Why Did Sgt. Lehmann Request a Search of All Park & Rides and Satellite Parking on 2/27?

My recent posts (here and here) have led readers to ask questions about this Progress Report:

Simply put, this is one of the oddest documents in the State’s files.

Let’s put things in context. In January 1999 (I believe January 14th or 15th), the Director of the Enehey Group spoke with Don, who speculated that Hae might have gone to live with her father in California, which she could have accomplished by driving out there or driving her car to the Satellite Parking Facility at BWI Airport and flying out there:

Subsequently, on February 1st, Detective O’Shea talked with Don’s manager at the Owings Mills LensCrafters and confirmed with her that Don was working at the Hunt Valley LensCrafters on January 13, 1999. As a result, Don was ruled out as a suspect.*

Therefore, when Hae’s body was subsequently found in Leakin Park on February 9th, there was no particular reason to believe that Don’s speculation about the location of Hae’s car was correct. The police now knew that Hae had not traveled to California to see her father and that Don was not her murderer. 

Thus, rather than searching the “Satellite Parking Facility at BWI,” the police (including Sergeant Lehmann) searched an area much further north, with particular attention paid to (1) the route between Woodlawn High School and Campfield Elementary; and (2) the neighborhoods surrounding Leakin Park. This search area included the two Park and Ride locations (each designated with a “P” in the map below):

Five days later, the Baltimore Police still clearly thought that these were the key locations for spotting Hae’s car. A February 17th Progress Report notes that Detective MacGillivary requested a helicopter search of “the area of Leakin Park and Woodlawn area in search of the victim’s 1998 Nissan Sentra.”

February 17th is also the day that the police get Adnan’s cell phone records, making it clear that he was their primary suspect. Subsequently, on February 22nd, AT&T sent cell tower addresses to the police, who started plotting the cell towers on a map:

Through such plotting, the police likely noted the Leakin Park pings, which gave them the idea that Adnan was burying Hae’s body in he 7:00 hour on January 13th.

A few days later, on February 26, 1999, detectives went to Jenn’s house which is (1) to the South and a little bit East of Woodlawn High School; (2) to the West of Leakin Park; and (3) to the West and a little bit north of where Hae’s car was eventually found. The detectives eventually interviewed Jenn. Jenn told them that she had no knowledge of Hae’s murder. She did, however, say that her friend Nicole had told her that Hae was strangled, a fact that hadn’t been reported yet. Jenn also promised to come back the next day for an interview.

This then set the stage for February 27th. At this point, the police should have been more convinced than ever that Hae’s car was in the Woodlawn/Leakin Park area. Hae’s body was found in Leakin Park, and they now had the Leakin Park pings. Their primary suspect lived in Woodlawn, and almost all of the cell towers pinged by his cell phone on January 13th were in the Woodlawn/Leakin Park area. They had now talked to a person who lived in the Woodlawn/Leakin Park area and whose family phone number appeared on their suspect’s call log several times on January 13th. That person apparently had inside information about Hae’s murder,** and she had agreed to come back the next day for another interview.

Regrettably, we don’t know when on February 27th Sergeant Lehmann called the Transit Authority at BWI to request that all Park and Ride and satellite parking areas be searched for Hae’s car. Ostensibly, there’s no rational way that this request could have been made after Jenn’s interview on the 27th. In that interview, Jenn basically lays out a story where she calls Adnan’s cell phone while Adnan and Jay are burying Hae’s body (7:09 and 7:16 P.M.), followed by Jay calling her pager (8:04 and 8:05 P.M.) and a meet-up at Westview Mall, which is just northeast of the I-695/Route 40 intersection in the above maps.

Given this information, the police should have thought it very likely that Hae’s car was ditched somewhere between Leakin Park and Westview Mall, and it was indeed found in between these two locations. As a result, it might have made sense to re-search the two Park and Ride locations that were part of the original search area, but it would have made no sense to search all Park and Ride and satellite parking areas. 

But is there even a rational reason for Sergeant Lehmann to make the request before Jenn was re-interviewed on February 27th? Again, it seems that the answer is “no.” At this point, all of the police investigative work had seemingly narrowed their search area. The body was in Leakin Park. Their suspect’s cell phone phone mainly pinged towers in the Leakin Park/Woodlawn area. That suspect lived in the Woodlawn area. They seemingly had just gotten their first big break by talking to a witness who lived in the Woodlawn/Leakin Park area. She would be coming back later that day, ostensibly to share additional information.

And yet, Sergeant Lehmann called the Transit Authority at BWI to request that all Park and Ride and satellite parking areas be searched for Hae’s car. This map shows Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park, BWI, and some cities to the Northwest that have Park and Ride locations such as Owings Mills and Reisterstown.

Other Park and Ride locations are further out in the Northwest, and their are additional Park and Ride locations out in the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. The obvious questions here are: (1) What prompted Lehmann to request a search of all of these far flung locations on February 27th when the search area had shrunk significantly by this point; and (2) Why would Lehmann make such a broad request either just before or just after Jenn’s re-interview?

Again, the only information in the State’s files pointing to the possible efficacy of such a search was Don’s statement that Hae might have parked her car in satellite parking at BWI on the way to see her father in California. But there was no reason for Sergeant Lehmann to find this information reliable on February 27th.

Meanwhile, there was absolutely nothing in the State’s files as of February 27th to lead to police to believe that searching Park and Ride locations would be fruitful, and there was seemingly every reason to believe that a search of such locations other than the two in the initial search area would not be fruitful. Of course, early on February 28th, Jay proceeded to tell the detectives that Adnan ditched Hae’s car at the I-70 Park and Ride on the afternoon of January 13th, a claim that he omitted in his Intercept interview.

So, what does it all mean? Who knows.

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*This was made clear when the defense PI later talked to a detective (presumably O’Shea). The PI was told by the detective “that all alibi’s provided by Don, Hae’s current boyfriend, were confirmed and he had been completely ruled out as a possible suspect.”

**Although that information apparently came from her friend Nicole.

-CM