A/N: I don't own any od the "Cold Case" characters and I am not making any money from writing this.
Please forgive any minor spelling or grammar mistakes, English is not my native language.
Here it is. Halloween-themed "Cold Case" fanfiction. This story takes place post season 7, in 2010 (hence why the characters mention that the 13th anniversary of the massacre is approaching, when the murders took place in 1997). It also takes place in the same universe as my previous two completed "Cold Case" case!fics: after "Generation X", but before "Christmas Eve". The case featured in this story has been inspired by the 2003 slasher horror movie, "Jeepers Creepers 2". Personally, it is not my favorite horror movie, and I despise the director, but the general storyline just seemed like a good fit for the Halloween-themed "Cold Case" episode. There are also multiple references to other famous horror movies, TV shows and literature throughout the fanfic; in character names, casting choices, etc. If you catch some of them, feel free to mention it in the review or pm.
Cast
Eriq La Salle as Jacob Stiller
Devon Sawa as Jason Voiles
Emmy Clarke as Carrie Willson
Jake T. Austin as Danny Jennings
Titus Makin jr. as Kevin Davis
Michael Emerson as Freddy Keller
Shawnee Smith as Meghan Keller
Maia Mitchell as (young) Wendy Teller
Danielle Harris as (adult) Wendy Teller
Skeet Urlich as Sam Winthrop
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Brenda Sanders
Graham Greene as Ahiga Nez
Paula Jai Parker as Sarah Stiller
Anya Taylor-Joy as (teenage) Trish Jenkins
Michelle Monaghan as (adult) Trish Jenkins
Amara Zaragoza as Jenny Peterson
The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.
("Dammit" by Blink-182)
October 29th 1997
The school bus was traveling down the bumpy road, in between the large forest surrounding the area. Seven girls, all dressed in cheerleading uniforms, were sitting to the left; while the boys of the same age were sitting to the right. The coach, Jacob Stiller, was sitting on the first seat to the right, keeping an eye on the players. The bus was filled with an excited chatter and laughter, as well as an occasional crude joke. Everyone seemed very excited, eager, and happy.
Well, almost everyone. Carrie Willson was sitting in the back of the bus, away from other cheerleaders as well as the football team, staring through the near by window, a solemn expression on her face, a tired look in her big brown eyes, her hands clutched in her lap. Nobody seemed to notice, nor care. Except for Trish Jenkins, a cheerleader sitting just two seats away from Carrie. She glanced over at Carrie twice, trying to make an eye contact, but Carrie kept observing the large forest growing by the road, as well as the cracked, bumpy asphalt, like she could think of nothing else to do. Finally, Trish sighed, stood up, and approached Carrie. Carrie looked in her direction upon hearing the approaching footsteps, flinching briefly upon seeing her.
"Carrie... is everything alright?" Trish asked, observing Carrie carefully, a worried expression on her face.
Carrie nodded her head. A slight smile appeared on her lips, but it was gone as soon as she spoke up. "Yeah, sure," she said, sounding sincere but still somewhat worried. "I... I'm just tired, that's all. Don't worry about it."
"Understandable," Trish agreed, nodding her head as she sat down, next to her friend. She smiled, her eyes meeting Carrie's. "You were great, by the way. Today, at the practice. The whole act was just right. I'm sure you'll do even better at the game."
"Thanks," Carrie replied, blushing. "You were great too."
"Well, you learned from me," Trish replied, grinning. Carrie just nodded her head, blush creeping up her cheeks.
Trish pouted, tilting her head to the side. "Come on," she teased, grinning. "Smile. It won't hurt you."
Carrie chuckled, her lips finally forming into a wide, bright smile.
"That's right," Trish exclaimed, chuckling. She shifted in her seat, giving Carrie a warm, compassionate look. "I'm sure everything will work out fine, Carrie."
"I sure hope so," Carrie said, sighing.
"Just relax," Trish advised her, tapping her on the shoulder. "You're doing your best."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bus, three boys-Jim Haaser, Danny Jennings and Kevin Davis-were peeking over their seats, observing Carrie and Trish, grinning as they did.
"That's it, I'm gonna ask her out," Jim said, excitement evident in his voice, his face flushed, his eyes focused on Trish. "I'm sure of it."
"Just like you were sure the previous ten times?" Kevin teased him, chuckling.
