Bill mentioned Betty’s marriage. Mrs. Nella said it was difficult. Bill Scales was cold and dictatorial.
Bill mentioned physical abuse. Betty Jean’s daughter described her dad as hard and domineering. That accusation dominated her interview.
Mrs. Nella said no. Bill Scales didn’t need to hit. He had Betty under his thumb without resorting to violent behavior. He controlled Betty with his knowledge of how much she loved him.
I said, “He didn’t kill her.”
Mrs. Nella said, “Oh, I knew that. The police cleared him back when it happened.”
Bill said we had a hot suspect now. We might be able to close the case officially.
Mrs. Nella lit up. Her eyes slipped into focus.
Her companion showed me some press clippings. I read an L.A. Times piece from March ’73. It described the escalating murder rate in El Monte. The ironic postscript: The Scales case was the first unsolved murder since “Jean Elroy in 1956.”
They misspelled my mother’s name. They got the year of her death wrong. It pissed me off more than it should have.
Mrs. Nella gave us a cell scraping. She said she never got to say good-bye to Betty. The police said she was too far decomposed.
We drove back to El Monte. Tom Armstrong got the file from the Bakersfield PD and let us read through it.
The kid’s name was Robert Leroy Polete Jr. His last name was pronounced Po-lay. He married Vonnie in April ’76. He entered the United States Navy in September ’76. He completed basic training. He was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Lemoore, California. Lemoore is near Bakersfield and Fresno.
Polete was arrested on 2/8/7 7. The charges:
FELONY, IN FOUR COUNTS, TO WIT: RAPE, 261 PC/KIDNAPPING, 209 PC/ROBBERY, 211 PC/ORAL COPULATION, 288A PC.
2/4/77:
Polete leaves Lemoore air station. His intention: to visit his wife in Hacienda Heights. Hacienda Heights is in the San Gabriel Valley.
Polete has $5. It won’t get him out of Kern County. He buys a $4 bus ticket. He lands in Bakersfield at 8:25 P.M.
He doesn’t know what to do. He wants to see his wife. She’s about to be evicted from her apartment. He’s nursing a grudge. The navy should have stationed him down in L.A.
Polete walks around the bus depot. He contemplates a purse snatch and rejects the notion. If he grabs a purse in the depot and buys a ticket south, the cops will bust him right here.
He leaves the depot. He walks by the Pacific Telephone Building. He spots a woman. He follows her to a ’74 Honda Civic.
The woman gets in the car and pulls out. The driver’s-side door is unlatched. Polete opens it. He places a knife against the woman’s neck and says, “Move over or you’re dead.”
The victim says, “You can have my car if you let me out.” Polete says, “Don’t give me any lip.” The victim slides into the passenger seat.
Polete drives a short distance northwest. He pulls into a parking lot and stops the car. He tells the victim to crawl into the backseat and undress.
The victim complies. Polete tells her to lie on her stomach. The victim complies. Polete ties her hands behind her back. He uses her bra, her panties, and a swimsuit top.
Polete orders the victim to turn over and sit up. She complies. Polete gets into the backseat. He kisses her and fondles her genitalia. He sticks two fingers in her vagina and sticks the same two fingers in her mouth.
He orally copulates the victim. He rapes her. He wipes his penis with the victim’s clothing.
He goes through her purse. He finds $7 in change. He says, “You sure are rich.” The victim says she’s got another $6 in bills.
Polete steals the money. He drives to a dark field off the Rosedale Highway. He marches the victim sixty-five yards in and orders her to sit down. The victim complies. Polete scatters her clothes out of sight.
He tells the victim not to leave for ten minutes. He says, “I know where to find you.” He tells the victim not to call the cops– because he’s got her ID and he’s got friends who’ll get her if anything happens to him. He says he’ll drop the car off in Fresno. If anything happens to him or the car, his insurance will take care of it. He says, “I’m sorry, but I had to do this. I’ve been treated badly.”