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Authors: Mariah Stewart
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the day, which speaks to routine. I think he must have conducted some sort of surveillance on his victims. He’d know what time they left in the morning, what time they arrived home later in the day. That takes planning, mobility. If you’re living with someone, a wife or a girlfriend, it’s more difficult to disappear for the number of hours necessary to get a handle on someone else’s daily schedule.”
“I’d think late at night would be a more likely time to break into someone’s house if you were going to commit a murder.”
“It’s not uncommon for people to be a little distracted when they first arrive home at the end of the day. There’s mail to be sorted through, phone messages to listen to, dogs to walk.” Annie looked directly at her sister. “I’ve come here countless times to find the front door unlocked and you listening to the messages on your answering machine at the same time you’re putting the leash on Spike to take him out.”
“Distractions.” Mara nodded.
“Right. I think he has his victims picked out in advance, knows what time he’ll find them home. Then he swings by, does his thing, then goes on home or goes to work.”
“No witnesses?” Aidan asked.
“None who have come forward. But that’s not so unusual. Sometimes we see things and don’t realize what we’ve seen. We see a delivery truck, but we don’t really look at the person making the delivery. We just don’t notice. So yes, of course, someone may have seen our man but isn’t even aware of it. Distractions, as we’ve said.” Annie cleared her throat. “But to continue, our UNSUB—our unknown subject, the killer—is highly organized. The crime scenes were staged. There was nothing out of place, nothing to suggest that all did not go according to his plan. He brought his own tools—his rope, his duct tape, his knife—and he took everything with him when he left. There was nothing left to chance. He is physically strong—strong enough to overpower his victims with very little apparent struggle on their part. The wounds on all of the Marys were made with the same knife—each body bore exactly six stab wounds to the chest, any one of which could have been the killing blow—but other than the victims bleeding out, there was no other blood found on the premises. The women were all sexually assaulted, but all were fully dressed and seated almost primly when they were found, though that fact hasn’t been released to the media.”
“He raped them, then straightened out their clothing and posed them?” Aidan asked.
“Yes. The rapes were missed until the autopsies, actually. Nothing at the scene immediately indicated that there had been a sexual assault.”
“Is that unusual?” Mara asked.
Annie nodded. “Very. More often than not, the rapist wants to humiliate his victim. He wants her to know that he has power over her, that he can use her and discard her because she’s unimportant to him in every way except one, and he wants everyone to know that. Here, we have a rapist who not only takes care not to tear his victims’ clothing, but makes sure that they are fully dressed, covered up, seated with their feet crossed neatly at the ankles. Very unusual, in my experience. Aidan? Have you seen anything like this before?”
“I’ve seen some highly organized crime scenes, but nothing quite that detailed.”
“And here’s something else that hasn’t made the news,” Annie continued. “The women were all blindfolded. At least, they were when the bodies were found. I’m pretty sure that they were blindfolded during the rapes. It would follow, since he made sure each woman was positioned so modestly for the police to find.”
“Blindfolded?” Aidan’s eyebrows rose.
“Yes. Does that mean something to you?” Annie turned to him with interest.
“A blindfold he brought with him?”
“We’re assuming, since he used identical classic red-and-white bandannas on all three victims. All purchased
“I’d think late at night would be a more likely time to break into someone’s house if you were going to commit a murder.”
“It’s not uncommon for people to be a little distracted when they first arrive home at the end of the day. There’s mail to be sorted through, phone messages to listen to, dogs to walk.” Annie looked directly at her sister. “I’ve come here countless times to find the front door unlocked and you listening to the messages on your answering machine at the same time you’re putting the leash on Spike to take him out.”
“Distractions.” Mara nodded.
“Right. I think he has his victims picked out in advance, knows what time he’ll find them home. Then he swings by, does his thing, then goes on home or goes to work.”
“No witnesses?” Aidan asked.
“None who have come forward. But that’s not so unusual. Sometimes we see things and don’t realize what we’ve seen. We see a delivery truck, but we don’t really look at the person making the delivery. We just don’t notice. So yes, of course, someone may have seen our man but isn’t even aware of it. Distractions, as we’ve said.” Annie cleared her throat. “But to continue, our UNSUB—our unknown subject, the killer—is highly organized. The crime scenes were staged. There was nothing out of place, nothing to suggest that all did not go according to his plan. He brought his own tools—his rope, his duct tape, his knife—and he took everything with him when he left. There was nothing left to chance. He is physically strong—strong enough to overpower his victims with very little apparent struggle on their part. The wounds on all of the Marys were made with the same knife—each body bore exactly six stab wounds to the chest, any one of which could have been the killing blow—but other than the victims bleeding out, there was no other blood found on the premises. The women were all sexually assaulted, but all were fully dressed and seated almost primly when they were found, though that fact hasn’t been released to the media.”
“He raped them, then straightened out their clothing and posed them?” Aidan asked.
“Yes. The rapes were missed until the autopsies, actually. Nothing at the scene immediately indicated that there had been a sexual assault.”
“Is that unusual?” Mara asked.
Annie nodded. “Very. More often than not, the rapist wants to humiliate his victim. He wants her to know that he has power over her, that he can use her and discard her because she’s unimportant to him in every way except one, and he wants everyone to know that. Here, we have a rapist who not only takes care not to tear his victims’ clothing, but makes sure that they are fully dressed, covered up, seated with their feet crossed neatly at the ankles. Very unusual, in my experience. Aidan? Have you seen anything like this before?”
“I’ve seen some highly organized crime scenes, but nothing quite that detailed.”
“And here’s something else that hasn’t made the news,” Annie continued. “The women were all blindfolded. At least, they were when the bodies were found. I’m pretty sure that they were blindfolded during the rapes. It would follow, since he made sure each woman was positioned so modestly for the police to find.”
“Blindfolded?” Aidan’s eyebrows rose.
“Yes. Does that mean something to you?” Annie turned to him with interest.
“A blindfold he brought with him?”
“We’re assuming, since he used identical classic red-and-white bandannas on all three victims. All purchased
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