Pleasant Harbor

by Thomas Bloom

  “As I assume most of you know by now, we have recovered a third body which was mutilated like the first two except that this one also had her hands removed. We are working on an ID for this body but do not have anything definite yet.

  “As you probably also know we have an individual who has confessed to the first two murders. This person has been charged and released on bail. Because this person has not given us a single corroborating piece of information it is the opinion of all of us that he is probably what we call a false positive. This person is presently awaiting a psychiatric examination and we will have no further comment on him until that is completed.

  “There was an incident in Muskegon a few days ago that may pertain to the third victim. A woman was approached at her front door by a man pretending to work for a delivery service. He had a package in his hand. The sender was purported to be a relative she had not spoken to in years so the lady was suspicious. When the delivery man tried to get her to sign for the package he pulled a cloth from his pocket on which the lady immediately smelled an anesthetic. She managed to scare him off before he could take any action. Unfortunately, she was not wearing her contact lenses and so was unable to provide a meaningful description of the man or his vehicle except that it was a white pickup. This lady’s car was recently discovered abandoned in a Muskegon area shopping center and Sheriff Lutz reports that she does not appear to be in her home. We are waiting for a DNA match from the State Lab but we are afraid that she may be the third victim. Out of respect for the lady’s privacy and so as not to unnecessarily concern her family we are not releasing her name at this time.

  “Even though there is no clear evidence of a federal crime being committed the FBI has generously offered us the service of agent Tamourini to assist in this investigation. In that connection we are in the process of trying to identify potential suspects in the local area. This may involve following some of these people to try to ascertain their habits and profile. This will all be done in public. No one will be apprehended or have their privacy violated based on a mere suspicion. This is somewhat unusual and many residents may well object to the process. However, I must point out that we have three people dead already with no assurance that there will be no more. We have very little evidence. We feel strongly that the perpetuator is a resident of this area. We must apprehend him before he acts again.

  “Here is the profile we have on the killer at this point. We believe him to be a white male in his early to mid-thirties. As I said, we believe he lives in or close to Potawatomie County. He is of average height and weight. We think he is intelligent and a good planner, a very deliberate person. We believe his motivation for these acts may be some deep seated resentment of one or more women, probably a relative and or a former wife or girlfriend. We believe he either lives in a relatively remote area or has access to a home or building in such an area. He may also have a job that would give him access to anesthetics. We think he owns or has access to a white pickup truck. If anyone knows of a person that may fit this profile we would like to hear from them.

  “Pending any other development I would caution all women in the State to take common sense precautions. Do not open your house door for anyone you do not know. If possible do not travel alone. Be sure your home is secure—all doors and windows locked. If you see anything suspicious report it to your local police immediately.

  “I’m going to open this to questions now. We have a full room and I don’t know most of you. So I’m going to pick a person at random and let him or her ask one question—no follow ups. Please do not all start shouting at me at once. I will respond only to the person I call on. I will start with the lady in the back row in the red dress.”

  “Why did you decide to bring the FBI in? Was this case simply too complex for the local authorities?”

  “Look,” Dusty said, “I’m not too proud to admit when I’m at a dead end. People are dying here and we want to put a stop to it. The FBI has far more experience than our local departments in dealing with a case like this. We’ve also used a professional profiler to help us get a feel for the killer. Ms. Tamourini has already been of great assistance in helping us put together a plan of action going forward. Next, the gentleman in the second row in the blue suit.”

  “Sheriff, I would like your theory or the theory of anyone on the podium or of your profiler as to why the killer is mutilating the victims the way he is and how is he doing it?”

  “As I said earlier, we believe he has some deep seated resentment of women in general or certain women in particular. We are correlating the ages of the victims with a possible wife or girlfriend, a mother and maybe a grandmother. Yet it is possible that the victims were totally random and their ages are not meaningful. The coroner has stated that the cuts to the victims were totally clean as would be the case if he used a guillotine. Given that guillotines are not readily available it is also possible that he used a machete or a very large knife. What seems certain is that the mutilation is the killer’s way of exacting revenge in the most gruesome way possible. It is also notable that the killer did not attempt to hide the bodies but disposed of them in such a way that they were almost certain to be discovered. In other words, the killer was making a statement. Next, the lady in the front row in the green pant suit.”

  “I would ask all of you if your plan to identify and follow local residents as potential suspects will pass the test of a possible violation of their civil rights.”

  “We will not violate anyone’s privacy. All surveillance will be conducted totally in public. I hate doing this but if it might lead us to the killer then I will live with it and accept responsibility. It is a well-established legal principle that persons have no right to privacy when they are in a public place. Next the gentleman in the third row right in the grey suit.”

  “Is it possible that the killer is not from this area but is disposing of the bodies here just to create a false trail?”

  “Certainly, that is possible. And if it’s true then we have an even more difficult task ahead of us. However, it appears that the bodies were deposited in the middle of the river not too far above the piers so that they would catch the current. That would require transporting the bodies and a boat some distance and then launching the boat in the middle of the night. All the local marinas with launching ramps are located between the town of Pleasant Harbor and the pier. We did check into that angle. I’ll let Chief Stevens address that.”

