Summary of Saldate's
falsehoods in
THE DEBRA JEAN MILKE CASE

Over the past months and years, as Debbie is unjustly rotting on Arizona death row, many inconsistencies, falsehoods, twisted statements and - simply - lies of former Phoenix Police Detective Armando Saldate, Jr. have been uncovered. The more that records are analyzed and compared, the more these discrepancies unravel. In fact, it has become such a huge amount of lies that "debbiemilke.com" summarizes the proven discrepancies on this page so that you can understand and cross-check them with the official, pertinent police or court records. None of the listed falsehoods are mere allegations or presumptions - each is a discrepancy uncovered by comparing them with legal and official documents.

Since "debbiemilke.com" is still in the process of analyzing documents, preparing them to be published on this website, this page will remain under construction and might be extended in the near future. Currently it only links to those documents which have been prepared for release as a part of this website. If you are interested in learning more about Detective Saldate's falsehoods, please check back with this page.

Please also note that the proven falsehoods and discrepancies summarized herein also reveal to the critical observer many details about how sloppily and insufficiently the Arizona justice system works. Given that Governor Hull stated just recently "We do not see that the system doesn't work," it should be of grave concern to every citizen whether the government of Arizona or the legal authorities are able to handle any death penalty case at all. It's a pitiful offense to justice. In reference to this, please also have a look at the Liebman report, which will tell you a lot about the error rates in Arizona's courts!

In order to give this overview a structure, the following table has been created. In the table

• Date/No. describes the date a discrepancy, falsification or allegation was put forward by Detective Saldate for the first time,
• Discrepancy describes the kind and manner of a discrepancy, whether it's an allegation, the withholding of a statement made, a falsification etc. and what Saldate said,
• Source means the place in the record where the discrepancy occurs, and
• Disproval gives the reference to a police or court record, any official document, to prove this point is entirely an invention of Armando Saldate designed to tie Debra Milke to this crime, the murder of her 4-year-old son, which she has nothing to do with.

Evil monster or railroaded victim?
Debra Jean Milke (1992)

06/30/1990 #018	Allegation: (To Sandy) "I met you once." Saldate alleged he had seen SANDRA PICKINPAUGH before, which is an untrue allegation.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Testimony Ms. Janka, confirmation S. P. during recorded telephone interview
06/30/1990 #019	Manipulative statement: "Debra has gone through the psychological tests (inaudible) to see, of course, is she was ( ... ) Unstable. " Saldate alleged to Debra's sister SANDRA that Debra had been tested by experts, and made it sound as if they had found a lack of character stability. This insinuation is untrue, but SANDY chimed in "Unstable". It was also not mentioned that Debra had taken a polygraph test, which she passed. But the result was withdrawn since the testing environment made it inconclusive.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH
06/30/1990 #020	Allegation: Detective Saldate said about the relationship of ERNIE SWEAT & Debra: "There   was something serious and " In court, ERNIE SWEAT forcefully denied that allegation.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Court Testimony ERNIE SWEAT
06/30/1990 #021	Manipulative statement: "Jim did do the shooting." By claiming there was evidence that JIM STYERS was the gunman Saldate led SANDY to believe that he knew, and was telling her, exactly how the crime took place. But that's completely made up. In fact, JIM STYERS confessed to Debra with his letters that he had been at the murder-scene together with SCOTT. He did not confess that he shot Christopher. No definitive proof was ever developed regarding which of STYERS or SCOTT shot Christopher.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison of the letters of JIM STYERS to Debra, Interview of Robert E. Johnson (in which JOHNSON stated that SCOTT had confessed to the killing)
06/30/1990 #022	Manipulative statement: "In reading these letters you can see it is a setup." The letters written between JIM STYERS and Debra after their arrest, in fact, did not say anything about a conspiracy theory at all. To claim any incrimination of Debra was contained in them is simply untrue. Again, Saldate told SANDY lies in order to make her believe the theory of the crime he was telling her.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison of the letters of JIM STYERS to Debra.
