Who killed Missy Ryan? I am reading A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks, and I am on page 368. This story is about Miles Ryan and the mysterious murder of Missy Ryan in New Bern, North Carolina, who was both his wife and the mother to his son, Jonah. Miles meets Miss Andrews early in the book who is a teacher to his son. Later on, Miles and Miss Andrew’s relationship turns from professional to romantic all the while Miles is trying to solve his late wife’s perplexing death. While reading Nicholas Sparks’, A Bend in the Road, I have been predicting, evaluating, and questioning. I predict that Missy Ryan was killed by someone other than the suspect, even though Miles believes that Otis Timson is guilty. Throughout the entire investigation (in …show more content…
the anonymous diary entries included in the book) the writer appears to be remorseful for killing Missy, which is protocol for committing such a crime. However, Otis belongs to the Timson family and they are notorious for intentionally overlooking social standards and expectations. Otis Timson lives in a trailer park in New Bern along with his father and burly brothers. Otis is the inconspicuous one in his family as far as law breaking goes, however he has committed infractions of his own. Some of these infractions, such as the incident where Otis threw a brick through the Ryans’ window, injuring Miles and Missy’s infant contribute greatly to the reasons as to why Miles so strongly believes that Otis is capable of murder. However, the diary entries appear to be nothing but remorseful for the actions that the diarist committed. Otis Timson is incapable of remorse. Otis Timson did not kill Missy Ryan because the culprit of the accident appeared to be sorry. At the scene, the culprit covered Missy’s body with a blanket and continued to show remorse by placing flowers on Missy’s grave nearly two years following her funeral. Miles’ boss observed that these actions appeared, “Like someone was trying to apologize” (Sparks, 334). Otis Timson is incapable of remorse; unlike the killer of Missy Ryan. The killer of Missy Ryan is later revealed in the book to be Sarah’s brother, Brian.
This plot twist is too ironic for my liking. Brian is primarily introduced as a “good guy” despite him being rather timid. Sarah claims that she has always maintained a close relationship with Brian, and I find this unbelievable in how he was able to hide the fact that he killed a person from her for two years without her suspecting anything. The fact that Sarah begins romantic relations with the husband of the late-Missy only further increases the unlikeliness of the situation. Brian Andrews participated in an accidental hit-and-run; that is, if hit-and-runs are capable of being accidental. He kills a woman going for a walk on impact, covers her with a blanket, and claims to not remember his actions following the incident. The woman who he killed was Missy Ryan, who was at the time married to Miles Ryan. It is unbelievable that Brian would find himself in such a predicament that his sister was romantically involved with the husband of the woman he killed. Throughout this entire plot unravelment, Brian Andrews was able to maintain a poker face about his detrimental actions. He was never a suspect until he turned himself in; first to Sarah Andrews, and then to Miles Ryan. After Brian confesses that he killed Missy to Sarah, she herself is in disbelief about the situation and she confirms this when she questions, “Why had Brian hit her?” (Sparks, 298). Overall, the fact that Brian was the
killer of Missy all along is too ironic to be non-fiction, which is most likely why A Bend in the Road is properly labelled as fiction. Would Brian Andrews still have confessed if Otis Timson wasn’t endangered? Brian was able to keep his crime a secret for nearly two years; however, he battled with turning himself in because Missy Ryan’s death was nonetheless an accident. After the accident occurred, Brian did not immediately leave, “I debated whether I should run to the nearest house and call an ambulance or if I should go to her” (Sparks, 204). Brian ended up finding Missy Ryan, only to discover that it was simply her cold, lifeless body. Unsure of what to do, Brian fled despite the accident being more Missy’s fault than his own; Missy was the one who was dead. If Miles wasn’t enraged and convinced that Otis was the killer of his wife, I don’t think that Brian would have confessed that he was the killer of Missy. He had hidden the fact for two years and in confessing he had ravaged the bond he shared with his sister along with his sister’s relationship with Miles. If Otis’s life didn’t depend on Brian confessing, the murder of Missy Ryan may still be a mystery. In this journal I have used the reading strategies of predicting, evaluating, and questioning. Following this journal, I plan to read The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Overall, I would rate myself a 9 out of 10 on this journal because I incorporated all of the necessary components along with the “Smiley-Face Trick” of repetition for effect in the first body paragraph.
