WEBVTT - The Murder Years S2: Ep. 1, Polly 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:05.880 The following podcast contains explicit descriptions of violence, including sexual violence, 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:09.680 that some listeners may find upsetting. Continue at your own risk. 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.720 Vera Kendrick was something of a mascot to the surfers 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.919 of Domino Beach. Homeless by choice, the nineteen year old 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.920 bohemian spent most of her days selling handmade jewelry and 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.840 candles on the boardwalk, and most of her nights sleeping 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.400 in a tent on the sandy shores of the Pacific Ocean. 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:36.440 Vera was a ray of light, a true free spirit 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.959 who perfectly personified the idyllic little town she had adopted 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:46.320 as her home. She was found raped, beaten, and strangled 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.000 to death just after dawn on the morning of Friday, 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:57.800 September eighteenth, nineteen ninety two. My name is Courtney Barnes, 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.680 and that's a passage from chapter one of my book 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:05.400 All Fall Down, The Story of the Domino Beach Murders. 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.280 When it was published in nineteen ninety nine, I made 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:10.520 the rounds on all the talk shows and recounted the 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.800 grizzly details of the year's long murder Spray to Maury 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.360 and Ricky and Sally Jesse and all the rest It 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.080 was an exciting time for me, but to tell you 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.840 the truth, I was glad when interest died down and 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.920 the public fascination moved on to whatever the next horrible 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:30.320 thing was. It's tough when you're defined by tragedy and violence, 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.440 but that's what it was like for not just me, 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:38.240 but everyone who lived through it. We're all scarred from it, 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.280 and even though they're emotional scars, there's still the kind 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.640 everyone can see. And the same thing is true for 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:46.920 the place where it all happened. 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:48.280 Admit it. 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.160 If we were playing that word association game and I 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:54.559 said Domino Beach, the first words out of your mouth 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.520 would be serial killer. But it wasn't always like that. 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.280 Once upon time, Domino Beach was just a sleepy little 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.480 California coastal town about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.800 And I certainly never intended to end up there, and 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.760 I also never intended to return there thirty years later 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.639 to revisit one of the worst killing sprees in the 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:40.200 history of southern California. This is the Murder Years, Episode one, Paully. 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.679 When I graduated from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.760 journalism in May of nineteen ninety two. It was right 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.880 on the heels of the Rodney King riots, which cost 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.840 the city fifty three lives a billion dollars in damages, 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:07.480 and honestly, it's soul. I was appropriately naive and idealistic 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.720 about entering the newsworkforce at a time when my hometown 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.880 and the whole country for that matter, was in such turmoil. 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.640 I was determined to land a job at a big 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.800 time newspaper or magazine, work my way to the top 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.040 with my unique and powerful prose, and win a pulletzer 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.760 by the time I was twenty five. But as it 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.080 turned out, I couldn't even score so much as an 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:33.560 unpaid internship anywhere in La. The closest I could get 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.360 was about seventy miles south in a little town I'd 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:40.480 barely even heard of called Domino Beach. I applied for 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.680 and got an internship at a small newspaper called The 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.480 so Cal Journal, which had a modest readership mainly through 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.760 Del Soul County and parts of Orange and Riverside. It 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.480 wasn't even close to what I wanted, but beggars can't 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:57.640 be choosers. It felt like I was slumming it like 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.200 my career was starting off on the wrong floor. But 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.240 when I first arrived in town in early June, I 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:06.880 got to admit I just fell in love with the place. 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.960 There was something about the warm, welcoming vibe of Domino 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.640 Beach that made me feel like a local almost right away. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.359 Things moved at a much slower pace than up in 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.120 La where I'd spent most of my entire life, but 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.800 it didn't take long to feel like the Domino Beachers 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.279 were the ones who were doing this whole life thing right, 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:31.920 and the rest of us who were running around chasing 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.880 the almighty dollar, were just a bunch of suckers. The 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.279 city itself had a population of about twenty five thousand, 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.800 with another forty or so scattered throughout the rest of 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:46.200 Delsoul County. The downtown area covered eight square blocks and 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:50.800 was filled with bars, charming restaurants and cafes, cute little 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:55.160 clothing boutiques, surf and skate shops, record stores, and more bars. 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.000 On the south end, there's a boardwalk where you could 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.520 ride rickety roller coasters, or you could try your luck 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.359 at knocking over milk bottles with baseballs, and all along 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:07.560 the White Sandy beaches were well kept houses and condos. 