NOVEMBER 1989

  MINDEN, LA

  Dave Cooley: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming in before your shifts. As you are all aware, there has been a string of consistent homicides not just occurring in this town, but in other neighboring states. I have come to the theory that the murders must be connected.

  [Minden Police Department groans]

  Dave Cooley: Would you all please listen?!

  Fred Gonzalez: You’re not seriously going to try to draw a line between this little theory of yours and the body found in Hooper Park, are you? For heaven’s sake, Dave.

  Officer 1: What would you make you even think that they’re committed by the same person? We’re running around in circles. I think you should let us go now. This meeting is nothing but a waste of our time.

  Frank Gonzalez: And how are we going to explain this to the FBI? If we don’t have actual forensic evidence, we don’t have nothing. Do we even have any witnesses?

  Dave Cooley: I’m working on it. I’m knocking on the door of every house in town. I’m asking the right questions.

  Frank Gonzalez [scoffs]: You’re working on it.

  Dave Cooley: As of now, we only have the testimonies of the victims’ family members. [Points to the large bulletin board with photos and notes.] But if you all actually take the time to read the police statements, you will see that each of the victims, at least the ones that have been properly identified, has a history themselves of abusing others. Whether it is an assault or battery charge, they’ve all nearly been in trouble with the law at some point, give or take. From felonies to misdemeanors to community service hours. Divorce court. You name it.

  Frank Gonzalez: We still ain’t got nothing for the FBI.

  Dave Cooley: The victims have been documented in past court records, including restraining orders, domestic battery— the list goes on. Every single one. Their families have confirmed this. All of them.

  Frank Gonzalez [rolls eyes]: And?

  Dave Cooley: Look. The victims’ lives are taken away in a similar pattern—through strangulation, stabbings, multiple gunshots, etc. Maybe these crimes could have been committed by multiple people or occur at random occurrences. That is a possibility that I will not ignore. But for the select group of victims that have ever neglected or put a child in direct danger—they have been subject to a far more slow, painful death by this person. A brutal method of torture. And once again, these kinds of death correlated exactly with those victims who has a history or inflicting pain on a child. Specifically, those victims. Although, I will say that many people in the community agree that they are not victims. Which makes solving these cases much, much more difficult.

  [Silence]

  Dave Cooley: One word, ladies and gentlemen. Vigilantism.

  Frank Gonzalez: But how are these connected? Correlation is not causation, Dave. Your argument is hanging on by a thread.

  Dave Cooley: Don’t you see the pattern?

  Officer 2: Again, Dave, this is all just speculation. You only have interviews from the family members of the victims. No actual physical evidence. DNA. That is what the FBI is looking for. This can’t possibly be committed by just one person.

  Dave Cooley: Actually, we’ve collected various clothing fibers from the crime scenes that contain DNA. These DNA samples, as well as the footprints, all match with each other. So there is a stronger likelihood that it is one person. These are uploaded in the database. Unfortunately, we are unable to detect any fingerprints due to the suspect wearing gloves at the time of the murders. But forensic podiatry tests reveal that the suspect did not have shoes on. Each of these crimes occurred in a rural area, with lots of loose soil and dirt: hence where the footprints were identified. Both the left and right foot.

  Frank Gonzalez: Oh, give me a break.

  Dave Cooley: I know that we’re just a small town—that we ain’t the type to deal with this sort of thing. But this has been going on for a long time. People are scared to leave their houses, go out in public. This pattern—this has to be a vigilante serial killer we’re dealing with here. Someone who is seeking justice; who has an undeniable rage towards these type of people. Who themselves was abused as a child and is experiencing severe PTSD. You’ve seen it yourselves of the extent of how their victims were mutilated.

  Frank Gonzalez: C’mon, Dave.

  Dave Cooley: And what kind of people were the victims? The ones who were dismembered or skinned alive? Those who deliberately put a child in harm’s way—and had gotten into trouble with the law previously because of it. Out of all the seventy four victims’ families, only thirty agreed to come forward to speak to me. The majority of the victims’ families—hard it is to say; did not seem too shaken up over their relative’s death. They’ve only talked about the hell the deceased have inflicted upon their lives; and expressed little to no grief upon their deaths. So that leads me to believe another thing.

  Officer 2: And what is that?

  Dave Cooley: The perpetuator is one who watches people carefully. They do not kill impulsively. It is through face to face interaction or public records they identify their victim. Due to their stature alone they appear harmless to people. Why do you think all of seventy four victims have court cases related to assault or battery charges alone? Not drugs or burglary or arson. They researched the hell out of those people.

  Frank Gonzalez: We’re wasting valuable resources. We’re wasting time. Time. These cases have been cold for decades, Dave. No one’s talking. No one wants to talk. And as far as we know, there are no witnesses. Besides, you cannot assume that the murder of every single abusive spouse or neglectful parent is directly correlated to one person. There’s too many coincidences at play. It’s not rational.

