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get in, get Ruby settled, and then come one at a time like we planned.”

  “You need us, text Raven and we’re there pronto. You understand?” Jorge said protectively.

  “I got my steel bat,” Vince said reaching under the car seat and pulling it out.

  “And I got my blade,” Jorge said patting his jeans pocket.

  “Are ya’ll crazy?” Raven asked. “Ya’ll are jinxing us even thinking that way.”

  “I’m going,” Julie said closing the back car door.

  “Five minutes?” Jorge asked protectively from the front.

  “Five minutes,” Julie said boldly.

  37

  Eric’s

  “Man, it stinks in here,” Raven said as they all stood in the living room.

  “Cigarettes, wet dog, and dirty laundry,” Vince said shaking his head. “Doesn’t look like he’s done anything to improve his living conditions.”

  “He’ll be wishing he was living in this dump when he’s worrying every time he drops the soap that he’ll end up somebody’s girlfriend,” Jorge snarled.

  “That is if we find something,” Julie added.

  “I think we should just kill him,” Jorge said disgustedly.

  “The shovel’s in the back of the car,” Vince said seriously.

  “You guys,” Julie said, “let’s try this first.”

  Raven nodded. “Can we start looking now? This is freaking me out. Even if he doesn’t come home, we’ll get charged with breaking and entering if anyone calls the cops.”

  “Alright,” Julie said taking charge. “Remember we’re doing this for Davey,” she added. “Look through everything. Dump every drawer out, look under his bed, in the kitchen, in the cupboards, everywhere.”

  “Think like him,” Jorge said tapping his temple. “Think like a killer would. Where would a killer hide his evidence?”

  “I found a whole drawer full of photos with Davey in them,” Vince called from Eric’s bedroom.

  “Let me see,” Julie said coming from the kitchen.

  Raven and Jorge had been looking together through the living room and joined Vince and Julie.

  “Oh, Davey,” Julie started weeping, running her hand through picture after picture of her brother. “That’s him when Mom took us to the top of Mount Washington. Davey was terrified we’d fall right off the side of the mountain,” Julie said picking up another photo. “And, that’s Davey with my dad’s grandpa, our great-granddad. He rigged up a bike to the back of his riding lawnmower and pulled Davey all around the yard. Look at that smile,” Julie said still crying. “It lights up his whole face.”

  “Here are some recent ones,” Vince said.

  Julie looked. “That’s from last summer,” she said curiously. “He’s holding his phone Mom bought him for his birthday.”

  “It was taken in here, too,” Raven said. “See? The same poster and headboard.”

  They looked.

  “Why would Eric take pictures of him in here?” Vince asked. “It’s like it’s posed, too, like he asked Davey to stand there.”

  “He looks scared,” Julie added. “Look at his eyes, Vinny,” she said beginning to cry again.

  Vince nodded in agreement.

  “Keep looking,” Jorge said standing behind them. “Remember, think like a killer. That’s what your uncle is. Where would he hide something he wouldn’t want anyone to see?”

  “The bottom,” Raven said as Vince pulled the drawer off its hinges and carefully dumped the contents out on the floor.

  “More photos of my brother?” Julie asked as she used her fingers to rifle through them all.

  “Vince, grab that envelope,” Jorge said. Vince reached down by his feet where a manila envelope had partially slid under Eric’s bed. Vince handed it to Jorge.

  “Does it say anything on it?” Raven asked from the floor as Jorge turned it over and then back right side up again.

  He shook his head. The envelope was taped shut on both ends with duck tape, and on top of that, with wide strips of clear tape like the post office uses. Jorge pulled out his switchblade and carefully slid the razor sharp point under the tape in one corner.

  “What is it?” Julie asked as Jorge pulled out a small bundle wrapped in a dark blue washcloth. Jorge had to cut through more tape to get to what was hidden inside.

  “It’s Davey’s cell phone!” Julie yelled jumping up and grabbing it out of Jorge’s hand.

  “Julie, careful, my knife,” Jorge said while closing the blade quickly.

  Julie opened the phone as tears streamed down her face. She closed it and held it to her chest. “Davey, Davey, Davey,” she sobbed. Raven wrapped both arms around her and gave her a big hug.

