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  ISBN: 979-8-9876497-1-8

  Written By: Devon Leland

  Edited By: Paisley Prophet & Devon Leland

  Cover Art: Devon Leland

  Table of Contents

  I. July 2017

  II. Stolen

  III. Family and Friends

  IV. June 2018

  V. The House in The Woods

  VI. The Search

  VII. The Return

  VIII. Kidnapped

  IX. The Package

  X. Prime Suspect

  XI. The Chase

  XII. Moving On

  XIII. A New Day

  I

  July 2017

  “. . . Decapitated,” she said, sobbing in terror. Silence followed, and the dispatcher realized the call had dropped.

  Nowadays, every small town in America has some story to tell. It seems these little areas scattered through the country tend to have the most intriguing tales. To better understand the woman’s call into dispatch, there is a story to be told. Although today is June 4th, 2019, I believe it is best if we go back two years to July 7th, 2017. That was when things started to shift and the peaceful town of Oakville, Massachusetts, began to sour. It all began with a call from a man named John Lawrence.

  John Lawrence had been born and raised in the small town of Oakville, Massachusetts, home to five thousand residents. It had originally been built as a suburban community during the time of industrial expansion, and due to that, most people traveled to the city for work. A ride through town showed mostly residential addresses outside of the six-block radius that made up the town’s center. The buildings in the town center had been standing since its incorporation into the state back in the mid-1800s. Here, one found the only businesses in town: a local market and pharmacy, a small gas station with a convenience store and liquor store inside, an automotive shop, storage lot, library, and the town’s police and fire station. Through time, Oakville had proven to be a quiet and simple place to live. That, in part, was what caused the interest in John’s case to skyrocket.

  That Friday night back in the summer of 2017, a call came into the police station.

  “Hello?! My name is John Lawrence, and I think I’m in danger! Please help!” Then the call dropped.

  Oakville Police officers were sent to his house, but no one was home, and his car was gone. There was no sign of anything off, so they figured it must have been a prank. To be sure, the officers on scene called into dispatch and requested further investigation. Dispatch informed the Oakville Police Department’s captain, Mark Jackson. He sent out two detectives to review the home and ensure that the officers who had responded to John’s home hadn’t missed anything.

  Head Detective Matt Andrews and his partner Detective Megan Thompson had been tasked with the case. They quickly reviewed the house and found that, though John was not at home, there did not appear to be any sign of foul play. Still, Matt requested Captain Mark put out an APB for John’s car, a silver 2015 Honda Accord.

  The weekend passed, and early Monday morning, local law enforcement officers were called to a vehicle scrapyard in Longview, Massachusetts, two hours away from Oakville. A Honda Accord had been found parked at Rick’s Pick & Pull Scrapyard.

  Longview was a working-class town, filled with many long-term family businesses. Rick’s scrapyard spanned four acres, and its cars were separated by car brand, which allowed people with the know-how to retrieve the parts they needed for their vehicle for a small fee. Rick allowed people into his lot for free, so they could bring their own tools and remove any parts they needed from the vehicles. All the vehicles in Rick’s lot were moved around by tractor, as nothing but a capable off-road vehicle could make it through the paths in the graveyard of cars. As the cars’ available parts became scarce, Rick would move them to the “last chance” area, to await their final fate in the crusher. In that final acre of his land lived only the skeletons of vehicles, and that was what made the Accord stand out to Rick that morning. The Honda Accord was a diamond amongst the rough.

  What Rick couldn’t figure out was how. For it to be at the far end of the lot, the vehicle had to have been placed there, and with his house across the street, he would have heard the ruckus. He had been the owner and operator for nearly twenty-six years, and he knew the sound of his tractor running like a mother knew her baby’s cry. Rick called the police to report his findings and requested that units be sent to his yard.

  Rick’s call to the Longview Police Department raised interest. The small station consisted of a captain and six officers. They were too small to have a force behind them or detectives to work a big case. When the captain heard of the vehicle, he thought of the APB he had received days earlier. He called Captain Mark and informed him that, although it was too early to tell, they might have found the Accord he was looking for. Captain Mark told him to keep him up to date with his findings, and if it turned out to be John’s Accord, he would send detectives out to process the scene further. Longview’s captain obliged.

  Upon arrival to Rick’s Pick & Pull, Longview police officers reviewed the Honda Accord and found what Rick had reported to be true. The Honda had been placed in the back of the lot sometime over the weekend. A fake stuffed body was found in the driver’s seat, and the body had been stuffed with newspaper. The body had a beach ball for a head, kept covered by a winter cap. Also, in the hand of the stuffed man sat a pocket watch with the inscription, “In Due Time.” The only other thing in the vehicle was the vehicle’s registration, showing ownership by John Lawrence. Longview’s police captain called Captain Mark back and informed him of their findings. Captain Mark sent out Detectives Matt and Megan to investigate further.

