Description
History
NO: M-943-09-06
TYPE: KIDNAPPING
DETECTIVE: Wakefield
VICTIM
LAST: Cox
FIRST: Kathryn
MIDDLE: Marie
RACE: Wht
SEX: F
HGT: 5'5"
WGT: 115
SKIN: Olive
HAIR: Brn
EYES: Grn
DOB: 08/20/1986
POB: Newark, NJ
NARRATIVE
Victim's university ID last logged entering Foster Hall at 10:48PM on Friday 09/15/2006. Multiple witnesses corroborate that the victim was attending a party in a suite on the second floor of Foster Hall hosted by senior pre-med students for all undergraduate pre-med students. Several witnesses state that victim consumed over five drinks of "jungle juice." Victim last seen at 1:45AM on Saturday 09/16/2006 outside Foster Hall on the Drew University campus, corroborated by three witnesses who were also attending the party. Victim's roommate did not see her return to her dorm in Brown Hall the rest of the night, in the morning, or during the day. Victim's student ID card is not logged entering or exiting any buildings after 1:45AM on Saturday. Victim did not report to classes on Monday 09/18/2006. Victim's mother was unable to reach the victim on Saturday or Sunday by cell phone or email. Posts to Facebook end after a 2:14AM status update on Saturday 09/16/2006 reading "ttlly hammrdd wth." Last text message sent at 2:15AM on Saturday 09/16/2006 to roommate, reading "hheyyy, mhgt b lat, @ prty call u ltr." Victim's mother reported victim missing Tuesday 09/19/2006. Campus police called to investigate.
Initial crime scene examination around Foster and Brown suggested foul play. Victim's university ID found under thick bush beneath window against wall of Brown Hall, along with trace evidence of chloroform. Missing person designation changed to kidnapping on Wednesday 09/27/2006. Unsub phoned victim's parents' home on Friday 09/29/2006 at 8:36PM.
INTERVIEWS
Brooke Hollahan, victim's roommate (09/20/2006, 09/29/2006)
Laura Cox, victim's mother (09/19/2006, 09/20/2006, 09/26/2006, 09/28/2006, 10/01/2006, 10/13/2006, 11/28/2006, 02/16/2007, 07/22/2007)
Richard Cox, victim's father (09/19/2006, 09/20/2006, 09/28/2006, 02/16/2007, 07/22/2007)
Elizabeth Cox, victim's older sister (09/19/2006, 09/20/2006, 09/28/2006, 09/30/2006, 02/16/2007, 07/22/2007)
Javier Santos, Drew University student (09/21/2006)
Kimberly Nguyen, Drew University student (09/22/2006)
Petra Debensky, Drew University student (09/23/2006)
Adam Gaitan, Drew University student (09/21/2006)
Hasan Abuhamid, Drew University student (09/22/2006)
Kevin Gallagher, Drew University student (09/21/2006)
Janessa Kent, Drew University student (09/23/2006, 09/28/2006)
Matthew O'Farrell, Drew University student (09/21/2006)
Joseph Titon, Drew University faculty (09/22/2006)
EVIDENCE
M-943-09-06-01 - chemical sample, outside Brown Hall, chloroform
M-943-09-06-02 - university ID card
M-943-09-06-03 - blue threads belonging to victim's jeans
M-943-09-06-04 - pink threads belonging to victim's shirt
M-943-09-06-05 - university lanyard
M-943-09-06-06 - hairs belonging to victim
M-943-09-06-07 - phone call to victim's parents home
RECORDING OF PHONE CALL
UNSUB: Don't try looking for her.
LAURA COX: Who is this?
UNSUB: If you tell the police anything, we will know. If you tell the police anything, we will kill her.
LC: Goddamn you, where the hell is my daughter?
UNSUB: Remember what I said.
LC: Where is my daughter?
UNSUB: Goodbye.
[end recording]
So begins...
Was the man lying? It was a gamble that the man inside would have to take. Alone, without companion or support, he chose to surrender, dropping his weapon and kicking it through the door. "Okay. I'm coming out."
--
Kathryn pulled the blanket closer over her shoulders, shivering although she was not cold. "A holocaust," she whispered to herself, the very thought sobering in itself. "How many people died? Thousands? Millions?" She lifted her wide eyes to Motoko, unable to stop asking questions that she did not want to hear answered.
"My... god." Kathryn went very still, her fingers hardly moving as she stared at Motoko. Her mouth moved, but no words articulated. She wanted to cry. She needed to cry. But after the years of endless trains of sweating, lusting men, after the years of whispered innuendos and insults from the guards, after the years of slowly releasing her dream of seeing her family again -- after all of it, she was numb. And speechless.
Kathryn's eyes slid through the windows of the aircraft, staring at the Reverence. "S - so Keiko wasn't lying," she whispered, mostly to herself. It seemed there were spacecraft and foreign nations everywhere. "What happened after the United States, uh, left?" She wasn't quite sure how to most delicately phrase that question, but that was the closest she was going to get. Kathryn pressed her lips together, grimacing. She hunched her shoulders, watching the detective standing on the ground. Was she really ready to be interviewed, to answer questions, to talk about... Kathryn shook her head.
