Empty Promises

Steve had used the disappearance of his wife in an attempt to turn himself into a “babe magnet,” the forlorn widower who needed love. He attracted women all right, but in doing so, he had made some significant mistakes.

12
    T here was another aspect of the Sherer case that the Redmond investigators found disturbing. Within a month of Jami’s disappearance, Steve, who was unemployed, as he often was, applied for Jami’s last paychecks, her accumulated vacation pay and her sick pay at Microsoft. He received a check for the full amount. One of the perks at Microsoft was the stock offered to its employees. Jami had taken advantage of that and had begun buying company stock on December 12, 1987. Records showed she had bought more whenever she could: June 16, 1988; December 7, 1988; December 12, 1989; and June 30, 1990. Up through 1989 it had been possible to change ownership or add payees by e-mail. At one time Jami had asked to have Steve’s name removed from the stock certificates, but she later put him back on.
    So Steve was able to cash in a number of Microsoft stock certificates within a month or so of Jami’s disappearance.
    In November 1990, Sherri Schielke moved Jami’s Microsoft stock—the collateral Jami had put up for their house loan the previous spring—into her own stock account. At that point, Microsoft was trading stock at under three dollars a share, and Jami had many, many shares. Sherri explained that Steve was out of work and that she had been making the mortgage payments on his house, since Jami was no longer around to pay them. Steve retained some of Jami’s Microsoft stock.
    Without the wife who had supported him for four years, Steve was having financial trouble. In early December he asked Judy Hagel if she would loan him $15,000 to “clear up Jami’s credit.” It was an outrageous request. Judy knew that Jami always kept current on her bills and that she also saved receipts, bills, and all manner of documents that would validate her yearly IRS forms. Judy had co-signed with Jami so she could buy her Mazda RX7 because Steve’s credit was worth nothing. There was simply no way Judy would lend Steve $15,000.
    Evidently, he went to his mother too. Sherri suggested that he rent out part of the house to help him make the mortgage payments. He rented one bedroom to a man who soon moved out. Next, a couple named Troy and Pam moved in. They told the Redmond detectives that they remembered a tanning bed in the garage, and also several boxes stored there. Troy never went through the boxes, but Pam was curious. She found they were full of women’s clothing and other feminine items. Steve told her she could take anything she wanted. She took a few pieces of clothing, but most of them were far too small for her. The couple didn’t stay in Steve’s house for long.
    Seven months after Jami vanished, Sherri Schielke retained an attorney so that she could be named trustee and manage Jami’s estate. The Hagels were looking after Chris, and spending as much as they could afford to pay to the private investigators who were, shockingly, taking cruel advantage of them. They assumed that whatever Jami had owned would come to her son, to pay for his education and for the things he needed as he grew up. Still, they hoped that Jami was alive somewhere, and that was what mattered the most to them. They were unsophisticated about financial matters.
    Sherri Schielke published an announcement in several small newspapers that she intended to take over Jami’s assets as her trustee. The probate matter was filed in King County Superior Court, which noted that “the Court being fully advised in these premises: the Court finding that notice having been published and the whereabouts of the absentee remain unknown and cannot be ascertained.”
    Responding to Sherri’s attorney’s motion, “In the matter of the estate of Jami Sue Sherer, Absentee,” Sherri’s request was granted: “(1) It is hereby ordered that Sharon Schielke be appointed trustee of the Absentee Estate of Jami Sue Sherer; (2) That trustee shall file an oath for faithful performance of duties and shall prepare an inventory of the estate and file such within sixty days of the date of this order.”
    The date was May 17, 1991.
    Both Steve and Sherri were anxious to retrieve the diamond ring and watch that had been found taped on the console in Jami’s car. The police had had the ring appraised and knew that it was now worth $13,500. The