16. Extract from statement of Gladys McElroy

[24 July]

.

"...I have been a bus-driver with the Manassas Bus Company for the last 23 years. Since January of this year I have been driving the Manassas-DC-Manassas route.

Yesterday morning there were maybe 10 or 12 passengers on the 11 a.m. ride from DC to Manassas. Three of them I know by name. Mrs Flores, the schoolteacher; she was returning from a visit to her mother at the hospital where Nurse Henry was murdered. Miss Evans, the widow of the old police chief; she had stayed overnight in DC after seeing something fancy at the theatre. And Mr Jermyn, the postman; he has his own reasons for visiting DC. There were also a number of passengers whose names I don't know off the top of my head but who I would know to see. And of course there was the man who the police are interested in. He was wearing a crumpled linen suit, a bit like those suits that Matlock used to wear on TV and his hair looked like it had been dragged backwards through a bush. He handed me a $20 bill - the fare from DC to Manassas is $12 - and told me that I could keep the change. As it happens, I had to keep the change anyhow. The company operates an exact fares policy so customers either pay their $12 or else they pay more but in any event they don't get change. It was the way this man spoke that caught my attention most. He sounded like Little Lord Fauntleroy all grown up and certainly not the kind of person whom you'd expect to be catching the mid-morning bus from DC to Manassas. Even so, there was something about his accent that wasn't quite right. I emigrated from Jamaica to England before I came to the United States so I know what a genuine upper-class English accent sounds like and his wasn't the real deal. It was too much. More like a Hollywood impression of an Englishman's accent, rather than the real thing.

Anyhow, the man sat down a few rows back and in the mirror I could see him looking at me every now and then. Strange looks as if I had somehow offended him. I paid no attention to him. As a driver I'm well used to getting odd looks from odd customers. It goes with the turf.

When we got to Manassas the man came up to me and said he'd noticed a sign which said that we had CCTV on the bus and that if he'd known his privacy was going to be violated he wouldn't have travelled by bus. I told him that the signs had been put up by the bus company in the hope that it would stop young hoodlums writing graffiti on the bus but that the cameras had never been installed. When he heard this he slapped his thigh and said this was a "cracking" story. There was something about the way he spoke and looked which made me wonder whether he wasn't quite right in the head. But he seemed pleased not to have been caught on CCTV and headed off to do whatever he had to do in Manassas.

Later on when I finished my final run of the day and was doing a tidy-up of the bus I found a newspaper on the back seat and there, staring up at me from the front page, was the strange-looking man I had carried as a bus passenger earlier that day. The picture in the paper was a police drawing and didn't quite capture him right but I have no doubt that the man in the paper and the odd-ball passenger on my bus were the same person. I read the story in the paper, saw that the man was wanted for questioning and came to the police station straightaway...".

15. Manassas Man Murdered

[Virginian Farmers' Journal, 23 July]

.

"Manassas Man Murdered

Manassas local, Josh Wheen (43) was gunned down yesterday only feet away from the front door of his farmhouse.

Mr Wheen's body was discovered by his wife when she returned home from morning coffee with friends in Woodbridge. The emergency services were immediately called and while waiting for them to come Mrs Wheen attempted unsuccssfully to resuscitate her husband. When the ambulance crew arrived a short time later there was nothing they could do to revive Mr Wheen.

Police quickly sealed off the family home and grounds for forensic examination. It is understood that no sign of a break-in was discovered and it is possible that Mr Wheen either knew his killer or, at least, was expecting the killer to call.

A search of the outhouses on the Wheen farm revealed that Mr Wheen's distinctive red, silver and blue SUV had been stolen, presumably by the killer. Readers may recall that this SUV was won by Mr Wheen at this month's Independence Day Cattle and Ploughing Fair in Manassas.

A state-wide alert was put out for the SUV shortly after mid-day yesterday and radio stations were also asked to broadcast the vehicle details. A couple of sightings were reported and while the vehicle and driver were not apprehended it seems likely that it was driven towards the DC metropolitan area.

