“No.” Ms. Young was starting to sound not just rushed but annoyed.
“Do you know if she was dating anyone?” Storm inquired.
“No, I do not make it a practice to get involved in my employees’ lives.” Her tone was curt as she stood up and glanced at the large watch on her wrist.
“Did she have any friends that worked here?”
“As I remember it, she had one friend, a girl named Peggy Wise. She worked in this department, also. I always saw them eating lunch together in the cafeteria,” Ms. Young said, sounding a little calmer.
“Does this Peggy Wise still work here?”
“No, I think she went to work for the Livestock Show out at the center a few years ago.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about Elaine?” Storm pressed.
“No, Detective, as I said, I don’t get involved in the lives of my employees. Now I’m very busy and I need to cut this off. If there is anything else I can do for you, please call me and make an appointment. If I think of anything else, I’ll call you,” Ms. Young’s tone made it clear the interview was over. With that Storm handed her a card, thanked her for her time, and he and Parker left. When they reached the lobby they exchanged cards, shook hands, and Storm went on with his day.
Storm now had a new track to follow. Who was this Peggy Wise and what could she tell him? Storm made a mental note to see her on his next trip to the Show.
Chapter Twenty
The Mind of a Serial Killer
Assembling his team of unlikely investigators for another session of comparing facts, brainstorming and planning their next move was not as easy one might think. Russell and Grady had to finish the early nightly news and would not be free to leave the station until a few minutes after 6:30 PM. Pancho and Alisha found it necessary to leave work casually, as if they had put in a full day and were merely clocking out to go to their homes. With all these considerations in mind, Storm called Russell and arranged to meet him and the rest of the team back at the condo no later than 7:00 PM.
Storm found Russell, Grady, Hernandez, and Alisha all waiting for him when he arrived carrying boxes of pizza, which was the only reward he could offer them. The dining room table was covered in files and video disks. Hernandez had brought his laptop and since Russell had wireless service in his building it was easy to find Internet access. All participants stood ready to go to work.
“Hey, big dog, where you been and what you got there, dinner?” Russell inquired as he answered the door.
“Long day. What’s going on here?” Storm handed the pizza boxes to Russell and waved his hand, indicating the mass confusion that already was strewn across the table.
“We’re ready to go and we started without you. Hope you don’t mind, Baretta.”
After a round of “hellos,” the five dove into what they had found so far. They had seven dead girls, and according to Alisha, all had been killed in the same manner. To add to the curiosity, all the girls had similar looks, all were brunettes, all were around 25, all were from small towns, and all had very little family to miss them. They had discovered the killer definitely had a type. But what else could the team conjecture?
“If we now believe, and I think we do, that we know the killer’s type, there are some other important questions. Like, how does he find them?”
Answering his own question, Storm said, “He finds them somehow at the Show. How does he know so much about them, to know they are from small towns and are basically alone in life?” Again he answered his own question: “The killer has had to spend time with them get to know them.”
“There are no defensive wounds on the girls, or we think we know that in the cases of the other girls, but in Leslie’s case we are sure because we saw the body. Why not? If I was about to be attacked by a stranger it’s probable every one of these girls would surely have fought back. So the only conclusion we can draw is they knew their killer. But again, how?” The group around the table sat silent each pondering the questions Storm had just laid out.
Grady finally spoke up. “We also have seven murders with very little publicity on any of them. The newspapers dropped them, television dropped them. There was nothing more reported after the initial reports of them being found.”
“We got Joe Dresden on video,” said Hernandez.
“You think he is the one?” asked Alisha, looking to Storm for an answer
“No, I don’t,” said Storm.
“Who then, if not Joe?” asked Russell.
“Not sure yet, but that’s what we are going to find out,” added Storm, knowing he sounded a little more positive than he felt.
“By the way, I told Joe he had to come see you and get a DNA swab to test against the semen you got from Leslie,” Storm told Alisha.
“Do you really think he will come in voluntarily?” asked Alisha.
“Probably not. I’m sure I scared the shit out of him, but if he doesn’t show up don’t worry about it, I will get a warrant and make him do it.” With that said he moved on.
“What else we got?” Storm asked his fellow conspirators. “Pancho, what did you get from the FBI?” He explained to the others that he had asked Hernandez to do some research into the modus operandi of serial killers like Bundy and Gacy to see if the research would give them any insights into their killer.
Sergeant Hernandez took out a notebook containing all the facts and theories he had been able to find on serial murders and killers. “First, we need to look at these murders as if they are connected and ask whether they are the result of a mass murderer or a serial murderer. In the both scenarios the victims die as a result of the murderer gaining control of his or her victims’ lives. The mass murderer kills multiple victims at the same time, usually in a big display for public attention, fear, and media blitz.
