Читать книгу Dead And Buried: A True Story Of Serial Rape And Murder - Corey Mitchell - Страница 23

FOURTEEN

The following day, at 6:15 A.M., Zaragoza, Agent Navarro of the DOJ and one of his assistants, plus two San Luis Obispo police officers organized a stakeout across the street from 84 Lumber. Their plan was to wait for Krebs to arrive at work, arrest him, and then locate the BB gun.

Krebs pulled up in his Ford Ranger. He exited his vehicle and entered the store. Less than one minute later, the five officersgot out of their cars and entered behind him. Krebs looked up, saw Zaragoza, and nodded toward him.

“Rex, turn around,” Zaragoza calmly ordered. Krebs turned his back to the parole officer. Zaragoza slapped a pair of handcuffs on him.

“Where’s the BB gun, Rex?”

“It’s under the cash register,” he stated, and nodded in the correct direction.

Zaragoza reached under the register and found the BB gun. It looked exactly like a semiautomatic pistol.

“Rex, you are under arrest for violation of your parole requirements.Specifically, possession of a firearm or simulated firearm.”

Zaragoza glared at the forlorn convict to see if he had any expression.

All he saw were Rex Krebs’s tears.

Zaragoza, Sandusky, and Navarro returned to Krebs’s residenceat 3:00 P.M. to conduct a more thorough search. While at the barn Zaragoza received a phone call from San Luis Obispo police detective Sue Murphy, who had been at AundriaCrawford’s residence the day of her abduction. Detective Murphy clued Zaragoza in to what was missing from Aundria’sapartment. He mentioned several items such as CDs by George Strait and Korn, videotapes, and something unique to the missing college student: an eight ball key chain.

Detective Murphy, along with Officers Janice Mangan and Mark Brady, showed up at Krebs’s home to assist in the search. The six authorities began to comb over the house in a methodical fashion. They secured numerous and varied items from the house, such as feathers in a plastic kitchen garbage bag, used duct tape rolls from Krebs’s upstairs masterbedroom, and two topographical maps of Davis Canyon in his bedroom closet. They found an oversize belt buckle in the top drawer of Krebs’s filing cabinet, along with several crudely drawn sketches and patterns of belt buckles. Zaragoza noticed a recurring theme on the drawings and the belt buckle itself—a strange figure-eight symbol. More like the number eight if it was lying down on its side.

The infinity symbol.

The officers systematically made notes of their discoveriesand continued to search. They found an audiotape labeled as “House Meeting 4-21-98,” more 84 Lumber receipts with customer information on them, and a Canon camera, located on top of Krebs’s refrigerator. They also found a cream-coloredVictoria’s Secret negligee, size 5/Small.

Special Agent Navarro made the most startling discovery of all. As he canvassed Krebs’s house, he abruptly stopped in the front living room. He scanned the room slowly, not quite sure what he was looking for. He noticed mainly innocuousitems such as a television, a beaten-down couch, and some nondescript étagères.

Navarro was about to exit the living room when something caught his eye. It was an old hand-carved wooden box located on top of one of Krebs’s bookshelves. He walked over to the shelf and grabbed the 6” x 4” x 2” box. He turned it over in his hands and looked at both the top and bottom of it. He then placed it on the coffee table in the living room and unhooked the metal locking clasp. At first it looked like a random collectionof miscellaneous items: two matchbooks from Outlaws, “A Grubbin’ and Guzzlin’ Establishment”; a Superstar84 star-shaped pin; yellow glass icicles; an orange Sebadoh guitar pick.

One item, however, stood out. A small black plastic eight ball key chain holder. There was no ring attached to it that would hold keys, but it was definitely part of a key chain. He quickly closed the box and held on to it tightly.

Navarro informed Zaragoza and Sandusky of his discovery.The agents decided it was time to pack up. They marked the remaining items and gathered their findings for the day. The investigation into Rex Krebs was only now ready to begin.

On Sunday, March 21, 1999, Detective Jerome Tushbant summoned investigator Larry Hobson to the San Luis Obispo Police Department. Detective Tushbant wanted Hobson to interviewKrebs to learn if he knew anything about the disappearance of Aundria Crawford.

Hobson picked Krebs up from the county jail and transferredhim back over to the police department. When they arrived, Hobson led Krebs into the employee break room.

Krebs waived his constitutional rights and agreed to speak with Detective Hobson.

Hobson asked Krebs where he was on the evening of March 11, 1999. The calm Krebs stated that he was nowhere near Branch Street. He told Hobson that he was out buying flowers for his girlfriend, Roslynn Moore, and purchasing groceries.

Suddenly Krebs looked up at Hobson and began to tell him a new version of the events from that night. He remembered that he had been in the neighborhood, on Aundria Crawford’s street even. He claimed that he had visited a friend on Branch Street, two blocks south of Aundria’s residence. Krebs added that he frequented nearby Manuel’s Liquor Store. He also stated that he occasionally ducked into the Gaslight Lounge, located on Broad Street at the corner of Branch Street, two blocks north of Aundria’s duplex.