Incident on Ten-Right Road Read online

  At approximately 11:20 that same morning, Missy Cochran, after placing several unanswered calls and texts to Meghan Fletcher, drove to the Fletcher residence. Aware of Junie’s work schedule, Cochran was not surprised when her knocks on the front door went unanswered. She then retrieved the door key from the hanging basket, unlocked the door, returned the key to the basket, and went inside.

  When questioned by Chief Melvin as to why she went to the Fletcher home that morning, Cochran stated that she was eager “and a little worried” to find out how Fletcher’s date had gone, and that Fletcher had not responded to Cochran’s texts and calls earlier that morning. She suggested that Fletcher had been drinking the previous night, an assumption based on “the way she sounded” when she telephoned Cochran “a half-hour or so after midnight” and asked if Cochran could come to Taco King and pick her up. “But I could hear him (Blyler) telling her no, damn it, that he was taking her home. And pretty soon she told me to forget about it and hung up.”

  As noted above, Cochran entered the Fletcher home at approximately 11:20 a.m. Saturday morning. When Meghan did not respond to her friend’s calls, Cochran proceeded to Meghan’s bedroom and opened the door. She found the deceased lying on her stomach, wearing only a pair of black thong panties, her left leg hanging off the bed between the bed and the wall. Her throat had been slit from just below her left ear to the jawbone below her right ear, which, along with the blood pattern as observed by Chief Melvin and the evidence recovery team, suggests that the assailant approached from Meghan’s left as she was sleeping on her back, and that upon awakening she attempted to roll away to her right, which caused the knife to sever the left carotid artery but to exit prior to completing a full arc.

  Cochran’s telephone call to 911 was logged in at 11:37 that morning. When asked by Chief Melvin why she allowed 17 minutes to pass before placing the call, Cochran responded, “I think I passed out for a little bit.”

  No weapon was found on the premises. No sign of forced entry. Junie Fletcher reported that nothing appeared to be missing or out of place in her daughter’s bedroom.

  Awaiting forensics reports on Blyler’s truck and the Fletcher home. Follow-up interviews to proceed immediately. August 13, 5:54 p.m.

  Notes:

  That key in the hanging basket is concerning. How many people knew it was there?

  Start the interviews with Missy, who might be the person who best knew the victim and her other associates. Why did Missy wait so long to call 9-1-1?

  Record all interviews. And make sure ambient noise, especially wind, is minimal or else the recording will be worthless.

  Add Meghan’s boss and coworkers at 7-Eleven to list of potential interview subjects.

  Interview with Melissa Cochran

  DeMarco: This interview with Melissa Cochran, also known as Missy, is taking place on August 13th, 7:03 p.m., in the dining room of the Cochran home at 316 East Venango Street. Missy’s mother, Mrs. Cochran—

  Patti Cochran: Please. I’m Patti.

  DeMarco: Missy’s mother, Patti Cochran, is also present, though she will not be taking part in this interview. If an interview with Mrs. Cochran is needed, it will be conducted separately.

  Patti: There’s nothing I can tell you about what happened except what Missy told me. What I can say is that she was home here all night long. She never once left the house.

  DeMarco: Thank you. We’ll, uh—

  Patti: I will swear on a stack of bibles that she never left the house.

  DeMarco: That won’t be necessary. If we could keep it to just your daughter and me from here on in?

  Patti: Absolutely. Can I get you some coffee or anything?

  DeMarco: I’m good. Thank you.

  Patti: Okay then. Do you mind if I get some?

  DeMarco: That’s fine. But if you could just…not talk during the interview?

  Patti: Not another word. I just wanted to make that one thing clear. She was home. All night.

  DeMarco: Thank you. (short pause) How are you, Missy?

  Missy Cochran: I’m all right, I guess. Considering that my best friend has been butchered.

  (long pause)

  DeMarco: Let’s start with the phone call you received from Meghan Friday night. When she called you from the Taco King.

  Missy: Okay. What do you want to know?

  DeMarco: What was the purpose of the call?

  Missy: She asked me to come pick her up. She said Tad was being an asshole again.

  DeMarco: In what way?

  Missy: Same as always. He gets loud and crude. I guess he told her she needed a good punch in the face. I wouldn’t have wanted him to take me home after that either.

  DeMarco: Yet she ended up going home with him after all.

  Missy: Unfortunately.

  DeMarco: Did she explain to you why he was upset with her that night?

  Missy: All she said was that Alex was there, which I knew he was going to be, except that he was being a pussy and wouldn’t stand up for her. Two losers, she called them. But then I could hear Tad telling her to hang up and go get in the truck.

  DeMarco: Did you hear anything else?

  Missy: It kind of sounded like maybe he grabbed the phone out of her hand.

  DeMarco: You heard the sounds of a struggle?

  Missy: Yeah but it didn’t last long. I called her back right away but it went to voicemail. And then a couple minutes later she sent me a text saying she was fine.

  Patti Cochran: Show him the text, why don’t you.

  Missy: You want to see it?

  DeMarco: I was going to ask.

  Missy: Sure, no problem.

  (pause)

  DeMarco: Thank you. Would you mind reading it out loud for the recording?

  Missy: The text says, ‘I’m fine, don’t worry. Headed home with loser #1. Ttyl.’

  DeMarco: Loser #1 being…?

  Missy: Tad, I assumed. She’d never called Alex a loser before. Not to me anyway.

  (pause)

  DeMarco: So the next morning, you called and texted her several times?

  Missy: Well yeah, I wanted to find out what all had happened that night. But she wouldn’t pick up. Eventually I started getting worried about her and went over to her place.

  DeMarco: According to Chief Melvin, you let yourself into the house?

  Missy: Yep. With the key in the hanging basket.

  DeMarco: You had used that key before?

  Missy: Lots of times. I mean, sometimes I would get there a few minutes before Meggie got home from class or work, and I’d just let myself in. Her and Junie knew about it, of course. They didn’t care.

  (pause)

  DeMarco: I would like to talk now about your initial discovery of the body. Are you okay with that?

  Missy: I don’t like it, but I can do it, I guess. If it helps you catch the guy.

  DeMarco: You let yourself into the house, then opened the bedroom door and—

  Missy: I called out once or twice from the living room first.

  DeMarco: But when she didn’t respond, you went to her bedroom.

  Missy: Her door was closed, which was unusual. It was almost never closed that I know of. Both her and Junie sleep with their bedroom doors open. Always have.

  DeMarco: So you opened the door and…

  Missy: I saw her on the bed. And I saw the blood everywhere.

  DeMarco: Can you tell me more specifically what you saw?

  Missy: She was laying facedown on her bed, wearing nothing but her panties. And there was blood all underneath her and even up against the wall.

  DeMarco: Did you see this from the threshold, or were you inside the room at that time?

  Missy: I might have taken a couple steps inside. I’m not all that sure. Everything went sort of weird when I saw her like that.

  DeMarco: Weird in what way?

  Missy: All dreamy like, I guess. Like a nightmare.

  DeMarco: But you did eventually approach the bed.

 
; Missy: It was like, that’s not even real. I mean, the blood was darker than I thought it should have been. I figured she was playing some kind of sick joke on me. But the smell was… Do you know how blood smells? All thick and funny?

  DeMarco: Like a handful of old copper pennies.

  Missy: Exactly!

  DeMarco: And then what did you do?

  Missy: Yeah…well…I guess I touched her. Felt how cold and still she was. Like I said to the other guy, it’s all pretty blurry.

  DeMarco: You said that to Chief Melvin?

  Missy: Yeah, the first guy. The sheriff or whatever he is.

  DeMarco: And when did you call 911?

  Missy: It felt like right away. But apparently there’s 17 minutes missing somewhere. All I can figure is I must have passed out.

  Patti Cochran: She hates the sight of blood. Always has.

  DeMarco: Did you try to roll her over, take a closer look?

  Missy: I just told you I passed out, didn’t I?

  Patti Cochran: Just answer the man’s questions, Missy!

  Missy: Sorry.

  DeMarco: When you passed out, how, and where, did you fall?

  Missy: Now how would I know that if I was passed out?

  Patti: Missy!

  Missy: Well how would I? This is gruesome! I don’t even like talking about this. What do you think it was like being there?

  DeMarco: Where were you when you regained consciousness?

  Missy: On the floor beside the bed.

  DeMarco: And then what did you do?

  Missy: I got up onto my knees and looked at her again.

  DeMarco: Looked at her how?

  Missy: Just looked at her. Like I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

  DeMarco: Did you touch her in any way?

  Missy: No. I don’t think so. I really don’t know, but I don’t think I did.

  DeMarco: And then what?

  Missy: You know how it gets when something happens that you just totally don’t believe could happen? How it gets all slow and heavy-like?

  DeMarco: I do.

  Missy: So, second by second? I don’t know what I did. I do remember taking out my phone and dialing 911. And then just kind of sitting down on the floor again until the sirens started. I guess that’s when I got up and went out and stood on the porch.

  DeMarco: You don’t remember how you got the blood on your hands and on your T-shirt?

  Patti: She probably fell onto the bed when she passed out.

  DeMarco: Mrs. Cochran. Please.

  Patti: But it makes sense, though, doesn’t it? She saw the blood, got all woozy and fell on top of Meghan, felt herself sliding off the bed and tried to grab hold of something to stop herself, and that’s how she got the blood on her.

  Missy: That sounds exactly like what happened. Besides, there wasn’t that much of it on me. That Melvin guy told me the blood was dried solid under Meggie, and that’s how he knew I hadn’t done it. He said it looked to him like I got a little on my hands and then wiped my hands on my shirt.

  Patti: He made her take off the shirt so he could have it. Gave her one of Meggie’s to put on. Which kind of freaked her out, of course, having to put on her dead friend’s T-shirt like that.

  DeMarco: Mrs. Cochran, if you would just allow me to conduct the interview without interruptions….

  Patti: Well I know my daughter, and you couldn’t pay her a million dollars to hurt anybody, let alone her best friend!

  DeMarco: Mrs. Cochran. I have agreed to let you to sit here with us as a courtesy. But your daughter is over 18. I am not required to have a parent present. So I’m going to ask you to move to the kitchen or to the living room so that we can get through this interview without any more interruptions.

  Patti: You’re going to chase me out of my own dining room?

  DeMarco: My other option is to escort Missy to the barracks and question her there.

  Missy: Just leave, Mom. I’m a big girl. I don’t need you watching over me.

  Patti: I can’t believe I’m being ordered around in my own house.

  Scraping sounds. A couple of banging noises from the kitchen.

  DeMarco: Let’s go back to you regaining consciousness in the bedroom, Missy. Can you remember seeing anything unusual or out of place?

  Missy: Other than my best friend’s dead body, you mean?

  DeMarco: Yes, other than that.

  Missy: Like what, for instance?

  DeMarco: Anything out of the ordinary.

  Missy: Give me a hint. What am I supposed to have seen? (pause) Oh, I get it. The knife. No, I did not see a knife.

  DeMarco: You’re certain of that?

  Missy: I know what a knife looks like. There wasn’t one there. Period.

  DeMarco: When did you become aware of the blood on your hands and shirt?

  Missy (after a long pause): When the paramedic guy asked if I was cut somewhere.

  DeMarco: And then what did you do?

  Missy: I was shocked to see it, I guess. I think I probably tried to clean my hands on my shirt. Or because my hands felt sticky, I don’t really know.

  DeMarco: Is there anything else at all that you remember about your time in the bedroom? Anything else you did while you were in there?

  Missy: I have no idea what that would be. I came to, I saw her, I called 911. I heard the sirens and went out onto the porch. Didn’t somebody tell you that’s where I was when they showed up?

  Several seconds of silence.

  Patti (from the kitchen): Are you finished in there?

  DeMarco: Missy, what can you tell me about Tad Blyler?

  Missy: He’s an asshole. What else do you want to know?

  DeMarco: Could you be a little more specific?

  Missy: He’s loud and vulgar mostly. Uses the c-word all the time, which I despise.

  DeMarco: And yet Meghan was dating him.

  Missy: People hook up, you know? I mean, who she really loved was Alex. Always did, ever since 10th grade. And a part of her always hoped they would end up together.

  DeMarco: Why weren’t they together?

  Missy: Because he was going off to college and she still had her senior year to do. And she knew she was never going to be able to go to college, not to Denison anyway. Not with her grades or her mother’s income. So where would that put them? Him with a degree or two, her with nothing. It just seemed the right thing to do to cut him loose.

  DeMarco: So it was her idea?

  Missy: She figured if she didn’t do it then, he’d do it later.

  DeMarco: Yet they kept seeing each other.

  Missy: Like I said, she never stopped loving him.

  DeMarco: So how does Tad Blyler fit into all this?

  Missy: Meg knew that Alex was having his fun at college. And she was okay with that. But she had needs too. I don’t know why people think boys have a right to play around and girls don’t.

  DeMarco: So she was just playing around with Tad? Did he know that?

  Missy: Tad Blyler isn’t….

  DeMarco: Isn’t what, Missy?

  Missy: I mean he’s not bad to look at, I’ll give him that. He’s big and strong, even handsome in a rough kind of way. Plus, according to Meg he has all the right equipment and knows how to use it.

  Patti (from the kitchen): Missy! For God’s sake!

  Missy: Grow up, mother! But anyway, yeah, truth to tell, Tad’s got a vacancy or two upstairs.

  DeMarco: Meaning what?

  Missy: He’s got a hair-trigger temper, for one thing. And he’s moody as shit. He misses the Amish way, he hates the Amish way, they’re all a bunch of hypocrites, we’re all a bunch of heathens…. Day to day you never know what it is he believes.

  DeMarco: That doesn’t explain to me why Meghan was involved with him. Just the opposite, in fact.

  Missy (after a pause): I think her father was a lot like Tad is. Moody, you know? Unpredictable. Except that his problem wasn’t with the Amish, it was with booze and fentanyl
.

  DeMarco: He was an addict?

  Missy: You’d have to ask Junie about that. He took off whenever Meg was little. Personally, I think there might have been some other nasty stuff behind it all. The way he disappeared, I mean.

  DeMarco: Nasty how?

  Missy: With him and Meghan.

  DeMarco: Sexual abuse?

  Missy: All I’m saying is, she thought it might have happened. Thought she had a kind of memory of it. I mean, one day he’s there, next day he’s gone. And anytime she’d ask her mother about it, Junie would say, ‘He’s dead to us. Don’t ever mention him again.’

  DeMarco: So…if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that Meghan was attracted to Tad Blyler because he reminded her of her father.

  Missy: She knew Tad was an asshole, make no mistake about that. She felt drawn to him, but at the same time she wanted rid of him. Personally I think that’s why she took him to Taco King Friday night.

  DeMarco: I need for you to explain that to me.

  Missy: It’s why she took him to Taco King when she knew Alex was going to be there.

  DeMarco: She was engineering a confrontation?

  Missy: Seems that way to me.

  DeMarco: Did you discuss that with her?

  Missy: Not in so many words. We were best friends and all, but still. It just wasn’t like her to spill her guts to anybody. You always kinda had to read between the lines with her.

  DeMarco: Can you remember what was said on the subject?

  Missy: I said something like, ‘Aren’t you afraid of what will happen when the two of them run into each other?’ And she just laughed and said, ‘Whatever happens, happens.’

  DeMarco: In your opinion, what did she want to happen?

  Missy: Taco King isn’t the kind of place Tad would normally take her. I mean it’s not the Hilton or anything, but it’s still a couple of steps above the kind of place he usually goes. I think she wanted him to feel out of place, surrounded by people he didn’t know. And maybe, just maybe, she wanted somebody to beat the shit out of him when he started bad-mouthing people the way he always does. It would give her a reason to dump him finally.