|
           |
NATIONAL EXAMINER, JANUARY 12, 2002
|
Megaera: Hero or Villain?
An Interview with New York's Controversial Serial Killer
By: Lance Dregin
We have all felt something while watching the news over the past holiday season- some have felt pride, some have felt anger, some have felt sorrow, but each of these emotions were brought by one woman: the mysterious murderess known as Megaera.
She arrived on the scene on December 1st, 2001 with the announcement of her first victim and within 20 days her death toll reached a catastrophic 13! All of these men were found having been killed through what police could only describe as "supernatural means"- one’s body crushed beneath a bookcase, one’s head smashed with a television, and the most gruesome of all- two of her victim’s skulls were crushed into the ground in such a way that only pieces remained in the hole left behind. Around this time, the means of these killings, the fact that no evidence was found at the scene of the crimes, and the strange reports of officers who have pursued Megaera, led some investigators to speculate that the vigilante was not just a mere human.
Superbeing or no, she had left her impression. Megaera, however, wanted more. She wanted people to know who she was and why she had committed these heinous acts of violence, and thus she began her love affair with the media. This began with a note left on the doorstep of her local television station, which opened with: "We are raped, and then we are raped again by the court system..."
Megaera's plight was a cry for justice against brutal sex offenders, and her cry was quickly taken up by the local Feminist organization, NOW, who celebrated her as a hero who has been long needed.
Some people loved her, some hated her- but there was no doubt... all of us had an opinion. Those opinions would make a dramatic shift, however, as the Christmas Season approached- bringing with it a villain more diabolic than ever seen in New York, perhaps even the world.
This killer would come to be called "The Subway Ripper", and was known to hunt people in the subways, kidnap them & torture them for hours, sometimes days. Most of his victims were found posed, disemboweled with their intestines vulgarly placed inside of an orifice, others with their feet in their mouths, to name a few.
It seemed that the common people were not the only ones concerned about the new menace.
As she had been coming home from what was to be her final kill, Megaera claims to have been lured into the subway tunnel by The Ripper, and there witnessed the vicious vivisection of a local police officer. She called the local television station immediately after her experience & promised to free New York of "this abomination". The news of her pledge spread like wildfire. It wouldn’t be long before The Ripper himself knew & designated himself her deadly nemesis.
For a short while, viewers began to see Megaera as their savior- until the killings continued through the New Year. There were reports of her being spotted in the tunnels, but when nothing changed, many began to lose hope.
A low point would come for the vigilante’s reputation when The Ripper’s one & only survivor, now said to have been one of the several traps he’d set for Megaera, was discovered missing eyes, ears, tongue, hands, and feet. The survivor’s and some other unidentified persons’ body parts were found on Christmas Day, strewn about the subway- neatly wrapped in newspaper and red ribbon, undoubtedly a sick Christmas joke from a twisted and evil mind.
Another cry came up from the people, and the First of January found the subways crawling with FBI agents, eager to destroy the maniac, but he was not to be found. Hundreds of astonished holiday travelers would get a good look at him that evening, though, as unexpectedly- both He and a bloodied Megaera would come running out onto the platform for what was to be The Final Battle.
Not many would stay to watch, but in the end Megaera would be the one to leave alive, after giving a frantic call to the police- letting them know where to find an FBI Agent whom she'd rescued from the clutches of The Ripper.
Nearly an hour later, she would call in to the local television station to triumphantly announce that she had lived up to her promise, and New York had nothing more to fear.
Only small bits of The Rippers body were found strewn about the tracks, confirming her account of his death.
That was nearly two weeks ago.
Imagine our surprise when Megaera herself called us and offered the Exclusive interview, which you are about to read.
I had been following this femme fatale since the very first mention of her name- taken from a Greek goddess who pursued and punished doers of unavenged crimes, and requested that I be sent. While I was elated to have been chosen, I could not also help but to be quite nervous and concerned. After all, I was meeting a known serial killer and suspected super-human, alone, in a deserted subway tunnel.
I was to be pleasantly surprised.
I was the first at our rendezvous point- a lower tunnel, beneath a corroded metal staircase.
