Chapter 33
Itook a moment as I stood at the lectern and scanned the spectators in the gallery.
George Luke was here. He sat just behind my table.
Hojo sat beside him, comforting him. Quietly whispering to him what to expect.
On the other side of Hojo sat Hayden Simmons.
She had stayed mostly away for the last two days of trial.
But today, she and her grandfather shared the same bench.
Not side by side. Not yet. But it was something.
Erin Simmons sat with her mother, clutching her hand two rows behind Jamie Simmons. The divide between Hayden’s side and Jamie’s side had never seemed wider. Between them, in the ether somewhere, was Ellie Luke herself. I felt her today. More than I ever had since the moment this case came to me.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” I started. “I thank you for your patience and attention over the last two weeks. I know you must be anxious to take control of this case. To fulfill the oath you all swore when you were seated on that jury.
“Two weeks of trial after twenty-two years. That’s how long Ellie Luke has been waiting for justice. How long the story of the worst day of her life has taken to come out. And it was hiding in plain sight for all that time.
“This is my last chance to talk to you. To try to be Ellie Luke’s voice. Soon that will be your role. To sift through the evidence you saw and decide the truth. And it’s staring you in the face. It is irrefutable. It is logical. It is common sense.
“Twenty-two years ago, Ellie Luke was a bright, ambitious, caring woman who wanted to help people. Who brought comfort to the most vulnerable members of our community. Who would have dedicated her life to that pursuit. We are all less for having lost her. For having her taken away.
“And that is the evil that touched Ellie Luke. Because she befriended someone who wanted to take more from her than she was willing to give. So he did the next best thing. He took her away from the rest of us and kept her for himself.
“Here is what we know. And I want you to really hear me when I say that. What we know. We know that Ellie had tried to distance herself from Jamie Simmons. Her friends told you that. That he’d burned his way through their social group.
Became too familiar. Crossed boundaries.
Was always on the make. Ellie tried to be kind to him because that was her nature.
And when she rebuffed him, when she could no longer tolerate his behavior, we know Jamie Simmons decided to take action.
“On March 12th, twenty-two years ago, Jamie leveraged his friendship with Ellie Luke. He knew her schedule. Knew the route she took home from Hattie Corning’s house.
So he waited. Slashed her tire. Just enough so that about a mile and a half from leaving Mrs. Corning’s residence, Ellie had to pull over.
“We know that Ellie Luke left her vehicle of her own free will. Because whoever stopped to help her was someone she didn’t think to be afraid of. She knew Jamie Simmons.
“What happened immediately after that is something we will never know for sure. Did Jamie make advances? Was she afraid? I can’t tell you that.
But what we do know is chilling enough. Ellie Luke was beaten.
Her skull was caved in. It was a violent death perpetrated by someone who wanted to snuff Ellie out.
“We know Jamie Simmons took her to the woods. He carried her through the deep underbrush. He laid her beneath a tree. Posed her. Crossed her hands over her chest as if she was in a casket. And then he spent time with her. He removed some of her clothing. Clipped a lock of her hair. Took an earring from her ear. Her underwear. Souvenirs. And for weeks. Months. Jamie Simmons was the only person on the planet who knew where Ellie Luke’s body was.
“Think about that. Jamie had succeeded in taking what he’d been after all along.
Ownership of Ellie Luke. In those seven months, from the time Ellie went missing to when she was found, Jamie owned her.
He owned the knowledge of where she was.
He taunted police and Ellie’s own grieving family. He inserted himself into their lives.
“Let’s talk about that for a moment. Jamie showed up on George Luke’s doorstep pretending to be Ellie’s friend.
They’d never heard of him before. Ellie never talked to them about him.
Never introduced him. But in their deep grief, Jamie took control.
He’d done it before. Deena Landon told you that.
This was his MO. He embedded himself in a vulnerable family and took over.
To the Lukes he seemed like a welcome savior.
Someone who loved Ellie. A connection to her.
But it was a lie. George Luke has finally come to understand the manipulation. That he was being groomed.
“But it started long before Ellie died. You’ve seen the photographs Jamie took of Ellie when she wasn’t aware. He invaded her privacy. It was all practice, like a gateway drug to what was to come.”
