Killer Twins by Michael Benson

Author:Michael Benson [Benson, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2015-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

As the first day of the murder investigation proceeded, a cooperative multidepartment force was put together, supervised by Chemung County district attorney John F. O’Mara, and consisting of Elmira Heights police chief Lloyd D. Roberts, Captain Richard E. Boland, of the NYSP Bureau of Criminal Investigations at Canandaigua, and Undersheriff Carl F. Draxler, of the Chemung County Sheriff’s Office. A crime scene unit from state police HQ in Canandaigua was helicoptered in. State troopers from the Horseheads substation were also on the case.

Officer Hartzel, the Heights policeman who notified Edna of Ron Ripley’s death, was now put in charge of finding a safe place for a helicopter to land. He asked what comprised a safe place and was told there couldn’t be any wires around for two hundred feet in any direction. Hartzel figured the airport was a safe bet. He called nearby Mary Thurston Field and was told that they could accommodate helicopters, no sweat. Hartzel notified the state police and then drove to the field himself to pick up the state’s crime scene people.

After Patterson and the other homicide investigators, including the men who flew in from Canandaigua, were through inspecting and photographing the body, Ronald Ripley’s remains were placed on a stretcher, strapped into place, covered with a blanket—except for his square-toed boots, which stuck out—and were carried up the basement stairs and out of the store into an ambulance. The bloody rugs that lay beneath were taken along with the body, because of their strong forensics value. It was about 2:30 P.M.

A photo of the covered body as it was removed on a stretcher—boots visible, poking out from under the sheet—appeared in the next day’s paper. The carriers were a state trooper from the Horseheads substation and an attendant with Erway Ambulance.

At Arnot-Ogden Hospital, the autopsy was performed by Dr. Charles Kuonen, with Chemung County coroner Dr. M. Eugene Pittman assisting and advising every step of the way.

Observing the autopsy were Officer Hartzel, Sergeant Phil Shea, and ADA Ransom P. “Rance” Reynolds. The procedure commenced at 3:10 P.M. After the victim’s clothes were removed, the surgeons counted the wounds and came up with thirteen.

They started with the head. There was a three-inch laceration of the scalp on the left rear of the skull. It penetrated to the bone, was a clean cut, and had bled very little. “This wound apparently occurred after death,” Dr. Pittman said.

A horizontal and jagged laceration and puncture were examined behind the victim’s right ear. This wound had bled much more, and had probably been inflicted while the victim was still alive, Dr. Pittman concluded.

When the scalp was pulled back, it was revealed that behind this wound was a circular fracture of the skull, about one inch in diameter, and not pushed in far enough to have caused damage to the brain. The wound, the surgeons observed, appeared to have been caused by a small blunt instrument, most likely a hammer.

The surgeons moved their attention to the neck, where there were five wounds on the left side, all close together.

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