A JUDAS KISS TO JUSTICE
This latest Heritage Press project in development is the memoir of Ron Kranig. His personal life experiences have universal appeal and Heritage Press is looking forward to producing his memoir and making it available.
Ron has an extraordinarily rare mind which is reflected in his authentic original draft of his memoir that he submitted to me for review. Although it is currently being edited, only to be more readable for a general audience, I strongly believe that his original literary voice should be available for anyone to read, word for word, just as he originally wrote it, as there are many clues in his writing that will help the reader better understand who Ron Kranig was and how he became the man he is today--a man who sacrificed time, resources, and his safety to secure Justice for those who have been the victims of Injustice.
Projected release of his memoir is October, 2021.
Find below a sample of Ron's original writing dealing with a case that made national headlines, The Holly Staker murder and Juan Rivera's eventual exoneration.
THE "UNTOLD TRUE STORY" ABOUT THE
" STILL" UNSOLVED BRUTAL MURDER OF PETITE 11 YEAR OLD
HOLLY STAKER
IN WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS ON AUGUST 17, 1992
as told by this private investigator who privately worked the case.
Some people may not want to hear parts of this story but every statement contained within this story is the complete truth and each and every statement can be verified. This true story establishes that one should never fully trust the stories you read in the newspapers nor should you fully trust the very people you would normally expect to trust the most, such as police officers, prosecutors or even judges. This author made that very mistake when he believed that the suspect arrested for the brutal rape and murder of Holly Staker, namely, Juan Rivera, was actually the murderer. Many of the details disclosed here in this story have NOT been known by the general public. So, for me, here we go..... back to the very start!
Holly Staker was found murdered on the early evening of August 17, 1992. Holly was a petite little blonde and only eleven years old. She was babysitting a five (5) year old boy and a two year old girl for a lady named Dawn Engelbrecht at the time of her rape and murder. Holly, as well as her twin sister Heather, would both occasionally babysit for Ms. Engelbrecht in her upstairs apartment. The location was that of a two story, two-unit apartment building located on Hickory Street in Waukegan, Illinois. The time of the murder was considered to be late in the afternoon/early evening because the five year old boy Holly was babysitting for had went across the street to play with other kids while she and the little girl...walked to a grocery store a couple blocks away and returned with a pizza to the upstairs apt. The mother of these children was a bartender at a bar about two blocks from this upstairs apartment. After playing with the neighbor kids, the little boy attempted to return to the upstairs apartment but could not get in and he could not get any response. He went back to the neighbors and was taken to the bar were his mother worked and they advised her that they could not get into the apt. The bar, at that time, was called, "Cheers".....the same as the TV episodes. When the mother of the kids went back to the apartment, she found the body of Holly and called 911. The murder made front page news every day for a more than a week in every Chicago land newspaper because of the young age of Holly and brutally of the crime. The entire public was outraged and wanted the monster who committed this crime caught, convicted and placed in the electric chair, as I did.
One Week Later
About a week after the murder, I received a phone call from a lady who inquired of me if I was the person who was given the most credit for solving a cold case homicide in LakeCounty a few years earlier. I told her I was that person but informed her that although I was given the most credit for solving the case, the case would never have been solved without my receiving the help from an INS agent out of San Antonio, Texas. The lady asked me if I had read about the Holly Staker murder wherein I told her that I had. She informed me that she was the mother of the kids Holly was babysitting for at the time and asked if I would investigate the case privately for her. Because of the brutality of the crime and the fact that I had daughters of my own, I told her that I would but would do so at no charge whatsoever. At one point I told her that I would have liked to have seen the crime scene wherein she informed me that since she found Holly's body, she had not lived in the apartment and that she could show it to me. I arranged to meet with her in front of the apartment building the very next afternoon about 3:00 p.m. The next day when I pulled up in front of the two-story, two unit apartment building and behind a vehicle, a lady got out of the car in front of me, walked back to mine and asked if I was "Ron" wherein I said I was. She then introduced herself to me as Dawn Engelbrecht. We shook hands and we proceeded to the entrance of the building. I still remember the yellow crime scene tape still being in the front yard of the two story apartment building. Upon entering into the building, we climbed the steps on our right to the second floor. Upon arriving on this second level landing, Dawn walked to her left about six feet and started to open the front door of the apartment wherein I told her to stop. I told her that I wanted to ask her questions as we went along, from one point to another and from one location to another. She said she understood. The first question I asked her was, "When Holly would babysit for you, would she usually keep that door open or closed?" Dawn said, "First of all, Heather (Holly's twin sister) was supposed to be the one to be the babysitter that day but she was sick so Holly filled in for Heather." "I had repeatedly hollered at Holly for her keeping that door open when I was gone but Heather, on the other hand, would always keep it closed." She answered a few more questions before I told her to go ahead and open the apartment door. Upon opening the door, we stood just inside the door as I had requested. This was the "living room" which was rather small, had a couch to my left with a coffee table in front of it and a six and half foot knick knack corner shelving unit on the southeast corner of the room. I asked Dawn a few questions, such as, "When you came back to this apartment that night, do you remember anything being different in this room from what it was when you went to work that day?" She said "Yes." "That coffee table was pulled out a ways." I instructed her to place the coffee table in the exact position she remembered seeing it when she entered on the night of the murder. She then pushed the closest end..... to the door..... of this coffee table towards the center of the room. It would be consistent with someone being seated on the couch, hearing a knock on the door, or someone standing in the doorway to the right of the couch and then moving the coffee table out from that side just far enough away from the couch to be able to get up from the couch and go to the door. She also told me that she seen a small cooked pizza sitting in the middle of this coffee table with only one piece missing. I surmised at that point that Holly had gotten up from this couch voluntarily because if she had been forced physically forced up by someone, the small pizza would probably not have remained in the center of this coffee table. She then stated, "The other thing that is different is that on that top shelf of that knick knack shelf unit was a small picture of me." I asked her if she was absolutely positive that the small picture was there and she assured me that it was. Dawn said "That is the reason I want you to investigate this case because I think the person who killed Holly might have been trying to kill me." From this front living room a person could see, without any obstruction of any kind, all the way to the back door of the apartment, which was located in the far northwest corner of the kitchen area. After she stated that nothing else was changed, we proceeded to the very next room...to the west. This room contained an unusually large and heavy dining room table and chairs....for the size of the room. It was also unusual because it would have been hard for the kids to even pull any of these chairs away from the table because of their weight. There were four (4) high back chairs on each side with one chair on each end. The high back chairs on the right (north side) were so close to the north wall that a person could not walk between the chairs and the wall. Even with that, I noticed what appeared to be the light blue fingerprint dust left by an evidence technician from the Lake County Crime Task Force on that very wall. You could only walk past this table on the left side of it. On the other side of this north wall was the bedroom of Dawn. I asked Dawn if there was anything different in this dining room and she said, "Yes." "That corner chair there was lying down." I want to make this specific. This chair was at the Far Southeast corner of this dining room table and not the end chair. I requested that she place the chair down in the same exact position she found it that evening. She did and I took notice. I immediately drew the conclusion that Holly could very well have been physically picked up by the door area and carried past this chair from this small living room and kicking hard at the time...hitting the top of this corner chair, causing it to tip over. This chair would not easily have been tipped over onto its back because it was quit heavy and simply way too heavy for either one of the children to have tipped it over. Further, Holly had already cooked the pizza...remember the pizza...with one piece missing... was already sitting on the coffee table in the living room and she would have had to step over this chair in order to place the pizza onto the coffee table in the living room. Nobody, especially a petite young 11 year old, would cook a pizza and then walk with the hot/warm pizza all the way from the kitchen stove to the complete opposite end of this apartment while having to step over the base of this chair. There simply was no room for her to have simply walk around this chair and no reason whatsoever for this chair to have fallen for any other reason. Common sense told me that IF the chair was lying down in that area, Holly would have simply placed the pizza onto the dining room table first, then pick up that chair, slide it under the table and retrieve the pizza from the