The Raymond Wood Case
Synopsis of the Case: The Johnson County Missouri prosecutor in Warrensburg, Missouri, has charged Raymond Wood with five counts of capital murder. Ray is accused of intentionally murdering his wife and four oldest children on February 14, 2000. He is further charged with aggravated battery on his two youngest children who survived.
The following appears courtesy of the 2/16/00 online edition of The Kansas City Star newspaper:
Warrensburg tragedy leaves town in shock
By TANYANIKA SAMUELS and LYNN FRANEY - The Kansas City Star Date: 02/16/00
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- As Maj. Randy Vick drove down a rural highway Monday morning, the words of the 911 dispatcher echoed in his head: A family had been shot at 75 Southeast 501 Road. It hit him: He knew this family, the Woods, from church. Pulling his Johnson County sheriff's car onto the gravel driveway, Vick saw Raymond Wood standing calmly, his parents nearby. Vick ordered his friend onto the ground, and a deputy handcuffed him. Before the day ended, Raymond Wood would be charged in the deaths of his wife and four of their children. He made his first court appearance Tuesday. Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Wood said he was just "starting to understand what happened." Twenty-four hours earlier, it was becoming all too clear to Vick exactly what had happened. He saw Jared, 10, lying face down just outside the Woods' below-ground home. Joshua, 8, lay on a nearby hill. Inside, Vick found the baby, 1-year-old Catlin, toddling around in bloodied clothes. On the floor lay her sisters, Emily, 7, and Moriah, 3. Back outside the home, Vick saw their 31-year-old mother, Tina Wood, inside the family van, which had crashed into an embankment. Raymond Wood's father, Gerald, told Vick that 5-year-old Hannah was missing. Vick went back into the house, where he found her curled up underneath a bed, lying on a blanket. He felt for a pulse.
There was none.
"It was horrible," Vick said, "as horribly shocking as anything could be." Deputies took Raymond Wood to the Johnson County Jail. He later was charged with killing Tina Wood and four of their children: Jared, Joshua, Emily and Hannah. He also was charged with assaulting the two other children, who survived. Wood, 36, was formally charged Tuesday morning with five counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and seven counts of armed criminal action. A public defender was appointed for him. He was subdued, answering just "Yes" or "No" to most questions from Associate Circuit Judge Stephen Angle. He was taken to the courtroom in a black-and-white striped jumpsuit, orange slippers, a bulletproof vest and shackles. Wood will return to court this afternoon, when his attorney will be present. "My wife is innocent," Wood said as he left the courthouse Tuesday. Outside the courtroom, he also told reporters: "My children are innocent and beautiful."
He is being held in the Johnson County Jail on $2 million bond. Authorities said Wood, who went through bouts of crying Tuesday, was being watched closely because authorities feared he might attempt suicide. The two surviving children were still being cared for late Tuesday at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Moriah was in critical condition, and Catlin was in fair condition, a hospital spokesman said. The two children were placed in the custody of the Missouri Division of Family Services. A division official said the children would likely live with relatives or a foster family after leaving the hospital. The family's home is in unincorporated Johnson County, about four miles east of Warrensburg. There, they lived just yards away from Wood's parents, Gerald and Carol. The children's maternal grandparents live in Alaska, where Tina and Raymond Wood both grew up, relatives said. The Woods had lived outside of Warrensburg for about 12 years, Vick said. He said he saw the Wood family every Sunday at a Restoration church in the area.
Restoration churches are an offshoot of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When the RLDS church began ordaining women, some church members broke off to start their own congregations, called Restoration, church officials said. The Woods spent much of the week at their new house, an "earth contact" home they completed last year. Vick said Raymond Wood didn't want to live in a traditional house because he was afraid of tornadoes. Raymond Wood worked with his father in a chimney repair business, and Tina Wood home-schooled the four older children.
"Tina was a wonderful mother, very talented," Vick said. "She taught them everything, piano, singing." Tina Egan Wood, who graduated from Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, Alaska, also taught piano to neighborhood children. Carol Wood did not want to talk about the killings Tuesday afternoon. "We can't do anything now to make it better," she said. "We still have two grandchildren, and we're going to concentrate on them." The Star's Donald Bradley and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The following appears courtesy of the 2/15/00 online edition of The KTUU-TV, local Anchorage, Alaska NBC-TV affiliate station web site:
By Laura Tanis
Former Alaskan accused of killing family
Anchorage, Feb. 15- A former Anchorage man charged with killing his wife and four children in Missouri apparently had a history of mental problems. RAYMOND WOOD, 36, WAS ARRAIGNED in a Missouri courtroom on five counts of murder Tuesday. Chained in handcuffs, authorities led him to the courthouse, while reporters tried to make sense out of Monday’s tragedy. “My wife’s innocent,” Raymond told reporters. “She’s beautiful. That’s how much I’ll say at this time.” Wood’s wife, Tina, and four of their children, Jared, Joshua, Emily and Hannah, ranging in age from 5 to 10, were found shot to death at their Warrensburg home. An infant and a 3-year-old were wounded in the attack, but they are both expected to survive. Wood’s wife was a former resident of Fairbanks and Anchorage. Neighbor James Williams helped Wood build his underground house. He says Wood often talked about the end of the world. But Williams and others can’t believe it ended like this for five members of the Wood family. According to an Anchorage Times newspaper article, Wood had a history of mental problems. About 15 years ago, he was taken into custody, after breaking into a Midtown home and getting into a brawl. After telling police he was God and could make himself invisible, Wood was committed temporarily to the Alaska Psychiatric Institute. When asked by a reporter if he understood what happened Monday, Wood answered, “I believe I’m starting to understand.” What’s not clear is whether Wood understood what was going on at the time of the murders. Wood faces 14 criminal charges. He’s being held on $2 million bail.
