Mark Beckner

I did not get involved until September 1997, about 9 months after the murder. I was brought on to try to get the investigation back on course, which I think we did a pretty good job of once we got some DAs involved who worked with us rather than against us (referring to Mike Kane, Bruce Levin, and Mitch Morrissey). As for the police department in general, I wish we would have done a much better job of securing and controlling the crime scene on day one. We also should have separated John and Patsy and gotten full statements from them that day. Letting them go was a big mistake, as they soon lawyered up and we did not get to formally interview them again until May of 1997, five months after their daughter was murdered. Had the police found the body early on, as they should have, I believe the initial course of the investigation would have gone differently, but who really knows at this point. We also did a poor job of protecting the crime scene. It was sort of like a perfect storm that day that set things off in the wrong direction. It was and still is the only case of its kind as far as we or the FBI knows of, so its not like anyone had experience with this sort of thing either.

Changes to Police Policies
once I became Chief, we put in place policies that changed how we responded to missing children cases and each Detective Commander while I was Chief was told explicitly that we (the police department) had jurisdiction over any investigation and we were to handle it according to accepted policies and practices, regardless of whether the DA objected or not.