- The Verdict - Page 243

Forty-eight

In 1991, Robert Eagan complained to an interviewer that successive defense attorneys for Zeigler had so distorted the evidence that he could hardly recognize the case he had tried in 1976.  He compared them to Communist revisionists, rewriting history to serve their own ends.1

If the debate about the case has been somewhat transfigured with time, it may be because the body of evidence—some direct, some peripheral—has grown over the years.  Successive revelations of new information he kept the case controversial, and in some instances have prolonged Zeigler's appeals.  Some of that new evidence actually dates from the original investigation and remained in the files of the state attorney for more than ten years, literally undiscovered.

THE ROACH STATEMENTS

 In 1979, a husband and wife, Ken and Linda Roach, gave the most detailed eyewitness accounts of events at the store at the time of the murders.  If their affidavits are at all accurate, they leave no possibility except that Zeigler is innocent.

The couple lived outside Orange County, but said that they were driving through the town on Christmas Eve in 1975, and that they passed the furniture store that evening as the drove south on Dillard Street.  Ken Roach said that the time was about 7:20 P.M. as they approached Route 50.

Both swore that as they passed the store, they heard a single loud noise that sounded like a tire blowout.  It was followed quickly by a series of firecracker-like reports, some louder than others.  Ken Roach said it was like "a pack of firecrackers being ignited all at the same time...a series of at least ten or more shots or explosions, some at different levels of sound."

Both looked to the right, toward the source of the noise: the furniture store.  The lights inside were low.

Each saw four vehicles parked in front.

Linda Roach described two of the cars.  One was large, white or cream.  The other, also large, was dark metallic blue-green, which is consistent with the Edwardses' sedan.  She could not remember the others.

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1  In that same conversation, Eagan also stated that the grove bullet "was positively identified as having been fired from one of Tommy's guns."  In fact, FBI ballistics experts could not positively match the grove bullet to the Securities .38, although they shared general rifling characteristics.