Chapter 15
Eight women. Four men. An English teacher. A preacher. An ironworker. A plumber. A stay-at-home dad. A stay-at-home mom. Two bank tellers. A retired therapist. A college student. A dog groomer. An accountant.
Educated people. Earnest people. They sat poised to listen as I took my spot at the lectern.
Jamie Simmons leaned close to Bennett Cutler and whispered something to him.
He wore a well-tailored blue suit with a brown monochromatic tie and matching brown leather shoes.
Handsome. Not smiling, but not frowning, either.
Just one member of Ellie’s family was in the courtroom.
George Luke sat against the back wall, glowering at me.
As I adjusted the microphone, I felt the weight of Ellie Luke’s presence. The family she knew couldn’t bring themselves to stand for her today. So I did.
“Good morning,” I started. “Thank you for your patience and your honesty during voir dire. This won’t be an easy trial to listen to.
It won’t be easy not to talk about. But I trust you.
As I told you at the beginning of this, my name is Mara Brent and I represent the state of Ohio.
I’d like to introduce you to Ellie Luke. ”
I stepped out from behind the lectern. It felt important to get as close to the jury as I dared.
With each breath I took, it was as if Ellie herself filled me.
I knew what had happened to her. What I could prove was something else.
But while I delivered my opening statement, proof didn’t matter. Only Ellie’s voice did.
“Twenty-two years ago, Elizabeth Luke was a twenty-one-year-old nursing student.
She had dreams. A calling. She wanted to help people.
No. Not just people. She was hoping when she graduated she could go to work for a hospice organization providing end-of-life care to terminally ill patients.
She liked the idea of getting to know her patients, being a part of their lives, their families.
“Ellie supported herself through school. She hadn’t taken out a single loan.
She worked for a home health agency. Her last assignment was working with an elderly woman, Hattie Corning, with dementia and congestive heart failure.
She took care of her overnight so her husband could sleep.
She read to her. Changed her. Helped her shower.
Cooked for both her and her husband. She was paid ten dollars an hour for it.
Enough to make her tuition payments. Plus, she could study in the quiet hours of the night before leaving at seven in the morning, getting a couple of precious hours of sleep, then heading to class in the afternoon.
“Ellie’s friends will describe her as a serious, dedicated student. She helped them through anatomy class. Was the quiet voice of reason in their lives when they went through relationship drama or self-doubt about school. Everyone loved Ellie Luke. They wished they were more like her.
“Then, early one morning, as Ellie finished her shift at the Corning home, she got in her car and started toward home. She never made it there. What happened next would remain a mystery, a horrible nightmare for her family and friends for the next two decades.
“It might have remained a mystery if not for one very brave member of Ellie’s family. Someone she never even had the privilege of meeting.
“What we know now, what the evidence will show, Ellie was the object of one man’s obsession.
An obsession that has spanned these twenty years and embedded itself into Ellie’s grieving family.
Jamie Simmons was supposed to be Ellie’s friend.
She thought so. He was a classmate. Someone who, in the beginning, seemed like a lot of fun. A goofy sidekick, if you will.
“Jamie Simmons wanted more from Ellie. He wanted to own her. Possess her. But she was never interested in him in that way. She was only interested in being his friend. A study partner. But by all accounts, she was kind to him. And that was all Jamie Simmons needed to allow his obsession to grow.
“There are things we don’t know about the night Ellie Luke disappeared. Things we will never know. We don’t know what Jamie Simmons said to her. What she said to him. Whether she fought for her life. Whether she was afraid. But in this trial, we will focus on what we do know. It is horrible enough.
“The evidence will show that Jamie Simmons knew Ellie Luke’s schedule. On March 12th, Monday morning when Ellie tried to drive home, she got a flat tire. Her car was found with a puncture in the back right tire. We know someone picked Ellie Luke up that morning and drove away with her.
“Ellie Luke never came home. The hours ticked by and her parents started to worry. It wasn’t like Ellie not to call if she was going to be late.
By noon, they knew something was terribly wrong.
They called her friends. Ellie hadn’t shown up for classes either.
That wasn’t like her. She missed a midterm that morning.
By one o’clock, George and Claudia Luke called the police.
“For seven months, nobody knew anything. Ellie vanished without a trace. Her friends organized search parties. Combed the woods surrounding campus. The river running behind the Cornings’ house.
All the while, Jamie Simmons became a constant presence in the Luke family’s life.
He helped organize the searches. For weeks after, as interest in Ellie’s case waned, Jamie Simmons was there handing out flyers. Pounding on doors. Asking questions.
“Ellie’s friends found it strange. They knew Ellie wasn’t particularly fond of Jamie. None of them were, anymore. He was too eager. They’ll say he had issues with boundaries. Didn’t seem to understand the word no.
