Last Day of Freedom
Ellen never saw it coming. She walked out of her office after work, strolled to the parking lot and got behind the wheel of her blue Chevy Lumina and started for home. She headed north on Market and got into the left-turn lane at Tucker Boulevard, where after a few short straight blocks she would scoot right out of downtown, speeding south on I-55.
There was a lot of traffic on this warm September evening. As she headed south on Tucker, she passed right in front of Police Headquarters, as she always did, both coming and going from work. Sergeant Burgoon saw the light blue Lumina as it approached. He and his old pal, Detective Bender, were sitting in wait in an unmarked car. The plan was to follow Ellen, then pull her over.
The rush hour was heavy, and they watched as Ellen blasted through the light at Tucker and Clark just as it was changing red. They pulled away from the curb and started to follow, and watched as she then made it through the next light and headed straight for the highway. They realized they weren’t going to make the light themselves. In another few seconds they would be stuck in traffic, watching Ellen drive away.
Joe hit the siren, and they rocketed after her. With their sudden acceleration and the rush of warm air into the car, they both eased up, and even joked about how they better not let Ellen slip from the arrest. Their boss, Captain Bauman, had delayed leaving for his weekend place that Friday night. He wanted to be there when they brought Ellen in.
“We miss her, brother, we better keep going,” Joe said, breaking into a big smile.
They caught up to Ellen in the stream of highway traffic and followed her south to the Broadway exit, where she stopped at a red light past the off-ramp. Detective Bender hit the siren. Joe was at full alert, and it was some small reward to watch the blue Lumina pull over, almost in slow motion, to the curb. The two detectives got out of the car and walked over to the driver’s side. Joe flashed his badge.
“Hi,” Ellen said.
Joe then introduced Detective Bender. That’s all he said.
“I knew you were gonna get me,” Ellen blurted.
They asked her to come downtown. She agreed, saying nothing more, and proceeded to get out of the car and lock the doors. It was 5:15.
There was no conversation in the detective’s car, just an eerie silence. Ellen sat alone in the back. Joe kept his eyes straight ahead, and they headed back downtown.
He had made arrangements for Stacy to be picked up by Juvenile Court authorities, who would find her after school at home with her grandmother. The priority team had also made other significant arrangements, which would become evident to Ellen as soon as she stepped off the elevator on the fourth floor. Joe and Detective Bender escorted her to the conference room, which was through a door that had a sign placed at eye level. It read: BOEHM TASK FORCE.
The sign was new, of course, and was all part of the plan. They led Ellen inside and asked her to wait while they went to get Captain Bauman, who was in a meeting. Then they left. Joe and Detective Bender informed Captain Bauman that they were ready, and while he wrapped up his meeting, the two old partners took the time for a cup of coffee. Ellen, meanwhile, was left sitting in a room surrounded by what appeared to be a round-the-clock, ongoing investigation. At a desk another detective pored over paperwork, saying nothing to her.
The team had pitched in to make the setup look exactly that way. It was showtime! They had brought in extra tables and file cabinets. To lend the appearance of an investigation grinding away at all hours of the day, they had scrounged used coffee cups and placed them on the desks. As if they were set designers, they even rifled the trash for old cigarette butts and arranged them in ashtrays on the tables.
Ellen could see eighteen charts upon which the police had plastered the records from EMS about Steven and David’s fatal accidents. On several others Ellen’s bank records were laid out for all to see. So were records from State Farm Insurance, Shelter Insurance, and United of Mutual.
The hope was that this roomful of statistics would overwhelm her, prompting an immediate confession. When Joe and Detective Bender returned, they were accompanied by Captain Bauman. Detective Richard Trevor remained in the room, continuing to fuss with some papers.
Ellen was asked if she wanted a soda.
“Yeah,” was all she said, and Joe took her with him out into the hall. Ellen used the opportunity to go to the women’s room, while Sergeant Burgoon got her a diet Pepsi out of a machine. When they returned to the room, everyone was waiting. Detective Trevor, however, still didn’t appear to be focused on Ellen. He was now writing some kind of report. This too, Ellen had no way of knowing, was a ruse.
Going by the book, Joe showed her a copy of the suppressed indictment, charging her with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault. He then advised her of her rights, which Ellen stated she understood.
Without much hesitation, Ellen started to talk about Stacy’s bathtub incident. It was an accident, she said. As they had heard before, Ellen told the detectives that she was putting groceries away in the kitchen. Steven had gone to bed and Stacy was taking a bath, when she heard a scream. Ellen said she ran to the bathroom and saw that Steven had plugged her hair dryer into the wall outlet in the hallway. Ellen said she pulled the plug from the outlet, got Stacy dressed and took her to Children’s Hospital.