Ex-Alaskan deemed unfit to undergo trial for murder of wife, four children
Posted: Thursday, March 02, 2000
WARRENSBURG, Mo. - A former Anchorage resident charged with the fatal shootings of his wife and four children last month has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Raymond Wood was ordered held at a state mental hospital indefinitely by an order Wednesday issued in Johnson County Circuit Court.
Wood was charged with the deaths of his wife, Tina, 31; her sons Jared, 10, and Joshua, 8; and daughters Emily, 7, and Hannah, 5, on Feb. 14. Two other daughters were wounded, and one remains in the hospital.
Tina Wood was from Fairbanks and still has family there. She and her husband lived in Anchorage before moving to Missouri about 10 years ago.
Raymond Wood was charged with five counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and seven counts of armed criminal action.
A review of his condition is to be done in 120 days. Wood had a history of mental illness. In 1985, he was committed to the Alaska Psychiatric Institute after he reportedly broke into a home and later got into a brawl after forcing motorists off a city street. He was taken to API after telling police he was God and could make himself invisible.
Wood appeared dazed as he was arraigned last month and said that he was just ``starting to understand what happened'' the night he allegedly killed his wife four children.
Tina's mother, Cheryl Egan of Fairbanks, told reporters Wood suffered from mental illness and the violent acts he allegedly committed were at odds with the man she knew.
``I know her husband didn't mean to do what he did,'' Egan said through tears. ``He was ill.''
Wood offered no explanation for the shootings.
Following arraignment, Wood was ordered held on $2 million bond and sent to the hospital for a mental evaluation.
Prior to February 2000, Ray had a 15 year history of mental illness and was diagnosed with schizoaffective, bipolar type. For the past three years, he has continued to receive care for his mental illness at a maximum security mental hospital. Two days after the homicides, on February 16, 2000, Ray was involuntarily committed to Fulton State Mental Hospital.
He is still in the facility being treated for schizoaffective, bipolar disorder. As of May 2003, Ray's brain continues to unpredictably fluctuate between reality and non-reality.
UPDATES: The Raymond Wood Capital Murder Case
Case Summary: The defendant in this case has a 19-year history of severe mental illness.
On February 14, 2000, he allegedly killed his wife and four children. The evening of the homicide, the prosecutor and the sheriff made the decision to send in the defendant’s minister (also a deputy) to interrogate this clearly mentally ill individual. The prosecutor and the sheriff sent in another deputy to break any ministerial confidentiality the defendant had with his minister.
Trial Court Ruling: For the defendant.
The trial judge found the defendant was severely mentally ill at the time of the interogation. In suppressing any statements the defendant may have made, she concluded:
(1) "Certain interrogation techniques . . . are so offensive to a civilized system of justice that they must be condemned. Such interrogation techniques, applied to the unique characteristics of the Defendant, exist in this case."
(2) "Suppressing the defendant’s statement in this case, would serve the purpose of enforcing the constitutional guarantees and substantially deter future violations of the constitution by law enforcement officers and prosecutors."
Judge Cook found that
(1) Ray was severely mentally ill and psychotic at the time of the interrogation.
(2) Sheriff Heiss and his deputies knew Ray was severely mentally ill, was on psychiatric medication, had been committed in the past, and was asking for the help of his ministers.
(3) Prosecutor Young, Assistant Prosecutor Gibson, and Sheriff Heiss knew Major Randy Vick was Ray’s chief spiritual advisor and Ray viewed Vick as his "helper."
(4) Sheriff Heiss, Prosecutor Young, Asst. Pros. Gibson recognized the potential legal conflict with Vick serving as interrogator.
(5) Prosecutor Young and Assistant Prosecutor. Gibson "intentionally sought to circumvent any possible claim [by Ray] of ministerial/penitent privilege by sending" another deputy into the interrogation room with Vick.
(6) Ray was never asked if he understood Vick’s role, and actually stated "Randy, I knew you’d come here to help me."
In the weeks prior to the homicides, Ray’s mental state greatly deteriorated. Ray and his wife sought medical help for Ray from a local Warrensburg mental health clinic 3 days before the homicides. The clinic sent them home with medication, and without a recommendation for hospitalization.
For almost 4 years, Ray has been hospitalized at Fulton State Mental Hospital under court order.
Procedural History: This case has not been to trial.
The trial court ruled in favor of the defendant’s suppression motion.
The state appealed the trial judge’s order suppressing an alleged statement made by the defendant at the time of his arrest.
The trial judge allowed a special appeal on the suppression issue.
Missouri Court of Appeals,Western District.
STATE of Missouri, Appellant, v. Raymond E. WOOD, Respondent.
No. WD 63266.
Decided: March 23, 2004
Before RONALD R. HOLLIGER, P.J., ROBERT G. ULRICH and JAMES M. SMART, JJ. Mary A. Young, Warrensburg, MO, for Appellant. Thomas J. Jacquinot, Cynthia L. Short, Kansas City, MO, for Respondent.
This is an interlocutory appeal by the State of Missouri from the order of the trial court suppressing the statement given by Raymond Wood to law enforcement officials after his arrest for shooting his wife and their six children. Mr. Wood's wife and four of the children were killed; two of the children survived. The State contends that the trial court's finding of coercive police conduct was not supported by substantial evidence and was against the weight of the evidence. It further argues that the trial court misapplied the law in focusing on Mr. Wood's mental condition as a significant factor in determining the voluntariness of his statement. The order of the trial court is affirmed.
Facts
On the morning of February 14, 2000, the Johnson County Sheriff's Department received a 911 call reporting a shooting at a rural Johnson County home. The caller, Carol Wood, Raymond Wood's mother, told the 911 dispatcher that her son had told her and his father that he had shot his family. Mrs. Wood also told the dispatcher that her son was mentally ill and had been on medications for a few days. Law enforcement officers responded to the home and found that Tina Wood and her six young children, Jared (10), Joshua (8), Emily (7), Hannah (5), Moriah (3), and Katlin (18 months), had been shot. Mrs. Wood and the four oldest children were dead. The two youngest children, although seriously injured, were alive. Raymond Wood was arrested at the scene and transported to the Johnson County jail at approximately 9:45 a.m. He was booked around noon.
