July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

MISSING CONTINUED FROM P.24NEWSCOURTESY OF RUDY PALTAUFThe MissingWorking missingpersons is a dauntingtask. APD’s twomanmissing personsinvestigation teamworks roughly 4,000cases each year – including runaways (thebulk of the cases), disappearances, andabductions. In the first five months of2009, the unit already had 1,681 cases inits queue. And working these cases is a distinctlydifferent proposition than working,say, a robbery or homicide. There, says Scott’spartner, Detective David Gann, you’ve got adistinct crime scene, and the questionbecomes: Where did the perp go from there?In missing persons, the first order of businessis to determine whether a crime even happened(see “Missing in Austin,” p.25).In the case of Roxanne Paltauf, there wasn’tnecessarily anything at first to suggest she’ddone anything else than just walk off. “Thecase came [to us] as, they got into an argument,and she walked off – with just thatinformation,” Gann says. “Well, you canimagine, working missing cases in a city witha population the size we have, that’s a prettycommon occurrence. Boyfriends and girlfriendsget into arguments, and one of themwalks off. They don’t come home that night,[and the] very next morning their significantother reports them missing.” Often the questionof how to proceed in such cases turns ona consistency of behavior – for example, hasthe person walked off before? According toWalls, Roxanne had done just that.At first, police had no reason to suspectthat Walls – the one who initially reported thedisappearance – wasn’t being honest. “It’sreally hard in this profession to pick andchoose which cases have nuances that makeyou say, ‘There’s something to this; we needto immediately grasp what happened,’” saysScott. “And in that sense, I guess everythingthat could go wrong [with Roxanne’s case]did go wrong.” Not that police didn’t, asScott puts it, “use due diligence.” Roxanne’sname was immediately put into a be-on-thelookoutalert for all patrol officers, and vitalinformation was fed into the state and nationalcrime computers. But it wasn’t until laterthat police had enough information to suggestthat there might be far more involved inRoxanne’s disappearance than just an unremarkablelovers’ spat.For example, there was the purse: Roxanne’spink purse that she supposedly left, with hercell phone, her wallet, and her jewelry, insidethe hotel room. Roxanne never went anywherewithout her purse. Never. On that pointfriends and family completely agree. Ellis saysshe would actually get into arguments withRoxanne about her always needing to carry herpurse everywhere they went. Gonzales agrees:“Anywhere she goes, she’s got that purse onher shoulder.” When Harris told Gonzales ithad been left behind, “I knew immediatelythat something was wrong.” The fact that herjewelry was also leftbehind, inside her wallet,let Ellis know somethingwas not right.Roxanne never wentwithout her rings:“No. … Even when wewent swimming, that girl woreaccessories.” If Roxanne was going to stormout of the room – even to cool off – shewould have taken her purse and certainlywould have taken her cell phone. Harris isadamant about that – and she would havecalled home, say those who knew Roxannewell. “That made me very nervous, the factthat her mother never heard from her,” saysComer, Roxanne’s teacher. “I couldn’t see herbeing strung out, or whatever, so bad that shewasn’t going to call her mother.”Everyone insists that Roxanne talked to hermother two, three times, or more, each day. Onthe evening of July 7, 2006, those calls ceased.“The one thing that struck me, the day shedisappeared, the calls stopped,” said privateinvestigator Tim Young. To him, that clearlymeans that whatever happened, Roxanne didnot simply disappear of her own volition. “Atthat point in the investigation, it seemed clearthat she was not with us anymore. There wasabsolutely no trace of Roxanne.”There was, however, one additional cluethat appeared just six days after she wentmissing. A security guard named Bryan Parkernoticed Roxanne’s Texas identification cardtucked into the wallet of another man whowas accused of assaulting a woman at theMotel 6 just up the street from the BudgetInn. According to the police report of that July13, 2006, incident, a man named GeoffreyMoore, now 33, picked up a Perfect 10 