Evil Eyes (30 page)

“The only thing different is the broomstick. Watts buried some of his victims and drowned others. He didn’t much care how they died.”

The cavalcade of cold cases marched onward during the week of November 20, 2002, when Southgate police turned over the Lilli Dunn murder to the Watts task force. Dunn, twenty-eight, was taken from her driveway at 3:00
A
.
M
. on July 31, 1980. Her body was never located. Southgate detective lieutenant Joseph Walsh stated, “This case could be unrelated, but I really don’t think so. It fits the profile, MO, and timeline of Watts exactly.”

By March 2003, the Coral Watts cold-case task force en-

EVIL EY ES 301

compassed police officials from Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, Southgate, and Windsor, Ontario. The total number of cases that were looked at mushroomed to over 115.

For five months the task force attempted to find one iota of evidence to tie Watts to any of the numerous murders. So far, there search had been fruitless.

“The amount of work is incomprehensible,” Donna Pendergast revealed, “but we want to make sure there is no stone left unturned to keep this monster behind bars.”

Larry Fossi had his doubts about the ability of the Michigan officials’ efforts to corral Watts. “I think it is a long shot that in cases that old, with as little physical evidence evidently as remains, that they’ll be able to do it, but I’m glad they’re making the effort.”

Andy Kahan praised the Michigan officials for their efforts. “There’s a lot of promising prospects in Michigan,” Kahan noted. “Their entire state is galvanized to prevent his release.”

The same could not necessarily be said of their Texas counterparts.

About the only case that seemed to have any potential was the Emily LaQua murder in Waller County. Brookshire police chief Joseph Prejean stated, “I just refuse to believe he’s gonna be turned loose.” The chief made sure his department contributed by submitting what little LaQua evidence they had to a state laboratory for DNA testing.

Most authorities, however, assumed the LaQua case to be a long shot. Many believed that Watts assumed the confession of the murder of Emily LaQua was also under the aegis of a plea bargain. It might be one obstacle too large to overcome.

On January 13, 2004, Kalamazoo County police officials announced that they might charge Coral Watts with the 1974 murder of Gloria Steele. Dan Weston, chief of Kalamazoo’s public safety department, stated that charges could possibly be made against Watts as soon as February or March of that year.

Weston refused to divulge what evidence he had against Watts. He did mention, however, that he traveled to Houston in September 2003. He did not elaborate.

The thought that Coral Watts could be brought to justice for murder brought happiness to several people affected by his actions. Among them, Judy Wolf Krueger, who opined, “Anything we can do is better than putting him back on the street.”

Kevin Ford, who was Gloria Steele’s sister’s boyfriend at the time of the murder, stood outside the Ecumeni-cal Senior Center, on the 700 block of North Burdick Street, outside of Kalamazoo, alongside his friend Hazel Brophy, passing out petitions to keep Watts in prison. Ford would later say, “It hurts my heart to know here’s a guy who killed all these women [and he’s] getting out of prison.”

EVIL EY ES 303

Ford added, “I have this vengeance now. It’s not sorrow. It’s a feeling that we have to get this guy, this coward, this woman-killer. We have to keep him in prison. Hopefully, he’s changed his ways, but we don’t need someone to die to figure out if he has.”

Dr. Debbie Somerset, of Grosse Pointe Woods, who taught Anna Ledet at the University of Texas at Galveston Medical Branch, and also lived only a few blocks away from her, wistfully recalled her student’s murder. “I still think about it all the time. Frequently I walk the dog and think, ‘You know, you think you’re safe, but this could happen to you. Anytime, anyplace.’ It’s infuriating to think Watts someday could be out there, out free.”

When Andy Kahan heard about the Kalamazoo authorities’ intentions possibly to pursue charges against Watts in the murder of Steele, he added, “This is our best and only hope [of] keeping him in. It will be total euphoria when Watts is charged.” Kahan seemed relieved when he said, “We’ve never let go of this case, never stopped believing and never stopped pressing for twenty years.”

Others held their hopes in check. Elaine Embrey, a retired registered nurse from Bay City, Michigan, and Suzi Wolf’s cousin, was skeptical. “Until he’s been tried for murder and convicted, we’re just holding our breath that everything will go as we hope it will.”