  The ride out of Oakville that brought the detectives to Longview was pleasant. The two towns were loosely connected by an east-to-west route that twisted its way through trees and past ponds and the occasional home or small gas station. This part of the state was not as inhabited as the middle and eastern parts of the state where two of its biggest cities found their homes. Instead, it was quiet, peaceful, and surrounded by nature. Upon arrival, both Matt and Megan were baffled as they reviewed the vehicle and the surrounding area. The ground around the Accord was rough, and there were no tire tracks leading up to the vehicle to show it had ben driven. It was clear that John’s Accord had been placed there, not driven there. Besides the footprints that they were able to match to Rick, there were no other signs anyone had been up close with the vehicle. This made at least one thing clear: when the vehicle was placed there, the fake body must have already been in place. Logic said that the person who had placed the vehicle there knew how to use machinery and had general knowledge of the yard. The issue was, with Rick’s yard being so popular, that did not bring the pool of potential suspects down at all. The obvious question arose—was Rick involved?

  At this time, Captain Mark called Matt. “Matt, what updates do you have?”

  “Captain, honestly, not much to go on here. A very strange sight, to be honest.”

  “Does it seem like a prank, or something real?” Captain Mark asked.

  “At this point, it seems like the car was put here carefully, the body and pocket watch seem to be making a statement. But it seems we don't have any solid leads yet, sir.”

  Captain Mark sighed heavily. “Please report any updates to me, and tell Megan the same.”

  “Will do, sir,” said Matt, and the captain hung up the phone.

  Captain Mark demanded answers from Matt and Megan as soon as possible because things this
strange did not happen often to the citizens of Oakville. Most days, Captain Mark’s desk would be filled with noise complaints, petty theft, pranks taken too far, and missing pets. The thought of John’s case being anything more than a prank worried him. Things like this just did not happen in a small town. He needed answers, for himself and to make sure that his town was safe. He hoped it would be nothing more than an elaborate prank, but just in case it wasn’t, Captain Mark would be investigating John’s case right alongside Detectives Matt and Megan moving forward. They would soon find that the information they had was greatly outweighed by the unknown, and this would become a trend that haunted this case as time went on.

  Later that day, Detective Megan sat across from Rick in the interview room. “Rick, this is protocol. I need to ask you some questions.”

  “You don’t think I have anything to do with this, do you?” Rick replied, a little uneasy about the entire situation.

  Megan’s face remained impassive. “We’re just trying to get the whole story, figure out anything you may have forgotten in your call.”

  Rick recounted his actions that morning and stated, “I have nothing to hide. Please, ask me anything.”

  “Can you account for your whereabouts this weekend?”

  “I can!” he exclaimed. “I have cameras to prove it.”

  Rick was able to prove his innocence, as cameras around his home showed he had never left his property between the scrapyard’s close Saturday and when he’d returned to the yard Monday morning. Investigators reviewed the lone camera at the entrance of the yard. Around 2 a.m. Monday morning, John’s car was seen driving up to the gate. A man got out, opened the gate, drove the car in, then stopped and closed the gate. Almost one hour later, the man could be seen exiting the lot on foot, heading West before disappearing from the view of the camera.

  The man had been dressed in all black, and this, combined with the low video quality, meant they could not identify who he was. Based on the video, they were able to determine the man was roughly six feet tall, medium build. This also proved Rick’s innocence, as he was roughly half a foot shorter and from years of drinking had grown an unmistakable beer belly. He gave the investigators full access to his lot and home, as well as all his recordings and any other information they might need. He wanted to help; he really wanted answers as to why his yard had been picked and why he had to be involved.

  Captain Mark sent a forensic unit to meet Matt and Megan at Rick’s yard. They arrived around 12 p.m. and spent the day combing through John’s car. It was found to be meticulously clean, nothing remaining but the body, the watch, and the vehicle registration. The car appeared to have recently been detailed, but with a lack of even the most common dirt and grime found in a vehicle, it was assumed that John cared for the Accord regularly. With little to go on from the car alone, attention was solely focused on the body found in the driver seat and the registration found in the glove box. There was nothing specific about the newspapers used to stuff the body; they appeared to be a mix of editions of the local paper from the past year or so. Most of the town received the local paper daily, so there was no way for authorities to determine the individual involved. The beach ball was multi-colored and cheap, something you would find in the summer at your local pharmacy. The pocket watch was silver and looked to have gone untouched since it had been built. The intricacies of its working could be seen through a glass piece on the inside behind the watch face. The inscription fell on the inside of the watch cover, done by a handheld machine, but nothing stated who had engraved the piece.

  The investigation of Rick’s scrapyard proved to show no further findings. The rest of the yard was as it had been left when Rick closed the gates Saturday evening. The investigators and Rick walked the entirety of the lot and found nothing out of place or missing. Back at the front gate, they found the tire tracks that matched the Accord. They followed them from the entrance of the yard to roughly twenty yards in. There, they found where the vehicle must have been picked up. There were tractor tire tracks leading up to the side of where the Accord’s tracks ended in the dirt. With the condition of the car being so well maintained and there being no damage to the exterior, they figured whoever had lifted the vehicle and carried it to the spot where it now sat must have been exceedingly careful. The only signs that the vehicle had ever come off the ground were two strips that reached across the width of the vehicle’s undercarriage. These marks matched the forklift attachment on Rick’s tractor, the same tractor he used to move vehicles around his yard. Review of the tractor found that it had also been wiped clean.

