CHAPTER 4

When Darrell and Gayle returned to the Station, they listened to the questions they had recorded. Darrell, a creature of habit, grabbed his pen and some paper and wrote down the questions so he could visualize his thoughts. This helped him think and see clearly why this ‘person’ did what they did.

The question that jumped out at Darrell was “Who was the victim to the killer?” Darrell pondered this question for what seemed like an eternity. He drew a line underneath his questions and then made a list:

New or Old?

Crazy?

Religion?

Why?????

Victims: chosen or chance?

Other M.O’s

The ringing phone broke Darrell out of his trance. Gayle answered it, snapping her fingers at Darrell and pointing to his paper. She said “Jeanette Woodrow, OK, 29, OK, Substitute teacher, ya, 1472 Euclid Drive, got it thanks. Anything else? No? OK bye”

Gayle hung up the phone and looked at Darrell.

“Well her name was Jeanette and I guess we are going to her place.” Gayle looked sombre.

“Ya, I know, too young.” Darrell replied.

When they got to Euclid Drive they were surprised. They saw an older couple outside sitting on their front stoop enjoying the early evening. The detectives both exited the car at the same time and in unison they walked up to the front door and introduced themselves where the woman burst into tears.

Gayle spoke, “Are you Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow?” The man nodded, looking back and forth between her and Darrell wide eyed.

Gayle spoke again this time with more sympathy in her voice. “Do you have a daughter named Jeanette?”

Again Mr. Woodrow nodded his head and Mrs. Woodrow cried even harder, reaching for her husband’s hand and when she found it she grasped it tightly.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you, but we found Jeanette this morning.” Gayle lowered her head.

“Where? Where did you find my girl?” Mr. Woodrow asked.

“She was supposed to be home three days ago, but she never came home from work so we did one of those missing person things at the police station yesterday.”

After a pause he asked again this time knowing what the answer was,

“Is she OK? Where can I pick her up?”

Darrell shifted on his feet and then grabbed the woman’s trembling hands

“I’m so sorry”. Darrell looked into the woman’s eyes;

“She was murdered and we found her body at Munro Industrial Park.”

Mrs. Woodrow collapsed forward into Darrell’s arms; Mr. Woodrow just stared at Darrell.

“You must be joking! That can’t be true! Did Jeanette put you up to this? She can be very cruel with jokes sometimes. So what did she really do? Did she get arrested for prostitution again? I told her that she wasn’t to do that or drugs again if she lived under our roof! So where is she?”

Gayle looked at Darrell and then back at Mr. Woodrow.

“This isn’t a joke sir. She was murdered and we found her body at the Industrial Park earlier today just as Detective Darker told you.”

“No, you must have her mistaken with someone else! You are wrong!”

Mr. Woodrow stormed into the house and then came back out with a picture of Jeanette.

“This is my girl. Is this who you found?!” Mr. Woodrow screamed

Darrell looked at the picture and then at the man. He let go of the woman’s hands, grabbed the photo from the man and looked directly into his eyes. Without blinking Darrell said “Yes” attempting to hand the photo back.

“You keep that.” Mr. Woodrow said

“Yes, I’m afraid so Mr. Woodrow, I am so sorry for your loss. This is my card,” Darrell put a comforting hand on Mrs. Woodrow’s shoulder and then turned to walk away. Darrell and Gayle got about two feet away when Mrs. Woodrow said between sobs,

“Catch who did this to my baby!”

“Yes Ma’am” both Darrell and Gayle said.

No sooner had Darrell and Gayle arrived back at the station from the Woodrow’s had the Medical Examiner call and ask them to come down to see him.

Dr. Paul Aspinall was a short stalky man. Some would say if he put a red pointed hat on he would resemble the Garden Gnome on that TV commercial. Personal style was not a priority with this man, but he was the best ME in all of the State. He was curt at the best of times and his social skills needed serious work. How he ever got a woman to date him let alone marry him was a question most of his co-workers posed often when around the water cooler.

“‘Dr. A.” as he was known, put up with absolutely no bullshit. If there was a problem with staff, he would fire the person who created the problem. Sick days were tolerated but Dr. A. had no patience for his staff that used religious reasons for taking time off. Being a Medical Examiner was a 24 hour, 7 day a week job. The staff either liked him or hated him; there was no in between. The cops loved him; he was thorough and precise. But families hated him and they thought him rude and malicious.

Generally speaking, Jennifer Woolsey the receptionist/counselor helped the families identify their loved ones. There was the very odd occasion when Dr. A. had to do the ‘dirty work’ as he called it.

When Darrell and Gayle arrived, Dr. A. was taking copies of his autopsy notes for the Detectives.

“Dr. A.? This is Detective Gayle Adams, my new partner.” Darrell said.

“Hello.” was all Gayle received from the Doctor. When the Doctor finished copying he swung his arm for the detectives to follow him. There in the next room was Jeanette Woodrow’s body lying on a cold stainless steel table.

“Now, see here?” Dr. A. pointed to the gaping wound where her intestines should have been. “She has had her uterus removed. Very precisely I might add. She was alive when this was done; she more than likely bled out and died shortly after.”

“Anything else unusual Doc?” Darrell saw that Dr. A cringed when Gayle called him Doc.

“Yes the wounds on her back were made from something sharp. These were most likely made first as there are significant signs of blood loss and some coagulation of the wounds. This girl did not have an easy end Detectives. Her optic nerve has shown signs of being pierced with a sharp, pointed object. I can’t say with any certainty right now about her toxicology results as they won’t be back for a few more weeks. And No! Before you ask they will not be done any sooner!” Dr. A. glared at Gayle.

“My preliminary tests indicate that she had been dehydrated and then just before she died she was given an injection of Ketamine. That is all I have. Here are copies of what I have discovered and when the final toxicology report comes in, I will fax it over to you.”

Dr. A. went about tidying up his work station and getting ready to close up Jeanette Woodrow so she could be released to her family.

Darrell and Gayle watched for a few seconds and then walked out the way they had come in. Darrell wrote in his note book

“Why take her uterus? Why blind her? Why Ketamine? Looking for someone with some type of medical training. Perhaps a nurse or a student who dropped out of med school. Man or woman perp? What is Ketamine and where does someone get it from?”

Darrell closed his notebook and then walked back to the car with Gayle.

“It’s getting late. Wanna go home? Office or dinner?”

Gayle looked at Darrell “Thanks, I think home for me. I’ve got some thinking to do.”

“I hear ya.” Darrell said. The rest of the ride was quiet as both Detectives seemed to be deep in thought.

“Good night.” Gayle said to Darrell as she was stepping out of the car.

“Meet you at the office in the morning?”

“Sure thing.” Darrell said. He waited until Gayle got into her house, closed the door and shut off the outside light before he drove away.

There was something about this case that wasn’t sitting right with Darrell. He drove back to the crime scene and got out of his car. He stood in front of the car and peered into the empty lot where Jeanette Woodrow was found. In Darrell’s mind he thought of all the things that he had learned about this young woman.

“Drugs, prostitute, uterus missing, lives with her folks, teacher, disemboweled, bled out, surgical knowledge, dehydrated, Ketamine, Ketamine? What the hell?”

Darrell spoke out loud; he shook his head, stepped into the car and then put his car into drive and after his stop to purchase himself a digital recorder he drove himself home, thinking the entire time about Jeanette Woodrow.