The Pursuit

Summary

Bear Brook: The Pursuit Season 2, Episode Release Date: February 27, 2023

Introduction

In "The Pursuit," the second episode of Bear Brook's critically acclaimed second season, host Jason Moon delves deep into the perplexing case of Sharon Johnson’s murder and the subsequent investigation that has left many questioning the integrity of the criminal justice system. This episode meticulously unpacks the complexities surrounding Kerry Carroll’s wrongful conviction, exploring whether true justice can ever be served years after the fact.

Background of the Case

Sharon Johnson was brutally murdered in July 1988, with her body discovered near Bear Brook State Park. The evidence was circumstantial at best, leading authorities to focus suspicion on her husband, Ken Johnson. Despite Ken’s tumultuous reputation and lack of a solid alibi, concrete evidence against him was scarce, centering primarily on a dubious confession he had made years earlier.

Key Characters

• Sharon Johnson: The victim whose mysterious death sparked one of New Hampshire’s most enduring cold cases.

• Ken Johnson: Sharon’s husband, whose questionable behavior and unresolved alibis made him the prime suspect. His gambling debts and alleged creation of a fictional individual named "Bob" further complicated the investigation.

• Detective Roland Lammy: A seasoned detective likened to TV icons like Kojak, Lammy is portrayed as relentless and intuitive, determined to uncover the truth behind Sharon’s death.

• Tony Puff: A 19-year-old connected to Ken through Ken’s adopted daughter, Lisa Johnson. Initially brought in as part of a sting operation, Tony’s revelations become pivotal in unraveling the case.

Investigation Steps and Findings

Detective Lammy took charge of the investigation in January 1989, bringing his unconventional methods to the forefront. Early on, Lammy focused on two primary mysteries:

1. The elusive figure named "Bob," who allegedly owed Sharon and Ken $4,000.
2. The perplexing disappearance and eventual relocation of Sharon’s green Subaru.

Despite extensive efforts, these leads remained unanswered until Tony Puff came into the picture. Initially considered a suspect with his own troubled past, Tony was later enlisted by Lammy to wear a wire and help trap Ken Johnson. However, the sting operation in Warwick, Rhode Island, failed to yield the desired results, leading Lammy to question the validity of his leads and the authenticity of the testimonies involved.

Notable Insights and Developments

• The Kojak Comparison: Lammy’s intimidating presence and relentless pursuit drew comparisons to the fictional detective Kojak. As Lammy himself noted, “All I could think of was, remember” (05:18), highlighting his methodical and somewhat theatrical approach to investigation.

• Suspicion Around Ken Johnson: Friends and family of Sharon exhibited widespread distrust towards Ken. Claims of his controlling nature, failed business ventures, and abusive behavior painted him as a likely suspect. For instance, Sharon’s friend Connie Howard recounted, “I had my own questions for Ken, so I did invite him over. I was anxious just to have him in my house” (19:51).

• Tony Puff’s Revelation: The turning point came when Tony admitted under pressure that Ken had asked him to move Sharon’s car. This confession (26:30) provided the first tangible lead, although subsequent attempts to use it against Ken faltered, prompting Lammy to suspect a deeper conspiracy.

• Oedipus Rex Parallel: Lammy’s chalkboard quote, “He escapes who is not pursued” (07:10), drawn from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, subtly foreshadows the detective’s obsessive quest for truth, mirroring Oedipus's own tragic journey.

Cliffhanger and Ongoing Mystery

As the episode concludes, Lammy remains undeterred, convinced that there are deeper layers to Ken Johnson’s involvement and Tony Puff’s role in the case. The unresolved nature of Tony’s cooperation and the lingering questions about Ken’s innocence set the stage for future revelations.

Notable Quotes

• Detective Lammy: “It’s not about being reckless. It was about really caring. If a detective arrives at a murder scene and isn’t moved by what he sees, he should be out on the highway catching speeders.” (35:00)

• Sharon Johnson’s Friend, Connie Howard: “I was anxious just to have him in my house.” (19:51)

• Tony Puff’s Letter: “I sometimes feel like blowing my brains out. One day I will get fucked up enough to do it.” (33:47)

Conclusion

"The Pursuit" serves as a gripping exploration of a cold case that intertwines personal vendettas, flawed investigative techniques, and the enduring quest for justice. With each revelation, Bear Brook encourages listeners to ponder the complexities of truth and the profound impact of unresolved mysteries on all those involved.

