Terror In Small Town Pennsylvania

Running faster than he has ever run before, he hurries down the steps from the second floor to the landing on the first floor. As he reaches the foyer, he grasps the door knob to the front door and swings it wide. He vaults down the front steps from the old three-story apartment building in mid-town. The night air is cool as it sends a chill through his sweated body. The light rain makes him feel refreshed as he turns left onto Canal Street and disappears into the fog and the night.

***

1

After a night of thunderstorms, dawn arrived in the Pennsylvania town of Lackitz with bright sunshine. June in southwestern Pennsylvania can be unpredictable. After a night of drinking and partying, Dirk Boswell awoke with a nasty hangover. He crawled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom to take some Tylenol to take the edge off of his headache. Finding the bottle in the medicine cabinet, he popped three into his mouth. He went into his living room and sat down on the couch. He put his head in his hands and hoped that the Tylenol would take affect soon.

As his headache began to recede, he went back into the bathroom. He decided to take a nice hot shower. He was excited to get his day started. Last night at Coco’s, a singles bar in midtown, he met a beautiful blonde, Dinah Mohr. She was sitting at the bar with her two friends, Cassie Qualm and Summer Bliss. He introduced himself and asked her if she was new in town. He frequented Coco’s every Friday night and could not remember ever seeing her there before.

Dinah was recently divorced and she was out on the town for the first time in years celebrating her new independence. Near closing time, Dinah, Cassie, and Summer decided to call it an evening. Dirk and Dinah exchanged phone numbers. He asked her if she would like to go for coffee in the morning and she agreed.

2

On the morning of Saturday June 3, 2006, Todd Larkin walked out of his second floor apartment, 2A at 202 Main Street to go jogging. Upon entering the corridor, he noticed that the door of the apartment across the hall, 2B, was ajar. He knew that his neighbor, Dinah Mohr, was not in the habit of leaving her door open. As he walked past the door, he glanced into the apartment. Todd had been inside Dinah’s apartment several times. They had both lived in the apartment house for around the same length of time. Todd moved into his apartment in December of 2002; Dinah in February of 2003. He had in fact helped her arrange her apartment, when she moved in. Occasionally, he helped her carry groceries into her apartment.

Nothing seemed to be out of place, but he did not have an entire view of the apartment. Just past the doorway was the living room. He could see the arm of the mauve colored couch, which matched the shag carpeting. As he strained to look to the left of the doorway, he noticed that the light to her kitchen was on, although he could not clearly see inside the kitchen. Then on the floor in the kitchen doorway, he saw a pair of eyes staring directly at him, but the eyes were lifeless.

3

"911 Dispatch, what is your emergency"?

"My neighbor is lying on the floor of her kitchen, her eyes are wide-open, but when I call-out to her, she doesn’t respond. She just keeps staring".

"What is your address"?

"202 Main St."

"Are you in her house"?

"Uh…no, it’s an apartment building. I live in 2A. My neighbor lives across the hall in 2B. Her front door is slightly open and I can see into the apartment,…a little".

"Do you know the name of your neighbor"?

"Yes, Dinah Mohr. Please, hurry something is definitely wrong."

"I will dispatch a police officer to the scene. Do you think an ambulance will be needed"?

"Probably…but, I’m not sure".

"And why is that, sir"?

"I think she’s dead. She’s not moving or anything. It doesn’t look like she’s breathing".

"Sir, I need you to stay on the line with me until the police arrive, o.k."?

"Yeah, sure…whatever you need me to do".

"Sir, what is your name"?

"Todd Larkin, I live across the hall in 2B. I hear sirens coming down the street. I think the police are here".

"Mr. Larkin, when the officers come inside will you give the phone to them, so that I may confirm that there is help on the scene"?

"Sure, no problem…I’m going down the stairs to meet them at the front door".

"Please remain on the line, sir".

4

Officers Pete Barron and LaTonya Washington arrived at 8:45 a.m. and were greeted at the front door to the apartment building by Todd Larkin. Larkin then led the officers to Dinah Mohr’s apartment.

Washington called-out to Dinah from the hallway through the open door, but received no response. While Washington remained outside the doorway with Todd Larkin, officer Barron gently and carefully opened the door to 2B.

Upon entering the room, he noticed that a floor lamp had been knocked over. Everything else seemed to be in place. The living room was sparsely furnished. A black vinyl couch with matching chair were adjacent to each other along the walls. A 20" flat screen television was setting atop a small light, oak entertainment center along the far wall. None seemed to be out of place.

