The Peppermint Unicorn

I was so hopeful when the call from Major John Hall came into my life. He talked for an hour to my representative Gary Sauer. Major Hall said Bill Barousse at City Investigations had no hold over him. He said there was no report of a federal investigation into my rape by MPD Officer Mike McCord. Major Hall assured us that he had no connection with City Investigations and he was separate from them. Hall could initiate his own investigations. He had no problem putting handcuffs on his own cops if they commit crimes. He had just arrested one last week. He also stated he only saw three police reports associated with my home. He assured us he was going to get to the bottom of everything, and he agreed to meet with us to discuss the crimes I had been trying report at the MPD for over a decade. He made it sound like we were going to cover, “Everything I wanted to talk about.”

Over the years the MPD, when called, would rarely take my reports. Some select officers would write them up and most of the time they didn’t even respond to our calls for help. Now, the Montgomery Police Department has a new police chief, Darryl Albert formerly of New Orleans. This gave me hope and I was full of positive energy that things were changing for the better in Montgomery.

“There’s one case we won’t be discussing here. The rape case will not be discussed as it’s been investigated and closed by the FBI Mobile Division.”

Gary and I got to the Criminal Investigations Division on Congressman WL Dickinson Drive with all my evidence on a thumb drive. I nervously sat in the lobby for about 10 minutes with Gary. An administrator asked me if we had been helped, I told her, “No, I’m here to see Major John Hall.” She led us back to a conference room. Three men sat around a large glass topped table. We were told to sit down. No cordialities. Major Hall introduced us to the head of intelligence, Jarrett Williams, and the head of homicide, Alix Payne. I was still hopeful. Then Major Hall said the dreaded sentence, “There’s one case we won’t be discussing here. The rape case will not be discussed as it’s been investigated and closed by the FBI Mobile Division.” I felt dizzy. I could hear his words but they echoed and I felt far away. Did he just say the opposite of what he said on the phone two weeks ago? Major Hall’s voice was not pleasant. He acted differently than the phone call. He sounded aloof and uncaring. I knew instantly he would not be getting my thumb drive full of evidence. He was already a liar and I didn’t trust him.

He then gave us forms to fill out, yet no one handed us a pen to use. I asked, “Could I please have a pen?” One of the men pushed a pen to me in an awkward manner. I thought, “This meeting is already shit.” Major Hall then told us it was procedure in his division to record the conversations. He turned on his iPhone. Was that his personal iPhone or the Montgomery Police Department’s iPhone? I wondered. Then I asked for a Kleenex or tissue of some kind. Major Hall looked irritated and said they didn’t have any. He turned around and handed me a brown paper towel from behind him on a shelf.

He asked for the evidence we talked about. Gary told him that we had a thumb drive but we have lots of evidence on it and it was not all for him, so we would have to send it to him later. I could tell he wasn’t going to need it, and Gary picked up on it as well.

Payne sat back in his chair the whole time with his hands over his face, like he was tired and bored. He would “accidentally” drop his notebook on the floor, distracting me.

The rest of the meeting just went further downhill, if it could even go any farther. I was disrespected at every turn. I was never treated like a victim of a crime. Major Hall said my statement about mine and my Mom’s poisoning was hear-say, even though it was a first hand account from my eyes, ears and nose. I was told that under no circumstances was my word good enough for anything, even in a rape or a homicide. The head of homicide, Alix Payne, sat across from me. He told me that my Mom died of natural causes. Natural causes? How sick it that? I thought. Major Hall said he agreed it was natural causes. Payne sat back in his chair the whole time with his hands over his face, like he was tired and bored. He would “accidentally” drop his notebook on the floor, distracting me. He stated, “Maybe I even responded to your home for an incident back then?” He was trying to remember if he was part of it. I kept saying, “The police wouldn’t help us.” Referencing the dozens of times my Mom and I called 911 and the regular number for the MPD.

