Police Unleash "Psychological Depth Charge" in Master's Case

Absolutely unbelievable...

FORT COLLINS — Police investigators unleashed what amounted to a "psychological depth charge" on Tim Masters on the first anniversary of Peggy Hettrick's killing — planting a phony story in the local paper, making sure it was delivered to his home, and leaving his mother's obituary where he might find it.

The tactics, detailed in court testimony today, were coupled with an extensive surveillance program and were apparently designed to provoke a response — perhaps even violence — from Masters in an effort to tie him to Hettrick's grisly murder, his attorney asserted today.

But they were also dangerous — attorney David Wymore produced a memo showing that the FBI would disavow any knowledge of the plan if something went wrong.

"I guess killing somebody or stabbing somebody would be a backfire, wouldn't it," Wymore said, his voice rising. "That would be a backfire."

Hettrick, a manager at a Fort Collins Fashion Bar, was stabbed in the back and sexually mutilated on Feb. 11, 1987. Her body was discovered in a field behind the home where Masters, then a 15-year-old high school student, was living, and he was quickly a main focus of the investigation.

It wasn't until 1998, however, that police investigators developed enough evidence to arrest Masters, and the following year he was convicted of killing Hettrick, even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the killing.

He was convicted largely on the basis of hundreds of writings and drawings, many of them violent, and a forensic psychologist's interpretation of them.

Masters is fighting for a new trial, and his current attorneys, David Wymore and Maria Liu, have accused police and prosecutors of hiding evidence that might have proven his innocence. They are engaged in a series of hearings with special prosecutors from the Adams County District Attorney's Office over a series of motions.

At the same time, attorneys for Masters are expected to file a formal motion seeking a new trial — which is expected to trigger at least a month of hearings, probably in early to mid-2008.

Hettrick's killing shocked Fort Collins — she was brutally stabbed, and her killer sliced away flesh from her vagina and left breast.

In the early weeks of the investigation, according to documents produced in court today by Wymore, experts at the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit concluded there was a likelihood that the killer "will commit a similar crime."

However, as the first anniversary of the killing arrived, police had not made an arrest.

Wymore produced a Jan. 8, 1988, memorandum from then-police Lt. Deryle O'Dell to Dave Feldman, who at the time was the head of the investigations division for the Fort Collins Police Department.

The memo began with an update on the investigation and on the work of detectives.

"Their feeling is that the suspect in the case, Timothy Masters, may exhibit some behavior near the anniversary date that could be an opportunity to further tie him to the case," O'Dell wrote.

O'Dell detailed two options, the first of which "would have to be decided by the chief due to possible political ramifications."

That plan called for the department to plant a "news" story in the Fort Collins Coloradoan, to deliver the newspaper to Masters' home for a month around the time of the anniversary of Hettrick's murder, and extensive surveillance.

Officers also put a copy of the obituary for Masters' mother in an envelope, then left that under the windshield wiper on a friend's car.

O'Dell's memo detailed the danger to authorities if something went wrong.

"It must be considered quite risky in terms of how the community may react if it doesn't work," O'Dell wrote. "In fact, it could backfire, and if it does the FBI will not admit any involvement in its conception. Only the team investigating this case knows of this option, and if used it would be kept that way."

The memo went on to detail a plan for planting a story in the newspaper.

"The initial news release should come from the chief's office announcing a new break in the case," O'Dell wrote.

And, in fact, on Feb. 11, 1988 — the first anniversary of Hettrick's murder — the Coloradoan carried a story that said police had "a possible suspect" in the killing.

The story quoted O'Dell as noting that every suspect but one had been eliminated, and that "we're closer to putting together a case on that person than we were a year ago, and we're hoping to do that."

During a hearing today, Wymore questioned Nathan Chambers, who represented Masters as his trial, about the memo, its implications and a question that he has hit on time and again — whether it should have been turned over to the defense team before the trial.

"It is utterly astounding," Chambers said, a hint of incredulousness in his voice.

Later, he again accused Fort Collins police officers of hiding information that would have helped Masters mount an effective defense.

"They have proven themselves, beyond question, to be utterly untrustworthy," an animated Chambers said.

Wymore returned several times to the goals of the plan carried out in 1988 — to "psychologically depth-charge" Masters and "basically trying to set him up to commit a similar crime."

"If you're asking me to explain the behavior of the Fort Collins Police Department, I'm not devious enough to do that," Chambers said.

Rocky Mountain News