At approximately 6:30 p.m., Mr. Wood was interviewed for approximately forty-five minutes by two members of the Sheriff's Department, Major Randy Vick and Detective Gary Klote. Detective Klote had never met Mr. Wood before that day. Major Vick was a personal friend of Mr. Wood's and a lay minister at his church. The officers wore plain clothes, not uniforms. Mr. Wood was introduced to Detective Klote and acknowledged that he knew Major Vick. The officers advised Mr. Wood that they wanted to speak with him as law enforcement officers. The officers then advised Mr. Wood of his Miranda rights and provided him a Miranda waiver form to sign. Mr. Wood acknowledged that he understood his rights, and he signed the waiver form agreeing to talk to the officers without an attorney present.
Major Vick then asked Mr. Wood what had happened. Mr. Wood calmly gave a recitation of the events of the morning. He explained that he shot his wife three times. Then, realizing that the children would suffer from losing their mother, he shot each child one time. Mr. Wood further stated that after shooting his family, he shot himself. Mr. Wood lifted his hair from his forehead, and the officers observed for the first time abrasions and gunpowder burns on his forehead.
During the course of the interview, Mr. Wood referred to the “turmoil” he had been experiencing in the days preceding the shootings, and he talked of the “snares” in his head and of “too many ensnaring thoughts.” Toward the end of the interview, the officers asked Mr. Wood if he would give a written statement, but he declined. Mr. Wood's demeanor suddenly changed, the interview was terminated, and Mr. Wood was returned to his cell.
Two days later, on the morning of February 16, after an altercation at the jail between Mr. Wood and three jailers that resulted in Mr. Wood being restrained in a chair, the Sheriff's Department contacted Pathways Community Health Services in Warrensburg for a mental health evaluation. As a result of the evaluation, Mr. Wood was involuntarily committed to a state mental hospital, a commitment that was continuing at the time of the suppression hearing.
In February 2003, Mr. Wood filed a motion to suppress the statement he gave law enforcement officials on the evening of his arrest. He argued, inter alia, that the statement was involuntary based on his history of mental illness; his mental illness exhibited on February 14, 2000; and the coercive conduct of the police in choosing an interrogator who, in addition to being a police officer, was Mr. Wood's minister and close personal friend.
A hearing was held on Mr. Wood's motion. Following the hearing, the trial court entered its order finding, inter alia, that Mr. Wood's February 14, 2000, statement was involuntary based on the use of coercive governmental conduct in obtaining the statement. Specifically, the court found that law enforcement officials knew, at the time Major Vick and Detective Klote interrogated Mr. Wood, that Mr. Wood was mentally ill and had been treated with psychiatric medication; that he had a history of mental illness and had been previously committed due to the condition; that Mr. Wood was deeply religious; and that he trusted Major Vick, a minister in his church and a personal friend, and looked to him as a “helper” due to his position in the church. Thus, the trial court suppressed the statement. This appeal by the State followed.
Standard of Review
Review of a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress is limited to determining whether the evidence is sufficient to support the ruling. State v. Carter, 955 S.W.2d 548, 560 (Mo. banc 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1052, 118 S.Ct. 1374, 140 L.Ed.2d 522 (1998); State v. Trenter, 85 S.W.3d 662, 668 (Mo.App. W.D.2002); State v. Taber, 73 S.W.3d 699, 703 (Mo.App. W.D.2002). The trial court's ruling will not be reversed unless it is clearly erroneous. Trenter, 85 S.W.3d at 668; Taber, 73 S.W.3d at 703. A ruling is clearly erroneous if the appellate court is left with a definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made. Id. In reviewing a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress, the facts and any reasonable inferences arising therefrom are viewed in a light most favorable to the ruling. Carter, 955 S.W.2d at 560; Trenter, 85 S.W.3d at 668; Taber, 73 S.W.3d at 703. Deference is given to the trial court's factual findings and credibility determinations, but questions of law are reviewed de novo. State v. Rousan, 961 S.W.2d 831, 845 (Mo. banc 1998), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 961, 118 S.Ct. 2387, 141 L.Ed.2d 753 (1998); Taber, 73 S.W.3d at 703.
Points on Appeal
In its two points on appeal, the State contends that the trial court erred in suppressing Mr. Wood's statement to police. It claims that the trial court's finding of coercive police conduct was not supported by substantial evidence and was against the weight of the evidence. It further argues that without coercive police conduct, the trial court misapplied the law in focusing on Mr. Wood's mental condition as a significant factor in determining the voluntariness of his statement.
When a defendant challenges the admissibility of a confession on the ground that it was involuntary, the burden falls upon the state to prove voluntariness by a preponderance of the evidence. Rousan, 961 S.W.2d at 845. “The test for voluntariness is whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the defendant was deprived of free choice to admit, to deny, or to refuse to answer and whether physical or psychological coercion was of such a degree that the defendant's will was overborne at the time he confessed.” Id. Factors to consider in reviewing the totality of the circumstances include whether the defendant was advised of his rights and understood them, the defendant's physical and mental state, the length of questioning, the presence of police coercion or intimidation, and the withholding of food, water, or other physical needs. Id.
A deficient mental condition alone does not render a confession involuntary. Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 166-67, 107 S.Ct. 515, 520-21, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986); State v. Brown, 998 S.W.2d 531, 547 (Mo. banc 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 979, 120 S.Ct. 431, 145 L.Ed.2d 337 (1999); Rousan, 961 S.W.2d at 845; State v. Bittick, 806 S.W.2d 652, 658 (Mo. banc 1991). Instead, coercive police activity is a necessary predicate to a finding that a confession is not voluntary. Connelly, 479 U.S. at 167, 107 S.Ct. 515; Rousan, 961 S.W.2d at 845; Bittick, 806 S.W.2d at 658.