06/30/1990 #023	Falsehood: "Jim didn't know if she was going to (inaudible). He would never, ever - ( ... ) She (inaudible). She was already in jail. He didn't know." To strengthen his conspiracy theory Saldate told SANDY a falsehood claiming JIM STYERS would have never incriminated Debra and that he had no idea she was already in jail. This misrepresents the chronology of events. In fact, JIM STYERS was arrested at 5.17 p.m. on December 3, 1989 and Debra was arrested after the interrogation with Saldate at approximately 8.35 p.m. ... three hours later that day. Another example of how Saldate felt free to twist things to help fabricate his story.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with our timetable of police investigations & court dates.
06/30/1990 #024	Manipulative statement: "And in one of the letters ( ... ) we don't have she's telling him a couple of things like when I get out here we could be together." Saldate could not possibly have any knowledge about the content of a letter he didn't have - and that doesn't even exist. This was an invented fantasy "example" of Debra's "misbehavior," part of the character assassination against her, meant to manipulate SANDY into trashing her sister. He knew about the manipulative effect of such an allegation.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Common sense
06/30/1990 #025	Allegation: "- dress looked very nice." Not one photo or any testimony matches Saldate's allegation about Debra's clothing. She wore a bra, a T-shirt, a cardigan sweater, panties and blue jeans, socks and tennis shoes. From this point in the interview he started off with his "flashing breasts" allegation.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Photos shown at TV coverages, testimony of KIRK FOWLER
06/30/1990 #026	Allegation: (Saldate describing to SANDY what he supposedly thinks is going on in Debra's mind during the alleged "flashing" incident): "If he's looking at my breasts then I may be able to talk myself out of this." Saldate fabricated a fantastic story of sexual manipulation which was never been mentioned in any of his initial documents. It's plain to see this is a fabricated detail in order to make Debbie appear as a vamp who would also mercilessly manipulate JIM STYERS in order to accomplish everything she wants. That's completely off the wall. Testimony of KIRK FOWLER explains that it's physically impossible to do what Saldate alleged.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Photos shown at TV coverages, testimony of KIRK FOWLER, comparison of Saldate's initial report of his interrogation with Debra and his case synopsis.
06/30/1990 #027	Allegation: "So that's what I'm telling you." A common police technique, stating an untrue allegation to manipulate a witness. Here Saldate alleged the "flashing breasts" incident to get Sandy to join the attack on her sister's character.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	His manipulative allegation is not backed up anywhere, it's just an emphasis of the "flashing breasts" incident.
06/30/1990 #028	Manipulative statement: "That's the type of manipulation she does." Plain and simple, character assassination meant to manipulate SANDRA PICKINPAUGH. The detective has only spoken with Debra during the 30 min. in Florence, yet he claims to have deep knowledge of her character and personality. What Saldate did while interviewing SANDY was to state various possible "faults" of Debra, hoping SANDY would agree with some of them.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	His manipulative allegation is not backed up anywhere
06/30/1990 #029	Allegation: "She loves that." (refers to "manipulation") Another baseless allegation of Debra being manipulative. As with the previous point, he did not deal with Debra long enough to base his allegation on personal experience.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	His manipulative allegation is not backed up anywhere
06/30/1990 #030	Allegation: "Why did she want to get rid of Christopher?" Allegedly Saldate knew all the details about the killing of Christopher. But why then did he have to ask SANDY, who could only assume? The detective's question at this part of the interview is proof that Debbie has indeed never confessed and Saldate had made the whole thing up. SANDY even confirmed that Christopher was a "very high strung little boy" and that their relationship was "normal", which was not what Saldate was after.	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Common sense
06/30/1990 #031	Manipulative statement: "Do we agree on that? I mean - Ms. Pickinpaugh: Christopher was a very strung little boy. He was very very hard to take care of. But - Mr. Saldate: (Inaudible) Ms. Pickinpaugh: Normal. Yes. Mr. Saldate: Because if you don't get no love you go out and seek it. Ms. Pickinpaugh: That kid was - Mr. Saldate: Do we agree on that? I mean - Saldate made every effort to make SANDY confirm his character assassinating statements about Debra. But this technique also had another reason and effect: the more easily Saldate could manipulate SANDY, the more likely she would testify on behalf of the prosecution against her sister. And it worked ...	Interview with SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Common sense
