Authors: Gary M. Lavergne

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

Bad Boy From Rosebud (88 page)

29
Austin American-Statesman,
February 19, 1998.

30 Ibid., September 12, 1992, October 18 and November 3, 1993.

31 Ibid., July 10, and 25, 1992; Bill Habern and Gary J. Cohen,
A History of Parole, Mandatory Supervision and Good Time,
Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers' Website, pgs. 311.

32
Austin American-Statesman,
February 1, 1998.

Page 331

Epilogue
''Floating on a Cloud, Playing a Harp"

"That's a strange bird."
J. W. Thompson
, referring to Kenneth McDuff

"This will not be over for any of us until we find Colleen," said John Moriarty of TDCJ, seven years after she had disappeared. He spoke for every investigator involved in the Colleen Reed Case. They all tell of thinking of Colleen every time they found themselves in the Blackland Prairie, and wondering if they were near her. The Kenneth McDuff Case was not over for these men, even though they put him back on death rowtwicefor good.

For years, J. W. Thompson of the Austin Police Department and ATF Special Agent Chuck Meyer painstakingly followed every lead and searched for whatever crumb of information they could uncover that might have led to the discovery of Colleen's remains. They often found themselves searching woods, ditches, and old wells. Time passed, and leads dwindled, but they never gave up. Like Dan Stoltz and Mike Carnevale, Chuck and J. W. are very good friends. Their bond strengthens with every difficult case; it is hard to imagine a circumstance where these two men would not trust each other. These men had heavy case loads and could have reasonably decided that Colleen would never be found. After more than four years the pain still showed in their eyes.

During a five-hour interview in September of 1996, McDuff volunteered justifications, excuses, and described how his life was merely a series of misunderstandings. His trouble with the law started when the people of Rosebud got jealous of the money he made mowing lawns for old women who loved him; as a matter of fact, the people of Rosebud were jealous of the entire McDuff family and their financial success; the fourteen burglaries he was convicted of in 1965 "was just pranks"; Roy Dale Green was the one who murdered three kids in 1966; Gary Jackson

Page 332

promised him that he would be a millionaire, so he didn't look for a job, and because he didn't become a millionaire, he fell into a life of drugs; the black kids in Rosebud he chased with a knife misjudged him (like everybody else); after
Furman v Georgia
he should have gotten, but was denied, a new trial; he was convicted and on death row because of hair"Back in 1966 hair did not exist"; when Richard Bannister said he saw him pushing his car at the New Road Inn, he was lying; he was convicted twice because his public defenders, all five of them, were incompetent; he often got violent because he smoked crack, and he had to do that because his parole officer did not let him smoke pot; "being in a titty bar was like being in a candy store" he said as he described why he was so promiscuous; he got drugs for white people because they were afraid to deal with black pushers; he nearly gouged out his dorm-mate Richard's eyes because "he [Richard] initiated it''; he was a suspect in Regenia Moore's disappearance because her mother caused all the trouble; a detective [Tim Steglich] got Hank Worley to lie in all of his statements; comments about personal graveyards he made to Francis in Kansas City were made in jest; the One-eyed Jack told wild stories; Buddy was "crazy as a loony"; Mark told a "bunch of bull": Chester tried to set him up by putting a shotgun in his car; Holly misconstrued all of what happened between him, her, One-Arm and T-Bone; Valencia Joshua never knocked on his windowit was another black whore who looked just like her; Linda lied when she said that the McDuff family came up with big money to get McDuff out of prison; Aaron Northrup lied when he said McDuff knew Melissa Northrup; his mother, Addie, was really a quiet woman; the reason he was sent to prison in the first place was that he was an "asshole," and lawmen should have been mature enough to overlook that.

During the hunt for McDuff in 1992, the Task Force went to as many people who knew McDuff as could be identifiedfrom casual acquaintances to family members. Each was thoroughly questioned as to where McDuff could be and if they knew anyone else who should be questioned.

