I am a former Michigan State Police Trooper, a former Federal Police Officer, a 2006-2007 trainer of Iraqi Police on the battlefield and a 17 year veteran of the US Army and Army National Guard as a Military Police Soldier.
On April 26th 2009 I was working for the Boyne City Ambulance in Boyne City, MI. I stayed at the Ambulance station that night. At 4:20 AM I got a very shocking dispatch, it was my own home. Someone had broken into our house and slit my 9 year old autistic daughters throat. When I arrived on the scene, with the Ambulance, I was relieved to discover that she was going to make it because the 5 inch wound, caused by a knife, had missed her jugular vein by a couple of millimeters. Another EMT was called in to take my place as my daughter was rushed to the hospital. One of the Police Officers at the scene showed me my daughter's room. There was a beer can beside her bed (we did not have any beer in the house) and a knife from our kitchen was lying on her nightstand. As this Officer continued to talk to me in the hallway, I noticed the odor of intoxicating beverages coming from his breath. After I said something to him about smelling something, he changed the subject.
My spouse and I were questioned separately. It is completely understandable to look at the family in this type of case, if anything, to ensure everyone was safe. My wife was really drug through the coals. A State Police Investigator made several false claims against her. I was being questioned by the Boyne City Police Officer, who had smelled with the odor of intoxicants, and his brother, another State Trooper. My interrogation seemed to be focused more on whether I was going to say anything about the intoxication or not. I tried to tell them that my only concern was finding out who tried to kill my daughter.
The State Police Trooper told me that my wife and I needed to take the Polygraph, to help rule us out as suspects. Right away, I refused to let anyone in our family take the Polygraph. Just as I had been taught by a Professor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, I told the Trooper that the Polygraph is not very accurate. I could not remember the exact percentage of it's true accuracy at the time (63 to 68%), but I again I refused to take the polygraph. Mind you, the Michigan State Police were the ones who framed Lisa Hanson (read Hansen's story here:
https://antipolygraph.org/blog/?p=61 )
After my Police interview, I left the station and went to my car to get my driver’s license and returned to the Police station so the Police could make a copy. I saw Boyne City Chief of Police, Officer Gettle, behind the glass and approximately 20 feet away with his back to me, yelling to the other Officers around him that he “bet” that I had committed the crime against my daughter.
The Police continued to hammer us about the polygraph. I told finally them, "No Poly, No waiver (of rights) and no (sworn) statement." I also told them I felt we were being framed because of there drinking on the job.
The Boyne City Police were ordered to refrain from any type of press release by the Prosecutor. The Assistant Police Chief decided to tell the local press that they were sure someone in my family committed this crime and the fact that someone refused the polygraph. The local paper posted the fact someone had refused the polygraph and “investigators are not 100 percent sure the assailant was an intruder.”
- This unauthorized press release gave the community a false sense of truth, which may have prevented people from coming forward with any possible leads.
- Several people came forward to us with allegations that the Boyne City Police were telling people in public places that someone in our family had most likely committed the crime against my daughter. We received a lot of discrimination and it affected my college and work. Hopefully, we can get some testimony from some of these witnesses.
- Before this crime had happened, no one in our family had ever even been accused of a crime. We are God fearing, law abiding citizens. My life has been devoted to service to my community and to my country. My wife and I participated fully with the Boyne City Police and the Michigan State Police. The Police had no logical reason to assume someone in our family had committed this crime.
- Our other daughter, a 2 year-old, also had light “knife like” scratches on her neck & chin area that were not there when she went to bed. When we brought this up to the Police and they just laughed about it and refused to collect any photographic evidence. Faith was sleeping in our bed, with my wife in the master bedroom at the time. During the sentencing trial, we heard a Detective tell the Assistant Prosecutor that shoe impressions from the suspect were found in the master bedroom. The perpetrator got away with this potential crime.
- After the Boyne City Police and the State Police crime lab had completed their initial investigation of our house, the Boyne City Police wanted to just give the key to our house back to us and have us call them if anything is missing or out of place. I refused to take the key back unless they went through the house with us. After their initial refusal to go through the house with us, we decided to keep the crime scene preserved, with the Police still in control of the house key, until the initial Police report was released.
- After three weeks, the crime lab results still had not come back and the initial Police report had not been released . . . It was now May 18th . . . the attempted murder happened on April 26th. At this point, we again requested to go through the house with the Police and finally on Monday, May 18th, three weeks later, we went through the house with the Police.
- During our initial Police interview, my wife and I had both stated that all of our kitchen knifes were kept in a particular drawer or in the dishwasher. We never leave kitchen knifes anywhere else in the house. During the walk-through and in the presence of Police, we observed knives lying on the counter above the dishwasher. I pointed them out to the Police Officers present at the time. The Police confirmed with us that the knives were in the same place upon their initial investigation.
