The FBI Way by Frank Figliuzzi

Author:Frank Figliuzzi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

Cleveland’s victim specialists also coordinated use of experts on child forensic interviewing when young children had witnessed something no one of any age should ever see.

Jessie Marie Davis, just twenty-six years old, and nearly nine months pregnant, was reported missing from her home in Lake Township, Stark County, Ohio, on June 15, 2007. Jessie’s mom, Patricia Porter, found Jessie’s two-year-old son, Blake, home alone, a pool of bleach on the bedroom floor, and a bedside table upside down. The young toddler told his grandma, “Mommy was crying,” “Mommy broke the table,” and “Mommy’s in the rug.” The nation’s media sensed a gut-wrenching drama unfolding and descended on the bucolic farm fields of Lake Township like an occupying army. The Stark County Sheriff’s Department excelled at the two things its citizens asked of them: professionally patrol the roads, and expertly respond to calls for service. But with virtually no homicide experience and the glare of a national spotlight, they would need help.

If local police or sheriffs need a resource or skill set that the FBI has, the Bureau is happy to help. I picked up the phone, called the chief deputy in the county, and asked him how things were going. He said his department was completely consumed by this one case and had already asked the neighboring county for help with road patrol and service calls. I offered potential FBI support with either the crime scene processing or with managing the media. He said yes to both. The chief deputy and I would become partners until this terrible crime got solved.

Jessie Davis was dating Canton, Ohio, police officer Bobby Cutts. Officer Cutts was Blake’s father and the father of Jessie’s unborn child. At the time Jessie went missing, Cutts was separated from his current wife and had been the subject of domestic abuse and stalking allegations by other women. After a series of FBI supported interviews and polygraphs, Cutts told us where Jessie was. With Cutts riding along in the car, we found Jessie’s remains on June 23, 2007, in nearby Summit County, on the edge of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Now someone had to tell Jessie’s family. That task fell to one of FBI Cleveland’s victim specialists.

I was there, it was rough, but our victim expert delivered the news quickly and concisely to Jessie’s mother and other relatives gathered at a large conference table in a county office. “This is hard news to deliver and hard news to receive,” she told the mother. “We’ve found Jessie.” Jessie’s mother knew exactly what that meant. There was long, loud sobbing. Even the seasoned agents and deputies in the room teared up. The words no parent wants to hear had been delivered. But the relationship between Jessie’s family and the FBI’s victim program would continue as long as needed. Compassion may not have directly solved this case, but it did help the victim’s family along their path to healing and closure. In this sense, compassion helped fulfill the FBI’s broader mission of protecting the well-being of every American.

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