Chapter 6: An Investigation

In chapter six, Ray Grandisha dissects his approach to the crime scene. Despite the thoroughness of his approach, Grandisha noted that he would likely find nothing unless they caught a break.  His interview with the Pranets, similarly, led nowhere.  

Many Cones is a podcast novel based on true crime. The murders inspiring this crime fiction took place 30 miles from Chicago in Northwest Indiana, and captivated the area from the initial brutal crime scene all the way through and beyond discovery of a shockingly bizarre motive.  

Lieutenant Grandisha was in charge of the murder investigation. The morning following the grisly discovery, he assembled eight men and two women. They formed the team that would sift through the commonplace bits of life from a violated apartment. Statements would be taken from people who may have seen something or may know something. Sophisticated tests would be run to see if inanimate objects had stories to tell. Freaks on the street would be questioned; the street usually knew when weird things were going down. 


Fingerprints lifted from the complex would be compared to millions of others for matching ridges and swirls. All of the information would be squeezed, sifted, shaken, and inverted; hopefully an answer would pop out. In the end, it was usually a lucky break, somewhere, that would make sense out of everything. 


Ray sent a male/female team back to the apartment complex to follow up with witnesses and statements. Neighbors were questioned the night of the bloodshed, but since no one admitted seeing strangers or known persons, entering or leaving the Donas flat, in-depth interrogation was continued. 


A team was sent back to the apartment to re-sweep the personal belongings. Sometimes answers came from checkbooks, personal phonebooks, diaries, letters, or phone bills. 


Two detectives set about checking the work associates and employment histories of Jim and Sue Donas. Two more were responsible for the financial affairs of the family and all related avenues. 


The remaining staff was office bound. Their charge was to accumulate, correlate, file, run computer printouts, and do whatever else was necessary. 


Ray began his first day of the investigation by interviewing the Pranets and meeting with John Lupico. 


Jules and Liz Pranet, unfortunately, had no information that could justify the massacre. The Donas’ were everyday people. Average amount of vices. They drank, periodically smoked a joint, went to work every day, spent more than they should have, but nothing out of line, liked to have a good time, argued now and then, and loved each other. Lately, Sue had been talking about having children. 


No girlfriends, boyfriends, bent friends, juice loan collectors, pushers, bookies, closet skeletons, extreme political, sexual, religious, or racial affiliations. No stalkers, stalkees, disagreements, bitter neighbors, ex-spouses, or unpaid parking tickets. No reasons for someone to butcher them. 


Their dinner date had been set up three or four days in advance. No special occasion, they often went out together. Sue picked the restaurant. It was her favorite location. 

She was notoriously late; waiting for her, for a half hour or forty-five minutes, was not uncommon. There was a rude waiter that could verify their hour-long stall. Even though the Pranets weren’t suspects, Ray would send someone out to double check.