Diary of a Mother's Mission

My son, Kevin Martin, disappered under mysterious circumstances in the wee hours of July 18, 2004. His partial remains were found on February 1, 2005 in the river. The Des Moines Police have not been helpful and this is my blog to tell what I have done as it's done.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Updates and a Couple of Not so Minor Additions

The Des Moines River is so high. I've never seen it that high but, then again, I've only lived here a short period of time. Hopefully, I'll never see it as high as it was in 1993. When I was here for my first stay, 2001-2003 I doubt if I paid much attention to the river. Now, sad to say, I do. If I had known more about it last August I would have done things differently. I would have done a small earch on my own since the river was so low and sandbars everywhere. I don't believe that Kevin jumped but he was found in the river and so the Des Moines has become linked to his death. I even found comfort sitting on the sandbar near where his remains were found. Rivers and bodies of water can be and are destructive but they can also bring peace and calm while near them or on them. The water was half way up the circular stairs in front of the Embassy Suites.

Well, I didn't find my cake pans at 1505 Pleasant Street, Kevin's first apartment, but I did find out that they were planning to move the house to a vacant plot on 16th Street right behind Kevin's yellow house. I thought that was kind of ironic. A young couple is planning to have it moved and then restoring it. I think they got the house for nothing (I hope so) as long as they got it out of its present location at 1505 Pleasant. This morning I spoke to a woman on Sherman Hill and she said the man who owned a couple of those plots finally sold a couple of them and so they were bringing in at least two houses and possibly a third one. Another house is coming from 6th ave. she said. I wonder what Kevin would think about all of this?

Awhile back I started a new run as we do three times a year. It's the number 1 route which takes me past Flanagan's and then out to 4th and Elm, Valley Junction. When I came out for my visit in April, 2001, Valley Junction was one of the places he took me to see. When I moved here months later I don't remember if we got back out there again, and so when I saw it for the first time in years I was amazed at how much it had grown. So many more shops and really kind of a pain to navigate through the main street with the bus. Fortunately it's only a block or two in order to get urned around. It's a Saturday and so especially now with the warm weather there are cars every where. Keven would have loved to see how it has grown with all of the exclusive shops.

A couple of weeks ago I did go to the police station to see if I could get additional information on Kevin's case. I couldn't. I did make an appointment to speak to the Lt. regarding sharing their findings with me. I met with him March 27th and he was going to get back to me. He needed to review the material in Kevin's case file or whatever you call itand then he would give me a call. Waiting. I spoke to a gentleman at the public safety dept. regarding private investigators. A real rip-off. No regulation and they charge $75.00 per hour for nothing. I also spoke to an investigator at the Iowa Dept. of Criminal Investigation. They can't help out on cases which fall under the jurisdiction of the police dept. unless they are asked. If the police had limited resources as I was repeatedly told , why didn't they ask for assisstance from another agency?

I was talking to someone recently and I remembered that I had left a couple of things out when I was talking about suicide. Suicide usually happens very close to home. I remember Sgt. Rush from the Scotia police told me(I think) that it usually happens within a quarter of a mile from the persons home. The other thing is that suicide victims want to be found.

Last but not of least importance is Kevin's Pinky Blanket, which I have. I had it for many years and put it in the car with me on a couple of trips I took before coming out here. When I got here in 2001 I gave the blanket to Kevin which he used on his bed. When I was on my way out here in July, right after Kevin had disappeared, I knew something was missing in the car. I had a shawl that Brian had given me. A Steelers sweatshirt Terry had given plus a Steelers pillow, and a shawl my mother had knitted. Something was missing though. When I had gotten out here and had gone to Kevin's apartment for the first time everything had been cleared out except the dresser, the bed, and there on the bed, folded neatly, was Kevin's Pinky Blanket. That's what was missing from the car. Something of Kevin's!

And I've learned how to "edit"! Now I just have to learn where the spell-check is!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home