The Deck Investigates - Episode 13: One Last Shot

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

The investigation into Ada Haradine's homicide is reopened with the hope that new forensic technology and a fresh approach might provide the answers detectives have been searching for. But when the tests come up short, the team turns to old suspects and new strategies, using investigative subpoenas to shake loose information they think could finally lead to a breakthrough.If you have any information about Ada Haradine, please contact Michiana Crime Stoppers at 574-288-STOP or 800-342-STOP or submit tips online at michianacrimestoppers.com. Tips can be made anonymously.You can also reach out directly to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office by calling their main line, 269-445-1560, their tip line at 800-462-9328, or online at www.ccso.info. View source material and photos for this episode at: thedeckpodcast.com/one-last-shot/ Let us deal you in… follow The Deck on social media.Instagram: @thedeckpodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @thedeckpodcast_ | @audiochuckFacebook: /TheDeckPodcast | /audiochuckllcTo support Season of Justice and learn more, please visit seasonofjustice.org. The Deck is hosted by Ashley Flowers. Instagram: @ashleyflowersTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieTwitter: @Ash_FlowersFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!

In late 2012, law enforcement decided to take a fresh look at Ada's case. Cass County Sheriff's Detective Kristen Daley teamed up with Dave Gizzi, who at the time was working as an investigator for the Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office. I mean, this case has gnawed at me for years and I was hoping to get it resolved before I retired. And I was kind of Kristen's training officer when she got to detective position. So her and I worked together a lot.

And I called her one day and said, hey, you want to open the Ada Heredine case? So the two of them, along with Ed's brother-in-law, Larry Sarhat, hit the ground running. Detective Daly's first stop was the crime lab. She was hoping that all the advancements in forensic testing could help finally crack this case. She says, what do you think about sending

some more evidence in? I go, go for it, it ain't gonna hurt. They sent some stuff in, but didn't get anything back that was useful. The testing did actually show a lack of something. This time around, they couldn't find any trace of blood on the rock discovered near Ada's body. They couldn't find any, but the forensic anthropologist at Andrews University

used an electron-scanning microscope and he found what he said were human blood cells on it. Detective Gizzi thinks blood may have disintegrated over the years. But one thing was clear. Technology alone wasn't going to solve this homicide. Even the tried and true methods of pounding the pavement had its limitations, especially because by then so many witnesses were gone. It was time to try something new. And when they sat down with Cass County prosecuting attorney Victor Fitz, he had an idea. This is episode 13, One Last Shot. Victor had come to the Michiana region by way of the Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office.

Muskegon, which is about two hours north of Cass, has a high rate of violent crime. So Victor had plenty of experience handling homicides. But even after he took over in Cass County and began looking into other cold cases, Adas just wasn't on his radar. Now Victor wouldn't discuss Steve, or anyone involved in the case, by name. But when Nina interviewed him, it was obvious he was on board with investigators' going theory

that Steve was the most likely culprit. This one I was not even aware of until Dave Gizzi came and talked with us. There's a number of red flags to me as a veteran prosecutor that is suggestive of, you know, at least two of our persons of interest as having some involvement in it. That second person is presumably Steve's stepfather, Tony.

Can you tell me what those red flags are? What are the biggest red flags to you? You know, just, I guess, opportunity. You know, individuals who had the opportunity, who didn't have alibis, at least I don't think they had alibis, and, you know, had familiarity with the victim, those type of things. And also some of the background of these individual individuals, you know,

that shows that, you know, maybe they also had a motive. The motive Victor's hinting at is sexual in nature. Remember, Steve's friend Kenny had told police that Steve was quote-unquote kinky. Although we still haven't gotten much clarity about what exactly he was supposedly into that raised so many alarms, there are a couple of things Kenny talked about in his August 1988 interviews with police. And while they might be things you haven't tried, someone's 1980s kinky could easily be someone's 2024 sex positive. Anyway, despite their lingering suspicions about Steve, they didn't approach him again. They could have, just because someone lawyers up doesn't mean they're off limits forever.

