• Home
  • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
  • Contact

JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Day One…Damaging testimony rains down on David Jungerman
A powerful case despite “sloppy” police work »

The digital recorder — found on the ledge of the bathroom sink — that could seal David Jungerman’s fate

September 14, 2022 by jimmycsays

The digital audio recorder on which David Jungerman is heard confessing to the murder of Thomas Pickert was found in a bathroom, among toiletries, at Jungerman’s home in Raytown.

That’s just one more oddity that has come to light in the odd and terrible case that left Pickert, a 39-year-old father of two young sons, dead in his front yard in October 2017.

A supervising crime scene investigator for the Kansas City Police Department testified this afternoon that she photographed the recorder in the bathroom off the master bedroom. From the photograph, it appears that the recorder was on the ledge of a sink, along with several mundane items.

In Jungerman’s Jackson County trial, prosecutors have said that on the recorder Jungerman can be heard saying to a former employee of his (a man named Leo Wynne): People know that I murdered that son of a bitch. The police know, too, Leo.”

Police confiscated the recorder and other items on Friday, March 9, 2018, five months after Pickert was murdered. A day earlier police had arrested Jungerman on a unrelated charges of unlawful use of a weapon.

Very shrewdly, police had apparently put Jungerman at ease by publicly stating, for weeks, that he was “not a suspect at this time” in the Pickert murder.

As a matter of fact, he was the only suspect all along.

Once they had an opportunity to arrest Jungerman, investigators swooped in on his Raytown home and his baby-high-chair business in northeast Kansas City.

Armed with search warrants, detectives and crime scene investigators obtained a lot of material pertaining to the murder — material that Jungerman had foolishly accumulated and hung on to.

At his business, 123 Belmont Avenue, for example, they found a stack of Kansas City Star newspapers with a front-page story about Jungerman. Accompanying the story was a large photograph of Jungerman standing beside a white van he owned — a van that police believe he drove to the Brookside area on Oct. 25, 2017, with the intention of killing Pickert.

Also found at his business was a file folder with the neatly typed heading, “Pickert Murder Slander.”

The reason for the word “slander,” a defense attorney suggested today in cross examination, was that he was asserting he was being slandered because he was being linked to the murder.

Inside the folder, among other things, was at least one photo of Pickert and Jackson County records bearing Pickert’s home address.

**

At the conclusion of today’s testimony — after the jurors had left the room — prosecutors and Pickert’s attorneys gathered around Judge John Torrence’s bench to discuss the progress in the case. The prosecution has about seven or eight more witnesses. I do not know how many — if any — the defense will have, but as I said before, it is a certainty Jungerman will not take the stand. He’s a loose cannon, and letting him speak would be suicidal.

After leaving the courtroom, I asked one of the prosecutors if he expected testimony to end this week, and he said he did.

The 84-year-old Jungerman, meanwhile, is showing signs of significant mobility problems. He now shuffles, where just a couple of years ago he walked normally, and he often needs help just to stand up at the table where he is flanked by his attorneys.

To me, this is a tremendous irony: In his current condition, I can’t imagine him being able to pick up a rifle, hold it with any steadiness and fire at a target.

And yet, we’re all gathered in this courtroom, on this incredibly serious and sad business, because nearly five years ago he had no problem lifting and pointing a rifle and shooting accurately.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

2 Responses

  1. on September 15, 2022 at 11:40 am Julius Karash

    Good work, Jim! Thank you for keeping us informed.


  2. on September 17, 2022 at 8:32 pm Rick Nichols

    Solid reporting, Jim. Riveting stuff!



Comments are closed.

  • Pages

    • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
    • Contact
  • Archives

    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 562 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Join 562 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: