Murders in the Heartland

By James Schuch

This book's theme came to me a couple of years ago regarding a college teacher who teaches criminology, and there just happens to be a serial killer in his class. The killer is of mixed race who has been abused by the father. The killer, as you would expect, has this overwhelming desire to literally destroy the father. The story proceeds from there, throughout the winter semester, and into the spring and summer. You will be able to read about the two sides of the law and how they both proceed through this story and its culmination on a fateful night in July. You will read about a tortured family and the personal strife they go through. The father has also been abusing the mother for just about their whole marriage. You will also see the procedural aspects of the Murray Police in starting a task force and implementing their staff to surveil for several months with corresponding help from the Graves County Police.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685701413

Book preview

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Murders in the Heartland

James Schuch

ISBN 978-1-68570-140-6 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68570-141-3 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by James Schuch

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Teacher's Pet

1

2

3

School Days

1

2

3

4

Connecting the Dots

1

2

3

4

The Count Grows

1

2

3

4

5

Decisions?

1

2

Back in Class

1

2

3

More Decisions

1

2

3

4

5

Finals

1

2

3

4

5

What's Next?

1

2

3

On the Hunt

1

2

3

4

Spring Is Here

1

2

3

Trey's Had Enough

1

2

3

Ticktick

1

2

Ah, Summer

1

2

Back on the Hunt

1

2

3

4

5

Staying the Course

1

2

3

Centering on His Target

1

2

3

Time Flies

1

2

Back on the Farm

1

2

3

Tick-Tick-Tick

1

2

3

4

5

Back on the Farm

1

2

3

4

5

Criminology

1

2

3

4

5

Coping with the Heat

1

2

3

4

5

Back on the Farm

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Destiny Awaits

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Tonight's the Night

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

This Magic Moment

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

About the Author

Teacher's Pet

1

It was late January 2017 in western Kentucky. The winter semester had just started at Murray State University. There had just been two episodes of snow within a week in a place where it hadn't snowed at all that winter.

It was hard getting around campus and all the side roads. Plows could handle most of the main roads, but that was about it. In Mr. Marlowe's criminology class in room 201 at Curris Hall, class was starting. The teacher, who had a PhD in criminal justice and a well-known writer, was addressing his class when someone entered shouting, It happened again! There's another murder!

After asking that person to take a seat, Mr. Marlowe did his best to settle his class down. Little did he know at the time that pronouncement would encompass much of his near future. He did his best to get back to the class curriculum of criminology. A big part of the class involved murder, how to get away with it, or what the punishment would be.

He set up the outline for the upcoming semester. One half of the class was working on and writing a short book on murder. The other half was graded on each student's participating involvement therein. There were groups split up in (1) research, (2) alphabetical correctness, (3) history setup, and (4) cultural discrepancies.

The groups were left up to the class to pick, and those who were left over would be assigned by Mr. Marlowe. Class was dismissed and told they would start in next week's class first thing.

2

Mr. Marlowe, whose first name was Forrest, had no more classes for the day and headed home to the neighboring city of Wingo. He had lived in his house for twenty-six years with his wife who had died just last summer. They had no children but had a cat and a dog. The cat was his wife's, named Tiger, and the dog was his, named Verny.

Forrest's wife's name was Trisha. They were high school sweethearts. They both graduated from Mayfield High School in June of 1971. They then decided to go to the closest college, Murray State. She was a mathematics major, and he took criminal justice. They both graduated in 1976 and started planning a marriage. Forrest went on to become a teacher, and Trisha took a job at a local bank.

They rented a house in Murray while Forrest finished school. His intention was to always become a teacher. The writing came along later. In 1980, after finishing his masters, he applied for a teaching job back at Mayfield High. His first position was at the middle school where both he and Trisha went. That job lasted for five years, then he moved to the high school in '85, teaching language arts. That lasted for another five years.

While Trisha continued working as a bank teller, Forrest applied at Murray