No Regrets and Other True Cases
Ann Rule
PRAISE FOR ANN RULE AND HER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERS
GREEN RIVER, RUNNING RED
“[Rule] conveys the emotional truth of the Green River case.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Riveting. . . . Rule infuses her case study with a personally felt sense of urgency.”
—People
“Perhaps Rule’s finest work . . . holds the reader in a firm grip.”
—Statesman Journal (Salem, OR)
“Rule gives full, heartbreaking emotional weight to what America’s most notorious serial killer truly wrought. A must for the author’s legions of fans.”
—Booklist
HEART FULL OF LIES
“A convincing portrait of a meticulous criminal mind.”
—The Washington Post
“Rule knows a good drama when she finds one....A real-life soap opera.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Fascinating and strange.... The sheer weight of [Ann Rule’s] investigative technique places her at the forefront of true-crime writers.” —Booklist
EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE
“Affecting, tense, and smart true-crime....A case study of the classic American con man crossed with the more exotic strains of the sociopath.”
—Washington Post Book World
“Ann Rule has outdone herself.”
—The Orlando Sentinel (FL)
“Absolutely riveting.... Rule excels at painting psychologically perceptive portraits.”
—Booklist
. . . AND NEVER LET HER GO
“Truly creepy....This portrait of an evil prince needs no embellishment.”
—People
“[Rule] might have created her masterpiece.”
—The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
“Even crime buffs who followed the case closely [will] gain new insights.”
—The Orlando Sentinel (FL)
“[Rule] tell[s] the sad story with authority, flair, and pace.”
—The Washington Post
BITTER HARVEST
“A must-read story of the ’90s American dream turned, tragically, to self-absorbed ashes.”
—People
“Impossible to put down....A tour de force.”
—Kirkus Reviews
WORTH MORE DEAD
And Other True Cases
Ann Rule’s Crime Files: Vol. 10
“Chilling cases.... A frightening, fascinating rogue’s gallery of mercenary murderers.”
—Mystery Guild
KISS ME, KILL ME
And Other True Cases
Ann Rule’s Crime Files: Vol. 9
“A haunting collection...about love and obsession turned deadly. . . . As compelling as a good novel.”
—Publishers Weekly
LAST DANCE, LAST CHANCE
And Other True Cases
Ann Rule’s Crime Files: Vol. 8
“Spine-tingling.... Rule’s portrait of Dr. Anthony Pignataro, a diabolical cosmetic surgeon, could win a place in any insomniac’s heart.”
—Barnesandnoble.com
EMPTY PROMISES
And Other True Cases
Ann Rule’s Crime Files: Vol. 7
“Fascinating, unsettling tales....Among the very small group of top-notch true-crime writers, Rule just may be the best of the bunch.”
—Booklist
Books by Ann Rule
Green River, Running Red
Heart Full of Lies
Every Breath You Take
...And Never Let Her Go
Bitter Harvest
Dead by Sunset
Everything She Ever Wanted
If You Really Loved Me
The Stranger Beside Me
Possession
Small Sacrifices
Ann Rule’s Crime Files:
Vol. 11: No Regrets and Other True Cases
Vol. 10: Worth More Dead and Other True Cases
Vol. 9: Kiss Me, Kill Me and Other True Cases
Vol. 8: Last Dance, Last Chance and Other True Cases
Vol. 7: Empty Promises and Other True Cases
Vol. 6: A Rage to Kill and Other True Cases
Vol. 5: The End of the Dream and Other True Cases
Vol. 4: In the Name of Love and Other True Cases
Vol. 3: A Fever in the Heart and Other True Cases
Vol. 2: You Belong to Me and Other True Cases
Vol. 1: A Rose for Her Grave and Other True Cases
Without Pity: Ann Rule’s Most Dangerous Killers
The I-5 Killer
The Want-Ad Killer
Lust Killer
An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS
A Pocket Star Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Copyright © 2006 by Ann Rule
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 1-4165-3127-0
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To the Puget Sound Pilots’ Association, which has
provided safe passage through Northwest waterways
for ships, their passengers, and their crews since 1935.
They take care of their own—never more so than in their
long search for the old man who was a pilot on the
Sound for more than forty years. He guided hundreds
of ships safely into port; when he himself was lost, the
Puget Sound pilots were the first to sound the alarm.
Acknowledgments
Readers and other writers often ask me how and where I research the details for my true-crime books. I must admit that I start each book with the sure knowledge that I will never discover enough to reveal all the facets of the cases I choose. But I have learned to plunge in, semisecure that I will find the public records I need, and that those who were involved in the investigation and prosecution of suspects and witnesses will talk with me. I go to the places where the often-shocking events took place, take photographs (the blurriest photos in the picture section are almost always mine), and talk to the people who lived through the cases.
In the end—at least so far—I find I do have a book, after all. And I sincerely thank those who have shared their memories with me, memories that many would choose not to access again. So many people went out of their way to help me in this book. I hope they know how much their input has meant to me!
Six different cases make up No Regrets. The names that follow begin with “The Sea Captain” and continue in the order of the half dozen cases.
