The Cupid Killer: Albany GA, March 2017

The Cupid Killer : Albany GA, March 2017

Characters in story: Jeremiah Dixon, Robert Hemming Dashwood, Mabel, & Dr. Lusiak

Authorities linked a string of double homicides over the course two months in the area of Albany. While the first cases were originally thought by investigators to be robberies gone wrong, forensic evidence lead police to conclude there was a connection. Each pair of victims w were a man and woman that had recently met through an online dating service, and the attacks took place either at one of their vehicles or homes.

Though the police stated that they were narrowing a list of male suspects, no arrests were made for weeks as a fifth and sixth couple were killed with the same MO. A coroners report leaked to the press revealed that the mutilating nature of some of the wounds inflicted, as well as the extreme force the killer used to inflict them.

Story:

The first time characters cross paths in this case is a little before dawn at the site of the fifth murders. A gravel parking lot a few blocks away from the main stretch of nightclubs, ill lit streets and alleys all around. The victims were both mostly in the back seat of the sedan- the killer had savaged the bodies and what had ended up in the front seats or the gravel outside was more than a little splatter.

Robert Dashwood never got inside the police line, but for close enough to see how messy it was. He backed off, circling the scene, occasionally stopping to take a sniff for a copper tang in the air. This leads him to stumble across where Genevieve was crouching in an alley. Whatever had done the crime must have laid in wait for the victims somewhere with good sightlines of the lot, and that led here there to look for clues.

The two of them stood in surprised silence for a moment, until a cop noticed Robert and approached and asked to see ID. Genevieve disappeared into the shadows, and Robert feigned drunkenness and a story about waiting for an uber. The cop took his wallet, reading out his name, and let him off with a warning that the streets were dangerous these nights. With the cop gone, Genevieve returned. She approached him calmly because she recognized Robert's name by reputation- they were both members of a certain club...

The next afternoon, probationary agent Mabel Pinos arrives at the home of the female victim. She was still living with her family, and police and other FBI agents are still on scene, going over every bit of physical evidence they can, trying to recreate a timeline for the young woman's last days. Mabel moved through the crowded house, handing off papers to the agents in charge that authorized her to examine the young woman's computer and devices. She collected a laptop and went to look for a less crowded spot in the house.

On the way, she saw the mother and younger brother of the victim sitting with a man who wasn't police or FBI. Jeremiah Dixon had come by on behalf of a local ministry to offer condolences to the family, and the two of them locked eyes for a moment as she passed by. Pinos steps into the back patio and begins working on accessing the data from the computer. A few minutes pass of her delving through internet activity social media, reading through the history of what this woman had been doing online, and who she had talked to.

Within just minutes, she closed the device, convinced that the theory that the attacker was a jealous male targeting these women was wrong. There were no common ties or connections between any of the women. no common friends, shopping habits, workplaces, service subscriptions, or even physical similarities. No common threads between any of the men they'd interacted with on any of the dating websites either, which was the lead detective's current theory. However, the first two male victims had exchanged messages with the same female profile within two weeks of their deaths. Same with the third and fourth, on a different dating service.

Mabel turned around to see Jeremiah standing just inside the doorway, paper towels in his hand and a concerned look on his face. He introduced himself, offering the towels, and asked if there's anything she would like to talk about. This is the point where Mabel realized that she had pushed herself hard with that research, and she was bleeding from the ears...

Interaction posted by character(s): Story:
 * (cut short, posted in story section below)

Just as she had recognized his name, Robert knows Genevieve by reputation once she introduced herself. It only took a moment's discussion to agree to work together- at least until they knew what they were hunting, at any rate...

They agreed that the killer had likely waited in that alley for it's victims, but the faint traces of blood Dashwood found leading back towards it told them that the killer had retreated back this way after the deed. They followed the traces through the shadows between buildings, across railroad tracks, and into a commercial parking lot. They lost the trail among the gravel and grass of the parking spaces, and concluded that the killer had driven away from here.