Quickly, Barron crossed the short distance from the living room into the narrow arch way that led into the kitchen. As he entered into the kitchen he noticed that Ms. Mohr was lying in such a way where her head was visible, but her body was laying behind the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen.

She was wearing a red and green plaid flannel bath robe that was open in the front. Her neck had deep red marks, with what appeared to be hand impressions. Barron reached down and touched her wrist trying to find a pulse. There was none. Dinah Mohr was indeed dead.

"She’s deceased", Barron said to Washington as he walked back out into the hallway. "It looks like she’s been strangled".

"I’ll call downtown and report it. I’ll call the coroner too", Washington exclaimed. "What a shitty way to start a weekend".

"O.K., I’ll get the crime tape and secure the apartment", Barron said and then added, "Mr. Larkin, I hope you don’t mind answering a few questions for us"?

Larkin looked completely shocked as a single tear trickled from his deep blue left eye and ran down his cheek. "I cannot believe this happened, she was my friend, a truly good person. Who could have done this and why"?

"How did you happen to find Ms. Mohr this morning?", Barron asked.

"Like I told the 911 operator, I was going out for my morning jog, when I saw that her door was slightly open. She normally just didn’t leave her door open, unless she was standing in the hallway or maybe bringing in her groceries from her car out front. I just thought that it was odd and I glanced into the apartment and didn’t see anything at first, until I saw her face on the floor as if it were peering out from the kitchen. I called out to her, but she wasn’t moving and her eyes were staring straight ahead. She didn’t even blink. I knew something was seriously wrong.", Larkin told the officers.

"Pete, homicide is sending Detective’s Unger and Wertz to process the scene", Washington told Barron. "Mr. Larkin, you’ll need to stay too, I’m sure the detectives will want to take your statement. In the meantime, can we go back into your apartment? We would like to look around, if that’s alright with you?".

"I want to cooperate in anyway that I can. I’ll put some coffee on", Larkin said.
Washington accompanied Larkin back to his apartment, while officer Barron, remained in the hallway in front of Dinah Mohr’s apartment waiting for the detectives to arrive.

Detective Frank Unger arrived at 202 Main Street ahead of his partner, Carl Wertz. Unger was already in a foul mood. This was his scheduled weekend off-duty. Wertz was the cover contact this weekend for the robbery/homicide unit. Unger and Wertz, while partners, worked opposite weekends. They worked together the rest of the week.

Because Lackitz was a rural town in southwestern Pennsylvania, major crimes were not a frequent activity. In fact, Unger and Wertz were not only detectives, they were the only detectives in robbery/homicide. Dinah Mohr’s death being the first homicide in five years.

Unger, 53, had been a member of the Lackitz Police Department for 28 years, the last 12 years as a detective. This was his third homicide case. A tall man with deep set, dark blue eyes, he was known to his fellow officers for his no nonsense approach to life.

As he made his way along Main Street heading towards the crime scene at 202 Main, he tried to imagine the scene in his head. He always tried to prepare himself for any situation before just walking in. Dispatch had told him that the officers on the scene found a young woman strangled in her kitchen.

Frank Unger at 6’4 was a towering figure in comparison to his much shorter partner, Carl Wertz, while Unger was tall and slightly overweight at 230 lbs. from too many beers off-duty beers at O’Dell’s Tavern in downtown Lackitz. His favorite hangout when not on the clock. His wavy salt and pepper full set of hair was generally unkempt, which matched the rest of his appearance. Today, Unger was wearing a navy blue polyester suit. He had five of them all polyester, mostly navy blue, but one was royal blue, while one was light blue. He never wore the light blue suit.

As he pulled-up in his 1990 plain, black Ford Escort and parked directly behind the police cruiser that was already on the scene, he couldn’t help but noticing the small crowd of neighbor on-lookers from across the street. He knew the press would be on the scene shortly as well, if they weren’t already there.

As he walked up the steps of the apartment building at 202 Main Street, he was greeted in the doorway by patrol officer, LaTonya Washington. "Just great", he thought. Washington was well known for trying to stay involved in a case long after she had been relieved of her duties with a case.

"Hey Frank," Latonya said from the doorway of the apartment building.

"Hey yourself, Washington. What the hell happened?", asked Unger.

"Oh, you know, some ass-hole got his kicks last night by strangling one Dinah Mohr, a Caucasian lady, 29, who lived alone in apartment 2B".

