John
Sherman
My son, John Sherman, 41, was found dead in
his van in Rio Rancho on
The case fell into the jurisdiction of
the Sandoval Sheriff's Departmen. According
to the case detective, Pete Montoya, all the deputies at the scene thought it
was a homicide until Steve Brand from the Medical Examiner's office, (a man
who, according to Deputy District Attorney Charlie Brown, had very little
training), arrived at the scene and announced it was a suicide. At that point,
to quote Detective Montoya, "The officers said 'Bag the body, let's go
home.'" Detective Montoya told me he thought it was a homicide.
Sheriff Lieutenant Steve Reynolds told John's father that he thought it
was a homicide. Is it standard procedure when a dead body is found to not
investigate it as a homicide even though you think it is?
Everybody shrugs me off as a grief-crazed
mother, but I've done my homework. I have copies of the police reports, the
autopsy report, the towing report, scene photos, the tape of the 911 call, and
a copy of the dispatch report. All evidence indicates that John was murdered
and, for whatever reason the sheriff's department is trying to conceal that.
The autopsy report is a joke. So many
statements are wrong that it makes me wonder if an autopsy was even done. The
report says John's heart was "healthy and
unremarkable" -- John was born with a hole in his heart and it was so
enlarged that it caused one side of his chest to bulge out. The report says his
teeth were in good condition, yet photos show extensive damage to his teeth and mouth.
The report mentions that the backs of his hands had abrasions, but there are no
photographs of those abrasions, and there isn't any mention of the bruise on
his forehead. It's like the person who did the autopsy was told in advance that
the death was a suicide and he made his report fit that diagnosis.
Detective Montoya gave me five different
versions of where they found John's body. The man who found John's body and
called 911 reported finding him in the driver's seat scrunched up in a ball. He gave a demonstration to show how John was
positioned. Even Detective Montoya, when I first spoke with him, said John's
body was in the front seat. The officers who went to inform John's ex-wife told
her John's body was in the front seat. Later they all changed their story and
said John was in the back. Apparently the deputies moved John's body from the front seat to the back of the van before they took pictures. I can only imagine they
thought the back of the van was a more reasonable spot for someone to commit
suicide.
The crime scene photographs are utterly
bewildering. My son was covered with blood, but the pictures show hardly any
blood in the front of the van, and a blood spatter expert tells me the blood in
the back was transferred blood that came off his clothing. That expert believes
John was murdered somewhere else and his body was moved to the van. I asked
Detective Montoya if there was blood on the ground outside the van, and he said
no. Then I got hold of the crime scene photos that show blood on the ground,
and he had to admit it was there.
My son's case was never investigated! The van was never processed, and the
ground wasn't photographed for footprints or tire
tracks, which the man who found John's body says were on top of the tire
tracks from John's van. No prints or blood samples were taken. The alleged
weapon, a razor scraper, was not seized as evidence. When I asked Detective
Montoya about the razor scraper, he said "Oh, I left it in the van. I
couldn't get any prints off of it and it was in a pool of blood, so I just left
it there." I requested that the instrument be checked by a forensic expert
to determine if it really was the weapon that slashed my son's body. Detective
Montoya didn't want to do that. I took the autopsy report and the scene photos
to Dr. Glen Lipson, a suicide expert who was head of forensics at the Menninger
Clinic and now resides in Southern California. His reaction was, "This
wasn't just murder, this was over-kill." The police don't even want to
talk to Dr. Lipson.
Our family believes that John was
murdered for passion and profit. There's a suspect who had a strong motive for
wanting John dead. The actions of that suspect have been very suspicious.
Claiming to be a close relative of John's, (which wasn't true), this suspect
told the funeral director that John had no children, (he had three children),
and made arrangements for his body to be immediately cremated. John's daughter,
who lives out of state, called a friend of hers in Rio Rancho and asked her and
another friend to post reward flyers, which they did. The suspect took them all
down. Yet the police refuse to investigate that suspect or anybody else
and have closed the case as a suicide. A review by a homicide expert with the
Second Opinion Service, sponsored by the Parents of Murdered Children, determined that John's case was not properly investigated
and should be reinvestigated by an independent agency. A forensic expert on the Second Opinion Board
of the Rio Rancho Observer's Unsolved Crimes Network made the same determination.
I took the case to the attorney general's
office two years ago, but they haven't done a thing. I also met with an F.B.I.
agent, who is a very nice guy. He indicated that in his opinion something
stunk, but he told me that errors in handling of an investigative matter don't
fall under federal civil rights laws. In other words, the F.B.I. can't step
into the case unless I prove malfeasance. It's not enough that police
didn't do their job, I have to prove they acted out of malice! How can I prove
what was in their heads when they refused to do an honest investigation of
John's case?
I don't understand why the burden of
proof is on my shoulders -- why it should be up to me to prove malfeasance.
I would think the lack of official professional police work would speak for
itself. If my son's name were "Kennedy" this case would have been
solved long ago. To the people who loved John, his case is just as important.
In June, 2002, I met with the new
Sandoval County Sheriff, J.P. Trujillo, who agreed to reopen John's case, but
that hasn't happened yet. While there,
Sheriff Trujillo handed me a manila folder with a yellow post-it note stuck on
the front which said "John Sherman--Case Closed." It held three pieces of paper. Sheriff Trujillo told me that prior to my
arrival he discovered that the previous sheriff had shredded the entire case
file on my son. There was nothing left
but a partial autopsy report.
Rosemary
Sherman
Ronald Sherman