If You Only Knew (7 page)

CHAPTER 13

WHEN BILLIE JEAN WENT
to Scott, her future son-in-law, for the money to buy the new cars, he explained as her financial advisor that she might want to wait. Maybe think about it some more. She was grieving. People did strange things in order to deal with the death of a loved one. Spending upward of seventy-one thousand dollars on two cars was not a sound investment. Sure, Don had a little over 1.75 million dollars in assets, but one could burn through that mighty quick if one wasn't careful.

“Why not lease the vehicles?” Scott suggested.

“No,” she said.

“Well, you don't want to pay cash for them.”

Scott could not convince her.

Not long after she bought both cars, she went to Scott and asked him for a check written out to Vonlee for twenty-five thousand dollars.

“Doesn't matter what it's for,” the widow said when questioned.

Scott did as he was told.

CHAPTER 14

IN THOSE DAYS AFTER
Don's wake, Scott continued in his role acting as the Rogers family financial guru. However, Scott later said he never considered himself the family's “financial advisor.” Scott had convinced Billie Jean and Don's siblings that he needed to have, at the least, limited power of attorney. With everyone's blessing, Scott contacted Merrill Lynch and got the paperwork done so he could continue in his role as the family financial wizard and move Don's money around without issue.

“You should go home to Tennessee,” Scott and Don's siblings suggested to the widow. “Spend some time with family. Allow us to take care of everything.”

It was one of the reasons, Scott later explained, he was in favor of having limited power of attorney. She agreed and wanted to go back home to see her family for a few days, and there needed to be someone back in Troy who could sign off on financial issues and pay the bills.

So Billie Jean signed the paperwork, turning over power of attorney.

“You think I could get a look at the family records?” Scott asked.

Billie Jean wondered why.

“Well, Don has most of his money with Merrill Lynch, but I need to read through the life insurance policies and find out what else is going on.”

Another important factor in handing over power of attorney to Scott, especially at Merrill Lynch, was that Billie Jean would need living expenses. She needed instant access to that money of Don's in order to go about her day-to-day life. She didn't want to have to call and wire money into her personal accounts. If her future son-in-law had the power, she could call him and have him get her cash or whatever she needed, whenever she needed it.

Before she left, she signed about a dozen checks in case anyone needed to gain access to the money in the bank and pay bills or purchase items the household needed.

As Scott dug into Don's financial records, it became clear right away that Don was a tedious and thorough man in terms of keeping records. He saved receipts for everything. For Scott, this made it easy for him to “track everything,” as he later put it. Within Don's records, for example, Scott found life insurance policies dating back to the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

“One of my objectives,” Scott later explained, “was to get Billie through this process with as little outside pressure as possible.”

Peace of mind was Scott's goal as far as Billie Jean was concerned, according to what he later said in court. He needed to work with Don's ex-business partner and Don's accountant.

Just about everything, with the exception of the business, was in both spouses' names as marital partners. Billie Jean could say what she wanted about Don and his drinking and how they fought and there was no love between them, but in the end, Don had included her as his life's equal partner. Even regarding the business, as a probate lawyer advised, she would be required to make a decision about whether she wanted to continue in Don's role as a board member or sell out. But as Scott had explained over the phone to her, “You don't have to do that now.” He wanted her to take some time. By the end of the year, November or December, they could revisit this part of Don's financial life and she could decide what she wanted to do then.

While she was in Tennessee visiting her mother, she contacted Scott and told him she was in the process of helping her mother purchase a home. She wanted Scott to transfer some funds from Merrill Lynch into her account so she could have access to it right away. Billie Jean wanted the money as soon as possible.

Scott asked her how much.

“One hundred thousand,” she requested.

A wire transfer was made.

There was some discussion between them about her financial future. Scott wanted to make it clear to Billie Jean that she needed to make responsible decisions that solidified her future. She needed to invest. The worst thing anyone on a spending spree could do was to think only about today. Buying cars and giving money away to family was fun and exciting and generous, but she needed to think about her own future.

She asked what she could invest in. She knew nothing about investments. What was Scott suggesting?

Scott talked about his company. At the time, he later claimed, it was experiencing a major growth spurt. He needed capital to finance the company's progress, and the banks wouldn't invest because the company was so young.

Billie Jean indicated that she wanted to think about it.

Scott went to his future wife and explained that he could use two hundred forty thousand dollars to take his company to the next level.

A check was written in that amount and signed by Billie Jean's daughter, according to Scott's later testimony in court.

