On the Prowl
A Murder Story
(unedited version)
by Bernadette Calonego
It is no coincidence that a gruesome murder story in Newfoundland kept me in its thrall. I am a mystery novel writer, and true crimes are a source of knowledge for me (and sometimes of great sadness, too). The murder of Samantha Walsh, a teenage girl from Fleur de Lys, touched me on many levels. Her murder that took place thirteen years ago shook not only an entire community to the core. To this day, people all over Newfoundland remember the gruesome, senseless death of this 13 year old girl as if it had happened yesterday.
You might have read the same book as me: “Into the Night”, by Gordon Walsh, a de-tailed and personal account of what hap-pened that winter in the tiny outport. There was soon a suspect, 16-year-old Michael Lewis, a local lad on whose three-wheel ATV Samantha was seen last. But Michael did not admit to the crime at first, and Samantha`s body could not be found. When a man from Gander offered to help the search with his dog, author Gordon Walsh was not very hopeful. A po-lice dog from Corner Brook that had been in action only ten hours after Samantha`s disappearance, had not found anything. Since then, 18 days had passed and two snowstorms had destroyed possible traces.
Dog handler Leonardo Candi told the peo-ple in Fleur de Lys that his dog Gipsy, a bloodhound, had found people before. Candi was a tracker of the Atlantic Bloodhound Track and Trail team. He promised the people from Fleur de Lys that his dog would find Samantha. Candi led the dog to Samantha`s bedroom so that Gipsy could pick up her scent. The dog also sniffed out the rest of the family, a way to find out that there was one person missing. According to Walsh`s book, the tracker tied a long rope to his dog and followed some 12 to 15 feet behind. Gipsy worked her way along the route that Samantha had taken that fate-ful day, past the bus shelter where her murderer pretended to have her dropped off. Then the dog led his owner on a skidoo trail away from the homes, over the hills.
Gipsy followed the trail until she stopped close to a cabin. This turned out to be the spot where they found Samantha`s body later. The dead girl`s mother told the Gordon Walsh that the dog came to her at the end of that day and put its head into her lap and looked at her. The mother felt that the dog knew the victim was her daughter. It is hard not to have tears in your eyes when you read this.
It is astounding what dogs can achieve. And how much they can do for humans. Thanks to Gipsy, the crime was solved after what were long agonising weeks for the people in Fleur de Lys. Shortly af-ter, Michael Lewis confessed. We should cherish and respect dogs for their in-credible loyalty and companionship. They have lived with humans for thousands of years. They try to please their owners at all costs. In return, we should give them a good life.
Dogs can not only sniff out drugs at airports or explosives that threaten hu-mans. According to new scientific stud-ies, they can also smell illnesses in humans like cancer. This could lead to early detection of illnesses. I have read that a dog`s brain is only one tenth of a human brain, but the part that controls smell is 40 times larger than in humans. Go figure!
Your dog doesn`t have to be a bloodhound but it still loves to search and go after a scent. Let a dog sniff around while you walk it. Have some fun and play with your feline companion. Show it a toy and then place it in front of your pet. Let it go look for it. Second time around, you hide it a little further away but with the toy peeking out. Then you put something in front of the toy, a pillow for instance.
Very gradually, you increase distance and difficulty. Let your dog go do its search game. It will love you for it. And when the dog finds the toy, play with your pet for a while. It is relaxing for both of you. You might not be a tracker, but you are a good trooper for sure!
And in my next mystery novel, there is a dog, of course.
