The man was a swarthy Caucasian or a Mexican. He was about 40 years old, thin, between five feet nine and six feet tall. The woman was white, blonde, and in her late twenties. She wore her hair tied back in a ponytail.
No one heard them exchange names. A waitress recalled that a regular named Michael Whitaker had several drinks with the dead woman and two unknowns.
A waitress supplied more names: every known patron in the bar Saturday night. Sergeants Hallinen and Lawton checked the El Monte PD arrest docket and learned that Michael Whitaker was picked up for plain drunk at 4 A.M.
The man, 24, was spotted on foot near Stan’s Drive-In. He sobered up in the El Monte drunk tank and was released at 9 A.M.
The known patrons were brought in and questioned. Several remembered seeing my mother with the Swarthy Man and the Blonde. None of them had ever seen my mother before. None of them had ever seen the Swarthy Man or the Blonde.
Michael Whitaker was brought in. Hallinen and Lawton questioned him. A police stenographer recorded the interrogation.
Whitaker’s memory was booze-addled. He couldn’t recall the name of the woman he was currently shacked up with. He said he danced with my mother and hit her up for a Sunday-night date. She declined, because her son was coming back from a weekend with his father.
Whitaker said the Swarthy Man told him his name. He couldn’t remember it.
He said my 43-year-old mother looked “about 22.” He said he got “pretty high” and fell off his chair once.
He said he saw the Swarthy Man and my mother leave together at about 10 P.M.
The Swarthy Man told Whitaker his name. This supported my long-held instinct that the murder was not premeditated.
A waitress confirmed Whitaker’s account. Yes, Michael fell off his chair. Yes, the redhead left with the Swarthy Man.
Hallinen and Lawton retained a sketch artist. Desert Inn patrons and employees described the Swarthy Man. The artist drew up a likeness.
The drawing was circulated to newspapers and every police agency in Los Angeles County. The Desert Inn crew examined thousands of mug shots and failed to identify the Swarthy Man.
Officers canvassed the area around Arroyo High School. No one had noticed suspicious activity late Saturday night or Sunday morning. Hallinen and Lawton interrogated a score of local cranks, perverts, and career misogynists.
No leads accumulated. No hard suspects emerged.
On Wednesday, June 25, a witness came forth–a Stan’s DriveIn carhop named Lavonne Chambers. Hallinen and Lawton interviewed her. Her testimony–recorded verbatim–was precise, articulate, and perceptive. Everything she said was new to me. Her statement radically altered my take on the crime.
She served the Swarthy Man and my mother–on two different occasions–late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. She described my mother’s dress and mock-pearl ring. She described the Swarthy Man’s car: a ’55 or ’56 dark-green Olds. She said the sketch was accurate and ID’d the man as white, not Latin.
They arrived at 10:20, shortly after their Desert Inn departure. They “talked vivaciously” and “seemed to have been drinking.” The man had coffee. My mother had a grilled cheese sandwich. They ate in the car and left a half hour later.
Miss Chambers worked late that night. My mother and the Swarthy Man returned at 2
He ordered coffee. He seemed “quiet and sullen.” My Inother was “quite high and chatting gaily.” The man “acted bored with her.”
Miss Chambers said my mother looked “slightly disheveled.” The top of her dress was unbuttoned, and one breast was spilling out.
Sergeant Hallinen: “Do you think they might have had a petting party?”
Miss Chambers: “Maybe.”
They left at 2:45. Jean Ellroy’s body was discovered eight hours later.
I turned to the autopsy report. The coroner noted signs of recent intercourse. My mother’s lungs were severely congested, presumably from years of heavy smoking.
She died of ligature asphyxiation. She sustained several blows to the head. Her fingernails were caked with blood, skin, and beard fragments.
She fought back.
I opened the photo envelope. The first stack of pictures: detained and exonerated suspects.
Cruel-looking men. Rough trade. White trash with a vengeance. Hard eyes, tattoos, psychopathic rectitude.