Thank you to: San Juan County Deputy Sheriff (retired) Ray Clever, Barbara Clever, San Juan County Deputy Sheriff (retired) Joe Caputo, San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney (Criminal) Charlie Silverman, Washington State Supreme Court Judge Greg Canova, Dr. Robert Keppel, Superior Court Clerks Mary Jean Cahail, Connie Burns, and Karen King, San Juan Historical Society, Jan Fleming, Kris DayVincent, authors Al Cummings, John Saul, Michael Sack, Gordon Keith, Captain Richard McCurdy, President, Puget Sound Pilots’ Association, Blood Pattern Expert Rod Englert, juror number one, Lisa Boyd, Frances Bacon, the San Juan Journal, the Seattle Weekly, the Seattle Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“It (Ain’t) Hard Out There for the Pimps.” During my days as a Seattle police officer, I worked
beside the Crimes Against Persons Unit’s detectives. They relived this remarkable investigation for me: Joyce Johnson, Noreen Skagen, Beryl Thompson, Pat Lamphere, John Nordlund, Larry Gordon, and Danny Melton. As an author, I rode shotgun with the Seattle Fire Department’s Medic One paramedics for forty-eight hours. I learned how they can make the difference between life and death—as they did in this case!
“The Runaway and the Soldier.” Thanks to the Bellevue Police Department, this case that began with scattered human remains was solved. The investigators went over the case with me: Chief of Police Don Van Blaricom and Detectives Roy Gleason, Gary Trent, Marv Skeen, and Patrol Officer Bob Littlejohn.
“The Tragic Ending of a Bank Robber’s Fantasy.” The Seattle Police Department’s Homicide Unit worked around the clock to find a killer who was escaping to paradise. My gratitude to George Marberg, Al Gerdes, Gary Fowler, Nat Crawford, John Gray, Bob Holter, Al “Beans” Lima, Jerry Yates, John Nordlund, Mike Tando, John Boatman, and Don Cameron.
“A Very Bad Christmas.” This story comes from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Portland, Oregon. Detective Orlando “Blackie” Yazzolino of the Homicide Division related it to me, and Robert Pinnick and Bob Zion of the Scientific Investigation Unit told me about how they preserved the physical evidence that helped to identify both the victims and the killer.
“To Save Their Souls.” My appreciation goes to Detective Archie Pittman of the Pasco Police Department for his trial testimony, and to the late Dorothy Allison of Nutley, New Jersey, whose psychic visions were stunningly accurate.
“...Or We’ll Kill You.” My appreciation goes to “Kari,” who had the courage to tell me the story of her terrifying brush with death as the victim of a kidnapping and sexual attack.
In this, the eleventh edition of my Crime Files, I continue my fortunate association with the team that helps me get the words from my computer into a real live book: my publisher, who believes in me, Louise Burke; my editor Mitchell Ivers, who edits so gently and diplomatically, but effectively, that my writer’s pride emerges unscathed; Josh Martino, perhaps the most efficient and dependable editorial assistant in publishing; Felice Javit, the patient attorney who “has my back” on legal issues; my publicist Melissa Gramstad; production editor Stephen Llano; and art director Lisa Litwack.
I depend on Gerry Brittingham Hay, my “first reader,” who grabs my manuscript while it is still smoking from the printer, reads it immediately, and tells me unflinchingly whether it holds her interest—or not. She has packed hundreds of pages to take on her vacations, to the beauty parlor, and to read by flashlight. Thanks, Gerry!
To the only literary agents I’ve ever had. All on a handshake, we began a completely symbiotic relationship. I appreciate them more with every book: Joan and Joe Foley.
I’ve been very lucky to have the support of my children throughout the writing years: Laura, Leslie, Andy, Mike, and Bruce. The younger generation is growing. Beyond Rebecca, Matthew, Olivia, and Tyra, we have two new additions: Logan and Miya Dawn.
While I have been hunched over my computer, my garden and house have been saved from falling apart by Kevin Wagner, Matt Parker, Justin Robison, and Perry Wilson. And, last, I must acknowledge a whole new support group, which appeared almost magically on the guestbook of my website pages at www.annrules.com. The ARFs (who came up with their own name for “Ann Rule Fans”) are an extremely lively group who welcome newcomers. They are also Ann Rule Friends! Please come and visit.
Contents
Preface
The Sea Captain
It (Ain’t) Hard Out There for the Pimps
The Runaway and the Soldier
The Tragic Ending of a Bank Robber’s Fantasy
A Very Bad Christmas
To Save Their Souls
. . . Or We’ll Kill You
Photographic Insert
Preface
Most of us have made decisions that we wish we could go back and change. Sometimes it is for something we have done and then again, we may regret something we should have done and didn’t. “Conscience doth make cowards of us all,” Shakespeare once wrote, and like scores of the Bard’s quotes that have stood the test of time, this is as true today as it was hundreds of years ago. Even if we are the only ones who know our secrets, that little voice inside reminds us. That nagging voice brings back memories that are painful to people who have empathy for others’ feelings and who do have consciences. But not everyone does. For some, yesterday is gone and entirely forgettable, the slate is wiped clean, and they never look back. Some of the most horrifying crimes I have ever chronicled were committed by people for whom another’s life is no more important than that of a flea or a crushed rose.
