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Portland Observar Thursday. September 13,1S7S Page 3
Who killed James Turel?
Three weeks ago Floyd “ Frosty”
Forsberg, an Oregon State Peniten
tiary inmate, led Lane County Dis
trict Attorney Pat Horton to what he
said were the remains o f five-year-
old Andrea Tolentino, who disap
peared from her mother's car in Blue
River three years ago.
Forsberg explains his action as one
more effort to convince Multnomah
County District Attorney Harl Haas
that he can produce evidence that
will prove that he murdered James S.
Turel ot P ortland—a murder fo r
which another man. Rod Addicks, is
serving a life sentence.
Forsberg related that in June,
Richard Godwin, an inmate sen
tenced to O.S.P. for sexual abuse o f
his daughter, asked him for assistance
in getting an early release. Because
he is small and weak and because o f
his crime, Godwin was constantly
abused and threatened by other in
mates and was a fra id to go fo r
meals. Forsberg befriended him ,
brought him fo od and provided
protection for him.
Over a period o f tw o m onths
Godwin told Forsberg the story o f
his life, including his perversity to
sexually abuse young children.
Forsberg hopes his revelations in
the case will add to his credibility.
For the past year he has tried to get
Harl Haas to investigate the Turel
case and says he can take Haas to
evidence that w ill connect him with
Dennis Cartright, the man who con
fessed to the murder and implicated
Addicks.
Why would a man who is serving a
life sentence for murder, who has
been involved in bank robbery, drugs
and other crime for most o f his life,
spend his time on a fanatic crusade
to prove he committed another m ur
der?
" I am a bad guy. I ’ ve spent nearly
30 years as a crim inal—out o f my
own choice. I deserved to be in
prison. I might never get out and I
don't care; but now I want to do
something right; Rod is innocent and
shouldn’t be here. He has spent five
years in prison for a crime I commit
ted.”
Forsberg says his relationship with
the FBI not only caused him to mur
der Jim Turel, but it is that relation
ship that forces him to try to prove
that he committed the crime. “ Crime
was my business. I got into it with
my eyes wide open; I was smart
enough to know what I was doing.
But I learned that the FBI is
p ro m o tin g crim e by a llo w in g
criminals to continue robbing banks
or whatever as long as they are
willing to turn in others above them.
The FBI fosters and perpetuates
crime.”
Forsberg explains his motive for
attempting to clear up his past crimes
partially as the result o f his discovery
o f the contusion over the FBI’ s role
in organized crime. “ We ali know
that the FBI has infiltrated organized
crim e, but I found out that the
criminals have infiltrated the FBI.
One gang leader even hired his men
right out o f the FBI. It’s gotten so
yow don’ t know who the bad guys
are and that’s dangerous.”
He is committed to attempting to
reveal what he considers to be the
criminal involvmement o f many FBI
functionaries.
Forsberg says when he was paroled
from McNiel Island, he was constan
tly harassed and pressured by the
FBI to provide information on Cur
tis Mickelson whom he had helped
escape from the prison. H,? was
placed under surveillance, was
chased by FBI agents. His family was
threatened.
For this reason, Forsberg says, he
agreed to help Cartwright kill Turel.
He had turned down C artw right’s
firs t o ffe r, payment o f $5,000,
because that was not enough pay for
a murder. When Cartwright told him
Turel did tax returns for many FBI
agents and he could probably get the
address o f the agent that had been
harassing him he agreed to do it. He
planned to get the address and kill
the agent and his family.
the evidence he says he can present,
and talking to witnesses he says can
link him to the crime.
~
He has contacted everyone he can
think of, including President Carter
and Congress, but gets nowhere. “ I
want to appologize publically to A t
torney General Redden,” he said. “ I
wrote letters saying he isn't fit to be a
judge because he w o u ld n ’ t in
vestigate this case. Now I have learn
ed that he doesn’t have the power to
move in to a D is tric t A tto rn e y 's
territory unless he is ordered by the
Governor or there is a great public
outcry. I am sorry that I attempted
to hurt his career.”
Forsberg is willing and ready to
lead the authorities to evidence he
says w ill conclusively prove his guilt.
“ Isn’t it strange that they refuse to
try to clear up a m urder. They
w ouldn’ t let me confess to other
crimes 1 have committed and have
refused to follow up on information
I've given about other crim inals.
Doesn’ t it make you wonder what
they are trying to hide?”
He wonders if Governor Atiyeh
will follow up on a letter he wrote to
a constituent in September, “ You
can rest assured that I w ill look into
this further.”
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"DuBois”
featuring
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Revised, Rewritten, Reserved
Don't miss itl
PSU — Lincoln Hall Auditorium
September 28th, 29th, 30th
Tickets available thru Delta Sigma Theta
Rod Addicks and Dennis C a rtw rig h t discuss efforts to prove A ddicks
innocence. C a rtw rig h t im plicated Addicks in a m urder he n ow claim s
he and another m an co m m itte d .
his crutch so C a rtw rig h t struck
again. Cartwright grabbed the crutch
and finally was able to strike Turel to
the floor. Then both men choked
him, using a piece o f nylon rope.
Forsberg and C a rtw rig h t had
planned the murder carefully. They
intended to take him to a place they
located on M t. Hood where they
could kill him and bury his body.
Since his car had conspicuous handi
capped license plates they used a
van Forsberg had stolen for a plan
ned bank robbery. For a time they
considered leavinghis car in Albina.
Forsberg’s past training with the FBI
told him that would direct the in
vestigation to the Black community.
