WITHIN THESE WALLS

AuthorHouse

Chapter One

Prior to ever coming to prison or experiencing the life of a killer, I was a novice to this world of incarceration. The closest I ever came to a murderer was a man I once worked with in Bellingham, Washington by the name of Clark Richard Elmore (aka: James Dickey). I think that his crime touched a little closer to home with me than the other men named in this book because of the fact that I knew him prior to his arrest and I also knew his victim and his family. Although Clark Elmore is not an Alaskan killer, it was because of this man that I chose to write a book about life behind bars. I needed to see what made these men so different than you or I. I needed to try and understand what it was that could make a person so angry that they would take the life of another human being. The story you're about to read will let you into the life of Clark Richard Elmore.

Her eyes were full of fear as she stared into the eyes of a monster. His cold rough hands wrapped around her throat, his body on top of hers. He had just violated her young body and now it was time to silence his crime. As his hands squeezed tighter around her neck, she begins to fade in and out of consciousness. He takes her own belt and cinches it tightly around her soft, delicate neck. She knows that she's going to die but her body fights the reality. Naked from the waist down, her small body begins to shake as her life is squeezed from within her. Still not convinced that the strangling is doing the job he intended, he reaches over and grabs a long steel spike. Unable to speak, she looks up in horror as he puts the pointed end of this cold steel spike into her left ear. With several blows, he forces the spike deep into her brain. The sound of bone and tissue being crushed gives and eerie sound as the spike enters her skull. His rage continues to boil; knowing that there's no turning back and being too coward to look into her eyes as this young innocent girl stares up at him, he covers her face and head with dark plastic as he takes a small sledgehammer from his toolbox. He begins crushing her skull as she lies motionless on the ground. When he's finished, he takes the tarp and covers her beaten body and leaves her in the woods to rot as he goes about his day as though nothing ever happened.

While her friends are about to begin their day at school, Kristy lies motionless in the woods near Lake Samish. Wearing only a pair of socks and a sweater that's been pushed up over her shoulders by her killer, her body is merely an empty shell now.

Without looking back, he walks away from his fourteen year old step-daughter as her blood begins to seep into the cold, damp earth beneath her body. Into the night, the smell of fresh blood attracts small animals as they scurry over to investigate. The temptation is too great as they approach her motionless body and begin to consume portions of her ears to fill their small bellies.

Although her body is dead, her spirit continues to fight as she creeps into the head of her killer and reminds him that there is nothing more that he can do to her. Now it's her turn to torture him. Every child he sees will remind him of the things he did to her; each police car that passes will make his heart pound in fear that they've discovered his heinous crime.

Knowing that there's no escape from his conscience, he turns himself into the police. Confessing everything; not wanting a trial would appear to be a noble act, at least on the surface. But as you look at the gruesome details of his crime, you begin to see that he merely wants to keep his crime secret from society. He fears that society will see him for who he really is; a child rapist and murderer.

By the time it's all over, he'll be sentenced to death, most likely by lethal injection as he's requested. A more appropriate death would be a slow and painful one; however, activists complain that this is cruel and unusual punishment. Forget about his victim; his fourteen year old daughter, who he raped, beat and tortured and then left in the woods to rot like a piece of discarded trash. Show me the humanity in that death.

He covered her face with dark plastic as he crushed her skull, because he was too much of a coward to see the results of his gruesome crime and now he'll die a coward's death as they insert a needle into his vein and inject his ticket to hell.

In 1990, while living in Bellingham, Washington, I picked up a part-time job repossessing vehicles for a couple of used car lots. The money was good and it was an adrenaline rush at times. I was also doing work as a Bail Enforcement Agent for Cascade Bail Bonds and for the Whatcom County Prosecutors Office.

Lifestyle Motor Company had a contract with a mechanic who would be on-call in case a vehicle needed to be towed or repaired during repossessions. The mechanics name was James Dickey. He was an older, Vietnam Vet who wore two hearing aides and was fairly quiet. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that he had a speech problem do to his hearing loss.

On a few occasions, I had to call James in the middle of the night during repossessions. He and I would work on the car and as soon as we either got it running or hooked up to his tow truck, we would haul ass out of there before the owner's woke up.