dining room table before going into the living room and placing the pizza unto the coffee table. Further, analysis in which this chair was laying on the floor reflected that it would have had to have been kicked very hard at the top of it because the chair did not fall straight back but rather at an angle with the top of the chair towards the living room. The base of the chair was in the very middle of the three (3) feet of walking space between this long dining room table and the south wall. The next room was the kitchen area. I immediately noticed that the back door on the far right corner facing west had been removed and was boarded up with a large piece of ply board. I further noticed that the oven door...directly across the room and next to this back door... had been removed as well as the kitchen faucets on the south wall. Upon walking about three steps into the kitchen and turning to our right (north), we walked past a narrow hallway and walked straight into the small bathroom. Dawn informed me that she did not notice anything different in the bathroom. We then took a few steps straight backward and then walked to our right along this short hallway and opened up the door to what she described as her bedroom. It was messy but she informed me that she could see nothing different or missing. I asked her to check to see if any of her panties or bras that might be missing from her chest of drawers because many times killers/rapists like to keep those articles as souvenirs. She checked and to her knowledge, none were missing. I have to say here that this bedroom was the only room that appeared messy and in disarray. The rest of the apartment appeared to be orderly and clean. We then walked down to the other end of this short hallway, past the bathroom, to the west side bedroom. This is the bedroom in which Holly's body was found. As soon as the door opened, I immediately noticed a very large amount of blood...now totally black...on the floor just inside the doorway...right next to the door. I asked Dawn as to the location of Holly's body when she entered this bedroom. She informed me that she actually had to push Holly's body away from the door in order to get into the bedroom. I then asked her as to where her daughter was during this time. She pointed to the twin bed on the left, saying, "She was sitting in the middle of that bed with blood on her hands and clothes." Entering this bedroom, there was a dresser on the immediate right of this door, then a small closet, then turning to the north wall, a window...then the twin bed on this north side with a twin bed on the opposite side...this being the south wall of this bedroom. Between these two twin beds, there was another window facing out west. I would say that the distance between the twin beds was that of about five (5) feet. I noticed what appeared to be a few up and down bloody hand marks (now black) on the wall above the twin bed to my right. It was clear to me that the killer did not jump out of either of the second floor windows as they were very hard to open to begin with. It became apparent that either Holly had been stabbed some while on this twin bed or maybe just bleeding from a bloody nose but at some point she must have been able to try and run out of the bedroom wherein she was attacked by the door and stabbed many times or right after the murderer left the bedroom, she still was able to attempt to exit and simply only could make it to the door and dropped. Based on the fact that they said Holly was stabbed 27 times and the shear amount of blood left by the door area established that Holly was still alive when she was right inside this bedroom door. The only logical conclusion I could come up with was that after the murderer left the bedroom, the little girl tried to wake up Holly by pushing on her...who was probably lying on her side at the time....until Holly's body literally fell against the door. That would be the logical reason Dawn had to actually push the body of Holly away from the door in order for her to enter the bedroom. After observing this scene, we then went back into the kitchen. Immediately re-entering the kitchen from this hallway, to my right sat a small wooden kitchen table maybe only 32" in length. Each side of this small table had "leaves" about only 12" in width which could be turned down on each side. Two small and not heavy wooden chairs sat on each side of this table and these "leaves" were in the down position at the time. Because these "leaves" were in the down position, the chairs were facing the kitchen counter top on the other side of the kitchen. I laid my legal pad down onto this small table and sat down on the wooden chair by the hallway. I asked Dawn to take a seat in the opposite chair by the back door and as she did, I could not help but wonder why the Lake County Task Force had completely removed the back door knowing that they simply could have taken finger prints off the door as well as most blood samples. I asked Dawn if she noticed anything different about the door that late afternoon and she said she did not and had no idea why the task force had removed the door. I told Dawn I was now going to ask her many more questions. I asked her a few questions and made notations as to her answers on my legal pad. As I was asking her a question, I noticed that my left foot was "almost" sitting on a 10" by 10" piece of linoleum tile that was missing. I asked Dawn if this piece of tile was missing before the murder and her answer was, "Well, it used to be there." I looked closer and I could see the sharp razor blade type cutting in the black subsurface of the tile. I told Dawn that the tile probably contained that of a bloody shoe imprint so that would be the reason they cut it up. I started to ask Dawn another question when I wondered to myself why I did not see any blood markings anywhere between the bedroom and the area of removed piece of tile. I got back up from my chair and looked to see if I had missed any indication of blood on the floor between the bedroom and this removed piece of kitchen tile. It made no sense to me at the time. I asked and wrote down each answer that I asked Dawn along with several other questions that I did not already have on my legal pad. What I observed in this apartment will be forever in my mind because of knowing the brutality of what happened to this beautiful child in it. More details of this crime scene will be mentioned later in this story. I asked Dawn to not tell anyone about my working on the case because I did not want a confrontation with the Task Force or any of their members. At the time, I did not know who the members that were assigned to the Task Force on this case but later found out one of the members assigned to the case was none other than Detective Chuck Fagan. Remember, he was the lead detective on the prior homicide case mentioned. This Lake County Task Force, now known as "The Lake County Major Crimes Task Force" was not organized until around March of 1992 and Holly was killed in August of 1992. Simply put, they were not organized at the time of the murder and, in my personal opinion, had "too many chiefs and not enough Indians" as they say. This Task Force included different police officers and detectives from several different police agencies within the county. The first Chief of this Task Force was a gentleman by the name of Gary Del Rae...who, at that time, was the Chief of Police for the City of Highland Park, Illinois. After viewing the crime scene with Dawn, I contacted all my "street sources" to get whatever helpful information that might help get this killer/monster off the street. Although I did not get into the legal field until around 1975, I had, between that year and 1992, simply gathered a large number of street informants/contacts.
A short time after the burial of Holly, the bar that Dawn worked at, namely, "Cheers", held a benefit for the family of Holly. This included a small band playing inside and a small band playing outside. I did not usually go to the bars back then because I was married, had two daughters and enjoyed being around them so much more but I decided to go to this event anyway. I did not know anybody even though it was crowded in the bar and somewhat crowded outside but the outside area did not have much room for people to stand and listen to the band. I went into the bar area, simply held a bottle of beer, didn't talk to anyone and just wondered around for a bit. At the time, I remember wearing a thin leather jacket because it was a little chilly that day. As I was standing in the bar area, I felt a few small "tugs" on the bottom left side of my coat. I looked down to see this beautiful little girl who weighed maybe 65 pounds, look up at me and say the following words, "Sir." "Sir," "I understand that you are trying to find the person who killed my sister and I just want to thank you." I did not know what to say! I was somewhat traumatized because I knew instantly that this had to be "Heather", the twin sister of Holly. I was also stunned because no one was to know I was working the case because Dawn had promised me she would not tell anyone. The only thing I could think of later on was that I probably looked like one of the Task Force members at the time. To this very day, I do not remember what I said to her, if anything because of my being stunned with her words and my realization that it could very well have been this very own beautiful child who could have been the one murdered and raped. During the entire ride home and for a long time thereafter...to this very day, I wonder as to how such a monster and devil could be inside a person to hurt such an innocent child. Most people do not have any comprehension as to what some police officers actually see or hear that they could never get out of their minds. I know for myself, I could never be a cop because if I was and received a call to go to a crime scene where a child was killed and/or molested and/or a wife or girlfriend had been badly beaten and I knew, without a shadow of a doubt who the perpetrator was, I could not guarantee that person would make it to the jail if I was the one transporting him. When I was a child, I seen my mother being beaten up many times by my alcoholic father. At times, he would take out his drunken anger on my older brother and me. He would either use his closed fist or use a leather belt on us. He died in a car accident shortly after I turned 13 years of age and I never cried so much as one tear because I was actually happy to know my mother would not be beat up again or my brother or me. Having seen all this during my childhood made me really, really hate any man that would hit or physically harm a woman or child in anyway.
