Chapter 1: WLPD Unsolved Serial Killer Files
This file is for internal use by the Westland Police Department only. Any excerpting, copying, citing, or disclosure of the contents of this file is subject to legal restrictions.
File T144-0736: “The Sunday Gardener”
A serial killer who began committing a series of murders in and around the city of Westland no later than 2006, named for decorating the victims’ corpses with flowers and for the fact that all the bodies were placed in public locations on Sundays.
Based on the offender’s modus operandi, this offender is a psychopath with extremely strong counter-surveillance capabilities. During the commission of the crimes, the offender does not deliberately torture the victims, but instead tends to display the remains after killing them. Typically, the manner in which the victim’s remains are displayed reflects a clear theme, often related to the victim’s personal history. The offender lacks empathy for the victims, viewing them merely as necessary means to an end: killing the victims is not the goal—the ultimate goal lies in displaying the victims’ remains in public locations.
Because the offender’s signature characteristics are not particularly distinctive, and because a large number of copycat offenders targeting this series of murders have appeared, inferences regarding the murders possibly committed by this offender may contain discrepancies.
In chronological order, the list of victims and murder cases possibly committed by this individual is as follows:
1. The Benjamin Moran Case (File No. X041-2348): On Sunday, October 8, 2006, Benjamin Moran was found dead in his private car outside his own apartment. The first officers on the scene believed he had died of exhaust gas poisoning, until crime scene investigators discovered a large number of oleander petals in his mouth and nasal cavity. Mr. Moran had obvious restraint marks on his limbs and ultimately died of mechanical asphyxiation. This is generally considered the first confirmed murder committed by the “Sunday Gardener.”
Note: The significance of this case is quite special. As the Sunday Gardener’s first case, his modus operandi was still very immature—the imagery of “water” was not prominent enough, and the crime scene handling was relatively crude. Moreover, this was the only time he did not display the corpse in a public setting.
I’m more inclined to think this was his “first” murder—I mean, I suspect he had no prior criminal record, and this was his first offense in every sense of the word.
2. The Ophelia Case (File No. S135-0349): On September 23, 2007 (Sunday), an unidentified woman was found dead in the lake at Fernand Park, wearing a white gown and holding a wreath woven from buttercups, nettles, daisies, and long-necked orchids. It is generally believed that the “Sunday Gardener” was attempting to recreate the scene of Ophelia’s drowning in *Hamlet*. The victim’s exact identity has never been confirmed, but she is suspected to have been a prostitute soliciting near Fernand Park.
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33. The Moguer Street Couple Case (File No. A113-7247): On February 14, 2016 (Sunday), a couple on Moguer Street—Misha Tamir and Thomas Monroe—were found dead, placed on the ice of the river on the north side of Moguer Street. The two were arranged in a pose of embracing each other face to face, each holding the other’s heart in their hands, their opened chest cavities stuffed with red roses and snow. This is the only case in which the “Sunday Gardener” caused the deaths of two victims, and it is therefore suspected that it may have been the work of a copycat killer.
The WLPD pointed out to reporters at the press conference that they believed this case was the work of a copycat, though the likelihood was low. The Sunday Gardener’s crimes were not influenced by the number of victims. I suspect the reason the victims appearing in his cases—most of the time not even the full body, but merely a part of the victim’s remains—numbered only one was that multiple victims would pose a certain hindrance to his creative process.
I noticed that the forensic reports never indicated he used any preservation methods. Perhaps this was one of the Gardener’s own requirements for himself. And if he had to handle multiple victims alone, perhaps he truly found it somewhat beyond his capacity.
34. The “Bride Ship” Case (File No. D374-2284): On June 26, 2016 (Sunday), a wooden boat appeared in the river outside the Westland Holy Infant Church. Lying in the boat was a human skeleton dressed in a bridal gown, its ribcage filled with white roses uniformly dyed red with blood, and the entire boat was lined with undyed white roses. Because there was no residual soft tissue on the skeleton and the bones had been bleached by a special method, the victim’s specific time of death could not be determined. After DNA comparison failed, the deceased’s identity was never confirmed.
The offender should be between twenty-eight and thirty-eight years old, a white male; based on the latent blood footprints left at the scene of the twenty-first case, the offender’s height should be between 180 and 185 cm.
From the methods by which the perpetrator extracted the victim’s internal organs in the fifteenth, seventeenth, twenty-third, twenty-ninth, thirty-second, and thirty-third cases, it can be inferred that this perpetrator must possess extremely strong psychological resilience and a very refined understanding of human anatomy, and may possess a certain amount of surgical medical knowledge.
Based on the degree of meticulousness in handling the crime scene of the first case, the “Benjamin Moran Case,” it can be deduced that the perpetrator was most likely already an adult when committing the first case; given that the intervals between crimes in this series of murders have gradually shortened and the criminal methods have gradually escalated, it is worth considering that the perpetrator may have undiscovered juvenile criminal records during adolescence.
I hold a skeptical attitude toward this view of the WLPD. The police department conducted a comprehensive screening of suspects in the city who matched the profile around 2010, with the screening targets mainly concentrated on surgeons, but among those with criminal records, no suspicious individuals evidently emerged. So either the WLPD made an oversight (I remain skeptical, as the officer in charge of this case at the WLPD is extremely cautious in his work), or the perpetrator simply has no juvenile criminal record at all.
The Sunday Gardener is a very unusual serial killer. From the current situation, he does not fit the type of deranged murderer that matches the profiler’s past experience. I suggest treating him as a special case requiring special handling.
Based on the crime scene investigation results and the forensic report, this series of murders was carried out by a single individual. Considering the tediousness of how some of the bodies were disposed of, and the fact that some bodies have still not been found to this day, it is highly likely that the perpetrator is a single male residing in the suburbs.
It still cannot be determined what the specific meaning is behind the victims’ bodies in this series of cases being displayed in public places on fixed dates. However, in this series of cases, a large number of victims’ bodies were given the motif of drowning, or displayed near rivers and lakes, which is considered to be related to some psychological trauma of the perpetrator.
Judging from the criminal profile of the Sunday Gardener, this imagery is not necessarily related to psychological trauma. But there is no doubt that whether it is the imagery of water or the time of Sunday, both absolutely contain some kind of commemorative significance.
The WLPD approached it from the angle of psychological trauma, looking among the suspects they had narrowed down for someone with a history of falling into water. I think they are completely wrong. If they insist on considering the problem from this angle, I would instead suggest they look for someone whose family member or friend died in water—this imagery has remained unchanged since the Gardener began committing crimes, so it is either a childhood friend or an elder in the family. According to general theory, the possibility of it being an elder in the family is greater. This is a reasonable speculation.
File T209-1948: “The Westland Pianist”
A serial killer active in the city of Westland after 2010, named for strangling victims with piano wire.
This offender is an extremely dangerous sadistic killer. His targets are men in Westland with egregious criminal records, the vast majority of them tall and blond. After assaulting a victim, the offender takes them to various secluded locations, tortures them (typically through repeated stabbing, flaying, dismemberment, or removal of internal organs), and then strangles them with piano wire. After the victim dies, the offender displays the body in a specific manner, usually directly connected to the crimes the victim had committed. Because the murder scenes are often in remote locations and very difficult to discover, the offender notifies the Westland Police Department of the crime scene by sending an anonymous letter after committing the offense.
Because the victims in this series of murders had criminal records, the murders this offender may have committed are easily confused with gang vendettas. Considering that the modus operandi may have gradually taken shape, or that the Westland Police Department may for various reasons not have received some of the killer’s taunting letters, this file includes some murders that the offender did not acknowledge by letter but whose crime signatures are extremely similar to this series of murders.
In chronological order, the list of murder cases is as follows:
1. The Tom Green Case (File No.: U384-0399): On February 18, 2010 (Thursday), Tom Green, who had been accused of murdering his ex-wife and their three children (see File: R239-7539) but was acquitted, was found dead in an abandoned factory on the southern outskirts of Westland. When the victim was discovered, he was lying in a massive target pattern drawn with his own blood, the skin of his face had been cut open and removed (presumably imitating Green’s stabbing of his ex-wife’s face with a knife), and his body bore a total of 107 stab wounds.
2. The Edward Tasmir Case (File No.: I028-2927): On July 10, 2010 (Saturday), Tasmir, who was suspected of orchestrating three bank robberies (see File: S973-4245) that resulted in a total of four deaths, was found dead at a stalled construction site in the Lower District of Westland. The major joints of his body had been shattered with a blunt instrument, and three Byzantine-era gold coins had been stuffed down his throat. When discovered, the deceased was suspended from the scaffolding of the building’s main structure by piano wire, his posture matching that of the angel relief on the reverse side of the Byzantine gold coins in his throat.
