Investigation Story
The police station of Dallas is crowded with officers and residents discussing the recent events of another male body found dead and terribly burned in the trunk of his car a few kilometers away from our police station. This incident brought an indescribable shock to the officers as this kind of murderous activity has already been solved almost a decade ago—or so we thought. It has been eight years since the case of the serial-killing couple Julian Bradford and Cindy Carlyle has been resolved. It was in late 2000 when a series of male murders in the southern states of America was discovered by the police and eventually by the media. The first victim was found dead and badly burned in the trunk of his car in an empty lot not far from the Indianapolis’ police station. It has been one of the most complicated cases that the southern police district has ever encountered as nobody has ever guessed that the seemingly perfect and beautiful couple has committed the crimes.
The suspects were identified to be 23-year old Julian Bradford and his live-in partner, Cindy Carlyle, 22 years old. Both suspects were college students of a local state college in Indianapolis where Bradford was an athlete and Carlyle, a member of the student body council. The series of male murders started in Indianapolis where no witnesses seemed to surface until the fifth victim, who was a state attorney, was found burned in his own house. A witness who refused to be identified in fear of risking his life was a neighbor of the victim. He testified that he knew his neighbor was going out with a college girl who was ten years his junior. The victim, he said, was very proud about it that he had heard him once bragging about it to someone in his cell phone. The witness also declared that the night before the murder, he asked him if he can lend his dog some food. However, the witness replied that he also ran out of it so the victim asked him to watch his dog while he bought some Alpo from a nearby convenience store. It was past midnight when he heard the attorney, who seemed to have company, arrived in his house. Twelve hours later, he was a burned corpse. Findings later revealed that the victim was robbed and killed by a .45 caliber shot in the head. There were also signs of torture due to the presence of blood all over the floor where the victim lay. Since the body was almost charred, no detailed fingerprints could be found in the crime scene.
As soon as the witness finished his story, officers wasted no time and started visiting all nearby convenience stores. Each store was required to show them CCTV footages of the night of the murder. After six hours of waiting and searching, a video from a nearby 7-eleven revealed the victim in the company of a young man and woman. The video showed the expressionless attorney who was held in the arms by the young woman and the young man behind them. The couple was indeed the college students, Bradford and Carlyle, as identified by residents who knew Bradford as a hero in the football field.
Before a warrant could be issued to the alleged suspects, a male officer in the local police station of Indianapolis was reported missing. Coincidentally, a fellow officer revealed that the missing officer confided to him last week that he was dating an attractive college student, so he borrowed his fellow officer’s unmarked car to pick up his date. The fellow officer, however, stated that the officer has not reported for two days, and his immediate family was worried. An hour later, the unmarked car was traced, and it was found in an empty lot. The police expected a burned corpse in the car’s trunk, but they found the corpse of the police officer badly beaten and still warm. Officers also discovered that the engine was still warm, so every officer was quickly ordered to search all nearby places for Julian Bradford and Cindy Carlyle. It was an action-packed night as gunshots were suddenly heard in the city of Indianapolis. People were shouting and panicking. Civilians were ordered to stay away from the crime scene. Two hours later, there were two dead officers and two dead suspects. Evidences showed matches in the fingerprints of Bradford and Carlyle recovered from the body of the dead officer in the trunk. Results and research from witnesses and immediate families of the suspects revealed that the suspects were involved in some kind of an occult that promotes young vigilantes. The occult, however, was never proved.
Now, another similar murder is threatening the city of Dallas, and police officers are wondering if they have killed the right suspects or this is another set of young vigilantes on the loose.