Credits

• Produced by: Jason Moon
• Edited by: Katie Colinari
• Additional Reporting: Paul Cuno Booth
• Special Thanks: Professors Paul Christison, Francis Dunn, and Kirk Ormond for their expertise on the Sophocles translation.

For more detailed timelines and additional resources, listeners are encouraged to visit bearbrookpodcast.com.

Transcript

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[Todd Bookman]

I'm Todd Bookman, a reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. For the last six months, I've been thinking a lot about a cat named Sergeant Tibbs who goes missing, who's then found, and who would land at the center of so much human pain, anger and confus.

[Detective Lammy]

It's not about the cat anymore. It's just about everything else.

[Todd Bookman]

The final days of Sergeant Tibbs. A new podcast from NHPR about what we owe our pets and each other. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Previously on Bear Brook.

[Jason Moon]

Season 2 A True Crime story.

[Todd Bookman]

To cut you a break would utterly undermine the public's confidence in the criminal justice system. Convictions take on this mythical power once this conviction happens. It's like that story is what happened.

[Detective Lammy]

Who came up with that version of the story? You know what I mean? Then how do we. Who said that? That that's how it happened? Somebody had to say that that's how it happened. So obviously.

[Todd Bookman]

The larger than life detective. It's such a crime story trope. Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Eliot Stabler. Their personalities are as much a part of the story as the crime itself. But as often happens, life imitates art. And in this case, the line separating them is especially blurry. Detective Roland Lammy made an impression on almost everyone I talked to about the Sharon Johnson case. Thirty odd years later, people forget a lot of the finer points, but they remember the lead investigator. And over and over again People would compare Lammy to the same guy.

[Detective Lammy]

All I could think of was, remember.

[Todd Bookman]

The TV detective Kojak? Maybe you remember Kojak. I did not. But thanks to YouTube, I now know that Kojak was a TV detective in the 1970s. Kojak was big, bald, wore nice suits, and seemed to always have a lollipop in his mouth. He was a cop with an attitude, the kind who liked to grab the crooks by their lapels, who didn't seem too concerned about their civil liberties. This is private property. Put a zipper on your mouth and shut up. Kojak and a thousand other shows like it do their own kind of myth, making what some today might call copaganda. Sure, Kojak skirts the line. He roughs up suspects. But in the show, he's always the good guy. The ends always justify the means.

[Ruby Frankie Commentator]

Every foot soldier, every hitman, every street walker, they sneeze in the subway, bust their chops. If they ask you for the time of day, you lock em up. Let the word go out loud and clear. That's the way it's gonna be until Eddie Ryan's killer's in the tombs.

[Todd Bookman]

That is him. Bald guy, glasses, ass. I get why people make the comparison. Lammy even looks a lot like Kojak. He's big, he's bald, he had a shaved head, he's sucking on a lollipop, and he's strutting around the courtroom like he owned it. I'm coming in to straighten you all out. And this is the way it went down. Honestly, I sometimes couldn't tell if people's memories of the TV character played by Telly Savalas and the real life detective had all mixed together. But either way, that's kind of the point. Roland Lammy was a certain detective. He was also a certain brand of detective.

[Detective Lammy]

I could see why he would just.

[Todd Bookman]

Scare the hell out of somebody.

[Detective Lammy]

I think he could intimidate anybody with his bald head. He didn't look nice.

[Todd Bookman]

At the center of Lammy's legend was the idea that he was one of the best. Roland Lammy, though most people just call him Lammy, was the guy New Hampshire State police put on the cases the other detectives couldn't solve. By 1989, Lammy had been a New Hampshire State police detective for 17 years. He'd worked on roughly 40 homicide investigations, eight as lead investigator. He had a reputation for solving cases.

[Ruby Frankie Commentator]

Yeah, he had a reputation for he got things done. He had a reputation for getting to the bottom line.

[Todd Bookman]

You might remember in season one when a barrel was found in the woods near Bear Brook State park in 1985. Lammy was one of the detectives not assigned to the case, a fact some people pointed to when we asked why that case took so long to solve. Probably the best detective of that era on the State Police was a guy by the name of Roland Lammy. And they were over in Hooksett. They weren't over in Allenstown. And while some people read Lammy as arrogant and intimidating, others saw the attitude of a tough do what it takes veteran. As in he didn't care about being liked. He cared about solving the crime. A newspaper article from 1989 quotes Sharon Johnson's brother as saying, lammie could get a rock to talk if he wanted to. I would not want the man after me. That same article describes a moment between Lammy and his partner with the State Police, Neil Scott. Scott had written a quote by Daniel Webster on the chalkboard in their office. There is nothing so powerful as the truth. Not Lammy's style, apparently. He erases the quote and writes over it his own philosophy, a line from the ancient Greek playwright. He escapes who is not pursued this is Bear Brook Season 2 A True Crime Story I'm Jason Moon.

