An Alternative Story



In this post, I want to respond to a question someone posed in a comment.

"Everyone with half a brain knew what happened at Rainbow Village. This violent felon with a history of raping women at gunpoint -- Ralph "International" Thomas -- tried to rape that Deadhead woman. And when her boyfriend tried to intervene, he shot both of them in the head and dumped their bodies in the San Francisco Bay. And was convicted for that crime. And died in prison where he belonged. Do you have anything to add to the story??"

I have nothing to add to that story because I don’t think it gets at the truth. This is the story the prosecution used during the trial and it proved useful for convicting Thomas, who I think was guilty of having committed the murders. So I'd agree that it was a useful story, but I don't believe it gets close to the truth.

The story told during the appeals process (and retold in the podcast) was meant to be useful for righting a wrong and getting Thomas a new trial. To a certain extent this story was useful to Thomas, and it proved useful (and lucrative) to the podcasters. But I don't think it gets us closer to the truth.

Thomas's appeals team gathered some information that may reveal something about what probably happened on the night of August 15/16. After the trial, in June of '86, Claus Von Wendel told the story of an encounter he had with a blond man on his vessel, and this seemed to corroborate Vivian Cercy's testimony about a blond man she'd seen moving about outside of Rainbow Village on the night of the murders. But Von Wendel also told a story of how Thomas had threatened a woman walking her dog and of how Thomas went and fetched a machete when Von Wendel tried to intervene. Not only does Von Wendel's story corroborate Cercy's testimony but it also connects it with a story Cercy told about a man who threatened to kill her after she questioned why he was asking her so many questions. She also told of someone who tried to intervene by telling the man to leave her alone. How did the man react to that? Do you think he got angry?

I think the man who threatened Cercy was Thomas and I think we have good reason to believe that not only did Cercy questioning him make him angry enough to threaten her, but being told to leave her alone made him angry too. This is why Thomas looked angry when Vincent Johnson saw him near the dump entrance that night. 

So I have nothing to add to the two stories because I think a simpler story needs to be told. Thomas's criminal record doesn't help to explain what probably happened that night nor does pointing to some thin blond man and claiming he did the crime. Both stories don't capture how something as simple and decent as intervening on Vivian Cercy's behalf ("Leave her alone. She's got two kids.") may have led to the murders of two young people.

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