After weeks of sleepless nights, Mike, Parnell, and Bill had developed a number of confidential informants. One in particular (hereafter referred

Page 333

to as the CI) had been especially helpful. For example, the CI had suggested to Mike that McDuff might have buried a victim in the woods near TSTI, and less than two weeks later, the body of Valencia Joshua was found there. On several occasions, The Boys called their CI when they had no clues to follow. They carefully cultivated, and protected the identity of, their valuable source.

The CI had previously made occasional visits to McDuff in prison, listening to his endless stories. Near the end of the spring of 1998, the CI approached Mike with an idea. Just maybe, after all those years, Kenneth might say where he put some of the women he murdered. Regenia Moore, Brenda Thompson, and Colleen Reed had never been recovered and returned to their families. Regenia's mother, Barbara Carpenter, was still often seen searching fields around Waco for her daughter, The Boys sometimes joining in the search.

"I'm going to talk to him to see what he will tell me," the CI said.

"Go ahead, see what you can do," Bill answered. He figured that nothing else had worked so far, so why not try.

At first McDuff hesitated, "If I do [say where the women were located] they won't need me anymore." He held on to the fiction that he had control over his destiny. The reality was that no one needed him, and the highest priority for many was his execution.

After a couple more visits, the CI was stunned when Kenneth said, "I'll give you this one," then proceeded to describe where he had murdered and buried Regenia Moore. McDuff told the CI that as he dug her grave, he was so close to a road he looked up and noticed that drivers of passing cars could see him.

The CI called Mike and announced, "He told me where one of them is!" Immediately, Mike called their trusted friend Texas Ranger Matt Cawthon. The possibility always existed that McDuff was playing another of his "that would be a good place to dump a body" games. The last thing anyone needed was the birth of a rumor spun out of control. There would be enough of a stir if Regenia was found.

McDuff had identified a bridge on State Highway 6 that traversed the Tehuacana Creek. On their first trip to the site, The Boys and Ranger Cawthon could not locate the gravesite based on McDuff's directions. About a week later, the CI returned to the prison. This time, Parnell had drawn a crude map of the bridge, highway, and creek and asked the CI to have McDuff point out Regenia's exact location.
¹When told about the

Page 334

unsuccessful search, McDuff replied, "You idiot, it's on the Waco side [of the bridge]." Using Parnell's map, he pointed to a much more precise location and gave very specific directions: Go under and to the edge of the bridge; walk twenty paces towards the center of the bridge; turn left and go forty paces into the woods. Regenia will be under some rocks and an old carpet.

Mike and Matt Cawthon returned to the bridge, and this time, they searched on the Waco side. In the dark of night, Mike stepped off twenty paces under the bridge. He turned left and faced the woods. All he could see were trees and heavy brush, but directly in front of him a thin "cow path" stretched across the creek bottoms under the bridge and into the woods. Determined to follow the directions exactly, Mike turned left and stepped off forty paces. The weeds and brush were thick as he counted steps perpendicular to the bridge. At forty, he stopped and shined his flashlight in a semi-circular motion. Directly in front of him was an old carpetand a pile of rocks.

Mike and Matt removed some of the rocks (actually they were large chunks of concrete) from above the carpet. They could see that the carpet had been there for quite some time. They also saw what was clearly a sinkhole. The next day, Wednesday, September 29, 1998, a forensics team recovered Regenia Moore.

Her hands had been tied behind her back. Her ankles had been bound with stockings and tied in such a way as to allow her to walk. McDuff apparently "marched" her to the area. The remains of her dress were wrapped around her pelvic area. He had laid her on her back and bent her legs so that they pointed to the left. After seven years, Regenia was going home to her mother.

Other books

Crusader's Cross by James Lee Burke

The Company of Saints by Evelyn Anthony

The Jewels of Sofia Tate by Doris Etienne

Homicide at Yuletide by Henry Kane

Dead Dogs by Joe Murphy

All God's Children by Anna Schmidt

Guilty Pleasures by Stella Cameron

A Real Cowboy Knows How to Kiss by Stephanie Rowe

Being a Girl by Chloë Thurlow

A SEAL's Pleasure by Tawny Weber