The Schuylkill River Killer

It had rained seemingly endlessly for days....The Schuylkill River had flooded and had over run into the streets...


With the water overflow came two gruesome discoveries....The bodies of a Caucasion man and female....washed on to the streets......


I got the call from Lt. Sissy Van Buren , who gave me a ride to the death scene..

  Sissy has been my friend since I was a young Prosecutor ,just starting out and she was a young detective....How far we've both come from those early days...She's the Lieutenant of the Criminal Investigation Division-Homicide....While I'm an Assistant District Attorney....

My name is Keith Wallace...I prosecute major crimes and major criminals...This had the makings of one...

"My god...I didn't think it was going to ever stop raining.." I said.

"I know right?" said Sissy as we both put on hip boots and waded to the scene, which had already been cordoned off by police...

Detective Tony Hopkins was taking witness statements...These witnesses had only seen the bodies floating.. They didn't know anything else...

His partner...Detective Sirena Pile was with Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Baylor examining both bodies..

"Hey Siss...Keith...Two floaters.." said Hazel..

''Drowning maybe?" I asked.

"If that was the case....I wouldn't have wasted my Lieutenant's time." said Detective Sirena Pile, smiling..

Sissy smiled.

"Ohhh but mine is okay to waste?" I joked back...

"Duhhhh Yeahhhhh."laughed Sirena.

"The girl was strangled to death....The guy was shot to death...." said Hazel....

"I was able to get a fingerprint from both and run it through decks...by using my Tablet." said Hop..."The guy is Valary Bortzov......Major Heroin dealer....and the girl is his wife...Alexandria Bortzov.."said Hop...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....Russian mafia...."I said.

"No...Not really....These two are freelancers...We have been aware of their operation for months now." came the voice of DEA Special agent in Charge, Carol Redding..

"Hey Girlfriend...Welcome to the party.." laughed Sissy embracing her friend.

"I called them as soon as my partner IDed them...I figured, Carol would be interested in a major drug suspect." said Sirena...

"Good Call you two.." said Sissy...

''The woman's panties have been ripped and her bra is torn.. There is signs of sexual intercourse...Don't know if it was consensual or not...I'll know once I get these bodies out of the water.." said Hazel.

"Nobody we talked to knew anything , except what they saw today...I've already put a team on the Street cams, Business Cams, ATM Cams and Traffic cams in the area , stretching out 15 miles.." said Hop..

"Good...You guys want to release the bodies?" asked Sissy...

"Yeah, release the bodies.." said Sirena..

"Sissy, Duke sent me a memo...That he and Angie have been investigating a guy in Little Norway named.. Richie Greico...He's the main supplier on the streets there, Fishtown,  Kensington  and Mayfair...He's got four guys that work for him..." said Carol..

"They buy from these two?" I asked.

"Yeah...These two were their connect..." said Carol...

"I know...Duke and Angie have surveilence photos and video and they have undercovers who have wiretapped their stash house and the apartments of two of their girlfriends..." said Sissy..

''Sissy, they wouldn't have killed their suppliers...Maybe somebody has them targeted..."I said.

"At any rate they probably know more about these two than we do..."said Sissy...

"What are you going to do?" asked Carol..

"I'm going to call Duke and Angie...Tell em to pick em up.. Come on...Let's go." said Sissy.

II-

At a tony little coffee shop in Little Norway.... Richie "Big Greek "Greico and his bodyguard, A Black guy named Tony...walked into the coffee shop...At a table was his four lieutenants...Tony had had counted their money...


He looked at Richie...


"The counts are good Big Greek..." he said.


"Good...Wait for my call...I'll tell you when the next load is ready..." he said.


"I hope so BG." said one guy...


"I"m a little short..." said another..


"I'm gonna have to re up soon ." said a younger guy...

Detective Angie Belton-Barlow walked up to their table...


Richie looked her up and down...


"I don't think you are in the right neighborhood sweetie...You look lost." he said, smiling..


"No..I'm where I'm supposed to be.." she said.


Tony stood up and looked at her menacingly...


"Get lost." he snarled...


Angie calmly showed him her badge...Then she jabbed her glock into his side...


"Sit down...Sit down slowly...look around...Don't do anything stupid or make any sudden moves...Sit down now!" she said softly.....The four guys at the table were stunned..as Big Tony sat down....

Her partner ,Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor...cocked his riot pump shotgun and about seven plain clothes cops borrowed from Narcotics got up from the surrounding tables and descended on the six men...They all had their glocks drawn...


"I guess I don't have to tell you, you're all under arrest?" said Duke, smiling...


Several police cars were now outside...and about ten uniformed officers helped take the men into custody.
Duke called Sissy..


"We got em...All of em..." he said.

"Good Work you two." said Sissy.




A little while later...I stood outside of Sissy's office, when Sissy, Duke ,Angie and Carol emerged..

"We got em on RICO charges and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.." said Duke..

"Tell Sirena , we are sorry, but all six of these guys alibi out for her murders...Those two guys her and Hop fished out of the water were these guys connect and they hadn't seen them in two weeks...They were waiting on a shipment.. Which we confiscated from their apartment complexes sub-basement..."said Angie..

"They don't have a clue who would have killed those two...They said they didn't have any competition...I'm inclined to believe them...They were the only game in that part of  town.. You bought from Big Greek or you didn't buy." said Duke.

"I'll take em off your hands...Good Work, Duke, Mrs. Angela.." said Carol...

"So those murders...are someone else.. Something else...And I'm thinking it might not have anything to do with the drug game...This is looking like something else.." said Sissy..

''Something Random? Like a robbery?" I asked..

"No.. We found thousands of dollars in their apartment." said Angie..

"Not to mention the drugs...Street value of millions." said Duke.

"We found their car....It hadn't been broken into.." said Hop

''And both bodies had credit cards and cash on them." said Sirena.

"This was something else." said Sissy.


III-

ONE WEEK LATER-

A Sunny Morning along the Schuylkill River trail....The body of a blonde ,busty caucasion woman ,clad only in panties and bra floated to the top of the river and washed up near the underpath of the bridge...her dress and heels and pocketbook floated near her....


My pretty little wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace stood around the body observing it...Along with Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Baylor..

"I see vaginal bruising..." said Carlotta.." And her panties were ripped and her bra almost torn off of her.. Whoever did this couldn't wait...." she added.

"Yes...Same as Sirena and Hops body last week...Only this is just one person...Whoever killed her took her clothes off and tossed them in the river.." said Hazel..

"I have her dress, her shoes...her pocketbook and her coat....These are nice things...Expensive things...She looks like maybe she was out partying...and not at some hole in the wall bar or club either...A top of the line place.."said Carlotta.

''Yeah ,her clothes are expensive.." said Hazel...

Her partner...Detective Tyriq Pile yelled...


"TOP, HAZE.. We found another body!" he said..

"Aye Mios Dios..." said Carlotta..

Her other partner, Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow opened the door to the car that was under the bridge....A White male with no trousers on, dressed only in his boxers was lying on the floor in the backseat with a gunshot to the temple...


"Damn...This is a fresh wound....This happened ,I'm gonna say...last night..." he said.

Tyriq found his pants...he went through them....


"Here is his wallet.... My god...it's $750.00 dollars in cash in here and three credit cards....and a debit card.....His license says his name is Archie Ralston.....

Carlotta observed the car...


"There is a loaded condom....and her purse.....There is about $400.00 dollars in here.. Three credit cards, a debit card and a gas card.. This wasn't a robbery... " she said.

"No.. Look at this car, it's a 2017 BMW.....No this wasn't a robbery...My guess is that this guy and this girl.. Who is she?" asked Tyriq.

"Her name is Cheryl Ralston.. She's his wife..."said Carlotta.

"They came here to uh make out and got surprised by somebody.. who shot the man and raped and strangled the wife and tossed her in the water.." said Tyriq...

"Didn't we have a case like this before...Somebody was killing couples?" asked Jimmy..

"I remember that." said Hazel..

''Eric Lampier...A couple of years ago... He's dead...He was executed last year..."said Tyriq..


Sissy, Sharon and I drove up just then...

"Chica...What have you got?" asked Sissy..

"A double...Got a floater on the river banks...Panties and bra torn....Dress ,heels ,coat and purse floating...and this guy here, her husband...shot in the head in the back of the car..." she said.

"Lawd... This is only a few feet from where Sirena and Hop's victims were found last week." I said.

"I'm going to run both of these killings through VICAP and see if they match anything we've seen before.." said Sharon, The Deputy SAC of the FBI , who had joined us..

''Tell me...Has your husband and my wife had any progress on their case?" asked Tyriq.

"They know that both of their victims had been out having drinks and had left somewhere....at closing and that that was the last time they were seen....Both of their  bodies washed up off of this river...just a few feet from here.. some 12 hours later..."said Sharon..

 "She had been in the water too long for me to get a semen sample...but there was signs of sexual intercourse....I'm thinking the killer shot the husband and raped the woman.." said Hazel.

"We need to find out where these two were last seen...From the looks of their expensive clothes...They were out clubbing....." said Carlotta..

"You got an identification?" I asked.

''Yeah, this is Cheryl Ralston....and her husband, Archie Ralston....We have both of their drivers licenses...retrieved from their wallet and purses respectively..." said Jimmy...

"Release these bodies...Get with Hop and Sirena and compare notes...We thought their two bodies was a drug hit....but now we were pretty sure it wasn't.. There is a possibility there killings and your killings are connected." said Sissy..

I watched as the woman's body was taken out of the water and loaded into a Medical Examiner's Office van..

Her husband's body followed...

I felt a chill go down my spine... If the two bodies we found last week were a drug hit..I'd of felt better... But it turned out they weren't...And now here was two more...and by this river...


WHAT HAD WE STUMBLED ON TO?

(TO BE CONTINUED)