Zeigler, Part V: The Bodies
Mr. Charlie Mays was savagely beaten, his face disfigured with blood coming through his skull, and he had been shot twice in the abdomen (once from the front and once from the back). Judging from the blood splatters, Mays had been beaten to death where he was found. The killer had most likely sat on his chest during the beating. This means that the killer was covered in Mays’ blood.
Mrs. Victoria Edwards had been shot twice. One bullet had entered the brain; the other had passed through her arm and penetrated her chest.
Mr. Perry Edwards had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and had been beaten around his head. The shots to the head most likely killed him.
Mrs. Eunice Edwards-Zeigler had died instantly from one well aimed shot at the back of her head.
The fifth person who got shot was of course, Tommy. He had been shot in the abdomen about navel-high. He was brought to the ER by Chief Thompson. When the Chief lowered Zeigler into his squad car, he noticed a quarter-size hole in Zeigler’s shirt where the bullet had entered. The edges of the hole were blackened and the blood around the wound was dry and dark. The exit wound did not show any swelling or signs of fresh bleeding.
This simple checkup that the Chief did and wrote down in his report would become a crucial piece of the puzzle. Another crucial piece was the short conversation that the Chief had with Tommy before the latter went into surgery. You can read that part of the police report here:
continue here…
Chief Thompson mentions the mumbling not making sense at the top of page five of his police report. It actually does.
Tommy had a few large Christmas gifts at the store for delivery including a big potted plant that Winter Garden’s Chief of Police Ficke had bought for his wife. Zeigler was babbling about Christmas presents that needed to be delivered. He had arranged for these to be delivered by a man called Edward Williams, a part-time employee.
To be continued…