Читать книгу Savage Son - Corey Mitchell - Страница 16

Sunday, December 14, 2003, 1:00 P.M.

Whitaker Residence

Sugar Land, Texas

Detective Marshall Slot returned to the scene of the double murder. This time, however, he was right behind Kent and Bart Whitaker. The two victims of the shooting had been picked up and driven home by Kent’s brother, Keith. Slot hoped to get more information from the father and son as to what had occurred four nights earlier.

When Keith Whitaker pulled his vehicle alongside the front curb to his brother’s home, Kent Whitaker was taken aback by the sight of several large yellow ribbons tied to many of his neighbors’ trees, as well as around some of the trees in his own front yard. Tears welled up in Kent’s eyes as he exited the vehicle and slowly made his way up to the front door of his home. He somehow managed not to break down as he walked past the spot where Tricia had fallen. As he cracked the door open wider, he was shocked to see that there was no blood to be found.

Kent walked inside, followed by Bart and Detective Slot. The latter was surprised to see that the entire foyer had been cleaned, from top to bottom. The scene looked nothing like it had the night of the murders. Extended family members of the Whitakers, as well as friends from the church, had come in during the preceding days after the police investigation had been completed and cleaned up the house. Slot described it as “pristine.” The friends and family members wanted to make sure Kent and Bart came home to a nice, clean house that was seemingly devoid of any negative recollections from the gruesome scene, just four nights prior. They wiped up the bloodstains, removed tainted carpet, and placed everything back, including all of the Christmas decorations and tree, exactly where they had found it.

Kent and Bart’s return home was not a time for mourning and organization. They were joined by Detective Marshall Slot and two other Sugar Land Police Department officers. Slot had prepared to conduct two separate walk-throughs of the crime scene by its two surviving victims. Slot first had Bart removed from the scene so Kent could provide a videotaped narrative of the events that occurred on December 10.

According to Detective Slot, Kent was very thorough in his reenactment of what happened. He was very animated, succinct, and was easily able to recall exactly what happened, at least from his perspective. Kent was very detailed in his depiction of the murders and attempted murders.

As the two men went over the details, Kent began to discover that certain items were indeed missing from his home. One was a Ruger .22 pistol.

In addition, after he rifled through his closet, Kent informed Slot that an envelope that contained cash was missing. He knew it was gone, because it had been strategically hidden on a shelf inside a small plastic VCR tape drawer. It would not be something someone would simply stumble upon.

Detective Slot then summoned Bart and asked Kent to leave.

Bart’s walk-through was different than Kent’s. On the videotape, Bart was much vaguer about the details of the crime. Detective Slot felt that Bart “was holding back,” for some unknown reason.

Bart had his left arm holstered in a white hospital sling after his surgery. He was dressed casually in blue jeans, a brown sweater, and brown loafers. He began the walk-through videotaping session by turning off the light switch in the foyer so that the room was nearly pitch black.

Bart calmly walked out of the front entrance, where half his family had been murdered, made his way out onto the front porch, and then turned right onto the poorly lit driveway and headed toward the garage. He was reenacting what had occurred just after the family pulled into the driveway—after they returned from the restaurant, and before they headed inside.

Bart and three officers stood in the driveway as if they were seated in the car. Bart was in the back driver’s side, next to his father. Kevin was the driver and Tricia sat up front in the passenger seat. As they imaginarily exited the vehicle, Bart calmly walked back up the driveway and pointed out where his Yukon had been parked in the street.

Though the murders had occurred only four nights before, Bart did not appear distressed in any way. Instead, he looked like he was giving directions to a lost tourist by pointing out some of the town’s unique landmarks.

Bart directed the officers playing the roles of his family members to walk along the front of the house, while he made a beeline for the street to go to his vehicle. Bart turned around to the camera and replied, “I heard Bang….” The complete lack of emotion could not have been more apparent.

Bart continued the reenactment by traipsing through the fallen dry leaves in the front yard. “I paused,” he continued, “seeing my dad on the ground.” Bart moved forward and then directed the officers where to lie on the ground so as to resemble his dead mother and dead brother. As he pointed out their respective fallen spots, again not a single ounce of emotion was evident on his face. It felt more like a choreographed dance as opposed to the supposedly most traumatic experience a young man could have ever gone through in his short life.

As Bart directed the officer playing Kevin where to lie down, he said, “You weren’t that much in the way, so maybe you were somewhere over here, instead.”

Another officer played the suspect. When Bart spotted him, he said, “I saw you running,” as though actually talking to the killer. “When I ran into the door”—he recalled his alleged heroic motion—“I could see you running away. I ran in this way.” Bart headed into the dark living room. “I guess somewhere in here, I got shot. I fell back into the couch, onto the floor, and I remember I got up to use the phone to call 911.”