A Wolf in Suburbia: The Pesce Family Murders Part 5

In Part 5 of the series, we cover days 6 and 7 of the trial and chapters 15 and 16 of the book, A Wolf in Suburbia: The Pesce Family Murders. 

These two days were important ones in the trial as attorneys finished up with Betty Faye Smith before moving on to a Copa Lounge bartender and the Letts family. Finally, at the end of day 7, Diane Pesce is called to the stand. 

Transcript

Chapter 15 - Day Six

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2003

Day six of the trial would bring a continuation of Betty Faye Smith’s testimony, if anyone could get her to cooperate. It would also introduce the jury to a bartender from the Copa Lounge as well as two members of the Letts family, three people that Wolfenbarger hoped to use to his advantage. 

As Wolfenbarger’s mother approached the stand, Judge Ryan addressed her. 

“Good Morning, Miss Smith. How are you?”

“Much better today, and I would like to apologize to you first, and when the jurors come in, I would like to apologize to them for my actions yesterday.”

Ryan reminded Smith of her obligation to tell the truth while under oath. He also warned her that if she is found to have lied during her testimony in court or at the time she gave her statement she could face felony perjury charges. Smith stated that she had wanted an attorney previously but was not appointed one; Ryan let her know that with no criminal charges against her she cannot be appointed one by the court. She could however, hire one if she so desired.

“Well, Your Honor, the reason I wanted an attorney, it wasn’t for anything that I had said. I previously explained that I had a very bad experience in another state. It was so bad, it took me many, many years to get over it and I can never forget it and I get so upset and I start shaking, even now. When I get in that state of mind, I can’t remember anything.”

“Well, just relax ma’am. So the reason you want to talk to the attorney was regarding what we call a bad flashback, is that correct?”

“It’s a horrible flashback sir and one more thing. I’m on a lot of medications and if I have to wait before I can answer so I can remember, will that be okay?”

“Perfectly acceptable ma’am.”

After Judge Ryan shared Smith’s apology with the courtroom, Douglas Baker began his questioning. 

“Well, along with that apology, has your memory improved?”

“I will tell the truth as much as I know.”

Baker returned to the questions he had been trying to ask the day before, did she remember officers coming to her house on January 31st? She did. Did she remember what she told the officers that day? Partially. 

“I can tell you what I think I remember. My son came over Monday and he told me, ‘Mom, I just came from Bill’s. What station is CNN on?’ I said, I don’t know.”

At this point, Baker wanted to lay the foundation for impeachment of the witness. 

“Did you lie to the police when they came out?”

“No, sir.”

“Now, isn’t it true that when the officers came out, you stated to them that what your son John told you was, ‘I got something to tell you Mom, there were people killed. I told that son of a bitch not to hurt the people. Mom, I swear I didn’t hurt anyone.’ Do you recall telling officers that?”

“Not in that manner, sir.”

“Then did you tell the police that your son went on to say, ‘He’s not here no more, he’s gone bye-bye.’ Then your son told you that he was in the house of the homicides. He said, quote, ‘I was upstairs, children were downstairs and father downstairs. I went upstairs and heard pop-pop-pop. I ran downstairs. I didn’t know what to do. I took care of the guys who killed them. Don’t ask me anymore, Mom.’ Did you say that to the police when they came out and interviewed you?”

“I believe so, sir.”

With that, Baker was done with the witness. Richard Cunningham stood and began his cross examination; he was as confused as everyone else.

 “Now, were you on any type of medication when you talked to the officers on the 31st?”

“I was on Ativan, it’s an antidepressant.”

Ativan, a drug in the benzodiazepine group is commonly used to help treat anxiety. 

“And how long had you been on that?”

“Um, about six weeks.”

Smith went on to explain that during that time she was also receiving inpatient treatment at Havenwyck Hospital, a place for people with ‘mental problems’ according to her. Located in Auburn Hills, Havenwyck is an accredited adult inpatient psychiatric program. She checked in after experiencing a nervous breakdown while witnessing coverage of the Pesce murders on television. 

Cunningham next asked if, during the time leading up to the trial, she had experienced anyone threatening her as to what she should say during testimony.

“Yes, my sister-in-law, Marjorie Smith.”

“And what kind of threats did Marjorie make to you?”

“She said, you lying bitch, you shouldn’t have went down to the police station and said anything.”

“So you gave a statement to the police and while you were under oath, in fact, you told the police specifically that John didn’t have any conversation with you, didn’t you?”

“I did. I couldn’t remember and I felt like if I said anything at all, I would be killed.”

“Killed by who?”

“By Billy’s club.”

“What led you to that belief?”

“Marjorie, she came over to my father’s house right after I had gotten home from the testimony and she started screaming at me and saying horrible things to me and she said you better watch your back, you better not go outside.”

“Now, this is your brother. You weren’t really afraid that your brother was going to kill you now, did you?”

“Yes, sir. My brother’s killed before.”

“Were you afraid of him?”

“Yes.”

“Are you afraid of him today?”

“I’m afraid of my brother and I’m afraid of his club brothers.”

Cunningham then directed Smith back to what she told police in regards to when her son came over after the murders. Her story changed yet again. 

“He turned the television on and said, ‘Oh, I just heard some real bad shit’. He was white as a ghost; he put his head in his hands. After he found the station finally and he was looking at it, he said, ‘Oh, I know Billy’s just bull shitting me. Mom, I just heard some real bad stuff and I don’t know whether to believe it or not.’ After he turned the T.V. on he stood up and said ‘he’s probably just lying or whatever’, he shut it off and then he went back over to Billy’s.”

