Eli's Project

Dee got back in her car and then turned left out of the shipyard. The Park was less than ½ mile down Middle Harbor Rd, on the left. As soon as she turned out of the Shipyard, she saw all the flashing lights. The metal bar gate, with its PARK CLOSED sign, was blocking the entrance drive, but an OPD officer was standing there to let official vehicles in and out. From the gate, Dee could see half a dozen squad cars, Sgt. Collins SUV and the Coroner van all parked on the paved circle around the huge metal pole that was the Oakland Mast. The Park Rangers were even here to close down the Park from the public until the Crime Scene could be processed. The main piece of equipment present was the huge firetruck, parked in the grass directly in front of the Mast, with its ladder fully extended. A large white sheet hanging from the end of the ladder blocked whatever was on the top of the mast from view. On the other side of the paved circle, there was a Parks and Rec bucket truck, and she could just make out the slim form of Sundae's partner Mike Rollo, in the bucket up there to the left of the giant sheet. She assumed he was up there snapping pictures and taking samples. Dee pulled into the small parking lot nearby, got out, and walked over to where the Alameda County Coroner, Dr. Harperson, and her boss, Sgt. Collins was standing on the paved circle, necks craned back, intently watching whatever was going on up there behind the sheet.

“Morning, Gentlemen. What have we got up.... there... “ Dee's words trailed off as she looked up. Neither man noticed her or even acknowledged that she had spoken. They were all transfixed by the scene above them. It took a moment for her brain to recognize what her eyes were seeing. It was a naked human female, that much she could tell, but there was something wrong with the body. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was at first. It wasn't the fact that she was naked. Or the fact that she was hanging upside down. Or the fact that her entire body was covered in some strange blue ink tattoos that were bright enough that Dee could see them from the ground. It was her limbs. Something was wrong with this picture. The body, in that position, just looked....off.

She was tied, spread-eagle, upside down, about 30 ft above the ground. Her body somehow resembled a broken starfish. On the Mast itself, there were six ropes, all attached to the main horizontal cross beam, three on each side of the main vertical mast. These turned the Mast into, essentially, a giant flagpole capable of flying six flags instead of just one. Well, whoever had done this, had tied each of her ankles to the pair of ropes closest to the upward post, left and right. Then a little further down each rope, they had tied each wrist, left and right side. Then, Dee supposed, they had just strung her up. Ran her up the flagpole to the top, like some sick human flag. But the two closest ropes were still, at least 10 ft on either side of the main pole, making them at least 20 or 25 ft apart from each other. Her arms and legs should not have been able to stretch that distance apart from each other. They have been stretched too far. That was why she looked wrong. She had been literally pulled apart. How was that even possible?

Dee's brain finally came back online and she got her wits about her. She looked back down to the ground, picked her jaw up when she realized her mouth was hanging open, pulled her glasses off, and rubbed her forehead. WOW. Well, Sundae had warned her and she had been right. Dee looked back up and this time, took in the rest of the scene. As before, she noticed Mike in the bucket, taking pictures of what would have been her right ankle and the rope around it. There was a fireman on the ladder that was on the vertical pole of the Mast and he was holding ropes that were attached to the bottom of the sheet, keeping it in place. Dee looked over at the Corner and the Sergeant. They still hadn't even noticed her. She cleared her throat

“Hum-um... Good morning fellas. What have we got?”

Sgt. Collins, who was the closest to her, finally looked in her direction. “ Morning, Segura. Have you ever seen anything so brutal? That's crazy. I thought I had seen a human killed in every way you could kill a human, but this is a new one for me. Strung up the flagpole like a pair of dirty underwear. The public display of it all. It's definitely about sending a message. Flying a body flag on a WWII War Memorial, I mean it doesn't take a genius to figure out it's some kind of declaration of war. But who is it meant for? And who's it from? Why? I don't even know who the opponents are. That's up to you to figure out. You need to figure out who she is, then figure out who her enemies are, and go from there. You can start here....” He motioned over to his SUV a few feet away and they walked over to it. He opened the back hatch and she peered inside. Several evidence bags were sitting there. A few small ones and one large one. Dee snapped on some latex gloves and took the clear plastic bag that Collins was trying to hand her. It was a Passport and Dee carefully pulled it out of the bag to examine it.

“The body was found this morning when the Parks and Rec guy arrived at 5 AM to open the park and hang the flags. He immediately called 911, local units responded, they called me, and then I had them call you. Once I got here, I shut down the park from the normal morning joggers and bike riders, then the officers and I started searching the Park for anything left behind.

