Snatched, page 2
They both got in and Rebecca pulled out of the parking lot at some speed.
“Wow!” Blayze said. “In some sort of rush, are we?” he asked, while looking at the calmness on her face.
“We’ve got a lot of things to do, so the quicker we get there, the better. I know you’ve only just read the files, but I have been looking at the same things now for three years and every detail is stuck in my head.”
“Okay then, tell me everything you know about this first case while we are on our way, so that I know it all before I step into the park.”
Blayze sat back in his seat as Rebecca picked up a bottle of water she had by her seat and took a big sip.
“The first child to be snatched,” she started, “was Maddix Dyer. He was six years old at the time and was at The Ice Kingdom with his mom, Meadow. His dad is no longer on the scene as he left when Maddix was just two years old. It was November 12 , 2017, and they had been at the park for almost two hours before Maddix needed to use the restroom.” Rebecca glanced over at Blayze, who was staring out of the window. “Are you getting all of this?” she asked.
“Yeah, yeah, keep going,” Blayze replied, still looking at the view of the city, which was soon to disappear, as the cluster of tall buildings they had raced past, leaving the FBI headquarters, became few and far between. The openness of the road and surroundings meant they could get to places much faster than if he were still in New York.
“His mom, Meadow, had waited outside the restroom as Maddix had said that he just needed a pee. She had taken a tissue out of her purse to blow her nose and walked over to the trash can to throw it away. She returned to the restroom and waited a little while longer in case Maddix had needed to wait while in there. A man walked out, and as he passed Meadow, she asked him if he had seen a young boy in there. The man said that he had seen a boy, but that the boy had left before him while he was washing his hands.”
“So what you’re telling me is, within the time it took his mom to throw her tissue in the trash can, someone had taken Maddix?” Blayze asked.
“Exactly.”
“Someone must have been watching them both closely, to get that timing just perfect. Was there anyone else around?”
“The only person was that man who passed her. We were able to track him down and bring him in for questioning, as he had called the hotline after realising he was the last person who saw Maddix that day. His story checked out and his wife was his alibi. Meadow ran into the men’s toilets, shouting Maddix’s name, but could not find him anywhere. It hadn’t taken long before more people joined the search as screams of her son’s name had attracted more attention. The police had been called and another member of the public had alerted a nearby staff member who contacted the park’s security. The search came up empty. Maddix had disappeared.”
As they drove down Conroy-Windemere Road, Blayze could see a large lake right in front of them. Blayze knew that this was an affluent area just from the sheer size of the properties right by the edge of the lake. Just before they reached it, Rebecca turned into the parking lot of The Ice Kingdom. She pulled the car up near to the entrance.
“It’s bigger than I pictured,” Blayze said as he glanced at the large entrance gates and along the walls of the park, which seemed to run as far as the eye could see. He turned back around and there was the lake, Lake Down, glistening in the sunshine.
“Come on, let’s get in so you can see the site for yourself,” Rebecca said, walking towards the security checkpoint by the main gate. “The park doesn’t officially open until Saturday, so we have it to ourselves right now, except for the staff members who are doing routine maintenance.”
They passed through security, flashing their badges and explaining why they had come. Blayze followed Rebecca around the park while scoping the area out for potential exits that the perpetrator may have used.
“Nothing has changed at all,” Rebecca noted as she looked ahead.
“I’ve never been through a closed park before. Seems cold and eerie,” Blayze stated to the back of Rebecca’s head as she had not stopped walking ahead. “Compared to the amount of people allowed in this park at any one time, how busy was it on the day Maddix was taken?”
“At full capacity, this park can hold 85,000 people, but on that day, at the time of the abduction, we were told that they only had around 15,000, but that it got busier as the day went on,” she replied. “Here we are.” She pointed to a restroom only a few yards away from them.
Blayze walked to the door of the men’s toilets and stopped, turning around to check out the surroundings. The trash can that Meadow had used was in sight, which meant that Maddix would have seen his mom as he exited the toilet. He closed his eyes and tried to picture the event.
“It’s hard to get a clear picture when the park is so quiet,” Rebecca said, walking toward him. “The sound of rides going, kids screaming from all over the park with excitement. Did Maddix scream? We don’t know. What we know is that his coat was later found just yards away by the side of that ride over there.” Rebecca pointed across the park to a small ride in the distance called ‘The Tracks’. “It could have been dropped by accident or placed there on purpose. We just don’t know when or why. We analysed the CCTV footage repeatedly, but there were so many people in that area that it was too difficult to see the jacket being placed down.”
Blayze took a long look around the restroom and noticed that there were several ways that the abductor could have gone. Some were wide open and people could have seen them, while others hosted various coverings, making them quick to use and the perfect getaway. “It has to be someone who knows this park inside and out to have gotten such a clean getaway without being seen. This was a planned event, not just a quick snatch and grab,” Blayze said as he walked back towards Rebecca, who had gone and sat at a nearby bench while Blayze had looked around.
“During questioning with Meadow, there was no one she knew who was out to get her or her family. The ex-husband was cleared after his interview, and the principle at the school she used to work at was also questioned to see if there had been any disputes with students or parents. Nothing came up anywhere and so we ruled out the notion that this was a targeted attack, especially when there was no connection between Maddix’s disappearance and the next two that happened in the same year.”
“They either followed Meadow and Maddix around the park and he was being targeted, or the restroom was always going to be the place for the grab and Maddix was just the unlucky child in the area.”
“We have it down as just the wrong place and the wrong time, as Meadow didn’t remember seeing anyone else around.”
“When was the second child taken?” Blayze asked.
Rebecca stood up and moved. “Let’s go. I’ll fill you in on the way. It’s only fifteen minutes away from here, but we’ve also another park to visit before we finish.”
They both made their way back towards the main entrance, but Blayze still couldn’t get over the eeriness of the park being so quiet and empty. He knew that he was going to have to return once the park opened to get the full effect of what was potentially going on around the same time Maddix was snatched.
WHILE IN THE CAR ON their way to the next location, Blayze read up on Jenessa Erickson. Jenessa was the second child to have been snatched that year, and only ten days after Maddix went missing. Jenessa was seven years old and the only child of parents, Chrisha and Rohan, who had been married for twelve years. Chrisha was a stay at home mom, while dad, Rohan, was an accountant at an extensive business in the city. Blayze had noticed that in Rebecca’s detailed report, the family had visited the same park every Christmas since Jenessa was three: Snow Park, near to their family home in Pine Hills.
“Almost there,” Rebecca stated.
They turned a corner on Silver Star Road and Blayze noticed large white gate doors about ten feet high with the park’s name above them. Again, the park was closed to the public when they arrived, as it was not due to open for another week. Rebecca had asked Agent Shannon to contact the owner, a Mr Fischer, to meet them there and open up. Sure enough, by the gates stood a man in his late fifties, awaiting their arrival.
As the car reached the doors, Mr Fischer turned a key and hit a button, which opened the doors. White smoke filled the doorway until the doors had fully opened, revealing a driveway lit up by giant snowflakes. They pulled into the driveway and stopped to give Mr Fischer a chance to close the entrance. He opened the rear door of the car.
“Did you like the recent addition to the entrance, Agent Scott?” he asked, getting into the back seat.
“It’s very...” she paused for a moment to think of what to say. “... magical,” Rebecca chose, albeit with a slight hint of sarcasm, as she set off down the driveway. “This is Special Agent Blayze Carlson, who is here to assist me with the children’s case.”
“Nice to meet you,” Mr Fischer said, offering his hand to Blayze.
“Likewise.” Blayze responded by turning around and shaking his hand. “Tell me more about your park.”