The detectives asked Ellen to look at the charts around the room, especially the one that showed how much insurance she had obtained on Steven and Stacy. Ellen didn’t have anything to say about the insurance, but she began to talk about Steven’s death, and the version of events was all too familiar. Ellen said he had become ill over the weekend after receiving immunizations on Friday, and that he wasn’t completely recovered by Monday morning, so she stayed home with him. Ellen described the rounds she made with Steven that morning, stopping at her mother’s apartment, at the drug store, at Taco Bell, and even included the trip to the cemetery this time, which she had left out in her initial interview with Joe in December. Ellen then said when they were back home, Steven was watching Sesame Street when she noticed that he had stopped breathing.
When Ellen continued to describe what happened next, she omitted the fact that she had taken the elevator to the eighth floor to get help, but the detectives—who now knew her story by heart—reminded her of that part.
After she had finished describing Steven’s death, the room fell dead silent. They were all seated at the big table. Ellen was directly across from Joe. There was an empty chair at one end, which was next to Ellen. In the quiet, Detective Bender got up from his seat and walked over to the empty spot. He pulled the chair over a little closer to Ellen and sat down. Then Detective Bender put his arm around Ellen, and in a very soft voice he said:
“We know what you’re going through. We know you’re under a lot of pressure. You need money.
“We know that you killed your son. We know you did it. We don’t know why. Why don’t you tell us how?”
Ellen’s head was down. Sergeant Burgoon’s eyes were riveted on her. Ellen said nothing.
“Was it for the insurance?” Detective Bender asked.
Ellen nodded affirmatively.
“Would you tell us about it?”
Then Ellen began to tell a different story. Steven had fallen asleep on the couch. He didn’t just stop breathing. Instead, Ellen described how she had taken one of the couch pillows and placed it over his face, holding it there for about forty-five seconds. When she pulled the pillow away, Steven was white and did not appear to be breathing. Then she went for help.
When Ellen was finished talking, Joe didn’t wait long to ask her to look again at the charts in the room. He specifically drew her attention to the EMS reports.
“Ellen, do you notice that the reports are identical for both boys?’
Then Ellen started to talk about Thanksgiving night, 1988. They had heard most of it before. Ellen started out by saying she had cooked all day and was tired—in fact, she bought a heat-and-serve turkey spread at National. After a jaunt downtown to see the Christmas lights, Ellen said she had brought the children home, and Steven and Stacy had gone to bed. David refused to go to bed, so she let him stay up with her as she watched Knots Landing. She was sitting on the couch and her son was lying on the floor, watching the show, too. He was lying on his right side with his back to her. Ellen said she got off the couch, taking one of the cushions and kneeled at his feet. She said she then placed the cushion over his face for about forty-five seconds or a minute.
Ellen said the next thing she did was sit back on the couch and call her friend, Sandy Nelson. While David lay there, Ellen and Sandy talked about how their day was, and she noticed that David was very white. She told Sandy that David wasn’t breathing and asked her to call an ambulance. (Joe and Detective Bender would learn later from Sandy Nelson that Ellen had said only that she had to get off the phone because something was wrong with David. Ellen didn’t mention that his lips were blue or that his skin was white, and Sandy only found out about the urgency of the situation when she called Ellen back about ten minutes after they had hung up. Ellen told her then that she had called an ambulance.)
Ellen said that at the time she had just lost her home, and was trying to work two jobs, and was very depressed about her life.
When Joe pressed again on the subject of Stacy’s accident, Ellen continued to insist it was just an accident.
It was now after nine o’clock. The time had flown by. Ellen had been in the trumped-up Boehm Task Force room for hours now. At no time did she indicate that she wanted the questioning to stop, nor did she ever request an attorney. At close to ten o’clock, Ellen was asked if she would be willing to make a videotaped statement, and she said she would.
Joe and Detective Bender then walked Ellen next door to the department’s television studio, which was located in an adjacent building that also housed the city’s Police Academy on South Tucker. The studio was a point of pride for the department, because St. Louis was the first police department in the United State to have its own television studio. Now Ellen would be under the lights. Robert Steckhan, the technician, loaded a fresh cassette of Maxell 120-minute VHS tape. He adjusted the Sharp XC-800 camera, and the Shure Mike Mixer, the Electrovoice Microphone, and the QSI Time/Date Generator. At 10:26 P.M., he was ready to start. Ellen was seated at a table between Detective Bender and Joe. On the table, Ellen had another diet Pepsi. Mr. Steckhan brought the camera into focus. What he saw was a heavyset blonde, whose dark roots were beginning to show underneath her shoulder-length haircut. Ellen was wearing a red jacket over a white blouse. Her nails were painted with red polish. She wore a thin gold necklace and a gold, moonphase wristwatch. Ellen looked beat. Her skin was shiny and she was breathing somewhat hard. The blue eyeshadow she wore that day was still there, and the cameraman knew from experience that the tears that were surely soon to flow would ruin that makeup touch.