MANY WEEKS LATER
By this time, I was providing legal services for a number of attorneys and would go to the Lake County Courthouse almost on a daily morning basis. One day I returned and seen the "flashing light" on my phone voice recorder. I checked the messages that I had and was surprised with one stating the following; "This is Gary Del Rae and I am the Chief of the Lake County Task Force and I understand you have been working on the Holly Staker case." "You need to call me as soon as you get this message." The first thing I said to myself was, "Shit, here we go again." I returned his call immediately and informed him that I was "only" trying to get whatever information from my many street sources in order to get this monster off the street. He asked if I had any suspects and I told him I had a list of nine (9). He then asked when I could come to his office and I told him I could at anytime. He requested that I bring the list of my suspects and meet him downstairs at the Office of the Lake County Sheriffs' Dept. at 2:00 p.m. ...which I did. He came off the elevator about 2:20 p.m., introduced himself and asked me to accompany him. We took the elevator upstairs and he had me go into this very small office, closed the door and sat across from me. He asked for the list of names of my suspects. I reached into my shirt pocket and handed him the list and told him that my suspects were probably the same as his. As he was going down the list of names, he would go "Ah Hum", "Ah Hum", "Ah Hum"...until he got to about the fifth "Ah hum." He stopped and asked me what I knew about this particular suspect. I told him that the "informant" told me he lived on "Frolic Ave", had a younger brother, was at a party near the apartment on Hickory, left and when he came back, he was wearing a complete different set of clothes and was in a very agitated state. He then asked me if I knew his "gang name." I told him that I was not even told this suspect was in a gang but I knew who gave me the information about this suspect and I could find out if that person knows the answer to that question. He then looked back down at the list and "Ah Humed" the rest of the names on the list and then handed the list back to me. I simply put it back in my shirt pocket. He shook my hand, thanked me and escorted me to the elevator. This meeting lasted all about ten minutes at most. After this meeting, I vividly remember driving around with my windows down because it was such a beautiful day. It was one of those rare days were the sun is shining with the most perfect temperature. It was really just one of those rare days where you really enjoy just driving around with nothing more than having the windows down and listening to the music on the radio. That is exactly what I was doing. The list of my suspects was in my front shirt pocket and I figured I would go and talk to the person who gave me the information about this particular suspect later that night. Then at or about 4:30 p.m., while still enjoying driving around with the radio on, arm resting outside the window, a news bulletin came on the radio stating that the Lake County Task Force arrested an individual by the name of Juan Rivera for the murder of Holly Staker and that he confessed to the murder. I was immediately elated and thought that they should hang that son of a bitch up by his feet and skin him alive, one inch at a time. I still remember that while having these thoughts, I reached into my shirt pocket, took out my suspect list and crumbled it up before throwing it into the back seat of my car. I remember smiling and thinking how great this task force was for solving this brutal crime. The very next day, It was front page news and in the news article, it stated that a young man by the name of Juan Rivera had confessed to the murder and another part of the news article stated had he had been at a party in the neighborhood of the murder and at some point, he left the party but when he returned, he was wearing completely different clothes and was in a very agitated state. I thought to myself that this last part is almost exactly what I had told Task Force Chief Gary Del Rae the previous day but because Rivera confessed, I simply dismissed it thinking that my informant simply gave me the wrong name of the guy who lived on Frolic Avenue. Up to that time, I had never heard the name of Juan Rivera from any of my street contacts but I thought no more of it because "Rivera" ......in my mind was the "monster/devil"... because he confessed to the crime. I also later read that the Task Force had found blood on a bicycle that matched the blood type of Holly Staker. This bicycle was that of Juan Rivera's sister. Like I said earlier, I had, by this time, many street contacts and nobody mentioned to me the name of Juan Rivera but this Task Force was a combination of many skilled and trained investigators who clearly would know more about investigations than me, at least that was my thought at that time. I believe there were at least eight investigators within this task force assigned to this case. I remember a few times, before the arrest and confession of Rivera, I would be going to lunch with an attorney and see about 4-6 of these task force members within a restaurant. One time, an attorney and I were just entering a restaurant on Washington Street for lunch when some of these task force members were leaving. About the third person leaving was none other than Chuck Fagan who just stared at me without blinking and of course, I stared directly into his eyes without blinking. This actually became a ritual between us...each and every time our eyes would meet each other, we would just stare at each other without so much as a blink until we were completely out of sight of one another. Actually, to me it became quite funny and I have to admit, at times, I could not help but have a smile on my face knowing the trouble I got him into...for what he fully deserved. He never smiled at me.
MORE WEEKS GO BY
One afternoon, I was reading the local newspaper which stated that the attorney for Juan Rivera had filed a Motion to Quash his confession and that a hearing on the Motion had been held before Judge Christopher Stark. It further went on to say that Dawn Engelbrecht testified that on the evening of her finding the body of Holly, she was standing outside the apartment building with a group of people when Juan Rivera came up to her and asked her what was going on.
That very night I received a call from Dawn and she told me she had a problem and wanted to talk to me about it. I immediately told her that I really had a problem with her. She immediately asked me what problem I could possibly have with her. I told her that one of the questions I had asked her in the apartment that night was for her to name all male subjects that she had spoken with.... within 24 hours after finding Holly's body... other than law enforcement and family and that she hadn't mentioned the name of Juan Rivera. She immediately said to me, "Ron", "Ron", "Please wait.....that's my problem." "Please let me explain." I told her to then go ahead. She told me that members of the Task Force had come to her and told her they needed her to testify that she had seen Juan Rivera outside the apartment building later on the night she found Holly's body. She said she told them that she did not remember seeing or talking to him that night. She said she did know Juan because he would occasionally come into the bar area she worked to use the cigarette machine. She said that some Task Force members had told them she had been asked about people she had talked to that same night and that they had, in their written notes, that she had told these detectives that she had talked to Juan Rivera outside the apartment building that night. She then said, "Ron, "You have to understand." "I spoke with so many officers from the Task Force and they asked me a thousand questions." "Some of the same questions were asked over and over again." "I thought that if I told one or more of them that I had seen and spoke with Juan Rivera outside the apartment that night, I probably did and just no longer remembered it so I agreed that I would testify at this hearing that I did see and talk to him that night." "After I testified, I left the witness stand and soon after heard the judge deny Rivera's Motion to Suppress his Confession." "As I was walking out of the courtroom, four members of the Task Force were standing in a circle laughing in the back corner of the courtroom." "As I approached them, I heard the one member who has his back to me say, while laughing, "You know Dawn never really told any of us that she seen Rivera outside that apartment building that night.... and Ron, I heard him say it as plain as day." "I took another step towards them and one of the members seen me coming and said, "Dawn, you did a real good job in your testimony today." "I told them straight to their faces, "Ya, no thanks to you sons of bitches," "I heard what he just said and you guys just had me commit perjury." "With that, I simply walked out." "Ron, now what do I do?" "If Rivera is guilty, I don't care what happens to him but I do not want to have any part knowing that my testimony might send him to the electric chair and my knowing he might just be innocent." "Ron, what do I do now?" All I could think, at that time, was "Wow"...what should she do? After a few minutes, I told her that she needed to go to Rivera's defense attorney and tell him what happened and that she could tell him I worked privately on the case for you. I knew if Dawn went to the State, they would have simply kept it silent. Now, Rivera's defense attorney was Henry Lazzaro....who ironically was, in 1989, one of two prosecuting attorneys on the cold case murder that I was given the most credit for solving. Although I never met nor spoken with Mr. Lazzaro prior too, during or after the Salinas homicide trial, I knew him from simply watching him prosecute the case and I know he probably only knew me from hearing what Mr. Salinas said about me on that crosswalk right after the guilty verdict in that Salinas case.