"Let me guess, Washington, no one saw a f*ckin’ thing, right?", Unger asked.

"No sir, Frank. Man, I sure am glad that you’re on our side, with that attitude you got goin’ on".

"Washington, you cannot believe how ecstatic I am at having to get called-out on a Saturday morning to investigate this type of thing…on my weekend off, no less. So, let’s bypass the small talk and give me the walk through".

"What, you’re not waiting for Wertz? He was called too, you know".

"You are so thorough, Washington, even though I believe my partner and I are now in charge. Just walk me through. I’ll get Carl up to speed when he gets here. Oh, and by the way, who is the lucky cop that gets to be your partner, this week?" Unger asked sarcastically.

"Officer Barron and I are now a team. We’ve been a team patrolling these streets now for about six weeks", said Washington.

"Six weeks? Isn’t that some sort of record for you, Washington?"

"Listen, Unger, I don’t need your shit. It’s too frickin’ early in the morning for any of this. I’m just here doing my job until you geniuses relieve us, o.k.?", Washington lamented. "Let me take you through."

"Where’s Pete?", asked Unger.

"He’s standing directly outside the apartment, uh, the crime scene. Standing guard, you know, preserving the scene. I think you learned that in Detective 101 at the academy, sir".

"I’ve always enjoyed these informal conversations with you, Washington. No matter what others may say".

6

"Sorry, I’m late Frank. I was just finishing-up that report on the Hammer case".
"I’m just glad that you made it here, Carl".

The Hammer case involved a string of stolen cars that were being perpetuated by a 16 yr. old boy named, Christopher Hammer. It seems Mr. Hammer enjoyed taking joy rides with other people’s cars without their permission. It also happens to be the last case that Unger and Wertz were working on.

"So, what’s the deal here, Frank".

"From the looks of the things, Carl, it appears our victim, Dinah Mohr, either was followed into her room by our perp or he managed to slip in while she was unaware and before she could lock the front door. Then he came-up behind her and choked the life out of her. The only evidence of any type of struggle is the floor lamp that was knocked-over. Everything else is in place."

"Was it a sexual assault, Frank?", Carl asked.

"I don’t know. Jerry’s in there now getting ready to move the body downtown to prepare for autopsy".

"Any witnesses", Carl asked.

"Just Mr. Todd Larkin. He lives in the apartment across the hall in 2A".

"Did he give a statement"?

"He gave one to officers Barron and Washington. I asked him to head downtown with us to give us a more formal statement."

"O.k., Frank"

Just then Pete Barron came into the apartment very excited.

"What’s up, Pete?" asked Frank.

"I have another possible witness downstairs who would like to talk to you guys", Barron said.

"Who is it?", asked Carl.

"Some guy named Dirk Boswell. Apparently he was suppose to go for coffee with Ms. Mohr this morning. They met last night at Coco’s.

"Ask him to meet us downtown at headquarters, Pete. We’ll get him on record there", said Frank.

"Will do sir, he’s already sitting in the patrol car with Washington".

"Well hurry back down there with him before Washington does her best to piss him off so he won’t cooperate", said Frank.

"Got it, Frank." Barron said chuckling.

***

"They will never find me. They don’t even have a clue and I am only just starting…here", he says to himself. He turns away from the crowd that has gathered around him across the street from 202 Main Street and walks down Canal Street. The same street that he disappeared into just a few short hours ago in the dark, early morning hours. Like a chameleon, he blends into the background. He has mastered the art of being indistinct, unnoticed. He is just another face amongst the many faces in the town.

***

7

In the grand scheme of things in a homicide investigation, a detective believes that anyone close to the victim are the people that have to eliminated first as suspects and then expand the investigation outward. The dilemma facing detectives, Frank Unger and Carl Wertz was that all those who were closest to the victim, Dinah Mohr, had alibi’s.

Dirk Boswell, hoped Unger, would be the key to solving the crime. He met the victim in the town’s hot nightspot the night before. They had exchanged phone numbers and made plans for the following morning to meet for coffee.

After interviewing Boswell for three hours on Saturday, June 3, 2006, the detectives learned that Boswell was not the last person to be seen with Ms. Mohr. She left Coco’s with the friends that she came to the bar with that night, Cassie Qualm and Summer Bliss.

Unger, however, theorized that Boswell drove to Dinah’s apartment sometime later that night and managed to gain entry into her apartment courtesy of an invitation of the victim. During the interrogation, Boswell vehemently denied this. He insisted that he went straight home. A claim that was supported by Boswell’s landlady, Violet Grim.

