The Helen City Slayer

A Detective Mars Mystery

            -It was a cold winter night in the city of Helen. There was a string of unsolved murders plaguing the crime infested city. Detective Xavier Mars was busy looking over case files seated at his desk in his leather desk chair. A lit cigar was in his mouth, lit with a matchstick. He could feel the cold air from the opened window. The weather as cold as the cases he was looking over.

            Who was going out and committing these atrocious murders was still a mystery for the men in blue in the Homicide Division of the Helen City Police Department. It was 6 long months of investigation and the police were no closer to apprehending the fugitive.

            It all started 6 months back. Detective Xavier Mars was at the prime of his policing career. It was a warm spring night when he was called into work to work on a new case. The dead body of a young girl was found, and the police chief chose Mars to lead the case. The young girl was identified as 12 year old Amy Jones. She was tortured, raped and murdered.

            Xavier started off by putting the DNA evidence into the criminal database on his computer to find a match. His search, however, was inconclusive. Whoever committed this heinous act had no previous criminal record. There was no one to match the DNA to. The forensics team held onto the DNA evidence just in case the suspect was ever apprehended.

            Xavier worked night and day, questioning any possible suspect and any possible witness. The answers between witnesses varied. Some say they saw a red truck. Some say they saw a man walking up to the little girl. Some said it wasn’t a red truck but a blue Dodge. With all the conflicting stories, Xavier was no closer to possible leads.

            Due to the working night and day on the case, Xavier didn’t see much of his family. It was also putting a strain on his marriage. Mrs. Jillian Mars got the cold shoulder night and day from her husband, but she knew how he was when it came to working on cases. His 2 little girls were feeling neglected by their father, but they knew he loved them dearly.

            On many nights, Xavier would bring his work home with him and sit at his home office desk, searching his computer and files while he investigated. He was very meticulous in his work. Xavier was a star detective for the HCPD, but this case proved to be one of his more difficult ones. Would Amy Jones ever have justice?

            Amy wouldn’t be the only one in need of justice, however. She was only the first in a string of brutal murders. A 9 year old girl was abducted from a local grocery store while her mom was getting groceries from a different aisle. When the mother wasn’t looking, a man grabbed the little girl and ran out the front door. The camera wasn’t able to get a good image of the suspect. He was wearing all black, with a hood covering his head.

            The little girl was taken to a wooded area where she was raped, tortured, sodomized with a screwdriver and finally murdered. The little girl was strangled to death with her own shirt and a crowbar used as a tourniquet. The news media was now calling the criminal the Helen City Slayer. The little girl was later identified as 9-year-old Cassidy Black. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and was an honors student. She was popular with her teachers and fellow students alike.

            Every time there was a new, even younger victim on the news, Xavier would get sick to his stomach. He wanted to catch the monster that was raping and killing little girls. He was no closer to catching him, however, and the case was getting cold. Xavier refused to relent and stayed on the case, even though he worked other cases as well.

            Bodies of young women and little girls kept popping up. They were all tortured, raped and strangled to death in similar fashion. The DNA on each victim matched 1 person, but still no results in the criminal database. Whoever was getting away with these crimes were always one step ahead of the law. Xavier refused to give up, even though it was becoming a problem for his wife. She decided to separate for a little while till Xavier was able to solve the case, taking the 2 little girls with her. Xavier obliged, though it left him depressed.

            Xavier looked over the grocery store surveillance video religiously, trying to learn more about the man that abducted the little girl. From the video, he could tell the man was over 6 feet tall, a skinny and lanky build. Unfortunately, that were the only clues he could find in the video. Xavier had a lit cigar in his mouth as he looked for anything else that could be of value on the video. It was to no avail.

            While Xavier was working, the murderer struck once again. 8 year old Lindsay Myers was walking home from church services when she was stopped in her tracks by a man in all black, threatening the young girl with a knife. She had no choice but to follow him to his vehicle. Witnesses saw the man drive off with the girl in a blue Dodge, but weren’t able to identify the man because he was wearing a black ski mask.

            The monster drove with Lindsay to a dark alley where he proceeded to torture, rape, sodomize and strangle her to death. He then left her body in the alley for authorities to later find. Eye witnesses saw a blue Dodge pull out of the back alley at the time of the girl’s murder. They were quick to call the police.

            Forensic evidence proved this was the same man that raped and murdered the other little girls, but they still had no matches in the criminal database. The killer was getting more careless, however, and now authorities were looking for a blue Dodge. The killer was also now killing in broad daylight, with witnesses around.

            Xavier Mars searched the internet for blue Dodge cars that were registered to citizens of Helen City. He found nearly 20 matches, 3 being possible suspects in the murders. The first 2 men that Xavier questioned were found innocent, and all of his faith relied on the third suspect. If he was wrong in his hunch, he knew that the killer would walk free to kill more little girls.

            The man in question was 28 year old Daryl Matthews. Xavier offered him a cup of coffee as he questioned him. Daryl drank the coffee and told the officer he didn’t know anything about the murders. He also claimed to hate pedophiles. Xavier wasn’t buying it. Daryl Matthews matched the description of the killer, and police had obtained a warrant to search his vehicle, where they found damning evidence.

            Police found in his blue Dodge black clothing, a ski mask, and what appeared to be a rape and murder kit. Also, Xavier gave Daryl Matthews a cup of coffee to drink for a reason. He wanted his DNA. After questioning Daryl Matthews, Xavier took the DNA evidence to the forensics team where they later confirmed that the DNA matched the killer’s. With all the damning evidence against him, Daryl Matthews was formally arrested. He later confessed to all the murders, and even to murders that weren’t at first linked to him.

            The Helen City Slayer pleaded guilty at his trial. If he thought the guilty plea would save him from a more serious conviction, he was sorely mistaken. Daryl Matthews was sentenced to death. Xavier Mars was victorious in his mission and was called a hero by many. Now the little girls that lost their lives finally had justice. The Helen City Slayer would never walk the streets again.

            As Xavier closed his case, his family moved back in. They congratulated him on his victory as he and his wife embraced. It was a long and grueling case, but it was finally over. Xavier and Jillian celebrated with a bottle of red wine…