A COLD BLOODED MURDER - THE INVESTIGATION - THE TRIAL

 A novelist would not write this story because it wouldn't seem true to real life. No one would believe someone actually did this.

 As the story unfolded, it was simply horrifying.

POLICE FIND BOMB IN WOMAN'S MAILBOX,  blared the headline on the morning newspaper.

Stephanie Powers had returned home from work and gone out to the road to check for mail, as usual. But what she found in the box terrified her. She left it there and called the town police.

Sure enough, it was a pipe bomb.

Of course there were police all over the street, reporters talking to the neighbors, photographers snapping pictures.

The next days paper continued with a follow-up, with the police were saying no one had to worry about a mad bomber in the community.

Eventually, it became apparent that the police thought the woman had put the bomb in her own mailbox.

The reporter wrote there had been other calls to the police from Stephanie.

One evening she had left work and discovered someone had slashed all four tires on her car.

A couple of weeks later, she returned home from work one evening and discovered someone had broken into her house and rearranged her living room furniture.

But the next incident was the worst. When she arrived home from work, her house was filled with smoke.

Following it to its source, she realized something was burning in her oven.

She opened the oven door, pulled out the rack, and lifted the lid off the pan.

It took her a few moments to realize what was in the pan.

Someone had broken into her house, put her two little parakeets in the roasting pan, and put them in the oven!

Stephanie was horrified and terrified.

She knew who was doing it, but she didn't want to believe it.

The police didn't believe it, either.

Evidently, each time they'd talked with her after one of the incidents, she'd been an emotional wreck. The police seemed to think she was too emotional, too disturbed, too frightened. Overacting.

And with that assessment, they pretty much concluded she had deep emotional problems. Such words as emotionally disturbed and unstable found their way into print.

A few weeks passed after the bomb was found in Stephanie's mailbox, and then there was another headline: STEPHANIE POWERS MISSING.

The police were investigating. Her friends were concerned. Her mother was frightened for her.

A grown woman can go away without telling anyone, and the police favored that conclusion. They expected her to return before very long.

A women's group held a candlelight vigil for Stephanie, praying she was safe and would return. But they knew she wouldn't run away from her little son. They were very worried about her.

Stephanie was divorced but involved in a custody battle with her ex-husband. They had a little boy together, and though Stephanie had originally had custody of him, she had lost custody.

Peter Powers was a lawyer. After he and Stephanie had been married for a year or two, they adopted his recently orphaned nephew. Then he and Stephanie had a child together.

When Stephanie and Peter divorced, his nephew remained living with him, and Stephanie gained custody of their young son. But Stephanie became depressed and emotionally ill, to the extent of contemplating suicide. Peter was calling her early in the mornings and late into the night, ranting on and on, and Stephanie couldn't handle it.

She checked herself into a mental hospital for a couple of weeks, and while there, Peter went to court and used her emotional problem to gain custody of their child.

Now she was missing.

Would she have run away? The reporter detailed her suicide threat and the ugly custody battle and the previous incidents, leaving the question unanswered.

Then one day I just happened to be in Stephanie's town - a small town - and as I drove along the main street, I saw a couple of cameramen and a few reporters gathered on the sidewalk outside the police station.

Next thing I knew, they had surrounded a man who had gotten out of a car and was making his way across the sidewalk toward the station house.

The next morning's paper told the story. BODY FOUND IN WOODS.

Stephanie's ex-husband was the man I saw the reporters running toward and surrounding. He'd been arrested for her murder.

Stephanie's body had been found in some woods, in a shallow grave.

I made up my mind I was going to go to that trial. What I knew at that time was just what I've written here. And I wanted to know more. I wanted to see the man who killed his ex-wife, and I suspected he was the one who had been terrorizing her.

I'm glad I did go to that trial, day after day, before I went to work in the afternoon, because there is even more to the story of that evil man.

Peter Powers had planned the cold-blooded murder of Stephanie, and he'd used his fourteen-year-old nephew to help him.

In fact, he'd been using the boy all along. Peter had demanded that his nephew slash Stephanie's tires and rearrange her furniture and roast her parakeets. He was purposely terrorizing her, like a cat with a mouse.

The kid had not had a good life. His parents had led drug-fueled lives and he'd been neglected. After both had died from their lifestyle, he'd been taken in by Peter and Stephanie, only to find himself living alone with Peter and forced to do as he was told.

As much as Peter drove Stephanie to emotional lows, it's easy to understand how he was able to manipulate a young boy who was dependent on him.

On the day of the murder, Stephanie had arrived at Peter's house to return their little boy after her visitation with him.

Mark, the nephew, told Stephanie that Peter wanted to talk to her in the house, and he kept the little boy outside.

Stephanie went in the back door and started down the hallway to the living room.

She never made it that far.

Peter was waiting, out of sight, in a room off the hallway. As Stephanie passed the doorway, he shot Stephanie in the head. She dropped dead in her tracks. Peter later described the murder  to Mark, saying 'she fell like a sack of potatoes'.

A friend arrived to take the little boy away for the rest of the day, and Peter and Mark cleaned up the blood and loaded Stephanie's body in Peter's vehicle.

They travelled to woods about an hour away, and Peter made Mark dig the grave.

Together, they carried Stephanie's body to the hole in the ground and dumped her in.

The nephew had to cover her with dirt.

Life went on for Peter and his nephew after that, even while Stephanie's friends were holding more candlelight vigils and the police claimed to be investigating her disappearance.

Peter became even more of a tyrant to his nephew, making him babysit for the little boy every day after school and refusing to let him attend any school functions. He demanded complete and immediate obedience from Mark, and often threatened to send him to the mental hospital.

Peter even had a panic button installed beside his bed. What was he afraid of? Was he trying to drive the boy crazy and afraid the boy would attack him if he succeeded?

About eight months after Stephanie was murdered, Mark, the nephew, finally went to the police. He told them the whole story. He led them to the grave. And the next day, Peter was arrested.

All of this was testified to at the trial, and there was more.

After the pipe bomb was found in Stephanie's mailbox, the police had sent her written statement to the FBI for analysis. Their report had come back with the opinion that Stephanie was doing these things herself, that she was mentally ill and not telling the truth in her report.

Stephanie's lawyer in the custody case testified, playing a recording of a call Peter had made to Stephanie. He ranted and raved in that call, making demands and insulting Stephanie. It  was easy to understand how calls like that every day would be emotionally draining.

When Stephanie's lawyer was finished with her testimony, and the jury was excused for a break, the lawyer sat in the witness chair and sobbed. I had the impression she, too, had thought Stephanie was mentally ill, and now she knew how wrong she'd been. Maybe she wished she'd been more sympathetic and understanding toward Stephanie.

There was also testimony that Stephanie told her doctor she didn't want to lose weight because she wanted to make it hard for Peter to carry her after he killed her. That showed she knew, she knew, how dangerous he was. But she didn't think she could run with her little boy and hide, because she knew Peter well, and she knew he'd hunt her down.

And so she died.

Peter didn't testify at his trial, but his lawyers proposed his defense by their questions.

They accused Mark, the fourteen-year-old nephew, accused him of murdering Stephanie.

And on top of that, they accused Mark of having an affair with Peter's girlfriend, insinuating they'd conspired to frame Peter!

Peter was a wealthy man. The divorce had not seriously depleted his assets. In fact, as part of the settlement, he'd bought a house for Stephanie, but he was allowed to keep it in his own name! Poor Stephanie, she just couldn't win.

As for the custody of his son, Peter did very little with the child, making Mark take care of him on weekends and after school. It seems Peter only wanted custody to hurt Stephanie.

There's no reason to believe he killed Stephanie for money or for the child. Not that either would be an excuse for murder. But I became convinced he planned the murder of Stephanie and carried it out simply because he wanted to commit a murder. Period.

His nephew just might have been next if he hadn't gone to the police.

Peter was found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. He continues to appeal his conviction and accuse his nephew of the murder.

The sheriff said he'd do hard time because no one could stand him.

Mark went through juvenile court for his part in the murder and was sentenced to probation. That seemed right for him. Some day he'll ask himself why he didn't go to the police before the murder, but I think it's understandable why he didn't. Life was not good to him. I hope it gets a lot better.