Police (in)Action in the Murder of John Spira
December 19,2009 Merry Christmas
Nearly 3 years have passed since my brother, John Spira, was murdered. To date we have been unable to find him. Though time has passed, it has not served to heal our wounds but rather deepened our anger and frustration knowing that the people responsible for his brutal murder (is murder anything other than brutal?) are free to live their lives and go about their business with no repercussions whatsoever. And of course, how can these gaping wounds close when we still don’t know where John is and how he died. Was he tortured, left for dead, stabbed, shot, did he beg for his life, did he suffer? The various scenarios of his death are left swirling in our imaginations until we know the truth.
The more that time passes the easier it is for us to see that the police dropped the ball in John’s case and thus the reason no arrests have been made. Police indifference to John’s case began first when they refused to take a missing person’s report from John’s girlfriend of two years (Suzanne, John’s wife with whom he was going through a nasty divorce refused to report him missing for nearly 48 hours). The police then did a cursory inspection of John’s business, they did bring dogs, but did not venture out of the vicinity of the business where his business partner of 17 years, David Stubben was the last to see John alive. The police then collectively immediately and arrogantly concluded, based on statements from both Suzanne and David Stubben, that John probably disappeared voluntarily. Yes, the police chose to listen to John’s wife who, according to John at dinner a week before he disappeared, had lived only to make his life “a living hell” (John’s exact words to me) and with the knowledge that John and Suzanne had been going through a nasty divorce during which time Suzanne got 2 DUI’s. The police also chose to listen to David Stubben, the business partner with whom John had been having serious financial difficulties for quite some time and who was very angry with John and, don’t forget, the last person to see John alive. During the divorce John did not want Suzanne discussing the matter with Dave and nearly obtained a restraining order against her to prevent her from doing so. Yet, days after John went missing, Dave went over to John’s house to shovel snow for Suzanne. Nevertheless, based on their statements, the police told me very callously over the phone, on March 29, 2007, a mere 5 weeks after John’s murder, that they were done with their investigation; they’ve done all they could and I’m on my own. Yes, I was stunned and devastated by that. It wasn’t until I wrote Sheriff Zaruba a letter about the situation that Dupage County Sheriff’s Dept., “took over” the case, whatever that means.
On March 3, 2007, when I learned of the availability of search dogs I begged the police to utilize but they would not and the search teams will not go out unless the police invite them. I found out about pinging of John’s cell phone and as late as September Mark Edwalds was still arguing with me over their significance. Why didn’t he just contact the cell phone company to see what the significance is? Despite my requests, the police never tried to listen to messages on John’s cell phone. They never investigated jobs that UCC was at with their UNDERGROUND CABLE EQUIPMENT. They did not try to ping David Stubben’s cell phone to determine his whereabouts on the night of 2/23/07 nor would they after requested to do so. I asked Major Mark Edwalds what they were doing with the case in May of 07. He replied they were “investigating”. I asked him what that meant and he said that they were reviewing the file to make sure St. Charles did everything correctly-Huh? (St. Charles was the agency handling initially who kept asking Dupage to take over because that’s where John went missing from). They were still convinced John left voluntarily despite my telling them over and over and over and over that John would never, ever leave his life. Was it because they simply didn’t want to spend the money or was it simply arrogance? I don’t know but I do know that the only time the police have ever actively done anything on John’s behalf was when they finally took a missing persons report and when I had organized a search or other event and thus were shamed into action by the threat of media attention. It took the police 5 months to discuss the case with John’s girlfriend of 2 years. It took them 5 months to collect and submit John’s DNA to the database; it took the police 5 months to inspect the gun safe in John’s house despite my earlier requests. They still to date have never verified Dave Stubben’s alibi and never did question his wife. Now, of course, it’s too late for that.
Then there was the fire of John’s building and disappearance of his missing poster on September 16, 2007. The 2 separate agencies handling John’s missing person case and the fire didn’t seem to communicate with each other. I was told that they did communicate but the fire people sure didn’t seem to know or want to know much about the missing person’s case. The fire investigators never contacted me to discuss the missing persons case and the times that I tried to explain the facts of the matter to them, I was met with arrogance, ego and attitude. They didn’t want to hear that at the time the sign went up right across the street from John and David Stubben’s business, employees (maybe Dave?) watched the sign go up; they didn’t care to know that just a few weeks prior, Tim Miller, with Texas Equasearch had called and left David Stubben several voice mails requesting his assistance in the search for John, they weren’t interested in the fact that just days earlier I had left Dave a very accusatory message regarding his involvement in my brother’s murder to which Dave never responded. The fact that the firemen couldn’t go near the building during the fire because too many bullets were going off didn’t seem to have any consequence either. And then there’s the fact that the sign went up at night on Friday with people from John’s business watching, not helping just watching and then by Sunday it was nowhere to be found and the building burnt down. How many people within that short time period could’ve seen the sign? How many people within that short time frame who were involved in John’s murder could have known the sign was there? Did the DuPage fire investigators really investigate the fire to see if remnants of the sign were in the building? I did ask about that and they quickly dismissed it but from what I know, I highly doubt they ever took the time to look into it. They never were able to determine the cause but isn’t it obviously suspicious where the fire of John’s building happened at the same time the huge billboard we posted across the street disappeared? Apparently not to DuPage County’s finest.
I’ve been told over and over again by the Sheriff’s Dept that they are investigating, that they talk about the case all the time. Talking and investigating, to my mind, are 2 completely different actions. While I do believe there are officers who sincerely want to help, they are at the mercy of an agency that really doesn’t give a shit and finds this case to be a thorn in their side. Every time I hear of a new missing persons case and see the police actively involved, requesting the public’s help in searches, communicating with family members, issuing press releases, contacting other agencies for assistance, I get weak in the knees and butterflies in my stomach from the anger I have toward the police in John’s case who have never taken an active role in this situation without being pressured into it. I believe they have been not only completely arrogant but negligent. I recently contacted the IL state’s attorney’s office and again was met with attitude. The attorney I spoke with clearly had spoken to Dupage after I left my message because he was nothing but a parrot. It took him over a week to return my call.
This is much longer than I intended and though I do not believe anyone reads this blog anymore I wanted to post the following table showing the similarities in the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of John, Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic and the differences in how the various police agencies have handled. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I could write a book, and maybe I will…
And just as soon as I figure out how to post my table, I will. In the meantime, if Dave, Suzanne or the police would like to make any corrections, additions or comments to this post, I anxiously invite them to do so.