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The information below provided by the supporters of Keith Canaan

Victim of the Crime

On 28 December 1985 a young woman called Lori Bullock was found lying on her bed, naked.  Her body and the crime scene area were covered in blood after she had been brutally stabbed to death in this horrific murder.

Scene of the Crime

Evansville, a small town in the State of Indiana.  At the east of the town, there is a building complex called Fairmont Apartments which comprise of many apartment blocks.  The apartment which the victim occupied was 1 of 4 set within the building.  The building comprised of 2 downstairs apartments, and 2 upstairs apartments.  The entry into the building is set on the middle floor, with 2 sets of stairs on this hallway. On the left hand side of the hall is a set of stairs leading down to the lower level (downstairs), whilst turning right on the main hallway leads to the staircase to the 2 upstairs apartments.  Lori Bullock occupied a downstairs apartment which she shared with 3 other female roommates; Chris Hilsmeyer, Jean Traver and Linda Rush. The other occupants of the apartment building are Natasha and Matthew Clark who live in one of the upstairs apartments, and Jennifer Griffiths and Michelle Brudor who occupy the other upstairs apartment

Background Information

On 28 December 1985, between the hours of 9pm, up to whenever (?) Lori was actually murdered, Lori was supposed to be at home in the apartment alone. This was said to be known, because all the other room-mates had gone out for the evening, either to work, or elsewhere.  Linda Rush had borrowed Lori's car, and then telephoned Lori at the apartment at around 9pm, to ask if she might be able to keep the car, out to later in the evening.  As expected. "Lori said that since she was not going anywhere, and would just be staying at home, that she would not be needing the car back until the time for her to go to work in the morning".  (This was the last known time that anyone had spoken to Lori, the  last time she was known to still be alive!). 

There had been several calls placed to the apartment, after the phone call by Linda at 9pm.  These calls  were made by Lori's boyfriend (Rick Bethe) and his friend (Kevin Kolley) who had been together that evening.  These calls remained unanswered, and were placed between 9pm (28 December) through to 1am (29 December).

Earlier that evening, Rick Bethe had been at the apartment.  Lori and Rick had had sex, but he withdrew before ejaculation.  It was found that Rick's friend, Kevin Kolley had been at the apartment earlier that same evening, between the hours of 6pm and 8pm.  Kevin had been dating Linda Rush, but she was now seeing someone else on this evening, and when he had found out about it, he got into a big fight with Linda.  He actually hit Linda in the face during the fight, and when Kevin left the apartment, he was so mad  that he punched his fist into his car window.  

Kevin Kolley then left the apartment, alone, leaving Rick Bethe  there with Lori for a while.  Then at around 8.45pm Kevin Kolley returned and picked up Rick.  They both left Lori alone in the apartment  and went to the ARC Lanes Bowling and Pool Room to shoot some pool, until around 10.30pm, and no later than 11pm.  Both say they never returned to Lori's apartment.  However they did drive by, looking at the apartment building on 2 different occasions, after leaving playing pool. Both say that in the 2 occasions they drove by the apartment, they did not get out of their  car, they only just drove by to look.

On 29 December, at approximately 2.45am, Linda Rush came home from her date with Mike Lukasik, to find the door to the apartment unlocked (not open as the State claimed).  On entering the apartment Linda found it had been thoroughly ransacked and everything had been gone through.  She looked around the apartment further, walking into Lori's bedroom, she flicked on the light switch and found Lori's naked body at the foot of her bed.  Lori had been stabbed to death by a knife that had been removed from one of the kitchen cabinets, the knife was still in Lori's body, there were cuts on her throat, chest area, arms and legs. Her body had been brutally stabbed 22 times and there was a gaping wound right at her pubic bone area.

Case Study - Introduction

In 1981 Keith moved into Kevin and Julie's apartment (Keith's brother and his girlfriend)  in Springfield, Ohio. There was a lot of trouble during this time, with Kevin and Julie constantly fighting.  Julie blamed Keith for Kevin's drinking and going out.  Keith used to pay them money towards their accommodation rent, but after a couple of weeks, the Landlord wrote asking them to move out; the money Keith was giving to Kevin and Julie was not being used to pay the rent.  Things got so bad that Keith actually packed his bags, quit his job and moved out of the State to start anew.

In November 1985 Keith was released from prison, after serving a 3½ year sentence.  Keith secured himself a job in Evansville as a Welder for The Creative Craftsman Company.  He was invited to  move in to Kevin and Julie's apartment, where they lived in Evansville, Indiana.  They had 2 children now, and Julie was heavily pregnant with their third.  Things hadn't changed, Kevin and Julie still constantly argued, and once again Julie started to blame Keith for his brother's drinking and all, but Kevin's actions were all his own. 

Prior to 28 December 1985, there had been a couple of times that while living with Kevin and Julie that things had got so bad in the household that Keith had packed up and was ready to leave and get away from the situations.  But Kevin asked Keith to stay.  In one particular incident, about 1½ weeks prior to Keith's arrest; Keith was all packed up and at the Evansville Bus Station (Kevin was also with him; he was going to leave Julie - at least that is what he said). 

Kevin called Julie from the Bus Station, they talked, and Kevin persuaded Keith to go back to the apartment with him. Keith didn't wish to break his parole, so decided that it was the best thing to stay with them.  Keith went out of his way to try and improve the situation at home, he wouldn't even allow Kevin to join him when he went out drinking, he just didn't want Julie to be mad with him for the way things were between her and Kevin.  Keith only lived with Kevin and Julie for 37 days, before being arrested and charged with the murder of Lori Bullock.

