Saunders. The guy said he might know something helpful. Saunders lived down the street a ways, but he was frequently down on this end of Palm.
âI saw a suspicious man out here, along this stretch of street. I donât remember exactly when, but it was about three days before the body was found,â Saunders said.
âWhy was he suspicious?â Shanafelt asked.
âI saw the guy out here asking someone for money.â Saunders didnât know who was being asked, another unknown white male.
Saunders said, âI didnât know the guy and came right out and asked him what he was doing. He told me he was waiting for a friend.â
âOkay, he was panhandling and loitering. Anything else suspicious about him?â Shanafelt asked.
Saunders admitted that seeing a man panhandle on Palm Avenue was not unheard of, but this guy was new.
âThe last I saw of him he was walking toward the art gallery,â Saunders said.
âCan you describe him?â Shanafelt asked.
Saunders said the man was about forty years old, five-eleven, 190 pounds. His hair was black; he wore nice clothes.
âWhat do you remember about the clothes?â
âI just remember he was wearing a designer black leather jacket.â
A panhandler in a designer leather jacket? That was odd.
Investigators went through the recent case files to see if their guy had done anything else to attract attention to himself. One interesting case was a report that had come in at two in the afternoon of January 15, the day before the murder.
Jolie McInnis had been in a building on North Palm Avenue, only a few blocks away from the murder scene. McInnis told responding officers that sheâd been at the rear of the building, looking out the window. Behind the building was a private parking lot, and back there was a man going through the Dumpster.
McInnis called out, âThis is private property. You canât go through there.â
Hearing that, the man slammed down the lid of the Dumpster and said, âI know whatâs good for you. Iâll slit your fucking throat.â
McInnis got away from the window and called the cops. She described the man as five-ten, thirty-five years old, wearing olive green pants and a blue nylon jacket. He had brown hair and she said she could identify him if she saw him again. The man was last seen walking east on First Street. Police searched but found no one matching the description.
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Detectives Carter and Steiner continued canvassing Palm Avenue for potential witnesses. Cheryl Gilbert, who worked at Chasen Reed, on the corner of Main Street and South Palm, said she last saw the victim at around noon on Friday. Gilbert was on her way to the bank and waved at Wishart through her shop window. Robert Wilson, of Wilson Galleries on South Palm, said he knew who the victim was, but he had never had any dealings with her. He had a manager, he said, who knew Wishart, but that guy quit two weeks earlier, saying he found the job too stressful. Doug Carpenter and Morris Apple, proprietors of Apple-Carpenter Gallery on South Palm, said they knew the victim well. Carpenter and Wishart had worked together recently on a Palm Avenue brochure. They agreed she was a nice lady, but they knew nothing of her friends or associates. Werner Meier, of Design Impressions, said he didnât know the victim, but his wife might have.
Mary Bates, of the Palm Avenue Gallery, knew Wishart to be thoughtful and helpful. Bates kept her promise to call the police when she saw anything suspicious; from then on, every transient who looked in her store window was reported. One of those drifting window-shoppers was a fellow named Mark, who, when contacted by cops, reported a couple more transients whom he thought suspicious. Cynthia Retz, of Gallery 53, said she knew nothing, but she asked if it was true what people were saying about what was done to the victim. And on and on, it went.
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A witness
âI saw a suspicious man out here, along this stretch of street. I donât remember exactly when, but it was about three days before the body was found,â Saunders said.
âWhy was he suspicious?â Shanafelt asked.
âI saw the guy out here asking someone for money.â Saunders didnât know who was being asked, another unknown white male.
Saunders said, âI didnât know the guy and came right out and asked him what he was doing. He told me he was waiting for a friend.â
âOkay, he was panhandling and loitering. Anything else suspicious about him?â Shanafelt asked.
Saunders admitted that seeing a man panhandle on Palm Avenue was not unheard of, but this guy was new.
âThe last I saw of him he was walking toward the art gallery,â Saunders said.
âCan you describe him?â Shanafelt asked.
Saunders said the man was about forty years old, five-eleven, 190 pounds. His hair was black; he wore nice clothes.
âWhat do you remember about the clothes?â
âI just remember he was wearing a designer black leather jacket.â
A panhandler in a designer leather jacket? That was odd.
Investigators went through the recent case files to see if their guy had done anything else to attract attention to himself. One interesting case was a report that had come in at two in the afternoon of January 15, the day before the murder.
Jolie McInnis had been in a building on North Palm Avenue, only a few blocks away from the murder scene. McInnis told responding officers that sheâd been at the rear of the building, looking out the window. Behind the building was a private parking lot, and back there was a man going through the Dumpster.
McInnis called out, âThis is private property. You canât go through there.â
Hearing that, the man slammed down the lid of the Dumpster and said, âI know whatâs good for you. Iâll slit your fucking throat.â
McInnis got away from the window and called the cops. She described the man as five-ten, thirty-five years old, wearing olive green pants and a blue nylon jacket. He had brown hair and she said she could identify him if she saw him again. The man was last seen walking east on First Street. Police searched but found no one matching the description.
Â
Â
Detectives Carter and Steiner continued canvassing Palm Avenue for potential witnesses. Cheryl Gilbert, who worked at Chasen Reed, on the corner of Main Street and South Palm, said she last saw the victim at around noon on Friday. Gilbert was on her way to the bank and waved at Wishart through her shop window. Robert Wilson, of Wilson Galleries on South Palm, said he knew who the victim was, but he had never had any dealings with her. He had a manager, he said, who knew Wishart, but that guy quit two weeks earlier, saying he found the job too stressful. Doug Carpenter and Morris Apple, proprietors of Apple-Carpenter Gallery on South Palm, said they knew the victim well. Carpenter and Wishart had worked together recently on a Palm Avenue brochure. They agreed she was a nice lady, but they knew nothing of her friends or associates. Werner Meier, of Design Impressions, said he didnât know the victim, but his wife might have.
Mary Bates, of the Palm Avenue Gallery, knew Wishart to be thoughtful and helpful. Bates kept her promise to call the police when she saw anything suspicious; from then on, every transient who looked in her store window was reported. One of those drifting window-shoppers was a fellow named Mark, who, when contacted by cops, reported a couple more transients whom he thought suspicious. Cynthia Retz, of Gallery 53, said she knew nothing, but she asked if it was true what people were saying about what was done to the victim. And on and on, it went.
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A witness
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