  [Silence]

  Dave Cooley: Think about it, guys. In every single one of the photos taken at each crime scene—there are footprints in the ground. Not shoe treads. But the exact same shape of someone’s bare foot. We’ve drawn several outlines and compared them to each other—they are all a perfect match. All belong to the same person. They obviously don’t want the tread of their shoes to be identified. So they commit the deeds without them, usually in a wooded area. [Points at a picture]. If you can see, the toes themselves are turned in an abnormal position and curved inwards. They were born with a severe foot deformity that never got corrected. Clubbed foot. Also known as talipes equinovarus.

  Officer 2: What the hell? So this is a barefooted serial killer?

  Officer 1: They probably can’t walk well, or have to use a cane or something. Looking at those toes, their gait is all messed up.

  Dave Cooley: And this is why this leads me to believe that this has to be someone on the smaller size. Their shoe size is no more than a seven, seven and a half—pretty small for either a man or a woman. [taps the board]. We’ve been approaching this all wrong. This isn’t some massive, towering person. This is someone petite. Definitely underweight, due to them eating too little. Stunted growth from malnourishment; sickly looking. Probably on the quiet, soft spoken side. Someone that people just generally overlook all the time.

  Frank Gonzalez: You’re being ridiculous.

  Dave Cooley: The suspect has gone through the same sort of pain their own victims inflicted on their family members. They never want anyone to experience what they went through. So what they do? They target those who they know will do such a thing. They seek them. It’s a form of them protecting someone that they believe that their victim will harm—that they themselves take deliberate responsibility for. [Clears throat.] But it could mean something else; that the perpetrator is going through a superiority crisis and can act on a warped sense of justice. Either way; there it is. The drive to defend. But this person doesn’t attack randomly. They do it with accuracy, precision, timing. [slams folder on the table]. This is how we are so far behind for nearly twenty years.

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  Officer 2: And with the victims’ families unwilling to speak up, even if they have had seen something, may only confirm just how abusive or dangerous their targeted relative is. Which gives our suspect a tremendous advantage.

  Dave Cooley: Correct. We’ve been seeing more similar murders occur right here in Minden for the past nine years alone. We’ve been looking around in Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama—why not start over in this town? Minden. They must be in Minden. We’ll do another thorough search of this area before exploring out of state options.

  Frank Gonzalez: Even if there is only one person doing this, why would they choose to live so close to a police station? Let alone the place where they’ve committed the murders? Wouldn’t they get as far away from here as possible?

  Dave Cooley: Why turn away from what you already know? This isn’t your typical serial killer. This is someone extremely intelligent, who has decades of experience upon covering their tracks. They’ve lived here all their life—or at least, are very familiar with this area. They’ve had the time to master their technique. They study us. They are watching us.

  Frank Gonzalez: Or maybe they simply exist in your head. Because you cannot tie this down to one person without evidence! You oughta to take off that badge of yours right now.

  Officer 1 [takes a sip of coffee]: Here we go again.

  Dave Cooley: Okay, so you want to talk about our credentials? Fine. We’ll talk about our credentials.

  Frank Gonzalez: Now hold on—

  Dave Cooley: The badge, the uniform, the squad cars. Do any of you even know how bad this makes us look? Or have we just been comfortable in only dealing with petty crime? They should’ve failed you during police academy. Shame on you. And shame on me, for just trying to put this into your radar now. They fired the last guy, and put me in his position, because I actually care about the wellbeing of this town. From now on, this is how things are going to be run. If you got a problem, there is the door. Go ahead. But I will not come up in here and allow you to disrespect the men and women who risk their lives each day to serve our community. I will not.

  [Silence]

  Dave Cooley: Now, pay attention. On average last year, there was a murder in Minden happening at least every couple of months. Now it’s occurring every two to three weeks. Don’t you guys get it? People are terrified—-there’s over seventy five reported victims. Seventy five! And there’s probably more. It’s something that we can no longer ignore, or make little safety PSAs, or tell the community to lock their doors. It’s like throwing a Band-Aid over a gaping wound. We’re not addressing the root of the problem. Soon, no one will live here, and the killer will choose their next area of interest. The cycle will continue. The sooner we remove this person from society and get them psychiatric treatment, the sooner our town will become safe again. We need to do our job, and this time, the right way. No more short cuts. No more excuses. We are on the verge of being defunded if we do not come up with a solid lead now.

  Officer 1: Persons.

  Dave Cooley: No. A person.

  Frank Gonzalez: So THIS what we’re going to tell the FBI? That our ONE suspect is a barefooted freak who just goes on killing people who they see as..as abusive? That makes no sense.

  Dave Cooley: It’s what we got at the moment.

  Officer 1: Waste of time, I say.

  Frank Gonzalez [stands up]: We’ve tried that since ‘74. There is no progress.

  Dave Cooley: Well, we’ll try again. That’s what we’ll tell the community—that we’ll never stop trying. And I’ve done some deep digging. Minden’s mostly been a peaceful town, but there was a reported case back in ‘61. The police was called to the home of a woman who’d been badly beaten by her husband. He was found dead in the hallway with his brains blown out. In the crime scene photos it was shown that he had been shot below range. The woman was already unconscious when paramedics arrived on the scene, so she was ruled out as a primary suspect. The man’s death is thought to be a suicide. No one is sure who called the police.

  Officer 1: What are you saying?

  Frank Gonzalez: Alright Dave, now you’re just reaching out of the blue. This ain’t relevant. I think you should let the feds take it up from here.

  Dave Cooley: Trust me. You know how long I’ve been burying myself in the archives? Just for something to make sense with my theory so we can identify our lead. At least, location wise, it is the most consistent considering the motives of our suspect.

  Officer 2: I’m not so sure about this. You’re telling me this article that was the only egregious thing that occurred in ‘61?

  David Cooley [rubs forehead]: Just bear with me, alright? There are two versions of the article. The first one is lost and the second one has been partially restored. I’ve tried to get into contact with the newspaper that originally made that story, but they’ve closed down since. The gun. [claps hands]. They said in the article that the gun must have been fired from a much lower angle. Which makes me assume that this…this is from a short person. [Glares at the Minden Police Department]. Or a child. A very small child.

  Frank Gonzalez: What are you saying?

  Dave Cooley: We need to look more into this article, and the time frame in which it was published. I’ve been pestering the FBI for months about it. There wasn’t mention of a child living in that residence; but it specifically said the name of the victim. I did find some more information about the guy.

  Frank Gonzalez: And?

  Dave Cooley: He ran away from home at sixteen to enlist in 1939. He was a World War II veteran—a bomber pilot. Although he worked as an airplane mechanic in the early fifties, he got fired multiple times on the job for picking fights with his coworkers. He had a massive drinking problem. I don’t know what his wife’s name was; but their domestic dispute was so bad the police was called to their place of residence over fifteen times. There were complaints by other neighbors, because his wife was screaming so loud they could hear her across the street.

  Officer 1: And this was from several eyewitness accounts?

  Dave Cooley: Yes.

  Frank Gonzalez: So? Do you even know if this couple even had a child themselves?

  Dave Cooley: It doesn’t say, but there had to be. Or at least a relative. The woman was unconscious, the man was dead on the floor when the authorities arrived on scene.

  Frank Gonzalez: But there were only two people in the house when cops arrived.

  Dave Cooley: That is what the article says. And so do the police statements.

  Officer 1: Maybe a neighbor had come into the home and decided to call the police upon seeing the body. Or maybe they were robbed by a midget.

  Dave Cooley: Yes, but when police and paramedics arrived, the neighbors were extremely surprised to see them. No one had even heard the gun go off. Nothing was reported stolen from the house. The original audio files of the 911 call are severely damaged due to their age. I’ve tried to run them through the computer several times for months now, even to just get the transcript of the words spoken. No luck so far.

  Frank Gonzalez: This is incredibly out of context, Dave. You have no evidence that there was ever a child living in that household. And why does this case even matter? Domestic violence disputes happen every day—it’s just that in the 60s it was far less likely to be talked about, let alone to be published in a newspaper, for crying out loud.

  Dave Cooley: Which is exactly my point. The only reason why it was a labeled as a domestic violence case was because the person who called confirmed it that it was. Police believed the husband took his own life after beating his wife into a pulp. Brain matter was scattered all across the upstairs hallway. The bullet was lodged halfway through his skull—a three inch hole on his forehead. Phone records show that the call directly came from the home’s landline. Which means, there was someone else in the house exactly at the time of the shooting.

  Frank Gonzalez: It was likely the husband confessing to the cops what he did before taking his life.

  Office 1: Again, it could have been a neighbor. An affair. Or a jealous lover, perhaps?

  Dave Cooley: l doubt that. We don’t know the nature of the 911 call. It is still lost.

  Frank Gonzalez: Then why not look at other domestic violence cases? And maybe not from one so long ago. Stop wasting your time with this one.

  Dave Cooley: I have. And I will continue to. Like I just said, domestic abuse is underreported. And given that this is a small town, it just falls on my radar. Don’t you guys even see where I’m going with this?

  Frank Gonzalez: So we’ve reached a dead end. Again.

  Dave Cooley: Maybe you’re forgetting another thing. I’ve looked up the husband’s surname in the state’s database, as well as the location of the house he lived and was killed in. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find the address of the home. The victim’s last name is not a common one, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to distinguish through the records. But it’s the first thing I’ve seen in months. And we need to start over directly from there. We’ve had this sitting under our noses for decades. So given that our person of interest may have pulled that trigger as a child, they may as well be in their late twenties to mid thirties as of now.

  Frank Gonzalez: Are you for real?

  Dave Cooley: That is an adult shaped foot in those photos. So yes, they clearly aren’t a child anymore.

  Frank Gonzalez: This is ridiculous, Dave.

  Dave Cooley: But we have something to present to the FBI. Do you have any other ideas? Like trying to look in another state even though the majority of the victims lived here? Running around in circles since the seventies? Because I’d love to hear yours.

  Frank Gonzalez [sighs] : What was the veteran’s name in the article?

  Dave Cooley: Winston Dolivor, Jr.