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[Ruby Frankie Commentator]

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[Todd Bookman]

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[Todd Bookman]

It was a story, true or false, that convicted Jason Carroll. It matters where that story came from, how it was created, who created it. So before we get to why some people are convinced that Jason Carroll is innocent, we need to know the story of why some people are convinced he's not. Sharon Johnson's body was discovered in July of 1988. A construction worker found her around 8:30 on a Friday morning. The area was in the early stages of a transformation from forest into housing development. A large clearing had been cut. Dirt roads connected a series of housing plots. In some places the ground was freshly chewed by excavators. Sharon's body was found at the edge of the construction site for furthest from the main road, at the edge of a small pond that workers were digging. She'd been stabbed 14 times and strangled, probably by a light rope or something similar. According to the medical examiner, she was naked from the waist up. Her bra was still draped over her shoulders, but it had been sliced open in the front with a knife. Her shirt and purse were missing, but her watch and three rings were found nearby. Each detail was its own mystery. Why were her rings off? Why was her shirt missing? Why this construction site the day before Sharon's body was discovered? A Thursday, Sharon left work at 6:30pm she went to a gas station and cashed some lottery tickets at 6:58pm that's her last confirmed location and it's Pretty much all we know for sure about Sharon's whereabouts after she left work that night. One of Sharon's co workers told police she said she was going shopping at the Mall of New Hampshire, a big mall in Manchester, about 30 minutes from her job. But another co worker later testified Sharon said she was going shopping at the Bedford Mall, a different mall only a few miles away from the Mall of New Hampshire. To make things more complicated, witnesses at both malls told police they saw Sharon or someone who matched her description the night of the murder. So on Thursday, Sharon left work, cashed a few lottery tickets, and then maybe went to one or two malls. The construction site where Sharon's body was found is in Bedford, about 15 minutes from the two malls. Whatever happened to Sharon happened between 7pm on a Thursday and 8am on a Friday. By the way, you can see a timeline of Sharon's last day on our website bearbrookpodcast.com but the early investigators were puzzled by two things in particular. The first mystery was about a guy named Bob. One of Sharon's co workers said Sharon was going to the mall that day, not just to shop, but also to meet a guy named Bob. According to this co worker, Bob. Bob owed Sharon and her husband Ken Johnson, $4,000. The co worker said Sharon and Bob had been trying for a few weeks to arrange a time to meet to talk about the money. Bob was an obvious first suspect, but all police had was a first name. Detectives spent months looking for Bob. They put a sketch of him in the newspaper, but they never found him. The second mystery was about Sharon's car, a green Subaru. Sharon didn't come home on Thursday night. The next day, Friday, her brother said he went and looked for her car at both malls. He told the police he scoured the parking lots, looked in every aisle, but he didn't find Sharon's green Subaru anywhere. Then Saturday morning, police found the car at the Mall of New Hampshire. The car was undamaged. A bit of dirt around the tires, and it was locked. It was parked in an unusual spot at the Mall of New Hampshire, a narrow strip of parking spaces in front of the Sears Automotive entrance. You might park there if you were leaving your car for an oil change, but probably not if you were just going shopping inside the mall. A Sears mechanic told police on Thursday, the day Sharon went missing. When he left at 9:30pm There were no cars parked there on Friday night. He said there was a car there, but couldn't say for sure if it was a green Subaru. Three different Manchester Police officers who all patrolled the mall parking lot on Thursday and Friday said they didn't see the car. And so Sharon went missing on Thursday night. Her body was found Friday morning. And yet police felt confident her green Subaru was not back at the mall of New Hampshire until Friday night at the earliest. Who was Bob? Was someone moving Sharon's car after she was murdered? The early investigators couldn't answer those questions, but they believed they knew someone who could. Sharon's husband, Ken Johnson. Ken was always the prime suspect. First of all, he was the husband. But police also thought he was faking his grief. And then he didn't have a solid alibi. And then he changed his story about where he was the night of the murder. And also, he had a lot of mud on his car, as in, maybe he'd been driving in an unpaved construction area recently. It wasn't just the police. Sharon's family and many of her friends also suspected Ken. They'd been skeptical of him for years. Many of them didn't understand what Sharon saw in him. Nobody liked him.

[Detective Lammy]

Nobody.

[Todd Bookman]

Nobody liked him. Lucy Holt was close with Sharon. But when Sharon and Ken were married, Lucy refused to go to the wedding. A lot of her friends did not go. One of them sent her a sympathy card. The police reports are full of interviews with people who do not like Ken Johnson. People thought he was rude, a deadbeat who couldn't hold a job. Some said he had a drinking problem. And Ken always seemed to have some new scheme for making money that rarely panned out. Like in 1985, when the new England Patriots were in the Super Bowl, Ken went all in on an idea to resell Patriots T shirts. Then the Pats lost, and apparently Ken lost a lot of money. Sharon's friends and family also said he could be controlling of Sharon if she was at their house. They say Ken would always call and ask when she'd be leaving. Police tracked down Ken's ex wife. She told them he had once grabbed her by the throat and that when she decided to leave Ken, he said, it's too bad the kids will never see you again. Which she took as a threat on her life. So when Sharon was killed, everyone from Ken's ex wife to Sharon's friends, like Lucy Holt, were telling the cops, look at Ken. I remember the detectives coming, and they said, do you think that he had anything to do with it? And I said, if he didn't, hands on, then he. He made sure it got done. Another friend of Sharon's, Connie Howard, says after the Murder police asked her to wear a wire and have Ken over for dinner to see if he would incriminate himself. Connie says she was too nervous to wear a wire, but. But she had her own questions for Ken, so she did invite him over. She remembers being anxious just to have him in her house.

[Detective Lammy]

I didn't know what he would do or how what, you know, what kind of reaction that he would have to the questions that I was asking him, just asking him to. About questions about how come you didn't know Sharon was home and, you know, what do you think about everything. He didn't have any answers. He was a black, black hole. And I really didn't get any answers from him, except that I don't ever want to see this man again. And I never did. Never talk to him after that.

[Todd Bookman]

Unfortunately, you won't hear from Ken in this story. He died according to multiple people who knew him, though I've never found an obituary, so I can't tell you exactly when. But back in 1988, Ken was starting off in a bad place as far as the investigation into his wife's murder went. He was the husband no one liked, with no alibi and mud on his car. And then police discovered a possible motive. Ken had a gambling habit. Ken's ex wife described it as an addiction. She said, on their honeymoon, Ken took her to Atlantic City and then gambled the whole time. Ken was into sports betting, which was illegal back then, and police began to suspect he was deep in the hole. When police first asked Ken about Bob, the guy who apparently owed him and Sharon $4,000, Ken said he had no idea what police were talking about. The next day, Ken called the police to say he had lied. Police had asked Ken about Bob in front of one of Sharon's friends, and Ken said he didn't want to reveal that Bob was actually someone he knew from gambling. Now, Ken told the police, yes, he knew Bob, and yes, Bob owed him money, actually $7,000. And yet Ken had no way of getting in touch with Bob, didn't even know his last name. Police were suspicious. They talked to another guy who Ken gambled with, who told them that ken owed him $5,000. This other guy said he'd heard Ken talk about Bob before, would even place bets on his behalf, but he'd never met him. And eventually Bob. Police began to suspect that Bob was simply an invention of Ken's, a fake character that Ken used to hide his gambling habits and now maybe to help him get away with murder out of this tangle of gambling. Relationships, alleged debts, and possibly fake characters. The original investigators developed a theory. Ken was in much more gambling debt than he was letting on, and he was desperate to get out of it. And his wife, Sharon, had a pension that would go to him if she died. But police didn't have any direct evidence pointing to Ken. They had no murder weapon. They had no witnesses placing him at the site where Sharon's body was found or at the mall that night. The forensic lab couldn't link the mud on Ken's car to the mud at the scene. There was no blood in Sharon's car. And key evidence Sharon's shirt and pocketbook were still missing. There were some clues from the scene where Sharon's body was discovered. Drag marks lead from Sharon's body to a pool of blood near some tire tracks. To the original investigators, the marks suggested Sharon's body had been removed from the trunk of a car and then dragged to the spot where she was ultimately found. As in, the murder had happened elsewhere and the construction site was simply a place to hide the body. There were also clues from Sharon's autopsy. Her bra had been cut open in the front with a knife before she was stabbed. There was evidence of a fierce struggle. Sharon had a split lip and bruises on her face, and she had defensive wounds on her hands. She also had blood under her fingernails, which could mean Sharon wounded her attacker. But without Moore, the police didn't really have a case against Ken or anyone else. And they were stuck with those two lingering questions. Was Bob real? And who was moving Sharon's green Subaru? After she was killed, the investigation stalled. After six months, it was turned over to a new detective, Roland Lammy. Within a year, he would have a story that explained it all. Before we take a quick break, a reminder that this podcast is only possible because listeners like you support it. You do that by listening, by telling your friends and family to listen to and if you can, by donating to New Hampshire Public Radio. You can click the link in the show Notes to give now and thanks. Really.

