Murder in a Small Town: Jessica's Theory

Jessica’s Theory

Jessica grabs the results and goes straight to the sheriff’s office. The Captain always appears unemotional to Jessica, and even now he looks up at her from behind his desk, leans back in his chair, laces his fingers across his paunch-belly and simply says, “Okay detective, let’s hear what you have”. Sheriff Gerrard is familiar with the case and his father was one of the original investigators. Jessica enthusiastically begins her story.

“Okay Chief, as you know, thirty years ago, in 1989, six people were brutally murdered on a farm just south of town here. The victims include the farmer Carl, his wife Eula, their daughter Vicki, granddaughter Rachel, grandson william, and live-in housekeeper, Olga. The four bodies found in the barn were not concealed in any way, except for the body of the little girl who had been partially hidden under some hay. The theory at the time was that each of the victims had been lured to the barn one by one and dispatched with some farming implement that was never recovered. The killer then went to the main house and disposed of the little boy and live-in housekeeper. The original theory was that the daughter Vicki, was the first one to meet her fate, followed by her mother Eula, then the farmer Carl, and the little girl Rachel, was the last one slain.

However, I propose that the sequence of events began with Rachel who, by accident, hit her head while trying to flee from a stranger that had made himself home in the barn and in the Hansen’s house. Rachel did not die straight away as the original investigators learned, but lingered for hours before succumbing to the trauma to her head. This fact plays well into what I think actually happened.

There were plenty of suspects at the time, but DNA testing was in its infancy and the original crime scene investigators may have overlooked or ignored any viable evidence.  No usable fingerprints were ever recovered as well. All of the suspects were eventually ruled out, however, the real culprit was able to slip away before being found out.

During this same time in 1989, Vicki’s husband, and Rachel’s father, was serving a tour with the U.S. military during Operation Just Cause in an effort to overthrow Panama’s dictator, Manuel Noriega. Vicki’s husband, Jim Wilson, was presumed killed in that conflict by sniper fire, along with several of his comrades in the same detachment. Eyewitnesses vouch that he had been fatally wounded and his body was sent back to the states for burial. The wounds were so severe, that a closed casket ceremony had to be performed. Furthermore, a soldier from Jim’s detachment, Brandon Smith, was sent back to the base hospital. He had a nasty head wound and the doctors didn’t think he would survive, but he did. After being released from medical care, he was sent back to the states for fourteen days leave before returning to duty. He was never seen or heard from again. I contend that this man was actually Jim Wilson, Vicki’s husband who had switched dog tags with a fallen soldier”