J A I L E D

It all started when I was supposed to work from 5 pm to 12 am on a Friday night, but then 20 minutes before the end of my shift, my coworker texted me. Lindsey; Hey, Jessi! I was wondering if you could stay at work until 12:30 because there’s some issues in my neighborhood right now. I might come in a little before that time but just let me know if you could fill in for me for 30 extra mins pls!.

Lindsey was a cool girl and she was my co-worker friend so I had no problem filling in for her. Me; Hey, is everything ok where you are? I saw that the message was delivered almost instantly but I got no response for about 10 minutes.

At work, there was a small tv mounted in the corner of the staff room. I sat there and watched the news while I waited for Lindsey to respond. News; Man, about 6 feet tall, hazel eyes, wearing all black driving a black sedan says to be going around town murdering young children and women, leaving them in the streets. Stay inside, lock your doors and stay near a functioning phone to call 911 if you notice any suspicious activity outside of your home.

This wasn’t my first time hearing this information on the news. I’ve been listening to reporters talk about this man all week. I never really paid too much attention to it though because I know I wasn’t outside at 12 in the morning, but today was different. It was my first night shift. Me; Yes, of course I can fill in for you Lindsey! Stay safe on your way :)

Lindsey; Thanks so much, see you soon! :)

Just seconds after Lindsey messaged me, I got an unexpected call.

Me; Hello?

Them; Hey, Jessi, it's me.

It was my best friend Leon.

Me; Hey, Leon, what's up!

Leon; Nothing much, I’m just hanging with the fam. You’re at work right?

Me; Yes. Why?

Leon; I just saw the news. That man is still out there.

Me; Oh you saw that too? I was just thinking about that.

Leon; You must be scared. I’d be glad to drive you home after your shift is over.

Me; No it’s ok Lee I’m good. I know where my house is from here, I just won’t take any unfamiliar routes.

Leon; Are you sure you don’t want a ride?

Me; Positive.

Leon; Alright stay safe Jessi and call me when you get home this time, would you?

Me; I’ll try to remember. Bye

I worked at Tres Ogre. A bar just a few blocks from my house. My normal time to go to work was 11 am to 6 pm. Instead tonight my other co-worker Miko called in sick at the last minute and I was the only one free to work. My boss explained to me that whenever I finished my daily work tasks early and there weren't any customers, I could sit back and relax until a customer came in. At these times, since the killer wasn’t caught yet, we lost customers. The night was the time that people loved to come after work but now people don’t even want to leave their house. Instead when I work is when there's some people but just not as much as before.

From the staff room I heard the bell that sits on top of the door. I knew someone was here because that bell rings every time someone comes in. I got up as soon as possible and walked out the room just so the customer wouldn’t think there’s no one currently working there and leave. I went out to only find Lindsey standing at the front door.

Her eyes were droopy looking and red like she’d been past 48 hours without sleep. She was shaking but it wasn’t because it was cold, it was like a “I’m so scared” kind of thing. “Woah Lindsey, hey.” As I started to speak she stared dead at me with wide eyes making it seem like I killed someone right in front of her, but then she slowly realized who she was really talking to. “Oh hey, Jessi. How's your um.. How's your grandpa?” The Lindsey I knew was loud and always talking, but right now her voice was very soft and small. She was trying to limit the things she said for some reason and tried to throw me off by bringing up my grandfather in a random situation. Why would I talk about him to her, of all people? “He’s fine... I guess..” I said. I tried to bring up the mood. “You look like you were running a marathon out there.” I said laughing.

“Yea.. I was.” But it seems like I only brought it down.

There was silence for a while, and the only thing I heard was the music on the bar’s radio. “Well you can settle in and I’ll just get going.” I said. She started walking to the staff room down the hall to put her stuff down and came back out to start making drinks at the bar table close to where I stood at the entrance. I went in the room to get my bag so I could leave.

As I walked to the front entrance, I looked at Lindsey before I stepped out. She was just sitting there, looking at me with sad eyes. Her frown was even frownier than ever. I said “Goodnight Lins, I’ll see you later.” She shook off whatever mood she was just in and put on a fake smile. “Kk goodnight, see you.”

I finally stepped out of the bar and was greeted with a fresh breeze across my face. I took a sigh of relief that I was finally out of that awkward situation, and was finally going home. Then I suddenly remembered what I had heard on the news earlier. I lived on Alpha rd, which was about 3 streets down from the place I worked at.

I was about to turn on Pynweld Dr when I saw headlights coming towards my directions down Pynweld. My heart dropped to my feet and I nearly choked on the lump in my throat as a black sedan pulled up to me. There was a man in the driver's seat wearing all black. Everything but his hazel eyes were covered and I could tell that he was caucasion. “Hey, beautiful. Wanna ride?" He asked, smiling. In my head I sounded aggressive saying back off. “B-b-ba..ck'' was what I said instead. Then I ran as fast as I could down the road and onto the next to find an alleyway to hide in. The road ahead had 2 ways to go. One went onto Matip st while the other would take me to the street I needed to walk on to go home, Flakes dr. I saw the black sedan go on Matip st so that’s when I ran out of the hiding and walked onto Flakes dr. I hid again but instead this time behind a garbage can on the curb because I saw the man drive down the road in my direction. He didn’t see me though because it was midnight and I wasn’t wearing too much of a color. Even if I was wearing neon yellow he would’ve missed me. Except that's what I thought. I saw the sedan coming back but it was still at a far distance so I ran onto Matip St, hoping that I wouldn’t get lost. The road was cut short because there was a building there. It stood about 7 stories tall with a big red luminated sign at the top. I went in.