He had used the same plan in an
aborted e ffo rt to k ill Judge
Solomon.
The plan to take Turel to M t.
Hood had to be abandoned because
o f the blood on the body, so the
killers ransacked the office and left.
The Investigation
The murder was not solved until
early in 1975 when a M ultnom ah
County sargeant. Rod Englert, ob
tained a confession from Cartwright.
Dennis
C a rtw rig h t
was
a
childhood friend o f Forsberg Ac
cording to Cartwright they were in
volved together in various acts o f
juvenile crime including burglarizing
cars, garages and stealing cars.
Later, as an adult, Cartwright was
convicted o f assault. His fifteen year
sentence was deferred and he served
a year in county jail and five years on
probation.
He states that he determined to kill
Turel after Turel cut him out o f a
$10,000 construction contract. “ We
never got along very well, in fact I
had an intense hatred for the man.”
C a rtw rig h t claim s that he im
plicated Addicks to aid his own legal
situation and to protect Forsberg.
"They wanted so much to get Ad
dicks. I knew there was no heat on
Frosty and I didn’t want to involve
him so I said it was Addicks. That
served my purpose in two ways - to
get a light sentence and to protect
Frosty. I didn’ t think they would
ever convict Rod but Cross and
Anglin lied and corroborated my
story.”
C a rtw rig h t claim s
he was
promised an early parole by the
D istrict A tto rn e y ’ s office. “ They
said I would be out the first time I
went before the parole board - in
about six m onths. In fact they
promised 1 would be out before Rod
got here. Haas, Rieke, Engert and
others were supposed to speak to the
Parole Board.” The first time Cart
wright went before the Parole Board
he got a release date o f 30 years. A f
ter raising a fuss because the “ deal"
wasn’ t kept, he says, the date was
reduced to fifteen year».
Reike says there was no "deal” ,
but that he did offer to recommend
an early release date for Cartwright.
“ I felt kind o f sorry for him in a
way. He was just a carpenter who got
involved in a murder because o f his
friendship with Addicks.”
After Forsberg came forward to
claim he committed the Turel mur
der, C a rtw rig h t file d a ffid a v its
stating that Forsberg and not A d
dicks participated in the crime with
him. He says he has been pressured
recently to change his story, that Rod
Engert visited him. "H e didn’t make
any promises but he did make some
implications. He asked how 1 would
like to walk out free and clear.”
Reike states that charges that the
investigation and trial were a con
spiracy are false. " I doubt that there
could be a conspiracy o f that size,
involving so many people. I know if
there was I wasn’t part of it. If it
happened, the truth will eventually
come out in c o u rt.” Addicks has
filed a series o f suits against District
A tto rn e y H a rl Haas, Rieke and
others charging them with denying
his civil rights.
Reike admits that Englert is con
sidered to be a bit overzealous. He
even got one man to confess that he
had murdered his brother, and the
brother was not even dead. Rieke
states that he worked closely with
Englert to insure that the civil rights
o f Cartwright and Addicks were pro
tected.
Addicks contends that he was con
victed with false testimony, not only
that o f Cartwright but o f Silas Cross
and Billy Anglin, who were paid for
their information Rieke admits that
the payment was unusual and
perhaps unethical since the money as
provided by T u re l’ s son. He ex
plained that the C ounty provides
money but it was not available when
Englert needed it so he borrowed
$1,100 from Stan Turel. Additional
money that was paid later was part
o f the reward offered by the family.
O ther questions rem ain unan
swered. T u re l’ s watch stopped at
10:20 p.m., but Addicks was in Kelso
at that time. A witness claims she
saw a van parked in front o f the
business at the time o f the murder. A
witness saw a six fo o t ta ll man
through the w indow , but o f the
three, only Forsberg is that tall.
A flight bag identified as Turel’s
was found in the Columbia River
where Cartwright indicated it should
be, but Fosberg and C a rtw rig h t
claim it is not the right bag. They say
they put the pool ball, the sock and
the cord in a briefcase and threw it
and the flight bag in the river. The
briefcase sunk but the flig h t bag
floated down the river. The briefcase
and the murder weapon have never
been found.
One o f the corroborating witnesses
reportedly said he had te stified
falsely and wanted to change his
story. However, he received another
payment o f the expense money and
changed his mind.
Addicks has filed a number o f
suits against Haas, Rieke and others,
charging that they conspired to deny
and did deny his constitutional right
to legal materials, access to witnesses
and prevented him from assisting
with his defense by keeping him in
segregation and that he was
brutalized while in segregation at
Rocky Butte.
Forsberg wants a new in
vestigation o f the case. District A t
torney H arl Haas issued a press
release last November, after For
sberg made his claim to the killing,
saying his office had re-investigated
the case. He concluded that Addicks
had committed the crime.
Forsberg wonders how an in
vestigation could have been made
without talking with him, looking at
th e Moins Marks House
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Portland 97201
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. it f t .
The M u rd er
On the night o f August 28, 1974,
James Turel, owner o f Columbia
Bookkeeping Service, was murdered
in his Portland office. “ I usually dp
a clean jo b ,” Forsberg explained.
" B u t this was a mess — blood
aMever He just wouldn’t die.” Turel
had expected Cartwight to bring a
woman for him, but when he saw
Forsberg, he knew something was
wrong As Forsberg moved toward
him . the crippled man raised his
crutch to attack. Cartwright attacked
from behind with a pool ball in a
sock. Turel did not fall, but raised
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