- With two Police Officer’s standing behind me, I then noticed a knife lying in the sink. The knife I discovered lying in the sink appeared to have dried blood on it. We never cut anything with blood on it the day of or the day before the crime. I was taking Anatomy & Physiology and Microbiology in college at the time, where I had to look at dried blood smears on a regular biases. Based on my medical, military and law enforcement training and experience, I feel that it was blood on that knife. I pointed this knife out to the Officers. Why were these knives not collected as evidence in the first place? There were no signs on the knifes that they were tested for blood or fingerprints at the scene. They had sat there untouched for 3 weeks after we gave the Police full permission to search the property and they had conducted two search warrants.
- The Police focused their investigation on our families bedrooms. They took my son’s computer and bedding, but they did not focus in the kitchen at all, where the knife found inside my daughter‘s room came from. It was obvious that an attempt to frame someone in our family was made, instead of investigating the scene with an open mind.
COVERING YOUR EYES TO THE OBVIOUS EVIDENCE (refusing to investigating the kitchen and knifes, the same place were the knife found upstairs came from) IS THE SAME AS COVERING UP THE EVIDENCE. The Boyne City Police was only interested in finding evidence to frame one of our family members, my Autistic son.
- Later, I was told that the lab found the knife was “clean” and no blood was found on it. The perpetrator claimed to have thrown the knife he used in the woods, yet we have no knowledge of the woods being searched for the knife, even though the precipitation was very low from the time of the crime until the time of the confession. The alleged knife was never searched for because the Police may have known exactly where the real knife was, cleaned and at the crime lab. Someone may have tampered with evidence. It may have been the Boyne City Police, who were trying to avoid a potential civil suit or the State Police crime lab was covering up their mistake of not finding the knife and they tampered with the evidence.
- On May 26th, 2009 exactly one month after the incident, I contacted the local press and I asked them to meet me at city hall where I made a speech before a city counsel meeting. I went there to correct the Boyne City Police misleading of the press in a tactful way. I asked for leads in the case and I blamed the lack of public knowledge of the incident on the Police not wanting to scare the public.
Boyne City citizens are confirmed online that observed Boyne City Police Officers drinking on duty. I’m sure a computer expert could discover who posted those comments.
- One week later, an informant came forward who had heard a 14 year-old-boy, Michael Meza, brag about committing the crime after I was on the local news. As I understand it, the Boyne City Police did not initially follow up on the lead, but the Charlevoix County Sheriffs department, Undersheriff Chuck Vondra, did most all of the work in the case. The Boyne City Police were just along for the ride. Chuck Vondra has told me that the Boyne City Police were not happy with his involvement with the case. Chuck Vondra is now the Boyne City Mayor and he is still the county Undersheriff.
- Michael Meza had been recently charged with other felonies prior to his attack in our home. These felonies happened in Van Buren County and Grand Traverse county. The felonies include; home invasion 2nd degree, felonious assault, unlawful driving away of an automobile. During the transfer from Van Buren County to Grand Traverse county, Meza was released to his mother, (another felon) and was not released on any type of bond.
- Michael Meza was being housed in a juvenile facility in Roscommon County. On August, 30th , was the first time that I worked a night shift again on the Ambulance, away from home, Meza and another juvenile attacked a guard by choking and punching him, locked him in a cell, they changed into civilian clothes, stole the guard’s vehicle and escaped the facility for over 3 hours before being caught after a hot pursuit on the highway. Meza and the other escapee had initially drove south, but turned around and headed north, towards us.
- We were not notified of the escape until two days later (September, 2nd) by the Charlevoix county prosecutors office. The only reason we were notified is because the press got a hold of the story. When the prosecutor’s office called us, they said that Meza did not escape, but it was an attempted escape because they did not get past the parking lot. According to the Charlevoix County prosecutor’s office, the Roscommon county Sheriff Dept. failed to make proper notifications to them and to tell them the truth about what happened. A Petoskey News Review reporter also confirmed that the Roscommon county sheriff’s department told him that the escapees did not get past the parking lot. This is a clear violation of our crime victim’s rights, as we should have been notified of the escape forthwith.
- Meza has pled guilty and January, 2010 he was sentenced to 15-30 years in prison.
I have made a complaint to the Attorney General, to no avail. The Attorneys in my area are afraid of "qualified Immunity" the Police Officers might have and they want several thousand dollars up front. Money we don't have. I am about ready to just file a lawsuit by myself. It would be better to lose than to do nothing.
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Attempted Framing (Read 22318 times)
