Todd - Case Details and Summary

Todd - Case Details and Summary (from my perspective)

Throughout the preparation for the trial, it has been interesting to see different perspectives on the same issue. My memories or recollections are different than others involved, just as how I react and the feelings I had going through some experiences are different than how anyone else would have perceived the situation. Here’s my summary about what happened.

About Carrie and John

John and I had been close friends and spent a lot of time together ever since we met early in 2004. We dated for about a month in the fall of 2004, and again for another few months in the fall of 2005. Even when we weren’t dating, we were sometimes more than just friends. March 10, 2007 I had an emotional experience, which resulted in a strong re-determination to not let my friendship with John get in the way of my happiness and potential to have a family. Shortly afterwards I met Todd. Whenever I had distanced myself from John, he got a little irrational. When I was dating someone else, he proclaimed his undying love for me. When I just wanted to get away, he would start selling things, have a crisis, or suddenly be ready for me to help him in someway. (Counseling has been helpful to recognize his manipulative and controlling behaviors that unfortunately I had not recognized or been able to get away from previously!)

John’s jealousy over me dating Todd (Summer 2007)

John was always very interested in who I went out with. John had a hard time when I let him know that Todd and I were officially dating. At that time I also specifically told him that I wanted to limit the amount of time we spent together. It was May 21, 2007 and I was headed to California for a week. John promised that he would not contact me if I would let him pick me up from the airport. When I told him not to do anything drastic, he wanted to know what I meant. I just encouraged him to be safe. When asked again I told him that I didn’t want him to kill himself. I couldn’t handle having two of my boyfriends commit suicide. My cell phone did not make it with me on the trip. In looking at the phone logs later, I got one call everyday while I was gone. While I was on my trip my roommate Cheryl called and said that John was planning to propose to me when I got back. Although I had already made arrangements to have Todd pick me up at the airport, I hadn’t cancelled with John yet. I did that right away, and he seemed okay with it.

Once I got back to DC, John asked about my cell phone, and offered to help me find it. John had brought his laptop over to my house in order to give me some church stuff. He ‘found’ a flash drive, got me to say that it wasn’t mine, and if it wasn’t Cheryl’s it may be Todd’s. He viewed the files on his laptop, and several were very clearly pornographic. Even though there were files that Todd and I had emailed to each other on the flash drive as well, I really didn’t buy that it was Todd’s. I changed my password to my email account right away.

John wanted to talk to me, so I had arranged a time where someone else could be there to talk with us. When I called John to confirm, he cancelled. Friday, June 8, 2007 John said that I would never have to worry about hearing from him again. I knew that he had cancelled his cell phone, had put his mother in assisted living, and was moving a lot of money around to put in a trust. I was concerned that he was suicidal, and encouraged him to tell someone what his plans were. I went down to John’s desk, and he gave me a coded letter he had prepared. He talked about his brother’s suicide, and his own previous suicide attempts. He asked me to marry him, and I said ‘No’. He then told me he wanted me to think about if there was any hope that I would change my mind, and to let him know by 6am the next morning. I wasn’t sure what to do for him, so I called several people from church to have them try to talk to John. I worked for a little while on the coded letter with no luck. My mother pointed out that John was just being manipulative, and so I tried not to worry about it too much. I was still curious about the letter, so the next morning I sent it to a few family members to get their help in figuring it out. At this point I was answering John’s calls, because I was really worried about his mental health.

Saturday morning John called to let me know that he was getting back from his bike ride and going to the store. I could tell that he was going to ask to come over, but fortunately I got another call, and told him I needed to get off the phone. My sister-in-law had figured out the pattern of the letter. In reading what John had said, I was again really worried that he was suicidal. I called the non-emergency police number and they said that they would send an officer over. The timing worked out perfectly. John called back, I let him come over, and he was here a few minutes before an officer came to the door. They talked to me and John separately. John agreed to go to the local Mental Health facility voluntarily for an evaluation, rather than me filing an order with the magistrate. John went, shared what he needed to share, and was determined not to be a threat to himself or others. At that point I figured that I had done what I could do. If he still wanted to kill himself, I wasn’t going to bend over backwards trying to stop him. I had kept Todd somewhat informed of what was going on, so I was happy that I got home in time for Todd to still come and us to make it to the play. It was nice to vent for the ½ hour drive over there, and then escape for a little while that evening.

