GREENWICH — Police on Monday said the adoptive father of Jaliek Rainwalker has refused to allow them to reinspect a minivan he drives — a van he was using the night Jaliek disappeared.
Police said they believe another inspection of the van may poke holes in Stephen Kerr’s attempt to establish an alibi in the case.
Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell said a surveillance camera videotaped Kerr in that van “at a time that does not match up to Stephen’s version of events.”
Neither Bell nor State Police would elaborate, but a police source familiar with the case said the surveillance camera at Glens Falls National Bank in Greenwich videotaped a van similar to Kerr’s with a man driving the night Jaliek was last seen, at a time Kerr told police he was at his father’s home in the village of Greenwich.
The release of information related to the gold Chrysler Town & Country van came at a press conference in the case Monday, during which police also for the first time branded Kerr a “person of interest” and stepped up rhetoric in the case.
Police asked that anyone in the public with knowledge about Kerr’s whereabouts on Nov. 1 and 2 call them.
State Police Lt. Scott Coburn said police want to look over the van to compare it to the van on the videotape.
“It would either alibi Stephen or indicate he was being less than truthful,” Coburn said.
Authorities acknowledged they had the van during the first days of the investigation, but said they needed to look at it again.
Police also disclosed that Kerr:
- Waited nearly 90 minutes to report Jaliek missing on Nov. 2. Kerr told police he found what he deemed a “suicide or runaway” note at 7:30 a.m. that day, but called police at 8:57 a.m. Police would not say what his explanation is, and his lawyer, Jeffrey McMorris, said he did not know either, but that it was impossible to recall every moment of a day 2-1/2 months ago.
- Has not completed an FBI questionnaire designed to help investigators get more information about the 12-year-old Jaliek and his “mental state” before he disappeared. Kerr’s wife did complete the survey, Bell said.
- Told police that people in Albany told him on Dec. 30 that they had seen Jaliek there, but Kerr did not get their contact information, and said he gave them fliers with the police phone number on them. Bell said no one has called based on that account, and he asked that anyone who may have spoken to Kerr in Albany that day call police.
Bell said Monday investigators have followed 325 leads in the case, and reiterated that Kerr has refused to take lie-detector tests offered by the State Police and FBI.
Coburn said Kerr’s comments that he was mistreated by State Police on the day he went to Loudonville to take a polygraph test, then backed out at the last minute, were false.
“He should be more cooperative. There should be no reason not to cooperate with police,” the chief said.
“He was the last person seen with Jaliek. He has set himself apart from everybody else,” Coburn said.
The police also made it clear they will continue investigating until they have answers as to what happened to Jaliek.
“We’re here representing Jaliek, and we will find out the truth,” Coburn said.
McMorris seemed to take exception later Monday to comments about Kerr’s lack of cooperation, saying his client “has cooperated every way he can to help get Jaliek home.”
He said police had the minivan for four days during November, and have not been given access to it again because the reasons they have given “make absolutely no sense.”
“You’re telling me they don’t have 600 pictures of that van?” he asked.
He said police should provide him with a copy of the surveillance videotape if they want to see the van.
He also said police have not released a police report on the case to Kerr, or otherwise kept Kerr informed as to the status of the investigation.
Kerr did not return a phone message left on his cell phone voice mail Monday afternoon. No one answered the door at the Hill Street, Greenwich, home where he has lived with his wife and other children in recent weeks.
Police said Kerr and his wife, Jocelyn McDonald, are in the process of purchasing a home in West Rupert, Vt.
Cambridge-Greenwich Police can be reached at 692-9332.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/01/15/news/local/13256129.txt#blogcomments