The Events of  28 / 29 December 1985

Kevin worked in a Bob Evans Restaurant, which had a strict dress code for its staff when working evenings; namely staff were required to wear black pants, black dress shoes and a white shirt.  Kevin's pants were dirty, so he asked Keith if he could wear his black cord pants.  Keith agreed, since he wasn't wanting to wear them.  Kevin left the apartment at 3.30pm to go to work.  At around 7pm, Keith told Julie that he was going out to drink some beer.  But he was going to stop by Bob Evans' where Kevin worked and get maybe a bite to eat or coffee first.   She replied 'Don't you get Kevin out drinking with you'.  Keith said 'OK'.  Keith stopped off at Bob Evans Restaurant where Kevin worked.  He got a cup of coffee and sat talking to a few people he knew there.

Later, Kevin approached Keith from behind and asked Keith where he was going to go afterwards. Keith replied that he was going across the street for a while to drink some beer.  Shortly afterwards, Keith left Bob Evans Restaurant and went across the street to Chi-Chi's Bar.  Keith was there about half an hour before Kevin came in.  Kevin had just left work and was still wearing the black cord pants, black dress shoes and white shirt.  Keith told him to either return back to work, or go home because he didn't want to get blamed by Julie for him being out drinking, and possibly end up in a situation where Julie would tell Keith to move out once again. 

In any event, Kevin continued to drink a couple of pitchers of beer with Keith, but Keith didn't want Kevin there at all and didn't want to encourage him to stay any longer.  So Keith told Kevin that he didn't have enough money for another pitcher of beer, and pulled out a few one dollar bills to try and prove his point, in the hopes that Kevin would leave, which he did.  But Kevin did not leave the bar, he went to get another pitcher from a guy he knew who was serving behind the bar.  Then finally, on leaving the bar, Kevin told Keith that he was going over to Jennifer Griffith's apartment to buy a couple of joints.  This was about 9pm, when Kevin left the bar, he was still wearing the black cords pants, black dress shoes and white shirt.  Keith didn't see Kevin again until 6.00am on 29 December.

Keith then went over to the Fairmont apartment complex where he knew 2 people (Jennifer Griffin and Michelle Bruder) who lived in one of the upstairs apartments (in the same building as Lori Bullock).  He used to visit Jennifer's and Michelle's apartment a couple of times every week to buy drugs.  This is how Keith became a suspect, since he visited the building complex on the evening of 28 December 1985.  Keith did not enter the downstairs level of the building, the upstairs level was the only place that Keith went.  Keith was visiting Jennifer's apartment to attempt to obtain some drugs.  He knocked on the door, but there was no reply.  Whilst knocking on the door, Keith could hear the noise of a party, coming from the other upstairs apartment across the hall (the whole of this hall area is no larger than 8ft square).   

The apartment was owned by Natasha and Matthew Clark. Keith knew that Jennifer was friendly with her neighbours, the Clark's, so it was possible that she could be in the party.  A person answered the door (it was then apparent that a party was taking place inside this apartment). Keith asked if Jennifer  was inside their apartment at the party.   Keith was told no, but stood a short while talking to the person who had answered the door. A few other people who had been in the party came to the door to see who it was, and joined in their brief talk.  Before leaving, Keith asked if anyone wanted to buy the push bike he had.  The reply was 'no', they didn't want the bike, also they didn't know  where Jennifer and Michelle were or when they would come home.  They shut the door.

After the door at the Clark's was shut, a girl inside the party there (Dana Dunn), looked through the peep-hole in the door, viewing the upstairs hall-way area where Keith was.  Keith's actions are clearly verified by her viewing of him.  After the Clark's door was shut on Keith, he decided to knock on Jennifer's and Michelle's apartment door one last time before leaving, so he walked over to their door and again knocked a few more times (he thought maybe Jennifer and/or Michelle may not have heard his knocking the first time).  After getting no answer again, Keith walked down the stairs, went straight out of the front door, and got on is 10 speed bike, and left the apartment building.

After leaving the apartment building, Keith rode his bike to Chi-Chi's, but the place was real quiet, so Keith decided to go down the road to Bennigan's Bar & Restaurant.  The bar was certainly crowded that evening, and could only be likened to been packed into a sardine tin.  Keith spent over half an hour here, drinking beer, watching people dancing and exchanging the occasional 'hello' and/or smile with a few young ladies. 

He walked over to the guy who was playing tapes and records of music inside the bar for people to dance to, Keith requested him to place a couple of songs. He then mingled around,  and after a short while, Keith moved from the crowded bar section to the tabled section where food can be ordered.  He sat down, and waited to be served. (It should be noted, that Keith had to leave the Bar section and go into the tabled area of Bennigan's in order to have his food ordered.  Food is only served in the tabled section area of Bennigan's). After a few moments, the waiter (Rodney Crice) took Keith's order for a sandwich.  Keith sat there for a good while, enjoyed a beer and his sandwich. 

After Keith ate the Hamburger, and paid for the check, he got up and went to use the bathroom. After using the bathroom, he went back to the crowded bar area, and it is then that after a little while Keith started talking to a guy called Kirk Fifer.  After talking a while, they decided to leave Bennigan's in favor of another venue the 'Silver Dollar Bar' across town.  Kirk was driving an International Pick-Up truck.  Kirk told Keith to put his bike on the back of the truck.  Unfortunately, when trying to manoeuvre the truck out of the parking area, Kirk messed up and the Police pulled them over.  

The Police recorded the offence, and then let Kirk drive on.  Now they were ready to move on, and to another bar.  It was at this bar, just before closing time that Keith got involved in a fight with one of three bikers.  It was at this point that Kirk had offered to drive Keith back to his side of town.  In the truck, Keith pulled out some money from his pocket to pay the guy for some gas, because Keith wanted a ride back over to the East side of Evansville and to Jerry's Restaurant.

At 3.30am on 29 December, Keith visited Jerry's Restaurant to get some breakfast before going home.  After eating breakfast, Keith returned home sometime between 6am-7am to find the house had been torn up, and a speaker had been all ripped and broken.  It was obvious that there had been some sort of fight between Kevin and Julie. When Keith had seen the mess of Kevin and Julie's apartment, after their row, he decided he had had enough and was going to leave the area and start a new life elsewhere.  He was tired of their fighting and arguing. 

