Laurie Daniels, dismembered

Only days after the Kudzu Kids solved their case, two more Oxford children made another discovery, but this one was more sinister than a confederate bone. Freddie Allison, 13, and his friend Melissa Bridges, 14, came across an apparent voodoo ritual site while walking in the woods. Allison's father notified Yoknapatawpha Detective Terrence Nelson. Nelson and his investigators examined the scene, finding gris-gris and other voodoo charms. While surveying the surrounding area, detectives made a grisly discovery nearby - a bucket containing a human head.

Police quickly connected the head with other dismembered body parts that had been found around the county in the preceding weeks. The victim was identified as Laurie Daniels, 25, a past Oxford resident who had been travelling the country for several years. The community was distraught over the macabre death of the former Prom Queen.

Bart Daniels, the victim's father and a prominent local attorney, confirmed the identification of his butchered daughter. Both Mr. Daniels and his wife, Brenda, appeared devastated by Laurie's death and told Detective Nelson they hadn't heard from Laurie in a long time.

The investigation revealed that the Daniels' other daughter, Melanie, had vanished from the family home in 1991, though local authorities had never been notified she was missing. Bart Daniels told Nelson that Melanie had left home after becoming pregnant by a marine, known only as Reggie, who'd been passing through Oxford. The Daniels parents stated they had privately searched for Melanie at the time she disappeared, but were unable to locate her. They had been forced to call off the search when Bart Daniels was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Laurie Daniels left home the year after her sister's disappearance, abandoning her college education in favor of becoming a deadhead, following the rock group, The Grateful Dead, on their tour around the country.

Investigators were baffled by the brutal crime and the abundance of seemingly unrelated clues. Several suspects were investigated including Laurie's ex-fiancé, her former lesbian lover, her missing sister and her strange companions in the bizarre New Orleans voodoo culture. Yoknapatawpha police were assisted in their investigation of the voodoo connection by private investigator Randy Possell, a former New Orleans police detective who had years of experience with the local voodoo factions.

In Oxford, Laurie's ex-fiancé, Forrest Burgess, was the focus of police attention. Burgess's life had been on a downward spiral since Laurie Daniels had called off their wedding in 1992. Burgess dropped out of college, became addicted to drugs and alcohol, even dabbled in voodoo when he learned it was Daniels' latest passion. In an unusual turn of events, Burgess had been living with Daniels' former lesbian lover, Callie Shivers, until she kicked him out a short time before Daniels was found murdered.

While police gathered evidence on Burgess, they also looked into other suspects. Among them was local mail truck driver, J. C. Strong, who was known to have stalked Melanie Daniels years before and had been accused of harassing Callie Shivers. A native of New Orleans, Strong's Oxford residence was adjacent to the voodoo ritual area where Laurie Daniels' head was found. Detective Nelson also questioned Callie Shivers who said she had recently spoken with Daniels but the two had not been on good terms for some time, particularly since Daniels' involvement in voodoo.

Meanwhile in New Orleans, Possell interviewed some of Daniels' former voodoo associates and learned Daniels had been a follower of local witch doctor, Dr. Yah Yah. Possell attempted to locate Yah Yah, but members of the voodoo community refused to discuss him and the doctor proved as elusive as a ghost. However, in Yah Yah's apartment, Possell found voodoo hex instruments placing curses on both Forrest Burgess and Bart Daniels. Possell also uncovered a scrap of paper with an Oxford phone number, which Nelson easily traced to Callie Shivers' Yocona cottage.

Possell's report spurred Yoknapatawpha authorities to dig deeper into the Daniels family history. Inquiries uncovered an accusation that Bart Daniels had fondled a colleague's daughter in the past. Witness interviews revealed that both Daniels girls had alluded to sexual abuse at the hands of their father, but confidants did not believe the claims at the time. Nelson did discover the full name and a possible location of the marine accused of impregnating Melanie - Reginald Simms of Pittsburgh.

Nelson tracked Simms down in Pittsburgh and learned that Melanie Daniels had indeed written him in 1991 that she was pregnant and wanted to stay with him. But she when never arrived, Simms left Pittsburgh to serve in the Gulf War. Simms surprised police when he told them Laurie Daniels had also contacted him. She had stayed with him for several weeks in Pittsburgh, just prior to her return to Oxford. Simms' phone records for the period Daniels lived with him showed calls to her parents' home, to Callie Shivers' residence and to Dr. Yah Yah's New Orleans apartment.

Dr. Yah Yah, Voodoo priest

Evidence began to mount against Burgess as surveillance video showed his car at the Memphis airport when Daniels arrived from Pittsburgh. Burgess' former landlord, owner of the Coles Point house Burgess rented after being kicked out of Shivers' home, told police of Burgess' strange behavior. Burgess was evicted from that residence after only ten days and left the house in complete disarray. As police prepared to arrest Burgess, they received a frantic 911 call from him, in which he claimed someone had placed a voodoo hex at his house and he feared for his life.

Police did find evidence of gris-gris at Burgess' residence, but determined there was no imminent danger of violence against Burgess. They took the highly agitated Burgess into custody for questioning in the murder of Laurie Daniels.

During interrogation by Detective Nelson, Burgess admitted his involvement in the disappearance of Laurie Daniels but steadfastly denied killing her. He recounted a strange tale of love, obsession, abduction and a night riddled with drugs, alcohol and fear.

Burgess told Nelson how he'd picked up Daniels at the Memphis airport and taken her to his Coles Point residence in a doomed effort to win back her affections. When he fed Daniels a voodoo love powder and inadvertently poisoned her, Burgess hysterically downed a large quantity of pills and booze in a failed suicide attempt and passed out instead. When he awoke, Daniels and her belongings had disappeared.

Nelson traced Daniels' possible escape route from the Coles Point house to a nearby bait store. Inquiries uncovered a witness who had seen a girl picked up that night outside the store. The witness provided clues that led Nelson directly to Brenda Daniels, the victim's mother.

As Nelson was about to close in on Brenda Daniels, he received a report that the Daniels home was on fire. In a blaze that resembled the fires of hell, the house was completely consumed. The charred bodies of Bart and Brenda Daniels were found among the ashes, both dead of gunshot wounds in a murder/suicide at the hands of Brenda Daniels.

Police uncovered a profusion of evidence tying Brenda Daniels to the murder of her daughter Laurie. Apparently, Laurie Daniels had returned to Oxford to confront her parents about their involvement in her sister's disappearance and her father's sexual abuse. That decision proved fatal for the remaining Daniels family members, just as Melanie Daniels' pregnancy had sealed her fate years before. A search of the Daniels property uncovered a grave containing the torso of Laurie Daniels and the burned bones of Melanie Daniels.

Dr. Yah Yah, the voodoo witch doctor, was never found.

The citizens of Oxford were sickened by this tragedy and mystified by the woman who cared so much about the public perception of her family that she was willing to murder both her daughters to protect the family reputation. All they wanted to do was forget. Soon they would have another bizarre crime to divert their attention. [ Continued --> ]