 G.M. "DOC" Lousignont, Ph.D. ORDERS ONLY PLEASE ! 1-800-477-3211 EXT. 14 questions, tech support 1-702-732-8000 ext. 11 |
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G.M. "DOC" Lousignont, Ph.D. ORDERS ONLY PLEASE ! 1-800-477-3211 EXT. 14 questions, tech support 1-702-732-8000 ext. 11 |
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The
Day a Psychic and I Solved a
2 1/2 Year Old Murder
A TRUE
STORY
© 2003 G.M. Lousignont, Ph.D.
It was September of 1979 and I had just concluded a successful murder investigation. A kid had strangled his grandmother after she refused to lend him money.
This case had been brought to me from Tazewell County Sheriff's department. They had called a psychic in on the case named Marlene Wessels. Marlene was an English woman, I found out later.
I had never met her and had no communication with her when the police brought the grandson to me for a polygraph examination. Oh, yeah, you probably didn't know that ol' Doc used to be a police officer and I've been a licensed polygraph examiner for 25 years.
I asked the police what evidence they had on this guy. "A psychic that has been working with us said the grandson did it!"
Well that's some real hard core, automatic conviction evidence for ya'! The hallucinations of a psychic! "Hey we were desperate! We had no leads." the chief police investigator said in his defense.
OK, I'll polygraph this guy and clear him and kick him loose. Poor bastard, getting put in the jackpot by some whacko, chicken killin', crystal ball gazin' Miss Cleo type.
But, something strange happened! He blew his polygraph test big time! Now we always get into the issue of "How accurate are those things anyway?" Well let me tell you right now, the accuracy is in direct proportion to the clearness of the issue being tested.
Give me a murder case where the suspect says "No way did I kill that person!" I can tell you with 100% certainty whether they are guilty or innocent. Pathological liar or not, I'll nail their hide to the wall!
However, give me a guy who says, "Well yeah, I killed him, but I did it in self defense!" Much tougher! WHY? Because while the person may have acted in self defense there are still a lot of emotions that person has to deal with because he took another person's life.
Well this test was a no-brainer! This kid killed his grandmother! After the test I confronted the grandson with the results, and after his initial denial he ended up giving a full written confession.
Weeks go by and who do I get a call from; Marlene the psychic. After initial introductions she tells me how happy she is that I was able to get the grandson to confess.
She then starts babbling on about the fact that there is going to be the body of a dead girl found North from our location. She says she sees two hunters out in the forest finding the girls naked body under a piece of wood, and she is wearing a ring with a blue stone in it, and it has the initials GMR inside the ring. "Yeah yeah yeah, OK Miss WHACKO, I mean MISS CLEO! Stop it, you're freakin' be out!"
I asked her what I was supposed to do with this information, and she says, "I don't know, I just felt I needed to tell you!" I tried to gently disengage from the conversation, but she said, "By the way, you are going to be involved in another murder, over Thanksgiving, just like the murder you just got the confession on. And you're going to get a confession on that one and solve it too."
Yeah sure OK, wee oo wee oo, wee oo, wee oo, I can hear Rod Serlings Twilight Zone theme playing in my head.
"Nice talking to you I have to go now because well, you know, I just have to, because well, YOU're just too friggin' weird!"
OK, so in a few weeks I forget about the devil worshiper, or what ever she was.
Time passes and one morning I wake up to read on the front page of the newspaper that the nude body of an unidentified female was found by two hunters in a wooded area. This happened in Putnam County. North of Peoria County. COINCIDENCE! Please oh please GOD, tell me this is just a coincidence!
However, the cop in me can't just ignore this, so I call the Sheriff of Putnam County. His name was Don Cione. He had just been elected. I said, "Sheriff my name is Greg Lousignont, I used to be a cop in the detective bureau of the Peoria Police Department, and I now own my own business. I'm going to tell you a story that is going to make you think I'm a crank, but I can assure you that I'm not, and you can have the names of the seven police departments that I am under contract with to do give their polygraph tests.
I proceed to tell him about my involvement with the Wessels woman, and tell him that she had told me about a female that would be found by two hunters in a wooded area. OK, big deal all I am doing is telling him the stuff that was in the newspaper.
