Escaped Convict Upends an Old Murder Case

This one is super crazy.

Mystery Mob!

In 1994 a woman was brutally murdered, and two men were accused and sentenced to life sentences later that year. Normal stuff, right? WRONG. So frickin’ wrong. Recent evidence from an escaped convict about a potential corrupt (and guilty) detective is causing the whole thing to be revisited in the courts!

So let’s solve this past Wednesday’s Whodunit as quick as possible. We have a murdah to explore… 

A man has been killed in his home and four suspects were near the victim during the time of the murder. Below are the name and information of each of the suspects:

James: Tom's best friend

Dereb: Tom's driver

Zalak: Tom's maid

Harry: Tom's Cook

A note is found in the dead man’s hand, with the following message:

“1st of December, 2nd of February, 3rd of March, 4th of June, 5th of October.”

So….who is the killer? 

Answer: Dereb! The code pointed to the letter placement in each month: 1st of December, 2nd of February, 3rd of March, 4th of June, 5th of October. 

Now, back to the goods. Let’s bundle up for a Buffalo winter and head to New York. 

The Murdah 

In mid-February, 1993, a woman was murdered at 84 Franklin Street in Buffalo, New York. Most of the details from the crime come from the initial catalogue of evidence, via video, by a veteran police officer named David Bentley who “had a reputation for closing cases.” 

(Keep his name in mind. He’s actually a brand new suspect in the case as of this year…but more on that later.)

The camera, with his voice over, panned the home as he entered. There was blood spatter on the floor. Things were knocked off of shelves and cabinets. A trail of blood led to the kitchen which was also a mess of overturned furniture. 

A five-inch steak knife with a bloody handle was jammed inside the kitchen drawer. Blood was also found on a dog toy, a recipe book, and somehow…in a gravy boat. 

Deborah Meindls, a nursing student and mother of two children, lay lifeless on the ground. She was stabbed to death. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, and one of her husband’s ties was around her neck. 

It was quickly deemed a homicide.  

The original investigation, suspects, and arrest

This case’s path twists and turns a lot, so I’m going to outline the first set of inconclusive evidence and then go into the two main suspects (one of whom was eventually arrested with an accomplice). 

Mind you, I’m not diving into the newest suspect, Officer Bentley, just yet. He comes later. (I see you salivating for that Bentley info, dear reader. Just sit tight, it’ll come!!)

Initial evidence:

• A postal worker heard someone inside the house that day of the murder when they delivered the mai. They also noted that the dog who usually barks at the postal worker, was eerily silent

• Footprints in the snow led to the back of the house where a small rectangular cut was noticed in the rear window, about 6 feet off the ground. Investigators determined later that the hole was cut from…the inside?

  • Some of these footprints were left by Lori Rank, the first officer at the scene who also happened to be Officer Bentley’s daughter…(damn it, I said LATER for the Bentley stuff!) 

• Investigators determined that the crime was “probably too violent for a burglary gone wrong”

Donald Meindl (it’s always the husband right?)

Donald Meindl, 33 years old, was a manager at a Taco Bell at a local mall. He became the police’s number one suspect really quickly. Mr. Meindl had apparently confided in his friend that he’d thought about hiring someone to kill his wife (not a great look, man)....a point made even more ‘spicious by the fact that he had a $50,000 life insurance policy on his wife!

“It should be made to look like a robbery,” the friend recalled Mr. Meindl saying, according to a police report cited by the defense.

(During the 1994 trial against Lorenz and Pugh, Mr. Meindl insisted it was just a joke. Because we all joke about that right? Right?!). 

This guy gets even worse than that though. The couple was apparently in an open marriage, so naturally Mr. Meindl (reminder, he’s 33 years old) was seeing 17-YEAR-OLD girl who worked for him at Taco Bell. He even kept photos of her, scantily clad, in his wallet, according to trial testimony. In the initial police report written during the initial investigation, Mr. Bentley noted handcuffs and other items found in the home that were used for “sexual bondage.”

Yikes. 

Yet, his innocence was maintained by the most on-brand alibi for this guy: the day of the killing, he was at Taco Bell, getting fired after being accused of sexually harassing his staff.

Lorenz and Pugh (sounds like a law firm, if only they had actually been lawyers they may have gotten off…)

Enter James Pugh and Brian Scott Lorenz. 

A few days after the murder, a confidential informant (a friend of Pugh who also sort of knew Lorenz) told the police that Lorenz was the killer and he’d left Buffalo. 

The police found him in Iowa, where he was being jailed for stealing a car. 

Being, well, incredibly stupid, Lorenz was so desperate to get out of the Iowa jail and get back to New York that he decided to confess to the murder (despite apparently not having done it!). He even implicated Pugh (who he’d often burgled with, a great friend I’m sure) just to give the story some more credence. 

His “confession” was so littered with false details that it was deemed inadmissible at the 1994 trial. What’s more, there was ZERO physical evidence or signs of forced entry by either man.  

“This is not a case, ladies and gentlemen, involving a lot of forensic evidence,” one of the prosecutors told jurors. “We don’t have any fingerprints to put them there. We don’t have his blood or something to put him there. We don’t have his wallet at the scene. We don’t even have a witness to come in here and tell you, ‘I saw him there.’”

The case instead relied on a series of witnesses testifying that they HEARD the men TALKING about the crime. 

Yet, the two men were charged and convicted anyway. 

A third suspect emerges (yeah, it’s Officer Bentley, wonderful foreshadowing, eh?)

About 7 years ago, after Lorenz wrote appeals to various outside groups, an NYC civil rights lawyer got involved. He made a judge retest blood at the scene for any DNA evidence of Pugh or Lorenz…there was none. 

They reassessed witnesses from the 1994 trial. Many said that they weren’t sure what they stated was actually true. One was known for cooperating with police for murder convictions. Another had a drinking problem. It just wasn’t adding up. 

So now here comes the bomb shell. 

Richard Matt and David Sweat were in prison together and planned a successful escape in 2015. (Insane, but that’s another tale entirely). After this escape - one that left Matt dead after being shot by a border patrol agent while on the run - Sweat sent a letter to the New York Times. 

In that letter, he said that Matt confessed to the murder of Deborah Meindls…and that his partner in the murder was none other than Officer Bentley. (DUM DUM DUM)

See, Richard Matt was a long-time informant of Officer Bentley (and apparently as “close as father and son”). And what’s more, Matt lived two blocks away from Deborah Meindls in 1993. 

According to Sweat, Richard Matt and Officer Bentley would team up to “rob and collect extortion money from drug dealers.” They’d even gone to a judge’s house twice to drop off bribe money. 

But there was a problem. A woman found out what they were doing and was threatening to expose them. That woman was, according to Sweat, none other than Deborah Meindls. 

What’s more, there is also circumstantial evidence that Deborah Meindls and Officer Bentley were romantically involved – something Bentley denies. But it would certainly explain how Deborah would have found out about Bentley’s extortion racket…. 

What the heck is happening now?

Pugh is now paroled while Lorenz remains in prison for the crime.

Like we mentioned earlier, a team of NYC attorneys has officially accused the state of getting the conviction wrong. The official trial began this week. 

I know this one was a doozy, so I definitely recommend the wonderful article from the New York Times as your deep dive. 

As always, 

Stay ‘spicious 

-Andy & Mark

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