the only reason why he would lie like that is if he had something to do with the murder. when we walked away, it was, yeah, we got him. this is our guy. there s no question about it. and just like that, a dead, old case was fully reborn. now the man steve davis had been chasing all these years could finally be arrested. you re a free man. you think you got away with it, and then all of a sudden, they drop the hammer on you. it was davis who called christie s sister, rhonda, and her father, bud. i mean, i just can t even describe to you what a feeling that was for both of us that that had happened. in fact, the very day the detective called me and said, we just picked him up. he s under arrest for murder, unbelievable. but even though art gutierrez, who s sitting in jail awaiting trial for murder, davis felt obliged to warn the family that convicting him might not be so easy. a circumstantial case is a very tough case to get a conviction on.
first full day dragged by with no verdict i was scared to death they were going to say not guilty. looking at the jurors faces, i just couldn t tell where they were going. it took them a day and a half. arturo gutierrez was found guilty of murder in the first degree. a secret preserved by a cigarette for 14 years finally produced justice, that and a detective s determined patience. any time you convict a murderer, that s a good thing. but when you convict somebody that you know has gotten away with it for 14 years, that s a long time. and so to finally see justice served, that s a good feeling. bud fleming did not quite live to see it happen. his early death made for a gaping absence at the trial. did it hasten his death? absolutely.
a few minutes later i called again. the line was busy. i called, called, called. her phone was busy all saturday morning which seemed strange. so rhonda went to her mother s house anyway, thinking her younger sister would show up, but christie wasn t there, which was very usually, because she was always on time, never, never late, and my mom hadn t talked to her. i called christie again. the phone was still busy. now i know something is wrong. panic now. rhonda called her father, bud fleming. he was divorced but raised both girls and kept close tabs on them, especially christie, who was single. he hadn t talked to her either. as soon as he hung up the phone from me, he drove to her house. he knew there was something wrong. rhonda followed him, found
lie like that is if he had something to do with the murder. when we walked away, it was, yeah, we got him. this is our guy. there s no question about it. and just like that, a dead, old case was fully reborn. now the man steve davis had been chasing all these years could finally be arrested. you re a free man. you think you got away with it, and then all of a sudden, they drop the hammer on you. it was davis who called christie s sister, rhonda, and her father, bud. i mean, i just can t even describe to you what a feeling that was for both of us that that had happened. in fact, the very day the detective called me and said, we just picked him up. he s under arrest for murder, unbelievable.
list of four possible suspects, men whom christie had dated, and each one of them was questioned, their movements and alibis checked, and then one by one, they were cleared. but christie s father, bud fleming, remembered something. there had been a young man years earlier when christie was a teenager, but he had forgotten all about the kid, wouldn t have thought of him at all except a few months before christie was murdered. he gets a phone call one day. hi, this is a voice from your past. bud s, like, well, i don t have time for this. who is this? he s like it s me, it s art. art? who was art? he was arturo gutierrez, christie s high school sweetheart. they had a relationship. in fact, they had a sexual relationship, and apparently she became pregnant and ultimately had an abortion, ultimately they broke up, and there had been a number of years that had passed since he had been in contact with her. then there he was out of the blue on the phone with christie s father.