Murder in a Small Town: The Witnesses

The Witnesses

"We have witness statements that, right before the Hansen’s murders, an unknown stranger came to Lancaster calling himself “Brandon”. He was known to frequent the bar here in town and was telling everyone he had come back from Panama and that his real name was Jim. However, this man vanished right before the murders and was never seen around here again. This is the part of the story that gets interesting. I thought to myself, what would a deranged psychopath do if they had just committed a brutal homicide? To answer this question, I looked back on famous profiles of mass murders and their modus operandi. (1). They would need to put some distance between themselves and the location of the murders. (2). They would need to change their identity. (3). They would need a place to hide out, possibly in plain sight. So, I began looking at the neighboring cities and farms in particular. Jim had an established pattern of marrying one farmer’s daughter, what’s the likelihood he would continue this pattern? I hoped pretty good. During my research of the surrounding counties, a man by the name of Walter Krantz shows up two weeks after the murders on a farm some fifty miles from here, telling a sob-story about losing his family in an automobile accident while he was away serving in the military. Joe Miller, owner of the farm fell for this stranger’s story and gave him work as a hired hand. Walter took to farm life and ingratiated himself with Joe to the point of actually marrying one of his daughters. (Here Jim’s behavioral pattern is perpetuated). To this fact I have been able to get a sample of (Rachel) the little girl’s DNA and one from Walter Kratz’s daughter and their DNA is a match! This proves that Rachel’s father and Vicki’s husband did not die in Panama but was actually right here, close to the Lancaster area, when the murders occurred”.