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Authors: M. William Phelps
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announced.
What’s more, Tim and Nick both claimed that Randi and Heather knew each other casually from the street—that they weren’t simply acquaintances from jail, as some had suggested, but had actually hung out together.
“She stopped by our house,” Nick said, talking about Randi. “She came by to see Heather.”
Nick had no idea how the girls might have met, but he was certain they had been together in those days before Heather was last seen. He explained this to the YCSO.
“I think Randi and Heather knew ‘of each other,’ had some mutual friends, but did not know each other, hang out, et cetera,” a law enforcement official told me. “There was a big age difference between them.... If you are involved in the world of drugs and have been to jail, you tend to know the other people involved in the same activities.”
Tim voluntarily went into the YCSO on Friday, November 20. Of course, they asked him several questions, but the main reason for the visit was put to him across the table quickly: “Did you have any role in the deaths of Heather Catterton and/or Randi Saldana?”
“I did not hurt either girl,” Tim replied.
He was asked the same question again.
“No,” Tim said a second time.
Once more.
“No!” Tim stressed.
Tim Gause had been talkative with the local media. He came out that same night of his polygraph and discussed it with a local television news station. Beyond saying how he had responded “no” to hurting either of the girls, Tim sent a warning out to the public, “If I was a female friend of Randi’s . . . I would be very afraid right now.”
The sense was that Randi and Heather’s killer was targeting a certain group of local girls. He was choosing each girl. It was almost as if he was at home, sitting, tacking up on a wall the photos of each victim. A spread of additional photos—future victims—on the table in front of him. He instilled fear—not only with the female population in town, but with law enforcement, too, many who now felt they were working against a clock.
“I don’t know if it was the lifestyle, or if it was where they were going,” Tim told local television news station WCNC, “I wish I knew more.”
An aunt of Randi’s came out and told the media that Randi had fallen “into a rough crowd” lately, and her lifestyle had made it such that she was around some of the seedier characters in town. Investigators knew that lifestyle choices can result in death.
In this part of the state, the failed economy had taken a drastic toll on locals. Hard-core drugs were more prevalent than they had been in the past. In this regard, as Gaston County law enforcement sniffed around and became more interested in the people associated with the cases, they were now sending messages into the community when the opportunity arose.
Whenever a sheriff found a girl walking by herself, he or she stopped. “Hey, be cautious. And always let someone know where you are and where you’re going.”
Sage advice. That clock was ticking. Everyone felt it. And if this maniac wasn’t stopped soon, another body was certain to show up.
CHAPTER 22
T wenty-eight-year-old Gaston County Police Department (GCPD) detective Matt Hensley was at SWAT school during the second week of November when news of a potential serial killer roaming the streets of his jurisdiction broke. Hensley had heard about Heather’s murder and the ensuing YCSO investigation. However, when a second body turned up, and it was learned that she was also from Gastonia, the case took on an entire new level of intensity for all law enforcement within Gaston County.
Once a year, cops head out and undertake firearms and tactical exercises in several different areas—i.e., SWAT school training. There are various competitive sessions during the week. In this day and age of terrorism (both homegrown and international), law enforcement has to be ready and trained for anything. Not to mention those types of routine
What’s more, Tim and Nick both claimed that Randi and Heather knew each other casually from the street—that they weren’t simply acquaintances from jail, as some had suggested, but had actually hung out together.
“She stopped by our house,” Nick said, talking about Randi. “She came by to see Heather.”
Nick had no idea how the girls might have met, but he was certain they had been together in those days before Heather was last seen. He explained this to the YCSO.
“I think Randi and Heather knew ‘of each other,’ had some mutual friends, but did not know each other, hang out, et cetera,” a law enforcement official told me. “There was a big age difference between them.... If you are involved in the world of drugs and have been to jail, you tend to know the other people involved in the same activities.”
Tim voluntarily went into the YCSO on Friday, November 20. Of course, they asked him several questions, but the main reason for the visit was put to him across the table quickly: “Did you have any role in the deaths of Heather Catterton and/or Randi Saldana?”
“I did not hurt either girl,” Tim replied.
He was asked the same question again.
“No,” Tim said a second time.
Once more.
“No!” Tim stressed.
Tim Gause had been talkative with the local media. He came out that same night of his polygraph and discussed it with a local television news station. Beyond saying how he had responded “no” to hurting either of the girls, Tim sent a warning out to the public, “If I was a female friend of Randi’s . . . I would be very afraid right now.”
The sense was that Randi and Heather’s killer was targeting a certain group of local girls. He was choosing each girl. It was almost as if he was at home, sitting, tacking up on a wall the photos of each victim. A spread of additional photos—future victims—on the table in front of him. He instilled fear—not only with the female population in town, but with law enforcement, too, many who now felt they were working against a clock.
“I don’t know if it was the lifestyle, or if it was where they were going,” Tim told local television news station WCNC, “I wish I knew more.”
An aunt of Randi’s came out and told the media that Randi had fallen “into a rough crowd” lately, and her lifestyle had made it such that she was around some of the seedier characters in town. Investigators knew that lifestyle choices can result in death.
In this part of the state, the failed economy had taken a drastic toll on locals. Hard-core drugs were more prevalent than they had been in the past. In this regard, as Gaston County law enforcement sniffed around and became more interested in the people associated with the cases, they were now sending messages into the community when the opportunity arose.
Whenever a sheriff found a girl walking by herself, he or she stopped. “Hey, be cautious. And always let someone know where you are and where you’re going.”
Sage advice. That clock was ticking. Everyone felt it. And if this maniac wasn’t stopped soon, another body was certain to show up.
CHAPTER 22
T wenty-eight-year-old Gaston County Police Department (GCPD) detective Matt Hensley was at SWAT school during the second week of November when news of a potential serial killer roaming the streets of his jurisdiction broke. Hensley had heard about Heather’s murder and the ensuing YCSO investigation. However, when a second body turned up, and it was learned that she was also from Gastonia, the case took on an entire new level of intensity for all law enforcement within Gaston County.
Once a year, cops head out and undertake firearms and tactical exercises in several different areas—i.e., SWAT school training. There are various competitive sessions during the week. In this day and age of terrorism (both homegrown and international), law enforcement has to be ready and trained for anything. Not to mention those types of routine
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