The Ford Heights Murders: Your Friends Came to See Me Book 1

by DL Benning

  On the second day Carol didn’t show up for work, the nursing supervisor called the police. The police, in turn, called Carol’s parents; they said they hadn’t heard from her either. The police then interviewed George. They searched Carol’s bedroom, but everything appeared to be intact.

  Carol’s roommates were worried about their friend. They’d grown to know and love her like a sister. George, too, was nervous about what could have happened to Carol. The police brought George in for questioning several times. They kept accusing him of causing Carol’s disappearance. George was devastated. He was living in a nightmare.

  Weeks later, Carol’s family and friends were still on edge. Everyone was trying to be hopeful, but they feared the worst. Carol’s roommates packed up her things. The girls were crying when Carol’s dad arrived to collect her belongings. Carol’s dad wanted to cry too, but he couldn’t let himself. He took the boxes home and left them packed, hoping she would return.

  To help himself cope, Carol’s dad thought that maybe Carol had another boyfriend but didn’t know how to tell George. He even wondered if she had eloped with the other boyfriend. Maybe she didn’t want to tell her family because they had been dealing with her mother’s deteriorating mental health. In the bottom of his heart, he knew that something was wrong. But he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud. Their family had already been through so much loss.

  Three of his five children had died within a few years of each other. Jimmy, the oldest, had died in a car crash. He fell asleep at the wheel and hit a truck hit head on. His younger brother Johnny was supposed to have been with Jimmy the night of the crash; Johnny blamed himself for his brother’s death. Rumors circulated that Jimmy, destroyed by grief and guilt, had become an alcoholic. Shortly thereafter, he died in his sleep. The family figured he drank himself to death. Carol’s sister Janice had been a delicate, kind, and thoughtful girl. Barely into her twenties, she had developed a mysterious infection and died unexpectedly. And now Carol had disappeared.

  Andi, the youngest, would sneak into Carol’s room and go through the boxes. She would put on Carol’s clothes and pretend her sister was hugging her. She read Carol’s books and her diary. She listened to Carol’s radio, hoping for good news of her one remaining sibling.

  Winter had been horribly long, seemingly devouring most of fall and spring. The weather was finally turning warm. Several young boys, eager to be playing outside in the woods, noticed a white ball in the nearby grass. They went to pick it up, but it was not a ball. It was a nurse’s hat. Not too far from the hat, they discovered a crumpled up, torn, and dirty sheet… with a skeleton partially wrapped in it. One of the boys ran home to tell his parents. The boy’s parents called the police. Detectives and the news reporters showed up very quickly.

  Someone on the team wondered if the hat might have belonged to that nurse who had gone missing. Carol’s dad took the call. As he listened to the unthinkable news, he sank down the wall and sobbed. Andi saw him and tried to help. But all he could say was, “She’s gone. Your sister is gone.”

  Carol’s dad and sister drove to the police station in silence. When they arrived, the detectives asked them questions about every aspect of Carol’s life, including George. Andi wondered why they weren’t asking any questions about Carol’s other boyfriend, Fred. But she never said anything. She was too afraid to speak. Carol’s father and Andi, now his only living child, drove home in stunned silence. There were no words left to say.

  Carol was buried a few days after the dental records confirmed the body was hers. She looked down from heaven and saw her emotionally destroyed father, her beloved George, her precious sister Andi, and her roommates from the boarding house. The reverend gave a nice sermon about Carol’s short life. She was buried alongside her three siblings. Fred was also at the cemetery that day. He sat in the last row trying not to be seen. Andi noticed him and stared at him, but he just looked away.

  Weeks after the funeral, and for several days in a row, Andi saw Fred drive past their house. One day, Andi was playing outside when she saw Fred’s car approach and slow down in front of their house. Afraid he would stop the car, she ran and hid under the porch. Her dad was home, but she wasn’t sure where. Fred walked into the backyard calling for Andi. Andi stayed under the porch until her dad called her inside for dinner.