The questioning went back to the medications Smith was on when the police came to interview her. This time she added some more, claiming to have been on Remeron, Trazodone and Klonopin. She also mentioned a major tranquilizer and sleeping pills.  She then alluded to the fact that she had lied to the investigating officers because she feared for her life. Cunningham wrapped up his cross examination and Cornelius Pitts passed on the opportunity. It was Baker’s turn for redirect. 

After reminding Smith, numerous times, of her lying under oath and the possibility of perjury he produced Exhibit 141, a letter she had written her son. 

“Now, don’t you discuss in that letter how you may be a witness against him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And didn’t you tell him that, quote, ‘They want me to testify against you so we will see what happens. I cannot remember the last day I seen you or anything we talked about. It’s like a dream to me. So if I am subpoenaed, I’m going to look like a fool because I can’t remember anything. Rather than take the stand against you, I’d rather be dead.’ Don’t you tell him that?”

“Yes, sir, I was very depressed.”

“And you turned a notebook over to the police, isn’t that correct, the day they came out the 31st?”

“No, sir, I did not give them that notebook.”

“Well, they left with a notebook, is that correct?”

“Yes, they did after repeatedly, twice I asked them not to.”

“And you’ve stated many times (in that notebook), your love for your brother Billy Smith, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And that’s true you love your brother, isn’t that right?”

“The Holy Spirit loves my brother.”

Baker asked her again if she stated to the police that her son told her he was in the Pesce house the day of the murders, this time she confirmed that he had said that. 

The next witness to take the stand was Sergeant Patrick Moug of the Livonia Police Department. His involvement in the investigation consisted of interviewing witnesses, one of which was Betty Faye Smith. Initially Moug, along with Lieutenant Ben McDermott arrived at the house on Chapel to speak with Anthony Remsing, Wolfenbarger’s half brother. While Remsing was not currently at home, Betty Faye Smith was.  The officers knocked on the front door but Smith came around from the back of the house, inviting them inside. 

As the officers sat down, Smith informed them that she wanted to talk about the case because she hadn’t been exactly truthful. She told Moug and McDermott that they would want to take notes and then handed them her own yellow notebook. Using paper from Smith’s notebook, Officer Moug eventually took it with him as evidence. 

Baker asked a few more questions in order to further impeach the prior testimony of Betty Faye Smith and was then finished with Officer Moug. The witness was passed to the defense for cross. Cunningham wasted little time in trying to prove that the officers could tell she was heavily medicated on January 31st. 

“She related to you the fact that she had been under psychiatric treatment?”

“I don’t recall that.”

“You were aware from other sources she was under said treatment?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had that information personally.”

“I see. Well, she was pretty doped up on medication at the time, I mean you observed that?”

“No, I did not.”

“I see. So with the state that she was in, you pretty well led her to say whatever you wanted her to say, didn’t you?”

“No, that’s not correct.”

“Did she tell you her concerns about her brother?”

“Yes.”

“And her fear of her brother?”

Cunningham was going to work in Billy Smith’s criminal history however he could, but he would have to do it fast because he knew Baker would rise to object. After all, Billy Smith was not on trial. Moug gave Cunningham little of what he was hoping for and the defense attorney moved on. 

Returning the conversation to the notebook, Cunningham addressed the fact that, despite it being customary for officers to have people sign off on what they’ve said; Moug never did that while interviewing Betty Faye Smith. Cunningham and Moug went back and forth, with the attorney repeating questions trying to get him to admit he knew Smith to be heavily medicated. It went nowhere and he was eventually excused.

The next witness had been discussed in great length by Judge Ryan and the attorneys for both sides. Samantha Young was a bartender at the Copa Lounge around the time of the murders. According to her previous statements, Wolfenbarger had come in to the Copa sometime after the murders and introduced her to Dennis Lincoln making a reference to him being a great partner in crime. He also suggested that, if asked, Samantha was to tell people that the two of them had been in the bar all evening. 

Cornelius Pitts had strong objections when it came to allowing her testimony regarding Wolfenbarger’s statement about his client, Dennis Lincoln. Any legal hearsay or conspirator objections that Pitts may have had were addressed by Judge Ryan but denied. The witness would be allowed to speak and the trial resumed.

Thirty-six year old Samantha Young took her seat at the witness stand and Baker began his direct examination. 

Young had known Marjorie and Billy Smith a year before she started bartending at the Copa Lounge on Schoolcraft. She admitted to a continuing friendship with the couple despite having ended her employment around Christmas.

Baker directed her attention to December 21st, the day of the murders. 

“When was the first time that you saw John Wolfenbarger that day?”

“My shift usually started at 6:00pm and it was roughly around 8:30 or 9:00pm.”

“And when you first saw him, was he with anyone?”

“Yes, he was with a smaller framed black guy.”

Young was then asked if she saw the ‘smaller framed black guy’ in court. She pointed to Dennis Lincoln. December 21st was the first time she’d ever seen Lincoln and when they first entered the Copa they began to play pool. At the time, no one else was there besides Young and her two sons who were getting ready to leave. 

Eventually Wolfenbarger came to the bar and ordered two colas. As she poured the second drink, Wolfenbarger walked the first over to Lincoln. When he returned, he spoke to Young, telling her that he may have got himself in some trouble that could send him away for the rest of his life. The Copa Lounge was primarily a biker bar and in her short time working there, Young had heard it all. She didn’t give the statement much of a thought at the time. Wolfenbarger then asked her what time she arrived at work, she told him 6:00pm. He replied by saying if anybody asked, tell them that he had been there from the time she arrived. 

