Trestle Of Death - Murder Unpunished

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Book excerpt

Preface

“…it was a staple furnishing of barber shops, where men would peruse it while waiting their time to be shaved.”

Wikipedia comment on the publication, National Police Gazette

     The real genesis of this book one would have to set the time machine for Douglas Avenue, Kalamazoo, Michigan—circa 1956. At 917 Douglas you’d have found Slim’s Barber Shop. Slim was my dad. It was a small two-chair shop. Dad was the “first chair.” When the customer flow became heavy, Dad’s partner-barber-wife, my mom, stepped in to help.

     Across from the barber chairs sat several chairs for waiting customers—along with a magazine rack. In addition to providing daily newspapers (Kalamazoo, Detroit and Chicago), dad featured magazines. There was Outdoor Life and Saturday Evening Post.  What I most recall, however, were the crime magazines: National Police Gazette, Argosy. True Crime and True Detective. I remember Argosy’s column, “The Court Of Last Resort,” being turned into a 26-series TV program in the mid- to late-1950s. Erle Stanley Gardner would enlist crime specialists in an effort to determine the real guilt or innocence of convicted felons.

     I began to devour true crime books. Each trip to the public library—a habit which became life-long and continues to the present day—resulted in a truly eclectic selection of books but one or two would always be a true crime book. I love ‘em!

Fast Forward To 1982

     Linda Watson Holderbaum and I had been married nearly 14 years; we parted ways. I moved “down the road apiece” (about 20 miles) from Kalamazoo to Battle Creek, Michigan. I’d already been working there for a couple of years. I basically started a new life. And, absent from my daily routine, after my move, was the Kalamazoo Gazette.

     I was aware that in May 1985 Linda’s “kid brother,” Harry “Wayne” Watson, had been brutally killed in Kalamazoo. Without the mainstay of Kalamazoo’s daily newspaper, the case simply slipped by me. While I picked up and dropped off our son every weekend, I knew none of the facts of Wayne’s murder. I was only vaguely aware that one of the “perps” was tried—and acquitted.

Fast Forward Again To 2017

     Linda Watson Holderbaum had long since remarried. She became Linda Watson Hazell. A series of health issues which had plagued her for some time resulted in her death--on Memorial Day 2017.

     Rob Holderbaum is the son Linda and I shared. He lives in Kalamazoo today with his wife Sarah. A month or two after Linda’s death, Rob and Sarah agreed to help Rob’s step-father, Dan Hazell, go through some of Linda’s personal effects.

     One result of Dan’s request was a clear office. Another result was this book!  Rob and Sarah found one huge manila envelope. Within the larger envelope were several smaller manila envelopes, each probably 9” x 12.” The envelopes comprised a veritable cornucopia of materials about Wayne’s 1985 killing. There were newspaper articles, columns from periodicals, communications from-and-to the prosecutor and the Michigan Corrections Department. There were assorted other mementos from Wayne’s life.

     When Rob mentioned the find I really had only passing curiosity when I asked if I could review the materials. I took the envelopes home and, within 20 minutes, several emotions raced through my brain, big-time! First, one of the admitted “perps”—probably the chief antagonist--had been acquitted! He walked away, scot-free from Wayne’s killing! There were protests by the judge…and community groups. (“Where the heck was I,” I asked myself, “when all this happened?”)

     I then read the materials pertaining to Linda’s defense of her late brother. “It just couldn’t have happened like that!” was the passionate and stridently stated gist of her mantra. That was indeed the Linda who, I remembered, could become vociferously passionate on any given issue. Wayne wasn’t around. Her remaining two siblings and mother lived far away, out-of-state. Although still local, Linda’s birth father was seriously ill. Linda picked up the cudgel—for Wayne and for her family—following her brother’s death.

     Between the twin themes (a man who is gay and unarmed does not deserve to die solely because he’s gay; Linda’s impassioned defense of Wayne), the content of those envelopes cried out to me: “This story MUST BE SHARED!” Wayne was a man who was gay and it is absolutely certain that, in some way, his sexuality played the key role in his being killed. Wayne certainly did not deserve to die for what the defense itself said happened. It was, in my mind, an incredible outrage—similar in a number of significant ways to the high-profile, nationally renowned Matthew Shepard case 13 years later.

