Chief plays mobile home slayings close to the vest

[September 01, 2009]  BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) -- Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering knows the public is eager to know more about the mysterious slayings of eight people in this Georgia coastal city but is reticent to release details that might destroy his investigation.

Two days after seven bodies and two critically injured victims were found in a Brunswick mobile home, he refused to release most of their names, ages or how they were killed -- though some of that could come during a Tuesday afternoon briefing. No motive and no suspects, he says. And police are not sure if the killer was still in the area.

"I understand their frustration," Doering said Monday about the public's desire for knowledge. "But this is a very difficult investigation. ...I have to be very careful."

On the flipside, the chief was willing to release the recording of the 911 call made by Guy Heinze Jr., who arrived early Saturday to find seven members of his family dead and two more clinging to life. One of the survivors, 19-year-old Michael Toler, later died at a hospital, bringing the total dead to eight. The ninth victim remained in critical condition.

The tape provided a chilling glimpse of the gory scene.

"My dad's dead, my uncle's dead. There's like six. My whole family's dead!" Heinze said, struggling to describe the scene to a dispatcher after his neighbor called 911 and handed him the phone. "It looks like they've been beaten to death. I don't know what to do, man."

Moments later, the 22-year-old who is facing charges of lying to police and other counts went back inside and discovered his cousin Michael still breathing.

"Michael's alive, tell them to hurry!" Heinze yelled in the background as a maintenance man at the mobile home park stayed on the phone with the dispatcher. "He's beat up! His face is smashed in!"

The 12-minute call provided some of the only details about the crime that Doering calls the worst murder case in his 25 years on the job. He said he expected to be able to release the identities at a Tuesday news conference once all the autopsies have been completed. The killings have the community on edge, and some have been critical of the lack of information.

Others are supportive.

Thomas Joiner, who has lived in the area since 1955 and lives about five miles from the mobile home park, said he didn't fault the chief for withholding information.

"I understand what the police are doing. You cannot give too many details," he said, adding that that could make it harder to solve the crime.

But he said the uncertainty over whether a violent killer was still on the loose is tough to take and he's not taking chances.

"I am being very vigilant," he said, adding that he has a pit bull as a guard dog, keeps his shotgun handy and, since Saturday, has started locking his doors at all times, something he never felt the need to do before.

Doering also took a reporter, photographer and video cameraman to see and film the outside of the crime scene from the back seat of his police car Saturday after the mobile home park's management refused all day to let reporters onto the property.

But he can also be coy. At a news conference Sunday, Doering gave a brief update and took questions for 20 minutes before revealing the day's biggest news -- that Heinze had been arrested. Heinze is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday. Doering has not called him a suspect and Heinze's lawyer said his client is very upset and denies any involvement in the killings.

Though he'd already been asked if police had any suspects, Doering said teasingly at the news conference that he was surprised nobody asked specifically about arrests.

"I was waiting for one of y'all to say, 'Gee, Matt, I went down to the jail and checked the records and you all are doing pretty good,'" he said.

His guarding of details in a high-profile crime isn't new.

A weeklong search for a missing 6-year-old boy in March 2007 ended with Christopher Barrios being found dead. Police charged a convicted child molester and his parents with sexually assaulting and killing the boy.

As he's done since last weekend's mass slaying, Doering called frequent news conferences to accommodate reporters -- but also kept back details he believed could jeopardize the case. He revealed names of suspects, whom police had questioned for days, only after charges were filed. Details of how the boy died didn't emerge until the suspects were indicted.

Amy Callaway sits on the county board of commissioners. She declined to say whether officials were briefed on details not made public but supported the chief.

"I think the police chief is being very guarded because he's trying to protect the families. I think that's his main concern right now," Callaway said. "As time goes on, more and more information will come out."

[Associated Press; By KATE BRUMBACK and RUSS BYNUM]

Associated Press writer Greg Bluestein in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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