Then it began:
BURGOON: This is Detective Sergeant Joseph Burgoon from the Homicide Section. Seated next to me is Ellen Boehm. Sitting next to her is Detective George Bender of the Homicide Section. Ellen, previously we had talked to you and we advised you of your rights. And you signed a waiver form. And I’m going to again advise you of your constitutional rights. You have the right to remain silent. Anything that you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand that, Ellen?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: You have the right to have a lawyer. And have him present with you while you’re being questioned. Do you understand that?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand that?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: At any time while being interviewed, if you decide to stop your statement, I will no longer question you and the interview will cease. Do you understand that?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Do you wish to waive and give up these rights at this time, Ellen?
ELLEN: Uh-huh.
BURGOON: The time is 10:27 P.M. Today’s date is Friday, September the 13th, 1991. And we’re at the Police Academy TV studio. We’re at 315A South Tucker. Ellen, have you noticed that the TV camera is running?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Okay. I’d like to ask you your full name, please.
ELLEN: Ellen Kay Boehm.
BURGOON: How old are you?
ELLEN: Thirty-one.
BURGOON: Date of birth?
ELLEN: Six-nine-sixty.
BURGOON: And where were you born, Ellen?
ELLEN: Missouri. In St. Louis.
BURGOON: Your occupation, ma’am.
ELLEN: Secretary.
BURGOON: Who do you work for?
ELLEN: Andersen Consulting.
BURGOON: Are you married or single?
ELLEN: Divorced.
BURGOON: And your home address.
ELLEN: 5015A South Broadway. [Ellen had moved from the Brazillia Apartments.]
BURGOON: Okay. Ellen, we’re here regarding a suppressed indictment, which was returned by the grand jury yesterday, charging you with two counts of murder first-degree and assault first-degree. Regarding the death of David Boehm, two years old. He was originally brought to Cardinal Glennon Hospital from your former residence 4720 South Broadway on November 24th, 1988. David subsequently expired on November 26th of 1988. I think it was Children’s Hospital. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Also, you have another boy, Steven Boehm, who was four years old, and he was found at his residence at 4720 South Broadway on September 25th of 1989. And he was taken to Cardinal Glennon and he later died that day. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Ellen, the assault first charge is regarding an incident that happened with your daughter, Stacy, while she was taking a bath at 4720 South Broadway, Apt. 501, on September 13 of ’89 in which a hair dryer had somehow gotten in the bathtub and she received a shock and she was taken to … you took her to Children’s Hospital. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Those are the … what the suppressed indictment’s about. Uh, we talked earlier about this and uh, you’ve agreed to tell us in your own words what happened regarding these incidents. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Okay, Ellen, just go right ahead.
ELLEN: Well, when David died, like you said, it was Thanksgiving, and that’s when it happened. Uh, I fixed Thanksgiving dinner, and we ate dinner. I went and got my mom and she joined us for dinner. After I took her home, the kids and I went downtown to see the Christmas lights. And we got home about nine o’clock or a few minutes before. I told the kids to go to bed, and David didn’t want to. And, as we were driving home, he fell asleep in the car. And, when we got in the apartment, Stacy and Steve went to bed and David stayed up with me and I had TV on and at that point I was just getting ready to iron. And, so I was sitting on the couch and David was laying on, and he was about six or eight inches from my feet on the floor and he was laying on his right side watching TV. And, I guess with just the frustration of having to cook dinner all day, and he didn’t want to go to bed. I tried to put him to bed a couple of times. He didn’t want to go to bed. And as he was laying there watching TV, I took one of the couch pillows and got down on my knees, right behind him, by his feet, and I put the couch pillow over him. And my hands were on both sides. And he was really strong. He did struggle a little. And, then I put that right there for about forty-five seconds at the most. Then I put the pillow back on the … on the couch and at this point he was lying on his back.
And, I called my girlfriend Sandy and we talked, you know, about what each of us did for our Thanksgiving. And then, I looked down at David, and noticed he was turning white and his lips were … were blue. And I didn’t, I didn’t realize. I guess at that point I did realize what I did. And I told my girlfriend Sandy that I had to let her go. I had … that David stopped breathing. That I had to call 911 to get an ambulance there. To try to get him revived.
So I did that. I called 911 to get an ambulance. And I also tried to go up to some of my neighbors for help. And when I was gone, the paramedics came. Before I went to get help, I woke my two children, Steve and Stacy, up and I told them that David had stopped breathing and that we were going to the hospital with him. So, while I was trying to find someone to get help with, the paramedics came. And I wasn’t there, but Stacy told them, I assume she told them that I went to get help. And I came back down and they were doing CPR on him then. They took him to Cardinal Glennon, and I thought … I called my girlfriend Sandy back and I told her they were taking him to Cardinal Glennon. And she said her mom would watch Steven and Stacy and that she would go with me to the hospital. So I took Steven and Stacy over to her mom’s house. I picked her up, and then we arrived at the hospital shortly after the ambulance did. And they were working on David. They couldn’t get him to come to.