A police search of the Wheen family home indicated that a 44 Magnum Colt Anaconda which Mr Wheen had advertised for sale was missing. Although, at the time of writing, the autopsy on Mr Wheen has yet to be concluded it is understood that Mr Wheen was shot at close range by someone holding a small arms weapon. Police are proceeding on the basis that the stolen 44 Magnum Anaconda was the weapon used.

This last fact gives the police a potentially useful line of enquiry. Mr Wheen had moonlighted as a licensed gun-trader in the last few years, buying and selling small-arms to gun-lovers to supplement his income, often advertising in this paper. One possibility being explored by the police is that Mr Wheen's killer called to the house looking to buy a gun and, when shown the 44 Magnum Anaconda, turned the weapon on Mr Wheen.

Another possibility being explored by police is that Mr Wheen's killing may in some way have been connected with a protracted boundary dispute that has involved a number of Manassas residents over the past few years. However, it is understood that investigators consider a rogue gun-buyer to be the most likely culprit behind Mr Wheen's murder.

One high-placed source within the police department who did not wish to be named indicated that officers are also considering whether there is a possible connection between Mr Wheen's murder and the dramatic daylight bludgeoning of Nurse Bridie Henry in Washington DC's Rock Creek Park last week.

Nurse Henry's brutal murder has featured prominently in the national media over the last few days. Less prominently reporte has been the alleged sighting at a gun-range in West Virginia of a man whom police want to speak with regarding Nurse Henry's murder.

Significantly, a Manassas bus-driver has apparently indicated to police that yesterday morning a passenger resembling the man police are looking for in connection with the Nurse Henry murder travelled in the driver's bus from DC to Manassas yesterday morning. The driver did not have an opportunity to report this to police until after her day-shift ended. So police had no chance to apprehend the man. However, this alleged sighting raises the possibility that Nurse Henry's killer came from DC with a view to acquiring a gun from Mr Wheen, killed Mr Wheen rather than buy the gun and then sped back to DC in Mr Wheen's SUV.

This is a dramatic sequence of events, if true. However, it does seem to fit a certain pattern in that whoever killed Nurse Henry also made his getaway in the victim's car.

Police have asked that the public keep a close eye out in any event for Mr Wheen's SUV in case the driver of that vehicle should return to Virginia. However. on no account should the driver be approached as he is likely armed and dangerous.

It is understood that Mr Wheen's funeral arrangements will be announced after the mandatory state autopsy on his body has been completed."

14. Iranian Prince Appointed to US Supreme Court

Daily Examiner, 24 July

.

"Iranian Prince Appointed to US Supreme Court

In a surprise decision the President last night nominated Professor Saeed Yarvali of Georgetown University to fill the Supreme Court seat of retiring Justice Corelli.

Professor Yarvali is related to the late Shah of Iran and, until the student revolution of 1979 led to the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Yarvali had a distant claim on that nation's throne. In the course of the revolution, Yarvali's father - a member of the Shah of Iran's feared secret police - was executed by revolutionaries. Soon after, the young Yarvali fled with his mother and brother to Switzerland. For a time they managed to maintain themselves there in the comfortable lifestyle that they had enjoyed back home in Iran. However, when Switzerland froze the Geneva bank accounts of certain members of the Shah's regime the suddenly penniless Yarvalis were forced to emigrate to the United States.

During a visit to America in 1966, Mrs Yarvali had spent a week at the luxurious Everglades Country Club and resort in up-market Hampton, Illinois. Soon after her arrival as an immigrant in the United States Mrs Yarvali (a onetime member of the Iranian Olympic tennis team) returned to the Everglades, this time as an in-house tennis coach. In the years that followed the Yarvali boys attended Hampton's elementary and high schools. From here hard graft and the occasional scholarship took the young Saeed to Yale and then to Harvard where he graduated first in class from the Law School. (His younger brother followed more closely in his mother's footsteps, taking a bronze medal in swimming at the Barcelona Olympics and subsequently becoming lead swimming coach at the Everglades).

After university, Yarvali did not immediately continue with his law career, spending two years instead as a volunteer with the United Nations in Palestine. Since that time Professor Yarvali has been critical of Israel's conduct in the Palestinian territories and a prominent member of an ongoing campaign to boycott Israeli universities pending a full and final resolution of ongoing Mid-East tensions.

