"Like maybe.. we should have seen something that would maybe tip us off as to what he might have been doing or planning to do. On that mild, sunny afternoon, Courtney Sconce was wearing a white T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes. When friends confronted Justin, he told them he was depressed--but not enough to hurt himself. "It was weird, like they were brother and sister, " Harrington recalls.
"The signs that we are trained to look for were not there, " he says, noting that Justin had virtually no criminal record. And he dutifully made court appearances in the rock-throwing case. "I never had sex with a virgin and kind of fantasized about that, " he said. The detectives said they offered to check on the car and got Weinberger's permission to search it. And, Weinberger alleged, family secrets tormented and bent him. Now that he was facing state charges instead of federal charges, Justin was subject to less than a year's jail time. He then said he had a gun and told her to get in. Michael Weinberger, who continues to work at the attorney general's office, "is torn apart by this, " his attorney says. How could I have been so complacent over my dad's reputation? A sex offender who owned a BMW was eliminated. Duree says Justin received no special consideration in either case due to his father's position or acquaintances, one of whom was federal prosecutor Doug Hendricks. After more work, several agents descended on the Weinberger home with a fresh warrant on Nov. 6, 2000. "It is an extremely sad situation and the agents have struggled with it internally.
He seemed surprised but cooperative, agents said in an interview. Townspeople in this blue-collar bedroom community about 10 miles east of the state Capitol came to "Courtney's Corner" to mourn and remember a 12-year-old girl who vanished on her after-school jaunt to the store, and then turned up dead before nightfall on a faraway riverbank. But The Times was allowed to view his videotaped confession to sheriff's detectives. They fielded calls from reporters, tipsters and crackpots. The cannabis smell from his room was a running joke on his dormitory floor.
Says his former public defender, Carol Pulido, "Just because you have every advantage does not mean you have a good upbringing. Respect was a big thing for someone who got so little of it. But he began acting recklessly. Weinberger pleaded guilty, so there was no trial, no public airing. The memorial also drew strangers who were moved by the tragedy, or who were curious. The 25-year veteran was no stranger to sex-crime investigations or the power of porn. An examination back at headquarters later turned up numerous images of pre-pubescent girls on Justin's computer, agents say, but nothing illegal on his father's. The rock-throwing incident was nothing compared to federal child-porn charges, which Congress decreed are crimes of violence and carry tough sentences.
He was often home alone but seemed happy enough, although he had a temper. They reported every dark BMW they saw. I can't believe I said such a nasty thing about my dad, who I truly love with all my heart. For three days, investigators fanned out, generating so many leads that a task force was formed. Justin respected his father, although he told detectives he found him cold and controlling. Justin eased the car to the curb and got out after he struck up a conversation with Sconce. Attorney general's spokesman Nathan Barankin says Weinberger's role did not violate state conflict-of-interest rules, although he says the state prosecutor did not get the required permission to represent a family member.
Sensing that something was seriously wrong, Rinek tried to reach him by phone the next day. But one magistrate declined to sign it because he knew the senior Weinberger. He turned to prostitutes on a Sacramento street. No one wanted to see a repeat of a child-porn case involving a Sacramento prosecutor that was thrown out over false statements in a police search warrant affidavit. He enrolled in computer courses at a local junior college. The detectives asked Justin whether his father knew that he killed Courtney. A missing persons notice saying Justin was wanted for questioning went out to law enforcement agencies nationwide.
His parents made a handsome couple. They hung out at the skate rink and Courtney's school. Then he learned that Justin's best friend had received an odd voice mail from him: The FBI was falsely accusing him of something and he was fleeing. "You could manipulate him so easily... convince him to do anything, buy something or give it to you or drive you somewhere, " says Chris Tillisch, one of Justin's few friends willing to be quoted by name. I know I thought it was really weird at some point. " A few days later, on July 19, 2001, Timberlake was sitting in the sheriff's homicide squad room with Nicholson of the FBI when her boss came in holding a balloon. They stopped above the peaceful, green river. "I'll remember you like family.... " said one.
Courtney Sconce's parents became anxious about their child. His crime was particularly disturbing because he killed just two days after the FBI came to his home and seized his child pornography collection. Anger and fear surged through him. I decided to exaggerate slightly and add a fictional detail, just to make it more 'juicy'... a detail I thought was harmless at the time but actually could have landed my dad in serious trouble.........
What would you guys advise? She did not seem interested in romance and dating. The breakthrough came when the FBI began tracing the articles the killer left behind. Home for his first winter break, he passed out during a drinking bout on Jan. 25, 2000, and his friends photographed him sprawled with a bottle of Jack Daniel's. Michael J. Heimbach, head of the FBI's Crimes Against Children Unit in Washington, says he knows of no other case where a search warrant for child porn triggered such violence. The sample was rushed to the state DNA lab in Berkeley. Hey guys, I wonder if any of you could help me. He would get mad if I beat him at Nintendo and tell me to get out of the house.
This time police rounded them up and found that Weinberger was wanted for questioning in California. Each was asked for a sample of skin cells taken from inside the cheek. And they went home with the damning evidence and something even more important--a DNA sample earlier obtained by Raton police at their request. At parties, Justin usually was flying solo. The families of the killer and his victim have struggled, too. But Courtney recently had written the name of a boy on her hand. I adore him with all my heart, I really do. During his confession, Weinberger painted a twisted backdrop for his crimes, blaming others without excusing himself.
The guilt really is becoming too much and I'm tempted to tell him, which might permanently destroy our relationship. He also fretted that the publicity would hurt his career. "He was a shy, very withdrawn person, " recalls another former neighbor Laurel Mize, who was a grade ahead of him. So were Courtney's father, brother and many others. "I know that guy, " said Hittmeier, who recognized the face from a previous child porn search. When he began raping her the second time, he said she cried for him to stop.
He almost made the kidnapping sound like a date--a common fantasy scripted by molesters, experts say. I soon discovered the real reason he didn't want us snooping: he had some porn magazines. Justin told friends he carried the rock just in case someone showed him disrespect. Minter and Timberlake flew to Albuquerque, where Weinberger had been moved. Once Justin got home, he said his father told him investigators had traced the visor. So he headed out, driving his mom's black BMW to Rancho Cordova to pick up his final check at the auto parts store where he worked as a delivery driver.
He thought his mother was lonely and pitied her. When he moved to a new housing tract in nearby Rocklin, Justin hung out there. Mark Sconce is haunted by the question his daughter's killer left hanging at his sentencing. He skipped dances and proms. But that did not happen. He exited the highway where rice fields give way to walnut orchards hugging the Feather River.