As he ate dinner Margaret’s words had fully taken hold of him, giving him confidence. She was right—he had no time to fret about his inabilities. Besides, he
July 19, 2008
BODY OF SECOND STRANGLED WOMAN FOUND
The body of an alleged homicide victim, the second in ten months, was discovered yesterday in Gayner near Edgewood and Cañada roads, at the town’s northern border. The victim has been identified as Linda Davila, Hispanic, age thirty-one, a Redwood City resident who worked as a receptionist in the dental office of Dr. Harvin Coutz in Palo Alto.
Davila’s body was found by Gayner residents Marty and Tricia Darton as they jogged a trail off Cañada Road. Gayner police and the San Mateo County coroner’s office responded to the scene.
Gayner law enforcement have been tight-lipped about details of the two murders due to their ongoing investigation. In a press conference late yesterday Chief of Police Russ Barlow refused to identify specific similarities between the two murders, saying only, “We do have reason to believe they are linked.”
Some Gayner residents are now demanding that Gayner police step up their efforts in solving these murders. Tina Arbuckle, president of Gayner Women’s League, spoke with reporters after the press conference. “This is a small town, and we know for a fact the police department has little experience with homicides,” she said. “Before these recent murders, Gayner hadn’t seen a homicide in thirteen years. So why aren’t Gayner police calling in other, more experienced departments for help?”
Chief Barlow responded, “That kind of talk is what happens when a citizen, who has no inside knowledge of the crimes, thinks she knows more than local law enforcement, whose members are working night and day to solve these murders. I suggest she keep quiet and let us do our work.”
Contacted for his opinion, Samuel Buckman, a San Mateo County veteran homicide detective of seventeen years, noted the “telling circumstances” of both victims being killed in Gayner, population 18,000. “The Bay Area Peninsulais a huge mass of people,” he said, “one town running into the next. When you get two similar homicides in a town as small as Gayner, chances are high that the perpetrator lives in the area. If I were on the Gayner force I’d be looking for a suspect in my own backyard.”
First victim Tamara Strait was discovered last September in the hills on the south side of Gayner. Strait, twenty-seven, Caucasian, was a checker at the Sequoia Station Safeway in Redwood City. Recently divorced, she was new to the area, living alone in a one-bedroom apartment at Hampton Place. Strait’s daughter, age five, lives with Strait’s mother in Los Angeles. According to police her ex-husband, Samuel Strait, also living in the L. A. area, was questioned and determined to have been in Southern California at the time of the murder.
Linda Davila was a single mother of two children with no other family in the northern California area. The children’s father, Tom Gerritson of Reno, Nevada, is being questioned today by Gayner Police.
Darell read the article twice, one hand plucking at his lip.
Victim’s ages were fairly close. Varied ethnicities. Both divorced. Both mothers. Worked very different kinds of jobs in different towns.
Strait was new to the Bay Area. Was Davila?
Did they both know Craig Barlow?
That may not matter, considering Craig was a cop on patrol. He would see many women come and go from their homes and could track them with immunity.
As for his father, the man sounded like a real hothead. A police chief should keep his cool under fire. Lashing back at a concerned citizen would not win him any points with the public or media.
Darell rubbed his chin, thinking of his novels. If he placed a murder in a small town under the jurisdiction of a police force inexperienced with investigating homicides—wouldn’t he have a smart police chief request help from outside sources?
Of course he would. In fact his police chief had done just that in
No, not that one.
No, not
What
Maybe
“Pssh,” he muttered. Didn’t matter.
Darell stared at the screen, trying to retrace his line of thought.
The chief.
Why would he not ask for help? Especially after the second murder.
A horrific thought surfaced. Did Chief Barlow know about his son?
