I was just a couple of week into my new job as a Whidbey News-Times reporter in 1997 when I heard that a 7-year-old girl named Deborah Palmer had disappeared on her way to school. Newspaper photographer Jim Davidson and I someone stumbled out way into her mother’s apartment that afternoon. It was a scene I will never forget. I was extremely uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do or ask. Madeline Palmer was nearly hysterical. Her cute little son didn’t know what was going on, but was excited by all the activities and climbed all over his mother. A number of family members and friends were gathered around, speaking in hushed voices.
The News-Times staff rushed to put out a special section on Deborah’s disappearance. Five days later, Oak Harbor was crawling with TV news vans as word spread that someone had found the little girl’s body on a beach. Some days later, I attended Deborah’s open casket funeral and a large community memorial service in a gymnasium. It was the kind of events that make a big impact on a young reporter.
But not a lot happened after that, at least from my perspective. There were a few false alarms over the years, but nobody was ever fingered for the terrible crime. I wrote dozens of stories saying that the investigation was stymied and that the police need the public’s help. About six months after the murder, the former police chief told the News-Times and a number of other newspapers that he was irritated that many people in the community seemed to have forgotten what had happened.
I’m not sure there was apathy about the crime in Oak Harbor. I think many people were genuinely haunted by the crime. But it also seems that a lot of people made assumptions about what happened and they think they know who killed the little girl. Rumors still circulate around the city. We’ve received many letters over the years that cast blame for the crime. Some people think the police bumbled the case since the answer is so obvious.
Without repeating the rumors, let me point out a few facts: The coroner said Deborah Palmer probably didn’t die the same day she went missing. Her family didn’t own a car. Her body was found on a remote beach many miles away. The police have looked into the rumors that connect the murder with a drug deal. The police are looking at touch DNA technology, which probably would only be successful if a stranger was identified.
Now that Detective Teri Gardner has restarted the case, I’ve been combing my old crime stories, looking for anyone who seems capable of killing a little girl. Looking back over the last 13 years, it’s shocking how many people in little ol’ Oak Harbor have been prosecuted for crimes against children. There’s even cases in which men victimized grade-school girls of Filipino descent. One of the most horrific cases of child pornography occurred in an Oak Harbor trailer park. James and Tracey Wright create their own child pornography with their own children, including an infant, as well as other people’s kids. The FBI found photos on their computer of James Wright raping his baby. They even invited a friend from Everett to molest their children. They shared the images on the Internet. They were all convicted of child-porn charges in federal court. James Wright was sentenced to just 15 years in prison, which he unsuccessfully appealed. The details of the court case are at http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/373/935/474208.
The point, I think, is that the list of possible scenarios and suspects is immense and nobody should assume they know what goes on behind closed doors, even in a place like Whidbey Island.