Building 17 “Someone Else’s Skin”
At 7:30 PM on January 29th, a call was put in to local police by a woman who claimed that there was an unknown intruder in her home. Within minutes the police arrived and found the woman huddled in her closet. One of the officers was left with the woman while the other officer checked the rest of the home. When the other officer was sure that there was no assailant in the home, they returned to sitting room to find their fellow officer badly injured and the woman missing. The following is the sworn testimony given by the injured officer after they awoke two days later.
“We were going on our rounds when we received the 10-25. We confirmed the call, making it the residence in a few minutes. We were informed by dispatch that the resident was in a closet in the main den. We soon arrived at the scene and approached the perimeter of the home with caution. The back door was unlocked but closed, and seemed the most obvious point of entry. Upon entering we secured the main room, finding the owner in the closet. She claimed to be generally unharmed, and so I bought her over to one of her couches.
I stayed with the victim while Officer (name withheld) went through the rest of the home. As I waited, I heard the woman whispering to herself. At first I couldn't make it out, but she began to get louder as the minutes wore on. She kept talking about some figure, standing still while it moved. I asked her what she meant, but she was unwilling to talk to me, instead simply looking at her hands.
The woman pulled up her sleeve, and I noted several wounds running along her skin, though she had not reported an assault. I contacted medical services while my partner entered the basement. I began to ask the woman some preliminary questions, but found her to be generally uncooperative. She kept looking around the room, and looked extremely disoriented. She seemed tired, and did not seem to be much aware of my presence in the home.”
While this was happening, the other officer failed to be able to find evidence of the supposed breaking and entering. Upon entering the basement, they noted a large amount of sewing supplies including several display mannequin's.
“I continued to wait for the paramedics, while the woman continued to become agitated. She began to clawing at her pants legs, her eyes darting back and forth across the room. I tried to follow her eyes, but was unable to see anything. She began grinding her teeth and was shaking terribly. I tried talking to her, trying to calm her down, but she remained unresponsive. She began to calm suddenly, as I noted some sounds coming from the adjoining kitchen, like a squeaky steel hinge. I told the owner to stay put and headed to the kitchen.
I looked inside but found it empty and I went to check the windows. Then I heard something behind me. I turned around, only to be temporarily blinded when as the lights shut off. I scanned the room, trying to get my bearings. Last thing I remember was a figure appearing in front of me. I couldn't make out any features. The only thing I saw was a long slit where the mouth should be, with a long row of teeth. Then I felt something grab the back of my arm, pulling violently against my lower arm. My arm popped back sharply in the socket, and I think I screamed.
Then something grabbed my head and drove it against the side of the door. I heard the woman crying...”
The other officer claims that they heard nothing as they headed back up the stairs. They had noted the lights going out downstairs, and quickly made their way back up. However, when they arrived back in the den they found the woman gone, and their partner unconscious on the ground. Paramedics arrived soon thereafter.
In total, the officer received ten separate injuries, including a dislocated and separated elbow along with other separated limbs, a concussion, as well as several lacerations. He is to undergo several surgeries in the hope of resetting the connective tissues within his arm.
The woman was missing for several hours, only to be found several hours later near one of the old factories. Steel rods perforated her body, leaving her in a pose reminiscent of walking, leading towards a wall. A search of the factory proper revealed no recent activity, save for some unidentifiable footprints in the snow. The woman's body had been skinned, and her eyes and ears had been removed. She had been dead for hours.
Disturbingly, a call was made to the police some hours after her disappearance by one of her friends, claiming that they had seen her walking down the street. They had tried to catch up with her, only to lose her in a side alley. The fact the medical examiner claims she had been killed and skinned hours before the reported sighting only helps to make it worse.
