Pleasant Harbor

by Thomas Bloom

  Dusty used the auditorium of the Pleasant Harbor High School for his press conferences. It had all the audio/visual equipment that might be needed and it set vacant most of the time. The school was happy to make it available at no charge. At 3:00 PM Dusty stood at the podium in full uniform and waited for the attendees to get situated. There were about 30 reporters in the room including representatives from some of the state’s major papers. This had obviously caught the public’s attention. He started with a statement:

  “I’ll tell you what we know about this case as of today. Five days ago we found a body floating on the shore of the state park just south of here. It was a nude female and she had been decapitated. There were no other wounds or marks on her body. Preliminary toxicology reports indicate that she had some alcohol in her system and also possibly a date rape drug and an anesthetic. With some help from the State Police lab we have identified her as Angel Lee Patterson. Ms. Patterson was a real estate agent in Lansing, Michigan where she lived. She was an only child and was born and raised in Adrian, Michigan. She is survived by her parents. She was twenty-three years old. She was a graduate of Michigan State University.

  “Our initial investigation has eliminated a number of possible persons of interest including a young man she had recently been seeing. We have no suspects as of this time. We do have an indication that she left a bar in Lansing with an unidentified male on the night of her death. This is the last she was seen.

  “We are asking any person that might have any information pertaining to this case to call our office. I’ll take your questions now.”

  “Sheriff, do you have any indication as to why she would have been decapitated?”

  “None whatsoever. The obvious conclusion is that the person who committed this act has some serious mental issues but that is pure speculation. We have no specific information.”

  “Sheriff Donavan, have you any idea where this attack might have occurred or why the body was put into the lake?”

  “We have no information at all as to where the act may have occurred. The body could have been deposited directly into the lake or put into the river where the current could have carried it into the lake.”

  “Mr. Donavan, given the status of this investigation as you have described it, do you plan on bringing in any other agencies to help you in the investigation?”

  “Absolutely. I’ve already worked with the State Police. But I’m not going to be specific as to who or what. I do not want to alert the perp, the perpetrator, as to exactly what we are going to do next.”

  “Sheriff, has a reward been offered for any information that might lead to the arrest of the guilty party?”

  “Not at this time?”

  “Sheriff Donavan, what is your personal theory on what happened here. Why would this poor young lady have been abducted in Lansing and then have her body dumped so far away?”

  “I think there must be some connection with Potawatomie County but I have no idea what it could be. On the other hand this could have been a totally random act committed by a person with serious mental problems which would make it impossible to analyze their actions on any rational basis.”

  The conference degenerated into useless or repetitive questions and Dusty closed it at about 3:30. “I will share any future developments with you but as of the moment this is all we have. Once again, if any member of the public has any information that might in any way relate to this we would like to hear from them.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next few days returned to a more or less normal routine. Roger Whitney called in a favor and had Angel Patterson’s body transferred to a funeral home in Adrian. Dusty checked with Mr. Patterson and was relieved to find that his wife had been released from the hospital.

  “She’ll never be well again but at least she’s out and living with it. The funeral is going to be a real ordeal,” Mr. Patterson had reported. “And by the way, thanks for getting her body back here. Obviously, it will be a closed casket funeral. If you ever find the rest of her we want to disinter her and bury her right.” Dusty repeated his condolences.

  The State Police lab had found nothing that differed from Whitney’s preliminary autopsy.

  It was a week later when he got the call from Amanda Stevens. “It’s terrible news Dusty. Some salmon fisherman found a female body in the lake. It was nude and beheaded. They tied a rope to one of her arms and towed it to the end of the south pier. They’re waiting there. They called it in to my office on one of their cells. We’ve now got another overlapping jurisdiction situation here Dusty. I want to work with you on this. I was afraid from the beginning that this would not stop with just one killing. And, by the way, I’ve finally tracked down that profiler in Indiana. We need to call him to work out some kind of deal.”

