My Mommy Told Me

When the detectives knocked on the door of Apartment 501, they were prepared to meet Catherine Booker, Ellen’s mother, for an interview. It was a little disconcerting to find Stacy there, too, but her grandmother explained that she had a stomachache and had stayed home from school.

Detectives Jones and Cordia informed Mrs. Booker that they wished to speak with her alone. Could Stacy leave the room? Detective Jones, who had talked to Stacy only the night before, offered to accompany her to her room, if that was all right. Catherine had no objection.

She was beginning to realize that her daughter was in some kind of trouble. The night before, after Ellen and Stacy had gone to police headquarters, Ellen had stopped to tell her mother about it. Stacy was also beginning to get a picture, as Detective Jones quickly learned. “My mommy told me that you guys say that she killed David and Steven,” she said. Detective Jones hadn’t expected this. “She didn’t! Would you go back and tell the other guys that my mommy did not kill Steven and David?”

Outside in the living room, Detective Cordia pressed this fragile, sixty-five-year-old grandmother with questions about her knowledge of Ellen’s insurance portfolio. Catherine said that her daughter had first told her about the policies sometime in the middle of December, which was only a couple of weeks ago. The detective probed into Ellen’s relationship with her parents, and Catherine said that Ellen had been an only child, and that she had always gotten along well with both her and her father. Catherine said they had not been strict parents, but that Ellen’s father had been somewhat protective of Ellen. Her daughter had always been honest with her, she said.

Ellen hadn’t dated much prior to marriage, she said, and all Catherine added beyond that was to remark that Paul Boehm had left Ellen with a lot of financial problems. “She appeared to be glad to be rid of him, just the same,” Catherine added with a fillip.

When asked about how Ellen had dealt with the loss of the two boys, Catherine said her daughter had taken the deaths very badly. “She still sleeps with two of her sons’ favorite dolls,” she said.

Catherine’s version of the events of the night of September 13, 1989, when Stacy suffered the electrical shock in the tub, tracked with what Ellen had stated. As to how it had happened, the grandmother said Ellen had told her that Steven was responsible.

Detective Cordia was about finished with the interview, but she wanted to ask once again about the insurance, which seemed to be a rather large amount. Catherine acknowledged that it was, but she said she was certain that Ellen had not taken the policies out on her children with any hope of collecting.

Before the two detectives left, Detective Jones asked Detective Cordia to come into the bedroom to hear something Stacy had said.

“Mommy didn’t kill Steven and Dave,” the girl said.

“Why are you saying this?” Detective Cordia asked.

“Mommy said that you guys said that she killed my brothers,” Stacy said with conviction. There was a short pause, then she said it again: “Mommy didn’t kill my brothers.”

This was a tough part of their jobs. On one hand, there was a human inclination to want to respond with sympathy and support, especially when a child is involved. On the other, it was just good police work to ask Stacy to repeat her statement for Detective Cordia, who could also then witness it for the record. After that, they left.

The rest of the day for Detective Cordia was spent running down loose ends, including making a trip to Children’s Hospital on South Kingshighway to verify the record of the hair dryer incident. The medical report showed that Stacy had been there and treated for petechiae on the top of her tongue, a form of bleeding that was the result of electric shock. The report also included the explanation that the girl’s little brother had dropped a hair dryer in the tub.

Back at headquarters, Detective Wiber was on the phone, calling more insurance companies. Carl Carver at Shelter Insurance had eagerly given him the names and phone numbers of additional insurers to help him in his canvassing. Detective Wiber hit pay dirt when he called the Gerber Insurance Company and spoke with Barbara Gregg. Ellen had filled out a mail-in application for insurance on Steven and Stacy, as well as herself. The application was made on August 29, 1989, but because of questions about Steven’s health, the $3,000 policy on his life hadn’t been written until October 18th. While it was a moot point now, the fact remained that Ellen hadn’t mentioned this to any of the detectives yet. Wiber also noticed that the amount—$3,000—expanded the coverage on her children to a nice round number: $100,000.

In addition, he made a phone call to William Reed, the State Farm agent who had sold Ellen the $50,000 policy. Mr. Reed recalled that Ellen had initially contacted him in the early part of August 1989, wanting to apply for $30,000 on each child. Later, he said, she asked how difficult it would be to increase the coverage to $50,000, and he advised that all she needed to do was write in the new amount and send in the application and the first premium payment. This didn’t track with Ellen’s assertion that she was “convinced” that the bigger policy was a better deal. The policies were issued on August 22, 1989, and Mr. Reed stated that Ellen had missed the September payment on Stacy, which came due after the bathtub ordeal. Detective Wiber would later get a call from the helpful Mr. Carver at Shelter Insurance. He wanted to make sure the detective knew that the $30,000 policy on Stacy’s life had lapsed, effective October 22, 1989. Later, in November, she was sent a letter advising her that if the payment wasn’t made, the policy was in jeopardy of cancellation. That, he said, was the last record of any transaction on the policy for Stacy.

By 2:15, the task force had compared notes from the morning’s work. This supplied the basis for the questions that would be asked during the polygraph examination. The main point of the polygraph was to determine whether Ellen had killed her boys, and she would be asked that question point-blank. When Ellen appeared at the appointed hour, Robert Greeley, the department’s polygraphist, was ready.

The test was quite short, and the results were inconclusive. Ellen showed little or no reaction to any of the questions Greeley put to her, including the so-called test questions that are posed to provide the polygraphist with a baseline to measure the results.

Immediately following the polygraph, Ellen was escorted by Detectives Wiber and Waggoner to Interview Room 1 again, where she had been questioned the night before. They had a few, more-pointed questions for her.

First she was asked about the medical bills she had incurred when David died. The detectives had only that morning learned that Ellen had claimed to the bankruptcy court that she faced $16,000 in leftover bills for medical treatment for her sons and for funeral expenses.

“On David,” Ellen said, “the bills amounted to about $30,000, and the insurance paid all of it except $500.”

“And how was it with Steven?”

“I didn’t get any bills with Steven. I guess the insurance paid all of it, except twenty-five dollars for an emergency room fee from Cardinal Glennon.”

In other words, she had lied to the bankruptcy court.

Then they asked her about the life insurance on David. Specifically they asked about the John Hancock policy, and Ellen told them that John Hancock had refused to pay up the $10,000, claiming that the policy had lapsed. Ellen was adamant that the policy had not lapsed, and she was angry that the company didn’t honor her claim.

“Ellen, last night you stated that you had collected the $10,000, and that you had spent it,” one of the detectives said.

Ellen looked down at the table, but she couldn’t explain the discrepancy in her statements.

They moved on, asking her about her bills, and Ellen gave a laundry list of her liabilities: $57 a month for parking, deducted from her paycheck; $156 a month budget billing for Union Electric, an account $700 in arrears; $57 a month garnishment for Southwestern Bell for service that had been disconnected; $350 every six months for State Farm Insurance, which insured her car; and $135 a month for a bankruptcy payment. It all added up to almost $500 a month, and when the monthly life insurance payments were counted, it was clear that almost a third of Ellen’s monthly income was locked up by these fixed obligations. She still had to pay her $323 rent and put food on the table.

This recitation of her mountain of bills ended the interview. Now the detectives had a better sense of what had been driving the woman. That still left a large question, though: Why had she just bought a new car?