back east in the direction of the store. The officerspulled up alongside the man and got out of their car. Officer Maria Vasquez walked up to the man and asked him his name.
A.M.
, an Arroyo Grande reserve officer received a 415 PC call, disturbing the peace, at the 7-Eleven food store at Halcyon Road and Grand Avenue in Grover City. The store is located only one-and-a-half miles from Anishka Constantine’s home. Twenty minutes later, at 3:07
A.M.
, OfficersVasquez and Sweeton spotted a man stumbling along Thirteenth Street and Grand Avenue. He stood out quite conspicuously with his pink long-sleeve shirt. He was more than ten blocks west of the 7-Eleven; however, he appeared to be heading back east in the direction of the store. The officerspulled up alongside the man and got out of their car. Officer Maria Vasquez walked up to the man and asked him his name.
“Charles Ervin,” the man replied.
“What are you doing out here this late at night, Mr. Ervin?” Officer Vasquez inquired.
Ervin looked down at the ground and hesitated before he responded, “If you want to talk to me, you’ll have to walk alongside of me.”
This response did not please Officer Christopher Sweeton, who lunged at Ervin and tackled him to the wet grass. Sweetonpulled Ervin to his feet, placed his hands in cuffs, threw him back to the ground, and placed him under arrest.
The officers transported Ervin to the San Luis Obispo Jail and deposited him there for the night. The next morning,at 10:00
A.M.
, Officer Tooley began to ask him a series of questions about the disturbance outside of the 7-Eleven. Ervin denied being anywhere near the store or even in ArroyoGrande, for that matter. He claimed that he and his friend Alan Hammon and Alan’s friend Laurie Nielson had all driven out to Harry’s Cocktail Lounge in Pismo Beach. The same bar that Shelly Crosby went to the night of her rape only three weeks earlier.
A.M.
, Officer Tooley began to ask him a series of questions about the disturbance outside of the 7-Eleven. Ervin denied being anywhere near the store or even in ArroyoGrande, for that matter. He claimed that he and his friend Alan Hammon and Alan’s friend Laurie Nielson had all driven out to Harry’s Cocktail Lounge in Pismo Beach. The same bar that Shelly Crosby went to the night of her rape only three weeks earlier.
Ervin stated that he and his two friends had a few drinks before he and Neilson got separated from Hammon. Nielson offered to take Ervin home, so they stuck around until closingtime at 1:45
A.M.
and continued to drink. Ervin believed he drank eight beers that night. By the time they left, he was thoroughly intoxicated and quite obnoxious. Nielson piled him into her gray Camaro and drove home down Highway 1 toward Grover City. He argued with Nielson. She got fed up with him and pulled off the highway and onto Grand Avenue. She pulled up to the 7-Eleven and told him to get out. He said this occurred around 2:00
A.M.
A.M.
and continued to drink. Ervin believed he drank eight beers that night. By the time they left, he was thoroughly intoxicated and quite obnoxious. Nielson piled him into her gray Camaro and drove home down Highway 1 toward Grover City. He argued with Nielson. She got fed up with him and pulled off the highway and onto Grand Avenue. She pulled up to the 7-Eleven and told him to get out. He said this occurred around 2:00
A.M.
Officer Tooley then switched gears and began to ask him questions about the attack on Anishka Constantine.
“Do you drive a white Volkswagen Bug?” Officer Tooley started.
“I don’t drive a car. Just my Triumph motorcycle,” Ervin responded.
“Do you wear a hat of any kind?”
“My hair is receding so I never wear hats,” Ervin replied.
“Where did you get that scratch on your cheek?”
“The police handcuffed me and threw me on the ground,” he responded. Ervin also showed Officer Tooley a scratch on the left side of his neck, as well as a rug-burn-like mark on his left shoulder. There were also bruises on his arms, which Ervin claimed came from the one-sided scuffle with Officer Sweeton.
“What about the clothes you wore tonight?” Officer Tooley continued the interrogation.
“You see ’em. Gray pants, pink shirt with the sleeves cut off, and tan loafers.”
“Why aren’t you wearing a jacket?”
“Because I didn’t plan on doing any walking outside tonight.”
“Do you carry a knife with you?”
“Never.”
