December 15, 2025 • 53 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
It's the Opperman Report and now here is investigator.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Okay, welcome to the Opperman Report. I'm your host, Private investigator,
Ed Opperman. You can get a hold of me at
Opperman Investigations and Digital Friends and Consulting if you reach
out to me through my email Opperman Investigations at gmail
dot com. We've done a series of shows about this
Gary DeVore. We started out with Gary Devor, who is
(00:29):
the writer who's was discovered in this vehicle on the
bottom of this reservoir with no hands and uh. We've
interviewed many people about this with PI was involved in
investigations and different people want books about it, articles about it,
and the story just gets deeper and deeper and deeper.
Mel elorshe is back. You can check out her on
her substack. She got everybody's going on substack these days.
(00:52):
Everybody that's substacked, I know, is going on the bed.
Her substack is called called Code of Silence, and she's
got a four part series on this story here and
of all the other mysterious deaths going on in that
little creepy town down there where it seems like everybody's
involved in that criminal activity. Otherwise that there's going to
be a fourth part of this series. She's been doing
(01:13):
a series on Covert Action magazine, so you could check
it out there, mel Iloche, are you there.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I'm here, great, great introduction, Thank you so much. Yeah yeah,
thanks for having me. Yeah yeah. Code of Silence it's
a series about, you know, how police corruption actually silence
(01:40):
a few I loved unsolved murders in the Antelope Valley
right over thirty years.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
You know, before we get into this, remind you, audience, though,
who is mel Ilosha a.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Screenwriter first and foremost an investigative journalists?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Gotcha? And so now you started on Substack, you and
writing articles and working on a documentary film. But beyond
Substack now right? Oh yeah, gotcha? So now you discovered
this whole situation down here in little Block, Little Rock,
para blossom by the Gary DeVore case. That's what sparked
your interest.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, a few years back, definitely. And and Matthew as
you know Matthew because he interviewed him as well, right, friends,
My Matthew offered uh a British professor, he wrote a
book on the war, and he started investigating that and
I sort of picked it up and years later, during
(02:44):
my research, I just found out that he's murdered. He
was definitely murdered. His body was found, his organs were
all taken out, his DNA matched, his hands were caught off,
and it's called a lot of media attention, et cetera.
But his murder may have developing links to auto murders
(03:05):
in the region, in the area. And so I looked
into the murder of sheriff's Deputy John Algy Michelle Peach
as a double homicide. Philip Priffitt and Maudgie had that
link standish way back in the early nineties, ninety ninety four,
(03:28):
and then in two thousand and three, deputy was savagely
murdered in the desert of Lamo. Yeah, and a private
investigator who researched most of these murderers disappeared and most
(03:49):
definitely was murdered, but his body was never found. No, No,
this is rob catsif and because then, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Now, out of all these cases, you know, because we
pretty much discovered that there's a methamphetamine operation going on
down in this town. The cops are in on it,
everybody the whole time. So it's the business of this town,
is what they do. Right, is it make math now?
But these people are they just passing through or are
(04:27):
they part of the operation, Like, let's start with the war,
like was the war just passing through.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And witness yeah? Or witnesses of an exchange? Uh? You know, right,
wrong time, wrong place. Especially in the case of Sheriff's
Deputy John O. Jay, he may have stumbles led and
(04:53):
so one of his brothers of the police sheriffs Department
present I could have been there. Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
If people go back and listen to the show. The
last show we did in March of twenty twenty four, No.
Twenty twenty five was just recently. Now go back and
list we listen to that repeat, we go into the
whole story about all j. He was this ultra marathon
runner out there running and wound up dead out there
in the middle of the desert. But no, no, AUJ.
(05:25):
You think he stumbled onto something. You think he was
part of the oppertation?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
No, no, no, he stumbled and he witnessed something. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that methlet may have also been owned by Judge And
how did he know that? So one of one of
the articles of Quote of Silence is about Lieutenant Ron
(05:51):
Shreve and Lieutenant Bron Shreeves was Lieutenant of the Lancaster
Shares' Apartment and he initiated a joint test force this Eliot,
SD and the DA to bring down six mass and
satamine lab cells. They successfully did so, by the way,
(06:14):
they arrested three hundred people in the end, but they
also discovered two wire taps and outs of failance techniques
that a methlet was mostly or likely owned by a judge. Really, yeah,
I'm not going to mention the name, but it's in
(06:35):
one of the articles.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, so if we go to your sub stack, will
find the name of this judge. Yeah, I'm part four,
part four in the last one. And how come you
don't want to mention the judge's name on the air, because.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Well, I mean, they're allegedly Judge Steve Ogden was under
the famous of Narcotics duera the before this joint test
force the whole of internal documents and they found letters
and a communication between the judge and people who were
(07:17):
convicted of a crime. And according to the documents I've seen,
it was more than a judge criminal communications, you understand it.
It looked more like a friendship.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Mm hm, Well, these small towns. You know, there's a
lot of that stuff does go on, but usually you know,
they try to at least give the appearance of propriety
at least the.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Right And I think that's why I had resident deputies, right.
I mean, it's also geographical logic because it's it stretched
sad plans. It cost a lot of money to have
a you know, a station bombing there, So why not planned?
(08:13):
Why not have a resident deputy on payroll and they
live in their house and they operate on the house
and and that's it. So they had at least two
resident deputies, and one of them evolved at their climb
brick Angles a little rock, and the other one later
(08:35):
in in in two thousand and one, I think for
one he came on a Stephen doctor Thornton resident Deputies
and apparently he was very strict right with during his patrols. Yeah, well,
(08:56):
things do happen in terms of I mean, how can
you monitor that your resident deputy is not becoming corrupt?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
If he has his own set of rules, how is
that monitored? How is the has the recula I don't know. Apparently,
and someone like resident Deputy Rick Angeles he clocked in
by just calling the the radio person, you know, the
person who who of the set. Call again the dispatch dispatchure. Yeah,
(09:31):
I'm on. You know, it's nine o'clock and a clock
off at five and a callback and that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah. People that are not familiar with these areas Pair Blossom, Lancaster,
these are very rural areas. They're spread out far. It's
just a distance to drive, you know. So and and
then these deputies, you know, they're out there. The only
other people out there this you got to socialize with someone.
You gotta have friends with some people, and the only
other leave We're friends with the people out there there,
(10:02):
you know, are out there in these motorcycle gangs and
and doing these things, you know. And it's it's so
isolated that the you know, you're making your own rules,
their own rules exist out there in the middle of it,
does it. It's just not like it is.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah, that's it, Yeah, exactly. And that area has a
lot of abandoned minds too, right right, maybe the gold
Rush in the in the nineteenth century. I think they
are all over five homere abandoned mines in the area alone.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
So what about who is this Linn, I'm looking at
your substack the Code of Silence Substack by mel Elosh
And who is this, Linn Standish. Now that's an interesting murder.
It has to be a murder. It's going to be
a pipe. I'm involved.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, So, I mean we were just talking about jazz area.
You know, you don't have direct neighbors. You can sort
of do whatever you want, right, you still have a
resid his deputy. But still, I mean it's a whole
different culture. So you see when you grow up there,
(11:19):
people can make their own fireworks because normal is monitoring, right,
So you had a culture, especially the kids, they built
on fireworks. They compete it to one another, and it
expands into bomb making and other types of things that
can explode and you can impress other people with it.
(11:43):
And Lindstandish she was found that as a victim of
a pie bond. She's the middle of the desert with
her two sons or two young sons than Jeffrey and Michael.
She was, you know, scavenging. She was just going through rubberish.
