When Duty Didn't Call

In 1988, 19-year-old Moulder and a 16-year-old girlfriend completed a marriage application, but never wed. Instead, he went to prison. The woman gave birth to a son a year later, and although Moulder's name is on the birth certificate, the boy isn't his, he says.

It wasn't until Senkar gave birth to their daughter, Laura, in March 2000, that he felt like a father. He found work at Hodell-Natco, a screw and washer manufacturer, and he and Senkar were saving for a house. "With Laura, I wasn't a father in name only," he says. "I came home from work every day at 5:30, and that was my life -- my girl."

That changed January 3, when Senkar's co-workers at the State Road BP discovered Moulder's face on a Crime Stoppers flier. When Senkar confronted him, he first denied being involved in the robbery, then told her that he drove the car while his former roommate did the deed. Moulder now says he was talking about a different incident, but Senkar would later testify to the confession in court. She said Moulder cried at the thought of going back to prison, then called his sister's husband, Sergeant DeJesus.

After he was arrested on the robbery charge January 12, Moulder told his fiancée he was worried. His new story: He had hired two men to scare Cutler and keep him from testifying. He promised to pay them $500. Then he saw on the news that Cutler was dead. The situation had gotten out of hand, he claimed; the men shot Cutler instead of scaring him. Now Moulder wanted Senkar's help. He needed an alibi for January 4.

Five days later, he raised bail and was released. There was nothing Spaetzel could do. Senkar swore that Moulder was home the entire day in question.

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In early February, Spaetzel's digging finally provided real evidence. Phone records from Western Roofing supplied the number of the pay phone used to lure Cutler to Bay Village.

At 10:00 and 10:02 a.m., calls from the pay phone had been placed to Western Roofing, but the first call transposed two digits and the second used the wrong area code. At 10:03, a call was placed to a number in Cleveland. At 10:08, Western Roofing was called again. This time, "Tim DeJesus" made his plea for a roofer.

The 10:03 call was one of the only mistakes the murderer made. It went to Senkar's Wetzel Avenue apartment. "It made light bulbs go off," Spaetzel says. "Here we had this guy with a motive for killing him, but no evidence, and then we suddenly had evidence."

Thanks to the security camera at a Columbia Road Speedway station that showed Moulder getting change earlier that morning, Spaetzel could place Moulder in Bay Village and on the phone to Cutler. On February 9, police arrested Moulder for murder. Senkar was arrested for obstructing justice.

When Moulder's home was searched, police found the coat he wore in the security camera video. It was bleached and washed -- the only coat in his closet that wasn't filthy, Spaetzel says.

To this day, Moulder swears he didn't rob -- or kill -- Cutler. He acknowledges his earlier convictions, but insists he is not a killer. "I have never, ever hurt anybody."

But Spaetzel says Moulder was hostile to the arresting officers. He accused the department of botching the Shepherd case and failing to find Mihaljevic's killer. Later, in jail, he told Spaetzel, "You've got nothing on me. Zero!" He also cried and vomited several times.

Moulder's comments increased Spaetzel's desire. "Your motivation is for the victim's family," he says. "But that did add a little spice to things. We definitely wanted to build a case that would be locked down all the way."

And after observing Moulder in jail, Spaetzel became convinced he was an "aggressive, unremorseful, violent killer." In the six months between Moulder's second arrest and trial, no family members came to visit him; nor did a single friend. He didn't seem to have any. In fact, he had made plenty of new enemies.

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Prior to Moulder's trial, defense attorneys pushed for a plea bargain. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason refused to compromise. "This case was more important to me than anything we've had since I've taken this job," he says. "If we can't protect our witnesses, what kind of society do we have? To me, this was the ultimate sin."

Besides, he had Moulder firm in his crosshairs. At the July trial, Senkar testified against her former fiancé as part of a guilty plea to the obstruction charge. Prosecutors called 46 witnesses. Moulder's attorneys, William Drucker and John Ricotta, didn't call any, nor did Moulder take the stand.

On August 4, the jury found him guilty of aggravated murder. Moulder was aghast. "For somebody who didn't do it and who's been told by his attorneys from day one that he's going to go home, it was a huge shock," he says, speaking by phone from the county jail. "I was ready to go home."