Saturday, July 09, 2005

Karma Is A Big Fat Bitch With A Moustache!

No offense is intended to any bitches with moustaches. For Rachael, so she'll stop griping that no one blogs on the weekend.... There are always two or three sides to every story. And then sometimes you only know part of a story and its up to someone else to tell you the rest. This is the story of how a man died, how his murderer was caught, and what happened to those who knew him. Before I met T-Bird, she worked at a bar right down the street from where I now live. She worked the early shift, 8 a.m. to whenever. Our town, although not rural is not exactly big either and for someone who went to school here its quite easy to know someone who knows someone that someone else knows. One day a guy named David comes in and says, "Hey, did ya hear? They arrested Alex Rostenbarger for killing Jamie Moore." T-Bird said, "No shit. I know Alex Rostenbarger." The guy got upset and left then came back. With him were a State Trooper and a city police officer. T-Bird invites them in. (In WV, without a warrant, police officers "in uniform" cannot enter a bar unless invited) The city police officer, Daniel, who T-Bird knew, asked her about Alex Rostenbarger. She tells him she doesn't know anything about what supposedly happened between him and Jamie Moore. She explained that she knew Alex through her mom and he had been to their home a few times. Meanwhile, KCZ, T-Bird's mom, is in California but on the phone with her friend Johnny, who had also been a friend of Alex Rostenbarger's. While on the phone, the two relate a story which he told each of them regarding Jamie Moore. They realize that... whooaaaa... he told them the exact same story at two different times. Alex Rostenbarger had told them how he had killed Jamie Moore. Johnny told KCZ that he did not want to be involved at all. KCZ told him, "We were involved when he told us." Still, she promised not to say anything about what he knew. On the other side of town, T-Bird unwittingly told Officer Daniel that it was through Johnny that her mom had met Alex. Once Daniel left, T-Bird called her mom to tell her about Alex Rostenbarger, which her mom already knew from the conversation with Johnny. T-Bird said, "How is it you live 2,000 miles away and know shit happening here before I do?" Officer Daniel returned to talk to T-Bird three more times until he finally asked if she thought her mom would talk to him. T-Bird gave him the number and Officer Daniel called her in CA. He then called her back a few hours later to get a recorded statement. This is the story: Alex Rostenbarger was a loud mouthed bragger who blew smoke up your ass every chance he got. He was dating T-Bird's neighbor, Wendy, who was unable to swallow and had a feeding tube. She was a mess and the beatings Alex gave her didn't help. One night, Wendy and one of her friends were out and Wendy ended up in the same house as Jamie Moore. She and Jamie had consensual sex. However, Wendy was afraid of Alex and told Alex that Jamie had raped her. She did so to save her own ass from being beat. Alex, in retaliation, took a friend of his from FL (Dake) and Wendy's brother (Jake) and found Jamie Moore in a local bar. He was there with his friend David, the same David that initially brought the police to T-Bird basically kidnapped Jamie and took him across the county line and beat him. Dake and Jake got back in the car but Alex was not done. He threw Jamie over the edge of the bridge but Jamie got a handhold on the planks. Alex came back to the car, got a tire iron, and beat Jamie's hands until he let go. Jamie fell into the river. That wasn't sufficient either. Alex walked under the bridge and held Jamie under the water until "his eyes popped out of his head." His words. Now, if that isn't enough to chill the marrow in your bones, nothing will. I'm so damn claustrophobic that makes my skin crawl and anything that personal and cruel makes me sick to my stomach. I don't even want to think about what his last moments were like. Luckily, Alex is a stupid braggart. It took quite a number of years (I believe six) until Alex was brought to justice. And it happened because of a DUI. It seems that Jake was pulled over for his 365th DUI (No, I don't believe I'm exaggerating). In order to get out of it, Jake looks at the officer and says, "How about I help you solve a murder." Can you say, "Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! What have you won Jake? Look behind curtain number threeeeee." In return for immunity, Jake spilled his guts about Alex Rostenbarger and Jamie Moore. The police now had probable cause to arrest Alex Rostenbarger but, I'm sure, they didn't feel as though Jake's testimony was enough to put old Alex away... and that's how they ended up at T-Bird's and that's how KCZ got involved and Johnny. Right after T-Bird and I became friends and I was pregnant with Nate, she testified, as did her mom and Johnny. Alex was found guilty of first degree murder and is now a guest at our fine maximum security prison known as Mount Olive; Officer Daniel was promoted to detective; Jake is still getting drunk; Dake is also a guest at Mount Olive, although he did not get as much time as Alex; You know about T-Bird; KCZ just finished medical transcription school and got a good job; and Johnny is still working at his tire store, supplying tires to the our local police department. But our tale does not end there my friends. I had met Wendy, as she was, as you recall, T-Bird's upstairs neighbor in her apartment complex. Somehow she had survived a pregnancy. Her son's father was Alex Rostenbarger. Can you imagine my friends what kind of guilt this woman carried around? Not only was her lie a contributing factor in the death of another human being, but she also had the murderer's child. Perhaps it was self-preservation. Perhaps she didn't feel she could survive another beating. Whatever the reason, as the whole sordid story came out... so did the fact she lied. Remember I told you specifically that Wendy could not swallow and had to be fed through a tube in her stomach? Well... Wendy's dead now. She drowned in her own fluids. My friends, karma really is a big fat bitch with a moustache.
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