A few other weird things happened that week. John ‘found’ my cell phone in his car, there was bad gas in my car, and the flowers Todd had sent never showed up. John did confess to several of the big things during the trial. He admitted to monitoring my email, planting the flash drive, and planting some fake business cards (made to look like they could be Todd’s with a suggestive hand written note on the back). I had a few more interactions with John that month, but none of particular consequence. He apologized and we had a few civil conversations, but did not spend much more time together.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

After I took John to the mental health center, he became a much lower level of concern in my life. Things were going so well with Todd. I met his parents June 10, 2007, and really liked his family. That second week in June we decided to get married. Friday, June 29 Todd had taken a day off work, and we had a great day together. We went to the temple, and then went shopping for an engagement ring. Saturday we decided to have his parents over to my house for dinner. His sister Lisa joined us, but his brother Scott had to work, and was not able to make it. We had a great evening, with Todd’s parents and Lisa leaving about 9pm, and Todd leaving a little after 10pm. (10:12pm according to my clock.) My roommate Allison had just moved in that day. She came back home about the time Todd was leaving, and for the next 20 minutes or so, we chatted, while she patiently listened to me confirm that the room would just be available through October, as I would be getting married in November, and how good I felt about it.

What happened next was the beginning of this nightmare for me. I am so saddened to think of what Todd had to go through during that time. Todd’s mother Carma called about 10:31, and indicated that Todd had been shot. I didn’t know what to think. She gave me an address of where he had been shot. She was on her way to the hospital. Since the address was fairly close to where I was, I went there. Allison offered to drive. When I got to the scene, I saw Todd’s truck, and a lady asked me if I as the girlfriend. She explained that Todd had indicated that John did it, and that I would know who that was. I provided the police my information and what I could about John. He was a jealous ex-boyfriend, a description, address, etc. I was asked to wait at the scene. It was the next morning, July 1, before I got the news from Carma that Todd had died, and I was questioned by a detective.

What the detectives have been able to piece together about June 30, 2007.

John talked some to detectives the evening he was arrested, and he also testified at the trial. Several aspects of his story changed. I wasn’t there, but from what I heard, it seemed quite blatant that he was lying. Through the course of the investigation and the trial, this is what we have been able to piece together about the time between when Todd left me house and he was shot. We are not sure how John got in the car with Todd. We suspect that it was close to my house - near East Side and Rt 1. I suspect that John asked Todd for a ride to where his car was, possibly making up some excuse about running out of gas or something. They drove to a location about a mile from my house. By having Todd in his car, he was strapped in, behind the driver’s seat, and John’s target was fairly well restrained. John had with him a revolver, a gun that doesn’t leave shell casings when fired. The bullets John used were specialty bullets, designed to make the most damage upon impact. Todd was shot six times in the upper body. Given the close range at which they were fired (inside the cab of a truck), it is no surprise that three of the bullets were at closes enough range to make burn marks upon entry into Todd’s body. In addition to the six bullet wounds, Todd was also pistol whipped, and received nine injuries to his head. I cry every time I have to think of what Todd had to go through and the senseless loss of his life. Neighbors heard a car crash, heard shots fired, and saw a hooded man run from the car. Todd was still conscious and honked the horn to get people’s attention. It is such a miracle that Todd lived long enough to identify that John was the one who had shot him, and get the ball in motion, by calling his parents to let them know. We will be forever grateful for Kim Miller who stood by Todd’s side and conveyed the critical information. Although I will always be devastated by the loss of his life, I will be forever grateful for the hero he was, and his bravery in communicating the information he needed in order to stop John. In a sense, he saved my life. Who knows what additional devastation John could have caused if he got away with this murder.

It appears that John was very careful to not leave any evidence that he had been in the car with Todd. It was the end of June, and he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and gloves. They weren’t able to find any useable prints in the car. It was about 40 minutes between the time of the shooting and when John arrived driving up to his residence. In that time the gun and the sweatshirt had been disposed of and the remainder of his clothes were in his home in the washer with bleach. From John’s own account he may have also been to the Mount Vernon substation, Mount Vernon Hospital, and Mount Vernon LDS chapel within that time. It appears that John had a car stashed near the scene. John tested positive for gun shot reside, smelled of gun cleaner solution, and the police were fortunate to find a glove at John’s house with Todd’s blood on it. I am so grateful that they were able to arrest John so quickly. He had destroyed a lot of evidence already, but had not yet regained his composure. He ended up sharing partial truths with the detective, that helped lead to his downfall.