Mortal Danger (38 page)
Authors: Ann Rule
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Murder, #Espionage, #United States, #True Crime, #Serial Killers, #Case Studies, #Murder - United States, #Murder Victims
“She was sure she was going to die when we left her house, but when I told her to get in the front seat and turn the key, she believed everything was going to be okay. I think she was even going to give me a ride home.”
Luis told the detectives that he thought he’d been caught for sure when they showed up at his house the day after the Fourth of July. “I thought you guys had found her body already. I was relieved when you were only asking about the guy that got stabbed at the party. I didn’t touch him, you know, I just helped clean up his wound—it wasn’t anything much, anyway.
“I told you about how I killed Traia. There’d be no point in my lying to you now about that thing at the party.”
They were inclined to believe him. He’d been in a number of juvenile scrapes with local police, but nothing in Luis’s background indicated a propensity for violence. What had happened to Traia Carr seemed completely out of character for this taciturn, emotionally flat kid.
And yet Luis had admitted to watching Traia for a long time. He had become obsessed with her. It wasn’t money he wanted; it was a chance to act out the sexual fantasies that consumed him.
Traia had been touched that the neighbor boy would invite her to his family’s fireworks, and then appalled when he broke into her home and told her he intended to have sex with her.
She could never have imagined such a thing. And that, perhaps, was the death of her.
Because Luis Berrios was so close to his eighteenth birthday, the Snohomish County Juvenile Court declined jurisdiction over him, and he was tried instead as an adult on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree theft, and taking and riding in a motor vehicle without the owner’s permission. The Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office wanted to be sure that even if he were found innocent on one charge, he would face a legal obstacle course with no easy exits.
That turned out to be unnecessary: He was found guilty of all five charges. If he ever gets out of prison, he will undoubtedly be older than Traia was when he killed her.
Tragically, Traia Carr—who would be close to ninety years old now—no longer had to worry about how she
would earn a living if her income from the tavern sale ended, or about the arthritis that caused her pain. But she could have dealt with that. When she died so horribly, the saddest thing of all was that she wouldn’t have the happy years ahead that she visualized. She’d been given a second chance when her lover came back to her, and they should have had several decades to enjoy a “September Song” kind of romance. Very few people are lucky enough to find that. Traia Carr was one of those lucky people.
But it was all taken away from her when she unlocked her door for someone she trusted.
We all forget to be cautious now and then. But it’s wise to remember that strangers aren’t the only people who might do us harm. I think most of us are smart enough to refuse to open our doors and our lives to them. If a stranger comes knocking on your door asking to come in to use the phone because there’s been an accident, it’s easy enough to tell him you will call—and let the police sort it out when they arrive.
But if it’s someone you don’t know all that well, and if the visit comes unexpectedly, late at night, or if your sixth sense gives you a silent alarm signal, don’t open the door. Sometimes those you think you know turn out to be more treacherous than you ever imagined.
Women living alone should be doubly cautious.
MORTAL DANGER
Dr. John Branden’s intelligence, education, and charisma impressed Mannatech executives, and they quickly hired him as a spokesman. But problems with his overweening ego soon surfaced.
Dr. John Branden and his daughters, Heather (
) and Tamara (
right
). He adored his girls and worried about what would happen to them if the world became too dangerous—either from natural disaster or invasion.
He asked Kate—and then Turi—to provide a safe place for them.
Kate Jewell was thrilled to graduate from American Airlines’ Stewardess Training classes at the age of twenty-one. She longed for travel and adventure, but she found more of both than she had bargained for, and she lived with a bleak terror she could never have foreseen.
Dr. John Branden and Kate Jewell celebrate her birthday by going to Disneyland. She was thrilled when he declared his love for her, believing that she had found the perfect man.
Kate Jewell and John Branden, attending an American Airlines party. Kate was a longtime flight attendant for AA. She soon learned that John watched her constantly at parties, jealous and furious if she talked to any other men.
John and Kate, ready for a costume party. John enjoyed being in disguise, but the gun in his holster was real. He could be charming and witty, and they made new friends in Oregon. Kate, however, dreaded the violent scenes that often followed parties.
When Dr. John Branden was sued by a patient, he closed his office and disguised himself as a “hippie.” With his long hair and a beard, his own brother-in-law failed to recognize him. He was pleased.
The charming cottage Kate and John rented in Gold Beach, Oregon. They had a view of the Pacific Ocean, almost-tame wildlife in their yard, and, at first, a sense of serenity. They’d left John’s troubles behind in San Diego.
