Please catch up with Parts I, II, III & IV
Now, wait a minute...
Let's back up a bit and linger somewhere over the piles of proverbial hay. There are a few needles in those stacks. Needles that have pricked my conscious for years, many years. Recall the "fresh body" discovered on the same farm? The one "in the burn pile" within yards of the spot Jack told KSP (Kentucky State Police) detectives "parts" of the children were buried? So, what happened with that? Since KSP wasn't about to keep me updated, I searched for information on that case. To the tiny town of Crab Orchard the murder was likely a big deal, but not so for national media. It took some digging and endless emails, but I finally found something. In May 2004 I located a news reporter in Garrard County, KY who was able to find an article on the case. Dated Thursday January 29th, 2004, simply titled Man convicted of killing woman on Garrard farm, the article in the Advocate-Messenger provided more astonishing questions than answers. Logan, staff writer for the AM, was kind enough to send me a copy by email. As expected, the man residing at the farm when Jack and I met with KSP detectives, James Clemons, was convicted of the rape and murder of the woman who was found in the burn pile. But the dates and details that came out in the trial are more disturbing than the what was done to this woman. Much later, I did find court documents that affirmed the discrepancies that came out in the trial. Let me break it down here... First off, recall that in our visit with the KSP detectives, Jack and I overheard them in the sheriff office talking about the fact that Cindy Foster still held the lease on the Crab Orchard property at that time. The sheriff deputy stated the owner said "she was still making the lease payments." Additionally, recall that March 27th 2002 when the creepy guy (later found to be Clemons) followed Jack and the detectives around? Well, one of the things he told us was that he was "taking care of a friend's horses", and pointed to the pen at the back of the barn where three ragged horses stood. Clemons further claimed that "friend...moved to Florida." Foster had just moved to FL a few years prior and was a two-bit "trainer" of thoroughbred racehorses.
This shows, I believe, James Clemons had to have known Cindy Foster--one of the primary suspects named by Jack to detectives. No mention of that in the trial. Remember my second trip to that creepy Kentucky farm? Early October 2002....
Nowhere is seen any sort of activity that would denote it a crime scene. In the trial and all documents that I have viewed, it is stated that the body was discovered by the owner of the property on October 9, 2002. This photo (above) was taken between October 10th and 13th, the days I was down there. Forgive me if I am off, but if there was a body discovered the day before, wouldn't there be some activity? Furthermore, in an affirming opinion from the Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals, it is stated,
"On October 10 (2002), Clemons contacted the Garrard County Sheriff's office and inquired as to what was going on at the farm. He (Clemons) claimed that...and that someone had driven by the farm and told him that the police were there." {No. 2009-CA-002107-MR, pg. 2}
Really? Where were they? What's more disturbing is that their forensic expert testified
"The body had been burned so thoroughly that the brain and other organs were cinders, useless as clues for investigators." (Logan, 1/29/2004)
Still they claimed...
"Maggots used to determine time of murder." (Logan, 1/29/2004)
Now, I am no expert, but I found that fishy. So, I asked four experts in the field. All of whom told me that is "impossible", that, "maggots cannot feed on 'cinders'...." Flies may be willing to lay eggs on more palatable items that were discarded in that burn pile, well after the body was burned. Thus, any maggots found could determine how long that trash was there, but how could they say when the woman was murdered? Still, they determined, "October 2nd 2002." (Logan, 1/29/2004, plus Appeals) And none of this even touches on the fact that way back the first week of April officers told me that a "fresh body was found above ground...during the search" where Jack led detectives the week before. And, in July Lt. Merriman telling me of this same murdered woman discovered at this same farm "in the burn pile...not far from" where Jack led detectives. So, is there yet another woman, coincidentally found in the "burn pile" at the same farm the first week of October? Confused yet? I was for some time. Now wait...this gets better. In court documents found online and in the original article in the Advocate-Messenger, the prosecution claimed
"...Clemons was living in the house at the time, and that it was impossible for him to not notice the stench of a rotting corpse 34 feet from his porch." (Logan, 1/29/2004)
Aside from the theatrical flare of this statement, can anyone but me see the problem there? "Cinders" do not "rot". Yes, a burnt body will have a smell, but it will not be as awful as a "rotting corpse." What's more is that fact that the house on this farm has no "porch". It has two steps leading to the side door. It has a front door, facing the road. But no porch.
View from barn to house (side), Fall Lick Rd. farm, Crab Orchard, KY 3/27/2002. James Clemons exiting.
View behind house toward barn, Fall Lick Rd, Crab Orchard, KY 3/27/2002. 
Want more? The proverbial "burn pile" that was there months earlier, was on the side of the barn opposite the house. Not facing the house.
. 
So, how can someone smell a body that is "cinders" all the way from the other side of the barn?
Here's a really rough drawing of the basic layout of the farm as of 2002. 
Truly, my intentions here are not to shame the police in any fashion. These are honest questions about factual observations that no one has even attempted to answer for over a decade. Clues like needles in a hay stack have piled up over these years. These clues, like in a bad cop movie, all point to facts that were, in the very least, altered. Some, entirely left out. And no one will provide an explanation as to
WHY.
To be continued...
