The Old Kobain Place Pt. 02

I look at Hanratty and Van Horn to get their reaction to the story. Hanratty's head snapped up, and he looked at me and then at Van Horn. "What do you think?" I asked them.

"Do you think Sgt. Michael Bliss is possibly related to our Michael Bliss?" Hanratty said.

"I don't know what to think about this," I said. Probably just a coincidence, but then again... I think that we will need to get Sgt. Bliss' records."

I went back to the stack of papers and continued to search through them until I found a document from May 28, 1953. This document was a report on the Medical Discharge of Lt. Jackson Winslow. The report stated that because of his injuries, the Lieutenant was no longer fit for military service. The report went on to say that Winslow was being transferred to the V.A. Hospital in Philadelphia. Major Robert Baker M.D signed the document.

I read the report out loud then said, "Something stinks about this. It looks to me like the Lt. Winslow wounded in Korea is not the same Lt. Winslow that was medically discharged and showed up in Brodricksburg in June of 1953."

Van Horn pulled his cell phone out and made a call to the agent assigned to work with the Army's criminal investigation service stationed at the Pentagon. "Sorry to bother you again, Harvey, but I need another favor. We need to get the military records for Sergeant Michael Bliss who died in an accident at Camp Desert Rock on May 12, 1953."

Van Horn laughed as he lessened to the response he got from the agent on the phone. When he finished the call, Van Horn said, "Harvey said he'll get with Records and see what he can do. He said that he was sure they would help us because they enjoy digging through records that are over sixty years old."

We didn't find anything else in the May or June papers, so we turned our attention to the pile of documents that had no dates on them. Halfway through that stack, Hanratty stuck his hand up to get our attention. "Lessen to this," he said. "It's a letter from a Captain Donald Peterson MD Letterman Army Medical Center, San Francisco, California. To Major Robert Baker, MD. Major Baker, This letter is to confirm your request that we transfer Lt. Jackson Winslow from Letterman to the Post Hospital at Camp Desert Rock on the 10th. Preparations are underway for the transfer, but I am concerned that the Lieutenant may not survive the trip, and I wonder if this transfer is necessary."

"So, this Major Baker requested that Winslow be transferred to Camp Desert Rock and then wrote up the medical discharge, but it appears that the Lt. Winslow that shows up in Brodricksburg is not the same man," I said.

Van Horn was already on his cell calling Agent Harvey Lewis to ask him to request information on Major Robert Baker. I signaled Van Horn that I want to say Something to him. Van Horn said, "Harvey to hold on a sec."

"Ask him to request the full report on the accident that killed Sgt. Michael Bliss also."

Twenty minutes later, Van horn got a phone call from Agent Lewis. "He said what? Tell him I want to talk to the Officer-in-Charge."

Another five minutes had passed when Van Horn's phone rang again. Van Horn lessened for a moment then said, "Captain Hollis, this information is vital to our investigation... Yes, I know these files are old, but the case we are working on is urgent, and lives depend on our getting this information ASAP... Thanks, I appreciate that."

Chief Pasiak came into the room while Van Horn was on the phone and lessened to the call. When Van Horn put his cell phone on the table, he looked at me and smiled.

"Urgent and lives depend on it?" The Chief said.

"Well, Halloween does fall on a Saturday again in 2020." Van Horn said. "Anyway, Captain Hollis said he would have his guys get us what we want."

The Chief looked at his watch and said, "It's almost noon. Why don't you order lunch in and bring me up to date on what you've learned today."

"Pizza okay with everyone?" The others agreed, so I ordered five pizzas and put the charge on my credit card.

"You ordered five pizzas for the four of us?" Van Horn said.

"When the guys in the squad room smell those pizzas, they are all going to looking for a slice. I got two for us, and three will be for the squad room," I said.

"Put that on your expense sheet as working lunch," the Chief said.

I smiled and said, "I was going to."

"You guys do have the best meetings," Van Horn said.

At 2:00 PM, Van Horn got an e-mail with two attachments from Captain Hollis. Van Horn forwarded the note to me to upload the attachments to my computer and display them on the large screen on the conference room wall.

I opened the first file, and it was a PDF file of Sgt. Bliss' fatal accident report.