07/06/1990 #032	Allegation: "Sandra said this was strange because usually Debbie didn't think of anyone else ..." SANDY never said anything like this in that interview. She said that Debra had called to wish Jason a happy birthday and also to tell her about the result of the hearing. Saldate simply added this invented "quote" to attack Debra's character in his report. The intention of using direct quotes is also to later on give SANDRA the feeling that this is what was actually said.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the interview of Sandra Pickinpaugh
07/06/1990 #033	Withheld statement: SANDRA PICKINPAUGH'S statement: "My sister is a very attractive person. She's very intelligent and my parents had a lot of aspirations for her ..." Saldate didn't mention this statement of SANDY in his report at all.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the interview of Sandra Pickinpaugh
07/06/1990 #034	Twisted fact: "I then asked Sandra if she could tell me about any of Debra's friends ..." Saldate did not ask that during the interview; he asked what Debra's position with JIM was. This is one of Saldate's subterfuges for "improving" the results of his interviews. Jealous of her sister, SANDY suddenly gave a rambling attack saying Debra had no true friends, only people she used. To make SANDY'S disagreeable attack look like a thoughtful and calm statement, Saldate falsely claims it was a direct answer to a neutral question - never mind if he puts a lie into an official police report!	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with transcript
07/06/1990 #035	Allegation: "... and for the most part, she (Sandy) feels sorry for her (Debra)." SANDY never said anything like this in the interview. This statement of Saldate was completely made up to deceptively cast SANDY'S resentful attacks on her sister as reluctant and "loving," an underhanded way of inflating the attack on Debra's character.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	His fabricated allegation is not backed up anywhere comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #036	Fabrication: "... and she said her sister Debra was an expert at manipulating people." SANDRA never said anything like this in the interview. Saldate initially said that himself.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #037	Falsehood: "Sandra said that she was her main target during that period of time because as Sandra described herself, she was easy." SANDRA did not say she was the main target, and she did also not say she was easy. SANDRA had described herself as rebellious and independent, just the opposite. This is a very good example of how Saldate had no scruples about fabricating his lies.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #038	Allegation: "Sandra said she would usually fall for this and agree with Debra that she should do these things." SANDRA did not say she fell for these things; she said: "... we would all coach her, you know, we'd all say, yes, stay out of his life ..."	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #039	Allegation: "Debra would then turn it around and then use it against her and after several weeks of taking care of Chris, she would realize that the only reason she said these things was because she wanted someone to take care of Chris." SANDRA never said anything like this. Saldate picked up a lot of single statements and put them together, but all of these phrases were completely taken out of context.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #040	Falsehood: "I then asked her about the time when Debra went to Colorado presumably to get her act straight. Sandra just chuckled and said that was a joke." Just the opposite. SANDRA said "she was very sincere."	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #041	Twisted statement: "Sandra went on to say that her sister is a master of deception and manipulation and that she has a certain way with people." It was Saldate who firstly used the term "master of manipulation", before SANDRA agreed to that. But before that, SANDRA just said: "She's a master."	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #042	Falsehood: "She said that Debra can make anyone do what she wants them to, even though they may truly know Debra." SANDRA did not say anything like this. It was Saldate who said: "... she has this thing about getting people to do anything for her."	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #043	Twisted statement: "Sandra then said 'there is no limit what a person would do for Debra'." Another false direct quote! SANDY said, "I couldn't even put a limit on what they would do for her." This statement by SANDY - that she doesn't know how much a person would do for Debra - is "improved" by Saldate into the declaration that SANDY knows there is no limit to what Debra could make a person do. Another case where Saldate twists a statement to make it as damaging as possible to Debra. And it was Saldate who said: "... she has this thing about getting people to do anything for her."	