Table of Contents
NEW 
HORIZON PRESS Dear Reader,
We proudly present the newest addition to our internationally acclaimed true crime series of Real People/Incredible Stories. These riveting thrillers spotlight men and women who perform extraordinary deeds against tremendous odds: to fight for justice, track down elusive killers, protect the innocent or exonerate the wrongly accused. Their stories reveal the untold drama and anguish behind the headlines of those who face horrific realities and find the resiliency to fight back
At Northeast Louisiana University in Louisiana, Ivrin Bolden Jr., a twenty-three year-old pre-medical student, his fiance Joel Tillis and her teammate Brenda Spicer, who was rumored to be her lover, became embroiled in a bitter love triangle that ended in death. In Deadly Triangle: A True Story of Lies, Sports and Murder by Fran Parker, the lifeless body of Brenda Spicer was found in a dumpster on campus. A killer walked the streets and townspeople cried out for justice, but what unfolded was an incredible series of events, lies and escapes from the law that spanned across multiple states. Yet one woman, a native of Monroe, Louisiana, worked feverishly to uncover the truth behind the murders before another victim was claimed.
The next time you want to read a crackling, suspenseful page-turner, which is also a true account of a real-life hero illustrating the resiliency of the human spirit, look for the New Horizon Press logo.
Sincerely,
Dr. Joan S. Dunphy
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Real People/Incredible Stories
To the Dead, we owe only truth.
Voltaire
Authors Note
This book is based on the experiences of the author and reflects her perceptions of the past, present and future.
Information was gathered from court hearings and trials, court testimony, court documents, police reports and investigative files, prosecutors files, press accountants, research and interviews in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and New Jersey.
In an effort to safeguard the privacy of certain people, some individuals names and identifying characteristics have been changed. Certain quoted conversations attributed to characters are based on the recollections of witnesses, friends and families interviewed. Events involving the characters happened as described. Only minor details may have been altered.
Prologue
The Northeast Louisiana State University custodian arrived at work by 7:00 A.M. to empty the trash and prepare the Science Building for classes. He hoped to leave work early, fish Black Bayou for bass until sunset and take his catch home for his wife to fry for supper.
He opened the door of the metal dumpster and at first glance thought the nude body stuffed within it was a mannequinthose fraternity guys playing tricks again. Then he saw a trickle of blood had dried beneath the pretty blondes nose. Ants carrying crumbs trailed her tan legs. Trashed like a broken doll atop garbage bags, blue were her eyes fixed on the cloudless skies of March. Her bra was severed, her breasts exposed and her slacks were pulled down to her socks.
Shaking uncontrollably, the custodian yelled to a passing student, Get the campus police. Theres a body in this dumpster!
Part 1
Monroe
Chapter 1
Phenomenal Luck
A long the universitys quad, lined with moss-strung pin oaks, students rushing to Friday morning classes soaked up shafts of lemon sunlight between buildings. Six campus police cruisers lined the parking lot and a bevy of officers held students back.
Northeast Louisiana University Police Sergeant Ed Free, summoned from his Criminal Justice class, theorized that phenomenal luck had worked for and against the killer. If the custodian had dumped the trash the night before, he might have discovered the body early and alerted us before the alibis were set into motion. And if he hadnt glanced inside the bin, a sanitation truck with a hydraulic lift wouldve compacted the load without examination. A killer had gambled that his victim would be ground into rubbish.
Although the University Police Department enforced campus ordinances, handled internal problems and quelled disturbances, major crimes were kicked up to the Monroe City Police Department. Detective Ricky Peel, a veteran investigator with a no-nonsense demeanor useful in questioning suspects, activated his siren while briefing his six-foot-three partner with curly copper hair, Detective Bill Causey.
The caller said theres a body in a dumpster. Probably a laboratory cadaver or maybe a co-ed ditched an unwanted baby, Peel said.
A parking lot separated the crime scene from the two-story residence of the university president. The English-style house, built in the 1940s and painted the color of the yellow brick road of Oz, was surrounded by brick walls cushioning traffic sounds and rowdy students. Pink, white and watermelon azalea gardens relieved the rundown aura. The Northeast Louisiana University president, weighed down from deskwork and thinned by tennis with a low-key manner, became notified of the first murder in Northeast Louisiana Universitys fifty-three year history. Glue sniffing, marijuana, panty raids and streaking had accelerated to drug peddling, date rapes and violence.
A professor, at work in the computer laboratory, fretted over Joel Tillis, her prize pupil and protg. The mood of Joels boyfriend last evening nudged her peace. Stick with him, she advised Joel during one of their breakups. Hes brilliant, has potential and will be a successful doctor.
Youthful passions and crises ebbed and flowed like a shifting tide. The ambitious Joel, of average intellect from a socially deprived background, was a teachers rewarda slant soon to be cruelly altered. Paul Bannon, an administrator and athletic advisor, also felt undercurrents. I was thinking of Joel, because Id become afraid for her. Shes a magnetic person and my wife and I had sort of adopted her during her four years of college. Verbal assaults from Joels boyfriend during the previous evenings basketball game made Paul question why she tolerated the boyfriendbrainwashing, insecurity or misplaced love.
Pauls secretary burst in, Campus security found a body. They think its a Lady Indian. Chills rippled down Pauls arms. He raced downstairs and visualized Joel in the dumpster. Once Paul was informed the victim was most likely Brenda Spicer, Joel Tilliss friend and former basketball player for the Lady Indians, he felt he knew the motive and perpetrator. Duty bound to warn the NLU president, Paul pulled him aside, Dont be surprised if the first name that surfaces is Ivrin Bolden.
Thats impossible. Hes an honor roll student, serious and congenial from a prominent family. Why do you think that? the NLU president
Lets talk privately. Not here. The same name seemed to be on a collective brain scan as news spread across campus.
Detective Bill Causey knelt beside the body. I recognize this girl. Shes on the Lady Indians basketball team. She came to our home for a cookout.
