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Newhouses’hopes began to diminish with each passingday. They desperately wanted to know the results of the blood test. Officers used sample blood from other family members to attempt to make a determination if the Jennifer Street blood was hers. Police took hair from one of Rachel’s hairbrushes. Still, they would have to wait. Rachel’s aunt Stephanie Morreale had a horrible feeling in her gut. Her instinctswere that the blood would belong to her niece and that someone had snatched her out of thin air like a nimble magicianwith evil intentions.
    “Rachel was the kind of girl who called home four or five times a week,” she stated with concern. Her niece was not the type to go missing for four weeks without a single word as to her whereabouts.
    On Tuesday, December 15, the investigation received some positive news. Governor Pete Wilson kicked in an additional $50,000 in reward money for information that may lead to the discovery of Rachel Newhouse.
    In a press release the governor implored, “Rachel is a good student, a loving daughter and a caring friend to many. She has a bright and promising future, and I pray that she is returnedsafely to her family and friends.”
    The additional contribution by the governor upped the rewardtotal to more than $110,000. Surprisingly, Chief Gardiner made the request for the additional money.
    “Anything we can do to increase the incentive to come forwardwill help,” he added.
    On Wednesday Chief Gardiner held a press conference with Jim Edmonds and Peter Morreale. They discussed the reward money, but their real purpose was to keep Rachel’s case in the public eye. They did not want people to become disinterested and not attempt to help locate Rachel Newhouse.Several news outlets and one special guest attended the press conference. A television crew from the hit series America’s Most Wanted was there. They were planning a specialthat would air that Saturday. They wanted to spread the story of Rachel Newhouse to a national audience. The crew was also anxiously awaiting the test results of the blood found on the Jennifer Street Bridge.
    News on the blood finally came through on Wednesday, December 16. Captain Topham, however, did not release the information to the public until Friday. The captain informed the press corps that the Department of Justice laboratory in Fresno, California, did not give a specific indication as to whom the blood belonged. They did state, however, that the blood might belong to Rachel Newhouse. The odds that it was hers were quite astronomical—8 million to 1.
    It had to be Rachel’s blood.
    Captain Topham acknowledged that the results probably meant that Rachel was almost home on November 12, just blocks away. He reiterated also that it did not mean she was dead. He stated that there was not enough blood at the scene to indicate that she may have bled to death on or near the bridge. He stated that more evidence was located at the scene and it belonged to Rachel. He did not mention any other informationthat may have indicated an attacker was present on the bridge with Rachel.
    Nevertheless, everyone in the room knew: someone had violentlyattacked Rachel Newhouse less than half a mile away from her quaint, quiet San Luis Obispo home.
    Their sanctuary was no more.

PART II
    AUNDRIA

SEVEN
    March 11, 1999
Branch Street, San Luis Obispo, California
2:00 A.M.
     
    Aundria Lynn Crawford was ready to call it a night. The twenty-year-old Cuesta College student had made it through another hectic day of school and she was pooped. She had worked hard ever since she moved to San Luis Obispo to attendthe respected junior college. Aundria had been an excellent student and ballerina, until she turned sixteen. That year she discovered that she walked on her feet incorrectly and would have to rework her bones to correct the problem. The pain on her point toe, the one she tiptoed on, was unbearable. It forced her to quit her first true passion. As a result Aundria