"But ah'm not afraid of dyin'. Cause I know that when I get to heaven there are gonna be these wonderful trees, and ah'm gonna climb them. But you know what? Instead of leaves and flowers, those trees are gonna have fried eggs, and delicious Virginia ham, and big heaping bowls of biscuits and sausage gravy. And one day, Sammy, you're gonna meet me there, and we're gonna climb those breakfast trees together, and it's gonna be delicious and we're gonna be happy until the end of time."

10.03.2005

Lullaby and Goodnight

The sleep just won't come. Could it be the splitting headache I've been carrying about since Wednesday, the fledgling sore throat I got as a parting gift from Matt's weekend visit, Matt's glaring absence in my bed, or the throbbing zit which is currently erupting above my right eyebrow? Maybe it's because I spent THE WHOLE DAY in bed, courtesy of the Tylenol PM to rid me of the headache last night so I could sleep (they should call it Tylenol Zombie instead). Or is it because I keep having phone conversations that go a little something like this:

Me: This address, 4944 Darlington Dr., you wrote next to the family picture, what does it refer to? You said the house was on Davidson Road...
Chris: Yeah, I don't remember the house number, I'm still trying to find it. No, 4944 Darlington Drive...I don't know, it's been a long time. I think it was where her mother lived or something.
Me: (Slightly Skeptical) Really? Because her mother lived in Oklahoma, at least at the time of the murder. Oh, and according to "The Tennessean" in January 1999, it's a mile from where they found her body. Is there anything you're leaving out?
Chris: I swear I got nothing. The murder was news to me on Thursday. I have no idea how we found that address. It was almost ten years ago.
Me: Which is odd, because he killed her about 7 years ago.
Chris: Well...this...just...keeps...getting...creepier.

Thanks to Nashville.gov, I now know T. and D. bought the house at 4944 Darlington Dr. in 1994 together, and in 1997, D. was listed as the sole property owner. That gives us a rough time frame of the divorce. It was in the carport of that house, the end of March 1998, where T. waited for D. to exit the house on her way to Sunday school, beat her unconscious/dead, leaving enough blood on her carport and car to lead a judge to legally pronounce her dead a month before they found her remains.
We also know they family moved to Nashville in the early 90's (around the same time the portrait was taken?) after working as missionaries in Germany. She took a job at The Upper Room, a Methodist publishing outfit, no word on what he did, all papers list him as an "ex-missionary." Devout christians, people. Brutal murder. Abandoned house across town. Eh?
Also, he wasn't convicted of her murder until last year, because he was serving time in North Carolina for counterfeiting. His partner in that crime was instrumental in his being charged with the murder, and the solicitation of the others. Apparently he also searched for someone to kill her mother, but wasn't convicted of that solicitation for some reason. He looks so nice in the family photo...they all do. Except Andrew. He looks severely disturbed. So much so that up until a few days ago, Chris assumed whatever was in that house had focused on him. Now we're not so sure.

Nope, not sleeping much these days.

But this is fun.

Listening to: Kanye West - Diamonds from Sierra Leone