LOOKIN’ OUT MY BACK DOOR

 

LOOKIN’ OUT MY BACK DOOR

 

Stanislaus opened his back door. He stepped out in the morning haze, humming a Credence Clearwater song, breathing in the fresh air. He was met by two shotgun blasts, killing him instantly!

His wife, hearing the shots, rushed out the door. She too was immediately hit by two more blasts, dying before she hit the ground!

The gruesome deaths of the couple filled the small seaside community of Castle Pelican with horror and fear, for sure, but also a misplaced sense of pride that their tiny community was in the national headlines.

After a short period, the reporting of the double killings subsided and life returned to normal. No one much thought about the tragedy except prospective buyers of the house. It was well over a year before the property sold.

The buyers, a retired couple from Cos Cob, Connecticut, emerged from their back door for a day of basking in the sun. Before they had taken just a step or two, blasts from a shotgun rang out. They also died before hitting the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time there was an extensive investigation. The backgrounds of both murdered couples were extensively probed. The FBI and Interpol were brought into the case. Forensic teams combed the area for weeks. Neighbors were extensively questioned over and over. No clues arose concerning the identity of the shooter. Nothing from the past of the victims was out of the ordinary.

Years passed. The house remained unoccupied.

The blood-stained door was all that was left to mark the site of the heinous murders. Neighbors, friends and strangers left flowers and cards at the door. This soon stopped, leaving withered blooms on the stoop.

One detective spent most of his spare time going over the case files, looking for anything that could help solve the case. He continued combing the back yard for anything that might lead him to the killer or killers. Nothing ever turned up, until one day, just weeks before his retirement, he discovered a tiny pin with a cross and the initials J.R.

 

 

 

 

He carefully placed the pin in an evidence bag and sealed it, precisely following police procedure. It wasn’t much, but it was something. He was returning to his car, when shotgun blasts rang out, instantly killing him! His blood mixed with what remained of the two previously murdered couples. The killer retrieved the pin from the detective’s pocket and fled.

No suspect was ever apprehended. The five murders appeared unsolvable. No motive was ever established.

A movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Brad Pitt as the detective, earned great box-office success. Pitt offered a reward for any information, leading to the perpetrator of these crimes.

Nothing came of this either.

A man (Joseph Rowe) in the state prison facility made a death-bed confession, admitting he was the lone killer. It turned out that he was a landscaper and the first couple had complained about his work.  He took his revenge. In his paranoid state, he thought the second couple was actually the first couple returned from the dead to haunt him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The detective was getting too nosey. The discovery of the pin was the deciding factor for his murder. He was just getting too close. He had to die!