Other Investigation: Neighborhood, School, Swim Practice & Dance Interviews

Detective David Makowsky arrived at the crime scene around 11:00PM on the first night. He was told to follow up and interview the neighbors and was aware of a "brief neighborhood canvas" which had previously been conducted. He found out that there were a lot of deliveries made by Fedex drivers who were in the neighborhood that day. Makowsky, who testified that he probably went to 15 neighborhood residences, made his findings known in the daily briefings held by Biddle and Clemons. Other than the Schwan's driver no delivery drivers or postal workers were interviewed.

A construction worker on one of the nearby neighbor's house on Lockhart Road told Makowsky of a blackish or dark colored Lincoln, New Yorker or similar type vehicle that he saw in the neighborhood earlier on September 28th. That lead lingered and was not addressed until years later by the defense.

It should be noted that an event or a person doesn't have to be "suspicious" or strange in order to be critical to an investigation. The sighting of a dark luxury type car on Lockhart Road, although unusual, wasn't "suspicious" enough to mandate a call to the police by the construction worker, but the sighting of such a vehicle should have been later investigated.

Additionally, around 3:00PM the day of the murders, the son of a neighbor also saw a dark colored luxury vehicle drive slowly down Lockhart Road and then exit at a faster speed. He didn't see who was in the vehicle but did see that the car contained the driver and at least one other person in the front passenger seat.

(Note 1: The neighbor through the woods north of the Camm and Ter Vree residence had served eight years in prison for cocaine trafficking; in the late 1990's Prosecutor Stan Faith removed any official objection to his early release from prison. That neighbor later became a paralegal for Faith after Faith's departure from office. That neighbor was never interviewed by the police or prosecution and when the defense contacted him for an interview years later he initially refused to speak with the defense. Months later, he agreed to meet with the defense and was cooperative. During that meeting he said that Sean Clemons told him that he would be "crazy" to talk with the defense.

Note 2: Another neighbor saw a vehicle, shortly after 7:00 PM on September 28th, pulled off of Alonzo Smith road at an area hundreds of feet from any residence and which would allow a person to walk unnoticed through the woods and to the Camm residence; she had never seen that vehicle in the area before or after that evening; she, too, wasn't interviewed by the police until years later and after the police was told of her existence by the defense.)

Makowsky, who did more initial investigation than almost any other investigator, also interviewed Brad and Jill's teachers at Graceland School. He was told that both kids were doing very well and both were well adjusted. Testimony by the teachers at trial reiterated their original observations.

After finding out that Brad had started swim practice a few weeks prior to the murders, Makowsky secured a roster from the swim coach and that roster was used to interview the other parents. As Makowsky noted in his testimony, it was important to interview as many people as possible as quickly as possible because however well-intended a person might be, memories fade with time.

One of the swim mothers who was interviewed recalled that she walked to the parking lot with Kim and the kids and that they had a normal conversation. Swim practice ended promptly at 7:00PM and she recalled that it was approximately 7:05-7:10PM when Kim and the kids would have gotten into their vehicle.

Detective Makowsky interviewed literally dozens of people and no one said anything unusual about Kim, Brad, Jill or Dave's demeanor. No one interviewed by him or anyone for that matter ever made any comments about unusual or strange behavior or comments by any member of the Camm family. On the contrary, all four acted normally on September 28th and their routines and interactions with others were completely normal.

The neighbor living at the corner of Lockhart and Alonzo Smith Road was also interviewed and recalled seeing the black Bronco pull onto Lockhart Road at approximately 7:35PM. That was consistent with Kim and the kids leaving the swim practice at around 7:05-7:10PM.

Also consistent with Brad and Jill leaving at 7:05-7:10PM were the observations of Dave's aunt, Debbie TerVree, who had returned home around 7:30PM, noticing that the Camm residence was still dark and that the family hadn't returned from swim practice. Ter Vree and the Camm's, who shared the same driveway, specifically recalled telling her daughter, who was a playmate with Brad and Jill, that she couldn't stop and play because they weren't yet home.