Detective calls Parks behavior 'bizarre'

http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20130329/NEWS01/303290021/

Suspect hounded investigators in Millstein murder
By JOSH DOOLEY
 
Mountain Home Police Lt. Nevin Barnes testified Thursday that Gary Wayne Parks told him two different theories on two consecutive days about who was responsible for Dr. David Millstein’s brutal June 2006 murder. Parks first told Barnes he had heard the KKK was responsible for Millstein’s death, then the next day said the Mountain Home urologist’s murder was a homosexual killing.

Millstein, 62, was found dead with 30 stab and cutting wounds at his 1707 Stephens Court residence on June 18, 2006. Authorities believe he was killed in the early morning hours of June 17. Parks, 42, was arrested and charged with Millstein’s murder more than three years later.

Thursday marked the fourth day of Parks’ capital murder trial in Baxter County Circuit Court.

Barnes testified many of his interactions with Parks throughout the case struck him as strange. “I told him, ‘Gary you said yesterday the KKK killed him, now you’re saying it was a homosexual killing’ ” Barnes told the jury. “He said ‘I did?’ and I said yeah, you did.”

On the stand, Barnes explained that he became involved in the original crime scene work as he was attending a course at the FBI academy. Upon arriving back in Mountain Home on the day after Millstein’s body was discovered, Barnes told the jury, he joined the investigation and took over as the lead investigator.

During another conversation with Parks, according to Barnes, he said he had a friend from high school who worked at the Arkansas State Crime Lab who told him Millstein’s death was particularly brutal. In testimony Wednesday, Arkansas State Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Kokes told the jury Millstein’s attacker stabbed and cut him 30 times, and that the number of wounds was “overkill.”

Barnes told the jury that in yet another conversation Parks revealed knowledge of the killing. “He asked me what was going on with the burning in the bedroom,” Barnes told the court. “He said whatever happened there wasn’t completed.”

In earlier testimony, MHPD detective Robert Hardin testified attempts had been made to burn Millstein’s body and his home.

Barnes told the jury that Parks contacted him six or seven times during the first few months of the investigation, asking him what was happening in the case, and if anything new had been learned. Barnes said this struck him as unusual because he’d told Parks that he could not reveal information regarding the investigation, and felt Parks was trying to insert himself into the case.

Barnes said Parks’ behavior was bizarre, and the conversations the two men had were bizarre.

Little Rock connections

Barnes told the jury he drove to Little Rock about 40 different times searching for people who knew Parks, hoping to gather information. Barnes learned Parks frequented prostitutes, so Barnes paid prostitutes to tell him what they knew about Parks and anything he might have said to them about the murder.

According to Barnes, people who knew Parks told him he should speak to a man named Enoch Miller, because Miller was Parks’ closest friend.

Investigators spoke to Miller twice. The second time they spoke with him, Miller agreed to wear a wire and record conversations he had with Parks. Barnes testified Miller wore a wire during two face-to-face meetings with Parks, and that investigators also recorded at least two phone conversations Miller had with Parks.

Shortly after that testimony, Circuit Court Judge John Putman called the attorneys to the bench for a conference out of the jury’s hearing. After that conversation, Deputy Prosecutor Kerry Chism told the jury he would not playing those tapes for the jury at that time.

Cross-examination

Defense attorney Joe Perry, cross-examining Barnes, immediately got on the offensive to paint Parks as cooperating with authorities, and to remind jurors nothing of evidentiary value was found Parks’ condo or his Toyota FJ Cruiser.

On July 1, 2006, officers executed two search warrants, one for the Maumelle condo Parks shared with his mother — Lois Jane Parks Millstein, the wife of Millstein — and Parks’ Toyota FJ Cruiser.

The search of the condo revealed an Oral-B Brush Up in the room Barnes said Parks occupied at the condo. Packaging for an Oral-B Brush Up was found in Millstein’s bed by investigators when they searched it after Millstein’s body was discovered.

Earlier testimony revealed investigators could not find other brush ups in Millstein’s home despite an extensive search.

Barnes told the jury that despite a three-hour search of the condo, they found nothing to tie Parks directly to Millstein’s murder. Barnes also said nothing useful for the case was found in the Toyota.

