NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEA 8 THE MAGICIAN: THE KILLER WHO MADE WOMEN DISAPPEAR

 

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEA 8

THE MAGICIAN:

THE KILLER WHO MADE WOMEN DISAPPEAR

 Robert Porter West compared himself to the actor Lon Chaney; with each new face he took on a new name and a new identity. What he could not change were his fingerprints.

One newspaper reporting on a possible serial killer in the Midwest labeled the killer the Chameleon because he changed his appearance and identity with each new woman who disappeared. Another news outlet called him the Actor because he played different parts. The task force hunting him called him the Magician, because he made women disappear.    

The Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons database reports over 600,000 persons missing each year. A quarter of a million cases involve women and girls often connected to violence by men. Even when there is evidence of foul play, a missing person case takes on less importance until there is a body.

In 2023, a fortune teller in a traveling carnival was reported missing. Investigators found evidence of foul play, but her body was not found. Two days later, a high school teacher, Robert Westport, was listed as missing by his fiancé, Ginny Hagland. According to Miss Hagland, she and Robert had their fortunes told by the missing gypsy.

Fingerprints found in the missing woman’s trailer were sent to the FBI’s National Crime Database; several matches were found in the identity theft section: Robert Porter West, Billy Bob Porter, Wes Roberts, and Bob West. Robert Westport’s name was added to the database’s identity theft list. 

Robert Porter West was fingerprinted in 2011 when his high school girlfriend, Helen Gale, disappeared. Robert was questioned and released.  

Bob West was one of two students attending Western Michigan University who were reported missing in 2013. West worked as a student disc jockey at WMU’s radio station. Twenty-one-year-old Mariam Ingles was a senior in communications. She was a reporter on the school’s newspaper. West and Ingles disappeared on the same day. It was believed that they had run off together.  

In 2016, B.B. Porter disappeared from his job as a photographer and cub reporter with the Bloomington Star, in Bloomington, Illinois. Porter’s disappearance coincided with the disappearance of Constance Blackwell, a publicist and social media specialist working in Normal, Illinois.

Wes Roberts worked as a writer in an Indianapolis public relations firm. He disappeared in 2019, two days after a report was filed for Deana Bailey, a high school teacher who failed to show up for class.    

In photographs Robert Porter West, Bob West, B.B. Porter, Wes Roberts, and Robert Westport looked different. They had unique physical descriptions and backgrounds, with different occupations and skills. What tied them together in the database was that their fingerprints matched.

The fact that the disappearance of a woman or girl was connected to each of these men was not realized until one of Robert Porter West’s “victims” reappeared.  

NANOWRIMO STORY IDEA #7 A LIFE WITH MEANING

 

NANOWRIMO STORY IDEA #7

A LIFE WITH MEANING

Psychologists claim the elements that bring meaning to a person’s life are coherence, purpose, and a sense of worth. In the research interviews that produced these findings, happiness and love were not as significant as factors, even though people who are happy and in a lasting relationship live longer.

Alvin Networth was watching the PBS program “Nature” on the television when he came to realize his life had no meaning. At the time, Albert was sixty-six and living alone in a five-room bungalow in Detroit. Alvin and his deceased wife, Alberta, lived in the same house for thirty-nine years.

Alvin was a retired autoworker. His career at Chrysler began hoisting engines into vehicles. When that job became automated. Alvin drove a forklift. Alvin took an early retirement to care for Alberta. Alberta was the light in Alvin’s life. She was the only woman with whom he had had sex. In his mind, Berta was the only woman who loved and understood him.

Alberta’s death from cancer was both horrible and preventable. Alberta and her OBGYN missed the signs of her breast cancer. Alvin was with her when she died.

At her funeral service, the minister told Alberta’s family and friends that she was in a better place. During the service, Alvin held his head and cried from grief and the massive hangover from a night of mourning and drinking with his son Calvin.

Upon leaving the church, the minister took Alvin aside and offered, “Go with God. She is in heaven doing God's work.” To which Alvin answered, “Bullshit, father. Her body’s in the cold hard ground feeding worms.”

A year later, Calvin had died overseas in an automobile accident while serving in the Army. The letter from the Department of Defense said Calvin had died fighting to keep America safe. Alvin told all who would listen, Cal died for nothing.

 Alvin was halfway through a pint of Bushmills when he turned on “Nature.” The program was about the North American beaver. A rodent the narrator called “Nature’s Builders.” According to the program, a beaver dam provided the rodent with a secure place to breed and raise its young. The beaver’s dam or lodge is built using tree branches, vegetation, rocks and mud. Beavers chew down trees to build a dam and lodge. Beaver dams restrict water flow, forming ponds, and lodges (usually built in ponds) serve as shelters. The infrastructure created by a beaver dam in a wetland makes the beaver a keystone species because of its positive effect on others. The narrator claimed the male beaver’s life is orderly, has purpose, and matters to others in the wetland.

Alvin set his drink aside and announced, “If a fucking beaver can live a meaningful life, so can I.”