The Admirer: The Doll Collector Sequel

Chapter 25: Kristopher

*5 months later*

The trial was long and drawn out. The public as well as the jury were pushing for capital punishment. I had committed atrocities and that was the only fitting outcome to this. Death by lethal injection in the state of California, using one of the drugs that I used to sedate my girls. The irony was staring me right in the face. The case was open and shut in the eyes of the prosecution. All of the evidence against me had been compiled and it was strong.

The police and FBI had raided my home, discovering the room where my girls had lived in for many years. A search of my cabin produced all the materials I used for preserving my girls, along with my fingerprints on all of the tools and chemicals. Taylor's room contained detailed journals of his nights when he stalked me and he identified me by name. The information there also incriminated Elaine as being an accomplice and proved that Maria was protecting me.

Some of my fingerprints had also remained on Barbara even after she'd been buried and resurfaced. They broke Maria down, threatened to put her in jail if she didn't cooperate. They gave her one day to consider their ultimatum, prison or cooperation. She came to visit me at the county jail where I was awaiting trial. Maria wasn't strong those days anymore, so I made it easy. My lawyers helped me cut a deal with the district attorney. I would confess to being The Doll Collector, but Maria's name had to be kept out of the press. She would go down on paper as a victim and not my concubine.

I signed my life away to give her back hers. The press ate it up, and it made international news that I'd confessed. Unfortunately, it tarnished the reputation of the LAPD for not having figured it out sooner. The public called for reform, the chief of police was removed from office, and internal affairs conducted intense audits on all of its officers. No one was safe, and after a two month period of investigating, internal affairs called for the purging of one third of the force, after discovering inappropriate behavior worthy of firing.

The FBI also took a hit. Their top profiler had been an accomplice to a wannabe serial killer that claimed the lives of two women. She would forever be tied to me and I to her.

All eyes were on the trial. It was in every newspaper, every day for two months, which was the length of the trial. During that time, the families of the victims had taken the stand to give character statements regarding their daughters. The jury was wrapped around their fingers and I knew it. If the prosecution won, which they likely would, I would get death. So it was a no brainer to cut the deal for Maria.

It took the steam right out of the prosecution, but they couldn't resist a guaranteed win. I signed the deal, Maria went free, and I was convicted on six counts of murder, two counts of body snatching, and one count of kidnapping. The judge lifted his gavel and gave me 9 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, to be served at a psychiatric hospital as chosen by the prosecution.

He pounded the gavel and it was done. The families were livid knowing that I would live. They'd been banking on the death penalty, but they consoled themselves with knowing I would die surrounded by psychos. Of course, there was public outcry, they wanted me dead. But no matter what, I'd been sentenced and overturning the verdict would mean I went free. They too would have to be satisfied with life imprisonment.

The district attorney chose the hospital within two days of the verdict. It was a state hospital in Maine, far away from the families and Maria. He'd purposely kept the name of the facility out of the courtroom and the press, to prevent anyone from leaking where I would be. It had to be a secret. In fact, the only people who knew were the judge and the attorneys.

Deputies from the sheriff's department took me to the airport and assisted in my leaving for Maine. The hospital was located in a small town in the middle of nowhere. When I got off the plane, the local sheriff and deputies met me at the bottom of the stairs. They put in one of their trucks and delivered me to the hospital straight from the landing strip. All of it's doctors, nurses and orderlies were awaiting me on the front steps. It was the biggest thing to ever happen to that place. Deputies escorted me into the building, and those doors shut on my freedom.