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #044	Allegation: "... Sandra said she knew that ERNIE and DEBRA were dating but that he did not appear to be the type of person, even though he was very nice.." SANDY did not say he did not appear to be the kind of person who would marry her sister. She said: "Which was understandable to me [that they might get married later] at that time because..." Saldate created an overly positive image of ERNIE SWEAT in order to accomplish the exact opposite with Debra Milke. A typical technique.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Court testimony ERNIE SWEAT, Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #045	Twisted statement: "Jim then told her that Debbie and Ernie were having trouble and said something to the effect that Debbie must have been hallucinating.." After learning from JIM STYERS that the relationship of ERNIE SWEAT and Debra didn't go too well, SANDY exaggerated STYERS' information "And Jim had called me three days later and told me that Debbie was hallucinating." And Saldate even checked back by asking: "Jim said that Debra was hallucinating now?" And SANDY clarified: "Well, it didn't come out exactly, you know, she's hallucinating." Anyhow, Saldate didn't care and included it in his report anyway - regardless of the clarification - because it suited his own story.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Court testimony ERNIE SWEAT, Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #046	Fabrication: "He (JIM STYERS) then told her that Debbie had given ERNIE an ultimatum and that they were having problems because of that." A good example of how Saldate took statements out of context in order to fabricate a completely new story. It was SANDY who initially said: "I guess she proposed an ultimatum to him and he didn't like that." She said she "guessed"! Saldate attributed this statement to JIM STYERS (who was sharing an apartment with Debra)[1st falsehood] and made the "guess" appear to be a fact [2nd falsehood].	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Court testimony ERNIE SWEAT, Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #047	Falsehood: "Sandra said she immediately realized that Debbie told her these things because that's what Debbie wanted to believe." Again: untrue from the beginning to the end. SANDY finished this story about her sister and ERNIE by saying: "So she said that they were bickering about it. Which kind of made me wonder but then again, if you've dealt with her for so many years you figure well -" which can't possibly be considered as the version that Saldate made up in his report.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Court testimony ERNIE SWEAT, Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #048	Withheld statement: SANDY elaborated her story about JIM STYERS' character by saying: "I mean, Jim just does numerous things for people. He's just that kind of person (inaudible). He would call me and say I'll be over in 10 minutes, I'm right around the corner from you and show up two hours later. You know. It was because he saw a lady on the highway with her car, you know, or somebody needed a ride somewhere. Jim just did not have the ability - he did not have the strength to stand up for himself. Did not have the ability to say, you know, I'm not going to take this." Elaborating on this issue didn't suit Saldate's theory. He wanted Debra to appear as a manipulative person, not STYERS as a mostly weak and helpful individual. That part of the talk and SANDY's statements did not enter Saldate's report at all.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Court testimony ERNIE SWEAT, Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #049	Fabrication: "Sandra replied that she was sure that Debbie would probably lead him on, tease him and pursue intimate thoughts with him. Sandra said she was sure that Debbie would never had slept with Jim but then said 'I'm sure she would give him enough food for thought to make him do anything for her.'" A complete and outrageous fabrication. Saldate tried to lead SANDY into making a statement like this lie, and when he didn't succeed, he just made it up and wrote it in his report - complete with a fictitious "quote"! SANDY never said "I'm sure she would give him enough food for thought to make him do anything for her." This vicious character assassination is a complete invention of Saldate. In the interview, after telling SANDY about the jailhouse letters between Jim and Debra, Saldate began his invented story of sexual manipulation, hoping to get SANDY to agree with some of the fable: "- it's only her and him. All of a sudden he started, like he said, the gestures, everything else and then you forget about things (inaudible). And I'm sure (inaudible) maybe you can tell me. Like you said the gestures and things that she did (inaudible). But it would not surprise me if she would get up accidentally, you know, quickly run out of her bedroom or something like that (inaudible) or be something -" Sure, it would not surprise him, rather, it would suit him fine. But that doesn't click with SANDY at all, and she replies: "That's not Debbie. No." That's not Debra, no. In school Debbie even went under the name of "DD" ("Debbie doesn't") and all her friends knew how modest she is, and SANDY even confirmed that. But Saldate kept harping on that issue...	