August 2016 - Forensic Files Now

Vicky Lyons: An Epilogue

It Got Better
(“Treading Not So Lightly,” Forensic Files)

Last week’s post discussed the circumstances surrounding the 1980 hit-and-run accident in Big Spring, Texas, that left Vicky Lyons, at age 4, with severe head and eye injuries.

Vicky Lyons, as picture on the findagrave.com — Vicky Lyons

Vicky was around 25 by the time she appeared in “Treading Not So Lightly,” the 2001 Forensic Files episode about the case, and she spoke of the way her neurological impairments made her feel self-conscious in public.

The closing credits noted she died in 2011 at the age of 34.

That got me curious about what happened to Vicky in the intervening years.

Mat mates. An internet search turned up a video of two semi-costumed women — one of whom was introduced as Vicky Lyons — participating in a wrestling match.

There weren’t any closeups, so it was impossible to tell whether the wrestler was the same Vicky Lyons, until I found an online obituary that made it clear the wrestler was in fact almost certainly the Vicky Lyons of Forensic Files fame.

It referred to her as a “professional woman’s wrestling Diva for the past six years working for the Highspots Wrestling School of Charlotte, N.C.”

Michael Bochicchio, owner of the school, confirmed in an email to ForensicFilesNow.com that it was indeed the same Vicky Lyons, and that she was fondly remembered by many people there.

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With her identity assured, I went back and watched the entire wrestling video.

I must say, Vicky kicked ass.

Hard-grapple life. She bounced back after opponent Daffney Unger picked her up and threw her to the mat and put her in a Boston crab hold (you can bet I had to Google that term).

Vicky won the match.

I don’t know too much about wrestling, but it looked more like the Hulk Hogan variety than the kind that leads to varsity letters and the Olympics.

Caleb Konley remembers Vicky for her willingness to help other students at the wrestling school

“We have found nearly every student initially comes in here with a character already in mind,” states the website of the school, now known as Rings Pro Wrestling Training School. “However once they make it past training and begin their careers they almost always find their way into a new character that works better for them.”

Whatever the case, Vicky was obviously having a good time and looking strong.

Dedicated to the art. She clearly had come a long way in her physical rehabilitation since 2001. The match took place around 2005 when Vicky would have been about 28 years old.

“She was a sweet person,” wrestler Caleb Konley told ForensicFilesNow.com in a phone interview on Aug. 17. “I learned pretty early on what happened [with the car accident]. It was an incredible story.”

Vicky was already a student at the school when Konley moved to Charlotte to train there.

At the time of her match with Daffney Unger, Vicky had a few years of training under her belt, Konley noted.

“She showed up for every practice,” Konley said. “She lived for it.”

Social media gal. Vicky’s obituary mentioned she was also studying mass media at the Arts Institute of Charlotte.

I came across Vicky’s Facebook page, with pictures of her and her friends and posts about current events and fun things like her favorite lip gloss.

Her last update was posted on April 17, 2011. She died on June 9 of that year.

Accounts vary as to cause of death (possibly an aneurysm) and where it took place (either in her apartment or a hotel room). There was no foul play.

Both Vicky’s parents survived her, according to the obituary. Her father, William Lyons, died three years later, however, at the age of 61.

“Everyone got along with Vicky,” Konley recalled. “She was tough as nails. If you got out of line with her, she’d let you know.”

Vicky Lyons may have started her childhood as a victim of circumstance but, as an adult, she learned how to write her own script.—RR

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The Vicky Lyons Story

One Very Bad Decision
(“Treading Not So Lightly,” Forensic Files)

The story of Vicky Lyons is heart-rending, about a little girl who survives being hit by a truck but spends the rest of her life beset by the effects of her injuries.

“Treading Not So Lightly,” the Forensic Files episode about the efforts of her mother, Crystal Lyons, to use amateur forensic science to find the driver’s identity, is exciting to watch. And her love for Vicky is beautiful, of course.

Still, the case in a way seems like a search for a villain where none exists. Terrible judgment contributed to the incident, but criminal intent or even ill will was nonexistent. Here’s the story:

No playground. One day in 1980, Crystal Lyons called her boss in the circulation department of the Big Spring Herald newspaper in western Texas to say she wouldn’t be coming into the office because her daughter Vicky’s babysitter was unavailable.

But he threatened her with termination, she said, so she went to work and took Vicky, age 4, with her.

At some point, Crystal’s boss told Vicky to go play outside in the parking lot, according to what both women said on the episode. (It was filmed in 2001 when Vicky was about 25.)

Wrong suspect. By the time Crystal went outside to retrieve Vicky, it was too late. She found her lying unconscious next to the toy dishes she’d been playing with. What looked like a tire track mark ran across her face.

