20. Death Notice of Nurse Bridie Henry

Independent Star, 25 July
.
"...DEATHS
Henry, Brigid ('Bridie'). Died tragically on 18 July. Greatly mourned by her father and mother, Tom and Eileen, bothers Mark and Jerry, sister Evelyn, her grandparents and her extended family. Removal to St Andrew's Church, Wilmington, DE, at 5 p.m. Burial after 10 a.m. Mass on Tuesday. Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, to Georgetown University Hospital Children's Fund...".

11. Extract from statement of Louis Babcock

[23 July]

"...I am an ambulance driver at Georgetown University Hospital.

On 18 July I was returning to the hospital after bringing an elderly patient to her home on the Waterfront. As usual there was a tailback at Washington Circle. I joined the queue of traffic and waited for it to start moving. I was listening to the usual chatter on the ambulance radio when I noticed that there was a woman bleeding in the car beside me. I got out of the ambulance and cautiously approached the car. The man driving the car was clearly in distress. He rolled down the window and asked if I could help him get to the hospital. He had a foreign accent when he spoke, I think an English accent. He sounded educated and when I noticed a Georgetown University Hospital Parking permit on the windscreen of the car I assumed that he must be a doctor. It occurred to me that it was a little odd that I hadn't seen him around the hospital previously but I assumed that he must be new. He told me that the woman in the car had been working at home when she fell and injured herself. The woman herself tried to speak once or twice but she was drifting in and out of consciousness and I couldn't make any sense of what she said to me. I told the man to follow me, then jumped back into the ambulance, turned on the siren and made my way to the hospital. as quickly as I could.

There was one strange moment on the way. When we got to the turn-off from M Street onto Memorial Bridge the man braked his car and put out his left indicator as if he was going to turn towards Arlington. Then immediately the indicator turned off and he continued following after me.

When we got to the hospital I pulled up the ambulance in front of the rear entrance. A couple of aides ran out and, together with the man, we managed to lift the injured woman onto a trolley. One of the aides asked the man how the patient had suffered her injuries He replied that she had fallen in Rock Creek Park. This was not the same story that he had told me and this immediately made me suspicious of him. So I let the two aides and the man continue pushing the trolley through to the casualty unit and quickly ran off to fetch a security guard. There was something about the man's manner that I found unusual and it was troubling that he had told two different stories about how the woman came to be injured.

I told the security guard on duty that there was a man in the casualty unit whom I thought might have hurt the woman who had come in with him. The guard radioed this through to the DC police - he is required to do that - and then he came with me to the casualty unit. However, by the time we got there the man was gone. The nurse-in-charge told us that he had gone out to move his car so that it wasn't an obstruction. By the time the security guard and myself got out into the parking area, the man and his car were gone.

I have seen police sketches of the man believed to have killed the woman whom I helped to bring to the hospital. I have no doubt that this man and the man whom I helped to rush through the DC traffic are the same person. He is a young to middle-aged man of pale complexion. He has greying hair and a red beard, though I believe that his beard may be dyed. He is of medium height and build and speaks with a foreign accent, I think English...".

3. Extract from Washington DC radio's "News at 5"

[18 July]

"...Presenter - Welcome back. News is still filtering in about that sensational murder in Rock Creek Park where Toni Rogers is standing by to tell us the latest. Toni?

Reporter - Thanks, Bob. As you say I'm here in Rock Creek Park which, as listeners will know, is barely a mile from The White House. Normally the park would be full of locals and tourists making the most of the late summer sunshine. But today it is just the DC police and some journalists who are allowed inside following the cold-blooded murder that took place here just a few hours ago.

- Tell us what happened, Toni.

- We still don't have all the details, Bob, but what we know is this. Sometime around lunchtime a young nurse from Georgetown University Hospital came here to do a spot of sunbathing. She parked her car in 23rd Street and then made her way to a quiet corner of the Park, threw a blanket on the ground and lay down. A while afterwards she was approached by a man who pulled a gun on her.

- Do we have a description of the man, Toni?

- People seem to have noticed more what he was wearing than what he looked like, Bob. Unusually, despite it being a hot day today, he was dressed in a thick woollen jumper, a heavy duffle coat and a woollen fisherman's hat.

- Sounds like he shouldn't be too hard to spot.

- You might think that, Bob. However, he seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

- And now he's wanted for murder, right?

- That's right, Bob. After he pulled a gun on the nurse, he apparently led her back to her own car. She got inside and he climbed in after her. There appears to have been a scuffle and then he clubbed her to death with a heavy weapon, it's thought a hammer.

- Did nobody see what was happening?

- There were a few eyewitnesses, Bob, but most of them weren't close enough to understand what was happening. One man did shout at the attacker to stop - .

- At which point the attacker panicked?

- He did. He jumped into the driver's seat and drove off, presumably having snatched the keys from his victim.

- Who was dead I presume?

- No, she was still only injured, though seriously injured, at this time.

- How do we know that?

- Well that's where this tragic story takes an unusual twist, Bob. The attacker sped off towards Washington Circle where he got caught in traffic.

- Traffic on Washington Circle isn't unusual.

- No but what happened next is, Bob. The vehicle that pulled up alongside the assailant was an ambulance. The driver of the ambulance saw that there was a wounded person inside, noticed a Georgetown University Hospital permit on the windscreen of the car and assumed the killer was a doctor bringing a patient to Casualty. So he turned on the ambulance siren and escorted the murderer and the victim through the traffic to the hospital.

- Didn't anyone at the hospital suspect the attacker?

- No. When he got to the hospital the staff were so busy looking after the wounded nurse that the murderer managed to get away.

- But not before the hospital staff got a good look at him?

- In all the commotion they seem not to have got a much better look than the people in Rock Creek Park, Bob. The hat and coat were noticed, there is some suggestion that the murderer may have had a beard. Oh and he spoke briefly to one of the nurses who thought he had an English accent.

- And his victim. How was she by this time?

- She was in surgery for over an hour, Bob, but the doctors weren't able to save her. She was declared dead at 2.15 this afternoon.

- Do we know her name?

- Not yet, Bob. The police won't release the victim's name until her family have been contacted and we understand that not all of her family members have been contacted at this time.

- When did the police become involved?

- Not too long after the killer brought his victim to the Hospital. The staff quickly realised that they were dealing with a crime victim and immediately called the DC police. The police interviewed the ambulance driver and separately they got reports that a woman had been attacked in Rock Creek Park. It didn't take them long to realise that all of these events were connected. They sealed off Rock Creek Park soon afterwards and a forensic team has been combing the place for evidence since then.

- But so far there's been no further sight of the killer?

- No sign of the killer, Bob, and not a lot to go on by way of description.

- Maybe you should give us again what description there is, Toni.

- Sure, Bob. Police are looking for a man of medium height and slim build with possibly a reddish beard. He may speak with a foreign accent, perhaps an English accent. He was wearing a heavy coat, jumper and hat when last seen but it is possible that these were simply by way of disguise and that they may have been discarded. He is clearly highly dangerous and any people who think they may know him are urged to contact the police as soon as possible and not to challenge him.

- Okay, thanks Toni for that report. Let's hope the police catch the killer soon.

- Let's hope so, Bob...".