Usually we wind down the weekend by falling asleep to "On The Case With Paula Zahn." She often acts like a sleeping aide, and we miss most of what goes on anyway. But this week, we were riveted, not just because Paula's outfit--a simple black dress, showing very little cleavage; I mean, come on, it's not like she has some outstanding rack, though I gather she thinks so; and the outfit needed a bracelet around her neck, other than that cheap looking gold thing she seems to always wear, which she probably picked up from a booth on Canal Street!!!!!!!!!!!!
But the savagery and sadness of the story compelled us to watch. It turned out to be three stories in one, which added to the interest. The story mainly focused on was the tragic rape and murder of 14-year-old Michelle Walker, in of all seemingly calm places, Yonkers. On June 5, 1987, she went shopping for her mother--groceries and such. She made it to the store, and a local pizza parlor, but never made it back to her home, in an apartment building. The next day, June 6, her body was found by an 11-year-old neighbor, (who was looked upon as a suspect for awhile; but how could someone prepubescent commit rape, now; come on!!!!!!!!!!!) in back of Michelle's apartment building, about 300 yards away. While walking home she took a short cut through a wooded glade known as the Old Croton Aqueduct, and was
ambushed from behind, and dragged to where she was found. The irony is on that initial investigation, the police were led to a teenager named Patrick Baxter, who already had a history of violence against women. But his alibi checked out--then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Many years, and much searching later, the murders of Lisa Gibbens and Patricia England several towns over--three murders in a three year period!!!!!!!!!--led them back to Baxter, who had been in his teens when he murdered Michelle. She was strangled; the other two were gunshot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This sicko just kept "updating his methods." But the bodies were arranged in similar fashion.
But the motive was always the same--sexual gratification. It was thought all three women--one of whom he met at a New Years Eve party--had brushed him off, and he took out his rage by killing them. Several years before Michelle's murder, Patrick had captured and sodomized an 8-year-old girl--who just happened to live in Michelle's building. Hmmmmmmm......coming and going from there, maybe seeing Michelle by chance planted the first notion.
Baxter was tried at once for all three murders, found guilty, and is in jail till he reaches the age of 108, which means he does not come out, till he is in a pine box!!!!!!!!!!! Good riddance to bad rubbish.
But justice was done for Michelle, Lisa, and Patricia. And Paula kept us up, despite her droning, schoolgirl delivery, demonstrating a sense of boredom and disconnection with her job, where she just reads from script handed to her.
Yet we stayed awake!!!!!!!!!! Who would have thought??????????
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