Given the strength of the pro-Israeli lobby within Congress, Professor Yarvali's stance towards Israel is likely to become a key area of focus during his confirmation hearings and could conceivably stymie the nomination process. Questioned about this, one administration official closely involved in the selection process indicated that Professor Yarvali's views on a particular foreign policy issue were not germane to his suitability for the office of Supreme Court justice and claimed that it would be difficult to find many Iranian-American attorneys of Professor Yarvali's calibre whose views on the Palestinian issue would entirely accord with those of the pro-Israeli lobby.

While this may be true it rather begs the question why the President would apparently go out of his way to antagonise a powerful constituency that was partly responsible for his success in the Presidential election. The answer may lie in the math. While the President scored well in east and west-coast states he did less well in central and mid-western states. In this context the President's nomination of Professor Yarvali can be seen as something of a political master-stroke. Before his appointment to Georgetown University, Yarvali spent the better part of his life living and working in Illinois and Michigan and several times in last night's nomination speech the President emphasised those mid-western connections. This courting of the mid-west has to be worth something when the President goes grubbing for votes in key mid-western states in the next Presidential election.

Of course internationally the President's nomination of Yarvali also sends a strong political message. Since 9/11 this nation has been perceived by many in the Muslim world to have embarked upon a new Crusade. The President's nomination of a prominent Muslim-American signals that such logic is unduly simplistic, that the United States can be an enemy to Muslim terrorists, yet remain a land of opportunity for Muslim people. Professor Yarvali's nomination also sends a message to the American people that there is a community within our midst who contribute much and have much to contribute to our nation's continuing prosperity. In the near constant drum-beat to war that has sounded since the Twin Towers collapsed that is a message which has often been drowned out. It remains to be seen whether it is a message that the Ameerican electorate has any appetite to hear.

During his own lifetime, Professor Yarvali has made an impressive contribution to American society. During the later Clinton administration and the first George W Bush administration, Yarvali served as head of the Civil Rights Unit within the Department of Justice. Much of his workload during this time was concerned with the continuing struggle for full equality by African-Americans and Yarvali has forged strong links with this community which will likely stand him in good stead in the confirmation proceedings before the United States Senate.

Yarvali's urbane personality and his obvious talent as helmsman of the Civil Rights Unit led to his being retained in position by President George W Bush. The reasons for his unexpected departure mid-way through Bush's first term in office have never fully been explained and may yet become a point of focus during the Senate confirmation hearings. Yarvali's profile on the website of Georgetown University Law School suggests that he left only because he was offered the position of Professor of Constitutional Law and Theory at Georgetown. However, a Justice Department official who worked with Yarvali suggested last night that Yarvali's departure was prompted by discomfort with the Bush administration's policies towards the Muslim world and, in particular, its invasion of Iraq. If true, this could be the Achilles Heel in Yarvali's generally impressive resume. The American people and their representatives on Capitol Hill are a tolerant lot but that tolerance is unlikely to extend to a Supreme Court justice who is opposed to a war in which American soldiers are dying. Unswerving patriotism of a particular sort is generally considered a prerequisite to holding high federal office.

At Georgetown, Yarvali is reputed to be a popular faculty member among both staff and students. His courses are heavily over-subscribed, though attendees are warned to come prepared: the professor apparently does not suffer fools lightly and does not suffer the under-prepared at all. In his time since joining the Georgetown law faculty, Professor Yarvali has authored a seminal textbook on civil rights law. However, it is a law review article on "Muslim Rights in Christian America", published last year, that will perhaps excite the most attention at Yarvali's confirmation hearings, particularly among those eager for their own purposes to portray Yarvali as an extremist who should not be allowed to join the nation's foremost jurists.