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24. The Trep Carolean Case (File No.: F283-4320): On Friday, April 29, 2016, Carolean, who was suspected of raping and murdering 4 women (see File: M239-0374) but was released due to insufficient evidence, was found dead in his own home, in his own bed. At the same time, his apartment was also the scene of the rape case previously suspected by the police. The victim’s genitals were cut off, his limbs were severed along the wrists and ankles, and his abdomen was opened. After removing most of the organs from his abdominal cavity, the killer stuffed the victim’s limbs and genitals into his abdominal cavity. According to the forensic autopsy, the victim was still alive when the killer removed most of his organs.
From this, it can be seen that the perpetrator’s method was relatively mature, except that in rape-related cases there were some very obvious signs of overkill, suggesting that the psychological trauma he suffered is related to rape cases.
The murder methods in this series of homicides are mature, and the frequency of the crimes is relatively regular. It is suspected that he has a criminal record in other states and only came to Westland around 2006. The perpetrator should be a white male, between 35 and 50 years old. According to the results of the on-site trace examination, the process of torturing and killing the victims was carried out by one person. The perpetrator should be relatively tall, physically strong, and possess a certain level of fighting skills.
It can therefore be inferred that the case in Westland should not be the perpetrator’s first murder. The first murder could not have been as skillful as the Tom Green case.
However, the Pianist’s modus operandi is highly distinctive, and no similar cases have been found in other states. The most likely possibility is that when he committed crimes in other states or cities, he did not use his current methods—I do not believe he would abandon the method of strangling victims with piano wire. Perhaps he simply chose not to contact the police, or disposed of the bodies in other ways, which is why those homicides never came to our attention in their present form.
The crime scenes in this series of homicides are basically all located in sparsely populated areas. It is highly likely that the killer attacked the victims and then transported them to a previously selected location. Considering that the killer has access to a vehicle, it may be an SUV with a relatively spacious interior.
All victims were ultimately strangled to death with piano wire. From the perspective of obtaining the murder weapon, the offender may work in a business related to musical instrument sales, be a piano teacher, or have a piano at home. Based on the above inferences and the expensive props the killer used to stage the scenes in the second, fifth, and thirteenth cases, the offender may come from a wealthy family and be well-educated.
I believe the likelihood that the killer works in a piano-related profession is low. The WLPD always makes strange mistakes on such details. During the preliminary investigation, no suspect matching any of the above conditions was apprehended. In the following text, I will discuss the offender’s counter-surveillance capabilities. I am inclined to believe that since he uses piano wire as his most important murder weapon, he would never place a piano anywhere within his line of sight.
The victims selected by this criminal were all male victims with prior criminal records or suspected of criminal involvement. Details reflected in the third, tenth, twelfth, fifteenth, and twenty-second cases indicate that this criminal had access to certain information not yet publicly released by the police. It is possible that this criminal is a law enforcement worker, or that someone among their family and friends is a law enforcement worker.
The victims of this series of murders share certain common characteristics: strong males with criminal histories, mostly blond. The criminal’s tendency in selecting victims may be related to their past experiences. It is possible that this person was a victim of some form of violence during adolescence, and the principle by which they select victims is very likely based on the characteristics of the older males who inflicted violence upon them.
This criminal has frequently provoked the police: whether by killing criminals who had not been convicted, or who had not been convicted to the degree they deserved, or by writing to the police after the fact to inform them of the location where the murder occurred, all of these can be regarded as provocations against the police. This criminal possesses extremely strong counter-surveillance capabilities, an inflated self-confidence, and represents an extremely high level of danger.
If the Westland Pianist did indeed commit crimes in other states, and after committing those crimes obviously did not notify the police, then demonstration and contacting the police are not necessarily the methods this killer must use to obtain pleasure. Therefore, one cannot speak of an “inflated self-confidence” or “provocation of the police” and the like. This distinctive modus operandi serves only to distinguish him from certain murders in other states, so that people will not suspect him.
From this perspective, he was not “confident”—rather, he was extremely cautious, bold yet decisive, and his counter-surveillance skills were indeed very strong. The Westland Pianist might be trying to disguise himself as a different type of killer, thereby diverting the WLPD’s attention in their investigation. And from what we’ve seen so far, this tactic has proven remarkably effective.
Some people believe the Westland Pianist is a more dangerous criminal than the Sunday Gardener. I don’t agree. Compared to the Westland Pianist, the Sunday Gardener’s motivations are far more bizarre, dreamlike, and unfathomable.
What I’m more curious about is this: these two serial killers have lived in the same city for so long—what do they think of each other? If such an opportunity arose, would they become each other’s chosen prey?
I sincerely hope that one day I can witness such a scene. It would certainly be very interesting.