Some re-examined the evidence from the Mischelle Lawless murder

Editor's note: In the beginning of 2006, Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter reopened a case resolved by Missouri courts in 1994. Unconvinced the right man was sent to prison for the murder of a Benton, Mo., college student named Angela Mischelle Lawless, Walter has been investigating old evidence. In less than two months, a judge will determine whether there is enough evidence to retry the case. This is the last of three stories detailing old and new aspects of the case.

By Bridget DiCosmo

Southeast Missourian

In 1997, private investigator Jim Sullins was working on a case in Jackson, when he pulled his car into a small barbecue joint on U.S. 61 and stopped in for a bite.

One of the waitresses caught his eye as he sat down and picked up a menu.

"She looked to me like someone who had just lost every friend she'd ever had," Sullins recalled in an interview with the Southeast Missourian.

Sullins followed her as she headed toward the kitchen with a tray laden with food. He asked her what was wrong. She explained that her only son was currently in prison for murder, and that he was innocent of the crime. Sullins, thinking he could help, explained what he did and handed her one of his business cards before leaving the restaurant.

Weeks later, Joan Kezer walked into his rented office on North Kingshighway in an old bottling company. She carried a box of documents. She asked Sullins to investigate Joshua C. Kezer's second-degree murder conviction for the 1992 slaying of Angela Mischelle Lawless.

Back then, Sullins, previously a sheriff's deputy, handled a lot of workers' compensation-type cases. His resume includes some military police experience, but his career as a private investigator began at the age of 16 when a boss of his asked him to follow some people who had made conflicting statements. The only problem was, Sullins joked, he had no car.

When he took on Kezer's case in August 1997, he spent the first several months attempting to prove Kezer's involvement in the murder of the 19-year-old college student.

He says he couldn't. In fact, he found that he couldn't prove Kezer had been in the state at the time. Multiple family members in Kankakee, Ill., remembered seeing him the night of Nov. 7, 1992, less than two hours before Lawless was murdered.

In just a few months, the case began to frustrate Sullins more than any case he'd ever worked.

None of the typical elements, such as motive, were present, he said.

Eventually, he packaged up what he had gathered and turned over "about 50 pounds of paperwork" to then-governor Mel Carnahan's office,

Sullins didn't hear anything else about the investigation until 2004, when he was contacted by Jane Williams, a social worker who'd taken an interest in Kezer's case. She asked him to take another look.

A new friend seeks help

Unlike Sullins' experience with Joan Kezer, it wasn't Josh Kezer's despair that caught Williams' attention.

It was his devotion.

She was working as a volunteer at a religious service at Jefferson City Correctional Center when she noticed him deep in prayer, as though he didn't care who was watching. She learned that he was serving a 60-year sentence for second-degree murder and that he claimed he was innocent.

The two became friends. Mostly, they talked about family and faith. Jane Williams noticed that Kezer rarely brought up the reason he was in prison, so finally she asked.

He agreed to let her look at the trial transcripts.

After reading the case, Jane Williams sought help. She carted a box containing the whole case to various law offices.

In October 2006, she received a letter from Charles Weiss, a lawyer with the Bryan Cave law firm in St. Louis. He agreed to take the case pro bono.

Kezer and Jane Williams were discussing Weiss' involvement and some new leads dug up by Sullins during a 2006 visit when Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter showed up at the prison, requesting to talk with Kezer.

A different story emerges

Like the previous sheriff, Bill Ferrell, Walter keeps a picture of Kezer under the glass of his desk at the Scott County Sheriff's office, but Walter had never met Kezer until that visit, when he told him he'd re-opened the case.

Walter hired detective Branden Caid to work on the case full-time.

The following year, Caid discovered that Mark Abbott, a witness whose testimony put Kezer in the vicinity of the crime scene minutes after Lawless' death and whose story changed several times in various statements given to investigators, told a different version in 1997 to narcotics officer Bill Bohnert of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, according to statements given by Bohnert.

Bohnert interviewed Abbott in the Perry County Jail, where Abbot was held on federal charges for manufacturing methamphetamine.

Bohnert said Abbott offered up new information about the Lawless homicide, hoping for leniency in his drug case.

He allegedly told Bohnert that he saw Kevin Williams, a friend of his, commit the murder. According to Bohnert, Abbott said Kevin Williams had been having an affair with Lawless and she claimed she was pregnant with his child.

