“Dick’s” leather shop was open from 1977 until around 1981. This gave him plenty of time to become familiar with the neighborhood and the kids who flowed past his shop. He was very comfortable in this setting, and as his business grew, he began recruiting others from the restaurant to assist with his drug trade. Sometime between 1979 & 1980, he expanded his business by selling cocaine. This was more expensive for him to purchase, but it also brought him more income.

He was known to drive down to Florida to pick up large quantities of cocaine. He kept some to use and sell, and dropped the rest off in the town just north of us. In 1980, A chef from the restaurant and “Jane” were sent to pick up a package of cocaine from the Greyhound bus station and were arrested in the process. Somehow, neither of them was ever charged. Her claim was that she was just giving the chef a ride and had no idea that he was picking up cocaine; he claimed he needed the cocaine for personal use due to a back injury. It was no secret to anyone in this town that these two were involved with “Dick’s” drug trafficking, so I will just leave that open to interpretation. This would have been the perfect time to get to “Dick” by offering them a plea deal.

In the meantime, at the exact same period of time that “Dick” shut his shop down, another man opened up a leather shop across town. He too was obviously using this shop for drug dealing because he admitted to a potential female employee that he wanted someone else to run the shop for him. He lured this unsuspecting girl to his home with promises of a job at the leather shop, and instead raped and murdered her. He was under the influence of his own drug supply, and did what many drug addicts do; they commit acts of crime they wouldn’t ordinarily do. In his case, it cost him his life as he was later executed for the crime.

Although there was no longer a leather shop as a front for “Dick’s” drug deals, the pickup and drop off points remained the same, after all, it was a direct path to and from the elementary school. In nine years time, people had become very comfortable with the setting and routine. The drug flow was consistent and there never seemed to be any danger of arrest. This was also a period of time when kids were able to roam free without question or worry.

So, to the point of the matter. I have read the articles and seen the shows concerning this crime. The victim had been home sick from school the day he was murdered, but that evening he needed to go to the store to buy a single pack of gum to sell at school the next day for extra money. On the way back from the store, at the exact spot that drugs had been exchanged for years, two males in a vehicle stopped to talk to him for 20 long minutes.

The theory is that these men wanted to kidnap this 13 year old by first engaging him in a 20 minute conversation. In any kidnapping case I have ever seen, a kidnapping is done quickly before anyone has a chance to respond or notice. These men were completely unconcerned about witnesses driving on the main street past them or pedestrians in the parking lot coming and going.

Furthermore, I don’t know any kid who wants to engage in a long conversation with an adult, much less strangers. There was a reason this 13 year old needed to earn extra money, there was a reason he needed to go to the store that night, and there was a reason these two men met him in the parking lot. I do not believe any of these circumstances are coincidental. I do not believe these men were complete strangers to the area. They were in their comfort zone, and had been there many times before.

What I do believe is that the driver, after 20 minutes of conversation, acted on impulse when he shot and murdered this young man. Whatever happened in that 20 minute conversation, did not set well with the murderer. If the intention was to kill him, they would have done it quickly. If the intention was kidnapping, they would have also done that quickly, and probably not in a well-lit parking lot with street and pedestrian traffic.

I have an artist’s rendition of the alleged killer from the night of the murder and a photo of the person I believe is responsible for this crime. I have run these two pictures past many people who have no knowledge of the crime, and they say there is no doubt they are one and the same person…same haircut, same glasses, same facial features, same eyes. There is a reason no one has come forward…