"Four men fatally injured in a crash on Post Road Number 2 at 14:00 on May 12, 1953. The four men killed were Sgt. Michael Bliss, PCF Douglas Tally, PFC William Lach, and Pvt. Andrew Steinhauer.

The two-and-a-half-ton truck driven by PFC Tally was carrying a fifty-gallon drum of diesel fuel and was on its way to the motor pool within the Yucca Flat test site when the left front tire blew out, causing the driver to lose control. The truck went off the side of the road, down an embankment, and into a dry wash. The truck rolled over and came to rest upside down in the wash. Diesel leaking from the drum caught fire and consumed the truck and it, passengers.

The four men were pronounced dead at the scene by Dr. Robert Baker, MD U.S. Army."

"This Dr. Baker certainly gets around," Hanratty said.

When I opened the second attachment, it contained a news release from the Army to the Cincinnati Post and the Cincinnati Enquirer reporting Sgt. Bliss' death. Sgt. Bliss' was from the Cincinnati area. The announcement gave a vague description of the accident, which was unimportant to our investigation. What I found to be important and extremely disturbing was that file photo of Sgt. Bliss included in the news release. There was no mistaking that Sgt. Bliss and the Jackson Winslow that married Margo Kurtz in 1954, were either identical twins or were the same person. I looked at Van Horn and Hanratty and then looked at the Chief, and I could tell that we were all thinking the same thing.

"Are we all thinking that it was Jackson Winslow that died in that truck accident and that Sgt. Bliss replaced him?"

The Chief looked at me and smiled. "This is another fine mess you have gotten us into, Brian."

"I agree," I said. "What the hell is going on here? Anyone care to guess."

"The case you are working concerns ten missing people over a fifty-six-year period, right?" Chief Pasiak said. "How is it that this investigation is now looking into what happened sixty-two-years ago at Camp Desert Rock, Nevada?"

"We are trying to investigate all of these missing person cases, but we can't escape the possibility that the disappearances of Margo Winslow and Jerry Adler were the catalyst for the rest of these cases," I said. "If Detective Rose was right back in 1959 in his belief that Winslow killed his wife and her lover, then that is our starting point. I think at some point, we are going to have to solve the mystery of Jackson Winslow and Michael Bliss."

"I can't say that I disagree with you, but while we are pissing around trying to figure out what happened in 1953, the Tracy Johnson case is getting cold. We are rapidly getting to the point where we will have to put this on the back burner and get on with our current cases.

I knew the Chief was getting frustrated with our investigation's slow pace, but I was sure that he would not pull us off the case.

When Van Horn had not yet received the information about Major Robert Baker, we decided to call it a day at five o'clock. I suggested that we get together again next week, and Van Horn said that in the meantime, he would forward anything he got regarding any of the players in our insane game of 'Clue' to me.

Chapter 25

Thursday March 10, 2016

It was just after ten o'clock Thursday morning, and Hanratty and I were sitting in my office talking about what we need to accomplish the rest of the day when Agent Van Horn walked in with a box of donuts. "I know we weren't planning to meet again till next week, but I have some information that won't wait. You might want to have Chief Pasiak join us," Van Horn said.

I call the Chief and told him to meet us in the conference room, and then we headed over there. When the Chief came in, he looked at the donut box, smiled, pulled out a bear claw, and sat at the head of the table. "I didn't think we were meeting until next week," The Chief said as he took a big bite out of his bear claw.

"Kyle has something for us that he didn't think could wait till next week," I said.

"I'll start with the information on Major Baker I got late yesterday," Van Horn said. "Major Robert Lane Baker graduated from Penn State Medical School in 1934 and joined the Army that same year. His first assignment was at Walston Army Hospital at Fort Dix, New Jersey. In 1941 he transferred to Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco, where he served until 1952. That year the Pentagon made Major Baker the lead medical officer in charge of the atomic weapons test site at Yucca Flat. In June of 1953, Major Baker returned to Fort Dix, where he was head of radiology at Walston. Baker retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1977 and went to work for REORP, a medical lab in Philadelphia. In 1987, a gas explosion at REORP killed Baker and two other doctors who worked with him."

"Lead medical officer in charge of atomic weapons test site? That's new, but I don't see what that means to us. You must have something more to get you to buy donuts and drive up here," Hanratty said.