  One late afternoon, Fred came to their house asking to get some of his things from Carol’s bedroom. Carol’s father refused to let him in the house. Carol’s parents had never liked Fred. Her dad demanded that Fred leave his property, which made Fred very angry. Andi heard them yelling and hid under the porch, her favorite hiding spot. She knew intuitively that Fred had killed Carol. Andi was scared he would come after her next. She lived most of her life looking over her shoulder, afraid that Fred might kill her too.

  Life had become depressed for what remained of Carol’s family. Carol’s mother had been committed to a mental hospital. Having lost four children in the span of a few years, she could not bear to live any longer. She tried killing herself several times and eventually succeeded.

  Andi and her dad were now the only ones left in a big, lonely house. The days and nights passed without many words spoken between them. Her dad was broken. His sister came to look after him and Andi for about a year. She cooked and cleaned and tried to make life easier. It never really got easier.

  Andi was alone a lot after her siblings passed away. She was almost twelve years old when Carol was murdered, and she was forced to grow up fast. She looked after her dad the best she could. Her dad did his best to keep going for a while. Eventually, he turned to alcohol to cope with the hand life had dealt him.

  Like Carol, Andi also had red hair, green eyes, and a face full of freckles. Andi was a sensitive and intuitive child. She could see Carol’s spirit and loved when she came to visit her. They would play games in the attic, and Carol would talk to her most nights to try and ease her sadness and loneliness. Andi never told anyone about her sister’s visits for fear she would be put away like her mother.

  Andi went on to finish school. She became a nanny and had a nice, quiet life. She married but had no children. She moved to Arizona when her husband died. From time to time, she still prayed to and for Carol. She had Carol’s nursing school picture framed on her bookcase. At times she felt Carol was in the room with her. When Andi felt Carol’s presence, they would sit together and listen to music like the old days. Andi wondered what happened to Fred. And she wondered what would have happened if she’d told her dad or the police what she knew and what she had seen. She blamed herself for letting Fred go free and for not bringing justice or closure to her sister’s death.

  George did marry eventually, and he met his goal of becoming the head of maintenance at St. James Hospital. Even though he married, he still died brokenhearted. He tortured himself with regret throughout his life. If he had only picked Carol up on time, he told himself, she would still be alive today. He never forgave himself, nor did he ever forget her.

  —Chapter 6—

  Julia

  Julia was a free spirit as a young girl. She loved the outdoors. Running, climbing trees, and playing sports were some of her favorite activities. She had an athletic build and long, blond hair that she often wore in braids. Julia seemed to sport a suntan year round.

  Julia was a gifted athlete and loved competing in many sports. In high school, she played on the women’s golf, softball, and tennis teams all four years. She was also a track star. Julia graduated from Bloom High School in Ford Heights, where Fred also attended in the early fifties.

  Fred was quiet in high school, a real loner and extremely shy. Julia knew he fancied her because he would stop by her school locker most afternoons to say hello. That was it, just hello. He would linger there, like he wanted to say more but was at a loss for words. Julia thought he was nice but not her type—he was a boy, and Julia was attracted to girls. Of course, in those days, no one spoke of being gay. Julia was curious about her sexuality, but sh
e kept her feelings to herself. It was a closely guarded secret.

  Otherwise, Julia had a good childhood. Her parents were involved in the community, their church, and all their daughters’ sports. Her dad was the coach of the softball team and was also Julia’s biggest fan. Julia’s mother liked to come to the games from time to time. Julia’s dad, though, never missed a game. He had five daughters. Julia was thought to be his favorite. The girls joked that she was the closest their dad got to having a son.

  Julia’s sisters were fun. She had four of them: Emma, Jolene, April, and Paulette. Emma was her favorite. She shared Julia’s love of sports and was her confidante. They could talk for hours about everything. Jolene was the oldest and was very strict. Emma and Julia joked that Jolene was never a kid. Their mother depended on Jolene a lot to help with meals and household chores.