(12:05):
I guess thrash. I'm not entirely sure what she was
looking for. I think you can recycle, you can retail
and she opened a microwave and the microwave exploded and
there was a pipeline minute apparently the timer.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
That someone got into her house and planted in our house.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Then right, no, it's outside outside at outside in the
middle of nowhere. Yeah, oh okay. Apparently she was lured
into going there. She does, you know, sort of dress
something for you there, go there. So she went over there.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, Now was she involved in a drug trade or
her family what was going with them?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
She was very a user. They found mess in the
video of myth in her blood. I mean it's out
of sever port shows the taxology support. So she bother
or yeah, I think she may have been pretty to
certain dealing god yeah, yeah, she will be the boyfriend
(13:22):
at that time and he was, uh suspects.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
You know. It's so interesting too because these rural areas,
especially these rural desert areas and like Needles, Arizona, these
different areas of Kingman, you know, where there's so much
meth and these people they're out, they're out on these
echo almost like a junk yards where they live. You know,
they would it's like chunk strewn everywhere and there's nothing
to do. Why would they need stimulants to keep awake
(13:51):
for days and do nothing. It's not like, you know,
there's anything to do in those little towns.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
There's nothing there, nothing, No, it's it's so addictive, and
it's all your brain, your brain, and it's it's it's
sad in a way. I mean it's I know, it's
just eventive opinions you, but it's it's really sad.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Oh yeah, it's terrific. If you ever saw anybody with
a math psychosis, man where they've been up for days
and they're just crazy seeing things. Oh my god, I
haven't eaten for days or slept for days. Which brings
us to this young girl, this eighteen year old college
kid that everybody said was a goodie goodie. This Michelle
O'Keefe who died out there at eighteen years old. What's
(14:31):
her story?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
So this this her she story? I mean she died
in two thousands. The story story twenty second two thousand.
Really it was very cold. She came back from she
was an extra on a kid's rock music video. Shoot.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Oh really?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
So yeah, she did the type of work and I
just to she really wanted to break into acting. I
mean that was allisurely. One of her ambitions, she came
back with her friend Jennifer Peterson from that kid rock
staping and she had parked her car before that at
(15:16):
a parking ride parking lot in palmdal And between Highways
fourteen and East Avenue, so they drove back in Jennifer
Peterson's car. She set up, went to her own car
and gave her friend some food. Her friend drove off.
(15:39):
It just started to rain, and that was basically the
last moon that wever. Then she just killed four shots
in her face and her stomach.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, But then when you get to part the real
you said that some of her friends said she was
a goodie goodie and some of her friends is know
she was a party girl.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
During the trial of the first suspect who was later
convicted and then much later accelerated, Yeah, they gave conflicted
statements of her nature of Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And soerly. Do you think she was just like a
user or was she somebody who was like maybe like
a trafficker delivering things?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
No? No, I think she was really popular high school
student these ambitions. Perhaps she did experiment it, going out
with boyfriends her girlfriends, Yet her Peters and boss a
scout and the Sheriff's department, so she may have been
(16:54):
in touch with law enforcements. You know, young guys look
goodly guys back then. We don't know. I know that
her family didn't think she was a virgin at the time.
She didn't date, but there was a lot of friends
who goes from the stand and gave her statements during
(17:16):
the trial that she was definitely in a dating scene.
So I mean, imagine, if you're eighteen year old, you
don't you don't always confide in your parents about everything.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And if she was running around with Kid Rock, and
she can't be totally innocent, and she's running around with
Kid Rock, you know. I have a collage of photos
of Kid Rock with the p Ditty, you know, and
then they're wasted and never you texture. There's about twenty
five different events they were hanging out together as buddies.
So Kid Rock is no angel, you know, and even
he has a song talks about smoking funny things.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So yeah, I mean, it is a good point. But
she was only an X sign in a video shoot
and she lived straight away.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, but that's the kind of girls that they hired though,
you know, they you know, they take advantage of those
girls in those videos, you know, eighteen years old.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's something to think of. Well, did
you know is that according to her friends, she definitely
wanted to get out of her clothes, so she was
she didn't feel comfortable in her uh skirt, and she
had a tube top. I think, yeah, she wanted to
change show she was about to change into jeans, pair
(18:33):
of jeans or a jacket or whatever in her car.
But she was pound shot to death the same consome
yeah and yeah, and her top was uh, someone took
(18:54):
down her top, so.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
She was exposed eighteen years a little little kid, little kid,
you know, that breaks your heart. And what about the
double house side of Philip Prevatt and maj Mage. Oh yeah,
I died.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's interesting because I haven't gotten into the fully, but
I recently received the auto see reports. Very very interesting.
It looks like a set of robbery. Still, the Prefet
was thirty years old and Maggie was only eighteen. You know.
(19:35):
According to his mother, a football star, it was very
popular and he should not have been working in the
store at that time. So this is double horble side.
It occurred at F and M Market in Palmdom on
September thirteenth in two thousands, So that's a few months
(19:57):
after Michelle Kish murder. And Philip Privet had a brother
who was convicted for helping this amphetamine business. It's Thomas Pinkel, right,
(20:17):
that's it. So that was his semi And that's what
I know.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, because you know they do use they use convenience
stores to order those that cough medicine and the you know,
the antihistamines that they use in the manufacturer methamphetamines inter
In fact, you can't buy more than two or three
packets legally at a time, but the stores, you know,
can order hundreds of packets at a time, you know,
(20:47):
and then just have to account for them. Oh boy,
you mentioned that before. This private investigator Katsif Rodney Katsif,
now he was investigating the uh the.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Uh well, actually a lot more because he was helping
the first suspects on the Lynn Standish case had a
private investigator and later on his attorney hired God Captive okay,
(21:23):
And so he was working on this case of Lynn
Standish and he found there were certain links to Jonathan A.
J's murder or disappearance. We cannot still call it the
murder because the body well never has never been found,
not yet. But yeah, so he he wrote, he made notes,
(21:47):
he made tape recordings. He was I think he was
present at a chefon station owned by Larry craw Crawford too,
a certain liaisonswitch, sheriff Deputy Rick Engels, and Mike Booth.
(22:14):
So he was present there, and he witnessed certain exchanges.
Now and in two thousand and one, he he disappeared
from his house. His daughter was present, and sheriff deputies
took away or some we don't know. Still we don't
(22:37):
know who did it. But all of his stakes, recordings
and note books disappeared from his house.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And it says here too that some of the other
witnesses either killed or disappeared in this in this investigation
or this Lynn Standish case. So so the guy there is,
do you have a suspect in mind who's really behind
this microwave pipe bomb killing of Lynn Standish? Who is
powerful enough to pull off that and start killing witnesses
(23:09):
all over the joint?
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah? No, I think it's multiple people, right, not not
not only one? So Lynn Standish then they investigated that
murder thing. Yeah, and I think it was a lead investigator,
Joseph Holmes was there and they found and Rick Engels
(23:32):
was present. He wrote one of the first supplemental reports.
They found tire tracks leading to Thomas beIN Hinko's house
and Thomas bin Hinkle was a very known, very known
like Lenz POMPEII, very known mess and fetamine distributor. He
(23:53):
had several labs. He managed the labs. He never was
never present there, but he had his own He managed
his own, uh sort of. His is an empire, if
you can call it empire. So if he if he
needed someone to disappear, or someone asked him, can he
(24:13):
get rid of someone? He never did himself. I don't
think he. He may have done with himself. I don't know,
but I think they use certain people to get rid
of others, whether it's a kidnapping murderer, or they use
lie to have murder people decomposed very easily so he
(24:34):
never can find the remains anymore. That is definitely around.
I think they may have hired even tweakers, because people
who are addicted are very very desperate right in a way,
and very unstable. H Maybe, I mean definitely in the
(25:00):
case of Stephen Sawrenson murder that could have happened. Tweakers
for given money, is that he's beat the ship out
of this guy, get rid of him. It's it's an
easy way, right to say, Okay, I'm not involved, I'm
a shareff's deputy, I'm an owner of a business. Why
(25:21):
would I kill someone? Right, I'm clean, So I'm And
you don't believe the tweakers because they always told bullshit.
A tweaker talk it's easy.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
So you're talking about the murder of Japany Stephen Sorensen, right, Luca,
tell us about that one. That's that's the more involved
one here. You got a lot of content on this
guy here.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
So Stephen Sorensen, he came late into the blue world,
so speech. So he's because I think in his thirties
and he came out of the academy and he was
very ambitious, very ambitious guy, self righteous in a way,
you know, and he was very attracted to the position
(26:08):
of resident deputy. He was very well liked in the
area where he became a sheriff in a resident deputy.
It was Lano Lake, Los Angeles, actually, and he stood
up for a lot of minority business owners, you know,
Hispanic business owners, but for everyone he I think he
(26:34):
tries to do an equal job. Son't speak, but he
was not always the like because of his self righteousness.