While, Unger continued the interview with Boswell, his partner, Carl Wertz excused himself from the interrogation room and called Ms. Grim. Violet Grim owned a three floor apartment building on the outskirts of town in a township called Bumter. She lived in the first floor apartment and she rented the second floor to Dirk. The third floor she used as storage space.

Violet Grim at 66 was a widow, who lost her husband three years prior in 2003 to a massive heart attack. In the three years since his death, her once beautiful, shoulder length, blonde hair had grayed. Her once trim figure had begun to sag as she lost interest in taking care of herself. She never got over the loss of her husband and was a chronic insomniac.

She was wide awake at the time Dirk came home after his night out. She heard his car slow to a stop and then the engine cut off. She was sitting in her favorite oak rocking chair by the window in her bedroom. She gazed out from the corner of the curtains and saw Dirk come into the building. She then heard him trudge up the stairs to his apartment where she heard him unlock his door with his keys and then close the door. The time, Violet noted, was 1:25 a.m. Coco’s closing time was 1:00 a.m. She had not slept all night and she never heard Dirk leave the building or get in his car until the following morning. With Boswell’s alibi verified the detectives ended the interview and allowed Dirk to leave.

8

Later that Saturday night, a call came in saying that a man walking his dog had found a body of another young woman on the north end of town in some thick and heavy foliage on the outskirts of Bracy‘s Park. Again, Barron and Washington were the police officers who took the call and responded to the scene. As Barron turned on the patrol car’s flashing lights and siren, he sped toward the north side. Latonya Washington pulled out her cell phone and called Unger at home. She knew he would not be pleased.

"Hello, Frank here,".

"Unger, it’s Washington, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but we have another body. It was just called in."

"Washington, what the hell are you doing? What time is it?", Unger asked.

"Pete and I are pulling a double shift. It’s 10:30 p.m. Did I wake you?", asked Washington.

"Yeah,…what do you mean by another body"?

"I mean, another girl has been murdered".

"Washington, are you sure the victim was murdered"?

"We will be arriving at the scene shortly. According to the guy who found her, she’s bound and gagged…and quite dead".

"Who found her"? asked Unger.

"Some guy, a…uh, Randy Spitola. He was walking his dog in Bracy’s Park, when his dog wandered off of the path into some wooded area and began nosing about. Mr. Spitola went to see what his dog had found and he discovered the body".

"Any witnesses, Ms. Washington"?

"Of course not, detective. We have ourselves a maniac here and he’s pretty good at what he’s doing".

"Just hold on here, Washington. What makes you think this is in any way connected to the Mohr case".

"Same type of killing, Frank. Same evidence, same everything", said Washington.
"You’re quite the amazing foot cop, Washington, you’re not even at the scene yet and already you think Lackitz has a serial killer", Unger sarcastically replied.

"Look, Frank, we just pulled into the park. Get your ass out of bed and help us here, o.k.?"

"Call Carl, I’ll be there shortly".

9

When Unger arrived at the crime scene, he was met by Carl Wertz. Immediately, Wertz began to explain how he too felt that this victim was murdered by the same person who killed Dinah Mohr just the day before.

"Frank, I know this is going to upset you, but I called Nero at the FBI and asked for his assistance…He’s going to be here in the morning".

"Damnit, I hate to involve the feds, this is our case and we really still don’t know what’s going on here".

"Frank, this is beyond us. Face it. We have never dealt with this sort of thing. I spoke with Washington. She showed me the scene. Everything is the same with the exception of the fact that she was bound and dumped outside. Everything else is the same. She was strangled. The same marks on her neck as with Dinah Mohr. As you see the coroner is already here processing the scene. He told me that his preliminary results are of manual strangulation in the Mohr case. The bruising around the neck and the hyoid bone were broken. He won’t know for sure about any DNA for awhile".

Frank appeared stunned. He never in a million years would have thought that anything like this could happen in his town.

"What time will Nero be here tomorrow?", asked Unger.

"First thing in the morning. 8:00 a.m.", said Wertz. "Frank, he’s going to help us by developing a profile of the person who is capable of doing something like this, because Frank, I don’t think our perp is going to stop. There is no evidence of anything at this site either, however I believe this to be the dump site. I think she was killed somewhere else".

"I know you that you mean well, Carl, but I hate asking the Feds for any help", Frank continued, "They’re going to think that we’re so inept."

