“Don’t like to jump to conclusions about people, but I didn’t like the dad. Pretty sure he was abusing the wife and daughter. I found out that she broke her arm when she was about nine. They said she fell, but I wasn’t buying it.”
Amanda and Trent met each other’s gaze.
“Take it that means something to you?”
Amanda nodded. “The ME found a healed break like that in our victim.” She was gaining more confidence that their Jane Doe was Ashley Lynch. “What was the name of the person contacting her?”
“Riley Sawyer. Definitely an alias. Most likely a pedophile. Sawyer approached Lynch and told her that he was a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School. She’d just started there that fall. He told her she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.”
Amanda hated to admit how easily flattery worked on most teenage girls—her younger self included.
Chester went on. “This guy filled her head with a bunch of nonsense. He also said she deserved a boyfriend who treated her right.”
Whoever this Riley Sawyer really was, he would have had to know about her love life for the ruse to work. That could indicate someone within Ashley’s circle, but it might also suggest that people in the sex-trafficking network were staking out the school. “This person was aware of her personal life to say that,” Amanda concluded. “It also sounds like this guy she may have been seeing was abusive.”
“You’re not the only detective in the room,” Chester said. “And we spoke with some of her friends at the high school. Even spoke to the boy she had been seeing. He was a senior and had already moved on with another girl.”
Heartbreak alone could have explained a change in behavior, especially for an emotionally charged teenager. Amanda remembered sulking for months after she and her first boyfriend broke up. She’d only been sixteen, but it might as well have been the end of her life. After all, she’d thought she was going to marry the guy. Her father told her being in the house at the time had made him feel like he was in the elevator business—up and down.
“I take it you had no luck tracking this Sawyer guy down?” Trent asked.
“Dead end. Obviously, I got Cyber Crimes involved.”
“We’re sure you did all you could at the time. What came of questioning Ashley’s friends and family?” Amanda asked.
Chester’s posture softened at the flattery. “There was one uncle on the mother’s side. A Ralph Field. He was one of those oddballs. A loner. Stuck to himself. He was forty-seven, never been married. And let’s just say his looks and level of intelligence came from the shallow end of the gene pool.”
“Was he involved in Ashley’s life?” she volleyed back.
“Just during the holidays. The mother felt sorry for her brother and had him over that Easter—that was just days before the communication started with Riley Sawyer.”
“Did the uncle know about the breakup?” Trent asked, beating Amanda to the question.
“Uh-huh. We searched his computers but didn’t turn up anything.”
“He could have just been good about deleting the evidence. Or used a computer you didn’t know about.” A bubble of frustration rose in Amanda’s chest. “Anyone else fall under suspicion?”
“Nothing that led anywhere.”
That doesn’t exactly answer my question… “We’re trying to solve this girl’s murder. Any names you can give us would be appreciated.”
“I can get you the list.”
“How many were there?”
“Just three, but they were all cleared.”
“Yes, please send me the names. Also send me the string of correspondence between Sawyer and Ashley,” she requested.
“Sure, if you think it will help.”
Amanda observed how much his attitude toward them had changed once he realized they weren’t in any way blaming him for what happened to Ashley. “The day she ran away, did Ashley leave any note?”
“Don’t remember that.”
“We think she might have run away with a friend, Crystal Foster.”
“Yes, I thought the same. Trust that I did everything I could think of to find those girls.” With that statement Chester finally showed some emotion.