Blue mop information at the center of Rivera case
A photograph of a mop with a blue handle and a rag lying on top of it is of key interest to both sides of the Juan Rivera murder case.
Prosecutors say it provides corroboration for Rivera's confession because it is evidence of a detail Rivera's interrogator was not considering.
Defense attorneys say the photo is proof of a mentally-broken teen being fed information for a confession to a crime he did not commit.
Rivera, 36, is on trial in Lake County Circuit Court for the third time for the 1992 rape and murder of 11-year-old Holly Staker of Waukegan. He has twice been convicted and sentenced to life, but new trials were ordered after both convictions.
Former Waukegan detective Lou Tessmann testified Tuesday that Rivera was just about finished explaining how he raped and stabbed the girl 27 times in the Hickory Street apartment where she was baby sitting.
As he went to flee the apartment, Tessmann said Rivera told him, he took the mop from the landing outside the back door and used it to smash in a panel on the door.
Tessmann said Rivera's intention was to make it look like someone had broken into the apartment and killed the girl, even though he claimed Holly had invited him in to see her.
Rivera then said he took the rag and wiped the mop handle, hoping to remove any fingerprints.
Tessmann said it was a revelation for him, because he had never been told about any damage to the back door and did not know anything about a mop on the landing.
However, he said, he and the other detective who had heard Rivera talk about the mop viewed a videotape of the crime scene for the first time shortly after the confession was complete.
"After Rivera told us about the mop, we went and looked at the tape," Tessmann said. "It was like 'Oh, my God, there it is.'"
Defense attorney Jeffrey Urdangen peppered Tessmann with dozens of questions about the revelation, focusing on his claim he was unaware of the damage to the door and the role the mop may have played in it.
Urdangen produced several reports written by other investigators and crime scene technicians of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force in which the damage to the door and the proximity of the mop were discussed.
To each, Tessmann replied he had not seen the report or discussed the information with the author.
Urdangen also produced a news release issued in the first days of the investigation in which police told the public the offender "apparently forcibly entered the apartment through the rear wooden door."
Tessmann responded he did not follow news reports about the crime while he was working on the investigation.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=287770">Detective: Rivera not entirely truthful at first <span class="date">[4/21/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=287394">Former inmate says Rivera pointed to himself as the killer <span class="date">[4/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=287303">Rivera changed stories quickly, officer says<span class="date">[04/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=286654">Jury selection part art, part science <span class="date">[04/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=287032">Multiple changes in story led officials to accuse Rivera<span class="date">[04/16/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=286679">Staker trial begins with grim details</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>