Keith wasn't sure who was at home; so he made himself a cup of coffee, and just sat down on the couch in the living room for a while; waiting to see who came downstairs, or woke up.   Keith was still sat on the couch, drinking coffee and playing around with his guitar when Kevin came downstairs from his bedroom.  Kevin told Keith that the Police had been called to the house as a result of a fight between him and Julie; and that Julie had taken the children and left Kevin to move in with her Mom and Dad. She had said that she would return (with a moving van) later in the day to take all of her items and children's things out of the house. Keith then got up and decided to go over to Mark and Reneea Gilmore's apartment across the street.  Kevin stayed at the apartment himself for a while.  Keith drove over to Henderson with Mark and Reneea (and their young child); they got a bag of pot and returned to their apartment.  Upon returning, Keith went across the road to get his guitar and Kevin returned to the Gilmore's apartment with Keith.

Keith did not really want to go back across the road to get his belongings from the apartment because Julie had told Kevin that she would be returning later with a moving van; and Keith did not want to get involved in any arguments about the same old problems again. Kevin wanted to go to Florida with Keith to make a new start, Keith didn't want that, so they argued a while.

There were several plain clothed Policemen appeared outside Kevin's apartment, but Kevin assumed they were there because of the fight the night before. After a little while, once the plain clothed Policemen had gone, Kevin went across the road to the apartment to retrieve Keith's possessions.

When Kevin returned to Mark's house with Keith's belongings, they continued drinking and playing guitars a while.  Kevin constantly kept asking Keith not to leave until later.  When Keith had had enough, and didn't want to wait any longer he left the house.  Unfortunately, Keith got lost on the East side of Evansville, because he didn't really know the area that well, plus Kevin gave Keith some wrong directions to get to the main road, that would take Keith to the bridge in Evansville that lead across the River into Henderson, Kentucky.  So Keith found a place to sleep off the drunkenness he was feeling.  Next morning he got proper directions from a person in a local store.  Keith was
walking down the road  and started hitch-hiking for a ride, out in a clear open area on this busy road in town.  When Keith had been out there a while, he was stopped by a Police officer who started asking Keith questions on who he was, and where he was going.  Keith knew he could not tell the truth, because  he was standing  with all his things, and heading towards the bridge not only out of town, but the State.  After all, Keith was still on parole at this point in time and knew that if he gave his real name to the Police, they would find out he was still on parole, and would arrest him for Parole Violation.  But when other Officers came by the road, they told Keith he was fitting with the description of a person they were looking for, for questioning of a murder that had happened.

They put Keith under arrest, and into the Police car.  Keith told them who he really was, and the Police told him he was under arrest for questioning of a murder that happened.  Keith was questioned, he told them where he was during 28 and 29 December, and told them what he was wearing during that time. After giving Keith a cup of coffee during questioning, they played a tape recorded statement of his brother Kevin.  After hearing the contents of the statement, Keith knew he was going to need an attorney.  The questioning was ended, so that all of this could be dealt with in the courts.

POLICE INVESTIGATIONS, THE TRIAL AND INEFFECTIVE DEFENSE COUNSEL

Background Information

A week prior to the murder of Lori Bullock, Keith had visited the Fairmont Apartment complex  to visit Jennifer at her upstairs apartment.  (On Keith's way into the building he ran into one of Lori's room-mates). As Keith was only at Jennifer's place a short time, he got himself a little pot and was going to party with her, but she was getting ready to go out somewhere else. At this point, Keith had a full case of beer with him.  As he was leaving the upstairs level and getting ready to go out the front door of the building, he met a couple of girls (Chris and Jean (Lori's room-mates)) that lived in the lower apartment. They invited him into their apartment, they shared a couple of beers and smoked a joint as they sat talking.  The only reason  Keith visited the apartment the following morning to use their phone (so he could call his brother (Kevin) to come to the apartment complex to pick him up) was because on that evening he never left the apartment complex. When he left Chris and Jean's he felt ill, it was late, it was cold outside and he was drunk  - he was in no shape to try walk home, so he fell asleep in the upstairs hallway.   It should be noted that each time Keith visited the apartment, he never met Lori.  He did not know Lori at all.  Prior to the 28 December 1985, Keith had only met Chris and Jean briefly on these 2 occasions.

When questioned by Police about the crime and their whereabouts, Rick Bethe (Lori's boyfriend) told them everything he could remember, but denied any part of committing the crime.  When Police interviewed Kevin, he denied even being at the apartment on the evening of 28 December.  He also denied getting into a fight with Linda Rush.  Upon further questioning, Police told Kevin Kolley that they knew he was not telling them the truth.  At this point in time, Kevin admitted to being at the apartment, but still denied hitting Linda and punching his car window. 

He also denied going back to the apartment after he left with Rick at 8pm.  Kevin denied committing this crime.  During the questioning of Rick Bethe and Kevin Kolley, the Police found out that a week before the murder, a party was thrown by one of Lori's roommates (it should be noted that Keith was not at this party).  There was drinking and pot smoking going on.  Lori was in her bedroom with a couple of other people. Lori had an early morning ahead of her, since she had to go to work.  She got one of the people to go and tell the others at the party they had to leave.  When a few guys at the party were told they had to leave, they pulled out knives on people, and said they would leave when they were ready. Eventually they all left, without any further incident.  These people were never questioned by the Police.  Their names have never been found, hence their whereabouts on the evening of 28 December 1985 remain unknown

Police Investigations

Between the time of 11.30-11.45pm on 28 December, a lady who lived close by to Lori's apartment had heard a scream.  Around the same time, a little boy who was staying at his Grandmother's, also heard a scream.  At this time there is no way that Keith could have committed this crime, cleaned up, changed his clothes and rode his pushbike down to Bennigan's in this time scale, since Keith ordered his sandwich at the restaurant section of Bennigan's at 12.25am.