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Court testimony ERNIE SWEAT, Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #050	Withheld statement: "So me and her talking and I'm telling her I'm not going to tolerate that. She's not going to do it. She - dress looked very nice." In the interview Saldate fabricated his fantastic story of Debbie wanting to sexually manipulate him by allegedly flashing her breasts to him. He withheld the entire allegation contained in no. 25 from his report, hiding his attempt to manipulate SANDY with his outrageous story. Saldate obviously knew that - at this point in time of the investigations - only a jealous sister like SANDY would 'buy' such a fabricated story.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #051	Twisted statement: "I then asked Sandra what her relationship with Jim was and she said they were very, very close friends." Untrue and chronologically twisted. Saldate did not ask SANDY what her position with JIM was. Very early in the interview SANDY said by herself "You have to understand, Jim and I were very, very, very close friends." But the reason for this twisted statement is something else ...	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #052	Falsehood: "... she did admit that Jim at one time had thought that they could become romantically involved, however, she immediately told Jim that could not happen and that they would only remain friends. I then asked her if Debra would have been as honest towards Jim if he would have thought about becoming romantically involved with Debra. Sandra then replied that Debra would only use that weakness in Jim and would never tell him that she would never want to be involved with him romatically." Of course ... made up entirely. SANDY did not mention or confirm any romantic advances from JIM STYERS throughout the recorded interview. In fact, she said: "But you're talking about Jim and you've got to realize that Jim has always meant to us just like a father, actually a surrogate father." Not exactly a romantic relationship, huh? But Saldate fabricated this scenario to injure Debra's reputation even more. SANDY said that she regarded Debra to be a manipulative person during the interview, but she did not say anything about how her sister would have treated JIM, or how she would have reacted if JIM STYERS thought about becoming romantically involved with her. Saldate had his knowledge about STYERS' romantic thoughts from the confiscated jailhouse letters only.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #053	Falsehood: "I then asked her if it could be love on Jim's part and she said that's the only thing she could think of that would be driving Jim." What a liar! It was Saldate who told SANDY: "He - you've got to be real strong. You have to love somebody a lot to do what he did." This way he led SANDY to believe that JIM STYERS' romantic thoughts about Debra let her have control over him. And he even continued: "I mean, I don't know if it's mind control or if she has that strong of a (inaudible) but she has really controlled Jim." SANDY did not say anything about what could possibly haven driven JIM STYERS at all.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #054	Twisted statement: "In September, Sandra said she received a call from Debra, asking her if she and her husband Ron could take Chris because her dad didn't understand and that he was being an asshole and would not take him. She said she told Debra she didn't really know and would have to talk to Ron. Debra went on to tell her that she couldn't handle Chris and that he was just a brat." SANDY did not quote Debra as saying her father wouldn't take Chris and that he was being an asshole. The initial statement referred only to financial support at that time: "When she called us she wanted more money. She says Dad's being an asshole and he doesn't understand ..." SANDY had just said: "My dad, yeah, I'm the same way, I'm not cleaning up your messes." Regarding looking after Chris, initially SANDY said that Debra had talked to MARK, who didn't want Christopher to go with her father, but with SANDY. Never did SANDY say Debra called her up, asking whether she could take Chris. SANDY had volunteered "If mom is willing to pay for his plane fare out here when she comes then Ron and I would be willing to keep Christopher ..."	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #055	Twisted statement: "Debra said that Ernie didn't want to take Chris so she needed someone to take care of him. Sandra said she then asked Debra if she was sure it was Ernie and not her and Sandra said that Debra immediately hung up the phone." Here Saldate cherry-picked a lot of single statements out of context and put them together in order to make up a "Debbie didn't want Christopher" story. SANDY never reported Debra saying that Chris couldn't come or that ERNIE didn't want him in Colorado. In fact, when Saldate suggested this scenario to SANDY, she replied, "She [Debbie] didn't say that." But Saldate ignores this, and takes a discussion about ERNIE'S concern about his proper relationship with Chris into a made-up story about his refusal to see Debra in Colorado because of Chris, all to prop up a weak motive.