  “Okay, first things first. Tell the fisherman to wait. I’m going to call Roger and get out there with our boat. I don’t want them towing the body into the harbor. If you want to ride along it’s up to you.”

  “No, this is Roger’s deal. I don’t need to see the body. Call me when you’re done and we’ll meet and talk.”

  Two hours later, with the body now in the coroner’s office, Dusty called Amanda.

  “Dirty work. I didn’t look at the body very close. Roger says it appears to be an older woman. One interesting thing. Look, it’s three in the afternoon--too early for dinner and too late for lunch. I don’t feel like eating anyway. If it’s okay I’ll just come to your office. Do me a favor. While I’m driving over check with the State Police and see if we have any missing person reports in the last couple of days.”

  “Will do. See you in a bit.”

  Dusty had only been in Amanda’s office once before when they were arguing about another jurisdictional issue. It was Spartan and neat. She had two pictures on the backboard of her desk—one of her two sons and one of her deceased husband. She had a copy of her training academy certificate on one wall with an army sharpshooter’s certificate just below it. On another wall she had a copy of her honorable discharge from the U.S. Army and below that a citation for meritorious service. The remaining wall had a large picture of The Michigan Dunes State Park with a beautiful sunset in the background.

  “Can I offer you something to drink?”

  “I feel like a double bourbon but I’ll settle for a cup of coffee.”

  “Bourbon we don’t stock but I can handle coffee.” She pressed a button on her intercom. “Renaldo, could you bring us two mugs of coffee please. By the way, the State Police have no new reports of any missing person.”

  Shortly thereafter a Hispanic looking officer came in carrying a tray with two mugs of coffee along with some packaged sugar and cream. Roger drank his black but Amanda mixed in two sugars and two creams. “One of my few vices,” she said. “Let’s start with the jurisdictional issue then we can talk about the profiler.”

  “I don’t even want to argue about that. One body in your jurisdiction and one in mine. Most certainly the same perp. I admit I’m at a loss. Two heads are better than one. Let’s just pool our resources and work together.”

  “Okay, that was easy. I don’t have anything to offer except to repeat we’ve got a maniac here. Who knows when he is going to stop?”

  “Great, what about the profiler?”

  “His name is Edward Zitweiller. He’s retired in Muncie Indiana, his home town. It took me several days to track him down. He should remember me from the case we worked together. Let’s call him now.” Dusty nodded his assent. Amanda put her office phone in the middle of the desk and turned on the speaker. She dialed and waited for four or five rings until a male voice answered.

  “Is this Edward Zitweiller?” A male voice answered in the affirmative.

  “Mr. Zitweiller, this is Amanda Stevens speaking. I’m presently Chief of Police in Pleasant Harbor, Michigan. We know each other from a case we worked together at Fort Bragg. I’m sure you remember the man who was throwing acid in the faces of women on the base. Your work
was key to our finding and convicting the right man. I’m with Dusty Donavan who is the Sheriff of our county. We have a terrible situation here. We have found two nude female bodies in the lake. They were both beheaded. We have a lunatic on our hands and absolutely no leads. We would like to hire you to help us in this case.”

  “Of course I remember the Fort Bragg case. Were you the MP who helped me with the analysis?”

  “Yes sir. I was most impressed with your results. I know you are retired but we really need help here. We both have very tight budgets to work with but we could pay your expenses and a small stipend.”

  “Well here’s my situation. When I retired I swore I would not let myself get dragged back in. I’m a very busy man. I have a golf group, a poker group, an exercise group and a bridge group. However, I find this case fascinating. I read the account of one body being found in the lake. Are you telling me you’ve found a second?”

  “Yes sir, just today.”

  “And you have no leads at all?”

  “None whatsoever. We’ve eliminated all the logical suspects in the first case and we haven’t ID’d the person in the second. Whatever this perp’s motivation he is obviously wacko. We need to go outside the box here.”