“The serial murderer, on the other hand, kills methodically over time—weeks, months, even years—and usually not for public attention. Wanting attention, the mass murderer usually operates within a designated area like the city or sometimes an area as small as the neighborhood they grew up in. The outcome for a mass murderer can come in a variety of forms: they are caught by police and arrested, they spend days in court, and their photo is featured on the front page of every newspaper in the country and on every television news report. Sometimes they are killed by someone else who takes the execution of the mass murderer into his own hands, but with the same results, lots of coverage on newspapers and TV. Less often, they commit suicide, and even more rarely they turn themselves in. But the outcome is always the same—they become notorious, and that was all they were looking for in the first place. They believe they have spread their message even in death.
“In complete contrast, the serial killer usually wants to stay under the radar and to elude detection so they can go on killing. They are organized. They kill over time, one victim at a time. They may even stop for periods of time or change their modus operandi. Although there is a difference of opinion as to the numbers, in theory, there may be as few as thirty-five to fifty serial murderers, or as many as five hundred, operating in United States at any one time.”
“Shit! You got to be kidding! Five hundred of them?” asked Storm, aghast.
“Yep. And I think we all feel it is obvious we have a serial murderer, since our victims have appeared to be one a year for the past seven years,” added Russell.
“Go on, Pancho,” Storm said, pushing Hernandez to continue on with his tutorial.
“Both types scare the hell out of the community, but the rampage of a mass killer usually ends with a “final statement” that often ends their life at the same time. The serial killer goes on and on believing that the many murders they have committed won’t be or haven’t been discovered yet and certainly not all of them can be linked to the single killer. They strongly believe that they are smarter than anyone in the police departments. You would think that the community would recognize that a person is acting unusually strange, but the serial killer knows
how to manipulate people’s perceptions and will even go through a cooling off period that may last for months or years before he kills again. These killers suffer from antisocial personality disorder and not psychosis. They appear normal, many times charming; a guy named Cleckley—he studied the personalities of some psychopaths and wrote a book about them—called that the ‘mask of sanity.’
“Serial killers are motivated by power and sexual compulsion. They may have been abused in childhood or are compensating for their self-perceived inadequacies because they grew up poor or came from low socioeconomic background. Killing gives them power to take revenge for perceived slights and bad things that happened to them when they had no control. Killing gives them back power and they bask in the afterglow for a period of time until they need another power fix and kill again. The time between killings varies depending on how disassociated the killer becomes. Most find they need to kill more often as time goes on because the ‘glow’ wears off more quickly. Some only kill when they are set off by some perceived outside slight. For most, the knowledge they have terrified a community and baffled authorities adds to their sense of power.
“There are two types of serial killers,” Hernandez continued. “The organized types are deliberate and highly intelligent, many with IQs of over 110. They plan their crimes, usually abducting their victims, killing them in one place and getting rid of the body in another. Does this sound familiar? They are likeable and charming and they often lure their victims with ploys like appealing to the victim’s sympathies. Ted Bundy would put his arm in a cast and ask women to help him carry things to his car, where he would beat them senseless and haul them away.
Some serial killers choose victims who will go with them voluntarily, like prostitutes looking for a trick. They maintain a high degree of control over the crime scene and usually have a working knowledge of forensic science, enabling them to cover their tracks. They follow their crimes in the media; part of the afterglow thing I talked about earlier. They feel pride in what they have done. They are the guy or girl next door; the person the neighbors are always surprised about because ‘he or she was such a nice quiet person.’ They may even have spouses and children.
Many times they try to inject themselves into the investigation. They want to appear helpful and even become a hero if they can. They sometimes even leave clues leading the investigation to someone else in the community viewed as not as nice as them. They hunt their victims like prey.”
Hernandez stopped momentarily looking around the table “Again sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”
“Conversely, the unorganized serial killer kills impulsively and the kill is messy. They usually have a low IQ, around 80. They don’t clean up the crime scene. They strike randomly without warning and have no plan. Often in retrospect, they are described as having been creepy or very strange by the people who knew them.”
He paused. “I think we have an organized serial killer,” Hernandez said, and as he looked around the room everyone shook their heads in concurrence.
Hernandez went on. “It looks like we all agree we have an organized serial killer, but the next part of the description is trickier, as there are more types or profiles under this heading. The first type is the visionary, who may claim he was forced to kill by voices or direction from afar. Rarely are serial killers insane, nor do they hear voices telling them to kill. They often make that claim after they are caught, but it’s usually to stay off death row. For instance, the Son of Sam killer claimed his neighbor’s dog told him to kill all his victims and that the dog was possessed by a demon.
“The next type is the missionary. They kill because they believe they are doing society a service. They choose types of victims that they feel don’t belong in society, like prostitutes, particular ethnic or religious groups, or the rich, you name it. Aileen Wournos stalked and killed men who used prostitutes. She was the one Charlize Theron portrayed in the movie Monster. They believe they are helping the community.
