Leads continue in disappearance of Brooks
FREDERICKTOWN — As he spoke of the investigation into the 1989 disappearance of Gina Dawn Brooks late Thursday morning, Sheriff David Lewis received a call from a municipal police department in St. Louis County about the case. Hours earlier, he had been given another tip and said both would be followed up in detail.
“We work on it everyday,” the Madison County sheriff said, “and as you can see we continue to get information regularly.”
Lewis said he had been informed some time ago that prosecutors were going to dismiss the first-degree murder and kidnapping charges filed against Nathan Danny Williams nearly five years ago and he is not discouraged by that decision. He agrees with the decision by Prosecuting Attorney M. Dwight Robbins and Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Farrell, not because he thinks Williams is innocent, but because if there is a problem with getting a conviction now he does not want to jeopardize the case.
“If you read the press release,” Lewis said, “you can see it is not over for him (Williams).”
Robbins, in the press release announcing dismissal of the charges, suggested they could be refiled at any point when the ongoing investigation indicates they could secure a conviction of the people responsible.
Lewis was a member of the Fredericktown Police Department when the 13-year-old girl disappeared while riding her bicycle on the night of Aug. 9, 1989. He has been involved in the investigation since it began, as has Fredericktown Police Chief Keith DeSpain. In fact, he said, every law enforcement officer in the county was involved because “there was plenty for everybody to do.”
There have been thousands of leads and scores of interviews since the girl disappeared. There also have been dozens of searches conducted as authorities tried to locate the girl or her remains.
“Well, I am patient and I think it will all come to light,” Lewis said. “It might be just one telephone call that will provide the key piece of information. That is the way a lot of big cases are broken.”
The Sheriff’s Department and Fredericktown Police Department are still working very closely with the FBI on the investigation, Lewis said. “This investigation has taken thousands of man hours and it is not over yet. It didn’t stop with his (Williams) arrest. It will continue until we solve this case.”
Since the arrest of Williams in 1998, the investigators have obtained and executed several search warrants. Like others involved in the investigation, Lewis will not discuss details, but said some leads have helped and many of them have led them nowhere.
The sheriff said he and all the investigators involved are going to work with any agency that can give them a substantial lead or help them with the investigation.
Lewis is not a callous lawman, but admits he believes Gina was murdered and her body disposed of in the area of St. Louis. Even more bothersome to him is his belief that the remains will probably never be recovered. Their recovery would help in prosecution of those responsible, but more important to him is that it would provide a degree of closure for Gina’s family.
To his knowledge, Lewis said, no part of the state’s evidence has changed since Williams was charged other than more has been gathered. The press release indicated “new developments” prompted the decision to dismiss the charges. It did not state the developments involved the prosecution’s evidence.
“I am in full agreement with the prosecutors,” Lewis said. “I don’t want to see them take the case to trial unless they are confident they can get a conviction. If he were acquitted now and new evidence develops, he could not be charged again because of the double-jeopardy doctrine.”
Williams is not going anywhere, Lewis pointed out. “He is serving a 30-year sentence without the possibility of parole. We are not under any pressure from the standpoint of time.”
Williams is serving time for a conviction in St. Louis in connection with the statutory rape of a young girl. That occurred within months of when Gina disappeared in Fredericktown.
Williams denies any involvement in the disappearance and murder of Brooks. At one point he told a St. Louis newspaper columnist, “I’ve never even been to Fredericktown.”
As he was being led from the Madison County Courthouse after his preliminary hearing in 1999, Williams told reporters, “I didn’t kill anybody.”
The director of capital litigation for the Missouri Public Defender’s Office said Wednesday she agrees with the action taken that day by the prosecutors. “This is the right thing to do.”
Kraft also said, “My heart goes out to Gina’s family. I know that these 13 years have been very difficult for them, but Danny did not do this, and we are happy that the charges have been dropped.”
In an interview on radio stations KTJJ and KREI, Gina’s mother said Thursday she understands and agrees with the action taken by the prosecutors. She indicated she still believes Williams is guilty, but does not want to risk an acquittal at this point in time.
“It is like a big puzzle and you have to have every piece in its proper place,” Cindy Box said of the prosecution’s effort to build a case.
If it takes more time, Box said, then that is what the prosecutors and investigators should do. She has confidence in them and believes they will eventually come up with a conviction.
Box also said she appreciates everything the FBI, Sheriff’s Department and the Fredericktown Police Department have done. She is also very appreciative of the fact they have kept her informed of developments in the case before they were made public through the media.
The latest development, she admits, is upsetting but over the past 13 years there have been many times when a new development has caused such pain. They stir memories and emotions, but that is to be expected. She said her family, church and community have been very supportive.
At the 1999 preliminary hearing for Williams evidence was presented to support the contention that Gina was kidnapped while riding her bicycle. Residents testified about hearing screams and seeing an old station wagon leave the neighborhood. Her bicycle was found on the lawn of one residence.
The most damning testimony for Williams came from a former St. Louis County man who testified he had seen Williams and another man in an old station wagon at Silver Mines Park near Fredericktown on the night Gina disappeared. The man said there was also a young girl in the vehicle.
That same man also testified that Williams told him while drinking in a St. Louis County bar that he had cut Gina’s throat and buried her body in the vicinity of the old Chain of Rocks Bridge in northern St. Louis County. Authorities said there have been three major floods since Gina disappeared and the remains could have been washed away.
The investigation focused on Williams after a St. Louis detective learned of an alleged deathbed statement made by Bryant Squires, the man reportedly with Williams the night the girl disappeared. In the statement, Squires allegedly said he and Williams kidnapped the girl and took her back to the St. Louis area where Williams killed her. Because there were no police present when the statement was allegedly made, sources explained, it cannot be considered a “dying declaration” and thus is not admissible as evidence in court. Only health care providers reportedly heard the statement.
Those involved in the investigation, including Lewis, will not talk about any of the evidence nor discuss details about the case. But the sheriff repeatedly said the investigation is not over by any means and will not be over until there is a conviction.
In the meantime, Lewis is waiting for that one crucial telephone call that might provide the key link needed to break the case. He is confident it will come.
