Chapter 18
After hanging up with Taft, I made the call to the Two Rivers PD.
She insisted that I explain we were investigating a similar discovery in Milwaukee, had reached out to other communities, and that was how we heard of their findings.
We needed all of the information they had, and we also had to take possession of the arm.
The call was short and to the point. We could discuss details once we arrived.
Before hanging up, I mentioned that we still had an hour until we got to Two Rivers and that we expected all individuals involved in the hush campaign to be present—and that we intended to take the arm with us.
I thanked the detective I spoke with and ended the call.
Renz raised his eyebrows. “Good on you. You were to the point and exuded authority.”
I laughed. “Shut up, dork. At least he didn’t say that the arm had been destroyed. If they do have it, how are we supposed to get it back to Milwaukee?”
“Lay it on the back seat. How else?”
Now I felt like Kate—my gag reflexes were ready to kick in.
With a chuckle, Renz continued. “We’ll buy a cooler and fill it with ice if the medical examiner actually has the arm in cold storage.”
“And put it in the trunk?”
“Yes, Jade, we’ll put it in the trunk. Hmm…”
“What?”
“I wonder if DNA was pulled from the arm. They could have searched for a match in the CODIS database.”
“We’ll definitely ask. Even if they buried the arm as a Jane Doe instead of preserving it as possible evidence, we can still have the medical examiner run a DNA test on it.”
“Absolutely. If that DNA is in the system, it can help tell us if the victim’s and Beth’s cases are somehow related.”
We reached the police department at 11:50. With no idea how long we might be there or possibly at the medical examiner’s office, I was thankful that Renz had lived up to his promise of a drive-through lunch. The double cheeseburger, fries, and iced tea hit the spot. I would be good for hours.
After parking our car and heading toward the entrance, Renz spoke up. “Who are we supposed to ask for?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. I spoke to a detective named Phil Renner, but I don’t know if he was on duty and I was transferred to him or if he was actively involved in keeping the discovery quiet. We’ll start with him and see how many people he wrangled up that were part of the secrecy.”
We entered the building, walked to the Plexiglas divided counter, showed our ID’s, and asked for Detective Renner. The officer raised her finger as if to say “hang on” and made a call. Seconds later, she said Detective Renner would be out momentarily.
A comfortable-looking chair along the wall was calling my name, even though I had been sitting in the car for nearly two hours. My new pair of heels and I weren’t the best of friends. I sat and waited while Renz took in the photos of the previous police department captains that lined the wall.
The wait was short. I was sure the detective was not only curious but also anxious to know what we had heard and what our intentions were.
He approached us with his hand outstretched. Introductions were made, and he asked us to join him in the conference room.
Renz and I followed Detective Renner to the end of the hallway, where a wall of glass exposed six people already seated in the room.
My thoughts were all over the place. Within the last forty-eight hours, we had gone from repaying a favor to Bill Gavin to running an investigation into whether a dismembered female arm found in Lake Michigan at Two Rivers was related to the case we weren’t supposed to be involved in.
I sucked in a deep breath as we entered the room and took the two empty seats at the end of the table.
Renner introduced Renz and me to the group of officers, detectives, and two lieutenants. We were told that everyone in the room was somehow involved in the hush-hush discovery of the arm.
“Who found the arm?” I asked.
Officer Grimes spoke up. “It was me.”
“And the reason you immediately decided not to let anyone know?” Renz asked. “You do realize that keeping the discovery quiet can and does impede other cases and discoveries similar to yours.”
“I wasn’t thinking that way, Agent DeLeon. All I could think of in that moment was to avoid causing a panic among the people around me. There were fifty or more adults and kids in the water within feet of me. My own son was only a foot away.”
“How did you get the arm out of the water without it being seen?” I asked.
He groaned, and I imagined he was reliving that moment.
“I told my son to have my wife bring me a towel.”
“Then what?” Renz asked.
“Then she did, and I wrapped the arm in it and put it in my trunk. I called Lieutenant Stiles and asked what I should do.”