[Detective Lammy]

Foreign.

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[Ruby Frankie Commentator]

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[Viewer]

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[Todd Bookman]

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[Hulu Advertiser]

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[Ruby Frankie Commentator]

She said the children were demonically possessed.

[Todd Bookman]

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[Ruby Frankie Commentator]

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[Jason Moon]

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[Todd Bookman]

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[Todd Bookman]

Detective Lammy takes charge of the investigation into Sharon's murder in January of 1989. By March, he's chasing a lead. A 19 year old named Tony Puff. Tony Puff was tangentially connected to the Johnson family. He used to date Ken Johnson's daughter Lisa Johnson. Lisa was 17. She was Ken's adopted daughter from his first marriage and she'd just had a baby. As Detective Lammy re interviewed witnesses and searched for a thread to pull on. He later testified that some people made a disturbing suggestion about Lisa's pregnancy. Lammy said some people told him they thought Ken had gotten his own adopted daughter pregnant. Lammy later testified, quote, there was a feeling at some point that perhaps Ken Johnson could be the father of Lisa Johnson's baby. It was a salacious accusation. But maybe Lammy thought it was the real motive. Maybe Ken wanted Sharon dead because she'd found out. And so this is why Detective Lammy wants to talk to Lisa's ex boyfriend, Tony Puff. Maybe Tony will know something about this. Lambie tracked him down. He's now in North Carolina and gets him on the phone. But Tony quickly pours cold water on this theory. Tony says he is the father of Lisa's child, not Ken. He says Lisa never said anything about being sexually abused by her father. The phone call is a dead end for Lammy. But then something happens. I'm going to read straight from Lammy's police report here. It's written in third person. Sergeant Lammy asked him if there was anything at all about Sharon Johnson's murder that he had not reported to the police. Sergeant Lammy told Tony what the possible charges were for any individual who holds back information in a homicide case. Puff hesitantly and nervously told Sergeant Lammy the following information. And then Tony drops a bombshell. Tony Puff tells Lammy the Friday Sharon's body was found, he moved the green Subaru. Tony says Ken called him at his apartment and asked him to do it as a favorite. Before Tony knew Sharon was dead, Tony says Ken asked him to move Sharon's car from the parking lot of a sporting goods store to the parking lot of the mall where it was discovered by police. It was Detective Lammy's first break. The mystery of the car was finally unraveling. Lammy wastes no time. He arranges for Tony Puff to fly up to New Hampshire. He wants Tony to wear a wire and help police ensnare Ken Johnson. Tony agrees Lammy's trap for Ken will be set in Rhode Island. That's where Ken moved after his wife's murder. And so Detective Lammy, Tony, another state trooper, and a prosecutor with the Attorney General's office all pile into a few cars and drive the two and a half hours from New Hampshire to Warwick, Rhode Island. During this road trip to Rhode island, according to the police reports, Tony seems like he's having a great time. Detective Lamy would later say that Tony would sing or he would tell the cops his favorite movie is Scarface. And he can quote the whole thing. And then Lammy says he kind of does the whole trip. At one point during the drive down, Tony even grabs the police radio and does an impression of an old TV cop show called Highway Patrol.

[Ruby Frankie Commentator]

At 3170, stay one mile below a junction 40.

[Todd Bookman]

Alert the emergency crews.

[Ruby Frankie Commentator]

Do not approach the station. 10 4, 10 4.

