Masters of True Crime by R. Barri Flowers

Author:R. Barri Flowers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Prometheus Books

The quotations contained in this story came from the first-degree murder trial of Ryan Hare in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the Wake County Courthouse. Testimony began on September 13, 2010, and Hare was convicted on September 24, 2010. The author covered the trial as a news reporter for WRALTV and transcribed the testimony herself. Further quotations came from the sentencing hearing of Allegra Dahlquist, Aadil Kahn, and Drew Shaw, which occurred on November 15, 2010, at the same location.

Ever since the death of her husband, Jeanne Tovrea, age fifty-five, lived in the million-dollar Lincoln Hill Estates gated community. Situated on the mountainside just north of central Phoenix, the estates offered a panoramic view of the metropolis below. Barry Goldwater, long-time US senator and presidential candidate, lived not far away. The estates were secure, the nights peaceful, and, in April 1988, the searing summer heat had yet to begin.

The very wealthy widow of millionaire war hero and cattle baron, Ed Tovrea, Jeanne lived alone, though not without trepidation. A guard manned the entrance to the estates twenty-four hours a day, and her house was securely wired against intruders.

Not long after midnight that April Fools' Day, an intruder slipped past the guard and made his way unobserved to Jeanne's home. He then quietly removed the twenty-four-inch kitchen window, the only entrance to the house not wired to the security alarm system, and crawled in. He traversed the darkened house to Jeanne's bedroom. There he jerked the telephone cord from the wall, seized a pillow, placed it over the sleeping woman's head, and fired five shots at point-blank range with his .22-caliber pistol. The killer searched the room and rummaged through her jewelry box and purse but took nothing before fleeing.

Inexplicably, he bolted through the front door, triggering the alarm at 12:45 a.m. He left the estates as unobserved as when he'd arrived.

Within minutes, Phoenix police units responded to the alarm. A dog from the K-9 unit was sent into the house first. Two officers followed closely behind. When the dog began scratching at the master bedroom door, the officers cautiously entered. The dog immediately jumped on the bed and pawed at the covering. When the officers pulled back the bloody sheet, there lay Jeanne's dead body.

The first impression of the scene for the responding homicide detectives was that of a burglary gone awry. But close examination disclosed that nothing of significance was missing; indeed, it appeared that nothing at all had been taken. The signs of theft looked increasingly staged.

Then there was the question of how the murderer had gained entrance. He'd used the only window not wired to the security system. He was either very clever in making such a determination, or he knew about the window before he got there.

The shooting itself was also inconsistent with the burglary-gone-bad scenario. In such a situation, Jeanne would have startled the intruder and been shot while standing up or perhaps after a struggle. The fact that the intruder had placed a pillow over

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