Monday

August 14th, 2000

Missing teen Evangeline Hartman has been found alive, exposes evil cult and the shocking truth about her disappearance.

It has been revealed that parents Reese and Dawn Hartman, who were murdered in February of 1999 by an unknown suspect, had been blackmailed by cult into allowing their 13-year-old daughter to be taken in order to avoid prison time.

Reese was a member of the "Pain to Power" cult run by 52-year-old Frank White. The tape used as blackmail has been obtained and authorities have reported that this footage contains Reese committing sexual abuse and torture on a young minor, authorities say.

Reese, when reporting the missing teen, had said to police that she was a runaway but it is now known that he had in fact fabricated the letter he claimed she had left for him to find, in which she had supposedly written that she was in love with an older man and left for California with him.

Hartman suffered horrific abuse and torture at the hands of cult leader Frank White and his followers for three years before escaping and making her way to a nearby convenience store, only to be abducted once again by video store owner Mason Powell, 38. Powell had a history of violence and stalking.

Hartman endured another 11 months of physical abuse and isolation by Powell. She stated, "Mason was technically physically unable to be a pedophile, but called me his wife and demanded that I act as if I love him, cook for him and clean just like a housewife."

Hartman was kept locked inside of a room the majority of the time Powell had held her captive, except to have her cook and clean while he supervised her every move.

Evangeline made her final escape when Powell had held her down and mutilated her face with a straight razor in a 'paranoid, delusional jealous rage'. Hartman collapsed his trachea with a single kick to his throat, killing him in self-defense. She states that although she remembers the fight and him attacking her, she does not recall kicking him in self-defense, or anything after.

Hartman, weighing only 60 lbs and in an 'apparent dissociative fugue state', had walked six miles before finally collapsing in the front yard of a home of a nearby neighborhood. This was seen by the owner of the house, who has chosen to stay anonymous, who called emergency services and remained with her, even riding with her in the ambulance.

Now seventeen-year-old Evangeline had arrived at Worthden General Hospital in a semi-conscious state, dehydrated, malnourished, and having lost a significant amount of blood from her facial wounds.

After being treated for her wounds and given a feeding tube and IV fluid, she awoke hours later "confused and disoriented" unaware of the events that had taken place for a period of time.

It has been three days since being admitted and Evangeline is improving quickly, doctors say. Doctors have informed us that Hartman was in a 'catatonic state, unable to speak' for nearly 24 hours before finally being able to speak to us and authorities.

Now Evangeline is up and walking the hospital halls, and is now off the feeding tube.

Officer Owens, the police officer who interviewed Hartman, has stated:

"This young woman has amazing strength to bounce back the way that she has. She's lost everything and been betrayed in the worst possible way, been through a nightmare that you and I could never even begin to imagine, but she's truly a survivor. I believe she's going to do really well. She has already saved so many other children's lives by exposing this sick cult and telling her story. I'm really proud of her."

Cult leader Frank White has been arrested, will be facing life for many charges, including rape, murder, and child abuse. His followers have also been arrested and awaiting trial.

All of the children who have been kept locked inside of White's mansion have been rescued and all are safe and healthy, now in foster care.

It was 4:00 am the next morning after he had kidnapped and almost killed Eva. The Joker sat back in the metal chair, running his fingers through his hair, taking in everything that he had just read.

She really was telling him the truth.

He used his goon's laptop to look into what Eva had told him the night before. It didn't take long at all to find this article. It was major news at the time.

It told him everything. As much as he wanted to not care, for it to not make any difference, it changed everything.

All of these years he has fantasized about what he would do to her. He thought about ways to torture and kill her. He hated her all of these years.

Everything that has happened since that day forward has led him to where he was now.

His parents would still be dead even if Jack and Eva had actually run away. But because she wasn't there, he ran home where he witnessed everything. Where he became physically scarred for the rest of his life.

It wasn't just the trauma... it was being abandoned by the one person who had always loved and supported him that broke him.

That day pushed him right over the edge. Straight into insanity.

But what was he feeling now? He couldn't identify it. It was like everything had shifted. It was a horrible, deeply uncomfortable feeling. He glared at the screen before slamming it closed and throwing the computer across the room into the wall, breaking it with a loud crash. He leaned over the desk, his fingers nearly ripping out his hair, his body shaking.

Images of her parent's lifeless faces flashed through his mind. He remembered that day. The day he had decided to take something away from her that had been taken from him.

It was just a few days after he had aged out of the orphanage and left it burning to the ground.

He knocked at her door. Dawn answered, only opening the door just enough to peak out, looking him up and down like he was some stranger.

When she politely asked him to leave, he shoved the door open, sending her to the floor. As he towered over her, knife in hand, Reese entered the room to see what was going on.

Jack closed the front door behind him and instructed the couple to sit down. They did as he asked. They sat on opposite ends of the couch as Jack stood in the middle of the living room, facing them.

He told them he just wanted to hear the truth about Eva.

He remembered the way it broke him when her father informed him that she had not only run away without him but had gone to California with some 18-year-old guy she met at the skating rink and was secretly dating.

At the time, his rage made him too irrational to see things clearly. He would know her better than that. He would know she wasn't a dumb girl who did things like that.

But he was so heartbroken and angry that he believed what her parents were telling him.

He began laughing, then his laughter morphed into a hyena-like cackle as her parents stared frozen in terror and confusion. He was beginning to see the funny side of everything. And he couldn't help but laugh.

As he gained control again, he wiped away the tear running down his face.

Then he took their lives.

He shook more violently as his thoughts went deeper.

He took the lives of his dear friend's parents.

Oh, how good it made him feel at the time. His first kill, his vengeance. He thought of it again and again over the years, reliving the high.

Now, the taste of the memory has turned bitter. It no longer meant what it did then. Eva did nothing wrong to him, ever. She has always been that sweet, loving girl who brought light into his life.

He couldn't decide if he had done her a favor by killing the people who sent her to live with the cult, or if killing them had taken even more from her than she had already lost.

Either way, he knew that she didn't deserve any of it.

He let out a long, shaky breath and leaned back in his chair, calming himself.

He believed he had left empathy and compassion behind a long time ago. That it went away along with his sanity.

But what he was feeling now, was this guilt?

His thoughts went to Eva, who was now locked in an empty room in this abandoned sanatorium.

She didn't deserve to be trapped here. He had no reason to keep her here, anyway, now that he's learned the truth. But he couldn't just set her free right now. He would have to figure out a way to do that soon without his men realizing the two of them have a history.

He was broken out of his thoughts by a knock at the door. He growled as he stood up and walked over to it. He swung the door open quickly, making the goon on the other side jump.

"Wha-T?" Joker asked, irritated.

"Uh, I-I just wanted to know what I should do about the girl?"

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, well boss, it's just you haven't exactly filled us in on what we're supposed to be doin' with her..."

"Get her a blanket." He said calmly.

"Uh, a what?"

"A blanket. And a towel. Give her something to sleep on. We're, uh, not getting rid of her. Yet."

"Oh. Okay-"

"Give them to Randy. He delivers them."

"Okay, boss." the goon said, still confused as to why Joker was keeping the girl alive. He had never kept anybody alive for more than a day.

As he turned and left, Joker closed the door again.

He was still wearing the now very sweaty, smeared face paint from the night before and needed to get ready for another meeting with his men.

All life-altering revelations and sudden unwanted feelings of remorse aside, he was still a busy man. He had things to do. He'd have to get around to chatting with his friend later. Then he'd figure out a way to get her back home.