Amusement+Park+Mystery

by Hannah and Audrey

 Nicholas, Johnathon, and Bethany all met together at Olive Garden to get a start on their new case. Bethany opened the manilla folder containing all of the information on their case.  “A single middle aged woman, named Jessica Richland, was riding the R  //ound N’ Round Swings,//   at about three o’clock in the afternoon, at Lucky’s Amusement Park with her seven year old son.” said Bethany. Nicholas asked Bethany for the case file, and she handed it to him.  “While she was riding the swings, something happened to her wires that were holding the swing that she was on, and they somehow came off the main part of the ride, and her swing fell off while it was in motion.” said Nicholas. The waitress came by and gave them their Caesar salads. Then Nicholas handed the file to Johnathon.  Johnathon continued. “And the manager at the amusement park believes that this was an intentional act by someone who works there, and other sources are calling it attempted murder.” They finished their Caesar salads, and then waited for their check to arrive.  When they arrived at the park they went straight to the manager’s office to get a staff list. They carefully examined the list and looked to see if any of the names stood out. None of them did, so they just started with the people who had criminal records. Their were six people that worked there that had criminal records. The records that they all had were just minor records. Four of the working criminal records were because of parking tickets and the other was from speeding on the interstate. The other two people that had records were both because of violence. The investigators decided that they weren’t much of a threat except for the people with violence records.  The manager of the Amusement park had already put together a list of staff members that had a record. The list consisted of five men and a woman. The men were Joe Walters, Adam Sampson, Owen Richardson, Michael Richland and Kyle Hargrave. The woman that had a record was Annika Maguire.  “Who was the last worker to touch the  //Round n’ Round Swings//   ?” asked Nicholas, with a curious look on his face.  “Joe Walters, I believe.” said the manager, “Yes, I knew it had to be him, he always is around that machine, even when he isn’t supposed to.” exclaimed the manager.  “Very well then, we will look into him right away.” said Bethany. “In fact, he is one of the men on the list that has a violence record” continued Bethany as she looked at her list of staff members with records.  They all went out to the parking lot and got into their car. They began to drive back to the FBI headquarters to investigate further. When they arrived at the headquarters, they laid out all their papers and clues that they have collected so far. The first person they are going to investigate is Joe Walters. Johnathon went over to the computer and typed in  //Joe Walters//   into their data base. It came up that he had been charged for violence in the streets. They had missed it the first time they went through the staff list at the amusement park. They figured out his address and they all headed for the car. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “Take a left here.” Bethany directed Nicholas who was driving the car. They all exited the car and went up to Joe’s door and began to knock. He then came to the door. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “We are with the San Francisco Police Department and we would like to ask you some questions.” said Johnathon in a intimidating tone. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “Umm, okay… come on in.” said Joe with a flustered look on his face. He then opened the door all the way and let all three of the investigator through the door. They all walked in casually into his house and just stood their in the silence. “So, what did you need to ask me?” asked Joe with an impatient tone in his voice. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “We would like to know where you were in the Amusement Park at two thirty to three yesterday.” said Nicholas. Joe had a innocent look at his face. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “I was checking peoples tickets for the Rollin’ Roller Coaster. You can even ask the person I was working with at the time,” said Joe. “His name is Sam Johnson. I can go call him up right now.” <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “Just give us his number and that is all we will need.” said Bethany. She was beginning to believe that Joe was innocent. Joe walked into his kitchen and grabbed a small booklet. He walked out a couple seconds later. He showed them Sam’s number. Johnathon nodded in approval and they all left. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “Well, Joe’s alibi checks out, he was not at the swings at the time of the crime or anytime before that.” said Nicholas. Everyone looked around the headquarters, as they all tried to come up with an idea of who it could be.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “Oh my gosh, that’s our victim’s ex-husband!” said Johnathon. “It says on here, that they “Can I please see that staff list again?” said Bethany. Nicholas and Johnathon looked hopefully as if she would have an idea. Johnathon handed her the list. She looked at it, her eyes scanning the list carefully. “I got it!” said Bethany with a look of insight crossing her face. “Its Michael Richland!” Everyone look around confusedly. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> “How do you know that?” asked Nicholas. Everyone stared at her anxiously. She just smiled and ran to the computer at her desk. She typed in <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> //Michael Richland//  <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> in their data base search list. His profile came up. It said that he had one child and had been recently divorced from Jessica Richland, their victim. They all gasped. “He was one of the suspects with a violence record, we were just about to go and investigate him.”had just recently filed for a divorce.” he continued as he looked at Michael’s profile on the screen. Everything was beginning to fall into place, he was mad about the divorce and wanted to get revenge. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> When they had arrested Michael, they then realized that when they got the divorce, he did not get any custody of his son. He was angry and figured that if she would have died he would automatically get full custody of his son. But, his plan did not succeed because the swings were not at their full speed when the ropes gave out, so she was injured severely but did not die. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> They all got into the car and drove to the hospital that Jessica was at. They went up to the ninth floor and headed toward her room. She had a shoulder cast, a leg cast and a bandage around her head. She had a hopeful look on her face. She was eager to know who had tried to kill her. Bethany looked at Jessica’s son who was coloring beside the bed and took him in the hallway so he wouldn’t be there to hear what had happened to his mother. Nicholas began to tell her all about who had attempted to kill her. As Nicholas was telling her, she began to gasp and get a little bit teary eyed. She knew that her ex-husband was angry about the divorce and custody issue, but she did not know that he would go this far. She asked Nicholas to make sure that her son won’t find out who did this to her.