The next time Wolfenbarger spoke to Young he introduced Lincoln. According to the bartender, Wolfenbarger stated that ‘He had done six years with him and that he proved that he was his true friend tonight, unlike the other person’.

Baker then asked Young if she remembered how the two men were dressed that night. All she remembered about Lincoln was that he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. When it came to Wolfenbarger however, she remembered well.

“Um, light blue jeans, pair of tennis shoes and bright yellow canvas coat.” 

At around 11:00pm, Wolfenbarger walked Lincoln outside but then returned to the bar and chatted with Young for a while longer. At one point he offered to lend Young over a thousand dollars for an apartment she wanted, if she could get her buddy to help him ‘move some stuff.’

On cross examination, Cunningham suggested to Young that, if her testimony was true, the Copa Lounge might be considered more of a front, then an actual bar. 

“Saturday night and there’s no customers between 9:00 and midnight except for two guys drinking Coke and playing pool?”

He was laying the foundation needed to bring up Billy Smith’s motorcycle gang involvement. He was curious to know if she had seen Billy Smith at all during the course of her shift, she hadn’t. Cunningham then asked if she knew a guy named ‘Retarded Mike’. 

“Never met him.”

“Don’t you have Social Security checks for him coming to your house?”

 Information received by Cunningham led him to believe that a man by the name of ‘Retarded Mike’ had also been in the Copa the evening in question. If he had been and if Young was lying about knowing him, he could easily impeach the witness, erasing her testimony. 

“Did you sometime in the past receive Social Security checks at your house for someone who might have some type of disability?”

“My uncle, and that was a year and a half ago and his name is not ‘Retarded Mike’, its William.”

Cunningham was headed into a brick wall. 

“Was William at the bar that night?”

“No, he wasn’t.”

“Was there a guy named ‘Ghost’ there that night?”

“No.”

“You know a guy named Ghost?”

“No, I don’t.”

“You know a guy named Ghost that sells dope out of that bar?”

“No, I don’t. I’ve never met anybody named Ghost.”

“Did you meet a guy by the name of Eddie Jameel that night?”

“No.”

This is where the case gets especially interesting. Diane Pesce’s brother, Edward Jameel was reported to have been at the Copa Lounge on the night of the Pesce family murders. This information, whether true or not, has lent itself to many different rumors and much speculation involving Diane and Marco and whether the murders could have been pay back for drug money owed or gang affiliated.

 After asking Young whether she knew other bikers or if she was affiliated with the Devil’s Diciples she was excused. The next witness would be another very important one. Tracy Letts, neighbor to the Smith family, tenant of Ronald Wedge as well as John’s friend took the stand.

Thirty-six-year-old Tracy Letts was renting a home on Bentler during the time of the murders. She lived across the street from John Wolfenbarger’s mother Betty as well as Billy and Marjorie Smith. Along with her twin twelve-year-old children, Jessica and Patrick, Letts moved into the Brightmoor neighborhood in February of 2002. Born and raised in New Jersey, Letts moved to the Detroit area around 1993. She worked part time at a nearby fish store and was attending school to become a medical assistant. By all accounts, Letts was a hard working single mother doing the best she could for her children. 

Tracy’s son Patrick quickly became friends with Marjorie Smith’s son Jonathan after they moved into the neighborhood and a friendship between parents blossomed as well. For a brief period Tracy worked for the Smith’s at their bar, the Copa Lounge, quitting because business was too slow to make much money.

In August of 2002 Letts met John Wolfenbarger for the first time. She was sitting on her porch when Betty Faye Smith brought her son over and introduced the two. While they were friendly with each other, it was Tracy’s children, Patrick specifically who became close with Wolfenbarger. The kids helped Wolfenbarger with chores around the house and helped him move his mother from the house on Chapel to the home on Bentler. 

In November, John talked to Letts about possibly moving into her home with her. Letts’ roommate was moving out and she needed help paying for the other half of the rent. Wolfenbarger agreed that he would move in around February of 2003. Letts trusted him, and as time went on, he was allowed to come and go as he pleased, even checking on the kids while she was at work or school.

In early December Wolfenbarger had a discussion with Letts about her landlord Ronald Wedge. He mentioned that he should have a talk with Wedge to see if they could get the house on a land contract. According to Letts, at one point after discussing how many homes Wedge owned, he jokingly said to her, “I should rob the landlord; he’s got all these houses.”

As a landlord, Wedge owned multiple homes in Detroit, three on Bentler Street alone. Letts, at one point, showed Wolfenbarger her lease agreement to show him exactly what she was paying. She never noticed Wolfenbarger making note of the landlord’s personal address in Canton. Sometime later that week Wolfenbarger was moving some furniture and dropped off a duffle bag at her house. The duffle bag sat in her house for a week and eventually the children moved the bag and looked inside of it, noticing a camcorder and digital camera. Letts also observed a nice pair of binoculars while driving with him in his van one day. She was unaware at the time that all of these things had belonged to her landlord, Ronald Wedge. 

Prosecutor Baker asked about December 21st specifically now and wanted to know the timeline of her day. The week leading up to that Saturday had been ‘hell’ for Letts, taking numerous exams at school. On the 21st she left for work around noon, catching a ride from her neighbor Bobby T. Her children, Patrick and Jessica stayed at home by themselves as they often did. After working until after 6:00pm that evening, the stores manager Art Payne drove her home, she arrived between 6:30 and 7:00pm. 

