One beautiful summer day, several decades ago, We, Danny, Jimmy and I met this man, in the movie theater in the Clifton Country Mall. Of course, we didn't know it then. Danny had wanted to see a certain movie that his siblings had seen. (--a music film, maybe Rattle and Hum?) I think Danny was 10 and Jimmy 9 years old. The day was young and the weather was perfect, so we were the only ones in the theater when the movie started. The boys chose seats front and center and I sat in the back row, behind their seats. After a while, Jimmy evidently got bored and was rolling a quarter in the center aisle, to the right, no problem since we were the only people there. At first. About 20 or so minutes into the film, a man entered through the left side and sat in that section. Then a short time later, I noticed he had moved to the row behind the boys, right behind them. I started to see a red flag, but then thought it was center seating. After a while, I think it was Danny's idea, they changed their seats. Jimmy may still have been in the aisle to the right. Shortly after, the man moved behind them again. This time Danny felt weirded out, and he and Jimmy came back to sit with me, and I told them they had met their first pervert, little knowing his true nature.
When the movie ended I told the boys to stay in their seats. I wanted to see where the man might have gone. I walked out the left doorway and there standing with his back to the wall, just waiting, was the man. I looked right at him and noted that he was dressed in what men substitute teachers might have worn, dark green dockers and a short-sleeved sports shirt. I left him standing there and went back to the boys. Danny, who must have had greater insight than I, was mad at me for leaving them alone in the now empty theater.
Normally, they would have visited the bathroom in the theater and we would have had lunch at McDonald's then in the mall, but this day I wanted to put all this behind us and we went to McDonald's in Mechanicville. As the 3 of us were leaving, Danny noticed the man and that he had gone into the theater bathroom. I learned later that the bathroom in the theater accessed the outdoors.
After his capture, I recognized his face, knew he was the guy in the theater. I later learned that he was living in the church on Old Route 146 in exchange for doing some maintenance. I learned also that a classmate had told Danny that his family had belonged to that church and had frequently invited this man to their home in Stillwater, where he had played board games with the younger siblings. The classmate was later told by his parents not to reveal this information, but he did confide it. I add that the investigators, searching for the girl's body, at one time investigated the area near Route 146 and Route 9, near the church and within walking distance from the mall.
This man was an unusual serial killer, experts in such say, because he preyed on both boys and girls. He was caught when, in broad daylight on the streets of Pittsfield, he attempted to abduct a young girl. He grabbed her backpack, but she, being a savvy child, slipped out of both jacket and backpack and ran screaming for help. His car was parked nearby and in it was the equipment he used in abductions.
So, parents, always be on guard. Trust no one.
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