I mean, that's what his attorney toldhim later. I spoke
to his attorney several a few months ago. So Steven Swillington,
what happened? He was, uh, maybe a year into the job.
(27:02):
He had a loss, and I will come back to
the defamation lost it got good. I will come back
to that. So what happened to him? In August? On
the Saturday morning, he got a call of a disturbance
on a property and apparently that had to do with
(27:26):
someone who is easy there another trespasser about come on,
help me out of the woods. Okay, he disturbance on
the squatter, get squatter. And he had served this guy
already like a burning before about someone called him and
(27:49):
he came over and then further away gunshots were hurt.
He was found uh killed I think a few miles
not a few miles as like a quarter of a
mile further down where his vehicles found m hm. And
(28:12):
they found him these fourteen gun shots and his brain
was not there anymore. They've sorry to use the orbit.
They scooked it out. They was found in a bucket,
So this is sort of an overkill. This is very
this is this is a lot while Why fourteen gunshots
(28:34):
and brains in a bucket? Right, this is this is extreme.
And his patrol car was found near a trailer of
someone who loved the desert. He sort of lift up
the grid. His name was Donald Charles Keck And then
(28:57):
I think about a Seventh Day man hunts and sued
following the journal where his body was found. And then
they found the car and I think Donald Charles kek
was later he was killed by swat teams because he
(29:21):
was found the main suspect of the murder of Stephen Soornson.
Now a homicide detective. Chate some conversations with Donald Kak
and his daughter during the man hunt. They they put
(29:43):
a tape recorder on his daughter's phone just in case
your dad is calling. You know, we need to know
what he's selling him. And he told she has she
asked her father, So he calls, right, Donald, Donald calls
his daughter and and did you kill Deputy Stephen Seoranson?
(30:05):
And he said no. Two tweakers were outside of my trailer.
They did. They took my car his own take. I
tried to get to take from homicide department. I still
haven't governments, but anyway, it's own. Take a couple of.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Questions, a couple of quick questions before you move on.
Is uh with the on your substack? Here the code
of silent substack. You got a bunch of pictures of
this crime scene and some pictures of some dirt roads.
You know what a desolated people should really get to
look at this. Uh, get an idea of what we're
talking about here, and then this when she's talking about
these dwellings. These things are like campers and trailers they are.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Living in, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
All kinds of burned, you know, like fire damage going
out all over the place. And you tell me that.
So they killed it, and they killed the cop here,
and then they move his body fourteen miles.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
No, no, no, a quarter of a mile.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
It's a quarter of a mile.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Quarter quarter of a mile and to the I think
lists So the patrol corners found Sudent's patrol corn of
us found outside of the Donald text trainer, and then
a quarter mile west they found uh Surrenton's body. As
(31:31):
if he was dragged behind a vehicle, so it something
did his arms above his head right is his whists
were tied.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, now I know this is Donald Keck. And there's
there's a picture of Men two once again. If you
go to the Substack the code of Silent Substack, there's
a wanted poster of them. Then there's another Pubert looks
like it's an arrest the photo here, and then there's
a picture of them using like a tank with a
battering ramp to shoot into one of these giants. So
they came down with this l A p D. That's
(32:06):
Los Angeles, came all the way down with this big
giant tank to the UH insert into these buildings.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah, the you know the Sheriff's Department. They the Sheriff's Department,
and UH has a Special Enforcement Bureau and the E
S e V. Then there was their small teams. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Wow. So there's there's a big operation and they went
down and to go.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
After this because it's one of them, right, it's one
of one of the brothers. And during the men hunts
and then they finally found Donald Cook in that pride
in that house and a residence. He was still on
(32:54):
the phone with Holmo Side Detective and Margin lilling Fields
and apparently he confessed to have murdered Now I haven't
hear the tapes. That's what they say he said. That's
what they say he said. There's also a book written
about this by d. N. Stillman. I think it's called
(33:17):
Desert Reckoning. She does a lot of backfound work on
Sorenson and Donald Keeck. You know how they grow up
their childhoods Oh, do they know.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Each other in childhood?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
No? No, no, okay, but they knew each other since
ninety ninety five. I believe during a traffic altercation and
that that was important. But because of that, that's what
Donald Keik said to his daughter on the phone. Digit
(33:52):
was recorded, Dave will never believe me. Dave will never
believe me. Why would he say to his daughter who
asked him, did you kill Deputy Steven Swinson? Why would
he say, no, two teakers did that. They stole my car?
Why would he Why would he come up with that?
(34:15):
And then the second question I have, And not only that,
but the second question, has he he knew they were
going to after him because there was that block between
Steven Sorenson and Donald Keck, Because of the traffic alplication.
(34:36):
He didn't want to have anything to do with law enforcement,
he wrote. Apparently he wrote the letters to the FBI.
Now I did a request to the FBI. They do
have holand on thirty four pages of this case, which
will be released. But my sense is that Donald Keck
(34:58):
was set up. Hm.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
What was the nature of this traffic altercation? Were they
in a car accident together or was he stopped as
a police traffic stop?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
I think he was stopped at the traffic I kind
of remember the name, the exact details about the the
traffic stop.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, and then a sense that Sorenson was afraid for
his life. What was Sorenson afraid of?
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Now that's that's where we get to the defamation, right, No,
that's pretty interesting. So, uh, he was He was killed
in August. But if he go back, he flashed backwards
to January of the year two thousand and three. He
found a the defamation lawsuit against four council members of
(35:44):
Lake Los Angeles because one of them had threatened him.
He she had she what's her name again, Harriman? I
believe surely Harriman. He was they she accused him of
(36:05):
being not not a Nazi, but definitely a corrupt deputy.
It's it's a very long case, and his attorney said
that he felt his life was in danger. Now one
of the council members called him, he was just on
(36:30):
the job, maybe a few days, then maybe a weekend.
He was just on a job. She called him, intimidating
him that she knows the sheriff, she knows certain deputies,
and that everyone always does what she wants. That that's
all in his declaration. I can see in the declaration,
but it's all in there. So she definitely pushed. I mean,
(36:55):
she just unsolicitly, you know, invited herself into his life.
May speak.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Well, these small towns, you know, the city council. You know,
a new cop comes in. You know, that's not that's
not that unusual that they you know that they're pushing
their weight around. But it seems this defamation was Now
he was suing them for defamation. And it looks like
his widow settled this case with the defendants. Do we
(37:26):
know if she got a settlement. Do you know if
she made any money?
Speaker 1 (37:29):
I cannot she did, you mean the council members or
Christine Sawanson.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
The widow the widow, Christine.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I have never you know, I tried to reach her.
It's very very difficult. I don't think she wont talk
to anyone if if she's still with us, so speak.
I know his son because I'm still working on that
to talk to his son, Matthew Swaranson, his adopted son.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Okay, Bob.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
In terms of the law, people know, but that's still
that's still yeah. I have questions about that because one
of the council members had a very close relationship with
two deputies. And these two deputies were older involved, not involved,
but they knew one of the resident deputies. I'm looking
(38:24):
into it's Rick Angels.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Now does Christine Sorenson? Does she still live in that town?
Speaker 1 (38:33):
No, she moved away. I think she's still in language.
She moved out. She sold that house, that resident deputy's house, right,
she sold that in someone and was later interviewed by
the author of that book.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Now, what is the connection here? It says something about
this other deputy, Rick Angles, was connected to the It
was suspected in the.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
On and and and and you know other other What's
that so that Swans and apparently Stephen Swanson kept no
book And this is hearsay. But during one of the
(39:21):
depositions of the Darren Hagar case, and the Darren Hagar
case is uh a disc blower retaliation lawsuits this deputy
filed against Los Angeles Sheriff's departments. Then he was fired
because he found evidence evidence, but he had wire tips
(39:46):
and evidence the certain people were involved in the disappearance
of Sheriff's Deputy Jonathan Algy, but also more because they
they had recorded certain people and they've recorded also in
phone conversations between Summon Thinkle and break Angles and other people.
(40:09):
Now it is believed that Stephen Swanson was murdered, kept
no book on activities of Deputy break Angles. There's no
book was gone as well as disaph was never found.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
And then what would the purpose of that be for
black o purposes? Was he going to cooperate with the
Feds or something trying and get a conviction.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
I don't know. I think perhaps we just study, you know,
And this is the thing, the code of silence. This
is one of your brothers in the in the Sheriff's department.