  “Okay, I’ll come up tomorrow. I don’t need the fee. I’m comfortable financially. If you pay my expenses that will be adequate. Tell me where to meet you. “I’ll want to visit the scenes and go over the coroner’s report in both cases.”

  Amanda gave him driving directions to her office.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next day Dusty and Amanda met with Edward Zitweiller in Amanda’s office. He was a small, well-groomed man, mostly bald with rimless glasses. He was crisp and efficient and gave off an aura of intelligence.

  “Here’s the way I work. I come at it from two directions. First, I look at everything that’s available including any crime scene. In this case I guess that’s just the lake and the beach. You might think that there’s nothing to be learned there but I’m not after facts so much as I’m after a feel for the case. This part is not scientific, it’s subjective. Then I try to imagine a scenario or scenarios that would cause a person to act in a certain manner. In your words Ms. Stevens the man is a ‘wacko’ but in his mind he is acting totally rationally. The challenge is to identify his motivation. If you have that then you can understand not only what he has done but also what he might do next. Note that we all assume that the perpetrator is a male. I agree with that but it is not inconceivable that we are dealing with a female or with several persons. Now, if one of you can drive me to where the bodies were found and then to the coroner’s office I’ll go to work.”

  Dusty left with the profiler shortly thereafter.

  Chapter Fifteen

  He looked at the two heads in the beakers with satisfaction. How’s that mama? Two down and you’re next. It will take some time for you. I’ve got to find just the right woman. Someone mean and selfish and cruel. But I’ll find you and then we’ll finish.

  The second case had been much more difficult than the first. He had needed a nasty woman in her seventies that he could get close to with no one else around. He had posted an ad on several web sites geared to seniors:

  MIRACULOUS NEW DRUG COMBINATION FOR SENIORS DISCOVERED. THIS IS GUARANTEED TO REVERSE THE EFFECTS OF AGING AND GIVE YOU MORE ENERGY THAN YOU HAVE HAD IN YEARS.

  WE ARE SO CONFIDENT OF THE RESULTS WE WILL GIVE YOU YOUR FIRST MONTH’S SUPPLY FREE. NO STRINGS AND NO COMMITMENT ON YOUR PART.

  IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THE RESULTS YOU HAVE NO FURTHER OBLIGATION AND WE WILL NOT CONTACT YOU AGAIN.

  TO HAVE YOUR FREE STARTER KIT DELIVERED TO YOUR HOME JUST FILL IN YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS BELOW.

  A PRODUCT OF THE LEVINE DRUG COMPANY.

  He had set up a Gmail account under a fictitious name and address. He was amazed at the results. He received hundreds of replies from persons in the U.S. and overseas. He eliminated all the respondents more than three hours driving time from his home. That left him with about twenty candidates. He then did some background checking. A Facebook account made it easy. Otherwise he had to do some more work. He was looking for a widow living alone in an isolated location. He was left with five candidates. He used a cheap computer he had bought used in a repair shop. He knew that IP addresses could be tracked. He kept the computer hidden in a wall in his basement. The laptop he used for everything else was in his study.

  A day of driving allowed him to narrow the candidates down to only one. He had one more criteria to fill. Using a pre-paid throw away mobile phone he called the woman and said he was working for a collection agency and wanted to talk to her about a past due bill for some items she had ordered on the web.

  “Listen you asshole. I don’t owe anyone any money and I never buy anything over the web. Either you’re wrong or you’re trying to scam me. You can take your bill and shove it where the sun don’t shine. You’re wasting my time you cocksucker.” She had hung up.

  Perfect he thought. Just the right personality. He then studied her house for a day from the woods surrounding the home. He wanted to be sure that no one else was living there and to see if she had a dog. He saw no one enter or leave the home except for one elderly lady who appeared to weigh not much more than 100 pounds. She did have a small dog but it looked to weigh no more than ten pounds. He could handle that. There was no garage and there was only one car in the driveway.