It is known that Lori was still alive at 9pm on 28 December 1985; she was found dead at 2.45am on 29 December 1985.  The time of the death of Lori Bullock was set by the Coroner at between 10.30pm (28 December) and 2.45am (29 December).  It should be noted that the only reason the time of 10.30pm is stated as a possible time of Lori's death, is due to the fact that Keith was their suspect!   In addition, the Police could not place Keith at the apartment building until he was talking to the Clark's and people attending their party.    

There are no medical findings to substantiate the death of Lori to be timed at 10.30pm.   It could be that Lori was murdered before Keith visited the apartment complex.  The screams that were heard by the lady and the little boy, is the time (around 11.30pm) that Kevin and Mark Gilmore were at the building to buy some joints.  Supposedly, Kevin went in alone, and allegedly only upstairs!?  Kevin was apparently only in the building for 5 minutes, and Mark waited outside in a parked car in front of the apartment building.  He said he never saw or heard anybody in the area. Mark Gilmore also said that Kevin was wearing faded blue jeans, white t-shirt and tennis shoes; not what Kevin was wearing when he left Keith at the bar earlier that evening!

Keith has witnesses to his whereabouts for almost every minute of the evening of 28 December and the early hours of 29 December.  Witnesses included bar-tenders who saw him throughout the evening.  It is more than unfortunate that there is only a one half hour period where no witness has come forward to positively verify Keith's location.

The half hour in question is the time Keith spent in the crowded bar area of Bennigan's, before going to the tabled section to order a sandwich.  The waiter, Mr Rodney Crice who served Keith his sandwich did not only remember Keith, but also had an order/receipt (dated 29 December, time 12.25am) to confirm these facts.  Whilst Keith was at Bennigan's on the evening 28 December, during the first half hour or so, he remained in a very crowded bar area, exchanging the occasional 'hello' and/or smile whilst enjoying a couple of beers and watching some people dancing.

When the Police went to Bennigan's to check out Keith's statement, they made no attempt  to question anyone inside Bennigan's except for the black waiter whom had served Keith's hamburger at 12.25am.  This waiter, Mr Rodney Crice could not confirm from what direction Keith had entered the tabled section which he was waiting on, nor could he verify in which direction Keith left. If the Police had extended their questioning to other members of staff (staff who served Keith at the bar that evening, before he entered into the tabled section of the pub) and the public, it is quite likely that someone would have come forward to positively place Keith.  

The Police also failed to look for and locate the guy in the pub who was playing music in Bennigan's that evening, he would have probably been able to remember seeing Keith, since Keith did request him to play a couple of records.  It should also be remembered that the Police were not able to prove that Keith was not in the bar section of the pub before entering its tabled section to order some food. 

In Police investigations, they were unable to place Keith anywhere during 28/29 December that Keith hadn't told them he had been.  It should be noted that neither the Police, nor Keith's attorneys have investigated further to locate anyone who could positively place Keith at Bennigan's during the initial half hour period he was in the Bar.  In addition, to this day, the State has never presented factual proof disclaiming any of Keith's statements.

In addition, the only way that the Police were able to locate the driver of the International Truck (Kirk Fifer) was not due to them searching or questioning anyone in the Bar at Bennigan's.  The Police were only able to trace Kirk Fifer  because Keith told them, during questioning that between Bennigan's  and The Silver Dollar, they were pulled over by the Police.  This clearly shows that Keith was verifying to the Police his whereabouts truthfully and accurately during 28/29 December.

On the evening of 28 December and the early hours of 29 December, Keith was dressed very smartly and cleanly in a flannel shirt, with dark brown cord Levi pants.  No marks of blood were found on him or his clothing.  If Keith had committed this crime, it would be inevitable and obvious that a considerable amount of blood would be found on his clothing as a result of the horrific stabbings; since  there was blood all over the victim and the scene of the crime.

When Police visited where Keith lived, Keith was not in - but his brother Kevin was.  So the Police took Kevin down to the Police Department to question him.  Kevin told Police that Keith had told him that on 28 December he had got into a fight with 3 bikers and killed one of them.  Keith had given him a pair of black cord Levi pants and told him to burn them, since they had blood on them.  Keith did get into a fight with one biker of the three, at a bar on 28 December, the biker had hit Keith, who in turn hit him back - and that was the end of the incident!  Nobody had been hurt, never mind killed. It should be noted that this incident did not result in the necessity to call for either the Police or Ambulance services.  On the evening of 28 December, Keith was not wearing black cord Levi pants.  Indeed, the only person to be wearing black cord Levi pants was Kevin.

The reason the black pants are involved in the case is because of what Kevin had said to the Police.   Blood was found on the black cord pants, and this was consistent to the blood type of the murder victim, note the word consistent and not positive! The Police could not confirm if the blood was that of the victim, or of someone with the same blood group.  It should be noted that Keith's and Lori Bullocks blood type are the same (type A). 

Kevin worked in a Bob Evans Restaurant, which had a strict dress code for its staff when working evenings; namely staff were required to wear black pants, black dress shoes and a white shirt.  Kevin's pants were dirty, so he asked Keith if he could wear his black cord pants.  Keith agreed, since he wasn't wanting to wear them. Nobody saw Keith in different clothing that evening during the times and places he was seen throughout 28/29 December; namely he was dressed smartly in a flannel shirt with dark brown cord Levi pants. 

At this point in time, Keith is not certain as to whether blood was found on the black Levi cord pants, as Police have claimed.  Remember, it was Kevin who had been wearing these during 28 December.  It should also be remembered that when Kevin turned up at Mark Gilmore's house at 10-10.30pm after leaving Keith at the bar, Mark Gilmore stated that Kevin was wearing faded blue jeans, white t-shirt and tennis shoes and not what Kevin was wearing when he left Keith at the bar. Somewhere, for some reason, Kevin had changed his clothing!

