[ +- ] Timeline of Events
Friday 24AUG2018
-3:45 PM - Ronnie Stone (17), Billy Lesko (16), Eva Carpenter (15), and April Ives (15) - all of Grand Forks, ND - tell their parents that they’ll be spending the weekend at each other’s houses (e.g., Ronnie tells his parents he’ll be at Billy’s and vice versa, etc). The last time any of the teenagers were seen by their families is in the late afternoon.
Saturday 25AUG2018
-The parents remain in contact with their children throughout the day, as evidenced by text messages sent back and forth, though all phone calls the parents make go unanswered - ringing through to voicemail.
Sunday 26AUG2018
-Throughout the day, the parents’ texts are no longer returned, and calls go straight to voicemail without ringing. The parents begin to contact each other, and realize that the teenagers aren’t where they said they’d be.
-12:00 PM - Now panicking, the parents go to the Grand Forks PD to file missing person reports.
-3:00 PM - GFPD gets a warrant for the teens’ phone records and do some preliminary investigation. Based on texts the teens sent to each other and the location of the last cell tower their phones pinged, the police deduce that the quartet had gone to Leech Lake, across the border in Minnesota, for one last weekend of summer fun before school starts.
-8:00 PM - The police alert the Cass County Sheriff's Department, who take the case under advisement but stress that they can’t justify assigning resources to the situation yet, due to the high volume of campers and hikers that "go missing" near the lake only to return within 48 hours. Until there is evidence of foul play, or the 48 hours have passed, Cass County won’t begin to hunt for the teens in earnest.
Monday 27AUG2018
-4:30 AM - An anonymous Caucausian male ("John Doe") appearing to be in his 50s or 60s, soaked with blood and obviously having suffered extensive external trauma (lacerations & blunt force), is checked into the Cass Lake Hospital (about 20 miles north of Walker) before dawn by a trucker. In addition to severe blood loss and the wounds he had suffered, Doe was visibly ravaged by horrific tumors. Unable to tell the doctors what had happened to them, he instead babbled about "monsters in the lake" with "burning eyes". The doctors quickly put him in a medically induced coma to stabilize him. Upon closer examination, they found a slew of oddities. These are detailed in his medical report, included in this dossier. Doe carries nothing except a wallet with hardly anything in it: some meager cash, a condom in its wrapper, and the driver’s permit issued to 17 year old Ronnie Stone, of Grand Forks, ND.
-5:00 AM - Law enforcement is summoned due to the violent nature of the man’s injuries. Due to the nature of jurisdiction on tribal land, representatives from both the county and the tribe arrive. Cass County dispatched Deputy Melanie Fincher, and the Tribal Police sent Officer William Aitken, who is also a Delta Green Friendly.
-5:30 AM - The teamster who checked Doe in, 29-year-old Jesse Serio, gave separate, but identical, statements to the two officers: He lives in Blaine, MN and works for Shotgun Express, Inc., a local trucking business. He was on his route, driving along Route 200 south of Leech Lake, when he saw Doe stumble out of the woods and run towards the road, frantically waving him down. Serio stopped, let the man get in, and panicked when he saw Doe’s condition. He didn’t know what to do aside from bringing him into the hospital. Deputy Fincher has advised him to remain in-state while the matter is under investigation.
-6:00 AM - Deputy Fincher, recognizing the name Ronnie Stone from the prior day, alerts the Sheriff of the discovery of Stone’s driver’s permit. The Sheriff begins preparation to investigate the missing teenagers more seriously, as Doe’s possession of Stone’s wallet indicates potential foul play.
-5:00 PM - After a day of searching the area surrounding the lake, a Cass County Deputy stumbles upon an abandoned car parked off-road on Rogers Point with North Dakota plates registered to Charles Stone, of Grand Forks.
-5:00-7:30 PM - More deputies are dispatched to the Point to do a full sweep of the peninsula, and by the time the sun is setting, they’ve discovered a horrific scene. A clearing overlooking the lake, about 15 meters in diameter, strewn with destroyed camping supplies. Two tents are shredded and their contents scattered about. The ground is soaked with blood. The plant life in the clearing appears to have been scorched. Early testing confirms biological material from multiple subjects present. Exactly how many is impossible to determine due to the messy nature of the scene.
-8:00 PM - Deputy Fincher sends biological matter found at the scene for DNA comparison with the comatose John Doe.
-9:00 PM - Following the discovery of the camping site, Officer Aitken alerts his contact in the Delta Green Special Access Program, Agent Ballantine, of the situation at the lake. A task force is hastily assembled.
Tuesday 28AUG2018
-The Sheriff Dept.’s investigation reports show that the Sheriff’s Department spent the day interviewing locals, campers, and tourists around the lake. There are no obvious leads uncovered, but there are three oddities that recur throughout various testimonies:
-First, a number of tourists have been complaining that the kiosk on the south shore of the lake (where campers can procure maps, rent canoes, etc) has been unexpectedly closed without any notice;
-Second, there are several similar reports of a man who seemed out of place around the lake. No one can remember quite what he looked like, and small details vary (some people said he was wearing glasses, others said he had a mustache, etc), but there are a few details that are consistently reported: The man is very tall, easily over 6’; he is dressed unusually for the season and the environs, wearing a long brown topcoat and a straw hat; he carries a briefcase; and,
-Third, multiple campers report finding dozens of dead local birds littering the ground at various locations around the lake on the morning of Sunday (26 AUG). One camper even reported being woken up shortly after 2 AM that morning by birds dropping out of the sky onto his tent.
-Cass County also looked into the background of the missing teenagers and their families and found nothing suspicious: No criminal records, the families have no enemies they know of, etc. The possibility that any foul play was personally motivated seems extremely unlikely.
-5:00 PM - The results of the DNA comparison come back to the Sheriff Department, confirming with near certainty that John Doe was present at the campsite, though this DNA does not match any already on record. His identity remains unknown, but he is now the suspect in a violent crime investigation. His hospital bed is being monitored around the clock by Cass County Deputies. He will not be discharged before being interrogated.
Wednesday 29AUG2018
-The Agents are activated for Operation MOONLIGHT SERENADE and dispatched to Leech Lake to investigate.