The Writer at the Lincoln Memorial

The Threads That Bind

Once Booth, Bones, and Meredith arrived home, Meredith went to her room, and watched an episode of Forensic Files titled "Material Evidence." In July of 1982,11-year-old Krista Harrison was abducted from a softball field in Marshallville, Ohio. When Krista's body was discovered six days later, there were few clues to her killer's identity, but the investigators were intrigued by some very unusual orange fibers found on Krista's body and in her hair. These same fibers were found on the body of 12-year-old Tina Harmon eight months earlier. The investigators became convinced that the man who was in jail for Tina Harmon's murder wasn't the killer. The unusual orange fibers lead to the conviction of Robert Buell.

Meredith also came to the conclusion that the remains of Laney Thompson were unburied in Mississippi, placed in a cardboard box like Krista Harrison, carried across state lines, and reburied in D.C. without raising suspicions. The cardboard theory came to Meredith after CSU found a cardboard box in a field— covered with Laney's blood, soil from both Natchez and D.C., and tan trilobal fibers like those found in Laney's trachea. The next morning as Cam swiped her ID badge to step onto the platform, her phone rang— it was the crime lab in Mississippi. "Hello, this is Dr. Camille Saroyan," said Cam. "Dr. Saroyan, this is Mike Hood from the Gulf Coast Regional Laboratory in Mississippi. I work within the Latent Prints Department. I'm sorry to say that we have received no hits on the fingerprint within our AFIS database regarding your case in D.C," said Dr. Hood. Cam, feeling a sense of defeat, replied, "Thanks for the call, Dr. Hood." "You're welcome, Dr. Soroyan," said Dr. Hood, "I'm sorry that there were no hits." "It's okay," Cam replied, "Thanks for the help." Dr. Hood said, "No problem." The call ended. Cam lowered her head and pounded her fist upon the autopsy table. Meredith, seeing this, entered Cam's office and asked, "Aunt Cam, are you okay?" "I just got a call from the Gulf Coast Regional Laboratory— there were no hits in AFIS," Cam replied.

Meredith embraced Cam and said, "It's gonna be okay, Aunt Cam." Cam asked, "How do you know that?" "Because there is no such thing as the perfect murder and killers always make some sort of mistake and they always leave their signature behind no matter how hard they try to clean up behind them. Our perp is eventually going to make a mistake and we're going to be there to catch him when he does— that's how I know," Meredith replied. Cam smiled, embraced Meredith, "Meredith Camille Booth, you never cease to amaze me. I love you to bits and pieces." "Right back atcha, Aunt Cam," Meredith gushed. "So, what do you got for me today," questioned Cam. Meredith replied, "Last night, I watched an episode of Forensic Files titled "Material Evidence." 11-year-old Krista Harrison was murdered in July of 1982 in Marshallville, Ohio. Her killer was convicted of her murder after some unusual orange trilobal carpet fibers were found in her hair and on her body. The same unusual orange carpet fibers were also found on 12-year-old Tina Harmon eight months before Krista's murder. The killer of both girls was identified as Robert Buell of Ackron, Ohio." "What does that have to do with Laney's case," inquired Cam. Meredith retorted, "CSU found a cardboard box in a field— covered with Laney's blood and soil from both gravesites in Natchez and D.C.

There were also tan trilobal fibers like those found in Laney's trachea. Like Laney, Krista Harrison was also placed in a cardboard box that contained a treasure trove of evidence that helped convict her killer. I believe Laney was placed in a cardboard box, was carried across state lines, and reburied in D.C. without raising suspicions. "How'd you know about the cardboard box that was discovered by CSU," said Cam. "A message popped up on my dad's phone last night after dinner," answered Meredith. Cam nodded and said, "Great work, MC." Meredith smiled as she and Cam went back to work.