Alix Payne then stated that even if the MPD got calls from , “A crazy lady who shot up into the air, they’d still have to respond to the incident.” I knew he was referring to his perception of me. Will von Gal, my ex, had slandered my name all over Alabama. He discredited me and my mental health so law enforcement would not believe me when I turned him in for his gun and drug trafficking to Costa Rica and other locations. Lt. Payne was obviously never informed that I am a ‘crack shot’ and I do not fire up into the air, I can hit my target. I am well trained to use a firearm. I explained to the three men how Will von Gal systematically hoodwinked law enforcement to believe my Mom and I were “crazy,” so he could continue breaking the law. Will von Gal never had any documentation or proof of this claim and I had documentation to prove my sanity. Will also got in close with the MPD through his international gun manufacturing businesses, Autauga Arms and Loose Cannon Firearms of Autaugaville, Alabama. Once a detective, R.O. Payson, who was high up in robbery/ homicide illegally detained my Mom on a judges order. Probate Judge Reese McKinney was manipulated by Will von Gal to get my Mom out of the picture. I recounted that to Major Hall and his associates, still, no one cared.

WTF kind of crazy shite is this? The MPD would not respond to an attempted homicide?

I was hoping Major Hall was smart enough to see the MPD had been lied to for nearly three decades regarding my credibility. Apparently he wasn’t. Alix Payne then explained if my Mom and I had been poisoned, the MPD would not have come out and made a report anyway. He said the fire department and poison control center would have responded. WTF kind of crazy shite is this? The MPD would not respond to an attempted homicide? Nothing they said was making any sense to me.

Major Hall told me the crime of tearing down my home and using poison was only criminal mischief and the two year statute of limitations had already run out. I responded with, “You can destroy a $400,000.00 home and poison people and that’s criminal mischief?” He assured me nothing could be done about it now. I quoted a federal law on conspiracy. He told me he did not enforce federal laws, only local and state laws. I told him how Michael Stroup had admitted he destroyed our home, how he stated to my Mom and I, “Mrs. Miller I’m a lot younger than you are and if you stay here, you will surely die here.” That is an admission of guilt and yet that was not enough for Major Hall to open a homicide investigation. I had plenty more to explain but he would diffuse me and switch subjects, trying to move on. After all Will von Gal told me he was responsible for the attacks on my home and my mother and I, but Major Hall never gave me the chance to say it.

I immediately said, “Oh, blame the victim!”

Hall asked me how he was supposed to get evidence to prove my homicide claim? I said “Why don’t you go pick up Michael Stroup and his drug addict friends and squeeze them for information? One of them will break and confess and you will have it for your evidence.” He told me he could not, as he would not be opening an investigation. I said “You have me, telling you with my voice, that a homicide occurred. I’m having the same symptoms my Mom had when she was sick from the poison. What are you going to do when you have two homicides?” He looked perplexed. I told him, “I will get a homicide investigation into my Mom’s murder opened and someone is going to come to you and ask you why you didn’t open one first.” He told me, “Even if you get a homicide case open, I can’t prove anything because you left your house.” He also told me, “if you say you were poisoned in court you will be committing perjury.” His statement left me incredulous. I told him we were forced out of our home due to law enforcement not coming to our assistance. Major Hall was concluding that I did not follow the proper protocol in reporting a crime. I immediately said, “Oh, blame the victim!” What other proper way was there except to pick up the phone and call the police? Major Hall just kept looking at his watch, how rude! I asked Major Hall if he would investigate the theft of our home since 1978 on Cloverdale Road. He told me that was not his responsibility, that the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office or the State of Alabama would have to investigate it.

We had only been in there an hour. I soon found out he ‘only had an hour’ to discuss over a decade of crimes. They were crimes that happened to my Mom and I, in his jurisdiction. He said, “I have another case that begins at 2:30 and it will take me the rest of the afternoon.” So another case was more important than mine? What kind of ‘shit-show’ was the CID running anyway?

That is when Major Hall got furious at me for ‘Talking bad about his police department.’

