It was a murder mystery made for Hollywood, as well as made in Hollywood…
Two weeks ago, on a hiking trail in the shadow of the iconic Hollywood Sign, a decapitated human head was found in a plastic bag.
It was a moment many have dreaded, when the Drug War raging in Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexican Border finally spilled over into Anytown USA.
The LAPD, the law enforcement agency in charge of the investigation, has apparently been too busy with local crime to realize that decapitation has become a Mexican drug cartel’s signature atrocity.
They announced that until they had a motive, the killers could be anyone.
"Without identifying the victim, and without knowing why this person was killed, and the people that's he's associated with, it could be anything," said Commander Andrew Smith, the officer in charge of the investigation, and chief spokeman in the case. .jpg)
But that's not strictly true. A lot of men kill their wives. Very few cut their heads off. That shrinks the pool of potential suspects somewhat.
The LAPD announced they had a 100-person crime team of detectives, criminologists and search & rescue specialists on the severed head case. Maybe they should get them all in a room somewhere to brainstorm a little. Get their thinking caps on. Ask questions. Think outside the box.
Guys, you've got a severed head case to solve. Hmm. Severed head, severed heads… Where are they seeing a lot of that sort of thing these days?
Few noticed the potentially dire consequences. Police didn’t mention it. Neither did reporters. Why?
Because there was a cover-up. Yes, but why was there a cover-up?
Ay, that's the real question, now, isn't it? This is the story of how it went down.
It was Tuesday, the 17th of January, at 2.30 in the afternoon.
Two professional dog-watchers, a mother and daughter, are running nine dogs in their charge on a hiking trail which leads up to the famous Hollywood Sign, a half-mile past the road that winds up through Bronson Canyon Park's front gate.
The neighborhood is filled with the homes of the rich and famous, like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, whose mansion is nearby. Many of them are willing to pay dog-watchers to exercise their dogs for them.
And it’s a dog who steps up to fill the hero’s role in the story. On the hike, a golden retriever named “Ollie” strayed from the pack—as is his wont, say the dogwatchers—to go off and explore.
"One of the dogs ran into the brush,” walker Lauren Kornberg told local reporters. "He was going crazy. He was digging, digging, digging… Digging, and barking."
Ollie emerged from the bushes carrying a round plastic grocery bag in his mouth. “He trotted back with a shredded plastic bag, and then dropped it, and let it roll down the hill.”
Before the bag came to rest, something fell out that looked like a human head.