82: Haunted
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In his memoir, My Dark Places, James Elroy writes about how he was haunted by the memory of his mother. She was murdered in 1958 when he was ten. Thirty-five years later, he tried to track down her murderer. His mother was last seen in El Monte, California, with a man Elroy calls the "sworthy man" and with a blonde woman. Elroy hired a private investigator. He also tried to scare up some leads by having two papers do stories about the murder and having the TV shows Day One and Unsolved Mysteries do segments. The other day, one gave out a phone number for people to call with tips and leads. As the phone calls came in, Elroy found out he wasn't the only one who was haunted. This is from his memoir. A man from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma called. He said the "sworthy man" looked like a guy named Bob Sones. Bob murdered his wife Sherry and committed suicide. He was late '58. The crime occurred in North Hollywood. A man from Centralia, Washington called. He said his father was a "sworthy man." His father was six-six and weighed 240 pounds. I should say it, this does not match the description of the real "sworthy man." His father carried a gun and lots of ammunition. A man from Savage, Minnesota called. He said the "sworthy man" looked like his father. His father lived in El Monte back then. His father was abusive. His father served prison time. His father was a gambler and a skirt chaser. A man from Rochester, New York called. He said his grandfather was a "sworthy man." Gramps lived in a nursing home. The man supplied the address and phone number. A woman from Sacramento, California called. She said the "sworthy man" looked like a local doctor. The doctor lived with his mother, the doctor hated women, the doctor was a vegetarian. A woman from Lakeport, California called. She said the "sworthy man" looked like her ex-husband, her ex-chased woman. She didn't know where he was now. A woman from Covina, California called. She said her sister was raped and strangled in El Monte. It happened in 1992. A woman from Paso, Robles, California called. She said the "sworthy man" looked familiar. She met a man like that in 1957. She wanted sex. She said no. He said he wanted to kill her. He lived in a lombre then. A woman from Benwood, West Virginia called. She said a man stalked during her brother in Los Angeles.
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