The day after the search, Palmer met with Samantha Norfleet to question her about Wheezie’s treatment. She told him that her 4-and-a-half-pound dog had had a seizure on January 1, 2005, and Samantha immediately drove her pet to Advanced Animal Care. When she arrived, the business was closed because of the holiday.
She’d called the emergency number listed on the front door. She left a message and ten minutes later, Wendi returned the call. Fifteen minutes after that, Wendi came out from the right side of the building and unlocked the front door. They all went inside.
Wendi examined Wheezie, took a blood sample and gave the tiny dog a shot of valium, saying, “Phenobarbital is usually used to treat seizures, but I don’t recommend it in this case.”
Samantha wrote a check for $196 and left the clinic with Wheezie. Wendi did not provide any additional medication. Palmer drafted a new affidavit—this time for a search warrant and an arrest warrant.
At 10:38 A.M. on April 15, the Texas Ranger pulled into the clinic parking lot again with four other law enforcement officers and a crime-scene technician. Wendi and Judy were outside in front of the building. When they spotted the arriving vehicles, they went inside. Palmer followed them through the door.
He told Wendi that she was under arrest and informed Judy of the new search warrant. Wendi was cuffed and removed from the premises. She was transported to the Tom Green County Jail, where she was booked on a second charge of tampering with evidence for doctoring the controlled substance log and altering the medical records of Wheezie’s treatment. The information about the toxicology report had not yet been released. When Wendi had adjusted the records regarding the phenobarbital and pentobarbital, she’d proven that she knew the identity and quantities of the pharmaceuticals used to kill her husband.
Meanwhile, at the clinic, gravel flew as Lloyd Davidson sped his truck into the parking lot and skidded to a stop. He was agitated as he questioned Palmer about the search and arrest warrants. Palmer said, “You can remain here during the search if you quiet down.” Palmer then resumed his inspection of the clinic. He and the other officers recovered a large number of documents, including 363 patient files along with one sealed and one open bottle of diazepam—the generic name for Valium.
When Palmer exited the building, Lloyd approached him to share information about a black transvestite named Tu Tu. Lloyd said he’d heard that Michael Severance and Tu Tu had been involved in an altercation on the night of Mike’s disappearance. Although Palmer doubted that Tu Tu had been involved in Michael’s death, it was a lead that he needed to follow.
Just before 3 o’clock, Palmer took Wendi in front of District Judge Gossett. The judge set a bond of $100,000 on each charge. Jenkins Action Bail Bond issued a property bond and Wendi was released.
Mid-month, Marshall Davidson called Michael Newberry, Mike’s friend who’d bought the race car from Wendi while Mike was still missing. Marshall wanted to know if Newberry was interested in buying the two Mustangs at the clinic, and left the Davidsons’ home phone number if he decided he was. A few days later, Wendi called him asking about the cars again. “I just want to stay out of the middle of things,” Newberry said.
“There is nothing to be in the middle of,” Wendi said.
“I think there’s a hold on selling Mike’s cars.”
“There is no such hold. Our mailman is interested in buying them if you aren’t.”
Wendi took a private polygraph examination. Her attorney, Tom Davidson (no relation to Wendi), told the media she’d passed the test which included the questions “Did you kill your husband?” and “Do you know who did?” He said, “She didn’t kill anybody, and doesn’t know who did.”
The San Angelo Police Department still would not publicly discuss the results of the earlier examination. When asked, Lieutenant Milbourn told the media, “It gives us an idea of where and how to pursue an investigation because of the questions that were asked of what to look for, not to look for, what to concentrate on first, but it’s not definitive. Part of it is that polygraphs can be defeated. To totally discount somebody because they passed a poly or to assume that they didn’t commit a crime would be a mistake. It’s one other tool that we could use.”
Nicole Leighton again responded for the family. “I don’t even know what to think anymore. I knew they had administered the polygraph in the beginning, in the very beginning, but they can’t tell us the results, obviously. She has admitted to dumping his body, filing a missing persons report and filing for a divorce, the whole time knowing where he was, so obviously she has lied before. There’s a ton of things she lied about. I guess it depends upon what questions they asked her. I hope we find out who did it, if she didn’t.”
Palmer and McGuire drove over to Lubbock on April 27, 2005, to interview the people who’d worked with Wendi at the Animal Hospital of Lubbock. Dr. Jay Jones told them that he’d hired Wendi. “She resisted conforming to the procedures to order medications that were not maintained or used by other doctors.” Jones also complained that Wendi had not told him she was pregnant when she took the job.
He recalled Michael visiting Wendi on a couple of occasions, but they did not appear very close. In her seven months at the facility, Wendi did not live up to expectations. “If she hadn’t quit, I would have fired her.”
Dr. Laurel Linn Jones told the investigators that in addition to the fact that Wendi did not follow the policies and procedures at the hospital, it was difficult to get along with Wendi. In contrast, veterinary technician Frank Saiz described Wendi as “pleasant and calm.” He said that she’d seemed very nonchalant about her pregnancy but had been seriously upset when Michael went to a car race in Dallas instead of coming to Lubbock to visit her.
Technician Kimberley Rufener had a different read on Wendi. She called her “young and flaky.” Wendi had told her about plans to get an abortion, which Michael had promised her anything she wanted to prevent.
Dr. Kerry Blanton found Wendi disagreeable as a co-worker, saying that Wendi spoke openly about her sex life and blamed others for her problems and mistakes. “She could lie very well.” What bothered Blanton the most were Wendi’s discussions about what she would do to keep Michael from getting custody of her new baby. Wendi wondered aloud if she could place a bag over Tristan’s head, punch him in the face and then tell police that Michael had hit the little boy. The investigators were revolted by this revelation. They had two felony charges filed against Wendi Davidson—they were looking forward to adding homicide to the list.