I actually had waited quite a long time before I heard a faint tap from above. My skin took on a cold sweat as I watched her insanely spiked heels step down towards me. I made myself take note of her, as I’m sure you are all as curious as I was:
She was a very thin girl, with long legs walking on thigh-high leather boots & a top-heavy hourglass figure that was completely naked but for two black straps that ran vertically up her chest and back into a thong. Long tendrils of wild blonde hair fell over her shoulders, and a black mask encircled her darkly made-up, unnaturally green eyes. Her movements were fluid, even atop her heels.
She smiled as she approached, holding out a gloved hand & introducing herself politely. She then extended an arm, inviting me to join her on the floor, before taking a seat herself.
I would actually find that she was extremely polite, knowledgeable, & very articulate-, as I’m certain you will also notice. However, for all of her kindness & pleasantry, nothing could stop the fear. Even at the friendliest of times throughout the interview, I was constantly aware of a coldness emanating from her- as if at any moment she were going to strike. Of course, she never did, but I never could get quite comfortable and never did completely stop shaking. Whether it was the frigid dampness of the tunnel, or her intimidating demeanor remains unknown, though I believe it was a bit of both.
While I didn’t complain, I had found it quite amazing that while I was bundled up, fighting off the wintry air, she sat almost completely naked without so much as a goosebump. I would discover that liberation from cold was simply one of what she would refer to as her many "talents".
That day, in the freezing, dark subway tunnel, I began the first and only interview, to date, with the most controversial serial killer in New York history, and it went as follows:
EXAMINER: Firstly, the question everyone at the magazine is asking- why would you be willing to risk coming out here & agree to meet with me for this interview?
MEGAERA: I’ve always felt that it was important for potential criminals, especially sex offenders and those who prey on the weak & innocent to know that I am out here & I’m coming for them. That has always been my goal concerning the media- to send that message and hopefully preventing would-be perpetrators from committing their crimes.
EXAMINER: Many people see you as a criminal though. How do you justify your killing versus that of any other serial killer?
MEGAERA: Face it- none of my victims were innocent. All of them had been involved in the sexual abuse of women, which is specifically why I had chosen them. I didn’t do it because it pleased me. I did it because it needed to be done. Justice needed to be served.
EXAMINER: You consider death to be justice for a rape?
MEGAERA: Exactly, and so does every other woman who has experienced it. She may not admit it, or simply may not have the courage or the strength to do anything about it, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t wish it.
EXAMINER: But who are you to determine what is just?
MEGAERA: I am Justice.
EXAMINER: One of your victims was a family man, with a wife, a nice house, and two children. Do you consider it right for them to have lost a husband and a father for your kind of justice? What would you say to them to justify your actions?
MEGAERA: They’re better off without him.
EXAMINER: That’s a pretty harsh statement.
MEGAERA: Well, there are plenty of wonderful men in the world who are not capable of these acts of violence, that is what those children need for a father- not someone who is able to participate in the beating and gang rape of a helpless girl. Let me ask you, would you want a man like that fathering your children?
EXAMINER: But what about the men you killed that had already served their time for their crimes. Wasn’t their debt to society paid?
MEGAERA: Ah, hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it? I guess, after my first four, all I could see was my anger. My purpose was to destroy sex offenders who had escaped justice, but for a while I lost my purpose. I saw any sex offender as a target, even those who had been prosecuted, imprisoned, and hopefully rehabilitated. Yes they were guilty and I’m not sorry, but since my experience with The Ripper, I have gained more insight, more wisdom, & a new purpose. Those who have served time are no longer my target.
EXAMINER: A new purpose?
MEGAERA: When I saw what he had done- to both men & women, I realized that women were not the only persons needing protection & that sex crime was not the only crime that needed to be defended against. I began to wake up, I guess, to the good I could do.
EXAMINER: ‘The good you could do’. Let’s come back to that later. Right now, here’s the big questions everyone is asking- even the FBI and local police: What is it that makes you so special that allows you to take on someone, such as The Ripper, who is now suspected to have had Superhuman abilities?
MEGAERA: Oh, that he did. I experienced them first hand. I’m sure I’ll have nightmares for weeks. (She gives a slight, nervous chuckle.) The Ripper was a very tough customer, & the first superhuman I’ve ever encountered- that I know of. Something had to be done to stop him, though, and I have talents that I thought might be useful.