The very next morning, a rare day in which I did not have to meet an attorney at the courthouse at 9:00 a.m. to either receive legal documents to be served by my firm or for the attorney to get returns of services of process already completed, the phone rang early...like 9:05 a.m. and it was Mr. Lazzaro. Mr. Lazzaro told me Dawn was really distraught about her having given false testimony before the court. He told me she was actually waiting for him to arrive at his office to tell him. Mr. Lazzaro asked if I would come to his office to discuss the case with him. I agreed to go to his office wherein he immediately introduced me to a gentleman who was a private investigator. Mr. Lazzaro stated that this private investigator was working the case for his office. I remember telling Mr. Lazarro that I thought it was a waste of time because "your client confessed." Henry said that he would bet his law license that the confession was coerced and I told him that I thought that was crazy because nobody is going to confess to brutally murdering a little 11 year old girl if he didn't really do it. Henry wanted to know everything I observed during my tour of the crime scene. At one point, he jumped up and said, "Get the pictures!" A box about 2' X 2' by 4' high was brought out. From the bottom of this box to about 8 inches high were multiple stacks of crime scene pictures wrapped in rubber bands. I think I spent over an hour going through the pictures and picking out about twelve (12) pictures that appeared to "just miss" a particular area of importance that I had observed. I asked Mr. Lazarro about what I read regarding the blood that was found on Rivera's sisters' bicycle in the back yard of his residence. Henry told me that the blood was simply "O" positive...one of the most common blood types.....like his sister. I knew my own blood type was "O" positive. I also asked Mr. Lazarro about the tennis shoes that I read had blood on them. He told me that those shoes were not even available on the market until after the murder of Holly. The very next day the front headlines of the Waukegan News-Sun newspaper, read in large bold letters, "WITNESS RECANTS". The news article mentioned Dawn recanting her sworn statements made two days earlier in court but never mentioned the reason why she was now recanting. I felt so sorry for Dawn because everybody was saying things like, "What, she must be a blonde" or "That lady must be real, real stupid" or "I think they should prosecute her for committing perjury." This is a perfect example of the bad thoughts and ideas of the general population that happen to a good person who steps up and truly cares about truth and justice. Her reputation was simply destroyed for doing the right thing. Shortly thereafter, to my knowledge, she moved to Michigan. The reader of this true story should know that at the time of Holly's murder, Juan Rivera had been placed on an ankle monitoring bracelet while waiting to be placed into a medium-security correctional institution for a burglary he had been convicted of. During this period of time, the State contended that Rivera had dislodged his ankle bracelet, went and committed the rape and murder, then returned and replaced the ankle bracelet back on when he returned home so it would not show that he left the residence. This was the reason for the need to have Dawn testify that she actually seen and talked to Rivera outside the apartment building that night. The State did admit that Rivera had a mentality to that of a 6th grader at the time. Even with all this, I could not get past the fact that he confessed to the crime. To me, at that time, I believed any person who confessed to such an unfathomable crime must be guilty of the crime. At trial, Rivera was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Later, his conviction was reversed and he was given a second trial. He was again convicted at his second trial and again given a life sentence. At some point, Henry Lazarro moved his law practice to somewhere near Washington, D.C. Many years later, I was asked to do some legal services for Waukegan attorney Barbara Cohn. She was a nice lady. While sitting and talking to her in her office, I happened to mention that this office used to be that of Henry Lazzaro and back then he kept his desk at the other end of this long office area. She commented that she preferred to sit next to the front windows in front in order to get more sunshine. I just happened to then mention that I had received the most credit for solving a cold case murder case that Henry prosecuted and that I worked privately on the Holly Staker murder case. She then informed me that she was now representing Juan Rivera on the case. I told her that Henry had told me that he would bet his law license that Rivera was coerced into making the confession he did. She told me that she would bet her law license too. I told her that I could not believe anybody would confess to committing such a brutal crime if he did not in fact do it. I told her that I respected her opinion but that I had that of my own. Barbara said to me, "See that chair you are sitting in." "Well, once a month...every month, Juan Rivera's father comes into this office, sits in that very chair and asks me if I have any new evidence that proves his son did not commit this murder because he knows he did not do it." "I have to tell him that I don't have any new evidence." "That father has tears in his eyes each and every time he comes in here."
NOW 15.5 YEARS AFTER HIS CONVICTION
I have these friends who have a very beautiful residence in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois. The owner is a guy who retired from Abbott Laboratories. After purchasing his residence, he constructed an addition onto the rear area of the residence which includes a beautiful bar area about 50 feet in length and 24 feet wide. This area has about an 18 foot long bar, a pool table, a hot tub, several tables, several leather couches, large beer coolers, and a full size built in barbeque.....all inside with a large deck surrounding the outside. It is larger than many actual bars and more beautiful in architectural design. During the winter months each year, every Wednesday night he has people over to his bar...with usually 15-25 people attending each week. He does not charge a dime but everyone who comes is expected to bring their own drinks and several of the women bring food to share with everyone. One Wednesday night being at this place, I just happened to be walking past this small table where four people were seated and as I walked past, I heard one of them say, "I really think Juan Rivera is innocent because he is such a nice guy." Upon hearing this, I turned around and told this person that I actually worked that case privately back in 1992. This person already knew that I had performed investigations but did not know I worked that case. We all talked for a short time about the case and I moved on. About an hour later, as this person was walking from the bar area back to the small table, I simply asked the person if they knew something about Juan Rivera and then asked a question. The person stated that they did not know the answer to the question but could find out for me. About three weeks went by and again I went to this residence/bar on a Wednesday night. There were about 20 people that night and this person also was there. I had completely forgotten about asking the question about Rivera. About a half hour after my arriving, the person came up to me and reminded me of the question I had asked to find out for me. I then remembered and the person gave me the answer. Now you might have noticed that I repeatedly stated "the person" rather than mention the name of the person, the sex or what job position the person was in. I purposely did this to avoid any repercussions this individual might still get...even after all these years. The answer I received made me realize that Henry Lazzaro and Barbara Cohn were right, that I was wrong and that Juan Rivera actually did not commit the murder of Holly Staker. Thinking long and hard about the situation, I did not know what to do. I knew that going to the police would have been useless. I knew all the pieces now finally fit together......the reason for having Dawn testify falsely about seeing Rivera the night of the murder to support their theory that Rivera was somehow able to disengage his leg monitor and then allege that he was able to re-fasten it when he arrived back home. This was necessary to deflect the monitor system evidence that he never left his residence. Then there was the release of the media articles by law enforcement to the general public to believe the guilt of Rivera and that the evidence...besides his confession...was more than ample to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt....like having other inmates testify that Rivera had confessed to them that he had committed the crime. Now that I knew this small piece of information, no kind of information would convince me that Rivera had committed this murder. The next day or maybe the day after, I seen well known criminal defense attorney Jed Stone at the courthouse while we were both going through the metal detectors. I had, at that time, known Jed Stone for maybe thirty years or more and had performed some legal services for his office. I mentioned to him that I would like to speak with him about a case wherein he stated he was running late for a case up in court but asked me to call his office as to when he would be in and simply come to his office then. I agreed. A few days later, I was in the courthouse and Jed came up to me and said, "Hey Ron." "You said you wanted to talk to me about a case." "If you want, I have time right now to talk to you" I said. "Hell yes, I want to talk to you about it." It was another beautiful day and he suggested that we should walk across the street and sit on this wall and talk about the case there rather than in the courthouse. I agreed wherein we walked across the street, partially leaned/sat against the wall and I told him everything regarding this murder and my investigation. Jed then told me that he had heard that some people, even in law enforcement, question the conviction of Rivera. He then said that he had a friend at Northwestern-Center for Wrongful Convictions, that he would contact "her" and that she would then contact me. Several times during the next three weeks, I ran into Jed at the courthouse and he would inquire if she had called me yet and I told him "No" each time. After the last time he asked, I received a call at my office by a female attorney from Northwestern-Center for Wrongful Convictions. We arranged to meet at lunchtime at 17 North Genesee, in Waukegan, Illinois. This location is that of an upper class bar on the first floor with fine dining on the second floor. The attorney brought with her a female paralegal and we went upstairs for the meeting. They ordered lunch and I told them to just eat, take notes to any questions they might want to ask me after I finished talking and informing them of every detail I observed at the crime scene as well as any and all conversations I had regarding anything relative to the case. While they eat, I did all the talking and, at times, I noticed one or both of them taking notations as to what I had said. After they finished eating and I finished talking, they asked their questions and I answered each and every one. The next thing I knew was that Northwestern University-Center for Wrongful Convictions took on the representation of Juan Rivera. They filed a motion for forensic testing which was granted by the court and when the results of the DNA established that Rivera's DNA did not match any of the DNA found at the crime scene, they filed a motion for a new trial, which again was granted. This was now Rivera's third trial. The State put on the witness stand jail house inmates who testified that Rivera confessed to the crime and on this last trial, the State now found an employee of North Shore Gas Company who testified that while working in the basement of this apartment building, he had seen Juan Rivera and Holly goofing around down in the basement of the building that day. Even with the DNA evidence excluding Rivera of the crime, he was again convicted....for the third time. Northwestern-Center for Wrongful Convictions appealed the case