Murder in Woodstock

Incriminating Evidence

Graham and Lamoureux gave Deojay a ride home; he lived not too far away from the Plainfield PD. In the interim, they had learned that Deojay had been questioned about a rape in Plainfield years ago—which put an entirely new spin on how he looked as a possible suspect in Judy's disappearance.

Once at Deojay's apartment, Graham and Lamoureux got out of their cruiser after observing a 1997 Ford Escort station wagon parked in Deojay's driveway—the same type of vehicle reportedly seen heading toward Judy Nilan as she jogged past that off-duty trooper on the day of her disappearance.

The vehicle in Deojay's driveway was black. "This yours?" Graham asked.

Deojay shook his head yes.

Graham and Lamoureux began to take a closer look at the car. As it turned out, the car was registered to Scott Deojay's former girlfriend. Along the passenger's side rear door and fender was an ample amount of blood, as well as a blood "pattern impression on the rear passenger's side of the vehicle," said a report. This alone was enough to seize the car pending the issuance of a search warrant.

They asked Deojay about the blood, but he denied knowing anything about it.

So Graham called in a tow truck and had the vehicle removed to Troop D, saying later, "We interviewed his girlfriend, and she had a timeline for him going to work and coming home around his usual time, with nothing unusual about him from what she saw." Deojay, on the day Judy Nilan disappeared, had even sat down with his girlfriend and her teenage daughter and eaten dinner, then watched television and "did their usual stuff."

He wasn't acting unusual, she told Graham. They interviewed the girlfriend's daughter next, to see if Deojay had ever assaulted her. They were looking to grab him on anything until they could find out what was going on.

She said he hadn't.

So Graham and his partner, following the tow truck, left Scott Deojay's home.