and there were signs of marbling on the stomach and abdomen.
With a grim expression, Dr. Gore studied the destructive injuries that the victim suffered. Her face, her eyes and her head were so shatteringly beaten that this woman was truly unrecognizable. Her neck showed severe bruise markings that indicated extreme violence; it was discolored, battered brown and blotched. There were numerous bruises and marks of brutality indicating severe attack and molestation in sundry places of her body. Although there were strong suspicions, it was not conclusive that she was raped.
Dr. Gore, extremely cautious and determined to avoid any errors, carefully refrained from any definite pronouncements as to the injuries or the cause of death. He commented sorrowfully, “Not a pretty sight. She took some terrible beating in her losing fight for life.”
Weir asked, “Can you venture the cause of death?”
Shashi Gore stared through his black horn-rimmed glasses. “Cam, what I tell you now is only a projection, not an official judgment. It looks like her killer worked on her neck to cut off her breathing. Strangulation is how I see it now, but I don’t want to make that official until we can make a thorough examination. And I’m afraid,” he said, “that the ID will have to be made through dental records.”
Watch Commander Eric Viehman notified Deputy Tom Woodard and directed him to the Larson residence with the dreaded news about the female body.
“There is a strong possibility that this might be the missing Carla Larson,” he advised Woodard. “I hate to put this on you, but since you already have rapport with the family, we thought you should be the one to tell them.”
But when Woodard arrived at the Larson home, a swarm of news media personalities were all around and the family had already heard the disheartening report.
In minutes Jim Larson, with tears streaming down his cheeks, entered his home. “He was very upset,” Woodard observed. “And as he stood rigid before his family, he unhesitatingly told them, ‘It’s Carla.’ He was devastated by his own words.”
Larson said that he had seen the body in its frightening condition, bruised, battered beyond belief, wrapped in the dog’s blanket he recognized, taken from the back of Carla’s Explorer. As he spoke, tears rolled from his eyes.
Recalling the scene later, Deputy Woodard said, “Jim knew it was Carla. The family, sharing the distress and tragedy with him, was upset. They were stoically maintaining composure as well as they could. I guess that they already pretty much gave up hope since Carla was missing too long. I stayed for another hour or more trying to do what I could to console Jim, his family and friends.”
Woodard recalled that Jim made an attempt to be strong, but it was an effort. He told Tom softly, “She was my whole world; I don’t know what I’ll do.”
The two mothers shared their tragic bond. “If you don’t have family supporting you, I don’t know how you could go on,” Ada Larson said. She had lost her daughter, Sonja, in the University of Florida killings. “We have to support Jim and each other now. It’s like the light of my life is gone. What else can they do to me? They’ve taken the gut out of me already. I don’t think people who haven’t gone through this can understand.”
“She was just such a beautiful child,” Phyllis Thomas mourned. “How could this happen to her?”
Deputy Woodard recalled, “It hit me pretty hard, even though I became resigned to the fact that she probably wouldn’t be found alive. I just felt it was awful that someone took an innocent life of a person who showed so much future promise as a wife, mother and all-around good person. I never met Carla Larson, but I felt that I knew her. I saw all the family photos and heard stories told by her family of what a good daughter, wife, mother and friend she was.”
His voice softening, this man, whose career dealt with some pretty low
With a grim expression, Dr. Gore studied the destructive injuries that the victim suffered. Her face, her eyes and her head were so shatteringly beaten that this woman was truly unrecognizable. Her neck showed severe bruise markings that indicated extreme violence; it was discolored, battered brown and blotched. There were numerous bruises and marks of brutality indicating severe attack and molestation in sundry places of her body. Although there were strong suspicions, it was not conclusive that she was raped.
Dr. Gore, extremely cautious and determined to avoid any errors, carefully refrained from any definite pronouncements as to the injuries or the cause of death. He commented sorrowfully, “Not a pretty sight. She took some terrible beating in her losing fight for life.”
Weir asked, “Can you venture the cause of death?”
Shashi Gore stared through his black horn-rimmed glasses. “Cam, what I tell you now is only a projection, not an official judgment. It looks like her killer worked on her neck to cut off her breathing. Strangulation is how I see it now, but I don’t want to make that official until we can make a thorough examination. And I’m afraid,” he said, “that the ID will have to be made through dental records.”
Watch Commander Eric Viehman notified Deputy Tom Woodard and directed him to the Larson residence with the dreaded news about the female body.
“There is a strong possibility that this might be the missing Carla Larson,” he advised Woodard. “I hate to put this on you, but since you already have rapport with the family, we thought you should be the one to tell them.”
But when Woodard arrived at the Larson home, a swarm of news media personalities were all around and the family had already heard the disheartening report.
In minutes Jim Larson, with tears streaming down his cheeks, entered his home. “He was very upset,” Woodard observed. “And as he stood rigid before his family, he unhesitatingly told them, ‘It’s Carla.’ He was devastated by his own words.”
Larson said that he had seen the body in its frightening condition, bruised, battered beyond belief, wrapped in the dog’s blanket he recognized, taken from the back of Carla’s Explorer. As he spoke, tears rolled from his eyes.
Recalling the scene later, Deputy Woodard said, “Jim knew it was Carla. The family, sharing the distress and tragedy with him, was upset. They were stoically maintaining composure as well as they could. I guess that they already pretty much gave up hope since Carla was missing too long. I stayed for another hour or more trying to do what I could to console Jim, his family and friends.”
Woodard recalled that Jim made an attempt to be strong, but it was an effort. He told Tom softly, “She was my whole world; I don’t know what I’ll do.”
The two mothers shared their tragic bond. “If you don’t have family supporting you, I don’t know how you could go on,” Ada Larson said. She had lost her daughter, Sonja, in the University of Florida killings. “We have to support Jim and each other now. It’s like the light of my life is gone. What else can they do to me? They’ve taken the gut out of me already. I don’t think people who haven’t gone through this can understand.”
“She was just such a beautiful child,” Phyllis Thomas mourned. “How could this happen to her?”
Deputy Woodard recalled, “It hit me pretty hard, even though I became resigned to the fact that she probably wouldn’t be found alive. I just felt it was awful that someone took an innocent life of a person who showed so much future promise as a wife, mother and all-around good person. I never met Carla Larson, but I felt that I knew her. I saw all the family photos and heard stories told by her family of what a good daughter, wife, mother and friend she was.”
His voice softening, this man, whose career dealt with some pretty low
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