Then Scott suggested that his future mother-in-law take all of Don's money in Merrill Lynch and put it into another company.

What company was that? she wondered.

A financial investment firm Scott's good friend owned.

Billie Jean, who had agreed to the nearly quarter-million-dollar loan for Scott, said, “What the hell, go ahead.

“Do it.”

CHAPTER 15

LOOKING INTO DON ROGERS'S
death, TPD detectives Don Tullock and Don Zimmerman sat down and listened to the 911 call Billie Jean had made on the night she and Vonlee reportedly came home to find Don Rogers dead on the kitchen floor. This call—and Billie Jean's demeanor, which had become somewhat of a discussion piece among investigators of late—was rather telling. It said a lot about her personality, despite family members claiming she was the type of person not to show much emotion.

In a matter-of-fact tone, she called and said: “Yes, this is Billie Rogers in Troy, and I was . . . I came in the house and I think my husband is dead on the floor.”

No panic. No tears. No hurried delivery. Just plainly simplified and expressionless:
“I think my husband is dead on the floor.”

“Do you know what happened?” the operator asked.

“I have no idea. We were at the casino and he's supposed to go with us. And then he decided he wanted to drink.”

Don had never wanted to go with them to the casino, Vonlee later said. At best, that statement was an exaggeration; at worst, a lie.

“Is he breathing?”

“I can't . . . I can't feel any breath.”

As they are trained to do, the operator began asking questions intended to reveal simple facts. Things nobody would have a problem answering off the top of his or her head, even under stress.

“Okay. You just got home and he was home alone or . . . ?”

“Yeah, he was here by himself. I was with my niece. She's visiting us from out of town.”

“Okay. I want you to stay on the line. I'm going to have you talk—”

Billie Jean interrupted, as though she had trouble hearing: “Pardon me?”

“Stay on the phone. I want you to talk to the paramedics, okay?”

Billie Jean said that would be fine.

They discussed the address. Then the 911 operator transferred the call.

“Community Atlanta, this is Carol.... Are you at 2090 Grenadier?”

Billie Jean said yes.

“And what's wrong?”

The caller now sounded frustrated for having to answer the same question twice. “Well, my niece and I just walked in the door and my husband's laying on the floor in the kitchen and it looks like he's dead.”

“Okay. Can you see if he has a pulse for me?”

Apparently, she walked over, bent down and touched Don.

“No, he's kind of cold.... Yeah. I can't feel his pulse.”

“Do either one of you want to do CPR?”

“No. I don't think he has any pulse.”

“Okay, but do you
want
to do CPR?”

Vonlee took the phone from her aunt. “No,” she said. Then Vonlee said something about leaving the house, but the operator interrupted.

“I know you want to run away,” the operator said, “but we need to do some CPR.”

“Can you please just send somebody out here?” Vonlee pleaded.

“Sure, honey, we can do that.”

Vonlee came across as panicked and anxious, like someone who had come home and found a man she knew lying on the kitchen floor, cold to the touch, with clear signs of death settled over him. She was scared.

“Please, just send somebody here.
Please.
”

“Okay, they're on their way.”

Vonlee and Carol discussed the address and where the house was located on the street so there would not be any confusion once the EMTs and police arrived.

The operator wanted to keep Vonlee on the phone until someone got there, so she asked, “How long were you gone?”

“We left like, uh, like . . . I don't know—like ten o'clock.”

It was close to four in the morning. This was a surprising answer to the operator.

“And you're just coming home
now
?”

“I was at the casino.”

“So he's been alone all that time?”

“Yes. I know he's dead. He is dead. He's dead.” Vonlee was losing it. Her aunt stood by her side, calm as a river stone.

“Send somebody out here,
please
?” Vonlee reiterated one more time before indicating that she wanted to get off the phone.

“The ambulance is on the way.”

“Thank you,” Vonlee said, and hung up.

* * *

Was the fact that a woman who'd called 911 and didn't sound distressed, or that her husband's will left everything to her—and he might have died by unnatural causes—enough to suspect murder and then launch an investigation?

Perhaps.

It was certainly enough to look further into things, both detectives considered, a task that they were now firmly engaged in.

CHAPTER 16

ON AUGUST 24, 2000,
after sitting down and thinking about all the events that had taken place since her father's death, Don's daughter, Rose (pseudonym), called the TPD and spoke with Detective Tullock.

“I don't think my father died of natural causes,” Rose explained. “And it wasn't an accident.”

Tullock asked her to tell him why she thought this way.

Rose said most of what she felt was instinctual, but certain things weren't adding up for her.

