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Back The Sorority Murder
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Twenty-Three
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. Thirty
  38. Thirty-One
  39. Thirty-Two
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. Thirty-Six
  45. Thirty-Seven
  46. Thirty-Eight
  47. From the Journal of Candace Swain
  48. Thirty-Nine
  49. Forty
  50. Forty-One
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Letter Found in the Journal of Candace Swain
  58. Forty-Eight
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. Booklist
  61. Excerpt

“Of course, Lucas. I’m happy to. On Saturday morning, it became clear that there was a potential conflict of interest in the Candace Swain murder investigation. The detective who had been in charge cooperated and provided all documentation to me, and Ms. Merritt provided me with a copy of Candace Swain’s journal, which has since been authenticated by a handwriting expert. The journal provided some verifiable evidence that Candace had been involved in the cover-up of an accidental death at Associate Professor Rachel Wagner’s apartment. The journal also documented other parties and Candace’s efforts to come forward to authorities with the information.

“Ms. Merritt also had compelling evidence that Nicole Bergamo, who was at that time in a coma, might have eyewitness evidence to Ms. Wagner’s guilt in her poisoning as well as witness intimidation. When I interviewed Ms. Bergamo on Sunday afternoon, I was able to confirm that, as well as gather other evidence from the sorority, witness statements, and at Ms. Wagner’s residence.”

“But it was when Ms. Wagner kidnapped me that you had what you really needed for a warrant.”

“Correct,” Brian said. “She made statements to both you and Ms. Merritt that implicated her in multiple felonies. Unfortunately, she was shot and killed while attempting to kill you and Ms. Merritt.”

“I’m a forensics student,” Lucas said, “and I am more comfortable with the science than with other investigative techniques. Would you have been able to get a warrant to search Wagner’s house without her decision to kidnap me?”

“Yes, based on Ms. Bergamo’s statement, I would have been able to get a warrant. Even before then, the DA was looking at precedents to admit Candace’s journal into evidence for the purpose of a warrant. That was in the works when Ms. Wagner decided to set the chemical bomb and kidnap you.”

“There is some question that the initial police investigation was compromised because Ms. Wagner was dating the detective in charge. A media report—which I didn’t comment on—wrote about it this morning.”

“The official statement of Flagstaff Police Department is that the Candace Swain investigation is being reviewed for compliance with departmental policy, but to date, all procedures were followed. But my own unofficial analysis is that the detective who was in charge had done everything he could with the evidence he had available to him. An investigation is only as good as the evidence we can find, and in this case the delay in the state lab coupled with false statements by Ms. Wagner and Ms. James contributed to the faulty investigation. We are currently reviewing our process of working with NAUPD and the state lab on any future investigations, including how we retain and use security footage.”