Jazmee27 
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Fifteen years later, the case still remained unsolved. Some might suspect Patroller Okedra, but Senjtorian justice stipulated one couldn’t arrest anyone merely on that count. As for other suspects, there were none. “Quite embarrassing,” as Vhaitor later remarked to Michael Fortuno, “that after all these years we still know virtually nothing.”
“One of these days,” came the reply, accompanied with a grim smile.”If it’s the last thing I do, I will see this case closed, and not just another in a long list of cold files collecting dust!”
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Reply #1081. Jun 26 12, 11:59 AM
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Jazmee27
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THE CRIME 2
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The baby boy hadn’t even reached his first birthday before his picture was splashed all over the front pages of the newspaper. His body, or what remained of his body, was found submerged in a puddle of sludge in one of those containers some call a septic tank. Investigators were stifled as to how the youngster had died, or—later—who could have wanted him dead. It just seemed the type of senseless crimes that just weren’t known in Sentoria or its neighboring kingdom of Scenoria. Yet, early on in the investigation, it became painfully clear that, while a suspect was no closer to being found, he or she was most assuredly “a local,” as Sentorians and Scenorians are collectively referred to as.
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Reply #1082. Jun 26 12, 12:01 PM
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Jazmee27
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The victim’s family seemed the least likely to have caused him harm, seeming genuine in their shock and grief. Yet, it is well established that some individuals know how to hide their true motives and emotions.
Then, after a few weeks, the case was abandoned in lieu of more recent ones. Only two officers, Vhaitor Khamona and Michael Fortuno, showed the least bit of concern about this. “Just because a crime goes unsolved doesn’t mean we should just shove it to the side,” one was heard to say to the other.
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Reply #1083. Jun 26 12, 12:02 PM
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Jazmee27
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Tragically, the victim’s father suffered a heart attack less than a month after his son’s file was passed over. As for the kid’s mother, her exact location was unknown, although it was well established she’d left Manasta Okedra soon after little Johnathan was born. After that, nobody heard a word about her—it was like she just vanished off the face of the Universe.
And then, by sheer luck, someone spotted her coming out of a store. “her look was completely different than the snapshots we have on file,” an anonymous obaserver was later quoted as saying.
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Reply #1084. Jun 26 12, 12:03 PM
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Jazmee27
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Authorities rushed to interview the woman, who gave her name as Isadora Treskani. Yes, she’d walked out on Johnathan and his father. No, she knew nothing that would help find her baby’s killer. “You can’t possibly think *I did it,” she demanded at one point, looking scandalized. “What reason would I haave to hurt my own child?”
What reason indeed. The case was reopened, Isadora Treskani arrested and tried, and the verdict handed down. Amazingly enough, for a case with not a shred of evidence to speak of, Ms. Treskani was convicted and, the next morning, found herself en route to her own execution.
Her final words, as she parted from this world, were a plea to her son for forgiveness. Many people took it as an admission of guilt; I, myself, take it another way. |
Reply #1085. Jun 26 12, 12:04 PM
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Jazmee27
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We don’t know the reasons she walked out on her family, but one thing is clear: I truly believe this mother cared about her son, and grieved his loss along with his father and whoever else. As so often happens when people rush for a conviction, a gross travesty of justice has been observed. I, for one, am appalled, and can only hope that Johnathan’s real killer will be found someday, and the name of Isadora Treskani cleared.
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Reply #1086. Jun 26 12, 12:04 PM
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Jazmee27
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THE CRIME 3
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Headlines around the kingdom showed the same gruesome photo underneath: an infant, his age unable to be determined, lay in a grave of sludge and grime. His tiny fingers and tiny toes had been completely severed from his body, and were found floating several inches away in several feet of murky water. “Unidentified murder victim found in cesspool” read one of many captions about the crime.
His name was later learned to be Johnathan Okedra, and he was approximately two months old. “What kind of a monster,” as one article put it, “treats a baby thus.”