“Like what?”

She talked about how Billie Jean and Don had been married once and then divorced, then married again a few years after that. Billie Jean sought to have the will amended after the second marriage (eleven years prior to Don's death), allowing her access to Don's entire estate, which she had valued at nearly two millions dollars.

“Billie has always been emotionally distant from my dad,” Rose added. “His body was cremated, I feel, to cover up evidence.”

What was true about this statement was that Don's body had been cremated after his wake. There was no body to exhume, if that's what the TPD had in mind.

All of this was speculation, although the cop was listening closely because he, too, had his own suspicions.

Then this from Rose: “The time Billie told us she came home is different from what she told others.”

Tullock asked what Rose meant by that.

“She told us she came home with [Vonlee] at eleven—we know she told you and others it was more like four
A.M.
”

That was quite true, Tullock considered.

The detective asked Rose to write out all of her thoughts and drop them off at the TPD. He'd take a look at it all. Get back to her.

“I've done that already,” Rose said.

Rose provided the TPD with a four-page, single-spaced account of what she believed to be “skeptical” information surrounding the death of her father. The document was clear in its contempt for certain parties, but the information was extremely revealing.

Near the top of the document, Rose wrote,
Dad HATED Billie's kids.
From there, Rose painted a picture of these kids (from another marriage) always being a thorn in Don's side when money came into play. Rose recalled conversations with her father about the kids borrowing Don's money and his credit to sign leases on buildings for businesses that failed, leaving Don with the bill. She accused Billie Jean's kids of stealing money and jewelry; of charging up a “huge cable bill” while staying at the house; how Billie Jean's son, the one who got into the car accident, would need round-the-clock care and Billie Jean needed to pay for it; finally the kids were “the cause” of the divorce of Billie Jean and Don.

As far as the autopsy, Rose insisted, the fact that there “was no autopsy done” seemed suspicious in and of itself. Also, when Rose tried to ask for a copy of the will from Billie Jean's daughter, she was met with great scorn, and the daughter shouting, “You have been so demanding! You wanted a certificate of the death. It's not like we're going to change it or anything!”

Rose also said her stepmother lied about meeting with the attorney to get a copy of the will and told Rose “she couldn't remember when she met with the attorney.” She had “no idea” if the will Don left, dated May 7, 1993, was his last will, or if his widow was actually hiding any amendments he had made. Just getting simple information from Billie Jean and her children about the will was frustrating and difficult. No one wanted to help them, not even the secretary from Billie Jean's attorney's office.

Rose talked about how Don would complain about his wife never being at home when Rose called to speak with her father. Rose would ask where she was and Don would say, “Back home, visiting her sick mother. . . .”

We knew what that meant,
Rose wrote.
Billie has had numerous affairs.

Rose went over to her father's office after the wake to look through his files to see if she could find anything of value. Don's partner allowed her in and Toni, the receptionist Rogers had loved like a daughter, even helped. When Rose found a file marked “estate,” she was shocked to open it and find that it was “completely empty.”

Tullock thanked Rose and told her they would look into all of the allegations. Then Tullock got together with Zimmerman and discussed what they should do next. It certainly seemed as though the case needed to be looked at more closely. A cop has to follow his gut. So Zimmerman and Tullock decided to head over and have a chat with aunt and niece. See where they were at, maybe they could offer more information.

“You mind if we come in and talk?” Tullock asked after Billie Jean answered the door.

“Yes, come in,” she said. She seemed cordial and apparently wanted to help any way she could.

Both men entered the Rogers home.

As Zimmerman and Tullock started talking to the recent widow, they asked about her marriage to Don.

“We were married in 1985,” she explained. “It ended in divorce.” She said a few years after the divorce, about eleven years ago, they remarried.

The detectives asked about a will. Did Don have a will?

“Yes,” she answered. She looked at the men quizzically:
What are they implying? What is going on here? Should I call a lawyer?

There was nothing suspicious about the will Don had left behind. Don made his wife the sole beneficiary of the entire estate—eleven years prior.

The visit was mainly to let the widow know that the cops were becoming curious and she might have to answer some questions down the road. The TPD had been looking into this death and they kept coming to one conclusion: Don Rogers was murdered. The more they looked at the evidence they had currently, Billie Jean Rogers looked guiltier than ever of having done something to her husband.

Needless to say, as Zimmerman and Tullock left the house that day and Mrs. Rogers closed the door behind them, both parties believed the same thing: it was not the last time they would sit and chat about the death of Don Rogers.