Empty Promises

Thanksgiving, nor is there any record of his whereabouts at the time. For a while there were rumors that Steve had killed his father, but that is unlikely. There is only a thin file relating to the elder Sherer’s death; it contains the coroner’s report and autopsy findings that showed the deceased was in good health before the bullet traversed his brain. One way or another, however, Steve had surely added to his father’s depression. The Sherers’ daughters didn’t cause their parents heartache, but Steve had been in more trouble than any three ordinary young men. From the time he was born, he was indulged, and he grew up with a tremendous appetite for all things forbidden and with a stubborn insistence that he should have whatever he wanted.
    He usually got it. David Sherer left his family well provided for, and Sherri always had trouble saying no to her only son. At first she gave him what he wanted because she loved to see him happy. Later she may have been afraid of his temper and what he might do if she refused to grant his requests.
    Sherri sold the Palm Desert house, purchased another southwestern vacation spot in Scottsdale, Arizona, and one on Lake Chelan, Washington. All of the homes that might have brought back sad memories of her late husband were sold.
    Steve Sherer jumped from job to job and from girl to girl. By July 4, 1987, he was with Jami. David Harrington, Steve’s high school buddy and first roommate, remembered that holiday, and a bizarre incident that ended their friendship. Steve, then twenty-five, invited David and his girlfriend to join him, Jami, Jami’s brother Rich, and Rich’s girlfriend, Timarie, at the Sherers’ resort home on Lake Chelan in eastern Washington. David was annoyed to see how Steve picked on Jami when he was drinking, but he never saw him hurt her physically. “I wouldn’t have tolerated that,” he said.
    “It was the usual Steve holiday celebration,” David continued. “Big house, very nice—on the lake. Illegal fireworks, drinking, cocaine. And then Steve commented that my girlfriend was very attractive. He asked me, ‘You want to swap girlfriends?’ I asked him, ‘You kidding?’ and he said he’d enjoy watching Jami get fucked by another guy. He said, ‘I’d enjoy watching, but if she ever cheated on me with another guy, I’d kill her.’ ”
    After that, David avoided Steve, still unsure if he was serious about his offer to exchange girlfriends. “But I never introduced Steve to my current wife,” he said later.
    Steve seldom worked, but he always had a new car and plenty of spending money. Sherri had tried desperately to help Steve grow up, alternately indulging him and banishing him. He was moody and unpredictable, and she worried about him. Still, his main activities were partying and breaking the law. Sherri was always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
    Steve’s police contacts were initially limited to his own fairly circumscribed neighborhood. In November 1981, shortly after his twentieth birthday, he and a girlfriend were at a Lynnwood pizza parlor. Steve, who was drunk, stared at two attractive women; one was with her husband, and the other was with a boyfriend. Emboldened by alcohol, Steve pinched one woman’s buttocks. When she whirled in disbelief and dismay, Steve threatened her male friends. Lynnwood police responded and found Steve argumentative and uncooperative. When they moved to handcuff him and take him into custody, he ran. He was charged with simple assault and resisting arrest.
    Steve Sherer’s troubles with the law seemed always to be sparked by alcohol or women—or both. His attraction to Jami Hagel wasn’t surprising when one looked at the women he dated before—and after—his relationship with her. He had a preferred type and he often found women who fit it. He was never without a fabulous-looking petite woman at his side.
    Steve was unfailingly attracted to women who were tiny, large-breasted, and blond. He would send roses and romantic cards to them during his courting phase. He could be charming and exciting—at first. But almost every girl who dated Steve for any length of time eventually came to regret she ever met him. Beyond emotional and verbal abuse, they were subjected to threats, choking, and beatings. Steve seemed to have an almost Svengali-like power over certain women that kept them captive long after common sense would have dictated that they leave.
    Two months after his father’s