Dark Explorations

I took a picture of my corkboard to mark its final moments and most complete form, then began to take everything down. My Sofia Bercowisz video was finished and now it was time to begin preparing for the next video. Luckily, I already knew my next topic. I used a label maker to type out a title and placed it at the top; The Missing Huntsville High School Shooter: Roxane Elliot. This project had two parts. The video will tell the history of Roxane Elliot and the events leading up towards the Huntsville High School shooting. I’ll explore Roxane’s chaotic childhood in the Alabama Foster Care system, history of psychiatric facilities and prescription medicine, and her final moments and the fiery inferno which supposedly killed her.

What I wouldn’t post would be the second part of this investigation. I had met the modern adult Roxane, had with me her greatest advisery, and was supported by an internet surfing genius who could go through more information in a minute than I could in a day. I would map her movements from the day she escaped to that night in Lynchburg. If I could establish a pattern of behavior, I could locate where she likely would be at this very moment. If they wanted me to work as their detective, then I might as well impress. Maybe I can negotiate to make this a paid job if I’m good enough.

“So where do you start?”

Sofia asked from behind me. She sat at the dining table while snacking on some jerky she requested. On the table was my phone which was currently on call with Alice as well. The answer to her question was simple. It was the same place every serial crime drama started.

“At the inciting incident.”

The scene was Tuesday April 18th, 2023 in Huntsville, Alabama. It was partly cloudy and the temperatures were rising up to a warm eighty degrees fahrenheit. Huntsville High School was roughly five weeks from the end of the spring semester and beginning of summer break. With roughly two thousand attending students, the Panthers were a rather exceptional athletic program and had multiple championships in multiple sports in the Alabama High School Athletic Association while also being considered a top twenty academic public high school in the state. Senior Roxane Elliot had been forced to leave classes early the previous Monday due to fighting a teacher.

Roxane Elliot was in her senior year of high school, though was not considered likely to graduate. Her grades were near the bottom of her class due to frequent absences and failing to turn in assignments. Roxane also had a long disciplinary record: frequently engaging in fights with other students, the use of nicotine products in school, verbally abusing teachers and staff, and more. It can be considered a miracle that Roxane had reached her senior year at all without dropping out or being expelled. Teachers would state that she was intelligent, but chronically uninterested in effort and prone to anger.

Roxane grew up in the foster care system after her mother overdosed on Oxycodone when she was eight months old; no father was ever known. She began displaying issues as early as she could walk and was prone to tantrums and meltdowns. A children’s psychiatrist diagnosed Roxane with anger issues while still in elementary school and she would attend anger management classes and therapy on and off her entire life. Nothing would seem to work as household after household would give up on her and she would be moved to the next. Her junior year of high school she was moved into a specially designed home for troubled girls. It was made up of multiple late teenage girls with various trauma and emotional issues. It was supposed to act as a form of group therapy and from online reviews it seemed somewhat successful in prior years. Roxane was not though. Roxane would frequently fight with other girls and isolate herself and refuse to take medications or attend group or private therapy. Other inhabitants reported being afraid of her and would hide in their rooms if she was ever out of hers, which was rarely.

On the previous Monday, Roxane was forced to leave early. The administration did not expel or suspend her due to how soon the year was ending. They assumed she would drop out if she failed to graduate and made no attempt of forbidding her entering school property. Roxane had her own vehicle purchased cheaply the year prior and was allowed to drive herself home. She returned back home two hours later and when asked about her whereabouts for those missing two hours refused to give an answer. The reality is that Roxane had driven an hour away to purchase a hunting rifle from an unlicensed seller. Her record of anger issues forbids her from purchasing one legally.

On the morning of Tuesday April 25th 2023, neighbors report hearing a loud argument involving multiple residents and one of the adults who ran the home. The contents of the argument are unknown. At 6:45 in the morning, Roxane stormed out of the house with one of the residents tailing her and yelling. Roxane reached into her car and grabbed the hunting rifle and shot the girl in the face once; killing her instantly. Roxane marched back into the house and killed two other residents and one of the adult staff. Police were called shortly after the first shots were fired, but Roxane left in her vehicle before any arrived.

