Dyer Investigation - Mon, Nov 19, 2018

Recap / Current Situation

• MASTICATE reviewed prior actions: Frank Booth fabricated FBI IDs at the Wilshire Federal Building; Justin backstopped records and added a backdoor to systems, giving the team clean covers and access.

• The team contacted Attorney Nalina Estevez (last guest on Off the Brim; counsel in the Dondry Daycare civil suit against LASD). Her office was a half-packed former RadioShack watched by a sheriff’s cruiser.

  • Estevez stated every office conversation is recorded and backed up to the cloud.
  • Initially demanded subpoenas/warrants but, after persuasion by Frank and Philomena, chose to cooperate.
  • She outlined: the Tactical Narcotics Unit (TNU) raid that killed Claudette Dondry and two children; a grand jury declined to indict; TNU got positive publicity from taking down the Southside Tiger.
  • Estevez’s investigation identified witnesses whose accounts could undermine LASD’s story: Anise Walker, William Tavolin, Elizabeth Ray—all later died (overdoses or a staged robbery).
  • Central figure: Lt. John Marlin and his “Slug Squad,” including Sgt. Freddie Sutton, Sgt. Anton Gully, and Deputy Julian Saines. Estevez believes these four are the gang’s core, with dozens of loyal deputies and a wider favors network.
  • Estevez fled after intimidation; the cruiser surveilling her office returned to a station after she left.

• At the coroner’s office, prior pulls showed Walker’s and Tavolin’s files read as overdoses; Jaz Ihejrika’s autopsy not yet performed. A second hack into LASD tripped alarms—sheriff’s IT knows federal actors are probing, but it’s unclear whether TNU specifically knows.

Autopsy Lead Clarifications

• Correction from notes: William Tavolin’s initial cause of death was “exposure” (he was homeless). Months later, autopsy was updated to fentanyl overdose, with several thousand times a lethal dose injected into his neck. The report subtly flagged the abnormality without escalating it.
• Anise Walker died of a heroin overdose; dose clearly lethal but not outlandishly high like Tavolin’s. Friends/family told Estevez she did not fit a heroin-addict profile.
• Elizabeth Ray (rookie LAPD at the Dondry scene; later private security) was shot in the head during a storage unit robbery; no suspects.

Planning Next Steps

• Team considered pushing Ihejrika’s autopsy via “fed cred” or by finding a cooperative coroner.
• Identified Dr. Raymond Kessler (the Tavolin examiner) as a potential ally.

Finding Dr. Kessler (Sunday Morning)

• Luck check: Kessler not on duty until Monday.
• Justin performed a Computer Science search (critical success), immediately locating Kessler’s Facebook and tracing an address/phone. Found Kessler at his church’s food drive that morning.
• Team brought donations (canned pumpkin, stuffing, green beans, etc.) and approached Kessler discreetly.

Conversation with Dr. Kessler at the Food Drive

• Initial reaction: Kessler was concerned and urged going through supervisors; the team identified themselves as FBI and pressed the issue.

• Persuade succeeded (Frank). Kessler:

  • Recalled the Tavolin case after prompting; deputies’ presence at the scene felt odd; he attempted to have it treated as likely homicide but was discouraged and told not to “rock the boat,” suggesting higher-level interference.
  • Agreed to move Jaz Ihejrika’s autopsy to Monday and deliver results quietly.
  • Asked to photograph the agent’s badge for his own protection if questioned later.
  • Set a handoff point: a coffee shop ~½ mile from the coroner’s office; he will text to arrange the meet.

Car Conversation: Unnatural Incidents / Group Dynamics

• Philomena asked Booth what McCarter meant earlier by “she’s one of us,” referencing scratches on her neck.

  • Philomena recounted: an attic incident where bats swarmed her in coordinated patterns (like a murmuration), scratched her, then all dropped dead one-by-one. She noted they’d never had bats before.
  • Booth’s old cat bite on his ankle throbbed during this discussion.

• Jay appeared wary and attentive toward McCarter during the exchange.

• McCarter told Philomena, in guarded terms, that the four (Booth, McCarter, Justin, Jay) are “under the control of forces beyond [their] understanding,” that they’ve been “selected,” and that what they’re hunting aligns with what the government wants stopped. Philomena bristled, insisting she’ll decide whether to worry.

• Justin made occasional comments about the “Hushfather” (his terminology for the linking force), reinforcing his belief that they share a connection.

Southside Tiger Research (Justin – Computer Science success)

• Alias / Identity: Franklin Dyer, active 2014–2016 in South Los Angeles.

• Signature:

  • Deep fingernail gouges on victims’ face/neck/abdomen/shoulders/forearms.
  • Pre-mortem tongue removal; post-mortem removal of fingertips and teeth.
  • Extensive restraint; long-term captivity (months); varied victim demographics (no consistent “type”).

