The Valentine Murders

A number of years ago, there was a series of killings dubbed The Valentine Murders. They were gory things, a chilling set of deaths that led to a long investigation that got the department absolutely nowhere; the killer was never caught. This wasn't one of those cases that is broadcasted nationwide on the radio and television, though, mostly so as to keep the general public calm (the details were relatively disturbing, especially when told to young children), so it never took on a famous (or infamous) life of its own that could have easily paralleled and surpassed the legends of Jack the Ripper and H. H. Holmes. It was a pretty tight case despite the number of police officers (and even detectives) dispatched on it, and I was quite involved, as head of the office at the time. The first filed police report on the incident was written by a good friend of mine then, and detailed the first murder quite accurately. It goes something like as follows:

2-14-2003

Agent Lawrence

Homicide Report

I was sent to Broad Street at around 7:30 AM, upon receiving a call from 17 year old BRIAN REBEL, who found older sister, AMANDA, 23, dead in apartment at what he remembers as being approximately 7:20 AM. He found his sister lying on back in front of main door, the only sign of injury being blood on the front of her shirt. Further investigation revealed that AMANDA was missing her heart. No other internal or external appendages were missing from body, and there were no items missing from the apartment. There was no forced entry, though the door was left unlocked. After a thorough search through the apartment, a note was found left under a pillow on the victim's bed. It provided the time of death (later attempts at identifying it matched almost exactly) as 12:05 AM, underneath was written in black calligraphy ink 'Praise Saint Valentine'. Victim has no known enemies, and no criminal record.

R Lawrence, 10:45 AM

The people around the office were disturbed by the case, finding the actions of such a murderer to fit only with the character of a man or woman who would have to be defined as criminally insane. I personally believed at the time—and still do—that the killer, although certainly twisted in a certain dark way, was by no means insane, but perfectly aware of what he or she was doing. I did not share such suspicions with anyone, though, for fear of being accused of condoning such violent actions, something that I could not afford to happen as leader of the force. Still, though, my suspicions held strong, and I do not doubt them today. The entire occurrence was quite obviously planned, as it happened for a second time later that day.

A young man, 19 years old, this time, was found dead, too, in his home (this time, a small but cozy house, as Randolph described it), his heart cleanly removed. Similarly, there was no forced entry, and nothing was missing from the house (save, of course, the poor man's heart), and another note was found tucked underneath one of the pillows on the bed. It was almost identical to the one underneath Amanda's, its only difference being the time of death. The note read 12:04 PM this time. Sure enough, the doctors back at the station confirmed this time, too, as being correct, although they said that (as with the first death), they couldn't narrow it down to the minute, but the provided time stamp was certainly close enough.

Now, the police force was really buzzing, nervous and certainly confused about the killer now that he (everyone agreed, for some reason that it had to be a he) had struck twice, now. There wasn't really much of a connection between the two, save some distant shared acquaintances that had gotten close to neither of them, and those are to be expected in any place, really, even if it is as big and busy as Manhattan was and still is. The victims were completely baffling and completely unconnected, neither of the two being anyone of particular notice within the city or to the police department, and none of their close friends or relatives could think of anyone with a vendetta against them, although, of course, that proved nothing. Yet as far as everyone could tell, the man and woman had been chosen randomly, the unlucky two in a mass of people celebrating Valentine's Day.