The early-morning hearing took about 10 minutes. Drummond appeared on video from the jail in standard inmate attire — baggy shirt and pants with broad orange and white horizontal stripes — and pleaded not guilty to all 28 charges. He also indicated he had a lawyer and didn’t need the court to appoint one. The magistrate set a $1 million bond and agreed to let Drummond await future court dates at home with an ankle monitor, on condition he make all future court appearances and avoid contact with anyone involved with the case. The grand jury would get the case in June and future court dates would be scheduled then.
Jake arrived at the jail in time to shout a few questions at Drummond, now dressed in a suit and tie, and his lawyer as they walked from the jail to the lawyer’s black Lexus. They ignored him as he expected. He snapped a few photos too and returned to The Beacon Office to write yet another update on the case.
By 11 a.m., he had written all he could until something new happened. It was time to turn his attention to something else for a while, something like the perplexing circumstances surrounding Tom Miller.
He jotted down some questions for Barry Stevens, but decided to do some more digging into the parts of Tom’s story that seemed to have some truth to them first. He found a phone number for the Yellowstone Park Rangers and made the call.
“Hello, this is Jake Lamonica, a reporter in North Carolina, and I might have some information to help identify a John Doe who was found dead last year in a parking area for the Purple Mountain Trail,” he told the person who answered.
A few moments later, an investigator got on the call. “Mr. Lamonica, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You wouldn’t happen to be related to the Jake Lamonica who used to host ‘Washington Insider?’” he asked.
“Yes. As a matter of fact, I am that Jake Lamonica.”
“Ah. Nice to meet you. That was a great show. It’s not as good these days,” the investigator said. “Anyway, I hear you might have some information that might help us identify our Purple Mountain John Doe? That case went cold fast. We haven’t heard from anyone, so any help would be appreciated.”
“I recently became acquainted with someone who might have known him,” Jake said. “My source said you should compare the DNA of your John Doe to a man named William Lattimore of Keller, New Jersey. Mr. Lattimore hasn’t been heard from in about a year and my source is pretty sure the DNA will match.”
“Is there reason to believe Mr. Lattimore would have been in Yellowstone Park, near the Purple Mountain Trail?” the investigator asked.
“Yes,” Jake said before realizing he didn’t have that information. “I can get more information from my source if you need it.” A good recovery, he thought.
“OK. We’ll look into it,” the investigator said.
“Could you let me know one way or another?” Jake asked. “If it turns out to be him, I might be able to help put you in touch with Mr. Lattimore’s family, if you need.”
“That sounds good,” the investigator said. “I’ll let you know what we find out. Thanks for the tip.”
Next up was the Paulo Santos murder case. Jake dialed the number for the Keller Police Department and was connected to an investigator. He told the investigator he was doing some research on the case for a possible story and asked if there were any updates. The last story he saw about the case was four years old.
“No, unfortunately nothing new,” the investigator said.
“Have any of the investigators looked into a possible connection with HSC?” Jake asked.
The investigator told him the original investigators had looked into a claim that there could be an HSC link, but they couldn’t substantiate it.
More to come . . . someday.