Prologue
Jogging was always Robert’s way of burning off excess energy. The physical conditioning was always a secondary benefit. He wasn’t into road racing or competition. It was for healing. A brisk seven minutes per mile way to eliminate tension, anger, or frustration. Five days a week, Monday through Friday, Robert Crismore would jog a four-mile loop through the park adjacent to the county jail where he worked.
The jail facility had been built next to a beautiful regional park. The park was a lushly overgrown point of land that jutted into the confluence of the Sacramento River and the San Francisco Bay. The park land had some historical significance, as it had once housed the factory of the Hercules Dynamite Company. Several brick foundations and a portion of the original shipping pier were still in evidence throughout the forty-acre park area.
Robert’s dedication to his running regime had become infectious to the jail’s staff. During a lunch break, shift change, or evening meal, a half-dozen county employees could be seen jogging the dirt paths that meander throughout the rolling contours of the park. Robert usually ran during his lunch break, but on occasion, his duties as a jail teacher forced him to run in the early evening.
On this particular day, Robert had been working with a group of female inmates preparing to take their high school equivalency tests. He had missed his opportunity to jog at lunch and knew he would barely have time to get in a quick workout during the dinner break. As soon as the students were called back to their dorm for inmate count and feeding, Robert hurried to the locker room in the recently remodeled administration wing and dressed for his run. In less than fifteen minutes he was dressed and in the parking lot in front of the jail. He used a metal handrail to balance himself as he stretched the various muscles in his long slender legs. The early September air was cool, and he was glad he had put on a hooded sweatshirt. The sun was low, and Robert knew how quickly the air from the San Francisco Bay could change the temperature. He thought about going back inside for sweat pants but decided he didn’t have time.
Believing his ligaments, joints, and muscles to be sufficiently warm, Robert began a slow jog to the park’s entrance, two hundred yards behind the detention facilities perimeter. As he entered the park, he relaxed his six foot three-inch frame and lengthened his stride as he fell into a strong, rhythmic pace. Robert tried to vary his course each time he ran. Some days he would run the perimeter of the park clockwise. Others he would reverse his run and go counter-clockwise. In the warm muggy days of summer, Robert had developed a course that consisted of crisscrossing dirt paths shaded by scrub pines and huge eucalyptus trees. For this evening’s jog, Robert planned to use an abbreviated course. He would run on a paved service road that split the center of the park and ended at the water’s edge near the old loading pier. From that point, he would turn west and follow a dirt path on a ledge overlooking the Bay. He would complete his jog near the park’s single entrance.
A cool breeze blew wispy white clouds from west to east and chilled the patina of sweat on Robert’s cheeks. His breathing was deep and steady. His stride was long and smooth. In his mind, he thought only of the simple beauty of the surrounding landscape. All of today’s concerns, worries, frustrations seem to flow from him through the pores on his skin. He was certain that holding a negative thought was impossible when jogging in such a serene environment.
Robert reached the end of paved roadway and turned onto the narrow path that headed directly into the growing sunset. The fading suns glare forced him to look down at the path. To his right and left were bushes and wildflowers. Large eucalyptus trees planted as wind breaks more than a century before loomed tall and dark a quarter-mile ahead. The path angled constantly to the left. Eventually, the right side of the pathway disappeared and was replaced by a slanting precipice that sloped down to the gently lapping waters of the bay. Sunlight and sparkling clouds shimmered and twinkled on the dark water. Less than a mile remained to the entrance of the park and the sun had descended to the top of Mount Tamalpais across the bay. The setting sun bathed everything in a pink-orange light and cast long shadows across the landscape. Robert knew he would finish his jog in the diminished light of sunset and marveled at the growing color display.
The sod path took a final turn towards the park entrance and through a final stand of eucalyptus trees. Robert unconsciously increased his pace as he always did at the end of a good run. He raced up the last small incline on the path and began to decelerate. It was at that moment the loud cracking sound started. It took a long instant for Robert’s mind to identify the noise. He had seen and heard limbs break off and fall from the trees many times. He had even heard other joggers talk about near misses from falling branches. Rather than lookup, or try to dodge an unseen falling object, Robert covered his head with his arms, squatted down, and braced for an impact he wasn’t sure would come.
When Robert did not show up for his evening classes, a search was made of the entire detention facility. Two deputies noted that his personal vehicle was still in the main parking lot. Chaplain Williams was the first one to mention to Captain Eng that he had seen Robert leave in his running clothes. Shortly thereafter, building Superintendent Bill Schmidt suggested a search of the parks running path. Having accompanied Robert on several runs, Bill knew most of the commonly used trails.
Robert’s prostrate form was discovered an hour later by one of the jails outside patrol units. A twelve-foot length of dead Eucalyptus branch was lying across Robert’s back and he had a knot the size of a lemon just behind his left ear. The deputies could not revive Robert, so an ambulance was summoned.
Robert was transported to John Muir Hospital in the nearby city of Walnut Creek and placed in their head trauma clinic. Robert’s two daughters, Jamie and Nellie, were summoned to the hospital. They, in turn, contacted Robert’s wife Linda.