The only persons claiming that Keith was wearing the black cord pants was the State, Kevin and Julie.  Keith was not wearing black cord pants or grey shirt that evening.  Kevin and Julie were not able to substantiate their claim to this, nor provide factual proof; the State simply relied on their claim   In any event, the only person to be wearing those black cord pants on the evening of 28 December was Kevin Canaan.

When Police visited Jerry's Restaurant where Keith had visited at 3.30am on 29 December (Keith had eaten breakfast here before going home).  The Police spoke to 2 waitresses who had served Keith.  The first waitress, Charlotte Stoner was shown a photograph of Keith and told he was a suspect of the crime that had happened.  She said she thought that she had seen 3 dime sized spots of blood on Keith's shirt. 

It should be noted that she had also served Keith at the restaurant a few days prior to the murder (27 December to be precise), when Keith was wearing his grey shirt,  did have a cut finger when he came in then, and did have blood on him from his bleeding finger.  Keith had wrecked his bike when drunk.  When asked what shirt Keith was wearing on the night of the murder, she replied that it was a grey one. 

This statement was proven false  (it was obviously a mistake by the waitress, getting her nights mixed up; as previously stated Keith wore the grey shirt on the evening of 27 December, not the night of the murder), since the shirt was recovered by Police and the FBI Crime Laboratory tested to see if any blood had ever been on the shirt.  Negative results!  The second waitress, Kathy Vickers, actually stated at Keith's trial that whilst she did not recall the specific colour of Keith's shirt he was wearing on the morning of the 29 December, she did not see any blood on the shirt.

There were so many people with access to the apartment building on the evening of 28 December, besides the people who were at the Clark's upstairs party, the fact that Jennifer Griffith's sold drugs, there is no telling how many people entered the building that evening.  Keith's friends (Jennifer and Michelle) returned to their apartment at 11pm on that same evening.

The Trial

After Keith was charged with the murder of Lori Bullock, he was appointed representation of Evansville Public Defender, Barry Standley.  Another Public Defender was also placed as Co-Defender for the defense, but for reasons not known to Keith, this Co-Defender withdrew from his case.  Mr Standley then got another person to come on the case as Co-Defender, Mrs Beverly Harris (now Judge in Evansville). Prior to trial, many motions were filed for defense, discover motions etc. 

Mr Standley also filed a motion for monies to be afforded by the court to employ an investigator for the defense.  The Judge stated that he would only allow a sum of $2000 to be given.  Mr Standley then hired a good friend of his, which charged $150 per hour! It is quite clear looking at these figures, there was little provision made for any investigating.  More so, this investigator did not attempt to obtain any statements, check Keith's whereabouts, indeed Keith does not know of anyone in this case that was questioned by this investigator, except for the State's own 2 witnesses. 

The investigator did not even testify at trial!  Whilst Keith had no defense investigation, the Police's own investigations of Keith's whereabouts during 28/29 December were clearly established as true.  Keith does not know if any investigation was done on his behalf.  There were only 3 witnesses put on the stand during the defense side of the trial, and these witnesses did not even get to talk to this investigator!

Due to all the media coverage in town, there was a change of venue granted by the court to the defense because the Judge determined that too many prospective jurors from the town of Evansville would have heard too much of the media coverage etc.  The Judge decided that the trial would still be held in Evansville where the crime was committed, but jury selection would come from a town outside of the local news and media coverage viewing area.  But once the jury was selected, they were sequestered in an Evansville hotel until the case was decided!  Because the first trial and jurors selected 65 miles away had ended in a mis-trial (2 days into the trial a Police Officer called to stand for testimony to be given over the events of the investigation let testimony come out that Keith had been in prison before - and a jury is not permitted to become aware of any past criminal record unless or until the defendant takes the witness stand in their own defense. At the time it was not known if Keith would be testifying or not, there was a mis-trial granted).  So 30 days later, the jury for the second trial was selected from Gibson County only 20 miles away from Evansville, and since this county was well within the news media area, the majority of the jurors were aware of the details of the case even before the trial started.  Keith did want to testify in his case, but ws advised not to by his defense counsel. Keith's criminal record is not a one which contains any sort of violence, he wanted to take the witness stand to let some real facts be known about some of the statements given, and to let this jury know that just because he had a record and some problems in his life, that did not make him an evil person or a blood thirsty murderer, and he wanted the jury to know that he was not someone who was trying to hide his record from them.  Keith's defence counsel told him that he had a 50/50 chance and if he took the stand, he would lose the case; and would probably go to the electric chair.  Keith was scared, he is no lawyer - so he placed his trust and life in that of his defense counsel.  Keith had discussions with Mr Standley and Mrs Harris prior to the trial, explaining the reasons for leaving Julie, Kevin and the State, but very few of these important factors were mentioned at trial - facts about the questioning of Kevin or witnesses in the case.

Since Keith was not testifying, the State were trying to place Keith in the building on the 28 December, when the true fact was that Keith had told the Police he had visited the building, and why.

The State made it look like Keith was the person who committed the crime; they brought in all of the people present at the party at the Clark's apartment on the evening of 28 December.  Some of the people made statements to the effect they thought they heard a knocking sound, which may have come from the downstairs level.  These testimonies were used by the State to seemly place Keith going to the downstairs level of the apartment building when the people at the Clark's party had closed the door on him.

As the State, at trial were desperately trying to place Keith in the downstairs level of the apartment building after the people at the party closed the door, the State tried to insinuate the knocking on the door, was Keith knocking on Lori's downstairs apartment door trying to sell his bike.   The State's claim is simply not true.   Dana stated she saw Keith walk back to Jennifer's apartment knock on the door, there was no reply; then saw Keith take a few steps down the stairs towards the front door of the apartment building.  The State asked Dana, after seeing Keith knock at Jennifer's door, did she hear anything else in the building?  She replied 'no'.  But she did say that 5 minutes later she did hear footsteps coming back up the stairs towards the upstairs level again.  So, after Keith left the building on his bike, someone did enter the building!