Guarded optimism peppered with a dash of hesitancy seemed to be the dish of the day.

Judy Wolf Krueger was amazed still at how few people knew of Coral Watts. “There are still people that I talk to that don’t know about the issue here in Saginaw, and it’s received a fair amount of publicity.” Just in case, Krueger wanted to remind everyone that “he’s murdered thirteen women and he’s coming out of jail.

“I would dearly love to be able to shout it from the

304
Corey Mitchell

rooftops that this man is a killer,” she continued. “They should be aware of this, they should be outraged, they should be writing their congressman, the president.”

Evocations of Peter Finch’s climactic “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” speech from the movie
Network
spring to mind.

Elaine Embrey agreed about the necessity of spread-ing the word about Coral Eugene Watts. “All we can do is say that we’ve done our best to get the word out, and one thing we do know is that we have brought this to the awareness of the whole nation.” Indeed, Embrey, along with Krueger, Harriett Semander, Keri Whitlow, Andy Kahan, Kevin Ford, Hazel Brophy, and many others had beaten the bully pulpit until its nose was bloody about the travesty of the imminent release of Watts.

But Embrey and Krueger knew their work was far from over.

“If this guy, by some technicality, gets out,” declared Embrey, “he’s going to have so many people watching him that we’ll be safer than we were before.”

On January 15, 2004, Joseph Foy and his second wife, Laura, sat on their couch in their home in Westland, Michigan.

Foy zoned out in front of the television as he wound down from the previous night’s work at Faygo. He mind-lessly flipped the channels until he skimmed across
The Abrams Report
on MSNBC. He ignored the screen as he got dressed. Suddenly he saw a familiar face, one that had haunted him for twenty-five years. Instantly he knew it was the face of the man who had murdered Helen Dutcher in the alleyway behind his home on East Bennett Street in Ferndale. The face of the man they never caught. Foy depressed the mute button on the remote control.

“Coral Eugene Watts.”

The gentleman who uttered the unforgettable name was Michigan attorney general Mike Cox, who spoke with the show’s host, Dan Abrams. The two men discussed the impending release of Watts.

Cox had another agenda as well. He asked the view-ers if they had any tips on any murders that Watts may have committed.

Foy, who claimed he saw Watts stab thirty-six-year-old

306
Corey Mitchell

Helen Dutcher outside his house near Eight Mile Road, known these days as the run-down area where white boy rapper Eminem sprung from, decided to call the local authorities.

Foy’s claim was deemed credible because he informed authorities the night of the murder, in 1979, and even helped a sketch artist create a likeness of the attacker. He also reported it in 1982 when he saw television footage of Watts after his initial arrest. Authorities at the time told Foy that they would not need to pursue the Dutcher case, since Watts had confessed to at least a dozen other murders.

On March 4, 2004, Michigan attorney general Mike Cox issued a statement at a hastily arranged press conference that shocked everyone. Flanked by Ferndale police detective George Hartley, Assistant Attorney General Tom Furtaw, and state police captain Annemarie Gibson, Cox announced that the state of Michigan would bring a murder charge against Coral Watts in Ferndale District Court in the Helen Dutcher case.

“This man is a killing machine who has admitted he will kill again,” Cox announced before a throng of journalists. “The specter of Watts’s release has haunted Michigan families, the nation, and untold victims and their families for too long.”

Cox praised the numerous police officials who participated in this monumental decision. “These charges are the result of countless hours by several, persistent law enforcement agencies all intent on protecting the public. It is a credit to my staff at the attorney general’s office, the Michigan State Police, the Ferndale Police Department, Texas law enforcement officials and other law enforcement agencies, that these twenty-five-year-old charges were able to be sworn out.”

308
Corey Mitchell

Cox assured all that the Watts case was number one on his to-do list. “The full resources of my office will be directed to ensure justice is delivered to the numerous victims and their families. The attorney general’s office is committed to solving the most complex crimes in Michigan, protecting citizens from Michigan’s most violent criminals, and becoming a home to the best practices in law enforcement.”