If Yarvali's nomination is confirmed by the US Senate and the President for one must believe that he will be - Presidents tend not to nominate sure losers - it will be a tremendous personal achievement for Yarvali and a significant political milestone for all Iranian-Americans. To go from turmoil in Tehran to a seat in America's foremost temple of justice in a single lifetime is a remarkable accomplishment. For the President to nominate the first Muslim Supreme Court justice at a time when America is embroiled in difficulties with much of the Muslim world presents a challenge to those who contend that America is fundamentally anti-Islam or anything other than a land of equal and golden opportunity for all of its people, regardless of background."

13. Autopsy Report on Nurse Brigid Henry

[24 July]

.

"...Ms Brigid Henry (the "Deceased") was admitted to Georgetown University Hospital on the afternoon of 18 July. She had suffered heavy injuries to the face. These had macerated the bone structure on the left side of her face to such an extent that the Deceased was not immediately recognised by the nurse who admitted her or the surgical team who operated on her, all of whom had worked with the Deceased.

The Deceased was found to have suffered severe brain damage as a result of the massive contusions to her skull. These contusions were initially attributed to a fall that the Deceased was alleged to have suffered at her house or in a public park. On closer examination it is difficult to see how any fall could have occasioned the injuries that the Deceased sustained. These injuries were confined to the face and any fall that occasioned such injuries could reasonably be expected to have caused additional bodily injury. However, there was no injury of any nature to the Deceased's body apart from some bruising of the right wrist and the left knee.

The nature of the injuries to the Deceased's face and the absence of any other injury apart from limited bruising of the right wrist and the left knee suggest that the Deceased was beaten around the face with a blunt weapon while lying on her back. The bruising on her right wrist and left leg suggest that her attacker held down her two hands with the hand that was not wielding the instrument which struck her - probably the left hand - and that he held down her two legs by kneeling heavily on the left leg (the right leg being trapped underneath).

I have been asked to comment expressly on whether the other injuries suffered are consistent with the accused being held down in a car whilst simultaneously being battered about the face with a hammer. It is my professional opinion that they are.

The autopsy examination reveals severe cranial, cerebral and arterial damage that occasioned massive internal bleeding and would have resulted in the Deceased being reduced to a severely vegetative state had she survived.

The report of the operating surgeon reveals that despite every effort being made to halt this bleeding and to resuscitate the Deceased she died at 2.15 p.m. It is my professional opinion that this was the near inevitable result of the injuries that the Deceased had suffered and that, if she recovered consciousness, she would have suffered continuous and irreversible brain damage that would have rendered it impossible for her to enjoy any semblance of "normal" life. That the Deceased survived as long as she did after her admission to hospital is perhaps best ascribed to her own fighting-spirit and also to the quality of the surgical team who operated on her.

.

Cause of Death: Cerebral haemorrhage.

Proximate cause of death: Assault with a blunt weapon, consistent with hammer injuries.

Any other injury noted: Limited. Bruising of the right wrist. Marked bruising of the left leg (immediately below the knee joint) consistent with some form of restraint.

Blood tests: Clear.

Any other comment: The Deceased was in the very early stages of pregnancy (2-3 weeks)."

12. Extract from Washington DC Radio's "News at 5"

[23 July]

.

"...Presenter - Okay, we're going over now to Toni Rogers for breakking news in the Nurse Henry investigation which Toni has been covering for us. Toni?

Reporter - Hi, Bob. I'm at a shooting-range outside Martinsburg, West Virginia with Irv Holstein, the owner of the range and Irv, you're responsible for a breakthrough in the Nurse Henry investigation, aren't you?

Mr Holstein - Well, we think so, yes.

Reporter - Why do you think that, Irv?

Mr Holstein - Well, we're a pretty small operation here. We have a loyal group of regulars who come shooting here once or twice a week but they're mostly from hereabouts so we know them all, know some of them all their lives. So the other day this fella' turns up looking to become a member and asking if he could look around the range. So I started showing him around but he just didn't seem right.

Reporter - What do you mean by he "didn't seem right"?

Mr Holstein - Well, folks that come to a shooting-range tend to fit into one of two categories. They either have a police or army connection or the like. Or they enjoy hunting. This fella' didn't fit into either category. In fact he didn't seem that interested in guns at all and being interested in guns is kind of a prerequisite to getting the most out of a firing-range. Plus he was kind of funny too.

