“Tell me Jon, can you smell the blood still stained upon the flowers?”
Jon shook his head and said,
“The Campbell family. I stared at those photos for over fifteen years. Going over that case over and over again. All of those crime scene photos and their names are embedded in my memory.”
Steven smiled and said,
“You’re so close Jon, do go on.”
Jon glanced over his shoulder, looking back at the shed and said,
“The lupines. Where you first buried Emily Clarke. That was also your kill site. You keep referring to the smell, the blood on the flowers. It became embedded in your mind. Almost obsessive, killing wasn’t the same without that same unique smell was it Steven? The only time of year those flowers bloom is in June. Hence why you always killed in that time of year.
You murdered your father, right here as well. Put him in the shed where he found your shame. You felt guilty killing all of those animals. However your guilty conscience wasn’t enough to stop your impulses. You took Emily Clark as well. You kept evolving, killing across the country. You killed that Campbell family fifteen years ago. I remember the bloody lupines beside the bodies in a broken vase. You knew them? Didn’t you? Steven were you were ashamed of what you did? You laid those flowers beside them, almost as if you were mourning? How did you know them Steven?”
Steven shook his head in distaste as he clasped his temples on his head. His voice changed into a rasp as he screamed,
“No! No! No! Noooo! NOOOOOO!”
Jon shook his head in bewilderment and said,
“You were ashamed. You even took their family name when you formed this other self to absorb your guilt from murdering and becoming a serial killer. You named it Shawn Campbell after the family you killed didn’t you?”
Steven wrenched his head and harshly whispered in a cold collected voice,
“Tell me Jonny boy. Can you still taste the smell of blood in the flowers? Like I said, we have been waiting for you for a long time Jonny Boy.”
Chapter 13
Jon turned around walking towards the back of the house. He pulled out his cell phone as he said back to the officers,
“Put him back in the van. We got what we needed. Bag everything up as evidence. Take photographs of everything. I need to make a call.”
Jon proceeded around to the back of the house and pulled out his cellphone. He noticed on the screen there was missed calls from Parsons. He dialed Cassandra Parson’s number as he reached into his coat pocket taking out a pack of smokes. He lit a cigarette and snapped his zippo lighter shut. He put the lighter back into his pocket and revealed his flask of whiskey. Jon took a quick sip, screwing back on the cap as the phone continued to ring. Finally Detective Parsons picked up on the other line as Jon placed the flask back in his coat as she said,
“Hello Jon?”
Jon took a long drag off his cigarette as he said,
“Yeah, I’m here. We got Steven to show us the dump site. It’s all confirmed. Turns out he is linked to a cold case as well I was working on years ago.”
Detective Parsons replied,
“That’s great Jon I am about to talk to the witness. Let me call you back.”
Jon raised his eyebrow and said,
“Sure, call me back when you’re done. We’re just wrapping things up here.”
Cassandra replied,
“Will do.”
She hung up the phone and turned to Officer Brandon and said,
“Okay so that’s the victim’s house Veronica Stanfield’s residence, 92 Walnut Lane. The 911 call from the witness Lyla Rose came from that house which is 89 Walnut Lane, directly across the street.”
Officer Brandon nodded as he said,
“Let’s go talk to Mrs. Rose.”
Detective Parsons shut the vehicle door behind them and started walking towards the residence. They walked up to the door and knocked. They heard some scurrying noise coming from inside and then it stopped. Brandon looked at Cassandra rolling his eyes impatiently. Parsons shot back a dirty look mimicking with her mouth for him to shut it. Brandon impatiently knocked on the door again and said,
“Ma’am it’s the police, open up.”
A faint quivering voice softly replied,
“Prove it.”
Parsons unclipped her shield from her belt and held it up to the peep hole. Brandon did the same and said,
“Sorry to disturb you. We just need to ask some follow up questions about the murder across the street earlier this morning.”
