Chris Dorner: Crazed Killer, Innocent Hero or Neither?

Ruth Hull
Activist Post

It is not surprising Chris Dorner is an enigma, representing different things to different people, given that the press has failed to present an accurate picture. Readers are forced to sift through enormous amounts of false information that has been published and broadcast on the man in order to get any clue as to who and what he was.

photos by Ruth Hull

Any honest comparison of the two manifestos makes it obvious that the longer version was not written by the same person who put up the original manifesto (supposedly written by Dorner). Unfortunately, unethical publishers and television networks prefer the sensationalism of the fake manifesto to the truth while honest publishers are in short supply. The writing style, education level, and focus are obvious distinctions between the original and the portions added to make up the second manifesto. The “fake” one was clearly written by someone more interested in pushing national issues like gun control and other issues than in discussing matters of importance to the life of Chris Dorner. In fact, Dorner made it clear that he wasn’t writing about the federal government in the original manifesto. Michael Ruppert (an expert on LAPD corruption), Cynthia McKinney (a six-term Congresswoman and International hero) and Jim Stone were all able to download the original before Dorner’s site was hacked and the fake was added. See my article: http://activistpost.com/2013/02/news-services-fake-dorner-manifesto.html

Someone went to a lot of trouble to create that fake manifesto. How much further did the falsifications regarding Dorner go? Did he write any manifesto at all? Did he continue investigating the police after leaving the force and wind up framed for murders committed by corrupt officers fearing exposure by some evidence Dorner had uncovered? Were people killed because they were helping Dorner expose corruption? Law enforcement went to a lot of trouble to try to silence Dorner, shooting women and burning down cabins. What were they afraid he would say if he talked? If officers crossed the line in shooting at women and torching a house, how many other times did they cross the line in this case?

If we suspect Dorner may have been framed, then we need to ask the following question. Who would have had the motive, ability and opportunity to kill those people and fake the chase, as well as the technical skills to hack into Dorner’s website to replace the original manifesto with the fake version? In this case, are the foxes not just guarding the henhouse but investigating who ate the hens while torching the henhouse to destroy the evidence they pretend to be seeking?

The Victims

Monica Quan

Why would Chris Dorner go from protector of police abuse victims to abuser himself? Didn’t Monica’s father try to help Dorner? Wouldn’t he have been more likely to be her failed protector than her killer?

Keith Lawrence

Keith wasn’t on the LAPD. Wasn’t the grudge with the LAPD? Did Keith, a young African-American officer, identify with Chris and try to help him uncover official corruption and end racism in the police agencies? Were Keith, Keith’s fiancée Monica and Chris Dorner investigating the corruption together and close to exposing certain officers at the time Keith, Monica and maybe Chris were killed? Chris was supposedly killed with a single shot to the head. Was that shot fired at the same time as Monica and Keith were killed? Charred remains show no powder burns and the torching of the remains could wipe out the evidence of when and how he was shot.

Michael Crain

Dorner didn’t have a grudge against the Riverside Police Department. Was Crain a friend in whom Chris confided? Was Crain about to go public with the truth when his life was cut short? Why was his funeral, a media spectacle, timed to coincide with the supposed removal of Dorner’s remains from the cabin and why did some of the funeral speeches give off the appearance of being performances? Was the killer or were the killers among those speaking at the funeral? A movie producer couldn’t have timed it better.

Jeremy McKay

This man was reportedly killed on Big Bear Mountain, but by whom? Was Dorner even on that mountain?

A Fictitious Conclusion to a Concocted Story or the Truth?

When PIO (Public Information Officer) Andrew Hughan of the Fish and Wildlife Department sat at my table at The Oaks Restaurant, he announced he had a story to tell and he certainly told one. The only problem was that his story was contradicted by the stories of Lieutenant Patrick Foy and others at The Oaks Restaurant. The officers seemed to be good guys, but their job appeared to be to sell the press on an exciting conclusion to the Chris Dorner affair so that the press would be go off and convince the public of the action-packed details of the end of Chris Dorner. It might have helped if the officials presenting the official story had solidified the official version of events before going public with the various scenarios. One officer had Dorner driving towards Big Bear on Highway 38 after stealing the purple SUV from Big Bear. The other had him going the opposite direction on Highway 38. One had the stolen truck being shot and crashing on Highway 38. The other had that same truck being shot and crashing on Glass Road. Even the same officer changed his story as to which areas of the truck were shot when speaking with different members of the press – perhaps solidifying his story as he told it. There was also a question as to whether the purple SUV was owned by Jay of Jay’s Tree Trimming Service or by two maids or by Jim and Karen Reynolds.

The Reynolds’ story is interesting. So a Navy Seal is so lousy at tying people up that they quickly untie themselves and notify authorities within minutes? The Navy Seals need to re-work their training techniques. And who was holding the gun while the first person of the couple was being tied up? And why did Karen claim, in her 911 call, that she was concerned for two house cleaners working in the next unit if he had just tied Karen and her husband up at gunpoint? Was she still trying to solidify her story too?

Of course, we are to believe that a trained police officer on the run was making a big show of being the most wanted man in American while brandishing nasty looking weapons and openly stealing vehicles – instead of trying to fit in. Why didn’t he just put on some ski clothes, complete with visor and a hat and go skiing with the other visitors up at Big Bear? I guess, instead of wanting to get away, he really wanted to get caught and burn in that cabin.

