One Description From Murder

I need to give a graphic content warning for this episode which involves, gore, sexual assault and child assault. It’s 1992, Denise Cali and her husband John Cali are just coming back home from a trip. They step inside their house and at first everything seems normal. But, when Denise walks into the kitchen she notices an open bottle of whiskey on the counter. She’s a little confused, thinking it was weird her husband would leave an open bottle with the lid off on the counter right before they left for their vacation. Denise calls John to the kitchen and asks him if he had left the bottle out. He’s immediately like, “of course not.” That’s when they realize someone must have been in their house while they were gone. They scramble to check the rest of the house but are weirded out by how the burglary was done. They expected the house to be ransacked like you see in the movies, but had they not seen the bottle in the kitchen, it would have taken them some time to realize that someone had broken in. They noticed a dirty shoeprint on their couch and their back door slightly open. John had a collection of something like 7 or 8 guns and when he checked the bag he kept them in, they were all gone. They call the police to file a report. There was no evidence of forced entry, and the pair immediately think they know who could be responsible. They had recently had some work done on their home and they thought it must be the workers they had hired. Police track down the workers the couple had hired but all had alibis and police couldn’t connect them with the crime. With nothing more the couple can do but hope someone gets caught with their stolen guns, the couple resumes normal life. One day soon after getting back to town, they see a disturbing news report in their local paper, and when they see it took place in their neighborhood, their worry climbs. The story is about a 15 year old girl named Charlotte Schmoyer. Charlotte had gotten up early to deliver newspapers. Charlotte biked her route, pulling a delivery cart along. A bit later in the morning of June 9, 1993, a woman along Charlotte’s route was waiting for her daily paper. She looked out her window and saw the newspaper cart abandoned between two parked cars but the delivery girl was nowhere to be seen. Knowing how on task Charlotte usually was with her job, the woman called the police. The police then called the newspaper who said they hadn’t heard from her and couldn’t locate her. A search of the area had begun. She hadn’t returned home which was only blocks away. When police came across her bike and her portable radio, they became very concerned. A few hours later, the police followed a tip to search a wooded area near a reservoir. A trail of blood lead from the parking lot into the woods as well as a discarded shoe. Then a searcher came upon Charlotte’s body buried under large logs and leaves. Police think a sicko took the opportunity to attack Charlotte while she was alone early in the morning. Though no one saw the abduction, a resident in the area called in a tip about seeing a light blue car in the area. Charlotte’s death was brutal. She had been brutally raped during which the attacker stabbed her 22 times and slashed her throat. While scanning the scene for evidence, a pubic hair was found on Charlotte’s sweatshirt and a regular hair on her knee. Without much to go on, the murder seemed to go cold quickly. The attack put the normally peaceful and safe town on alert. Reading this article about Charlotte’s horrible murder, Denise begins to wonder if their neighborhood is taking a nosedive or if it could be the same person that broke into her home. But, since the crimes were so different, she didn’t put much credence behind that thought. What Denise didn’t realize or possibly didn’t connect was an incident that had happened a year before in her area on August 5 of 1992. On that night, 29 year old Joan Burkhart returned to her apartment and immediately had that creepy sensation that she wasn’t alone. The fan she had left on when she had left for the day was turned off and she noticed cash missing from her table. She immediately called the police, worried the robber was still in her home. Police come to her apartment and search inside and out but didn’t come across anyone. Joan lives alone and the incident deeply disturbed her but other than making sure her doors were locked, there wasn’t much she felt she could do. Just 4 days later, Joan didn’t see the man watching her through a window as she began to undress. After changing, she walked to her living room with milk and cookies when a man tore through her front window screen and hit her so hard that her glasses flew off her face and blood splattered the wall. Joan managed to run to a room where she pounded on the wall, screaming for help. A neighbor a floor above her heard the commotion but didn’t do anything. The intruder turned on the tv and blasted the sound to drown out Joan’s screams. He then bludgeoned Joan until she fell to the floor, delivering