Her clothes were found stuffed into a trash can over by the picnic tables. We're pretty confident the clothes belong to her because they are very bloody. That's what is in all these small evidence packages. Then, over there on the mud flats, we found her backpack, which is secured in this large bag here. No footprints were leading up to it, or anywhere around it. With all that soft mud, there is no possible way to get out there without leaving tracks. I think the Perp tried to throw the pack into the water, thinking it would probably sink or just float away. Luckily for us, the current brought it back and it got stuck in the mud as the tide went out. The bag was searched just enough to find her wallet or identification. It will be more thoroughly processed once we get it back to the lab, but we were at least able to identify her. Her name is Sarha Riverbraid, she's 24, and from Ireland. We have no idea how she got here or what she was doing here. How did she get here, to America, to Shoreline Park? She met up with somebody who wanted her dead. Hopefully, the body will tell us more. There might be prints, fibers, DNA, or something forensic on the body that we can use. The reason she's still up there is because Dr. Harperson wanted the body photographed in the position it was found in, with her limbs, um, stretched out like that. Then he's going to cut the ropes, leave them attached to her, and gently lower the whole thing onto the sheet to get it back to the Morgue, as intact as possible, to try to preserve as much evidence as possible. He thinks he might be able to get skin cells from our Perp off the ropes. The killer had to handle the ropes when he strung her up. That's it so far. You know how to do your job. Run her name through all the usual databases, City and State. Then, because she's from Ireland, go National, NCIC, and Interpol. Keep me in the loop about what you find. I wanna keep tabs on this case. This is going to be big, especially once the media gets a hold of it.” He pointed back towards the Park entrance. Dee turned around and could see a TV truck, with satellite dishes on top just pulling up. Collins continued. “There were maybe half a dozen people in the Park when I got here this morning, the joggers and bikers, you know. I guess they hadn't noticed the body hanging above their heads. The local officers had the main entrance closed off, to try to secure the scene but a few gravel access roads are coming into the Park. A few people still got in. They were all canvassed and briefly interviewed. Nobody saw or heard anything suspicious. I got all their names and contact info in case you want to question them again. I just hope nobody took pictures or video and leaked it. That's the other reason why we put the sheet up. To try to shield her from public view, give her a little privacy and dignity, ya know...”

“Well,' said Dee. “You know what that TV truck means. Press Conference Time. Better to get ahead of this and control how much they show and tell. I'll leave that to you. I'm gonna go talk to the Doc and see what preliminary findings he can give me.”

Dee walked over to where Dr. Harperson was carefully supervising the lowering of the body, now resting in the sheet, one side still being held by the fireman on the end of the ladder on the truck. The other side of the sheet was being held by the ropes in the hands of the fireman on the Mast. Between the two of them, they held her in basically a huge sling. And they were gently lowering it onto the gurney in front of the Coroner. Once the body touched down, Dee approached. Harperson wrapped the sheet she was laying on over her completely. He gently uncovered at least her head and shoulders. Dee could see there was a huge gash, across her throat, from ear to ear.

“Well Doc, I don't have to have a medical degree to determine COD. Her throat's been cut. Deeply. Brutally.”

“Damn. No wonder she bled out the way she did over there at the other scene. She's only a couple of inches away from being entirely decapitated, she's cut to the cervical spine. I doubt she has any blood left in her body at all.” Harperson gently probed both shoulders with his fingers. “Oh yes. I thought so. Both shoulders are completely dislocated. I think probably both hips and knees also, given the way her legs were positioned. I won't know for sure until I get her back into the lab and check. Mike took a liver temp while she was still up there when we first got here and based on that I'd put the time of death sometime between midnight and 3 AM, and then she was found at 5 AM. So something crazy happened in this park last night. I'll have a preliminary report by the end of the day. I'm going to get her out of here.” He started pushing the gurney, rolling her towards the back of the Coroner's van.

“Thanks, Doc. I suppose I don't have to tell you that Collins wants to be kept in the loop on this. So whatever you send me, forward it to him also. Ok? And one last thing, what about the tattoos? That's some major ink and such an unusual color of blue. Before you cut on her, can you photograph her, like, all over? Nobody gets tattooed like that, that extensively, without spending a LOT of time and money in a Tattoo Parlor. A Tattoo artist would remember a customer like her. Maybe I can find the artist she frequented and find out who she was. It might be a lead. Just email me the pics, if you don't mind. I'll take it from there. Thanks, Doc”

The Coroner's van pulled away and headed down the drive towards the entrance. Sgt. Collins was right behind him. Dee walked to her car. She stopped and looked back at the Mast. The sky was turning a different shade of blue, going from black to cobalt, as dawn was approaching, and it cast a pretty backdrop for the Mast. Dee couldn't help but look down at the Passport in the plastic bag in her hand. How? she thought. How in the world did a young girl from Ireland end up being so brutally murdered half a world away in Oakland, California? This was going to be a good one to figure out. Dee got in, pulled away from the park, and went to try and find every piece of information she could on Sarha Riverbraid.