Lawyer: Greene Case Tapes Disappear
DETROIT — Local 4 has learned that evidence tapes in the Tamara Greene case disappeared during the initial investigation into her death.
Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Mark Krebs testified in a recent deposition that evidence, including 30 tapes that had contained 911 calls, disappeared while he and other officers were investigating Greene’s death.
Greene, a dancer known as Strawberry, was rumored to have been at a never-proven party thrown at a Manoogian Mansion by former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2002.
On April 30, 2003, Greene was in a car with her boyfriend on Detroit’s west side when a gunman opened fire on their vehicle, killing Greene and wounding the boyfriend.
Kilpatrick has denied that such a party took place.
Cox in 2003 investigated and said he found no evidence that a party had occurred, calling the event an “urban legend.”
Sources said Kreb’s never-disclosed testimony included the statements that he was not allowed to take dozens of evidence tapes out of the Detroit Police Department’s headquarters.
“Thirty-six 911 tapes are sealed in a box. Officer Krebs is taking those things with him from DPD, pursuant to subpoena. He stopped at the elevator, calls the attorney general’s office and the attorney general’s office tells him to leave the tapes there … come back for them tomorrow,” said attorney Norman Yatooma, who is representing Greene’s family in a lawsuit against Detroit. “The next day, of course, those 36 tapes become six tapes.”
Yatooma is representing Greene’s family in a $150 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city . Yatooma’s lawsuit claims Kilpatrick and high-ranking police obstructed the investigation into Greene’s unsolved slaying.
Krebs has also said it was Cox who shut down the investigation. Cox denies the claim and recently agreed to be deposed by Yatooma. A date for the deposition has not been announced.
Detroit police reopened Greene’s homicide case file in early October.
The decision to reopen the case follows a Local 4 Defender investigation that uncovered a team of new police officers who, in sworn statements, said they were shut down when they tried to follow up on leads.