And it had been decades since Steve hired attorney Edward Chester. But I guess they figured they wouldn't get anywhere, cuz it's not like they had anything new. But Victor thought that there might be a workaround, another way to get answers. Victor threw out the idea of the investigative subpoena. Let's serve it on Kenny and see what he has to say under oath. Investigative subpoenas give prosecutors the power to interview witnesses who might be too scared or too reluctant to talk otherwise.

The process is confidential, like a grand jury, and it stays that way until a case is closed. It's a prosecutor's dream in a lot of ways. If you lie in an investigative subpoena, you are subjecting yourself to a life offense perjury charge. And it's a tremendous tool for prosecutors to get to try to ferret out the truth. Do people have to talk when they're at the investigation of subpoenas? They do. They do. They can take the fifth and that's noted for the record, but then they have to continue with their testimony. And then at a later time, if the case is charged,

then a judge can make a determination whether or not they had a legal grounds to exercise silence. Not everyone's a fan of the tool. These subpoenas can be crucial in getting to the truth, but they also raise big questions about privacy and potential misuse. Defense attorneys worry that giving prosecutors this kind of power without enough oversight

could lead to some serious problems. And there's always the risk that witnesses might feel pressured to say what they think prosecutors want to hear, especially with the threat of perjury charges hanging over them. However, that's definitely not what happened in this case. Victor won't discuss the specifics of any investigative subpoena testimony, but he did say this about Kenny's appearance.

We're pretty aggressive in our question of him, and I've questioned thousands of witnesses over my career, and I'd probably say he was not in the category of the most cooperative. In fact, Kenny pretty much said the opposite of what prosecutors wanted to hear. And we know that because while the transcript and other documents are confidential, a search warrant application for Kenny's cell phone filed by Detective Daly within hours of his testimony is not.

Here's a voice actor reading part of Daly's affidavit. On September 11, 2013, Affiant heard Kenneth Neal state that Kenneth Neal could not remember many details regarding the interview Kenneth Neal did on May 12, 1988, August 5, 1988, and August 11, 1988, regarding Stephen Dye and the suspicious death of Ada Heredine. Affiant witnessed that after Kenneth Neal was presented with transcripts and police reports of those interviews, Kenneth Neal continued to deny making those statements. Affiant personally heard Kenneth Neal asked

about whether Kenneth Neal believed that Stephen Die had committed a homicide on Ada Heredine. Affiant heard Kenneth Neal deny that he believed that Stephen Die could have committed the homicide, and then once shown the transcript from May 12th, 1988, where he stated he believed Stephen Die could have committed the homicide, and then once shown the transcript from May 12, 1988, where he stated he believed Steve and Di could have committed the homicide, Kenneth Neal again denied ever making that statement.

That last date must have been an error, because Kenny had nothing but good things to say about Steve in May of 1988. It wasn't until August that year that he changed his tune. But either way, it's not surprising that he wouldn't admit to talking smack about Steve. Because... Affiant heard Kenneth Neal state that he continues to work for Stephen Die at this time.

Affiant heard Kenneth Neal testify that he saw Stephen Die on September 10, 2013. Affiant further heard Kenneth Neal state that he talked to Stephen Dye about the investigative subpoena and the murder of Ada Heredine. Affiant was told by Kenneth Neal that Kenneth Neal spoke to Stephen Dye, including over his cell phone. The search warrant was granted. But we don't have any records showing what, if anything, was found on Kenny's phone. And of course, if there was something really incriminating,