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.200 About half of them were rentals, and the other half 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.800 were occupied by rich business people who worked in San 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:17.599 Diego or Orange County. But what Domino Beach was known 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.760 for more than anything else before the murders, of course, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.679 was the waves. Now I never tried my hand at surfing, 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:26.599 but it was easy to see why it was so 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.880 popular there. The local surfers swore the waves swelled earlier 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.440 and built up more slowly, so you could ride them 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.160 longer than anywhere else on the planet. They considered their 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.200 beach to be the best kept secret on the California coast, 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.360 and they were very protective of it. If you wanted 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:45.640 to surf those waves, you had to get in good 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:50.600 with the locals first. In September nineteen ninety two, I 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.720 was twenty one years old, just two years older than 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:59.240 Vera Kendrick, who would be nineteen forever. After my ten 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.360 week internship at the so Cal Journal ended, during which 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.800 I gained great experience getting coffee, replacing printer ink, and 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.000 waking up at four in the morning to throw papers 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.440 out the window of my nineteen eighty five Honda Cord, 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.240 I was offered an actual paying job as a copy editor. 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.160 It wasn't much, but I decided it was worth continuing 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.559 to live in Paradise a little longer while I worked 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.960 on getting a bigger job at a bigger paper in 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.920 a bigger city. It was sheer luck, if you can 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:28.680 call it that, that I was the one to cover 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.000 Via Kendrick's murder. The So Call Journal was a tiny 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.520 operation with very few full time reporters. One of them 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.839 was Glenn Sherman, who covered crime and politics. He was 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.359 out of town at a campaign event for Bill Clinton, 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.599 who would officially put an end to the Reagan Bush 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.240 era in just two months time. Lauren Redman, the So 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.159 Cal Journal's editor in chief, called and woke me up 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.520 at six thirty am and told me I was going 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.880 out on my first assignment and I better not fuck 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:55.200 it up. 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:00.880 Okay, check check check. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.240 Oh yeah, I remember you showing up at the beach 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.480 that morning, green as they come, and twice as hungry. 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.480 That's Damon Stokes, sheriff of Delsall County at the time 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.360 of the Domino Beach murders. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.440 Tell you the truth. You looked so young to me. 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:19.120 I thought you were with the high school paper. 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.520 Not quite okay, So what do you remember about the 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:24.200 crime scene? 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.880 Ah, well, it was a long time ago, courtey. I 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.000 mean we're talking more than thirty years ago, you know, 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:31.040 so I know. 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:34.800 But whatever you can remember is fine, right. 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:38.560 All right? Well, well, Barrick Kendrick's body was found about 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.560 fifty yards or so north of Surface Point, which was 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.160 one of the locals favorite spots. You know, there were 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.320 some pretty big rocks along the shoreline there, which made 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:48.920 it one of the few places on the beach where 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.920 he'd get a little privacy during low tide. The kids 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.200 wuld go back there. They smoke the joints, get a 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.200 little frisky with each other, and that sort of thing, 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.480 you know. I speculated, based on the bruises around her neck, 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.960 that the cause of death was strangulation, and the corner later. 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:09.000 Confirmed that the coroner's report would also reveal that Vera 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.680 had been raped and beaten prior to her death. In 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.840 nineteen ninety two, DNA testing was still a relatively young 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.440 forensic science, but even if things had been as sophisticated 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.080 as they are today, it's doubtful it would have been 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:23.840 much help identifying her killer. 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.080 There was no semen found, no blood or skin under 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.440 her fingernails, and any hair or prints that might have 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.920 been left behind were washed away. The morning tide would 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.719 should also banged the body around on the rocks a 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:37.840 little before we got there. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.000 When I arrived at the beach that morning, the first 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.400 thing I did was duck under the yellow crime scene 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:46.640 tape the sheriff had put up around the rocks so 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.680 I could get a good look at Vera's body. I 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.640 immediately regretted it, and not just because it was a 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.600 stupid and unprofessional thing to do. It was the first 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:58.840 time I'd ever seen a dead body with my own 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:05.360 two eyes. She was completely naked, and her skin, although 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:07.440 pretty tanned from all the time she spent out in 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.680 the sun, was pale and a little bluish. Her long, 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.120 curly auburn hair was plastered to her face, and I 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.880 could just barely make out one green eye peering through 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.800 the wet strands, vacantly fixed on the blue, cloudless sky 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:27.520 above us. Like Sheriff's Stokes said, there were dark purple 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:31.040 bruises around her neck, with two heavy black marks a 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:35.720 little bigger than your thumbs over her windpipe. She had 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.960 cuts and abrasions all over her arms and legs, which 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:43.520 were sticking out at odd, unnatural and uncomfortable looking angles. 