  “Good morning,” Amanda said. “We did interview all the local marina owners or managers. There is very little boat traffic this time of year except for the salmon charters. No one saw or heard anything unusual-certainly no unauthorized launching in the middle of the night.”

  “One more thing,” Dusty said. “The first victim, Angel Patterson, was abducted from a bar in Lansing at about 8:30 in the evening. Her body was found in the lake the next day. That would have required the killer leaving the bar with her body, either already dead or anesthetized, driving to wherever he kept his boat, maybe Lansing or maybe someplace else, then hauling the boat to this county, launching the craft and disposing of the body, reloading the boat and then driving back. And, sometime in there he would have had to have the time and a private location to behead her. That is possible but it’s not a likely scenario. The lady in the pink jacket over there.”

  “How did you develop the plan to observe local residents?”

  “I’ll let agent Tamourini answer that,” Dusty said. “She was of great help in developing that course of action.”

  “Thank you sheriff. It’s often amazing what you can do with limited information. The sheriff has already explained to you the profile we are looking for. There are about twelve thousand permanent residents in Potawatomie County. But, if you eliminate all females and all males over forty and under twenty-five, and all non-whites and all men who appear to be living a normal life with a wife or girlfriend or partner and all men who may be physically or mentally handicapped we are down to only a few hundred rem
aining suspects. As respects those persons if we can establish their whereabouts on the night that Angel Patterson was abducted or on the morning that an attempt was made on Mrs. Wilshire then we can narrow the field even further. It is that very small group of potential suspects on whom we plan on developing more information. We are not going to start investigating persons at random. As the sheriff explained, all surveillance will be done in public. No one’s civil rights will be violated. This may lead us nowhere or it may lead to the killer. If the latter than additional lives may be saved and the right person brought to justice.”

  “Thank you Agent Tamourini. Next I’ll call on the gentleman in the blue pullover sweater.”

  “Do you have any idea when the psychiatric report on Mr. Jiminez will be available? In that he has actually confessed to the crimes would he still not be the prime suspect?”

  “Let’s go back to the abduction of Ms. Patterson in Lansing. We have a partial description of the abductor from a bartender who described the man as a Caucasian in his early to mid-thirties with light hair. Mr. Jiminez is Hispanic in his mid-forties and has black hair. I would repeat. We think him to be a false positive.”

  “What are you going to do if your investigation produces no results?”

  “Ah, the toughest question to take and the easiest to answer. We will widen the area of the investigation to surrounding counties. Here’s the thing. If you ladies and gentlemen will report this situation in full through your various employers, including a full profile of the suspect, there is no doubt in my mind that someone will read your article or hear your report and say to themselves ‘you know what? This could be so and so.’ If that person will call us with their suspicions we will take it from there and that may close the case. One more thing that I should have mentioned earlier. Just before we opened this conference I received a call from the Potawatomie County Chamber of Commerce. They are offering a twenty-five thousand dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of this killer. If civic duty will not prompt someone to call maybe the reward will. Just a few more questions. The gentlemen in the blue pin stripe suit in the first row.”

  “What was the analysis of your profiler as respects the killer’s motivation for the beheadings?”

  “He feels the victims are surrogates for a real woman or real women in the killer’s life. The killer apparently has some deep resentment having to do with his previous relationship with some woman or some women. He has managed to transfer this resentment to the victims. His killing and mutilation of the victims is a form of revenge. Sure it doesn’t make sense to kill one person to exact revenge on another but this person is obviously troubled and not thinking clearly. It makes sense to him and that’s all that matters.”

  Dusty took a few more questions and then closed the conference when the room ran out of anything new to cover. “I wish we had more for you but that is where we stand right now. I would repeat my request to you to make sure the profile of the killer we have given you is spread to all your readers and listeners. Someone knows this person. One call could end this nightmare.”

  He flicked off the television at the end of the conference. Well we have a problem. Sooner or later I will show up on some list. We have to do something to slow this down. Think about it. Take your time. Set it up ahead of time.

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Rusty and Amanda sat in her conference room. The table was covered with phone books, school rosters, utility records and census reports. They had found that between the two of them they knew or knew of a significant percentage of the population of the county. It was slow laborious work but they had made progress on two lists. The first and larger one was made up of males that they felt they could eliminate as suspects. The second and much shorter list was made up of possible hits.

  About mid-afternoon they got a call from Roger Whitney. “We’ve got a confirmation from the State Police lab. They have a DNA match between the last body in the lake and Helen Wilshire. They’ve notified Police Chief Lutz also.”

  “Thanks, Roger. I expected this but now we have it nailed down.”

  About five in the afternoon Dusty pushed everything back and turned to Amanda. “Look, this is enough for today. How about we pick up a couple of pizzas and a six pack and have some dinner with your kids. I feel guilty. The golf has fallen behind because of this and we’re just about to the point that the weather will prevent anything more until spring.”

  “Great idea. I’ll call Mrs. Johnson and tell her not to worry about dinner. The boys love pizza.”