And, uh, he stayed there overnight and then, that very morning he was transferred over to Children’s Hospital because that’s where his doctor was on staff there. And he was in an ICU and they couldn’t get him to. He was already brain dead. And they just had him on a machine. And his fever Friday night went up past 101 and they packed him in ice. And it was because of his fever being so high they just froze his whole body. And uh, then Saturday afternoon—I took pep pills all night—and then Saturday afternoon the doctors all came in and told me, and I had a friend from work, uh, Deanne, and she came over and stayed with me Friday night at the hospital and then Saturday.
They tried to get him revived and everything and then Saturday, the doctors came in and said, “You know, we’ve done everything we can for him. He’s just on our machines, and there’s just nothing else that we can do for him.” So at that point I said, “Well, what are you saying?” And he said, “Well, I think we need to take him off the machine, because he’s suffering. He’s just brain dead. And he’d never be right.” And I said, “Okay.” And at that, that there was some part, some organs, or you know anything that could be donated to science, you know to help somebody that … You know, they could do that. But he said because his fever was so high that it cooked everything, and you know, we couldn’t do that. And, I said, “Okay.”
So they took all of the machines off of him and I asked if I could hold him. And so the doctor and everybody gave him to me to hold. And I held him. And I cried, rocking in the rocking chair. Made me realize that I poured life away. I think it was the realization that he was gone, and I loved him so much.
(At this point, there is an eleven second pause, when Ellen stops talking. Unprompted, she begins again.)
And uh, with Steve, that happened in ’89. Shortly before he died, I got another insurance policy that I took on Stacy and him. And then I let Stacy’s lapse. I paid like one premium on all of them. And then I let Stacy’s lapse. Uh, it was Stacy that, one night in September, middle of September, we come home from the grocery store, and I told her to take a bath, and Steve was going to go to bed. She read Steven his bedtime story and he was lying down. And we thought he was asleep. And I told Stacy on the sofa, “Let’s get your bathwater run, you know, I’ll help you in the tub, and if you need me I’ll be in the kitchen, putting groceries away.” And she had her Barbie dolls in the tub. And she was playing with them.
And as I was putting groceries in the refrigerator, putting some meat away, then I hear a scream. And I ran to the, towards the bathroom, down the hallway, and I saw a cord that was plugged into the outlet. And Steve was up and he was crying. And Stacy was … she was just in shock. She was screaming. I yanked the cord up. And, oh, my God, it was a hair dryer.
I got Stacy out of the tub. And I said, “Stacy, what happened?” And she said, “I don’t know.” And uh, got her out of the tub. Got her dressed. And I said, “Steve, what happened?” And he goes, “Oh, I thought it was just to rinse the Barbie dolls’ hair, Mom. And I went in your dresser and got the hair dryer. And I plugged it in. I thought it was to dry their hair. And uh, I accidentally dropped it in the tub.” And I took Stacy—and I took Steve, too—I took Stacy to the emergency room, not Cardinal Glennon but at Children’s. And I got her thoroughly checked out. And they said just to watch her, to make sure she, you know, didn’t have any, uh, any side effects, didn’t get sick or anything.
And I watched her. I kept her home from school the next day. And uh, she seemed to be fine. Her eyes was real dilated, and everything. She said that it felt like something was crawling all over her when she was in the water. (One second pause.)
And then, a couple of weeks after that it was Steve’s birthday, and the Saturday before his birthday I had to take him to get some shots that he was behind on. It was the MMR, the DPT, and the polio. And, so after that we went to eat dinner. And then that Monday, I called work and I said that Steve had stopped breathing, that I had called the ambulance to take him to the hospital. And I didn’t. We spent, him and I spent the morning together, and we went to Taco Bell, which is one of his favorite places.
And as we were driving down Meramec, we passed the funeral home where David was. And he remembered that. He remembered where David was. And he goes, “Mommy, I want to go see David. That’s where David lay.” And I said, “Steve, yes, that’s where David was.” And he goes, “Mommy, I want to go see David, I miss him.” And I started crying, too, and he said, “Don’t blame me. We all miss David.” So, before we went down to the cemetery, I called work and Elaine was there and I said that Steve stopped breathing again and I was checking him back into the hospital. And so after I made that phone call, we drove to the cemetery to see David’s grave. And we both sat there by the grave, and we both cried, and cried, and cried, and hugged each other. He said, “Mommy, I wish I was with David.”
(Sobs and seven unintelligible words.)
And we left there. I said, “That was our little Da-Da (pronounced ‘day-day’).” That was our nickname for David. Our little “Da-Da.”