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #056	Falsehood: "Sandra then explained that her husband Ron was listening on the other phone and that he was whispering to her that Debra was again trying to use her." Untrue. SANDY initially said: "It was a week later, it was in September, a week later. And her mom was on the other phone and she lives in (inaudible)." Saldate completely invented the role of SANDY'S husband, Ron. And the phrase "to use [somebody]" was not used even once in the whole recorded interview.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #057	Falsehood: About SANDY'S husband RON: "He told her that the first time she wanted them to take care of Chris, she told her no, and now she was using Mark and the safety of Chris to get her to say yes." This is probably one of the most barefaced lies, completely fabricated and not contained in the original interview with SANDY at all. It's all about character assassination and tying Debra to something she has nothing to do with, because the interview does not contain any notice that SANDY'S husband RON stated anything like this about Debra or such a manipulative statement from Debra to get them to take Christopher.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
07/06/1990 #058	Falsehood: "Sandra said that Debra told her that it would only be for 2 months until she and Ernie got settled." Saldate, who had already interviewed ERNIE SWEAT at this time, was eager to fabricate an additional motive for Debra to have participated in the alleged conspiracy. But his report - once again - is untrue, because SANDY really said: "If mom is willing to pay for his plane fare out here when she comes then Ron and I would be willing to keep Christopher for no longer than two months until she got her shit together." So it was SANDY'S idea to take Christopher (while her son Jason would benefit from his company) for two months in order to be helpful to her sister.	Report of the interview of SANDY PICKINPAUGH	Comparison with the transcript
09/10/1990 #059	Manipulative statement: ""... I'm sure Roger would have told me all that information in the interview room had we continued our interview. However, the interview was continued in the car because it was felt that, because of darkness coming, it was necessary to take Mr. Scott out there to find the body as quickly as possible." During the Voluntariness Hearing Saldate fabricated a new scenario, claiming ROGER SCOTT would have immediately told him the entire truth about the involvement of Debra Milke in the killing of her son, if they would have had enough time. But that's untrue, as can be seen by looking at Saldate's own report of the proceedings of that day, December 3rd of 1989. According to that report SCOTT stated "Jim killed him" and continued to elaborate on JIM STYERS' role in the murder, where Chris' body was, how several preceding visits to possible murder-scenes had taken place, how he (SCOTT) drove the car and the killing happened. SCOTT also stated concern about the trouble ahead of him and that he was promised $250 cash. Next ROGER SCOTT, Detective Saldate and Det. Bob Mills got into a car and drove to the murder-scene, when SCOTT pushed a new story on the detectives. Saldate's report states: "Just after leaving the main station, ROGER said if he could tell us some more while he was in the car or would we rather wait until we returned and I suggested that he go ahead and tell us. ROGER then said that we probably felt that he and JIM were the only bad ones in this situation but that he was going to tell us something about the baby's mother, ROGER went on and said that the baby's mother knew all about the killing and in fact the only reason that CHRIS was killed was because the mother wanted it done." Saldate twisted the entire scenario in the court room to ensure the implication of Debra Milke and justify her indictment.	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing	Report of interrogation of Debra Milke
09/10/1990 #060	Manipulative statement: Saldate contradicted himself when he claimed: " ... it's hard to interview someone when you are driving down the street." During the cross-examination defense attorney Ken Ray cornered him by asking "Who was driving?" and Saldate had to confess "Bob Mills", the other detective present in the car. Therefore Saldate would've had every chance to continue his interview of ROGER SCOTT in greater detail and examine whether the incrimination of Debra Milke was credible. He didn't have to worry about driving the car.	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing	Saldate contradicted himself directly
09/10/1990 #061	Falsehood: Upon Ken Ray's question "Had you related to any other officer that it was your intention to go down to Pinal County to arrest Debra Milke?" Saldate replied that he had not talked to anybody. But that's an outrageous and bold-faced lie to avoid any questions pertaining to the predetermined decision to have her (and JIM STYERS) arrested. In fact, the report of police detectives HAMRICK and DiMODICA prove the opposite; namely that the decision to arrest Debra Milke was made before Saldate had ever laid eyes on her.	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing	Report of DET. HAMRICK (about the drive to Florence and his interview of JANET FROBE) and DET. DIMODICA (about his interview of MAUREEN SADEIK)
