Authors: J. F. Gonzalez
Now it was almost twenty-four hours after they had attempted to revive Lisa Miller and begin the filming of her
torture and murder. That surely hadn't happened, and
Mabel didn't give a shit about it, either. She'd already
been paid for her part; she'd made sure Rick Shectman
had paid her in cash before she'd boarded the plane to
Las Vegas a few days ago; he'd actually had it sent to her
by courier from New York. The cops hadn't come nosing
around her motel room, and she'd slept soundly last
night. Once she had woken up she'd taken another hot
bath, packed up, checked out of her room, driven to a
Denny's, and ordered herself breakfast: scrambled eggs,
pancakes, sausages, orange juice, and coffee. Then she'd
gotten back into the Saturn, double-checked to make
sure her ticket was in her purse, then driven to the airport. She'd left the Saturn in the airport parking lot after
wiping the steering wheel, gearshift, dashboard, and
doors with a rag. If the cops found .it, they might be led
to believe that there was a third accomplice in Lisa
Miller's attempted murder, but with any luck they
wouldn't have her description. And in case they did ...
well, she was just a little old lady. Whom could she possibly hurt?
The ticket agent smiled as a printout of Mabel's new
flight itinerary spit out of the printer. She pulled it out,
tore off a strip of paper, folded it up and scrawled the gate
number in red ink. "There you go. Gate number fourteen,
US Airways Flight 293. It leaves in about thirty minutes."
Mabel smiled, trying to look grateful." hank you, dear.
You've been such a big help."
No problem, ma'am. Would you like to check any
bagsr
'No, thank you.' Mabel picked up her carry-on bag,
which was a small duffel bag she had packed with her
overnight clothes and toiletries. 'Ibis is all I have. Thank
you! She smiled at the ticket agent and shuffled away,
down to the security checkpoint.
Mabel smiled as she hobbled down the gateway. She
smiled and nodded pleasantly to the airport security
checkpoint people as they ushered her through. She
smiled as her carry-on bag was placed on the conveyor
belt as she went through the metal detector. She picked
her bag up on the other side, smiled at the young black
girl who handed her bag back, then hobbled along, smiling pleasantly at those who looked at her and nodded.
Those who saw Mabel Schneider on her flight home
would think she reminded them of their elderly grandmother.
HUMAN BODY PARTS, BONES, AMONG HORRORS
FOUND IN HOME OF RECENTLY DECEASED GRANDMOTHER
September 15, 1998
Lancaster, PA-AP
In what has to be one of the most bizarre cases in the
annals of modem crime, authorities in the small Pennsylvania town of Lititz are puzzling over the discovery of the
partial remains of several human beings found in the
home of a recently deceased grandmother.
Sources say the woman, identified as eighty-three-yearold Mabel Schneider, lived alone on the quiet tree-lined
street, often entertaining her children and grandchildren in her two-bedroom cottage. The woman was also known
for contributing cakes and pies to church fund-raisers,
and was known throughout the neighborhood as quiet
and neighborly. When her oldest daughter Miriam, 57,
discovered her dead last month from natural causes, she
had no idea she and the rest of her family would be
plunged in a whirlwind of media activity.
Found among Mrs. Schneider's possessions in a basement room that had been sealed off was a cardboard
box containing mason jars filled with the pickled remains of various human body parts. "They aren't discarded lab specimens," remarked Detective Barney
Hillman. "We did a routine check with medical centers in
the area, and a DNA check on one of the remains came
back with a match to an unsolved homicide from five
years ago." That homicide, the murder of eighteen-yearold Doug Sawyer of Spring Valley Road, had puzzled investigators. Sawyer went missing on May 2, 1993, around
eight P.M., when he was last seen by his mother when he
left the house for the Weis Market on Broad Street. He
never returned. Partial remains were discovered in a
ditch on Route 772 outside of Brownstown, but no solid
leads had yet emerged. Until Mrs. Schneider passed
away last month.
"I'd hate to think that Mrs. Schneider had anything to
do with Doug's death," her neighbor Claire Ellerwood
said yesterday. "She was such a nice lady, always happy
and cheerful. She mostly kept to herself, but she was
such a nice person."