The lieutenant spoke up. “I said to keep it quiet, and between the few that knew about it and our captain, we would decide how to go forward.”
“I hope you’re going to tell us that the arm is in the county medical examiner’s custody and not buried in someone’s backyard,” I said.
Stiles let out a relieved-sounding sigh. “The coroner has it. We couldn’t just throw it away without involving him. That would be a health violation.”
“Yes it would,” Renz said. “And nobody ever came clean to the community?”
“What for? The arm washed ashore from who knows where. It isn’t like it was found on a table in the community library.
Why scare the people of Two Rivers? Not to mention the effect that the news would have on tourism, the beaches, camping, fishing, and hiking around here.
We depend on that revenue in our small town. ”
I understood where they were coming from, but keeping secrets from their own community seemed wrong. I glanced at Renz, and he shrugged.
“We’ll be taking custody of that arm. If any other body parts wash ashore, we expect to be contacted immediately.
We’re working a similar case in Milwaukee, and there’s a good chance these cases are connected.
Now we’re behind the eight ball because the Milwaukee PD assumed it was an isolated incident.
” Renz looked around the table. Most everyone avoided eye contact.
“Did anyone think to ask the coroner to extract DNA for testing? I was told you went as far as searching the missing persons database.”
Stiles spoke up again. “There wasn’t anyone in the area who went missing during that time frame.”
“How would anyone know when that woman went missing? She could have been held hostage for a year before she was killed and tossed into the lake.”
Renz pushed back his chair, stood, then placed a handful of his cards on the table. “Call my number if this ever happens again.”
I rose, then Renz and I walked out together.
Back in the car, I searched online for their medical examiner’s office and found out that Manitowoc County had a coroner, not a medical examiner. The nearest medical examiner was in Fond du Lac.
“Well, shoot.”
“What?”
“Don’t go anywhere yet. Manitowoc County doesn’t have a medical examiner. They have a coroner, and that’s what Lieutenant Stiles called him. Maybe that’s why a DNA test wasn’t performed. He did say the coroner has the arm, right?”
“That’s what he said, although many people think their roles are interchangeable.”
“I’ll call the coroner’s number to make sure before we drive to his office in Manitowoc.”
Renz lowered his window, killed the engine, and waited.
I made the call and asked the receptionist for the coroner or deputy coroner. It didn’t matter to me who handed the arm over to us, if it was actually in their custody.
“Who’s calling, please?”
“This is Special Agent Jade Monroe with the Serial Crimes Unit of the FBI.” I stopped talking and waited for the woman on the other end of the phone to make her move. I wasn’t in the mood for gatekeepers.
“One moment. I’ll connect you with Mr. Hemmer.”
I took that to mean I would be speaking with the coroner directly. I looked at Renz and saw that his eyes were closed. I’d leave him alone for the time being.
“Coroner Edward Hemmer here. How can I help the FBI?”
“Hello, Mr. Hemmer. I’m assuming you’re the county coroner and not the deputy coroner.”
“That’s correct. What can I do for you, ma’am?”
“My name is Jade Monroe, and my partner and I are currently in Two Rivers with the intention of meeting up with you about the incident in the lake last month.”
“Um.”
“Sir, do you have the arm, or is it in Fond du Lac at the medical examiner’s office?”
He cleared his throat. “I have it in the morgue. The room is refrigerated, as you would know.”
“Indeed. My partner and I will be there to pick it up in a half hour or so. We have to buy a cooler and ice packs first.” I thanked him and ended the call.
There was no need to ask about a DNA test since he likely couldn’t perform one. Even if the medical examiner had performed one, the sample would still have to go out to a forensic lab for analysis. We would have our FBI forensic lab extract and analyze the DNA once we were back.
After making a quick stop at a big-box store to purchase a bath towel and a cooler large enough to hold an arm, we continued on to a gas station and bought a bag of ice.
We didn’t want to freeze the arm, just keep it refrigerated.
Keeping it wrapped in whatever the coroner had, along with the towel, should keep it refrigerated perfectly until we passed it off to Dave or the forensic lab.