[Todd Bookman]

I wish I could tell you more about how Tony Puff saw all of this, how he saw himself. He died in 2021. But from what people told police about Tony in 1989 and Tony's own words, a picture emerges. Family friends told police Tony's father had a drinking problem. They said Tony would sometimes call them or move in with them when things got bad. As Tony got older, he developed his own problem with alcohol. He started getting arrested for things like trespassing, driving without a license. At 16, according to police, he took part in an armed robbery for $500, but also according to police, Tony quickly confessed and gave cops the name of the person who had held the gun. Tony lived in Manchester, New Hampshire before he moved to North Carolina. And he had a reputation around town. Tony had a big mouth. Debbie Ricker was around the same age as Tony and knew him back in the 80s. She told me what many teenagers told police in 1989. Tony wanted people to think of him as the big man on campus.

[Detective Lammy]

Anything he did, if he went into.

[Todd Bookman]

A store and he called somebody a jerk, he'd be down to supreme roast beef. Oh, yeah, I saw this guy and I called him a jerk and da, da, da. He was a loudmouth. He was just somebody who liked to insert himself in things to make himself feel bigger, larger than life. But as you can maybe tell from Debbie's voice, Tony's desire to be respected didn't always pan out. In the police reports. People called Tony weird. One high school senior told police Tony was, quote, heavily into ninja stuff. A few people told police this one story about how one night Tony was humiliated during a fight on the street in downtown Manchester. According to one person who said they saw it, the other guy was making Tony kiss his shoes. But when Tony would try to, the guy would kick him in the face. A crowd of 20 or 30 kids watched. Later, a friend of Tony's turned over to the police two letters that Tony wrote when he was 19. They're addressed only to quote whom it may concern. The letters are a window onto Tony's anguish. Maybe they were cries for help that Tony didn't know who to send to. In the letters, Tony is reeling from teenage heartbreak, substance abuse and ongoing problems with the law. He writes, I guess it's hard for me to understand and I want to, but I don't know how to ask for help. Why? Because every time I let someone get close, they end up hurting me. Sometimes I feel like blowing my brains out. One day I will get fucked up enough to do it. I feel sorrow all of the time. And I'm tired of feeling it all the time. And also getting into trouble too. Well, that's it for now. Thank you for listening. Yours truly, Tony Puff. So this is the 19 year old detective Lammy has brought with him to Rhode island. Who keeps quoting Scarface at them and grabbing the police radio. Once they arrive, they set up shop at a motel in Warwick, Rhode Island. Here's Lammy's plan. Tony will call Ken and try to set up a meeting. And Tony has a script. Lammy wants him to tell Ken that police have found Tony's fingerprints on Sharon's car. That's not true. But Lammy wants to see if Ken will react and maybe incriminate himself on the phone. Tony dials the number. Detectives listen in on another line. But things get off to a bad start. Lisa answers, not Ken. Lisa is not happy with Tony. They argue about the child support Tony owes. Lisa hangs up. Tony calls several more times over two days, and a few times he does manage to get Ken on the phone. But again, things don't go the way detectives hope. I don't have audio of these calls, but I do have the transcript. Here's an excerpt of one of the conversations between Tony and Ken. It starts with Tony. Hey, Ken. Hey. What? I've got to talk to you. About what? About a car. About what? About the car. About what? About the car. What car? About the car that you asked me to move. Who's this? It's Tony. What car? I asked you to move Sharon's car. What are you talking about? What am I talking about? Yeah. Okay, look, you and I both know exactly what I'm talking about. They got my prints on the car. Excuse me? They have my fingerprints on the car. Yeah, yeah. And I want to know, you know, what to do. I just drove all the way down here to talk to you about it. I don't understand what you're talking about. You don't understand? No, I don't. I have no idea. Well, on Friday night, I believe you asked me to move the car for you. I don't. I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about. The car is sitting right here. It goes on like this for a while. Ken gets mad, tells Tony to stop calling, threatens to get a restraining order against him. Tony, who, remember, is 19 years old, sitting in a motel room with cops all around him, keeps pushing. And eventually he gets Ken to agree to meet him in a motel parking lot. Ken shows up and Tony meets him outside. Detectives hiding in cars nearby are filming. But the conversation goes the same as before. Ken says he has no idea what Tony is talking about. After the meeting with Tony, Ken goes home and calls the New Hampshire State Police. He tells them what just happened. As in, this 19 year old who had a baby with my daughter just showed up in Rhode island and is telling me