listened to the tapped telephone line conversation, misinterpreting what was said.
I am of the opinion that the G-Men were clueless as to where “Agent 86 and Agent 99“ were calling from. It is probable that the Federal agents did not have any vectoring device on the tapped line and the conversation was not recorded.
As the news spread that Howard was out of his house, the FBI brain trust fumbled yet again. The G-Men failed to move on the babysitter and find out where her employers had gone to? Did the FBI agents decide to bet everything on the idea that the Howards would return to their home and everything would be okay? Or did the shocked G-Men not have a contingency plan?
What were the G-Men thinking? Their quarry had information that was critical to the United States’ security. Nothing was done in trying to find out where the turncoat was, or ascertain that Howard’s restaurant call was not a ruse? As one Conspiracy Buff told me, and there may be some truth to his idea, “The FBI teams were more concerned about their pensions and possible terminations, rather than trying to rectify their goofs.”
Upon exiting the restaurant, Mary drove Howard up Canyon Road then down Garcia Street. This long scenic route would lead to roads that would get the duo onto the highway that went to Eldorado.
The husband and wife still thought they were under surveillance of Big Brother. As Mary drove, Howard set up a dummy with a wig in the front seat of the vehicle. The dummy stratagem is an old CIA trick that is used in masking one’s escape attempt.
In a Moscow interview with investigative author David Wise, Howard claims that before exiting the Canyon Road’s restaurant’s parking lot, Howard disabled his brake lights, in order that his car would not be seen by his tailing pursuers. Is this confession from Howard to be believed? If he did, then Howard lucked out again, in that Mary’s car with a dummy passenger was not pulled over by a cruising police officer.
At the corner of Camino Corrales and Garcia Street, at 7:20 PM, on Saturday night September 21, 1985, Howard, age thirty three, jumped out of the moving car and hid in some Chamisa bushes as Mary drove towards their home. The corner has changed a lot since that 1985 night, but vestiges of Howard’s lair can still be seen. Howard’s thicket hideout is two driveways up, from the Amelia White mansion.
As Howard crouched in the tall shrubs, a quarter moon was in the sky, coyotes howled, owls hooted and the sounds of a nearby backyard cocktail party were heard. Howard gathered in the acoustics and confidence began to pulse through him as he lay amongst the high bushes.
After a few minutes it dawned on prostrate Howard that no car filled with FBI agents was following his wife’s vehicle. Composing himself, Howard for some egotistical reason walked back to the State Capital’s Roundhouse Building, where he worked. This large government building is located in downtown Santa Fe at the crossroads of Paseo De Peralta and Old Santa Fe Trail.
This act is totally illogical. Why would a hunted man lessen his chances of escape by purposely placing himself in the public’s eye? Perhaps Howard fortified his courage with a snort of cocaine, and the drug scrambled his survival instincts? Or hedonist Howard decided to play out a scene from a James Bond film that he had viewed?
With his work keys Howard entered into the Roundhouse and went to his old office, room 247. Howard then walked down a long hallway, and placed a resignation letter on his superior’s desk. It is disputed if Howard’s note was typed in his office or on his boss’ typewriter?
Mission accomplished, the callow spy then exited the capital building and Santa Fe, leaving behind his son, wife, lovers, and friends.
If the FBI had notified the local authorities to look for audacious Howard, once they had learned he was loose in Santa Fe, Agent 86 may have been caught.
According to the authorities, after Howard’s theatrics at the Roundhouse, the mutineer went straight to the Inn of Loretto, (Located at the corner of Old Santa Fe Trail and East Alameda).
Howard left Santa Fe by catching the Shuttle Jack (transport to Albuquerque airport) at the Inn.
I have my doubts about this scenario. After all, the FBI was wrong about Howard on almost every count.
Novice profilers surmise that Howard probably hung around Santa Fe after leaving the Roundhouse. The spy visited a downtown bar, had a few drinks, chuckled over his escape, and then hit the road by way of the Shuttle Jack, a rental car or taxi? Maybe this speculation is spot on? Howard’s ego on the night of his escape was as big as the state of New Mexico. The traitor seemed to care little about keeping a low profile.
Mary and her dummy passenger drove back to their Verano Loop house. The spy’s wife opened up the garage door, drove the car onto its cement stand and then closed the metal sliding door.
The FBI agent on surveillance duty reported to his chief that Howard and Mary were back at their home. The FBI and CIA sheriffs were completely hoodwinked and believed that their bird had returned to its cage.
Once inside her house, and seeing to it that the babysitter Gina Jackson, who had no part in the intrigue was on her way out, Mata Hari-Mary once again aided her husband in his escape.
Before the Howards left their house for dinner at Alfonso’s, the duo knew or did think that the FBI might or had tapped their telephone line, and acted on that idea.
To fool the G-Men and buy time for her now missing husband, Mary called a doctor’s office and got an answering service.
It was the weekend and Mary knew that Dr. Dudelczyk’s office would be closed. Mary then turned on her tape recorder and played Howard‘s previously recorded message, asking the psychiatrist for an appointment. There were no hitches; Dr. Dudelcyzk’s answering machine went on and Howard’s message was heard and recorded. More importantly, the FBI agents listening in, fell for the trick, Howard was back at his Eldorado residence.
According to local accounts, on Sunday morning Howard’s Accounting Department boss Phil Baca went to his Roundhouse office to pick-up some papers and noticed Howard’s resignation letter on his desk.
Another version of this episode, (The Spy Who Got Away by David Wise) which is the official version of how things transpired, has Baca going to his Roundhouse office late Sunday afternoon and seeing Howard’s note on his deck. The FBI was notified at 7;15 p.m. by Baca, and at 8 p.m. the FBI moved on Howard’s house.
Santa Fe lore alleges that the Roundhouse note consisted of resignation sentences, a small confession and a smug paragraph of, “Ha-ha, I tricked you CIA and have escaped.” Next to Baca’s letter or inside the resignation envelope, depending on the source, was a note for wife, Mary.
When the FBI field agents were notified of the Roundhouse letter, it was thought that Howard was possibly playing a prank on them; or Howard was in the process of leaving the country, but was still ensconced in his south of Santa Fe home.
Wanting to know what this Roundhouse note meant, the Santa Fe G-Men were ordered by their superiors in Washington D.C. to search the house on Verano Loop and arrest Howard.
As the manner was searched, it dawned on the FBI’s high sheriffs that Howard had made good his escape. Depending on the source, the double agent had a thirteen to twenty-five hour head start over his pursuers; never the less, airports were put on alert
According to FBI post escape reports, Howard hop-scotched from airport to airport during his escape. From Albuquerque Howard flew to Tuscon, then to, St.Louis, New York, London, Copenhagen and then Helsinki. From Finland Howard somehow went to Hungary
