Within thirty minutes of the end of the hearing, Prosecutor Matthew Koenig was inundated with calls from the media demanding to know more details about Jamie Chapman, the new suspect in Kerry Dowling’s murder.
The angriest call he received was from Alan’s attorney, Lester Parker. “You know, Prosecutor, I recognize that you can’t immediately share every single development in the case. Obviously, your investigation has a long way to go. But I have an innocent eighteen-year-old who is so depressed that his parents are worried he’s going to harm himself. When you go into a public courtroom and admit to these developments and I have to hear it from a member of the press, that’s just not right, and you know it.”
Koenig responded, “Look Lester, I took your call because you deserved an explanation. We were hoping that this would not be picked up by the press until after we got his fingerprints and we see if it helps the investigation one way or the other. We have no obligation to call you unless we come to the conclusion that Alan didn’t do it. And we are very far from making that determination. I’m going to end this call now. If anything significant develops, I will let you know.”
“And I’ll let you know if my innocent client commits suicide while waiting for your call.”
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With Jamie in the car Marge drove directly home from the hearing. They were in the door a few minutes when he said, “Mom, I’m hungry. I want Chinese food for lunch.” Marge was about to call to order it and have it delivered when she opened the refrigerator and saw they were out of Diet Coke.
“Jamie, I’ll get the Chinese food, and I have to stop at the store. I won’t be long. Why don’t you watch a movie while I’m gone.”
Returning twenty minutes later, Marge drove up her block and was dismayed to see a news truck parked in front of her house. Jamie was on the lawn smiling. A woman with a microphone was standing next to him. A camera was pointed at them.
Marge turned into the driveway and slammed on the brakes. As she got out of the car, she heard Jamie saying, “And then I went swimming with Kerry.”
“Leave him alone!” Marge shouted. “Jamie, don’t say anything. Get in the house.”
Startled at his mother’s tone, Jamie ran inside.
With the cameraman struggling to keep up, the reporter hurried over to Marge. “Mrs. Chapman, would you like to comment on today’s hearing in Hackensack?”
“No, I won’t. I want you and that guy with the camera to get off my property right now,” Marge yelled as she opened her front door and slammed it behind her.
Feeling a little better in the safety of her home, but frantic about what else Jamie might have said, Marge collapsed into her favorite chair. How much more of this can I take? she asked herself as she looked around for her purse. She needed a nitroglycerine tablet.
“Mom!” Jamie yelled from upstairs in his room. “Am I gonna be on TV like Alan Crowley?”
“No, Jamie,” Marge said, even as she wondered if he would be.
“Mom, I want to eat in my room. Can you bring up the Chinese food?”
Marge realized that along with the Diet Coke and her purse, it was still in the car. She walked over and peeked out the window. The camera crew was gone. The coast was clear. She ran to her car.
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Assistant Prosecutor Artie Schulman and Mike Wilson walked together into Prosecutor Matt Koenig’s office. They informed him that a fingerprint on the golf club had been matched to Jamie Chapman.
“He admitted picking it up and putting it on a chair by the pool,” Mike said.
“But we also have Alan Crowley’s prints on the weapon. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, we do. We know Alan lied, but later Chapman told us that he saw Crowley talk to the victim and leave the property before anything happened to her.”
“I understand Chapman is intellectually impaired. Do you believe the information he provided is credible?” Koenig asked.
Mike sighed. “For the most part, yes. He understood my questions. His memory was clear about going into the pool with the victim. He remembered and quickly provided the clothing he had on that night. His perception was that the victim was asleep in the pool. Of course, that suggests that Kerry Dowling was dead when he arrived on the scene. But he also said that when he asked Kerry to wake up, she said, ‘I can’t.’ If that’s literally true, she was still alive.”
“Could she have been in the pool, injured, when she said, ‘I can’t’?”
“No. She had sustained a massive traumatic blow to the back of the head. She would have lost consciousness immediately, before she even hit the water.”
“All right. So what is your gut regarding Jamie Chapman?”
“His answers amounted to mixed signals. I asked him if he hit Kerry, and he said no. He said that ‘Big Guy’ hurt Kerry, and his father called him Big Guy. I tried to pin him down on whether there was another Big Guy at the scene, but I just couldn’t get a clear answer. So whether he saw somebody else do it or did it himself, I just don’t know.”
“So where does that leave us with Alan Crowley, who this office arrested?”
Mike answered, “One thing Jamie was specific about is that he saw Alan Crowley hug the victim and then leave.”
Artie, almost sounding defensive, spoke. “Boss, almost everything pointed to Alan Crowley, and that is why we recommended that you approve his arrest. The latest developments give us great concern as to whether or not he was the killer.”
The chagrin on Matt Koenig’s face was evident, as the enormity of the arrest of possibly the wrong person sunk in.
“What we need to do is find out everything we can about Jamie Chapman,” Artie said. “School records, behavior incidents. Any signs of violence. As a special ed student, he would have had an IEP, an individual education plan. Let’s get that, see what it says and talk to the teachers he had along the way.”
Koenig said, “You know that will require another court order.”
“I know,” Artie said.
“And you know Chapman’s lawyer could fight us every step of the way. But you know, ironically, he might agree to let us have these records if he thinks they will help his client.”
“All right,” Artie said, “I’ll get in touch with Greg Barber and see what his position is.”
65
The morning following the court hearing and the press firestorm, Artie Schulman, Matt Koenig and Mike met again. The three men knew that they had come to an impasse.
The once almost ironclad case against Alan Crowley was collapsing. Jamie Chapman, while probably not the killer, could not be completely ruled out. He had spoken about a Big Guy hurting Kerry, and they didn’t know if he was referring to himself or someone else. Both Crowley and Chapman had attorneys who had directed that there would be no more interviews of their clients.
And the nagging loose end about the driver who had changed Kerry’s flat tire still lingered.
Koenig was correct in his prediction that Greg Barber would not oppose their receiving copies of Jamie’s school records. Barber had just gone through the set he had received from Jamie’s schools. He had his secretary copy and deliver them to the Prosecutor’s Office.
The records showed, as they’d expected, a young man with severe cognitive impairment. They also revealed a history in school of being compliant and friendly, and with no hint of violence or aggressive behavior.
They all agreed that they were not at the point of requesting to a court that the criminal complaint against Alan Crowley be dismissed. Matt Koenig somberly added that he would contact Lester Parker and tell him that he would agree that the electronic bracelet be removed and the travel restrictions outside New Jersey be lifted. He knew this wouldn’t placate Parker for long, but he would tell him that’s as far as he was willing to go now.
Koenig ended the meeting by saying, “I know we’re all doing our utmost to solve this case. We just have to take the heat that comes with it.”
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