So I went home. And I did go and make their beds and straighten up their rooms. And I came back in and he was laying on the couch, and he was like half asleep and half not. And he had coughed. And, I didn’t know if it was all the frustrations of the bills and everything I had at the time, or what. And him just wanting to be with David so bad and everything. I raised his head and I picked up the pillow and I put it over his face. And then I had my hands like on like the four corners of the pillow. And that, and I.… Thirty seconds.… It just all happened so fast. And I took the pillow away and I put it back under his head and that’s when I saw he was getting blue, too. I didn’t have a phone then, and I ran to my one neighbor’s, named Todd, he was about two doors down. He was learning to be a doctor. A student doctor. And I couldn’t get him at first. Then I ran up to eight, cause I thought that’s where Pauline lived. Now, my mom and her were friends, and I wasn’t sure what floor she lived on. I thought eight. So someone saw me up there on eight, and I come running back down. I knocked on Todd’s door again, and he was home, and I said, “My son, Steve, stopped breathing. Can you call the ambulance and everything.”
And he did, and he came over and he started CPR. And he couldn’t get him revived either. And they took him to Chil … Cardinal Glennon. Then I called work and told them that he was there and they didn’t think he was going to make it.
And, with Stacy in the tub. That was an accident. I didn’t have anything to do with that. I didn’t see Steve come out of the room. I didn’t hear him, because I was putting the groceries away, and I was making noise putting the meat away in the refrigerator. And all I heard was her scream, and then him scream and start crying.
BURGOON: Ellen, when did you get married?
ELLEN: June 7, 1980.
BURGOON: And who did you marry?
ELLEN: Paul Boehm.
BURGOON: Paul Boehm?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: All right. And, uh, you later separated?
ELLEN: We’re divorced.
BURGOON: Yes, you’re divorced now. Uh, when you first separated, when was this?
ELLEN: It was on our sixth wedding anniversary, June 7, 1986.
BURGOON: Was that right after David was born?
ELLEN: No. Shortly, about a month and a half before.
BURGOON: So, you were eight months pregnant when he left?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Where did he go?
ELLEN: Well, at the time he said, the story he told was, since he had been in Vietnam, he got Agent Orange, and he had to go down to Texas to get treatment. He even said he had to quit his job when he was down there. And I have no reason to doubt him. I trusted him. I loved him and I trusted him. He got down on his hands and knees, and said he hated to leave, you know. He loved us all. He said that in order for him to get better, that’s what we had to do. And he’s got all these rashes, rash marks all over his body. And he said he was going down there to Texas, that first he had to spend a couple of weeks at a VA hospital. So I never heard from him for about a week, and I thought it was kind of a little weird that he never called, you know. So I thought well I’d drive down there to see if I saw his car. Well, his car wasn’t over there. So then I got to wondering, you know, what actually was going on? Then I got this phone call at work, where I used to work, and this man said, “Your husband is having an affair with my wife.” Well, I didn’t believe it, then the more everything started falling into place, you know, the nights that he had been gone. Uh, and the stories he told. It just all fell into place.
BURGOON: Where did Paul work at that time?
ELLEN: Bi-State.
BURGOON: Where were you living?
ELLEN: At 3300 Wyoming.
BURGOON: Were you buying a home?
ELLEN: Yes, we were.
BURGOON: What kind of a house was it?
ELLEN: It was a two-family flat.
BURGOON: How much was it? The mortgage?
ELLEN: Oh, it was for $30,000. It was through the VA.
BURGOON: I see. When he left, how much of that did you owe? Had you lived there long?
ELLEN: We had rented it first before we bought it. I think we got it right after Stacy was born. I think in ’82. She was born in ’81. We bought it in September ’82.
BURGOON: So you lived there about four years, almost five years?
ELLEN: Yes, and then we rented since ’79. Like he rented it a year before we got married.
BURGOON: After he left you, did you have to lose the house?
ELLEN: Yes, he left me with all the bills. And the kids. And at the time, I had already told work I wasn’t coming back, and that was right before all of this other took place.
BURGOON: Where did you work at then?
ELLEN: At Marshall and Stevens.
BURGOON: When he left you, how much did you owe?
ELLEN: Oh, on the house, it was probably $28,000.
BURGOON: Any other bills?
ELLEN: Uh, there was charge cards. A second mortgage on our house. Some loans. A loan he had through the credit union that another guy had cosigned for. So I didn’t end up paying it.
BURGOON: Someone else had to pay that?
ELLEN: Uh-huh.
BURGOON: You moved out. When did you move down to South Broadway? Do you remember? 4720 South Broadway.
ELLEN: I moved in August of ’88, because I had filed bankruptcy, and I thought that that would help relieve me of some of the bills I owed, and when I could that … that didn’t work and I was trying to make ends meet, even with the house payment and I couldn’t. I tried to rent out my upstairs, and have that income, you know, from what I have to put with it, to make the house payment. And I just couldn’t handle it. And I told VA. And took a bath on the move.
