Suspicious Death: An Adopted Son's Search for His Mother's Killer

By Kevin Carter

Every adopted child has their own story of how they came to be with their forever families. In modern times, children are usually told as soon as their young minds can understand the concept that their parents adopted them—maybe from a couple who just didn't have enough money, or maybe from a lady who was all alone and didn't have what she needed to raise a child. Although Carter can't speak for all the adopted kids of his generation, he didn't learn his story until well into his teens.

As he grew older, he wanted to know who his birth mother was and what led her to leave him in that bowling alley. "Did he have any other siblings or relatives?" These were simple questions all adopted children have. But the answers he found were anything but simple.
This is the story of Carter's nearly life-long quest to find my birth mother's killer, a woman society deemed unworthy of the effort. But those who knew her best will tell you otherwise.

Cheryl, his mother, did what she could to do right by her son. It seemed only fitting that he'd return the favor.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667832685

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Suspicious Death: An Adopted Son’s Search for his Mother’s Killer Copyright © 2022 by Kevin Carter. All Rights Reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. 

Cover designed by Julio Ossa 

Printed in the United States of America 

First Printing: Month YEAR

Kevin Carter (or name of LLC) 

eBook ISBN: 978-1-66783-267-8

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-66783-268-5

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Baby in the Bowling Alley

Chapter 1 The Family Who Chose Me

Chapter 2 You’re adopted

Chapter 3 Finding My Other Family And An Unexpected Skill

Chapter 4 The Best Kind of Friend

Chapter 5 Andrew Lee Mitchell

Chapter 6 Making My Own Way

Chapter 7 Consulting the Expert

Chapter 8 Becoming a Cop

Chapter 9 Deathbed Confession

Conclusion

Introduction:

The Baby in the Bowling Alley

Every adopted child has their own story of how they came to be with their forever families and it’s so gratifying to have watched the stigma attached to adopted children fade over the decades. In modern times, children are usually told as soon as their young minds can understand the concept that their parents adopted them—maybe from a couple who just didn’t have enough money, or maybe from a lady who was all alone and didn’t have what she needed to raise a child. I can’t speak for all the adopted kids of my generation, but I didn’t learn my story until well into my teens.

Ralph and Kathryn Carter, my wonderful parents, didn’t take me in with the help of an adoption agency. It was the kind of back-room adoption that is illegal now and may have been then too. But the good Lord had a plan in mind for me, even though my birth mother, Cheryl, wasn’t equipped to take care of me. And He also knew that the Carters desperately wanted more children, especially after the baby girl they’d adopted last year had been reclaimed by the birth parents.

I was a little over a year old on the day Cheryl’s mother-in-law handed me over to her friend, Doris, that day in the bowling alley. Doris is my aunt, Momma’s sister. She knew better than anyone, except maybe Daddy, how much that failed adoption had hurt Momma. It was just good fate she was acquainted with a family who had a baby boy who needed a better home—a better life.

It goes without saying I don’t remember the day I came home with the Carters, but I can imagine Daddy’s eyes lighting up, his heart swelling with the idea of bringing a baby home, one who would not be snatched away from his still-grieving wife. A baby they could call their own and love just the same as their other two children.

And that’s exactly what they did.

Ralph and Kathryn Carter are and will forever be Daddy and Momma to me. And though for a long time, I had no idea I was adopted, once I did find out… there was a whole mess of knowledge that came along with it.

As I grew older, I wanted to know who my birth mother was and what led her to leave me in that bowling alley. Did I have any other siblings or relatives? These were simple questions all adopted children have. But the answers I found were anything but simple.

Sometime after my birth mother, Cheryl, had arranged for me to be handed over in that bowling alley, she died. Maybe for some, that would have been the end of their search. But not for me, not for the business owner turned cop who had a nose for shoddy paperwork and crooked dealings.

One look at the police report for Cheryl’s suicide told me there was a lot more digging to be done. And that’s exactly what I did.

This is the story of my nearly life-long quest to find my birth mother’s killer, a woman society deemed unworthy of the effort. But those who knew her best will tell you otherwise.

Cheryl did what she could to do right by me. It seemed only fitting I return the favor.

Chapter 1

The Family Who Chose Me

Ralph and Kathryn Carter were normal, hard-working people living the American dream. They had three kids—Paula, Ralph Jr., and me. Both my siblings were significantly older, nine and ten years older, to be exact. In a way, they were more a second set of parents, a less strict set of guardians, rather than playmates or partners in mischief for me. But I never minded. Far from it. Momma and Daddy had a nice house in the suburbs, funded by Daddy’s work at Kenworth and Momma’s seamstress work for many big-name department stores around Dallas.

Before I started school, Daddy had an opportunity to open his own mechanic shop. This was a great thing for the whole family because it meant we would leave Dallas and move to the lake, Cedar Creek Lake.

Daddy set up shop and worked on various boats and cars for several years in his new location, becoming well-known for his fair dealing and his deep knowledge of engines. Business was great. Daddy could fix anything and he was happy to show me just a bit of what he learned over the years.

Momma had a skillset of her own, and not just in the kitchen. Her sewing skills earned her top dollar and she even managed to sew my sister Paula a wedding dress in a single night. The quick turnaround wasn’t because of short notice… it was just that Momma was so feverishly hoping Paula would change her mind about getting hitched. It was common in those days for girls to drop out of high school if they married young, and Paula had done just that, much to my parents’ chagrin.

No one in the family had ever graduated high school. Like Daddy, Ralph Jr. had no interest in school whatsoever, but Paula was good at her studies. But she wanted to get married, and she didn’t want to stay in school.

Despite the difference in opinion regarding preferred education level, Momma made that dress. By the time she was done, her wedding dress was so pretty, you’d never know it was done in one night by a recalcitrant mother.

My first fourteen years of life were as charmed as they could get, the kind of life Boomers like to make movies about nowadays. The kind most folks would envy.

Then tragedy struck.

While Daddy was working on a car, it fell from a jack stand down on top of him, breaking his back. All of us in the family rushed to the hospital, awaiting the results of the surgery. Out of hearing of the children, Momma was pulled aside.

I’m sorry, the doctor spoke