Detective Decided to Target James Harrod

According to the original Detectives assigned to the Tovrea case in 1988, James Harrod was not the man they were looking for. Having all the same evidence that later was used in court to convict Harrod, they determined he wasn’t the one they wanted.

Not until years later did another Detective, Reynolds, decided to pursue a path to James Harrod even though there was evidence that clearly led to others.  To understand why Detective Reynolds would take the easy path it only takes a review of the other “cold cases” he claims to have solved. In fact he didn’t “solve” them, not when two of the cases were resolved by confessions by the killers, another case was resolved by an inmate in prison informing on a person who confessed to him and yet another where a daughter pushed for over a year to get Reynolds to check into her mothers death and told him where to look. The real truth is Reynolds “just happened to be there,” these were not in fact solved by him.

In the Tovrea case he again was called by an anonymous call and took almost a year to even respond. He was given a name and it was James Harrod, who had been interviewed before. Without even considering others leads, Reynolds, immediately decided his target was to be Harrod.  Even though the victim had been in a relationship with a person who the police considered a “crime figure”. Claims of money laundering and drug involvement were in fact used to describe the kind of relationship.

Lies and Missing Evidence

DetectiveReynolds was so desperate to finally solve this case he lied to the GrandJury about Anne Costello’s testimony, which she confirmed during the trial.  The state was in such a hurry to get anyone for this they even went to the Grand Jury with a charge that was past the Statutes of Limitations and Detective Reynolds presented evidence to them that was later tossed out at trial. It was also discovered later that Reynolds had “lost” the fingerprint cards that the State used as evidence, for over a year,the same ones (?) that he had been refused access to by an expert for theDefense. In fact Reynolds failed to produce almost all of the State’s evidence.

Even the firearm taken from Harrod’s home was on display for theJury, it had been fired over “56” times and was EXCLUDED, but was still displayed!

Throughout this case Reynolds continuously said James Harrod was acting per Ed Tovrea’s desire to have his stepmother killed, yet in the “Star”magazine Reynold’s said  “we don’t know who” wanted this done, this was AFTER the trial.

During a lineup Reynold’s can be seen “pushing “ Debbie Noland towardsJames Harrod to gain an identification, because she had not chosen him out of a picture lineup.  Reynold’s was desperate to make this happen.  In fact so desperate he forgot about Ethics. While on the stand Anne Costello said during cross-examination that Detective Reynolds LIED about what she had told to him, of course she was not polygraphed.

The New Times reporter, Paul Rubin, was a big fan of Detective Reynolds in fact immediately after interviewing James Harrod, Paul Rubin would go see or call Detective Reynolds.  The result was the Detective used Paul Rubin as a police source. This was without benefit as Harrod’s interviews (all taped), produced nothing for the State.  It DID get Rubin access to the States confidence and he became a witness,testifying to “he did interview me!”

Investigative Incompetence

To point out the lengths of Detective Reynolds incompetence in the investigation, he and another Detective flew to Dallas, Texas to interview an ex-girlfriend of a Harrod acquaintance, which took 15 minutes, yet he wouldn’t drive ten minutes to the Arizona Department of Real Estate to confirm Harrod’s prints (on file per law). By the time anyone got around to doing it the records were Purged! Oh, the ex-girlfriend of the acquaintance had nothing to add, a phone call would have provided the same result.

Detective Reynolds also traveled to San Diego numerous times to interview the Tovrea’s, again without any results. The case was providing Reynolds notoriety and he loved it, however this could also be what blinded him.  Reynolds refused to go in any other direction, even with so much evidence to point to others, the least not being an “on record” account by a known mob associate who pointed to another man (the same one identified in a photo line-up by Debbie Nolan.)

Case Isn’t Solved

To this day Detective Reynolds claims this case isn’t solved, yet after all these years no one else has been arrested, not even Ed Tovrea whoDetective Reynolds claims was the one who wanted the murder done.