BURGOON: When did you begin working for Andersen company?
ELLEN: October ’86. Right after David was born. He was born in July. And I said, I have to go back to work. At my other job, I had told them before I left that I wasn’t coming back. You know, that we had planned on that as soon as I had the kid.
BURGOON: When David died, did you have any insurance on David?
ELLEN: I had the policy I had from work, which was $5,000.
BURGOON: That’s with Aetna?
ELLEN: Yeah. Aetna, yeah.
BURGOON: Uh, in 1989, in August and September of 1989, did you purchase some insurance policies?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: What policies did you purchase?
ELLEN: There was a $50,000 from State Farm, a $30,000 from Shelter. There was like $12,000 from, uh, I think it was United Omaha, and then I had applied for, I applied I think it was Gerber, but then I never followed through with that.
BURGOON: Who were the beneficiaries? Who were the policies taken out on?
ELLEN: Oh, well, originally they were both taken out on Steve and Stacy.
BURGOON: All three policies?
ELLEN: Originally, yeah.
BURGOON: How was it, did they deduct it from your pay? How did they work?
ELLEN: No, I would have to pay it directly.
BURGOON: How many payments did you make?
ELLEN: Uh, one for sure that I know of.
BURGOON: Did you ever receive any money?
ELLEN: From State Farm.
BURGOON: And how much was that?
ELLEN: $50,000.
BURGOON: And what company was that?
ELLEN: State Farm.
BURGOON: You say, while all this was going on, you have a lot of financial problems besides trying to raise a family by yourself.
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Do you have anything? (Addressing Bender.)
BENDER: Yeah, uh, when you were speaking of David, you said that, uh, that he was lying on the floor on his right side.
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: And that you removed, the words you used were, “couch pillow,” uh, are we talking about a pillow or one of the seat cushions?
ELLEN: Cushion.
BENDER: One of the cushions that you sit on?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: Which would be, what, approximately three-foot by three-foot, something like that, I guess?
ELLEN: This was one of the smaller ones that are on the couch. Split.
BENDER: Two or three feet wide?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: Two or three feet deep? Okay, you said that he was on his right side and that you sort of kneeled down at his feet?
ELLEN: Uh-huh. I was behind him.
BENDER: And put that couch cushion over his …
ELLEN: I was behind him, but then like I reached over.
BENDER: Okay. Did you roll him over onto his back?
ELLEN: Well, when I put the pillow on him, he just kind of rolled on his back.
BENDER: Okay. Did he struggle at all?
ELLEN: Yes, he struggled a little bit.
BENDER: What did he try to do? How did he struggle?
ELLEN: He’s a little fighter. He tried to push the pillow away.
BENDER: Uh-huh. And then finally did all that cease?
ELLEN: (Nods.)
BENDER: And how long after that cease did you have to hold the pillow down over him?
ELLEN: Till he stopped fighting.
BENDER: Till he stopped fighting. Okay. Uh, had you thought about smothering him while you were sitting on the couch? Er …
ELLEN: No. No.
BENDER: You all of a sudden got up and did this?
ELLEN: Yes. I was tired. I fixed us the dinner and everything, and I was a little aggravated because he didn’t want to go to sleep, even though I tried several times to put him to bed.
BENDER: Why do you suppose he would not go to bed and the other two children did? You said he fell asleep in the car and apparently was tired.
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: And the other kids, I guess they were tired, too.
ELLEN: They were tired, too. And they were out, asleep. David always liked to stay up late. You know, he loved watching TV.
BENDER: And you keep him up purposely for that.
ELLEN: No.
BENDER: Okay, uh, now after he stopped struggling, you said you called a friend named Sandy?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: Did you call her right away?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: And, uh …
ELLEN: I didn’t realize what I did. At that time I thought he was still alive. She asked what we did for Thanksgiving and I told her that I had fixed a turkey and everything and that we went and got my mom and had dinner. And that we just came home. After I dropped Mom off, I went downtown, the kids and I, and we looked at Christmas decorations and everything. And then she told me what they did. And then, I couldn’t have been on the phone with her five minutes and I looked down at David and that’s when I noticed that he was white and his lips were turning blue.
BENDER: I think you said earlier that you might have been talking to her about fifteen minutes.
ELLEN: Well, maybe it was five to fifteen.
BENDER: Okay.
ELLEN: It didn’t seem like it was very long.
BENDER: Not long. Okay. Now, as you’re talking to her you said you looked down and you saw what about David?
ELLEN: I saw that he was white and his lips were blue.
BENDER: Okay. Did you mention any of this to Sandy?
ELLEN: I, well, I tried. When I had the receiver in my hand, I said, “David, are you okay?” And then I just reached down and kind of shook him a little. I said, “David,” and I didn’t get any kind of response. And I said, “Sandy, something’s wrong with David.” I said, “He’s not, he’s not breathing.” So I better call the ambulance.
BENDER: What’s Sandy’s last name?
ELLEN: Nelson.
BENDER: All right, I believe that earlier you were asked if this was sort of a test to see if you’d get caught or anything. Do you remember being asked that question?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: Do you want to answer that now?
ELLEN: I knew eventually I’d get caught, but it wasn’t, it wasn’t a test.
BENDER: Okay. Was there anything going through your mind while you smothered him?
ELLEN: Well, I think, I think it was just all the frustrations that I had just built up inside of me. Even though I loved him dearly, I know what I did was wrong, I just did it.
BENDER: Okay. Now in regards to Steven and Stacy, I think that you said that these policies that you took out on both children, Stacy and Steven, were taken out and put into effect about two weeks prior to Steven’s death. Is that correct?
ELLEN: State Farm I thought was before.
BENDER: Before that?
ELLEN: Like maybe towards the end of August.
BENDER: Okay.
ELLEN: Uh, and Shelter, I thought that was late in August, too, maybe it was the beginning of September.
BENDER: Okay.
ELLEN: I just remember …
BENDER: Not long, I mean …
ELLEN: No.
BENDER: A matter of months.
ELLEN: Yeah.
BENDER: Right. Okay, now you said that one policy was for $50,000, one was for $30,000, one was for $12,000. And if I’ve figured correctly that comes to $92,000. And I think didn’t you say earlier that you also had like a $5,000 policy on each child through work?
ELLEN: Yes, sir.
BENDER: Okay. Now, uh, earlier we spoke about the fact that you called your supervisor at work around 8:15 or 8:30, and what was that supervisor’s name?
ELLEN: Elaine Herman.
BENDER: Elaine Herman. And what did you tell Elaine?
ELLEN: I told Elaine that, uh, Steve had stopped breathing, that I probably, you know that I was down at the gas station. I was calling the ambulance and we were taking him over to the emergency room.
BENDER: Okay. Was that true?
ELLEN: No.
BENDER: Okay. Where were you at? Were you actually at a service station?
ELLEN: Yes, I was. I was at the Mobil Fifty-Five station, right there at Broadway and Fifth.
BENDER: Okay. Why did you make that call and say that?
ELLEN: Because I just wanted to spend the day with Steve.
BENDER: Okay.
ELLEN: I mean I know I shouldn’t have lied. I should have just come up to work.
BENDER: Okay. Now from the Mobil Station, which is about 8:30 now, what did you and Steven do?
ELLEN: We went over to my mom’s because he wasn’t feeling good, because he had all those shots on Saturday, and she noticed that he was peaked, too, and not feeling well. And I said, “I think we’re just going to go home.” And he kept saying, “Mom, I want to go to Taco Bell.” So we went to Taco Bell and he had a bean burrito, and uh, uh, pintos and cheese and a soda. And we was leaving there, we was going to go home and that’s when I called and I told Elaine and I talked to Elaine and I said that, you know, “Steve stopped breathing again. You know, we came home the first time, and he just stopped breathing again and I’m taking him back.”
BENDER: What time was that call placed?
ELLEN: Uh, I don’t remember.
BENDER: Was it about 11:30?
ELLEN: Probably.
BENDER: Okay. Was that true?
ELLEN: No.
BENDER: You actually had not even been back home. Okay. And it was not true that he had stopped breathing?
ELLEN: No.
BENDER: Could you tell me why you told her at that time?
ELLEN: I just lied to her. I just wanted to spend the day with, with Steve.
BENDER: Well, you said that for the 8:30 call, why would you call back? I don’t understand that.
ELLEN: I just lied to her. I just didn’t want to go into work that day.
BENDER: Well, she already apparently assumed that you weren’t going to be in to work.
ELLEN: I know.
BENDER: You told her that he had stopped breathing about 8:30, any reason why you would call back?
ELLEN: To, well, she told me the first time to keep her informed of what was going on. To call her back.
BENDER: Okay. So in other words you called her back about 11:30 and you told her that you got him to the hospital, he started breathing again so you brought him home. But now he stopped breathing again, and was going back to the hospital. Is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: Uh, you mentioned your frustration of bills, uh, for a reason that you’d smothered Steve. Uh, could that have been for the, to gain the, in other words you received a certain amount of insurance when David died. You received about, uh, what was that, Joe?
BURGOON: $5,000.
BENDER: $5,000. Uh, that kind of helped you get out of a jam with your bills a little bit, didn’t it?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: Could it have been that you were thinking when you smothered Steve that, uh, if you could collect that insurance that would get you, uh, on Easy Street, so to speak?
ELLEN: No, I didn’t think it would put me on Easy Street.
