Sheriff Ericsson arrives at his office fired up to get a confession out of Willie Sexton. When Sue brings him his first coffee she tells him Wilson will bring Sexton in within the hour. She says, “I have the search warrant for Sexton’s house. You should know Judge Laura Mae Hopper was reluctant to give you the warrant with so little cause. Her secretary told me she said she would bend her rules due to the publicity around this case. She said she’s giving you some rope and hopes you don’t hang yourself with it.”
By the time the sheriff finishes his first coffee Wilson comes in with Willie Sexton. Sue hands Wilson the search warrant and he leaves the office.
Sheriff Ericsson invites Sexton into his office, asks him to sit, and if he would like a cup of coffee. Sexton sits and nods affirmatively for the coffee. Sue brings him the coffee and closes the door to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff says, “You might as well confess, Willie. We got DNA evidence and I’m betting it’ll match your DNA. I’ve got a swab. Let me get a sample of your DNA.”
“I don’t have to give you a sample of anything without seeing a warrant. Go screw yourself. I know you didn’t find my DNA on that Crawford woman. If I had done her, which I didn’t, I’d have used a condom. I made the mistake of not using a condom once. It cost me 15 years in a cell.”
Sheriff Ericsson thinks, ‘He knows we don’t have DNA. He must be guilty.’ The sheriff continues to grill Sexton trying several tactics to trip him up. He tells Sexton they have a witness that saw him hanging around the gift shop at closing time. Sexton says, “You don’t have a witness that saw me anywhere Saturday afternoon. I told that babbling deputy I was home alone. Nobody saw me anywhere.”
Two more hours of grilling gets the sheriff nowhere. There’s a knock on his door. It opens a few inches and Wilson is there with a big smile on his face. The sheriff tells Sexton to stay put as he goes to the door. He says to Wilson, “Did you find something?”
Wilson holds up a pair of red lace woman’s panties, and says quietly so Sexton can’t hear, “I found these in his bedroom.”
The sheriff says, “That explains why we didn’t find any on her body. The bastard took them for a trophy. Don’t let him see we found those. Throw him in a cell. I’m going to the prosecutor for an arrest warrant.”
Wilson puts the panties back in an evidence bag and puts the bag in his pocket. Then he gets Sexton and marches him off toward the jail.
Sheriff Ericsson goes to the prosecutor’s office. Alan Quick, the prosecutor is a tall good looking man with grey beginning to show in his black hair. Normally he would have something humorous to tell the sheriff. Not today; he says in a serious tone, “I hope you’re here for an arrest warrant for Martha Crawford’s killer. The mayor is all over me to get this case moving. What do you have?”
The sheriff says, “I’m ready to arrest Willie Sexton for her rape and murder. I need an arrest warrant. He has no alibi; he had a feud going with Martha and her father. He knows we don’t have DNA. Says he’d have used a condom if he did it. We searched and found a pair of woman’s panties in his bedroom. I believe he took them as a trophy. That’s enough to convince me. I’m getting a lot of pressure from the mayor as well. Let’s arrest this guy.”
“Can you prove the panties belonged to Martha?”
“We haven’t tried. I don’t have time for that. This guy will run if we don’t arrest him and keep him in jail.”
“Your evidence is pretty slim. It sounds to me like a lot of speculation rather than hard evidence. But like you said, we need an arrest. If you think he might run I’ll give you a warrant. Do you have him in a cell now?”
“Yes, I don’t want to take a chance of losing him.”
“Okay, give me the details and I’ll have your warrant in a half hour. I’ll contact the judge and set up a time for an arraignment, hopefully for today. Does Sexton have a lawyer?”
“No, he said he didn’t need one and can’t afford one anyway. I’ll call Karl Katz. He’ll be the public defender for the arraignment.”
The sheriff waits for the arrest warrant after alerting Katz to the need for a public defender. When he gets the warrant he goes straight to the jail, tells Sexton he’s under arrest and reads him his rights. He ignores Sexton’s curses and goes back to his office. Sue is waiting. She says, “Alan Quick called. He says he has an appointment for the arraignment at 2:00.”