Reporter - In what way "funny"?

Mr Holstein - Well, not funny ha-ha, that's for sure. He was dressed in fancy clothes. Looked like he was going to a garden party with the Queen of England. And he spoke like the Queen of England too. Very posh. As if he was born better than the rest of us. Anyhow, I asked him if he'd like to let off a few shots on the range and he said that he would. But when I gave him the shot-gun he didn't know how to aim and fire. He looked as if he hadn't ever lifted a gun in his life.

Reporter - And had he said that he knew how to fire a gun?

Mr Holstein - I don't recall that he'd ever quite said as much but he'd never not quite said as much either. In any event, I took the shot-gun from him and let off a shot. At which point he said that he was more a revolver man than a shot-gun man. But when I asked him what kind of revolver he liked to use he couldn't name a single type. Which told me that he'd never fired a revolver either. It made me quite uneasy.

Reporter - Why?

Mr Holstein - Well, he was a strange type. Looking for a gun. Pretending he was something he wasn't. Swanning about in his strange clothes and with that funny way of speaking. I wasn't sure what to make of him or what he was up to, except that I was sure he was up to no good.

Reporter - So what did you do?

Mr Holstein - I told him that he looked like he needed some shooting-lessons and that we didn't offer lessons, so he'd need to go elsewhere.

Reporter - How did he react to that?

Mr Holstein - He told me what a "good fellow" I was for showing him around and then - strangest thing - he asked me if I would sell him a gun. When I asked him why he wanted to buy a gun he said that he'd need it if he was to do shooting-lessons. This from a fella' who'd been lording it around as though he was born with a silver gun in his mouth.

Reporter - And did you sell him a gun?

Mr Holstein - I'm not licensed to sell firearms and even if I was I wouldn't have sold one to this fella'. Why he'd likely shoot me once I gave it to him. When I told him that we don't sell guns he said that if we didn't do lessons and we didn't sell guns then he might as well leave. I told him that he might as well and off he went.

Reporter - Did he have a car?

Mr Holstein - No. Given all his airs and graces I wouldn't have been surprised if he had a chauffeur with him but all he had was a pedal-bike. Said it was better for the environment.

Reporter - What did you say to that?

Mr Holstein - I said that maybe it was better for us all if he left. He gave me a vicious look when I said that but headed off without saying anything more. It gave me a land that look. Showed me the true nature of the man.

Reporter - When did you realise that you might have been speaking with the man police want to talk with about the Nurse Henry murder?

Mr Holstein - The next time I was in Martinsburg. The sheriff's a friend of mine and I called in to the station to see him. When I was there I saw the "Wanted" poster on the notice-board and I knew the "Wanted" man was the fella' I'd met.

Reporter - When did you see him?

Mr Holstein - Three days after that girl was murdered.

Reporter - And he was looking to buy a gun.

Mr Holstein - He was.

Reporter - There you have it, Bob. Police believe that this was a sighting of the man they have been looking to speak with about Nurse Henry's killing. They are obviously concerned that he was looking to buy a gun and are even more concerned that he may have managed to acquire one by now. They are warning that anyone who sees the man should treat him as armed and dangerous and make no attempt to confront him.

Presenter - Worrying news, Toni. Is there any sign that the police are any closer to catching this man?

Reporter - The official line is that the police are following a number of lines of enquiry, Bob. However, privately some officers admit that they are not an awful lot closer to arresting this individual than they were when this whole sorry saga began.

Presenter - But they're not looking for anyone else?

Reporter - No they're not, Bob, and that tells us something.

Presenter - It certainly does, Toni. Thanks for that and do let us know if anything new arises.

Reporter - Will do, Bob...".

11. Extract from statement of Louis Babcock

[23 July]

"...I am an ambulance driver at Georgetown University Hospital.