to the Appellate Court for the 2nd District who reversed the conviction. I believe the State then appealed that ruling wherein it then went to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The U.S. District Court not only affirmed the ruling of the Appellate Court but added an extreme measure (which I had never heard of before or since) in ruling that the State was now being forbidden to ever even attempt to try this man again for this crime. It wasn't till then that the news media reported that Rivera was interrogated for four straight days without an attorney. On or about midnight on October 29th, it was reported that Detective Charles Fagan accused Rivera saying, "Juan, you were in that apartment with Holly Staker, weren't you?" It has been said that Rivera placed his head down, soaked in his clothing and began sobbing uncontrollable, did not respond but nodded in the affirmative. Shortly thereafter, a prison nurse determined that he was in acute psychotic state and "not in touch with the reality of what was going on around him". She further described that he was in a fetal position, "his eyebrows were furled, nostrils were flared and his eyes were really big and looking straight through me." She described his verbal as "sounded like those who talk in tongues." Several hours after this interrogation, detectives had Rivera sign the summary account taken by the detectives. After his signing this summary account, detectives reviewed his statements and agreed that many details that were in the report were inconsistent with the known facts of the crime. It was then decided that two members of the Task Force would re-interview Rivera to try and clear up some of these "inconsistencies". For example, during this latest interview, the detectives suggested details such as "She was wearing multi-colored shirt, right Juan"? Rivera had prior misidentified her clothing. Even after this interview, some inconsistencies with the crime scene still existed. It was then also reported that Rivera had to be placed into a padded cell because he was rambling incoherently, banging his head against the walls and pulling hair from his head and that he had a history of mental Illinois. I then remembered one argument that I had with Mr. Lazarro about the confession which was my question, "why would your client "Rivera" sign a written confession if he didn't do the crime?" I remember Henry telling me the total written confession contained four (4) pages. The first two pages mentioned nothing but about Rivera and his family and absolutely nothing about the murder and both of those pages were fully signed by Rivera. The next two (2) pages were about the Holly Staker murder and were not signed but it was alleged that Rivera did place his initials at the bottom of these two pages. Rivera was finally set free after spending 19.5 years behind bars. He filed a civil lawsuit for his wrongful conviction and the case was settled for 20 million dollars. This was the largest monetary settlement for a single wrongful conviction in the United States at that time. Now, why do you suppose such a high amount was agreed upon to pay to Rivera for his wrongful conviction? Do you think it was because of the 19.5 years he spent behind bars for a crime he did not commit? I think not! Other individuals in the U.S. have spent more time in prison for a crime that was later proven they did not commit and they never received near the amount of money settlement Rivera did. Maybe I am wrong but I think it had something to do with the "cover up." What you may not know is this. Remember the shoes that the Task Force said had blood on them? So let's talk about that now. Remember, at the time Holly was murdered, Rivera had already been sentenced to this medium security institution and was ordered to wear the leg monitor until such time as there was an opening for when he could be transferred to this institution. After being incarcerated, it was alleged that he came in with these shoes and traded the shoes he had on with an inmate who was about to get released for a small television that this inmate had been using while he was incarcerated. The Task Force then allegedly located this former inmate, looked at the shoes and seen blood on the bottom of these shoes. This former inmate is to have allegedly stated that he did trade his small TV to Rivera for the shoes but that he did get into a fight after his release and that the blood on the shoes was probably his own from that fight. Forensic evidence on the blood on the shoes later established that the blood was that of Holly Staker. Now here come the questions! How could the blood from Holly Staker be on these shoes when in fact those particular tennis shoes were not even on the market until weeks after the murder of Holly Staker? Further, how could the mother of Juan Rivera still have the receipt for the purchase of these tennis shoes which reflected she purchased the shoes for Juan AFTER Holly was already murdered? The only logical inference that can be made was that someone in law enforcement planted Holly's blood onto the shoes to assist in getting the conviction on Rivera. They simply did not expect that evidence would prove that the shoes had not been even shipped and on the market before Holly was killed. As soon as the Office of the Lake County States' Attorney became aware and discovered for fact that these shoes were not even available at the time of Holly's murder, they pulled this piece of evidence. The next questions would be this. Who would investigate the members of the Lake County Task Force? Did anybody investigate the planting of this false evidence? Did anybody request that the FBI investigate to find out who may have planted this blood onto the shoes of Rivera or did they simply crawl back into a hole, pay out the money and hope to not receive much media coverage as to this particular aspect of the case? What law enforcement agency automatically steps up to check on the unlawful conduct of other law enforcement investigators or do they need to be asked by someone "in authority" within law enforcement? Do they also need to follow "protocol" like in the prior case mentioned here? Because I have read case law for many, many years, it reminds me of the case I read about Judge Kenneth Anderson in Williamson County, Texas. Judge Anderson, I believe 26 years earlier, was the longtime States' Attorney for WilliamsonCounty before becoming a judge. As the counties' top law enforcement officer, he knowingly withheld from the defense, material evidence in a murder case for which an individual was wrongfully convicted and served all those years in prison before the real killer was exposed. Had Anderson turned over to the defense this relative evidence, the real killer would have been exposed at that time. Judge Anderson was simply convicted of "Indirect Criminal Contempt of Court", taken off the bench, had his law license terminated and sentenced to, get this, I believe, about 60 days in jail. (He was about to retire anyway) There is an old saying that there is no such thing as a big crime or a small crime. A crime is a crime and a person who commits a crime should be punished for committing the crime! The problem I have seen is that true justice many times is simply covered up by individuals in places of authority. I have never seen nor spoken to Juan Rivera but a few years ago, he did sent a message thanking me for getting Northwestern University-Center for Wrongful Conviction to take over his legal representation. I did appreciate his message but I still feel guilty for having had the belief that law enforcement officers would never interrogate an individual to such a point to coerce a confession to a murder they did not commit. So you might now want to know the answer to the question I had which was the turning point where I knew Juan Rivera was not the murderer and rapist of Holly Staker. So now let's go back to the late afternoon Ms. Englebreight gave me the tour of the crime scene. Remember my mentioning the piece of tile having been removed by the task force and my immediate thought that it probably had the shoe outline in blood on that piece of tile. Then came my realization that I did not see any bloody footprints from the bedroom to the area next to this table and chair. The next thing I thought was that maybe he just dropped the bloody knife onto the floor and the blood splatter from it was what was on that piece of floor tile. I was about to ask Ms. Englebright the next question contained on my legal pad, when I stopped, dropped my pen, got up from the chair I was sitting in, took about two steps forward, turned around and kneeled in front of the chair. I then took two fingers of each hand and placed them on the very bottom of the front legs of the chair and pulled the chair towards me and away from the wall. I then tipped this wooden chair backwards and I could clearly see the outline of bloody fingerprints directly under the right side of this chair. The outline of the fingers was very vivid because of the shear amount of blood the killer had on his hands at the time. The outline of the blood was now completely black but a person could clearly see, as I did, the outline of the four fingers with the shortest finger outline being closest to the left side of the chair......to my far right as I was looking at it. Then I walked to the kitchen faucet...remembering that I had previously noticed black blood splatter behind the faucets (which were already removed by the task force) and looked at which area had the most blood splatter...behind the left or right removed faucet and realized there was substantially more black blood behind the left faucet. This combination gave me the positive belief that the person who killed Holly was left handed. I immediately had Ms. Englebreight walk over and to see the black bloody finger outline under this chair for herself and told her to call the task force the next morning and let them know what "you" discovered...and not even mention my name whatsoever. When I asked her days later if she called the task force to come and get this chair, she said she did and they did come and did take it but later told her the outline was so bloody that they were not able to get any actual finger prints from it. Although I knew it was virtually impossible for a right handed individual to make this outline on the bottom of this chair because of the clear outline of the smallest finger was to the far left, I simply assumed Rivera was left handed. Now look at the smallest finger on your hands and the smallest finger is in sharp contract in length to that of the other four fingers. So, what does that say? It simply says this! The person who killed Holly Staker was left handed. When the person informed me that Juan Rivera was right handed, I knew he was not the person who killed Holly. The person I asked the question if Rivera was right handed or left handed had no idea the reason for my asking this question then nor did the person actually ask me later. Now you add the volume of blood that I seen deposited directed behind the then removed left faucet vs. the amount left behind the right...then removed right faucet. Now, if you remember my stating that I spend a great deal of time looking at the crime scene pictures in Henry Lazzaro's office. I sorted out about twelve or so pictures reflecting the area behind the "right" faucet"..... as you are facing it. Oddly, I could not find so much as one clear picture of the area behind the "left' faucet. I searched for a close picture of the "behind the left faucet" but those that were up close....were mostly cut off while focusing on the right faucet. Again, at the time of my looking at these pictures, I had no idea if Rivera was right handed or left handed but I did tell Mr. Lazzaro at that time, I was convinced that the person who killed Holly was left handed. According to statistics, only about ten (10) percent of people are left-handed. I have to assume that the evidence technician probably just moved the chair out of the way when he/she went to cut up that piece of tile. If he or she would have left the chair in its place at the time of cutting up that piece of tile, the bloody outline of the fingers would have been in sight within about 20 inches from that removed piece of floor tile. Simply put, nobody thought about looking under the chairs in the kitchen!
