The Castaway - Chapter 6

I was anxious to get the original police reports from Oceanside PD and start working on the Rebecca Novell case. I called ahead and asked for copies of the reports to be made and then I scheduled an appointment with one of their detectives. I needed to inform Oceanside PD that one of their runaways was located in our county and appeared to be a murder victim. It was a professional courtesy thing.

When I arrived at Oceanside PD, I was met by one of the detectives and handed a copy of the original runaway report from 1986. It was a thin report, about 5 pages, which is never a good way to start a murder investigation. That meant there wasn't a lot of work done on this case originally.

The detective who gave me the report was nice enough to sit down and talk to me about it, but she didn't have much to add. 21-years-ago when this report was taken she was a high school kid herself. She had no personal knowledge of the case. While we were talking, a man entered the room and identified himself as the Administrative Lieutenant for Oceanside PD. He thanked me for bringing this case to their attention and then he asked me how long it would take to gather all of my notes and files and hand them over. I said, "Excuse me?" The lieutenant then advised me that Oceanside PD would be taking over the murder investigation, since Rebecca Novell was originally reported missing from their jurisdiction.

I smiled and politely explained that it would be a cold day in Hell before he relieved me of this case. I told him I had way too much time and energy invested in this case over the last four years to simply hand it over. We agreed to disagree and I left with my 5 page report in hand. My administration would have to confer with the administration from Oceanside PD and decide who was going to handle the case. When I returned to Riverside I spoke to my Captain and strongly relayed my opinion about losing this case. He backed me up but the decision would be made further up the chain of command. In the mean time the case was put on hold and I was told not to take any further actions.

I sat down and read the 5-page runaway report. I learned that Rebecca Novell was reported by her mother, Patty Novell, upon being released from county jail in September of 1986. Patty was a drug-addicted prostitute in Oceanside and she had been in jail for the past two months. She told the reporting officer that she did not know where her teenage daughter was and she wanted help in locating her. Patty told the officer that Rebecca had been staying with a friend from school because Patty didn't want her daughter to be exposed to Patty's lifestyle. Patty gave the officer the name of the friend, Kelly Pierson, but she did not have an address or phone number.

According to the report, the officer did nothing to follow up the information himself. He wrote the report as a "missing juvenile" and forwarded it to the Detectives for follow-up. The case wasn't picked up by a Detective until two months later in November 1986. The Detective attempted to locate Patty Novell but there was no address or phone number for contact. The Detective went to the local high school and attempted to contact some of Rebecca's friends, but he didn't obtain any relevent information. The Detective then changed the report from a "missing juvenile" to a "runaway" without any further explaination. He entered Rebecca's name into the national computer database as a runaway and he suspended the case.

The next entry in the Oceanside Police report was written a year later in July of 1987. The same Detective that handled the case a year ago wrote that Patty Novell had written two letters from county jail asking if anyone had located her daughter yet. The Detective wrote that he would conduct further investigation into Rebecca's disappearance when Patty Novell was released from jail and could provide more information. The next entry from the same Detective indicated that Patty Novell never contacted him after getting out of jail, so he closed the case.

I was becoming more and more angry as I read the police report. How in Hell do you close a report on a missing person when the person hasn't been located yet? Especially when the person is a child with no parental support? There was no indication that Oceanside PD even identified the friend that Rebecca was staying with or where she lived.

The next entry in the police report was written 2 years later. This entry was made by another Detective with Oceanside PD. It was only 3 sentences long. The first sentence was that he was assigned to review the case. The second sentence was that he ran Rebecca's name in the computer and confirmed she was still missing. The third sentence was that Patty Novell could not be located to provide additional information. The case status was then changed from "closed" to "suspended" and it was put back on the shelf.

The next entry in the police report was in September of 1989, three years after Rebecca was first reported missing. Patty Novell was calling from Long Beach and she wanted an update on the status of her daughter's case. The Detective taking this phone call had not previously been involved in this case and was not familiar with Patty or Rebecca. He immediately asked Patty why she waited 3 years to inquire about her missing daughter. Patty told him that she had been strung out on methamphetamine for years and her memory was very poor. She told the Detective that she was now clean and sober and she was trying to locate her daughter.

The Detective met with Patty and obtained an old photograph of Rebecca. He then went to a dentist office in Oceanside where Rebecca once had x-rays taken. He obtained Rebecca's x-rays and submitted them into the national database with Rebecca's photo. Then the Detective wrote that Patty disappeared again, so he suspended the case and put it back on the shelf.

The next entry in the Oceanside PD report was made in February 2000, fourteen years after Rebecca had been reported missing. The Detective making this entry wrote that Rebecca was still in the system as a runaway. He wrote that attempts were made to locate and interview Patty Novell, but the phone numbers and addresses were no longer valid. This was the last entry in the police report and the last action that Oceanside PD ever took in this case.

I was furious about the lack of investigation given to this case by Oceanside PD. There was no excuse for such laziness and incompetence. This 13-year-old child was reported missing to the police but nobody bothered to look for her. Somebody raped her, murdered her, and dumped her body on a remote hillside and nobody knew about it for over twenty years. She deserved better than this. She deserved a better mother. She deserved a better police investigation. It was too late for me to save Rebecca, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let Oceanside PD take this case back and try to redeem themselves now. They had their chance, many times over.

Within the next two days I received two phone calls. The DNA match was confirmed, the bones of Janie Doe were a positive match to Rebecca Novell. And my Sheriff told the Chief of Police in Oceanside to go pound sand. The case was staying with me.

The first thing I did was go to the computer and try to find the elusive Patty Novell who Oceanside Detectives had such a hard time locating for so many years. It took me about 3 minutes to find her current address in downtown San Diego.

I immediately jumped into my car and headed to San Diego. I was anxious to meet this woman. I wanted to look her in the face and ask her why she abandoned her daughter 21 years ago. I wanted to ask her why she chose methamphetamine over caring for her own child. The photographs of Rebecca's bones were on the seat next to me. I glanced over at them and wondered if Patty would show any remorse when I put them on the table in front of her. I thought to myself, "This bitch better cry."

My hands began to ache and I realized that I was gripping the steering wheel with all of my frustration. I took a deep breath and tried to relax.

I pulled up in front of the address in San Diego and looked at the front of the building. I shook my head as I looked at the sign over the door. I don't know why I was surprised. "Salvation Army Women's Shelter."

"I guess she hasn't changed much." I said as I grabbed the photos and headed for the door.