Men’sClub dancer and her husband, outside theChevron station at Rundberg and I-35. Mooreasked, “How much for her?” She replied thatshe was not a prostitute but would do a privatedance for him at the motel. The threewent to the motel, and Moore and the womanentered the room. He locked the door, however,before the husband could get inside.The woman alleged that Moore attackedher and tried to rape her. The husband heardhis girlfriend shouting, got Parker and a passkey,and the two men tried to get into theroom. When they finally got the door open,the husband attacked Moore, who fled, leavingbehind his wallet and his hearing aid.When Parker picked up the wallet, he foundRoxanne’s ID. Moore later came back to thescene, to retrieve his things, and was arrestedby police. He was never charged – in part, itseems, because the chain of events that led tohis alleged attack of the woman aren’t entirelyclear. Moore, for example, told police that hetried to get intimate with the woman but sherefused. He then went into the bathroom andcame back out to find her rifling through hispockets, trying to steal from him. Could ithave been that the woman and man luredMoore and then tried to roll him? Or was it anunprovoked sexual assault? Ultimately, theTravis Co. District Attorney’s Office declinedto pursue sexual assault charges againstMoore, and the case was closed. (Moorecould not be reached for comment.)But the incident did provide Harris andpolice with yet another lead. How had Mooregotten Roxanne’s license? To date, that is notentirely clear – even though detectives havespoken with Moore about Roxanne’s disappearance.But police say they’re certain thatneither Walls nor Moore have told everythingthey know about Roxanne. Walls’ attitude isespecially frustrating. “People don’t realizethat although I feel that he could be moreforthcoming,” says Scott, “I don’t have anylegal rights to force him to do anything. Anduntil I get the kind of forensic evidence thatwould allow me to go to a grand jury, to forcehim to answer questions, I can’t. I mean, it’snot like in the movies, where you can just goto somebody and say, ‘Well, we’re taking youdowntown.’ Because if they don’t want to …all we can say is, ‘Well, that’s a real bummer.’We can’t just throw you in a car.”More importantly, says Scott, Walls “justdoesn’t care that he’s a suspect. [H]e’s nostranger to bad-acting, so it’s not a huge burdenfor him.”Ultimately, though, Scott says he will findthe truth, from Moore or Walls (or whoeverelse), to solve the mystery of Roxanne’s disappearance.“Basically, I’ve got two violentoffenders. Both of them are lying to me,” saysScott. “[T]hey’re both hiding criminal activity.But I think one of them is hiding a murder.”Waiting for AnswersThe questions continue to haunt Harris.Where is Roxanne? What happened to her?As the years have passed, the questions havebecome more detailed and more disturbing:Did Walls try to roll Moore? Could he haveused Roxanne as bait to do just that? DidMoore, who had been popped before for carryinga butcher knife in his car while trollingfor hookers along Middle Lane, happen uponRoxanne and try to solicit her? Or maybe, didhe recognize her as Walls’ girlfriend, from aprevious encounter?The questions, the possibilities, feel endless.Harris and Doyle have staked out motelsnear Rundberg, they’ve walked the streetshanding out fliers asking people to “PleaseHelp” Harris find her daughter, they’ve postedalerts and questions on the Web, gotten Roxanne’sstory featured on America’s MostWanted, and in turn they’ve been approachedby psychics. So far they’ve made little progress.Harris still holds great hope that theright person, with the right tip, will finallyhave the courage to tell the truth. “My biggestthing is, is Roxanne out there? Is she alone? Isshe scared? Is she crying out for help and Ijust can’t hear my daughter?” she asks. “Ineed my closure. I need to find my daughterone way or another.”Anyone with information about the disappearanceof Roxanne Paltauf can call an anonymous tip lineat 800/670-6760 or APD’s missing persons unit at974-5250.SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE30K-60K-90KTUNE-UPSEXHAUSTCALL FORESTIMATES326-3555www.jeepmasters.com2617 SOUTHFIRST ST.a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m JULY 3, 2009 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 27