Page 29 of Last Girls Alive

Katie now knew that it was a distinct possibility they were dealing with a serial killer hunting and gathering victims…

The crime scene was in an out-of-the-way location and the killer seemed intent on dumping the body at this exact site. There were no visible footprints or drag marks and it didn’t seem likely that the rain had washed them away. Did the killer travel to the creekside in some type of boat, like a canoe or row boat? As she studied the body, it made her wonder why at that spot, naked and with the message.

Why? For the drama? Not to be found straightaway? Wouldn’t it have been more efficient to leave the body on the trail or in the parking lot? In some ways, the crime scene appeared planned due to the preparations it took to get the body there. And in other ways, it appeared haphazard to dump the body beside a creek.

Katie stood up and did a quick 360-degree sweep to double-check for footprints in the dirt or surrounding landscape, but the night was closing in and the evidence technicians were more apt to catch anything that was initially overlooked by detectives.

“What do you think?” asked McGaven over the sound of the rushing creek water. He had done his own inspection of the scene and now waited to compare notes with his partner.

Katie turned to him and said, “We have another ‘raccoglitore di cacciatori’.” Her tightly knitted eyebrows and slightly downturned mouth told him everything he needed to know about the seriousness of the case they had been handed.

“Hunter-gatherer,” he replied to himself.

“Who called in the body?” Katie asked, raising her voice.

“Avid hiker whose dog got away and then found the body,” he said.

Katie looked around the body for pawprints, but saw nothing. If a curious dog had found the body, there would be dozens. “Was it an anonymous call?”

“Yes.”

“Man or woman?”

“It was unclear.”

“Unclear?” she said. “What do you mean?”

“It was one of those electronic voices.”

“You mean like for the hearing impaired?” she said.

“No, like the person used an electronic voice changer. You can buy these devices almost anywhere where electronics are sold.”

“Very clever, so the caller wanted to disguise their voice,” she said, still scrutinizing the area once again. “The killer called it in, probably due to the fact that the creek levels are rising, wanting to make sure that the body was found where he left it. Couldn’t wait until tomorrow when a hiker might stumble upon it. The body might’ve washed downstream by then.” She took a step back, still troubled by the scene. “Why is this location so important to the killer and what does it have to do with the teen girl’s foster home at Elm Hill Mansion?”

McGaven didn’t immediately answer, but finally said, “I’ll put in more searches on the usage of hunter-gatherer, where it originated, books and movies that used the saying, and anything that refers to it.”

“I agree. Anything that would help to profile the killer.” She squatted down and looked at the restraints again. “Why these particular girls? What connects them besides the foster home? Too much trouble went into dumping the body here for it to be unimportant. If you can, maybe search notable crime scenes where bodies were found by water, like a creek, river, and even the beach. Might try other counties too.”

“Okay, that’s quite a reach but I’ll see what I can come up with.”

Detective Hamilton approached.

“Nice to see you, Detective,” said Katie cautiously, still not completely convinced that the detective didn’t have a bone to pick with her.

He nodded. “We weren’t able to find any other evidence around the scene aside from the body.”

“The body itself has quite a bit of evidence. Can you double the search area, and search again in the morning?” she asked. “That would mean someone would have to guard the area until sunrise for the chain of custody to stay in play.”

Hamilton started to object, but then agreed. “Of course.” He hurried towards the officers to make sure that they complied.

“At least right now, it’s not completely clear if it’s the primary or secondary crime scene. Given there are no signs of a struggle in the earth, I’d say she was dead when she got here and this is the secondary scene,” she said, more to herself, trying to get facts straight in her mind. Looking at McGaven, she said, “Did you find any other access points?”

McGaven said, “There are only two possible ways someone could have brought a body and disposed of it.” He gestured to the area where they had entered down the trail. “The way we came in or… a small back trail that intersects to another main trail. And I guess from the water too.”

“Is it easily accessible?”

“Fairly—depending upon how they transported the body or if she walked to her final destination. Anyone could use these stairs and it leads to another easy trail next to a parking lot. There are only eight stairs.”