  Vince looked shocked. “The divers said they never found his phone. I thought all this time it was in the river.”

  Julie opened it again. “No, it doesn’t look like it even got wet.”

  “No, it didn’t,” Raven said looking at it, too. “It just needs to be recharged.”

  “What else is in there, Jorge?” Julie asked fearfully.

  Jorge reached his hand back into the manila envelope and pulled out a small white envelope that wasn’t sealed. “More photos,” he said going by feel. “Oh, no,” he moaned flipping through them quickly. “No, no, no!” he screamed taking both fists and slamming them into the wall over and over and over again.

  “Jorge, man, what the hell?” Vince said jumping over the girls and grabbing Jorge’s arms. “The neighbors will call the police, Jorge, stop.”

  All that came out of Jorge was a deep guttural animal sound. He leaned his whole body into Vince to try to get him out of the way so he could hit the wall again.

  “Jorge!” Julie and Raven cried leaping up off the floor. “Jorge, please, stop. Jorge! No, Jorge!”

  Again, the only sound Jorge made was that same angry moan, but this time he let the three of them push him back to a sitting position on Eric’s bed. The photos he held in a death grip in his left hand.

  “Shit, Jorge,” Vince said, “somebody called the cops.”

  “Oh, God, no,” Raven started bawling. “No, my baby brother. We’ll never get him back now.”

  Julie placed her own hand on the photos and gently tried pulling them out of Jorge’s clenched fist.

  “No,” Jorge said firmly. “No, Julie, these are for the police.”

  38

  Life

  January 21, 2010

  Murder Conviction for Eric Chapin

  An uncle convicted of drowning his sixteen-year-old nephew to death after subjecting him to both an earlier attempt on his life, and years of horrific cruelty, has been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.

  Eric Chapin was ordered to serve two life sentences after being convicted on Monday of murdering his nephew, David Price, following a six-month trial.

  Chapin was sentenced by Mrs. Truth Constant at Nelsonville Court of one count of murder, in addition to one count of attempted murder, and twenty counts of child cruelty. The 28-year-old inflicted what detectives described as "horrifying" child abuse in the years preceding his nephew’s death, as well as an attempted murder of David Price in 1999 after apparently convincing family members that this incident was an accident.

  It emerged on Tuesday that Chapin photographed 20 instances of abuse and intent to injure his nephew, beginning from the time David Price was an infant, up to the time of his death.

  David was pronounced dead on August 15, 2008, after police were called to a section of the Ohio River which abuts Chapin’s apartment.

  The judge, who passed two concurrent life sentences for murder, attempted murder, and child cruelty totaling no less than 99 years, told Chapin: "The jury has convicted you of the brutal murder of your sixteen year old nephew. He was a child and it was your duty to protect him. Instead, you finished what you’d attempted years earlier: you took David out on the water, knowing that he couldn’t swim, without any life-saving dev
ices, and left him. David died a death of extreme terror. You brutalized your nephew for years before you killed him, and for this, Eric Chapin, you deserve a lifetime to rot behind bars. Don’t think you’ve gotten off easy. Let me just put it bluntly: child abusers are the most hated in all of prison society. For every wrong you did to Davey, you will reap tenfold at the hands of those who will pay you back for what you’ve done to your nephew.”

  Paying tribute to “Davey,” the judge added: "He was a delightful young man and the best brother his three sisters could ever hope to have. Everyone describes him as cheerful and generous despite everything. “Davey” never told anyone about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle, although he did tell those closest to him that Eric Chapin had tried to drown him when he was six. Joyful was the word that more than one witness used to describe him. His death has left a void in many lives which will never be filled."

  David’s younger sister, Julie Price, and her three friends, Raven Wilson, Jorge Rodriquez, and Vincent Darsh were the catalyst behind Eric Chapin’s arrest. It was these three who intervened on Davey’s behalf and sought justice. Judge Constant said: “This is an extremely sad case and my sympathies are with the Price family and those who knew Davey. While all of the details cannot be made public, it is clear from this trial that without their diligence, justice would not have been served and Eric Chapin would have remained a free man. I cannot commend Julie, Raven, Jorge, and Vincent enough for their fearless intervention and action taken to honor the life of Davy Price.”

  39

  Hope

  “I don’t know what to say, but I could never have done