Badly beaten and with no identification, the woman became a Jane Doe. Her killer's identity was also a mystery. Less than 24 hours later, Jones received a call about another crime scene at the nearby Sportsman's Lodge Motel. As investigators worked to see if the two were connected, they learned that the woman's unconventional relationship held the answers. For Franklin County assistant prosecutor, Jarred Patterson, the sleepy, Gulf Coast town of Apalachicola and surrounding countryside are among the last remnants of a bygone era.
Jarred Patterson : Apalachicola, Florida is a wonderful small place β¦ It's certainly still harkens back to a time before there was condos on every inch of the beach and before there were high-rises.
But when a couple heading to a nearby fishing pond discovered Aileen Seiden' s battered body on April 23, , Patterson wondered what had brought a killer to Florida's Forgotten Coast?
Jarred Patterson : The horror that it really was β¦ It absolutely shocked people. Ronnie Jones : It looked like β¦ someone was in a hurry. Whoever it was dumped the body and took off. Lead investigator Lt. Ronnie Jones, then with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, says documenting Aileen's unsettling dump site was the first of two ominous events over the next 24 hours. He was soon dispatched to the second crime scene at the Sportsman's Lodge Motel and a bloody spectacle inside room Peter Van Sant inside the motel room : So, what's it like for you to be back in here?
Jones' memories live in stark contrast to the tree shaded grounds of the otherwise peaceful motel. Ronnie Jones : As soon as I came in, I noticed the bed. I mean, it's β you couldn't miss it. Peter Van Sant : And when you saw that kind of blood loss, what did that tell you? Ronnie Jones : I just put two and two together and I automatically put that back to the, um, body that was found the day before.
