Synopsis: "THE AFTERMATH" to Mayhem 1982 highlights the investigation of the retribution murders of three of the convicted felons who had served their thirty years of incarceration and were released in 2012. On Memorial Day 2013 their mutilated bodies were discovered artfully nailed to three oak trees in the parking lot of what is now the Old Westbury Diner, the very site of their long forgotten carnage; deliberately on the thirty first anniversary of that barbaric 1982 night.
Driven by duty and ego, Detective Lieutenant Patricia McAvoy uses all of the assets and experience of her Homicide Squad South veterans to solve this macabre murder. She zeros in on the most damaged victims of the 1982 mayhem who were either, robbed, raped, sodomized, shot, seriously assaulted or mentally effected. Disregarding a lack of public sympathy for the murdered trio, she relentlessly builds the case against her leading suspects and ultimately prompts the Nassau County District Attorney to indict the 'sadistic six' she is convinced are guilty of the murders.
As the investigation proceeds, salient facts are unearthed that ensure the murder trial is not a "slam dunk." Corkscrew twists and turns abundantly abound, leading to a bizarre finale, which begs the question as to who really were the avengers of the 1982 savage crime spree?
Autobiography: B.D. Renard (a pseudonym) a native New Yorker, Army veteran, and retired businessman, has a personal and emotional interest in the story as his daughter, home from college, began her very first night as the hostess, in what was then the Sea Crest diner, on that fateful evening in May of 1982. Fortunately, she was not one of the physically abused, but like all victims, had the trauma indelibly branded into her psyche. A fourteen year widower, Renard currently resides in Westbury NY. The AFTERMATH Is his eighth writing endeavor.
J.F. Nolan, now deceased, was also a native New Yorker. Following service in the US Marine Corps, he served in the Nassau County NY Police Department for twenty four years with fourteen of those as supervisor of the Detective Division. He completed his last nine years in the Homicide Squad and eventually became the Homicide Commander where he oversaw several hundred homicide investigations. Mayhem 1982 was his 6th novel before passing in 2020.
Together, the co-authors produced a novel based on the true story, but significantly fictionalized to allow the reader to experience the driving needs of six victims of that horrendous 1982 night to finally wreak vengeance on the perpetrators.