Read Bad Boy From Rosebud Online

Authors: Gary M. Lavergne

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #General, #Law, #True Crime, #Murder, #test

Bad Boy From Rosebud (43 page)

 
Page 141
10
The Car Wash
"Nobody should be put through that type of torture."
Alva Hank Worley
I
Every Christmas season miles of multi-colored lights illuminate Congress Avenue in downtown Austin. From the Colorado River, which Austinites insist on calling Town Lake, to the State Capitol, the bulbs form a colorful tunnel, and at times motorists have trouble seeing traffic signals. But it does not matter; Austin drivers have little respect for traffic lights anyway. Mild weather usually greets Christmas time; hardy Austinites do not bother with winterwear like sweaters or coats. At best, light windbreakers suffice, especially during the Christmas season of 1991 when the average minimum temperature was about forty-six degrees.
The tragic murder of four teenage girls in a Yogurt Shop dominated Austin news in December of 1991. The "Yogurt Shop Murders" broke the city's heart. Billboards with pictures of the four beautiful high school girls begged for information about what had happened. Not since Charles Whitman went on his shooting spree at the University of Texas Tower in 1966 had Austin been through such a collective traumatic event. The Austin Police Department became a hub for a multi-jurisdictional effort to solve the murders; and within the department all available resources were marshalled. To this day, the case has not been solved.
In a city still reeling from the Yogurt Shop tragedy, Colleen's boyfriend, Oliver, had warned her to be careful. He represented a prevalent mood in Austin. Statistically, Austin is a safe city in which to live, but occasionally, high profile crimes like the Charles Whitman Murders, the
 
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James Cross Murders and the Yogurt Shop Murders remind Austinites, like Oliver and Colleen, that no city or town is completely safe and it is best to be prudent and watchful.
1
Colleen Reed spent Christmas Day of 1991 at the home of her sister, Lori Bible, who had remarried the previous October. Throughout the Christmas Holidays, Colleen had a tenuous relationship with Oliver, but as 1991 came to a close, Oliver, and probably Colleen as well, had reason to believe that 1992 would be their year.
On Saturday, December 28, Colleen spent some time at her LCRA office and afterwards rented a movie to take to Oliver's house. They ate dinner, watched the video, and spent the night together.
2
Early the next morning, December 29, Colleen left to return to LCRA. She had volunteered to assist the emergency hotlines used by flood victims. While there, she sat next to her good friend Jo Ellen, who remembered that Colleen wore a white windbreaker. Before leaving the phone banks, Colleen called Oliver at about 10:00
A.M.
and they agreed to attend the 12:15
P.M.
mass at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church. Since the church was in Oak Hill, they drove their own cars and met there.
3
After mass, Oliver and Colleen had lunch at a popular Oak Hill restaurant called Trudy's. Both went to their homes to take naps after leaving the restaurant at 2:30
P.M.
Colleen felt tired because she had a cold. When Oliver asked if she wanted to nap at his place, she declined. She wanted to check on Menou. She felt guilty about not spending enough time with her adopted cat. Colleen also indicated that she was behind on a number of chores and errands. She needed to do laundry, go to the grocery store, deposit her father's Christmas present into her checking account, and wash her new Mazda Miata.
4
Colleen's sister, Lori, always marveled at how Colleen could fall asleep at will. On the afternoon of December 29, Colleen took a major nap. She did not wake up until shortly before Oliver called at about 7:00
P.M.
She had to ask him what time it was, and when he told her, she got pretty upset with herself because she had not done any of her chores or errands. Oliver assured her that the chores could wait. By the end of their conversation, Oliver thought he had convinced her to put off those things until Monday.
5
Well-rested from her long nap, Colleen decided to do her chores and run her errands. She probably felt pressed to go to the bank to deposit a $200 Christmas gift she received from her father. Allen Reed
 