In No Regrets, I write about a number of murderers who didn’t feel at all sorry for what they did to further their own purposes, but I also tell some heart-wrenching stories of people who had profound regret. They could technically be called killers, although I believe they suffered more than their “victims.” There are even a few cases here where one might say the so-called victims reaped grim rewards they deserved. Over the many years I have written about actual criminal cases, I have learned that there is nothing about any homicide that can be taken for granted. Just as human behavior is unpredictable, so are the many views of each murder. Like snowflakes, no two cases are just alike, and some are shockingly unique.
I have written more than a thousand articles and twenty-six books about murder. I have never forgotten any of them, although I must admit that sometimes names escape me. This is Volume 11 of my Crime Files series. Only those stories that have stood the test of time make the cut when I’m selecting cases.
That is true for “The Sea Captain,” the book-length case that comes first, and for all the shorter cases that follow:
“It (Ain’t) Hard Out There for the Pimps,” “The Runaway and the Soldier,” “The Tragic Ending of a Bank Robber’s Fantasy,” “A Very Bad Christmas,” “To Save Their Souls,” and “. . . Or We’ll Kill You.”
A few of these cases reduced me to tears, and, frankly, some frightened me. Even though a number of years have passed since I first heard their details played out in courtrooms, it hasn’t been easy to live through them again. My own emotional reactions came tumbling back as I visited them once more, surprising me with their intensity. There are other cases here that I knew of, but had never before researched or written. And one came to me through an email after I had already started writing this book.
In the end, there were myriad motivations that sparked murder: greed, lust, jealousy, naked masochism, fulfillment of fantasy, insanity, and—strangely—even love.
The Sea Captain
Sometimes it takes a hundred years or more for a true story to be told and retold so often that it is eventually tinged with enough rumors and unsubstantiated “facts” to make it barely distinguishable from fiction. Long-ago murder cases have been transformed into ghost stories, and real homicides become folk tales, both categories so often repeated that it’s hard to know what to believe. A very few move rapidly into the folklore category. The case that follows is one of those. It isn’t that old in years, but the bizarre circumstances of the case made it prime material for half-truth/half-fiction: the identities of the victim and the purported killer, the isolated location of the crime, the modus operandi, and the lingering mystery that continues to this day.
Although there is nothing vaguely humorous about the disappearance of eighty-year-old ship’s marine pilot Captain Rolf Neslund, his vanishing into the mists of Washington State’s Lopez Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca is the stuff of urban legend. Some people found this story comical, while others were sickened by the rumors of what might have happened.
Rolf Neslund made headlines several times in his long life, and he had more close friends than most men. He appeared to be utterly indestructible: a man who would go on forever—the kind of guy who would surely appear one day in his local newspaper blowing out a hundred candles
on a birthday cake. But if Captain Rolf is blowing out enough candles to start a fire, he isn’t doing it on Lopez Island.
For all of his life, Rolf Neslund had been extraordinarily lucky, escaping death or serious injury any number of times. It would seem that he had paid his dues in life and certainly deserved the quiet pastoral life he enjoyed in his eighth decade.
No one knows for sure where Rolf is, although a court of law has ruled that he is, indeed, dead. And well he may be, possibly from homicidal violence.
One
Even his actual birthdate has a sense of mystery about it. However, most people agree that Rolf Neslund was born at the turn of the twentieth century on November 3, 1900, in Konigsborg, Norway, far away from Lopez Island. His family’s business was in shipping, and Rolf was one of three sons: Harald, Erling, and Rolf. There was a single sister—Eugenie. Any formal schooling for him was abbreviated, taking a backseat to his craving for adventure. Rolf, a strong, handsome kid who appeared older than he was, ran away to sea at the age of fourteen.
He soon found a job on a brigantine trader named Staatsraad Ericksen. He stayed for six months—until the ocean began to feel more like work than a place for excitement. The young teen ran away again, leaving the Staatraad Ericksen behind. Although he was devoted to his family, he felt that he should go to America if he was ever to make his fortune. He had an aunt living on Long Island, and figured he could live with her until he saved enough to support himself.
Rolf stowed away on a passenger ship full of Norwegian immigrants and managed to lose himself in the crowd. But immigration authorities on Ellis Island spotted the boy with no papers, and sent him right back to Norway on the next boat.
Rolf was far from giving up, and he had learned a lot from his ill-fated first trip to the United States. The next time, he was able to hide his presence more effectively. His second journey was on the Scandinavian America Line: the Frederick VIII. He was old enough and clever enough to convince the immigration officers that he would be a benefit to America and dependent on no one. And he was right: Rolf applied for a job so dangerous that there weren’t a lot of applicants. He was hired as a painter to work on the steel beams of a skyscraper being built on Forty-second Street and Madison Avenue in New York City, a looming edifice that still stands today. Young Neslund walked the beams hundreds of feet above the bustling streets, balancing with ease and unafraid of falling. The fair Norwegian teenager was one of a very few Scandinavians who worked up there in the clouds beside the more traditional steelworkers, who were mostly Italian immigrants and Native Americans.
