[00:00.00]One Saturday evening a gang
[00:03.82]of kids piled into a taxi,
[00:06.01]heading off for
[00:07.43]a barbecue on the beach.
[00:09.18]Some of the girls decided
[00:11.47]to walk along the beach.
[00:13.00]Megan joined them, lagging slightly behind.
[00:17.05]She knew she ought to
[00:19.90]hurry to catch up
[00:21.10]but the moist sand
[00:22.52]felt good under her feet.
[00:24.49]Water lapped at her toes;
[00:26.46]the tide was coming in.
[00:28.54]The violet light of dusk
[00:30.84]began to darken the sky.
[00:33.35]In the growing darkness
[00:36.30]a van pulled alongside her,
[00:38.83]stopping with a squeal of brakes.
[00:41.12]Before she knew what was happening
[00:45.17]two masked men leapt out
[00:47.35]of the car and
[00:48.89]began to chase her,
[00:50.31]grabbing her and finally
[00:52.06]throwing her to the ground.
[00:53.92]The gross attack that followed
[00:56.76]was brutal and unexplainable.
[00:59.72]Initially Megan tried to
[01:02.12]fight off her attackers
[01:03.66]by clawing at their
[01:05.19]faces with her nails.
[01:07.16]Using a coil of rope
[01:09.57]to bind her hands,
[01:11.21]the men were free to proceed.
[01:13.17]First a fist broke her
[01:16.24]upper jaw leaving her unconscious.
[01:18.65]Then the hoodlums used
[01:20.89]a metal rod to crush
[01:22.97]Megan’s skull and finally
[01:25.27]a knife blade penetrated
[01:27.46]her neck piercing an artery.
[01:29.75]After the crude act
[01:32.92]was completed her body was
[01:35.23]bundled into the back
[01:36.75]of a cab and discarded
[01:38.73]in a ditch in an isolated district
[01:40.69]far from the beach.
[01:43.43]Realizing that Megan had disappeared,
[01:46.72]her friends dialed an emergency number,
[01:50.43]notifying the authorities of the situation.
[01:53.17]Once Megan’s body was discovered,
[01:56.67]a warrant was issued
[01:58.42]for the immediate arrest
[02:00.17]of the two wanted men.
[02:02.46]Megan’s parents were
[02:04.32]notified by the embassy.
[02:06.95]They in turn retained legal counsel
[02:10.13]and an intense inquiry
[02:12.42]began into the case.
[02:15.05]Those officials with an intimate knowledge
[02:18.77]of the island felt that
[02:20.52]the mugging was a case
[02:21.72]of mistaken identification and
[02:23.69]a complete misunderstanding, a misguided outlet
[02:28.18]for mounting frustrations on the island |