Tulsa World: Slaying of girl, 10, stands out in year with 56 homicides

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Slaying of girl, 10, stands out in year with 56 homicides

The man who pleaded guilty to killing 10-year-old Elizabeth Wagoner has already been sentenced to life in prison without parole. Elizabeth (right) is shown with her mother, Lindsay Wagoner. Courtesy

By NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer
Published: 1/7/2007 4:36 AM
Last Modified: 4/17/2008 4:19 PM

Early last year, when Tulsa was still on pace to set a record for homicides, the unthinkable happened.

A predator kidnapped a 10-year-old girl from her neighborhood street, sexually assaulted and strangled her and then left her bound body near a trash bin.

Elizabeth Wagoner was the youngest of the city's 56 homicide victims in 2006.

"It was both the worst day and best day in our history," Sgt. Mike Huff said. "The worst day because a little girl was killed, and our best day because of the job we did to come together and catch her killer."

In a year-end analysis, this investigation proves symbolic of the present and future of homicide investigations in Tulsa, said Huff, the supervisor of the Homicide Unit.

Within about 12 hours, detectives staked out the house of Elizabeth's killer, Daniel Arlen Johnson. They credit new investigative technology and a dedicated, coordinated police investigation with his quick capture.

Johnson, 29, was arrested after a fingerprint found on duct tape used to bind the girl's body was found to match one of his fingerprints, which had been entered into a statewide computer database after a previous conviction.

"We are trying to build off days like that, trying to figure out how to duplicate them when they come and trying to learn from both our successes and our mistakes," Huff said.

Tulsa police are not alone in their examination of last year's homicides. Many major cities were reporting increases

in slayings -- some the highest totals in a decade -- and they are trying to address the spikes.

Pace slows; work remains

At the end of February, the city was on pace to break 100 homicides, far surpassing the record of 69 set in 2003. In 2005, there were 64 killings.

By April 15, there had been 28 kill ings, half the city's eventual total. The pace then slowed in the summer and fall.

But detectives kept busy investigating cold cases and testifying at murder trials, Huff said.

"Luckily, it slowed, but the workload remains," he said.

Of the 56 homicides last year, 46 were "whodunits" in which police had to start from scratch to develop suspects, Huff said.

Sixteen slayings remain open and under investigation, and detectives classify three as solved, pending review by prosecutors. A subsequent clearance rate of 71 percent is "still higher than the national average," Huff said, "but it is absolutely unacceptable for us."

A review of previous years shows that Tulsa police frequently solve about 90 percent of the homicides they investigate in a year.

Huff said, however, that detectives are on the verge of solving several of the open cases from 2006.

James Brown, son of retired couple Walter and Grace Brown, had never thought his parents' deaths would fall into the unsolved category.

"From the get-go, I was thinking surely this is not going to be one those cases -- they would have somebody right off the bat. Here it is, 10 months later, and nothing," he said.

The couple, who were beaten to death April 3 by an intruder in their home, were well-liked in the neighborhood, and neighbors still call Brown hoping for word of progress in the case.

Police had a suspect in the case, but available evidence has not linked him to their slaying.

"Now we are back at square one," Brown said. "There is somebody out there capable of doing something like this, and they don't need to be out there."

Meanwhile, several homicide cases from last year, including Elizabeth Wagoner's killing, have already moved through the court system. Johnson pleaded guilty to the child's death and kidnapping and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Elizabeth's mother, Lindsay Wagoner, said that she still believes the plea agreement was the best choice for her family because they avoided the pain of a trial.

"Three months to the day after her death, the case was closed," Wagoner said. "I feel very blessed not to have to see all the cold, hard evidence in the way that they have to present it in court."

Elizabeth's family has lived day by day after her death, the mother said.

They make a point of keeping her dreams and memory alive. Large pictures in their den are surrounded by lights of her favorite color -- purple.

So they wouldn't have to be at home on the first Christmas since their daughter's death, Wagoner's mother took them on a cruise to the Bahamas. Elizabeth had always dreamed of becoming an marine biologist, so in her daughter's honor, Lindsay Wagoner swam with the dolphins in Nassau, Bahamas.

"We had her room decorated like the ocean, so I knew if she could, she would have done so herself," Wagoner said.

Homicide Unit evolves

Detectives from around the country have heard about the work that Tulsa police did to catch Elizabeth's killer and the investigation has been used in national training seminars, Huff said.

"From the technology that was used to the communication and coordination -- everybody came out of the woodwork to help. We had the detectives there with the knowledge it takes to solve a case," Huff said. "It is very easy to be overwhelmed by a case like that, and if you are overwhelmed that case can die."

The Homicide Unit received three new detectives in 2006, but they hardly had time for training before they were thrown into the mix, he said.

"We brought in another Spanish-speaking officer, which helped, because we had 13 Hispanic-related cases last year where either the victim or suspect was Hispanic," Huff said.

Homicide detectives want to make more use of available technology, such as DNA and national databases, to help solve cold cases, he said. They also want to restructure the Cold Case Unit and use databases in work with long-term missing-person cases.

The Homicide Unit also plans to become more aggressive in intelligence gathering to prevent violent crime.

"We are tying to figure out how to be more efficient," Huff said, but "all of these things are affected by time and resources."

Nicole Marshall 581-8459
nicole.marshall@tulsaworld.com

Homicide motives 2006

Sgt. Mike Huff of the Tulsa Police Homicide Unit classified the motives for homicides last year:

18 varying disputes

9 drugs

8 robberies

8 unknown

5 gang

5 domestic

1 stranger abduction

1 first-degree burglary

1 shooting by police

By NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer

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ridg, (6/19/2008 5:31:25 PM)

I am regaining a little more respect for the investagative department of the tulsa police department than i had in the past. now i am sort of proud of them..

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