Murder in Woodstock

The Chinese Pagoda

The Pagoda-like structure

Near the end of the access road was a "picnic" area with a large Chinese pagoda-like structure built up on posts in an A-frame with no ground floor. Two paddle boats had been stored underneath the structure. A pagoda is generally a term given to "a temple or sacred building, usually a pyramid-like tower and typically having upward-curving roofs over the individual stories." It is a place to relax, sure. A structure separated from a main living space, where one can retreat and disconnect from the world. To the Chinese, a pagoda is a spiritual den—a temple, as its description clearly states, to contemplate those moments in life when one is trying to unite with a higher power or an inner peace unattainable in the working world.

What was strange about this particular access road was that a trail of blood led directly to the pagoda, but stopped inside. The paddle boats, investigators noticed as they approached, had blood spatter and smudge marks on them.

What's more, the trail of blood leading into the pagoda, as troopers followed it, just ended. How could a trail of blood just stop?

As they continued to search, troopers looked up inside the pagoda and spied a set of pull-down stairs (as if leading to an attic) obviously connected to a storage area on the first floor of the pagoda. The blood trail had stopped directly underneath the pull down stairs.