Not to mention the last time I went to Wright about a guy she almost killed him.
“Ugh.” I faceplant onto my bed, which makes Teddy Bundy fall onto his side. I place him upright, his fur soft under my fingers. I run my thumb up and down the little guy, trying not to find him annoyingly adorable.
I’m pretty confident Flynn’s not watching right now because I feel like, if he was, he’d be gloating. Just to be sure though, I haul my comforter off the bed and carry the bundle into my tiny ensuite. It didn’t escape my notice that neither of the bathrooms were included in Flynn’s list of camera locations and for some reason I really believe that’s a line he wouldn’t cross.
The bathroom is so small there’s barely any room to actually sit so I dump my comforter, then grab some pillows and my laptop and make myself a little nest in the shower. It’s not till I’m settled, with my laptop resting on my knees, deep in an article about Flynn, that I remember my food.
“Shit,” I swear as I scramble out of my shower-nest, stubbing my toe on the metal lip and then hopping the rest of the way to the kitchen.
The acrid scent of burnt cheese catches in my throat and I cough on the smoke that billows out when I open the oven. I stare forlornly at the charred top of the mac and cheese, but my gran firmly believed that we don’t waste food, so I scoop the pasta into a bowl and take a bite. It’s cold in the middle. But I’m starving so I decide to risk it.
I grab a fork and take my sorry excuse for a meal back to my shower-nest, balancing the bowl on a pillow and eating with one hand while I continue with my research.
Flynn was an up-and-coming photographer, his photos had been displayed in a bunch of different galleries before he was even twenty. There are dozens of articles about his arrest.
The Vigilante Choker Unmasked: All-star Seattle photographer confesses to seven murders.
Why the Vigilante Choker handed himself in: A psychologist’s theories.
Murderer or Hero: The full list of the Vigilante Choker’s victims and their crimes.
I click on the last article and start reading. It shows candid photos of each of the men Flynn killed along with details about their alleged crimes.
None of them were convicted criminals but their bodies were all found with damning evidence. His first victim, Tyler Palmer was found lying on top of victim statements accusing him of rape and sexual assault. The article says that the victims all later withdrew their statements but seemingly only after receiving threats and financial settlements from Palmer’slawyers. Evidence of those threats were found next to Palmer’s body.
The next victim, Randall Leewood, was discovered on top of a shallow grave of a missing sixteen-year-old girl. They later found traces of his DNA on and in her body. The details are horrific, and the mac and cheese curdles in my stomach.
I put the bowl aside and keep reading.
Maybe Flynn’s a monster, but I don’t think there’s a decent person in the world that wouldn’t argue the men he killed were worse.
I go back to google and find an article following his trial. It made papers across the world because of how he handed himself in. The police were chasing their tails until Flynn walked into the station one day and confessed.
Is the Vigilante Choker really crazy: A breakdown of the insanity defense.
The article outlines the M’Naghten rule, which states the defendant must meet one of two criteria to be deemed not guilty by reason of insanity. Either being unable to differentiate right from wrong or unable to perceive the nature of the act they committed.
Flynn may be a sociopath, but I don’t need to be a psychiatrist to know that he knew exactly what he was doing. The evidence he left of his victims’ crimes should have been proof enough, but I guess having the top lawyer in the city as your brother comes in handy when you’re convicted of murder.
The article paints a pretty damning picture of how the prosecutor fell apart and Flynn’s lawyer got the jury on side. Turns out it’s not too hard convincing twelve strangers thatyou’re not the bad guy when the people you’ve killed hurt innocent women.
There’s a video clip of Flynn on the stand, looking far too dapper in his suit, a sheepish smile on his face. He looks about as far from a serial killer as you can get. I catch myself tracing the cursor over the slight dimple in his cheek and quickly close the tab because that’s insane behavior.
Three signs you’re crushing on an inappropriate guy:
1. You don’t call the police when he puts cameras in your house.
2. You think a photo of him on trial for murder is cute.
3. You spend all evening trying to find reasons he’s not so bad.
The thing is Flynn’s murders don’t make sense. Every article I’ve found says the only thing connecting the victims is that they were all rapists. Flynn got his name, the Vigilante Choker, because of it, but how did he know? Each of the victims was found with evidence of their crimes but until then, they were model citizens. Lawyers and business managers, even a surgeon. So how did Flynn know to look at those particular men?
Then there’s his latest victim. Garret Sleet. Unlike the others, Sleet had been convicted of his crimes. So why did Flynn go after him? It wasn’t just a crime of convenience, Flynn wouldn’t have been caught if he didn’t hand himself in. There are dozens of rapists walking free in Seattle, but Flynn confessed and then rigged the trial so he’d be committed to the same psych hospital as Garret Sleet.
I don’t think his victims are random. I think Flynn has a list.
I pull up the article with profiles of all his victims. They’re the sort of men that went to fancy colleges on their parents’ dime, doing well in the world because they started three rungs higher than everyone else.