Kathryn flinched as Motoko touched her, stumbling a little unsteadily down the ramp into the field, her eyes sweeping the place. She squinted through narrowed eyes at the windblown grass, shivering despite the nearly seventy degree temperature. “I meant our world... what happened to the people left behind after the United States, um, disintegrated?”
"And yes," she added, somewhat awkwardly, "a change of clothes would be nic."
“One... world government?” Kathryn shook her head in disbelief. It had been a scenario discussed casually in hallways late nights in the residence hall, but not one she had ever envisioned as an actual possibility. It seemed Kathryn and her friends had been wrong about a lot. She followed Haruo inside, her eyes going immediately to the paintings before she reached with an unmistakable smile for the clothes. “Can -- can you call my parents?” she asked.
After dressing herself, Kathryn seated herself at the table, reaching for the food. Her stomache growled, and she was suddenly, keenly aware of the gnawing hunger that had been eating at her for the last few years. She spooned some of the rice, at first hesitantly, into her mouth, and then dug into the rest of the food with increasing speed and enthusiasm.
Kathryn smoothed the wrinkles from the white jumpsuit, finding the choice of attire rather odd, although she would not comment. It was good to be out of the whore-clothes. She followed Haruo out of the room, looking about the walls as she went, sliding her hand along the wall with an open palm as they walked. “Briefing room? You sound like some crime show.”
When the phone in New Jersey rang, the woman who answered spoke hesitantly. “Hello?”
At the sound of her mother’s voice, Kathryn leaned toward the computer, with her hands on the table. “Mom,” she whispered.
“Hello?”
“Mom! It’s me,” Kathryn said, speaking louder this time.
There was a barely stifled scream on the other end of the line. “RICHARD, IT’S KATHRYN!” There was the sound of footsteps, and then a male voice also spoke. “Kathryn? Kathryn honey?”
“Dad,” sobbed Kathryn, tears welling in her eyes. “Mom, Dad, I thought I was going to die. Oh my god, I can’t believe this. I didn’t think I was ever going to get out of there.”
“You’re okay now,” said Laura through a curtain of tears, “everything is going to be all right. Oh, I wish I could hug you right now, and I’m going to be on the first plane over to wherever you are.”
“What?” Kathryn stared in shock at Haruo. “What, no! Mom! Mom, he can’t do this; Mom I want to see you!” Tears streamed openly down her face, and she suddenly felt hot in the room. Very hot.
“Kathryn, please, I’m trying to do everything I can,” responded Laura.
“We want to see you as soon as possible, too,” said Richard’s voice. “But we have to follow their advice. We want you safe, Kathryn. Especially after all this happened.”
“I have a what for what?” Kathryn stared blankly. Of course, she didn’t know about the lottery process that had been used to select American citizens for relocation to New America.
“I’ve been holding it for you,” said Laura through the phone. “Your father and I have lottery tickets for the whole family, all four of us. When is the soonest we can meet at the embassy?”
“My name is Kathryn Marie Cox,” said Kathryn, still sitting with her head leaning on the table. “I was at a party in, oh god. Where was it? Furman -- no. Foster. Foster Hall. I was with friends. We were drinking. You know how college parties are.” There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.
“I wouldn’t know,” said Kathryn, shaking her head. “I was thinking about pledging to a sorority or a co-ed fraternity, so I met a lot of people every day. I wouldn’t have noticed anyone out of the ordinary following me around, and no one else ever mentioned anything.”
“It was a full year before I arrived at that brothel. I was taken to several other places across the country in the meantime, and people apparently bartered over the price for my body.” Kathryn spoke in a flat tone, avoiding emotion. She was no longer crying now, although the sounds of sobbing could be heard from the other line of the phone connection. “Thomas Harding eventually bid the highest, and I was taken to his brothel. He rarely came by the building, maybe every few months or so, just to make sure we knew he was there and we knew he held power over us. Otherwise, he left management up to the thugs.”
“Testify?” Kathryn gulped, staring at Haruo. A look of terror slowly crept onto her face again, and she grew pale. “I -- I don’t think I can do that. That would mean -- giving testimony in public? In front of them? I -- I can’t. I can’t.” She shook her head and rested it on the table again, shutting her eyes.
“She doesn’t have to testify if she doesn’t want to, right, Detective?” asked Laura over the line.
“Smoke out?” Kathryn stared incredulously. “No fucking way.” She shook her head, more vigorously this time. “Absolutely not. I am not putting myself within a hundred thousand miles of these people.”
“What kind of information do you want?” asked Kathryn, sounding rather defeated. “What kinds of questions can I answer that might help?” She rested her head atop both hands on the table, staring at the dull, distorted reflection in its metal surface.
Warren Aulare was wandering aimlessly about when suddenly he smiled at the sky. For a moment he stood there and stared up into Terran Orbit. A satisfied nod and he turned on his heel with new direction. He thumbed at the die in his pocket as he made his way in to the city.
K'gara sniffs the air curiously and looks around observantly, her tail wagging a bit
It had been a while since she'd been to the Abandoned Slums. The exterior of The Grinning Ghoul wasn't much to talk about. She spit on the sidewalk and meandered inside.