“The next type is the hedonist. This is the killer with the sexual appetite. They enjoy killing and they think their victims deserve to die. They enjoy the hunt as much as the kill. Some kill fast, others slowly, to enjoy the torture and humiliation they inflict on their victims. They also enjoy abusing the body after the kill. The Son of Sam liked killing young couples found necking in parked cars, making one watch the death of the other. Jeffery Dahmer enjoyed necrophilia and cannibalism.
“Next is the gain motivated type. These are the hit men, people who kill for money. I don’t think ours is that, so moving on we come to the big one—the power and control killer. They kill to gain power and control over their victims. They probably had been abused as a child and been left to feel powerless or they might be shunned by society for their lifestyle or some abnormality, mental or physical. They abuse their victims sexually, either before or after they kill them. They are not motivated by lust as much as revenge and they want to humiliate their victims by sexually degrading them.”
“So,” said Storm. “Where does this leave us?”
“Well, number one, I think we all have to agree this killer is the organized type, right?’ said Hernandez.
“Damn straight. I think we all agree on that,” said Grady.
“I also think our killer is a hedonist and/or the power and control type,” said Alisha.
“We know our killer is careful and organized,” said Russell.
“And our killer likes to degrade the victims, i.e. the anal rape,” said Alisha.
“Obviously, our killer must look normal and fits in,” said Hernandez.
“The killer has definitely found a hunting ground,” added Grady.
“Yes, and the killer either knows these girls or appears trustworthy,” contributed Storm. “Maybe the killer is someone in authority, like a big wheel at the show.”
“Or a cop, a bartender, or anyone that is fixture out there,” agreed Russell. The idea had not crossed his or anyone else’s minds before Hernandez’s report—their focus had primarily been on the sleaze dog officials who always had a girl around.
“Possibly,” said Storm. “This puts a whole a new spin on the cases. That’s why this group is so great. What else do we have?”
“Let’s walk through what we know about the killer, like they do on the cop shows on TV, and see where it takes us,” suggested Grady.
“All right. Given Alisha’s breakdown of the ‘how’ the murders were committed, we probably have someone who has medical training or Special Forces training in how to cut the throat, hitting a major artery and severing the windpipe quickly and efficiently,” Storm theorized.
“Yes, and they didn’t get that knowledge from the Internet. Also, they used something seriously sharp, like a scalpel or a boning knife,” chimed in Alisha.
“Although these girls weren’t very big, the killer still had to be strong enough to subdue them without a lot of struggling since they didn’t have any defensive wounds,” said Storm.
“That indicates they trusted the killer,” suggested Hernandez, “which means they had to know them pretty well.”
“Although we still haven’t found where Leslie was killed, and the other crime scenes were clean. The killer is meticulous, careful, and cleaned up after themselves,” put in Storm.
“In order to have had access to Leslie, at least, they had to have been in or around the stadium Saturday night,” added Hernandez.
“The only people who had access to the VIP rooms that night were big wheels and their guests,” threw in Russell.
“That’s not entirely true, Russell,” said Storm.
“Who else?” said Russell
“The employees—waiters, bartenders, janitors, hell, even the cops working the door,” said Storm. He looked at Russell. “Can the employees get people into that room?”
“Sure. They’re not supposed to, but I’ve seen the cops and committeemen working the door let in single girls if they are cute,” said Russell.
“It’s
a place to meet and greet and party and the more cute single women the better. I saw that for myself the other night,” said Storm.
“Unfortunately, none of this gets us any closer to a killer,” commented Grady.
“No, it doesn’t, but it could help eliminate pretty boy philandering husbands like Joe Dresden,” said Storm. “Guys like Joe don’t have to kill a girl; they can just ditch them when they’re through. His girls are toys to be used and discarded.”
“That narrows the field,” said Hernandez, lifting his eyebrows as if amused with the thought of how eliminating one man might actually do that.
“Now that we’ve agreed we know we have a serial killer and even have a quasi description of the type, my big question is why?” said Alisha.
Everyone seemed to be in agreement that there had to be an underlying common element to the killer’s need to kill these particular women, though what it was still a mystery, and why only one girl a year?
“What else do we have?” asked Storm.
“We have a cover-up,” said Russell.
Each of the other team members sat still for a minute, as if trying to think of what to add. The elephant in the room was out. Everyone had been thinking it, but no one wanted to be the first to say it.
“Who is covering these murders up and why?”
“Well, the Show for one,” said Grady.
“Who else?” asked Storm
The police?” asked Hernandez.
“Why?” asked Storm.
“It’s in their best interest to hide it if they can’t solve it. The Show is big and they can’t or won’t have the public thinking their venue could be dangerous,” said Hernandez.
Storm looked at Alisha, “You think the cops are covering this up, too?”
“It looks that way to me, maybe not intentionally but all the same, yes,” said Alisha.
“In my research into the girls’ files I saw two other things that bother me,” Hernandez volunteered. “I guess this is as good a time to throw them out on the table. Detective, there is something else. Did you or any of cops at the scene ever find the girls’ shoes?”
Charity Kills (A David Storm Mystery) Page 16