Dance of Death (22 page)

MBPD detectives Altman, King and Frontz met with WSPD detectives Mike Rowe and Penny Kearns to prepare search warrants for the Pooles' and Frazier's residence. Detective Rowe would spearhead all police efforts in Winston-Salem and coordinate both searches on June 14.

The Pooles' home at Blue Bonnet Court was turned upside down and inside out as police searched for evidence that would expose Renee's part in the plot. Renee's Daytona Datsun two-door red truck was also searched. Police confiscated, among other things, several minicassette recordings, floppy disks, CD-Rom disks, an IBM computer and two cards in a dresser drawer signed by John.

One of the letters written from Renee to John was penned on Champion Products stationery:

The lawn at Frazier's home on Kingswell Drive had been neatly manicured and a banner of Snoopy hung from the front porch when police arrived. Neighbors remembered first seeing the striking dark-haired Poole at his house as early as last summer and as recently as last week. Robert Probst, Frazier's attorney, was there to challenge the police's entrance at his client's home, stating Frazier's home could not be searched unless he was present. When he was presented with a copy of the signed search warrant giving them the authorization to execute the search, he took a set of keys out of his pocket and opened the door.

The police seized notebooks, photographs, a holster, two cellular telephones, videocassettes and players—anything they believed would provide a link to the suspect and Poole's murder. Detective Altman had not been surprised to find numerous pornographic materials in Frazier's residence and a Sony 8mm camera set up in his bedroom and pointed directly toward the bed.

In June 1997, Thomas Mitchell Parnell, senior manager of employee relations at Champion Products Incorporated, began an internal investigation regarding the theft of a Macintosh computer, a monitor and other computer products from their corporate offices located in Winston-Salem. The system alone was valued in excess of $8,500. During Parnell's investigation, he developed leads identifying John Boyd Frazier Jr., a computer operator with their company, as a possible suspect.

Frazier was questioned the following month about the stolen equipment, but he denied any knowledge or involvement in the theft. He even took a polygraph and his residence was searched with his consent, but the equipment was not found at his home. But during the search at Frazier's home, the police observed a Macintosh computer, a Macintosh monitor and a graphics software program inside an interior room. The next day, Detective Rowe called Champion Products and learned that all of the equipment and software seen at Frazier's home matched the identification of the equipment that had been stolen from their corporate headquarters. A second search warrant was executed and the merchandise was recovered and held until it could be returned to its previous owner. Rowe was informed by the district attorney's office that there would be no local state charges regarding Frazier's embezzlement investigation pending the outcome of his murder trial in Myrtle Beach.

As the investigation progressed, MBPD quickly found out John Boyd Frazier had also left behind quite a collection of bad relationships. One of Frazier's former girlfriends, Wendy Collins, told Detective Altman, “The motherfucker is crazy!” She said about eight years ago, he had beaten her up on several occasions. In one incident, she had received medical treatment for injuries sustained by his actions and that he had pointed a pistol at her. She also said that she had filed charges against Frazier for this incident, but did not follow through with it and the charges were eventually dropped.

Megan Dayton Gilliam had dated Frazier in 1993 and 1994, and said he ran hot and cold. “He could go from the nicest person in the world to screaming and ranting and raving. He could just snap like that.” Near the end of their relationship, Megan said she and Frazier got into an argument while sitting in his car, and when she opened the door to get out, he pushed her out and then came around the car and pushed her down again. She got into her car and drove away and Frazier came after her. She had to call 911 to get him to leave her alone.

Frazier was charged with assault on a female, but the charges were dropped when he begged Megan to forgive him. He was ordered into twenty sessions of a local abuse-counseling program as a result of the charge, but Jenny Hemmrick, a counselor at a domestic-violence-counseling center called Time Out In, reported to police that Frazier had been in counseling there, but had been thrown out of the program. Three months later, Megan filed a misdemeanor stalking charge against Frazier for harassing her, but the judge found him not guilty.

Before their investigation was complete, the police would hear from several other victims of John Frazier, male and female, who would tell similar stories to those of Wendy Collins and Megan Dayton Gilliam.

 

 

The MBPD met with Kayle Schettler, the owner of the gray Acura that Frazier had borrowed the week of Brent's murder, and he agreed to have his vehicle searched and processed for any possible evidence in the case. Kayle was a close friend of Frazier's, but he was upset that his car may have been used in the incident. He said he would help in any way.