I said, "Sheriff, was she found under anything?"
"I'm not at liberty to talk about that aspect of the crime."
"OK. I was just wondering because the Wessels woman said she would be found under a piece of wood."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"
I repeat myself.
All of a sudden the Sheriff, gets very interested in me! "What is your name again?" I hear clicking on the phone. He's taping me now! He asks, "How do you spell your name? What's your phone number? Where do you live? IQ, weight, sperm count?"
The sheriff thinks he has his killer. ME!
I said, "Look sheriff, I can tell I've hit a nerve here with this being found under a piece of wood thing, so I might as well give you the whole banana!"
"The Wessels woman said this woman would be wearing a ring with a blue stone."
"Holy shit!"
"What did you say Sheriff?"
"You tell me how you know this stuff because we haven't released this information to anyone!"
"I don't know it, I'm just telling you what the this psychic told me! Oh, yeah, she also said there would be some initials inside the ring, and she told me what they were but I don't remember!"
"OK son, don't take this wrong, but I have to verify you are who you say you are. Do you suppose you could get a hold of this psychic?"
"No problem! Call Sheriff Donahue of Tazewell County."
"Jim Donahue, yeah I know Jim, he knows you?"
"Yeah he knows me and he has used Wessels."
"OK, I'm going to call Donahue, and you see if you can locate this Wessels woman and I'll call you back!"
"No problem!"I get a hold of Marlene and tell her that the Sheriff wants to talk to her, and will she be around. She says, she'll be there, and I told her I would call her back when the Sheriff called me back and I would conference a three way call.
Sheriff calls back, "Well I've confirmed you are who you say you are, but I have to admit, you had my ass spinning in my chair when you started telling me some things that we had intentionally kept secret. Like the fact that the Jane Doe was found under an old sheet of plywood. And that she was wearing a ring with a blue stone. I'm telling you right now if this psychic of yours gives me the correct initials that are inside that ring, well, I won't know what to think."
I told the Sheriff that we would soon find out. I told him I knew there were three letters, but I didn't remember what they were. I called Marlene and got us conferenced up. Marlene starts babbling on and telling the Sheriff the same thing I had told him, however, now she is adding more details, about what the hunters were wearing, what she is seeing in her minds eye etc.
The Sheriff finally says, "Yeah I know all that but Lousignont said you saw some initials inside the ring. Do you remember what the initials were?"
Marlene says, yes there are three initials; GMR.
"Jesus H. Christ, when can you get up here?"
"Sheriff! Was that the three initials or not?"
"Hell yes it was the three initials, you should see me, my hands are shaking so bad I can hardly hold the phone."
OK, so I arrange to drive Marlene to Putnam county the next day. Marlene doesn't drive. Now I don't even know what this woman looks like! I've talked to her on the phone twice. I got directions to her house and picked her up the next day and off we went on the 80 mile drive.
After our initial introduction I told her, "Listen let's get something straight, I don't know if you have a gift or not, right now all I know is that you are pretty freaky! But regardless I don't want you to ever ever tell me anything about myself or my family. Understand?"
Marlene agreed. The drive up was very nice, Marlene was actually a very nice woman with a great sense of humor. She could laugh at things like when I told her she was freaky. She said something like, "Well how do you think I feel being trapped in this body with a brain that has a mind of its own?"
She explained that she had no control over what she saw. It would just come in a burst of thoughts and images. Sometimes it would wake her in the middle of the night. She said she sometimes felt it was a curse.
I was still skeptical and said, "Well I don't know if this Sheriff will be willing to pay you for your work, I mean I don't know what Sheriff Donahue paid your for that other murder where I got the confession."
"Oh, I don't charge anything! That wouldn't be right. God gave me a gift and I believe He wants me to use it when I can to help people."
That added some credibility for me. At least she wasn't trying to make a buck off of these premonitions.
We arrived at the Sheriff's Department that was on the first floor of the court house.
The Sheriff said he had set up a meeting with the lead investigators, the state crime lab, the D.A. etc. They were all waiting on the second floor in a big conference room.
The Sheriff took us up the elevator into a large room where about 15 individuals were sitting at a large table waiting for our arrival.