Only Graham Stafford and Melissa Holland had keys to the boot of his car. There was enough evidence to support that Melissa had nothing to do with the deceased
John Feinstein writes a lot of books like this one. They all begin with susan Carol and stevie going to a big sporting event. Then they find something interesting. In this case Stevie discovered a man in his late 30s who had two 14 year old kids who just made it to pro level baseball. Stevie got an interview with the man and his two kids. Stevie accidentally asked a question about Norbert Doyles (the pro) wife. She supposedly died in a car accident caused by a drink driver. Later in the book, Susan Carol and Stevie find themselves asking an important question. who was the drink driver? Susan carol and stevie have to go on a hunt to find out. Once they find Doyle he spills. He says that he was an alcoholic and he and his wife were drinking out at a resturaunt. He drove home and got pulled over by a friend. The friend said he wouldn’t send Doyle to...
The climax of the story is when Miles is shot by the Bonewoman. The reader comes to realize that Miles’ choice to live life on the safe side was a mistake:
Barbara was ready to file for divorce because she was going crazy and upset staying with him, and this is where things were going wrong. When Mark found out about the divorce and Barbara looking for a full time job in Virginia, he got angry and takes Barbara out to the woods with guns and alcohol. Barbara has an uneasy feeling in the car on the way, and Mark even plays a freaky song “Killing me Softly with His Song”. When they arrive, Mark tells Barbara how easy it would be to get rid of her, basically threatening her if she leaves he could kill
They have a heated conversation about the women he killed and she sides with Redding. Dean says something bad about her son Christopher and he snaps, grabs Cassie of the couch, but before he could cause any harm Dean had him pinned up against the was choking him till he let go of her. A young college student Named Curt was found dead after the death of Christopher’s mother tracing Dna back to him the skin found under her fingernails. Someone didn't like how they went to visit Mrs. Simmons so after them leaving not an hour later she was found dead so she couldn't give out any information. But someone had killed Curt the same way Curt had killed Mrs. Simmons like Redding (cut them,bind them, hang them). So that meaning there must have been two accomplices is Es. One was Curt a disorganized killer. It the other was very organized left no evidence ever. But Kurt had. No communication with Mrs Simmons so why would he kill her… Unless the other accomplices wanted her dead, so they switched and killed each others victims. Curt was dead, so whoever killed Curt must have been the one who wanted Mrs Simmons dead. Who would want her dead, though the only person who ever had a problem with her was… Huh her living flesh and blood Christopher. He knew he wanted her dead, so he told Kurt but Kurt wasn't good enough and left behind evidenced so he must kill him before the FBI finds him and hurts him till he talks. So the other accomplice indubitably was Christopher. They had to stop him before it's too late and he kills
Sean didn’t commit his first murder until 1994. His first victim was an 81 year old woman, Ann Bryan in March 1994. Ann was living at St. James Place which was an assisted-living facility located across the street from the convenience store where Gillis worked. As she often would do, Ann left the door to her apartment unlocked before retiring to bed so that she did not have to get up to let the nurse in the next morning. The warrant says Gillis told detectives he entered Ann Bryan's home at 3a.m. to rape the 81 year old, but she started screaming when he touched her. Gillis then told detectives he cut her throat to stop her screaming and began stabbing her a total of 47 times. The warrant says Gillis gave them details about this elderly woman's death only the killer could know. He seemed fixated on stabbing at her face, genitals and breasts.