BENDER: Did you think that maybe it was going to straighten some things out?
ELLEN: A little bit.
BENDER: All right.
ELLEN: I thought it was wrong.
BENDER: Okay.
ELLEN: And I regret every minute of it.
BENDER: Now, you said that. Did Steve struggle when you smothered him?
ELLEN: No.
BENDER: No struggling whatsoever?
ELLEN: He just kind of …
BENDER: He just what?
ELLEN: We had talked, and he kind of was half awake and half not, but he really didn’t, he really didn’t give a struggle.
BENDER: He didn’t fight like David did?
ELLEN: No. No. David was the fighter.
BENDER: Okay. Did he fight hard?
ELLEN: David? (Ellen begins to choke on her words a little, but there are no tears.)
BENDER: Yeah. Okay. But Steve didn’t offer much resistance whatsoever? Okay. Uh, after you smothered Steve, I think you indicated that you weren’t sure that he was dead either, is that correct?
ELLEN: (Nods.)
BENDER: How long do you think that it was from the time that you took the pillow off of his face and put it back under his head, until you went to look for help?
ELLEN: Maybe about a minute, a minute and a half.
BENDER: Not long at all, then?
ELLEN: No.
BENDER: Okay. Uh, and then one other thing that I’d like to cover. Earlier we talked about the hair dryer in Stacy’s bathtub. And we talked about the fact that Stacy had talked to two police officers, and her story was that she had, that you had arrived home, and that she had read a story in a book to her brother, Steven. And that she told the officers at that time that Steven had gotten into bed and gone to sleep and that’s when she told you she was going to take her bath, and you helped her with her bathwater and whatever and she began taking a bath. I think we also talked about at the time, uh, she said that she felt something like, she described it as being drawn down into the bathtub. A feeling like that, and that, uh, when she, when this feeling ceased, that, uh, that the only person in the room was you and her, and that she had never seen Steven in the bathroom. You recall that?
ELLEN: Yes, I recall it, but Steve was there.
BENDER: Okay. Could you try to explain to us, you know, why maybe she would exclude Steve from being in the bathroom at that time?
ELLEN: I think the shock of it, of the water, of the feelings that she was getting. Steven always used to get her radio out and stuff and plug it in, even though we told him repeatedly, “Don’t play around with electrical outlets.” And I was putting the meat and stuff away, the groceries, and I didn’t even know he was up, until I heard the scream. And then he screamed. And I went running and I saw the hair dryer plugged in.
BENDER: Okay, to your knowledge, he was in the bedroom when she got in the bathtub.
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: One more thing on the insurance, to clarify that. I think you said that when you took the policies out on Steve, you also took them out on Stacy.
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: Do you still have those policies in effect?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: What policies do you have in effect for Stacy?
ELLEN: Just the one through work.
BENDER: Just the one through work. Isn’t that about $5,000?
ELLEN: Yes.
BENDER: Okay, Joe, I have no further questions.
BURGOON: Ellen I have one more question for you. Uh, with Steven, after you took the pillow off, you say you went to get some help. Didn’t you?’
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Where did you go?
ELLEN: First I went up to the eighth floor because I thought there’s a lady Pauline that my mom knew, I thought she lived at 810 or something. And when nobody ever answered up there, so then I went back downstairs and I ran to Todd’s apartment. I told him what happened.
BURGOON: And this was, I’m just guessing, approximately four or five minutes of time lapse?
ELLEN: (Nods.)
BURGOON: Okay. You have anything more?
BENDER: No, that’s all I have, Joe.
BURGOON: Ellen?
ELLEN: I loved my babes … I can’t … (Voice trails off.)
BURGOON: Ellen, you made this statement to us voluntarily, is that correct?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Has there been any threats or promises made to you?
ELLEN: No.
BURGOON: Have you been physically abused by myself or Detective Bender?
ELLEN: No.
BURGOON: Okay. Are you under the influence of any alcohol or drugs of any kind?
ELLEN: No.
BURGOON: And the video recorder and equipment has been on all this whole time. Is that correct, hon?
ELLEN: Yes.
BURGOON: Okay. The time now is 11:07 P.M. This is Friday, September the 13th, 1991, and this concludes our videotaped interview at this time.
The official tape time was forty-one minutes, twenty-four seconds, and six one-hundredths of a second. A high-pitched “beep, beep, beep,” marking the end of the session, was recorded by Mr. Steckhan, the cameraman, who by now was broken up after what he had just witnessed over the last three-quarters of an hour.
Ellen never shed a single tear. Her eyeshadow was messed up, because she had put the Kleenex to her eyes two, or maybe three times, in what appeared to be feigned attempts to make it look good. In fact, it was obvious that Ellen was looking up now and then, as if to check whether it would be a good time to break down a little.
Her eyes would roll shut at times. At others, they would roll open. But they were always bone dry.