Girl, 11 by Amy Clarke (grave mercy TXT) 📗

who owned it then, a wealthy couple who spent their summers in the five-bedroom cabin near the river and their winters on the beach in Florida. At the time of Nora’s escape, they were both confirmed to be at their townhouse in Florida, having escaped the north like they did every year—as soon as the leaves turned.

The place looks equally abandoned now. Drifts of snow gather up against trees, blown by blizzard winds. Wet, dead leaves form patches of brown where the ground peeks through. It should be peaceful, but I get no comfort here. It’s a foreboding place. Police were never able to determine how many of TCK’s victims were brought here, but it’s a place where at least two young girls were held captive—where at least one was killed. And it’s a place where Jessica’s body, along with those of two adults, was found among the ashes.

Elle:

What can you tell me about the bodies found in the cabin?

Sykes:

We estimate they were discovered approximately six hours after Eleanor Watson would have escaped, if we calculated the time she spent running correctly. Jessica’s body was the only one identified, as you know. Based on the ME’s report, we determined she died before the fire was set, thank God. It was the middle of the night on the seventh day, so it’s no surprise she succumbed to the poison then. The other two were the bodies of a man and a woman, both between twenty-five and forty-five years old, Caucasian, and unrelated. As of today, November 3, 2019, neither has been identified. While the autopsy determined Jessica succumbed to the effects of ricin poisoning, the adults were killed with a single gunshot wound to the side of the head, and the gun was burned in the cabin with them.

Elle:

And the cabin fire was definitely started intentionally?

Sykes:

Yes, firefighters found an accelerant and a lighter on-site.

Elle:

The bodies of these two have caused a considerable amount of controversy in this case, is that fair to say?

Sykes:

That’s putting it mildly.

Elle:

Can you explain why?

Sykes:

As you know, since Nora Watson escaped, we have never been able to tie another murder to the Countdown Killer. Like I said before, even though I’m retired, I still look into cold cases when given the chance. But I haven’t been able to find one in the years since that fits TCK’s pattern. Most people think that’s because he’s dead, because he was the man in that cabin and it was a murder-suicide. They say the woman he killed must have either been his partner in the crimes or an unsuspecting wife he killed to prevent her from turning on him.

But there are others, like me, who know that’s what he wanted everyone to think. Say he’s alive. He would need to go into hiding and regroup, reassess his mission. He would have to decide whether to continue his countdown or run away and try to live a normal life somewhere else. If he did live, if the two people he killed and burned in that cabin were a decoy, we don’t know what he decided, what kind of life he chose to live. He could be a retiree in a villa in Arizona. Maybe he got put in prison for another crime later on, and that’s why he never returned to killing.

Regardless of where he is or what he’s doing now, by burning that cabin down, he got exactly what he wanted. Once it was clear TCK was no longer active, once a year passed and no other girls were killed, they told me to pack the case up and focus on the others. There are more than two hundred thousand unsolved murders in the USA. If we all spent as much time as I did on one case, we’d never get anything else done.

Every few years, I’d open it up again, chase down whatever leads I could, try to get media attention on the anniversary of one of the girls’ deaths or the day of Nora’s escape, but nothing ever panned out. That’s why I agreed to help you with this podcast, because I think the community has become complacent over time. They think the danger has passed, that he is long gone. And I’m not sure that’s true. I think it’s past time for police to actively look at this case again, to try to get justice for these victims, if nothing else. They won’t be happy about me saying it, but hell, I’m retired now. I’ve done my time. Let them get mad.

Elle:

What’s the one thing you wish people knew about this case? The thing you think would help solve it.

Sykes:

That no matter what anyone online says, no matter what the reporters and the other investigators tell you, there is no proof—none whatsoever—that the Countdown Killer is dead. And if he’s not dead, he’s not done.

Elle voice-over:

Obviously, I know I’m opening myself up to outrage by even suggesting that TCK is still alive. Most people are quite comfortable believing that he is long dead. But for reasons that will come to be apparent, I agree with Detective Sykes. I agree that it’s past time the public paid more attention to this case, that we demand it get solved. As he said earlier in this episode, we think a key part of that will be finding who his first victim was, if it wasn’t Beverly Anderson. If you know of any unsolved homicides in the area that preceded hers, please get in touch. Links to my website and email are in the show notes. You all know by now that I will listen and at least look into your ideas as much as I can.

This is on us, now—the public. It’s time for us to look at what we know about the Countdown Killer. Who he was, what he did, why he did it. And if police aren’t interested in looking at the case anymore, then that’s what I’m here for.

Next time, on Justice Delayed . . .

11

Elle

January 14,