In addition, Perry asked Barnes if the timing of Parks’ arrest had anything to do with the upcoming election of Baxter County Prosecutor Ron Kincade or Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery.

Barnes bristled at the suggestion.

“I don’t work for the sheriff’s office,” Barnes told Perry. “This is a Mountain Home police case. Police investigate, prosecutors prosecute.”

Millstein’s own son

Barnes wasn’t the only witness testifying Thursday who described Parks’ behavior as bizarre after Millstein’s murder. Aaron Millstein, the urologist’s biological son, now an attorney living in Washington state, took the stand to tell the jury about conversations he had with Parks after his father’s death.

Aaron Millstein told the jury that June 17, 2006 was his 20th birthday, and he had expected to hear from his father that weekend wishing him a happy birthday. Instead, a day after his birthday, he received a call late at night from police telling him his father was dead.

Aaron Millstein said he was devastated upon learning his father was dead. He questioned MHPD Officer Sam Seamans, who informed Aaron of his dad’s death, as to how it happened.

“At first I thought it was a heart attack,” Aaron told the jury. “At no point did we think it was anything but natural causes.”

That changed almost immediately when Parks and Aaron Millstein spoke over the phone shortly afterwards.

Aaron Millstein testified that Parks told him not to talk to police and not to allow police to put him in a “little room” and interview him, and that he would be coming to Mountain Home with the best criminal defense attorney in the state.

“I thought why would we not want to cooperate with the police, why would we not want to help try to find out what happened,” said Aaron Millstein. “It struck me as bizarre. It made me intensely suspicious at the time.”

Defense attorney Danny Glover cross-examined Aaron Millstein and asked him about a statement he gave to authorities after his father’s murder. He agreed he told investigators he didn’t know anyone who would want to hurt his father, and that his father always treated Parks like a son.

Glover asked him if he knew Parks was an alcoholic, a drug user and someone who told tall tales. Aaron Millstein replied that he knew Parks had a drug problem, that he drank, and that Parks once told him he was a Navy SEAL.

Still under questioning from Glover, Aaron Millstein told the jury that he knew Lois Jane Parks Millstein argued with his father about money, and that the Parks and Millstein families went through litigation regarding who should receive money from his father’s life insurance, although he wasn’t well informed about that court battle.

“I was more concerned about who killed my father than I was about the money,” Aaron Millstein told the jury.

The cell phone

An engineer for AT&T, Lanny Shepherd, was called to testify about a cell phone prosecutors say was used by Parks.

Shepherd told the jury the cell phone “went dark” at 10:30 p.m. Friday June 16, 2006, and was not in use again until 6 a.m. the next morning. That window of time is when prosecutors say Millstein was killed.

Shepherd told the jury that during the three days prior to that dark time, the cell phone was in constant use and never went silent for nearly as long a period of time.

Under cross-examination, Shepherd said the way the phone appeared on the company’s network was consistent with having a dead battery as well as being turned off by the user.

The houseboat

Another witness from Washington made an appearance in court Thursday. Marion Wright told the jury he worked at a business in Heber Springs that sold houseboats, and that Parks — whom prosecutors painted as jobless — came to the business some time between June 5 and June 12 of 2006 and inquired about a houseboat that was for sale.

Wright told the jury the houseboat’s price was $42,000 and that during conversations, he told Parks he would sell it to him for $35,000.

Several days later, Wright received a phone call from Parks.

“He told me he was in his attorney’s office, he said his dad had been stabbed to death, and that he was going to the medical examiner’s officer,” Wright recounted the conversation. “He said after that he would come by to talk about the houseboat.”

Wright told the jury Parks never mentioned how he was going to pay for the houseboat. When Wright later contacted Parks about the boat, a woman Wright described as elderly answered the phone and said Parks wasn’t buying a boat.

Under cross-examination, Perry asked Wright if people came to the business and just looked at boats without buying. Wright agreed that some people did that. Wright also said serious buyers asked more and specific questions than Parks ever did.

Testimony resumes today at the Baxter County Court Complex. If convicted, Parks faces life in prison without parole.

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