  On his next free day he rang the doorbell holding a large cardboard box in one hand and a clip board in the other. He had found a short jacket in a local Goodwill store. He’d printed a small label saying “O’Brien’s Delivery Service” and pasted it on the jacket. It was not very sophisticated but it only had to work for a few seconds.

  “Mrs. Zugman, I’m with O’Brien’s delivery service and I have a package for you. It’s from the Levine Drug Company. There’s no charge but I do need to get your signature to verify the delivery. Is it okay if I set the box inside?” Without waiting for an answer he shoved the box through the door and stuck the clipboard under the lady’s nose. “Just sign here and I’ll be out of your way.”

  As the lady took the clipboard and the pen he reached in one of his jacket pockets and pulled out a cloth which he held over her face. She only struggled for a few seconds. As he dragged her out of the door to his vehicle the small dog suddenly appeared and started barking. Too late fella, he thought. After putting the body in the back seat he returned to the house to recover the clipboard, pen and box. The dog growled but did not bother him.

  The rest of the exercise went exactly as the first except that he did a better job of positioning the trough this time. Later he deposited her body in the river.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dusty and Amanda met with Edward Zitweiller the next day. “Here are my thoughts. First, this is a lot tougher not having a scene. You lose some of the feel for the case. Second, I worked up a preliminary profile on the way up here but as soon as I got the coroner’s report on the second woman I saw that it doesn’t fit. We’ve got a 23 year old woman and a woman who appears to be in seventies. There was anesthesia in the second body but no alcohol and no date rape drug. This is not a thing against one woman this is a thing against multiple women, or maybe even all women. Every time he beheads one of these women he is settling a score from his earlier life. The motivation is some deep resentment over a rejection or some kind of severe treatment. The combination of an older woman and a younger woman leads me to believe it might be a family thing. It could be a sister and a mother but that leaves almost a fifty year gap. That doesn’t fit for a mother. Or, it could be a girlfriend and a mother, maybe a grandmother.

  “One thing I’m pretty sure of is that he’s settling scores. I know that from your perspective it doesn’t make sense to kill one person to settle a score with a totally different one but we know that he’s mentally unbalanced. It makes sense to him. Why not just kill them and leave them—why the beheadings? It’s the most dramatic and final t
hing he could think of. When the head comes off it closes the case—his total revenge. And it shows that he had total control over them. Also, the fact that we found the bodies but not the heads would lead me to believe that he’s keeping them as some kind of trophy. It’s the ultimate indecency, to have your head on a wall like some kind of game animal. The other possibility is that he’s throwing the heads in the water at the same time. The body will float but the head will not. The only solution to that would be to drag the entire river and I doubt that’s feasible. But I go with the trophy alternative.

  “Does any of that get us closer to him? Yes and no. We can probably eliminate happily married men who have a good relationship with their family. We can also eliminate stupid men. This all took a good deal of planning. It will help when we get an ID on the second woman. If there is some connection between the two vics then we might have something to go on. But my guess is that both these women were taken because they represent someone in his earlier life, not because they meant anything to him in their own right. I’ll be surprised if there’s a connection between the two. It could be that he’s done. The two of them may have settled the score. Or, we could be looking at others, the two vics might not be the end of it. He may want to go through it all again. If it does happen again and the third vic is different than the first two then we could have a very complex situation on our hands. I’m sorry, I know all this doesn’t help much but it’s as far as I can go with what we have to work with.

  “The last thing is the obvious one. The fact that he dumped the first body here could have been random. The fact that he dumped two here could be a red herring or it could be that he has ties to this area.”

  “So basically we have nothing,” Amanda said. “We might look at every man in Potawatomie County who has had a bad family history or who has been jilted by a wife or a girlfriend. That might narrow it down to a few hundred guys. But even if we identify some prospects what do we do next? We can’t bring them in for questioning based on that.”