They heard a bunch of latches being undone and a chain lock sliding out as the door opened revealing a petite older woman. She peered up at them above her thick horn rimmed glasses that had a strap attached around her neck. She squinted her eyes focusing on the badges for a moment. Officer Brandon sighed at her taking so long. Once satisfied she smiled at them and said,
“Can’t be too careful these days you know with all that’s been goin on. What can I do for ya?”
Cassandra smiled at the feeble old woman and said,
“Hi, I’m Detective Parsons and this is Officer Brandon. We just need to know what exactly you saw last night at two am. Can you walk us through it?”
Lyla Rose adjusted her glasses as she stumbled her way out onto the porch. She peered across the street pointing to the garage. Parsons turned to her gaze and saw she had a clear view from the deck to the inside of the garage. Lyla said,
“Yeah sure. Well it was around two am and I heard a lot of commotion and noise coming from across the street. So I looked out my bedroom window to see what it was all about?”
Parsons nodded replying,
“Noise and commotion, like can you be more specific?”
Lyla nodded saying,
“Yeah, blood curdling screams. That poor Veronica girl was screeching at the top of her lungs. I looked out my window and saw the kitchen light was on. Then the screaming suddenly stopped. I hurried as fast as I could down the stairs, but I don’t move like I used to ya know.”
Detective Parsons was writing down her statement in her notebook and said,
“Yeah I bet it’s kind of hard. So how long do you suppose it takes you to get down the stairs?”
Lyla Rose shrugged her boney shoulders in her flowered blouse replying,
“I don’t know, about two minutes or so?’
Brandon nodded looking up at her stair case accepting her honesty. He asked,
“Okay so you got to the door then what?”
Lyla Rose motioned to the door and then pointed to the garage saying,
“I was too afraid to turn on my porch light so I opened the door a crack and peeked my head out. I saw the garage door wide open with the lights on. At first I found it peculiar. There was this man standing, but then I saw tail lights to a car taking off.”
Detective Parsons looked at Officer Brandon and then back at Lyla Rose asking,
“What kind of car was it?”
Lyla Rose scoffed and said,
“Oh I don’t know? It was a car, tan colored, longer. All I saw really was its red tail lights.”
Brandon stood from her angle looking back at the street. He pointed to the road up the hill and asked,
“Which way did it go?”
Lyla Rose looked at Officer Brandon scrunching her face, her wrinkles protruded from her old leathery looking skin as she pulled her lips back over her teeth. She looked up at Jon and said,
“Up the hill. Oh and it had four doors.”
Detective Parsons was still jotting in her notes as she said to Brandon,
“Four door, tan sedan. Sounds common enough.”
Brandon then turned to Lyla Rose and asked,
“Okay, Mrs. Rose you are doing fantastic. This is really helping. What happened next?”
Lyla Rose smiled and said,
“Oh that’s nice to hear dear. Well I looked back at the garage and there was the man in a black hoodie. Looked like he was loading black garbage bags into
the trunk of Veronica’s car. I found that quite odd you know, giving the screams, and the time of night it was.”
Detective Parsons nodded and said,
“Sure, of course it would be odd.”
Lyla Rose replied,
“That’s what I just said. You don’t need to repeat me dear.”
Brandon chuckled at Cassandra who was still writing notes and said,
“Yeah Detective Parsons don’t be so condescending.”
Cassandra shot Officer Brandon a dirty look as he smiled back at the old woman saying,
“Okay what happened next?”
Lyla Rose shook her head in disgust and said,
“Well I saw that man in the black hoodie just standing there. He wasn’t moving at all. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I noticed the blood trickling down to the center grate in the garage. I hurried to the phone and called the police. I stayed on my cordless phone landline with the 911 operator. I explained what I had just witnessed. The man in the black hoodie didn’t seem to be in a hurry. He just stood there and stared for a while. Then he would break his trance like state and continue loading the bloody garbage bags into the trunk. Must’ve been like that for ten minutes or so. Then you fella’s showed up.”