The State also claimed that this victim's door must have popped open and Keith walked in and ransacked the victim's apartment.  During this event he killed the victim when she surprised him in the middle of this burglary and said that since the victim was nude when found murdered, and that since the rape tests were negative results, that must of meant that this victim was asleep in her room, because her bedroom door had been broken down during this crime. 

However since the victim was not known to sleep in the nude, or surely would not answer a knocking on the door nude, then she was either asleep when this bedroom door was broken into, or possibly in the shower and came out and surprised the person somehow.  There was no forced entry established to the front door of the victim's apartment, or any forced entry on any windows, so this fact, no breaking element of the charge of the crime of burglary was never shown, or any slight forced entry for that matter.  A breaking of an inside bedroom door does not meet the elements of the crime of
a burglary.

The only time in this whole case that Keith is not able to be placed by an eye witness was from the point of leaving the upstairs level of the apartment building (as  Dana Dunn testified) to the time where he obtained some food from Bennigan's at 12.25am on 29 December; there is a timed food receipt to prove this.    This is the part of the evening whereby the State is claiming Keith was in the lower level of the apartment building, committing the crime. 

It should also be noted that neither the Police nor Keith's attorneys questioned anyone from Bennigan's Main Bar section where Keith had been.  Hence, Keith was not even afforded the proper opportunity to have his whereabouts verified  during this period; not because he wasn't able to, but because he was prevented from obtaining the verification he needed by not only the Police also his own attorneys!  Nobody would even look at, or attempt to question anyone that was in the main Bar Section of Bennigan's, where Keith was during the time brought into question in this case.

Although Keith is not certain, he does know it was no earlier than 11pm; Keith is not sure as to the exact time he arrived and that he stayed in the upstairs level; knocking on Jennifer's door and talking at the Clark's apartment for 10-15 minutes at the most.  The Clark's were questioned by a Police Officer, about 2 hours after Lori was discovered murdered at approximately 2.45am.  They gave statements that Keith was at their door at 11.30pm on that evening, and they said they were sure of the time.  When the Police questioned them the following day, they changed the time to 10.30-10.45pm on 28 December; and once again they stated they were sure of this time.  It is clear that there was no time established.  But the State adopted their changed time statement of 10.30-10.45pm for their case against Keith.

There were 2 cigarette butts found on the dresser of Lori's bedroom.  The Police never determined what kind of cigarettes they were, but saliva tests performed on the cigarette filters showed the smoker of the cigarette to be classified as 'a secretor' (people are either 'secretors' or 'non-secretors'). In later tests, Keith was determined to be 'a secretor'.

The cigarette butts were not really strong evidence linking anyone to the crime, only suggestive since Keith was a smoker and also classified a 'secretor'.  So the State used this as circumstantial evidence in their case against Keith since he was their suspect.  The important thing to note is that anyone could have smoked those cigarettes, even Lori's 2 room-mates who smoked, because they were both also determined to be 'secretors'.  After all, a good percentage of the world's population of smokers are classified 'secretors'.

During the investigation of this crime, a rape test was performed on Lori, and it was determined that no rape had occurred during the commission of the crime.  In addition, fibre samples and fingerprints were taken from the victim's body together with items found both inside and outside the apartment.

Kirk Fifer, who gave Keith along with his bike a lift, said at questioning by Police that he had seen Keith with at least $100. The State used this against Keith because Kevin's statement said that earlier that evening (before the time of the murder) Keith didn't have enough money for another pitcher of beer!  But, Keith had just got paid from his place of work as a welder only 2 days prior, and was paid over $200.  Keith had deliberately only shown Kevin a few dollar bills, in order to discourage his brother from drinking further with him, as Keith did not want to pay the consequences of being blamed once again by Julie, for keeping Kevin out drinking all night.  So the reason Keith had such money is explainable.  However, this fact was never brought to light at trial.  Once again, ineffective counsel at trial.  The Police traced Kirk Fifer and took the truck to the Police Laboratories for searching, looking for any evidence ie. blood stains, fibres, hairs, etc.  Negative results, nothing was found.  If Keith had worn anything from such a brutal murder scene that had happened, in this case, and had been in the truck at this point, then some crucial evidence would most certainly have been found in the truck, but it wasn't.  This was not even mentioned at trial, ineffective counsel at trial.

The blown-up photocopies appended in Part Two are actual copies taken from Police polaroid crime scene photographs, in the record of this case, and they clearly illustrate the real facts!  After years of sitting on America's death row, wrongfully convicted for this crime, Keith was able to look closely and inspect these Police polaroid crime scene photographs for the first time on his own.  He is trying to do his own investigations, because nobody else ever, supposedly representing him, has taken the time to even look at, or even  inspect them, and he was able to get these actual Police photos blown
up and photocopied.

The photographs show the items left laying on the ground outside the building, where the victim's apartment was located.  These items were said to have been removed from the victim's apartment, and just left 'as found' and as photographed.  The important issue is the Police Officer's own testimony. This Police testimony also establishes that these items were 'as found and photographed' by Officers Ford and Pointer themselves.  Police Officer Ford produced a latent fingerprint of Keith Canaan. He claimed to have lifted the print from the Red Cross Spaghetti Box (hereinafter called 'the box').   He does not claim it was lifted by him at the scene of the crime.  Testimony shows these Officers placed the evidence into a Police crime van at the scene.  The evidence remained in the van for at least 12 hours before Officers Ford and Pointer then transferred the items to Police HQ.  Officer Ford took responsibility  for the evidence and placed  these items in an evidence holding room. 'Sometime later' he took them to the Police Laboratory. He took these alone and totally without any witnesses to verify his claims. He claimed to have found a dry spot on the box; and he was able to obtain a latent fingerprint of Keith Brian Canaan.

