Authors: Corey Mitchell
Dead And Buried (3 page)
FOUR
With Kristin Smart’s disappearance fresh in their minds, the police wasted no time in attempting to find Rachel Newhouse.Indeed, it seemed as if the entire 43,000-person community of San Luis Obispo was on alert.
Members of the community welcomed Rachel’s family, includingher father, Phillip, her mother, Montel, her brother Travis, twenty-two, her sister, Ashley, nineteen, and her uncle Peter Morreale, a defense attorney from Riverside, California.Morreale acted as spokesperson and expressed the family’s gratitude to the warm people of San Luis Obispo who took them in, fed them, and attempted to comfort the Newhouse clan as the investigation was under way. Morreale informed the press, “Phil and Montel are very appreciative. They don’t feel like strangers up there.”
It was an easy time to feel uncomfortable as the search for Rachel continued. On Wednesday, November 18, another shock occurred in the community. A local resident, Richard Wall, was shot and killed less than one mile away from Cal Poly. The seemingly safe bastion of San Luis Obispo seemed to be under arrest.
Fear and panic soon began to take over.
Cal Poly senior Malia McKee expressed that “no way will I walk home at night.” McKee vividly recalled Kristin Smart’s disappearance and how “it really scared us, but it wore off.”
Architecture major Julie Bebeikin talked about her late nights on campus. She said that some nights she would not leave until 2:00
A.M.
and that “I feel like I’m in a complete ghost town.” She even carried an X-ACTO knife for protection.
A.M.
and that “I feel like I’m in a complete ghost town.” She even carried an X-ACTO knife for protection.
Sharon Perkins, coordinator of the Cal Poly “Take Back the Night” program, an annual campus gathering to foster awarenessabout violence against women, spoke of Rachel’s disappearance as a wake-up call. She matter-of-factly informedthe local press, “I think a lot of people have the opinion that Cal Poly is really safe.” In her mind women must be on their guard at all times and that “this is a reality check that in San Luis Obispo it can happen here.”
By Thursday Captain Topham could tell that a crime had occurred in his sleepy little burg. He began to feel the pressureof the Newhouse case. The previous day, he called off the cadaver-dog search teams. Furthermore, review of several local businesses’ surveillance videotapes showed no sign of Rachel and hundreds of interviews led nowhere.
Captain Topham knew that each day they did not locate Rachel Newhouse, the more difficult it would be to find her. He also began to hint that this was probably a case of violent crime, mainly due to the blood found on the bridge. There was no match made yet between the blood drops found on the Jennifer Street Bridge and Rachel Newhouse. Captain Topham, however, could not deny the inevitable conclusion: the blood probably was hers.
Despite his initial reluctance to turn the reins over, Captain Topham decided to appeal to a higher authority. He contacted the Sacramento office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and requested assistance. He believed the FBI was better equipped and had a stronger workforce to locate Rachel Newhouse.He made the call. He could only hope that it would help to find the missing twenty-year-old from Irvine.
The Newhouse family also got involved in the search for their daughter. They printed up thousands of flyers at the downtown Kinko’s and distributed them throughout the town and the surrounding county. They also posted flyers in the San Joaquin Valley and in Southern California, in hopes of spreading the word.
Morreale stated that the Newhouse clan was extremely pleased with the efforts of Captain Topham and the sheriff’s department in the search for their daughter. He was perturbed, however, by a statement made by San Luis Obispo police chief Jim Gardiner about Rachel’s drinking. The Newhouses believed that Gardiner insinuated that Rachel got what she deserved. She was only a minor who was partying and drinkingwhen she should not have been. Morreale was quick to stress that Rachel did not have a drinking problem of any kind.
Even Captain Topham talked about common sense among the town’s residents when they ventured out at night. He insistedthat the residents of San Luis Obispo had no reason to be afraid. Topham calmly reassured his constituents when he said, “We have no indication this incident fits a pattern.” He was quick to add that Rachel Newhouse’s disappearance should not “change our perception that this is a pretty safe community.”
FIVE
The police were doing everything in their power to alleviatethe town’s fears. Others chipped in to help search for Rachel Newhouse as well. Rachel’s family offered $10,000 for information leading to the recovery of their daughter. Fellow Orange County resident and Anaheim Angelscenterfielder Jim Edmonds and his agent, Dwight Manley, each kicked in $25,000 for the search for Rachel. Edmonds, a father of two girls, felt Rachel’s story hit close to home.
“I know what it’s like to be out there and be on your own and have to rely on people you don’t know,” Edmonds stated to the
Orange County News
. “This is a situation where everybodyneeds to get out there and help the cause and try to bring her home.”
Orange County News
. “This is a situation where everybodyneeds to get out there and help the cause and try to bring her home.”
Manley added his reason for helping: “We all need to realizethat Rachel Newhouse could be our child, niece, friend, and hope this effort will help the police in Rachel’s safe recovery.”
Part of that recovery effort by police was to search the Cold Canyon Landfill, south of San Luis Obispo, on Friday,November 20. Captain Topham described the check of the nearby Edna Valley garbage dump as a routine measurein a missing-person case and not the result of any specific lead. He informed the media that no clues had been located concerning Rachel’s case.