Brandon nodded saying,
“You mean the police.”
Lyla Rose scrunched up her face towards him and said,
“Who’s being condescending now? Yes I mean the police you dumb, dumb. They came and arrested the man. Caught him with the bloody garbage bag in his hand, loading it into the trunk of the car.”
Detective Parsons finished jotting down her statement, snickering at Lyla Rose’s remark to Officer Brandon. He rolled his eyes and said,
“Thank you again for your time.”
Lyla Rose muttered as she turned back towards the house saying,
“I don’t know why I had to say it to you again. I told you guys the first time when you came knocking on my door after you arrived. Don’t know why you couldn’t write it down and get it right the first go around. What are my taxes paying for?”
Lyla Rose slammed the door behind her with such veracity without saying a goodbye. Brandon burst out laughing and said,
“You know I kind of like her.”
Detective Parsons turned back towards Veronica Stanfield’s house with her jaw open and said,
“Of course you would.”
Brandon was still chuckling as they crossed the street towards the victim’s house. He looked at the paved driveway that was on a slight slope up towards the garage. There was still caution tape surrounding the garage. A squad car was parked out front as Officer Brandon approached flashing his badge towards the officers. Smiling they gave a nod letting Detective Parsons through as well. She looked at Brandon and said,
“So what do you make of Lyla Rose seeing a car take off last night at the time of the murder?”
Brandon shrugged his shoulders and said,
“It might have been a coincidence that someone was driving through. It could’ve been a citizen who witnessed the murder as well, became scared and fled the scene. Who really knows? What we need to find is the murder kit, or knife that was used to kill Veronica Stanfield.”
Cassandra took out some rubber gloves snapping them over her hands. She handed off another pair to Brandon and looked down at the dried up pool of blood that was still pooled near the trunk of the vehicle. She got on her knees examining it closer, looking around the garage for anything unusual sticking out. Brandon placed his hands on his hips, letting out a wayward sigh and said,
“Steven Willis would’ve had to stash the murder weapon somewhere. It couldn’t have just disappeared.”
Detective Parsons looked underneath the car as Officer Brandon swept inside the vehicle looking for anything that pertained to the knife. There was nothing in the car that was unusual. She turned back to Brandon asking,
“So there was a sweep done to the interior of the house itself and they found nothing?”
Brandon replied,
“Yeah that’s right. No sign of any knife, nothing of the sort. I was hoping Steven Willis was sloppy in the garage in his state of blanking out according to Lyla Rose. Maybe he would’ve dropped the weapon around here somewhere? I don’t see anything though.”
Detective Parsons nodded her head in agreement and said,
“When he was in that far off staring, trance like state, that might’ve been him changing from Steven Willis to Shawn Campbell, or vice versa. That would explain why he didn’t flee the scene before police showed up.”
Detective Parsons shook her head saying,
“It doesn’t make sense. Lyla Rose claims at approximately 0200 hours she went over to the window after hearing the murderous screams coming from the victim Veronica Stanfield. According to our records, she called 911 and reported it at exactly 0207. So by the time she heard the screams, went down the stairs, looked out her front door window, saw Steven Willis with garbage bags loading the chopped up body into the car, periodically standing in a staring daze of confusion; only seven minutes had gone by in that total time frame before calling the police. Now how do you stab someone, chop up a body with a hacksaw, load their dismembered remains into garbage bags, and get rid of the knife plus hacksaw all within that allotted time? It doesn’t add up Brandon.”
Officer Brandon looked out the street and said,
“Unless you had help doing it. The car that took off. Steven Willis would’ve had to have an accomplice.”
Parsons paused for a moment staring up the street. She then said,
“Would make sense why we can’t find the knife or the hacksaw? The accomplice took it with them.”
