Brooks freezes, grabs his neck. The awful gurgling sound he makes. The blood is everywhere.
And it’s all over me.
Grand Jury Transcript
Testimony of Investigating Detective Raul Reyes
Conducted by Abigail Hoffman, Assistant District Attorney
November 30
Q. Thank you for returning to testify for a second time. This is a complex case—a case within a case, actually—and we just want to be sure that the grand jurors hear the evidence in the order easiest to understand.
A. “Complex” is a good word.
Q. You testified earlier that you had assumed at first that the blood at the scene indicated that Frankie Callahan had been murdered. Did you eventually learn that conclusion was incorrect?
A. Yes, when the DNA results came back and revealed that the blood was not Frankie Callahan’s. And also that the body was not hers.
Q. What did you do when you found out the blood was not hers?
A. Well, first off, we created a new case for the Jane Doe we had found.
Q. Did you eventually identify her?
A. Yes, Carole Rybak. She was a cleaner at one of the offices nearby. That’s why her fingerprints were damaged.
Q. Aside from beginning a separate investigation into Carole Rybak’s murder, what did you do?
A. We had to release Richard Falk. Because we couldn’t prove that he killed Frankie Callahan if we had no evidence that she was actually dead.
Q. Did you believe him to be innocent?
A. No. He had that blood on his clothes. So I believed he did something. And it didn’t seem like he was being truthful. But I had no idea what crime had been committed at that point.
Q. Did you eventually discern that a crime had taken place?
A. Yes.
Q. And what crime was that?
A. The murder of Brooks Grace.
Q. How did you learn it was Brooks Grace who had been murdered in Frankie Callahan’s apartment?
A. We investigated, interviewed witnesses, followed up on leads. Collected evidence. Brooks Grace was missing, and it seemed possible he was involved. We got a DNA match to him for the blood in the apartment. And then his wife got an email implicating Frankie. Rather, she opened it then. There had been a delay because she and Brooks Grace were separated.
Q. And what was the result of all that evidence collected?
A. Frankie Callahan was charged with the murder of Brooks Grace.
Q. Which has resulted in this grand jury here today. Is this your case, Detective?
A. No, it isn’t. It was given to another detective. Under the circumstances, it seemed wise to give the investigation a fresh start.
Q. Did you or anyone else ever place Frankie Callahan under arrest?
A. To my knowledge, she remains a fugitive. That’s why this is a prosecution in absentia.
