Case No. WNT075
Kidnap Victim Support

The Brief

On the evening of 18 October 2000 fourteen year-old Elayna Lewis was abducted in Winterset, Iowa. She was bundled into a white van by two men outside a local butchers. The kidnapping was witnessed by butcher, Richard Midden, but he had just taken some sedatives and did not report the occurance until the morning. Despite great efforts on the part of the investigating team no sign of Elayna was found and the case was passed over to evidence response to make the transition from an active to a closed case.

The mid-west evidence response team began work on this case on 13 November 2000. Their contacts were Special Agent Nathan Trask of Des Moines FBI (who was in charge of the original investigation) and Special Agent Helena Swarzkopf of Victim Assistance. The following is the agents' understanding of what actually transpired.

The Facts

At some point prior to November 2000 it came to the attention of Michael Levin of the Department of Agriculture that either brain bugs were possessing members of the Westwood Charity, or that the Westwood Charity was in collusion with the brain bugs. He sent agent Richard Quail to infliltrate a farm owned by the Westwood Charity outside Winterset, Iowa. Quail was due to make contact with Wilson Guthrie (another of Levin's agents) in the town at the beginning of November. Quail never made that contact because he had been possessed by a brain bug.

For reasons unknown to the agents the brain-bug possessed members of the Westwood Charity required a victim for some cultish ends. On 18 October they abducted Elayna Lewis from Winterset, Iowa and took her to their farm. She was kept drugged and unaware until they were ready for her. They were ready in the early hours of 15 November 2000. Fortunately by this time the mid-west evidence response team were on the scene and rescued the girl.

The possessed Quail displayed what can only be described as magical powers in his fight with the evidence response team. With a gesture he was able to break all the tendons in Jane Munroe's left leg, and he was coated in a strange sheen that made him impervious to ballistic weapons. Only a stiletto given to the party by the mysterious Mike (see below) was able to wound him. Quail had access to a pool of strange viscious black liquid that cocooned him and created impenetrable armour. As the agents could not harm him they fled from the scene. The possessed Quail was still at large at the conclusion of the case, but Michael Levin moved against the other holdings of the Westwood Charity. Quail later turned up in case 0024-GCF.

The butcher, Richard Midden, is a psychic who had precognitive dreams. He was able to tell the agents what was going to happen to Elayna. Without him, they would never have thought to go to the Westwood Charity's farm. His name has been passed on to Eisenstein, and he has been approached by Valerie Hudson to work as a psychic.

The mysterious Mike and Gabe were encountered in Winterset. It has been postulated they are the Archangels Michael and Gabriel respectively. Mike knew a great deal about the agents and the cases, and the weapon he gave up was extremely useful. When Artemis Black returned to look for them after the cult had been broken they were nowhere to be seen.

Subsequent Investigations into this Case

On a subequent investigation in Winterset on 1 May 2001 (case TL348), the mid-west team unearthed a subterranean office and computer suite hidden in the mine beyond the pool of dark liquid. Photographs of members of Winterset were discovered, along with mystical runes similar to those on Hamblin's time door. There were also pictures of the heavens that could be extrapolated into the notes of Requiem for the Broken. The agents believe these agents contain the secrets of why the brain bugs abducted Elayna, and what they were trying to gain. The agents also discovered a great obsidian ring that may have something to do with the "Winterset Effect".

Unanswered Questions

• The brain-bugs in this case were on the mystic caste. But what were they trying to achieve?
• What did the brain-bug possessed Westwood Charity members want with Elayna Lewis? Why keep her drugged for so long?
• What was the black liquid that Richard Quail cocooned himself in?
• Are Mike and Gabe really archangels? Was their role in Winterset merely to give the team the knife they could use against the Joker? They could not help the team because of the Game.
• What will
• What is going on in Winterset, Iowa? The town seems too good to be true. Everyone is the best at everything. There is a story there.
• Is it is possible that archangels such as Gabe and Mike have been sleeping their way through the town for generations and that many inhabitants are partly celestial (like Todd O'Connell).
• Or does this "Winterset Effect" have anything to do with the great obsidian ring discovered in the mine?

Related Cases

• Case 0019-GCF: Investigation into Alan Hamblin III
• Case WK001: USAF Duplicate Uniforms
• Case 1097-IN1: Vandalism to Department of Agriculture Field.
• Case 0024-GCF: Queen of the Brain Bugs
• Case 0017-GCF: Ongoing investigation into the Brain Bug Aliens

See Also

• Jane Munroe's meeting with Michael Levin of 27 November 2000.
• The Rules of the Game
• Artemis Black's Great Conspiracy Theory