“Straight to it, I see. Well, this year we are celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary, hence the new addition to the entrance, which, like Agent Scott put it, makes it look magical for the kids, don’t you think?” Mr Fischer looked at Blayze for a response which never came. “As you can see ahead,” Mr Fischer carried on, as they all noticed a large white house lit up with snowflakes, the entire place looking like it was in the middle of the Antarctic. “The place feels cold, so even if the weather is warm, you still get the ambience of a winter’s day.”
Blayze wasn’t paying much attention to what Mr Fischer was saying. He was more focused on the driveway, seeing just how the kidnapper could have escaped with a child.
The car approached the house and Mr Fischer pointed to Rebecca to pull over by the front door. As they all opened their car doors, Mr Fischer stated, “No one is allowed to park here normally, but as it’s just us, it is okay.”
“Where do people park, then?” Blayze asked.
“They follow the path around to the back of the house, then walk around the side through an ice tunnel towards here.”
Blayze began getting back into the car.
“What are you doing?” Rebecca asked.
“I need to see it all, and experience it all, so I can put a clear picture in my head of how this kidnap took place.”
“You two go on ahead,” gestured Mr Fischer, “and I’ll meet you back here once I’ve turned everything on inside, since you want the full experience, Special Agent Carlson.”
Blayze noted the sarcastic tone from Mr Fischer but didn’t care, and closed the door. “What was he like throughout the questioning back then?” he asked Rebecca as she started the car.
“To be honest, he was extremely helpful and distraught at the same time. He closed the park down the following day and didn’t re-open until the following year, losing out on a major source of income. He knew that once word got around that children could be snatched at his park, no one would want to come. Since that time he has introduced extra security measures, and when booking online nowadays you have to give a lot more details, including your address to which they send your tickets, instead of being emailed out.”
As they pulled up around the back of the house, Blayze noticed that there was no other exit except for the driveway. The back of the building had an enormous wall which went all the way around, enclosing the park. “Do these extra security measures include this wall?” Blayze asked.
“No. There don’t seem to be any changes to the property, so I presume it’s more about the way people book their tickets, and maybe security cameras, and so on.”
“The kidnapper obviously had a ticket and drove in, then took the kid straight out of the main gate doors, unnoticed and in plain sight.”
They walked towards the icy walkway and as soon as they got there, lights lit up the entire path with twinkly music playing in the background. Rebecca looked at Blayze. “You asked for the full experience and so you’ve got it. Do you feel like an excited kid?” she joked.
“Don’t you start,” he snapped back. “I can already see, just from this, how a kid could easily get distracted and wander away from their parents, especially with the temptation of touch and the natural intrigue that children have. He has definitely designed this place for a certain age group, when imagination is at its peak.”
“Wait until you get inside,” replied Rebecca. “You think this is temptation?” She carried on ahead, leading Blayze out of the long cold icy path and to the front door where they had just been. She pulled the door bell and loud chimes rang inside the house.
The door opened and there stood Mr Fischer, who gave Blayze just what he asked for, the full doorstep speech. “Welcome, welcome, welcome, to Snow Park. We are so glad you could make it today and hope you have a magical time. Here is a map of the house and grounds with all the rides listed down the left-hand side. Please note that the restrooms are on the second floor and refreshments are on the first floor. Please enjoy your visit and happy holidays.”
“Okay, okay. That’s enough. I get the point,” Blayze said, snatching the map from Mr Fischer’s hand. “Take me to the last place that Jenessa was seen.”
Mr Fischer led Blayze and Rebecca out of a side door, which took them outside onto the grounds near the parking lot. There were various small rides for children, including a carousel and the Arctic Express, which went around the full grounds. Now he had turned all the lights on, Blayze noticed a lit-up train track along the inside of the gigantic wall and around the outside of all the rides. “She was last seen out here with her parents, Chrisha and Rohan.”
“Wow. You remember their names well.” Blayze said.
“Hard not to when they write to you all the time, asking for updates. I’m sure you get the same letters.” Mr Fischer replied, looking at Rebecca, who just nodded.
Blayze gazed around. “So how busy was it that day?”
“We only hold 150 max at one time, hence the purchasing of tickets before entry. We have an afternoon time slot and an evening one and Mr and Mrs Erikson, along with Jenessa, were booked on the evening slot of November 18th, which started at 6pm and ran until 9:30pm.”
“What time was Jenessa reported missing?” Blayze asked Rebecca.
“According to the parents, they came out into the grounds around 7:15pm and Jenessa had asked to go on the carousel. They had stood and watched her go round and round and had taken many pictures of her as she passed. After getting off that, she wanted to go on the bouncy castle. Chrisha said that Rohan had gone to get them both a coffee while Jenessa was taking off her shoes. She said she had looked at Jenessa and turned to look at where Rohan had gone as he had walked straight past the coffee vendor and into the house. As she looked back, Jenessa had gone. She looked frantically around the area but couldn’t see her and so shouted her name, which caused the families around to stop what they were doing and also look. When Rohan returned from the house, he said that he noticed the panic that was going on and ran to Chrisha and explained he had used the bathroom first.”
“A member of my staff soon notified me on the radio and I came out to help look,” Mr Fischer added.
“Was the park locked down straight away so that people couldn’t leave?” Blayze asked.
“Unfortunately, no. Quite a few cars had left before the police had been called and we shut the gates. We didn’t have the security we do now, so there was no CCTV of the driveway or any of the house. They got away undetected.”
“The only thing we got,” Rebecca said, “was the name and fake email address that was set up to purchase the ticket, which was traced back to a stolen credit card.”
“Sounds again like this was a thought-out plan and that they had been here in previous years to know exactly where to go and when, and that the families were not targeted, but were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“We need to move on as there is still another park to show you before we head back,” said Rebecca as she made her way to the parking lot. “Thanks again, Mr Fischer, for letting us in.”
“No problem, Agent Scott. I am always happy to help the FBI,” Mr Fischer replied as he made his way back inside the house to close up.
“Okay. Where are we off to next?” Blayze asked, opening the car door.
“We’re heading to Light Valley. It’s another big theme park, but this one is already open. It is open all year round and just changes its events to suit the season.”
AS THE CAR DOOR CLOSED, Blayze reiterated what he had just been reading. “Okay. So here we have Konnor Woods, six years old at the time of disappearance, son of Hartlyn and Alex Woods. First discovered missing at approximately 2:15pm on November 20, 2017, here at Light Valley, off Orlando Boulevard.”
“Correct. All three abductions that year took place within days of each other.”
“It said in the notes,” Blayze continued, “that Konnor had been on a ride with his parents watching, yet, when all the children were getting off and heading to the exit gate, Konnor wasn’t there.”
“It happened in daylight, right in front of their eyes and no one saw a thing,” Rebecca said as they were closing on the entrance to the park. “You’ll soon see why.”
They both made their way through security and into the opening to the park. Blayze stood there in amazement at just how busy the park was. There must have been thousands there all spread around, and the noise from screaming children shrieked past his ears as a ride whizzed straight overhead.
“Wow, that was close,” Blayze said, looking up at the car flying by just above him.
“I told you it would be busy. Come on, follow me and I’ll show the ride where Konnor went missing.”
As they continued up the path, they passed family after family, plus large groups of kids, which Blayze could only assume were on school trips out. The sounds around were deafening with screams from various directions, and music coming from different rides. The variety of rides they passed while trying to reach the ride they wanted to see was immense. People were being flown around the sky above him either from passing roller coasters, flying swings circling around, to younger kids in aeroplanes going round and round, up and down. It seemed like no space of the park was left untouched; every inch had to have some sort of ride or game on it for all different age groups. The variety of smells that passed Blayze’s nose as he continued through the park, from the various food counters, reminded Blayze that he hadn’t eaten for hours.