Before Letts could even get out of the car, Patrick came running outside, putting his coat on and looking excited. 

“Come on, Mama.”

As she exited the vehicle and said goodbye to her boss, Wolfenbarger came out the front door of her house.

“I promised the kids you would take them to McDonalds.”

Wolfenbarger handed her some money and told her she could take the car in the driveway, a vehicle she had never seen before. Letts set her stuff down inside her home, unaware that Dennis Lincoln was there. Wolfenbarger explained that she should go to the McDonalds at the corner of Telegraph and Five Mile and when she was done, he needed her to get some garbage bags. He told her to take her time. 

Letts returned home roughly an hour and a half later. As she went inside she noticed Lincoln sitting in her recliner, Wolfenbarger was in the kitchen going through some white garbage bags on her kitchen floor. Letts handed Wolfenbarger the garbage bags he requested and set down the rest of the things she had purchased while shopping. She saw five white garbage bags, all tied up, unable to make out the contents inside.

Letts noticed that John was now taking the white garbage bags and placing them inside the newly purchased black garbage bags but never asked what Wolfenbarger was doing. Once the contents were double bagged he began carrying them to Letts’ bedroom, asking Tracy to help. 

“Did you handle any of them?”

“I took one big fluffy one in.”

“When you say big fluffy one, can you describe what you mean by that?”

“It was just like a garbage bag tied at the top and it’s fluffy, almost like a giant teddy bear or something was in it.”

“Would it be consistent with what a bedroom pillow might feel like?”

“Yeah.”

Baker was implying without directly saying that the contents could have been the pillow that police noticed was missing from Maria Vergati’s guest bedroom. 

Wolfenbarger informed Letts that she should leave the bags alone and not to touch them. She assumed that they were possibly Christmas presents. Afterwards, Letts was quickly introduced to Lincoln and her daughter Jessica showed her the teddy bear that Wolfenbarger had given her. Jessica would go on to sleep with that teddy bear for the next few nights until the police took it away as evidence. 

Before Wolfenbarger left, Letts watched him pull out and count $1000. He stated to her that he didn’t want to take it with him so he borrowed a white envelope and placed the money inside, shoving the envelope inside the top drawer of her dresser. Within 20 or 30 minutes Wolfenbarger and Lincoln left the house. Several hours later, Wolfenbarger returned to Letts’ home alone, grabbing the envelope and placing a call to his girlfriend, Doreen. Letts wouldn’t see Wolfenbarger again until 11:00am the following day. 

“My kids go to church with John’s mother every Sunday.”

“How did they get to church?”

“John picked them up around quarter to 11:00 or so.”

Letts had been feeling lazy that Sunday and stayed in bed until after Wolfenbarger came and picked up the kids. She wasn’t expecting to see him again, but he returned shortly after dropping them off, letting himself into her house through the back door. As she got ready to go to work at noon he retrieved a Tupperware bowl full of change from her closet and asked her to roll it for him. Inside the container were silver dollars, half-dollars, Susan B. Anthony’s and a few gold coins.  In total, Letts counted out $94.00 worth of coins. 

When she was finished, she went to let Wolfenbarger know she was done. While she was rolling quarters and counting change he had entered her room and retrieved two of the garbage bags, now he was in her backyard. She opened her backdoor and saw Wolfenbarger sitting in front of her barbeque grill burning paper. He also had a black cooking pot sitting next to him; she had never seen that before. As she approached him, he squirted lighter fluid onto the grill. 

“What are you doing?”

“Mind your own business.”

She couldn’t tell what was on the papers but she noticed one of the garbage bags was almost a third of the way full of various documents. She also noticed that he was breaking apart a small wooden box. As he continued to burn papers he began dumping the still smoldering contents into one of Tracy’s 32-gallon garbage cans. As smoke billowed from the garbage can, Letts grew concerned. 

“You’re going to burn down the house if you’re not careful.”

She ran inside and got a pitcher of water and a stick, dumping the contents into the garbage can and then stirring it to put the fire out. Before she left for work she watched him soak a duffle bag with lighter fluid and set it on fire, then Wolfenbarger asked her to retrieve the ‘fluffy’ garbage bag.  

Once he finished burning everything, Wolfenbarger told Letts he would take her to work. As they were driving he talked about wanting to sell his leather coat and wondered if she knew anyone who was looking to buy one, she thought she might. Letts then asked him if he could stop at the party store so she could get a phone card. Wolfenbarger pulled into the parking lot of the party store on Schoolcraft and Evergreen but noticed that it was closed. 

“Can you toss this in the dumpster?” He said.

Letts looked down between the two seats to see what Wolfenbarger was talking about. Underneath a white rag was a nearly see-through green plastic bag. He instructed her to pick up the bag using the rag; she assumed it was greasy car parts. She walked to the dumpster and dropped the bag, along with the rag inside. The part of the bag she was holding, she would comment later, felt to her like the barrel of a gun. 

As they continued on to Letts’ work, Wolfenbarger started talking about a job that didn’t go right. Letts didn’t understand what he was talking about and after the way he acted at the house, decided not to press the issue. 

“We left him there and when we picked him up, he botched the job. We had to shoot him and bury him nine feet deep.”   