The Sheriff introduced Marlene and I, and started introducing the people around the table. When he introduced about the tenth person, a gray haired gentleman, Marlene says, "You have heart problems! I can see your heart in your chest!"
Oh crap! This broad is a loony toon!
The gray haired police detective says, "Nope sorry, never had any problems with my heart!"
"Yes you have problems you just don't know it, please go see a doctor today! Your heart is clogged and if you don't go to the doctor today, you will have a heart attack before the end of the week. I'm serious! Please promise me you'll go see a doctor!"
"Hey lady, you help us solve this murder and I'll go anywhere you want me to!" he said with a laugh trying to shrug off her diagnosis.
SIDEBAR: We later learn he went to the doctor later that day. Doctor did an EKG on him, sent him straight to the hospital where they did a triple by pass on him the next day!
So now they start firing questions at Marlene about their Jane Doe. Who is she, where is she from, who did it, when did they do it. Where did she live.
Marlene's eyes start to glaze over and she is talking around the questions. It's obvious she doesn't know the answers to anything! This is a nightmare!
(I later found out that Marlene can't answer specific questions, she just tells you what comes to her and she has no control over what she sees. She can't make herself come up with answers!)
She seemed very distracted. She finally said to the Sheriff this girl isn't important right now. "You have another unsolved murder in this county. It's so strong! It was an elderly woman! I can't tell you anything about this younger girl because the killer of this elderly woman is right under my nose and my feelings about this are so strong I can't get any images of anything else."
The Sheriff, Don Cione, looks like he has seen a ghost and he looks like he is about ready to throw up! I'm thinking to myself, this poor guy is the new sheriff and he calls all of these other people together for this psychic, and she starts ranting about killers under her nose and non-sense.
I said, "Sheriff, can I see you out in the hall a minute!"
"Sure."
"Hey Sheriff I'm so sorry about this, I have never met this woman before today, I don't know what the hell is going on in there. Killers right under her nose, other unsolved murders, I don't know what the hell she is talking about!"
"I THINK I DO!" says the Sheriff.
"YOU DO??!!!"
The sheriff begins his story. "When I was swore in about 3 weeks ago I went through the files. We only have 1 unsolved murder in this county, it was 2 1/2 years ago. The woman's name was Kathy J. (I won't use real names).
Back then the prime suspect was this lady's grandson, Lenny B. The victim was found naked in her bathtub, an apparent drowning victim. But her 58 year old son, Jack J., who discovered his mother's dead body, insisted that something was wrong. He said that his Mom never took a bath, because she was afraid of slipping in the tub. He said she always put a small seat in the tub, and ran the water and bathed herself without filling the tub up. Something was just wrong. So they order an autopsy and sure enough, she had been strangled! Well the reason Lenny was a suspect is because the time of death was estimated to be around 9 pm the previous evening and Lenny was caught speeding at 9:20 pm 5 miles from her home that evening.
"Sorry I don't get it!"
"Well Lenny doesn't live up here! He lives in Peoria. He gave the investigators an alibi that he was at a friend's house, but the friend said he hadn't seen Lenny for at least two weeks. When the investigators brought Lenny back in for questioning he lawyered up, and that was the end of that, it never went any further. Besides at the time Lenny was already under indictment for rape."
"Yeah OK Sheriff, but this Wessels woman could have known about all of this crap from reading old newspapers or doing some research before she came up here!"
"Yes I agree! Except for one thing she said. "The killer is right under my nose."
"I'm still lost Sheriff!"
"Well, let me help make this clearer for you. Back when the autopsy was performed and it was found that she was murdered, they examined her more thoroughly. They found skin under her fingernails, the blood type didn't match hers, but it did match Lenny's. Well that still wasn't enough to nail him down, especially being that we couldn't interrogate him. However, I have been reading about this new technique the FBI is using that can tell with 99.9 % certainty who blood actually belongs to. So if you have a piece of bloody evidence, and you can get a sample of the blood of the person, the FBI can see if it is an identical match. They call it DNA testing or something like that! Well I called the FBI and told them of this old murder case and that we had a fingernail scraping and I wondered if I could get a blood sample from the suspect could they see if it matched. They told me they could! So, I got a court order to make Lenny give us a blood sample."