"You're right, and there is more,' Van Horn said. "What I forgot to mention was that the lab explosion was on October 29, 1987. When I saw that, I checked FBI records to see if we had been involved in the explosion's investigation, and it turns out we were.

The Philadelphia Fire Marshal ruled the explosion an accident. Still, he was angry to find out that what was supposed to be a medical lab was actually a chemical lab, and they were working with dangerous chemicals. They would never have been permitted to build the lab where they did if the zoning board knew the true nature of the work to be done there. The Fire Marshal couldn't find out who owned the building, so he asked the FBI to come in. Well, you know how we work. We were not going to take the Fire Marshal's judgment that the explosion was an accident.

"The investigators had concerns about the Fire Marshal's ruling. The first problem was the size of the explosion. For that much gas to leak undetected before the explosion, the gas had to have filled the lab very quickly. Our team thought it more likely that someone opened several of the gas valves in the lab. While the agents worked their way through the wreckage, they found a small fireproof file cabinet. The cabinet was transported to the FBI forensic lab.

"Here is where the story gets interesting to us again. Inside the file cabinet, the investigators found a wealth of information about the lab. First off, REORP, which stands for, Reduce Effects of Radiation Poisoning, did not build the lab. The building was initially intended to be a connivance store, but the owner went bankrupt before REORP moved in.

REORP just bought the empty building and moved in. That is how they escaped scrutiny from the zoning board.

Next, there were three men responsible for creating the lab in September of 1953. Dr. Robert Baker, whom we already know, and Dr. Jonas Bradshaw, a biochemist, and Dr. Werner Schmidt. Schmidt was a former Nazi scientist. Some of the papers referred to chemical compounds with code names like K-17, H-42, and N-68. Now, here is the most concerning find. There was a logbook that showed appointments for someone only referred to as the Sergeant. The appointments occurred once every six months, with the first appointment on October 30, 1953, and then every April and October after. The last appointment for the Sergeant was on October 29, 1987. The day the lab blew up. Our investigators believe that the person referred to as the Sergeant opened the gas valves on several of the labs Bunson burners and that he was responsible for the explosion. Unfortunately, they were never able to identify the Sergeant."

"I wish we could turn in our shovels, because this hole is already too deep," Chief Pasiak said.

"There's more. The agents found a notebook that was not in the file cabinet. There was some burn damage to the notebook, but what was still legible was quite interesting. The notebook contained comments about the Sergeant's condition. The notes for October 29, 1987, said that his test results are all still normal. Here is the comment that gave me goosebumps. 'The Sergeant still shows no indication that he has aged since the accident in 1953.' Somehow I didn't think that referred to the truck accident at Camp Desert Rock. All last night I was trying to think of what other possibilities there could be. On a hunch this morning, I contacted Captain Hollis and asked for information on the three soldiers who died in the truck accident with Sgt. Bliss. Hollis got back to me while I was driving up here. What would be the odds that you would randomly pick four men to deliver a drum of diesel fuel, and they would all happen to be single and have no living relatives? And then they all happen to die in an accident in the desert with no witnesses, and our Major Baker at the scene of the accident to pronounced the four men dead?"

"Who do you think the Sergeant is?" The Chief said.

"I hate to say it, but I believe we are all thinking it," I said. "Winslow told Detective Rose that he was in Philadelphia when his wife disappeared. Could he have been there for his six-month checkup? Baker was a Major when this all started, and I guess that he refused to refer to their patient as Lt. Winslow, but he didn't want Michael Bliss' name anywhere in his notes, so he referred to him as the Sergeant."

"Brian, give me your best guess at what we are looking at," The Chief said.

I closed my eyes for a minute to gather my thoughts. "Okay, I think this all started back at Camp Desert Rock, where I believe Major Baker was involved in something that went terribly wrong. I think that Sgt. Bliss and the three other men that supposedly died in the truck accident had also been involved in Major Baker's screw up, and he had to find a way to clean it up.

"I'm guessing that Lach, Tally, and Steinhauer died due to Major Baker's actions, but Sgt. Bliss survived. Whatever Major Baker was involved in, he needed to keep Sgt. Bliss from talking to anyone about it. Major Baker found out about a dying Lt. Winslow, who happened to have a similar build to the Sgt. Bliss and had him transferred to Camp Desert Rock. Then he staged the truck accident, put Lt. Winslow's body in the truck with Lach, Tally, and Steinhauer, instead of Sgt. Bliss.