"I believe in you, Jim," Danny added jokingly, shifting in his seat.
"Oh, it's on," Jim maintained, a wide smile appearing on his face."Right after the game tonight..."
"Make sure we win first," Danny warned him, smiling never the less.
"You all make sure of that," their coach, Jacob Stiller, suddenly added; sounding strangely irritated yet amused at the same time. "And stay away from any distractions, even the ones merely in your mind."
"With these two AND me?" Kevin exclaimed, glancing at his friends. "That's pretty much guaranteed, coach," he said before fist-bumping Jim and Danny.
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, the school bus jumping up for a moment, followed by a screeching sound, and a sudden drop in speed. Everyone flinched, their eyes widening. Some cheerleaders gasped. Jacob Stiller frowned, looking through the bus windows, trying to see what caused the sudden maneuver. Jason did his best to continue driving, clearly surprised and worried by the situation, but he eventually had to pull over.
"What happened, Jason?" Jacob asked him, clearly concerned.
"Probably a flat tire," Jacob said, already getting up and heading outside. "Stay calm, everyone. I'm going to check it out."
Jacob quickly exited the bus, walked over to the hood and kneeled down, while everyone else was peeking outside, watching intently. Soon enough, Jason called out:
"Yup, just a flat. Well, maybe a tire blowout..." Several students groaned. Jacob sighed, leaning back in his seat and rubbing his forehead. Jason rushed to calm them down and fully explain the situation. "There is a spare on the bus, I've got a tire iron," he informed them, straightening himself up. "Don't worry, we'll be on back on our way in a few minutes."
"I'm gonna help you," Jacob decided, standing up and heading out of the bus, rolling his sleeves up as he did.
#
The school bus lied stranded on the middle of the road, its right front tire blown out. Jason dead body was lying face-up on the asphalt, right next to the bus, his neck and face covered with blood, his right eye missing due to the vicious attack. Few feet down the road was the dead body of the football coach, Jacob Stiller. His neck was practically ripped apart, covered with blood and chunks of flesh. His face remained frozen in terror, his eyes dull and lifeless.
Sometime later, several uniformed police officers were searching the woods surrounding the area. Suddenly, they stopped in their tracks, gasping in horror as they spotted Carrie Willson's dead body lying face up on the ground, in front of the big elm tree, a giant cut spreading from her belly button up to her neck, the ground and near by trees covered with her blood, her gut falling out of her abdomen. One of the officers groaned before stepping aside and emptying the content of his stomach into some bushes.
A short time later, in a different part of the forest, about two miles north, a different group of police officers stopped in front of the deep ditch, noticing body lying on the bottom, face-down, his head bashed in and covered with blood and brain matter, resting against the big rock on the bottom of the ditch.
And, a short time later, a few miles away, several police officers discovered a headless body impaled to the large oak tree, a giant metal rod having ripped through the victim's gut. There were no gasps, nor screams. Just a dead silence.
#
Over three years later, five homicide detectives walked down the evidence locker and put five case boxes on the shelf, next to one another. STILLER, J.; VOILES, J.; WILLSON, C.; HAASER, J.; and JENNINGS, D. Each dated October 29th 1997. Each marked "UNSOLVED". Detectives sighed heavily and took one last look at the boxes before turning around and walking away.
#
Lilly took a sip of coffee, frowning as she looked around, studying the precinct's decour. Somebody had put up all those Halloween decorations recently; especially in the hallways, for some reason. She was about to head into the workroom when she was approached by her boss, John Stillman, who was holding a case file.
"New cold job," he notified her, a concerned look on his face and a sense of urgency in his voice. "A big one."
"Just what we need for All Hallow's Eve," Lilly commented, smirking.
"Three days ago, water works were examining some pipes going under the small park in Old City," Stillman explained, handing the copy of the case file to Lilly. "Ended up digging out a human skull. It had been buried around four feet deep."
Lilly shivered, her eyes widening. "Sounds disturbingly... familiar," she admitted, then cracked open the file, rushing to learn all the details.
"Well, this wasn't the woman's skull, and there were no marbles in the eye sockets either," Stillmam said softly, trying to put Lilly's concerns at ease. "Medical examiner estimated the head had been buried there for over a decade. They ran the dental records and DNA profile through the missing persons' database. Found a match early this morning, less than two hours ago. Seems like a job for us. 16-year-old Danny Jennings, murdered back in '97, the head was missing. Until now."