  April was a sweet child. She was very short—her legs and arms were crippled, and she spent most of her childhood in a wheelchair. Their mother hid April from the public because she was ashamed of the girl. Julia and Emma hated when this happened. They made it their mission to include April in the neighborhood activities and fun.

  And then there was Paulette. She had died at birth, and the girls never got to meet her. Every year on Paulette’s birthday, the family visited her gravesite. They would plant flowers and say prayers for her. It was always a depressing day for Julia’s family.

  Every spring and summer, Julia played on the girls’ softball team. Julia had such a natural talent that the neighborhood boys wished she was on their team. Co-ed sports teams were not allowed in those days. On weeknights in the summer, the neighborhood kids would play pickup baseball games. The games would stretch for hours. The kids only headed home when the sun went down, and they heard their mothers calling for them. These games were the highlights of Julia’s summers.

  On most summer nights, Julia would lie in bed and replay the baseball games in her head. She would think about how she could have hit the ball farther, how she could have stolen more bases, and how she would play the next game even better. She didn’t know if it was true, but she had read that there were professional women’s softball teams in Europe. Julia could picture herself in a professional softball uniform, scoring the winning run that cinched the tournament. Her team’s picture would be on the cover of all the newspapers worldwide.

  As much as Julia loved playing sports, her bigger dream was to serve her country. She wanted to be a soldier. However, in those days, most women in the military were nurses. Julia’s parents would only support her dream of military service if she became a nurse. This didn’t interest her, so she never pursued it. Instead, after graduating from high school, she did what most single girls did at that time. She went to the nearby secretarial school and rented a room at a women’s boarding house.

  Julia found an available room and quickly befriended the other boarders. The house was large and had three bedrooms upstairs that were all rented. The women were all from the Ford Heights area and all around the same age. While they had separate lives and different interests, they all enjoyed living on their own.

  The girls made a point of looking after Mrs. W., the widow who owned the house. She was a stocky, older woman with gray hair she wore pinned up in the back. She wasn’t mean, but not particularly cheerful. She liked having the young women around. Her kids were grown and long gone, and her husband had passed away ten years earlier after an extended illness.

  The house often needed repairs. Mrs. W. would hire tradesmen to do them. Julia always felt awkward when there were men working in the house. They seemed to pay more attention to her than to their jobs, going out of their way to flirt with her. She often wondered why she was the target of these overtures. She was not interested in these men and would barely acknowledge they existed. Instead, Julia would read a book or sit on the porch while they worked on whatever project Mrs. W. hired them to do. Julia’s roommates, on the other hand, took an active interest. They would get dressed up in their blouses and shorts and prance around the house, hoping to catch a man’s eye. Julia would tease them for so obviously seeking attention.

  Julia was religious. She often volunteered at her church and at the local hospital, St. James in Ford Heights. On the weekends, she worked the news cart. Her job was to visit patients to offer them newspapers or library books. Julia liked visiting with the patients, because she loved hearing about other people’s lives. For as long as she could remember, people had always felt comfortable talking with her. Her smile and gentle spirit made it easy for them to open up about their illnesses, their family situations, and places they had visited.

  Although she loved her volunteer work, the number of sick people she saw every day weighed on her. When patients were too ill to respond, she would stand at their bedsides and say a quiet prayer for their healing. Every time she left the room, she reminded herself to be grateful she hadn’t become an army nurse as her parents had suggested.

  When Julia wasn’t volunteering, she spent her free time at the local library. She had always been an eager student and loved learning new things. To her, the library was the perfect place to spend an afternoon. She loved everything about books: the way they smelled, the way they felt in her hands, and the world of information they provided. The library fueled Julia to imagine a world outside of Ford Heights.