“Then, in October of that year, Ellie’s remains were found by a hunter.
Her skeleton was propped up against an oak tree.
You’ll hear how the police believed Ellie hadn’t been killed there, but placed there.
Posed there. You’ll hear how certain items from her personal effects were missing.
Her underwear. An earring. A lock of her hair cut from the back of her head.
By all indications, someone wanted a trophy, a souvenir of Ellie Luke.
“You’ll hear how even though so much time had passed, Ellie’s remains told a grisly story of her final moments. The back of her skull was caved in.
“And you’ll hear the story of a grieving family.
The Lukes had a remaining daughter, Erin.
Her resemblance to Ellie is remarkable. Most people thought they were twins.
They still do. In the depths of their grief, Jamie Simmons took advantage of them.
He endeared himself to Erin Luke. Married her.
Had a daughter with her. And three months ago, that daughter, Hayden Simmons, found something in her father’s possession that will haunt her until the day she dies.
“Jamie Simmons has a box of treasures. Ghoulish souvenirs from a crime scene no one was supposed to know about. Only the killer. Only the person so obsessed with Ellie Luke, he took over her family. One by one, you’ll learn what he kept in that box.
You’ll learn how Jamie Simmons knew he could never have Ellie Luke in life.
So he made sure no one else could ever have her.
Then, one by one, he collected the things most important to her.
“Jamie Simmons killed Ellie Luke because he couldn’t have her.
He stalked her. Terrorized her. Murdered her.
Posed her body in a place he thought no one would ever find it.
He returned to her grave. Took things. Keepsakes.
Mementos. Then he acquired the greatest prize of all.
Ellie’s lookalike sister. His own daughter.
“At the conclusion of this trial, I’m confident you’ll return the only verdict you can. Jamie Simmons murdered Ellie Luke and hid her body from her family. He is guilty of aggravated murder. He stalked. Planned. Executed. Then he destroyed Ellie’s family by making it his own.”
The members of the jury never lost eye contact with me. Though I couldn’t read their expressions, I knew the impact of the story I’d just told. I just didn’t know if they’d believe it.
Bennett Cutler took a moment, then stepped up to the lectern. He seemed cool and confident. He folded his hands and never moved from behind the microphone.
“Good morning,” he said. “That was something, wasn’t it? That story Ms. Brent told ought to be a movie. I’d buy a ticket, that’s for sure. Only … she can’t prove a word of it. That’s the thing I need you to keep in mind.
“Proof. You’ll get instructions from the judge on what that means.
Proof. Has the state proven to you beyond a reasonable doubt that my client, Jamie Simmons, is guilty of murder?
Murder. That’s what he’s charged with. That’s the only thing you’re being asked to decide.
Can Mara Brent prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jamie Simmons murdered poor Ellie Luke?
“I’ll make it easy for you. She won’t be able to. So what she’ll do instead is try to draw your focus on other things. Sensational things, I’ll give her that. But her case is the equivalent of clickbait. It seems interesting. Compelling. But there’s nothing there of substance.
“Nobody saw Jamie Simmons with Ellie Luke the night she disappeared. She hasn’t got a shred of physical evidence tying him to the crime.
All she has is a story. Because Jamie didn’t kill Ellie.
The only thing he’s guilty of is falling for Ellie’s kid sister out of their shared grief over losing her.
That’s not a crime, folks, no matter how you feel about them.
Unfortunately, this entire case stems from one disturbed girl seeking attention.
That’s the current tragedy. Mara Brent herself is responsible for that.
That’s what I’ll prove to you, even though I have no obligation to prove anything at all. ”
Cutler shook his head. He stepped out from behind the lectern.
“You don’t have to like Jamie Simmons. You’re welcome to whatever opinion you have of him.
You can judge him for how he’s lived his life.
Who he’s loved. What kind of husband or parent he is.
But none of those things make him a murderer.
Not one. You can’t condemn someone to death because you don’t like his life choices.
“It doesn’t matter how he felt about Ellie Luke.
They were friends. Yes. He was gutted by her disappearance and murder.
He grew close to her family. He married her sister and started his own family with her.
So what? This thing has been a witch hunt since day one.
Jamie Simmons is no murderer. He had nothing to do with what happened to Ellie.
What you’ll see instead is how this case was botched from the beginning by a detective who was in over his head.
Who’s still in over his head. But you won’t see evidence of murder. Because there isn’t any.”
Cutler went back to the lectern and pounded his fist on it, earning him a stern look from Judge Saul.
He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe he’d been asked to even come here today.
For his part, Jamie Simmons stayed stoic.
When Cutler took his seat next to him, Jamie put an arm around him.
Almost as if he were consoling him for having to waste his time.
“Ms. Brent?” Judge Saul said. “You may call your first witness.”