Filed by the Hathian Observer News team on behalf of GBTL. Part 1, as written by GBTL on 16/03:

Imagine reader that you're working late at night. Maybe you're working alone, just finishing the last of the paperwork, or sorting that last CD in the rack. Have you ever had that sense of dread, that creeping, spine-chilling feeling that cascades down your body and makes your legs tremble? Well reader, your reporter is made of stern stuff and has seen a few things already, but there's no shame in saying that this was the situation she found herself in on the 16th March while working at one of her other jobs... Yes reader, journalism doesn't pay that well, but that's a digression for another day...

 

Your reporter was putting in honest work, minding her own business and tired as the shift was late and customers lacking. There's only so many things that can be tidied or shelves that need some dusting and with the end of the shift in sight, it's fair to say that your reporter was zoning out. But then dear reader, then, this feeling of dread crept down, settling like a heavy weight in all the wrong places. It's hard to describe adequately in words, but perhaps some of you have experienced it for yourselves; an unexplained need to fight or fly away. A feeling that clutches your throat and your heart... If you've not reader, then count yourself lucky!

 

So, wearing this fright like a cloak, your reporter tried to suppress it through fresh air. Putting down the cleaning supplies and taking the air outside should have helped, but it didn't... Nearby, a large, partially finished building loomed and the proximity of this hulking concrete shell made the terror more concentrated. Something, or someone wasn't right nearby, so your reporter got out her torch and camera and with an unsteady step, looked for the entrance. Inside this building, which had a number of levels and was only dimly lit by overhead strip lights, your reporter braved the corridors and rooms, shining the light of reporting, or more accurately the torch, into the dark corners looking for whatever it was...

 

Well reader, it would be a poor story if this reporter just wrote about her scaredy-cat feelings, so yes, something wicked was found in that dark building... As the torch swung over another corridor the lights in one room had been left on and it was here your reporter nervously advanced.

 

Lets describe the scene to you reader:

- A naked body unmoving on a table. The limbs obscenely spread to the sides. The curves of large breasts visible, splayed out over a chest that was taking no breath. Small silver rings piercing the body in sensitive places and a head covered under a sheet with strands of short, dark hair visible at the open side. -

 

Yes reader, a corpse where one should not be and certainly not at 2am (SLT) outside of a morgue. Approaching, GBTL was scared reader, who wouldn't be? Was this the work of some killer at loose in the large building, a sick prank, or something less obvious but more sinister?

 

The body showed signs of abuse, with a marked bruise around the neck, indicative of strangulation with some kind of cord or strap although it was impossible to tell if this was the result of murder or a suicide. But what makes this stranger reader and perhaps more sinister was the mortuary tag attached to the foot. The tag, which your reporter has photographed along with all other evidence noted the standard unknown name "Jane Doe" and a time of death that was certified at around 11:30pm (SLT); only a few hours before your reporter had found the body.

 

Reader, you must understand that it doesn't make sense that a body of a recent murder or suicide victim should find itself a few hours later on a table like this in the dead of night in a half-finished building. In such situations the police should be involved, investigating the victim and their final moments. Even in some miraculous world where HPD is fully funded, there is no legal way to then sign that body over in such a short period of time and without refrigeration this is desecration of a corpse at the very least, which surely must be chargeable.

 

<b>As dictated from GBTL's jail cell to the Observer staff on 17/03 :</b>

Editors note: GBTL has been stuck in HPD for the last few days. After dictating this interview to colleagues, she continues to be incarcerated on likely false charges. Watch out for her follow-up report, when she is released.

 

 

GBTL doesn't just stumble on things and write, she also investigates and so it was time to visit HPD with the camera crew and ask about any recent homicides or missing persons. Well, your reporter should have expected little help from our public servants. Although they didn't specifically deny it, to your reporter it appeared clear they had no open cases on a recent death or missing persons. They event went so far as to arrest your reporter as she gathered news! In most places, the Fourth Estate is considered helpful to Law Enforcement; being able to gather information that can later be shared, but no... Hathian's Police Department has managed the 'Enforcement' angle, but not in this reporter's view, the 'Law' angle. Our news crew, including our hard working camera operator Jenny were rudely instructed to leave and had their equipment threatened while filming outside HPD as part of this news-gathering... showing how little value is placed on the media here.

 

While being arrested, your reporter had no individual complaints, other than the lack of probable cause to justify some of the search techniques, however, a story for another time concerns treatment of other detainees and whether constitutionally guaranteed rights are being buried in the name of quick compliance and a perverted view of justice, not to mention brutality. Look out for our investigation on HPD's techniques in due time reader, but for now, back to the main story...

 

Thankfully being arrested when there is no reported crime or missing person carries little more than a momentary time delay and while GBTL is always willing to cooperate with Law Officers, in this case, the risk exists that this issue extends into such organizations. Until your reporter is clearer on what crime, if any, has been committed she cannot tip-off potential suspects.

 

So reader, this leads GBTL to a number of conclusions... None of them pretty and all of them demanding your anger as it seems likely that in this town, someone, or some organization is shipping bodies of the recently deceased.... For what reward and how frequently GBTL doesn't know, but this article serves as a warning to citizens and a warning to any involved in this despicable trade, your misdeeds will catch-up with you and then, hopefully you'll find yourself in the very same prison cell GBTL found herself in as she worked towards unmasking the truth!

 

Stay tuned reader... our next target has been decided. The truth will out!

 

Editor's note: GBTL assured us she was in HPD for a short period of time, but has not yet been released as at 18/03. We will continue to actively press for her release.