In this case, sufficient evidence was presented to support the trial court's ruling that Mr. Wood's confession was the product of coercive government conduct. The evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court's ruling revealed that Mr. Wood had a history of mental illness, he exhibited signs of mental illness on the day of the shootings, the Sheriff's Department was aware of Mr. Wood's struggle with mental illness at the time of the interrogation, the Sheriff's Department knew that Mr. Wood was a deeply religious man, and the prosecutor and Sheriff's Department selected Mr. Wood's personal friend and minister in his church, Major Randy Vick, to elicit a statement from him.
Specifically, the record showed that Mr. Wood has struggled with and has been hospitalized several times for mental illness since 1985 and that the Sheriff's Department was aware of Mr. Wood's struggles. During one incident in 1990, the Sheriff's Department was summoned to Mr. Wood's home in Warrensburg. Major Vick responded to the call and found Mr. Wood mentally unstable. Mr. Wood was “very incoherent, ranting one moment, calm the next and singing the next.” Major Vick placed Mr. Wood in protective custody. Later that day, a mental health evaluator found that Mr. Wood was not oriented to person, place, or day and that he was agitated, psychotic, delusional, and paranoid. As a result, Mr. Wood was involuntarily committed to a state mental hospital where he was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia.
The Sheriff's Department again responded to the Wood's home in 1997 when Mrs. Wood reported her husband missing. Mr. Wood, who was described in the missing person report as mentally disabled, was found later that day by Highway Patrol officers walking around in a daze. Mr. Wood was again hospitalized as a result of the incident.
The evidence also revealed that Mr. Wood exhibited signs of mental illness on February 14 prior to and during his interrogation and that the Sheriff's Department was aware that Mr. Wood may have been suffering from mental illness that day. During the 911 call that morning, Mr. Wood's mother, Carol Wood, told the dispatcher that her son was mentally ill and that he had been on medications for his mental illness for the last few days. Later that afternoon at the hospital, Carol Wood told Major Vick that her son went to the mental health clinic and was prescribed medication three days earlier, on February 11, 2000.1 Officers also interviewed and took the statement of Mr. Wood's father, Gerald Wood, that afternoon at the hospital. Gerald Wood told officers that his son came to their house that morning just after 4:00 a.m. He was depressed and agitated. His son told him that he felt the devil was in him and that he wanted the elders to come and cast it out. He also told his father that he had thought about shooting his wife and himself. Eventually, after calming down, Mr. Wood returned to his home. Later that morning, shortly after 8:00 a.m., his son came back to their farm. He was very upset. He told his parents that he had shot his family and that he thought some of his family members might still be alive. He also asked his father to shoot him.
Additionally, a medical questionnaire completed during booking noted that Mr. Wood suffered from mental illness and psychiatric disorders, had a history of mental care, and was under the influence of prescription drugs. Records from the jail log indicated that prior to the interrogation, officers observed Mr. Wood in his cell crying, moaning, pacing, and laying on the floor in a fetal position. He was also observed on his knees with his face on the floor screaming, “Oh God,” “What have I done?” and “Oh Ma.” Later, officers checked on Mr. Wood, who was coughing heavily, and he charged towards them. The sheriff testified that he received updates throughout the day from the jailers regarding Mr. Wood's condition. Finally, Major Vick testified that Mr. Wood's demeanor on the day of the shootings was similar to his demeanor at the time of his 1990 psychiatric commitment.
In addition to the evidence of Mr. Wood's struggle with mental illness, the evidence revealed that Mr. Wood was a deeply religious man and that he had a personal and priestly relationship with his interrogator, Major Vick. Major Vick testified that he had known the Wood family for fourteen to fifteen years. He described his relationship with the Wood family as “good friends.” He also testified that he and the Wood family had attended the same church, the Church of Jesus Christ, Warrensburg Restoration Branch, for the past eight to ten years. Major Vick also served as a priest in the church. His duties as a priest were “to preach, teach and expound and to minister to families in the branch.” He also, along with elders in the church, administered to the sick and needy.
Major Vick explained that as a member of the same congregation and in talking with Mr. Wood's wife and parents, he became aware of Mr. Wood's struggle with mental illness. He was aware that priests and elders in the church had been occasionally called upon to administer to Mr. Wood due to his mental illness. Major Vick testified that as a priest, he, himself, had counseled Mr. Wood spiritually many times over the years and that he had preached during church services that were attended by the Wood family. Just six months before the shootings, Major Vick visited the Wood home along with an elder from the church to administer to Mrs. Wood. Mr. Wood was present during the visit. Major Vick further testified that he knew religion and the church were very important to Mr. Wood and that Mr. Wood was very dedicated to the church. He also stated that he knew his position as a priest in the church was important to Mr. Wood and that Mr. Wood looked up to him as a priest in the church and saw him as a helper.
With knowledge of Mr. Wood's mental illness and of the importance religion played in his life, the sheriff and Major Vick met with the prosecutor and an assistant prosecutor prior to the interview to discuss whether Mr. Wood would talk to Major Vick. Major Vick testified that he believed he was chosen to interrogate Mr. Wood because of their relationship as friends, his position as priest in Mr. Wood's church, and the belief that Mr. Wood would talk to him. The sheriff testified that, at the time, he recognized the potential problems with Major Vick acting as Mr. Wood's interrogator. He also admitted that he knew Mr. Wood believed he was possessed by the devil and had asked for the assistance of ministers prior to the shootings. Although Major Vick's function at the Sheriff's Department was mainly administrative, the prosecutor ultimately decided that Major Vick would conduct the interview. A decision was also made to have a second officer, Detective Klote, present during the interview in order to “destroy” any claim of minister/penitent privilege.