I paused, displaying the photographs in Jamie Simmons’s treasure box for the jury again. Ellie from a distance, sitting at a picnic table. Ellie in her car, adjusting her makeup in the rear-view mirror. Ellie through her bedroom window in nothing but her underwear.
“But then Jamie Simmons found a way to have the real thing. Ellie was his doll. Something he collected. Treasured. And when that was finally taken from him, he realized he could have something else. The next best thing. He could have a replica of Ellie in the form of her living sister.”
I put up the pictures of Ellie and Erin Luke side by side. Even I had to take a moment to make sure I knew which girl was which.
“Jamie Simmons collected souvenirs from Ellie’s gravesite. From her person. Her earring. Her underwear. A lock of her hair. But then he encountered something else of Ellie’s. Something more precious. An even bigger treasure. He took Ellie’s sister, Erin, and collected her too.”
The jury looked. Erin shrunk against her mother. Hayden cried silent tears. George Luke reached over Hojo’s lap and clasped hands with his granddaughter.
“Jamie’s lawyer is going to tell you how none of that is a crime.
That Jamie Simmons’s conduct after Ellie went missing didn’t break the law.
No. There was no crime in him marrying Erin Luke.
Or manipulating the Luke family the way he did.
The way he still is. Even now, his hold over Erin and Claudia Luke seems absolute.
So much so they were willing to cut ties with their daughter and granddaughter over it.
“Hayden Simmons is a victim in this case, too. Another part of Ellie Luke that Jamie Simmons tried to collect. But she is brave. Powerful. And she did the right thing. Hayden Simmons had her eyes open. She saw what her father collected. How he encouraged the Luke family not to talk about Ellie. How he suppressed her memory to suit his own ends. But Hayden told you the truth. She found the thing her father had been hiding in that basement annex. She knew what it was. She showed courage in bringing it to the police and telling what she knew. Even though it cost her her relationship with her mother. Her grandmother. She could have stayed quiet. But she knew she was her Aunt Ellie’s voice now too.
“No one but the person who killed Ellie Luke could have that earring she was wearing the morning she died. Agent Palmieri told you the lock of hair in that box matched the clipping taken from Ellie Luke’s lifeless body.
Only her killer could have that in his possession.
Mr. Cutler is going to try to make you suspend logic.
He’s going to try to convince you that at worst, Jamie Simmons is disturbed. That being a creep isn’t a crime.
“Don’t believe him. Don’t let him convince you to suspend your common sense. Jamie Simmons had those souvenirs from Ellie Luke’s gravesite because he’s the one who put her there. He’s the one who killed her. And everything he’s done since that day only proves the obsession that led him to kill.
“Mr. Cutler wants you to think someone else could have committed this crime. But there is no evidence of that. Dane Fischer had an alibi. There’s a reason he was never arrested for this crime and Jamie Simmons was.
Because Jamie Simmons was obsessed with Ellie Luke and decided to take her.
He planned. He slashed her tire while she was inside Hattie Corning’s house.
He followed her until she had to pull over.
He took her. He killed her. He hid her body.
He posed her. Collected souvenirs from her.
Then he went to her family and collected them, too.
“He wanted to own Ellie Luke. For twenty-two years, he has. Don’t let him have her for another day. Jamie Simmons and only Jamie Simmons is guilty of the murder of Ellie Luke. It is logical, sensible, and beyond a reasonable doubt. Thank you.”
Bennett Cutler was already on his feet. He waited until I’d taken my seat again before making his way to the lectern.
Then he stood there for a moment. He had no notes in front of him, but he stared at the lectern, perhaps seeing his closing take shape in his mind.
Finally, he lifted his chin and addressed the jury.
“It’s a good story,” he said. “Compelling. Could be a movie of the week for those of you old enough to remember those days. Only Ms. Brent can’t prove any of it.
“No. That’s not true. She did prove a couple of things. And I’ll admit, they’re upsetting. It might make you not like Jamie Simmons. That’s okay. You’re entitled to your opinions of him. Even if they’re unfavorable. But none of that makes him a murderer.
“Let’s just count down the things Ms. Brent could prove.”
He stepped out from behind the lectern and silently counted on his fingers. Then he put his hands in his pocket.