Crown Cliff

By Marc DiGiacomo

From Amazon best-selling author, Marc A. DiGiacomo comes an investigative short story into a legend that keeps haunting the tight-knit community of Salem, New York. On the anniversary of this bloody night, hundreds of years later, three high school students encounter someone they will not soon forget.
What the locals innocently refer to as a rite of passage, will never be the same. Those brave souls still eager to leap from Crown Cliff, chance a meeting with evil hell-bent on taking more than their flesh.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marc DiGiacomo
• Release date: Oct 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311976925

Marc DiGiacomo

Marc A. DiGiacomo is the Multi-Award Winning author of "In A Small Town." Mr. DiGiacomo is a retired and highly decorated police detective who worked for a small town in the State of New York. During his police career, Mr. DiGiacomo has worked with numerous police agencies including the F.B.I., D.E.A., U.S. Secret Service, New York State Police, NYPD, Westchester County District Attorney's Office and many other law enforcement agencies. He currently resides in New York with his wife and three children. On September 12, 2013, "In A Small Town," won the Best Thriller award at the 2013 Orangeberry Book Expo Hall of Fame. On July 15, 2014, "In A Small Town," was named a Thriller Finalist in the 2014 International Readers' Favorite Awards Contest. On September 1, 2014, "In A Small Town," won Honorable Mention for Thriller at the 2014 Readers' Favorite International Awards Contest.

Book preview

Prologue:

I don’t know if this story is true. Like any credible historian, I search for the facts. My suspicions are heightened by the overwhelming red tape associated with this investigation. Factor in that no one I interviewed agreed to put their name on the record and it gets even odder. I want to be clear upfront. None of the information in this story comes directly from me. I am not personally involved in any of this. You can make your own judgments regarding the accuracy of the evidence. I requested freedom of information for all reports involving the night of April 26, 2014. The information was finally released to me by a very reluctant town clerk’s office. Small town politics or a cover-up? That’s for you to decide. Most of my sources refused to be interviewed publicly out of fear. I have spent the last six months meeting people in the wildest locales. Always out of town. I guess I’m the only person with a conscience around here.

But before we investigate the case of Kelly Vetter, we must understand what happened over two hundred years ago at what is now called Crown Cliff. There very well may be a connection. It is that night that I find so incredibly heinous. Could the slaughter few locals talk about be true? Who were the men that committed this horrible crime so many years ago? Are their souls and those of the innocent actually walking the woods behind Crown Cliff?

What you are about to read may be a true event. The statements offered by the parties involved were pulled from their police reports. These sworn affidavits were used to fill gaps in time. Some of the information is not pertinent to the Kelly Vetter event, but it all ties in with the truth. I didn’t want to leave anything out. Even the smallest crumb of circumstantial evidence could carry weight in a court of law.

The name Salem has been stigmatized in American culture since our country’s inception. Everyone learns about the infamous Salem Witch Trials, that took place in Salem, Massachusetts. It was a chaotic period in our American history, when religion became a powerful tool used to hand down sentences on people who were non-conforming. We see evidence all around us of exactly the same thing happening today.

A small town can be a warm and inviting place to raise a family. Everyone wants to be safe and a less populated community creates that buffer. This is true, but small towns are also the perfect place for a killer to hide. No one is looking for him or her. No matter the type of crime, you can hide in plain sight. Who’s going to find me here? I have found that a common rule of thumb is not to draw attention to yourself. If you’re a drug dealer, sell drugs