24 July 25th-July 31st, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | transporting their bodies from Phoenix to L.A. in luggage stashed on a train. Judd’s death sentence was later repealed after she was found mentally incompetent, and she spent the next three decades in and out of the Arizona State Hospital, which she finally escaped for good in the ’60s. Bommersbach reexamined Judd’s case for a series of articles in New Times and a 1992 book, eventually presenting evidence that suggested Judd was innocent — and taking aim at the sensationalized news coverage that biased the prosecution. “Strange guest to have at a Christmas party, but that’s kind of the way Jana was,” Walker says. “That shows how she inter- sected different eras, and knew about everybody who played a part in the city’s history.” Bell admired her passion for Arizona history, too, a trait that bonded them early on. “She was such a strong commentator on Arizona politics and culture, and that’s what I’m going to miss the most,” he says. In 2018, Bommersbach aimed that crit- ical eye at New Times itself, when she published her bestseller “The Dead Girl in the Vacant Lot.” It was a “true fiction” take on the Backpage case that dramatized the sex trafficking story using fictionalized characters — with the exception of Lacey and Larkin, who were called out by name throughout. “The Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin that I knew were fabulous journalists,” she told PHOENIX magazine following the book’s release. “I say in the epilogue that I wrote this book with a broken heart, and one of the reasons it’s broken is because of these guys — knowing and loving these guys, and then seeing this ugly side of them,” she added. It further strained their relationship, but as always, Bommersbach was unapolo- getic and unflinching — even when she accused Lacey of sending her a $5,000 check to squelch it. “I received the $5,000 and donated every cent to the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual & Domestic Violence,” she said. “And I kept writing.” “It’s too bad things ended that way,” says Walker. “Because she and Mike Lacey were a good team, in that he wanted to raise hell and she did too, but she also always wanted to do it with integrity.” Sterling, who remained friends with Bommersbach and continued to work with her at other publications, insists she finally softened on her judgment of her former colleagues. “Despite her disagreements with Lacey and Larkin, Jana was deeply saddened by Larkin’s suicide just days before an upcoming criminal trial in which he, Lacey and several colleagues stood accused of facilitating prostitution and money laun- dering,” she says. “At that moment, Jana chose to remember only the good parts of their long professional relationship.” “From my standpoint, she was someone who really helped put New Times on the map,” adds Van De Voorde. “I mean, obvi- ously Lacey did, too — he was the primary driver of all that. But one indication of his good judgment was that he hired her and gave her a lot of freedom to really go after stories. And she certainly did that.” Jana Bommersbach, left, with her co-author and friend Bob Boze Bell. (Photo courtesy of Bob Boze Bell) ‘Feisty’ and Honest’ from p 23
