eyes half lidded and lifeless; Jennifer, with her skin peeled back from her forehead; Jennifer, a knife stuck in her crotch; Jennifer, her knees pulled back to her shoulders, with “everything she had on the bottom” showing; Jennifer, with her right leg from below the knee to the ankle horribly mutilated.
Rodgers claimed that Lawrence seduced, raped, shot and cut her. He pulled the pictures out of Waldrop’s hands and brushed them up against his Levi’s shirt to clean them. Then he stuck them for safekeeping in his back right pants pocket.
“What about Justin?” Elijah wondered out loud, beginning to put two and two together. “That sick-ass pervert [Jon], he probably went and killed Justin too, ain’t he?”
“Justin was stabbed.” Rodgers paused. “I stabbed him first,” he admitted to his brother. “Then Jon took the knife from me and stabbed him a lot of times.
“Come on into the woods with me,” Rodgers insisted to Elijah. “Come on, and I’ll show you the bodies.”
He kept coaxing, offering to show him his murderous handiwork. Elijah had the feeling that if he went into the woods with his brother, he wasn’t coming back out alive.
“Let’s go talk to my brother Lamar,” Elijah suggested. “Me and Lamar been through a lot together.”
Lamar was Elijah’s older brother with the family that had adopted him. Just then, the phone rang. Rodgers picked up the receiver.
“Where’s Jenny?” Diane Robinson shouted.
“I don’t know who or what you’re talkin’ about,” Rodgers answered casually.
Rodgers liked to watch a lot of movies. In the film Gaslight , Charles Boyer tries to make Ingrid Bergman think she is insane when she is not. Jeremiah Rodgers was trying that same tactic—he was going to try and make Diane Robinson believe that they had never met.
“You know very well we have met, Jeremiah! Don’t give me that,” Diane continued, showing that she had a helluva lot more sense than Ingrid Bergman.
“‘Lady, I’m not fucking responsible for your daughter.”
That was the moment. There was something in his voice that made Diane Robinson’s fears rise sharply and her intuition clicked in.
“Oh, my God! You are responsible.”
Rodgers knew he couldn’t stonewall her now. She was serious. She’d call in the cops at any second unless he gave her a plausible story he could stick to. Thinking fast, Rodgers stated that during their date, “Jenny got drunk ugly. I had to make her get out, over on Ridge Street.”
“Where was your friend Jon?” Diane asked.
“Jon was with us. They [two] just took off after that.”
Diane Robinson did not fear that her daughter was dead. To do so would be to give up hope. What mother wants to contemplate her child’s death? Besides, there was no evidence yet of anything so drastic. Her mind seized on a better alternative—this pair of scum had raped her daughter. They had then abandoned her in a remote part of the county, where she was lying helpless. She dialed Jon Lawrence’s phone number.
“Jon, this is Diane Robinson. Is my daughter there?”
“No one’s here,” Jon replied in his calm, slow voice. “I haven’t seen Red anywhere.”
Hopping in her car, Diane drove over to Jeremiah’s and saw his Chevette parked in his driveway. “Then a friend of mine rode by Jon’s house and saw him wiping out his truck with a white sheet.”
It was worse than she had thought. Diane figured Jenny had been beaten, raped and dumped. Jon was wiping up her blood and covering up the crime. Crying hysterically, she called Jeremiah again.
“I don’t care what you have done. I will protect you. Help me find my daughter, please!”
Again Jeremiah told her he knew nothing of Jenny’s whereabouts and hung up the phone.
“We’re going over to Lamar’s,” Elijah said firmly, and with his brother in tow, they drove over in his truck. Lamar lived in Pace too. For her part, Diane Robinson called the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office to
Rodgers claimed that Lawrence seduced, raped, shot and cut her. He pulled the pictures out of Waldrop’s hands and brushed them up against his Levi’s shirt to clean them. Then he stuck them for safekeeping in his back right pants pocket.
“What about Justin?” Elijah wondered out loud, beginning to put two and two together. “That sick-ass pervert [Jon], he probably went and killed Justin too, ain’t he?”
“Justin was stabbed.” Rodgers paused. “I stabbed him first,” he admitted to his brother. “Then Jon took the knife from me and stabbed him a lot of times.
“Come on into the woods with me,” Rodgers insisted to Elijah. “Come on, and I’ll show you the bodies.”
He kept coaxing, offering to show him his murderous handiwork. Elijah had the feeling that if he went into the woods with his brother, he wasn’t coming back out alive.
“Let’s go talk to my brother Lamar,” Elijah suggested. “Me and Lamar been through a lot together.”
Lamar was Elijah’s older brother with the family that had adopted him. Just then, the phone rang. Rodgers picked up the receiver.
“Where’s Jenny?” Diane Robinson shouted.
“I don’t know who or what you’re talkin’ about,” Rodgers answered casually.
Rodgers liked to watch a lot of movies. In the film Gaslight , Charles Boyer tries to make Ingrid Bergman think she is insane when she is not. Jeremiah Rodgers was trying that same tactic—he was going to try and make Diane Robinson believe that they had never met.
“You know very well we have met, Jeremiah! Don’t give me that,” Diane continued, showing that she had a helluva lot more sense than Ingrid Bergman.
“‘Lady, I’m not fucking responsible for your daughter.”
That was the moment. There was something in his voice that made Diane Robinson’s fears rise sharply and her intuition clicked in.
“Oh, my God! You are responsible.”
Rodgers knew he couldn’t stonewall her now. She was serious. She’d call in the cops at any second unless he gave her a plausible story he could stick to. Thinking fast, Rodgers stated that during their date, “Jenny got drunk ugly. I had to make her get out, over on Ridge Street.”
“Where was your friend Jon?” Diane asked.
“Jon was with us. They [two] just took off after that.”
Diane Robinson did not fear that her daughter was dead. To do so would be to give up hope. What mother wants to contemplate her child’s death? Besides, there was no evidence yet of anything so drastic. Her mind seized on a better alternative—this pair of scum had raped her daughter. They had then abandoned her in a remote part of the county, where she was lying helpless. She dialed Jon Lawrence’s phone number.
“Jon, this is Diane Robinson. Is my daughter there?”
“No one’s here,” Jon replied in his calm, slow voice. “I haven’t seen Red anywhere.”
Hopping in her car, Diane drove over to Jeremiah’s and saw his Chevette parked in his driveway. “Then a friend of mine rode by Jon’s house and saw him wiping out his truck with a white sheet.”
It was worse than she had thought. Diane figured Jenny had been beaten, raped and dumped. Jon was wiping up her blood and covering up the crime. Crying hysterically, she called Jeremiah again.
“I don’t care what you have done. I will protect you. Help me find my daughter, please!”
Again Jeremiah told her he knew nothing of Jenny’s whereabouts and hung up the phone.
“We’re going over to Lamar’s,” Elijah said firmly, and with his brother in tow, they drove over in his truck. Lamar lived in Pace too. For her part, Diane Robinson called the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office to
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