She was 24

It had been a long day but Me Lai needed to do a little research at the library for her college exam on Friday.
Her brother had offered to take her and pick her up but it was only a 3 block walk and she did not want to bother him; besides living in a large family it was nice to get away once in a while just to be away from people.

Me Lai was a beautiful 2d generation Vietnamese girl who through her good grades had gotten a full scholarship at university. She was lucky. Otherwise her poor family, who worked hard at their family business, would not have been able to afford her going to school.

Due to her beauty she had been offered modeling jobs locally in Redding California advertisements which paid just enough to make it worth her time....when she had time...

She was tired upon leaving the library yet looked forward to the walk home and fresh air. As she walked across the parking lot someone grabbed her from behind. She tried to scream but her attackers hand was over her mouth and the hand was big and strong. She was lifted up and carried to a car and was told if she did not stop fighting he would break her neck.

He was big and obviously very strong so due the shock of him hitting her when she first tried to struggle she now cowered in a fetal position as he duck taped her hands to her ankles; the finishing touch was the tape across her mouth.

Me Lai did not return home that night and the family called the Redding police department. They said they could not do anything for 24 hours after someone supposedly went missing.

The family spent the rest of the night looking for Me Lai to no avail however they did get a call from someone who said they had Me Lai.... if the family ever wanted to see her again they would need to pay $28,000 in the next 8 hours and leave the money in a tree next to the parking lot.. The amount could have been 2.8 million for the family did not even have $280... Nevertheless the police were called again and were told about the call. The required 24 hours had not passed so they said their hands were tied and could do nothing.

All $279 they could scrape together was put in a brown paper sack and was placed in the tree at 06:30...

Later that day at 10:30 the family drove by the tree and the money was gone. The family waited for a call; anything to let them know Me Lai would be freed.

The police finally started their investigation and as luck would have it there was a CCTV camera which showed Me Lai being captured by a hooded individual who initially picked her up from behind and then violently struck her at least twice before carrying her to a dark colored car. Due to camera angle and a low light situation in the parking lot the attacker's face or license tag of the car could not be determined.

* days later a shoe box was left on the families front porch; inside were 10 fingers. They belonged to Me Lai.
Three weeks later her lower body was found and a couple of days later her head was found in a wooded area along a walking path. To this very day her upper body section has not been found and the attacker still has not been apprehended.

Many people write fiction in this forum but unfortunately this story was relayed to me yesterday by the cousin of Me Lai who lived through this ordeal. The name is fiction because I did not ask for the victims name. But the actions by the police and the particulars of the location and body parts are true according to the cousin.
I did an internet search and there are many articles about bad things happening in Redding however I did not know the year or actual name so I came up empty handed without a reference.

Regardless no one deserves this even in fiction.

reply to post by 727Sky


wrote a poem this morning...not about this, but it expresses the same kind of rage ...for an unknown injustice. Hope you like it.

For as She suffered
So shall they
Each in thier own
eternal pain
For clouding eyes
with thier acid rain

I walk now alone
Gone from me salvation
For my future sins
in the present atone

Eternal hurt..
It is here i dwell
For the things done
Ill see them in hell

where my rage and spite
live infinite home
Forever this wasteland
of corrupt tears I roam


p.s.
Why MeLai.....?

reply to post by sikko45

Thanks for the poem and the reply

life can be a gift
life can be a curse
the dice of life is rolled
you get a chance
you lose your luck
but forever the dice may roll