February 26, 2009

Confession

Two days later police found a garage apartment they believed was used by
the killer. Hanging on the wall inside the garage was a minister's robe
— the same type as the robe the three-year-old girl's body was found
wrapped up in. Underneath an unmade bed forensic technicians found a
pair of Vivian's underpants.
Chambers, the case officer, muttered: "This has got to be the place.
This is where he brought her. This is where he killed her."
An FBI psychological profilist recommended that police interview the
hospitalized suspect in a "non-adversarial" manner. Larry Donnell
Williams, 23, was seated in a wheelchair with IV tubes in his arms when
a plainclothes cop walked in and identified himself as Jake Farrow, then
gave Williams his Miranda warning. For more than an hour the two men
talked about everything except the kidnapping and murder. The encounter
was more like a social call. Jake had skillfully set an "easy does it" trap.
The next afternoon Williams' nurse called headquarters saying her
patient wanted to see the same cop he'd talked to the day before. Two
hours later, Detective Farrow went back up to Williams' room and again
gave him a Miranda warning.
For the next two hours Williams spoke freely about how he broke into the
apartment...the girl woke up crying... he told her to "hush" and carried
her outside so her parents wouldn't hear.
Later, at his garage apartment, Williams fed the child a hot dog but
when she started crying again he told her to "hush," then covered her
mouth with his hand. That's how she suffocated, police figured.
Arrangements were made to return to Williams' hospital room for a third
time, but this time with Detective Chambers as a witness — plus a tape
recorder. Williams agreed to the interview. Police were stunned at how
well the "non-coercive interrogation" worked.
Later, at trial, Circuit Court Judge Ralph King Anderson asked Williams
if he was sure he wanted to plead guilty. Williams answered, "Yes." The
judge asked him if he had murdered the little girl. Again he answered,
"Yes." The judge asked the same question again and again. Each time
Williams answered "Yes." No less than 50 times Judge Anderson asked the
same question, and 50 times Williams looked down at the floor and in a
whispered voice each time said, "Yes."
People wondered why the prosecution had not gone for the death penalty,
given the fact that there'd been a kidnapping, a rape, and a murder —
enough aggravating circumstances to meet the requirements for the death
house.
The autopsy report showed the little girl was raped, but she was raped
after she died. Sex with the dead, called "necrophilia," is not criminal
sexual conduct under the law.
Williams was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 60 years. But
with the way the law is structured, he could be paroled as early as the
year 2017.

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