When I was eight years old my dad let me skip school. He took me with him to pick up my grandmother (Nanny Fran) from the airport. She was returning from a week long trip to Florida. At this time she was married to a guy named Sam. We drove back to her apartment and after the long ride I was antsy and happy to be out of the car. As Dad and Nanny Fran were getting the luggage from the trunk I ran up to her doorstep. Eager to help out, I reached for the doorknob and jiggled it. I wasn’t thinking much at the time though I knew that the door was not going to open without a key. It was just habit to try it anyway. However, as I jiggled the knob something happened because the door swung open. It had been unlocked and I took a step inside the house. There was blood all over the hardwood floor beneath my feet. I looked up into the kitchen and there lay Sam. He was covered in blood and his skin was turning blue. He had been murdered days before I found him. I shouted for my dad immediately. When he came over he quickly grabbed me, shoved me out the door and yelled that I get back into the car and stay there.

I panicked and got into my dad’s Monte Carlo. I waited and waited. I had no idea what was going on in there. All I could hear were Nanny Fran’s screams and shouts and cries. It pierced the air in the neighborhood. After some time in the car, my dad came out and told me that I was going to stay with some of my grandmother’s neighbors. I did not know these people but they were nice to me. It was an old couple and they kept offering me food but I declined and stared out the window at all the police in the parking lot. I was frightened. As far as I knew the killer might still be in the apartment. Maybe my dad was going to be next. I watched as an ambulance came and took my Nanny Fran out on a stretcher. She would not stop screaming. They whisked her off to the hospital. I could still hear her screaming from the vehicle down the block.

Some police officers came up to the apartment I was staying in with the old couple and questioned them. The old woman said she normally could hear them showering downstairs but she hadn’t heard the water in a few days. I was asked a couple of questions. I still didn’t know what was going on. After the police left my mom showed up and hugged me. She was scared and wanted to get me out of there. Dad joined us and we headed out. There were reporters everywhere. People taking pictures and trying to get us to comment. My dad just covered my face up with his hands and we exited quickly.