I never got a chance to discuss all the incidents as Major Hall promised on the phone two weeks earlier. All he did was argue with me. He never addressed the burglary on my home by J.R. Hanson and Tommy Ryan Jr. The statute of limitations has not run out on that case. He never responded when I asked him about the two auto thefts that took my 1975 Triumph TR7, and my Mom’s 2003 Toyota Corolla. Apparently, auto thefts are not crimes in Montgomery. I began telling Major Hall and the investigators about when my Triumph TR7 was stolen and the police that responded to the crime scene. The first two officers began to work the scene until their supervisor showed up. In a conversation with my Mom, he forced her to tell him the name of the officer who raped me. After she said the name, Mike McCord, the supervisor told his officers to stop working, pack up and leave. We were left there alone, at a storage facility with no auto theft report. That is when Major Hall got furious at me for ‘Talking bad about his police department.’ In a raised and obviously angry voice he said he already had me saying it on the recording and I’d better not say it again.” I said, “But it’s the truth!” He wasn’t concerned with the truth. I saw him for what he was. He was never going to investigate anything for me.

I then asked him if he would reopen my rape case. He told me no, he had no evidence. I said, “I’m here talking to you. I am the evidence. I can take you to Officer McCord’s house and I can describe the entire layout.” He said that did not matter. He said my word is not enough. So, in Montgomery, Alabama if a woman goes to report a rape, her word is not enough to open a rape or a homicide case? Or is it just if I , Fredrika Morrissette Miller, asks to open a criminal case? It was looking like the latter was my true answer. How else does someone report a rape if you can’t tell a cop you were raped?

I asked him if he could at least open an investigation into a violation of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which included stalking and forcing my Mom and I to leave our home and cross state lines in search of safe harbor. He said, “I’ll look into it.” He is not looking into it.

At the end of the meeting he told Gary to send him the information on the case. It was either the 2003 Protection from Abuse Order on Will von Gal presided over by Judge Tracey McCooey, or the house destruction case in 2010 presided over by Judge Charles Price who now works for the City of Montgomery. He told Gary he would email him the next morning July 21, 2022. He took down Gary’s email address but he never emailed us or called us back.

I explained that I had to use my entire inheritance of $292,000.00 from my great-grandmother to keep us afloat.

I tried to explain about all the money we spent and lost, finding safe harbor due to the stalking and threats. We lost both of our properties, the one in Cloverdale and our condo in Gulf Shores. I told him how my mom had to withdraw her entire savings citing financial elderly abuse. He was unconcerned. I explained that I had to use my entire inheritance of $292,000.00 from my great-grandmother to keep us afloat. Any money we had went towards keeping us safe, violating the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, a federal offense. I explained to him that everything my Mom and Dad had worked for their entire lives was gone. Major Hall just sat there with a stupid blank look on his face. He had nothing to say. It was at that moment I realized this man, Major John Hall, did not care that my Mom died, it broke my heart and I had to keep myself from crying.

After the meeting I realized how easy it must have been for Will von Gal, drug and gun trafficker, to control and buy off the MPD. The list of federal civil rights violations I have been reporting only grew longer after this meeting. I did not believe Major Hall and his assertion that the FBI Mobile had done a rape investigation. We headed over to the FBI Office hoping they would talk to us. I got in the car and started crying. I felt like my world had come to an end. There would never be justice for me and my Mom. I decided to go forward and call the FBI on the way there.

I was afraid they would not be able to help due to the pandemic safety measures in place.

I, with purpose, determination and bravery pushed the elevator button to the FBI office. Gary walked up to the interior entrance where you can communicate through an intercom and talked to an agent. I sat in a chair nearby and began to worry they would not talk to us, even though this would be the 5th time in 19 years that I had been here. The doors were locked and there were Covid protocol signs up. I was afraid they would not be able to help due to the pandemic safety measures in place. I was also worried maybe the FBI had falsified a rape investigation.

