fact or fiction
Is it fact or merely fiction? Fact or Fiction explores the myths and beliefs we hold about copycat killers, eyewitnesses testimony, what makes a murderer and more.
Saving Stella
The monstrous waves crashed against the warm sand and made the sea foam tickle my bare feet as the sun blistered my cheeks. I had never been to the beach before and for the first time in my life, I felt joy. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths and savored every second of the salty air as it entered my lungs. A smile grew across my lips and several tears rolled down my sunburnt face as laughter from young children filled the air.
By Courtney Gaylor5 years ago in Criminal
Her Second Favorite Mug
She tugged the thick envelope out of her mailbox. When she did, it tore on a sharp edge, revealing what was inside. Blood roared in her ears as she processed what she was seeing. She wasn’t counting money at her department store job; she was standing outside her dilapidated apartment, key to her own mailbox dangling from the door that was swaying in the wind.
By Monica Larc5 years ago in Criminal
Dark Santa
Twenty-three years ago, a woman gave birth to a child in a black market, underground cave where she is one of many; held captive. Her abuser is the father of a budding crypto cult, where the RNA of male genes and chromosomes are empathetically mutated and used on female babies to strengthen their body’s natural immune system. After a negative gender identity, her child was swiftly removed. Only to be used like all other negative results, as test subjects for the next batch of girl babies. Surprisingly, the caretaker deviates and ships the baby to a disclosed facility were the rare few, are given rays of hope through adoption or foster care.
By Rheda Denning5 years ago in Criminal
The Treasure of a Lifetime
This was the heist that rocked the Boston Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum back in March of 1990. Two thieves disguised as police officers tricked the security guards at this museum as mentioned above into letting them into the museum late at night.
By Paige Kostyniuk5 years ago in Criminal
Hero
Guilt is worse when everyone thinks you're wonderful. For weeks, Sydney's major newspaper was on my sofa, folded in half with the page 5 headline 'Local Woman Saves Mother and Child' staring up at me. I remember speaking to the reporter for about two minutes. Everything he's written is technically true, but he's made it sound like I dragged two unconscious bodies from a crashed car that exploded seconds later (the car didn't even catch fire). And of course there's something he doesn't know. Something no one knows.
By JasonWadeDunn5 years ago in Criminal
Rosso
The old wood floor was creaking. The roof was leaking and the wood studs were significantly broken. The moisture of the Greek island didn’t help but continue deteriorating the buildings wooden joists. Pieces of the ceiling painting were collapsing little by little, day by day. The marble cornice had already cracked when this big cymatium piece fell on the street. The Department of Buildings gave them no option but to abandon the house. Rosso was its name, given by the locals. Rosso because blood had watered its walls. But it was still their inheritance. “We don’t care about your inheritance. The house belongs to the city now. Whatever remains of it of course. The house... The house... The house...”
By Niria Kountouri5 years ago in Criminal
Rosso
The old wood floor was creaking. The roof was leaking and the wood studs were significantly broken. The moisture of the Greek island didn’t help but continue deteriorating the buildings wooden joists. Pieces of the ceiling painting were collapsing little by little, day by day. The marble cornice had already cracked when this big cymatium piece fell on the street. The Department of Buildings gave them no option but to abandon the house. Rosso was its name, given by the locals. Rosso because blood had watered its walls. But it was still their inheritance. “We don’t care about your inheritance. The house belongs to the city now. Whatever remains of it of course. The house... The house... The house...”
By Niria Kountouri5 years ago in Criminal
The Little Black Book of Secrets We Keep
Gracie Love strolled into the courtroom while people stared at her. Some of people were thankful that she had the opportunity to tell her truth and some of the people looked angry. The people who looked angry were perhaps, misled by the stories of people who tried to get away with several crimes. The Robinson family wanted Gracie to keep her mouth shut, but the truth had been held in her heart and mind for much too long. She braced herself firmly on the arm of her husband, David Love who was there to support her as they took a seat on the wooden bench closest to the door.
By Tavetta Patterson5 years ago in Criminal
The Billionaires Secret
"Lizzy get down!!" yells my best friend Sarah. I see her drop to the floor and not a second later as if something pulled on me, I did the same. As I am falling to the floor, my heart drops. I heard a faint whistle and then the crash of broken glass. Then the realization hit that the driver side window just got shot out right were my head used to be. While I'm on the ground in complete shock, Sarah managed to open the back door. She was half way in, when I hear another faint whistle and Sarah let out a high pitch scream as a bullet tears through her thigh. She pulls her feet in the rest of the way and closes the door. I roll under the car trying to seek shelter from the shooter. From what I could tell they were on the left side of the car, hidden somewhere in the dense tree line. So I rolled out to the right side of the car praying that I didn't misjudge their location. I sigh in relief as I open the passenger side door. Then all I could hear is Sarah's muffled cries. I look at her and see that her left leg is covered in blood. I take off the sweater I'm wearing and hand it to her "put pressure on it, okay". She shakes her head yes and did just that. I turn around to start the car, and in the rear view mirror I see the silhouette of a man standing behind us. He's a few feet away from the car, and he's holding a gun. It's aimed right at us. I start the car and put it in reverse. "Stay down!!" I yell at Sarah as I hit the gas. I head straight for him, pressing the gas pedal as hard as I can. He fires a few shots at the car but jumps over before I could hit him. He's on the floor and looking straight at me as I drive by. I kept going until I was all the way down the driveway of the log cabin we were staying at. I back into the road and switch into drive to pull away. I'm driving as fast as I can to get away. I ran all of the stop signs and red lights, my only priority is to get away from him as fast as I can. We were about 8 miles away from the log cabin when I pullover to the side of the road. I put my hazard lights on and get out. I go to the trunk and grab the med kit my dad packed when we left on our trip. I grab the gauze, medical tape, antibiotics and the tweezers an bottle of water. I walked over to the backdoor and helped Sarah to the edge of the seat to try to fix her wound on her leg. I managed to get the bullet out although the pain had her resisting completely. I wrap and tape her leg up. As I am putting the med kit back, I grab the leather suitcase that we found in the log cabin. "Do you suppose this is what we were getting shot at over?" I asked Sarah as I put it onto the trunk of the car? I opened it, The 20,000 dollars was still there and so was the black note book. I grab the note book and open it to see what's inside that's sooo important that we almost lost our lives. It was so wierd, I just couldn't make sense of it, it was in some kind of code. "We need to go before they find us, and they still have Jess, we have to go to the cops Liz" said Sarah. I shook my head no. "We can't go to the cops, they might kill her if we do" I said. As tears roll down her face she asks "What do we do then?". " Give me a minute, I have to think about it... there's only one thing to do, we negotiate" I answered. She nods her head in agreement as I put the book back and close the trunk. I walk to the driverside door and get in. I start the car and start heading in the direction of the nearest town. "Get comfortable and get some sleep, the next town is hours away and we need to get rid of this car. They will be looking for it" I said as I turn on the radio to tone out the doubtful thoughts I was having.
By Cynthia E. Collazo5 years ago in Criminal