somewhere about 37 blows. Once she was dead, he either raped or masturbated over her (there were conflicting reports on this) and then left out a back door. Police are called back to the apartment building by a neighbor is calling in to make a noise complaint and is a little concerned as well. Noise or music coming from Joan’s apartment is so loud that it’s shaking the walls and when the neighbor tried to knock on Joan’s door, they couldn’t get a response. Police arrive and notice the front window to Joan’s apartment is open. They gain entry and as soon as they step in, they see blood everywhere, on the ceilings, the walls, the furniture. They find Joan dead on the couch in a large pool of blood, partially clothed. It had been a frenzied killing, but even so, no fingerprints were recovered. However, they did find a pair of pants – I’m assuming Joan’s – with semen on them. Knowing about the break-in just days before her murder, police decide the two incidents were likely related. When looking for suspects, investigators don’t come across any enemies of Joan. They do find that she had recently ended a relationship with a man who was in the state hospital for mental issues. The hospital this ex was staying at was just across the street from Joan’s apartment. This hospital isn’t like a jailed institution. Patients are free to leave the grounds. Joan’s ex, Jackson Lee Calem, wasn’t known to Joan’s friends and family. It seemed she had kept him a secret or just didn’t share anything about him with others. Police interview Jackson and they find him very… interesting. With how vicious the attack on Joan had been, the assailant was sure to have injuries. Jackson agrees to let police look him over for scratches or bruises, but he has absolutely none. He also insists he had been at the hospital the whole time of Joan’s attack which the hospital is able to verify. Investigators learn as much as they can about the other tenants in Joan’s apartment building and neighbors are interviewed, but no leads come of it. The DNA gathered from the crime scene was entered into the DNA database, but there were no matches. It seems this case will go cold much like Charlotte’s that happened a year later. BREAK Just a short time after breaking into Denise and John Cali’s home while they were gone, the same intruder entered the home of a woman he’d been stalking. When he found her asleep upstairs in bed with her boyfriend, he may have been put off on the idea of confronting another male. Possibly wanting to leave with something for his efforts, he creeps around the second floor and finds the woman’s 5 year old daughter asleep. This part is really deplorable so I’ll keep the details to a minimum. The man grabs the little girl, chokes her to unconsciousness and took her downstairs and farther away from her family. She awoke and tried to scream, he sexually attacked her and choked her again, leaving her behind, thinking he killed her. The next morning, the little girl woke up her mom to tell her what happened. The child’s eyes were red from hemorrhages with neck brusing and the family found a screen had been removed from a window. That was the only sign they found of the break-in. Thankfully the little girl survived though I’m sure she was left traumatized for life. Denise Cali, having had a recent break-in at her home, was cautious afterwards, but was sure the burglary of her home had been at the hands of the workers who had done some construction there. Since the police had talked to them, she figured they’d be too frightened to return. Denise’s husband, John bought two more guns since all of theirs had been stolen. One for him and one for Denise. The pair went for gun training and hoped they’d be able to defend themselves should anything more happen. They had good reason to be worried. On June 28, just 8 days after the attack on the little girl, Denise Cali is home alone. John was away at a business dinner that would last late into the night. It was a particularly hot evening and Denise opened a window for some airflow as they didn’t have air conditioning. Denise got into bed, but was having trouble sleeping. Then, she heard something. It sounded something like crinkling paper. She sat up and called out, “who’s there?” hoping that if the burglar had come back, he’d be scared off by realizing she was home. All she got back was silence, though she was pretty sure she had heard someone there. It couldn’t be John since he would have responded. Her stomach drops as she realizes she’s not alone. Denise decides “fuck this” and stands up to leave and go to her neighbor’s house. She grabs her comforter and walks down the hall, but to her horror, a man steps out from a closet with a knife in his hand. Denise immediately tries to run, but he grabs her arm and attempts to stab her in the face, but only cuts her lip. She’s able to knock the knife away from him and struggles to get out the front door. Denise breaks free from his grasp and manages to get outside. She thinks she’s free as she runs away, but as she’s crossing the