I looked at Renz. “Should Dave extract the DNA first, or should the lab do that?”
“Dave doing it will be faster since our lab usually has several days’ worth of work backed up. A lab tech can run the DNA results through CODIS after Dave finishes with it.”
“Okay.” I glanced at my phone’s map. “We’ll be at the coroner’s office in five minutes.”
We didn’t have time to hang around or ask unnecessary questions. The only reason the coroner was involved was that he’d kept the arm refrigerated and because of the state health department requirements. Our only objective was to respectfully take possession of the arm then leave.
Once we were inside the building, it appeared that the receptionist had already been informed of our impending arrival. She made a quick call before we reached the counter then asked if we were the FBI agents.
“We are. I’m Agent DeLeon, and she’s Agent Monroe.” Renz showed her his badge then asked to see the coroner.
“If you can give him just a moment, then I’ll take you back. He’s finishing up some death certificates.”
With a nod, Renz thanked her, then we sat down on the chairs just beyond the entrance and waited.
As we took our seats, I checked the time on my watch. I wasn’t good at waiting, and my attitude usually reflected the amount of time I felt was wasted. Luckily, the woman stood after five minutes and asked us to follow her. My mood was still tolerable.
After a knock on the coroner’s office door, a deep voice called out for us to come in, then the receptionist entered and introduced us to Mr. Edward Hemmer. She immediately left and closed the door behind her.
“Please, have a seat.” Mr. Hemmer pointed at two chairs against the wall. “I don’t often have company, so the chairs aren’t the fancy upholstered type.” He chuckled, and we felt the need to join in.
Renz and I sat, but I didn’t intend to linger. “Mr. Hemmer, we’re here to take that arm off your hands, excuse the pun. We have a case back in Milwaukee that is similar, and we want to compare timelines, DNA, and the like to see if we can come up with any connections.”
“Okay, and did you get a cooler?”
“We did. We also bought a towel to wrap the arm in and enough ice to keep it cool during our drive back to Milwaukee. Is there any paperwork we need to take along?”
“I guess not since we don’t know who the arm belongs to and I’m not a medical examiner. I kept the arm on ice, excuse my pun, for the Two Rivers PD, and that was the extent of it.”
I smiled. He seemed like a perfectly innocent guy. “I’ll get the cooler, the towel, and the ice. I’ll be right back.”
A few minutes later, I entered the morgue with the cooler, ice, and towel to see the arm lying on a stainless steel table. According to Renz, Mr. Hemmer had walked into another room to look for a plastic bag to put the arm in before we wrapped the towel around it.
Renz whispered that Mr. Hemmer had said something about keeping the arm clean. The towel would transfer fuzz onto it. He had a point, and I appreciated his concern.
We took a few minutes for a close look at the arm.
It was in much worse condition than Beth’s leg.
I assumed it had been in the water for a longer period of time then in cold storage for nearly a month.
I wondered how long it would have stayed that way.
Would they have eventually buried or cremated it as a Jane Doe?
We didn’t know, but either way, I was glad that it was still intact—or as intact as a severed arm could be.
Our observation revealed that it had been separated at the shoulder joint instead of simply being cut off. That image reminded me of how Dave said Beth’s leg looked—separated at a joint, hers being the hip joint. My gut was telling me the two crimes were related.
“Do we need to take a look at Beth’s leg?”
Renz nodded. “I think so, and when Dave gets this arm, he might be able to tell us more.”
“Like Jane Doe’s killer being one and the same as Beth’s killer?”
“Yep, and there’s a good chance that may be true.”
Minutes later, Mr. Hemmer was back with a large plastic bag in hand. “Sorry it took so long, but I didn’t want the towel to contaminate the arm. It’s very fragile, and I’m sure your medical examiner will appreciate that.”
“And we appreciate your thoroughness.”
After the arm was properly wrapped and put on ice, we thanked the coroner and left.
I couldn’t wait to get to Milwaukee and pass off the arm to Dave Mann.
After he examined it and extracted a DNA sample, we would have our FBI forensic lab analyze the results to see if the sample matched anyone in the CODIS database.