Like many, if not all, coastal cities, Oceanside, Virginia had its own inherent challenges; the kind of challenges that any city has even if it’s not located on a coastline. Those challenges revolve around holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. Those are the long weekends when too many citizens consume too much alcohol and exercise the stupid part of their brain beyond normal limits. Then there are the other challenges that revolve around life’s happenings: school getting out for the summer, prom night, homecoming, etc. Finally, there are the coast-unique events such as “the unofficial start to summer,” (Memorial Day weekend specifically at the beach), Beach Week (for recently graduated seniors from high school), spring break (for college students who don’t go further south), and others.
Max was sitting on Eddie’s sofa, JP beside him, both of them sipping a cold beer while they discussed the coming challenges with Eddie and his wife, Ann. While Ann wasn’t a police officer, she’d been married to one for over two decades and had learned quite well the challenges that officers face. She was no stranger to Oceanside – having lived there longer than she’d been married – and understood the challenges that accompanied various calendar events. Her insights and observations were intelligent and appreciated (and even if they weren’t, she was Eddie’s wife and no one would be critical of what she said in front of him).
They were discussing the fact that normally (with heavy emphasis on NORMALLY), Memorial Day weekend and Beach Week – when the recently graduated high school seniors invaded the city for a week – were one or two weeks apart. Memorial Day weekend was always immediately before the last Monday of May. At least that didn’t change and could be scheduled for. Oceanside PD scheduled added patrols for the streets, the beach and the harbor. The Beach Unit and Harbor Unit both fell under a single ‘Maritime Unit’ commander, so sometimes the officers who normally worked beach patrol, like JP, were assigned to work Harbor instead – and vice versa.
The challenge this year was that Beach Week – while it normally was at least one week after Memorial Day Weekend – was starting ON Memorial Day weekend. The county schoolboard had recently changed the school calendar and, as a result, the seniors finished school almost two weeks before Memorial Day weekend. What no one had ever really thought about was the fact that Beach Week always started the day after graduation. With the senior’s last day of school moved up in the calendar, so was graduation and, therefore, so was Beach Week. What was coming was a long holiday weekend that would start ramping up the Thursday leading into Memorial Day Weekend and on Memorial Day itself, the seniors coming for Beach Week would add to the population invasion.
Eddie summed it up nicely as they discussed the potential challenges: “It’s going to be a zoo.”
- - - - - - - - - -
In the homicide investigations office, Detective Lieutenant Dick Coleman had just walked to his desk and put down his coffee when his phone rang. His first reaction was to think, “Crap… already?” His second reaction was to answer the phone. Picking up the receiver he said the same thing he always said. “Homicide. Detective Coleman. Can I help you?”
“Detective Coleman, Lieutenant Griggs, Coast Guard Criminal Investigations.”
Coleman’s eyes narrowed and his brain went into overtime. The only reason Griggs would be calling would be to either report another body found along the east coast OR to share information about the on-going investigation. While the Coast Guard’s criminal investigations unit had primary jurisdiction, Coleman was running his own investigation for the body that had washed up on Oceanside’s beach. Griggs was being courteous enough not to step on his toes and had taken it a step further by sharing all information about the other bodies that had been found or washed up in other places up and down the east coast.
“Good morning, Lieutenant,” Coleman said. “Good news or bad news this morning?”
“Not good, I’m afraid,” replied Griggs. “We found another one.” He paused a minute before continuing. “Another body was discovered, this one in some tidal marshes off Hilton Head, South Carolina. Coroner says the body hadn’t been in the water long and it looks like time of death puts it AFTER the body we found in Florida.”
Coleman thought about that for a minute. “So you think the killer is moving back up the coast now?”
“That’s our thought,” replied Griggs. We found bodies going south, each of them with a time of death that looked like they’d been killed a few days apart at a minimum, and moving down the coast from Baltimore to Florida. Now we’ve got this one in South Carolina. Unless it’s completely unrelated, and there’s always that chance, the killer has to have at least moved that far back up the coast. If he, or she, keeps killing as they move north, we’ll find more.”
“Yeah,” said Coleman, “I had a thought about that too.”
“About what?” asked Griggs.
“The number of bodies found,” said Coleman. “This makes four bodies. One on our beach here in Oceanside; one on the beach in North Carolina; one off the coast of Florida, and now one on the coast of South Carolina.” He paused for a second before asking his question. “Is it safe to assume we’ve found them all? Because I’m thinking there are probably others we haven’t found that are either still floating, have become fish food, etc.”