During the course of the interview, Mr. Wood referred to the “turmoil” he had been experiencing in the days preceding the shootings, and he talked of the “snares” in his head and of “too many ensnaring thoughts.” At one point during the interview, Mr. Wood said to Major Vick, “Randy, you showed up to help, just like you did before, to help me.” Neither officer corrected Mr. Wood's misperception. Major Vick testified at the hearing that during the interrogation, he had concerns as to whether Mr. Wood understood that he was acting in his capacity as a law enforcement officer rather than as a minister and whether Mr. Wood was in touch with reality.
[C]ertain interrogation techniques, either in isolation or as applied to the unique characteristics of a particular suspect, are so offensive to a civilized system of justice that they must be condemned under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Miller v. Fenton, 474 U.S. 104, 109, 106 S.Ct. 445, 449, 88 L.Ed.2d 405 (1985). Such is the case here. Knowing that Mr. Wood had a history of mental illness, that he was probably suffering from mental illness on February 14, and that he was deeply religious, law enforcement officials' decision that Major Vick, Mr. Wood's personal friend and spiritual advisor, would act as his interrogator constituted coercive police conduct. By strategically selecting Major Vick to interrogate Mr. Wood, when he would not otherwise have been the interrogator, for the explicit purpose of exploiting the pastoral relationship existing between Major Vick and Mr. Wood, particularly knowing of Mr. Woods questionable ability to discern reality, the trial court could reasonably conclude that the State transgressed the boundaries of the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause and the Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination.
Sufficient evidence supported the trial court's ruling suppressing Mr. Woods' statement to law enforcement officials, and the ruling was not clearly erroneous. This court is not left with a definite and firm impression that the trial court made a mistake. The order of the trial court is affirmed.
FOOTNOTES
1. On February 11, 2000, three days before the shootings, Mr. Wood sought help for depression at Pathways. Tina Wood, who accompanied Mr. Wood to Pathways, reported that her husband had been suffering from symptoms of restlessness, decreased appetite and sleep, and withdrawal from the family. The evaluators observed that Mr. Wood was very sad and slow in speech. They diagnosed Mr. Wood with major depression recurrent and prescribed anti-depression and anti-psychotic medications.
ROBERT G. ULRICH, Judge.
HOLLIGER, P.J. and SMART, J., concur.
The ongoing aftermath
When Carole and Jerry Wood realized two of their children had severe mental illness, they did their best to help. Today, one son lives in recovery. The other is in Fulton State Hospital after a tragedy destroyed his family. Carole and Jerry still try to move forward.
By Christie Megura
WARRENSBURG — Carole Wood used to worry about a dangerous train crossing near her home. She worried for her children’s safety. Today she realizes she knew nothing about the most dangerous and devastating force in her sons’ lives. She describes how mental illnesses brought consequences that she and her husband are still coping with today:
A rooster crows as Carole and Jerry Wood sip coffee at their kitchen table one morning this spring. The day is waking on the couple’s 99-acre farm just outside of Warrensburg in west-central Missouri.
A black cat stretches out on the roof. Chickens cluck in the front yard. Newborn twin calves tuck against their mother in a pen behind the house.
It’s the perfect place for grandkids. And six of them used to come, almost every day, from their parents’ house a quarter mile down the gravel road.
Jared. Joshua. Emily. Hannah. Moriah. Katlin.
Carole Wood would chide them not to leave their bikes and toys scattered across the lawn.
Today she would love to have them back.
Sometimes, with help and perseverance and maybe a bit of luck, severe mental illness gets properly treated over time. Sometimes help comes too late, after a rifle fires and a family is torn apart.
Carole and Jerry Wood have walked both roads.
Sam, the couple’s 46-year-old adopted son, has schizophrenia. After a life of battle with crime, wandering and homelessness, he now has a stable, independent life in Montana.
Ray, the couple’s oldest biological child, who is 48, has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. For the last 12 years, he has lived in Fulton State Hospital after being charged with killing his wife and four of his six children.
For more than 25 years, Carole and Jerry tried to navigate the complicated and often opaque world of mental health to find help for their sons. For the first time, they have agreed to speak at length about how mental illness – and the intricate systems that surround it – changed their lives forever.
In one case, the system eventually worked.
In the other, it failed.
A hopeful beginning
Jerry and Carole met on a blind date in early 1959 when he was home in Independence, Missouri for a weekend from the U.S. Air Force. They went to a production of “The Taming of the Shrew” in Kansas City.
“As soon as I saw her, I knew I’d marry her,” Jerry says now. “I knew it, I just knew it. And I told her so.”
After the play, they went out for cheesecake. Every year since, on Feb. 20, they try to have cheesecake.
For the next two years, they wrote almost daily or saw each other on Jerry’s leaves, then married in 1960. They moved a lot because of Jerry’s military postings. Their first son, Ray, was born in 1963 in Altus, Okla.
They wanted more children, but had trouble conceiving. So in January 1966, when they were living in North Dakota, they adopted a 4 ½-month-old boy. They named him Sam. They knew very little about his biological parents or background.
Six years later, they adopted a daughter, Jenny. Not long after, Carole learned she was pregnant. Margaret was born in 1972.
After Jerry left the military in 1969, the family moved to Alaska, where Jerry got a job flying planes. The Woods didn’t plan to stay more than a few years. Then the troubles with Sam began.
One son struggles, one steps up
Sam was a quick learner. He crawled at 6 months and walked at 9. On his first birthday, he ate his chocolate cake without dropping a crumb. Despite the years of trouble that were to come, Carole and Jerry remember him as a kind, intelligent baby.
He was just 4 when the mischief started. Odd items – things that didn’t belong to him – appeared in the house. One day, Carole found a pack of cigarettes in Sam’s pocket.
Maybe it was a phase, the Woods thought. With proper discipline, Sam would learn right from wrong.