Brandon shook his head as he said,
“Exactly. We need to find out who it is. Maybe Steven Willis won’t tell us, but perhaps his other side Shawn Campbell will?”
Parsons then went wide eyed. She quickly grabbed her cell phone and dialled Detective Cratick’s numbers. Jon picked up and said,
“Yeah it’s Jon what do you got for me?”
Detective Parsons started walking back to her Jeep as she said,
“Jon are you at Steven Willis’s house right now? Is Steven there with you?”
Jon nodded and said,
“Yeah why?”
Parsons got into her jeep and opened up her laptop and said,
“Jon I have been going over the case files in my head. It got me thinking when you said we can match the DNA results with the missing person reports.”
Jon nodded as he paced back and forth in behind the house. He said,
“Yeah, so?”
Detective Parsons replied,
“Okay so according to your profile this Steven Willis guy only kills in June right? For some odd reason it became part of his MO according to you right?”
Jon replied,
“Yeah, Steven Willis, or his other side Shawn Campbell became obsessed with the smell of blood on the lupines. He kept repeating it to me. I found it odd at first, then I tied it a murder case I was first put on years ago with the Campbell family. That’s where he came up with the name Shawn Campbell in replace of his identity for his shame of murdering. It was where he became a serial killer. He killed his father as well and buried his bones underneath the shed. That’s when he developed Dissociative identity disorder (DID). That’s why Steven Willis kept repeating, I have been waiting for you all of my life.”
Detective Parsons nodded and said,
“I remember that case Jon. I have been following your career myself. Here’s the thing though Jon. You are in Thunder Bay, Ontario correct?”
Jon nodded and said,
“Yeah so?”
Parsons then replied,
“And you confirmed Steven Willis was definitely there when he killed his father back in 2001 correct?”
Jon nodded and said,
“Yeah he led us right to the body? Parsons so what? Where are you going with this?”
Parsons then pulled the laptop
in front of her shaking as she said,
“Jon, I am looking over the Campbell murder case files right now. The Campbell family murder was in British Columbia, June 21st, 2001. Jon what was the father’s name?”
Jon stopped pacing for a moment. His cigarette hung on his bottom lip as he murmured,
“Shane Willis. Why?”
Detective Parsons went silent for a moment and then replied,
“Jon Shane Willis was reported missing June 22nd, 2001 from a co-worker for not showing up for his shift. Twenty-four hours it takes to file a missing person. So that means he was probably murdered June 21st, 2001. The dates match up. Officer Brandon and I just spoke to the witness Lyla Rose….. Jon she swears there was another man who got into a car that night when Steven Willis was transferring the body into the trunk of the car. She said Steven was just standing there in a trance like state as if he was waiting for the police to show up. Jon what if there is another serial killer linked to this case? What if Steven Willis was telling the truth? What if there really is a Shawn Campbell!?”
Jon stood still frozen for a moment. He whispered harshly back into the phone,
“Cassandra I have seen Steven Willis change and refer to himself as Shawn. How would we not have any records of a Shawn Campbell?”
Detective Parsons sighed as she clacked on her laptop keys, bringing up the B.C. data base records and said,
“Jon we do have a record of Shawn Campbell. Remember Doctor Kevin Hansin confirmed a Shawn Campbell was admitted in the Sylas Jenkins Mental Asylum in British Columbia. The one that talked to your brother. They just assumed, like us, that Shawn Campbell was the made-up bad persona of Steven Willis who has DID. What if there really is a Shawn Campbell? It makes sense, the family murder took place in British Columbia.”
Jon shook his head and said,
“So if that is true, then how are they linked together?”
Jon heard a harsh voice say,
“Well you are about to find out. Hang up the phone Jonny Boy.”
Jon turned around and saw Steven Willis holding a bloody knife up to him. He was no longer in shackles and had that dark look in his eyes.
“I told you Jon. We have been waiting for you, all of our life.”
Profile of the Gemini Serial Killer Page 15