LITMIR.BIZ

      FIFTEEN

      April 22, 1999

      Davis Canyon Road, Davis Canyon, California

      2:00 P.M.

      For over one month the residents of San Luis Obispo were unaware that Rex Krebs was in jail. Most of the people were under the impression that the Aundria Crawford case was moving at a glacierlike pace, just like the Kristin Smart and Rachel Newhouse cases. Soon after Aundria’s disappearance gun sales surged, enrollment in self-defense courses increased,and people began to walk down the quiet streets in pairs and in groups, instead of by themselves. The fear had been ratcheted up several notches in San Luis Obispo.

      On this day their fears would subside—but the horrors were only beginning to unfold.

      The residents of Davis Canyon and See Canyon had no idea what was going on in their secluded neck of the world. Police had scoured the area the previous two days looking for something. The neighbors had no idea what they were trying to find. Several police vehicles were ushered in and out of rugged Davis Canyon Road. One Davis Canyon resident noticeda 35’ x 8’ sheriff’s emergency response vehicle. Police officers had to trim trees that hung across the road so the truck could pass through. A coroner’s vehicle also entered this beautiful, remote section of California’s Central Coast.

      Muriel Wright owned her own two-story house that sat on property she shared with her adult daughter, Debbie, at the end of Davis Canyon Road. She also owned the barn apartmentbehind the house. She rented it out to a quiet fellow by the name of Rex Krebs. They lived on approximately 240 acres of wooded, secluded property. The neighbors had no idea why the police were heading back to her property.

      Davis Canyon resident Ed Diable spotted a police car drivingdown the dirt road from the direction of Wright’s properties. Diable glanced into the squad car driven by DetectiveLarry Hobson. As difficult as it was, Diable was able to catch a glimpse of a man in the backseat. He spotted a pensiveface and a bushy mustache. As he glanced up to the top of the man’s head, he saw the shaved dome. There was only one person with that distinctive look who lived back in this area—Rex Krebs. Diable wondered what in the heck was going on.

      He would find out soon enough.

      The day before, April 21, 1999, Detective Larry Hobson had taken Rex Krebs for a ride. When the two men returned to the jail, Hobson asked Krebs if he could see him tomorrow.Krebs nonchalantly replied, “Maybe. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

      On April 22, 1999, Hobson returned as promised. Soon thereafter, he and Krebs were back in his police car, this time heading for Krebs’s home in Davis Canyon. On the way out to the remote location, Hobson contacted fellow investigator Bill Hanley, who drove, and Officers Keith Storton and Russ Griffith, who followed in their marked San Luis Obispo PoliceDepartment vehicle, with a camcorder.

      Krebs first directed Hobson to the A-frame, which was located just under a mile-and-a-half from the See Canyon Road turnoff onto Davis Canyon Road. The A-frame, on the left side of the road, was marked by a tiny mailbox with the name WRIGHT on a wooden post. The abandoned home had a natural brown wood siding that appeared slightly weathered. The walls were a fleshy tan color. Not an A-frame house in the true sense of the word, it had more of a front facade in the shape of the letter A. There were, however, several broken windows on the old building—a favorite for vandals severely off the beaten path. Overgrown eucalyptus trees hid the house. At night it resembled a house ripped out of the pages of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

      Hansel and Gretel would not stop by here for a visit.

      All five men piled out of their vehicles. Krebs, in his convict-issue bright orange jumpsuit, pointed up the hillsidefor Hobson, who scaled up the slope. Krebs pointed at a pile, nodded his head, and looked down at his feet.