"The name sounds familiar," Lilly noted as she looked up from the case file, a frown appearing on her face.
"It should," Stillman replied. "Do you remember the "1997 Halloween Massacre", also known as the "1997 Monster Attack"?"
"Who doesn't?" Lilly exclaimed. "It was all over the news for weeks. I can't recall all the names involved though."
Stillman sighed. "Well, Danny Jennings was one of the victims," he explained. "This discovery is a new lead. We have to reopen the case," he stated as he and Lilly approached the workroom, ready to inform the rest of the team about the case.
#
Soon enough, the whole team was in the workroom, studying their copies of the case files, the case boxes laying on the middle of the table, the seal finally broken. Lilly and Stillman stood in the center of the room, right next to the board, giving the summation of the case.
"On October 29th 1997, Philadelphia's High school football team, "The Crows", were in the school bus, on their way to the big game that was supposed to take place that night at the gymnasium downtown," Stillman started, looking up from the case file. "Their parents were waiting for them there, as well as their friends, girlfriends, even some local reporters. Eleven football players, seven cheerleaders, the football coach and the bus driver."
"The crime actually took place two days before Halloween," Scotty noted. "But "Halloween Massacre" sells better."
"It's October 28th today; the 13th anniversary is approaching," Kat noted. "How... fitting."
"Their route eventually led them on to the isolated road, passing through the Ridley Creek State Park," Nick read. "The road surrounded with large forest, nobody else around... even I can see where this is going."
"When they were halfway back to the... urban area, the bus had a tire blowout; or so it seemed," Lilly continued, still feeling somewhat uncomfortable. "The right front tire. The driver and the coach tried replacing the tire, but the spare tire turned out to be faulty too. They tried to call for help through the radio, but it was broken. They could have tried driving on a flat tire, but they decided it was too risky, since the road was pretty numpy. And it was '97, so nobody had a cellphone. Not even the adults. Anyway, the night soon fell down. And, soon afterwards, the students reported seeing a "shadow monster" walk out of the near by forest, and stand on the middle of the road, in front of the bus."
"Shadow monster?" Kat exclaimed, shuddering.
"That is how they described it... him," Lilly clarified, clearly feeling uneasy herself. "Really tall, bulky, dressed in a long black coat and baggy brown pants, with a big brown hat on his head. They couldn't see his face clearly, because it was dark outside, and his head was partially concealed and shadowed by the hat, but several witnesses claimed that his face looked horribly deformed, disfigured... covered with scars, some sort of unnatural, greenish/brown color, red eyes..."
"Anyway, the football coach, Jacob Stiller, 40, went to confront the... stranger, a tire iron in his hand," Stillman explained, rushing to move the case along. "The students and the driver urged him not to, but he was adamant. He approached that... "monster", some words were exchanged (nobody could hear what, exactly)..."
"And then the monster grabbed mr. Stiller by the neck, leaned over and, according to the witness statements, ripped his throat out," Scotty read, his eyes widening.
"The autopsy report is... unclear when it comes to that theory," Llly explained, flipping through her copy of the case file. "Jacob Stiller definitely died due to exsanguination, and there was a horrific damage to the neck area, but it could have easily been made by a very big knife. Determining the exact type of the weapon was almost impossible, because most of the wounds overlapped, and all of them were pretty ripped, possibly due to the blade not being sharp enough."
"None of the witnesses mentioned the murderer wielding any kind of weapon, though," Scotty noted, raising his eyebrows.
"It was dark, they all saw it... him from inside the bus, quite a distance away, it all happened pretty fast, and was very violent and shocking," Stillman pointed out. "I wouldn't be surprised if they simply didn't notice the knife."
"Once the coach was down, the "monster" looked up, at the bus and the students aside, stared at them for a few moments... with red, glowing eyes, according to sone of the more detailed witness statements... and then started approaching them," Nick read, feeling goose bumps.
"Yikes," Kat exclaimed, gulping. "Just... yikes."
"Once again, no mention of a knife, but plenty of students recalled seeing blood drip down the "monster's" hands and arms," Lilly continued. "Players and cheerleaders got off the bus and started running into the near by woods. But the bus driver, Jason Voiles, 28, decided to stay, and fight the killer."