But when he was 9, fire department officials came to the Woods’ house to say Sam had started a small fire in the nearby woods. In middle school, he began skipping classes, burglarizing homes and nabbing cars for joy rides.
Carole and Jerry put Sam in a behavior modification program; Carole would track his good and bad behavior on a chart taped to the refrigerator. They tried family therapy, but it didn’t seem to help. Some psychologists implied Sam’s behavior was the result of bad parenting.
No one ever suggested his issues were linked to mental illness. Even if they had, the Woods say today, they might not have been able to accept that. And after all this time, and all they’ve been through, they say they still don’t know to what degree, if any, mental illness played in Sam’s actions during his youth.
What they do know is how his behavior radiated through the family. Margaret would leave her purse hanging on the doorknob and later realize money was missing. The family started hiding their belongings.
“During this period of time, you’re still trying to maintain a normal household,” Carole says. “You have this determination that things are going to be normal for the other children. At the same time you’re trying to work with him and make things right with him.”
Sam was 14 when he was arrested for trying to rob a person at knifepoint. He was sent to a juvenile detention and treatment center in Anchorage. He spent four years there and completed eighth grade, but never attended a real high school or earned a GED. He was released on his 18th birthday – now a legal adult.
Sam decided to take off on his own. There was nothing his parents could do to stop him.
“We finally determined that we didn’t have the answer to Sam,” Carole says. “We weren’t really being helpful to him anymore.”
As Sam became more rebellious and unpredictable, Ray developed into the protective, serious older brother. He watched over Jenny and Margaret when his parents were preoccupied with Sam. From an early age, he demonstrated an impressive work ethic.
Ray was just 5 when his parents agreed to pay him 10 cents for each picket he painted on the family’s fence. He earned enough to purchase his own bike. As a teenager, there was nothing he liked more than automobiles. He saved up his money to buy a plum-crazy Dodge Super Bee. As much as he loved that car, he drove a more practical car to his track, wrestling and swimming practices.
“Ray is probably one of the finest people you’d want to meet,” Carole says. “He really is. He’s a fine and gentle and kind person. A really good person. And everybody that knows him, works with him, feels that way about him.”
New starts – and shocking setbacks
Sam was two years gone when Carole and Jerry Wood decided to leave Alaska. They had family in Missouri, and were members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, which had a community near Independence.
Carole and Jerry had always dreamed of owning a farm. So when a 160-acre property came up for sale near Warrensburg, they packed up with Jenny and Margaret, and moved to Missouri.
Ray was 22 at the time. He wanted to join them on farm someday, but stayed behind in Alaska for a job and a girlfriend, Tina Egan.
Not long after Carole and Jerry moved, they received the shocking news that Ray was in the Alaska Psychiatric Institute. He had had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with atypical psychosis. It was December of 1985.
To this day, Carole and Jerry wonder what triggered the incident. Ray seemed fine just a few weeks earlier. Maybe it was the paint fumes Ray was exposed to at work? More than 20 years later, they know they’ll never know.
What they didn’t know at the time was that Ray had previous struggles he he hid from them. It wasn’t until decades later that he told them he experienced emotional difficulties after returning from a trip to China with some friends, but withdrew and dealt with those issues privately.
At the time, they thought Ray’s breakdown was an isolated incident. They focused on helping him move forward – an instinct that was reinforced when, on May 23, 1987, Ray married his girlfriend, Tina.
Newly married, Ray and Tina packed their belongings into a truck and moved to Warrensburg. At first they lived in Carole and Jerry’s basement. Ray and his father established a chimney cleaning business. Ray drove school buses to make extra money. He was 26 when his first child was born.
Carole remembers the tension waiting for the birth. A crowd of relatives and friends gathered as Tina prepared to deliver the baby in the downstairs tub, then celebrated the baby’s first cries. Jared was welcomed into the family. Ray proudly embraced the role of father.
Ray, Tina and Jared moved into a trailer on Carole and Jerry’s property. They wanted to add to their family and needed extra space.
Carole and Jerry hoped Ray’s focus on family would keep him stable. What warning signs they remember were minor – occasional mood swings, trouble sleeping.
Yet Ray’s illness was taking hold again. He had a second mental breakdown in 1990. He was admitted to Western Missouri Mental Health Center in Kansas City. He had previously been diagnosed as bipolar, but now was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia.
Although the diagnoses and treatments would change over the next 10 years, Carole and Jerry had to face the fact that Ray’s problem in Alaska wasn’t a one-time event. Their son suffered from mental illness that eluded a certain identification – and a certain cure.
At times, Ray sunk into phases of remote depression. At other times, he felt good and was, as his parents say, on fire. His enthusiasm and passion were unstoppable. He was relentless in pursuit of his goals.
One of those goals was to raise a large family. Between 1989 and 1998, five more children were added to the family.
The couple and their six children eventually moved into a house that Ray built a quarter mile away from his parents.
Tina home-schooled the children. She taught music lessons and passed on her musical talent to her kids. She could compose music on the piano and play instruments like the clarinet, flute and guitar with ease. Her children would line up and sing together in their home and at church.
When Ray felt well, he was the active father his parents fondly remember. He would race the kids down the drive. Some struggled to pedal fast enough on their bikes while others took off on foot. Ray would take the family camping. He liked to lift his children up and hold them in his arms.
“Really, when things we right, there was no happier family,” Jerry says. “They played, they worked, they did everything together.”
“For lack of knowledge”
Carole and Jerry remember the warning sign: Ray’s beard. When he went from clean-shaven to scruffy, trouble was coming.
When that happened, they would sit with him for hours. They could see he was afraid when his illness was overpowering, when it caused him to lose his sense of self.
“Learning by experience is no way to learn how to deal with mental illness,” Jerry says. “One thing we learned, and learned it late, is when someone is having a breakdown you cannot talk reason (to them). And you need to get expert help.”
But back then they didn’t know where to turn. Despite the many trips to clinics and hospitals, neither Carole nor Jerry remember being told about educational classes or other support resources.
Looking back, they sometimes wonder if their efforts to help just enabled their son’s illness. During manic stages, Ray would obsess over projects. When he decided he would build his family’s home, he simply marched out to the spot with nothing but a shovel, ready to dig. Jerry couldn’t stop his son when he was like that, so picked up some tools and lent a hand.
Other times Ray would become paranoid about evil thorn bushes or animals. He would throw magazines to the ground at the market because he didn’t like the faces on the covers.
“It was like he was losing himself,” Carole says. “And that’s what was scary.”
For all the trouble Carole and Jerry had experienced with Sam, Ray’s behavior was something they had never encountered.
“When I look back on that, I don’t know,” Carole says. “I think … how did we not see it?”
The doctors weren’t much help. Ray’s medical records were private. By law, doctors couldn’t discuss his condition with his parents without his consent. So the only people who had full access to diagnoses and advice were Tina – who was protective of Ray and seemed to be in denial about his illness – and Ray himself.
The law also prevented Ray from being involuntarily committed to a hospital unless he was deemed a direct physical threat to himself or others. He was hospitalized after his major breakdowns in 1985 and 1990. There were other times the family was able to convince him he needed in-patient treatment. But he always had the right to check himself out. He never accepted that he was mentally ill. Once he stabilized, he wanted to be home with his family.
“What good does it do to explain all this to a person who is mentally ill, doesn’t believe he’s mentally ill, and then they send him home?” Carole says.
Carole and Jerry now marvel at their own ignorance and denial about their oldest son’s struggles. They weren’t researchers with sophisticated knowledge of the medical system. They were focused on caring for their family and maintaining normalcy on the farm.
With the wisdom of hindsight, Jerry says this: “The scripture, you know, says, ‘for my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.’ And I can sure agree with that.”
A fragmented life
As Ray’s problems grew at home, Sam was jumping trains or taking buses across the country. Sometimes he stayed in prison or halfway houses. Other times, he slept on the street.
The details of those years are lost to Carole and Jerry. What fragments of knowledge they had are scattered in a red address book that Carole stores in the kitchen.
The book has been used so much that the binding has fallen apart and the pages are turning yellow. Each page is cramped with scribbles that show Sam’s confusing migration. Carole and Jerry would receive occasional phone calls that helped them piece together parts of his life. A name here. A state there. Texas. New York. California.
“It’s like watching the death of your child,” Carole says. “To see Sam going off into bad pathways, and to realize he would never be the kind of person we thought he was.”
Carole specifically remembers one call.
Sam was on the line, telling her there was a man with him, a man who had been with him for most of his life. Carole asked Sam to describe the man.
What did he look like? What did he act like?
Sam had no answers.
At first, Carole couldn’t understand how someone from Sam’s childhood – someone she didn’t remember – could be with him now. Then she realized: there was no man. It was all in Sam’s mind.
It would be several more years before Sam was officially diagnosed with schizophrenia. But the red address book shows how many questions about his life were never answered. Like how Sam managed to get Social Security benefits, or how and when he found his way into the mental heath system to get help.
“It’s a miracle he survived,” Carole says.
Both of Carole’s boys were wrestling with forces beyond their control.
One was lost, somewhere miles away.
The other was just down the gravel road.
Valentine’s Day horror
The news broke and quickly spread. From an NBC station’s website in Kansas City:
A woman and her four children are found shot to death in their home early February 14 near Warrensburg, Missouri. Two other children from the same family, a girl infant and a three-year-old girl were also shot. They were transferred to Children’s Mercy Hospital and officials there said they are both expected to live.
Twelve years have passed. But Carole and Jerry still don’t understand.
Jerry’s sunny disposition fades. His eyes become a vivid blue as the tears form. He presses his weathered hands against his mouth. He can’t bring himself to speak.
Carole cries and shakes her head. Her voice gets low as she prepares to remember.
It happened on Valentine’s Day, 2000.
Ray had not slept well for days. Carole and Jerry knew he needed help. Early that morning, they convinced him to come to their house, away from the chaos of the kids, to try to get some rest.
But Ray wouldn’t stay in bed or sit still. He paced frantically.
“We were afraid for him,” Carole says. “We weren’t afraid of him.”
Ray decided to go back to his house, back to Tina and the children. But he returned not long after. He came running, not on the gravel road but through the fields. He jumped fences and ran in a straight line toward his mom and dad.
Carole inhales. Her words come out in a whisper. Pain and disbelief mark her face. She repeats what Ray told Jerry that morning:
“Daddy, Daddy. I shot my family.”
Carole’s voice shakes as she recalls what happened next. Desperation when calling the police. Shock when arriving at the scene. Emptiness when it was all over.
Tina, 31, Jared, 10, Joshua, 8, Emily, 7, and Hannah, 5, were found dead when police arrived. Moriah, 3, and Katlin, 1, wounded, were rushed to the hospital.
Ray was forced to the ground.
Carole and Jerry watched as their loved ones were taken away, one by police, the others by ambulances.
Ray was charged with five counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and seven counts of armed criminal action. The case never went to trial because he was ruled incompetent due to mental illness. He was committed to Fulton State Hospital — the oldest psychiatric hospital west of the Mississippi River.
Fighting for what was left
Carole and Jerry spent much of their time after the shootings in the hospital, waiting, praying for Moriah and Katlin to survive.
Emma Jo Cool, a long-time friend from the couple’s church, saw the impact of the tragedy. Jerry became ill with grief. Carole was devastated. The entire congregation felt personally affected by the loss. But Carole and Jerry drew on what strength they had to focus on Moriah and Katlin.
The grandparents wanted guardianship of the girls, and they wanted the room to be ready.
Volunteers from the couple’s church came to the farm in the weeks that followed. They renovated a room of the house, adding pink carpet and floral wallpaper.
But the girls never came.
