Chapter One
Highway 410
Back in those days, it was October 10th of 1966. San Antonio wasn't as developed as it was today; to be precise, it was in development. Highway 410 was being expanded as we know today into a highway of more than two lanes, as well the old farms and some lodges were destined to disappear over the course of the years. Many people remember the area of Valley Lodge, as a rural zone; nothing really happened and cows gazed and grassed from what it seemed miles and miles of green pasture.
Those were the good old days, albeit not many people remembered the set of murders and disappearances of women and young children by today; in fact, the murders weren't well known by the local population or national one because of the isolation of the area. Michael Warren and his family composed by his wife Margaret, daughter Deborah or Debby as it was known among his family and their dog Peppy were traveling for a family vacation to Castroville. Their car was later found near Valley Lodge. Baywell Drive, not far from the Church of God.
On October 16th of 1966, the body of Michael Warren was found on the Valley Lodge Hotel; a self-inflicted gunshot. Police didn't hesitated to rule that it was a murder suicide case, what the San Antonio Metropolitan Police didn't took in consideration was – Valley Lodge Hotel, was the same sight of other murders. – It was too much of a coincidence for San Antonio insurance salesman to kill his entire family and himself while there were US$50.000 on his name as US$25.000 on his wife in order to protect their daughter.
It wasn't a murder suicide, it wasn't an extortion, and these people simply disappeared from the face of the Earth. Besides them, on the same location a man named John Reynolds vanished along, he was 24 years but his date of disappearance dated on October 16th of 1965. His corpse finding would coincidence with the family missing date, he was found on October 16th of 1966 on a near field, his legs where highly misshapen much as he turned into some form of animal, much as a sheep or a goat.
His family on the police reports stated that he went for a business trip and never came back as he was a healthy man; the forensic files reported that his muscle tissue as well his bones mutated in a twelve month period, it was impossible to state what caused the mutation.
A woman in her early 20's named Jennifer Hall vanished a few miles away from where John Reynolds body was found. Only her convertible was found by two agents named George Cavender and William Jennings who were on patrol around the area. A week later they would found another gruesome discovery where two teenagers were found murdered at cold blood and their naked bodies left in their car to rotten.
The names of the couple were Frank Rosenblum and Joyce Molleur. The police suspected that there could be a serial killer operating in the 410 area but they couldn't prove there was someone, killing people as there was no tie-in in between the victims, much as if they were selected randomly, but all of them died within five mile radius of the Valley Lodge Inn.
The Valley Lodge was a motel, almost in the middle of nowhere. Nobody seemed to know the motel but yet there were so many people missing around the premises and it was impossible to explain. There was an explanation, it wasn't impossible just strange to tell.