so no surprise said eric mullens of the world journal. invasion and killing at the candelario place was a big deal for the weekly paper and for the whole town. we didn t know who was out there. people like their neighbors, dina and mark. i was afraid. i didn t even want to go to my paint class that i do in the evening because i was afraid to be out. a lot of people got guns. a lot of neighbors told me. i went out and got a gun. you know? i want to protect myself. everybody knew the candelarios had a nice house, filled with vintage treasures. there s a little jewelry that pam kept. this is her dresser. some of which were missing as ralph told the police during a videotaped tour. the television s gone. okay. the candelarios had been about to leave on vacation. so maybe the intruders thought they were gone and were surprised to find them at home. but who? a citizen s tip supplied a possible lead.
police weren t too happy about it. and eric mullens? i remember taking it home and reading it and putting it down and thinking, no, it didn t say that. and picking it back up again. but remarkable as ralph s letter was, it still wasn t the whole story. a few weeks after the murder, he mustered up the courage and told the police while he was held captive, he had asked to go to the restroom and he was sexually assaulted in the bathroom. why didn t he say anything about that before? his explanation was, that he was embarrassed. it might be a little bit difficult to talk about, but the smallest details could be very important, so keep that in mind. ralph agreed to show the investigators exactly what happened, and where. he grabbed me with the other hand on my hip right here. and
front of his house, hurt. i got to him and asked him if he needed help. and he seemed to be kind of out of it. finally ralph managed to get the words out. he and his wife had been attacked and robbed. very afraid the attackers might still be in the house, called 911. he looks like he had been shot. he said somebody broke in last night. how are they doing? he s not good. crying. he told me to go help her. she s in the kitchen. i m going to get my neighbor to help me here. ralph, we re getting help for you, ralph. okay? the police arrived. went into the house with guns drawn. and there at the entrance to the kitchen, still in her nightgown, lay pam candelario. her head covered in blood. i knew she was dead when the ambulance showed up, because they didn t go into the house. they just stayed, and were working on ralph. ralph wasn t shot, but he was hurt. and he was air lifted to the nearest trauma hospital. walsenburg, as local reporter eric mullens knew, was not equipped
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