Volume 8, Issue 1:
"DOUBLE CONFESSION"
DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
This is one of the most gruesome crimes we have ever investigatedÉ and now we have no leads.MICHAEL SLADE (V/O)
A murder is a bloody, visceral affair. In a lot of detective fiction, it gets sanitized.NARRATOR (V/O)
On a cool, damp morning, a woman takes her dog for a walk just like she does every day, unaware of the shock she is about to receive.WOMAN
Go on, Tyson. Go on. Tyson? Tyson. Tyson! Where are you going? Tyson! Come on. Tyson! Oh, my God! Tyson! No! Off! Off! Tyson, no!NARRATOR (V/O)
A woman, horribly violated, beaten and brutalized behind the backstop at a suburban playing field. The police arrive on the scene and secure the area.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL (V/O)
Detective Bob Marshall. The victim's head has been crushed beyond recognition with a large rock, the attack so violent, that an indentation in the ground two inches deep was found below the head. Blood spatter was found as far away as 20 feet from the body. And contents from the victim's purse are strewn everywhere around the body. In the parking lot, approximately 200 feet away, we find a grocery list along with dozens and dozens of other scraps of paper, all of which are bagged and seized at this time. Outside crime scenes are always very, very difficult. They are frequented by many people, and it's difficult to differentiate what is and what isn't evidence.NARRATOR (V/0)
The victim's I.D. is among the contents of her purse. She is Gloria Vandov, age 42. Her home address is a few blocks away from the crime scene in a quiet suburban neighbourhood. A horrible murder in an otherwise peaceful community. This bloody crime is right up Michael Slade's alley.MICHAEL SLADE (V/0)
As a criminal lawyer, I've acted in about a hundred murder trials. Now, murder is a bloody, visceral affair. In a lot of detective fiction, it gets sanitized. What I try to do in the Slade books is to capture that bloody quality, because what so many people call "horror," out of my legal experience, I just call it reality.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
We go to the victim's house and speak to her husband, Ron. Ron and Gloria have been married for 19 years and they have three daughters.RON VANDOV
Yes?DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
They're all quite concerned, because Gloria didn't come home the previous night. We break the news to them.RON VANDOV
Dead?DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
They're shocked, they're terribly upset.NARRATOR (V/O)
The husband, Ron, reveals that he and Gloria had gone to a local hotel bar for drinks the night before. He informs the police that he left the bar before her and returned home alone.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL (V/0)
We go to the bar suspecting that the answer to this horrific murder lies there. We speak to a number of bar patrons, and we learn a little bit more about Gloria and Ron. It seems that both of them are alcoholics and that they both go this bar on a regular basis. Gloria was flirtatious and liked to dance with other men.NARRATOR (V/O)
Was the killer in the bar that night?DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
At the end of this first visit to the bar, we're no closer to a solution to the crime. We are able to confirm that Ron had left earlier and that Gloria had remained behind and had been dancing with a number of other patrons. All indications are that Gloria left the bar by herself.NARRATOR
What puzzles the police is that the playing field where Gloria's body was found is not on her way home from the bar. In fact, it's in the opposite direction.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
The autopsy reveals that she was violently raped. As well, there's a running shoe imprint on her abdomen. She had bite marks on her arms combined with the vicious blows to the head. This is by far one of the most gruesome murders we've ever seen.MICHAEL SLADE
Gloria Vandov has bite marks on her body. That's common in sexual crimes. When you're an author, you sometimes have to up the ante, so in one of my novels, Cutthroat, what happens is the killer makes a set of false teeth which mimic the bite marks of a boyfriend, and then he uses them on the victim in order to frame him.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
Saliva residue swabs from the bite marks are taken and sent to the lab. A forensic geologist is given the murder weapon, the rock to see if he can lift any prints off of it, but porous surfaces, such as a rock, are very difficult to lift prints from.NARRATOR (V/O)
What would possess a killer to smash in his victim's face with a large rock?MICHAEL SLADE (V/0)
A rock is a weapon of convenience. It shows lack of premeditation. Perhaps the killer would use it in order to prevent immediate identification of the victim. You drop a rock on her head, you smash her face, you smash her brain, you eliminate her.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