Roxane arrived at Huntsville High School at 7:07, a few minutes before the start of the school as many students were walking into the school. She exited her vehicle and immediately began firing at random students in the parking lot. Two students were killed and five more were injured as she shot at seemingly random people. Her spree at the school would only last a minute and a half before a police officer at the school managed to shoot Roxane in the stomach, causing her to drop her rifle and be arrested by the officer. Ambulances were called for the injured and were taken to the nearest hospital.

At this point, the story of Roxane Elliot was typical of 353 school shootings that happened in 2023. Her death toll was higher than average, but nowhere near the highest that year. She acted alone like many others and was taken down just as quickly; the total spree lasting twenty four minutes and being dominated by her drive between home and the school. Her story changes after she was lifted into an ambulance herself. The shot to her stomach was not fatal, but could be if not treated soon. The doctors had a duty to save her despite her actions. The ambulance was on the way to the hospital when it was struck by a large pick up truck running a red light. The ambulance was flipped on its side and the impact caused a gasoline leak from the truck and ignited within seconds causing both vehicles to erupt into flames. A subsequent pile up occurred behind both vehicles causing two other vehicles to be caught in the inferno. Four individuals would be reported dead when the fires were eventually extinguished, including Roxane Elliot.

That is what is known about the interesting case of Roxane Elliot. I had printed a few pictures, wrote descriptions on sticky notes, and attached it all together with red yarn. In total, it took up less than a fifth of the entire corkboard. Sofia looked towards me confused.

“Okay yeah, that’s what happened. Now how does that help you?”

I pointed towards the farthest left of my red yarn.

“We have established the climax of the story. This is the only incident we have to track her behavior. We need to answer two questions now. What led her to committing the shooting and what did she want from it?”

Sofia raised an eyebrow and seemed a little lost. Alice spoke up for the first time in a little bit with her own realization.

“W-we want to find a p-profile! That way we can p-predict her b-behavior.”

I pointed towards the fun and smugly smiled at my fellow detective.

“Bingo! With a profile, we can learn how her psychology works and use it to predict her next actions and even find where she could be hiding.”

Sofia seemed to have a realization as her eyes went wide and a sadistic smile crept up her face. She smashed her fist against her other palm and it made a delightful crack to her knuckles.

“And then we can take the fight to her!”

Sofia hit the nail on the head. I nodded and turned back towards the corkboard. I grabbed some more yarn and moved toward empty space and pinned some sticky notes. Each had a word for different kinds of evidence I wanted to find. The first was the psychiatric records of Roxane. These would usually be hard to find without a trial revealing them, but Alice had the ability to find them once we identified where they were located. A therapist’s or psychiatrist’s notes could directly point us towards any abnormalities in Roxane’s logical processes or even possible delusions she could have suffered from. The second was her online history. If we could identify how she behaved in the world of the anonymous, the internet, we can learn about how she viewed herself and what motivated her actions. Alice can help with the research as we compile likely users across websites and pinpoint IP addresses to her previous emails. The third was statements about her by friends and acquaintances. Her status as a school shooter made many people form retroactive negative comments, but there was truth in many statements. Find pre- and post-shooting descriptions were important and learn how she truly behaved around others and find what incongruences exist between her online behavior and real life. I called out to Alice.

“You ready to do a shit ton of research about this enemy of ours?”

“Y-yes!”

Sofia chuckled at the energetic Alice and I pointed towards her next.

“You’re the only one of us with personal experience of her. If you could make a list of every location you’ve interacted with and how she behaved at each, that would help us to begin pinpointing her location and any changes to her behavior since she signed her contract.”

Sofia gave a long whistle and looked up thinking.

“Jeez that’s a lot in the last two years. Guess I could try."

I nodded in understanding. Is this what those big YouTube channels feel like? Having a large research team behind you with expertise. I doubt Buzzfeed Unsolved had two serial killers helping them research other serial killers. I could get used to this type of support in the future. This is going to be a great video.