lawn, she’s pulled back by her hair and is thrown to the ground. She tried to scream, but like in a nightmare, only a gurgle came out of her. Pinning Denise down, he began to punch her and she bit the arm holding her down. The man began to choke her and the last thing she remembers before passing out was hearing the attacker’s belt being removed. Fortunately, a neighbor heard some commotion and turned on an outdoor floodlight which may have scared the assailant away. Denise regained consciousness, crawled back inside and called 911. Police arrive and rush her to the hospital. Her injuries were serious enough that she would require hospitalization and plastic surgery for her cut lip. Nurses process her with a rape kit, though she wasn’t sure if she had been sexually assaulted or not. When John pulls onto his street, he sees police cars and cops walking around all over with flashlights. He sees a bloody blanket in the front yard and rushes to find out what happened. He’s sent to the hospital where luckily, his wife is still alive. Denise’s rape kit comes back as positive and a semen sample had been gathered. Denise is able to give a clear description of a young white man about 5’7, muscular and clean-shaven. The local newspaper reported on Denise’s attack and the fact that she had survived. Denise is sure he’ll be back to finish the job since she would be able to recognize him. The attacker wasn’t just concentrating on Denise though, he was still out hunting. On July 14 of that same year, 47 year old Jessica Jean Fortney didn’t realize she’d been followed home. Jessica lived with her grown daughter, her son-in-law and their 7 year old child. The daughter, her husband and child were all asleep on the 2nd floor of their home with loud fans on, trying to cool of their home. A man slipped into the house, found Jessica in the living room and attacked her, breaking her nose with a weapon. He viciously raped and strangled Jessica and left her blood covered corpse on the sofa covered with a blanket. He then slipped away into the night, thinking he’d gotten away unseen once again. However, there was a witness. Jessica’s grandchild had seen the assault and was able to describe the man to police. Her description matched Denise’s description of her attacker. Meanwhile, the Calis has a security alarm installed and make sure they lock up every night. Then, on the night of July 18, about a month after the attack on Denise, during the dead of night, the new alarm system blares and scares the couple awake. Once again, someone had broken in, but when the alarm went off, he had run out the back door. Because of the persistence of this freak, police are sure the attacker will come back to the Cali’s home. They decided to conduct a kind of sting operation to try to catch the guy. An armed officer is assigned to stay in the home during the night to wait for his return. The plan was to leave only 2 windows unlocked, keep the alarm system off, let the guy come in and then apprehend him. Denise and John were told to stay in their room and told that if they were to hear someone coming to their room without identifying themselves, to shoot through the door. After almost 2 weeks of waiting at the Cali’s night after night, police begin to wonder if the guy had decided not to risk coming back to finish the job on Denise. But then, on July 31 of 1992, at 1:30 am, the officer stationed inside the house hears a noise. It’s someone prying at the patio door. A few moments later, the front door handle jiggled, but it too was locked. The officer’s heart races as he realizes it’s really happening. As he sits in the dark, he can see into the living room which is dimly lit. Then he sees a gloved hand coming in through the window and removes the screen. Officer Lewis got a perfect view of the perp. He was young and on the shorter side just as the victims had described. The window quietly raised open and the man dressed all in black eased himself over the frame and into the room. The officer lets the intruder get all the way into the house so that he can’t just easily take off back out the window. He begins making his way through the living room and heads towards where the officer is hiding. Officer Lewis flips on his flashlight, points his gun and the attacker and yells at him to halt. That’s when the officer sees the perp also has a gun. Officer Lewis shoots and the bad guy leaps away into the kitchen while shooting back at the officer. Denise and John hear the gunfight and they hid behind their bed with their guns at the ready. Officer Lewis had unloaded his gun and could hear the assailant moving towards the back door off of the kitchen. He reloads as quickly as he can while the perp is trying everything he can to escape. He’s wrenching at the back door with such force that even the couple down the hall can feel the walls shaking. Having reloaded, the officer cautiously makes his way to the kitchen. The intruder is gone, and then entire back window is ripped out, with broken glass everywhere. The guy is nowhere to be