Griggs thought about that one for a few seconds. He had thought about it before and dismissed it… but now he was also thinking that they had a common link. What he hadn’t shared with Coleman yet was that this new body they found, a white male named Jeremiah Whitzer had a date of birth of July 14th, 1992; another victim born on the 14th of the month. He shared that information with Coleman and then added, “So what I’ll do is search the databases for missing persons reports where the date of birth is the 14th of any month, any year.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” said Coleman. “Let me know what you find?”
“Will do,” said Griggs and they hung up. Griggs sat in his office in Norfolk, Virginia – not that far from Oceanside actually – and thought about what they knew… and how much they didn’t know. THAT was the big kicker; what they didn’t know. They still didn’t know how the killer was selecting his targets and the ONLY connection they had found was that all the victims were born on the 14th day of a variety of months in a variety of years. What significance, if any, that had to the killer, they had no idea.
- - - - - - - - - -
“It’s going to be a zoo, boys,” said Eddie to his gathered squad. He was glad that Max was back on full duty and that his squad was at full strength. With the pending mass of people that were going to surge into Oceanside, he knew he’d need every one of them on the street and performing at their best. He looked around at them and, in just a few seconds, pondered each of their strengths and their value to the squad.
Max Breaklin was a Navy veteran who had served as a Corpsman with a Marine Expeditionary Unit – now referred to (again) as Raiders. He had also been Eddie’s trainee and had proven himself to be level headed and motivated.
Sean Davidson was sitting next to Max, as a patrol partner should. Sean was a former Army airborne MP who was also a combat veteran. His hobbies, Eddie knew, included scuba diving, motorcycling and martial arts competitions. He was a good match for Max; they made a good team.
Sitting behind Sean was Mike Rakkie, and off to his right side, Kyle Drummond. Mike and Kyle were the squad’s “twin towers of terror,” as each of them stood almost six and a half feet tall. Kyle was the “smaller” of the two weighing in at about 255 pounds, while Mike was a touch over 300 pounds. Neither was fat and both had displayed incredible strength in different places at different times. Eddie had once seen Mike pick up a full sized sedan by its rear bumper and hold it while the owner changed out a flat tire. Mike was NOT a man Eddie would ever want to be hit by.
Further over was Sam Nichlaus, and to his right his partner, Dave Brick. Dave was one of the senior officers on the squad but Sam was no slouch. While Dave had almost fifteen years on, Sam had just about three and was another military veteran on the squad. A prior service Marine, Sam had an almost annoying habit of calling Max (‘that Navy Corpsman guy’) “Doc” all the time.
The last patrol team in the squad was comprised of Bill Herstall, an officer Eddie had gone to the academy with, and his junior partner, Pete Jerstopholus. While Bill was the senior officer, Pete had excelled and, in Eddie’s opinion, not been promoted to the rank he’d earned. Being held back was considered a side effect of having been partnered with the late Keith Winston – who had once pissed off the current Chief. Eddie had begun all the promotion paperwork for Pete again and hoped something would come of it this time.
Eddie looked back down at the roll call information sheets he had on the podium and went through them as he’d already put them in order. “As you know, we have the cyclical pandemonium tidal wave coming at us. Not only do we have Memorial Day hysteria to deal with, but Senior Beach Week starts on Memorial Day itself, so we’ll get no break between the holiday weekend stupidity and the senior beach week idiocracy.” He heard the collective moan go around the room and had to smile. He felt the same way.
“The agency is putting extra manpower on the streets for the entire time and overtime is authorized for all officers up to twenty hours per week. All you have to do if you want to work overtime is sign up on this sheet,” he held up the paper as he indicated it, “and put down when you’re available to work. No officer is allowed to work more than fourteen hours per day, so I’d recommend that you sign up for overtime on your RDO.” (regular day off) He shuffled his papers to get to the next topic. “The Maritime Unit has doubled up its manpower to the maximum of authorized capacity and payroll, so every officer SHOULD have a partner. We’re still encouraged, while on patrol near the beach, to touch base with any Beach Patrol officer we encounter.” Eddie made eye contact with Max as he made the last part of that statement, knowing full well that Max would make contact with JP if they were both working – but he wouldn’t be unprofessional or overboard about it. After breaking eye contact with Max, though, Eddie made eye contact with Sean – and the unspoken message was clear: make sure Max keeps it reasonable. Sean gave a barely perceptible nod and Eddie moved on.