In the summer of 2017, I wrote and hand delivered a three page letter to the personal secretary of Waukegan's.... then new mayor, Mr. Cunningham, requesting that he do what he can to reopen the murder investigation of Holly Staker. I wanted to be a part of it to at least look over the name of the suspects they had at that time and see if they match my memory of any of the names on the list I had. I have been repeatedly reminded that I have an "uncanny" aptitude of being able to remember things and statements that were said years and years ago by others. I requested that a former Deputy Police Chief in Lake County...now retired along with a experienced detective out of Skokie, Illinois, as well as myself be allowed to re-investigate this old murder case. The Waukegan Police Department did make a statement after the reversal of Juan Rivera's conviction that the case "has now been reopened," but if that was true, then I wonder why they never tried to contact me since because their records clearly would have reflected that I privately investigated the case and yet, to this very day, nobody from that department has even attempted to contact me. Not only that but it is also well known throughout the legal community of LakeCounty that I worked this case back in 1992. Many in law enforcement, as well as prosecutors, know I was the individual who persuaded Northwestern University-Center for Wrongful Convictions to represent Rivera. I have had what could be considered retaliatory effects of my doing this but I say, "Screw them all!" "I would do it again a million times because it was simply the right thing to do!" The one thing that bothers me to this very day is my vivid memory of seeing and hearing the words that come out of Holly's sister, Heather...."Sir!", "Sir!", I understand you are trying to find out who killed my sister and I just want to thank you."
Now, since all of this, do I have a prime suspect? That answer would be "Yes." Now some people who were around at that time and heard some things, might think the initials of my prime suspect being those of DM. Many people think he did it because he was young, stupid and allegedly bragged about it to some people. Although he was one of the individuals on my suspect list, the attorney for Northwestern University-Center for Wrongful Convictions did tell me later that he did willingly take a lie detector test and also gave a blood test for forensic testing and he was cleared of the crime. My prime suspect passed away a short time after the murder of Holly but I will not give out that information because I could be wrong and do not want his family name tarnished for a crime he may not have actually committed. I firmly believe that a good detective on a homicide case MUST believe that everyone can be a suspect. I like to say that from the start of a murder case, I no longer eliminate anybody as a suspect....not even the Pope!
I would like to point out one other thing that I have a problem with. I was reading about another homicide case that occurred many years ago, much like the Holly Staker case. I could be wrong but I think it happened in SangamonCounty. (Springfield, Illinois area) Anyway, I was reading about this case where law enforcement attempted to have the sample of the DNA testing of a suspect entered into "CODIS" (Combined DNA Index System) but they refused to enter the DNA because the sheriff of that county had first submitted the DNA testing to an "inferior" lab and therefore they were refusing to admit the sample into their national data base. I then read that the States' Attorney for the county then filed a petition and received a "Court Order" requiring that the "Combined DNA Index System" of the FBI enter the sample into their data base. A judge signed the court order and then the FBI agreed to enter it into the national data base. The question I have is this. Was the DNA located at the crime scene of murder of Holly Staker ever submitted to CODIS or simply to an inferior lab? If somebody does state that it was entered into Codis, can I trust the person who states that it was or are they lying?
Another point I would like to know! Because I am now retired, I still have a hobby of reading and watching true crime stories. I recently watched the crime story of serial killer Steven Robert Smith. He had killed and raped a six (6) year old child by the name of Lisa Bonham in September of 1977, but not solved until late 1992 but he was not arrested until May 31, 2000. This all happened in the State of California. At the end of this crime story, I just happened to notice the "credits" being scrolled on the TV screen wherein I seen one of the credits going to "The Waukegan Police Department." I check with "Public Assess" of the Lake County Clerk of the Circuit Court and could find no record for a Steven R. Smith in that data base. So the question is this. What nexus (connection) did the Waukegan Police Department have to do with this child killer? Was he living under an assumed name in Waukegan during the summer of 1992 when Holly was killed? Was he finally arrested by the Waukegan Police Department in 2000 for the California murders? This should be checked out because Holly is entitled to have the monster than killed and raped her to get the justice he deserved. Although after research, I did discover that Steven Robert Smith died in 2009....but if he was the person who did what he did to Holly, he should still get the credit for continuing to being the monster he was!
So now I want to simply add common sense and simple logic that goes contrary to what was presented to the juries.
#1. The "story" or "theory" that Holly "enticed" Rivera into the bedroom and wanted to have sex.
LOGIC #1: Most 11 year old children do not even think of sex at that age. LOGIC #2: Survey establishes that only about .04 of the Hispanic youth under the age of 20, have ever engaged in anal sex. LOGIC #3: If Holly really wanted to have sex...as they allege....would she not have wanted to eat the pizza first.....or watch the little girl eat hers or even share some of it with Rivera before thinking about sex? LOGIC #4: With the heavy corner dining room chair lying down, (covering the walkway between the kitchen and the living room) proves that a struggle occurred from the front living room area...through the dining room...to the northwest bedroom ...contrary to the State theory Holly enticing Rivera into the bedroom.
#2. The story that Rivera stopped with the sex when he heard the little girl crying "outside the room." LOGIC : Remember, Dawn said her daughter was sitting on the twin bed in the bedroom Holly was killed in and that she had to actually push Holly's body away from the door to get in the bedroom.
#3. Remember, the "theory" was that Rivera broke through the back door using a mop handle to break in the door. LOGIC #1: Using common sense, Rivera could have just knocked on the door and when she opened the door, he would have been in. LOGIC #2: If he was breaking in the back door, Holly and the little girl would have had time to run out the front door...remembering one piece of the pizza had been eaten...so logic places her and the little girl at the front of the apt. which was by the front door. LOGIC #3: If Rivera had broken in through the back door, would he not have left through the back door...yet they said they found blood smears on the front stair railing...which, if true....gives the inference that he left through the front door....then if you consider the fact that they said they found the broken knife in the alley behind the apartment....which clearly leaves the inference that he walked down the front stairwell, exited the building..to only go to the rear of the building to the alley with the knife in his hand the entire time?????
