Page 12 of Serial Love

Chad added, “Sheila was from a poor background; deadbeat dad and a mom working two jobs. She’d worked in high school and continued while in college. I see Tonya’s parents are typical middle-class America.”

Heaving a heavy sigh, Cam added, “One’s blonde, another’s redhead, and another’s brunette. They were different ages, different body types, different backgrounds. Where’s the connection?”

Jack turned to Luke, watching as his fingers flewacross the keyboard of his computer. “You got anything for us?”

Luke shook his head, shooting a glare at Jack. “You know this shit doesn’t just pop up like on TV. It takes time to get hits off all this data.”

“What are we looking at?” Jack asked.

“Okay, I’ve loaded the bank records, school information which,” he looked up at them and added, “goes all the way back to pre-school. Doctor’s info, right down to when they got their shots and braces.”

Cam could not hold back a slight grin, knowing that as quiet as Luke was, when he got going on an investigation, he was meticulous in detail. A glance around the table exposed the same expressions on the others’ faces.

Luke continued, “I’ve loaded in the descriptions of their bodies, habits, classes, jobs, majors, activities…” He paused, perusing his co-workers’ faces. “If you’ve given the data to me or I’ve read it in the police files, it’s in here. And it’s not going to pop out an answer in case you’re wondering.”

Blaise could not hold in his chuckle anymore. Luke was a data-mining genius, but testy when pushed.

“What about the cold cases of missing girls?” Bart asked.

Luke smiled, answering, “Already on it. I’m entering what information I’ve received, but that will take more time.”

“How many are we talking about?” Marc asked.

“Hard to say,” Jack answered. “On a college campus, you can have students drop out, go missing, go back home, or hell, just move to Montana if they want. Thecampus does not keep records on all the students that just leave. But we do have the missing persons from the police. There are six women in the past five years that were attending college, went missing and their families filed missing person’s reports.”

“All from Virginia colleges?” Cam asked.

Jack nodded, glancing over at Luke still banging away on his keyboard. “You got their info?”

Luke jerked his eyes over to Jack, acknowledging, “Yeah. I’m on it.”

Just then, Monty’s laptop sounded, and he quickly signaled for everyone to be silent. Connecting to his secure conference line, he spoke into the screen. “Ms. Kerstig? Glad you could join us.” With a few taps, he projected her image on the wall screen but while the team could see her, she was unable to see any of them.

A middle-aged woman, short dark hair stylishly coiffed, sat at a table wearing the typical FBI uniform of bland, navy blazer and light blue blouse. She smiled from the screen, greeting, “Damn, Monty. Wish I could see your ugly face again.”

The others laughed as Monty said, “Well, Shirley, it’s good to see your sense of humor hasn’t changed.”

After quick introductions, she began. “I won’t bore you with the details of the case since I’m sure you all are as thorough as Monty was when he was with the agency. And of course, my report is in there as well. With the additional information about the possible missing girls, I haven’t changed my initial impressions, but Monty asked if I would give them to you here.”

“We appreciate any assistance you can offer, Ms.Kerstig,” Jack acknowledged, respecting the agent’s efficiency.

“First, let me debunk a few myths concerning serial killers. First of all, contrary to popular belief, not all serial killers are loners. Some are…others are not. They are also not all white males. They are not only motivated by sex, although they can be. There is also a myth that they travel the highways and kill all over the country. Actually, most operate in a localized comfort zone.”

“Comfort zone?” Cam interrupted.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “There are transient individuals who kill in a much wider range, but some kill within a certain area. And contrary to the Hollywood version of serial killers, they are not insane or evil geniuses. They test from borderline to above average in intelligence.”

“What you’re saying is there’s no one profile of a serial killer,” Bart clarified, heaving a sigh.

“Exactly. Now here is what we do know,” she stated. “Serial killers gain confidence and while they do not want to get caught, they begin to make mistakes. They start feeling as though they will never be identified, and they will take shortcuts in either the actual murder or in disposing of the bodies.”

“With the increase in our ability to investigate and forensic developments, why is it still so hard to identify them?” Luke asked.

“In the case of these killings, they took place in Virginia but in different locations. Different law enforcement agencies were investigating, collecting evidence, sending evidence to different labs. It wasn’tuntil Helena’s murder with the similarities that the FBI became involved. Then with Tonya’s murder being linked, it was determined to be the act of a serial killer.”

Bart asked, “Three is significant?”

“Yes, it takes three murders that have common characteristics to suggest the reasonable possibility the same person committed the crimes to be considered a serial murder.”

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