Fatal Web

Though hampered by distance and expense, the Oklahoma detectives declined to ask Dallas police for help. If they had, they might have discovered that Bridewell had a car phone, a fact they didn't know until told by the Dallas Observer this year. Thus they never obtained records of whom she called when, crucial details that might have undermined her alibi.

Detectives at first speculated that Bridewell had shot Rehrig at the mini-warehouse, hiding the Bronco inside a unit for a few hours, then returning to drive to Oklahoma City in the wee hours of the morning, but they dismissed that idea because the unit was too small and full to hide a Bronco. Unfortunately, they didn't get records of who rented the larger units nearby to see if Bridewell might have had access, and all those records would be destroyed within a few years.

The FBI investigated the murder but told no one else what they found. And in a bizarre twist, a flamboyant private investigator hired by Bridewell took a professional risk by volunteering to give Oklahoma police access to his files on his client.

"I don't represent murderers," Bill Dear says he told them. Suspicious detectives who regarded Dear as a publicity hound rebuffed him. If they hadn't, they would have discovered rental car receipts and other details that could have meshed with their evidence.

In the weeks after Bridewell's arrest this year, after a cursory examination of the old file, Oklahoma City police declined to reopen the case, saying there was nothing new. They had either lost or ignored a report made by Carrie Huskinson, another private investigator, who in the mid-'90s had questioned Kathryn Bridewell about one of her mother's scams. Huskinson notified homicide detectives to tell them Kathryn had vital information about her mother's alibi. They had never contacted any of Bridewell's children.

Gloria Rehrig, Alan's mother, was devastated by the decision not to reopen the case. A retired police officer at her church created a petition, got 100 signatures and went with Gloria to meet with the new Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater and his first officer, Scott Rowland. They reminded Prater that one of his campaign issues had been resurrecting dormant homicide investigations. Rowland says their timing was right.

"You have our general interest in solving cold case homicides," Rowland says. "And frankly, it was brought to our attention by the press. A local reporter brought to our attention things written [about Bridewell] in the Dallas Observer."

The District Attorney's Office asked for the Rehrig file, but before they could do much with it, the Oklahoma City police took it back. Reacting to public pressure from Rehrig's family and friends, around the first of May the case was assigned to Inspector Kyle Eastridge, 43 and a giant of a country boy who wasted no time in handing out "actions"—such as cataloging evidence and locating witnesses—to other detectives.

"I've been given carte blanche," Eastridge says. "I've been told, follow up on this case and do what you can with it. However much time it takes, whatever it costs."

Eastridge says he and Mike Burke, a homicide investigator with the District Attorney's Office, are looking at the case as if no detectives have ever worked it before.

"We have to take it from ground level and re-examine everything," Eastridge says. He hopes new forensic techniques can be used on what little physical evidence was found, such as fibers and hairs in the car. One set of fingerprints in the Bronco has never been identified. He is waiting for reports from serologists and other experts.

"This will be a circumstantial case, if we make a case," Eastridge says. "It will come down to her history, the timeline and what the children have to say. There's a lot of information in those three things."

The quality of some evidence has suffered, including an audiotaped interview with Bridewell. "Mike Burke is looking into if the OSBI [Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation] can clean up the tapes. We had to do that with Phil Askew's interview."

For the first time, the police have access to Bridewell's DNA. "We've got her fingerprints, and I believe there is DNA on file for her in another jurisdiction," Eastridge says. "If need be, we may have to go down there [North Carolina] and swab her."

After 20 years of police inertia on the case, Eastridge is moving fast. He has interviewed Emily Bridewell and plans to talk to Kathryn as soon as possible. Eastridge may begin to present evidence to a multi-county grand jury this week.

"We have to set a date for witnesses to come," Eastridge says. "One of the things that will make an impression is Emily. She's a really neat person and has grown up with the most ridiculous circumstances for a kid."