#4. Rivera was ordered to wear an ankle monitor at the time which registered that he never left his residence. LOGIC #1: Remember, the State admitted that Rivera had a mental aptitude of around 79...that being about a 6th grader...yet they claim he was smart enough to disconnect his ankle monitor, rape and kill Holly and later reconnect it with his mentality. LOGIC #2: What did Rivera do between the alleged time he is alleged to have killed and raped Holly, yet hours later, reappear to talk to Dawn outside the apartment building that night asking her what was going on instead of going home and reconnecting the ankle monitor to see if it sent out any signals that he had disconnected it? LOGIC #3: Why would Rivera stick around the apartment building for hours later to just ask Dawn what was going on if he already knew...and take the chance a police officer who knew him would see him and know he was to be on an ankle monitor and not out at night?
#5. Now, the most logical observance: The outline of the bloody fingers under that wooden kitchen chair! While seated in any chair and using your right hand, just try and place your finger outlines under the far left of the chair with the shortest finger being to the far left of the other finger outlines. There is simply no way in hell can a person leave the shortest finger outline on the far left of the other fingers without being a left-handed individual. I firmly believe the person who killed Holly was physically and mentally exhausted from realizing what he had just done, pulled the chair out a bit from the wall and simply sat down as soon as he went into the kitchen....in the chair next to the hallway....with all the blood on his fingers of his left hand...probably dropped the knife unto the floor before sitting down, then rested for awhile before picking up the knife, going to the sink and washing the blood off his hands and the knife. He may even have thought about the bloody fingerprint of his thumb on the top of the chair and wiped it off but forgot about what he left under the chair. It has been said that at almost every crime scene, the average person or persons who commit the crime(s) leave an average of thirty (30) pieces of evidence behind that gives good investigators the insight as to who the suspect probably is.
#6. If Rivera voluntarily confessed, as alleged, on or about 12:01 a.m. on October 30th to Detective Chuck Fagan, why did the Chief of the Task Force, namely, Gary Del Rae call me, want to speak with me ASAP, wanted to know who I had listed as my suspects, and upon meeting with me, request that I find out the "gang name" of one of my suspects when he already had to know of the "alleged voluntary" confession having been given by Rivera.....who was not even listed as one of my suspects. Remember, I vividly remember that within three hours after speaking with Mr. Del Rae at or about 2:25 p.m., the news of the confession of Rivera was broadcast over the radio stations within about two hours later and the very next day, it was front headline news. So...let's add this up! Rivera allegedly confessed about 12:01 a.m. and fourteen hours later, the Chief of the Task Force asked me to get him information about somebody else regarding the murder? If I had known about a lot of this information earlier, I would have realized things were amiss but I was simply stupid in not believing that some people could be so very evil and still wear a badge. I have seen and been around great cops, great prosecutors and great judges but some do have pure evil in their hearts and I have seen each of those too! Although Mr. Rivera did send me a thank you note for getting Northwestern-Center for Wrongful Convictions to represent him, I will go to my grave regretting my stupidity in my believing in others and then abandoning my search for the truth and justice in this case...which, in part, cost Mr. Rivera almost twenty years of his life behind prison walls. The other regret I have is remembering those words that little child said to me, "Sir", "Sir", I understand you are trying to find out who killed my sister and I just want to thank you" and to date, not finding out who really did kill her sister! That is a major reason for myself writing this book and hoping someone would jump on my now empty bandwagon to help bring closure to this brutal murder. I really don't care if a law enforcement agency wants to work on the case again.... on their own. All I care about is that justice is served for this little girl because she deserves it! Forensic testing has come a long way since 1992. They can now get fingerprints of a bloody smeared bed sheet. If they can do that, they could now peel back microscopic layers of the blood smear on the bottom of that kitchen chair until they get a fingerprint...which chair should have been admitted into the evidence locker room.
I will this summer, hopefully meet with the new Lake County States' Attorney, namely Eric Rinehart, and ask him to promise to do what he can to have the case reopened. Hopefully he cares enough to do what he can and this time I will have some leverage...but I do not want to mention what that is at this time.
Booker T. Washington was quoted as saying, "A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority."
ANOTHER CASE OF A JUDAS KISS FOR JUSTICE! This case has outrageous, unaddressed crimes added to an already unfathomable crime with no justice to any of the criminals to date!
One cannot say they care about justice yet care not about truth!
Find below an example of Ron's original writing in his story, MEETING THE ONE AND ONLY JERRY LEE LEWIS.
MEETING THE ONE AND ONLY JERRY LEE LEWIS
About this time, I had a friend whose name was Pete and he was originally from Sweden. For some reason he was a diehard Jerry Lee Lewis fan. At one time, Jerry was doing a performance at a small night club in Chicago. Pete wanted my wife and I, another friend of mine named Denny and his girlfriend, as well as himself and his then girlfriend to go to this concert in which Jerry was performing. We bought the tickets and this nightclub was divided into three sections looking toward the stage along with a long bar on the other end of the three sections. I remember Jerry performing on stage and then taking an intermission and stating he would be back shortly. Everybody at this nightclub was seated around tables. I would estimate that each of these three sections had about two rows of twelve (12) tables each with about six (6) people seated at each table.
We had a table that was almost the farthest back from the stage in the center section. While Jerry Lee Lewis took this intermission, a local country band performed on the stage. Because the waitresses in each section started to serve all the persons seated the closest to the stage first, Pete made the comment that us guys should just go to the bar and get the drinks ourselves rather than wait for the waitresses. Denny, and I agreed and the three of us left the table and walked to the end of the bar area. This area was very crowded with people as well as along the entire length of the bar. It was like three (3) deep with people this entire length. I one point Pete sneaked through and ordered six drinks for all of us. While the drinks were being made, Jerry Lee Lewis walked out of this doorway to our immediate right. This doorway had a mere curtain rather than an actual door. When everybody in that corner seen Jerry, everyone started to say “Hi” to him. Pete became estatic with joy.
He could not wait to introduce himself to Jerry and shake his hand. Pete then introduced Denny and myself to Jerry and we each shock his hand. Now at this time, I knew Jerry was very talented but I did not consider him to be a “god” like Pete did. I thought to myself, this guy may be great behind the piano and be able to sing but he put his pants on every single day the same way I do. Although I did shake his hand, I nor Denny said a word to Mr. Lewis but Pete’s mouth was going a mile a minute. After a few minutes, Jerry told us that he needed to get back up on stage, shock everybody’s hand in that area and went back through this curtain.
A few minutes later, he reappeared on the stage behind his piano. Jerry did a great performance and I remember him telling everyone that he had just recorded another country song and we would not be able to purchase it for about another three weeks but because we were such a great audience, he was going to play the song for us. The song was entitled “What made Milwaukee famous has made a fool out of me.” When he finished the song, he received a standing ovation. Before you know it, the show was over and we all went home.
About six (6) weeks later, this large concert was going to be performed wherein many country stars were going to be performing. Jerry Lee Lewis was also scheduled to perform with the main attraction be that of Johnny Cash. Pete begged all of us to go and see this concert, mostly because he wanted to see Jerry perform again. We all purchased the tickets and we had seats in the center upper deck at this very large stadium. All these country stars performed and then Jerry was introduced by the MC and the curtain opened. Jerry was seated behind his piano but this time he had these three black ladies standing behind him, next to his piano.
Jerry spoke into his microphone that he was not going to leave the stage until he had every man, woman and child out of their seats. He then played the first song. It was religious and the three black ladies did backup vocals. The next song was religious and the next and the next and the next and the next…..all slow type religious songs. I thought to myself, “Dude, you are never going to get anybody out of their seat singing slow religious songs” but then he started singing some of his old rock and roll songs of the fifties. Before he finished he had everybody out of their seats clapping and shouting as he left the stage. The curtain closed and the DJ came back out. He then introduced the main star who was Johnny Cash.
Personally, up to that time, I did not like Johnny Cash because he sang so flat on many of his songs. The curtain opened up and we seen Johnny carrying his guitar by his side towards the center of the stage. When he got to the microphone, he made a comment about Jerry using a great deal of his time. The audience somewhat booed Johnny for the comment but he went right into a song. Like I said, prior to this show, I did not like Johnny Cash but I have to admit, he did do a good performance that night. After he left the stage to a standing ovation, we all started to leave.
