given him the knife earlier that day, telling him he should have it in case he ever needed it.
Nick confessed not only to the attack on Loja and Lucero but also to a different one that same day. On Saturday morning, he said, at around 5:00 a.m., along with Jordan and another young man also named Nick, they had come upon a Hispanic man and begun to insult him, hoping for a fight. The man had broken a glass bottle and gone at them. Nick, who carried a pellet pistol, had fired it at the ground three times and then driven off with the others. He had then thrown his pistol in the woods, thinking the loud noise and the commotion would attract cops. In fact, police stopped Jordan’s SUV near a bodega, but no one was arrested. Later, Nick had gone back to the woods to retrieve his pistol.
Jordan gave the same version of the events as the others, and even corroborated Nick’s account of the earlier attack, adding that he too had fired his BB gun at the man with the broken bottle. Like Nick, he had thrown the gun into the woods by the train tracks. When the police came and questioned them, they lied and said they hadn’t done anything. The police took their names and told them to go home. Later, Jordan went back to the woods to get his BB gun. As he spoke to detectives that night, the gun was still in his car.
Chris gave the shortest statement of all seven. His version of events matched that of the others in all but one point: he was the only one in the group who said he had never hunted “beaners” before.
Six and a half hours after he left Jeff alone in the interview room,McLeer went back in and asked Jeff if he would be willing to draw a sketch of the events surrounding the stabbing. Jeff agreed and drew a childish and chilling portrait of the killing. He used two stick figures to indicate where the attack had started and where it had ended. The last stick figure has an explanatory note: “got stabbed by me.”
After Jeff finished the drawing, McLeer asked him if he would allow them to videotape his statement, with a district attorney, not a detective, asking questions this time. Jeff agreed to that too, but then he seemed to have doubts and asked McLeer if he thought it was a good idea. McLeer understood Jeff was asking him for advice. It was the first time that night when Jeff had shown a degree of vulnerability. He seemed to be asking for the guidance of an adult. McLeer wouldn’t advise him, and so Jeff finally did what his father had so many times before drilled him to do: he asked McLeer if he could call his dad.
On Sunday morning, Bob Conroy was worried. A couple of hours earlier, Matt Cleary had called to say that Jeff had not spent the night in his home, as he had been supposed to do. What do you mean he’s not there? Conroy had asked, a surge of panic seizing his body as he remembered that he had fallen asleep without having heard from Jeff. Well, where could he be? Cleary had no idea, and, what’s more, his sons had texted Jeff the night before and had not heard from him either. 17
Conroy called his wife, who had gone to church, and asked her if Jeff had called her. He had not. Conroy called three local hospitals and the police station, where, unknown to him, his son was still being interviewed. Whoever answered the phone told him that there was no one there by the name of Jeff Conroy. Worried, Conroy’s wife came home, and Conroy went outside to smoke a cigarette. That’s when the phone rang.
We have Jeff in custody, Detective McLeer said. He’s charged with manslaughter.
From the shock of hearing the news, Conroy fell and almost fainted. He was confused and angry and wasn’t even sure who was calling him or who had died. Conroy couldn’t comprehend that his son had been charged with killing a person. He placed his hand on his chest, near his heart, and willed himself to remain calm and coherent. Then he asked the detective to let him speak with his son.
At Jeff’s request, a phone had been
Nick confessed not only to the attack on Loja and Lucero but also to a different one that same day. On Saturday morning, he said, at around 5:00 a.m., along with Jordan and another young man also named Nick, they had come upon a Hispanic man and begun to insult him, hoping for a fight. The man had broken a glass bottle and gone at them. Nick, who carried a pellet pistol, had fired it at the ground three times and then driven off with the others. He had then thrown his pistol in the woods, thinking the loud noise and the commotion would attract cops. In fact, police stopped Jordan’s SUV near a bodega, but no one was arrested. Later, Nick had gone back to the woods to retrieve his pistol.
Jordan gave the same version of the events as the others, and even corroborated Nick’s account of the earlier attack, adding that he too had fired his BB gun at the man with the broken bottle. Like Nick, he had thrown the gun into the woods by the train tracks. When the police came and questioned them, they lied and said they hadn’t done anything. The police took their names and told them to go home. Later, Jordan went back to the woods to get his BB gun. As he spoke to detectives that night, the gun was still in his car.
Chris gave the shortest statement of all seven. His version of events matched that of the others in all but one point: he was the only one in the group who said he had never hunted “beaners” before.
Six and a half hours after he left Jeff alone in the interview room,McLeer went back in and asked Jeff if he would be willing to draw a sketch of the events surrounding the stabbing. Jeff agreed and drew a childish and chilling portrait of the killing. He used two stick figures to indicate where the attack had started and where it had ended. The last stick figure has an explanatory note: “got stabbed by me.”
After Jeff finished the drawing, McLeer asked him if he would allow them to videotape his statement, with a district attorney, not a detective, asking questions this time. Jeff agreed to that too, but then he seemed to have doubts and asked McLeer if he thought it was a good idea. McLeer understood Jeff was asking him for advice. It was the first time that night when Jeff had shown a degree of vulnerability. He seemed to be asking for the guidance of an adult. McLeer wouldn’t advise him, and so Jeff finally did what his father had so many times before drilled him to do: he asked McLeer if he could call his dad.
On Sunday morning, Bob Conroy was worried. A couple of hours earlier, Matt Cleary had called to say that Jeff had not spent the night in his home, as he had been supposed to do. What do you mean he’s not there? Conroy had asked, a surge of panic seizing his body as he remembered that he had fallen asleep without having heard from Jeff. Well, where could he be? Cleary had no idea, and, what’s more, his sons had texted Jeff the night before and had not heard from him either. 17
Conroy called his wife, who had gone to church, and asked her if Jeff had called her. He had not. Conroy called three local hospitals and the police station, where, unknown to him, his son was still being interviewed. Whoever answered the phone told him that there was no one there by the name of Jeff Conroy. Worried, Conroy’s wife came home, and Conroy went outside to smoke a cigarette. That’s when the phone rang.
We have Jeff in custody, Detective McLeer said. He’s charged with manslaughter.
From the shock of hearing the news, Conroy fell and almost fainted. He was confused and angry and wasn’t even sure who was calling him or who had died. Conroy couldn’t comprehend that his son had been charged with killing a person. He placed his hand on his chest, near his heart, and willed himself to remain calm and coherent. Then he asked the detective to let him speak with his son.
At Jeff’s request, a phone had been
Similar Books