You know that, right, So you're not going to read
out one of your own even if that person here
or she breaks the law. That's the code of that's
(40:57):
the unwritten code of a moral code of science. And
it's been in police department since what forever, And as
you and I know, that's also in the gangster in
the mafia world, the America Code. Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I I've I know that Brick deputly, Brick
(41:21):
Angels doesn't give any interviews. I've read all his depositions.
He gave his declarations. He gave depositions during the Darren
Hager case. I think he denied so he he was
under investigation of the Internal Internal Crime Bureau of the
(41:44):
Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. He didn't It never came to
an interview, a formal interview. He just left. He never
had to deny anything. He just didn't want to answer
any questions because he knows it's right. So you have
don't have anything on me.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
I leave. But before we get back to this, when
when you're investigating this and you're writing about this, do
you go down to these little towns and visit in person.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Yeah, even after twenty eight, twenty nine years and a
lot some of these properties, like the that e Finem
market that is gone, Yeah, especially areas where where sort
of mind shifts were, you know, where people could easily disappear.
(42:40):
The California aqueducts, you know, right, defl spongeable.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
So when you go down there, do you see indications
of people widespread methamphetamine? Us?
Speaker 1 (42:58):
No, But perhaps I got the wrong time. It's hard
to do. I mean, what I'm supposed to do that's
being there twenty four seven maybe. Do you know two
weeks ago they found human remains at a junkyard not
fear and away from everything else.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
It's amazing, man, It's just and you think this would
be like a nationwide story. You know, everybody what's going
on in these little towns, But this goes on in
a lot of little towns. But when you're driving through
some of these little towns and you just say, man,
what is going on in those little trailers, in those
little houses. You can only imagine the horrifying things that
(43:39):
are going on. People that the women that are trapped
in there they can't get. Local cops are in on it.
You know, it's just one thing after another. Somebody's town
like West Virginia. You drive through some of these towns
when you know the whole town is like one shock
after another with which garbage strewn over every lawn you know,
and anybody see walking down the road all methed out
(44:01):
or heroined out. Necess here too in your article here
on a cote of silence on your sub stack. And
by the way, keep an eye on to this is
all going to be in uh COVID action, COVID Action magazine. Uh.
This guy here, Wayne worked, how does he fit into this?
(44:21):
Donald Kirk's neighbor, Wayne wurts.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
So so who called Stephen Storrington on let's say, the
day of August seconds? Who called him? Now? They were
the neighbors of Donald Pick and researching is further. I
don't know he was called by a woman or a man.
(44:45):
That's just my main thing. But either way, he was
called by the neighbors. And his neighbors were Wayne Wort
and his wife. And Wayne Mort owns an airstrip next
through his property and he rented out that airstrip occasionally.
(45:09):
Now again rebeck to the geographical significance of the area
that's unregulated, un monitored. You have your own airstrip. What
do you think happens during that era? Right the eighties nineties,
drugs going in and out, maybe across borders. I don't know,
(45:33):
supplies formats maybe maybe not, maybe slowly, maybe nothing at all,
who knows. But he did he didn't know that Donaldak
had an issue with Stephen Sowrenson. Okay, could be used
(45:54):
against him, the hot squatter on that property and waynmod
trying to get that squatter out. I've found the files,
the court files. They were destroyed. But apparently Wayne wod
harrested this squatter and the squatter suit this guy. He
(46:14):
wanted the squatter out. Now did the squatterhead did he
see anything? Does he know anything? Okay? So on that day,
Wayne Wood or his wife calls not Rick Engels, who's
actually uh he's a resident debut of Little Rock. Right,
it's very close to Lano. Why call Stephen Sorenson? Why
(46:38):
call Stephen Sorenson on his day off out there? So
that's all give you. So Wayne Ward called Stephen Sorenson
and he comes out there. He's killed. I mean I
(47:01):
cannot interview being worth anymore because he's dead. He flew
one of his planes to Washington and it's crashed. Never
never exploded, by the way, just crashed.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
And yeah, and they discover his body, and did they
find the body?
Speaker 1 (47:20):
I believe so.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Yeah, okay, because it's very rural up there in Washington summer,
I say, here, you got a guy down here in
Meth Country with a private airstrip with a private when
private planes are taken off and landing, and the benefit
to that is you can load whatever you want on
that plane. You're not going through any there's no security
of metal detectives or anything like that. These private asterds.
(47:42):
To just drive up there. Back your truck up, man,
and you'll put whatever, women, whatever, your kids, whatever you
want to put in at the that plane and they
take off and land up and I know the similar
type of airstrip. And I said that stuff works.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Man, seriously, right, I mean yeah, I mean you can
speculate and we can have a opins. I know that.
And this is all hearsay, but yeah, it looks all
too Yeah. Uh, it's way too convenient.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
And it's not like there's a lot of executives, you know,
flying in and out of this little town here for
meetings and conventions and stuff like that that they need
private airstrips. That's just me, just say it.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Just say that, yeah, there without flight logs there's no
one who sees anything. Yeah, no one's that's the cold
of silence too, right. I mean I maybe have witnessed something,
but I don't know anything. I don't know, don't ask me.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Yeah, even at small private airstrips in North Las Vegas
and in Henderson that there are executive airstrips you know
that are pretty well established. They have offices, they have
you know, refueling, all kinds of stuff. Still a lot
of shenanigans go on at these places because it's just
you look the other way. There's a lot of stuff
that goes on at these places, and they just look
(49:04):
the other way, you know.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
Hey, And that's that's I mean, that's more in your
your wheelhouse with the in case case that happens to
flight looks exactly.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
Yeah, so we only got a couple of minutes left
to melt uh larish? What what? What? What haven't I
asked you about this case? That fascinating right with no
hands Gary Devre Now all these other list of dead bodies,
what haven't I asked you? They want the audience to out, well.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
Does anybody care? Yeah, that's just I mean you hinted
on that little earlier it's because it's so long ago,
it's hard to sustain the attention, right, And I keep
going no matter what. This is not to get any publicity.
(49:57):
But if someone knows the the thing, they can contact
you or myself. But that's what this is about, to
get justice full first the dead and the truth because
and and the families of the victims, even though they're
(50:18):
convinced of their own theories, certain people were definitely guilty
of murder of their loved them. But it's it's just
justice fool full for these people.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
Because even even I would have no interest in this
story at all if it weren't for the whole Gary
DeVore angle to it and the writer with no hands
with on so many shows. Otherwise, just another small town
where that's this is what goes on the industry is
drugs and crime. And I just look, Yeah, the local
motorcycle gang. Do they have any connection to the airstrip too,
because that's very common to an North Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
Would absolutely they help one another, I mean likely, Like
you said, in this it's this whole region that's sort
of self managed, right, self police and all of that.
They have their own hierarchy. If you look at the
motorcycle clubs. Then they have their hierarchy. They need to
(51:23):
protect one another, to help one another. It's it's it's
they have their own code of silence. So if they
help the sheriffs definitely on their way, and I mean yeah,
it could be, especially in the northern part of Antelope
Valley current County. Mojave had a chapter and that's where
(51:48):
Gary DeVore traveled through and he stopped at the Danni's
restaurant and one of the Winders the who saw him
last I think her name is Dona Bus. I have
not been able to locate her, but I'm still on
it because there is a relation to Mike Booth, who
(52:08):
had connections at the time. This, Larry Crawford, Rick Engels,
Thomas Hinkle, the mass distributors. Yeah, who'll be no witnesses.
Camera was dysfunct. This is it. Cameras are always not working,
either their dummies or they're just uh ripped off the wall.
(52:33):
He was at the Bone Place Bone time, he witnessed stuff.
He was kidnapped and murdered.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
Mel Eloys, you got to keep us updated on SS.
