Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 22

Section A Page 22 I Star-Telegram Sunday September 22 1996 I THE VICTIM "She should have been saved It was almost like she was destined to die becaus7 of all the missed opportunities to save her life" RICHARD ROPER assistant US attorney RENE FROM PAGE 1 LISA RENE Late that afternoon Orlando Hall and Beckley met Lisa Rene's brothers at an Irving carwash Vita lis and Neil Rene asked for $5000 and said they would return in 45 minutes with 9 pounds of marijuana The "Jamaicans" never came back All they delivered was a tall tale when an angry Orlando Hall reached them on their mobile phone hours later Walls claimed Neil Rene had been robbed of the $5000 and his gold Mazda RX7 He said he and Neil Rene had killed one of the men who 'jacked" them and were out looking for the others Orlando Hall was skeptical Vita lis told him to sit tight he next day the "Jamaicans' cell phone was switched off The members of Orlando Hall's gang had no last name or address or home number for the "Jamaicans" But they had an ax to grind "Look man" Orlando Hall told his brother and Beckley who were gathered Five or 10 minutes later two of Becldey's cohorts joined him and Rene on the path They were cursing they couldn't find the grave in the dense woods "1 told you you're going to be all right" Beckley whispered to Rene as they headed back to the car "You ain't going to die" The kidnappers' inability to find the grave they had dug earlier that day bought Rene six more hours of life Even that brief reprieve offered hope like other moments during Rene's journey from Arlington to the nature preserve near Pine Bluff Ark Several times during that terrible 360-mile trip it seemed that freedom and safety were close at hand The story of Rene's last days gathered from trial testimony police reports and recent interviews with some of her kidnappers is one of missed chances and what-ifs THE CRIMINALS As the Cadillac chugged east along Road to Six Flags Rene's captors began to panic screaming at the girl and at one another They asked where her brothers were and where their money was Crying Rene said that her brothers were in Houston and that she knew nothing about the drug deal The car's lights were still fading about a mile and a half down the road when they turned north onto Collins Street and spotted an oncoming patrol car "That's it We're busted" cried Orlando Hall who was driving Webster wasn't giving up so easily He wasn't going back to prison he said He would shoot it out with the cops if he had to he said The police car passed Orlando Hall pulled into a shopping plaza and tinkered under the hood Beckley took the wheel and headed onto Interstate 30 They drove to Irving Coppell Keller and back that night stopping to drop off Demetrius Hall and to switch to Beckley's Ford Escort at the town house They were looking for someplace quiet to kill Rene but never found a spot that suited them Along the way Orlando Hall raped Rene in the car "Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked before the assault "No" she answered Orlando Hall asked Beckley for two condoms to conceal evidence of the attack Beckley pulled a paper sack from under the driver's seat It was filled with condoms he had gotten free from a friend who worked at Planned Parenthood They drove to the town house and decided to take Rene to Arkansas Orlando Hall stayed behind Webster raped Rene twice in the car before they got out of Dallas Demetrius Hall then 19 raped her once and then fell asleep for the rest of the trip ORLANDO HALL 25 was sentenced to death in November for kidnapping resulting in death He was also sentenced to life in prison without parole and to two additional five-year sentences for conspiracy to commit kidnapping carrying a firearm during a crime of violence and interstate distribution of marijuana He is appealing ILLUSTRATION: Jim AthertonStalgologram It a i'llialZ1V Vt4-b -4'Aso A I I 1 4111111101 S1402- t--rdw----'''' ---'4 0 14''------------ -41- I Vg illl '4Withe a brit e- 1 21 I 4 Em VA 1 111IT -7 ---'4'11 1-11 "rya( 411M 11 iL 44Lb ill WA4 1 107--'lttsiz illi MliktrEl- Z----43- 41iffr 1 Or A -14-11111171( ili 1::14 'tVi 4 01I 4 0041 i41--74 rif 10 I' ILLUSTRATION: Jim AthertonStalgelemam i i DEMETRIUS HALL 21 who testified against his brother and Webster under a plea agreement with prosecutors was sentenced Sept 9 to 25 years without the possibility of parole for conspiracy to commit kidnapping Several times during Lisa Rene 9s terrible journey from Texas to Arkansas her abductors had close brushes with the police "She should have been saved" said Assistant US Attorney Richard Roper lead prosecutor in the case "It was almost like she was destined to die because of all the missed opportunities to save her life" l'Irlando Hall was sleeping by then Jon a couch in his sister's town house on Tudor Lane About 3:30 am an FBI agent and police officers from Arlington and Irving arrived Vitalis and Neil Rene had led officials there saying that during a "random" search for their sister they had spotted a Cadillac matching the one that Polo Run residents described seeing hours before the abduction Orlando Hall hid in the attic Irving police Sgt Mel Snyder pulled down the stairs climbed to the top and looked around with his flashlight Burrowed down in the insulation certain he was caught Orlando Hall was about to give BRUCE