Case 3 – “Game Night” 

Case Number: 003–GF
Date Reported: January 15, 2019
Time Reported: 22:45 hours (post‑game)
First Responder Arrival: 22:52 hours
Location: Stoneville High School Stadium (Ravens Field), Stoneville, Colorado
Reporting Officer: Det. Jack Mortimer
Victim: Female, 17 years old, member of Stoneville High School cheer squad (name withheld for class presentation)

Summary of Incident

At approximately 22:45 hours, attendees discovered the victim beneath the seating structure of Ravens Field following the Stoneville Ravens vs. Denver Cats game. The stadium was still crowded at the time.

The victim had last been seen during halftime. Witnesses reported she left the cheer squad area to get a drink from the water fountains located behind the seating rows. She did not return.

Timeline and Last Known Movements

• 20:00 hours: Game begins.

• 20:45 hours: Halftime. Victim reports a headache to teammates and leaves to get water.

• 20:50–22:45 hours: Victim not seen by any witnesses.

• 22:45 hours: Body discovered by attendees.

• 22:52 hours: First responders arrive.

Interviews with teammates confirmed the victim had complained of dizziness and intended to get water to relieve symptoms. No witnesses observed her leaving the stadium grounds or interacting with anyone suspicious.

Evidence Recovered

Evidence at the scene matched the modus operandi of Case 2:

• Web‑like material identical in density and chemical composition to that found in Cases 1 and 2.

• Presence of juvenile wolf spiders exhibiting the same biological anomalies previously documented.

• Signs in the way she was harmed matched the victim of Case 2.

Differences

• No blood pooling or visible fluid loss at the scene.

• Bite marks were documented on the victim’s collarbone. Forensic analysis determined:

The spacing and depth did not match the mandibles of the spiders present.

The pattern did not correspond to any known regional wildlife.

The origin of the bite marks remained undetermined.

Environmental Assessment

The area beneath the stadium seating is dimly lit, with multiple structural beams and shadowed recesses. Forensic teams concluded the location provided adequate concealment for an offender to lie in wait without detection during a crowded event.

No eyewitnesses reported unusual activity near the water fountains or beneath the seating area during halftime.

Conclusion at Time of Filing

Due to the similarities with Case 2 — including the webbing, spider presence, and anomalous biological markers — this incident was classified as a related suspicious death. The presence of bite marks introduced a new behavioral element not previously observed.

The possibility of a human perpetrator employing a spider‑themed method remained under consideration. No suspects were identified.

…

Jack closed the folder and looked up at the class. “This was the moment the pattern became impossible to ignore. Case One looked like a rampage. Case Two looked planned. But Case Three… this one looked like a hunt. The victim walked twenty feet to get a drink of water in a stadium full of people, and somehow Wolfback found her first.”

He tapped the bite‑mark section of the report. “This was the first time we saw evidence of direct contact. And it didn’t match any animal, any tool, or any person we knew of. Whatever we were dealing with was evolving.”

Hands shot up across the room the moment Jack finished the Game Night report. The students were whispering, unsettled, trying to make sense of the pattern forming on the board.

A boy in the second row named Zack spoke first. “Sir… was this one considered random too? Like the boy in the alley?”

Jack shook his head. “Not by me. Officially, yes — the department treated it as another wrong‑place, wrong‑time incident. But my own examinations told a different story.”

Another student leaned forward, a girl named Alice. “Different how?”

Jack gestured to the three case files. “Case One looked impulsive. Case Two and Case Three looked personal. The precision, the timing, the location — none of it felt random. Whoever Wolfback was, I believed she knew these victims.”

A few students exchanged uneasy glances.

Emily raised her hand. “Professor… do you think Wolfback planned the whole thing? If so… how?”

Jack exhaled slowly. “That goes into a theory I never shared publicly. The official stance was coincidence. But I believed Cases Two and Three were methodical. Intentional. In Case Two, the alley boy was targeted. In Case Three, I suspected the cheerleader was made vulnerable before the attack.”

A student named Sarah frowned. “Made vulnerable how?”

Jack tapped the autopsy summary. “Her friends said she’d been dizzy. Sick. Complaining of a headache. That suggested she might have been given something earlier in the evening — something that wouldn’t take effect until halftime. If the killer was a student, they’d have easy access to her. Easy opportunity.”

Another student raised a hand. “But wouldn’t an autopsy show that? Couldn’t you prove she was drugged?”

Jack nodded. “Normally, yes, William. I expected the same. But remember what I told you — there was no blood at the scene. Unlike Case Two, there was nothing to test. Her system was empty. Completely.”

The room went silent.

Jack continued, voice low. “I couldn’t prove it. But I knew in my bones that whatever killed her didn’t just attack her. It devoured her.”

A student in the back whispered, “Just like a real spider does to its prey.”

Jack nodded once. “Precisely. By this point in the investigation, after speaking with arachnologists and specialists, I was beginning to understand the behavioral pattern. We were dealing with something that looked human, moved like a human… but hunted with the instincts of a spider.”

He let the words settle.

“A spider’s patience.
A spider’s precision.
A spider’s strategy.”

Jack closed the file.

“And that was only Case 3, only 45 more to go.”

…

A hand went up near the back a boy named jamie raised his hand. “Professor, earlier you said Case Two felt personal — same as Case Three. But how would Wolfback have known the victim from Case Two would end up in that alley?”

Jack nodded. “Good question. If we accept the possibility that Wolfback was a student at Stoneville High, then she would’ve known about the lake party. Even if she didn’t attend, every student knew when those gatherings happened. I believe Wolfback was there — watching her intended victim the entire night.”

The class leaned in.

“She didn’t need to chase him,” Jack continued. “She just needed to trail him. And the clown‑purge prank did the rest. There’s only one alleyway between the town and the bridge that leads to the hiking trail back to Stoneville Lake. The clowns scared him in that direction. All Wolfback had to do was anticipate his path and wait.”

He tapped the board. “Turns out that’s exactly how a wolf spider hunts — patience, positioning, and a single ambush point.”

A few students exchanged uneasy looks.

Emily raised her hand again. “Professor… earlier you said she. Does that mean Wolfback was a woman?”

Jack didn’t hesitate. “Correct. Eventually, I did see Wolfback myself. Good observational listening, Emily,” he added, nodding.

The room went silent.

Jack continued, “Most of what I’m telling you now never made it into the official case files. But that didn’t stop rumors. And it didn’t stop the Navajo families who lived in Stoneville from talking about their Spider Woman stories. Some believed the town was cursed. Many left and returned to the reservation.”

He folded his arms, eyes distant for a moment.

“Superstition or not, they sensed something was wrong long before the rest of us did.”

…

Emily’s hand shot up immediately. “Professor… if Wolfback was a woman, and a student… then who was she? You said you saw her. You must know.”

Jack’s expression hardened, the room’s energy shifting as every student leaned in.

“To this day,” he said quietly, “I still don’t know who she was.”

A ripple of confusion moved through the class.

“The woman I saw that night wasn’t someone I could identify. She didn’t look like any student, any person, anyone I’d ever seen before.” He paused, choosing his words carefully. “Whatever she had become… it wasn’t human anymore. Not in any way I could recognize.”

The room fell completely silent.

“That face,” Jack said, almost to himself. “I’ll never forget it. When I shot her five years ago, all I saw was the monster she had turned into. Not the girl she once was.”

He straightened, pushing the memory away.

“Now,” he said, voice steady again, “onto Case Four.”