Thomas Langley, head teacher at Ravenswood Academy, was working late into the night. After finishing his review of teacher lesson plans, he packed his briefcase and started down the empty hallway. The overhead fluorescent lights suddenly flickered—once, twice, three times, four, then a fifth time. As he reached for the light switch to investigate, something heavy struck the back of his head. He crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
When he stirred, he was bound to a cold steel bed, a coarse black cloth covering his face. The sound of hard-soled shoes clicking against concrete echoed through the room. Panicked, Thomas screamed and thrashed against his restraints.
The cloth was pulled away. His eyes widened in shock as he stared at his attacker.
"Let me go!" he demanded, his voice cracking. "Do you have any idea who I am?"
The killer said nothing, simply placing two photographs on the bed beside him—one of Eli Hart, the other of Milo Bell.
"Do you know them?"
Thomas shook his head. "No, I don't—"
Before he could finish, the killer grabbed a sharp axe from a nearby table and swung it down, severing his right arm. A guttural scream tore from his throat, but the room was soundproofed; no one could hear him cry out.
The killer leaned in again. "Do you know them?"
Waves of searing pain coursed through his body. Thomas finally broke, gasping out everything he knew about the two in the photos.
The killer nodded slowly, then turned to the table and picked up a container of corrosive acid. Without hesitation, they poured it over Thomas's thigh. His screams filled the room as the acid burned through his clothes and skin. The attacker then raised the axe once more, cutting off his left hand.
Taking a thick length of rope, the killer wrapped it around Thomas's neck and pulled tight. Within seconds, he fell still.
The killer retrieved a sharp knife, carefully removing both of Thomas's eyes and placing them in a small cooler. Next, they sliced open his neck, then cut off each of his fingernails one by one.
Thomas's body was stuffed into a large travel trunk and left beside the school's main dumpster. His severed head was hung from a hook in the staff room. The eyes and fingernails were packaged separately and sent to the "wicked teacher" the killer had targeted.