WEBSTER 23 was sentenced to death on June 20 for kidnapping resulting in death He is scheduled for sentencing Tuesday on two other counts: conspiracy to commit kidnapping and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence He faces a maximum life sentence for the conspiracy charge and five years on the firearm count He intends to appeal WhThen the Escort arrived in Pine Bluff about 5:30 am the first stop was Holloway's house A small-time drug dealer with a part-time job at United Parcel Service Holloway was 23 and had 1 '-4 no criminal record Webster wanted to get money from Holloway who stashed the ''ll gang's drug sale proceeds at his house -11 Holloway gave the group about $45 to rent a room retrieving the cash from a dresser in the bedroom where his 4-year- I old daughter Brea slept '''1' i Webster checked into the Pine Bluff Motel He told Beckley and Rene to walk 4 to the room casually holding hands like boyfriend and girlfriend Rene spent most of her last 24 hours inside Room 513 sometimes locked in the bathroom other times tied to a chair with a drapery cord She was raped repeatedly and forced to shower to wash away any traces of the assaults She prayed quietly in an alcove while two of her attackers watched Malcolm on a motel movie channel She ate just a little chicken and a candy bar Beckley said that he raped her while they were alone that Sunday afternoon but that he stopped when Rene started crying She told him she was scared and Beckley said he was too "It felt like she trusted me" Beckley said He told Rene not to talk to him or even look his way when the others returned It was nighttime before Webster came back with news He whispered to Beckley "The hole is dug" 11 pm Sunday Orlando all who had arrived that morning at the Little Rock airport took Rene to Byrd Lake Natural Area an overgrown preserve about two blocks from Holloway's house Webster and Beckley came along Demetrius Hall stayed behind to clean the hotel room Beckley and Rene assumed their boyfriend-and-girlfriend pose and started down the path Orlando Hall and Webster brushed by carrying a shovel rake and flashlights But they could not find the grave they had dug that afternoon They gave up and headed back to the motel dropping Orlando Hall off at Holloway's place Security guard Haywood King was in the motel parking lot when they arrived Webster who grew up with King in Pine Bluff chatted with him They went around the comer and Beckley walked Rene back into Room 513 Webster went out for the night while Demetrius Hall and Beckley nervously guarded Rene Hall kept looking out from behind the curtains attracting King's attention The guard asked whether anything was wrong le The men reassured him by -1 dropping Webster's name guard never saw Rene ill Th Ots- who was tied to the chair in an alcove but her captors were ei rattled They decided to i 4 change motels Borrowing rer Holloway's red Nissan 1 (101 Orlando Hall drove from 1 Holloway's house with $40 to i rent the room He followed the I 1 car carrying Rene Beckley 4 6: 1 and Demetrius Hall 4p 1 1 As they neared the k't Townhouse Motel just after 1 4 9 am Pine Bluff police officer i-0 Bill Sanders saw the Escort rya make an illegal turn Sanders pulled in between the cars and switched on his flashing roof lights Officer Brian Simmons provided backup in another cruiser "This is it" Becldey thought as he pulled off the road and into the motel 4 parking lot Suddenly Orlando Hall pulled up beside the car of officer Sanders spun his wheels on the pebbly parking lot and took off Both officers followed The others checked into Room 136 with Rene and waited anxiously A short time later there was a knock at the door They thought it was the police Instead Orlando Hall stood at the door He had walked back to the hotel after the officers impounded the car and ticketed him for driving without a license They would take no more chances Demetrius Hall ied Rene to a chair in the bathroom Or' ---do Hall put an ashtray on the handle of the bathroom door so they would be alerted by the noise of its dropping if she tried to get out Beckley stacked a table and two chairs against the door to the outside 1 --1 lo 0 t--- 1 A 4 ei if :1 1 I1 15 i 1 1 i 9 IVO ofo 1' 1 1 f' i 4 STEVEN BECKLEY 24 who made a plea bargain was sentenced Sept 9 to 30 years without possible parole for kidnapping resulting in death i I '11' x'il '-4 1 1 I It i ites- Na i a glia7-7 I 1 zielh s'4: f- --t-'s WI" I 1te 7-11- ---ril ei (C3 Zf-'4'' ir Tif 111V-414 1 illeijA --wl'fif- 1)1110F ii 41 AIIRA4'' A 01 '41700 Sti 044111frAlt I 7 A 4rmi I 4' P--- 44' 01' F'441inW 1 0111141U thy1 0 1 li4 (COY I '471 I 6 )1i 0 1 Ai) 'ill 19' '4714 alli' ('Ilf 0 14 ilf(01: I 41r17i1 kk'4' A04' 1r I 40r! s' MARVIN HOLLOWAY 25 who made a plea bargain was sentenced Sept 9 to 15 years without possible parole for acting as an accessory to kidnapping after the fact and aiding interstate travel to further a racketeering enterprise at the living town house where the Halls' sister lived "I'm not going back to Arkansas until I get my money my drugs or some blood on my hands" Beckley then 22 and living in Irving got a home number for Rene's brothers from Little Mike's girlfriend Orlando Hall called a friend who worked for the phone company in Pine Bluff She came up with an address: 1526 Chukka Drive in Arlington When Orlando and Demetrius Hall and Beckley pulled into Polo Run Apartments