he moved to Sharon's car. You guys should look into this. Detective Lammy's sting operation with Tony Puff is a total bust. Lammy goes back to New Hampshire and Tony eventually goes back to North Carolina. And the two don't speak again for months until eventually Detective Lammy has a thought. Was Ken Johnson really so clever and disciplined as to not incriminate himself when Tony called to not react at all? Or was he tipped off? Detective Lammy thought he'd been using Tony to fool Ken. But now he wondered what if the whole time Tony had been playing him? Lammy thought Tony must have slipped word to Ken before they drove down to Rhode Island. The whole thing was a farce. The call from the motel room, the meeting in the parking lot. Tony and Ken were both acting to Detective Lammy. It was the only explanation. As far as I can tell, Lammy never entertained the possibility that Ken was simply telling the truth on the phone. Remember that quote Lammy wrote on the chalkboard? He escapes who is not pursued. Lammy wasn't about to stop pursuing Ken. But the thing about that quote is just like the evidence in this case, there are different ways to interpret it. The line comes from the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Written more than 2,400 years ago, the play is a kind of ancient Greek murder mystery. The king Oedipus sets out to discover who who killed the previous king whose murder has unleashed a plague on the kingdom. Oedipus gets some advice passed to him from the oracle. And this is where the line comes. Here's another translation of it. Search reveals things that escape an inattentive man in the story. It's a subtle bit of foreshadowing. By the end, Oedipus discovers he was the murderer all along. Oedipus was looking for a suspect when he should have been looking at himself. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say Detective Lammy was probably not thinking about the overtones of Oedipus Rex when he wrote that quote on the board. I could see how this line, which is also used in some law enforcement agencies, wanted posters, by the way, seemed pretty straightforward to him. I asked Lammy to tape an interview to tell his own story about what happened here. And there were times when he told me he would. But in the end he didn't. He didn't want to be recorded or talk about the details of the Sharon Johnson case on the record. And after I left a message for Sergeant Neil Scott, Lammy called me back, saying he heard I was trying to reach his old partner. Still, we ended up talking a lot over the last year or so, in phone calls and in person over breakfast at a diner he frequents, enough to get an impression Lammy is in his 80s. Now, he wears a state police baseball cap. That Kojak y attitude everyone told me about, that's still there. He told me other detectives were too cautious, too concerned about covering their asses, as he put it. He still carries a big chip on his shoulder about that. Lammy told me, you have to know how to walk up to the line without crossing it. For Lammy, it wasn't about being reckless. It was about really caring. He said if a detective arrives at a murder scene and isn't moved by what he sees, he should be out on the highway catching speeders. Sometimes he would gently poke my hands to emphasize a point like that. It all fit with the detective Lammy I'd gotten to know in the police reports. A guy who led with his intuition, who wasn't concerned about stepping on toes. A guy who hates to let a case go. In 1989, Lammy had hit a roadblock. But he trusted his gut. Ken Johnson had motive and opportunity. And now to Lammy, it seemed he had a co conspirator, Tony Puff. In the fall of that year, Lammy sets about trying to find Tony again. But it's been months since their sting operation. Tony is in the wind. Still, Lammy keeps pursuing, and eventually he finds what he's looking for.

[Detective Lammy]

This is a situation that if we allowed her to come into the room, we'd be open to scrutiny. And if we didn't allow her to come into the room, we'd be open to scrutiny.

[Todd Bookman]

I just wanted him to be true. I'm trying to dig myself out of something I didn't do and nobody's listening. It was already in the over my head. That's next time on Bear Brook Season 2 A True Crime Story A true crime story is reported and produced by me, Jason Moon. It's edited by Katie Colinari. Additional reporting and research by Paul Cuno Booth. Editing help from Lauren Shuljan, Daniela Allee, Sarah Plord, Taylor Quimby, Mara Hoplamazian and Todd Bookman. Our news director is Dan Barrick. Our director of podcasts is Rebecca Lavoy. Fact checking by Dania Suleiman. Sarah Plord created our original artwork as well as our website. Bearbrookpodcast.com Photos and videos by Gabby Lozada. Original music for the series was created by me, Jason. Special thanks this episode to Paul Christison, professor of Ancient Greek History at Dartmouth College, Francis Dunn, professor of Classics at UC Santa Barbara and Kirk Ormond, professor of Classics at Oberlin College for their help with the Sophocles translation Bear Brook is a production of the Document Team at New Hampshire Public Radio.

[Detective Lammy]

SA.

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