The Sadist, the Hitman and the Murder of Jane Bashara by George Hunter

Author:George Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2018-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Unraveling

Rachel knew it was only a matter of time before the police found her. So she went to them. She showed up at the Grosse Pointe Park police headquarters at about 6 a.m. ready to tell all. “I wanted them to know who I was, that there was more to the story.”

When she arrived at the police station, the desk officer told her there were no detectives to take her statement.

“It was like six in the morning and we got in a little later,” Grosse Pointe Park detective Michael Narduzzi recalled. “[The desk officer] told her to come back the next morning.”

Detroit police would later complain that their counterparts allowed a potential key witness to walk away without interviewing her—one of many moves by the suburban department that would come under fire by Detroit cops and Wayne County prosecutors. Neither Narduzzi nor Captain David Loch, the two Grosse Pointe Park detectives working the case, had ever investigated a homicide. Yet Loch, the officer in charge of the case, repeatedly refused aid from more experienced law enforcement agencies, a decision Narduzzi would later lament. “We needed help,” Narduzzi admitted. “Our department was not equipped for this whatsoever.”

*  *  *

Bob’s attorney, John Brusstar, arrived at Middlesex Saturday afternoon for a lengthy meeting with his client.

“We had some issues on what course to take,” Brusstar said. “We were going through anyone he had disagreements with, or would have any vendetta with, or anything to help the police.”

Bob suggested a possible culprit: his handyman, Joe Gentz.

Bob showed Brusstar his cell phone call log which indicated Gentz had called him several times. He said Gentz had made “veiled threats” during one of the calls and he seemed upset about Jane’s death.

“There was some sort of agitation on the part of Mr. Gentz … anger,” Brusstar recalled. “He was ranting on the phone. I don’t know if he saw news coverage of the case. He went into a rant about Jane Bashara. It was nonsensical or gibberish as far as [Bob] was concerned, but it seems [Gentz] had seen something on the news.”

Bob suggested Brusstar write a letter to the police, laying out his suspicions about Gentz. Attorney and client drafted the letter—Bob misspelled Gentz’s name as “Goetz”—and when the missive was finished Brusstar promised he’d drop it off at the police station the next morning.

*  *  *

As Bob’s lawyer, friends and relatives walked in and out of 552 Middlesex, they passed a contingent of reporters camped out on the curb. The assignment would become known in media circles as “Bashara stakeout.” The marching orders were clear: Stay put and follow Bob wherever he went.

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