The flamboyant private detective Jay J. Armes described Tuesday how he went to Thailand to question Donald Weber and ended up getting him to confess to the murder of a Northwestern University medical student.
Withstanding six hours of cross-examination by Assistant Public Defender Kevin Smith, Armes, of El Paso, Texas, testified in a pretrial hearing that he ”broke” Weber and elicited a confession after 22 hours of interrogation.
Armes said Weber admitted killing his ex-girlfriend Lynda Singshinsuk, 24, who disappeared from her dorm on April 17, 1990, and that he fled to Thailand because it does not have an extradition policy with the U.S.
”Did you use the same psychology as you would use to break an animal
(like a horse)?” Smith inquired as he sought to prove that Armes had used coercive force and threats to acquire the murder confession.
”No,” Armes said with a slight smile. ”I work with different animals. I used the psychology of getting Mr. Weber`s confidence and being straight-forward and vigilant.”
Armes, 59, testified before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael Toomin as Weber`s attorneys sought to suppress statements Weber made from his upcoming jury trial. Following the testimony which ended shortly after 8 p.m., Toomin said he will announce his ruling on Wednesday.
Clad in a blue silk suit with epaulets, Armes occasionally gestured with the steel hooks that replaced the hands he lost as a child while playing with dynamite caps.
Armes said the statements, which he did not write down or document, transformed Weber, 31, from a missing ex-boyfriend of Singshinsuk`s to her killer.
Armes, who had been paid $30,000 by Singshinsuk`s family to locate her after police failed, lured Weber from Thailand back to Arizona, where he was arrested by FBI agents after he helped exhume Singshinsuk`s body.
Smith questioned the tactics Armes said he employed to get Weber to confess and return to the U.S., where he would risk arrest and, if convicted, could receive the death penalty.
Armes testified that he told Weber his sole interest was in Singshinsuk`s whereabouts and that Singshinsuk`s parents wanted to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the university, but they could not without her body.
He testified that he told Weber he knew Weber`s visa had expired and that Weber was broke and homeless. And Armes testified that he threatened to bother Weber incessantly if he did not get the information he sought.
According to Armes, Weber agreed to listen after Armes convinced him that he was under surveillance.
Armes testified that he answered Weber`s questions about his purpose and line of work, but cut Weber short before Weber asked to see Armes` passport. Allowing Weber to see the passport would have shown that he had not been following Weber in Thailand for 30 days as he had claimed, Armes said.
Armes testified that Weber agreed to tell him whatever he wanted to know about the killing and then drew a map of Singshinsuk`s gravesite.
Weber, in his only visible response to the testimony, shook his head of long hair from side to side in apparent disagreement.
Smith alleged that a handgun was prominently involved during the interrogation and that four Thais also were present to pressure Weber into submission. Smith alleged that Weber, who was penniless, was promised $100,000 and immunity in exchange for his information and that the lengthy questioning gradually wore Weber down.
Armes testified that he asked Weber to come back to the U.S. after a map Weber drew of the gravesite did not help authorities find Singshinsuk`s body. One week later, Armes testified, Weber flew to the U.S., helped exhume the body and was arrested.
