HOUGHTON (Kerry Houghton)
Basic Info
- Social worker
- Former inspector of Cornucopia house
- Was DHS case manager in 2001
- Let go after occurrences at Cornucopia house
- Age 40 at time of death (2016)
- Lived at apartment #12121, STRAWBERRY MILLS apt complex in WHITEHALL maryland
Dialog
No direct dialog recorded.
Events and Notes
2001
- Was DHS case manager
- Inspected Cornucopia house
- Let go after occurrences there
- Email chains from 2001 with DHS on her computer, where she repeats over and over that she never saw anything, and that FRANKLIN PRICE (prev inspector) hadn't seen anything either
- Desperate correspondence; she's suspended and then fired
Living Situation
- Lived at STRAWBERRY MILLS apt complex in WHITEHALL maryland (1hr from ZION)
- Apartment is a hoarder nightmare
- Glass cupboard full of precious moments dolls
- Pet cleaner and paper towels on the floor
- Rotten food everywhere, as if she'd routinely left it out
- No cat present when investigated
- Litterbox has poop, but nothing fresh
- Cat food around
- Laptop computer on the counter, logged in, no password
- a bunch of diaries, all from 2000 and 2001
- On the verge of being evicted
- For the past decade supported herself via entry-level jobs
- Hasn't been a social worker since 2001
- Laid off from Best Buy in 2016
- Neighbor CINDY maybe saw her 3 times in over a decade
- Never had visitors
- Smells like ROTTING FLESH in the spot on the floor where the cat puked
Diaries
- Initial pages begin with her DHS work
- At some point, pages start filling with the same sentence over and over again, which is the same glowing paragraph-long review of cornucopia house: "the conditions at cornucopia house is above the standard. YELENA is a great caretaker. etc"
Mental Health
- Meds in cabinet for: PTSD, Schizoaffective disorder, Bipolar, whole battery of stuff
- Most prescriptions expired
- Clearly trying a lot of treatments
- Heavily diagnosed psychiatrically (per VELASQUEZ)
Murder - August 17-18, 2016
Abduction (Security Footage)
- 12:09AM 8/18: 3 figures come up the stairs (KILLERS - woman later identified as ELLE GABLE)
- Two men walk up one staircase, woman walks up the other
- Two men stand adjacent to the doorway while woman faces it
- They don't knock
- 12:12AM: HOUGHTON opens the door carrying black trashbag (not super full, does not resemble PUDDING bags)
- Wearing pajamas, no shoes
- Appears very surprised to see the woman there
- Two men begin striking HOUGHTON on the head with their fists
- Drag HOUGHTON down the stairs
- WOMAN walks into apartment, remains for 6 seconds, leaves with keychain
- Perps leave door open; cat walks out
- MEN waiting next to 1997 corolla, WOMAN opens trunk with HOUGHTON's keychain
- MEN load HOUGHTON into trunk
- 12:13AM: All drive off
Murder (Security Footage at WAREHOUSE)
- Camera is motion activated; 1fps, greyscale, low res, grainy, bad angle
- Garage door is in the corner
- Scene is lit by security light plus two car headlights, car offscreen
- One of the KILLERS drags victim into frame
- ELLE GABLE enters, kneels on victim's legs; victim is wearing pajamas and no shoes
- Another of the KILLERS holds down other side of victim
- 30 minute fast-fwd of ELLE GABLE removing individual teeth from victim using pliers and matic
- Victim goes limp 20m in
- They break victim's jaw to access molars
- Teeth are gathered and pocketed
- Victim regains consciousness, vomits blood; jaw hanging loose
- Two of the KILLERS hold victim as ELLE GABLE drives screws into hands and right above left collarbone
- Victim goes completely limp
- 3 perps leave the scene
- Later: ELLE GABLE is looking directly at camera, smiling, lip ring, rotten crooked teeth, covered in sores, sunken eyes
- PUMA shoe logo on left side of neck
- Raises hand right in front of camera, presenting 2 human teeth to camera
- Later: State Trooper SAWYER arrives and finds the body
Discovery
- Thursday 18 Aug: MD st trooper SAWYER drives to MD Correction 3 (formerly Cornucopia house)
- Finds HOUGHTON dead and mutilated
- Calls for backup
- Sees dog digging up human skull, requests k9 unit
Autopsy Findings (performed by SEAMUS)
- Age 40 at time of death
- Died at 3am, found at 7pm the same day
- Body is remarkably well preserved; would expect decomp but none
- 3 puncture wounds (palms and heart)
- All teeth removed
- Lower jaw hanging off
- Eyeballs appear to have burst from pressure from jaw
- Cause of death: shock and asphyxiation (on her own blood)
- Heavy bruising about the head and torso; more beating than shown in video
- Scrapes on top of feet
- Jaw severed with matic
- Rip between 2nd and 3rd metacarpals indicating struggle against the screwdriver
- Brain has serious glial scarring; consistent with late-term dementia or cte
- An amount of deep brain damage that looks like a linebacker or an alzheimer; astonishing that she was functional at all in life