The First Owner: Andre Ramírez

The radio's first owner, Andre Ramírez, was by all accounts, an average man. He was married to a woman named Roberta, and they had an 8-year-old daughter named Mary. He was known as a loving husband and father, and a generous friend. He participated in charitable events within his community and, at work, he was reported to have performed well above expectations. He also had no criminal record before receiving the radio as a bonus on December 15th, 1995. That last point, along with his employee records, stand out as important factors. After an extremely violent act, neighbors and relatives usually say they never expected it; their friend or family member always seemed so normal. But for this man to never enter the system, that his employers saw him as having leadership potential, these comments seem less biased.

After December 15th, Andre appeared unchanged, at least from the outside. In the police reports, his wife said his behavior was normal up until mid-1996. Independent research confirmed that he had taken the radio from their living room to his upstairs office and the wife never saw it again. She did not understand the significance of this, but it coincides with the beginning of Andre's antisocial behaviour. It started with him becoming more and more distant from his daughter. Roberta reported that "he was always so loving. Then one day it just stopped, and he treated her more like a stranger." He also spent more and more time alone in his office. On several occasions, Roberta said he would spend the entire night up there and she could faintly make out the radio, sometimes playing music and other times only static.

From her statement, Roberta said that over the next few months, Andre "became more and more distant. Wanting nothing to do with his friends or his family. He went to work, came home, and went upstairs to his office." She said she never saw him eat and he was losing weight. She worried he was sick or perhaps obsessing over work. On multiple occasions, she checked on the office while Andre was at work but didn't find anything. The only thing on his desk was the radio. Unable to make sense of what was happening, she pleaded with her husband to seek help but he brushed her off. He barely spoke, but the few times he did, it was to tell her about some Greek myth or about how hungry he was. However, no matter what she made, he just wouldn't eat.

In September of 1996, Roberta's mother grew ill and she was forced to travel abroad. This meant she would have to leave her daughter in Andre's care. She said she was concerned about this, not just because she was now convinced Andre was sick, but because he was treating his daughter with suspicion. He had mentioned to her once that he was worried "she would take it all someday". When asked what he meant, Andre just smiled and told Roberta not to worry about it. However, she was forced to leave.

Three weeks later, following the death of her mother, Roberta returned home. Hoping for a warm welcome, she was instead shocked to find her husband alone. He would not say where their daughter was, simply that "the usurper had been dealt with". Roberta searched the house but found no trace of her daughter. The police were called, Andre was arrested and there was a county-wide search. 

Mary was never found.

While conducting further research into this story, Roberta's interviews proved less than reliable. 36 years of distance have not helped her memory and her rendition of events did not fit the narration of the police report exactly. Because of this, I fear we cannot rely on her timeline or the specificity of her quotes. One gap she did fill, which was omitted from the police reports, was the specific Greek myth Andre became obsessed with. She said that, on more than one occasion, he relayed to her the myth of Kronos.

Should time permit, a further survey of what was the Ramírez residence could prove fruitful. The police never found Mary, but they were looking for a body. I expect that a proper excavation will reveal bones, or at least fragments, which could help determine Andre's level of delirium. My reasoning is based on simple biology. Regardless of Andre's state, it is doubtful he managed to eat her bones.