Within twenty-four hours of the shrink’s death, media outlets nationally were full of speculation that all three murders were somehow connected. While most of them focused on the fact that two Holloway staff members had been killed, they struggled to find a connection to Darcy Swan. But then a local television station with an alert news anchor who had been on the job for over a decade – and who remembered Otis Parker and what he was capable of all too well – noticed the resemblance of Darcy Swan’s murder to those Parker had been suspected of before being sent to Holloway. They reported on the connection as fact and the theory spread nationwide within hours. Whether Commander Gonzales liked it or not, the public agreed that Otis Parker was somehow behind everything. Whether that theory would hold any sway with the panel convening to reconsider his commitment was anyone’s guess. Parker tried to tip the scales in his favor by having his lawyer release a statement saying that Parker was deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives and in no way connected to any of the murders.