09/10/1990 #062	Falsification: At trial and under oath Saldate needed thirteen attempts until he finally admitted that his first words to Debra were: "We found your son, he was murdered, and you are under arrest." He then claimed at the Voluntariness Hearing that she didn't say anything. But his reports reads: "...  he had been found shot to death. DEBRA immediately began to yell 'what, what'." The two stories are contradictory versions of the actual proceedings in the interview room. Whatever the true scenario was like, Saldate is certainly not the proper person to honestly recollect actual proceedings.	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing	Report of interrogation of Debra Milke
09/10/1990 #063	Falsification: Asked about the true circumstances of the fact that Detective Saldate did not tape-record the interrogation of Debra and whether he had an order from his superior, Saldate answered: "I wouldn't even have asked the question." Next Mr. Ray asked why Saldate chose not to record, but Saldate replied to that: "She said she didn't want it recorded." Both sentences compared with each other don't yield a coherent story, if he had seriously attempted to record the interview (which - of course - nobody believes is true anyway).	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing	Common sense; Saldate contradicted himself directly
09/10/1990 #064	Falsehood: Pertaining to the charge "conspiracy to commit murder" prosecutor Noel Levy asked Saldate whether Debra confessed her involvement and inculpated herself as to the planning to have her son murdered. Saldate responded "Absolutely". But that's absolutely untrue, since - even according to his own, fabricated report - only one incriminating statement appears there, and it reads: "DEBRA said the plan was for JIM to do it ..." and nothing more. There is no mention in the report that Debra was the initial mastermind in the killing of Christopher (even in Saldate's biased version).	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing	Report of interrogation of Debra Milke
09/10/1990 #065	Falsehood: Directly after the preceding statement Noel Levy continued, asking "And that she knew all about it since 2:45 p.m. the previous day?" and Saldate responded "That's correct". But again, the ping pong dialogue between the former police detective and prosecutor paint a story that is in no way corroborated by the initial report. There is no mention that Debra had any knowledge, but the report alleges: "DEBRA said she received a call from JIM and he said that he was at the mall. DEBRA said she immediately realized that he had done it and that her son was now dead." But according to all other records JIM STYERS was accompanied by mall security and filled Debbie in on Christopher's disappearance. In his opening statement Levy claimed that this was "the coded meaning" that Christopher was dead. The inconsistencies between what Saldate claimed in his reports and his testimony, and the prosecution's papering over of these inconsistencies, led to equivocal, contradictory scenarios of the crime put forth by the state - a dangerous sign the truth was not being told.	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing	Report of interrogation of Debra Milke
09/11/1990 #066	Falsification: Pertaining to the reason why Saldate had added the final statement to his report "It should be noted that this interview was not tape recorded because DEBRA refused to have her statement tape recorded." He substantiated this by saying "That's not -- that portion of the interview was not the most important part of the interview. That's one of the mechanical things of the interview that would be at the end of the supplemental." But that appears to be another untrue statement, since he also didn't tape-record interviews of ERNIE SWEAT, MARK MILKE and SANDY PICKINPAUGH (which was accidentally recorded by her to possibly avoid a subpoena), without leading the same statement in Saldate's report. And the same is true with his initial interrogation of ROGER SCOTT, who was later re- interviewed and tape-recorded by DET. BOB MILLS. He didn't indicate the lack of official tape-recordings in any of those reports.	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing	Report of the interrogation of Debra Milke
09/11/1990 #067	Falsification: At the Jury Trial prosecutor Noel Levy asked Saldate: "Back in Phoenix before you left, were you given any directives as to what you were going to do or how you were going to do it?" and Saldate obeyed by responding: " I was -- it was suggested to me to talk to Debra Milke and to see if I could get her statement recorded." Here, at trial and under oath, Saldate directly contradicted his own statement from the June 26 interview, in which he said "The only thing I can say is that at that point my mind was set, you know, I had already -- well, not -- I shouldn't say set, but I knew that Jim and Roger were involved and may have said that because those were the other two people that were involved." Saldate's always tried to slip questions pertaining to the decision to arrest Debra and its true point in time. In court he stated the "official version", but in the interview another scenario unraveled.	Transcript of the Jury Trial	Transcript of the interview with ARMANDO SALDATE