Officer Tooley asked Ervin if he could take his clothes for evidence collection and comparison. Ervin readily agreed. Tooley then took photographs of Ervin’s various marks and scratches. One of the photos showed a cut on his finger.
“Did you cut your finger when you broke into that woman’s house?” asked Officer Tooley.
“I don’t remember how I got that cut,” pleaded Ervin. “But I know I wouldn’t break into someone’s house. Not unless I blacked out.”
Later that same morning, Officer Tooley showed Anishka a photo lineup with six photographs, including one of Charles Ervin. She gasped when she spotted the photo of Ervin. “It is very close. It was somewhat dark at the time I saw him,” the young mother replied. For some reason, though, she was not completely convinced that the man in the photo was the one who attacked her. Some similarities existed, but she just was not sure.
After he interrogated Ervin, Officer Tooley placed him under arrest. Based on the victim’s identification through the photo lineup, scratch marks on his neck, and his location near the crime scene, Officer Tooley read Ervin his rights, drove him to the San Luis Obispo Sheriff ’s Office, and booked and fingerprinted him. Correctional Officer Jack Nix removed and cataloged all of Ervin’s clothes with the suspect’s consent. Ervin also agreed to take a polygraph examination.
Officer Tooley made several phone calls to family, friends, and associates affiliated with Charles Ervin. Alan Hammon’s mother claimed to have known the suspect since he was thirteenand stated that he never wore a hat. She also noted that he did not drive a car of any kind, much less a Volkswagen Bug. Bud Wheeler, Ervin’s boss at L&K Liquor, believed that he saw Ervin wear a snap-bill baseball cap once, but not recently.Alan Hammon informed Officer Tooley that he got separated from Ervin and Nielson at Harry’s Cocktail Lounge and that she probably drove Ervin home. He also described what Ervin wore that evening and that Ervin never wore a hat. Finally Laurie Nielson, who had returned to her home in Boise, Idaho, claimed that she did indeed drive Ervin to the 7-Eleven in Grover City after their argument. She rememberedthe time: 2:00
A.M.
A.M.
He also showed the photo lineup to Adina Constantine. The seven-year-old did not recognize Charles Ervin. She said that she did see the suspect’s face, but Ervin was not the right one. She remembered the attacker had “greasy hair.”
Officer Tooley realized he might not have the right man in custody.
He sent a teletype message to the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s County Jail to release Charles Ervin. The reported time of the break-in and attempted rape was 1:30
A.M.
Laurie Nielsonconfirmed that Ervin could not have been at the Constantine residence at that time.
A.M.
Laurie Nielsonconfirmed that Ervin could not have been at the Constantine residence at that time.
Charles Ervin became a free man.
On June 17, 1987, Officer Tooley asked Anishka Constantineto come to the Arroyo Grande Police Department to look at another photo lineup. When she met the officer, she told him about a man she met about a month or a month-and-a-halfearlier. The man installed garage doors and had been working on her neighbor’s door one day. She thought he seemed rather unusual because he came up to her and asked if she was married. He said that if she did not have a husband around, he could help her with her garage door if it needed some repairs. She told the young man that she was not marriedand lived alone in the house with her daughter. She also mentioned that the garage door did not close all the way. She noticed that the man wore a snap-bill baseball cap.
Officer Tooley went back to the evidence room to retrievethe hat that he found at the scene of her attack. When he asked her if it looked like the same hat, she replied that it appeared to be the same one.
Anishka told Officer Tooley that the man worked on her garage door right then and there. When he finished, he gave her his business card. She did not have it with her, but she told the officer that she knew where it could be located. OfficerTooley told her to go get it.
Anishka returned to the police station minutes later with the business card in hand. It said,
Grover City Door and SupplyCompany.
There were four names on the face of the card. The man had circled one with a black pen:
REX KREBS.
On the back of the card, the man wrote in black ink, “I will be back first thing Thursday morning. To finish your door. Rex Krebs GCDC.”
Grover City Door and SupplyCompany.
There were four names on the face of the card. The man had circled one with a black pen:
REX KREBS.
On the back of the card, the man wrote in black ink, “I will be back first thing Thursday morning. To finish your door. Rex Krebs GCDC.”
Anishka Constantine looked up into Officer Tooley’s eyes.
“I am almost certain that this is the man who attacked me.”
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