Free Needle Work: Battery Acid, Heroin, and Double Murder by Fred Rosen

homicide cases are common, but torture is unusual. That left police with questions: Who tortured her and why? Was it a sadistic killer or someone trying to elicit information, or maybe some combination of the two? Maybe it was a serial killer that didn’t feel anything but exacted pleasure by hurting women?
    A quick check of law enforcement databases showed no similar modus operandi among active unsolved homicides believed to have been committed by serial killers. Then why was Nancy Billiter tortured before she died? It was up to the primary detective on the case to answer those questions.
    Dragovic picked up the phone and called the detective bureau in West Bloomfield Township. He got on the line with Mike Messina. The cop and the coroner had a fruitful conversation.
    An hour later, Chester Romatowski walked in the doors of the OCSD. Carol Giles was already waiting for him. He took her into the polygraph examining room. He explained how the polygraph worked. He read her the Miranda warning. Carol agreed to waive her rights and signed a statement to that effect. The waiver, though, could be superseded if the suspect verbally asked for an attorney. If that happened, the interview had to cease immediately. If it didn’t, anything she said after that could not be used in court against her.
    Romatowski interviewed her and obtained the same version of the story she had told Shanlian the night before. Finally he hooked her up to the machine. With wires attached to her body, the other ends to the machine, Romatowski explained, “Not telling the whole truth will result in your not passing the polygraph.”
    Suddenly, Carol looked worried. She hadn’t looked good when they started, but now she looked positively sick.
    “Is there something wrong?” Romatowski asked.
    Carol said nothing. It must have felt like the world was closing in on her.
    “Are you withholding any information?”
    Nothing.
    “Do you want to speak to an attorney?”
    “I want to speak to an attorney!” Carol blurted out.
    It was as close to a constitutional crisis as the average cop ever gets. What do you do when the suspect says she wants a lawyer and you know if the lawyer comes in the suspect will clam up? You cannot deny the suspect that privilege. However, there’s nothing in the statute that says you cannot offer the suspect a choice.
    Thinking fast, Romatowski answered, “You may speak to an attorney if you wish or you can speak to a detective.”
    Carol paused to think. Romatowski seemed like a nice guy. So did the cops the night before. They were easy to talk to and she had some things she needed to get off her chest.
    “I want to talk to the detective,” she said finally.
    Messina had arrived and was outside the polygraph room. He was surprised when Chet came out with Carol so quickly. Romatowski introduced them.
    “Mrs. Giles. Hi, I’m Sergeant Messina,” he said with a smile and an extended hand.
    They shook hands awkwardly.
    “Sergeant,” Romatowski explained, “we didn’t do the test.”
    Uh-oh. Messina had learned long ago when you didn’t know what to say, say nothing.
    “Carol didn’t think she’d pass it,” Romatowski continued. “She would like to talk to you.”
    Messina felt relieved. He smiled easily.
    “Why don’t we talk down here?” he offered, leading the way with an outstretched arm to the interview room in the investigators’ bureau down the hall. While Carol seated herself, Messina spoke with Romatowski briefly.
    “Thanks, Chet,” he said and closed the door.
    He sat down across from Carol and reviewed the case file that he had brought with him. He saw that Timmy Collier had been arrested and charged with Nancy Billiter’s murder. Carol’s story was something like, “Yeah, I was there when it happened; He was riled and on coke. He held a gun on me and made me help him in some ways.”
    She was a witness to a murder, Messina felt, and her veracity needed to be determined before they put her on the stand.