I would have liked to give you the whole story of what happened to the two murderers, but that would have taken more space than I had paper enough to write on. The finish is as exciting as the first part. Cox didn’t stop shooting at the officers that had apprehended him. He continued to fire every round he could while his girlfriend and partner in the crime, Ms. Annika Deasy, must have watched in horrified silence. Mr. Cox had no intention of going to prison.
The second bullet in Cox’s shoulder finally dropped him. The two suspects were subdued and handcuffed. Carl Stein, one of the detectives, interviewed Annika Deasy after her arrest. She wasn’t about to take any blame for the murder.
“He (Cox) was all over the place, agitated and aggressive,” she said, placing the blame for the murder on her partner. “Cox pulled the trigger on Helbush.”
Her police interviewer commented afterward about Annika’s state of mind, ‘She was like a crazy woman when I conducted my interview.’
The story had an ending six months later that was fitting retribution for Cox’s crime; Cox was found dead in his cell. He had hung himself. Cox’s death was, in a bizarre ending to the story, had been planned not to be a real suicide but, instead, a Fake suicide that would give Cox a chance to escape. The plan backfired. Cox and his cellmate, Gerald Stanley, who was waiting for trial for the murder of his wife, had planned with Cox to simulate the suicide and escape during the confusion… The fake hanging turned out badly for Cox.
Annika Deasy escaped punishment as a fellow conspirator to the murder. They must have believed her. Her supporters persuaded the Swedish Government to cause the United States to ship her back to Sweden, where she was soon released.
The author was sorely tempted to add more to the story. It was all bones and no meat. It cried out for more. Something was missing. Maybe the story needed more of a feeling of reality instead of reading like a third page news item. What made Cox the mad dog killer that he was? Was he high on drugs? What was his first name? Did he have a mother? Was he a bad child from the cradle? Or was he just a nut case? And his lady friend; how come she got off so easily? She was a co-conspirator to the killing and equally guilty of whatever other crimes Mr. Cox committed. Why on earth did her country of Sweden fall for her sad story… whatever it was? On the face of it she was as guilty as Cox.
Ah, well, my research didn’t answer those questions, so this writer shall remain frustrated and in the dark forever about the true facts of Cox and his girlfriend. So will you, unfortunately, so we can commiserate together over an unsatisfactory ending of the ‘Killing of Sergeant Helbush.’
Next Week: Eli works hard to sell Pioneer Life to Mable.
© 2017 PAL PUBLISHING/USED BY PERMISSION
To enjoy and learn more about Author Gene Paleno’s books, visit Gene’s website; http://genepaleno.com/
