It was a quiet and peaceful sleepy day at the Coolidge residence. A lake front home in a sleepy town in Vermont. Andrew Coolidge and his wife Ida were as watching their children Theodore, Elizabeth, and George play in the yard. From the outside looking in the Coolidge family seemed like the perfect family. A loving husband and wife, a couple kids, with a white picket fence. However, beyond that white picket nothing was perfect. As the years went and the days seemed to grow longer by and the children became louder and more needy, and more unmanageable than Ida couldan handle, Andrew grew violent. Nothing was scarier than Andrew after a couple drinks. He swore he would never lay a hand on his family but when he was intoxicated that promise was never kept.
Ida had left with the children for the weekend to her mother's. Andrew had come home intoxicated and was holding nothing back. Everyone in his way felt his wrath, and he was so blinded by the booze and he didn't care what he was doing. Once Andrew sobered up and remembered the chaos he havocked on histhe family he wanted to make things right. Andrew took his truck and drove to find his wife and kids, and he did find them. Andrew found his wife and kids in their car which had been hit off the road into a nearby ditch.
There had been no witnesses and Andrew didn't want the accept the fact that his family was dead. He started to spiral and tried to force himself into thinking this wasn't happening. He'd been cruel to his family. But he still loved them and couldn't bare the thought of them dying.. After everything he put his family through he never wanted to see them dead, so he called the police from a pay phone to report the accident then left the scene.
When the police got there they appointedhad detective John Roosevelt be the lead detective for the case. While surveying the crash Roosevelt found identification for Ida and knew who to talk to from there. He had never met the Coolidge family, but he knew about them because everyone did. Something always seemed off about them to Roosevelt. Roosevelt had his reservations about the family. They always seemed too perfect. , but that would be something he will learn along with this case.
In the living room of the Coolidge's lake front home sSitting in front of a staticky tv with a beer and cigarette in hand and tears in his eyes was Andrew. "My family is fine" he kept repeating to himself hoping that it would eventually come true. He'd hadn't moved since he got home, that was until there was a knock on the door. Standing in the doorway was Detective Roosevelt. "Hi, I'm Detective John Roosevelt. I'm here with news regarding your family, may I come in?" Andrew, a bit apprehensive welcomed him into his house knowing the news about to come. "There is no good way to say this" Detective Roosevelt said in a smooth monotone voice. The words "Your wife and kids were killed in a car accident" echoed in the room. Andrew knew this was coming, he just didn't want to admit it, but there was more. "So far there are no witnesses, and the accident was reporter through a pay phone." Andrew knew this however, he's the one who called it in. "Can I help?" Andrew asked in a grizzly grim voice. Walking out the front door Roosevelt said, "Wwe'll try and incorporate you, and maybe you can give us some insight on what happened". After a cup of coffee or two and discussions of the accident Roosevelt said his goodbyes, aAnd just like that Andrew was alone.
Andrew had an alibi. He was asleep when the family left. He told this to Detective Roosevelt who had became some what of a friend in this process. Andrew had an outlet now. He had someone to talk to, so he wasn't alone anymore. Detective Roosevelt knew Andrew was passed out drunk the night the family died so he ruled him out of the suspect list. The two of them went around town to every bar to in town to track down any drunk drivers who might have been on the road theat night the Coolidge's died. The search was hard because the road Andrew's family was killed on had no residential building, business facilities, or anything at all.
Andrew and Roosevelt worked together for months trying to figure out who killed Ida and the kids. But day after day and with little to no progress Roosevelt had to break the news to Andrew. In their favorite a coffee shop Roosevelt told Andrew "There is no evidence for who killed your family. The case has gone cold. We have no leads, no suspects, no nothing. The most we can say is that they were killed by a drunk driver who most likely skipped town afterwards." Andrew couldn't believe what he was hearingheard. After a screaming match between the men about not trying hard enough, and how there's more that can be done, Andrew left the coffee shop to find out who killed his family alone, without the help from Detective Roosevelt, or anyone.
For the next few months and many miles around Vermont, Andrew searched every bar and county jail again so he could to find the man who killed his beloved family. He interviewed man, after man, with pictures of his family, and of course pictures of the scene of the crime hoping it would spark some memoriesy. Drunk out of his mind sitting in a cell that reeked of piss, booze, and desperation was Ffranklin Hayes. Franklin Hayes was a notorious deadbeat drunk, he'd been involved in many hit and runs, bar fights, public intoxication scandals, and pretty much everything involving booze. He'd been in the Coolidge's part of town the night Andrew's family died. "I....hittted a car that night, I saw the... the car flip... maybe like... I don't know... probably twice....mmm but I kept driving... they were probably fine..." Hayes slurred with belches in between. Hayes was drunk enough to admit to the death of the Coolidge's. Even though he was furious and hadn't talked to him in several months at Andrew called Detective Roosevelt to , Andrew called him to tell him the good news. And just like that Ffranklin Hayes was going to be put on trial for the Vehicular manslaughter of Ida, Theodore, Elizabeth, and George Coolidge. They had enough evidence along with probable cause for Franklin Hayes to be indicted. Hayes was there the night the family died, His truck had notable damage, He was seen leaving the "Lake Side Bar", and his truck was also spotted going 50 over the speed limit. The Trial and conviction of Franklin Hayes came rather fast, and he was getting life without parole.
Driving from the courthouse back home to the now empty Coolidge house, Andrew felt somewhat of closure. The man who killed his family was going to be brought to justice. Passing the scene of the accident marked by flowers and crosses the mind of Andrew Coolidge began to release repressed memories. He saw what happened that night. He saw his family get hit. He saw the car flip three times into the ditch. He heard the screams of his wife and kids. Everything seemed so familiar, like déjà vu.
On that night Andrew wasn't trying to make things right. He had not woken up sober wanting to change things. He woke up to more liquor and his family gone. In a fit of rage, he chased down Ida and their kids and rammed his truck car into their cars. And as we know Ida's car had flipped three times off the road into a nearby ditch killing Her, Theodor, Elizabeth, George. AndrewHe didn't call the police, Franklin Hayes did who happened to be on the rode that night. Andrew never made it back to his house. Detective John Roosevelt didn't actually exist. They didn't spend months together trying to solve the case of who killed the Coolidge family. It was known from the begging what happened. And in the end. We see Andrew. Locked away. With his imagination running ramped within the walls of an asylum.
