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.”
16
Dr. Lois Palmieri wore the same suit in every trial I’d ever known her to testify in. I believed she had at least a dozen of them in her closet. It was navy blue, double-breasted with gold buttons. She wore a white blouse underneath and a blue-and-white-polka-dot scarf. She cut a trim figure in blue kitten heels and tan pantyhose. Her steel-gray hair was cropped short around her face. She took her oath and slipped her gold aviator glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“Good morning, Dr. Palmieri,” I started. “Could you please explain to the jury what you do for a living?”
She adjusted the microphone. “Of course. I’m a criminal forensic scientist. I spent the better part of my career working for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, conducting crime scene analysis.”
Dr. Palmieri went through her credentials. She had a doctorate in forensic science. Had served as BCI’s senior crime scene analyst for over twenty years before her semi-retirement. For the past eight years, she taught doctoral students in criminal forensics at Ohio State University. The woman was a legend among crime scene analysts all over the country.
“Do you still work as an analyst or are you exclusively in academia now?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Although I’m a full professor at OSU, I also consult with Ohio’s BCI quite frequently. I’ve also been brought in to consult on different criminal cases throughout the country.”
“I see,” I said. “Can you tell me how you became involved with the Ellie Luke murder case?”
“Twenty-two years ago, I was the senior analyst with the northwest Ohio region of BCI based in Bowling Green. I was called in to process the scene out near what’s now Homer Park where the victim’s remains were discovered.”
“It was your crime scene?” I asked.
“Well, Detective Gus Ritter with the Maumee County Sheriff’s Department was the lead detective. I came out at his request. But yes, I was put in control of the scene.”
Dr. Palmieri went through the background of how she came to the scene. Ritter called her almost immediately when suspected human remains were found. Palmieri’s team took control and protected the scene. The jury maintained rapt attention as the doctor explained the steps she took to secure the area.
“Dr. Palmieri,” I said. “Can you describe for me what you discovered and where?”
“Well, the area where the victim’s remains were found was remote. There were old hiking trails out there, but the body wasn’t along any of those. It was about a quarter of a mile northwest of what’s now known as the S trail that runs past the Maumee River.”
We’d entered an aerial satellite map into evidence. Dr. Palmieri marked off the site where two hunters found Ellie’s bones.
“Is this public hunting land?” I asked.
“No, there’s state land that abuts it, but this was outside the border of that. My understanding is that the two gentlemen who found the remains were actually tracking a deer one of them believed he nicked earlier in the morning.”
“Okay. Please describe for me what you observed when you came on scene?”
“Of course. As I indicated, the area was rather remote and off the literal beaten trail here. There is thick underbrush and it’s difficult to get to. But here, just over this ridge, there’s a clearing. There’s a large oak tree in front of an area I’d describe as a sort of grassy, mossy knoll. The victim’s remains were found propped up against the trunk of the tree.”
I marked the next photograph as an exhibit. Dr. Palmieri identified it as the scene as it appeared when she first arrived. Part of Ellie Luke’s skeleton, her skull, rib cage and right arm could be seen leaning against the base of the tree. We went through a series of close-up photographs. Palmieri talked the jury through what they were seeing.
“The victim was lying against the base of the tree, her arms crossed in front of her at the wrists. Her legs splayed out in front, crossed at the ankles. The skull had partially detached from the neck. Although most of the flesh was gone except around the skull. Her hair was still pulled back in a ponytail.”
“Was there anything remarkable to you about the way the body lay?” I asked.
“Well, it didn’t appear to be lying in a natural position. As in, I immediately suspected the body had been posed in this fashion rather than falling this way.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The hands crossed and linked together, in almost a prayer pose. The legs crossed at the ankles. Even the way the body was propped against the tree. She was partially under a foot of dirt from the torso to the upper thighs. Then, when we moved the body, I could see the defect in the back of the skull. It wasn’t immediately visible the way the body was discovered against the tree like that.”