Cox spoke about the witness Joseph Foy, but did not mention him by name. Officials planned to keep the lid on Foy’s identity until it was time for a pretrial hearing, when Foy would testify.

“The witness first came forward years ago,” Cox informed, attempting to dissuade the media from assum-ing that the attorney general merely was trying to grandstand politically by bringing down the country’s most prolific serial killer. “But I don’t know why it did not go anywhere at the time.”

One state official, when asked about the possibility of finding Watts guilty, replied, “It’s a strong case. We’re not going to bring a case to lose it.”

Judy Wolf Krueger could not believe what had happened. “I couldn’t be more encouraged right now,” she said of the indictment. “This is the result of a lot of hard work from Michigan to Texas. Coral Eugene Watts shouldn’t be let out of prison.”

Jeanne Clyne’s widower, Michael Clyne, was relieved, but skeptical, to hear that Watts finally had been charged with murder. “I hope and pray they have enough of a case to convict him. The man is very sick. I don’t know what justice means in this case. I am just concerned he is not released.”

Back in Texas, the general mood was ecstatic.

“It’s just a big relief,” stated Melinda Aguilar, who,

EVIL EY ES 309

along with Lori Lister, escaped Watts’s final attack. “I know that he said he always went after the evil eyes, but in my eyes, he is the evil one.”

Andy Kahan was elated. “It’s an awesome, euphoric feeling. . . . One of the most prolific killers in our country’s history has now had a murder charge filed on him.” The advocate noted the absurd irony. “The only thing that gets better than that is the ultimate conviction.

“We always felt that Michigan was our best and only hope, and if Michigan didn’t come through, Watts would be released.”

Dianne Clements, president of Justice For All Alliance, exclaimed, “Victims did this!”

Joe Tilley, Linda Tilley’s father, calmly hoped that “they can do what they think they can do. It’s going to save the state of Texas from a huge embarrassment.”

JoAnna Nicolaou, Elena Semander’s youngest sister, spoke of the event that brought the case to national attention. “It wasn’t just a memorial service,” she stated, referring to the gathering at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, back in August 2002, “it was a call to action.”

The effects rippled eastward as well. From her home in Massachusetts, Jane Montgomery, mother of Elizabeth Montgomery, spoke about the charge against Watts: “There is no need for the pain this animal has caused. He has no right to go free.”

Montgomery, however, reserved her enthusiasm. “You can’t assume a damned thing. I know what I’ve gone through, what I’m still going through. To think that some other mother might suffer the same thing is such a sickening, frightening feeling, it turns my stomach. I hope he’s never released.”

Attorney General Cox also announced that Watts’s trial would take place in Oakland County Circuit Court,

310
Corey Mitchell

near Pontiac, Michigan. The trial would take place later that year.

Later that same day, on a smaller scale, the Kalamazoo Cold Case Unit and assistant prosecutor James Gregart also stated that they were seriously considering charging Watts with the murder of Gloria Steele. After everything that had already occurred over the years in the Watts case, Kalamazoo officials were taking no chances.

Gregart relayed that his office would “see if there is suf-ficient admissible evidence to initiate a criminal homicide prosecution.”

Public Safety Chief Dan Weston added, “I have every confidence that the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office will come to the appropriate decision, and whether they decide to issue any warrants or not, we will be happy with whatever decision they make, knowing that we have done the very best investigation possible.”

Gregart was not sure how soon—or if—charges actually would be brought against Watts in the Steele case. “It will be as soon as reasonably predictable. It’s at the top of our radar screen.”

Harriett Semander, who had led the charge for twenty years to keep Coral Eugene Watts imprisoned, was cau-tious about getting her hopes up too high for the Dutcher case. “I’m very excited they’re pursuing the murder charge. We’ve waited a long time for this.” She cau-tioned, however, that “the thing is, he’s not convicted yet.”

On April 1, 2004, April Fools’ Day, Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm (D) proved that the case of Coral Eugene Watts was no joke. The governor sent an official extradition request to Texas governor Rick Perry (R), for-mally demanding that Watts be transferred to Michigan to face a jury in the murder of Helen Mae Dutcher.