“That’s great news, Sue. It’s nearly lunchtime. Is Wilson around? I’m going to buy him lunch. He earned it.”
“I’ll call him, Sir. Don’t celebrate too much. I assume you are going to the arraignment. You don’t want to count your chickens before they hatch.”
“You’re right, Sue, as usual. We’ll be careful not to let anyone at the Corner Bar know we’ve made an arrest. I can just imagine Mary Jane Bloom’s column if I made an arrest and it gets thrown out at the arraignment. Oh, call Karl Katz and tell him the arraignment is at 2:00. Tell him Willie Sexton is in our jail if he wants to talk to him before the arraignment.”
At 1:45 the sheriff puts Sexton in cuffs and takes him to the Courthouse. They join Karl Katz and Alan Quick in Judge Laura Mae Hopper’s courtroom. Prosecutor Quick presents his case so Sexton can make his plea of guilt or innocence. The judge listens and then says, “You say he has means and a motive, you think he had the opportunity and you found a pair of panties in the suspect’s house you believe he took from the victim as a trophy. Mr. Quick, we all want this case solved. But you should know by now I’m not going to let you go to trial without stronger evidence than I’ve heard today. I’ll allow Mr. Sexton to enter a plea today and schedule a preliminary examination tomorrow afternoon. You have 24 hours to convince me you have probable cause. I suggest you bring proof the panties you found were taken from the victim's body. Mr. Sexton, how do you plead?”
“He pleads not guilty, Your Honor,” says Karl Katz.
Judge Hopper glares at the prosecutor and says, “This arraignment is over.”
The sheriff takes Sexton back to his cell.
Back at his office the sheriff calls Wilson in and tells him, “Go back to Martha Crawford’s house and check her underwear drawer. We have to prove to the judge the red lace panties you found at Sexton’s place came from Martha’s body. First, we’ll see if the style and brand match. If they do maybe the prosecutor will have enough for the probable cause hearing. Then we can send the panties to the State Crime Lab to see if they can find Martha’s DNA on them. Get going. We have only 23 hours left before the probable cause hearing.”
“Yes, Sir, I’m on it.”
When Wilson leaves the sheriff calls the mayor. When Mayor Waters is on the phone the sheriff says, “I made an arrest in the Crawford case. We had him arraigned this afternoon. We have evidence, but not strong enough to convince Judge Laura Mae Hopper. She’s given us until tomorrow to get better evidence or she’s likely to let him go. I thought you’d want to know.”
“Thanks for the update, Sheriff. I assume you’re putting a full-court press on getting the evidence the judge needs,” says Waters.
“Yes, we are, Mayor. I’ll keep you posted if there are any significant developments.”
At 4:30 Wilson returns and reports to the sheriff. He says, “We looked through every place Martha might have kept her underwear. We found only one dresser drawer with underpants. All of them are plain white cotton, the same as the ones they sell at Donald’s Pharmacy in packs of three. It doesn’t look like Martha was the type to wear red lace panties like the ones we found at Sexton’s place. I doubt there’s a place north of Saginaw you can buy fancy underwear like that.”
“That’s not good news, Wilson, the sheriff says, “I doubt the judge is going to buy us claiming they are Martha’s without some connection. I could try claiming we proved they’re hers but the judge is pretty smart. She’ll want to know the details. Wait a minute. What if Lafleur gave her those fancy panties as a gift? Her friend Helen thought he might propose to Martha that night. Maybe she was wearing them because he gave them to her. Remember, you found a gift card from Lafleur at Martha’s house. She could have been planning to have sex with him if he proposed and wanted to show him she appreciated his gift. I’ll bet that’s what happened. Go see Lafleur tonight if you can catch him, or first thing in the morning when he gets to the bank. Tell him we think we have Martha’s killer but have to prove the red panties were hers. I hope he’s not too embarrassed to admit he gave them to Martha.”
“Yes, Sir, I’ll go straight to the bank. He may be working late. If not I’ll go to his home,” says Wilson. “We’ll know for sure by mid-morning tomorrow.”
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