"Most of the students were already on the run once the things went down, so there are no clear, detailed accounts on what transpired, exactly", Stillman explained. "From what the detectives were able to piece together, Jason pulled out a switchblade and launched himself at the killer, trying to stab him. The murderer dodged the attack and punched Jason in the face, hard, knocking him down on the ground, and causing him to drop the switchblade. The killer then kicked the weapon away, and launched himself at Jason. Once again, nobody got a clear look at the killer's weapon, nor his face. It was dark, and they were all too busy running for their lives. But once the killer let go of Jason, about ten seconds after the attack, Jason was no longer moving, and his face and neck were covered with blood."
"Jason Voiles sustained two deep stab wounds to the neck area," Lilly read, feeling herself shiver. "One of them severed the aorta. The third stab wound went right through his right eye. Death due to exsanguination, just like the coach. The murder weapon was never found, nor even positively identified."
"Some students staid in groups, lots of them split up, every man for himself," Stillman informed the rest of the team. "Most of them eventually reached several family homes downtown, and asked for help. Several found a payphone at the side of the road going through the woods, about five miles away from the murder scene. They called 911, and hid in the near by truck stop restroom until the help arrived. Police was on the scene within two hours of the incident."
"Six players and three cheerleaders were soon accounted for," Scotty recalled, pacing around the room. "Eight were still missing. Police canvassed the woods surrounding the murder scene. Five of the students were found in the woods, alive and well (physically, at least). They were still hiding from the monster when the help arrived, or they simply got lost. The remaining three were also found in the woods... dead."
"Carrie Wilson, 16, cheerleader, found dead in the woods, about half a mile away from the stretch of the road where the bus got stranded at," Lilly read, pulling out Carrie's photograph before walking over and plastering it on the board for everyone to see. "Probably the first of the three to get murdered. She had been eviscerated," she said before rushing to put Jacob's and Jason's photographs up on the board too, as well as write down some case notes underneath. "Death due to severe internal injuries, massive blood loss and shock," she added, feeling a surge of nausea.
"All three, huh?" Vera commented, groaning.
"Jim Haase, 16, a football player," Stillman resumed, while Lilly was still putting the victim's photographs and writing down some basic info on the board. "Found dead on the bottom of a ditch, two miles north of the location where Carrie Willson's body was found. Cracked skull. Cause of death was severe brain injury. Other than that, no injuries were recovered on his body, except for minor contussions, consistent with the fall. No defense wounds, nothing under his fingernails, no evidence of torture or sexual assault, all tox screens came back clean, no usable shoe prints found around the ditch, other than his own. The official ruling is that he was running away from the killer through the woods, accidentally ran into the ditch (or slipped and fell), landed on some rocks and cracked his skull. Still, given the circumstances, it is safe to consider that a murder also."
"And Danny Jennings, 16, also a football player, found five miles away, east," Lilly concluded, putting his photograph up on the board also. "Probably the last one to die. He had been impaled to the big oak tree with a sharp metal rod, and decapitated post-mortem. The head was never found... until three days ago."
"Stored the DNA profile and dental records in missing person's database; though it was more of a missing body part," Scotty read. "And it remained missing for close to thirteen years."
"That massacre was huge news back in 1997," Stillman recalled, turning to face the team. "Detectives worked their asses off. Interrogated hundreds of people, canvassed the area two times since the night of the murder and the original canvass. Forensics and the M.E.s were working around the clock. The tip line received over two thousand calls within the first forty-eight hours. Eventually, they even put up a 100 000$ dollars reward for any kind of information that could lead to the developments in the investigation. Over five thousand calls came to the tip line within a day of the reward being put out. But ultimately, it all led nowhere. It took them three years, but in 2000, detectives had no choice but to officially classify the "1997 Halloween Massacre" a cold case."
"This is arguably Philadelphia's most notorious cold case, not to mention the creepiest," Jeffries pointed out, a solemn look on his face.
"Arguably?" Nick commented, looking up from the case file.
"Some say that the murder sight is still haunted," Scotty said, sounding both nervous and kind of excited at the same time. "Or that the monster is still preying in the surrounding woods. Or both. That stretch of the road was closed for traffic following the murders. It remains closed til this day. Nobody wanted to use it since then, anyway."
"Well, it's about time to catch that monster," Lilly decided, sounding determined, intrigued... and creeped out at the same time.
~OPENING ROLES AND CREDITS~