The MPD had really done a number on my mind and it made me wonder who was telling the truth. Deep inside I knew the FBI would not do this to a crime victim. After a conversation back and forth about my rape case between Gary and an FBI agent, through the intercom system, they let us in. We explained the incident that had just taken place at CID Montgomery with Major Hall. We told them Major Hall was doubling down on the story that the FBI Mobile did a rape investigation into my rape by MPD Officer Mike McCord. They said my reported rape was ‘unfounded’ and the case was closed.

He confirmed the truth I had known all along, the MPD are liars.

A nice agent behind the glass in the reception area told us there was never a rape investigation by the FBI into my rape. He said the FBI does not investigate rape, that would be the duty of the MPD, ALEA or AG Steve Marshall’s office. He told us he had the initial complaint I filed with Special Agent Jeremy Wright in 2013. He told us the MPD and Major John Hall were lying. He confirmed the truth I had known all along, the MPD are liars. I asked him if could I file a federal complaint on my Violence Against Women Act violations of stalking and homicide. He said yes and handed me the proper form. I filled out the form and turned it in. The FBI office personnel were kind and professional, just the opposite of my experience with Major John Hall. I left the FBI building with a sense of calm. Finally I felt like I was being heard.

I tuned in to find Major John Hall was getting a promotion. I also saw that another officer I reported my rape to at the same office two years earlier, was also getting a promotion. Zedrick Dean.

To put a final cap on this story I need to mention something after our meeting with Major Hall. When I woke up the next morning there was an interesting development. Just 24 hours after the meeting, I turned on the news to find our new Chief of Police Darryl Albert was holding a press conference. I tuned in to find Major John Hall was getting a promotion. I also saw that another officer I reported my rape to at the same office two years earlier, was also getting a promotion. Officer Zedrick Dean who took a statement from me and promised to call me back after the weekend, never bothered to call us again. These men all knew Officer Michael McCord and worked closely with him.

Below is a copy of the letter I wrote to send to media outlets and others to help me get the word out about my rape case since the MPD will not do it.

      Dear Sir or Ma’am,

   I have been a citizen of Montgomery, Alabama since 1978. I grew up in a neighborhood called Cloverdale, in the same house until 2014. During the last 20+ years I have been harassed by the MPD (Montgomery Police Department). An ex of mine, who is well acquainted with law enforcement and the justice system in Alabama, made constant threats of violence and death to myself and my mother since the 90’s. With friends and relatives in the various agencies, and lawyers on the same payroll as the city, county and state, my ex told me I would never get help from law enforcement here and that he ‘owned’ the police department. He systematically destroyed my reputation by spreading false rumors about my mental health, effectively painting a negative picture of me that gave those in power the wrong impression ever since.

   I was raped by a Montgomery, Alabama police officer named Michael McCord. He worked in property crimes. He approached me pretending to be able to help my mother and I with our numerous break-ins, property destruction and theft of property. He knew my mother through a mutual connection at work and used that knowledge to get to me. I was taken to his home and brutally raped three times by him. Because of my fear of the police and their aforementioned association with my ex, I was unable to report the crime to the MPD immediately.

   I did report my rape to an FBI agent I had been in contact with for many months. Since the incident I have tried unsuccessfully to get the MPD to take a report about my rape at any level. The MPD has systematically denied me an investigation into my rape, and has refused to make any report. I have as recently as July 20^th 2022 tried to file a report and discuss my rape with the MPD. I have again been refused any such action.

   On that day, my representative and I had a meeting with Major John Hall of the MPD Criminal Investigations Division in Montgomery, Alabama. Two weeks prior we had scheduled an appointment to meet with him. My representative spent nearly an hour on the phone with him going through everything that had happened to me and my mother over the past several years. At that time, I reminded Major Hall about my rape and he claimed there was no rape investigation. He did say though that he would be willing to look into any evidence I brought to him at the meeting. On the way to the meeting my representative and I discussed body language, posturing and etiquette when involved in situations like this. With all the problems I have had with the MPD over the past decade or two, I wanted to be sure I wasn’t walking into a trap.