They didn't make any more headway until the next day, when they split up. Robert visited the police station and, with some subtle questions, confirmed that no cars were reported stolen from that lot. Genevieve tracked down the lot attendant and, with a little monetary encouragement, got descriptions of several vehicles with a single person that came and went that night. * * * The day after the murders, at the female victim's home, agent Pinos and Jeremiah exchanged simple pleasantries. He seemed to accept her explanations about health issues and seemed sincere in his sympathies. When she asked who he was and why he was there, he replied that he was offering support for the grieving family. She followed up with some mild, if awkward questioning about his relationship with the family, and learned he was as new to town as her. She gave him her card in case he learned anything, and they parted ways. * * * The next five days passed by full of drudgery and hitting the pavement. Mabel Pinos had to sit in on the autopsies of both recent victims, and review the records from eight earlier ones. Lots of time, paperwork, and bodies, with little new information gleaned. Robert and Genevieve worked to try to track down vehicles based on the descriptions they had, but without plate numbers it was slow work. Jeremiah Dixon met with family and friends of more and more previous victims, trying to piece together a sense of what kind of evil had stolen into their lives. It wasn't until the sixth double homicide was discovered that the characters made progress.

It was late morning when the bodies of a man and woman were found in a SUV in a hotel parking lot. There was something a little different in this scene however: the man had been armed and managed to fire a few rounds in the struggle. Agent Pinos was working with the other crime scene technicians when Genevieve and Robert arrived. Knowing they wouldn't be able to get past the police line, Genevieve had brought some surveillance gear to listen to the investigators from a distance, and they sat in her suv down the street listening.

After some time, Jeremiah arrived as well, joining the sparse crowd of gawkers and press that lingered at the tape line. He started to survey the block, looking for any places he might find witnesses. While scanning the area, he happened to spot Genevieve and Robert. Taking that as the first potential lead in days, he got back to his own car and circled the block to stake them out.

During their surveillance, Genevieve and Robert heard an argument between some of the examiners. One of the examiners (Agent Pinos, not that they know) seemed insistent the killer is a woman, and the others disagree. Besides the statistics that most multiple murderers are men, they argued, the male victim had had his arm ripped out of its socket and his collar bone shattered, and the strength needed to do so would almost certainly make the killer a man.

While they didn't catch what makes the agent so confident that the killer is a woman, the exchange got them thinking. Going back to their notes, the lot attendant from the last murders had only had two cars driven by a single woman that night. Starting with the most likely vantage point where the killer would have waited for the victims, Genevieve and Robert canvassed the area. They found a faint trail of blood in the parking lot of drugstore with an exterior security camera. They bribed the clerk to get access to the footage and saw- a little before 11 the previous night, a blonde woman parked a green mazda that matched one of their descriptions, and walked away, and returned about four hours later. Even better, they were able to get a partial plate number, which made tracking down the owner just a matter of calling in favors.

Dixon was still tailing them three hours later when they got to the small house. With no lights on and no car present, Genevieve and Robert snuck into the house to search it. It was a normal enough home, if drab, until they got to the bedroom; a wall was covered in pictures and printed out photos of a man. They were all different pictures, possibly pulled from online, and each one had recently had his face scratched up or blacked out in marker. As Robert searched, he realized that under these pictures was a whole other layer of printouts of a different man, likewise with his face destroyed. Genevieve found three stacks of photos haphazardly discarded in heaps around the room, and bloodied clothing soaking in bleach in the bathroom, and the story of what was happening became clear enough. They were just about to withdraw and plan a trap when they heard the front door open.

Dixon pulled his car up to the small house, unsure of what to do. He didn't know what the pair were up to, or why they had broken in, or what was in store for the young lady he'd just watch carrying in groceries. His gut told him something bad was about to happen, and he barely only barely surprised when the sound of shouting and gunfire rang out from within. He drew his pistol and rushed in the door, but stopped short as he saw the thin young woman holding Robert off the ground one handed, howling in feral rage, while Genevieve shot her repeatedly with a handgun from about ten feet away. When she looked at him, Dixon saw the same rage, and he raised his gun at her without hesitation.

The fight was brutal and uneven; while she appeared to shrug off the trauma of being shot, she lost a lot of blood from her wounds, which slowed her down. Genevieve, Jeremiah, and Robert fought defensively, so she didn't actually land many blows, but when they did they were literally bone-shattering. But as they fought, the woman's wounds and blood loss overtook her, and she eventually collapsed. The three Hunters discussed what to do and, after taking care of any incriminating evidence in the house, agreed to let the authorities find her body after anonymous calls about gunfire to the police.

The authorities took just a day to tie all the loose ends together - the pictures of all the male victims told a story: the late woman had been meeting men online, they spurned her advances, she stalked and killed them when they met other women. The latest victims had defended themselves, and she eventually succumbed to her wounds.