The Meadow 25 “Really. We got a DNA sample from his grandmother. Normally, we’d be waiting months for results but money greases all kinds of squeaky wheels. DNA came back to Dylan Ludlow, fingerprints came back to a Sammy Gibson, recently of East Salt Lake. “Drug deal gone bad, as they say in police shows?” “More like family life gone bad. Sammy was their problem child, drugs, burglaries, in and out of jail. Then one night he broke into his family’s house to steal their new flat screen and his old man shot him in the head.” Alannah winced. “And why did they dump him in my cemetery?” “Two reasons. One, they didn’t want to have to shell out for a burial or cremation, so Gibson conned one of his drinking buddies into helping him move the body. I saw the transcripts from the Salt Lake detective’s interview. The old man said, and I quote, “The little bastard’s dead, he don’t care if he gets a fancy box or not.” “Good grief,” said Alannah. “Let me guess the second reason. They didn’t want anyone digging too deeply into family history and realizing they had two too many kids.” “Bingo. Mr. Gibson finally admitted that he and Mrs. Gibson had driven up on the accident on their way home from a liquor store run. I was hoping for a real human interest sob story, like she’d always wanted kids but couldn’t have them. But no, she thought the kids were kind of cute, so she told her husband to snatch them. Alannah stooped to pick up a stray soda can and they detoured to one of the cemetery trash barrels. “Are they going to be charged with taking the boys?” “Statute of limitations is long gone on the kidnapping but there is no statute of limitations on voluntary manslaughter in this state. DA’s going to argue that they left Mrs. Ludlow to die in that car. They’ll bring in expert witnesses to look at the hospital and morgue records and say that the paramedics could have saved her if they’d been called in even a few minutes earlier.
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