MrBallen

So ultimately, he told Brandon he could leave and that he would be in touch.

And then Vallelongo watched as Brandon and his lawyer stood up and filed out of the room.

It was sort of funny in a dark way that just a few days ago, Vallelongo couldn't see any reason why anybody would want to kill Dorothy.

And now it was like everybody in Dorothy's life, Elkin, Patricia, and now the Nodiers, wanted Dorothy's money and so really would benefit if she went away.

And so now he just had to figure out who wanted Dorothy gone the most.

About five months later, in October of 1985, Vallelongo stood in the middle of Dorothy's Pet Cemetery, along with Sergeant Strada, in total disbelief, because all around them, almost every single tombstone had been completely smashed.

Now, Vallelongo had no idea who had done this, but it was sort of oddly fitting, because just like this cemetery, Vallelongo's homicide case was a complete and total mess.

Since May, Vallelongo and some other investigators had questioned both Patricia and Brandon Nodier multiple times.

But all they ever did was point the finger at the other one.

And now, the two primary suspects in Dorothy's murder were essentially at war over her property.

After Dorothy's will was read, it would turn out that Patricia Newman had inherited a huge chunk of her estate, including whatever proceeds came from the cemetery business.

But the Nodiers were saying that, no, you cannot just give that to Patricia because the property is theirs.

And so the business is theirs because Dorothy had signed it all over to them.

And the lawsuit to overturn that sale, despite it being very contentious, it had not been resolved yet.

So you can't just shuffle it over to Patricia.

And on top of that, Bonnie Nodier, Brandon's ex-wife, had literally moved into Dorothy's house, making it even more complicated.

And so that was why the St.

Bernard Sheriff's Department and the state police were at the Pet Sematary right now.

Patricia was there and trying to get access to the house since she needed to get some of Dorothy's things and Bonnie wouldn't let her in.

Now, the uniformed officers had just gone there to make sure everybody played nice.