• Capture/Death:

  • Missing person Rosario Clements was believed to be the fifth victim.
  • LAPD plate sweeps found a partial match tied to another victim; vehicle partially hidden under a tarp in a backyard garage.
  • A raid was executed by LASD Station Southwest’s TNU (closest unit; newly formed), led by Lt. John Marlin.
  • Entry to the basement prompted Dyer to stab and kill an unidentified naked man and bludgeon Clements (skull caved in). TNU shot Dyer on scene.
  • Dyer’s basement contained overwhelming physical evidence tying him to all known victims (teeth/finger bones with DNA matches).

• Location: Dyer’s house 4261 3rd Avenue (Leimert Park), a few blocks from Jaz Ihejrika’s apartment.

• Public chatter: Some forum commenters questioned why LAPD SWAT wasn’t used; theory that LASD called in a favor to score the high-profile “win.”

• Victim List & Causes (from public sources and compiled materials):

  • LeVar White (male, 16) — exsanguination and suffocation; tongue removed; deep gouges chest/arms.
  • Jane Doe (female, late 30s) — cranial trauma (back of skull); mouth sewn shut; deep gouges chest/arms; never identified.
  • Kellyanne McMillan (female, 29) — dehydration; multiple puncture marks along arm veins; found in car trunk.
  • Edward Panosian (male, 41) — malnutrition; fingers and tongue removed pre-mortem; mouth sewn shut; restraints visible; gouging limited to the eyes; found in a Compton manhole.
  • John Doe (male, mid-20s) — exsanguination; killed as TNU breached basement.
  • Rosario Clements (female, 23) — cranial trauma (front of skull); killed as TNU breached basement.

FBI Case File Pull (closed case materials)

• LAPD requested FBI assistance 3–4 months before Dyer’s death; a profile/analysis was started but never completed once Dyer was killed and the case was closed.
• Materials include early victim scene photos, identification details, and preliminary profiler notes.

Analytical Rolls & Inferences

• Forensics/Psychotherapy attempts yielded partial insights.

• Intelligence checks succeeded across the team; prompted an Unnatural SAN check:

  • McCarter failed and lost 1 SAN; others 0.

• Working hypothesis (based on compiled evidence and Eh­edrika’s video behavior):

  • The restraints might have been to prevent victims from self-harm, and much of the gouging/damage could have been self-inflicted.
  • Dyer may have been keeping victims alive rather than inflicting the injuries directly.
  • Team discussion broached whether Dyer was administering some drug to victims (or otherwise the source of it) that drove them to self-destructive behavior, paralleling Eh­edrika and Tavolin.

Background on Franklin Dyer (additional digging)

• Cremated; no known family; remains interred by the county.
• 2003: Expelled from Miskatonic University after one semester for non-payment; application listed fake SSNs for parents and an address that was a vacant North Carolina lot uninhabited since before the 1920s.
• 2013 (April): Purchased 4261 3rd Avenue via lump-sum from a long-closed Montenegrin bank account.

Phone Call & Interview: Marcus Walker (Anise Walker’s widower)

• Booth called; Walker agreed to a 2:00 p.m. meeting at his apartment after arranging childcare with a neighbor.

• Persuade checks (including a strong success by Justin) reassured him.

• Walker’s account:

  • Anise was not a heroin user; she was a mother, attending church, studying for her teaching degree; friends/family corroborated a stable life.

  • After he filed complaints pushing for a homicide investigation, four deputies arrived at his home with his daughter (picked up from school without permission).

    • They told him he was wasting departmental resources and to stop.
    • One deputy played with his daughter’s hair during the intimidation.
    • He was too shaken to record names/badge numbers and ceased speaking to anyone about it until now.

  • When shown departmental photos, he identified the four as Lt. John Marlin, Sgt. Freddie Sutton, Sgt. Anton Gully, and Deputy Julian Saines.

  • He confirmed Anise spoke off the record to Estevez about the Dondry raid and then declined to testify publicly.

• Booth left his contact number, instructing Walker to call if any suspicious law enforcement presence reappears around him or his daughter. Walker remains skeptical of law enforcement but wants action.

Further Discussion / Oddities Noted by the Team

• In the Dyer takedown:

  • Two different killing methods during the rushed basement murders (stabbing vs. bludgeoning) struck the team as odd if purely impulsive.
  • Questioned why LASD TNU, not LAPD SWAT, executed the raid given timeline allowed for a warrant; suspicion that Sheriff’s side sought the credit.

• Considered canvassing Skid Row for patterns (e.g., unusual self-harm incidents) connected to a drug influence.

• Considered re-examining Dyer’s house for leftover evidence (while noting Dyer was cremated).

Intent / Outlook

• Team prioritized Ihejrika’s autopsy on Monday (Kessler’s covert assist; coffee shop handoff).
• Recognized the danger posed by TNU/Slug Squad and their intimidation of witnesses.
• Booth voiced an extreme inclination: to find Marlin and kill him in his sleep; this remained a stated sentiment rather than an agreed team plan.

Session End

• The day remained Sunday (week of Thanksgiving). The team planned to await Kessler’s text after he moved Ihejrika’s case to the front of the queue and performed the autopsy Monday morning.
• Next steps contemplated: receive toxicology/autopsy results; pursue witness interviews and departmental files; possibly review Dyer’s property and correlate drug-linked self-harm behaviors to current cases.