   That is exactly what happened however. After waiting to be seen in the lobby, we were met by an administrator who walked us back to what we thought would be Major Hall’s office. Instead we were brought into a conference room where Major Hall sat at the table next to the head of homicide and the head of intelligence for his division. We were told where to sit and were not greeted in a friendly manner in any way. Major Hall was rude, direct and demanding. He did not stand up, shake hands or make any sort of cordialities. It wasn’t the office meeting he alluded to when we had the phone conversation two weeks earlier. These are tactics authorities use to control situations, and show superiority over their intended target.

   Without going into a lot of unnecessary details, Major Hall and his homicide chief came off as irritated, bored and confrontational. We were asked to fill out some standard witness statement forms, but we were not given anything to write with. I had to ask for a Kleenex but they had none. Major Hall acted put-out as he had to get up and bring me a brown paper towel to use. He then explained that he would be recording the conversation as standard procedure, and started his iPhone in a recording mode.

   He led off the conversation by explaining that he would not, under any circumstances, discuss the rape by MPD officer McCord. Officer McCord was a known member of that specific office, acquaintance and coworker. Major Hall said “We will not be discussing the rape allegations here at this meeting today. There was an investigation done by FBI, Mobile Division, and I do not have any information on that case.” He also said for us to contact and direct any questions to the FBI office for anything related to the incident. After many attempts to get him to understand that we came to discuss several different points, and show evidence and witness names, he doubled down on his refusal to discuss anything but the poisoning death of my mother. Although this was the foremost topic on my mind, it was related directly to everything else I wanted to discuss and I was prepared to do so.

   I, along with my late mother, have spent years trying to set up legitimate meetings, contacts and investigations with law enforcement here, just to be denied. Most of the time we are told they will call back but they never do. When we email them or send letters they never reply or even acknowledge they have received any such contact. I can count on one hand, how many face to face real meetings I have had over the years. I am, at every turn, misdirected and dismissed by the Alabama justice system.

   Major Hall then proceeded to explain why he would not open an investigation based on the facts presented to him by myself and my representative. I tried for an hour to get my point across. I said in order to investigate my claims he would have to start with opening an investigation. He said “Your word is not enough to open any investigation even for rape.” How else does one start a rape case unless they first tell an authority that they were raped? His answer was nonsensical as was the rest of our meeting. I, as a regular citizen, do not have access to any information or authority to question suspects and witnesses. I tried to get my point across to him that MPD officers frequently treat me poorly. Major Hall told me he did not want me to ‘talk bad’ about any MPD officers again. He told me he had it on the recording and didn’t need to hear it any more. It was obvious he was taking it personally and insisted I don’t speak of it again.

   Major Hall had absolutely no intention of opening an investigation into anything we discussed on the phone that prompted this meeting. He knew this fact before we walked in the room as did his homicide Chief Alix Payne who looked as if he could fall asleep in his chair at any moment. He sat with his hand partially over his face leaning back in his chair, moving only to pick up the notepad he would drop on the floor from time to time.

   Lieutenant Payne then said something I have heard before when talking to law enforcement here. In his attempt to contradict the fact that the MPD doesn’t show up frequently to investigate for me when I call them, he referenced a possible scenario. He likened me to a crazy woman who would be shooting a gun haphazardly up into the air saying, “The police would have to investigate that as well.” They use off-handed remarks to insinuate that I am mentally incapable of understanding and reporting valid information. They frequently do this to me and have illegally tried to incarcerate me and have me evaluated by the mental health authority. This tactic delegitimizes my capacity to get assistance from law enforcement.

   So rather than opening investigations into the list of things that have plagued me and my mother (before her death by poisoning), the police turn the attention away from my legitimate complaints and force focus on my character. Does this letter make me sound like a crazy person? No.