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.960 I never met Vera, but she looked like a hundred 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.600 girls I did know, like someone who might have been 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.600 a friend of mine. In a way, she kind of 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:57.640 looked like me. Seeing her like that made me feel 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.480 very fragile and vulnerable. I didn't even realize i'd snapped 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.000 a few pictures before one of my deputies grabbed me 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:09.000 by the arm and escorted me away. The pictures I 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.880 took weren't suitable for print in the journal, not that 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.120 I ever submitted them anyway, but I held on to 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.480 them for some reason. I've still got them. I haven't 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.280 looked at them in years, but for a while i'd 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.720 pulled them out every so often to remind myself just 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.479 how quickly and cruelly death can come for any of us. 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.600 You had a lot of nerve coming into that crime 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.040 scene that day. I could have arrested you. 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.040 Know, I know, thanks for not doing that. 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.960 Kind of had my plate full. Besides, from the look 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.360 on your face, I could tell you learned your lesson. 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:47.960 When I was back on the other side of the tape, 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.000 I tried to shake off that eerie, ichy feeling and 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:53.439 do the job I was sent there to do. I 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:55.880 started talking to people in the small crowd that had 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.640 gathered and learned the body had been discovered by two 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.040 surfers just after dawn on. One of them was twenty 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:03.720 four year old Connor Langford. 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:06.680 It was one of the worst fucking days of my 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:11.000 life back then, and it's still ranks pretty high up there. 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:13.520 I mean that we knew Vera. 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:28.720 You know, Connor was one of the most well known 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.040 and well liked residents of Domino Beach. To some, he 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:36.520 was Domino Beach. He was the quintessential surfer dude, tanned 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.800 in tone, with shaggy blond hair and leading man looks. 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:42.520 If it sounds like I had a little crush on him, 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:46.560 it's because I did, so did everyone. But the morning 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.400 he found Vera Kendrick's body was the first time he 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:51.000 and I had actually ever spoken. 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.800 Me and Brody Hannigan. Brody and I were in a 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:56.839 band together. He was the drummer and I did guitar 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.280 and lead vocals. At that time, we were calling ourselves 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.440 slapping bow Zones. Really liked it because that was what 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.520 some people called playing dominoes and thought it was a 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:08.160 way to make us the unoffvisual hometown band, you know, 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:11.120 but it always made me think of jerking off. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:18.800 Okay, then, so when you found Vera's body. 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:23.839 Right, all right, I get distracted easily. We were first 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.840 to the beach that morning. We got there before the 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:28.640 waves got riped, so we were just shooting the shit. 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.240 When the sun started coming up, I saw what I 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:36.520 thought was some trash over by the rocks. Sometimes the 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:38.280 high school kids would party over there and leave their 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:40.600 beer bottles and cigarette butts and shit all over the place, 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.439 and we'd clean up after them. But when we got 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.359 over there, we saw, well, we saw Vera. 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:50.400 And you recognized her right away. 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.840 Oh yeah, Vera was one of us. She didn't surf, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.200 but she was at the beach almost every morning. I 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.839 mean she usually slept that right, and she came to 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:03.280 all all our parties on how with us all the time. Yeah, 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:04.880 we knew it was her right away. 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.360 Okay, go on, But anyway. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.320 This was before everyone had a cell phone, right, So 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.640 I told Brody to take my van drive to the 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:19.760 boardwalk and call the cops while I stayed with the body. Yeah, 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:22.840 so it wasn't long after he left the other surface 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:23.440 started showing up. 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:23.640 You know. 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:25.560 Some of them told me I should take off, that 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:27.800 they'd guard the body and wait for the cops. 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.840 But I said no, Why did they think you should leave? 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.080 Because of my dad? They knew he wouldn't want me 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:36.280 mixed up in something like that. 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.400 Greg Langford, Connor's father was a Domino Beach City councilman, 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.160 but everyone in town knew he was more than that. 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:48.480 Deborah Charles was the city's mayor, but at the age 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:51.080 of eighty five, that was pretty much in name only. 