The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

"We preempt Hollywood Squares to bring you this Action Seven News, Special Report!"

"Good Saturday evening. And welcome to this special, seven o'clock edition of Action News. I'm Paul Jensen. This evening, we take a more in depth look into the mind of a kidnapper. With me is Cypress police detective, Linus Bruin. Detective Bruin has been with the Cypress P.D. now for thirty-four years, and he is currently heading up the search for the Broad Open Daylight Kidnapper. Thank you for being with us this evening, Detective."

"Thank you, Paul; it's good to be here."

"Let's get down to business. Since September of '76, sixteen people have been, literally, snatched right off the streets and taken away. The latest of these abductions taking place just four days ago when Gloria Cohen was taken on her way to class at Cypress State Community College. Detective, what exactly are we dealing with here when it pertains to this individual?"

"Well, Paul, we're obviously dealing with an individual that has no fear of getting caught while snatching people right off the streets. Now, I'm no psychologist, but it almost seems that the suspect, if you'll excuse my tone, gets off, on committing these crimes not only during the daytime, but also where large associations of people just happen to be gathered. To him, it may be a very clever game that he enjoys playing."

away with such terminology on broadcast TV, but, are we possibly dealing with a rapist? I mean, so far, the only people that the suspect has had any interest in

out the suspect's motives at this time, Paul. While it is possible to assume that the abductor may have, what we call, a fetish, we cannot bring ourselves to believe that

six black males. It sounds to me like this person has an

now, we are more concentrated on the kidnapper's modes of transport. We have assessed that in each abduction, the suspect used a different color van. All

"What leads, if any, do you

this person lives outside of town. Possibly westwards, near Cuyahoga Falls. One onlooker managed to catch a glimpse of his license place that read Summit County. As far as a description goes, all we have to go on is a stocky, well-built

"Last night, a candlelight vigil was held in honor of Gloria on the campus of Cypress State. Are we to assume that these