I have to say that this scenario gives life to many crime fiction writers’ vivid imaginations…
Let me pose a scenario to you and ask what your reaction might be.
It’s the middle of the night. You are driving on a road with your wife and infant child when you notice an idling car in a ditch.
Do you keep driving and give no further thought to that car? Do you call police to let them know there may be a stranded motorist on your road? Or, do you get out of your car and start opening doors to the vehicle about which you know nothing in hopes of finding something worth stealing?
If the last option is your action of choice, then you are in the same company with a man from Houston who approached an abandoned car that had the keys in the ignition and the windshield wipers moving. After removing the keys, he decided to check out the rest of the car for valuables. While it’s still unclear whether or not he found his desired speakers, he did find a body in the trunk.
The victim, who has been identified as Donald Michael Lapointe, had been shot in the chest and also appeared to have been beaten. A bag of pills was stuffed down his pants, leading police to believe that the killing could be drug-related.
However, no official motive has been determined. And, while the cause of death is still under investigation, I do appreciate this statement from Jack Harvery with the Houston Police Department, “At this time, it is not apparent what caused the death of this man. However, given the circumstances of the death and the fact he is in the trunk of the car, it appears to be unnatural.” I would say so.
While the passing motorist’s initial interest in the car may not have been a noble one, his desire to engage in theft and his subsequent decision to do the right thing and call authorities perhaps will lead to getting a much more dangerous criminal off the streets.
Have you ever witnessed something that seemed suspicious with a car on the side of road at night? What did you do?
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Author Jennifer Chase 
And that’s when life becomes fiction.
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I found it strange looking up at myself, I wanted to warn myself that I would be murdered in a weeks time, but no words came out. Strange thing was I had no memory of ever coming across a dead body, specifically my own dead body, in an abandoned car. Was it possible to escape this fate as technically I was still alive looking at my own dead body. The whole thing was really baffling and extremely surrealistic.
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