A mutilated corpse and the opening lines that had judges hooked . . .
THE girl’s body was found 76 hours after she was reported missing. The fingertips had been removed with cable-cutter pliers, a calculated attempt to hide DNA evidence. The body had been moved shortly after death; wherever she was killed had been private enough for a prolonged and violent attack, followed by the mutilation of her corpse. Holly Michaels was dumped in the water in the northernmost part of Red River County, Florida, ten miles from her home. In the photos of the crime scene she was lying face down. This made it slightly easier to stomach the first time Sam saw them, alone, in the unlit living room of her one-bedroom terrace house in Bristol, 20 minutes into the first Red River documentary. There had been other TV shows about serial killers and possible miscarriages of justice but Red River was the one that spoke to so many people, the one that grabbed them and wouldn’t let go. When she finished watching all three episodes (over two fevered evenings after work) she read everything she could about the case on the internet, signed petitions to get new evidence admitted in court (the footprint, a statement from a family member about the stepfather’s alibi) and found the message boards she now browsed obsessively. They were all driven by the desire for the truth, to free the man at the centre of it all, the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice. Since watching the documentaries, Dennis Danson was a permanent part of her thoughts. There was something almost holy about him, the way he looked in bright white prison overalls. Serene like a monk, his hands and feet bound together with chains in some kind of penance. When his image faded from the screen Sam felt a pull in her guts. She wept. Overwhelmed by helplessness, she felt the crush of all the unfairness in the world and she called in sick to work. The people on the message boards were the only ones who understood. They’d all experienced the same sense of impotence the first time they watched Red River, years ago, and welcomed her to the community. Most of the group were American but there were other British members who sometimes arranged meetups and events. Still, it was the Americans who drove the discussions and organised protests. Twice, Dennis had been given a date of execution and the members had gathered outside the Red River County courthouse and the Altoona Prison, protesting and talking with the media to raise awareness. When he was granted a stay of execution the national media published
group photographs of the Red River They crying and holding each other. had in were the closest friends she’d to them, years. She stayed awake to chat knees in her laptop perched on bent to Dennis her bed. A lot of them wrote on the and posted his responses a British message boards. Sam still felt with awkwardness about the familiarity which they spoke to him. a letter It took her months to write sent and weeks more until she actually in it. She didn’t mention it to anyone mention case he never replied, then didn’t because it when he eventually did or if she wasn’t sure if she was special he just replied to everyone. asked She didn’t tell them when he she her for a photograph because writing didn’t know if he would stop like and when he saw what she looked then she didn’t want to tell them he thought she was beautiful because it was so personal...