A real neat freak, Kayle stated he had cleaned the car after Frazier returned it, because there had been cigarette ashes and gravel on the floor mat. He didn't know if Frazier had cleaned it or not, and had not looked at the odometer to see how far it had been driven. An SBI crime technician, Jerry Webster, processed the car, both inside and out, and checked for blood, hair and fibers, using an ultraviolet light. All areas of the car were checked thoroughly, including the doors, trunk and windows, but the only possible bit of evidence found was a lip print located on the outside of the windshield on the passenger side. The police got very excited when Webster advised they could match this print with one of Renee's lip prints and possibly tie the two suspects together. If the two prints matched, then it would be probable to conclude that Renee had kissed the windshield as a signal to Frazier their plan was still on. It could be the most damaging and diabolical evidence they'd have against her to prove she had conspired to murder her husband.

Renee was asked and agreed to provide samples of her lip imprints, but the SBI could not lift a suitable print from the windshield for comparison. Other than the lip print, that was all Webster could find in or on the car. There was no visible blood droplets, no beach sand in the floor mats, seats, underneath the car, on the wheel wells or inside the wheel rims. In spite of the distance the car was alleged to have traveled from Winston-Salem to Myrtle Beach and back, there was no significant evidence to indicate that.

A check had also been run by the Davie County Sheriff's Office to determine if Frazier had been stopped the night of June 9 or June 10, either in the 1990 Acura or his 1996 Chevy Blazer. When the results of that search produced nothing, it occurred to the MBPD that their only hope for placing Frazier at the crime scene the night of the murder were the eyewitness accounts. On June 16, at the request of MBPD, Detective Rowe was asked to complete a photographic lineup of Frazier and five other subjects.

With the photographic lineup in hand, MBPD contacted their eyewitnesses in North Carolina and Virginia and asked them to pick out the suspect. All but one of the four immediately identified John Frazier as the man they saw dressed in black on the beach that night.

The arrest of the two suspects greatly calmed safety concerns in Myrtle Beach. It was obvious to everyone now that Brent Poole's murder was not a random act of violence, but rather a deliberate and planned act of murder. The city of Myrtle Beach and the Chamber of Commerce assured all tourists vacationing in the Grand Strand they were safe, and there was nothing to fear.

Renee had already waived extradition to South Carolina and her first court appearance in Horry County came quicker than the Pooles expected. On Friday, June 26, 1998, she was herded through the courthouse lawn dressed in prison-issued clothing and shoes and chained to four other inmates. She looked very tired and weary from her short week's stay at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center, in Conway. In her hands, she clutched a fistful of legal papers.

Reporter Adam Shapiro greeted her at the courthouse's front steps, hoping to get his exclusive interview finally.

“Renee, did you lure your husband to the beach?” Shapiro asked, moving in closer as the human train slowed.

Renee looked past Shapiro and smirked, before answering, “All I want to say is I love my daughter.”

The scuttlebutt in the courtroom was that solicitor Ralph Wilson had already been talking about seeking the death penalty in this case. Voters in Horry County had elected Wilson chief prosecutor in 1990 and they had great confidence in the judgment and abilities of the first black prosecutor elected in South Carolina since Reconstruction.

Renee's parents were there to support her, sitting nervously on the end in the front row of the gallery. Renee appeared calm and smiled frequently at them during the proceedings. She had already told her attorneys that rarely did forty-eight hours go by without her thinking about her dead husband. Even worse were the nightmares. Sometimes she got so scared, she would just start crying and shaking. She needed to be around someone who laughed, someone who had hope, but it was impossible inside a jail cell. At night, she would phone her parents and cry incessantly: “Oh, Mom, I thought you were always too strict on me. If I'd only listened and did what you said, I wouldn't be in this mess.”

Randy Mullins, her court-appointed attorney, did not ask for bond, knowing the judge would order a mental competency to determine if Renee was fit to stand trial. He knew the interview and complete psychiatric assessment could take up to as long as six weeks.

Bill and Agnes Poole were also present in the courtroom, making certain those who were responsible for their son's death would be punished. After the judge suspended his daughter-in-law's bond hearing, Bill Poole walked directly toward Renee and looked her in the eye. On the way out of the courtroom, he spoke to reporters about his feelings toward her.