On 18 July I was returning to the hospital after bringing an elderly patient to her home on the Waterfront. As usual there was a tailback at Washington Circle. I joined the queue of traffic and waited for it to start moving. I was listening to the usual chatter on the ambulance radio when I noticed that there was a woman bleeding in the car beside me. I got out of the ambulance and cautiously approached the car. The man driving the car was clearly in distress. He rolled down the window and asked if I could help him get to the hospital. He had a foreign accent when he spoke, I think an English accent. He sounded educated and when I noticed a Georgetown University Hospital Parking permit on the windscreen of the car I assumed that he must be a doctor. It occurred to me that it was a little odd that I hadn't seen him around the hospital previously but I assumed that he must be new. He told me that the woman in the car had been working at home when she fell and injured herself. The woman herself tried to speak once or twice but she was drifting in and out of consciousness and I couldn't make any sense of what she said to me. I told the man to follow me, then jumped back into the ambulance, turned on the siren and made my way to the hospital. as quickly as I could.

There was one strange moment on the way. When we got to the turn-off from M Street onto Memorial Bridge the man braked his car and put out his left indicator as if he was going to turn towards Arlington. Then immediately the indicator turned off and he continued following after me.

When we got to the hospital I pulled up the ambulance in front of the rear entrance. A couple of aides ran out and, together with the man, we managed to lift the injured woman onto a trolley. One of the aides asked the man how the patient had suffered her injuries He replied that she had fallen in Rock Creek Park. This was not the same story that he had told me and this immediately made me suspicious of him. So I let the two aides and the man continue pushing the trolley through to the casualty unit and quickly ran off to fetch a security guard. There was something about the man's manner that I found unusual and it was troubling that he had told two different stories about how the woman came to be injured.

I told the security guard on duty that there was a man in the casualty unit whom I thought might have hurt the woman who had come in with him. The guard radioed this through to the DC police - he is required to do that - and then he came with me to the casualty unit. However, by the time we got there the man was gone. The nurse-in-charge told us that he had gone out to move his car so that it wasn't an obstruction. By the time the security guard and myself got out into the parking area, the man and his car were gone.

I have seen police sketches of the man believed to have killed the woman whom I helped to bring to the hospital. I have no doubt that this man and the man whom I helped to rush through the DC traffic are the same person. He is a young to middle-aged man of pale complexion. He has greying hair and a red beard, though I believe that his beard may be dyed. He is of medium height and build and speaks with a foreign accent, I think English...".

10. Extract from statement of Dwayne Olveira

[23 July]

"...I work as a printer at the DC Sunday Post. I usually work nights. On 17 July I worked through the night on a very long run. There was a special supplement being published on the economic crisis and these kind of supplements always take a lot of time. Anyhow, as a result I didn't leave work until about 10 a.m. on the morning of 18 July. This was getting close to the time that my wife finishes work. She has a part-time job as a guide at the Old Stone House and finishes work around 12.30 every day. So I decided I'd suprise her by meeting her after work and save the cost of a bus-ride home in the process - my wife takes the car to work each day so that she can collect our daughter from school on the way back. Anyhow, that gave me a couple of hours to spare. So I went into Rock Creek Park to grab forty winks. I lay down in the sunshine behind some high bushes near the 23rd Street end of the park. I set the alarm on my cell-phone for 12.15 - Old Stone House is quite close by - and then took a nap.

At 12.15 the alarm on my cell-phone started ringing. I turned it off and lay for a few minutes more in the sunshine. To be honest, I was still half-asleep, though not so asleep that I didn't hear a strange conversation going on over the hedge. I heard a man say something like "This is a hold-up". I don't think those were the exact words but I am certain that I heard a woman say "Is this some sort of joke?". The man then asked if the woman had a car. She said yes and he told her to take him to the car. Because I was still half-asleep I didn't appreciate the significance of what I was hearing. Once I realised what I had just heard I got up to see if I could spot the man and woman I'd heard talking. However, there was no-one behind the hedge any mote and no-one else around. I mentioned the conversation to my wife when I met her but thought no more of it. We spent the last few days out-of-town in Chincoteague. When we're there I go fishing with my friends and my wife spends all the time gossiping with hers. The end result was that neither of us saw much television. It was only when we got back and I saw the death of that young nurse smeared all over the papers and heard the details on the television that I realised that I must have overheard a conversation between the nurse and the man who killed her. I called the police immediately and was asked to make this statement...".