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had established a family tradition of giving money to his children for a present; then he insisted that they call him to let him know what they had purchased for themselves. Allen wanted them to get fun things. (Lori fondly remembered that she once used her present to buy a new washing machine for her home. When she told her father about it, he sent her another $200 check.) Colleen, though, probably rushed to the automatic teller machines at Texas Commerce Bank on the corner of Eighth and Lavaca to deposit her check because her checking account there was close to being overdrawn. Wearing her gold rim glasses, and dressed in a white and black windbreaker, slightly stone-washed Zena jeans, and tennis shoes, Colleen got into her Mazda Miata and headed for downtown Austin.
6
II
On Sunday, December 29, 1991, Hank Worley spent the day doing dry wall work at a hospital in Killeen. His day started at 7:00
A.M.
and ended shortly after 6:00 that evening. His older brother picked him up at the end of the day and took him to their sister's house in the S&S Mobile Home Park in Belton. Hank had been living with his sister Diane for a few months. His personal life was complicated by a sometimes-nasty custody battle with his ex-wife, Janice (Billy's wife), over the guardianship of their daughter. According to Hank's own statements, he drank a six-pack of beer between 6:00 and 7:00
P.M.
7
At about 7:00
P.M.
Kenneth McDuff drove up to Diane's trailer in his Thunderbird. Diane believes that it was McDuff's fourth trip to her house. On two previous occasions Hank had been at work, and McDuff left with, "Just tell him Big Mac came by." On another occasion, Hank was bedridden after an accident with a grinder sent debris into his eyes. McDuff never actually entered her home; Diane had a strict rule about not letting strangers into her house. During the early evening of December 29, Hank and Diane were alone; Diane's husband was out deer hunting on his lease. The brother and sister sat and watched television as Hank drank more beer.
8
Sitting on a chair near a front window of her trailer, Diane was the first to see Big Mac drive up. It was almost dark, but she recognized him and his car. Her six dogs barked as she went to the door and told Hank,
 
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"Big Mac is here." Hank rose from the couch and went outside to talk to McDuff. She heard someone say "let's go have a couple of beers." Almost immediately, Hank returned, went to the refrigerator, grabbed a twelve-pack of beer and told Diane, "I'm going to go with Big Mac and have a couple of drinks. I won't be long."
9
Hank lied to Diane; in his own statement, he admitted that it was understood that he and Big Mac were going to Austin to score speed, or cocaine, or whatever they could find. He also admitted to suggesting that they go to Austin, which Big Mac considered the "Speed Capital of the World." Hank assumed that they would cruise the University of Texas campus to score dope. They headed to Austin after a short excursion north of Belton to the little town of Troy. While there, Big Mac stopped at a Love's Truck Stop to fill up his car. Doug, the attendant on duty, later remembered an "ugly Thunderbird" drive up and run off without paying. While Doug was busy doing paperwork on a diesel truck transaction, McDuff filled up his car and drove off. Doug found the pump's hose lying on the ground. Back on the interstate, like his conversation with Jackie four days earlier, McDuff reveled in telling Worley about how he learned to steal gas from convenience stores.
10
As Big Mac and Hank drove south towards Austin, they ran out of beer and stopped at a Conoco truck stop near the little town of Jarrell. Hank bought another six-pack of Budweiser long necks. He was going to get a twelve-pack, but Mac insisted on a six-pack only. "That struck me as odd," Hank said later.
Their conversation was worthy of their intellects; they spoke of drinking beer, taking dope and dating whores. Mac also talked about shooting tires on cars driven by women. By the time they reached Round Rock, McDuff talked of kidnapping a girl and "using her up." Worley claims not to have understood what McDuff meant by that. "I thought he was talking shit," Hank said later. Austin Police Detective Sonya Urubek never believed Hank's plea of ignorance: "Worley knew what McDuff was capable of." Other detectives learned that Hank was once outraged to learn that his ex-wife had allowed his daughter to get into a car with Big Mac. Indeed, he surely knew of McDuff's violent history. For his part, McDuff later asserted, "The only reason I went to Austin was to rob the big-time drug dealers. Worley wanted to abduct a woman off the street. I told him, 'No.' ''
11
It was a Roy Dale Green defense; Hank Worley pushed Big Mac around and forced him to do his will!
 
