1979

November 24th, 1979. 23:11

To whomever is reading this, I’m Detective Wayne Emery. I’m currently recording this based on the local cases and files of the four murders that have taken place this year. “Murders” I should say. It’s strange. There’s been four slain, and it’s no sign of an actual homicide, suicide or wild animal. No one knows why or what has happened. All we know, is that four kids are dead. Below are the names and simple descriptions of the scene. I’ll explain each murder, and show the reports.

First, it was Thomas Laster. Born May 13th, 1961. Most of his friends called him Tommy. Average kid. No record, no nothing. Had straight A’s, and was the most popular kid on the baseball team. He was only 18. Barely an adult. He had a bright future ahead of him too. Rumor has it that the Montreal Expos were going to draft him, after he graduated.

His body was found August 13th, 1979. It was a normal Friday. Early in the morning. Around 0730, Captain Redfield usually brought in coffee for everyone, however, this fateful morning, we didn’t see him. It wasn’t until 0753, we got the call that everyone report to the Laster’s farm. Thomas was found in the horse barn, decapitated. Mind you, his block was found right next to his body.

Running from the poor kids sternum all the way down to his gullet was three deep lacerations. You could see his insides poking out. It was disgusting. It was vile. Yet, no one knew who or what caused it.

The second body was found on August 17th, 1979. Four days after the Laster’s kid was found. We didn’t think much of it at first, just thought the poor schmuck had gotten beat up badly. Upon arriving at the scene we were all incredibly wrong. Roger Jefferson was found at Lakeside. A normal tourist attraction known for its small, but yet stunning scenery. A family had found him on the bank, thought he was just drunk and passed out. Hell, if he was, we would have just taken him in for the night, but the sight was horrific.

Jefferson was born on June 1st, 1959. He was barley 20 years old. Jefferson, upon doing research, had a tough growing up. His father was all fucked in the head after the war. He served all World War II. Joined when he was 16, lied about it obviously. Unfortunately, Carter Jefferson was at Normandy. He saw his best friend, get his head blown to pieces. With the shit he had seen, Jefferson picked up the bottle, and it consumed him. Having Roger being his own child, Carter would beat him senseless over the most minor inconveniences. Dealing with that, Roger got into alcohol and drug abuse.

Sorry, that was off topic. However, when the unit got out there to see what was the ruckus about. They had found him completely in the nude, laying on his stomach. There had been a giant pile of blood where his head laid. Williams (one of morning patrollers) had rolled him over, and instantly threw up. He said in the report “this was something out of a horror film”. All of his nails had been ripped off, in an aggressive way too. His jaw had been completely torn off, and the teeth from the roof of his mouth, had been ripped off. Around his necklace was a thin rope, with all of his teeth dangling from them. It was horrific. Mortifying. Captain gave Williams the week off because he had been so scared. Like I said before, I will get into the reports at a later date. This is just a basic information report of the summary of the quarter.

The next body had been found two weeks later. This one got me, I’m the one who found her. August 31st, 1979. It was late at night, almost September 1st. Got the call around 2245. My shift was almost over. However, the call was from her father. A local park area in our small connecting town, Pinkard’s place, is where she was last known. It’s known for its trails that lead to Lakeside. Regardless of that. Her father had called and reported that she hadn’t been home in almost two hours. Mind you, we had to put a local curfew call for 2100 for those who weren’t 18+. The two murders had already taken place, so Captain enforced a curfew.

I drove out there with Williams. To say that we both didn’t know what was going on, was a lie. We just didn’t expect it to be a kid. Kathleen Cole, age 15, was found dead at Pinkard’s Park. Surrounded by a lot of trees. Almost like a miniature forest to think of it. It was dark, so Williams and I brought flashlights with us arriving. It took us a while into the park until we found the body. I thought Jefferson and Laster’s murders were horrible, but this one took the cake. Jesus Christ, looking back at it, I could smell the beginning stages of decay almost. It’s as if death’s aroma filled the air. We eventually found her body.

She had been hung upside down from the lowest branch, which was about 12 feet up in the air. Walking towards the body, before finding it, Williams had stepped in something mushy. He thought it was deer shit or something. He lifted his foot up, and saw it. It being dark, he didn’t really know what it was . I pulled out my flashlight, and pointed it at his foot. It was an intestine. Blood had been all over his shoe. We pointed the flashlight to the ground, and we saw all the insides. The heart, the lungs, the stomach, everything. We looked up, and that’s where the body was. Hanging upside down, with an empty body. Her mouth and eyes had been sewn shut. Clear down from her chest, all the way to her lower half, was a clear and open hole. She had been cleaned out. It took my breath away. I was scared shitless, we thought it was the last murder we would have found. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Laura Pruitt was the last and final murder. This one had scarred the entire department. What’s even worse is that the body was found during the day, during a Girl Scouts cookie sale, at the local Walmart. The town had already been on edge, since three bodies all popped up on Friday’s and two weeks apart. The news had made that clear. With the curfew still in effect, we thought it would be more efficient considering a bunch of little girls were going to be selling cookies with little supervision. So some of the force, decided to join the affair. Luckily, I didn’t go.

According to Captain, everything was going normal until one of the teenage workers had to go display one of the purchasable sheds. Only two tiny windows on each side of the shed let sunlight inside of it, so upon arriving to the shed the poor kid screamed, screamed so loud it made some of the girls cry.

Captain, Smith, and Barnes had all ran over to the shed, and busted it open. This one smelled according to Captain. The body had been left in there for a couple of days at least. We got a quote from the kid, because he was a witness, he said “Going to the sheds to display them were a uncommon thing. No one really bought them, so not thinking of it being broken into wasn’t in my head. Besides, they all use the same type of lock. They’re also purchasable inside the store. That week, we hadn’t had someone purchase any locks. So I didn’t think about it.”

The lock was untouched. Brand new. Tried to run it for fingerprints but nothing came back. Not even dust particles.

We later found out that it had never even been broken into. The body just appeared there, as if it was some sort of magical thing. We still think someone had replaced the entire lock, but we have no proof to show it.

Laura Pruitt, a 17 year old girl just starting her junior year of high school, had been butchered. Plain and simple. Captain and Barnes had busted the lock, and opened up the doors. Flies had flown out, and it reeked. Her body had been twisted into a pretzel almost. However, all four of her limbs had been chopped off, and sewn on to the opposite side. Her right leg had been sewn onto where the left leg had been sewn. So on, and so forth. It was absolutely disgusting. That’s when we put a local shutdown on the town.

It has been two months since the murders took place. No more bodies have appeared. No more strange incidents. The Mayor just now decided to lift the lockdown, but still keeping the curfew into affect. The murders of Laura Pruitt, Kathleen Cole, Roger Jefferson, and Thomas Laster still baffles us to this day. We originated that it was murders due to the sewn parts of some of the kids. However, no fingerprints, no left out weapons, no nothing. These kids were brutally murdered and we have nothing to show for them. Except, none of it makes sense to me personally, it just doesn’t. How can there be no signs of murder? How can there not be fingerprints?

Those questions stump me. We don’t have answers for them. Some of the town think that the force did it, some of the town thinks we have a serial killer. No one truly knows anything. Before the department decides to write this case off, I decided to come back in one final time. To look through and see if we can’t find anything that we missed the first time.

My name is Det. Wayne Emery, and this is the reports of the the 1979 killing spree in the town named Sycamore.