Most Wanted Killer

LIFE IN HELL

From the moment Susan Markowitz knew Nick was dead, her whole world collapsed in, upon itself. Most mothers have a bond with their sons, but this was particularly true between Susan and Nick. She wandered around in a daze after his death—hours of complete numbness, followed by bursts of rage or crying, so violent, they left her drained.

For something to hang on to, Susan created a Web page entitled Aching for Nick. On it she wrote at various times about her emotions and the devastation of her life after Nick was murdered. In one section entitled “Denial,” she spoke of hearing everything going on around her, but not wanting to participate. She could still smell the scent of his shirt and see the posters on his wall. At times it felt as if he weren’t gone at all.

In another section entitled “Fading,” she wrote that to be his mom was all she ever wanted. It seemed almost impossible to her that when graduation day came at his high school, he wouldn’t be there to receive his diploma. Son, I miss you. I ache for you, and I cry for you.They have ripped out my heart and soul. I would have died for you.

Susan also had a message board on the Court TV Web page, where she created a timeline of everything that had happened starting on August 6, 2000, when Nick was kidnapped off the street. Susan included a graphic that stated: Wanted: Jesse James Hollywood. $$$$$ Please Help. Jesse James Hollywood is on the FBI and America’s Most Wanted lists. Jesse is the coward that orchestrated the kidnap and execution of my son, Nick.

In one posting, Susan wrote: We are so going to get you Jesse James Hollywood. Big name for such a little boy. You can run, but you cannot hide.You have no idea. Smile for the camera cuz this mama is waiting to wipe that smile off your face!

People from around the nation wrote back to her, and one posting stated, I am praying so hard for this evil person to be found for you for Christmas. Another wrote, Maybe he (Jesse Hollywood) is reading this message board. Here is a message from me. “You are the scum of the earth. You have no right to the air you breathe.Why don’t you just put a bullet in your head.You are DIRT!!!”

Someone else offered, I double ditto that. He is a scumbag and one day HE WILL BE FOUND.

Susan kept up the theme that someone, somewhere, would know where he was and post that they had seen Jesse James Hollywood. She wrote: Someone out there has to know where he is hiding out. I pray someone will turn him in! Has anyone heard anything new about him?

Others agreed with Susan on this theme, and one replied: I am so sorry you lost your son. Someone will know where this guy is and bring him to justice.There is always someone who knows something out there. I just hope he is caught soon so he can’t harm anyone else and make more people grieve.

Yet, despite the posts and well wishes from hundreds of people, Susan was wrapped in a cloak of grief and depression. She later told reporter Marianne McCarthy, “There are days I can’t get out of bed. I see Nick everywhere—standing there, sitting here, playing outside with his dog, Zack.”

McCarthy noticed that the house itself was a shrine to Nick. There were poster-sized photos of Nick in every room, and every room had some memento of Nick—personal items and his Bar Mitzvah gifts. Nick’s room was exactly how he had left it on the morning of August 6, 2000, except Susan had added some of his baby things, which came out of storage.

Susan told the Jewish Journal that since Nick’s murder, “You listen to everything differently. You smell things differently. There’s nothing that isn’t affected by Nick’s death. I’ll be talking, and then all of a sudden, I panic, remembering who I am. I don’t want to be me.”

There was also the deep resentment and anger at Ben that still filled Susan with bitterness. She admitted it was a problem that sometimes cropped up between herself and Jeff. Ben was, of course, Jeff ’s son, but she wanted nothing to do with Ben. She said, “Nick died for his brother, Ben. Nick did nothing to escape, because he felt his brother would come and save him. In my opinion Ben has done nothing in memory of that.”

Susan later told Dateline NBC correspondent Chris Hansen, “I’ve been in the hospital twelve times. Something like that. I don’t remember. I thought of suicide, pills, with drinking. And I cut my wrists.”

In Susan’s darkest hours complete strangers on the Internet wrote her not to give up hope. One person wrote: I understand your anguish, but please, please, please, try to think through your grief and not do anything that will jeopardize yourself and your family. You have suffered enough.That slime will get his due in prison. My prayers are with you and your family, as I know Nick would not want you to hurt yourself. Nick is safe from harm now. He would want you to be safe, too.

At least by August 5, 2001, Susan and Jeff Markowitz could finally put a marker upon Nick’s grave. There was a photo of Nick when he was fifteen years old on one side of the marker, plus a photo of Nick as a young boy kissing his mother, Susan. At the bottom of the marker were the lines Nicholas Samuel Markowitz. Sept. 19, 1984–Aug. 9, 2000. Step softly, a dream lies here. Sweet dreams, Nick.

In a short statement about the unveiling, Susan said, “Once again everyone gathered at the Groman-Eden Memorial Cemetery. It is a Jewish tradition that the families of loved ones wait about one year before placing the headstone. The ceremony was held Sunday, August 5, 2001. The fact that Nick is gone is no easier to accept now than it was a year ago. I imagine that is due to the nature of his death. I have lost relatives in the past, and, with a lot less pain, learned to accept the fact. Nick’s fate will never be settled in not only my mind and heart, but all that knew him.”

Susan also wrote poetry, to and from Nick. One poem was entitled “Letter from Heaven,” and it was from Nick to his family. The poem concerned Nick arriving in Heaven and letting those who loved him know that he was okay. Nick said that in Heaven he dwelt with God, and there were no tears or sadness.

Another poem was almost a statement in non-rhyming meter. It was entitled “Drifting.” Susan wrote that Nick was on her mind day and night. She begged God that there truly would be a Heaven for her only child who had been so senselessly murdered.

Despite the numbness, grief, turmoil and suicide attempts, Susan Markowitz did survive. In one of her postings on the Court TV Web site, she wrote: I have spent the past year in and out of the hospital for being suicidal. I almost gave up. However, something happened this past month and I have never felt stronger. I hope it lasts, I have so many things to fight for. I know Nick would want me to stay strong.

Susan said she had plans of making a memorial quilt out of Nick’s clothes, including his karate uniform and Shakespeare drama T-shirts. A person wrote back and said: I have missed your wonderful up-lifting words. Please remember, you are the wind beneath someone’s wings every day. Bless you my dear.

Another wrote about Jesse James Hollywood, I know the little **** is sitting here right under our noses. He’s gonna slip one day. Justice will be served. Peace and strength to you, my friend.

Because of the nature of the murder, where so many people had been witnesses to Nick’s kidnapped status, but none of them contacted authorities, Jeff and Susan Markowitz retained a lawyer and filed a civil lawsuit claiming “wrongful death.” The period covered was from August 6 to August 9, 2000, and the list of defendants was immense:

Jesse James Hollywood and his parents, Jack and Laurie Hollywood

Jesse Rugge and his father, Baron Rugge

Graham Pressley and his parents, Charles and Christina Pressley

William Skidmore

Ryan Hoyt

Stephen Hogg

Natasha Adams and her mother, Allison Adams

Michelle Lasher and her parents, Douglas and Elaine Lasher

Armen Tovmasya (who they said had given the TEC-9 to Jesse Hollywood)

The City of Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Police Department

Navegar, Inc.—doing business as Intratec Firearms

The last listed, Navegar, Inc., of Florida, had created the TEC-9, and the Markowitzes’ lawyers argued that it had been negligent in its business practices. They wrote: They built a weapon whose purpose is to kill people, marketed it to criminals by touting its resistance to fingerprints and failed to sell the gun exclusively to law enforcement personnel.

This section about the gun was an uphill fight, since the California Supreme Court had recently ruled that a manufacturer could not be held responsible for the actions of a gunman.

On other points the lawsuit claimed that both Allison Adams and Stephen Hogg, who were lawyers, were guilty of negligence because they were aware that a teenager was being held captive, but they failed to contact authorities.

The LAPD came in for special scorn from Jeff and Susan Markowitz for their actions concerning the two 911 calls that were made shortly after Nick was grabbed off the street. According to the lawsuit, Officers Rygh and Lyons did not follow correct procedures when they failed to investigate properly the whereabouts of the van used in the kidnapping, nor did they alert other law enforcement agencies in the area.

The Lemon Tree Inn was part of the lawsuit as well because of the allegation of operating a business that helped prolong the crime. In this allegation there were points that the room should not have been obtained by Jesse Rugge, who was not twenty-one years old at the time, and that it was obvious that minors were accompanying him to the room.

One of the most contentious parts of the lawsuit sought to hold adults responsible for the actions of their children, especially the parents of Jesse Hollywood, Jesse Rugge and Graham Pressley.

With her thoughts never very far away from Nick, Susan braced herself for the first of the co-conspirators to be brought to trial, Ryan Hoyt. In some way it would be the hardest test of all for her. It was the gun in Hoyt’s hand that had ended her son’s life.