Orinda, CA case: Bodfish murder stymies police
Hermit of the Glen
Here's the latest article from the Bay Area Reporter. Ed said that he wrote it
for last week's issue but that it got bumped due to lack of space. I'd sure
like to know what the son wrote it his suicide note!
Hermit
Bodfish murder stymies police
by Ed Walsh
"In my 14 years in law enforcement, this is the most unique murder
case I've ever seen," said Orinda police Sergeant Chris Wenzel, more than two
and a half months after the murder of 56-year-old transgendered Orinda resident
Emmon Bodfish continues to baffle police.
"There's no obvious motive in this case," added Wenzel, "and there
have been so many twists and turns."
Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department homicide investigator Mark
Hale calls the Bodfish case "a classic whodunit" because, he says, they can't
find anyone that would have a motive to kill Bodfish. Hale agrees with Wenzel's
assessment of the case, telling the Bay Area Reporter that the Bodfish case was
also the most unusual murder case he has ever investigated.
"The investigation continues to progress but is moving slowly," said
Wenzel. "There is some evidence that we're waiting to get confirmation on."
Police say they still don't consider Bodfish's son, Max Wills, a
suspect in his mother's bludgeoning death nor can they rule him out because
investigators can't account for all of his time while he was vacationing in
Southern California. Wills, 33, killed himself in a Santa Monica hotel room
just hours after his grandmother told him his mother was dead.
The B.A.R. has obtained a copy of Wills's coroner's report that lists
Dr. Richard Levine as Wills's psychiatrist. Levine didn't know Wills was dead
until he was told by the B.A.R.
Levine said he had heard vaguely about the Bodfish case in the media
but didn't know there was any connection to Wills.
Levine said he had last counseled Wills about a year ago. Levine said
that it is "inconceivable" to him that Wills could have killed his mother.
Levine added that he met Wills's mother "once or twice" and Bodfish presented
himself to Levine as a woman.
The coroner's report lists three vials of prescription drugs that had
been found near Wills's body that had been prescribed by Levine. Two were
sleeping pills and the third was the antidepressant drug Alprazolam which is
often prescribed when depression is accompanied by anxiety. A fourth drug vial
containing the painkiller Nupercainal, was also found near Wills's body but the
report listed no prescribing doctor for that medication.
The report includes results of the toxicology tests that show that no
alcohol or narcotics were present in Wills's body at the time of his death.
Unlike Bodfish's coroner's report, Wills's report lists no analyses of his
stomach's contents so it's impossible to estimate how soon he took the
prescription drugs before cutting himself, or whether he took the drugs at all.
Wills's cause of death is listed as "exsanguination," the forensic term used to
describe a death caused by being drained of blood.
The report diagrams the self-inflicted cuts to Wills's throat and
arms. His body, the report says, was found nude and in the fetal position.
"The decedent is observed lying on his left side in the bathtub
submerged in water," the report details. "Blood and vomitus are observed in the
water. Blood splatters cover the bathroom floor and sink, and a single edge
razor is noted in the blood stained sink. Several empty prescribed medication
bottles are observed in the wastebasket. A four-page suicide note is left by
the decedent."
Previously, authorities had said Wills left a three-page suicide note.
Police still aren't revealing the note's contents but investigators had told
the B.A.R. that Wills mentioned his mother in the note.
The coroner's report, which was prepared by the Los Angeles County
Coroner's office, predictably makes no mention of the controversy over that
agency's handling of the case. The report says that Wills's father, Burl
Willes, lives in "Berkely" (sic) and that the Berkeley Police Department was
asked to notify Willes of his son's death. The report does not say why Willes
wasn't notified of his son's death until a week after the suicide and a day
after Wills's suicide had already been reported in the Bay Area media.
Orinda police first learned of Wills's death from this reporter on
July 6, five days after Wills's body was discovered. The B.A.R. confirmed the
suicide late on July 5 after observing a coroner's seal on Wills's Marin City
townhouse.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's office asked the Marin County
Coroner's office to place the seal on Wills's door as a matter of routine on
July 2. The seal had to be sandwiched between reporters' notes. Marin County
Assistant Coroner, Gary Tindel, told the B.A.R. that his office was never told
by the Los Angeles County Coroner's office that it was having difficulty
notifying Wills's next of kin. Tindel added that the Los Angeles coroner's
office never asked his agency to contact Wills's neighbors in an attempt to
locate relatives nor was it asked to be alert for any obvious clues that could
lead them to relatives, e.g., notes from reporters.
Wills's friends and neighbors have been very critical over the Los
Angeles coroner's handling of the case. "It was unconscionable," said neighbor
Pat Ross. "They just slapped the seal on the door and didn't try to make any
connection." Ross added that Wills's neighbors had already been questioned by
Orinda investigators when the seal was put on the door.
From the start of their investigation, Orinda police had searched for
Wills for questioning in connection with his mother's murder. Ross said any of
the neighbors could have easily alerted investigators immediately if they had
simply been contacted when the seal was put on the door.
How much longer Wills's body would have been kept in storage in Los
Angeles before authorities there would have made a more aggressive effort to
locate relatives is a question that may remain shrouded in bureaucratic mystery
long after the Bodfish murder case is solved.