“We just want those responsible for Brent's death to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. With each day bringing new information to light, it keeps the pain right up front. Renee's arrest kind of finalized what we hoped was not true. It has just added tragedy to tragedy. What the police say they have done is the coldest premeditated act that could have ever been committed. In television, you don't see this degree of premeditation and coldness.”

Renee's attorney overheard Poole's comment and warned, “The public should always be skeptical about any prerelease of information. The police may not be telling the whole story.”

If the truth were known, the police
didn't
know the whole story. Their investigation was still ongoing and they still had uncovered no physical evidence linking Frazier to Poole's murder. Investigators were busy interviewing acquaintances and friends, hoping to generate enough information to build a solid case beyond Renee's confession to the police. Forensic teams had been issued search warrants a second time to enter both Renee's and Frazier's homes again and they searched for any connections the two suspects may have had with the murder. They had already seized computer equipment, photographs, negatives, a videocassette, notebooks and miscellaneous papers.

“That's why I am not sending him down to be tried for his life based on the testimony of Renee Poole's word,” Robert Probst, Frazier's attorney, said in his extradition hearing in the Forsyth Superior Court. Probst's contention was that Frazier was not involved in any way and he planned to contest the warrant that called for extraditing him to Conway to stand trial.

Probst already knew there was little chance that his fight against extradition would succeed. It was inevitable. All the MBPD had to do was get South Carolina governor David Beasley to sign the warrant and file it with Governor Jim Hunt, in North Carolina. Finally the papers were served and Frazier appeared with his attorneys in Forsyth County Courthouse for his last court hearing relating to his extradition on July 1, 1998.

Frazier came swaggering into the courtroom, smiling and nodding, with Probst and his newly acquired South Carolina attorney, Morgan Martin. Even though nothing stood in his way to be extradited to South Carolina and face murder charges against him, his defense team was hardly throwing in the towel. They were confident any evidence against him was rather flimsy, and those kind of cases were always tough for the prosecution to win. Dressed in a tiny white-and-black checked sportcoat and a white shirt with an open collar, Frazier wanted everyone to know his attorneys were gaining steam and were eager to prove he had been wrongly accused.

“It's time we go down to South Carolina and start to prove his innocence,” Probst announced. “Even though we think there is a defect in this warrant, we waive his extradition.”

Probst stated the reason they had fought the extradition in the first place was to have the time to hire a defense attorney. They had found that person in Morgan Martin. Martin and his partner, Tommy Brittain, had a reputation as one of the best defense teams in South Carolina and they came highly recommended. Martin quickly revealed to the press how he had earned that reputation.

“John is adamant about the fact he's not guilty. The only reason he's been arrested is because of the statements made by the lady, who is an established schemer and an admitted liar.”

Martin said he came to his conclusion about Renee Poole because of what he had read in the police report. She had changed her story repeatedly.

“I think if you read the warrants and you put together the facts that she has told several different stories to the police about what had happened, it leads you to the inevitable conclusion that she is capable of telling a lie and she has lied to the police.”

Martin made it clear there were no plans for any plea arrangement with the prosecutor to testify against Renee. John was an innocent man, who had been wrongly accused, and was going to South Carolina, hoping for better things. Hoping to win his freedom there.

Frazier's attorneys said it best when they hoped for better things for their client. The press was having a field day with his case, giving it twenty-four-hour coverage, and they were ruthless in their reports on him. Nearly every day, there was a newspaper article or television broadcast that portrayed John as a violent and volatile person, a real Jekyll and Hyde personality. Those who had any dealings with John were saying he was not a peaceful man. Stories of Frazier having assaulted, threatened, harassed or shot at others made the news nightly, attesting to his violent nature.

Tony Allen, of the MBPD, had taken a phone call from an anonymous caller before Frazier had been arrested, which later turned out to be the bartender at the Silver Fox Gentleman's Club, Bruce Wolford. Wolford said he didn't want to give information and the person (Frazier) turn out to be innocent: “I don't want one of my friends really pissed-off at me. You know, thinking I'm trying to do something against him. I wouldn't want to be killed like Brent. You know, if this person done it, then I'm actually nervous about being around him.”

Wolford claimed to be one of John's best friends, but the word was out about a $50,000 reward, and that was a lot of money to him. Real money. Enough to consider turning in his own mother—so, why not his best friend?