The media had also received numerous bogus contacts. Dave Colby, news director for local NBC affiliate KSBY-TV, claimed to have received twenty-five to thirty phone calls a day about various dead bodies in the neighborhood.
“Every time one of us goes to lunch,” Colby related, “we’ve heard conversations that a body has been found.”
The rumor mill, needless to say, became a source of irritationfor Captain Topham.
“If people really want to help, quit gossiping,” he angrily snapped.
Meanwhile, the FBI began to set up equipment—their main purpose in the case was to devise a computer tracking system to organize all of the various interviews and searches that had already been conducted and “to manage the huge volume of information that has been developed.”
Some members of the media attempted to arrange a meetingbetween the Newhouses and the Smarts. Tabloid television program
Hard Copy
wanted to get the families togetherfor a special program, but the Newhouses did not want to take part. They kept to themselves and wanted no part of the press attention. Peter Morreale stressed, “The Smarts’ grief is a private matter, and so is ours.” He also claimed it was impossible for the Newhouses to talk to anyone because they could not even speak among themselves without crying.
Hard Copy
wanted to get the families togetherfor a special program, but the Newhouses did not want to take part. They kept to themselves and wanted no part of the press attention. Peter Morreale stressed, “The Smarts’ grief is a private matter, and so is ours.” He also claimed it was impossible for the Newhouses to talk to anyone because they could not even speak among themselves without crying.
The Newhouse family believed there was nothing left for them to do in San Luis Obispo. They headed back to Irvine on Thursday. Morreale again emphasized that the family was pleased with the police’s handling of the case; however, some believe there was some underlying frustration on the part of the family. That lay with Police Chief Jim Gardiner, who again stressed the importance of eliminating underage drinkingamong coeds. Gardiner stated that he did not blame Rachel Newhouse or Kristin Smart for their disappearances, but he believed alcohol might have played a part. He spoke of how alcohol can impair an individual’s decision making, can numb a person’s brain, and toss common sense out of one’s mental window.
“I’ve seen too many situations where alcohol destroys lives,” Gardiner stated. He also believed that neither Rachel nor Kristin would be missing if they were sober.
Other people wanted to help. Heritage Oaks Bank set up a Rachel Newhouse Help Fund. A young girl even broke open her piggy bank and brought $6 in coins to the bank to do her part. One fraternity charged money for parking at football games and donated the proceeds to the fund. Another fraternitythrew an alcohol-free barbecue bash, which attracted over two hundred students and raised $1,200 before local policeshut it down at 9:00
P.M.
Also, a former police reserve officer, Frank Dufault, and his Internet partner Randy Falcke donated the monthly proceeds from their Smart Date Web site to the Rachel Newhouse search fund. Dufault and former pilot Jerry Noble created the Smart Date Web site in 1996 after the disappearance of Kristin Smart. Their concept, which won the London-based Crime Social Innovations award, provided a service wherein females could register their personal information and give detailed descriptions as to whom they were dating and where they would be going with their date. Noble, who used to file preflight plans before every takeoff, described the site as a way for a woman to file a “predate plan.” The service cost its users $12 a month and the entrepreneurs offered to donate their entire profits for the month of December.
P.M.
Also, a former police reserve officer, Frank Dufault, and his Internet partner Randy Falcke donated the monthly proceeds from their Smart Date Web site to the Rachel Newhouse search fund. Dufault and former pilot Jerry Noble created the Smart Date Web site in 1996 after the disappearance of Kristin Smart. Their concept, which won the London-based Crime Social Innovations award, provided a service wherein females could register their personal information and give detailed descriptions as to whom they were dating and where they would be going with their date. Noble, who used to file preflight plans before every takeoff, described the site as a way for a woman to file a “predate plan.” The service cost its users $12 a month and the entrepreneurs offered to donate their entire profits for the month of December.
Despite the efforts of the police, volunteers, and concerned citizens, there still was no sign of Rachel Newhouse. The policewere further disappointed when the initial test results of the blood found on the Jennifer Street Bridge came back inconclusive.They would have to wait another three weeks before the DNA test results came back.
Rachel’s friends at Cal Poly were frustrated as well. Severalof her friends from Irvine who attended Cal Poly or Cuesta College, the local junior college, gathered at a house on Luneta Drive in Rachel’s neighborhood for Thanksgiving. Rachel used to park her car at this house every day when she stopped by to talk with her friends. She was not with them on this day of remembrance. Instead, her friends reminisced about Rachel while they ate a potluck turkey lunch. Most of the time they cried.
Other Cal Poly students who did not know Rachel personallyfelt her presence in their own homes when they returned for Thanksgiving. School officials from Cal Poly sent home a letter to every student’s parents about her disappearance. The school believed they had a right to know what was happeningat their child’s campus. Juan Gonzalez, vice president of student affairs, hoped the letter, combined with the now more than $60,000 reward, would stimulate discussion betweenthe students and their parents.
One former student who did not receive one of those letterswas Paul Flores. The prime suspect in the Kristin Smart case was once again a target in many people’s eyes. The San Luis Obispo Police Department released an official statement,however, that Flores was
not
a suspect in the Rachel Newhouse disappearance: “We wish to announce that Paul Flores, who has been the subject of much attention during the investigation into the disappearance of Kristin Smart, has been eliminated in the disappearance of Rachel Newhouse.”
not
a suspect in the Rachel Newhouse disappearance: “We wish to announce that Paul Flores, who has been the subject of much attention during the investigation into the disappearance of Kristin Smart, has been eliminated in the disappearance of Rachel Newhouse.”
No one gave an official explanation as to why the police ruled Flores out. Sheriff’s Department sergeant Sean Donahuesternly stated, as far as Flores’s involvement in the Smart case, “Nobody is ruled out. We haven’t ruled him out yet.”
On Sunday, November 29, the investigators received a disturbingcall from Ventura County. Apparently, a group of avid bird-watchers had been traipsing about in an area known as Hungry Valley, when they made a gruesome discovery.
A young woman’s dead body.
SIX
Captain Bart Topham breathed a sigh of relief when he got more information on the body found in Hungry Valley. It turned out to be an eighteen-year-old runaway from Simi Valleynamed Melinda Marie Brown. Captain Topham cranked up the Rachel Newhouse search team anew and ignored the persistent rumors that swirled around his head like a devilishSanta Ana wind spinning out of control.
Captain Topham and the FBI continued to interview as many San Luis Obispo residents as possible. They spoke with the night manager of Tortilla Flats who estimated that there were probably fifty people in the restaurant on the night of Rachel’s disappearance. He explained to the police that minors,patrons under the age of twenty-one, were allowed into the restaurant on the dance floor side, while those over twenty-one, able to drink alcohol, were allowed on the bar side of the Flats.
The police also viewed more surveillance videotape from Sandy’s Deli and Liquor, located next door to the Flats. As was par for the course, they could not see anything on the tapes. Randy Pound, manager of Spike’s Place, a bar near the Flats that Rachel frequented, told reporters that when interviewed, he claimed that Rachel did not come in on November 12.
Police continued to search the neighborhoods, creeks, and back alleys of San Luis Obispo. They also reinterviewed severalof Rachel’s friends and school acquaintances, but still with no luck.
The Newhouses’hopes began to diminish with each passingday. They desperately wanted to know the results of the blood test. Officers used sample blood from other family members to attempt to make a determination if the Jennifer Street blood was hers. Police took hair from one of Rachel’s hairbrushes. Still, they would have to wait. Rachel’s aunt Stephanie Morreale had a horrible feeling in her gut. Her instinctswere that the blood would belong to her niece and that someone had snatched her out of thin air like a nimble magicianwith evil intentions.
“Rachel was the kind of girl who called home four or five times a week,” she stated with concern. Her niece was not the type to go missing for four weeks without a single word as to her whereabouts.
On Tuesday, December 15, the investigation received some positive news. Governor Pete Wilson kicked in an additional $50,000 in reward money for information that may lead to the discovery of Rachel Newhouse.
In a press release the governor implored, “Rachel is a good student, a loving daughter and a caring friend to many. She has a bright and promising future, and I pray that she is returnedsafely to her family and friends.”
The additional contribution by the governor upped the rewardtotal to more than $110,000. Surprisingly, Chief Gardiner made the request for the additional money.
“Anything we can do to increase the incentive to come forwardwill help,” he added.
On Wednesday Chief Gardiner held a press conference with Jim Edmonds and Peter Morreale. They discussed the reward money, but their real purpose was to keep Rachel’s case in the public eye. They did not want people to become disinterested and not attempt to help locate Rachel Newhouse.Several news outlets and one special guest attended the press conference. A television crew from the hit series
America’s Most Wanted
was there. They were planning a specialthat would air that Saturday. They wanted to spread the story of Rachel Newhouse to a national audience. The crew was also anxiously awaiting the test results of the blood found on the Jennifer Street Bridge.
America’s Most Wanted
was there. They were planning a specialthat would air that Saturday. They wanted to spread the story of Rachel Newhouse to a national audience. The crew was also anxiously awaiting the test results of the blood found on the Jennifer Street Bridge.
News on the blood finally came through on Wednesday, December 16. Captain Topham, however, did not release the information to the public until Friday. The captain informed the press corps that the Department of Justice laboratory in Fresno, California, did not give a specific indication as to whom the blood belonged. They did state, however, that the blood might belong to Rachel Newhouse. The odds that it was hers were quite astronomical—8 million to 1.
It had to be Rachel’s blood.
Captain Topham acknowledged that the results probably meant that Rachel was almost home on November 12, just blocks away. He reiterated also that it did not mean she was dead. He stated that there was not enough blood at the scene to indicate that she may have bled to death on or near the bridge. He stated that more evidence was located at the scene and it belonged to Rachel. He did not mention any other informationthat may have indicated an attacker was present on the bridge with Rachel.
Nevertheless, everyone in the room knew: someone had violentlyattacked Rachel Newhouse less than half a mile away from her quaint, quiet San Luis Obispo home.
Their sanctuary was no more.
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