A Chief of Police and Two Sheriff's

I talked FLF into going with me the very next day after we finished our vending jobs. Since I've already used his CB handle, I'll continue to call him FlyRod. He was an older man, (dead now for years,) and we'd gotten to know each others personalities during the weeks or couple of months (I'm not sure now how long it had been) that we'd talked on CH 34, even though I hadn't know his occupation. I liked him right away. I wanted to know if it was possible for a death certificate to say suicide if there was doubt about how a person died. He told me it was very rare, but possible if there was reason for law inforcement to want to keep quiet the fact that an investigation was ongoing. I told him what I knew and how I'd learned it. I believed he was taking me serious, he listened without interruption. FLF sat beside me, but never said a word. She'd heard it all before, but I hadn't even been friends with her when it all happened. After I'd finished, FlyRod asked a few questions, then told me that investigation files were open to the public. He said all I had to do was go the the Marion Sheriff and ask to see their records on my brothers death. He also explained that if J's body was found in Wyandot County, I would have to go there too. He made me promise to come back and talk once I'd been there.

I walked out of his office in total excitement. Finally I was going to "do" something about all the questions that had tormented me for over three years. I couldn't even wait. It was an hour drive to Marion and another half hour to Wyandot County. I talked FLF into going immediately. We stopped long enough to make sure her kids had a babysitter as they were still pre-school and we didn't expect to be back before our husbands had to go to work. I phoned W to leave a message for TK when he got out of school, and we took off. TK had just turned 12, but the boy was also very mature. He always had been, but what we'd been through had seen to that. I had no qualms about leaving him alone for a few hours.

I didn't want my family to know I had even been to Marion or why. We went straight to the Marion County Sheriff. I told them who I was and what I wanted. The Sheriff talked to me and said he remembered the case and had been one of the deputy's working on it. He took FLF and I to a conference room and told us to wait while he got the files. We waited....... and waited..... and waited. Well over a half hour. It was a strange half hour. Excitement turned into confusion and then trepidation. Something was wrong. I'm not generally a forceful person and I have a strong respect for authority. But, I also have that temper I've mentioned before. I wasn't sure what I was feeling when another deputy finally came back to us. He told us they didn't have any files in Marion county and we would have to go to Wyandot County. He refused to say more. That didn't make sense to me. Hadn't the Sheriff just told me he'd been part of the investigation when J died. And why had the Sheriff talked to us at first and now sent a deputy? Still my respect for authority kept me from arguing. I thanked him and we left.

FLF and I discussed our surprise at the situation as I drove to Upper Sandusky in Wyandot County. I needed her to tell me she thought it was strange too. I didn't know where the Wyandot Sheriff's office was, but as we got into town, I saw the local newspaper office first. We stopped there so I could look up the old story that had upset me at the time. I wanted FLF to see it. How they had printed that my brother was a "loner" who wasn't close to family or friends. (If you haven't read about how my brother died, it was printed on 11/21 through 11/25) We read everything we could find in those old papers. I even found the story about the man who was shot the same week J died. One of my trucker friends had told me he'd overheard at a truck stop that there was a connection between the two deaths. But, nothing I found gave me any connection or answers. I didn't know and couldn't even prove they'd known each other.

Leaving the newspaper office, you can imagine my state of mind. Any excitement was gone. The grief was back just as strong at it had been over three years before when all this happened. But, I was still determined to see that Sheriff and read their files. I hadn't come that far to stop now. FLF just wanted to take me home. They gave me directions at the newspaper office and we headed for the Sheriff.

What a shock that turned out to be. They were waiting for us. I didn't even get a chance to introduce myself. A deputy was waiting at the door and took us to the Sheriff's office. I was told by the Sheriff himself, in no uncertain terms, that the files I wanted were not available. And, even more shockingly, I was told I wasn't welcome in Wyandot county. A deputy was right there to escort us back to the Marion County Line. We were ushered to my car and told to leave. The deputy actually followed me all the way to the county line. Adrenalin must have gotten me that far. Adrenalin or pure shock. Once in Marion County, it all came crashing down on me. I pulled over (while that deputy waited and watched at the county line) and FLF took the wheel and drove me all the way back to Knox County.

By then I'd recovered enough to insist on going right back to FlyRods office. FLF didn't even argue.