     Linda’s large envelope contained close to 30 articles—from several periodicals—mostly the Kalamazoo Gazette. Most were quite lengthy, highly detailed pieces, making this a treasure trove of case documentation. Rebecca Pierce, the Gazette reporter who covered the story, had done a magnificent job encapsulating the major facts of the case.

     It didn’t take too many updates-to-the-son and Rob was ready to jump in and help. One gene he inherited from his old man: enjoying the intrigue of true crime stories. Rob was only nine when his uncle Wayne died. And, of course, Rob’s mom, Linda, made this story come alive three decades-plus later. Rob was really too young in 1985 to either know about or appreciate the incredible efforts of his mother. Henceforth, when the reader sees a reference to “the team,” that’s a reference to Rob and me. The writing was my task. However, Rob became an investigator par excellence and he became the contributor of critical analyses—and some excellent theories—well-thought-out ideas about what might have happened and how.

     We set to work. Thirty-two years after the crime…many witnesses are long since gone; there’s no trial transcript (a really high hurdle to jump) from the only trial that resulted from the killing. So, the team was bursting at the seams with questions. This book is the result. Any errors are my own. While the killing happened “long ago,” the issues are every bit as relevant today as they were then. Trust me: this killing could have happened the day before yesterday. And, trust me again: Wayne didn’t deserve to die for what may have happened.

     The telling of Wayne’s story changed when Rob and I learned a key fact. We knew that Linda’s fierce defense of Wayne was based at least in part on her being convinced that Wayne would never have precipitated the events that led to his death. Suffice it to say that known facts in the case seem to undermine Linda’s bedrock assumption.

     Lee R Dean, writing in the April 2018 edition of SPARK of Southwest Michigan, said a writer must get all sides of the story…”And I didn’t say ‘both sides’ as a story can have more than two angles.”

     Dean went on to say, “When reporting and writing, let the facts and evidence you discover dictate where the story goes. Do not shoehorn everything into a preconceived narrative (and ‘narrative’ is a fancy word for ‘line of bull.’) ”

     Dean stressed reporting the facts and that the writer’s opinion should be left out. This became an issue in Wayne’s case almost immediately as the team became aware of facts that put Linda’s declarations in danger of being untrue.

     The team became aware almost immediately—from none other than Wayne’s companion of eight years—that, indeed, Wayne had done things at the trestle that night which directly led to his death. Suffice it to say Wayne was no poster child for the gay lifestyle.   

     However, the team hastens to add: In no way did any of Wayne’s errors in judgment translate into any sort of license for anyone to kill him. Such a lethal reaction—the merciless, bloody and fatal beating Wayne endured—resulted in his death. Yes, Wayne was gay. Wayne was also unarmed when the altercation took place. He threatened no one. While tall and “slightly obese” (autopsy’s description), Wayne was attacked by two able-bodied, well-conditioned young men who were apparently quite healthy and fit. They reportedly lifted weights. Wayne did not deserve to pay the ultimate cost—his life—solely because of his sexual orientation or even (assuming it happened) the proposition-and-grab of which he was accused.   

     The “gay panic defense” existed in 1985. It had (and has) its limits. Or, at least it should have. Those limits appear to have been completely ignored by the jury-rendered judgment in Wayne’s case.

     In a way, Wayne’s behavior further deepens the mystery. He went far out of his way to lead a double life—sparing his parents, who appeared from available evidence, to be bitterly opposed to anything gay. Yet, the dichotomy of this situation is dazzling. Wayne apparently chose to abandon the “closet,” perhaps to the extent of openly soliciting others—risking not only the revelation of the secrets that would so hurt his family, but risk the loss of his freedom (as in a prison sentence) and—as events played out—the actual loss of his life.

     Language note: In an attempt to be something resembling neutral, the author attempts to refrain from using the word murder during the book’s first section—at least during the legal system’s treatment of Wayne’s case. The only exception, it is hoped, will be is where the police or a court used the word. In section two—where further disclosure, analysis and speculation are presented—Wayne’s hideous, brutal and bloody demise is called what the team thinks it was--murder.

Bob Holderbaum

Battle Creek, Michigan

November 2018