You'd start digging up more bodies down there in Antelope Valley. Okay,
check out Code of Silence, Substack for more of Melylus,
and check out the Covert Action This is will be
coming up in coverd Action and we think in November
and the Covert Action Episode Edition Covert Action Magazine. Melley Lush,
(52:59):
thank you so much help and for revingly. Good night
It's the Opperman Report and now here is investigator.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Okay, welcome to the Opperman Report. I'm your host, Private investigator,
Ed Opperman. You can get a hold of me at
Opperman Investigations and Digital Friends and Consulting if you reach
out to me through my email Opperman Investigations at gmail
dot com. We've done a series of shows about this
Gary DeVore. We started out with Gary Devor, who is
(00:29):
the writer who's was discovered in this vehicle on the
bottom of this reservoir with no hands and uh. We've
interviewed many people about this with PI was involved in
investigations and different people want books about it, articles about it,
and the story just gets deeper and deeper and deeper.
Mel elorshe is back. You can check out her on
her substack. She got everybody's going on substack these days.
(00:52):
Everybody that's substacked, I know, is going on the bed.
Her substack is called called Code of Silence, and she's
got a four part series on this story here and
of all the other mysterious deaths going on in that
little creepy town down there where it seems like everybody's
involved in that criminal activity. Otherwise that there's going to
be a fourth part of this series. She's been doing
(01:13):
a series on Covert Action magazine, so you could check
it out there, mel Iloche, are you there.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I'm here, great, great introduction, Thank you so much. Yeah yeah,
thanks for having me. Yeah yeah. Code of Silence it's
a series about, you know, how police corruption actually silence
(01:40):
a few I loved unsolved murders in the Antelope Valley
right over thirty years.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
You know, before we get into this, remind you, audience, though,
who is mel Ilosha a.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Screenwriter first and foremost an investigative journalists?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Gotcha? And so now you started on Substack, you and
writing articles and working on a documentary film. But beyond
Substack now right? Oh yeah, gotcha? So now you discovered
this whole situation down here in little Block, Little Rock,
para blossom by the Gary DeVore case. That's what sparked
your interest.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, a few years back, definitely. And and Matthew as
you know Matthew because he interviewed him as well, right, friends,
My Matthew offered uh a British professor, he wrote a
book on the war, and he started investigating that and
I sort of picked it up and years later, during
(02:44):
my research, I just found out that he's murdered. He
was definitely murdered. His body was found, his organs were
all taken out, his DNA matched, his hands were caught off,
and it's called a lot of media attention, et cetera.
But his murder may have developing links to auto murders
(03:05):
in the region, in the area. And so I looked
into the murder of sheriff's Deputy John Algy Michelle Peach
as a double homicide. Philip Priffitt and Maudgie had that
link standish way back in the early nineties, ninety ninety four,
(03:28):
and then in two thousand and three, deputy was savagely
murdered in the desert of Lamo. Yeah, and a private
investigator who researched most of these murderers disappeared and most
(03:49):
definitely was murdered, but his body was never found. No, No,
this is rob catsif and because then, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Now, out of all these cases, you know, because we
pretty much discovered that there's a methamphetamine operation going on
down in this town. The cops are in on it,
everybody the whole time. So it's the business of this town,
is what they do. Right, is it make math now?
But these people are they just passing through or are
(04:27):
they part of the operation, Like, let's start with the war,
like was the war just passing through.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And witness yeah? Or witnesses of an exchange? Uh? You know, right,
wrong time, wrong place. Especially in the case of Sheriff's
Deputy John O. Jay, he may have stumbles led and
(04:53):
so one of his brothers of the police sheriffs Department
present I could have been there. Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
If people go back and listen to the show. The
last show we did in March of twenty twenty four, No.
Twenty twenty five was just recently. Now go back and
list we listen to that repeat, we go into the
whole story about all j. He was this ultra marathon
runner out there running and wound up dead out there
in the middle of the desert. But no, no, AUJ.
(05:25):
You think he stumbled onto something. You think he was
part of the oppertation?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
No, no, no, he stumbled and he witnessed something. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that methlet may have also been owned by Judge And
how did he know that? So one of one of
the articles of Quote of Silence is about Lieutenant Ron
(05:51):
Shreve and Lieutenant Bron Shreeves was Lieutenant of the Lancaster
Shares' Apartment and he initiated a joint test force this Eliot,
SD and the DA to bring down six mass and
satamine lab cells. They successfully did so, by the way,
(06:14):
they arrested three hundred people in the end, but they
also discovered two wire taps and outs of failance techniques
that a methlet was mostly or likely owned by a judge. Really, yeah,
I'm not going to mention the name, but it's in
(06:35):
one of the articles.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, so if we go to your sub stack, will
find the name of this judge. Yeah, I'm part four,
part four in the last one. And how come you
don't want to mention the judge's name on the air, because.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Well, I mean, they're allegedly Judge Steve Ogden was under
the famous of Narcotics duera the before this joint test
force the whole of internal documents and they found letters
and a communication between the judge and people who were
(07:17):
convicted of a crime. And according to the documents I've seen,
it was more than a judge criminal communications, you understand it.
It looked more like a friendship.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Mm hm, Well, these small towns. You know, there's a
lot of that stuff does go on, but usually you know,
they try to at least give the appearance of propriety
at least the.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Right And I think that's why I had resident deputies, right.
I mean, it's also geographical logic because it's it stretched
sad plans. It cost a lot of money to have
a you know, a station bombing there, So why not planned?
(08:13):
Why not have a resident deputy on payroll and they
live in their house and they operate on the house
and and that's it. So they had at least two
resident deputies, and one of them evolved at their climb
brick Angles a little rock, and the other one later
(08:35):
in in in two thousand and one, I think for
one he came on a Stephen doctor Thornton resident Deputies
and apparently he was very strict right with during his patrols. Yeah, well,
(08:56):
things do happen in terms of I mean, how can
you monitor that your resident deputy is not becoming corrupt?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
If he has his own set of rules, how is
that monitored? How is the has the recula I don't know. Apparently,
and someone like resident Deputy Rick Angeles he clocked in
by just calling the the radio person, you know, the
person who who of the set. Call again the dispatch dispatchure. Yeah,
(09:31):
I'm on. You know, it's nine o'clock and a clock
off at five and a callback and that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah. People that are not familiar with these areas Pair Blossom, Lancaster,
these are very rural areas. They're spread out far. It's
just a distance to drive, you know. So and and
then these deputies, you know, they're out there. The only
other people out there this you got to socialize with someone.
You gotta have friends with some people, and the only
other leave We're friends with the people out there there,
(10:02):
you know, are out there in these motorcycle gangs and
and doing these things, you know. And it's it's so
isolated that the you know, you're making your own rules,
their own rules exist out there in the middle of it,
does it. It's just not like it is.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah, that's it, Yeah, exactly. And that area has a
lot of abandoned minds too, right right, maybe the gold
Rush in the in the nineteenth century. I think they
are all over five homere abandoned mines in the area alone.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
So what about who is this Linn, I'm looking at
your substack the Code of Silence Substack by mel Elosh
And who is this, Linn Standish. Now that's an interesting murder.
It has to be a murder. It's going to be
a pipe. I'm involved.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, So, I mean we were just talking about jazz area.
You know, you don't have direct neighbors. You can sort
of do whatever you want, right, you still have a
resid his deputy. But still, I mean it's a whole
different culture. So you see when you grow up there,
(11:19):
people can make their own fireworks because normal is monitoring, right,
So you had a culture, especially the kids, they built
on fireworks. They compete it to one another, and it
expands into bomb making and other types of things that
can explode and you can impress other people with it.
(11:43):
And Lindstandish she was found that as a victim of
a pie bond. She's the middle of the desert with
her two sons or two young sons than Jeffrey and Michael.
She was, you know, scavenging. She was just going through rubberish.
(12:05):
I guess thrash. I'm not entirely sure what she was
looking for. I think you can recycle, you can retail
and she opened a microwave and the microwave exploded and
there was a pipeline minute apparently the timer.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
That someone got into her house and planted in our house.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Then right, no, it's outside outside at outside in the
middle of nowhere. Yeah, oh okay. Apparently she was lured
into going there. She does, you know, sort of dress
something for you there, go there. So she went over there.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, Now was she involved in a drug trade or
her family what was going with them?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
She was very a user. They found mess in the
video of myth in her blood. I mean it's out
of sever port shows the taxology support. So she bother
or yeah, I think she may have been pretty to
certain dealing god yeah, yeah, she will be the boyfriend
(13:22):
at that time and he was, uh suspects.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
You know. It's so interesting too because these rural areas,
especially these rural desert areas and like Needles, Arizona, these
different areas of Kingman, you know, where there's so much
meth and these people they're out, they're out on these
echo almost like a junk yards where they live. You know,
they would it's like chunk strewn everywhere and there's nothing
to do. Why would they need stimulants to keep awake
(13:51):
for days and do nothing. It's not like, you know,
there's anything to do in those little towns.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
There's nothing there, nothing, No, it's it's so addictive, and
it's all your brain, your brain, and it's it's it's
sad in a way. I mean it's I know, it's
just eventive opinions you, but it's it's really sad.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Oh yeah, it's terrific. If you ever saw anybody with
a math psychosis, man where they've been up for days
and they're just crazy seeing things. Oh my god, I
haven't eaten for days or slept for days. Which brings
us to this young girl, this eighteen year old college
kid that everybody said was a goodie goodie. This Michelle
O'Keefe who died out there at eighteen years old. What's
(14:31):
her story?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
So this this her she story? I mean she died
in two thousands. The story story twenty second two thousand.
Really it was very cold. She came back from she
was an extra on a kid's rock music video. Shoot.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Oh really?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
So yeah, she did the type of work and I
just to she really wanted to break into acting. I
mean that was allisurely. One of her ambitions, she came
back with her friend Jennifer Peterson from that kid rock
staping and she had parked her car before that at
(15:16):
a parking ride parking lot in palmdal And between Highways
fourteen and East Avenue, so they drove back in Jennifer
Peterson's car. She set up, went to her own car
and gave her friend some food. Her friend drove off.
(15:39):
It just started to rain, and that was basically the
last moon that wever. Then she just killed four shots
in her face and her stomach.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, But then when you get to part the real
you said that some of her friends said she was
a goodie goodie and some of her friends is know
she was a party girl.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
During the trial of the first suspect who was later
convicted and then much later accelerated, Yeah, they gave conflicted
statements of her nature of Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And soerly. Do you think she was just like a
user or was she somebody who was like maybe like
a trafficker delivering things?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
No? No, I think she was really popular high school
student these ambitions. Perhaps she did experiment it, going out
with boyfriends her girlfriends, Yet her Peters and boss a
scout and the Sheriff's department, so she may have been
(16:54):
in touch with law enforcements. You know, young guys look
goodly guys back then. We don't know. I know that
her family didn't think she was a virgin at the time.
She didn't date, but there was a lot of friends
who goes from the stand and gave her statements during
(17:16):
the trial that she was definitely in a dating scene.
So I mean, imagine, if you're eighteen year old, you
don't you don't always confide in your parents about everything.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And if she was running around with Kid Rock, and
she can't be totally innocent, and she's running around with
Kid Rock, you know. I have a collage of photos
of Kid Rock with the p Ditty, you know, and
then they're wasted and never you texture. There's about twenty
five different events they were hanging out together as buddies.
So Kid Rock is no angel, you know, and even
he has a song talks about smoking funny things.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So yeah, I mean, it is a good point. But
she was only an X sign in a video shoot
and she lived straight away.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, but that's the kind of girls that they hired though,
you know, they you know, they take advantage of those
girls in those videos, you know, eighteen years old.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's something to think of. Well, did
you know is that according to her friends, she definitely
wanted to get out of her clothes, so she was
she didn't feel comfortable in her uh skirt, and she
had a tube top. I think, yeah, she wanted to
change show she was about to change into jeans, pair
(18:33):
of jeans or a jacket or whatever in her car.
But she was pound shot to death the same consome
yeah and yeah, and her top was uh, someone took
(18:54):
down her top, so.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
She was exposed eighteen years a little little kid, little kid,
you know, that breaks your heart. And what about the
double house side of Philip Prevatt and maj Mage. Oh yeah,
I died.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's interesting because I haven't gotten into the fully, but
I recently received the auto see reports. Very very interesting.
It looks like a set of robbery. Still, the Prefet
was thirty years old and Maggie was only eighteen. You know.
(19:35):
According to his mother, a football star, it was very
popular and he should not have been working in the
store at that time. So this is double horble side.
It occurred at F and M Market in Palmdom on
September thirteenth in two thousands, So that's a few months
(19:57):
after Michelle Kish murder. And Philip Privet had a brother
who was convicted for helping this amphetamine business. It's Thomas Pinkel, right,
(20:17):
that's it. So that was his semi And that's what
I know.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, because you know they do use they use convenience
stores to order those that cough medicine and the you know,
the antihistamines that they use in the manufacturer methamphetamines inter
In fact, you can't buy more than two or three
packets legally at a time, but the stores, you know,
can order hundreds of packets at a time, you know,
(20:47):
and then just have to account for them. Oh boy,
you mentioned that before. This private investigator Katsif Rodney Katsif,
now he was investigating the uh the.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Uh well, actually a lot more because he was helping
the first suspects on the Lynn Standish case had a
private investigator and later on his attorney hired God Captive okay,
(21:23):
And so he was working on this case of Lynn
Standish and he found there were certain links to Jonathan A.
J's murder or disappearance. We cannot still call it the
murder because the body well never has never been found,
not yet. But yeah, so he he wrote, he made notes,
(21:47):
he made tape recordings. He was I think he was
present at a chefon station owned by Larry craw Crawford too,
a certain liaisonswitch, sheriff Deputy Rick Engels, and Mike Booth.
(22:14):
So he was present there, and he witnessed certain exchanges.
Now and in two thousand and one, he he disappeared
from his house. His daughter was present, and sheriff deputies
took away or some we don't know. Still we don't
(22:37):
know who did it. But all of his stakes, recordings
and note books disappeared from his house.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And it says here too that some of the other
witnesses either killed or disappeared in this in this investigation
or this Lynn Standish case. So so the guy there is,
do you have a suspect in mind who's really behind
this microwave pipe bomb killing of Lynn Standish? Who is
powerful enough to pull off that and start killing witnesses
(23:09):
all over the joint?
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah? No, I think it's multiple people, right, not not
not only one? So Lynn Standish then they investigated that
murder thing. Yeah, and I think it was a lead investigator,
Joseph Holmes was there and they found and Rick Engels
(23:32):
was present. He wrote one of the first supplemental reports.
They found tire tracks leading to Thomas beIN Hinko's house
and Thomas bin Hinkle was a very known, very known
like Lenz POMPEII, very known mess and fetamine distributor. He
(23:53):
had several labs. He managed the labs. He never was
never present there, but he had his own He managed
his own, uh sort of. His is an empire, if
you can call it empire. So if he if he
needed someone to disappear, or someone asked him, can he
(24:13):
get rid of someone? He never did himself. I don't
think he. He may have done with himself. I don't know,
but I think they use certain people to get rid
of others, whether it's a kidnapping murderer, or they use
lie to have murder people decomposed very easily so he
(24:34):
never can find the remains anymore. That is definitely around.
I think they may have hired even tweakers, because people
who are addicted are very very desperate right in a way,
and very unstable. H Maybe, I mean definitely in the
(25:00):
case of Stephen Sawrenson murder that could have happened. Tweakers
for given money, is that he's beat the ship out
of this guy, get rid of him. It's it's an
easy way, right to say, Okay, I'm not involved, I'm
a shareff's deputy, I'm an owner of a business. Why
(25:21):
would I kill someone? Right, I'm clean, So I'm And
you don't believe the tweakers because they always told bullshit.
A tweaker talk it's easy.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
So you're talking about the murder of Japany Stephen Sorensen, right, Luca,
tell us about that one. That's that's the more involved
one here. You got a lot of content on this
guy here.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
So Stephen Sorensen, he came late into the blue world,
so speech. So he's because I think in his thirties
and he came out of the academy and he was
very ambitious, very ambitious guy, self righteous in a way,
you know, and he was very attracted to the position
(26:08):
of resident deputy. He was very well liked in the
area where he became a sheriff in a resident deputy.
It was Lano Lake, Los Angeles, actually, and he stood
up for a lot of minority business owners, you know,
Hispanic business owners, but for everyone he I think he
(26:34):
tries to do an equal job. Son't speak, but he
was not always the like because of his self righteousness.
