The Case of the Grim Tweaker

But Robert said he'd been drinking and didn't want to drive, so he invited the guys to spend the evening. He dropped them off at 7 a.m. near the intersection of 67th Avenue and Van Buren Street.

Other investigators pull up the police report about Donnie Delahanty's stolen car, and find the address of 6833 West Pierce Street, the residence of a Chris Schneider. That's just a few blocks from where Robert had dropped off the two men that morning.

Sometime after midnight, undercover units are sent to the West Pierce neighborhood to keep an eye out for the suspects at Schneider's trailer.

Ballentine and Femenia now have been working more than 36 hours. Sergeant Kotecki again urges his two lead guys to go home for a while.

"Got a feeling tomorrow's going to be big," Kotecki says, actually meaning the day that already has started -- Thursday, May 12. "I want you to be at your very best."

The detectives trudge to their pickup trucks at 2 a.m. and head home, where they shower, change their clothes and get a few fitful hours of sleep.

By 7 a.m., they say good morning to each other back at the police station.

The prime suspects in Dave Uribe's murder are out there somewhere.

Current strategy to find them includes another trip to the Delahantys' by Alex Femenia and Jason Schechterle, to press Donnie's parents about his possible whereabouts.

The detectives get there at 1:30 p.m. Tom Delahanty is shirtless and wearing pajama bottoms as he answers the door. Though he's haggard, Tom is jumpy and speed-talking from the moment he invites the detectives in.

Tom repeats what he'd told Schechterle the day before, that Donnie had denied any knowledge of the policeman's shooting in the one conversation they'd had.

Femenia asks about any other recent chats they may have had.

"Last night," Tom reveals. "He called me last night right around dusk. But he didn't tell me where he was."

At that moment, Donnie's mother, Elaine, shuffles into the room. Pale and weak, she is suffering from kidney failure and has a dialysis machine set up in a spare bedroom.

Femenia wants to hear more from Tom about the previous evening's conversation with his son.

"He said, 'Dad, I swear to God, I did not do this!'" Tom continues. "I haven't heard from him since."

Tom suggests that Donnie may have split to Tucson or California.

Femenia elicits another tidbit: Donnie told Tom that he'd been toting a gun, possibly a 9-millimeter.

"I'm not trying to hide anything, okay?" Tom tells the detective.

Femenia takes Elaine Delahanty to the kitchen, asking Tom to leave them alone for a moment. She says she'd chosen not to speak with Donnie when he called.

"After all this has happened, my first thought of Donnie is, he's gone," Elaine tells the detective. "And I think I would tell Donnie just do it. Turn yourself in. Or an eye for an eye. Do it to yourself, Donnie."

Femenia wants to make sure he understands her.

"Kill himself?" he asks.

"Yeah," she says, pointing an imaginary gun to her head.

The detectives leave after an hour.

However, Schechterle seems distracted as they walk to Femenia's truck, and Alex wants to know what's up.

"Anything you wanted to ask them?" Femenia asks Schechterle.

Schechterle shrugs.

"Come on, man," Femenia practically yells at him. "Give it up. Don't keep this shit to yourself!"

"I thought we came out here to press him about the trailer," Schechterle says. "We didn't ask shit about the trailer."

"You want to ask about the trailer?" Femenia shoots back. "Let's do it! C'mon! Let's go!"

Standing in the foyer with Tom seconds later, the detectives immediately bring up Chris Schneider's mobile home for the first time.

Tom allows that he knows about it because Donnie's car had been stolen from there months earlier. But he insists that his son would never hide out in the trailer because it's in a subdivision for senior citizens and young Donnie would stick out.

The men move inside to a living-room couch, where Femenia intentionally sits very close to Tom.

"Why did you keep this from me?" the detective asks him, his tone accusatory. "What's with this Teaberry shuffle on the trailer thing? Your son's there, isn't he?"

"Possible, but I really don't know," Tom replies.

"You wouldn't tell me where he was, even if you knew. We're trying to be decent and clean about this, so we don't have to take him the hard way."

"That's what he wants," Tom says. "He wants you to kill him."

"He did the ultimate bad thing," Elaine Delahanty says. "A whole family has been ruined."

It's uncertain which family she's referring to.

"I don't want any more sons hurt," Femenia tells Tom. "You're his dad. Like when he was a little kid. You know better. All kinds of bad things can happen. I am asking you for your help, man. As one father to another. Now is the time to get Donnie to talk to us and put this matter aside. Who avoids the police?"