Obsession

Serpent: Chapter 52

NEW EVIDENCE IN SHAW MURDERS

FORENSIC EVIDENCE LINKS TRIPLE HOMICIDE AND KIDNAPPING TO LOCAL TEEN

Five days later and things in Shaw were still disquieted. The town was tensed, Gabriel could feel it even as he walked the streets, but he could not deny that certain changes had been made.

For one, he could finally walk down the street without being jostled, stared at, or condemned, and blamed for murder. He was no longer called a murderer.

He was even able to return to school.

As he walked through the gates of the local public high school, his eyes were lowered and glued to his mobile's screen. Upon coming down to breakfast that morning, he had caught a glimpse of the front page of the newspaper on the island counter but since he had been running late, he had opted to read the article on the way to school on the paper's website.

He drank in and carefully considered each word of the article's body.

'Following police attempts on Wednesday morning to capture 17-year-old Joshua Hart who was the prime suspect in a triple homicide, new forensic evidence has surfaced linking the teenager to the murders.

On Tuesday night, police issued a BOLO for Hart when it was suspected that he might have taken a hostage, 19-year-old Duncan Boyer, a student at Shaw County University, who had been investigating Hart following a series of troubling occurrences possibly linking the murders to an ongoing stalking case of 17-year-old Gabriel Hastings. Hart was driving a dark blue Ford Raptor pick-up truck registered to his stepfather, Ray Olsen, and was suspected to have stolen the vehicle. Police officers, Mike Ballard and Don Pierce discovered the vehicle abandoned in an alley on Ninth Street, approximately one and a half blocks from the public high school. Police went to the school and found Boyer who suffered minor injuries and was rushed to the hospital. Hart managed to evade police capture.

A forensic sweep of the house where Hart lived with his stepfather was conducted that same night, and the pick-up was transported to a local auto shop where it was polished for forensic detail.

A report, released to the public, from the town's chief medical examiner, Dr. Solange Krofton, confirmed that traces of blood and hair fibres were found in the storage unit in the garage of the residence. The blood and hair fibres were a direct match to two of the homicide victims: 43-year-old Lynette Isaacs, and 17-year-old Nico Hoffman. A sweep of the school for forensic evidence found traces of blood that were a conclusive match to the first victim, 17-year-old Lyssa Isaacs. It is theorized that Lyssa Isaacs was not abducted but was murdered at the school before her body was transported via the pick-up to Dudley Park and staged. A plastic tarpaulin was found in the pick-up and dusted for evidence. Traces of blood and hair fibres were found on the tarpaulin as well as inside the pick-up providing definitive matches to all three homicide victims and the kidnapping of Duncan Boyer.

Hart remains evasive even with police's dedicated efforts. An ABP was issued on Wednesday calling for all law enforcement agents to be on the lookout across the county. Sherriff Regina Morris states that Joshua Hart is to be arrested on sight.'

There was not much that Gabriel could think of regarding the case. He knew it was not over. Josh would eventually resurface; he was certain of it. Especially if Josh was obsessed with him, there was no way Josh would forget about him. Eventually, he would come back to give them hell.

Gabriel put his phone away, ignoring the whispers and stares he received. He knew why they were whispering and staring. The shock of the revelation of his sexuality had lost its novelty. Everyone in Shaw who knew the name Gabriel Hastings, immediately knew that he was no longer just a star soccer player, but his sexual identity and the chaos that Josh had stirred by leaking those photos, recordings, and video had become almost synonymous with his name.