Read Online Rise of The Iron Eagle (The Iron Eagle Series Book 1) by Roy A. Teel Jr. - Free Book Online Page B

his head. “No lawyer jokes tonight, Jim.” He got quiet and sat down in a corner of the room; the story of The Eagle never got old.
    “Janet just asked a great question about how The Iron Eagle killer got his nickname. Does anyone in this room know the answer?” Before Jim could finish clearing his throat, Steve shot him a look. “Anyone other than Jim…who better keep his mouth shut.” Bob Walters raised his hand. He had more seniority than anyone else in the room. “Bob.” He stood up. “Well, the way I understand it, it started off as a joke out at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in San Diego in early 1999.” Steve nodded, “So what’s the story as you know it, Bob?” “There was a Marine who was found murdered in his barracks. It was an extremely violent killing with no apparent motive.” “What made the killing so violent?” Steve sat back in his chair. “The killer had stripped the victim, and he was found face down with an iron fireplace poker sticking out of his rectum.” “What’s the significance of the poker?” “That’s how the nickname originated. There was an eagle’s head on the handle protruding out of the victim. It was a hooked poker, and one of the investigators from the JAG’s office made a joke about the poker and The Eagle’s head.” Steve remained relaxed in his chair, “So is that it? Is that the whole story of how The Eagle got his nickname?” Bob shook his head. “No…a few weeks after the killing, the JAG’s office received a manila envelope with a written confession in the dead soldier’s handwriting. The note confessed to the rape and murder of several young boys from the San Diego and Los Angeles areas. A search of missing persons at the time turned up the names, and the confession gave detailed directions to all of their remains. The bodies were found in shallow graves in the deserts outside of San Diego and on the base. The autopsy report on the soldier reported that he had died as a result of blunt force trauma.” “Well, then what was the deal with the poker?” Jim got a smile on his face as Bob continued. “The medical examiner determined that the poker had been inserted into the victim’s rectum while he was still alive, and that the poker had been heated to nearly 900 degrees based on the cauterizing effects on the bowel.” “So, in essence, it cooked his colon.” “Yea…” “Anything else about the case at the time?” Bob shook his head and sat down.
    Jim stood up and Steve didn’t try to stop him. “I was one of the lead investigators for the Sheriff’s Department on the case since the crimes happened off base and most of the victims were from LA County. We would learn only after the confession of the dead soldier that he, in fact, was a serial killer that had been preying on young men and boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty-four. The first missing person’s case had been filed in 1988. The killer was extremely savvy and was able to go undetected until his own murder in 1999. While I was investigating the case, several letters were received from the killer denouncing the investigation and stating that he did it for the protection of the public. The military didn’t want the issue to get out into the mainstream media for fear it would tarnish the Corps, so the JAG’s office buried the reports until 2002 when they were retrieved by the local media through a Freedom of Information Act request.” Janet asked, “Why would anyone ask about the case so many years later?” “There had been five similar killings between ‘92 and ‘99. A reporter with the Times received an anonymous tip that there had been killings of a similar nature covered up by the military. The documents were declassified and released to the media. When the reporter working on the case started to do more investigating, she ended up finding me. When she called me for an interview, I saw no problem with speaking to her. She interviewed me, and, a week