by Ron Bartels, Ph.D.

 

Is This Letter The Smoking Gun?

 

On June 23rd, 2009, I received a copy of a letter written by H.G. Foster, former prosecutor in Conway, Arkansas.  The letter was written to Former Searcy County Arkansas Municipal Judge Jerry Patterson on August 26, 1991.  The document could well be the smoking gun needed to reopen this cold case murder, which was recently closed by Judge Charles E. Clausen on June 8th, 2009. 

 

The letter is just one of over 6,400 documents being reviewed by Ron Ward, Janie’s grief-stricken father.  The letter is from special prosecutor Tim William’s investigative files.  The files were recently opened to the public in June.  Apparently, not enough care was given to the case file.  It is difficult to imagine that important documents were overlooked.  Could important pieces of evidence be purposely disregarded?  This question needs an answer.

 

Of course we know that the Judge closed the file but what we do not know is whether ALL the evidence was considered in this case.  Justice Times will stay on this case as there is a lot of additional evidence to be reviewed.  We have more documents in possession with more to come.  Justice must be served, even if powerful interests need to be called to account.

 

The victim was 16 year old Janie Ward.  Her death occurred September 9, 1989, almost 20 years ago. According to witnesses, the perpetrator was the daughter of Judge Jerry Patterson in Marshall, Arkansas.  There are many folks who say this crime is just one big cover up.  In any case, the Judge’s daughter was alleged to have been a witness to the death of Janie Ward.

 

The letter from Foster to Patterson says, “Enclosed please find additional material which was furnished to me by the Arkansas State Police and appears to have something to do with the Janie Ward case.”

 

“It appears that this will be included within the State Police file and will become FOI at that point.  I feel certain that Ron Ward will call the newspapers and make everyone aware of these clearly unsubstantiated allegations concerning your daughter.”

 

“I wanted you to have this material before any of the press got hold of it and give you an opportunity to share your thoughts with me about what I need to do, if anything, with it.”

 

“It is my inclination at this point that it would be best to go ahead and furnish copies of this material to the press so as to defuse any allegations that will subsequently be made by Ronnie Ward of a cover-up.  On the other hand, I’m not going to do anything with it unless and until I hear from you.”

 

“Let me know what you think I need to do.”

 

Sincerely,

 

H. G. Foster

 

The file is stamped;

Sp. Pros. Atty. 20th Judicial Dist.

Olivia Jane Ward, Deceased

Investigative File,

Page Number 1053

 

This case has a lot of unanswered questions:

 

1.  Should H. G. Foster, in his capacity as prosecuting attorney, decided to disclose to Judge Patterson, whose daughter was considered a person of interest, information that was not yet included in the official file?

 

2.  Why did H. G. Foster withhold this additional material from the official file and then ask Judge Patterson to share his thoughts? 

 

3.  Would H. G. Foster have covered-up the additional interview material if Judge Patterson had requested him to do so?

 

4.  Why did H. G. Foster say, “I’m not going to do anything with it unless and until I hear from you.”

 

5.  Are those documents in the 6,400 pages?

 

6.  Did H. G. Foster hear from Judge Patterson?

 

7.  Why did H. G. Foster, approximately 20 months prior to the letter above, on January 18th, 1990, say, “All the investigative leads have been exhausted.” 

 

8.  Why did H. G. Foster agree with Investigator Beach that the case needed to be closed?”

 

9.  Did Judge Patterson communicate with H. G. Foster regarding the letter above?

 

10.  Would this type of communication be collisional on the part of both Judge Patterson and H. G. Foster?

 

11.  What other communications took place between Judge Patterson and H. G. Foster, who obviously were one a first name basis?

 

12.  Was Judge Charles E. Clausen given all the evidence?

 

13.  Is this just more organized corruption in the 20th Judicial District?

 

14.  Is it time for the voters to clean house in the 20th Judicial District?

 

One very interesting statement, made by Special Prosecuting Attorney, Tim Williamson, Mena, Arkansas, is “The overwhelming forensic and medical data collected in this case does not indicate Olivia Jane Ward was a victim of homicide.” 

 

15.  Why did Williamson make this claim, in his November 5th letter, when the Janie Ward’s first autopsy showed upper spinal cord and neck injuries?

 

16.  How does Williamson account for the sand and gravel present in Janie’s under garments?

 

17.  How does Williamson explain Janie’s soaking wet body?

 

18.  How does Williamson explain the two-hour time delay before the first responders were called in?

 

19.  What was really taking place with Janie’s body during that period of time?

 

20.  Was she drug behind a car during that 2 hour period?

 

21.  Was she hosed off in a local car wash before the first responders were called?

 

22.  Why did Williamson hired an Indiana forensic pathologist, Dr. John Pless to do the 3rd autopsy?

 

23.  Was the 3rd autopsy goal oriented?

 

24.  How could the 3rd autopsy conclude that 16 year old Janie Ward could have died of a heart abnormality or by chocking on a foreign object?

 

25.  How could Dr. Pless ignor the severe damage to Janie Ward’s upper spine and neck areas?

 

26.  How did Dr. Pless account for Janie Ward’s severed spinal cord?

 

27.  How could Dr. Pless make such different findings than were made by Dr. Harry Bonnell of San Diego, California who performed the second autopsy?  (Dr. Bonnell concuded that Janie Ward was killed.)

 

28.  How much evidence is being overlooked or hidden in the Janie Ward Case?

 

28.  If this is a cover-up for the benefit of a local judge’s daughter, does this apparent willingness to cover-up a major crime extend to the Pamela Faye Felkins case?  (The prosecutor was the same H. G. Foster.)

 

29.  Why won’t the current sheriff and prosecutor on the Pamela Faye Felkins case bring her case to trial?

 

30. Is this a pattern that has developed, to improperly handle certain major crimes in the 20th Judicial District?

 

31.  How will the evidence in the Pamela Faye Felkins Case be presented?

 

32.  Sheriff Byrd has adnitted he has NOT sent the bloody mattress, recovered by the F.B.I. evidence recovery team, to the Arkansas crime lab.  Why won’t Sheriff Byrd send the mattress to the crime lab?  Is he afraid of whose DNA is on the bloody mattress?  Will the DNA on the mattress match the DNA taken from Pamela’s body?

 

33.  Why won’t the current prosecutor, Marcus Vaden, order Sheriff Byrd to send the bloody mattress to the Arkansas Crime lab?

 

34.  Is there a group of officials operating in the 20th Judicial District, who are organized in such a way as to cover-up certain crimes?  Are these organized criminals?

 

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