“Homicide has asked us to make note of anyone we encounter who has a birthdate of the 14th of any month, any year.” He read further down the page before continuing. “Apparently they’re investigating that body that washed up on the beach and there have been several other such bodies up and down the east coast. The only thing they’ve found that is common to all the victims is a birthdate of the 14th, so… on the assumption that if we encounter someone then that someone is already in a suspicious circumstance, they want us to forward the individual’s identifying info on to them.” He looked up and scanned his officers. “Got it?” Everyone nodded and Sean spoke up.
“Hey, Sarge?”
“Yeah, Sean?” replied Eddie.
“My birthday is the 14th… of June in fact,” said Sean with a smile. “Does one of you need to do a field observation report on me?” A low chuckle went around the room.
“Well,” Eddie said, “as suspicious as you are, I think we can skip doing unnecessary paperwork on you.” He paused and thought for a moment before continuing. “BUT,” he added with emphasis, “that does bring up a good point: squad party on the 14th to celebrate Sean’s birthday. You all get together and decide on a place.” He looked around the room and saw every head nodding. “Anyone have anything else?” he asked but got no response.
“Very well,” Eddie concluded. “Stay alert. Stay alive.” It was his closing phrase. The squad knew it and they all took it to mean roll call was over. Gathering their notepads and stowing them in shirt pockets, they all stood and headed out to patrol.
- - - - - - - - - -
It wasn’t difficult for the two men to lift the body over the side of the boat. After all, it was only that of a woman and didn’t weigh more than 130 pounds at most. They were off the coast of North Carolina again. Having spent a couple days harbored in South Carolina, and having picked up their latest target in a coastal bar, they were now several miles off shore and, done with her, dropping the “evidence” in the ocean. Although both men were “averaged” sized, they stayed in shape, regularly working out together, and knowing that their fitness not only served them well individually, but was also appreciated by others.
Neither Doug nor Stan, the two compatriots, had any grudge against those they collected, entertained and killed. They simply didn’t want to deal with the people they entertained after they were done enjoying their company. This woman made seven that they’d met, befriended, invited out on their boat – perhaps better described as a yacht – entertained, fed, partied with… and then poisoned before dumping the body overboard.
Stan was independently rich and Doug was his best friend. They’d grown up together in the same secluded Massachusetts community. They’d gone to school together. Stan had inherited the company that his great-grandfather had founded generations before. Doug had come to work for him in a position with a nice title and matching paycheck – but no real responsibilities. Both had married after finishing college, but neither of them really enjoyed the company of their wives or their children.
It had been in college that they’d become lovers, although they both were sexually attracted to women and enjoyed them sexually as well. Their wives and families knew nothing of their sexual relationship and keeping it hidden was difficult at best. Together they spent about three months of each year – spring into summer months – on the water. They travelled up and down the coast and enjoyed making new friends, enjoying women who were willing sex mates in return for the extravagance of yacht living for a few days. Of course, it also allowed them to enjoy each other without fear of judgment from their friends or families.
This was their sixth year of “escaping home,” and as they’d planned this year’s travel route, port of calls, etc they one thing they’d agreed on was that, as fun as the various men and women were, they were also a pain in the butt after they’d all partied. Neither Stan nor Doug enjoyed having to be polite and courteous to their guests after the party and until they’d gotten back to the next port. The answer they’d come up with was simple: “Let’s just dump them when we’re done with them.” It said something about their common mental disorder that neither of them balked at the idea of cold blooded murder.
As an odd bit of trivia about the two men, they shared their birthday: both were born on May 14th in the same year. Somewhere along the line, in a drunken conversation about their “guests,” they agreed that they should find and befriend only those who shared the 14th as their date of birth. They’d agreed that finding someone who shared MAY 14th would be far too limiting, but finding people born on the 14th of any month should be easy… especially since Stan’s company provided database support for the motor vehicle administrations in 41 states, with all of the east coast states included. When they met people at bars, it was a simple matter for Stan to log into his company’s systems using his smart phone, search the person’s name, match the picture and look at the info. Surprisingly, they found people born on the 14th of any given month quite frequently. Part of the reason is that they wasted no time with people born on different days.
Stan and Doug realized that their eagerness to share a partner sexually – and virtually every victim had been a willing sex partner to both of them (it mattered not if they were male or female, as the two murder partners hid nothing from each other, including their sexual urges of any taste) – was their primary goal in their travels and they didn’t waste time in finding and targeting those potential partners.