I mean, that's what his attorney toldhim later. I spoke
to his attorney several a few months ago. So Steven Swillington,
what happened? He was, uh, maybe a year into the job.
(27:02):
He had a loss, and I will come back to
the defamation lost it got good. I will come back
to that. So what happened to him? In August? On
the Saturday morning, he got a call of a disturbance
on a property and apparently that had to do with
(27:26):
someone who is easy there another trespasser about come on,
help me out of the woods. Okay, he disturbance on
the squatter, get squatter. And he had served this guy
already like a burning before about someone called him and
(27:49):
he came over and then further away gunshots were hurt.
He was found uh killed I think a few miles
not a few miles as like a quarter of a
mile further down where his vehicles found m hm. And
(28:12):
they found him these fourteen gun shots and his brain
was not there anymore. They've sorry to use the orbit.
They scooked it out. They was found in a bucket,
So this is sort of an overkill. This is very
this is this is a lot while Why fourteen gunshots
(28:34):
and brains in a bucket? Right, this is this is extreme.
And his patrol car was found near a trailer of
someone who loved the desert. He sort of lift up
the grid. His name was Donald Charles Keck And then
(28:57):
I think about a Seventh Day man hunts and sued
following the journal where his body was found. And then
they found the car and I think Donald Charles kek
was later he was killed by swat teams because he
(29:21):
was found the main suspect of the murder of Stephen Soornson.
Now a homicide detective. Chate some conversations with Donald Kak
and his daughter during the man hunt. They they put
(29:43):
a tape recorder on his daughter's phone just in case
your dad is calling. You know, we need to know
what he's selling him. And he told she has she
asked her father, So he calls, right, Donald, Donald calls
his daughter and and did you kill Deputy Stephen Seoranson?
(30:05):
And he said no. Two tweakers were outside of my trailer.
They did. They took my car his own take. I
tried to get to take from homicide department. I still
haven't governments, but anyway, it's own. Take a couple of.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Questions, a couple of quick questions before you move on.
Is uh with the on your substack? Here the code
of silent substack. You got a bunch of pictures of
this crime scene and some pictures of some dirt roads.
You know what a desolated people should really get to
look at this. Uh, get an idea of what we're
talking about here, and then this when she's talking about
these dwellings. These things are like campers and trailers they are.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Living in, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
All kinds of burned, you know, like fire damage going
out all over the place. And you tell me that.
So they killed it, and they killed the cop here,
and then they move his body fourteen miles.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
No, no, no, a quarter of a mile.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
It's a quarter of a mile.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Quarter quarter of a mile and to the I think
lists So the patrol corners found Sudent's patrol corn of
us found outside of the Donald text trainer, and then
a quarter mile west they found uh Surrenton's body. As
(31:31):
if he was dragged behind a vehicle, so it something
did his arms above his head right is his whists
were tied.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, now I know this is Donald Keck. And there's
there's a picture of Men two once again. If you
go to the Substack the code of Silent Substack, there's
a wanted poster of them. Then there's another Pubert looks
like it's an arrest the photo here, and then there's
a picture of them using like a tank with a
battering ramp to shoot into one of these giants. So
they came down with this l A p D. That's
(32:06):
Los Angeles, came all the way down with this big
giant tank to the UH insert into these buildings.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah, the you know the Sheriff's Department. They the Sheriff's Department,
and UH has a Special Enforcement Bureau and the E
S e V. Then there was their small teams. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Wow. So there's there's a big operation and they went
down and to go.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
After this because it's one of them, right, it's one
of one of the brothers. And during the men hunts
and then they finally found Donald Cook in that pride
in that house and a residence. He was still on
(32:54):
the phone with Holmo Side Detective and Margin lilling Fields
and apparently he confessed to have murdered Now I haven't
hear the tapes. That's what they say he said. That's
what they say he said. There's also a book written
about this by d. N. Stillman. I think it's called
(33:17):
Desert Reckoning. She does a lot of backfound work on
Sorenson and Donald Keeck. You know how they grow up
their childhoods Oh, do they know.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Each other in childhood?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
No? No, no, okay, but they knew each other since
ninety ninety five. I believe during a traffic altercation and
that that was important. But because of that, that's what
Donald Keik said to his daughter on the phone. Digit
(33:52):
was recorded, Dave will never believe me. Dave will never
believe me. Why would he say to his daughter who
asked him, did you kill Deputy Steven Swinson? Why would
he say, no, two teakers did that. They stole my car?
Why would he Why would he come up with that?
(34:15):
And then the second question I have, And not only that,
but the second question, has he he knew they were
going to after him because there was that block between
Steven Sorenson and Donald Keck, Because of the traffic alplication.
(34:36):
He didn't want to have anything to do with law enforcement,
he wrote. Apparently he wrote the letters to the FBI.
Now I did a request to the FBI. They do
have holand on thirty four pages of this case, which
will be released. But my sense is that Donald Keck
(34:58):
was set up. Hm.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
What was the nature of this traffic altercation? Were they
in a car accident together or was he stopped as
a police traffic stop?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
I think he was stopped at the traffic I kind
of remember the name, the exact details about the the
traffic stop.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, and then a sense that Sorenson was afraid for
his life. What was Sorenson afraid of?
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Now that's that's where we get to the defamation, right, No,
that's pretty interesting. So, uh, he was He was killed
in August. But if he go back, he flashed backwards
to January of the year two thousand and three. He
found a the defamation lawsuit against four council members of
(35:44):
Lake Los Angeles because one of them had threatened him.
He she had she what's her name again, Harriman? I
believe surely Harriman. He was they she accused him of
(36:05):
being not not a Nazi, but definitely a corrupt deputy.
It's it's a very long case, and his attorney said
that he felt his life was in danger. Now one
of the council members called him, he was just on
(36:30):
the job, maybe a few days, then maybe a weekend.
He was just on a job. She called him, intimidating
him that she knows the sheriff, she knows certain deputies,
and that everyone always does what she wants. That that's
all in his declaration. I can see in the declaration,
but it's all in there. So she definitely pushed. I mean,
(36:55):
she just unsolicitly, you know, invited herself into his life.
May speak.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Well, these small towns, you know, the city council. You know,
a new cop comes in. You know, that's not that's
not that unusual that they you know that they're pushing
their weight around. But it seems this defamation was Now
he was suing them for defamation. And it looks like
his widow settled this case with the defendants. Do we
(37:26):
know if she got a settlement. Do you know if
she made any money?
Speaker 1 (37:29):
I cannot she did, you mean the council members or
Christine Sawanson.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
The widow the widow, Christine.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I have never you know, I tried to reach her.
It's very very difficult. I don't think she wont talk
to anyone if if she's still with us, so speak.
I know his son because I'm still working on that
to talk to his son, Matthew Swaranson, his adopted son.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Okay, Bob.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
In terms of the law, people know, but that's still
that's still yeah. I have questions about that because one
of the council members had a very close relationship with
two deputies. And these two deputies were older involved, not involved,
but they knew one of the resident deputies. I'm looking
(38:24):
into it's Rick Angels.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Now does Christine Sorenson? Does she still live in that town?
Speaker 1 (38:33):
No, she moved away. I think she's still in language.
She moved out. She sold that house, that resident deputy's house, right,
she sold that in someone and was later interviewed by
the author of that book.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Now, what is the connection here? It says something about
this other deputy, Rick Angles, was connected to the It
was suspected in the.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
On and and and and you know other other What's
that so that Swans and apparently Stephen Swanson kept no
book And this is hearsay. But during one of the
(39:21):
depositions of the Darren Hagar case, and the Darren Hagar
case is uh a disc blower retaliation lawsuits this deputy
filed against Los Angeles Sheriff's departments. Then he was fired
because he found evidence evidence, but he had wire tips
(39:46):
and evidence the certain people were involved in the disappearance
of Sheriff's Deputy Jonathan Algy, but also more because they
they had recorded certain people and they've recorded also in
phone conversations between Summon Thinkle and break Angles and other people.
(40:09):
Now it is believed that Stephen Swanson was murdered, kept
no book on activities of Deputy break Angles. There's no
book was gone as well as disaph was never found.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
And then what would the purpose of that be for
black o purposes? Was he going to cooperate with the
Feds or something trying and get a conviction.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
I don't know. I think perhaps we just study, you know,
And this is the thing, the code of silence. This
is one of your brothers in the in the Sheriff's department.