  Dusty’s relationship with Amanda had done a total turnaround. They had gone from a state of constant friction to one of working well together. For the first time Dusty was looking at her as a woman and, yes, a possible mate. She was intelligent and attractive. She had managed the loss of her husband well and had gone on with her life. He liked her boys and got on well with them. It remained to be seen if he could turn them into serious golfers but he was prepared to try. The boys needed a father. He was lonely and sexually frustrated. Amanda, he suspected and hoped, felt the same. The problem was that he had insinuated himself into her life as a professional colleague and a mentor to her sons. There had been no hint of anything romantic and he was not sure how to segue into the next step. He enjoyed her company and she seemed to enjoy his.

  After they finished the pizza Amanda told the boys to do their homework.

  “But mom we haven’t had our TV time yet today.”

  “You know the rule. Homework first and TV later.”

  Amanda started to gather up the plates and pizza rubble.

  Dusty put his hand on her arm and said “could I chat with you a minute about something? This is personal not professional and nothing to do with golf.”

  She sat back down and looked at him quizzically. Oh shit, Dusty thought. I’m about to screw this up.

  “Look we’ve spent a lot of time together the last few weeks. I have to admit that we’ve not had a good relationship up to now and that’s probably more my fault than yours. But since we’ve started this case together and since I’ve been working with the boys I’ve suddenly seen you in an entirely new light. I’ll be honest. I find you very attractive. I know this sounds stupid but I don’t know any other way to say it. I’d like to take you on a date. I know this is especially difficult because I’m the guy that put your husband in prison. I was just doing my job. I know that and you know that but it may not make it any easier to get around.”

  She stared at him for a few moments. “It is hard to get around. I’ve never told the boys that you were the one who arrested their father. I don’t know how they would handle that. But I’ve had some of the same feelings. We may be an obvious fit but I want to go very slowly. If I have to pick you or the boys you know I’ll pick the boys.”

  “I understand. Think about this and we’ll let it sit for a while. Let’s talk to the boys together. I’ll tell them that I was the one who investigated the accident and charged their father. If they never want to see me again then that’s the end of it. We can still be professional colleagues and I will not bring it up again. If they’re alright with it then we can take it from there.”

  “Let me chew on it for a day or so.”

  Chapter Thirty Four

  During the next few days they developed a watch list of 132 suspects. They started to give assignments both to their own staffs and to the volunteers from the other departments. The surveillance teams were under strict orders to observe the suspect in public only, to not make any contact and to make a record of all activity. If they were made they were to disengage immediately. Each suspect was to be followed for a week

  Also, Dusty called on the local postmaster and explained his need. He gave the man a flyer with a description of the suspect. He asked that any employee with knowledge of any man who might fit the profile to contact his office at once.

  They were expecting little in the way of feedback. But by the second or third day they started to get
a flood of tips both from the officers and from the postal employees. They realized that everyone was trying to help and in the process were grasping at the smallest piece of information that might be a match. They tried to prioritize the leads and divide them into groups: class A’s were prime suspects, Class B’s warranted more examination and Class C’s would be laid aside until they had time. There were seven class A’s. They started to do background checks on each class A candidate: family history, marital history, previous criminal record, vehicles owned, work history, particularly anything that would give them access to an anesthetic, place of residence or any other property owned, how long a resident of the county, any watercraft owned. It was slow arduous work.

  On the third day Dusty got an anonymous letter. It was typed on a blank sheet of paper and came in a plain white envelope with no return address. It was in all capitals. Dusty immediately dusted it for prints and as he expected there were none. The letter read:

  I AM A RESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COUNTY AND HAVE BEEN WATCHING YOUR INVESTIGATION INTO THE RECENT MURDERS WITH INTEREST. I KNOW OF A MAN WHO FITS THE PROFILE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. HE LIVES ALONE NEAR THE RIVER IN A HOUSE BACK IN THE WOODS. THERE IS A BARN IN BACK OF THE HOUSE. I KNOW NOTHING OF HIS PERSONAL LIFE BUT THERE IS A WHITE PICKUP (OLD AND BEAT UP) IN THE DRIVEWAY. BECAUSE OF MY WORK I OFTEN PASS HIS PROPERTY LATE IN THE EVENING. ON TWO OCCASIONS I HAVE SEEN LIGHTS ON IN THE BARN. THERE IS NO FARMING OR LIVESTOCK ON THE PROPERTY. I CAN’T REMEMBER THE SPECIFIC DATES I PASSED HIS HOUSE. THERE IS AN OUTBOARD MOTORBOAT ON A TRAILER NEXT TO THE HOUSE. NEIGHBORS WE HAVE IN COMMON HAVE TOLD ME HIS NAME IS WILLARD HOUSEMAN. THEY SAY HE USED TO LIVE THERE WITH HIS MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER BUT THEY HAVE BOTH PASSED. THE ADDRESS OF THE PROPERTY IS 1417 WALNUT CREEK ROAD. I DO NOT WISH TO BE INVOLVED PERSONALLY BUT MAYBE THIS INFORMATION WILL HELP YOU.