I'd be telling you a different story. Now Kenny wasn't the only person they'd subpoenaed. Prosecutors also brought in a woman who we're gonna call Cynthia. According to investigators and Cynthia, she and Steve had a romantic slash sexual relationship at some point. Detective Gizzi had talked to her multiple times after the case was reopened. But like with Kenny, getting information from her had proved to be tricky. Apparently, she never gave investigators anything concrete, but she told them she was afraid

of Steve. So the hope with the subpoena was to get clarity about whether Steve had told her anything damning. Now, we're not sure what Cynthia testified to. Nina reached out to her, and they even set up an interview. But she canceled several times for different reasons. Eventually, Cynthia answered a few questions via email, but she didn't address anything about the subpoena

or Steve's sex life. Still, Victor hinted that at some point, Cynthia had shared details about Steve's sexual interests that lined up with what Kenny had mentioned, the same thing I talked about before. Now earlier in the episode, you heard Victor mention two viable persons of interest, the second of whom is likely Steve's stepdad, Tony.

I know that Ada's husband, Ed Heredine, was suspicious of Tony, so much so that at some point after Ada's remains were found, he even made the trip to Florida to confront Tony while his boat was docked there. Ed and Ada's younger son, Jeff, tagged along. I remember visiting him with my dad.

I have some very hazy recollection of it being a little awkward and uncomfortable while we were there. In a case summary, police noted that Tony was evasive when they visited him in Puerto Rico back in 88, and that he refused the polygraph. But the report of that interview doesn't indicate that he was evasive, just drinking heavily. And I can also understand why he would have wanted legal counsel before cooperating further, and why a decent lawyer would have advised against it. And we actually spoke with that lawyer, a man named Tom Leatherman. We got him via email and he told us what he could remember about the dealings with Tony.

He says they met when Tony hired him during his and Ray's divorce. But after that, Tom didn't have much contact with him, until he got a call one night. Tony told him that he was down in the Caribbean running a charter boat business and that police had just paid him a visit to talk about Ada. According to Tom, Tony quote, only asked if he was required to talk with them, and I told him he was not. He denied knowing anything about her disappearance. That is the last I heard from him that I can remember." End quote. So overall, the reasoning behind the ongoing focus about Tony is still a head-scratcher for us. But with Steve, it seems like investigators are following an Occam's razor-based thought process.

Why create an unnecessary complex theory when a simpler one will do? Why take a long winding road if there's a straight line that gets you there just as well? Steve was right next door when Ada went missing. His family had a key to Ada's house. He got rid of his vehicle within a month of her disappearance. He supposedly was familiar with the area where her remains were found.

Although remember, that's not accurate according to the documentation we have, just the story that police keep telling us today. And he eventually failed a polygraph. As former Elkhart police chief Tom Cutler told us... I would like to think that I have wonderful theories and should be a writer for Dick Wolf or something, but the reality is I've seen so many weird things happen

that I don't even speculate anymore because You're always surprised at how stupid and simple it is when When you actually get to it Victor explained it in the context of an unrelated bank robbery prosecution. He recently wrapped up And on that the defense attorney was saying Well, the prosecutor is trying to say that he did this because he had a motorcycle helmet. Millions of people have motorcycle helmets,

or he had a yellow bag. Millions of people have Dollar General bags, or that he had sandals. Millions of people have that and so forth. But my response was, yeah, there's millions of people that have those, but the number of people that had a motorcycle helmet, had this bag, had these sandals, was driving this vehicle on that day,

was at this vicinity on that date, is probably less than one-tenth of 1%. So you look at that, you see, you know, this person, do they have motive, do they have opportunity? All of those things combined, you know, does that make him a far greater suspect than somebody else? Of course, none of that was enough to justify an arrest in Ada's case.

That all makes sense. There are valid reasons to keep Steve on the suspect list. But what we didn't understand when we came on board was why Steve wasn't just on the suspect list, but basically was the list, with maybe a dash of Tony on the side. And the more we investigated, the less sense it made. Because that thing authorities said back in the late 80s about clearing everyone but Steve, that's far from true. That's next in episode 14.

If not him, then who? You can listen to that right now.