Word: eckardt
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...conspiracy might never have come to light were it not for the wildly assorted cast of characters who teach and study at Pioneer Pacific College, a small vocational school outside Portland. It was here that the players converged: Eckardt, the bodyguard who allegedly helped hatch the plot; Eugene Saunders, the young born-again pastor to whom Eckardt confessed, with a frightening telltale tape; and Gary Crowe, the private detective who ultimately blew the lid off the story...
Crowe, an affable, tweed-clad private detective, taught a weekend course in legal procedure. Among his 20 students, Eckardt certainly stood out, by virtue not only of his 350-lb. frame but also of his blustery tales of having worked at various times for the FBI and the CIA. Eckardt, says Crowe, "lives in a world of shadows and trench coats." Also in the class was Saunders, 24, the pastor of a small evangelical congregation in suburban Gresham. Rotund and clean cut, with the zeal of a Boy Scout, Saunders signed up for the course because of his commitment...
...class, Saunders approached Crowe with a disturbing story, which Crowe recounted to TIME. The previous night, Saunders said, he had been invited to Eckardt's house and heard more than he wanted to hear. Eckardt talked about a recent meeting before which, he boasted, "I swept the room" for bugs, then planted a tape recorder. With that Eckardt proceeded to produce a cassette and play it for the unsuspecting minister. According to Crowe, Saunders heard three people debating a grisly plot; one was Eckardt, one an unidentified man from Arizona, and the third person Eckardt identified as "Tonya Harding...
...need to kill her," Eckardt allegedly responded. "Let's just hit her in the knee...
...they listened to the tape together, Eckardt started to come unglued. He told Saunders that "the guy in Arizona" was the hit man. He had not been paid the $100,000 he was promised, and might be coming to Portland. Eckardt's concern was so intense he started to give Saunders the tape for safekeeping -- "It was almost in my hand," said Saunders -- then decided against...