"OK Sheriff but what does that have to do with him being right under her nose?"
"Well remember I told you Lenny was under indictment for rape at the time of the murder? Well he got convicted and has been serving time in Joliet State Prison. I had to get a court order to bring him back here from state prison to draw his blood. He's in our holding cell in the Sheriff's office."
"Yeah, so?"
"The holding cell is on the first floor of the courthouse, it is directly under where Miss Wessels is sitting, Lenny is right under her nose!"
"You're crapping me??"
"No I'm not crapping you, but what the hell do we do now?"
I said, "Hey let's go with whatever Marlene wants to do. Let's let her take the lead and see where it takes us." He agreed!
We went back into the room and I said to Marlene. "Marlene you are right, there is an unsolved murder of an elderly lady, what do you want to do?"
I wasn't going to say anything about Lenny being in a holding cell downstairs, or any other details.
Marlene says, "I want to go there, I have to go there!"
"Go where?"
"To her house, where she was murdered."
I looked at the sheriff, "Is that possible?"
"Well I can call Jack, her son, he owns the place but I think he has rented it out."
"Well let's see if we can do a walk through!"
It's arranged for us to meet Jack, at his mother's home. The renters have agreed to let us walk through the home that they are renting.
We arrive with the Sheriff and all other 15 people at the house and meet Jack J. The renters decide to go out for coffee and let us have the run of the place.
We enter the door into the kitchen. Marlene says there was different wallpaper on these walls when she was killed, it had flowers. The sheriff looks at Jack J. and he nods his head yes!
As Marlene approaches the bathroom, she says she is feeling ill. "This is where she was found. There were 17 prescription bottles in the medicine cabinet."
Now Jack J. is looking white as a ghost, and he says, "That's exactly right. I still have all 17 bottles in a bag in my safety deposit box."
As we enter the living room Marlene stops, and all of a sudden looks at this one wall. She says "There, there! There was a small table there, it's important, it's really important! Pictures, picture album, there was a picture album on that table. Where's the table, no, that's not important where's the album? The album is the key, it's important. Wait I see it, hold on, one, two, three, four ...... twelve, thirteen. On the thirteenth page of that photo album is a young man standing with his arm around your mother, Jack. The man with his arm around your mom is the person that killed her right in this room."
"Is there a photo album Jack?" the sheriff screams.
"Yeah, yeah! Just like she said. Mom used to keep it right on a table that was against that wall!"
"Well where the hell is it?"
"It's in our attic in a box. Fred take Jack to his house and get that box. Don't open the damn box bring it right back here. I don't want anyone to have access to that album sticking a picture on page 13! Got it?"
"I got it Sheriff!"
Twenty minutes later the other officer, Fred, and the son Jack, and the box were back. We stood in the large country kitchen holding our breath as the Sheriff cut open the taped box. He removed the photo album from the box and started to flip through the pages, "One, two, three, ...."
Suddenly it came to my attention that everyone in the whole damn kitchen was counting out loud. "Twelve, thirteen - Sweet mother of God!" Sheriff Cione exclaimed. He laid the album down on the kitchen table, and covered his eyes with his hand as he turned away.
There on page 13 of that photo album was a picture of the victim, Kathy J. and standing beside her with his arm around her shoulder was no other than her grandson, Lenny B.
Jack was Lenny B's uncle. Lenny was the son of Jack's sister.
Jack looked at the picture and burst into tears, "I knew it was that little ass hole, I just knew it!"
I told the Sheriff, "I think you should tell Marlene about who Lenny is, and why she felt the killer was right under her nose. She has done some pretty amazing work, I don't know what it all means but she deserves to know that at least she is on the same page, so to speak, as you!"
So the sheriff clued Marlene in on what all of this meant. Marlene looked at the Sheriff and said, "He has to do it." Pointing at me!
"I have to do what?"
"You have to interrogate him, only you! You're the only one that can get him to confess. He won't tell anyone but you!"
The sheriff spoke up, "He's not stupid enough to talk to anyone! He lawyered up when they tried to question him 2 1/2 years ago. As soon as he is read Miranda and you mention his grandmother he'll start yelling for an attorney."