"The Major sent Sgt. Bliss to Philadelphia to become Jackson Winslow, and the appointments every six months were set to monitor the Sergeant's health changes, but according to their notes, there were no changes in his health from 1953 until 1987. The notes the FBI found during their investigation seem to suggest that whatever happened to Sgt. Bliss has stopped him from aging. That's hard to believe, but it does explain why no one has seen Jackson Winslow. He has to hide because people would notice if he didn't age over the last sixty-two years. So, Michael Bliss comes back looking like he did when he was twenty-five. I know that sounds crazy, but that's the only way I can put things together in a way that makes any sense to me.

"As to the missing women, I'm guessing that Winslow came home from his checkup at REORP on October 31, 1959, found his wife with Jerry Adler, and in a fit of rage, killed both of them. If Detective Rose had been able to find the bodies back then, I don't think we would be here talking about any of this right now."

"Kyle, do you agree with Brian's take on this?" Chief Pasiak said.

"I don't like it, but I don't see any other explanation that fits the information we have. I say information instead of facts, because we can't prove any of this. To get to the bottom of this, we will need to talk to Michael Bliss and search the Old Kobain Place."

"I guess it's time to get the District Attorney involved in this." The Chief said.

"He's gonna love this," Hanratty said. "And what judge is going to give us a search warrant based on what we have?"

The Chief stood up and said, "Brian, I want you to write up your analysis of what happened the night of October 31, 1959, at the Old Kobain Place using the information in Detective Rose's report from that time and adding in your thoughts on the case."

"Yes, sir, but I don't understand the purpose of doing that," I said.

"How do you eat an elephant?" The Chief said.

"One bite at a time," I replied.

"I will take this to the DA as a cold case we are trying to close and try to get you a search warrant for the entire Kobain farm. If you find anything incriminating to either Winslow or Bliss, we'll go from there."

"That would be great," I said. "Kyle, do you think you could get us a Ground Penetrating Radar unit to use if we get a chance to search the farm?"

"When you get a search warrant, send a request for a GPR to me, and we will make it happen," Van Horn said.

Chapter 26

It took a month, but on Tuesday the 14th of April, Chief Pasiak finally convinced the DA and a judge to give us the Old Kobain Place search warrant. I sent a note off the Van Horn requesting their assistance in our search, mainly to provide us with a GPR unit and a trained operator to use it. I could have asked the State Police, but I knew that Van Horn wanted to be involved in the search. We planned to serve the warrant Wednesday morning.

With the upcoming search of the Kobain property still on my mind when I walked into the house that evening, I walked past Carrie without giving her my usual kiss. When I got upstairs to our bedroom, Carrie was right behind me.

"Did I do something wrong?" Carrie said.

"What? No, why would you ask me that?" I said.

"You walked past me without saying hello or giving me a kiss."

I turned to her, grabbed her around the waist, and bent her over backward, and said, "I am sorry." Then I kissed her.

When I let her up, Carrie was smiling and said, "Wow. I forgive you. Now, have you got any more of those for me?"

I kissed her again and said, "You'll have to wait till after dinner to get the rest."

"You looked lost when you came into the house. You have a bad day?" Carrie said.

"Why don't you fix us a drink while I change, and I'll come down and tell you all about it."

In the past, I would never talk to Carrie about a case I was working. It may have been the right thing to do, but it almost cost us our marriage once. After that, I keep her informed of what I am doing if there is any chance that what I am doing can affect us. I know I can trust her to keep what I tell her in confidence, and I never want to come close to losing her again.

I spent nearly an hour telling Carrie the story about the missing person cases and what I believed to be a connection to the Old Kobain place. Then I told her the Michael Bliss, Jackson Winslow story. Carrie never said a word while she lessened to me. When I finished, she said, "Are you serious? That sounds like the script for a Halloween horror movie. "

"Unfortunately, what I told you is the most likely answer to what we are looking at," I said.

I could tell by the look on her face that Carrier did not doubt me; she was just having a hard time accepting the possibility that the things I told her could happen.