No one saw what happened, but the police arrested and jailed a local fish peddler and minister named J.B. Hardeman who had been seen in the vicinity around the time the accident would have taken place.

Crystal said she never believed Hardeman was the culprit. A grand jury declined to indict him after forensics showed that a suspicious spot of blood on his truck actually came from a fish, not a person.

At some point, the police decided the accident was a civil matter and stopped investigating.

Meanwhile, Vicky lay in a coma for three weeks with severe damage to her skull and one eye. When she awoke, she was unable to walk or speak.

Tire test. Here’s where the suspense starts. Crystal decided to embark on her own investigation. She surreptitiously applied shoe polish to the tires on trucks parked in the Big Springs Herald’s lot, then placed sheets of typing paper on top, rubbed a comb over them to make impressions, and saved them as evidence.

By coincidence, in 1982, Crystal saw a Time magazine story by Bennett H. Beach about Pete “Sherlock” McDonald, a former Firestone designer who taught at the FBI Academy and specialized in forensic tire evidence.

He agreed to help Crystal with her investigation by comparing the tire impressions she had made to pictures of Vicky’s face taken right after the accident.

Laying blame. He determined that the marks on Vicky’s face didn’t match those from Hardeman’s vehicle, but they looked very similar to the Golden Sonic 78 tire patterns on a Ford pickup truck belonging to the Big Spring Herald, according to McDonald’s book, Tire Imprint Evidence (the link enables you to view some of the passages about Vicky Lyons for free).

J.B. Hardman, who picked up his newspaper directly from its facility every day, was wrongfully accused of committing a hit and run — J.B. Hardeman,who picked up a copy of the Big Spring Herald directly from the newspaper’s building every day, was wrongfully accused of committing a hit and run

The driver, whom the show never identified, later said that if he hit Vicky, he had no idea at the time. His contention seemed believable.

No one expects to see a tiny child alone in a parking lot. Many a driver in a residential neighborhood — where people are accustomed to watching out for kids — has accidentally hit a tricycle left in a driveway. Sitting down like she was, Vicky may have been even harder to see.

Also, as Forensic Files noted, the parking lot was unpaved and bumpy and the driver could have simply thought he hit a pothole. And the accident wasn’t part of any other crime — it’s not as though the truck was being used as a getaway car or that the man had any malice toward the Lyonses.

That’s why the whodunit aspect of the episode, although interesting to follow, rang a little hollow for me.

Damages award. Crystal sued the newspaper for “not supervising the parking lot properly.” That seem a little odd. The problem wasn’t the parking lot but rather that the supervisor suggested a child go outside and play there.

It reminded me a little of “the IRS brought down Al Capone” syndrome, whereby wrongdoers ultimately receive punishment — but for some ancillary offense rather than the egregious crimes.

Whatever the case, the Lyonses received a $750,000 settlement from the newspaper and used the money for the numerous surgical procedures Vicky needed to alleviate damage to her vision, hearing, and sense of balance.

Feeling vulnerable. Vicky learned to speak and walk again, although her neurological impairments remained apparent. She said having others gawk at her in public was the worst part of her ordeal.

“[Sometimes people] ask me if I’m mentally retarded or if I had a stroke,” Vicky told Forensic Files. “I’d rather they ask me than sit there and stare.”

The episode manages to end on a positive note, revealing that Crystal Lyons, divorced from Vicky’s father, went back to school to study forensic science.

Vicky Lyons, shown here as an adult, said she remembered a truck hitting her and seeing the driver's face in the rear-view mirro — Vicky Lyons, shown here as an adult, said she remembered a truck hitting her and seeing the driver’s face in the vehicle’s mirror

But it takes a chilling turn during the closing credits: They reveal that Vicky died in 2011 at the age of 34.

Epilogue odyssey. So what happened to Vicky in the decade between the Forensic Files interview and her death? Did her impairments continue to lessen to the extent that she felt comfortable getting out and finding more fulfillment in life?

After nosing around on the internet, I came across some information about Vicky’s later years, although a lot of it came from reader comments — hardly a verifiable source of intelligence.

I’m doing more research and will publish a reliable epilogue for next week’s post. Until then, cheers.—RR

Update: Read Part 2 of the Vicky Lyons story.

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‘Accounting’ for a Ponzi Schemer

Q&A with Ricardo Zayas, CPA
(“Summer Obsession,” Forensic Files)

There are plenty of TV shows revolving around doctors, lawyers, police officers, private detectives, judges, politicians, inmates, journalists, bounty hunters, and teachers.

Ricardo Zayas, CPA, during his Forensic Files appearance in 2005

Who’s missing from the merry mix?

Accountants.

The folks who audit public companies and tell us how many square feet of our home offices we can deduct rarely pop up on television or in films — except as a voice on the phone warning a beleaguered protagonist, “You’ve got to stop spending this way!”

