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Official Silence Spurs Questions, Anxiety A year later, Pittsburg investigators continue clamp down on information about the unsolved murder By Lyssa Mudd and Sam Kennedy Nearly a year after 15-year-old Lisa Norrell's body was discovered in an industrial area of Pittsburg, the police investigation into her murder has produced more questions than answers. Local officials have sealed documents that could help explain why police arrested two suspects on January 6, 1999, only to release one the following day without ever pressing charges against either. And they remain tight-lipped about a connection – if any – between the suspects and Duanne D. Shoemake, a former Antioch fire captain who reportedly provided information to the police about the killing in exchange for the dropping of criminal child molestation charges against him (See INFORMANT). The Contra Costa County District Attorney's office dropped all charges against Shoemake on January 11, but Deputy District Attorney Brian Haynes and Pittsburg police refused to disclose why. "I called the District Attorney myself and asked him," said the mother of one of the girls whom Shoemake allegedly molested. She said she doesn't know why the police haven't made more progress on the murder investigation, or why Shoemake "has been allowed to go scot-free" from the child molestation allegations. The two mothers, who had hoped that the dropping of the molestation charges would lead to an arrest and conviction in the Norrell case, are now outraged by the turn of events in the still-stymied investigation, and have filed a civil suit against Shoemake seeking monetary damages. That civil trial is scheduled to begin in a Martinez courtroom on November 17.
Such official secrecy, and the inaccessibility of what are normally public documents (See HOW-TO), have given rise to questions about why the Contra Costa County District Attorney's office dismissed charges against Shoemake, even though police have yet to charge a suspect with Lisa's murder. At one point police arrested two Pittsburg men, David Heneby and Garry Lee Walton, as suspects in the case. However, police released Walton the very next day and never charged either man with the murder, citing a lack of evidence. Indeed, the mysterious circumstances of Lisa's murder are echoed by strange turns in the investigation itself, which is led by a two-man team of homicide detectives working out of an office in a temporary trailer at the Pittsburg police station. The past year has seen other widely covered killings of young Bay Area women, from San Francisco to Yosemite National Park, eventually result in the arrest and arraignment of suspects. Lisa's murder remains a glaring and painful exception. Many in this working-class town of 54,000 are anxious and upset. They wonder why the case remains unsolved. While the questions are many, the answers are few: How exactly was Lisa killed? What, if anything, did Shoemake know about the murder? And why do the police resist offering even the slightest details about the investigation? The authorities, who have given only a heavily censored version of the coroner's report and have tightly restricted access to search warrants and other records, say they are only doing their utmost to ensure that the probe is not hampered by outside interference. Their requests to seal all public documents usually open to the public have been sustained by Contra Costa County Superior Court judges. At the behest of Pittsburg police, Governor Gray Davis issued a $50,000 reward on August 17 "for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for the murder of Lisa Norrell.” Davis’s proclamation stated, “(We) need corroborating statements from any person(s) with any knowledge of this murder to obtain a criminal filing." The city of Pittsburg added $10,000 to the reward, bringing its total to $60,000. Homicide inspector John M. Conaty, who is leading the investigation with Raymond Giacomelli, insisted, "We believe there are people out there who have more information. And we know where they are centered. Money has been a motivation in the past." Some in Pittsburg worry whether anyone will feel fully safe there until police charge a suspect for the murder. Some say the lack of progress in the probe has resulted in a lingering feeling of insecurity. "I think they [students at Pittsburg High School] feel unsafe since they don't know why it happened to her," said Christine M. Rohde, Lisa's teacher at Pittsburg High School (See TEACHER). "They still talk about it as if it happened a couple of months ago. It's still very real for them, especially since the person who did it is still out there." "I would expect them (the police) not to give any details," Rohde added about the ongoing investigation. "I think they did the right thing." However, she said she felt disheartened when the police did not charge the suspects they arrested. "I don't know what happened there."
Pipes and other prosecutors declined to comment on the request to seal the documents. "I can understand withholding details, but I think they went a little too far by not even releasing the general cause of death," said Ryan Kim, a reporter who covered the Norrell case for the Contra Costa Times from the onset of the investigation. "We pulled out all the stops just to get that." In March, Contra Costa Newspapers protested Superior Court Judge Joyce Cram's order to seal the search and arrest warrants for suspects David Heneby and Garry Lee Walton (See SUBJECTS). Police had served the warrants on January 6, 1999 and released Walton the following day. Heneby remained in custody on charges unrelated to Lisa’s murder. Eventually, the court provided redacted, or censored, versions of these documents as well. Cram also declined to comment on the case, citing the Jurisprudence Canon of Ethics. "Redaction will allow continued protection for sensitive investigative information but will allow the release of information that is not sensitive," wrote Conaty in an affidavit explaining why the police want these warrants and associated documents to remain sealed.
Kim said his newspaper fought the sealing orders because "we want people to be able to put it (Lisa's murder) in perspective. We want them to understand the threat so they don't panic and maybe alleviate their fear. We want to keep them informed." The California Public Records Act, which the state legislature passed in 1968 to guarantee access to state government documents, states, "Mindful of the right of individuals to privacy… Access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state." However, the act spells out limitations to the public's right to know. Documents must be made public unless "disclosure of a particular item of information would endanger the safety of a person involved in an investigation or would endanger the successful completion of the investigation or a related investigation." In high-profile felony cases, law enforcement officials often guard some information from the public to prevent an onslaught of false leads and even confessions, to avoid tipping off suspects, and to give the police an advantage in apprehending and questioning suspects. Investigators pursue hunches and piece together details to solve a crime, and officials could inadvertently corrupt the jury pool by sharing such knowledge with the public, according to George Grotz, a San Francisco-based FBI agent in charge of media relations. Grotz said that every time he talks to the press, he must balance three concerns: "the integrity of the investigation, the defendant's right to due process, and the people's right to know." Furthermore, to protect the privacy of innocent suspects, law enforcement agencies may seal search warrants that fail to produce criminal evidence, he added. If officials do decide to seal documents in an investigation they must bear in mind laws that guarantee open access to public records. "The sealing must be narrow and focused so as not to bury the case," said attorney Terry Franke of the California First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit organization that promotes and defends the people's right to find out and to speak out about matters of public interest. "It's tough to strike a balance," said Conaty, the inspector who continues to hunt for clues in the probe. "People have a right to know about what happens in their community." |
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