   After a tense and disrespectful meeting at Criminal Investigations Division Montgomery, my representative and I headed over to the FBI, Mobile Division office. We requested the rape case information. It took some doing but after a few attempts their office let us into the lobby. They discussed with us, their position. We met with an agent there, and he told us in no uncertain terms that the FBI “Does not investigate rape cases.” He also expressed that they have never done a joint investigation with the MPD involving me or my rape by MPD officer Michael McCord. They did however mention that the only thing they found in their system was the original rape statement I gave to FBI agent Jeremy Wright initially.

   I explained to the FBI office that we went to the MPD to discuss my rape, as well as other issues. I told him the officer in charge, Major John Hall, told me that an investigation had been done into my rape allegation and their office [FBI Mobile Division] were the only ones we could talk to about it. The FBI agent said that the MPD is lying, if that is what we were told. In that case, Major John Hall specifically was the liar.

   I have been told twice before by the MPD’s Sergeant Capps and City Investigation’s Bill Barousse the same thing. They both claimed there was a joint investigation between the FBI and MPD/internal affairs regarding my rape case. At no time was I ever interviewed, nor did a single officer, agent or employee contact me about any such case. These two officers also told me the outcome of that investigation concluded that I was ‘unfounded’. This is a term that means the claim was baseless due to the fact that they refuse to believe me. You cannot do an investigation without interviewing the victim, much less the suspect to which I have named repeatedly. The FBI confirmed my suspicions on July 20^th, 2022 that there was ‘never’ any investigation.

   Sergeant Capps even went so far as to redirect the conversation trying to make me look like a liar or a criminal by insinuating I had some kind of hidden past that only law enforcement was privy to. I have had to call the police to our house many times over the years and the MPD started to play games and act unprofessionally. One time I opened the door and an officer was standing there and the first words out of his mouth were, “I was going to shoot your dog.” He didn’t explain, and my dogs were safely locked in the back yard nowhere near this officer. Other times I would call and the officers would pass the phone around their office. They would laugh at me and make obscene comments. They were playing childish games with me, just like the meeting on the 20^th with Major Hall. You see why I do not have any faith in reporting anything to the MPD?

   While at the FBI Mobile Division office on the 20^th of July 2022 they allowed me to fill out a report explaining my situation. They were kind and understanding and had heard of me through my attempts to get justice through social media. They have knowledge about my communications trying to gain attention about the crimes perpetrated against my mother and I over the years. We left the FBI office feeling some respect, finally. We now have proof that the MPD are liars, something I already knew. The FBI confirmed it so we are taking action against the police department and we are going to file an official report for my rape. I am also reaching out to the media. I will be going to news stations that are not owned and/or protected by the MPD hierarchy of wealthy donors and board members. I want to get my story exposed so the MPD cannot sweep it under the rug any longer. Officer Michael McCord needs to be held accountable for his actions. Rape changes you forever.

To put a final cap on this story I need to mention something after our meeting with Major Hall. When I woke up the next morning there was an interesting development. Just 24 hours after the meeting, I turned on the news to find our new Chief of Police Darryl Albert was holding a press conference. I tuned in to find Major John Hall was getting a promotion. I also saw that another officer I reported my rape to at the same office two years earlier, was also getting a promotion. Officer Zedrick Dean who took a statement from me and promised to call me back after the weekend, never bothered to call us again. These men all knew Officer Michael McCord and worked closely with him.

These corrupt police officers and investigators walk around patting each other on the back while covering their lies and ineptitude. I contacted the new Chief of Police in the past few weeks at the recommendation of the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation). Agent Steve Arrington told me under no uncertain terms that the only way to get a case opened and an investigation started was to contact either the AG’s office, the DA, the MPD or ALEA. Until one of these four entities begin an investigation, no other office or department can be called in to assist. I was told this statement was a lie by Mike Thomas of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office. In closing I am requesting to be interviewed about my rape and my interactions with the MPD. There is a lot more to bring out that I have not mentioned here. I will not stop trying to get justice for myself and my mother. I am vocal and fearless when it comes to calling out those that discriminate against me. I intend to expose the corrupt officials that continue to hide behind their positions in Alabama law enforcement.

Fredrika Morrissette Miller