While at work, Letts contacted her friend Jamie and asked if he would be interested in purchasing a waist length leather jacket that her friend was selling. He said he would like to check it out and told her he would meet her at her house when she got home from work. At 6:00pm, Jamie stopped by and tried on the jacket, it fit perfectly. 

“How does fifty sound?”

“Fine.”

“I’ll pay you on Friday when I get paid.”

As Jamie was hanging the jacket back up on the hanger Wolfenbarger stopped by to drop off the liner for the coat. Letts introduced the two men, explaining to Jamie that the coat had belonged to Wolfenbarger.

“Yeah, I don’t want the jacket anymore, you can have it.”

He directed the next statement to Letts.

“Did you see the news?”

“No.”

“Oh. Watch the news when you get a chance.”

Shortly after, Wolfenbarger left while Letts and her friend Jamie went to the grocery store. 

At this point in the testimony Judge Ryan thought it would be a good spot to recess for lunch. He asked if there were any matters on behalf of the prosecution or defense, Baker addressed an ongoing situation happening in the background.

“Well there was a concern expressed that Mr. Wolfenbarger is communicating with relatives in the back of the courtroom, and we have family on both sides here and I would request that that not be done because it can inflame a situation.”

“Yeah, any communication needs to be directed to your attorney Mr. Wolfenbarger, and from your attorney to be directed to family members that you have present in the courtroom,” replied Judge Ryan.

Wolfenbarger snapped back.

“Can it please be said on both halves so that I’m not called a murderer every time I turn around and look at these people because they’re doing the same thing to me?” 

Ryan now addressed the family members in attendance. 

“Obviously if we get to a situation where there’s some conflict between the families, all of you will be out of here.”

“Thank you very much,” replied Wolfenbarger. 

As testimony resumed Baker asked Tracy Letts whether she saw Wolfenbarger on that Monday, the 23rd. Letts had worked until after 4:00pm that day and then went grocery shopping with a friend. 

“He showed up, must have been 7:30 or 8:00pm. He asked if I would take a ride with him and I told him I couldn’t. Then he asked if it would be a problem if Jessica took a ride with him, and Jessica left and went with him to the store.”

Wolfenbarger told her he needed to go to the hardware store but didn’t give a reason. Letts asked him if he would get her a new doorknob for her bedroom door since her son had just broken hers. When Wolfenbarger and Jessica returned he quickly replaced the broken doorknob and informed Letts that he also made a copy of her house key.

Shortly after fixing her doorknob, John informed Tracy that he wanted some privacy in her bedroom, telling her that he didn’t want to be bothered. The always easy going Letts said ‘Okay’. He asked her if she could get him a pot of water, a sheet, a lighter, a bowl and a pair of needle-nose pliers, she did. Wolfenbarger stayed in the room with the door shut from around 10:30 until Midnight.

Douglas Baker wanted to know if she became aware of what he was doing in her bedroom at some point.

“He was melting jewelry.”

“How did you know that?”

“Well, you could smell it through the house for one. And I was going in and out and he was burning some of it.”

“How was he making the fire?”

“He had a torch.”

“And what did you see him doing with the torch?”

“He had a piece of watch in a ladle and he was heating it up. He’s fussing at it because it wouldn’t melt.”

Letts also mentioned seeing pieces of melted gold in a bowl, pink and white beads, pearls and pieces of watch faces scattered across her bed. Upon further inspection she also noticed that Wolfenbarger had burned the sheet she brought him as well as her bed spread. In a moment of cruel irony, both of Letts’ television sets, one in the front room and one in her bedroom, were tuned to the news. At some point in the evening a news story came on about the Pesce Murders. When it did, Wolfenbarger informed Letts that she should turn off the T.V. that the kids were watching stating that ‘the kids didn’t need to be seeing that’. 

On Christmas Eve Tracy went into work once again, but it wasn’t long before a co-worker let her know that she had a phone call. Her neighbor was on the phone and told her that she better get home as soon as possible, the police were raiding her house. Tracy caught a cab home and was immediately led to the back of her house for questioning. The officers showed her the search warrant. From there, officers brought her to the Livonia Police station and questioned the confused mother of two. 

On Christmas Day, while she should have been celebrating with her children, she was driven back to the Livonia Police station, this time by Marjorie Smith. She admitted that she hadn’t been completely honest the day before and also handed over Wolfenbarger’s jacket which she had retrieved from her friend Jamie. Letts admitted to dumping a plastic bag into a dumpster and told the police where the dumpster was located. 

“Did you also at some point turn over to the police the teddy bear that you’ve already testified about?”

“That happened after I came out of protective custody. I was at my house trying to put it back together and we found the teddy bear. When we found it, we called the police and I told them that it was at the house.” 

Letts was placed into ‘protective custody’ from Christmas Day until just after the preliminary trial in Livonia on January 3rd. While cleaning the house after the multiple police searches, Tracy’s daughter Jessica also found a casino card belonging to Marco Pesce. Tracy immediately called the police and told them about that as well. Later in the trial, the defense lawyers would jump all over the investigators for missing such a key piece of evidence during their searches, implying it was planted there. 

Tracy Letts ended up losing her home while all of this was happening. Her landlord wanted her out and she was forced to stay with her mother for two weeks in Romulus. When it came time to get her children back to school she stayed with Marjorie and Billy Smith until the landlord finally decided to let her back into her home. 

On cross examination Cunningham claimed that he wanted to firm up her time frame for December 21st, after asking her when she left for work and when she returned he asked about seeing Billy Smith. 

