Leslie Nagel
When I was fourteen, a classmate went missing. Deborah (not her real name) was the school oddball, with ill fitting, homemade clothing, untrimmed hair nearly down to her ankles, and few friends. At first, everyone assumed she'd run away. After all, rumors about her abusively strict parents had swirled for ages.
The last person to admit to seeing Deborah was a bus driver. He claimed she'd boarded the local #5 in front of Oakwood High School about four o'clock. She'd ridden it to the end of the line and gotten off. He claimed she sat alone and spoke to no one. According to her mother, Deborah never rode the bus, instead walking straight home each afternoon. In fact, her failure to appear by nightfall prompted her mother's first frantic call to the police.
A few months later, Deborah's decomposing body was found in a field many miles from here. Details of the cause of death were sketchy at first, but over the ensuing weeks, a dreadful tale of ritualistic assault, torture and murder emerged. Her father was briefly suspected for the crime, as were several male relatives living in the area, but the police never found enough evidence to make an arrest.
When a man arrested for another murder in Kentucky confessed to murdering Deborah as well, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. This terrifying mystery could at last be laid to rest. In a walking community like Oakwood, the idea of a homicidal predator at large had parents lying awake at night. They'd begun driving their children even the few short blocks to school, instead of walking as we had always done. Doors and windows were locked with greater care. Things changed, and they have never been the same.
However, aspects of the suspect's confession raised questions. There was inconclusive evidence that he might have been hundreds of miles away at the time of Deborah's disappearance. He also confessed to several other murders that the police later proved he could not have committed. Was he lying about Deborah's murder as well?
And if he WAS lying, then who killed Deborah?
The last person to admit to seeing Deborah was a bus driver. He claimed she'd boarded the local #5 in front of Oakwood High School about four o'clock. She'd ridden it to the end of the line and gotten off. He claimed she sat alone and spoke to no one. According to her mother, Deborah never rode the bus, instead walking straight home each afternoon. In fact, her failure to appear by nightfall prompted her mother's first frantic call to the police.
A few months later, Deborah's decomposing body was found in a field many miles from here. Details of the cause of death were sketchy at first, but over the ensuing weeks, a dreadful tale of ritualistic assault, torture and murder emerged. Her father was briefly suspected for the crime, as were several male relatives living in the area, but the police never found enough evidence to make an arrest.
When a man arrested for another murder in Kentucky confessed to murdering Deborah as well, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. This terrifying mystery could at last be laid to rest. In a walking community like Oakwood, the idea of a homicidal predator at large had parents lying awake at night. They'd begun driving their children even the few short blocks to school, instead of walking as we had always done. Doors and windows were locked with greater care. Things changed, and they have never been the same.
However, aspects of the suspect's confession raised questions. There was inconclusive evidence that he might have been hundreds of miles away at the time of Deborah's disappearance. He also confessed to several other murders that the police later proved he could not have committed. Was he lying about Deborah's murder as well?
And if he WAS lying, then who killed Deborah?
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