After claiming he had obtained the latent finger-print, he stated that he had to destroy the box because it was so badly damaged it could not be preserved for the trial.  He took no photographs to verify its claimed condition. Officer Ford claimed he knew he would have to destroy this box when he saw it at this crime scene.  At trial, when Officer Ford was asked if the latent fingerprint of Keith came from the box was based on just his word, Officer Ford replied 'Yes'.  Remember, Officer  Ford arrived at the scene and viewed all items before the photos were taken. Officer Pointer gave testimony that this box was so saturated and so badly damaged by this thawing meat and blood juices claim, that in his own attempts at the scene, he could not process this item (the box).  He said that he just turned all the items officially over to Ford as earlier outlined.  Remember Officer Pointer arrived at the crime scene at around 5.30am, and before the photos were taken also.  The victim's body was discovered at 2.45am, Officer Ford viewed the entire crime scene before 4.30am; according to testimony and the time indicated on the Police video.

From the entire 160 items of evidence only one was produced by the Police that they claim links Keith with the crime,  this was the latent fingerprint produced by Officer Stanley Ford himself.  This is very important; because the destruction of the box by Officer Ford was also destruction of key evidence.  Officer Ford's claims  for the reasons that he destroyed the box would indicate a gross act of perjury.  All crime scene evidence, found both inside and outside the apartment was either latent tested by the Police or sent to the Washington DC FBI Crime Laboratory for latest print testing. There were a total number of 98 latent prints found in this case.  The only latent of Keith was produced by Officer Ford's claimed latent print taken from the box before he deliberately destroyed the key evidence!

It is important to remember that Officer Ford was one of the first crime scene Officers to arrive at the scene after Lori was discovered murdered at approximately 2.45am on 29 December.  Officer  Ford arrived approximately 4am; he viewed all the crime scene before 4.30am; including all of the items (and the box) found laying outside on the ground.  More importantly, the photographs were taken almost 2 hours after Officer Ford had claimed that when he first viewed the box, it was so saturated and damaged due to thawing meat juices; that he knew at that time it had to be destroyed.

Clear perjury is demonstrated over Officer Ford's claims to destroying the evidence in the first place.  The two photocopies in Part Two of this Case Study are copies of the Police's crime scene polaroid photographs, also the only two photos in this case of the said Red Cross Spaghetti box.  The photos clearly show no damage whatsoever to this item, as claimed.  The Police have deliberately destroyed the only item said to have held the only print of Keith found at this crime scene.  [I realise these photos may have lost some of their clarity by being scanned etc., so if you require a more clear copy via snail-mail, please do not hesitate to contact me.

As Keith has never received proper help, these facts were not presented. Officer Ford gave testimony at trial for his  reasons he intentionally destroyed and could not preserve for trial/any independent testing or anyone's viewing. When he first saw the box at the crime scene, it was lying among some meat items, which had been removed from the victim's kitchen, along with many other items from the household.  The meat items were thawing and blood juices were all over them.  The box had become so damaged and saturated at this early stage of his viewing that the Officer knew it had to be destroyed.  Instead, it was put into a big green trash bag also found at the scene, along with some of the other items that sustained this damage, and put them into the police van, to be later taken to HQ.   In this instance there are no official time loggings (which is supposed to be Police procedure for evidence handling) for showing the movement of evidence.  In addition, there is no official log sheet that would establish his latent fingerprint testing time claims! By destroying the box, the Police ensured that nobody could examine it; neither experts nor Keith's defence.  This is at the very least a legal right, especially when analysing key pieces of evidence and even more so in a murder case where the death sentence is to be sought. 

At the time of writing, Keith has been unable to place these photographs into his appeals, neither has he been able to get his proof (evidence) set against these Police Officers.  This is because in all of these years, Keith's attorneys have failed to raise these issues, for that matter they have even failed to get the facts investigated. The latent fingerprint obtained by Officer Ford raises  the question where did he really get it from?  A lot of things were taken from Keith's bedroom, things known to belong to Keith and touched by him, even down to the cups of coffee given to Keith by officers during questioning ..  who knows?!  Of all the fingerprints found in this case - some matched Lori's roommates, some matched  people who visited the apartment during the course of at least a day prior to the murder - but none were found to match Keith, it was shown and proven!  Even the fingerprints on the murder weapon were never linked to anyone known - they are not Keith's, so whose are they?  All 160 items of evidence were sent to the FBI for further testing (with the exception for the latent fingerprint; since the box had been deliberately destroyed by the Police, then only the latent fingerprint itself was able to be submitted).

These photos were not looked into until Keith himself asked to see them years later. Now he is having a hard time to even get a court of appeals, or its judges to acknowledge them.  His appeals are so far along and his ineffective representation have not tried  to get them addressed in his appeals.  Keith has sent these blown-up photos himself along with a personal Affidavit trying to present their showing and testimony by Ford and Pointer, but the courts have simply stamped the documents as 'received' by the Clerk of the Court. The received stamp indicates the Judges will probably not even see these, because it was not Keith's attorney's who sent them, and they would not do it - WHY?  The courts have said when issues on latent fingerprints were raised on Keith's direct appeal, (filed by Keith's trial public defenders) basically the officers said the box was so damaged that it could not be saved, and had to be destroyed!   The appeal was denied!  None of the judges ever reviewing this case, have ever seemingly even bothered to personally view these photographs, or even closely examined Officers Pointer and Ford's testimonies to their claims of the condition of the Box 'as claimed found' for verification, or investigate its intentional destruction  The photos clearly show the intentional destruction of the box was in bad faith. The perjured testimony given by Ford and Pointer over its condition, should be a clear indication that something is not correct about any claims pertaining to the box.  Please do look closely at the photos in this Case Study, and also keep in mind the fact this crime took place on 28/29 December and it was a very cold evening; the Police also verify this. These photos are listed as State Exhibits 164 and 168 respectively in the record of this case.

