and i believed him. shortly after juanita died, tom showed up at kelli s house with another gift, a plant from juanita s memorial service. he didn t tell you why he was giving you the plant? no. but it meant something to you, didn t it, that plant? no, not really. juanita s sister jeannette thinks it means a lot. what kind of a girl would if she knew where it came from, would accept a gift like that? i think that is a disgrace to my sister. whatever had been going on between tom and kelli ended after that visit. with juanita dead only a month, tom started asking friends to fix him up. we always said tom was pretty much our best witness throughout this whole investigation. tom could not keep his mouth shut. so herweyer had an idea. he d arrange to set tom up with a new woman who also happened to be a michigan state trooper. that worked.
that s what a friend would do, stand beside him no matter what. these two friends talked on the phone a lot but a single call may be the key to all of this. tom called kelli from pictured rocks on his cell phone on june 21st, 2006, the night before juanita s death. they spoke for 13 minutes. what did you guys talk about in that call? nothing, if i remember right, i was in bed sleeping, and i just listened. i don t know if he was plotting something. i don t know, i don t know anything. all i just know is that he told me what he wanted me to know. and i believed him. shortly after juanita died, tom showed up at kelli s house with another gift, a plant from juanita s memorial service. he didn t tell you why he was giving you the plant? no. but it meant something to you, didn t it. that plant. no, not really. juanita s sister jeannette