seen, but he did leave behind blood, meaning he was injured. Officer Lewis is sure he caught the guy with at least one bullet and that he had to have cut himself up crashing through the window. He hopes their one opportunity to catch this demented guy isn’t completely lost. Area hospitals are notified to be on the lookout for a young man with gunshot wounds or lacerations consistent with being cut by glass shards. Hours ticked by as cops scoured the area and waited for a call from some hospital. At 5:30 am, a young man showed up bleeding badly from an arm and a leg at a nearby ER. While waiting to be treated, he must have heard radio chatter about himself, and he tried to bolt from the hospital but was stopped before he could escape. Officer Lewis got to the hospital and made a positive ID on the guy who he’d had a shoot-out with at the Cali residence just hours prior. The man’s name was Harvey Miguel Robinson. Calling him a man was a stretch. He’s only 18 years old and still lives at home with his mother. Harvey seemed like the typical teen, went to high school, had a girlfriend, the usual. He did have a juvie record, but it had been for petty crimes. There was nothing to indicate he would become the nation’s youngest serial killer. Harvey is multiracial, although he normally passes for white; his dad is half black and half Hispanic. His parents had divorced when he was just 3 and he had stayed with his mom, though he idolized his father. Harvey’s first arrest came when he was just 9 and more arrests piled up over the years for theft and property crimes. He was hard for authority figures to handle, and female teachers often felt threatened by him. He wasn’t all bad, though. He was a great athlete and participated in wrestling, cross-country, soccer and football and he was also pretty good at academics. He had even won awards for his essays. Psychologists say Harvey displayed signs of sociopathy at a young age, having trouble distinguishing the difference between right and wrong, hating authority figures and causing fear in those around him. Harvey’s father, who I mentioned he idolized, was also named Harvey. Harvey senior was a violent alcoholic who had been arrested for beating his mistress to death. Harvey Sr. was a jazz musician who was convicted in 1963 at the age of 32 after he beat 27 year old Marlene Perez so badly, she was unrecognizable when police found her body. The weapon used to beat Marlene was a blunt object which police speculated was from a piece of furniture in her apartment. Investigators think knowing this about the father he worshipped, gave Harvey jr the will to kill. The evidence facing Harvey jr was pretty decent. Harvey’s mom owned a light blue Ford Tempo and his blood was gound in it. His DNA matched the samples that had been collected at each crime scene and he had a bite mark on his arm which matched the story that Denise had told about biting her attacker. When searching his bedroom at his mom’s house, police found black gloves and a .380 handgun which was one of the guns that had been stolen from the Cali’s house. They also found bullet casings that matched the bullets that had been fired at the Cali home the night Officer Lewis got in a shoot-out. On December 6 of 1993, on his 19th birthday, Harvey Robinson is charged with all of the murders. During lengthy trial proceedings, it came out that a sneaker impression on the face of one victim was similar to a pair Harvey owned. The hairs found on Charlotte matched microscopically to Harvey, though we know that’s not conclusive evidence of a match. Denise testified as to what had happened to her and was a great witness for the prosecution with all she had gone through with the constant attacks on her home. A psychiatrist for the defense said that Harvey was dependent on drugs and alcohol and had antisocial personality disorder and that he had also experienced auditory and visual hallucinations. Some of Harvey’s family and a friend testified in his defense, explaining he was a good friend, but was disadvantaged having poor male role models who had been criminals. On November 10, the jury sentenced Harvey Robinson to die by lethal injection. Victim’s relatives were crying, Harvey’s mother sat with her eyes tearing up, but Harvey himself remained emotionless. He was imposed with separate death sentences for all 3 murders, but a judge vacated 2 of them on technical grounds. Then in March of 2005, the US Supreme Court rules juveniles 17 and under are ineligible for the death penalty. Harvey had killed Joan Burghardt when he was 17, but that death sentence had already been vacated and changed to 35 to life for that particular crime. He is still serving another life sentence as well as a death sentence for his other murders along with 200 years for rape and other charges. SOURCES: Your Worst Nightmare, S2, E4: While she was sleeping SerialKillerCalendar.com, murderpedia, allthatsinteresting.com Wikipedia.com, criminalminds.fandom.com, crimelibrary.org Teenkillers.org, Show: Dead of Night – episode called Kill me Twice