on Chukka Drive the first thing they saw was the RX7 a "For Sale" sign in its window Orlando Hall sent for his enforcer Bruce "B-Love" Webster of Pine Bluff then 21 flew to Texas on the morning of Sept 24 and helped plot their revenge They planned to force their way into the apartment tie up the brothers pour gasoline on them and threaten to set them ablaze unless they turned over the money or the drugs The four men dressed in camouflage clothing provided by Beckley an Army reservist and piled into a mid-1980s Cadillac owned by the Halls' sister They staked out the apartment and drank about three six-packs of beer while waiting in the car for nightfall About 8 pm they headed for Apartment 507 armed with two 380-caliber handguns a small baseball bat a rope and a yellow antifreeze container filled with a gallon of gasoline Inside Lisa Rene was the only one home She was doing her homework that Saturday night because she and her sister Pearl planned to fly to Houston the next day for a Caribbean festival Her brothers and her sister's fiance were already there Rene a junior at Lamar High School was on the honor roll and hoped to become a surgeon She had left her parents in the Virgin Islands so she could attend American schools and usually lived with her sister and her sister's fiance Lately Rene's older brothers had lived there as well They had lost their own apartment a month before when they were busted for drug dealing A bang on the door jolted Rene from her studies Webster kicked at the front door and then went around back to a sliding glass door As Rene pleaded with a 911 operator for help Demetrius Hall broke through the door with the small bat a Texas Rangers souvenir he had snatched from his nephew's room at the Irving town house Webster grabbed Rene by the hair dragged her out of the apartment and shoved her into the back seat of the Cadillac Orlando Hall floored the accelerator but the car which had failed to start earlier in the day could creep along at only 10 mph The lights flickered off and on Policy4 responding to Rene's frantic 911 call were only four minutes away rrhe kidnappers Beckley Bruce Webster and brothers Orlando and Demetrius Hall seized Rene from her Arlington apartment about 8 pm on Sept 24 1994 Moments later their getaway car suffered an electrical problem and lost its lights in front of a police car Before Rene's ordeal reached its brutal end a day and a half later an Irving police officer would come within a few feet of catching Orlando Hall hidden amid the insulation in his sister's attic An Arkansas officer would pull over the car carrying Rene only to be lured away A motel security guard would poke his head into the shabby room where Rene was bound to a chair in an alcove dismissing his suspicions when he learned that the room was rented by Webster a childhood acquaintance And all along Rene's brothers would fail to tell police who took their sister and why In sentencing Beckley Demetrius Hall and accomplice Marvin Holloway this month US District Judge Terry Means said he could not "imagine any more heinous crime" Yet it started as a seemingly inconsequential swindle between two groups of drug dealers Both sides in the small-time hustle were desperate either because their leader had just gotten out of prison or because they were afraid they were headed there Rene's brothers Stanfield Vitalis and Neil Rene were in the latter camp Federal agents busted them at their Irving apartment Aug 26 1994 and found them in possession of about a pound of crack cocaine and a quarter-pound of marijuana They needed money for a lawyer Orlando Hall of El Dorado Ark was struggling to get back into the big leagues after a stint in prison Stuck in Arkansas under terms of his parole he dispatched his girlfriend to Houston in January 1994 to buy $13500 worth of cocaine She was robbed of the money Then 23 Hall stooped to dealing marijuana and started traveling to Texas to take care of business himself Through a friend of a friend Orlando Hall found suppliers in Irving a couple of men he knew as "Jamaicans" They were in fact from the US Virgin Islands They were Lisa Rene's brothers Orlando Hall made a couple of deals with Vitalis and Neil Rene through an intermediary Michael "Little Mike" Davis Then Little Mike went to jail On Wednesday Sept 21 1994 Orlando Hall dealt directly witk the Rene brothers for the first time ILLUSTRATION: Jim AthertonStar-Telegram legram NEIL RENE 20 is serving a five-year sentence in federal prison for cocaine possession stemming from the August 1994 bust that prompted the brothers to rip off the Arkansas gang Officials considered charging him and Maks with hindering the investigation of their sister's death but never did so Lisa Rene spent most of her last 24 hours inside a motel room sometimes locked in the bathroom other times tied to a chair with a drapery cord her DWI I in es ipery STANFIELD VITALISt 30 received a five-year probated sentence after pleading guilty to a marijuana possession charge related to his August 1994 arrest it 1 himself up when Snyder clambered back down the steps Officers ran a check on Orlando Hall's sister and her husband owners of the Cadillac and found they had no criminal records Believing they had the wrong house the officers left Orlando Hall climbed down from the attic and tisked for a ride to Love Field He wanted to fly to Arkansas (More on RENE on Page 23) I.