John Coston - Double Homicide: Two Tales of True Crime

Double Homicide

Two Tales of True Crime

John Coston

CONTENTS

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Sleep, My Child, Forever copyright 1995 by John Coston

To Kill and Kill Again copyright 1992 by John Coston

Cover design by Amanda Shaffer

ISBN: 978-1-5040-4708-1

This edition published in 2017 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

180 Maiden Lane

New York, NY 10038

www.openroadmedia.com

Sleep, My Child, Forever

For the Survivor,

God Bless Her

The Hair Dryer

Ellen could hear the sweet echoes of childs play coming from the bathroom. She was in the kitchen, putting away groceries, and her daughter, Stacy, was soaking in the bath, playing with her Barbie dolls. She would scrub them down and primp their hair, all the while talking in sing-song coos and whispers.

As Ellen unbagged groceries, the sounds emanating from the bathroom didnt register as an assurance that all was well, or that another tiring day of being a single, working mother was near its end. On this rainy night, Ellens thoughts were pursuing a dangerous path.

As if it were nothing more than her next evening chore, Ellen left the kitchen, walking down the hallway to her bedroom. There she found the object that had been occupying her thoughts: a hair dryer. She picked it up, examining the length of the cord. Then, she plugged the appliance into a wall outlet outside the bathroom and looked in on her eight-year-old daughter.

Stacy was washing her face. Her eyes were closed to keep the suds out, but she heard something fall into the water. She splashed water into her face to clear the soap away so she could see what it was.

A 110-volt charge electrified her bathwater, and Stacy screamed. First blinding pain struck, then the sensation of something crawling all over her. She sensed that she was being pulled down into the water, but she didnt know why. There was no one there. When she tried to get up, she couldnt do it. She was overpowered by something pulling her down, a force she had never felt before. She didnt know how she did it, but somehow she managed to grab the hair dryer and turn it off. She threw it out of the tub and climbed out. Then Stacy saw her mother.

Stacy, she said, appearing frantic, what happened?

I dont know, Stacy answered. The words came slowly. She was still shaking all over.

Ellen daubed the trickle of blood coming from the little girls mouth.

Stacys little brother, Steve, who was four years old, had been awakened by his sisters scream, and he now stood at the entrance to the bathroom, watching his mother ask Stacy questions, helping her get dry with a towel.

Ellen turned to Steve. Steve, what happened?

The sleepy little boy had no answer.

Ill get Todd. You start to get dressed.

Todd Andrews lived down the hall. Though Ellen didnt know him except to say hello, which was about how well she knew anyone in the building, she did know that he was a medical student. Maybe he could help. But he didnt answer his door, and in the short time that elapsed while Ellen had gone to fetch him, both of her children had become hysterical. There was uncontrollable crying and shrieking.

We have got to get you dressed. We have to take you to the hospital.

Ellen shuttled them both to the bedroom, where she hurriedly began to dress them for a trip to the emergency room. Her mind was already preparing for the questions that would come from the doctors and nurses at Childrens Hospital. She knew she couldnt tell anyone what really happened, so she prepped for an elaborateand quite realisticdescription of what happened.

We came home from the grocery store, she would tell them, and I told her to take a bath, and Steve was going to go to bed. She read Steve his bedtime story and he was lying down. And we thought he was asleep. And I told Stacy on the sofa, Lets get your bathwater run, you know. Ill help you in the tub, and if you need me Ill be in the kitchen, putting groceries away.

She had her Barbie dolls in the tub. And she was playing with them. And as I was putting groceries in the refrigerator, putting some meat away, then I heard a scream. And I ran to them, toward the bathroom, down the hallway, and I saw a cord that was plugged into the outlet. And Steve was up and he was crying. And Stacy was. She was just in shock. She was screaming. I yanked the cord up. And, oh, my God, it was a hair dryer. I got Stacy out of the tub.

And Steve says, I got it just to rinse the Barbie dolls hair, Mom. And I went in your dresser and got the hair dryer. And I plugged it in. I thought it was to dry their hair. And uh, I accidentally dropped it in the tub.

I didnt see Steve come out of the room. I didnt hear him, because I was putting the groceries away, and I was making noise putting the meat away in the refrigerator. And all I heard was her scream, and then him scream and start crying.

As Ellen pulled the shirt over Steves head, then slipped on his socks and shoes, both children began to wail again. This time it was even louder than before, carrying down the hall, and now it was magnified by Ellens screaming back at her kids.

Joseph Rodriegquez heard the commotion. He had been taking his trash out to toss it down the chute in the hallway. He heard the mother yelling, the kids screaming, and he lingered outside in the hall until he had heard enough. Then he went back into his apartment and called the police.

Mr. Rodriegquezs call to 911 was recorded at 11:04 P.M. He gave the dispatch officer the basic facts, and was told that a car would be around in a matter of minutes. Concerned, he then went down to the lobby of the building to wait.

Tom Leassner, a patrolman, got the call. It was 11:12 when he pulled his cruiser up to the front of the building. The address was 4720 South Broadway. He could see a man standing off to the side, and that the man was watching as a woman, with two bawling children in tow, exited the front of the building. The little girl was trying to say something. She was adamant about it.

Ellen had told Stacy that if the doctors asked her what happened, she was to say that Steven had thrown the hair dryer in the bathtub. Ellen told her daughter that she had talked to Steven, and that he said he did it because he thought she wanted to dry her Barbie dolls hair. But Stacy knew better. She knew Steven was sound asleep. After all, she had read him his bedtime story, The Little Popcorn, and had tucked him in.

He was not in the bathroom. There was nobody there!

Ellen yanked harder on Stacys arm, moving toward the police car.

He wasnt there. He wasnt

Officer, Ellen addressed Leassner, would you please call an ambulance? My little girl has had an electrical shock.

Alexian Brothers Hospital is just down the street, maam, he said, pointing in that direction. Officer Leassner could see that the sobbing little girl was in some distress, but she was walking and talking, and arguing with her mother to boot. To this day, the officer cannot recall the incident. In the log he would record later, it would go down as a Code 80. In other words, from what he had observed, this was no bona-fide incident.