it was a sunny, but chilly northwest morning. i decided to walk
to the grocery store.  
it wasnt very far, but i would have to cross a busy highway. luckily 
there was  pedestrian bridge nearby. from the bridge i could see
that the area was still posted as a prostitution and drug watch area.
in its heyday, the area had a seedy reputaton. it is fairly clean now.

i was dressed casually, considering this was the city that claimed
to have started the 'grunge' look and sound.

as i was coming off the bridge into the parking lot of the store, a
car stopped in the middle of the busy highway. the driver and car
began to act weird and erractic. i assumed the guy was lost. i noticed that he
looked for a way ino the parking lot. he drove down a sidestreet and found an
alternate driveway. he sped up and drove fairly aggresive approaching gruops of
shoppers as they were walking to their cars. he didnt seem to find what he was
looking for, until he spied me. he drove very fast and pulled his car sideways,
blocking my path.

he smiled in a large and friendly way and said "hello! how are you today"?
i grunted, expecting him to ask directions. his mood changed to
nervous as i stated to walk around his car, circling towards
the rear of his car.
he asked "are you a nun?" and picked up something from his lap
and was holding it just out of my sight below the car window.
certain i misunderstood him, i stopped and looked back
at the man. i said "excuse me?"
he began acting nervous and agitated, passing the object back and
forth between his hands. i still couldnt see what it was that he
had, but it did have a bit of weight to it by the way he was
holding it.
he said " are you a *non* smoker?", in a nervous but sarcastic tone.
i looked at him, he was becoming more agitated, angry.
still he was holding the object.

i made my circle an even wider arc, backed away and told him
that i didnt smoke.

he was angry, and in a pissed off way, thrust the unknown object
into his lap as he said  "well, 2 out of 3" and squealed his 
tires as he drove away carelessly and agressively.

the guy gave me the willies. and my "willie-o-meter" hardly ever goes
off. especially since he went from happy and friendly to
furious in less than a minute.

fast forward a year and a half.
there is a news story about a serial killer in the general area.

a photo collage of the victims appear onscreen. they all have the
same color hair, and a similar length. 
i remembered that a year and a half ago, i had a bad
dye job where my hair was that same color.
and, my hair was the same length.
all his victims were into the sterrt nightlife, being into drugs
and/or prostitution.            ^street
a bell went off in my head.
the news said that all the victims were driven to remote
areas and shot in the head.
hmm.....? i wonder?
so far, the cops are baffled. they do not know what this guy looks like.
they dont know what kind of car he drives.

that an enigma.

74 responses total.

Not to go beyond the scope of this conference, but we have a serial killer
running around Spokane who seems to be doing this exact same thing.  It's been
going on for a few years, but this past year the killings have increased.
Weird.

it is the same guy. i'm convinced.
<i also live in washington>

Have you contacted the police?

yup.
i sent the spokane PD an email about it, got a
'thanks, we'll give this to homicide'. 
since i didnt actually have a crime comitted against me, and i
didnt see a weapon, i am assuming either they arent interested or
it is on their low-priority follow up pile.

i sent them <probably my last> reminder last week when yet
another body was recovered.... same description and the photo
showed the same hair color and similar length.

just for the record, my hair is auburn now. :-)

You might want to give them a voice call and ask for the
detective in charge of the case.

This, to me, sounds too important and too exact to be chance.  I would try
to contact SOMEONE here in the SPokane Police Department who would listen.

well, i called them up, on MY dime.
i talked with the woman who answered the phone in the
major crime division.. she wouldnt tell me a name,
just that it was a task force.
actually, she didnt seem interested. in my opinion, she couldnt get
off the phone quick enough.
i started to tell her a description of the guy, she cut me
off and described him.  i told her it was the same description, and
she said that described most of the guys in the state.
then i told her s bit more detail but she stopped listening.
 i desc ribed the car and then
she said  something pretty patronizing about
how she knew it must have been scary for me <it wasnt> and that
she hopes i never see him again.
i told her i could recognize a photo, but she wasnt interested.
she didnt even ask my name.

when i told her about the object, she said it was probably a rosary.
she said some of the victims have dark hair, and acknowledged
that they could look like light brown hair on the tv.  <what????>

they obviously treated me as some hysterical crackpot.

<that is why i wont go to the news media, part of me is afraid
that i AM a crackpot>

but on the remote chance that it might have been the same guy.....?

well, i'm not going to make a butt out of myself. i'll just wait until 
they capture the serial killer. then i'll either spring off
my couch and yell "that's the guy! that's the guy!" while pointing
furiously...or maybe i'll just sink into the couch and say
"well, i'll be damned. it wasnt that creep after all."   as i sit watching
the news.

see, enigma WAS the right place to enter this.

just for information...
it was a white male.
brown hair, light to dark blonde. collar length.
a short well-trimmed goatee with a thin beard up the jawline. might have
had a touch of red.
pudgy, had a blue-collar persona about him.
light eyes <i think>
drove a blue 2 door car, japanese import like. some rust. white interior.
car was a bit louder than normal.
guy was in his mid 30's.
no glasses.

gee, could be anyone.

I'm a little surprised at the response of the police representative.
She should have just taken your information and thanked you. If she
wants to roll on the floor laughing afterward, that's up to her. 

Seriously, though, I think you did the right thing, even if it seemed
unappreciated. *One never knows* when an observation might just fit in.

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sounds...interesting

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Can you do that?

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put some playdoh to balance it out

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Well, I've got flat parts in my skull, but I think they're symmetrical.

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Didn't you know 23 hours is the danger threshold?

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Is it the inside or outside of your skull that's flat?

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inside

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Doped up on happy pills is ideal for Enigma.

Good luck with the sinus rotor-rooting. I'm sure it'll go fine
and you'll be able to breathe like a real person afterwards.

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so are you iggy! now?

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ok.. back to the original topic:
the spokane police department now announced that it has a
toll-free number for tips on the serial killer. theyre hoping
for leads on the case.

if they treated everyone like they did me, no wonder
the case is at a dead-end. i hope they have someone
diferent to answer phones.

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It is pining for your lost tarp.

The fact that it began pining before your tarp went missing can be explained
by it's obvious latent psychic abilities.

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yet another body was recovered....

you wont believe this one...
a family dog came out of the woods near spokane with a human
scalp.  the cops rushed in with their bloodhounds and found
nothing, no other pieces of the body. they were speculating
that this was the work of the serial killer.

2 days later, the news station recanted the story. turned out
that it was just mold. a big piece of mold.

<rolls eyes>

just an update on the original item here:
a sketch (3 years old) of the subject was released yesterday.
guess what? looks just like the guy i encountered, except when i saw
him he had facial hair.

i re-sent the email that i originally sent to them, with a
noation about the sketch.
i really expect them to blow me off yet again.

<er, make that 'notation' up there>

Most bizarre. Do keep us posted.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss