Needle Work: Battery Acid, Heroin, and Double Murder(40)
PART THREE
Twelve
November 17, 1997
At 4:40 P.M., Sammy Upchurch sat uncomfortably in one of the interview rooms at the Genessee County Sheriff’s Department in Flint.
“At about three-fifteen today, you contacted me in reference to your vehicle being towed, is that correct?” asked Kevin Shanlian.
“Yes, I did,” Upchurch replied.
“And I stated to you that I was assisting West Bloomfield Township Police in reference to a homicide case and I stated there was some evidence in your vehicle. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“And when I made that statement, what did you tell me was in the vehicle that was evidence in this case?”
“Probably, could have been that gas can.”
“And why did you think it was the gas can?”
“’Cause I knew my nephew [Tim Collier] had gave me that gas can and some charcoal lighter fluid.”
“Okay, and then I advised you that your vehicle was at the Sheriff’s Department pursuant for a search warrant being obtained from the West Bloomfield Township Police Department and you advised that you would give us consent to search. Is that correct?”
“That’s right.”
Helton had called Shanlian and told him of the substance of Giles’s statement. He requested that “Tim Collier’s uncle Sammy Upchurch” be contacted. Helton said that he was attempting to locate a five-gallon plastic gasoline container and charcoal lighter fluid that were used in the homicide and to which Giles had obliquely referred in her statement.
Shanlian and his partner, Melki, subsequently drove to Upchurch’s home, which they easily found through an on-line database. They passed by the house slowly and saw there was an attached driveway. In the vehicle in the driveway, they observed a five-gallon plastic gasoline container. After failing to contact Upchurch by knocking on his door, Shanlian called Helton.
“What do you want to do?” Shanlian asked.
“Why don’t we ask the lawyers,” Helton suggested.
Shanlian called the Genessee County prosecuting attorney’s office. After conferring with one of the assistants there, he was told to have the vehicle towed, until a search warrant could be secured.
While the car was being towed, someone came up to Shanlian, who was overseeing the operation.
“Hey, I know the guy that owns that car,” the guy said.
Shanlian handed him a printed card.
“My number’s on there. Have him call me if he wants it back.”
The guy looked at it.
“I’ll have him call you,” he said, and disappeared into the crowd that had gathered to watch the proceedings.
At 3:20 P.M. the same day, Upchurch called Shanlian.
“Yeah, I own that car,” said Upchurch.
Shanlian explained that the vehicle had been towed per the request of Detective Thomas Helton, because it contained evidence relevant to the murder of Nancy Billiter.
“Only the gas is evidence,” Upchurch stated.
But he agreed to let the detectives search the vehicle without a warrant. They did. After that, Shanlian called Upchurch back and asked him to come in for an interview. Sammy Upchurch said he would.
“Should I bring the lighter fluid, too?” he asked.
“Yes. Bring it in a paper bag,” Shanlian answered, which was how Sammy Upchurch happened to wind up at police headquarters that day for his interview.
Shanlian pushed the tape recorder on the table a little closer to Sammy Upchurch.
“So now that you’ve come in,” Shanlian continued, “you’ve filled out a consent to search your vehicle? Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“And I advised you you’re currently not under arrest at this point, not under any force or coercion, you’ve given us permission freely?”
“Yes.”
“Then the second time I called you back, you asked me if you could bring another item down?”
“Right.”
“What was that item?”
“Charcoal starter fluid.”
“And why did you think that item was involved in this case?”
“He gave that to me when he gave me the gas. Asked me did I want the charcoal fluid and some gas, but he wanted the gas can back, though.”
“Who are we talking about?” Shanlian asked.
“Tim Collier,” Sammy Upchurch answered.
“What relationship is he to you?”
“A stepnephew.”
Upchurch went on to describe his stepnephew’s first visit on the afternoon of the murder. While Carol waited for him back in West Bloomfield, Tim went to his uncle’s.
“He was by hisself and he wanted to take a bath.”
“Was he bloody or anything?” Shanlian asked.
Upchurch said he wasn’t. Collier stayed maybe two hours, took his bath, decided to leave, and said he may come back later.
“Did he leave any clothes at your house?”
“No, he hadn’t. He took his clothes with him. On his back.”
Shanlian remembered that Collier’s crime scene clothes had been recovered during the search that Giles had led the cops on before she was taken to the Oakland County lockup.
“Did he have a change of clothes with him?”