Even though John knew Wolford also had had an affair with Renee, he did not let what had happened in the past affect his friendship with Bruce. All the time he was under suspicion, he was counting on Wolford and his wife to standup for him in court. Wolford's wife would later tell police that John had hinted to her he needed an alibi and she could provide that.

Wolford told Allen he no longer trusted Frazier.

“As a matter of fact, I'm sitting here with my shotgun laying beside me on the couch, because I'm afraid if that person done it once, then he'll do it again,” he said.

Wolford informed Detective Allen that he was friends with all three people involved. At one time or another, he had talked with Brent, Renee, and John via the Internet. Said he worked at the Silver Fox, where Renee worked, and that John was a customer there—and that's how he had met him.

“I work with John's computer. He comes around my house. He and Renee came together to see my wife when she was in the hospital. Renee was supposed to have been with her husband. I got e-mails to prove all that.”

“Uh-huh,” Allen said, in an easygoing manner.

“They are actually what you call carbon copies. You know, where you can send an original to one person, then make a carbon copy to a second person. I got one of them printed out right here. It talks about where John is pissed-off because she moved out from living with her husband to move in with him and then went back home to her husband. It also says Renee went back to her husband because he was threatening to take her kid away from her for leaving him. I can read it to you, if you want me to.”

“Sure, go right ahead,” Allen encouraged him.

Wolford read the entire May 31 e-mail. Parts of it, Allen jotted down:

Frazier told Poole he had seen some of the video footage of Bruce and Renee. He said he felt sorry for him believing they could make their “so-called marriage” work. “She's cheated on you with me and others, and me with you, so what makes you think she is still going to be faithful to you?” he posed the question, then answered it with, “She never did stop coming over to my house for the past three weeks.”

At the bottom of the e-mail was an invitation:

A threat.

“Wow!” Allen said in an elevated voice. “Now, you have all this on hard copy?”

“I have this printed in front of me,” Wolford said, like it was the winning ticket in the million-dollar lottery. “I have it still on my hard drive in my computer. I've actually made copies on floppy disks.”

Wolford said he had been conversing with his friends on an Internet program called ICQ. Whenever one of his friends logged in, their name appeared on his buddy list. He admitted he was a do-it-yourself hacker and had confiscated some of John's e-mails. Those messages he had saved on floppy disks and volunteered to send copies to Allen for review.

“Let me boot my computer up and I'll read that dialogue to you where John's saying he's not worried. That he has a gun and tried to talk Renee into meeting him somewhere, but Renee was afraid he was going to kill Brent. I mean, I have that actual dialogue set up, too. To where it's obvious you know who said what.”

“We're definitely interested in what you have,” Allen said.

“I seen Brent last week,” Wolford continued. “Him and Renee came into the club. John was also there. I do know for a fact that Brent and Renee came into the club one night and John walked with a pair of Renee's underwear in his back pocket hanging out, just to sort of tease Brent along.”

“Was May thirty-first the last e-mail that you received?” Allen asked.

“That was the last e-mail that I received from John along this line. I do know John called into work Monday night, June 8, the night before Brent was murdered, and was taking a couple of days off from work.”

“Were you there when the call was made?”

Wolford said he wasn't there when the call was made. “But I do know he called into work and didn't work those two nights. He usually calls me like every day or every other day for help with his computer. He didn't call me those few days, which I found was unusual. And he's made several calls here to my answering machine lately. I haven't been able to actually answer the phone, but it seems like he's wanting to talk to me or my wife about something very important.”

Allen asked him, “How long has this problem been going on between these three people?”

“I'd say at least a month or so. My wife was in the hospital and had her gallbladder taken out. Renee and John came to see her. My mother was there when they showed up and met them. She thought John was Renee's husband.”

Wolford also related an incident where Brent and John had a disagreement at the club. He said it was about two weeks ago that Brent and Renee came into the Silver Fox.

“They had just gotten back together and Brent was really pissed-off. He wasn't talking to anybody. He wasn't even talking to me. When he left, he just happened to run into John in the parking lot. I was being kind of nosy and just asked him what had happened.”

Wolford just happened to have a copy of the conversation and read it to Detective Allen. The e-mail was from John, dated June 4, 1998, at 2:50
A.M
. Bruce had asked John if he was worried about Brent, and he replied: