Excerpt

The Animal was the nickname for a local hit man who had rightfully earned the name. He was so ruthless that even other hit men were afraid of him. He wasnt only ruthless, but he had no respect for life whatsoever, his or anyone elses. He had the reputation of killing just for the fun of it. He was a loner, had no friends and you can see why. Thats the way that he wanted it.

He was stuck in a Midwest prison serving a long sentence and looking to make a deal so he might get an early release. Our agents had routinely interviewed him for the past couple of years and until the last interview may have just as well been talking to a fence post. This time he claimed to know where some of the missing persons from our area were buried. He agreed, through his attorney, to lead us to them if we were nice to him.

We felt that this was a good possibility and that he may be the one who was responsible for their disappearances. We had nothing to lose. A deal was soon made and the United States Marshals transported him to our area. He was put into what was considered an escape proof facility. He refused to even talk to us until we agreed to bring him two whole barbequed chickens for lunch. This was part of what he considered being nice to him. We got the chickens and if you could have seen him devour those pitiful birds you would have known one of the reasons why he was called the animal.

In addition to having atrocious table manners he didnt have on a stitch of clothes while eating. After lunch, which must have taken all of ten minutes, without use of utensils, he got dressed and we loaded into Bureau cars and the search for the bodies began. From the information that he had furnished to the agents, while he was in prison, the bodies were buried on a farm that had a white frame house and a big red barn. The trouble with that was every farm had a white frame house and a big red barn. After a while they all looked alike.

We drove up and down all the roads in the county, dirt and paved, and came up empty. Next day we gave it another try after two more chickens but with no more success than the day before. We were getting more than enough of the animal and beginning to believe that he had conned us out of a trip back to his home area as well as four chickens. At the same time there were several missing people and we were hoping to solve the mystery.

He said that he needed a little more time to think about it so back he went to prison to continue his thought process. The regular contacts by the local agents continued as before. In the meantime we got rumbles through the grapevine that the Mafia boys knew that the animal was trying to help us find the missing. This gave us cause for concern that he would not live long enough to help us again. He did survive one attempt on his life and in a few months he had a revelation from someplace and now claimed that he could surely locate the farm.

He was brought back and this time we called the shots, no chicken and the clothes stayed on all the time. For a while it looked like the same thing all over again but just before giving up he found the farm that we had been looking for. It was an old established chicken farm, which was owned by one of the highly respected citizens of the area. The owners were out of town on an extended vacation but we had obtained a warrant, which gave us authority to conduct a search of the property.

It didnt take much to determine that there had been some recent fresh diggings. Investigation at a nearby farm equipment rental store revealed that the owner of the farm had recently rented a front loader for a week. An examination of that piece of equipment by our lab people revealed nothing of importance. Apparently after our first attempt to find the missing the local mob instructed the farm owner to move the bodies. He had done a pretty good job but in his haste left enough evidence for us to identify all the victims except one. In a nearby shed we found a barrel of acid at the bottom of which was a belt buckle, some bones and human teeth. Dental records had to be used to identify that poor soul.

It seems that the farm owner forgot where one victim was laid to rest. Just under the ground surface was a well-preserved body, which was tied in a fetal position. It was obvious that he was a very recent addition because decomposition had not begun. The word was that he had made the mistake of messing around with another members sweetheart. This can be and often is a fatal mistake. In his case it definitely was. He had been lured to the residence of one of his associates where there was supposed to be a party, girls, booze and all that stuff. When he entered the residence a hit man was standing behind the front door with a claw hammer. That explained the big hole found in his skull when we removed the body.

The lesson here seems to be dont mess around with another mob members girl. It did take a while but the animal helped us to solve some of the missing person problems. When I left that area he still had not gained his release.