The Photos - A Close Up View  (See Part Two of Case Study)

These photos were taken sometime after (at least after Officer Pointer had arrived at this scene at 5.30am on 29 December 1985 (because it was established through testimony that Officer Pointer took these photographs). It should also be noted that the photographs clearly show the ground area as found.  It clearly shows no sign and/or existence of any thawing meat and blood juices as running all over these items including the box, as was claimed by Officer Ford whom stated as existed some 2 hours minimum at this scene prior to even these photos being taken.  The white bag item is a bag of store bought frozen style french fries.  The white box items laying partially under the bag of french fries, is said to be the Red Cross Spaghetti Box. The orange in the colour bag, and other similar orange items are carrots..  The small square object beside the box and the fries is a bag of zip lock sandwich baggies. The more distant photo shows the Red Cross Spaghetti box in the middle of the photo.  What is quite clearly seen here is the Red Cross Spaghetti box being sandwiched between a bag of frozen french fries and a bag of carrots! Remember Officers Ford and Pointer's testimony as to why the box had to be intentionally destroyed (thawing meat juices saturating the box). If you inspect the photos there are no signs of thawing meat and blood juices.  So which is the truth? The Police Officers and their word or the photographs showing the real facts!

At the death penalty phase, Keith's attorneys presented only 2 witnesses; namely people of the church.  Keith did not know them, nor did they know him.  All they did was to state their opinions about the use of the death penalty in the USA.  A couple of hours later, the jury came back with a recommendation for death to be the sentence.  Sentencing set for 30 days after; on 26 November 1986.  Keith was unjustly and wrongfully sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit.  Then a year later, the same ineffective trial attorneys were again appointed by the Judge to handle Keith's Direct Appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court.  In 1989, Keith received a denial decision.

New attorneys were appointed from Evansville (Michael Keating and Glenn Grampp).  They filed Keith's Post Conviction Appeal, and again, no investigation was ever done in this case.  They did nothing - just filed an ineffective represented appeal with bogus issues and no real facts of the case attacks and its issues.  Again, Keith was denied. Then, the main Indiana Public Defenders Office in Indianapolis, Indiana officially took Keith's case over, and they now placed mitigation issues only.  They are attacking the trial attorneys ineffectiveness.

Who is a jury going to believe at trial?  A Police Officer, or a Defendant without the proper representation to identify the real facts and perpetrator.  Keith Brian Canaan is on death row for a crime he simply did not commit! One jury member said to a reporter after the trial 'the State's case against Canaan fit together like one big piece of evidence, if any element had been missing, it would have been hard for the panel to reach a decision!  We just felt he could not be let go..'  Seems like the ineffective representation did not just fail Keith, but also the jurors as well!

The Recent FBI Crime Laboratory Report

A claim by Frederick Whitehurst, (an Agent who worked in the FBI Crime Laboratory in Washington DC) prompted an investigation which exposed many wrong doings, including some which had taken place in this Unit.  As a result of these investigations, a report was published earlier this year that highlighted these wrong doings that had taken place by Agents at the Laboratory.  

It should be noted that the allegations made by Frederick Whitehurst, of wrong doings within the Crime Laboratory began in 1986 (the same year as the evidence in this case was sent to the Laboratory for testing).  This included Agents slanting their evidence test results to favour the prosecutor's case versus the defendant's case evidence that had been sent to the Laboratory for testing and results to be given.

FBI Crime Laboratory's Findings in this Case

In 1986 Evansville Police sent all of the evidence for testing, and results to be given, to the FBI Washington DC Crime Laboratory.  There were 3 Agents from the FBI Laboratory that gave testing results and testimony at Keith's trial (Agents from the 'Fingerprints, Hair & Fibres and Serology Unit').

The FBI Crime Laboratory Report on  the blood samples taken from the black cord pants read 'consistent with victim'.  In fact there are also consistent with Keith's, as Keith's and Lori Bullocks blood type are the same (type A).

The findings on the saliva tests performed on the 2 cigarette filters showed the smoker of the cigarette to be classified as 'a secretor' (people are either 'secretors' or 'non-secretors'). In later tests, Keith was determined to be 'a secretor'.  The cigarette butts were not really strong evidence linking anyone to the crime, only suggestive since Keith was a smoker and also classified a 'secretor'.  So the State used this as circumstantial
evidence in their case against Keith since he was their only suspect.  The important thing to note is that anyone could have smoked those cigarettes, even Lori's 2 room-mates who smoked, because they were both also determined to be 'secretors'.

When the evidence was sent to the FBI for their testing and results to be reported, a letter was also included stating the fact to be known to any Agents.  Keith B. Canaan was their suspect, and only suspect !

Case Update

On 23 June 1997, Keith received a Denial of his appeal from the Indiana Supreme Court, on the Post Conviction Appeal level.  His re-hearing was also denied. Keith now begins his last appeals stage in  the Federal Courts.  Up to date, Keith has received nothing but denials on appeals, because none of the attorneys appointed have ever properly addressed, with any full dedication, the issues that clearly exist; nor have they undertaken an investigation towards the real facts in this miscarriage of justice.

For Keith, time is quickly running out!  He is now racing against time to find any/all the proper help that it will take to have justice given to Keith in this case.  In addition, Keith is currently organising a legal defense fund  to raise money to enable him to afford anything that is needed in his defense, against this miscarriage of justice.  For full details of depositing any money you wish to donate to Keith's legal defense fund, please do not hesitate to contact him.  Please note that money should not be mailed directly to Keith at the prison.

Keith B. Canaan   # 865840
X Row / W-215
Indiana State Prison
PO Box 41
Michigan City, Indiana
46361 - 0041