Attempted murder cold case. A corrupt Sex Crime Unit. A death row serial-killer. All collide with a determined man who pursues justice for a former-girlfriend.
June 19, 2006, at 9:20 a.m., my life changed…forever. A call from the Emergency Room can do that. The nurse calmly said, “There’s been a serious assault on Vernice Crutcher, and she asked that we call you. Please come now!" Words can’t begin to describe the horror I saw as I stepped beyond the hospital curtain. It appeared as if Vernice came out on the losing end of a vicious attack by a wolverine. The deep slashes about the head and face area made me wonder, who had resurrected the notorious Jack the Ripper? But the calling card was the very visible white strangulation ring around Vernice’s throat.
Unbeknownst to me, three years later, eleven strangled women would share this same involuntary skin engraving. After fourteen hours of unconsciousness, she came back from the grave to warn a serial killer was emerging. Sadly, her case went cold. For six years I have gone head to head with addiction, mental illness, the county prosecutor, the sex crime unit, and yes clandestinely seeking a confession from a death row serial-killer.
I, (not Alex Cross) CD Newton am that "man"