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Friday, November 21, 1997

Amarillo officials bicker over bodies allegedly kept at garage

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) -- At least three bodies, including a suspected murder victim, were stored in a dank "converted garage" instead of the Potter County morgue, sheriff's investigators allege.

Supporters of Mortuary Services owner Asa Howard, who rents the building and delivers bodies under contract with Potter and Randall counties, say the investigation is politically motivated.

Potter County investigators and members of the regional special crimes unit inspected Howard's building on Sept. 11. They reported finding water leaks, bags of soiled linens and signs a dog was kept in a room where a woman's body was found.

Potter County Sheriff Jimmy Don Boydston said he believes Howard took bodies to the building rather than the morgue for convenience's sake. The county morgue 11 miles from downtown.

Investigators allege that two other bodies, including possible homicide victim Linda Gayle Jackson, also were kept there before being sent elsewhere for autopsies.

Boydston said a body stored in such conditions could present an evidentiary problem if an arrest is made. "A defense attorney would be crazy not to use that," he said.

Howard told the Amarillo Globe-News that he doesn't store bodies on his property: "We take the bodies wherever we're instructed," he said. The Associated Press was unable to reach Howard for comment Thursday.

Dick McNeil, chairman of the Texas Funeral Service Commission, said Howard is licensed to keep bodies on his site temporarily.

Potter County Judge Arthur Ware and Justice of the Peace Terry Miller spoke on behalf of Howard, challenging Boydston's concerns that evidence might have been contaminated in the converted garage.

"The chances of contamination are nil," Miller said, because bodies headed for autopsies are sealed in plastic bags.

Ware, a friend of Howard's, labeled the sheriff's investigation "political."

Countered Boydston: "They claim the sheriff is just playing politics. I promise you all I'm doing is just investigating the facts as well as we can and stating what happened."

"If I were going to play politics, the smartest thing to do would be to run the other way," Boydston said. "This is going to cause me a lot of problems I could well do without."

Assistant Potter County Attorney Dave Kemp said his office has reviewed the case since September, but no charges were pending.

Howard's one-year body transportation contract with the county expired in 1995, but Ware said he's continued paying Howard informally.

"As long as you're both following what's in that original contract, then you still have a contract," Ware said.

The old contract, signed in 1994, did not stipulate whether or not Howard could bring bodies to a location besides the morgue.