The building was small, with a lot of steps, no elevator and a couple open rooms on each floor. I was totally out of breath running here so as much as I tried to keep going, I just stopped at the 3rd floor of the 7 story building. Suddenly, I heard a door downstairs open. I was sure that there was no one here when I arrived, and there's no way anyone lives in this musty abandoned building, so who could that be? If that person were to live here, they’d hate to have unwelcome guests just roaming around in their building, so I found a place to hide fast because I could already hear them just below my feet on the second floor. When they finally reached the third floor they passed the room I was hiding in. I was behind a pile of broken electronics and cords and I had a good view of the hallway outside the room. The person passed my room again. That time I wasn’t looking, but when they passed a third time, I realized who it was. Without force, I could feel tears slowly dropping from my eyes. I let out a little whimper and the man, who has been on the news for days now, came rushing in the room so quickly it felt like he was just standing at the door waiting for me to make a sound. At that moment I knew I was dead. There was absolutely no weapon in the room and I wasn’t a fighter. I always disliked physical fighting because there's always that one person who loses and I hate seeing how it ends. Seems like I’m going to have to fight for my life today.

The man finally reached my hiding spot at the farthest side of the room, after looking around telling whoever was here to come out and that he wouldn't hurt them. I doubt it. “Oh! It’s you again. I was looking for you and when I saw you walk this way.. I followed.” he said with a grin. I got up from my crouching position. While he stood where I was once sitting, I went to the other side of the pile. “I know about you. You’re all over the news.” I said almost shaking to my knees. His happy grin kinda watered down to a frown. “Am I, now?” He said. He started to smile again and this time he was slowly reaching for my curly hair. “You know... I always loved girls with curly hair.” His creepiness creeped me the heck out and so I pushed the pile of old devices on him. He did a little scream in pain then told me I would regret what I just did. I watched him struggle to get his legs out from under the pile, shocked that I even did that. I then ran downstairs and found the door that I came in from. I ran out but didn’t celebrate just yet because I still had a long way to run before I got home. I was finally at the end of Flakes Dr when a car was driving towards me. I stood to catch my breath waiting to see who it was, and ready to ask them for a ride home. Thank the lord it was Leon. “Jessi! What’s going on?!”

“I...The man..” I was out of breath and still trying to process what just happened and why it had to happen to me. “Come on, get in.” He said.

“How did you find me?” I asked.”

“It doesn't take long for you to get home. At least no longer than 20 minutes, and you didn’t call.” He explained. “ I also texted your roommate and she said you weren’t home so I knew something was off. I just left home to find you.”

“I’m so glad you did. I had a hell of a night Leon, lemme tell you.” At this point I was extremely happy. Now I was safe for sure. I explained everything that happened to Leon on the way to my house. When we finally got there I noticed that I didn’t have my purse anymore. I remembered that I had it last when I was face to face with the night’s killer. I realized that my keys were in there and so were all my cards and IDs. So was my phone. I ran up to my house door and started banging on the door so my roommate could hear me and let me in. Just then I got the thought that maybe it wasn’t a very good idea to bang on the door crazily because there was a cereal killer on the loose. Leon was waiting for me to get inside my house before he took off, so I asked if I could use his phone to call Jennifer, my roommate, and tell her to open the door.

Jennifer: Hello?

Me: Hey open the door, I lost my keys

Jennifer: You sound endangered right now, you ok?

Me: Yea I’m good I’m just with Leon, I’m calling from his phone just open the door and I’ll explain everything that happened

Jennifer: Alrighty one sec.

I hung up with Jennifer as I saw the door to my house open. I gave Leon his phone back and waved goodbye. I was so happy to finally be home and safe.

I got in, told Jen about the whole situation and took a bath to relax my body after that long night. Around 3 am, I was in bed just chilling, trying to forget what kind of horror movie I just went through while watching tv when I heard a scream coming from my living room. “Jen?!” No response “Jennifer!” I opened my door and cautiously walked down the hall to my living room. That’s when I saw a man in all black, about 6 feet tall with hazel eyes standing over Jennifer, while she laid motionless on the floor covered in her own blood.

“And then what happened?”

“I… I snapped because I saw my friend on the floor dead. I wasn’t going to let that happen to me.”

“So you killed him”

“...Yes, your honor. With a knife from my kitchen”

“You admit to murdering someone with a kitchen knife.. You are charged with the murder of Jhon Handmenburg, and you’re sentenced to 49 years in prison. Use this time to realize what you did was wrong.” BAM! The judge slammed her gavel. Case closed.

Jessian Juarenz was charged with first degree murder on August 9th 2012.