We ask Ron Vandov to come in to tie up some loose ends. For example, the shopping list. Was it his wife's? The answer was no.NARRATOR (V/O)
While Ron Vandov is no help in connecting this stray piece of evidence to the crime, he still has a surprise in store for the detectives.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
When I ask him if he has any idea who might have killed his wife, I am stunned.RON VANDOV
It might have been me.NARRATOR (V/O)
A bizarre twist in the investigation into the murder of Gloria Vandov. The husband says he might have done it... but he's not sure.MICHAEL SLADE
I used spousal murder in several of my novels. In one case, it was actually spousal murder, that was in Headhunter, in which a wife kills her husband and hides his body under the ice. In another one, Hangman, it wasn't. In that case, the killer was setting up the boyfriend to take a fall for the murder. Could Ron Vandov have killed his wife? Yes. But something about it doesn't feel right. The facts just don't feel like what you would get out of a couple of cohabiting drunks.NARRATOR (V/O)
Slade makes a good point. Despite his confusion about certain details, Ron Vandov paints a vivid and disturbing portrait of his wife. He reveals that Gloria was a terrible mother, who constantly yelled at the children and beat them. In the past, Family Services had even taken the children away for a period of time. The police also learn that Gloria was a party girl, who liked to drink, dance and flirt. On one occasion, she'd left a party with "friends" who assaulted her and dumped her on the outskirts of town. Nice friends.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL (V/0)
My impression of Gloria is that she was, in fact a sad and tragic figure. Talking to neighbours, they talk about a woman who always put on a smile, always put on a best presence, but, deep down inside, even the neighbours knew there were some deep-rooted problems.NARRATOR (V/O)
The police question Ron Vandov about the night of the murder.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
Ron recalls that he and Gloria got into a fight when she got home from the bar. Both drunk, they argued.GLORIA VANDOV
I can't stand looking at your creepy face anymore!DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
She hit him. He hit her back. She fell and she didn't move. He thought she was dead. He loaded her into the car and drove her to the park. We aren't happy with Ron's confession. There are too many holes in it. He seems to be guessing at the answers, almost trying to please us. A glaring example he tells us that the murder weapon is a board, when we know, in fact, it's a rock.NARRATOR (V/O)
The detectives take Ron Vandov to the playing field, where Gloria's body was found, and ask him to identify the spot. He seems disoriented and is unable to pinpoint the exact location. He's not too clear on the specifics of the murder.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
When I ask him if he's telling the truth, Ron says that he's doing his best. We don't initially charge him with the crime, as there is very little corroborating evidence. We do, however, hold him for investigative purposes while we attempt to prove his claims.NARRATOR (V/O)
It seems unlikely that Ron Vandov murdered his wife, so what could have possibly motivated him to confess to the violent act?MICHAEL SLADE
If he was the abuser in the relationship and he had heaped abuse on her for a number of years, and then she died, he might feel guilty about it, and this would be his way of atoning.NARRATOR (V/O)
To learn more about Ron and Gloria Vandov's relationship, the police interview one of their daughters. She reveals that her parents had separate bedrooms and fought often-- but Ron rarely ever fought back.GLORIA VANDOV
I've had enough of you, you loser! Look at you! You're not telling me what to do you creep!NARRATOR (V/O)
The daughter also informs the cops that her father gave her a bag of stained and smelly clothes to wash the morning after the murder. Was there blood on those clothes? Maybe Ron did kill Gloria. At the Vandov house, the police check all of Ron's shoes against the print found on Gloria's abdomen. None are the correct size or match for the print pattern.DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
An analysis reveals that the bite marks on the body do not match Ron's teeth. Blood samples taken from Ron don't match the saliva samples taken from Gloria's body.NARRATOR (V/O)
If the footprint found on his wife's body doesn't belong to Ron, and the bite marks aren't his, could he still be the murderer as he claims?DETECTIVE BOB MARSHAL
Ultimately, we release Ron. We don't have enough evidence to corroborate his confession. We don't think he killed his wife, although he still thinks he may have. This is one of the most gruesome crimes we have ever investigated. And now we have no leads. This case is going cold.