According to Bohnert's deposition, Kevin Williams wanted to talk with her that night and try to calm her down, and Abbott said they followed her in her car, Bohnert said.

Abbott said he flashed his lights from behind and Lawless pulled over.

According to Abbott's statement, she and Kevin Williams argued for a short time, then Abbott said he heard gunshots, Bohnert said.

Kevin Williams took off on foot toward the Ferrell Mobile Home Sales lot, according to Bohnert's statement. Abbott said he reported the homicide and later swung back round to pick up Kevin Williams, Bohnert said.

In an interview with the Southeast Missourian, Bohnert said he reported the information to the lead investigator on the case, at the urging of Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

He was told they already had a conviction in the case and it would not be re-opened, he said.

In letters to the Southeast Missourian, Abbott denied making the statement to Bohnert.

Kevin Williams said at the time his wife, Terri, knew he saw other women and an affair would not have been a strong enough motive for him to commit murder.

Kevin Williams said he never met Lawless. He said the night of the murder, he and Terri were at a Christmas party in Commerce, Mo. He said they saw Abbott that night at the party. Kevin Williams had considered leaving when Abbott left, but his wife insisted he stay, and they later left together and went straight home, they said.

Witnesses come forward

Physical evidence in the case suggested a struggle occurred on the grassy embankment outside of Lawless' 1986 Buick Somerset, though she was shot three times in the car. DNA found under her fingernails was recently retested using updated techniques. Kezer was excluded as a potential donor for any of the physical evidence in the case, including fingerprints, according to documents.

Investigators never recovered a murder weapon. Since 2006, Walter has been made repeated requests to the Missouri State Highway Patrol to perform ballistics tests on a .380-caliber bullet recovered from a 1994 Southeast Missouri homicide case, but the patrol has refused, Walter said.

The murder weapon was never found in the 1994 homicide case either, but Walter said he's heard rumors that the same gun may have been used in both killings. He'd like to compare the bullets recovered from the Lawless murder with the ones in that case. The ballistics reports from both cases show similar land and groove markings, he said.

Another man gave a statement to Kezer's attorneys implicating Abbott, saying they were at a fishing cabin together when the conversation turned to Lawless' murder.

Mark Abbott told him they had the wrong person in jail, the witness said, according to an affidavit.

When asked how he knew, he said he "took care of her," the statement said.

The witness said he reported the incident to Ferrell, but he was told the case was closed. Ferrell could not be reached for comment.

Another witness came forward and gave statements to both the Scott County Sheriff's department and Kezer's attorney saying she heard Kevin Williams say the wrong person was in prison.

Williams then described taking Lawless to one of the trailers in the Ferrell Trailer Sales Lot, along with Mark Abbott, the witness stated.

According to the statement, Kevin Williams said Abbott killed the girl when things got rough in the trailer.

A third witness gave a statement saying he and his wife were in the car with Kevin Williams shortly after Kezer's conviction when the subject of the Lawless murder came up. When they drove past the Ferrell Trailer Sales lot, Kevin Williams allegedly said that was where it all started. He implicated Abbott, and said the owner of the trailer, Lawless, and another man were there, the witness said. The same witness stated that Mark and his twin brother Matt Abbott had both dated Lawless.

Witnesses' names have been withheld to protect them from retaliation.

Kevin Williams said in an interview with the Southeast Missourian he never made statements about the murder to anyone.

Matt Abbott said neither he nor his brother had ever met Lawless.

Both Matt Abbott and Kevin Williams say they have voluntarily supplied DNA samples and have offered to take polygraphs.

Matt Abbott said it's possible his brother and Kevin Williams could have made the statements, but chalked it up to bravado and showing off.

All three men have said they are unsure that Kezer actually committed the murder.

"If that boy's innocent, I don't want him in there," said Kevin Williams.

Judge to hear evidence

Meanwhile, Kezer continues to fight for his freedom.

He has learned to forgive, he said, but it's not a one-shot deal. Every day is a struggle.

He has maintained his absolute innocence since his arrest.

In June, a judge will hear new evidence in the case and eventually rule on whether the conviction should be tossed or a new trial held.

Kezer said he knows the true victim in the case remains Lawless, and he never wants anyone to lose sight of that.

"I was brought into this as involuntarily as she was," he said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245

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