Eight

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Jack

Saturday...at work...wishing I was anywhere else...

I'm behind on keeping you up to date on the buried bodies.

Here's my report:

(Tell me if it sucks. I can handle your criticism because no matter what you say, I whisper to myself, in a confident tone, "She digs me.")

Two days ago, Joe and I met with D.A. Kelly Thatcher and two senior investigators. Detective Balsam was a lead investigator in the Columbine High School Massacre.  His hair is perfect as if sculpted in rich chocolate by the royal pastry chef. Detective James Jefferson looks like a well-nourished Willy Nelson who's entirely comfortable taking a backseat, but if provoked, could beat the shit out of you and all your best friends. Both are seasoned, sharp, and wary.

The session started in the standard small, gray, interview room. One table. Four chairs. Two-way mirror. Video-camera. But it was all immediately derailed by a blow-up between DA Thatcher and me over the rules of the game. She handed us a waiver of all Joe's rights for Joe to sign. I object, saying the whole thing should fall under the law of privileged communications, and then spout off about it being bullshit to have Joe give key information as a witness in a double homicide with no protection against a motorcycle gang that had probably killed the girls to eliminate witnesses. Thatcher folds her arms and clenches her jaw. I do the same. Mutual glaring. Hostile silence.

Detective Balsam, like a kid trying to make peace between parents, intervenes and calms things. Then, I ask them to leave the room so I can talk to Joe alone. Joe appreciates the legal posturing and fireworks, but tells me he trusts the cops and just wants to get the story off his chest and the girls found.

I agree to back down. Call everyone back in. We sign the waiver. Thatcher leaves the room. Two tape recorders are turned on. We start the interview.

Both Balsam and Jefferson tag-team questions. The tone is respectful.

Joe tells the story: He was divorced in 1997. He bought a large home in a mountain town West of Denver. Later, his mother moved in. He was employed as management for Casey construction. They build electrical transmission towers. In 2007, a co-worker and friend named Greg Johannsson moves into Joe's home. Greg works. No problems.

In 2010, Joe's mom dies. That same year Greg's brother, Darren Johannsson moves in. Darren is unemployed and fresh out of prison. Darren brings problems, including drugs, theft, prostitutes, and bikers. The Blue Steel Kings.

Darren, age 45, also begins a secret relationship with Joe's daughter, Mary, age 25. Joe doesn't see the romance, but he does notice the prostitutes and various druggy couch surfers crashing at his house.

The set-up is that each new vagrant is introduced to Joe as "working" and "will pay rent". Few, if any, do. Joe also sees evidence that there are others secretly living in his house. He finds makeshift beds hidden in closets and storage spaces. He finds food squirreled away around his house. He suspects people are slipping in to crash and/or have sex while he's at work.

Joe works all the time, long hours. Initially, he is accommodating but grows to understand that they are taking advantage of him. Some of the prostitutes appear to be sympathetic to Joe, and they "date" Joe for free. In particular, Carmen and "Red" (he has now sobered to understand that the free sex was just to soften his resistance to the takeover).

Greg and Darren Johannsson were directly involved with the drugs and prostitution. The Blue Steel Kings were in as overseers, upper management. Occasionally, they would drop by for sex with the girls. Joe finds more evidence of drugs and prostitution (syringes, paraphernalia, condoms). In 2013, there is a Blue Steel Kings party at his house. BSKs with their girls, drugs, and prostitutes everywhere. About this time, Joe can tell that Whitewolf, a 6'4" 300 pound member of the Kings, is the top prostitute supervisor. Whitewolf is a senior gang member who Joe says lives less than a mile away from him. Darren and Greg Johannsson will do anything they can for the BSKs and treat their association with the gang as "a badge of honor".

Summer 2014, Joe finds Darren joyriding Joe's backhoe on the property. Darren does this on the back lot, near Joe's barn. When confronted by Joe, Darren says he is going to cut a new road near the barn. Joe says Darren graded randomly, but stole soil from all around the lot to pile on a natural depression just south of the barn. Darren never finishes the road. Around this same time, Joe also notices that two of the regular girls at his house seem to be missing. Many of the prostitutes are transient and he assumes they just moved on.

August 1, 2014, the FBI calls Joe at work. A Special Agent tells Joe the FBI is at his home. They need him there to sign a consent to search form. Joe responds immediately. Signs the FBI consent. Joe sees the girls are crying. They tell him they are upset because the FBI is asking about two missing prostitutes. They are presumed to have been murdered. The agents ask Joe if he knows anything about what happened to the "two missing girls." By the end of this raid, the FBI and a Colorado police Task Force arrest three men, Bobby Jasper, 29; Mark "Kansas" Sims, 36; and Kenny Boucher, 32. Bobby Jasper is arrested for a prior theft of a car and a pick-up truck. Sims is arrested for drugs. Boucher on an old warrant. Joe only knew Bobby Jasper, who was recently released from prison. Bobby had been around the house for a few months. Upon his arrival, he rose to be the ranking pimp. Bobby has a history with one of the girls who is missing. And Bobby is the closest with the Blue Steel Kings.