EXAMINER: Yes, tell me about your ‘talents’.
MEGAERA: If I told you that, criminals would know how to defend against me, police would figure out how to capture me, & I can’t have that now- can I? A lady must have her secrets, you know.
EXAMINER: Fair enough. I’m assuming resistance to cold is one of those "talents"?
MEGAERA: (Smiles.) It’s just a little thing I do.
EXAMINER: Well, tell me at least, how you came about with these powers you have.
MEGAERA: I guess some people would like me to say it was a gift from God. (She smirks.) Actually, it came out during a very bad experience- as a defense mechanism, you could say. Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t know how to use it, but I knew it was there. So, I began to train with it, to hone it- like any talent, it had to be developed. Once I felt the time was right & I was ready, I set out to use it.
EXAMINER: And that was this past November.
MEGAERA: Exactly.
EXAMINER: So, let’s start with your first four, because they seem to be the most important to you. They all had one thing in common- the gang rape of then college student, Felice Gabelle. Do you know Felice? Have you spoken to her?
MEGAERA: I only know that she was a sweet girl who had a lot of potential, until that incident. I chose them because she was so innocent and unassuming, and their act against her was so violent. They had gotten off on a technicality and needed to be brought to justice. It helped that they were relatively local.
EXAMINER: But you let one of them live. In fact, he’s known as your only survivor- and without so much as a scratch. Why?
MEGAERA: Edwin? Well, he was one of them, but he didn’t participate. He simply didn’t tell the authorities and lied on the witness stand about the incident. I determined that he was guilty of inaction & therefore, if he made a formal apology & gave the media the true story of what happened, I would leave him alone. He capitulated, and I’ve kept my word. Generally, he’s a good guy- just easily intimidated.
EXAMINER: Then we have 9 more. The police have officially counted 11 deaths attributed to you, but you say 13. What happened to the other 2?
MEGAERA: The other 2 were ironically in self-defense. While I was walking though a dark part of the city, I was attacked by two hoodlums who intended to rape me. I had different ideas. Anyway, I left their bodies on the doorstep of a sex offender I’d intended to visit, initially. I figured they could serve as a warning.
EXAMINER: Now, from what you’ve told me, those days of simply hunting down & killing sex offenders are over for you?
MEGAERA: It seems so. I guess I haven’t seen the world the same way since meeting The Ripper.
EXAMINER: Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to know more about him than you let on.
MEGAERA: I do a lot of research. I know a lot of things. Unfortunately, it isn’t safe to know so much sometimes. I will say there’s more to him than anybody knows about and I have every confidence that the truth will come out, no matter how much some people don’t want it to.
EXAMINER: Do you mean GeniTech?
MEGAERA: I have nothing more to say.
EXAMINER: So you won’t share what you know?
MEGAERA: I have more important things to worry about than being wanted for questioning concerning him. He’s dead. There is nothing more to fear from him. Let it rest.
EXAMINER: And the travelers of New York thank you for that.
MEGAREA: They are very welcome. Nobody should have to live in fear of their daily commute.
EXAMINER: So, after such a traumatic & heroic event- what is next for Megaera?
MEGAERA: I’m really not sure, but my horizons have broadened considerably. I do know that there is a lot of good a girl with my talents could do in the world.
EXAMINER: It seems that there’s a lot of confusion & controversy going on about you- so, finally, what do you have to say to anyone out there reading this right now? What would you say to give people a clear picture of where you stand?
MEGAERA: Well, as someone who has endured a violent crime- I stand for the people who have felt the same pain. I also intend to stand & fight to prevent men, women, and especially children from having to suffer a violent crime. Remember that I am also human. I make mistakes, but my heart has always been in the right place. I guess the future is my opportunity to live that philosophy & perhaps prove that I can be more than simply the cold-blooded killer some perceive me to be.
We spoke for a short while before standing and again shaking hands. While I still sensed a cold violence in her, I knew that I personally had nothing to fear. Something about the tone of her voice attested to the seriousness with which she took her final statement. I am certain that we haven’t heard the last of Megaera. I, for one, hope not.
|
|