He tells the family that a girl has committed suicide and that in one way or another they are responsible. Mr Birling was responsible for sacking the girl from his factory. Sheila Birling was responsible because she got the girl sacked from a shop where she works. Eric Birling was seeing her but the broke it off, and Gerald Croft was having an affair with her
Mary Maloney is accused of murdering her husband with an unknown weapon for an unknown reason. Chief detective, Patrick Maloney was murdered last night at his own house, no suspects have been identified yet and the search for the murder weapon was futile. Apparently, the officer had come home exhausted from work and was waiting for his wife Mrs. Mary Maloney, who left to buy food across the street for their dinner. According to a statement, Mary arrives home from the grocery store to find her husband dead on the living room floor.
When Miles was a child, his mother worked in the office of C.B. Whiting. They began to see each other outside of work. Grace took Miles on a trip to Martha’s Vineyard to get away for a while, at least that is what Miles thought. Soon after arriving he met a man named Charlie Mayne (C.B. Whiting). Grace and Miles went for a ride in Charlie’s car to the beach. After Miles went to the beach for a little while he came back up and noticed, “There’d been just enough light to see his mother’s head resting on Charlie Mayne’s shoulder” (Russo 142). Miles realizes that his mom is attracted to this other man and concludes that this wasn’t just a chance meeting.
Her body had been bathed and thoroughly washed before being placed, it was also completely drained of blood [2]. Two detectives were assigned to the case: Harry Hanson and Finis Brown. When they and the police arrived at the crime scene, it was already swarming with people, gawkers and reporters. The entire situation was out of hand and crowded, everyone trampling all over in hopes of good evidence. One thing they did report finding was a nearby cement block with watery blood on it, tire tracks and a heel print on the ground.
When the first responder got to the scene he adimatately meet the 911 caller, who lead him to a car in an apartment parking lot. The car doors were closed and all of the windows were fogged. The police officer used his flashlight to see inside of the car before opening the door. He found a young African American woman who had been shot several times. The officers quickly called for backup, investigators and medical personnel. While awaiting for their arrival he secured the crime scene with caution tape, creating an initial perimeter setup as discussed in lecture two. Once everyone arrived he left it to them to search the car while he talked to the 911 caller, witnesses and others who had information on who had been present in the car. The investigators were able to collect physical evidence of bullets and cartage casings that were found outside the vehicle and inside the vehicle on the floorboard of the driver’s side. The team determined the bullets came from a 40 caliber. Other types of physical evidence that were found on the scene were the bloody clothing on the victim, the victim’s cell phone and fibers in the car from the driver’s side. personnel at the scene crime took several photographs, powered test for finger prints and did a blood spatter analysis. Stewart’s autopsy revealed that she had been shot at close range in the left hand once and in the
(New Orleans). All the evidence that was found is very unclear, but the next suspect in the murder is Joseph Mumfre.
The death of Miles (presuming he is dead and not just unconscious) has a number of possible interpretations, too - he could have died from his fall, from Quint's extended hand or from some other cause. However, it omits the most important possibility as shown in the book, as a consequence of the removal of the strangulation subtleties; that of whether the governess herself killed him. Without this, the book's stunningly powerful ending, whereby the reader is left reeling from shock and subsequently disbelief (as the other possibilities come to the surface, such as the line "and his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped• is referring to an emotional heart rather than a physical one, and that the child is, in fact, still alive) is disappointingly absent. Whilst the žlm's ending is effective, it lacks the sheer power of the book's žnale. As with many book-to-žlm adaptions, a desire to change the ending is the žlm's
... through her hug, squeezing the life out of him because of her own fears of the supposed ghosts. Miles response is so ambiguous it leaves the reader with only theories with no way of knowing for a fact what really happened.
The school's undercover narcotics officer, Randy, was killed in the faculty parking lot. A car pulled up, and a black tinted window rolled down. The passenger in the back seat shot him once in the head with a handgun, then the car sped away. Randy was killed instantly, and the people in the car were never caught.