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"WHO
KILLED VICTORIA'S SECRET?"
THE BASIC FACTS BEFORE
US
What
was to have been a joyous wedding ceremony at the Lodge in
Cloudcroft turned into murder among relatives. It appears
that both sides of the wedding party, the de Hermans and the
Sandovals, have long-lost relatives that live far back in the
hills of Kentucky. A long-standing family feud between the de
Herman and Sandoval clans made its way to the Sacramento
Mountains in New Mexico.
Clyde
de Herman, the leader of the clan, had received an anonymous
letter from someone in Albuquerque alerting him to the
wedding and giving him the date and time of the nuptials.
Clyde immediately assembled the clan and made plans to be at
the wedding.
The
Kentucky de Hermans are steadfast in their determination in
stopping the wedding because they do not want any relative of
theirs to marry into a family with whom they have been
feuding with for over 100 years. The Kentucky de Hermans
arrived at the
Lodge on Thursday afternoon and immediately
made plans to disrupt the wedding, hoping to convince
Victoria that Cameron Sandoval is not the man for her.
None
of the Kentucky de Hermans knows anything about the other
relatives in the extended de Herman family tree. They have
kept to themselves except for an occasional foray into the
Sandoval territory to stir up trouble.
On
the other side of creek in Stiffsock County, Kentucky lives
the Sandoval clan. They too heard, through the grapevine,
about the wedding and were greatly peeved that they had not
been invited to the big doings in Cloudcroft. The leader of
the clan, Jedadiah Sandoval vowed to make sure that his long
lost kin, Cameron Sandoval, knew exactly what he was getting
into by marrying beneath his station-in-life by joining a
family like
the de Hermans.
Jedadiah
Sandoval gathered his clan
together and they all made the long trek to Cloudcroft.
Both
clans arrived during the afternoon of Thursday, October 30,
2003. As soon as they arrived, the fur started to fly. What
began as a shouting matched soon turned into a melee
involving pushing, shoving and the shouting of belligerent
threats.
Little noticed during all this commotion was
the presence of Mr. Will Tellallit, a free-lance reporter who
was under assignment with K-BUNK television station. Mr.
Tellallit also worked for the Mountain Monthly covering local
events that might have reader interest.
His forte in
the news business was uncovering the sordid details of
scandals, rumors, and the nefarious secrets in the lives of
prominent individuals. He had been working on a story
about the big wedding and the unplanned arrival of the
Kentucky de Herman and Sandoval clans.
Seeing
the opportunity to make a grandstand play in front of the
entire assembled wedding party and clans, Mr. Will Tellallit
shouted that he had "the goods" on Victoria's and
Cameron's families and their so-called long lost relatives
and would tell the world about the "secret" at the
appropriate time during the wedding ceremony. Will vowed that
the wedding would not continue once he revealed his
information.
Will Tellallit's startling announcement
caused an immediate uproar among all the clan members and
forced Will to run back to his room to get away from the
fray.
After
order was restored by the Lodge security staff, all the clan
members retreated to their rooms.
Later
that evening, various family members frequented the Lodge bar
and the local Cloudcroft watering hole, the Western Bar.
At
approximately 12:30 a.m. on Friday morning, a shot rang out.
This caused the on-duty security guard, Buzz Eoff, to rush
out to the back of the Lodge. He searched to grounds and
found nothing out of order. Later while making his rounds
inside the Lodge, he heard a moaning sound coming out of Will
Tellallit's room. Using his passkey. Buzz entered Will's room
and found him sprawled on the floor, bleeding and clutching
his chest. When Buzz rushed to his side, he uttered his last
breath and died.
Buzz
immediately notified the front desk and had the night clerk
call for an ambulance and the police. About five minutes
later Officer Otto Buttkick arrived, cleared the crime scene
and secured the room pending further investigation.
A
preliminary search of the room revealed a bullet hole in the
window facing the Lodge courtyard.
A
statement from Officer Buttkick stated that all members of
the wedding party and the two clans were to consider
themselves as suspects in the murder of Will Tellallit.
The
investigation continues.
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