Forensics investigators say some of the remains may
be as old as forty years and may have come from children. Some match other missing persons going back to at
least 1955. A Lititz high school jacket from the class of
1956 was among the items found in the basement; it's
been positively identified as the jacket worn by Bonnie Febray, a- teenager who went missing in November of
1955. Mabel Schneider and her husband George, who
died in 1989, lived a few doors down from the Febray
family in the early nineteen fifties. So far, none of the human remains discovered have been identified as those at
Miss Febray.
Also found among the deceased woman's belongings
were various sexual devices and pornographic material,
including child pornography. "All the pornographic materials we confiscated at the Schneider residence are on
the extreme side," Hillman said. "It's very sick and graphic
in nature, and I will find it hard to believe that the people
depicted in the stills and videos we found actually lived
through the brutality."
Meanwhile, Mrs. Schneider's three adult children are
reportedly shocked at the findings and allegations and
are refusing to comment on the matter. All inquiries directed to them have been referred to their attorney,
Joseph B. Lockerman, who also refused to comment on
the case.
Six Years Later
April 12, 2004
Laguna Beach, California
It was a beautiful spring day when Brad Miller got out of
his car, a brand-new Saturn IS, and walked over to the
plots that he had picked out for the girls five years before.
He had chosen a spot beneath a shady oak tree, near
the far eastern corner of the lot. In the summer the massive branches and leaves provided ample shade, and
Brad and Joan had bought a small concrete bench for
visitors to sit on when they came to visit. The final resting
spots themselves were lined up rather nicely; Lisa had
picked out the stones herself, and when Brad had Lisa's
stone picked out he chose one that was similar to what
she had picked out for Alicia and Mandy. It was only fitting. He didn't know if it was what she would have wanted, but it made him feel better. It had made him
feel good to take care of her-to take care of them-during those dark years.
Brad paused when he reached the grave sites. The lateafternoon sun shone high in the sky, casting rays of
warmth across his face. He looked down at the headstones and read each one, savoring it, committing them
to memory.
Alicia Lynn Stevens
May 8, 1971-August 5, 1998
Amanda Beth Stevens
June 4, 1998-August 5, 1998
Between both names were the following words:
Mother and daughter, always in our hearts.
Then the next stone:
Lisa Ann Miller
December 8, 1967 June 22, 1999
Below Lisa's name, Brad had added a line from
Psalms: "Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of
death, I shall fear no evil.'
Brad closed his eyes as tears pooled out and dripped
down his cheeks.
Then, mustering up his courage, he took a deep breath
and opened his eyes.
He sat down cross-legged on the grass so he could talk
to Lisa.
"I know that ... well, I know you probably know about
what's going on with me, Lisa. I mean ... sometimes I
can't help but feel you're still with me, you know? Even though you're... " He paused, feeling the tears sting at
the back of his throat. He swallowed, gained control of
himself. "I still can't believe you're gone. Despite all that's
happened ... I still can't believe you're gone."
After his father's sudden suicide and the revelation that
he had been responsible for the horrors he and Lisa had
been embroiled in, Brad had plunged into a deep depression. He couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, and he
couldn't work. He lost fifty pounds in two months. On the
flip side, Lisa seemed to bounce back stronger than ever.
She had undergone four hours of surgery to repair extensive damage to her intestines and stomach, and was laid
up in the hospital for three weeks after infection set in.
Those first few weeks when she was recovering seemed
to be a battle for her; she'd been determined to live, just
to spite the men who had done this to her. Brad had visited her every day, slept at her bedside, and she'd
seemed to draw on this for her strength. She'd bounced
back improved as news of the investigation unfolded.
When the bodies of Animal and Tim Murray were found,
she identified them; a month later, when Mabel Schneider was discovered dead in her home in Pennsylvania
and the news of the horrors that had been found in her
home reached her, an FBI agent had flown out and
shown Lisa photographs of the woman. Lisa had identified her as the woman who had killed John Pbnozzo;
Tim's murder was also pinned to her officially.
"Anyway," Brad continued, pulling up tufts of grass. "I
know I haven't been by in a while. Hell, it's been almost a
year. That's the longest I've been away from you, if you
know what I mean."