That is when a large number of people in the upper deck to our left started shouting, “We want Jerry”, “We want Jerry.” Now everyone thought that maybe these people knew something we did not. The next thing, the entire stadium was shouting, “We want Jerry”, We want Jerry!” After about what seemed like five minutes, the MC came out onto the stage and said, “I’m sorry ladies and gentleman, but Mr. Lewis has already left the stadium.” We all started to leave again when that upper left side started shouting again, “We want Jerry”, “We want Jerry!” Again, we turned around thinking that these people just had to know something we didn’t. It appeared that not only our section believed the same way, it appeared that the entire stadium believed the same thing we did because within a minute, all of us were shouting the words over and over again. Then the curtain opened and we seen Jerry walking across the stage towards the microphone that stood in the middle of the stage.
As soon as everyone seen Jerry back on the stage, everyone was out of their seats and cheering loudly. He spoke into this microphone and said the words, “Ladies and Gentleman, are we ready to rock and roll some more?” The entire stadium went up in a roar with glee. He then walked to his piano and sang another six or seven songs, got up from his piano, bowed to the crowd and walked off the stage while everyone was standing and cheering so very loudly. It was one hell of a performance but the best was yet to come. Because of the sheer amount of people, it was very slow moving to get from this second balcony section to the main floor and out the front door. When we first arrived at the outside steps, we could see about five or six limousines parked down to our right.
Pete said that we should go down by them to maybe see Jerry again. One of the girls said, “Pete, look at that crowd by the limo’s.” “Even if you get remotely close to that area, you are never going to be able to get close to Jerry when he does come out.” Pete realized that she was right but then said, “Look, let’s walk around the stadium and just maybe he might be coming out in the back.” One of the girls immediately said, “We are not going to walk all the way around this stadium simply because you think he might be coming out the back.” Pete looked at Denny and myself and said, “Come on Denny and Ron, let’s do it!” I looked at Denny and I could see the look in his eyes and knew he did not want to do it, like me, but we both said that we would just to make Pete happy. One of the girls immediately piped up and said, “If you guys are going to walk around this entire stadium, then walk out into the parking lot and bring the car to the front so we don’t have to walk that far.” Pete, Denny and I walked to our left a distance, around the south end of the stadium some distance and then around the corner on the north side.
After we turned this corner, we could see one limo parked and absolutely no one around it but I remember seeing the exhaust coming out of the tail pipes. Pete stepped up his pace, followed by Denny and then myself. When we arrived by the limo, the driver got out of the car and went to hold the back door open. To our left and coming down the steps was Jerry’s sister, namely Linda Gail. At the time, she would sing some duet songs with Jerry but I do not remember if she sang that night or not. Anyway, as she was coming down these steps of the stadium, I thought how beautiful she was as well as very sexy in the dress she was wearing. I heard Pete say, “Hi Linda Gail.” She said nothing and simply got into the rear of the limo.
Now Jerry was coming down the steps a short distance behind his sister. Pete then said, “Hi Jerry” and then it happened…which I still cannot believe to this day. Jerry got this huge smile on his face, reached out his hand while shacking Pete’s hand and said, “Hi Pete” and then Jerry reached out to shake the hand of Denny and said, “Hi Denny” and then turned to me, reached out his hand, shock my hand and said, “Hi Ron” and “it’s so nice to see all you guys again. Now I was completely awe struck because I did not remember myself or Denny saying so much as a word to Jerry that night in the nightclub yet he remembered all of our names merely by being introduced to him back then. As I am writing this more than 50 years later, it is just as unexplainable and mystifying to me as it was that night.
While I was in this daze somewhat zombie like condition, Pete was going off with his mouth to Jerry again. Jerry signaled for the limo drive to close the back door and motioned with his hand for him to go and take his seat in the car. Jerry then turned around and hopped himself up onto the truck area of the limo with his legs dangling along side of the drivers’ side rear tires. Jerry wanted to know all about us. He asked if any one of us were married and I remember being the one to raise my hand even though I was the youngest one there. He wanted to know what we each did for a living. He asked us where we would usually go at this time of night. I don’t remember him saying anything about himself. The whole conversation was his desire to know about each of us. Pete almost had the entire conversation with Jerry.
For me, I was still in this maze trying to figure out how Jerry could have possibly remembered our names from nothing but our short introduction weeks earlier. I was just mesmerized by that fact then and to this very day. Then it was when Jerry did and said something else I will also never forget. After being seated on the rear trunk area of this limo and talking to Pete….almost exclusively, this happened. The rear side window of the limo slowly went down and I heard Linda Gail say the following words, “Come on Jerry, let’s go!” Jerry turned, leaned toward the window and said this. “Shut up bitch, I am talking to my friends!” The window then slowly went up. A few minutes later, Jerry hopped off the trunk and said, while again reaching out his hand to shake our hands goodbye, said, “Guys, I really have to go.” “I have a real bitch for a sister.”
Years later, I read where repo men were at his residence and while they were repossessing many of his vehicles, one of them heard Jerry say, “Look, I might have been a guy who made two million dollars and spent three, but I had a good time!” Then the movie came out named, “Great Balls of Fire” and a reporter asked Jerry about the movie regarding some of the scenes where the actor, who played Jerry, looked and acted stupid. Jerry was quoted as simply saying, “The actor really played me good because that is just the way I was back then.”
My final thought as it relates to Jerry Lee Lewis. He may put his pants on the same way I do each day but that man was so down to earth and courteous that when I heard so much as one word said bad about him, regarding his past, I stepped up to defend that man because I personally seen that man for what he really was….even if it was for only a few minutes. I will continue to step up to support him in the future till the day I die! In short…..that man had/has something called “CLASS!” Jerry is older than I am but if he was to die before me, it will be more than a sad day for me personally. He called me…that one time, “one of his friends” and to me….that will always be treasured by me!
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PROJECT HISTORY
One day, quietly editing a different
project at a cafe, I looked up and there was the author of Our Dying Suns,
Abigail Lea. The working cover above was something I put together to
give Abi a sense of what was possible. I used it to produce a proof of
her draft manuscript as well and gave it to her when she was
conveniently living in my area. Abi has since relocated to L.A. where
she is pursuing a career as an accomplished actress.
PROJECT
The Storytelling Muses are very determined, and when they like a story they will not hesitate to help the storyteller find the people/resources needed to find an audience. That fateful day, Abigail was pitching essential oils to a group of mostly women. That caught my ear as I, too, used them, in particular Oregano Oil, as a immune system health promoting supplement. Long story short, I mentioned that fact to Abi after her meeting and soon learned she'd written the first draft of a YA fantasy novel.
Looking at Abi, I was convinced she had what it took to not only write a compelling tale, but had the charisma and presence to mesmerize a large, loyal readership fan base. She agreed to send me the rough manuscript, I got to work doing my editing thing, and as I write this post we are stage two of polishing the story in preparation for a Christmas publication launch.
PROJECT POTENTIAL
I strongly suspected that Abi should be able to attract a literary agent and the agent would find her a publisher who could do justice to the remarkable YA fantasy novel she had created, in the mold of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I told her as much, recommended she prepare a book proposal and that I would send it out. Months passed and one day I was contacted. Abi was ready to publish her novel, and she offered it to Heritage Press.
Again, I advised against it, but said I would be honored to join her on such a rare publishing journey. About a month into the final phase of preparing Our Dying Suns for release, I can't shake the feeling that Abi might still find an agent now that she is located in the Mecca of the entertainment world, Los Angeles, California. What I'm hoping is that when the proof of Our Dying Suns is ready Abi will shop it around to some of the literary agencies in L.A. and we'll see what the Storytelling Muses have in store for her novel!
I am a Gatekeeper.
When you die, it is my responsibility to provide the report that will determine your fate in the afterlife. For most souls, this is a fairly straightforward matter. I simply scan their memories and offer my opinion. For others, things can get complicated.
When a soul has bee severed by trauma into a number of alters, each must be assessed on their own merits. In order to accomplish that task, I have to overshadow the soul of someone close to the subject to see firsthand who they actually are and what they've been dealing with. Only then will I be able to provide a fair assessment at the time of their passing.
My first assignment took me to the American Midwest circa 1990s.
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