The Case of Trina Lawson

On May 25, 2008, Trina Lawson was found dead in her Los Angeles, California home at 5:38 p.m. The coroner’s report stated that the cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the abdomen and numerous abrasions upon the face and chest. The L.A. County Police Department had issued a statement saying that no murder weapon has yet been found. Trina was found by her husband of 3 years, Tommy Lawson. So far, all of Trina’s friends and family have been in for questioning and cleared, except for Trina’s best friend, Rebecca Norman. Ms. Norman has been questioned twice and each time her story has changed. The first time questioned, Rebecca stated that she and Trina had been shopping earlier that day and she had dropped Trina off at her home and then left. The second time questioned, she stated the she had not even seen Trina at all that day and the last time they had talked was at least two days prior to Trina’s death. Trina’s mother, Leann Houston told police that the last time she had spoken with her daughter was in the early morning of May 25th. Mrs. Houston said that she and Trina always woke up at the same time of the morning and would meet at Golden Meadows Park to have breakfast and talk. Leann told Detective Mitch Carlson, who is the head detective in the Lawson case, that when she and Trina had spoke that morning, Trina told her that her husband Tommy had been acting kind of weird the past few days and she had no idea why. So after hearing that, Detective Carlson made the decision to question Mr. Lawson once again. Tommy Lawson had been staying with his parents in Sacramento when he got the call that he needed to come back to L.A. for more questioning. Detective Carlson met Mr. Lawson at a nearby restaurant to have lunch while they talked.

Detective Carlson: “Mr. Lawson I’m not going to beat around the bush with this, when was the last time you saw your wife alive?”
Mr. Lawson: “I would have to say that it was around 10:00 that morning, before I left.”
Detective Carlson: “Left to go where exactly?”
Mr. Lawson: “To work.”
Detective Carlson: “Tell me again Mr. Lawson, where do you work?”
Mr. Lawson: “I work at a law office here in Los Angeles.”
Detective Carlson: “Which law office is that?”
Mr. Lawson: “Law Office of Taylor and Lawson.”
Detective Carlson: “Oh so you’re a lawyer?”
Mr. Lawson: “Yes sir I’ am, I have been for four years now.”
Detective Carlson: “Mr. Lawson, how many of your wife’s friends do you know?”
Mr. Lawson: “I know all of them”
Detective Carlson: “So I take it that you know Rebecca Norman.”
Mr. Lawson: “Yes, I know Rebecca.”
Detective Carlson: “How well do you know her”
Mr. Lawson: “I’ve known Rebecca as long as I’ve known Trina, she and Trina grew up together and I met Trina in high school.”
Detective Carlson: “So you met Rebecca in high school also, is that right?” Mr. Lawson: “Yes sir, that’s right”
Detective Carlson: “When was the last time you saw Ms. Norman?”
Mr. Lawson: “Uh, I saw her…I believe it was last week.”
Detective Carlson: “And were you two alone?”
Mr. Lawson: “No, I saw her when she came over to bring Trina something.” Detective Carlson: “What exactly did she bring Trina?”
Mr. Lawson: “I don’t know.”
Detective Carlson: “You don’t know?”
Mr. Lawson: “I was in a hurry because I was late for work, so I couldn’t really stop.”
Detective Carlson: “Were you and Mrs. Lawson on good terms before she died?”
Mr. Lawson: “What do you mean?”
Detective Carlson: “Did you two have a fight or a disagreement?”
Mr. Lawson: “We had a small argument, just like every other married couple does.”
Detective Carlson: “What was the argument about?”
Mr. Lawson: “Rebecca”
Detective Carlson: “Why were you arguing about her?”
Mr. Lawson: “I was helping her on her divorce case and Trina didn’t like it.”
Detective Carlson: “Why didn’t she like it?”
Mr. Lawson: “Because she told me that Rebecca always liked me and now that she was divorced, she wouldn’t put it past her to try something.”
Detective Carlson: “Well Mr. Lawson, I believe that is all the questions I have for now.”
Mr. Lawson: “Ok, well if you have anymore just let me know.”
Detective Carlson: “Alright I will, Good-Bye Mr. Lawson.”
Mr. Lawson: “Good-Bye detective.”

Detective Carlson proceeded back to the precinct as he thought about his conversation with Tommy Lawson. He thought of it as kind of weird that Trina mentioned to her mother that Tommy was acting funny and then Tommy and Trina had gotten in an argument about Rebecca. Was he seeing Rebecca behind Trina’s back? Or was Rebecca throwing herself at Tommy? Detective Carlson wondered how he would get these questions answered. The only two that could really answer them, were Rebecca Norman and Tommy Lawson. He had a feeling though, that they wouldn’t be too eager to tell him. He had to know what was going with these two. Detective Carlson had the idea to make an appointment on June 15th with Tommy Lawson’s partner in his law office, Mr. Mark Taylor. Mark Taylor was a man in his late thirties, with patches of grey in his hair. He was kind of a tall skinny man with a good sense of humor, but also with him being a lawyer, he had to be serious sometimes. He and Tommy sort of looked alike, in the aspect of, Tommy was a little bit shorter and in his early thirties. Mark was married to his college sweetheart, Diane Peters, for two years when they found out that they were going to have a little girl, Jessie Taylor. When Detective Carlson walked into Mark Taylor’s office, he was amazed. Mark had pictures of him and his family everywhere and pictures that his little girl had drawn for him. In that instant he knew that Mark was a big family man and loved his family very much. Det. Carlson decided that he would keep the information he had to a minimum. The less that Mark Taylor knew, the better. The last thing he needed was Tommy Lawson finding out what he was doing and then refusing to answer anymore questions.