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Reply #1087. Jun 26 12, 12:06 PM
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Jazmee27
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The father, Manasta Okedra, was soon ruled out as a suspect. He was distressed that someone might want to harm his son—or him through his son. “I just don’t get it,” he kept repeating.
When presented with the possibility that his ex-wife could have done the dastardly deed, Manasta shook his head adamantly. “No, no, no. Isadora adored Johnathan. She also respected me. We just had some differences that… made her walk out us. To think she could be involved in any way is absolutely preposterous!”
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Reply #1088. Jun 26 12, 12:07 PM
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Jazmee27
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After Treskani’s trial and execution, Manasta remarked on how disappointed he was in the kingdom’s justice. He then, quietly and suddenly, dropped dead of a heart attack.
The next day’s paper showed a picture of the boy’s parents next to his mutilated corpse. “Family’s cries for mercy and retribution go unheeded,” read the headline. In the article, the reporter, who I won’t name even if you threaten me, wondered if authorities hadn’t “jumped the gun” by arresting Treskani. “Since when does the Sentorian penal system behave thus,” it asked. “Maybe we, as citizens, should ask one crucial question: would *we want to be treated in such a fashion?”
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Reply #1089. Jun 26 12, 12:08 PM
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Jazmee27
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THE SACRIFICE 1
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Karmeen was one of those women who’s an absolute joy to know, who makes the light turn on in a room just by her presence. Her son’s the same way. One can’t help but be drawn to Josiah—not, that is, unless you happen to be the spawn of the devil.
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Reply #1090. Jun 26 12, 12:09 PM
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Jazmee27
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I used to think his name was Richard Montenegro, and I often thought how much better off the kid would be without a father, instead of this… Little did I know, he’d already lost his father—some say to a vehicular accident of some kind; others say to a magical fight gone wrong—it all depends who one talks to.
He had one of those grins that seems, as soon as you see it, to be false. That Karmen didn’t see through his superficial charm, I’ll never understand. The Universe is minus one beautiful lady for it.
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Reply #1091. Jun 26 12, 12:10 PM
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Jazmee27
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The story begins about eight years ago, Richard Montenegro dying soon after his son is born. There is a new guy in town, though no one knows his name. Looking back, I guess that should have tipped off some people, but we were too stunned by grief—Kosiventos is, if nothing else, a close knit planet. Small, too—the people here could fit comfortably almost anywhere in the Universe because there are so few of us—a consequence, I’m afraid, of the Dark Pestilence.
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Reply #1092. Jun 26 12, 12:10 PM
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Jazmee27
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Karmen had a sister, who was the absolute opposite of her—black soul, that is if she even had one to begin with, turned off a light when it was turned on. Even made her own sister flee the room!
I heard a rumor that Katreena, Karmen’s sister, was madly in love with one Conan Ferguson. This, I’m afraid, is simply not true. If she later married Ferguson, it was to protect herself from the association to Roberto “Rivera, that “mysterious guy” I mentioned before. He’s actually Mnoibrvanan, and is wanted in several locales throughout the Universe for various crimes, including murder and impersonation.
Someone close to Roberto—or, as close as anyone can get to a demon—claims she heard Karmen’s last moments on this Universe. She was pleading that the Protector save her son, saying things like “I care not what happens to me, but spare my child.”
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Reply #1093. Jun 26 12, 12:12 PM
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Jazmee27
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I don’t know who got this, or how, but there’s a video of Roberto (alias Richard Montenegro) repeatedly entering Karmen during her last hour of life. As he penetrates her, he tells her how beautiful she “used to be,” then savagely beats her to within the shadow of death. “If you can tell me where Josiah is,” he whispers, “I’ll let you live.” Her answer is simple: just three words, “go to hell.” After that, he goes into a rampage, and the exact blow that kills her is unclear.
It’s hard to believe a monster like this has lived among us for so many years. It’s hard to believe he’s wanted for crimes perpetrated **in other *kingdoms! It’s difficult to believe we couldn’t have spotted something before Karmen was ruthlessly snatched from us. Before another child was orphaned. Before another kingdom was on the verge of collapse.