The men were unaware that four of their seven victims had been found. They had no knowledge that the bodies had washed up or been discovered. They were operating on the assumption that fish ate the corpses.
This latest victim had been a lot of fun. She had introduced herself as Shauna Williams and was cute in a bubbly cheerleader kind of way. Short – not much over five feet tall – and curved in a way that made both men drool, Shauna had made no secret of how much she enjoyed sex… in a variety of ways with a variety of partners. She had smiled big at the suggestion she might enjoy both Doug and Stan together as well as enjoying several days on their yacht traveling up the coast. They assured her that they’d drop her off near the state line, guaranteed her plenty of alcohol and implied that there might be some drugs available if she wanted them. She more than willingly accompanied them back to the yacht where the three of them partied on and off for the better part of a day. The men took turns with her and enjoyed her together. She seemed particularly excited by watching them together as well.
When they’d all recovered somewhat, Doug put the “special treat” in her lunch drink and, less than an hour later, here he and Stan were dumping her body overboard. They were always very careful to use condoms when playing with anyone except each other so they left no semen evidence to be recovered. While they never expected any of the bodies they dumped to be recovered, they also weren’t dumb enough to leave evidence linking the victims back to them IF any of the bodies were somehow recovered.
Their next planned port of call was a place called Oceanside on the southern part of the coast of Virginia.
Discuss Episode 5:9 (this episode) on our forums
Editor’s Notes & Officer Survival Concerns
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:9:
Holidays definitely represent unique challenges for us in law enforcement. There are the usual drunk drivers and crowded highways, but there are also problems unique to each jurisdiction and even to each shift. Know yours. Learn from the experienced officers. TALK with your patrol partners and squad-mates about how various calls should be handled. Plan as much as you can… before the unexpected happens. Once again, we’d like to thank Elbeco Uniforms for sponsoring this episode!
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:8:
The incident with Max, the drunk driver and the vehicle rolling away is, like so many other incidents described in The Oceanside Chronicles, a true story. Instead of being drunk, the driver had been quite elderly and as he tried to get out of his car – on a busy residential multi-lane road – he stumbled and fell, and his car began to accelerate away down a hill. The officer involved had to really turn on some speed to run and catch up to the rolling car; get in, stop it and put it properly in park. The old man wasn’t hurt but he was pretty embarrassed. A retesting order for his driver’s license had been issued. Keep alert for the unexpected (as always).
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:7:
For this episode we need to thank Elbeco Uniforms for their sponsorship and support. Stay safe!
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:6:
Police Week is an important part of the law enforcement family experience. If you’ve never gone to the National Law Enforcement Memorial, you should make the time to go visit. It’s an energy filled place and, especially this week while you can visit with tens of thousands of your Thin Blue Line family members, it can truly move you.
Thank you to Elbeco Uniforms for sponsoring this episode.
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:5:
We often don’t pay attention but uniform comfort can play a big role in how efficiently we do our jobs. Elbeco makes a wide variety of uniform designs to fit every need.
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:4:
We’d like to thank our sponsor, Elbeco, for supporting this on-going fiction crime-drama. Check out their full line of uniforms and apparel on their website.
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:3:
With the end of spring and launch of summer there are usually a lot of bar openings, special events on beaches, etc. They all bring with them particular risks and threats that we can only avoid or minimize so much. Temptation grows to play hero, lone gunman, whatever. Remember the Ten Deadly Errors and stay on your guard. The imperative is going home whole and healthy at the end of your shift.
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:2:
No officer survival comments on this one except this: We ALL have emotional turmoil that enters our life. It IS very distracting. We can’t safely work distracted like that. Talk to someone if that’s where you are in your head. Get it sorted out. DO NOT go to work that distracted and unfocused. It can get you killed.
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:1:
Few outside our profession can relate to the fears and complications associated with any shooting situation. They’re not usually aware of how politics can impact police work in all the wrong ways. As we can see in this story, the significant other (JP) of an injured officer (Max) is having her doubts about the relationship due to her own fears of lost stability. We also get to listen in on the conversation between the Mayor and the Chief and see how their concerns are different. Be that as it may, the Mayor’s concerns WILL impact how the Chief acts or reacts because ultimately he answers to the Mayor. Please remember to visit our supporter for this episode: Elbeco Uniforms. Great products to cover you in all your uniform needs.