Detective Carlson: “Hello Mr. Taylor, I’m Detective Carlson from the L.A. County Police Department, can I ask you some questions about your office partner, Tommy Lawson?”
Mr. Taylor: “Yes detective, have a seat.”
Detective Carlson: “You have a nice office.”
Mr. Taylor: “Thank You”
Detective Carlson: “How old is your daughter?”
Mr. Taylor: “She’s six years old”
Detective Carlson: “She must love to draw”
Mr. Taylor: “Yes, she is always drawing and coloring.”
Detective Carlson: “How long have you been married?”
Mr. Taylor: “Well I’m divorced now, but I was married nine years before the divorce.”
Detective Carlson: “Oh so your daughter stays with you then?”
Mr. Taylor: “No, her mom has custody, she visits me on the weekends.”
Detective Carlson: “How long have you been in the same office with Tommy Lawson?”
Mr. Taylor: “I’ve been here…I would say about two years now.”
Detective Carlson: “I would take that as you’ve know Mr. Lawson for that same amount of time.”
Mr. Taylor: “No, I’ve know Tommy longer.”
Detective Carlson: “How long?”
Mr. Taylor: “Five years, we met in college and then decided to be partners in a law office.”
Detective Carlson: “Did Mr. Lawson ever mention that he and Mrs. Lawson were having problems?”
Mr. Taylor: “He would just tell me that they would sometimes get into arguments.”
Detective Carlson: “About what?”
Mr. Taylor: “Trina was a jealous woman and she was always accusing Tommy of cheating or flirting, she would sometimes tell him that if he liked the other girls so much, then why didn’t they just get a divorce.”
Detective Carlson: “Have you seen them argue?”
Mr. Taylor: “Yes, a couple times I have.”
Detective Carlson: “When was the last argument that you witnessed?”
Mr. Taylor: “Uh…a few days before Trina died.”
Detective Carlson: “What were they arguing about?”
Mr. Taylor: “Rebecca”
Detective Carlson: “Norman?”
Mr. Taylor: “Yes”
Detective Carlson: “Why were they arguing about her?”
Mr. Taylor: “As usual Trina was accusing Tommy of cheating, except this time she was accusing him of cheating on her with Rebecca. Tommy came home late and he told Trina that he was finishing up helping Rebecca with her case and Trina got angry and started the accusations.”
Detective Carlson: “You said you witnessed this, what were you doing there?”
Mr. Taylor: “Trina called and said that she had finished making a throw blanket for Jessie that I asked her to make, so I could give it to her for her birthday.”
Detective Carlson: “During the argument, what did Mr. Lawson do?”
Mr. Taylor: “He packed a bag, then he left.”
Detective Carlson: “Where did he go?”
Mr. Taylor: “I don’t know, I stayed there a little while longer trying to calm Trina down.”
Detective Carlson: “You and Mrs. Lawson were also good friends?”
Mr. Taylor: “Yes, she would call me or I’d come over and we’d talk. I know how Tommy is.”
Detective Carlson: “What do you mean?”
Mr. Taylor: “Tommy does flirt a lot and I don’t blame Trina for getting mad. I’ve tried to talk to him, but he doesn’t listen. He just calls it harmless fun.”
Detective Carlson: “Thank You Mr. Taylor, that is all the questions I have for now.”
Mr. Taylor: “Your welcome, Good-Bye detective.”

Now the case was beginning to get interesting. There was a new piece to the puzzle. Could it be possible that even though Trina was accusing Tommy of cheating, Trina herself was seeing Mark Taylor on the side? That is what it sounded like to Detective Carlson. Rebecca Norman and Tommy Lawson, then Mark Taylor and Trina Lawson. “This could be just the key to crack this case wide open,” Detective Carlson thought. All he needed to do was put all the pieces together and he would have this solved. He knew that to get this figured out, he would need help. Detective Carlson called in three of his friends that were detectives in San Francisco. Fred Bolder, Andy Parker, and Vince Carter were very high-class and very well respected detectives in their own right, that is why Mitch Carlson thought that they would be the perfect people to help with this case. All four detectives went to law school together, so they knew each other very well and they would be a great team on this search for Trina Lawson’s killer. What confused Det. Bolder, Parker, and Carter, was the whole relationship between Tommy and Trina, but they were about to figure out exactly what was going on.

(Detective Bolder enters Detective Carlson’s office along with his colleagues, Detective Vince Carter and Detective Andy Parker.)

Detective Carlson: “Come in gentleman, sit down.”
Detective Carter: “Let me ask you a question, Mitch”
Detective Carlson: “Go right ahead”
Detective Carter: “Do you have any idea in your mind of who could have possibly killed Trina?”

To Detective Carlson, that question seemed almost impossible to answer because he wasn’t so sure his own self.