In 1992, I bought an Audi 4000 from Lifestyle's. It was a nice little car, but it was fuel injected and German made. It was my first foreign car, and I knew nothing about it. One day the car didn't want to start, so I called James and he drove out to take a look at it. I was at my in-laws with my wife and daughter when the car broke down. When James arrived, I introduced him to my father-in-law and we all stood outside in the cold as James looked over my car. After about an hour, James decided that we should tow it to his house so that he could pull it into his carport and work on it. My wife and daughter got a ride home from her parents and I went with James in his tow truck back to his house to work on the car.

When we arrived at his house, we went inside to warm up and get some coffee before working on the car. While we were inside, he introduced me to his family. He first introduced me to Sue, who he said was his wife. She was feeding their youngest daughter, Kayla, who was still in a high chair. As we went into the living room, his older daughter came in wearing her nightgown. He introduced her as Kristy. As James and I began talking about my car, Kristy, who was about ten years old, kept coming back into the living room as she showed me pictures that she had colored. The more that I complimented her on her work, the more she seemed to bring out for me to see. She was a sweet little girl with long blond hair.

After a couple of hours of working on my car, James explained that he was going to need some parts for it and I'd have to leave it at his house for a few days. I said goodbye to his family and James drove me home. That was the last time that I would ever see his wife and kids. A few days later he fixed my car and then towed it to the car lot for me to pick up.

In 1993 I moved from Washington and came here to Alaska. A couple years later I was shocked by the news that I received. My wife at the time often kept in contact with her parents in Washington, in fact they would come up about once a year to visit us.

On May 8, 1995 my wife received a call from her mom. I heard my wife say, "Oh my God, are you serious?" When she got off the phone, she asked me if I remembered James Dickey. I said, "Of course I do, why?"

She went on to tell me that he was arrested in Bellingham and that James Lee Dickey wasn't his real name. His real name was Clark Richard Elmore. He was arrested for the rape and murder of his step-daughter, Kristy.

I remember feeling numb and then the hairs on my neck began to rise. All I could see in my head was Kristy's beautiful smile and her cute little laugh every time she would return with a new picture to show me that she had colored. I couldn't imagine why anyone would kill such a sweet little girl.

As time went on, I began researching the circumstances behind this gruesome crime;

On the evening of Monday, April 17, 1995, Sue Ohnstad contacted the Bellingham Police Department to report that her fourteen year old daughter, Kristy did not return home from school. The police entered her name into their missing person's database.

The following day, a boy by the name of Willie Golightly stumbled across Kristy's backpack in a ditch off Samish Way in Bellingham. Among its contents, he found as we at shirt and Sue Ohnstad's phone number. He called Sue and informed her that he had found the backpack. Clark Elmore, known as James Dickey, arrived at Golightly's house a short time later. He had been with Sue for nearly 10-years and considered himself to be Kristy's father. He was the biological father of Kayla. When Elmore arrived at Golightly's, he informed him that he was there to get the belongings, however Golightly refused and said that he had contacted the police and that they were on their way.

Officer Scott Matsudaira was dispatched to the Golightly residence. When he arrived, Golightly showed him the sweatshirt and backpack and told him where he had found them. The officer described Elmore as being very distraught, and very upset.

April 20, 1995, Bellingham Police Detective Les Gitts began a formal investigation into Kristy's disappearance. Det. Gitts interviewed both Ohnstad and Elmore. Elmore told investigators that he had received a phone call the night before from someone who reportedly saw Kristy downtown with a boy. Detective Gitts interviewed several of Kristy's friends, including this boy, but no one had seen her.

April 21, 1995, Elmore commissioned his own search party to look for Kristy. After publicly criticizing the police in the case, he organized a group of neighbors to search the area where Kristy's backpack was discovered. Several residents called the Sheriff's Office, complaining that people were traipsing through their yards. At this point, Whatcom County Sheriff's became involved. Whatcom County Search and Rescue assembled a command post off Samish Way and canvassed the area with marked rescuers.