  With nothing further to go on at the scrapyard, investigators switched their attention to John’s home once again. They would head back to Oakville to review the house once more. This time, they would not simply be looking for anything out of the ordinary but instead have the house reviewed in its entirety by the forensics unit. Before leaving, Matt touched base with Rick one more time.

  “Hey, Rick. First off, I want to say thank you for your patience during our review today. I wanted to give you my card just in case you think of anything else or if anything more comes up. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.”

  Rick thanked him and said, “I’ll be sure to do so.”

  Returning to Oakville, investigators followed the route into town down Main Street. Three blocks into the town center, they turned left, heading south toward John’s house. With the majority of Oakville having been constructed in the same timeframe, most of the town had a Colonial building style. As the road led further from the center of town, where wealthy business owners from the industrial age had begun building their houses during the expansion that followed the town’s incorporation, the building style changed. John’s neighborhood sat five minutes from the edge of Oakville and featured a majority of Victorian houses, with only a few Colonial-style houses.

  His street, like many others, had trees lining it on both sides along the curb. The trees sat in an area of grass that stretched a few feet from the edge of the curb to the edge of the sidewalk closer to the houses. Most had a one-car garage with a driveway that would fit two more vehicles in a row. All the houses sat just far enough back from the sidewalk that each had a medium-sized front yard. The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful; most of its current residents had moved in during the recession back in 2008, so though it looked like they had tremendous wealth, they sat in the same tax bracket as the rest of the town.

  John’s house was a light grey and blue two-floor Victorian house with an attached two-car garage. It had dark blue shutters that were there just for show, and the off-white painted window frames matched the front door. It had a bronze door knocker and a mail slot to match. The roof was a mixture of dark shingles and copper roofing. Unlike most homes in the area, John’s home showed the true copper color, while the other homes showed more of the effect of time. The exterior walls of the house had been well maintained and appeared to have been redone in recent years.

  Once inside the house, investigators found themselves in a small porch-like opening with coat hooks on the walls and a black mat used for shoes. Through the opening, the living room was an open-concept design. They were able to see the dining room, kitchen, pantry, and library all at once. A staircase in the middle of the house brought them to the second floor from the living room or to the basement from the kitchen. This staircase was the only thing breaking up the rooms on the first floor. The furnishings were relatively new, and each room had its own theme, though there wasn’t much contrast from one room to the next.

  The living room was filled with light shades, a welcoming sight that still felt cozy. The kitchen was modern, just shy of a full chef’s kitchen, and a mixture of greys and whites covered the walls. A full-size burner stove top sat in the center of the kitchen island. A double-stacked oven was built into the wall. The kitchen sink was big enough to clean the contents of a full kitchen. The dining room was a simple pastel tone of yellow with a long wooden table in the mid
dle. A single chandelier hung above the table. The library was the darkest of the rooms, brown leather and dark furniture filled the space. A bookshelf took up one wall, and the opposite side held a record player and a massive collection of records from different genres. The second-floor landing had the choice of straight, left, or right. Straight ahead, a full bathroom filled with hues of blue. To the left, the master bedroom looked plush and comfortable with a master bathroom and a walk-in closet. The bed was made, and the room was tidy. This was clearly the only room utilized upstairs. To the right of the stairs, there were matching bedrooms with smaller closets. Both were set up as bedrooms, but the closets and furniture sat empty. Clearly guest rooms, and though clean, it appeared they did not get much use. Down in the basement, there was not much to find. Boxes of old items and decorations, a washer and dryer, a water heater, and the furnace for the house's heat.

  The search of the house found nothing specific to note. The house was clean; dishes on the drying rack seemed to be the only things not in their intended place. The air had a fresh scent, like the house had recently been dusted and swept. The only things that appeared to be missing were a couple of articles of clothing, as clothing hangers were found empty in the master closet. The number of empty hangers matched what had been found on the stuffed body in the car. This led to the question, why put on such heavy clothing on such a warm night? There was clearly not a lack of options to choose from. It just did not make sense. To this point, it still seemed like an elaborate prank that John was somehow involved in, but his call had come in three days prior, and now, with the vehicle having been found, it seemed that it was becoming real.

  Outside lay a yard meticulously cared for, so green it almost seemed fake. Bushes surrounded the front of the house, all shaped to an almost perfect match of each other. The backyard spanned roughly fifty yards by thirty yards. A vegetable garden was set in the back of the property. Other than the garden, the yard was clean, boasting the stripes of a lawn recently mowed from home to garden. A deck off the back of the house held a fire pit, grill, and table for six. The garage attached to the house was equally as cared for as the rest of the house and yard. Behind the first door lay nothing, a clean, empty slate. This was where John’s Honda had more than likely been parked at night. Everything seemed to be pushed away from this side of the garage, which pointed to the fact that he cared for his car and did not want to damage it. The other door opened to show all the fixings for great lawn care and home projects. Once again, everything had its place, and nothing seemed to be missing. They concluded for the night and decided to return to John’s house with fresh eyes in the morning.