Twenty-six

The depositions of Don and Rita Ficke deserve examination. Their three visits to the Zeigler home on Christmas Eve provide the most detailed observation of what was happening in the driveway at 75 Temple Grove during the time of the crimes.

Typically enough for this case, their testimony is not without controversy.

The Fickes were able to fix the time of these events with some confidence.  They knew almost exactly when they left their house and went looking for the Zeiglers; it was 8:05.  The Tony Orlando and Dawn variety show had just come on TV, and that was a good reason to leave; Don Ficke didn't like Tony Orlando.  They stopped first to buy some milk at the Cumberland Farms grocery on Plant Street, near the center of town.  Then they drove past the Van Deventer home and went on to Temple Grove, where they arrived at about 8:15.

Both said that they pulled into the driveway and found the garage open, lit, and empty.  They saw only Zeigler's pickup, parked to the left side of the driveway.

They swore that they did not see Edward Williams or his truck.

It is a crucial issue.  By his own testimony, at 8:15 Williams should have been waiting there, parked behind Zeigler's pickup. Williams never claimed to have been parked in the driveway for any specific length of time, but according to the state's theory he would have had to be there nearly an hour.

However, Don Ficke's secretary stated in an affidavit that he had changed his original statement after showing it to his wife.  And Frye claimed that Don Ficke originally stated that he did see Williams on this first trip.1

Whatever the Fickes saw, they assumed that Tommy and Eunice were gone, so they drove to the Van Deventer home, hoping to find them there.

From this point on, the Fickes' memory of their shuttling around Winter Garden became something less than certain.  As Don Ficke said is his deposition, "I didn't know what I was getting involved in, or else I would have taken a pad with me and wrote these things down." However, both Fickes agreed that they drove past the Van Deventer home again and returned to 75 Temple Grove, probably a few minutes before 8:30.

On this second visit they found the garage open and empty, as before.  This time Edward William's truck was parked behind Tommy's pickup.  Don Ficke

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1  Rita Ficke was a legal secretary; her husband said that he showed her his statement only so she could correct the spelling and grammar. Both denied they had disagreed about what they saw that night, "and we usually disagree about everything," Rita Ficke said.