Instead they were moved to Alaska to live with Tina’s sister. Carole and Jerry were denied visitation rights.
In time the TV trucks with the big, white satellite dishes stopped coming by.
The meals sent from friends stopped, too.
The farm fell quiet.
A hard-fought stability
Sam now lives in Billings, Mont. He declined a request for an interview, but his parents speak to him almost daily by phone, and try to visit once a year.
They say Sam is taking care of himself, supported by a community of friends and coworkers. He does a variety of outdoor jobs like mowing lawns and raking leaves. He doesn’t own a car, so uses a bike to get around. He is diligent about taking medication for his mental illness because he doesn’t want to go back to prison. He has a prescription to own a cat because his doctor says it’s a good source of therapy.
As happy as Carole and Jerry are that Sam is independent and stable, they can’t help but compare his situation to Ray’s.
“I always thought, and it’s a terrible thing to say, but I always thought that it was kind of a blessing that (Sam) never got married or had children,” Carole says.
One lost, one saved
For a few years after the shootings, Carole and Jerry would call Moriah and Katlin and send birthday packages. But the girls’ guardian eventually stopped taking their calls, and they lost touch.
The girls turned 16 and 14 this spring. The grandparents sent cards, hoping they would be delivered. They hope one day, when the girls are old enough, they will reach out.
It can still be hard for Carole and Jerry to see other children. The kids in their church who were their grandkids’ ages have transformed into young adults. It makes them think of what their four lost grandchildren could have become. Jared, the first grandchild and the one who would drink tea with Grandma in the quiet afternoons, would have been 23 this year.
Ray remains in Fulton State Hospital. Doctors have tried different medications and therapies, but his parents say he is still unable to comprehend that he has a mental illness. He is still considered incompetent to stand trial for the charges brought against him.
Carole and Jerry say Ray has never denied the shootings. But he believes it was evil, not illness, at work.
Carole and Jerry drive to Fulton every Wednesday to see him. They say he is comfortable – familiar with the facility and the people in it. He has some recordings of Tina playing the piano; it’s his favorite music. For a while he had a favorite shirt, one of his that Tina used to wear. Ray wore it so often in Fulton State that he finally gave it to his parents to keep for fear he would wear it out.
Carole remembers a conversation they had during one visit.
“He said he just wanted to be happy again, to know what being happy was like,” she says. “I don’t think Ray will ever know that. Not in this life. Because he’s lost everything that he loved.”
Carole and Jerry say Ray is the biggest victim of the tragedy that befell their family.
They still live on the farm. They love the land and their neighbors. They feel established in the community. They see their daughter’s children. They have their routine.
Carole passes Ray and Tina’s house in the morning when she takes the dogs out to run. It still sits empty.
During the day the couple drinks coffee in their kitchen. There are photos framed across the walls and on the fridge. One of the photos shows six smiling children squeezed in around their parents. Ray’s plaid shirt and the girls’ flowered dresses look outdated, their smiles frozen in time.
It is a reminder of what has been lost.
A red address book sits on a shelf in the kitchen. It’s used less these days. Sam is happy, stable and no longer on the move.
It is a reminder of what has been saved.
On February 14, 2000 my sister, Tina Wood and four of her six children were murdered in Warrensburg, MO. The perpetrator, Raymond E. Wood, is scheduled to go to trial on June 9, 2003. We have waited three years to have closure to this heinous crime. The Prosecutor, Mary Ann Young, has informed us that the likelihood of this case going to trial in June is slim. In March or April of 2000, the honorable, Jacqueline A. Cook, ordered an independent mental evaluation of Raymond. Dr. Jerome Peters examined Raymond and the results of his evaluation were given to the Prosecution and Defense early in of November 2002. The dilemma this family is facing is that Dr. Peters was an active member of the National Guard. A few days after his report was released, he was called to active duty, and was sent to the Middle East. What, if anything, can our family do to ensure that this doctor will be there for the trial in June? I have drafted a letter that I am going to send out to the senators of Missouri where the crime was committed, and also the senators of Alaska where I reside. It is my hope that someone will be able to pull strings to have Dr. Peters given a week or so of leave so he can testify in this case. Do you have any other suggestions that may be helpful in our plight? We just want closure. The defendant is mentally competent to stand trial. It is my biggest fear that if this doesn't go to trail soon, Raymond will have a relapse and thus the vicious cycle will repeat itself and we will never get closure. Thank you for your attention in this serious matter.
There is not a whole lot that can be done. The defendant has a right to have the testimony of the doctor.
On February 14, 2000 my sister, Tina Wood and four of her six children were murdered in Warrensburg, MO. The perpetrator, Raymond E. Wood, is scheduled to go to trial on June 9, 2003. We have waited three years to have closure to this heinous crime. The Prosecutor, Mary Ann Young, has informed us that the likelihood of this case going to trial in June is slim. In March or April of 2000, the honorable, Jacqueline A. Cook, ordered an independent mental evaluation of Raymond. Dr. Jerome Peters examined Raymond and the results of his evaluation were given to the Prosecution and Defense early in of November 2002. The dilemma this family is facing is that Dr. Peters was an active member of the National Guard. A few days after his report was released, he was called to active duty, and was sent to the Middle East. What, if anything, can our family do to ensure that this doctor will be there for the trial in June? I have drafted a letter that I am going to send out to the senators of Missouri where the crime was committed, and also the senators of Alaska where I reside. It is my hope that someone will be able to pull strings to have Dr. Peters given a week or so of leave so he can testify in this case. Do you have any other suggestions that may be helpful in our plight? We just want closure. The defendant is mentally competent to stand trial. It is my biggest fear that if this doesn't go to trail soon, Raymond will have a relapse and thus the vicious cycle will repeat itself and we will never get closure. Thank you for your attention in this serious matter.
There is not a whole lot that can be done. The defendant has a right to have the testimony of the doctor.
No comments:
Post a Comment