Excel Adventure. Although there aren’t any scripted or reality TV shows devoted to the everyday drama of being an accountant, those with CPA skills do sometimes take part in exciting criminal cases.

One reason I found the “Summer Obsession” episode of Forensic Files so intriguing was that it enabled an accountant to step — albeit reluctantly — into the spotlight for a moment or two.

In the episode, Ricardo Zayas, CPA, discussed his role in contributing analysis that helped law enforcement build a case against Craig Rabinowitz, an entrepreneur who contended that his wife, Stefanie, accidentally drowned in a bathtub.

“For years, the FBI wanted more accountants involved in investigations,” Zayas, now a partner in accounting and advisory services firm Marcum LLP in Philadelphia, told me during a recent phone interview. “I started out as an IRS special agent who focused on financial crimes.”

Evidence in the bag. During the investigation into the 1997 death of Stefanie Rabinowitz, the police discovered a trove of receipts and handwritten financial records hidden in the Main Line, Philadelphia, house that Stefanie, a lawyer, shared with Craig, her husband of seven years.

The authorities provided Zayas with financials and other intelligence obtained during their investigation. He discovered suspicious evidence about what Rabinowitz contended was a thriving wholesale latex-glove venture.

“I said, ‘There’s no business. Here’s where the money went. You figure the rest out,'” Zayas recalled.

His analysis aided the prosecution in its argument that the business existed primarily as a means for Rabinowitz to scam investors out of funds that he used as tip money at Delilah’s Den and to buy gifts for Summer, his favorite dancer there.

Craig Rabinowitz was convicted and sent to Houtzdale State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania — The case against Craig Rabinowitz was so strong that he confessed to murder and fraud — and was sent to Houtzdale State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania

The investigation ultimately determined that Rabinowitz was spending an average of $2,000 a week at Delilah’s Den.

By analyzing the figures handwritten on a yellow legal pad, Zayas helped investigators establish a financial motive for the murder.

Rabinowitz intended to use his wife’s life insurance payout as his ticket out of a financial hell-hole of his own making.

Forever in reruns. Zayas, who answered my questions about the case and his appearance on “Summer Obsession,” said he watched the episode only once.

“Every once in a while, I’d have relatives call and say, ‘I just saw you on TV,'” he said.

Zayas found the experience interesting but, for him, it was enough TV exposure for a lifetime. “I’m happy to have it on my résumé,” he said. Excerpts of our conversation follow:

Why was it important for the investigation to call in an accountant?
You’re asking detectives to address issues they don’t have a background to deal with.

They may have some background in financial investigation, but if you put them on the witness stand, they could be asked questions that are difficult. At least I can get past the point when they say, “Are you familiar with financial records?” And I can say, “I’ve been doing this for 30 years.”

Shannon Reinert (or ‘Reinhart’), aka Summer, said Rabinowitz bought her $3,000 worth of Seaman’s furniture, among other gifts for her and her little son

Was the Rabinowitz case memorable?
Yes, I worked on racketeering cases that had aspects that were attached to murders in the 1970s and 1980s. There was labor racketeering where people were dying. But this was the first time I was specifically applying financial analysis in a murder case.

Were you shocked by the Rabinowitz case?
It was not the usual cup of tea but not shocking. You don’t spend 13 years in the environment I was in and react that way.

Shock is inappropriate — it’s not professional. It’s not in my playbook. I guess, over the years, you understand that other people act in ways you wouldn’t.

Was interpreting the evidence complicated?
It was fairly straightforward. For lack of a better term, it was “sources and uses of funds.” Craig Rabinowitz had gone out to people and solicited funds for a business — importing containers of latex gloves.

One of the first questions we asked as we looked at the finances associated with that business was: Is there really evidence of a business? Was he really buying containers of goods?

That was relatively easy to resolve because you could see that there was no indication that he had used funds in furtherance of some business.

It was a circular flow of funds, from person A to person B to American Express — without business expenses. It included frequenting Delilah’s Den.

Next, working with detectives, we interacted with the people who provided the funds. I would talk to the detectives and we would get information and statements from investors.

I wrote a report and included my thought that there was no business.

Were you happy with the job Forensic Files did portraying the case?
I viewed it one time, because my brother and sister-in-law visited and wanted to see it, and I thought it accurately reported what I said and did.

So I guess the appearance didn’t go to your head?
The work we do is only one piece of the puzzle that the prosecution will present in court. When you talk to cops and agents, you understand they don’t think [the attention is] about them. The training is such that it takes the focus off you. You don’t want what you did in your work to be a distraction in court.♠

Next: A look at the story of Vicky Lyons, whose injuries became forensic evidence.

Month: August 2016

Vicky Lyons: An Epilogue

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The Vicky Lyons Story

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‘Accounting’ for a Ponzi Schemer

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