The Cop Who Killed a Murder Case

"Because I knew all of this was going to come back to me sooner or later, and I was going to keep the gun as my ace in the hole so I could get out of it," Tubbs replied.

Police found the gun at the address Tubbs had provided. Kansas City police officers arrested Henderson and charged him with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He also faced federal drug charges.

After the interview, police brought Tubbs back to Coleman's house, as promised. There, Drug Enforcement Administration agents were waiting to arrest him. While he told his story about the killing, police found, in the bottom compartment of the oven, a brown paper bag containing 494 grams of crack. Tubbs would now face federal drug charges. On the way to be booked, Tubbs scuffled with the DEA agents in their vehicle; they pulled over to call for a KCPD wagon to transport him.

As Tubbs was led away, he wailed, "It's my third strike!"

On November 22, 2005, Henderson's murder trial was a week away. Prosecutor Denise St. Omer was looking over her case file, frustrated because her only link between Henderson and the gun was Tubbs' testimony. The report Holmes had written failed to mention that he'd entered the apartment, so there was no mention of the gun he had found and hidden in the freezer.

St. Omer knew Tubbs could easily be discredited. Tubbs was a twice-convicted felon, facing life in prison if convicted of the drug charges. He had a motive to finger Henderson for the crime. It would be easy enough for Henderson's public defender, Bill Raymond, to label Tubbs the killer.

St. Omer called Holmes to see if he knew anything more.

According to St. Omer, Holmes said he was the officer who recovered the gun and that some of his investigative methods were "a little unorthodox." Holmes explained to her that he had also taken bullets from Henderson's apartment. He still had them. He offered to show St. Omer.

Holmes was off-duty, working security for the Landing Mall at 63rd Street and Troost. St. Omer and her assistant prosecutor, Robert Sanders, went to see Holmes around 5 p.m. on November 22.

Holmes explained that he had forced his way into Henderson's apartment, according to St. Omer and Sanders. (Holmes would later deny that he forced his way in.) Holmes said he'd seen the murder weapon on the floor and put it in the freezer. Because none of these details was written in any of the reports, the prosecutors regarded Holmes with disbelief. He got angry, thinking they were accusing him of lying. He offered to show them the bullets that he had kept for two years in a bag in his patrol car.

Holmes explained that the "defectives," as he called them, wouldn't have been able to solve the case without a street officer like him. The detectives couldn't talk to the prostitutes and drug dealers the way he could. He hadn't received credit for solving the crime because the detectives were embarrassed, he said.

After their conversation with Holmes, St. Omer called KCPD Capt. Rick Smith. She asked that he get someone from the crime scene unit to go to the Landing and recover the bullets from Holmes.

St. Omer knew that an illegal search and hidden evidence could sink her case. She also knew that she was legally required to pass on what she'd learned to Raymond, Henderson's public defender. After she called Raymond, Circuit Judge Thomas Clark agreed to delay the trial while the attorneys examined the new evidence.

Meanwhile, the KCPD's Department of Internal Affairs opened an investigation. Holmes' powers of arrest were revoked, and he was assigned to a desk job, the unglamorous task of writing down the public's police reports. Holmes says one sergeant told him that his troubles would go away if he just resigned. Holmes remained resolute, certain that he would be vindicated.

During interviews with IA investigators, Hutcheson claimed he didn't remember telling Holmes to enter Henderson's apartment. He said he never told Holmes to omit anything from his police report.

The only person to support Holmes' story was his partner, Hamre. But it had been Holmes who spoke on the phone with Hutcheson. And it was Holmes who moved the gun and took the bullets.

Holmes and Hutcheson were both required to take polygraph tests. Each was asked whether Holmes had contacted Hutcheson that night to tell him what he had found in the apartment. Hutcheson said no. Holmes said yes. Both failed the polygraph test.