[Newspaper Article: FBI raid on Joe's house-- REDACTED]

[YouTube Video: History Channel documentary about the Blue Steel Kings motorcycle gang--REDACTED]

[Website: Blue Steel Kings "Behind Bars"-REDACTED]

[Website: Blue Steel Kings who have died-REDACTED]

Joe also identifies "Bunny", the principal fence for BSK stolen goods. Joe states Bunny deals meth through a dog kennel and provides parolees with fake employment papers. He then names a local liquor store where Greg Johannsson works using the job as a cover for dealing meth and prostitutes.

After the FBI raid, Joe had it with the bikers and prostitutes. He wants everyone out. Five days later, on August 6, 2016, Joe tries to run off Darren and Greg Johannsson. They end up in a fist fight. The Johannsson brothers call the cops first. Joe is arrested for assault. Joe later pleads down to disorderly conduct and is released.

On October 10, 2014, Joe goes to Court and has the Johannsson brothers evicted. With Bobby, Darren, and Greg gone, Carmen takes over the prostitutes. According to Joe, Carmen is guided by her father Byron, a high ranking security worker for a major corporation. Under Carmen's management, the prostitution business in Joe's house skyrockets, while the surrounding community is blighted by theft and drugs. At one point, Joe's longtime employer, Casey Construction believes Joe is linked to thefts of their equipment. Casey fires Joe in June 2015.

The prostitution ring is still run by Carmen and backed-up by Whitewolf and the BSKs. Joe is unemployed. His house is filled with scum. He becomes despondent. He stops making payments on the mortgage. He almost looks forward to losing his home, if it will clear out the bikers and prostitutes.

In January 2016, Joe is arrested at a casino for harassing Carmen by telling bystanders that she is a prostitute and will blow them for money. He also has some meth in his pocket. Meanwhile, the bank forecloses. In late January, while Joe is in jail, his daughter and Darren go to Joe's house to try and strip some of the personal property before the bank seizes everything.

Let's digress for a moment. The detectives are very interested in the landscape. If you look at the satellite photo of the lot taken on May 4, 2011 (before the bikers and prostitutes arrive), you'll see a healthy forest covering all 15 acres of Joe's property. Not a single dead tree.

The lot is covered with Ponderosa Pines, a species common in the mountains. The Ponderosa is well adapted to the climate. Most trees have a root system that mirrors the structure of the tree above ground, the crown. So, if the crown is 40 feet tall and 40 feet in diameter, the root system for many trees is 40 feet deep and 40 feet in diameter. But not the Ponderosa, it grows in mountainous terrain, where thin soil lays over granite. As a result there is no deep soil for a root system to penetrate. Ponderosa Pines survive by sending out a very shallow, horizontal root system that spreads out like a veil from the trunk. The diameter of the veil may be twice the height of the tree. In Colorado, we have 300 days per year of sun. Bright, dry heat. Trees and plants live on a bare subsistence of water. Damage to their roots can be fatal.

Darren Johannsson told Joe he only dumped soil on top of a low spot South of the barn. Piling dirt would not damage roots. But look at the satellite photos of the forest taken before and after Darren was digging holes with the backhoe. Before, the entire forest is healthy. After, a dead Ponderosa Pine appears. The dead tree is directly behind Joe's barn.

Before the Bikers: 5/4/2011, all live green trees.

[Used with permission. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc.]

After the bikers: DEAD TREE behind barn.

[Used with Permission. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc.]

Back to the interview:

While Joe is in jail, Darren Johannsson and Joe's daughter Mary go to the house. As Mary gathers some belongings, she sees Darren digging with a shovel south of the Barn. She walks over and checks on Darren. He is loading a dirty plastic covered package into the back of his pick-up. The package is about the size of a shoe box. She asks him what he is doing. Darren says, "It's the gun that Bobby used to kill those two hookers". Darren seems proud of his find and seems to "wear it like a badge of honor".

Joe gets out of jail later that month. Mary tells her father about the gun dug up behind Joe's barn. She tells him in the presence of her friend, Grace. Joe is furious with Mary for "not calling 911, and just going home with Darren to have sex". She counters that Joe shouldn't have let all those losers in his house in the first place. Joe and Mary have not spoken to each other since.

We cut the interview after five hours. The Detectives and I have other obligations. Balsam wants to do a follow-up, and maybe a polygraph.

Yesterday, Balsam called me and said they couldn't find Whitewolf or link him to the Blue Steel Kings.

They can't find him.

But I will.

[Vote⭐ for all the facts!]

Photo: Interrogation, Stock Royalty Free (Pixabay).