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:54.800 She may have won election after election, but it was 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.520 the council that really ran things, and it was Greg 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:01.600 Langford who ran the council. Connor and his father couldn't 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:05.400 have been more different if they tried, and Connor did try. 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.479 The councilman was a died in the wool Reagan Republican 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:12.520 with political ambitions on a national scale. Connor, on the 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:16.120 other hand, had no ambition outside of surfing, getting high 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:19.080 and playing in his band. The only time he had 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.760 ever even left Domino Beach was for one semester at 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.760 uc San Diego, where he got straight a's just to 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.640 prove he could do it, then promptly dropped out. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.240 It wasn't like I could do anything to be more 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:32.840 of a disappointment to my dad. 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.440 You know, is that what you wanted to upset your father? 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:38.880 And is that why you sent Brody to call the 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:41.880 police while you waited with the body? It was your 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:43.600 van Brody left in, wasn't it. 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:45.360 Yeah? 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.160 And I don't know if I thought about it like that. 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:52.440 I felt I felt responssible in a way. I guess 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:55.160 like I was the one who should be watching over her. 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:57.440 She was my friend, you know. 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:04.600 Well, well, actually you were more than friends, weren't you. 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.000 Not really? No, I mean, if what you're getting at 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.560 is that I slept with her a couple of times, yeah, 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:15.680 I did, But you didn't know Vera. Sometimes she just 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.440 wanted to sleep in a bed, you know, if you 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.560 gave her one, sometimes she'd repay the favor. It wasn't 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:25.480 a big deal, and I never messed around with her 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:26.640 when Maya and I were together. 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.120 Of course I knew Connor and Vera slept together. It 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:33.960 wasn't like a secret or anything. 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:38.080 Maya Morales was Connor's on again, off again girlfriend since 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:39.960 high school, and they were dating at the time of 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:40.760 Vera's murder. 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.320 She was all into that free love shit, and she 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:49.960 was cute and fun, and Connor like cute fun girls. Look, 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:53.200 it wasn't my business why or who Connor did when 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:54.000 we weren't together. 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:56.040 Did you go to the beach that morning? 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.960 No? But Connor came over after I was twenty two. 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.200 He was still living at home, waiting tables and bartending 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:05.760 at the Blue Parrot and trying to save up for college, 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.480 which never happened. 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:09.960 But whatever. 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.160 Anyway, I'd worked late the night before, so I was 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.400 still asleep when he came by a little after eight. 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.160 I think my mom woke me up, and he and 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:21.840 I went out on the back porch and he told 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:26.880 me all about it. He was shook, and he wouldn't 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.560 admit it, but I think he was afraid to go 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:34.600 home because he knew his father would be up his ass. 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.200 He still lived with his parents. 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:39.960 Of course he did. It's not like he could afford 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:43.160 to pay rent anywhere. He didn't have a job, But 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.120 it wasn't like he was living under the same roof 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.160 with them. After he dropped out of school, he pretty 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.560 much turned the pool cabana into an apartment. But you 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.360 know what, even though he had all that privacy, whenever 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.280 we were having sex. He wanted me to be loud, 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:00.280 you know, so they could hear us up in the house. 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.879 He loved messing with his dad. 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.359 Who was racist as fucked by the way, guy was 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:09.680 terrified of one day ending up with a half brown 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:13.720 grand baby. Can you imagine him trying to explain that 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:15.440 one to his constituents. 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.560 So what did Conor say about Vera that day? 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.399 I don't know, nothing, really, He just didn't want to talk. 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.920 He just wanted he just wanted me to hold him mostly. Look, 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:33.560 it was really sad, all right. Vera was very sweet 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.080 and innocent. But it's not like what happened to her 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:41.440 was some kind of a huge shock or anything. No, no, 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.760 and stop pretending you don't know why girl lived in 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.760 a tent on the beach a tent and not blaming 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:50.800 the victim or any bullshit like that, But come on, 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:52.880 do you sleep at night with. 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.760 Your door unlocked? No? 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:56.040 No? 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:58.399 And why not in case. 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.440 In case someone tries to break in steal your shit? 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:03.720 Fuck you up? How you lock a damn tent? 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.399 Well, there's no evidence to suggest that she was pulled 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.359 out of her tent or that one is. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.480 She didn't take any precautions. If you want to live 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.359 to get as old as you and I are now, 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.160 you've got to keep your guard up. I don't think 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:23.240 she was intentionally reckless, just naive. She was, like you know, 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.920 a very trusting soul, an inherently good person who thought 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.760 everyone was the same way. She had to learn the 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:33.080 hard way how wrong she was. 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.800 So there's one thing I haven't mentioned yet about the 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.760 crime scene with something I noticed right away but didn't 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.159 give a second thought to until I spoke to Connor. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.639 Written on the rocks in black spray paint, within yards 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.800 of where Vera's body was found, were the words Polly 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:01.760 wants a Cracker. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:03.919 Yeah. 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.119 I didn't think much of it either, not at first, 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.399 But when I was sitting there by myself with Vera's body, 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:12.600 waiting on the police, I realized I was singing the 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.000 song in my head over and over again. 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.960 The song Connor was singing to himself was Polly by Nirvana. 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.280 Polly Wants a Cracker are the opening lyrics. 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.879 It's a pretty fucked up song. I listened to that 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.159 album one hundred times and never really thought about what 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:29.600 it meant. 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.480 Connor's right, it's a pretty fucked up song. I learned 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:36.439 all about it when I got back to the journal 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:39.439 offices and called the freelance music critic we hired to 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:44.000 review new albums and talk about local concerts. After talking 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:46.760 to him, it became pretty clear to me that what 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:51.000 the police thought was random graffiti might have actually been 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.560 some kind of message left by Vera's murderer. 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:58.119 You know, you could have shared that information with us 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.120 before writing about it in my paper, But I guess 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:02.000 you got your scoop. 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:04.160 Yeah. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:06.560 I let the cops find that out the next morning, 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.640 along with the rest of the city when they read 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.720 my first ever published article on the front page of 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:14.920 the so CAW Journal. I like to read directly from 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:16.919 it now so that you'll get all the details I 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:22.840 had at that point. Homicide victim found at Surfer's Point 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.120 by Courtney Barnes. The body of nineteen year old Vera 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.520 Kendrick was discovered early yesterday morning near the section of 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:35.040 the beach nicknamed Surfer's Point. Del Sol County Sheriff Damon 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:38.320 Stokes has confirmed that her death is being investigated as 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:42.199 a homicide, although official cause of death has yet to 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.879 be released, pending an autopsy. Sheriff Stokes believes it is 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:50.280 relatively safe to conclude she died from strangulation based on 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.879 visible wounds around her neck. Preliminary examination of the body 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:59.000 by del Sol County Coroner Victoria Watts suggests Kendrick was 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:03.280 beaten and sexually assaulted during the attack. There are no 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:08.560 suspects at this time. Miss Kendrick, originally from Denver, Colorado, 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:12.520 lived a rather unconventional lifestyle. After leaving home at the 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:16.280 age of sixteen, she hitchhiked around the country, finally landing 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:20.000 in Domino Beach in early nineteen ninety one. Here she 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.160 befriended many in the surfing community and brightened the days 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.240 of many a tourist with her handmade jewelry and warm heart. 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.399 She was known for seeing the good in everyone and 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.840 greeting everyone she met with a smile. Her body was 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:37.439 found by surfers Connor Langford and Brodie Hannigan, both of 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:40.000 whom preferred not to be quoted in this article due 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:44.119 to having personal relationships with the deceased. One of the 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.360 more disturbing details of the crime scene was a message 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.840 spray painted near where Vera's body was found. Polly wants 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:54.320 a cracker. This is an apparent reference to the song 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:58.080 Polly by the grunge band Nirvana off their smash hit 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:03.359 nineteen ninety one album never Mind. The song was inspired 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:05.880 by the real life story of a fourteen year old 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:11.040 girl from Tacoma, Washington, who was abducted, raped, and tortured 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:15.119 by forty nine year old Gerald Friend in nineteen eighty seven. 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:19.040 Making the song even more disturbing is the fact that 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:23.960 it is written from the point of view of the rapist. 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:28.800 What Vera's killer is trying to say by leaving this 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:32.439 lyric behind is unclear, but it is worth noting that 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:36.440 Polly from the song managed to escape, and as a result, 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:40.920 her abductor is currently serving two consecutive seventy five year sentences, 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:45.679 while Vera Kendrick sadly did not manage to escape. We 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.600 can only hope that Sheriff Stokes will ensure that her 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:57.439 attacker meets the same fate as Gerald Friend. Okay, not 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:00.399