Poetry: Nostalgic Terrors: Cropsey, an Urban Legend with Bloodstained Hands by LindaAnn LoSchiavo

By ​LindaAnn LoSchiavo

Andre Rand:  before children vanished, no one suspected "Cropsey" was real.
Bogeyman, predator, kidnapper, killer –  one perpetrator.
Cadavers, bloodstains, clues: parents anxiously followed the news.
Demonic acts perplexed New York City’s detectives.
Evil can force good citizens to seek meaning.
Five-year-old Alice Pereira became the madman’s first casualty.

Gloved hands gathered evidence for testing.
Holly Ann Hughes, age 7, went missing – then Henry Gafforio, age 22.
Inexplicable: fatalties were middle-aged – or in middle school?
Justice was a ship that never came in.
Killings and kidnappings continued.
Legend?  Campfire tale?  This criminal was flesh-and-blood.
Murdered minors often became "unidentified remains."
Next to an abandoned asylum – a secret campsite!
Outrage grew as leads went cold.
Police sketches were plastered on lampposts and stores.
Quick-thinking locals organized search parties – to no avail.
Rand’s crime spree fueled "tough on crime" pre-election promises.
Staffers from Willowbrook State School knew him as Frank Rushan.
Terrible institutional abuse had shuttered it in 1987.
Underground tunnels there yielded grim discoveries.
Victims provided future DNA matches – but Jenny Schweiger was seen with him.
Why did he kill a 12-year-old with Down Syndrome? Was he insane?
Xeroxed "Happy Mother's Day" letters were mailed from Rand’s cell.
Yesterday's horrors resulted in a lengthy prison sentence.
Zero doubt remains: "Cropsey" and this convicted felon were one.


Note:

Born in 1944, Andre Rand (a.k.a. Frank Rushan, Frank Bruchette, The Pied Piper of Staten Island, Cropsey) is incarcerated in Green Haven Correctional Facility (Stormville, NY) and not eligible for parole until 2037.