That afternoon, Detective Gitts and another detective contacted Elmore at the command post, inviting him to drive down the road with them and talk about the situation. Elmore was advised that he was not under arrest. Elmore agreed to talk with detectives and consented to their taping the conversation.

During the 45-minute discussion, Elmore reported last seeing Kristy on Monday morning, April 17. He stated that he dropped her off in front of the BP gas station where a group of kids were waiting for school to start. He then described that Kristy had recently began "acting out" at home. Elmore explained that he and Ohnstad were having a difficult time disciplining her and did not approve of her new friends. Although Elmore said he had no idea where Kristy could be, he did not think she was still "kickin."

After the interview, when Detective Gitts took Kristy's backpack out of his truck, Elmore became very pale and shaky when he saw it and he looked as though he were about to vomit. When they returned to the command post, Detective Gitts asked if he could look inside Elmore's van. Elmore gave the detective a written consent form for them to search the van. The detective advised Elmore that they would examine the van for trace evidence, including blood, hair and fibers. Using a flashlight, Detective Gitts conducted a cursory search of the interior, but found no obvious signs indicating that Kristy had been inside the van.

That same evening around 8:30 p.m., Detective Gitts received a call from Search and Rescue, indicating that a female body had been discovered near the south end of Lake Samish. Detective Gitts and another detective drove to the scene and identified Kristy's body. Detective Gitts returned to the station and called Elmore. He informed Elmore that searchers were going to stop for the night but would return in the morning. Because Elmore was a suspect in this case, he was not informed that Kristy's body had been discovered. They told Elmore that the search team was going to scour the south end of Lake Samish the following day, to see if Elmore would return to the scene and attempt to move the body.

Saturday, April 22, 1995 at 7:30 a.m. investigators with the Whatcom County Sheriff's Department and the Bellingham Police Department met to process the crime scene. They found Kristy's body lying face down on the ground beneath a plastic tarp. Her shirt was pulled over her head. Other than the shirt and socks, she was naked. When investigators removed the bag, they found a black belt around her neck and a metal spike protruding from her ear. Animals had removed portions of her ears. Two red flecks of paint were removed from her body. The flecks were eventually traced back to a box that Elmore kept in his van. While investigators processed the crime scene, Detective Gitts attempted to contact Elmore by phone. Sue answered and said that Elmore had left to run errands, but expected him back shortly. Elmore never returned.

Later that day, Detective Gitts issued an interstate bulletin describing Elmore and his van, requesting that he be detained as a person of interest in a homicide investigation. Port of Seattle Police responded to the broadcast, reporting the van had been impounded from Sea-Tac International Airport for unpaid parking fees. Detective Gitts secured a warrant and had the van returned to Bellingham.

On Sunday evening, April 23, 1995, at about 9:00 p.m., Elmore showed up at the Bellingham Police Department and used the after hours phone outside the station to call 911. Bellingham is a small community and the police department lobby closes on weekends. When the dispatcher answered the 911 call, Elmore told her to send an officer out to lock him up for murdering Kristy Ohnstad. Officer Alvin Carr invited Elmore into the station.

Once inside the station, Lieutenant Richard Sucee advised Elmore of his rights, both orally and in writing. After agreeing to waive his rights, Elmore spoke briefly with Lieutenant Sucee while another officer paged Detective Gitts. Elmore told Lieutenant Sucee that he killed Kristy in his van at a location near Lake Samish.

When Detective Gitts arrived at the station, Elmore consented to a more detailed tape-recorded interview. Elmore explained that, on Monday morning, April 17, 1995, he dropped Kayla off at daycare and returned home about 8:20 a.m. Kristy was complaining about going to school and had missed her bus. When Elmore told Kristy that she was "grounded forever," she commented to Elmore about molesting Kristy when she was five years old. He said that after that incident, whenever he tried to discipline her, she threatened to turn him in for the molestation. Elmore said that he considered killing Kristy "just about every time" she threatened him. He said that he wished Kristy would have followed through on her threats because, "it cost her, her life."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from WITHIN THESE WALLSby Ken F. Gage Copyright © 2011 by Ken F. Gage. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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