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As they spoke of beer, drugs, whores and murder, Big Mac and Hank motored closer and closer to the capital cityAustin.
III
As Big Mac and Hank roamed the streets of Austin in the tan Thunderbird, another two men, as opposite of Mac and Hank as two men could be, riding in a silver BMW, entered the city from the south. Bill and Mike Goins were handsome, intelligent and accomplished young men. They drove in from Houston, where Mike was employed as an engineer for a lawn chemical company called Fina Oil and Chemical. At the time, he did applications development research for plastics. On December 29, 1991, however, Mike could not drive his BMW because he was still sore from an abdominal operation; he had been advised by his doctor not to work the manual transmission of his car. His brother, Bill, visiting from his adopted hometown of New York City, drove his younger brother from Houston to Austin. Bill had his own business called Tall Tales Productions; he directed and produced films.
12
Bill and Mike set out for Austin to visit their sister, Denise, who was married to an electrician named Stephen Marks. Bill intended to stay with Denise and Stephen, but Mike planned on staying with his girlfriend, Kari, a photographer for an engineering firm. She had just returned from a trip to Oklahoma and had not seen any of the Goins family during the holidays. Mike and Kari had dinner plans at a favorite restaurant. As soon as the Goins brothers arrived, Stephen called Kari and told her they were headed for her house. Kari lived in the northern third of an old house converted to a triplex near downtown Austin at 505 Powell Street. Shaded by aged, twisted trees with weathered bark, older homes lined Powell Street. Bill and Stephen were to deliver Mike and his car and return so that Bill could visit his sister.
13
Stephen tried to lead the way to Powell Street, but a red traffic light caught the brothers at the corner of Sixth Street and Lamar and pretty soon Stephen was out of sight. It did not matter, because Mike knew how to get to Kari's house. At Sixth and Lamar, Stephen turned right and headed west on Sixth street towards Powell. When he reached Powell Street, a one-way going south, he had to stop; in front of him was a tan, 1985 Thunderbird. Stephen, feeling awkward with his 45-degree posi-
 
Page 146
tion across the street corner, flashed his bright headlights to alert the driver in front of him to move on. Formerly an automotive manager for a Foley's Department Store, Stephen remembered that the car had three distinct taillights on both sides; he also remembered that the car was a Ford product. He could only see two figures in the car. The tan Ford moved southward on Powell as Stephen reached Kari's house. As he parked his car, he noticed that the Ford made a U-turn into a ground-level garage situated below a small office building. At that point, Stephen noticed that the car was a two-door. He thought nothing of it and walked over to the front porch of the triplex. While on the porch, Stephen and Kari talked about Christmas and waited for Bill and Mike to arrive.
14
Inside the Thunderbird, Big Mac and Hank Worley waited in the office building garage on the corner of Powell and Fifth Street for Stephen Marks to walk away from his car and move towards Kari's front porch. From the office Mac drove north, going the wrong way on a one-way street, on Powell back towards Sixth Street. At the corner of Powell and Sixth, they encountered Bill and Mike.
Bill made a complete stop and looked at Mike. He said something like, "Where are these boneheads going?" Both brothers remember being within thirty yards of the tan Thunderbird. Mike remembered that McDuff and Worley "were leaning forward in the front seat looking out of the front windshield, basically trying to determine which way to go because they looked a little bit lost." Big Mac and Hank's preoccupation with where to go was why the four men never made straight eye contact. But because of their position, the Goins' BMW illuminated Big Mac and Hank, as the Thunderbird turned left on Sixth and drove away. Mike got a better look at Big Mac than at Hank. After the Thunderbird cleared the way, Mike and Bill turned left on Powell and headed for Kari's house.
15
Stephen and Kari were on the front porch waiting for them.
IV
On Christmas Day, Colleen joked with Lori that she would have to use her $200 gift from her father to "cover her checks." At 8:45
P.M.
on December 29, she drove up to all ATM and deposited her gift; at the time her available balance was only $128.33. A security camera took two pictures of Colleen as she did her bank business. On the film, and in bank

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