AUGUST 1987

MINDEN, LA

Dave Cooley: Good evening everyone. 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.

[Police Department groans]

Dave Cooley: Listen, listen now!

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 sit down, rookie. This meeting is nothing but a waste of our time.

Fred Gonzalez: Yeah, and how the hell are we going to explain this to the FBI? If we don’t have actual forensic evidence, we don’t have shit. Do we even have any witnesses?

David 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 notice from the police reports, that each of the victims has a history themselves of abusing or inflicting pain upon others. Whether that is is an assault or battery charge, they’ve been in trouble with the law at some point, give or take.

Frank Gonzalez: We still ain’t got shit for the FBI.

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

Fred Gonzalez(rolls eyes): And?

Dave Cooley: Look. Through the interviews I’ve conducted with the victims’ relatives, whether that be a family member, friend, or co-worker—their lives are taken away in a similar pattern—through strangulation, getting shot, stabbed, etc. Maybe these crimes could have been committed by multiple people. I don’t know. But for those victims that have ever neglected or put a child in direct danger—they have been subject to a slow, painful death. A brutal method of torture. And once again, these kinds of death correlated exactly with those victims who’ve inflicted pain on a child. Specifically those victims.

Fred Gonzalez: But how are these connected?

Dave Cooley: Don’t you see the pattern?

Officer 2: Again, this is all just speculation. You only have interviews. No evidence. This can’t possibly be just one person.

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 and hatred of those people. You’ve seen it yourselves of the extent of how their victims were mutilated. And what kind of victims were these people? The ones who were dismembered? Those who deliberately put a child in harm’s way—and had gotten into trouble with the law previously because of it. So that leads me to believe another thing.

Fred Gonzalez: We’re wasting valuable resources. These cases have been cold for decades, Dave. No one’s talking. 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: There is a distinguishing factor. In the majority of the photos taken at each crime scene—there are footprints in the mud. Not shoes. But the footprint of someone’s bare feet. They don’t want the tread of their shoes to be identified. [Points at a picture]. If you can see, the big toes themselves are turned in an unnatural position. They were likely born with a foot deformity. Clubbed foot. Also known as talipes equinovarus.

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

Dave Cooley: This person was most likely severely abused as a child, who never wants 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 over them. [Clears throat.] 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 search of this area before exploring out of state options.

Police Officer 1[rolls eyes]: Again.

Dave Cooley: You know how bad this makes us look? On average, there was a murder happening every month. Now it’s occurring every two to three weeks. Don’t you guys get it? People are terrified—-there’s over seventy five victims! Seventy five. It’s something that we can no longer ignore, or make little safety PSAs, or tell the community to lock their doors. Soon, no one will live here, and this person will choose their next area of interest. We need to do our fucking job, and this time, the right way. No short cuts. We are on the verge of being defunded.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Police Officer 1: Persons.

Dave Cooley: No. A person.

Fred 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 damned sense.

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

Police Officer #1: Waste of time, I say.

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

Dave Cooley: Well we’ll try again, damn it. 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’ve been badly beaten by her husband. He was found dead in the hallway. 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 unsolved. No one is sure who called the police.

Officer 1: What are you saying?

Fred 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.

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

David Cooley [rubs forehead]: Just bear with me, alright? There are two versions of the news 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 either a very short person. [Glares at Police Department]. Or a child. A very small child.

Fred Gonzalez: What are you saying?

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

Fred Gonzalez: And?

Dave Cooley: He ran away from home at sixteen to enlist in 1939—originally from Florida. 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. 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: I’m not sure.

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

Dave Cooley: Exactly! The suspect we’re dealing with may have come from a background very similar to this.

Frank Gonzalez: Then why not look at other domestic violence cases? And maybe not from one so long ago. Why not more recent ones?

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 into my list.

Frank Gonzalez: So we’ve reached a dead end. Again. We don’t even know the address of the house in that stupid article.

Dave Cooley: Maybe you’re forgetting another thing. I’ve looked up his surname in the state’s database, as well as the address of the house he lived and was killed in. It’s not a common last name, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to separate. But it’s the first thing I’ve seen in months. And we need to start 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 bullshit, Dave.

Dave Cooley: But we have something to give 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 ? Because I’d absolutely love to hear yours.

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

Dave Cooley: Winston Dolivor, Jr.