Actually, why would he go to Big Bear at all, when getting there required travel through one of the manned checkpoints between San Diego County (where he supposedly dumped his badge in a National City dumpster for all to find and his wallet in two different places) and Big Bear? Did he smile, his infamous warm smile, at the Border Patrol as he went through the checkpoint near Temecula or the one near San Clemente or one of the other border patrol checkpoints between San Diego and Big Bear? Did they search the vehicle he was traveling in and wish him a happy escape as they let him through? Or did he teleport from San Diego to Big Bear? Teleportation is not any less likely than most of the other details of this story.

The final identifications of Dorner seemed to be based on the color of the man’s skin, his size and the fact that he had a gun. Tom Berens (owner of The Oaks Restaurant), at first said everyone in the area owned a gun and then refined it to 80 to 90%, leaving the identifying factor to be that the man was big and black. There aren’t too many of those in Southern California, are there? Has anyone else in CA ever seen a big Black guy? If you did, it was Chris Dorner. (The next day, this writer and a big Black Cal Trans worker at Angelus Oaks and his Black male coworker were making jokes about how these Cal Trans workers could have been burned in that cabin if they had been seen driving on Highway 38 the day before. Though it wasn’t all that funny, given that one or two men died.) Though racial profiling seemed to be popular in that area as was the popular repetition of the comment, “There are no Black men here.” But contradicting that was the fact that a big armed Black officer came into The Oaks Restaurant and sat down to eat while we were there.

And what would the police have done without a Boy Scout Ranger walking a dog, to add credibility to the story by reporting that a Big Black Man had stolen his truck at gunpoint?

But, let’s hush up any discussion about the million dollars in reward money that would be expected to go to truck owner Rick Heitelbrake and the Reynolds as the body in the cabin has been identified as Dorner. Would you identify a big Black man as having stolen your vehicle and create an exciting story to go with that identification for a million dollars?

Then, there is the wallet. In the lady’s room at The Oaks Restaurant, I listened as a USA Today reporter said that a deputy sheriff had told her that Dorner’s intact wallet had been found in the cabin. Is this like Mohamed Atta’s passport, which was pretty much the only thing to survive the vaporization of the Twin Towers? The cabin was burned to the ground, but the amazing invincible wallet and the identification in it just happened to be ready and waiting for someone to pick up and tag into evidence. According to other sources, though, that same wallet was already in the custody of the police. Does this mean an officer chasing Dorner was roasted in the cabin while holding onto Dorner’s wallet, hoping the wallet’s fireproof magic would rub off on him? If Dorner didn’t have his wallet any more, doesn’t that mean it wasn’t him? Let’s not let facts get in the way of a powerful ending to this story. See this article by Scott Creighton on the escapades of the traveling wallet.  “Cops ‘Found’ Dorner’s Wallet Three Times in Three Different Cities?”

“San Ysidro – “After authorities interviewed the boat captain early Thursday, they found Dorner’s wallet and identification cards “at the San Ysidro Point of Entry” near the U.S.-Mexico border.” LA Times

San Diego – 2:20 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 7: A shuttle bus driver turns in a wallet with an LAPD badge and a picture ID of Dorner to San Diego police. The wallet was found fewer than five miles from the boat, near San Diego International Airport. AP Dorner Timeline

San Bernardino – “He never emerged from the ruins, and hours later a charred body was found in the basement of the burned cabin along with a wallet and personal items, including a California driver’s license with the name Christopher Dorner, an official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.”AP

Isn’t it interesting how so many standoffs end with everything collapsing or going up in flames, like the World Trade Center or Waco? Was Richard Donner or Roland Emmerich producing this movie? The destruction of the cabin was no accident or natural disaster. Listen to the police recording in this article: or listen to these police recordings.  Note the words referencing the plan about the burn, “Like we talked about.” How about this, “We have seven burners deployed and we have a fire.” Nice conclusion when all the evidence goes up in smoke and the only ones with access to the remains are those who burned the evidence in the first place. (Source)

Was a big bonfire the only way to hide the truth?

If the wallet was planted (Let’s get real; it was planted.), were the remains also planted? Was Dorner killed trying to save Monica and Keith or perhaps his buddy Michael Crain? Did Jeremy die because he was an honest cop who knew too much and became a liability? Or, as a famous Congresswoman suggested, did Dorner escape like Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451?

Dorner wasn’t a stupid man. If he wanted to get away, he would not have gone to Big Bear after Point Loma (having to pass a border patrol checkpoint, in between on whichever route he took) and he certainly would not have been running around with guns while stealing vehicles to call attention to himself. Someone trying to get away would have tried to fit in, maybe even joining in the search or going skiing. The other night, I spoke with a group of high school students, who hoped that, like Montag, Chris Dorner was somewhere safe, watching the spectacle, the supposed end of his action-packed story.

We likely will never know what happened to Chris Dorner. The audience is left to believe the unlikely official story or to create its own conclusion, perhaps a happy one.

This started with police misconduct towards suspects. Maybe the best tribute to those who died would be to monitor the police and make sure these abuses are prosecuted.

Ruth Hull is an activist and writer whose career has included work as a criminal defense attorney, a licensed private investigator, and an educator.