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Reply #1094. Jun 26 12, 12:12 PM
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Jazmee27
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THE SACRIFICE 2
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All these years later, it’s the mystery of how her body was discovered that interests me. Everything else, as they say, is secondary.
I remember it was one of those glorious but rare days in which the temperature is neither too hot nor too cold. There wasn’t even a cloud in the sky—which is even more unusual. I was weeding my garden, and thinking over what I’d do after, when one of my neighbors came running, yelling at the top of her lungs. At first, I couldn’t understand her words, that’s how agitated she was. But then she grabbed me and said, “they found Karmen; they found your daughter.” And that was the moment I began to understand, at least a little.
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Reply #1095. Jun 26 12, 12:14 PM
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Jazmee27
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The day before my husband and I had called the authorities to report what, to us, was suspicious. Karmen was one of those children who were constantly in communication with her parents. Even when she was upset with us—and that was often—she always called at least twice a day “just to say hi” or “just so you don’t worry.” She could be very evasive sometimes, withholding any details, but the point was the contact. It said, “don’t bother coming to see me. I’m fine, but just needed to hear your voice.” Every now and then, we’d beg to visit—but she was always busy with some project or other. We understood: she did, after all, have an eight-year-old son to care for.
We did actually get to see Josiah when he was a cute little baby. “He’s got the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen, I remember commenting later. I also remember being fascinated with how tiny he was.
All these memories were flooding my mind when that neighbor came up to me, and my knees felt like water because I knew I’d never see my daughter again, and I pitched forward into my neighbor’s arms… and I must have fainted, because the next thing I knew the sun had set, and my husband was home from work… I’ve never asked what he does with all his time; just knowing he loves me and my daughter is enough…
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Reply #1096. Jun 26 12, 12:15 PM
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Jazmee27
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my daughter. She was found in this abandoned house, or so my neighbor says. She was bound so tightly to the bed that doctors say she was dead when the circulation was cut off completely, which is before the knives—or whatever—hacked her to pieces. Such a horrible way to go… I can’t stop crying… can’t eat… can’t do naught but cry.
That man who claimed to be her husband is gone—as is my grandson. This perks me up. They say Jo ran away, that he’s fleeing the Dark Hunters. I must dry my tears, find him before They do. Cryimg won’t bring Karmen back—but if Jo’s still out there, then there’s a reason for me to keep fighting. I haul myself up out of misery. This is far from over.
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Reply #1097. Jun 26 12, 12:16 PM
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Jazmee27
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I made that decision a while back, but it still drives me. I haven’t found my grandson—although, at times, I felt I was close. And I still want to know exactly who found my daughter, and what details led him or her to that place. But the answers aren’t as important as they were at that moment I learned my daughter was gone. There are moments, of course, when they seem to take precedence above all else—but then I remind myself what truly matters. In those times, I end up thinking how funny it is, that a person’s priorities can change from second to second. It’s one of those things that proves how truly fascinating life can be.
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Reply #1098. Jun 26 12, 12:17 PM
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Jazmee27
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THE SACRIFICE 3
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The woman’s wrists were slanted slightly, twisted over her head and nailed against the headboard. Her fingers were splayed, and similarly nailed to the bedframe. Her legs were spread wide apart, the ankles bound with silver thread and the heel of each foot nailed securely to the mattress. Clumps of her once waist-length reddish-brown hair littered the floor around the bed.
These observations, and more, were found by the police sergeant who found the former queen’s battered and mutilated corpse. He immediately sent out a distress call to other precincts alerting them of the queen’s murder and of her son’s disappearance. “We arrived too late to save her,” the officer stated flatly, “but hopefully we can find the prince OK.”
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Reply #1099. Jun 26 12, 12:18 PM
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Jazmee27
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As one day turned into two, then four, then eight, finding Josiah seemed more and more unlikely. Still, they kept on. In the words of one patroller, “I won’t rest easy until I find him—whether dead or alive.”
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Reply #1100. Jun 26 12, 12:18 PM
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