10

On Sunday, June 4, 2006, FBI Special Agent Cary Nero arrived at the Lackitz Police Department to go over the evidence in the cases that were before Detectives Unger and Wertz.

"Gentleman, I am here to assist you in this situation. Let me assure you that at this time, our agency has no intention of taking over the lead in this investigation. I am merely here to go over the evidence with you and to help determine a profile for the individual that you are looking for", Nero continued, "The evidence is rather slim, in fact it is non-existence. You have no eye-witnesses. The DNA has not yet be determined. The identity of the second victim is still undetermined. I do believe the two cases are related, despite the fact that one victim was killed in her home and the second was killed somewhere else, but dumped in the park. I believe what you are looking for is a white male between the ages of 28-35. He is intelligent. He has either graduated from college or has attended some college classes. He is knowledgeable in police procedures and in evidence gathering. This explains the lack of evidence at the scenes. Oh…and he has done this before…maybe not here in Lackitz, but somewhere. He is experienced".

Unger asked, "What is the motive?".

"I believe that at this point in time, we cannot answer that. It may be something as easy as our assailant’s past. Beyond that I don’t want to speculate."

Just then, Washington entered the room. "We have an identification of the second victim. Her name is Viola Jerriman. The coroner confirms that she too, had been stranglee".

"I have a question," asked Unger. "How are we suppose to catch this guy, if we have no clues who he is, what his connection is to the victims, and we have no evidence on him"?

"Unger the type of predator that you are dealing with did not just start here in Lackitz. He has done this before. He has been very careful. In fact, I don’t think he even has a criminal record. Semen was recovered from both victims, but it matches nobody in our system", said Nero. "I suggest we all go home and get a clean start in the morning, even if it means interviewing all of the witnesses again. I know they have all come up clean, but that’s all that you guys have. Have a good night, people".

***

He is waiting in the shadows of the police station. He is getting bold. He knows he cannot remain here in this small town. He never stays anywhere for too long. Moving from town to town is what has kept him alive. He remains the chameleon of the world. He has always adapted to his surroundings, but before he leaves he wants to leave one lasting impression. In every town he’s been in, he always leaves something that everyone will remember him by albeit anonymously.

****

11

As officer Washington walked out the front door of the police station, she paused as she reached the bottom step. She thought that she heard a rustle of noise from around the corner on Pleasant Street. Thinking that she must be just letting her nerves get the best of her. She turned left towards Pleasant Street to where she had her car parked.

As she rounded the corner, she was knocked to the ground by a man of about six feet tall and of average weight. The impact knocked her breath away. Washington struggled to get a look at her attacker. He was clever as he landed behind her. He tried to get his hands up around her neck, but Washington grabbed hold of his left hand and was able to keep it from getting near her neck. Washington then felt the right hand of her attacker cover her mouth, so she could not scream out.

She wrestled with him trying not to let him gain control of her and the situation. She noticed that when he jumped her, her gun flew out its holster and landed near the curb. She had to get the gun.

She opened her mouth far enough to be able to feel the gloved hand of her attacker. She bit down hard. He screamed and released her. She scrambled after the gun. Just as her hands closed on the gun, the man landed on top of her with all of his weight. Again, knocking all of the breath from her. This time his hands closed tightly around her neck. In an instance, she felt dizzy and everything was becoming dreamlike. Trying to remain focused of her predicament, she hit her attacker over the head with the butt-end of the gun. He screamed but did not release his hold of her neck. His hands were around her neck so tightly, she could not scream, let alone breathe.

Just then a shot rang out and the attacker’s grip went limp. It was over. Unger rushed over to Washington and asked if she was alright. She nodded, but clearly she was shaken from the ordeal. The attacker was dead. Shot in the back of the head by Unger, who happened to come upon the struggle as he too was leaving for the night.

12

In the hospital, Washington was just waking up when Unger walked in with a card and a "Get Well" balloon. "You’re looking better today, Washington, you’ve been asleep for the past two days".

"Who was he, Frank? Why me?"

"His name was Colter Carnegie. He had inherited a lot of money when his folks died. It seems his father was a millionaire tycoon on the stock market and when he died he left all of his money to his son. He never worked a day in his life. He just drifted from town to town. There is no telling how many he may have murdered. He traveled the whole country doing this. We’re just glad you’re o.k. and that he will never do this again".

"So, when can I return to work?", asked Washington.

"Take your time and get better. We definitely need you", said Unger as turned to walk out the door.

"Unger," Washington paused, "Thanks for saving my life".

"Just doing my job Washington".