“So it’s about 6:30 or 6:40pm, you pull up and you see Billy Smith coming out of your house?”

“No, no.”

“Well, you see him right there in the area?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, you talked to him as you came up?”

“No, I didn’t.”

As Cunningham questioned Letts he repeatedly tried to bump up the times given from her testimony in an effort to make it seem impossible for his client to have done the murders and make it to Brightmoor in time. He was also persistent in regards to her seeing Billy Smith. She admitted to seeing him crossing the street towards his father’s house when the family was returning from McDonalds. Cunningham then asked no less than four times if she had told the police that she was afraid of Billy Smith. She denied saying that she was afraid of him each time. The defense lawyer kept at Letts, hoping to knock her off balance a little and perhaps put her credibility into question with the jury. While Baker questioned her during the direct examination she had brought up being in protective custody.

“You used the term protective custody and it kind of surprised me,” said Cunningham. “Where did you get that term from?”

“Because it was my understanding that that’s why I was there.”

“Weren’t you being held on a material witness detainer?”

“Maybe that’s it.”

“Wasn’t there a proceeding in court where there was an allegation that you would flee the testimony… the jurisdiction unless you were held in custody?”

In the early stages of reporting from local news outlets it had been thought that three people were arrested for the Pesce Murders. It’s possible that reporters confused Letts’ detainment with an arrest.

“Now, was it January 8th when all of a sudden you find this card that has Marco Pesce’s name on it in your bedroom?”

“That’s when I returned home.”

“I see. So were the police just so incompetent that they missed that or did you yourself plant that?”

Baker shot up to his feet and objected, the objection was sustained by Judge Ryan.

“I didn’t plant that.”

“Isn’t it true that Billy Smith gave you that card to turn over to the police?”

If Cunningham wanted to prove that his client had been set up he needed to strike fast. He changed gears and brought up Letts altering her statement between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Letts had reportedly spent the night at Billy and Marjorie’s home that night and Wolfenbarger’s attorney wanted the jury to believe that it was the couple who made Letts change her statement. Cunningham then asked Letts if she had ever seen John with a gun, she hadn’t, and with that he was done.

After hours on the stand Tracy Letts was finally excused although Cunningham hinted at the fact that he may be calling her back up at a later date. The next witness to take the stand was twelve-year-old Jessica Letts. Baker went over the day of the murders with the young girl asking her when she saw John and Dennis. She brought up seeing John around noon and then seeing them both sometime around 6:00pm. She also talked about seeing John with a gun earlier in the day although she couldn’t describe it. She remembered him telling the kids not to tell anyone that he had a gun.

Baker then asked her questions regarding the trip she took with John to Ace Hardware on the following Monday. While Wolfenbarger shopped, Jessica stayed by the counter where an employee cut a copy of the Letts house key. She explained to Baker and the jury that she saw him buy a door lock, metal spoon and a torch as well.     

During Cunningham’s cross examination he asked Jessica numerous times about whether she saw Billy Smith on the 21st, she replied no each time. Pitts also took a turn at cross examining the witness. As he had done previously with other witnesses, he would dance around the subject of whether police officers and prosecution coached her answers. He would also screw up her name. 

“Hi, Tracy. How are you?”

“I’m Jessica.”

“I apologize. I can see that smile and I’ll recognize that. You’re Jessica. Please forgive me, all right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Listen; don’t be frightened of me, you understand, because the judge is not going to let anything happen to you, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Pitts pushed as hard as he could in regards to Jessica being fed her answers from the prosecution. He then questioned her wording on the written statement she made while repeatedly calling her ‘Little Jessica’. The prosecution found it to be patronizing and objected, it was sustained by Judge Ryan. 

It had been a long, grueling day for everyone involved so Ryan decided to wrap it up. Pitts was instructed to finish his cross examination in the morning and the court was then excused.

Chapter 16 - Day Seven

Thursday, April 3rd, 2003

April 3rd marked the seventh day of trial for everyone involved. Judge Ryan knew going in that it would be a lengthy one based on the severity of the crime and the sheer number of witnesses and pieces of evidence. He began the day by letting everyone know that they had now entered what he liked to call, ‘marathon mode’. With Easter coming on April 20th and the potential of losing jurors for spring break vacations he warned everyone that they needed to try and be done well before that time. They would lengthen their days in court if need be.

After stating that the trial was moving ‘like a herd of turtles’ he explained to the counsel that he would be invoking Rule 611 which states that lawyers can ask a question once, not repeatedly as had been done in the days prior. 

After both the prosecution and defense argued with the judge against the idea of going later into the evening Baker brought up Jessica Letts in reference to how emotional she had been at the end of the previous day as well as that morning. 

“Last night she was very emotional after we quit. She was crying, she’s crying again this morning. She’s upset about her treatment as a witness, so I just want to let everybody know that.”

It was a direct jab at Cunningham and Pitts and they took it as such. Both men, especially Pitts, were gentle with Jessica as they asked some simple follow up questions. In Jessica’s hand written statement she had said that Wolfenbarger retrieved a gun on Friday, although it had actually been Saturday. During his redirect, Baker attempted to show to jurors that no one had told Jessica what to say, people like her brother simply suggested to her that she had her days mixed up.         

With that, Jessica was excused and it was time for her twin brother Patrick to take the stand. After five days of testimony he would be the 18th witness called to testify. A majority of Oronde Patterson’s initial questions were met with ‘I don’t remember’. He couldn’t remember whether it had been the 21st or not but he knew he saw both defendants on the same day that he saw Wolfenbarger retrieve the gun from his mother’s dresser. 

Patrick was nervous and it showed. When Patterson asked at what time he saw Wolfenbarger with the gun, the young man replied 6:00pm although in his statement it had been around noon that day which better fit the prosecution’s timeline. When it came to guns however, Patrick knew what he was talking about.

“Can you describe the gun that you saw?”

“It was a black pistol.”

“And do you know the difference between an automatic or revolver?”

“Yes.”

“What is a revolver?”

“It’s like where you can put the bullets in right close to the handle, but automatic you put it in the handle.”

“Do you know which one Wolfenbarger had?”

“Automatic.”

Patterson then entered People’s Exhibit No. 41 to be marked for identification. It was a picture of the gun that Patrick had drawn for interviewing officers. It was a fairly detailed drawing of the gun in question although Patrick admitted to leaving an important thing off of the drawing. 

“Is that a drawing of what you saw Mr. Wolfenbarger with?”

“Yes, except on one side there was paint scratched off it.”

Patterson showed Patrick an actual photo of the gun, People’s Exhibit No. 42, which he immediately recognized to be the same gun. When the subject switched back to the date he saw Wolfenbarger with the gun he became confused again, saying that it had been Christmas Day. Wolfenbarger had already been apprehended at that point. 

After further questioning, Patrick brought up that when he, his sister and mother returned from McDonalds on the 21st; Wolfenbarger had been sitting and talking with Dennis Lincoln and Billy Smith. This testimony went directly against his mother’s claim of only seeing Billy Smith walking to his father’s house. After confusing more dates and times, Patrick was asked about his mother’s barbeque in the back yard. According to Patrick’s testimony, Wolfenbarger asked the boy to break the legs off of the barbeque because he was going to buy his mom a new one.   

  Patterson realized that the boy’s confusion on key issues might be hurting the prosecution’s case and wrapped up his direct examination, opening the door for Cunningham to shine a spotlight on it. Cunningham hammered home the point that no matter how many times he was asked, Patrick was one hundred percent certain that it was 6:00pm on the nose when he saw Wolfenbarger get the gun from his mother’s drawer. He was also able to confirm with the witness that Billy Smith had been in the house and had indeed talked at length with Tracy Letts. 

Cornelius Pitts talked with his client for a moment and then decided to cross examine Patrick Letts. Immediately he questioned the boy on whether or not he had met with any police officers after his sister’s testimony. It turned out that Patrick had talked with Sergeant Goralski after court adjourned the day before. Pitts smelled blood, inquiring as to what was discussed, continuing his argument that a majority of witnesses had been coached ahead of time. 

“You didn’t talk about the baseball game, did you?”

“No.”

“Didn’t talk about the weather either, right?”

“No.”

“As a matter of fact, it would be a fair statement to make that you probably talked about this case, right?”

“All he said was that it would be okay.”

  With that failure, Pitts then tried to build a foundation for his mother and grandmother coaching him on what to say as they traveled to and from the courthouse. Pitts didn’t get the answers he wanted there either. 

The next two witnesses were Mr. and Mrs. Ronald and Lenore Wedge. Their home in Canton had been burglarized in early December and numerous items from their home were eventually found or linked back to John Wolfenbarger. 

On December 9th of 2002 Ronald and Lenore both left for work at different times in the afternoon, Mr. Wedge a little after 2:00pm and Mrs. Wedge shortly after 3:00pm. At 10:00pm Lenore returned home from work accompanied by her son-in-law. It wasn’t until they entered the home that they noticed something was wrong. While Lenore observed the damage from the robbery her son-in-law called the Canton Police who ordered them to wait outside until officers arrived. 

Shortly thereafter Ronald arrived home and the couple went through their home with officers listing things they knew had been taken. Christmas presents, jewelry, cash and various firearms all went on the list. Oronde Patterson brought forth various photographic evidence which Mrs. Wedge confirmed, the windows in the basement and bathroom that had been kicked in, the rifles rolled up in carpet, the empty file cabinets and jewelry boxes. 

  On cross examination Cunningham asked the witness questions in regards to the lease agreement, many of which she had no answer to since it was her husband who handled most of the landlord duties.

Aside from the two shotguns and rifle found rolled up in a blanket, Wedge owned two handguns that were both missing.  The .357 Magnum was a fairly new gun; it had only been shot once at the police station, he also remembered that it had a trigger lock on it. The other missing firearm was a .380, single shot, automatic. Only one of the guns, the .357, had been registered in Wedge’s name. 

Patterson asked Mr. Wedge to list the various cameras that had been stolen as well. 

“I had a movie camera, I had a digital still camera, I had a Minolta 35-millimeter camera with a telephoto lens, I noticed those were missing and all the cases and everything with them.”

In January, Ronald Wedge was asked to come to the Livonia police station to view a videotape recovered from the movie camera during a search of the Letts home. The tape contained footage of relatives, including Wedge’s son-in-law. 

Patterson then requested a deputy to bring forth People’s Exhibit No. 94, the .380 used in the Pesce family murders. Wedge confirmed that the gun was his, explaining that originally the gun was missing half of the handle, he handmade the replacement piece. During the initial police report Wedge hadn’t listed this particular firearm as missing because it was unregistered. He eventually went back to the police station in Canton and added the .380 to the list.

Detective Ronald McPhee of the Livonia Police Department was the next person to take the stand on April 3rd. McPhee worked as a collector of evidence during two search warrants executed at the Letts home on December 24th and the following day in Flint. During McPhee’s testimony, Patterson would be entering numerous pieces of evidence into the trial. Pitts and Cunningham stipulated that all of the People’s Exhibits had been seen by them and with no objection could all be entered at once to save time.    

One by one Patterson went through 12 different photos, asking McPhee to explain each one. The jurors were shown photos of Tracy Letts’ home and various items recovered including many items belonging to the Wedge family. Other photos showed the exterior of Letts’ home including a trash bin containing various bags and empty packaging from Ace Hardware. They also got a glimpse of the broken barbeque Wolfenbarger had supposedly used to burn paper evidence. 

Officer McPhee spent his Christmas day at the Lincoln home in Flint. From the basement of the home McPhee collected two desktop computers, a laptop computer, two pairs of boots, one of Lincoln’s earning statements and a jacket. Two days later, on the 27th, McPhee accompanied a team back to the Letts home where they recovered a clipboard as well as some clothing believed to belong, or at least been worn by, John Wolfenbarger. On December 30th, McPhee returned for a third time to the Letts home to retrieve a comforter with a sizeable burn mark on it. 

On cross examination Cunningham asked questions in relation to the large number of officers in the Letts home during the execution of search warrants. With so many officers in a tiny home, how could things like a casino card or teddy bear be missed? 

“Because we often miss things when we’re searching a house, and I know that the house was in disarray when we arrived and we don’t always find what we’re looking for.”

The next witness called to the stand was Livonia Sergeant Anthony Cracchiolo. Cracchiolo was the officer in charge of searching the dumpster at the Seven Craft Party Store on Christmas Day as well as the person who accompanied a locksmith to Italia Jewelry as well as the Pesce home. On the 25th, Lieutenant Ben McDermott received information that the murder weapon could be found in the dumpster. They needed to hurry in hopes that the dumpster’s contents hadn’t already been collected. 

Cracchiolo drove to the corner of Schoolcraft and Evergreen and located the green Onyx dumpster and began his search. At the bottom of the dumpster, near the sliding door, he found a pair of handguns along with a set of keys wrapped inside of three plastic bags. One of the guns, a Smith & Wesson snub-nosed .38 and the key ring belonged to Marco Pesce; the .380 was believed to be the murder weapon and belonged to Ronald Wedge. 

On cross, Richard Cunningham asked Cracchiolo to remember back to December 23rd, the day he accompanied a lock expert to Italia Jewelry and the Pesce home. The officer’s job that day was to inventory whatever was in Pesce’s safe in the back office as well as taking a look at the floor safe in the basement of the home. 

“What was found inside the safe at Italia Jewelry?”

“There was a Colt Python .357 Magnum, six shot chrome revolver with a six-inch barrel. There was also a Henry Repeater .22 caliber rifle and a case of point .223 caliber ammunition.”

“Okay. And what condition was the safe in back in Mr. Pesce’s home?”

“The purpose of our visit was to determine what the combination was. I personally didn’t inspect the safe. We just motioned the gentleman to the safe to confirm what the combination of that safe was.”

Cunningham then directed the officer’s attention to the 25th. Before leaving to search the dumpster, Billy Smith’s attorney Seymour Schwartz, accompanied by Marjorie Smith and Tracy Letts stopped by the police station and dropped off the black leather coat that belonged to Wolfenbarger. Cracchiolo then turned the coat over to Sergeant Bremenour. Cunningham attempted to imply that Billy Smith had entered the station as well, he hadn’t according to Cracchiolo. 

With only a half hour left in the day, a majority of the next witness’s testimony would have to wait until the following day, but Douglas Baker could at least start his direct examination. Diane Pesce was called to the witness stand. Thirty-seven-year old Diane Pesce took the stand and explained her relationship to the deceased, mother to Carlo, Sabrina and Melissa and ex-wife to Marco Pesce.  On September 25th, 2002 she entered a drug rehabilitation program, explaining to Baker that she still resided there. 

Diane admitted to the court that she had been fighting addiction to both crack cocaine and alcohol for nearly a decade. In the year prior she entered the Home of New Vision in Ann Arbor under court order. While living in the Home of New Vision Diane was allowed to speak to her children twice a week and see them every Saturday. She was not allowed to speak with Marco for sixty days or less if the staff deemed it okay to do so.

Baker then asked questions in regards to December 21st, the last day she saw her family alive. Marco dropped the children off to her around noon that day.

“We went to see a movie. I went with another woman from the program and her eight-year-old son and another woman we went to the movies and saw ‘Wild Thornberry’s’ at the Quality 16 in Ann Arbor. After that we took the bus back home to where I was living and we ordered a pizza for dinner and we ate.”

Around 4:30pm Diane remembers Carlo calling his father to come pick them up. She estimated his arrival time to be 5:00pm. When he arrived, Diane walked the children out to the car, having a brief discussion with her ex-husband. 

“He told me he was taking the children home and that he was dropping them off and he was going to work to finish work.”

The following day a staff member approached Diane and told her that she had terrible news. At approximately 11:00pm, Livonia police officers picked up Diane in Ann Arbor, she was questioned at the station and returned home at 3:00am. 

Baker showed Diane pictures of various pieces of jewelry recovered from search warrants. She confirmed each one as belonging to her or her ex-husband. She was also able to identify each of the keys from the earlier entered evidence photo. 

“Those are my car keys and my house key.”