  As a young girl, Julia always dreamed of taking an African safari. She had read a book in grade school that inspired her to learn more about Africa. She knew this was not a safe venture for a single woman, but she didn’t let that stop her from planning her trip. She started saving her spare change in a Mason jar—labeled “Africa”—that she kept behind her bed. Every time she added some change, she would smile and say to herself, “I am one step closer to seeing my elephants.”

  At work, she would daydream about being on a safari, seeing lions, giraffes, zebras, and hyenas. She would picture the African people and always thought them to be kind, wise, and noble. She loved the African tribes’ traditions and the ornate jewelry that she read about in the library books.

  One day she ordered an African bracelet from an ad in her mother’s Reader’s Digest. The bracelet was made of small, colorful beads woven into a decorative pattern. The advertisement claimed it was “Made in Africa.” Even though Julia doubted the bracelet’s authenticity, she wore it every day with pride.

  Julia’s bracelet was quite the conversation starter. She loved having an excuse to talk about her African dream trip. Her sisters used to tease her about being an African Queen. They were not at all interested in leaving Ford Heights and never understood why Julia would want to travel that far away from home.

  Luckily for Julia, the Ford Heights library housed a large section of Africa-themed books in the travel section. One evening, as she was checking out a few books, she noticed an old classmate waiting in checkout line. She had not seen Fred since their high school graduation, almost two years earlier. They exchanged polite hellos, and he asked her if he could walk her home. It was dark outside, after all. Julia quickly said, “No, thank you,” and confidently asserted that she would be fine. She stifled a smile at Fred’s offer. She was way more athletic than he was, and he wouldn’t offer her much additional protection. Most boys would have been lucky for her to walk them home.

  Fred responded politely, but he looked rejected when she declined his offer so quickly. On her way home, she thought about how he had probably worked up a lot of nerve to talk to her. She remembered their awkward encounters outside of her locker in high school. Poor Fred, she thought.

  When Julia needed some quiet time, she would go to the library until closing time to escape the outside world. The library was just a few blocks from the boarding house where Julia lived. She usually felt comfortable walking home alone. But there were a few nights she would get an uneasy, anxious feeling, like someone was following her. She would walk a little faster, but she never told anyone about it.

  One wet and foggy night, Julia stepped out from the lib
rary and headed toward home. Once again, she felt that familiar, uneasy, and anxious feeling that she was being followed. She quickened her step. The feeling grew in its intensity, and Julia felt her heart racing. Her breathing became fast and shallow. She turned around once, twice, and again to see what was behind her. She saw no one. She wanted to run but talked herself out of it. She was acting like a silly little girl, she told herself. Then Julia reminded herself that she was a tough young woman who didn’t run from anything.

  As she turned the corner, Julia spotted the boarding house a few doors down. The porch light was still on, and she could already hear the windchime. She started to calm down, knowing she was mere steps from the front door. She’d be up in her room in no time.

  But suddenly, a man jumped out in front of her and knocked her down. He slipped a thin rope around her neck and pulled it tightly. Despite her strength, she never got the chance to fight off her attacker. She was dead before she could utter a sound.

  Fred dragged Julia quickly to his car and threw her lifeless body into the backseat. All the while, he talked to himself, first muttering quietly and then shouting with rage.

  “Should have let me walk you home, Julia! Should have said ‘hello’ to me, Julia!”

  He slammed the back car door shut, hurriedly got behind the wheel, and sped off from her street. Fred drove quickly, heading toward the nearby woods. When he got to there, he dimmed his car lights and turned onto the dirt-and-gravel side road.

  Fred slammed the car into park then crawled into the backseat. He kissed Julia’s corpse for a few minutes, then lay next to her dead body. The rope was still around her neck. Julia’s head lay to one side with her eyes wide open, the terror she had felt still evident. Fred took his time in the car with Julia, violating her body and studying it in turn. He was remarkably calm and seemed very self-satisfied. He enjoyed killing these women who rejected him. He felt justified. He relished the power he felt as the life left their bodies, and the control he had over them once it did.