"Not if he talks to him!" Marlene said, "Understand this Sheriff, no one else, but Greg can talk to him. If anyone else says anything to him, he won't confess. He'll only confess to him."
"Holy crap, what is this woman getting me into?"
What makes her think the guy will confess to me. Remember we have nothing to go on here. The blood hasn't even been drawn for the DNA test as of yet. If I had a positive DNA test then I'd have some leverage against this guy. At this point I have nothing!
The sheriff says, "OK! OK! But not until after tomorrow that's when we get his blood drawn. I at least want to have his blood before he starts screaming for a damn attorney! How about the day after that, can you come up and interrogate him then?"
"Yeah, sure, however I can help, if you think it will help."
"Hey we got nothing to lose!" the sheriff says.
So the day after the next I drove back up to Putnam county and set up in a small room in the courthouse. I set up a video camera and started the tape.
A deputy sheriff brought Lenny in and I introduced myself. I advised Lenny that the interview was being taped and asked him if that was OK with him and did I have his permission to tape the interview. He agreed.
I then advised him of his rights, very legal! I said Lenny, I really don't have many questions for you, I would just like you to listen to what I have to say regarding your Grandmother's death and see if anything I say makes any sense.
I then started my interrogation. Two hours and 15 minutes later I had a full video taped confession. A confession that included the details of how Lenny was arguing with his grandmother, and she was yelling and they fell to the living room floor and because she was screaming, he tried to "make her be quiet" and she died! The specifics of how exactly how, are not important. Suffice to say that during an assault a death occurred, which is murder under Illinois State law.
He then undressed her dead body and filled the bathtub with water and put his grandmother in the water hoping to make it look like an accidental drowning.
I brought the Sheriff and the D.A. into the room and had Larry repeat his story.
Larry was returned to his cell. The D.A. and the Sheriff reviewed the entire 2 hours and 15 minute video to make sure everything had been done by the book. They wanted to make sure I had not threatened Lenny, or promised him anything. Which of course I had not.
There were congratulations all around. Marlene was at home, I promised I would call when it was all over.
The sheriff called Jack and told him it was all over, his mother's killer had at long last been caught and he had confessed to everything. The details of his mother's death were very hard for Jack to hear, but he insisted on knowing the truth.
I didn't arrive back home until 10 pm that evening. I was an emotional train wreck, I had a screaming migraine headache, I still had to call Marlene, but first I had to get something to eat. I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast.
Marlene was a night owl so I was sure she could wait a little while longer while I ate a sandwich.
As I sat at the table on that Friday evening and sank my teeth into that sandwich, I thought to myself how great that first turkey sandwich after Thanksgiving Day always tasted! I mean it was great the day before with gravy and stuffing, but it sure tasted good now with lettuce and mayo.
The memory flooded over me and consumed me like a wave devouring a fallen surfer. It was Marlene's prediction from over two months earlier:
"By the way, you are going to be involved in another murder, over Thanksgiving, just like the murder you just got the confession on. And you're going to get a confession on that one and solve it too."
My dear GOD! It was the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I had just got another confession from another kid who had strangled his grandmother to death.
I called Marlene and told her the news. She had been right! She had been right about so many things, in so many different ways.
All that she had to say was, "I am so happy that some questions have been answered for that nice Jack and his family. It's such a tragedy. You had better get to bed, I know you're tired, I can tell! You have a migraine too, don't you! You never told me you get migraines!"
"Marlene, you just solved a murder, and then you go and blow your credibility! I don't have a migraine! I guess you aren't always right! I'll talk to you tomorrow when I get some sleep, good night!"
Me, my migraine, and three aspirins headed for my bed.
As for the young Jane Doe found by the hunters. To this day her identity is still unknown.
As for Lenny, he plead guilty to a negotiated plea that would keep him off of death row. His new sentence to be served after he finished the rape sentence he was currently doing time for. The net result is he will never see life as a free man again.
Since that time I have received my Ph.D. in Criminal Psychology, and have been actively involved in profiling serial killers and rapists. In looking back on this case now, I am absolutely positive that this was not the first murder Lenny had committed, it was just the first one he got caught for.
I had one other amazing experience with Marlene involving a serial arsonist. But that story is for another time.
-DOC
