Police reports were all over the television, radio stations, magazines and yet, one week after the murder, the police didn’t have a single suspect. None of the forensic evidence could help to find the killers identity and no more witnesses had contacted them. A further week had passed when news of another killing just off of the coast of New York. The NYPD (New York Police Department) faxed through the full investigation details to the Boston force in charge of the earlier assault to try to find a link between the two cases.
Finally the first breakthrough in the case, it turned out that the same gun was used in both attacks. The problem was that the police were still no closer to solving the case than what they were right from the start. At this time the police were becoming more and more anxious about when or where the next attack would be. All police departments were told to always be with a partner when out in uniform so that they would not be the next victim. More and more civilians became aware of the anxiety within the police force and then they two became scared and worried about the man that they knew only by the name of ‘the
Cop killer’.
The New York police had been fed with lots of information from the several witnesses of the second attack. But the problem was that the police had been given several different descriptions of the man with some calling him short and chubby and then others calling him tall and lanky. But one thing remained constant throughout all of the accounts of the events; a black BMW was seen parked nearby to the crime scene that was then used by the attacker to get away. After weeks of careful investigation, the police had a description that was similar over several witness accounts. A police artist drew up an image and it was posted around the media so that it could be seen to try to gather information and maybe even a suspect. Was their luck was about to change.
After three days had passed, a young woman came forward to the police; she had bruises all over her face, with several cuts and what looked like to be a broken arm. She had long, blonde greasy hair with very tatty clothes, which looked like they had been worn for several days. She told the police that the man in the picture was her current boyfriend who had beaten her when she questioned him about the allegations. He was currently running from the police in his black BMW going by the name of Peter Paterson but his drivers’ licence and passport went by a different name – Ian Robinson. The police decided on a possible plan to capture him, their idea was to pretend to capture someone else with the media thinking that this was the truth. The story would then be all over the news and therefore would be seen by Paterson and then his girlfriend would set him up so that he was trapped.
The operation was underway; an undercover cop was ‘arrested’ and the story spread across the news instantly. The police were now relying on the chance that Paterson would see the story. The next day, Stephanie (Petersons’ girlfriend) telephoned him and told him to meet her at Luigi’s bar. He agreed to this and the police started getting ready for their mission. All officers involved had to wear a bulletproof vest and constantly have a gun loaded and ready to fire.
The trap was set, the police were all in position and everything was ready. All of the police officers were in position, the only thing that they needed now was Paterson! But he was nowhere to be seen, suddenly Stephanie received a call from Paterson saying that he was heading towards a garage in Houston, about 50km away. The police thought that he new about the trap but then they thought that he could be making sure that it was safe for him. The police packed up all of their equipment and headed to Houston about 10 minutes in front of Stephanie so that they could set up in Houston.
When the crew were near to Houston they asked Stephanie to call Paterson and ask him where to meat him, he told her to meat him at Johnnies garage on the A5 motorway. The police arrived at the garage and set up their equipment again, they kept a look out for Paterson but they couldn’t see him. When Stephanie arrived she instantly received a call from Paterson asking where she was, she told him that she was at the garage as he asked. His reply was ‘I know, I can see you!’
At this point the police became very worried about Stephanie’s and there own protection. As policemen looked around the trees and bushes for any sign of Paterson, a gunshot was heard in the distance. As several police cars scurried towards where the shot had been fired, head office told the crew that half should go and half should stay. They followed their orders and three police cars headed off towards where they believed Paterson was staying. But their beliefs were wrong!
The three remaining cars stayed in position, waiting for any sign of Paterson. Detective Sergeant Gary Peggs was sitting in his car when he heard a rustle in the bushes behind him. He turned suddenly but saw nothing, he re-focused his view on the garage. Again, he heard a rustle but this time it sounded closer, he turned his head but again he saw nothing. After turning back to look at the garage, he heard another rustle on the ground near to his car. He decided to get out and investigate, as he stepped out of his car and looked around the floor he saw nothing. He started to move around the car as slowly and as quietly as possible. He looked around the side of the car and there, lying on the floor was Paterson with a gun in his hand. It was a trap!