You know that, right, So you're not going to read
out one of your own even if that person here
or she breaks the law. That's the code of that's
(40:57):
the unwritten code of a moral code of science. And
it's been in police department since what forever, And as
you and I know, that's also in the gangster in
the mafia world, the America Code. Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I I've I know that Brick deputly, Brick
(41:21):
Angels doesn't give any interviews. I've read all his depositions.
He gave his declarations. He gave depositions during the Darren
Hager case. I think he denied so he he was
under investigation of the Internal Internal Crime Bureau of the
(41:44):
Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. He didn't It never came to
an interview, a formal interview. He just left. He never
had to deny anything. He just didn't want to answer
any questions because he knows it's right. So you have
don't have anything on me.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
I leave. But before we get back to this, when
when you're investigating this and you're writing about this, do
you go down to these little towns and visit in person.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Yeah, even after twenty eight, twenty nine years and a
lot some of these properties, like the that e Finem
market that is gone, Yeah, especially areas where where sort
of mind shifts were, you know, where people could easily disappear.
(42:40):
The California aqueducts, you know, right, defl spongeable.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
So when you go down there, do you see indications
of people widespread methamphetamine? Us?
Speaker 1 (42:58):
No, But perhaps I got the wrong time. It's hard
to do. I mean, what I'm supposed to do that's
being there twenty four seven maybe. Do you know two
weeks ago they found human remains at a junkyard not
fear and away from everything else.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
It's amazing, man, It's just and you think this would
be like a nationwide story. You know, everybody what's going
on in these little towns, But this goes on in
a lot of little towns. But when you're driving through
some of these little towns and you just say, man,
what is going on in those little trailers, in those
little houses. You can only imagine the horrifying things that
(43:39):
are going on. People that the women that are trapped
in there they can't get. Local cops are in on it.
You know, it's just one thing after another. Somebody's town
like West Virginia. You drive through some of these towns
when you know the whole town is like one shock
after another with which garbage strewn over every lawn you know,
and anybody see walking down the road all methed out
(44:01):
or heroined out. Necess here too in your article here
on a cote of silence on your sub stack. And
by the way, keep an eye on to this is
all going to be in uh COVID action, COVID Action magazine. Uh.
This guy here, Wayne worked, how does he fit into this?
(44:21):
Donald Kirk's neighbor, Wayne wurts.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
So so who called Stephen Storrington on let's say, the
day of August seconds? Who called him? Now? They were
the neighbors of Donald Pick and researching is further. I
don't know he was called by a woman or a man.
(44:45):
That's just my main thing. But either way, he was
called by the neighbors. And his neighbors were Wayne Wort
and his wife. And Wayne Mort owns an airstrip next
through his property and he rented out that airstrip occasionally.
(45:09):
Now again rebeck to the geographical significance of the area
that's unregulated, un monitored. You have your own airstrip. What
do you think happens during that era? Right the eighties nineties,
drugs going in and out, maybe across borders. I don't know,
(45:33):
supplies formats maybe maybe not, maybe slowly, maybe nothing at all,
who knows. But he did he didn't know that Donaldak
had an issue with Stephen Sowrenson. Okay, could be used
(45:54):
against him, the hot squatter on that property and waynmod
trying to get that squatter out. I've found the files,
the court files. They were destroyed. But apparently Wayne wod
harrested this squatter and the squatter suit this guy. He
(46:14):
wanted the squatter out. Now did the squatterhead did he
see anything? Does he know anything? Okay? So on that day,
Wayne Wood or his wife calls not Rick Engels, who's
actually uh he's a resident debut of Little Rock. Right,
it's very close to Lano. Why call Stephen Sorenson? Why
(46:38):
call Stephen Sorenson on his day off out there? So
that's all give you. So Wayne Ward called Stephen Sorenson
and he comes out there. He's killed. I mean I
(47:01):
cannot interview being worth anymore because he's dead. He flew
one of his planes to Washington and it's crashed. Never
never exploded, by the way, just crashed.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
And yeah, and they discover his body, and did they
find the body?
Speaker 1 (47:20):
I believe so.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Yeah, okay, because it's very rural up there in Washington summer,
I say, here, you got a guy down here in
Meth Country with a private airstrip with a private when
private planes are taken off and landing, and the benefit
to that is you can load whatever you want on
that plane. You're not going through any there's no security
of metal detectives or anything like that. These private asterds.
(47:42):
To just drive up there. Back your truck up, man,
and you'll put whatever, women, whatever, your kids, whatever you
want to put in at the that plane and they
take off and land up and I know the similar
type of airstrip. And I said that stuff works.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Man, seriously, right, I mean yeah, I mean you can
speculate and we can have a opins. I know that.
And this is all hearsay, but yeah, it looks all
too Yeah. Uh, it's way too convenient.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
And it's not like there's a lot of executives, you know,
flying in and out of this little town here for
meetings and conventions and stuff like that that they need
private airstrips. That's just me, just say it.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Just say that, yeah, there without flight logs there's no
one who sees anything. Yeah, no one's that's the cold
of silence too, right. I mean I maybe have witnessed something,
but I don't know anything. I don't know, don't ask me.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Yeah, even at small private airstrips in North Las Vegas
and in Henderson that there are executive airstrips you know
that are pretty well established. They have offices, they have
you know, refueling, all kinds of stuff. Still a lot
of shenanigans go on at these places because it's just
you look the other way. There's a lot of stuff
that goes on at these places, and they just look
(49:04):
the other way, you know.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
Hey, And that's that's I mean, that's more in your
your wheelhouse with the in case case that happens to
flight looks exactly.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
Yeah, so we only got a couple of minutes left
to melt uh larish? What what? What? What haven't I
asked you about this case? That fascinating right with no
hands Gary Devre Now all these other list of dead bodies,
what haven't I asked you? They want the audience to out, well.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
Does anybody care? Yeah, that's just I mean you hinted
on that little earlier it's because it's so long ago,
it's hard to sustain the attention, right, And I keep
going no matter what. This is not to get any publicity.
(49:57):
But if someone knows the the thing, they can contact
you or myself. But that's what this is about, to
get justice full first the dead and the truth because
and and the families of the victims, even though they're
(50:18):
convinced of their own theories, certain people were definitely guilty
of murder of their loved them. But it's it's just
justice fool full for these people.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
Because even even I would have no interest in this
story at all if it weren't for the whole Gary
DeVore angle to it and the writer with no hands
with on so many shows. Otherwise, just another small town
where that's this is what goes on the industry is
drugs and crime. And I just look, Yeah, the local
motorcycle gang. Do they have any connection to the airstrip too,
because that's very common to an North Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
Would absolutely they help one another, I mean likely, Like
you said, in this it's this whole region that's sort
of self managed, right, self police and all of that.
They have their own hierarchy. If you look at the
motorcycle clubs. Then they have their hierarchy. They need to
(51:23):
protect one another, to help one another. It's it's it's
they have their own code of silence. So if they
help the sheriffs definitely on their way, and I mean yeah,
it could be, especially in the northern part of Antelope
Valley current County. Mojave had a chapter and that's where
(51:48):
Gary DeVore traveled through and he stopped at the Danni's
restaurant and one of the Winders the who saw him
last I think her name is Dona Bus. I have
not been able to locate her, but I'm still on
it because there is a relation to Mike Booth, who
(52:08):
had connections at the time. This, Larry Crawford, Rick Engels,
Thomas Hinkle, the mass distributors. Yeah, who'll be no witnesses.
Camera was dysfunct. This is it. Cameras are always not working,
either their dummies or they're just uh ripped off the wall.
(52:33):
He was at the Bone Place Bone time, he witnessed stuff.
He was kidnapped and murdered.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
Mel Eloys, you got to keep us updated on SS.
You'd start digging up more bodies down there in Antelope Valley. Okay,
check out Code of Silence, Substack for more of Melylus,
and check out the Covert Action This is will be
coming up in coverd Action and we think in November
and the Covert Action Episode Edition Covert Action Magazine. Melley Lush,
(52:59):
thank you so much help and for revingly. Good night
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