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I posted earlier about a six year old boy named Bruce Kremen who went missing on  July 13, 1960, in the Angeles National Forest in California.  It is now suspected that Bruce may have been the victim of serial killer Mack Ray Edwards.  While researching Tommy Bowman, another boy who went missing in the same general area three years before Bruce, author Weston DeWalt found new evidence linking Edwards to Bowman.  Law enforcement took another look at the Bowman case, and to make a long story short, they are now looking at Edwards for up to 18 other children’s deaths including Bruce.

Investigators believe they have pinpointed the spot along the 23 Freeway in Thousand Oaks where Edwards buried Roger Dale Madison, another one of his victims.  It’s not Bruce, but anything that moves the case forward may one day lead to finding Bruce and the other missing children.  At 9am today, California-time, a press conference is going to be held at the site so perhaps more information will come out then.  I’m not sure who is holding it, so many law enforcement agencies are involved, but perhaps the FBI because I believe they are overseeing (and paying) for this excavation.  

There’s a great article in the Los Angeles Times [the link to the article no longer works] and I know that NPR also plans to do a story. This is Mack Ray Edwards.  I got the picture from the LA Times piece. 

This was taken from the conference room window of the September 11th Families Association offices where we began our training.  It’s amazing how unchanged that hole looks after all these years.

This was from the World Financial Center (I think), directly opposite the last shot.  That’s St. Paul’s Chapel, and the clock I pointed out a month or so ago where I was told the terrorists stood and watched the aftermath of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

The remnants of flowers someone put up on the fence surrounding the site.

And below is the docent giving us the tour that we will one day give.  But every tour is different. They’re given by rescue workers, volunteers, family members of the victims, and people who lived in the neighborhood, and woven through the general story of what happened is their own personal story.  They call it Person to Person history.  When this guy told his very moving story (we’re not supposed to use the docent’s names) I had the pleasure of hearing a tiny bit of my own story from his point of view, completely by coincidence.  

During training, a retired cop told her story, fighting tears.  However, over dinner the night before, her stories had a completely different flavor.  I meant to tell her to work this one story into her tour.  She had worked in that neighborhood in the 80’s and she was chasing a burglar down Liberty Street by the Trade Center.  It was night so the place was a ghost town.  Now there’s a firehouse right there so she pulled an alarm and the guys come out, horns blazing, “where’s the fire.” She was cracking me up, the way she told the story. When she told them there was no fire, but help me catch this guy, they were like, “hey, no fair!” You tricked us!  But they all grabbed whatever it is that those guys use, axes, halligans, and they helped her chase the burglar.  You have to hear the story from her.  It really captured the character of the city and the people and the neighborhood and it just made her later story all that more poignant.  I meant to suggest that she begin her tour with that story.  That firehouse is still there.  And who knows, sadly, what happened to the guys that helped her that night.  Some of them would have moved up the ranks and been in command, and a floor full of commanders were wiped out that day.

If you think this is something you’d like to volunteer to do, or if you would like to take one of these tours, you can find information on the Tribute WTC Visitor Center website. (Hi Lee, Jen, Wendy, Dave, Tracy and Thandi!)

I’m tired though, and I’m going to go curl up and watch all the tv I’ve been recording for the past week.  But I have some news about the Bruce Kremen story I want to tell later.  Bruce Kremen is the boy who went missing in 1960 and who I’ve written about here (and whose story will be in my book).

I’m going to be scarce today because my training to give tours of the Trade Center site starts today.  In fact, I have to jump into the shower in a minute.  So I’ll post all about it in a day or two.

But we started last night, and there’s an ex-cop in my group who is a great storyteller and I’m trying to convince her to start a blog. More to come.

In the meantime, my search for the perfect eyeliner is OVER. It’s Covergirl’s Outlast Smoothwear All-Day Eyeliner.  I only wear eyeliner on the bottom rim, on the inside rim, also known as the “wet line,” which is why it’s so hard to find a liner that lasts more than a few minutes.  (Oh the trials of being a girl.) The problem is, it’s so good I have to go back and try a different color. The color I picked is too intense because it STAYS.  No fading.  I look clownish.

The best part:  it’s $6.99.

Well, something totally unexpected happened during the debate last night: I fell in love with Joe Biden.  He was amazing.  AMAZING.  I almost want to ask, where did he come from? But he just ran for president. What went wrong with his campaign?

I now completely understand why Obama chose him and it was an excellent choice, but seriously, he should be president.  Experience, grace, compassion, humility.  Such a startlingly true and not feigned grasp of the complexities of all the issues, oh and I saw his answer about Roe vs. Wade the other day.  The way he took it apart, and admitted that it was imperfect, but showed piece by piece how it was close as possible to an acceptable solution that addresses the concerns of both sides.

Joe Biden, can I work for you?

A lot of the time when candidates talk about their passion I see only ambition.  With Biden I actually saw passion.

It means, “Guard your soul well.” It’s from one of the Brahms pieces we’re doing.  I love these translations sometimes.  Anyway, it is my prayer for us tonight while we watch the debates.

Speaking of guard your soul well, it’s so sad about Lt. Michael W. Pigott’s suicide.  The order that he gave which caused Iman Morales’s death was tragic too, but that doesn’t mean one can’t feel for Pigott.  His suicide, an act of questionable judgement certainly, makes me wonder if he was suffering from something which affected his judgement that day.  Now both families are suffering a loss.  It’s awful.  Guard your soul well indeed.  It’s so fragile.

This picture is of Perry Street, to my west.  I live on the least pretty block of Perry Street.  I’m not complaining, just saying.  I have it very good.