THE M.O.
The prosecution's theory throughout the trial was that the Hartig murders were committed with the same modus operandi with which the Hughes and Murphy robberies were committed. In short, the prosecution presented testimony through Butch Wolcott and Joey Dalesandro that Tyrone had planned the manner of the Hughes and Murphy robberies. The plan was to rob old folks by pretending to have a car breakdown, knocking on the door of the intended victims, asking to use their phone to call for assistance, and once admitted to their home to rob them. The problem with the prosecution theory is that the evidence does not support it.
First, the only witness to testify at trial concerning the mode in which Tyrone and Gary supposedly entered the Hartig residence was Butch Wolcott, who testified that once a lady opened her front door Tyrone pushed his way into the house. This was not similar to the mode of entry into the Hughes home and the Murphy home.
Second, apart from the supposed similarity between the plan to enter the Hartig home and the plan to enter the Hughes and Murphy homes, there is nothing else similar between the two episodes. Simply put, the Hughes/Murphy robberies were thoroughly amateurish and clumsy while the murder of the Hartigs was careful and professional.
The Hughes/Murphy robberies were in the same neighborhood where the boys were living on Bonnieview, they wore no disguises, they used an empty sawed-off shotgun and a BB gun in the Hughes robbery and a defective Browning from the Hughes robbery in the Murphy robbery, they obtained personal jewelry, cash, and small electronics, and they harmed no one. In fact, the Browning accidentally discharged during the Murphy robbery and Tyrone expressed regret for frightening Mrs. Murphy. Shortly after the Murphy robbery the Alliance Police Department had Tyrone and his friends under suspicion and police reports indicate they soon had them under surveillance.
The Hartig murder was in rural southeastern Portage County, many miles from Alliance, in an area that would be hard to find with a map. Nothing was taken from the Hartigs. Their bodies still bore their wedding rings and Mr. Hartig still had his wallet on him. No small electronics were taken. In one bedroom an open drawer contained a watch in a watch box in plain view, as shown in the crime scene videotape. The Hartigs were killed not by a stranger or strangers ransacking the home. The Hartigs were shot by someone known to them as they were visiting with this person at their kitchen table, someone who then went throughout the house in a careful, thorough, painstaking search for something other than personal jewelry, small amounts of money, and electronics, all of which were in plain view. Their assailant dumped papers out of the desk in the living room after killing the Hartigs, covering up a spent shell casing. Drawers throughout the house were merely pulled open--not out--and the contents of the drawers were left inside. The assailant left no physical evidence to connect him to the murders. Mr. and Mrs. Hartig were killed by multiple gun shots.
In short, the same day that Tyrone committed the Murphy robbery in his own Alliance neighborhood without mask or disguise, taking cash, jewelry, and consumer electronics, hurting no one and expressing concern for the elderly lady frightened by the accidental discharge of the Browning, he supposedly suddenly abandoned his amateurish ways, traveled out to rural Portage County, managed to find the Hartig home, was armed not just with the Hughes' Browning but mysteriously and suddenly obtained another .25 caliber pistol as well, took none of the valuables in plain view in the Hartig home after having Gary thoroughly search the home, became a cold-blooded, methodical killer who shot each of the Hartigs several times, and left no physical evidence including no fingerprints although supposedly engaged in a frantic ransacking of the home. The modus operandi of the Hartig murders was totally dissimilar from the robberies of the Hugheses and Murphys. Unfortunately, the contrast in the modus operandi between the Hartig murders and the Hughes/Murphy robberies was not presented to the jury.
CONTINUED:
THE CONCLUSION
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