Now...Just Who Knew Whom? (II)

"The truth lies in the Dead community, and the lawyer [Chaffee] never went there.  They knew Bo.  They knew Mary.  They knew Greg.  They were the sea in which they swam." (Alex Reisman, Dead and Gone. Episode 3) 

James Chaffee didn't take his investigation beyond questioning some of the "permanent" residents of Rainbow Village to include those in the Deadhead community who had been staying there around the time of the murders.  Several years later, James Barnes did what Chaffee failed to do, and sought out Deadheads for information.  By his own account, he exercised a reasonable amount of skepticism in conducting his investigation. To maintain an appropriate level of skepticism while thinking about this case, I've sought out accounts similar to the ones given by Carol Brightman in her Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead's American Adventure, and Carolyn Ruff's account of her time as a "Tourhead" back in the late 80's and early 90's.  Here's an observation that Ruff made back in July of '95 that I find helpful when thinking about the accounts given by the those interviewed for Dead and Gone and the challenges that James Barnes faced in conducting his investigation:

"To survive on tour, it helps to have emotions encased in steel. Courtesy is not mandatory and verbal assaults, rude comments and sexist remarks are common in the course of a motel room conversation. People refer to each other freely as "sister" or "brother" but there was rarely the accompanying intimacy.  Practically everyone goes by a nickname -- Woodstock, Scooter, Zeus, Rainbow, Jinx. Often, I never knew people's real first names, and rarely did I know their last. There was a degree of secrecy which supposedly stemmed from a paranoia of the law, but sometimes I wondered whether going by a fake name among friends was just a way of preventing anyone from getting too close." (Carolyn Ruff, "The Ungrateful Deadheads.")

Key to James Barnes's finding people with relevant testimonies was Randy Turley, the owner of the bus in which Mary and Greg were staying.  With Turley's help Barnes was able to contact people living on the East Coast, and even contact one person jailed at the time on drug charges.  Of course, as we learn from the podcast, Turley was unable to find Weston Sudduth.  Here's how Barnes's investigation is described in In Re Ralph International Thomas on Habeas Corpus:

"Habeas corpus investigator James Barnes testified that he found Royster by tracking down Turley in Chico, who gave him Megan Barry's name; talking to Barry, who was in Connecticut and who gave him Marie Marino's name; locating Marie Marino in New York; from Marino, learning the whereabouts of Royster's parents; and from that, finding Royster." (In Re Ralph International Thomas on Habeas Corpus, p. 12) 

Thomas v. Wong gives a little more detail:

"Barnes started by running the license plate ‘DeadOn’ and located [Randy] Turley. When asked about Bo, Turley confirmed that he existed and put Barnes in touch with a former girlfriend of Bo's who provided his real name--James Bowen--and the photograph used to identify him. Turley also put Barnes in touch with Megan Barry. Barry in turn, gave Barnes the names of Daniel Adams, David Kohn, Burney Royster and Marie Marino, as well as information needed to locate them. Lee Andersen, Cho and Von Wendel were all mentioned by name in police reports. They were found using standard search techniques involving DMV records and the like." (Thomas v. Wong, p. 25)

In Re Ralph International Thomas on Habeas Corpus and Thomas v. Wong give a list of the people Barnes found and who testified during an evidentiary hearing presided over by Justice Philip Sarkisian.  Here's the list:

Randy Turley
Megan Barry 
Daniel Adams
David Kohn ("Alabama Dave")
James Berney Royster
Marie Marino
Lee Andersen ("Lee Bo" or "Stagger Lee")
Jong Cheol Cho
Claus Von Wendel
Robert Herbert
Toma Caufield
Mel Vapour
Vincent Johnson

The name of a person identified as Bo's girlfriend does not seem to appear in either document.  One might wonder why it's missing, and one might also wonder if this is the same person who "testified that she had witnessed both Bo and Weston being verbally and physically abusive to women in the past." (Thomas v. Chappell, p. 7)  It stands to reason that a former girlfriend of Bo's would probably have been on the receiving end of verbal and physical abuse.  Dan Adams's testified that, "several days before the murder, he saw Bo and Gioia arguing near the communal sinks in Rainbow Village. Rec. 11(d) at 163-164.  Gioia seemed upset and afraid, and Bo sounded 'controlling.' Id. at 164-165.  The conversation lasted about half an hour. Id. at 166." (Thomas v. Wong, pp. 11-12)  Surely the person who testified that she witnessed  Bo and Weston being verbally and physically abusive to women would have corroborated Adams's testimony.

Now, let's consider what I take to be a nickname: "Gnome." In Episode 3 of the podcast, Payne Lindsey identifies the first person with whom "Robert" put him in contact as "Gnome." Near the end of this episode Lindsey introduces his listeners to her: "The first person Robert introduced me to was a lady named ‘Gnome.’”  The episode ends with part of his interview with her, and then Episode 4 begins with the same interview, but now the person first identified as "Gnome" is identified as, "Anne." Lindsey says, "I'm with 'Anne.'  That's not her real name.  This case is quite personal for her, so she asked that we change it for her privacy." (Dead and Gone. Episode 4)

Privacy or protection?  

Given that she "lived on and off with Bo in the woods near Santa Cruz in '85," and that she provided Lindsey with a photograph of Bowen, one might wonder if "Anne" is the person Thomas v. Wong refers to as a "girlfriend of Bo."  And if this is the case then, next to Weston Sudduth, "Anne" might be someone with information that could get us closer to the truth about what happened on the night of August 15/16.

The truth still lies in the Deadhead community.  If there are missing pieces of the puzzle, then there are people in the Deadhead community who have them.