Forged Signature By Police In Elwood Home Depot Murder Probe: Expert

JOLIET, IL — Investigators with the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force are accused of forging the signature of the girlfriend of Joliet first-degree murder defendant Derrell Draper to gain entry to her apartment and find the suspected gun used to kill Elwood Home Depot warehouse worker Robert "Bobby" Bigger of Shorewood more than two years ago.

Warren Spencer, a St. Charles-based court qualified specialist in handwriting identification, submitted his analysis of the Crest Hill Police investigator's document in question, finding that the signature on the consent to search form does not contain the valid signature of Draper's girlfriend, Tiara Moore.

Draper is being represented by the Chicago law firm of Bedi & Singer.

The police report in question listed Channahon Assistant Police Chief Adam Bogart as being the eyewitness to Moore signing the document to give the police legal authority to search her apartment in Justice for evidence related to the February 2021 Elwood slaying.

Unrelated, Bogart issued the press release in the Samantha Harer death investigation, announcing that Harer had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in her Channahon apartment in 2018.

Back in 2021, Joliet Patch reported that the homicide victim and Draper had just finished their shift at the Home Depot warehouse in Elwood, where they worked for a third-party vendor.

The killing happened along a stretch of Baseline Road before 3:30 a.m. Bigger was fatally shot as he was driving home from work.

The person who ended his life pulled right up to his car, opened fire and drove off. Draper, now 40, has remained in the Will County Jail awaiting his murder trial since Feb. 27, 2021.

"We're confident we got the right guy," Elwood Police Chief Fred Hayes told Joliet Patch at the time. "This is kind of a big incident for the Will County area, so it's all hands on deck."

According to court records, Crest Hill Police Investigator Conor Sweeney, whose photo is shown at the top of this article, submitted the police report indicating he and Crest Hill Police Detective Sgt. Jason Opiola arrived at Moore's apartment in Justice along with fellow Will County task force members Bogart, Joliet Police Detective Jeff German and then-Elwood Police Sgt. Andrew Anderson.

According to Sweeney, Opiola knocked on the apartment door, Moore answered and "Tiara invited officers inside and consented to have the apartment searched and processed. I then provided Tiara with a consent to search form, which she signed in the presence of Detective Bogart and I. The form was signed at approximately 10:25 (a.m.) A search of the apartment was then conducted."

However, Warren Spencer, a forensic document examiner, issued a report for the Chicago law firm representing Draper indicating someone forged Moore's signature to enter her apartment.

"It is my opinion to a reasonable degree of professional certainty that the questioned signature of Tiara Moore affixed to Crest Hill Police Department Consent to Search ... does not have the same writing pattern based on the known signatures of Tiara Moore," Spencer declared.

"During my examination, I used a ... stereo microscope to assist in evaluating the handwriting characteristics found in the questioned signature purported to be that of Tiara Moore and not found in the known, authentic writing of Tiara Moore. I also used a B-55 C-Thru Ruler and a Westcott W-5 180 Protractor to measure the height, width, spacing of letters and combination of letters ... I could discern that the handwriting had the characteristics of a drawn name and not the one that had been signed," Spencer wrote. "It is therefore my opinion, to a reasonable degree of professional certainty, that the questioned signature is not genuine."

According to the motion to suppress evidence illegally seized, Draper's lawyers Jonathan Bedi and Dena Singer have asked Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak to declare the Will-Grundy Major Crime Task Force's search of Moore's apartment illegal.

Court records from the defense note that Bigger died of the homicide on Feb. 26, 2021 and "the police believed Mr. Draper was involved in Bigger's death. The next day, Feb. 27, 2021, Mr. Draper as arrested as he exited a silver Chevy Traverse. The police learned the Traverse was registered to Mr. Draper's girlfriend, Tiara Moore."

Later, Opiola, Sweeney, Bogart, German and Anderson went to Moore's apartment in Justice without a search warrant, the defense informed the judge.

"The officers entered Ms. Moore's apartment, spoke with her briefly, and then searched the home. Ms. Moore did not give the officers consent to search her apartment, nor did she sign a consent to search form. During the search of Ms. Moore's apartment, the officers recovered a firearm and other evidence the State claims links Mr. Draper to Bigger's death."

Moore, the defense pointed out, also testified before a Will County grand jury on March 10, 2021, telling the jury the officers never asked her to search the apartment.

"Ms. Moore also testified that she never signed a consent to search form," the attorneys for Draper emphasized.

Bedi & Singer argued that the judge "must find the search of the apartment unlawful because Ms. Moore never consented. Allowing the police to fabricate evidence makes a mockery of the notion that Americans enjoy the protection of due process of the law and fundamental justice. It is no secret that police often fabricate evidence and lie on the stand."

Lastly, Bedi & Singer wrote, "justice requires that all items, statements and evidence that is the direct and indirect result of the unlawful search of the apartment must be suppressed."

On Wednesday morning, court filings show, Assistant Will County State's Attorney Christine Vukmir appeared before Will County Judge Bertani-Tomczak. Additional subpoenaed materials were supposed to be provided to the judge, including the Cook County Clerk's signed voter registration card for Moore, the Illinois Secretary of State driver's license signature for Moore and customer records including signature cards for Moore regarding a $20,833 loan approved for her on April 27, 2021, by Harvest Small Business Finance in California.

Draper's murder case will be back in front of Bertani-Tomczak on Friday for the setting of a hearing in regard to the defense motion to suppress evidence illegally seized.

During an interview on Wednesday night, Bedi told Joliet Patch that it is his understanding that the Will County State's Attorney's Office has retained its own handwriting analysis expert. Bedi said it's his belief that the prosecution's expert will also reach the same conclusion as Spencer, the St. Charles handwriting expert utilized by the defense.

"We're confident that the document was forged," Bedi remarked. "The State's Attorney's Office has hired their own expert, and we're confident that that expert is going to come to the same conclusion, that document was forged and Mr. Draper will be exonerated from these charges."