09/11/1990 #068	Falsification: Being questioned about further instructions from his superior and whether Saldate was given any additional instructions, such as just to interview her (Debra) or not to arrest her 'or anything along that line', Saldate replied: "That's not within the scope of a supervisor in homicide. He doesn't tell you when to arrest someone." But at the Voluntariness Hearing Saldate testified: "But I'm not foolish, I'm just a detective. I have superiors. They make up their decisions and, of course, I have to follow them" - claiming he would have to follow orders from his superior and had only little impact about detail decisions in a case. In fact, the reports of DETECTIVE HAMRICK prove that the arrest of Debra was already decided when Saldate arrived in Florence.	Transcript of the Jury Trial	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing
09/11/1990 #069	Falsehood: Examined by Levy about the first things Saldate discussed with Debra and what her responses were, the detective replied: "I told her that she was -- that I was there and we had found her son and that we found him in a desert area and that he had been shot." But that's untrue. At the Voluntariness Hearing it took Ken Ray thirteen (!) questions until it could finally be established that Saldate's first words to Debra actually were: "We found your son, he was murdered, and you are under arrest."	Transcript of the Jury Trial	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing
09/11/1990 #070	Falsehood: In order to frustrate any request for Saldate's original notes Levy asked him: Noel Levy: Did you take notes? Armando Saldate: Yes, I did. Noel Levy: Did you reduce this interview to a typed statement? Armando Saldate: Yes, I did. But Saldate gave himself away twice; one time at the Grand Jury Hearing and one time in his June 26 interview. On both occasions he referred to his notes which - according to this court testimony - had been destroyed.	Transcript of the Jury Trial	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing
09/11/1990 #071	Falsehood: Pertaining to an alleged earlier visit to a supposed murder-scene Saldate claimed: "She told me that she did go on several occasions with Jim, but for several reasons they could -- would come back and Jim would not do that." His initial police report on the other hand states that "DEBRA said that she did go out with JIM on one occasion with her son and that JIM was going to 'do it' but that something happened and they decided not to do it." Therefore the report states about one occasion and claims that both individuals, Debra and JIM STYERS, decided not to 'do it', and in the court room it was several occasions, and JIM STYERS alone who decided not to 'do it'. The interesting fact is that this "alleged earlier occasion" is in no way corroborated or closely explained (location, time etc.). It's most likely that this allegation was taken from ROGER SCOTT'S statements to DET. BOB MILLS, and - as we have see elsewhere in this website - those ramblings didn't yield a coherent story about any alleged earlier occasion at all. This is a good example for Saldate's pattern of changing the details of his stories, each time making it more damaging to Debra.	Transcript of the Jury Trial	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing
09/11/1990 #072	Allegation: About his decision not to handcuff Debra after having her arrested at the Pinal County Sheriff's Office he explained "The reason that you handcuff a person is if that person is a danger to yourself, as a police officer. And it was obvious she was not a danger to me." This superficially logical sounding claim makes no real sense, because this is a murder case and Debra was suspected to be the mastermind behind the crime. None of the police reports state that Debra was searched for a weapon or a gun, and therefore she could've very well been a threat to him - if she was anything like the person Saldate claimed she was.	Transcript of the Jury Trial	Transcript of the Voluntariness Hearing
09/11/1990 #073	Falsehood: At the Jury Trial Saldate stated: "As we spoke before, I introduced myself. Debra immediately wanted to know who I was." This testimony conflicts with his other statements where he always claimed that he entered the room and introduced himself. In the pre-trial interview of defense attorney Kenneth Ray (June 26, 1990) Saldate stated: "I don't know if she appeared that way, but she just sat there and said, ‚Oh, hi.' And I entered and I introduced myself." With that statement Saldate intended to make her appear a neglectful, uncaring mother.	Transcript of the Jury Trial	Interview with Armando Saldate

Now that you've read the proven falsehoods, discrepancies and inaccuracies, "debbiemilke.com" additionally summarizes some of the questionable actions and tactics of former Phoenix Police Detective Armando Saldate. These actions reveal that Saldate often had something else in mind than investigating the truth about this crime, the murder of Christopher Conan Milke. Each of these actions can also be backed up by the pertinent legal documents: