Читать книгу The Tragic Death of Marina Habe - Tighe Taylor - Страница 2

“The first time I saw her I remember thinking that she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. We were at a pool party at her mother’s house. She was enchanting. Yet she was totally cool about it. It was as if she didn’t know how beautiful she was.”

With my manuscript in hand, my editor, Russ Sullivan, said, “I presume that these are the first few lines from the article you are writing?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little over the top?” Russ replied.

“You never saw her.”

My name is Rick Miller. I’m a staff writer for Cold Case Mysteries magazine. It was Monday morning, and I was in my editor’s office pitching my next article.

“Well, I’ll try to tone it down.” I said.

I’ve been a staff writer for many years. I’ve been at Cold Case Mysteries for the past 20 years. Before that, I went to law school, passed the bar, practiced for a few years, and didn’t like it. I left the law practice for crime writing, and it turned out to be a great decision.

At our magazine, rather than reporting solved cases, we specialize in unsolved cases. This allows our readers a chance to put on their crime fighting hats and chime in with comments and opinions, along with whatever information they might have or wish to contribute. They might even get a chance to see their names in print.

The staff writers have regular meetings with our editor. Most writers hate these meetings. In the industry, editorial meetings are typically used to push the writers to include material which is more commercially acceptable, in line with the editorial policies of the publication, or, more accurately, the advertisers, as magazines are all about advertising.

I, on the other hand, have always been ok with these meetings. They give me an opportunity to bounce ideas off my boss. Sometimes, though rarely, he even has a good idea or two.

At Cold Case, we are not just reporting the facts. We are providing the circumstances of a case. This allows a wide range of opinions.

Russ started, “So I’ve seen the first few proposed lines. I don’t really approve. We don’t write romance novels here. You know that.”

“That is true, but this is different. I actually knew her, the victim, that is, I knew her in junior high school. I didn’t know her well, but I did have some minor amount of contact with her. I remember speaking to her on only one occasion, over 50 years ago.

“Tell me more.” Russ replied.

“I lost track of her early in junior high school. Four or five years later, she was the victim of a heinous crime, when she was a freshman in college.

“This year was my 50-year high school reunion. Though I went to Hollywood, most of my friends went to Fairfax. I signed up on Facebook for reunion information from both schools.”

One day, I opened Facebook and saw a memorial post from Fairfax with photos of two girls who died around the time we were all in high school. I knew both girls. One died from a serious disease. The other, Marina Habe, was murdered. She’s the subject of my story.

“Though I knew her in junior high school, we went off to different high schools. I didn’t remember that she died, and I didn’t know how she died. I googled her name and found the horrible story of her vicious murder, which is the subject of this article.

“Just to keep the coincidences coming, her death came around the time that Charles Manson was engaged in his reign of terror in Los Angeles. Some writers, bloggers, and even the DA seemingly worked to connect Marina’s murder to Charles Manson.

“When I first started practicing law, my first job was with Gary Fleischman, now Gary Fields. He was one of Linda Kasabian’s attorneys in the Manson case. In fact, he had her turn State’s Witness, which helped break the case. Also, the DA trying the case, Vincent Bugliosi, taught criminal law at my law school. I didn’t have him for class, but I heard he was quite entertaining.”

“Sounds promising. Let’s see it without the over the top stuff,” Russ replied.

I wrote the article as most the articles at Cold Case were written: Just the facts.