The Girl I Never Knew by LaDonna Humphrey

Author:LaDonna Humphrey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Genius Book Publishing
Published: 2022-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten—THE SKETCH

One morning as I sat at my desk flipping through a large stack of newspaper articles written about Melissa’s abduction and murder, a story published by the Southwest Times Record on May 17, 1995 caught my eye: “Police ask for help finding Witt witness.” The story, a plea to the public to help identify this man, was compelling. Shocked, I picked up the phone to call Detective Williams. “A witness in the Witt case?” I asked. “What the hell? Can you meet?” Williams agreed and, within minutes, I was on my way to the Fort Smith Police Department.

After the hour-long trek from Northwest Arkansas, I arrived at the police station and took the elevator up to the detective division. Detective Williams greeted me in the lobby. My mind was on overdrive as we walked down the hallway to his office. “This man,” I said as I pointed to the article I was holding, “was seen changing clothes near the site where Melissa’s body was found. According to the author, he is not considered a suspect but police wanted to bring him in for questioning.” I took off my coat, placed the newspaper clipping on his desk, and tapped it for effect.

“Well, you are certainly on fire today,” Williams laughed.

“Sorry about that,” I muttered before immediately shrugging off his comment to tap on the article again. “A witness saw this man and said he didn’t appear to have any hunting equipment. He looked out of place. And he was changing clothes!” I tapped the paper a third time. “This has to be important, don’t you think? Do you know if this man was ever questioned?”

“I’ll be honest. I just don’t know,” Williams said. “We’ll need to check the files. You have to remember that I am very new to this case and there is an overwhelming amount of information to read through. We’ll have to do some research.”

“Okay… let’s research it. Let’s do it now. Right now. I can help,” I pleaded. “I feel strongly that this could be important. And it would ease my mind to know who this guy is and if he was ruled out as someone of interest in Witt’s murder.”

Detective Williams leaned back in his chair, never breaking eye contact with me, and said, “Your passion is contagious, Humphrey,” and he picked up the phone.

“Who are you calling?” I asked.

Detective Williams smiled as he switched the call to speakerphone. As the shrill “ring, ring, ring” of the phone danced through the cubicle, I leaned in closer and continued my story in a loud whisper, “The unidentified man was seen changing clothes next to a dark gray or black newer model car. The car had what appeared to be a racing stripe or decal on the passenger side rear quarter panel that was possibly purple and blue. The car also had a clothes rack hanging in the back seat, a spoiler on the trunk, and what appeared to be a college parking permit sticker. This guy…” I was cut off in mid-sentence when the phone stopped ringing.

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