In the weeks that had followed the discovery of Animal
and Tim Murray's bodies, more revelations were unveiled.
Rick Shectman had been brought in for questioning and
he'd denied everything. While Shectman was in jail being held on other charges, one of William Grecko's contacts,
who had been quietly working the extreme hardcore S&M
angle, came back and revealed more pieces of the puzzle,
confirming the disjointed confession Frank gave before
he blew his brains out. According to the informant, Frank
Miller had been a longtime devotee of the circle. He was
known as a voyeur. "It's like he told me: He liked to watch,"
Billy had told Brad six months later at a small bar in Huntington Beach. "He especially liked watching women get
cut with knives or burned with cigarettes or branding
irons. He was into what is known as blood sports. It's
like ... people getting off sexually at the sight of blood or
getting off in the act of cutting or mutilating people."
"My mom's doing pretty good," Brad continued, the
first hint of a smile breaking his stoic features. "She's ...
she's actually starting to have a life again. It was hard for
her-you remember that. It was hard for all of us. But
she's finally been able to put it behind her." He shook his
head. "It's weird to hear me say that. When I think back, I
realize she's been getting her shit together far longer than
I have. She bounced back pretty quickly, actually. I guess
the fact that she's seeing somebody made me realize that
she's gone on with her life." He looked at Lisa's headstone. "You d like him, Lisa. His name's Robert Walker and
he's a writer and a musician. Total opposite of what Frank
was. Brad still couldn't refer to the man that had fathered him as Dad.
At some point during the nine months Brad and Lisa
spent in therapy, recovering physically and mentally from
the ordeal, William Grecko had come to the house and,
with Joan Miller present, he'd told them everything; he'd
kept most of what Frank told him a secret from them, but
that day he told them all of it, including the corroborating
evidence his investigator uncovered. How the S&M acquaintance had revealed that Frank liked to watch people being sexually tortured and abused; how he had fantasized similar scenarios with his daughter-in-law in mind.
Telling them the truth about Frank's sickness was the
hardest thing he had ever done. Joan had reacted visibly
to the news. "I'm sorry," Billy had said while Joan cried.
'You'd realty be surprised if you saw Mom now, Lisa,"
Brad said. "She's ... well, she really shines now. You'd be
happy for her."
He remembered how Lisa had reacted two months after she had come home from the hospital, when Billy
told them that cadaver-sniffing dogs had located the remains of Debbie Martinez, and Amanda and Alicia
Stevens. DNA evidence found on the bodies matched
with Jeff Sheer-Animal-pointing to him as the killer.
Unfortunately, Lisa's testimony wasn't enough to have
Rick Shectman arrested for murder. There was no record
that he was involved with Frank Miller. Phone records
showed Rick had frequent contact with Tim Murray, who,
in turn, had contact with Jeff Sheer. But there was no evidence of Jeff and Rick ever coming in contact with each
other. Al Pressman was never located. William surmised
he either disappeared on his own or was bumped off.
Lisa took solace in taking care of Alicia and Amanda
Stevens. After Alicia's father was informed of his daughter's death and he refused to have her body shipped to
him, Lisa had arranged for the woman and her daughter
to be cremated. She'd also arranged a small ceremony.
She had broken down and wept at the service, and Brad
could only allow her this time to grieve. Lisa's grief had
been a great release, mourning for a woman and child
whose deaths she felt responsible for. Her taking care of
them after death and seeing that they were honored and
remembered in a memorial service was her way of making it up to them, however small it was.
Lisa bought the plots herself, at Forest Hills Cemetery in Laguna Beach. She visited the grave sites regularly for
a while. Brad visited them with her too, and could only
feel a sense of numbness as he sat beside Lisa while she
cried, her grief still great and immense. He understood
where it was coming from, but he could not share her
grief at that time; he had his own turbulence to go
through: the betrayal of his father.
Brad rocked forward a little, a light breeze ruffling his
hair, which he'd allowed to grow longish. "So much has
happened in the past six months. You already know that
Elizabeth and I have gotten married. I told you about that
a year ago, right on the eve of our wedding. I'd hardly
think you'd forget that. I was bawling like a damn baby
when I told you."