The Hydra with Many Faces

We let neighborhood kids deliver the candies

On October 11th, investigators released the results of the professional analysis they'd conducted regarding the April 24th phone call of a woman's voice, and the September 18th phone call of a child's voice during separate extortion attempts. Analysis one by a language scholar stated that based on the pronunciation of certain words in both phone calls, he theorized that both the woman and child were born near Aster City. Analysis two by a professor of a women's university stated that the voices had an especially strong accent and that the woman was in her late twenties to early thirties while the child's voice was actually that of a teenager. Analysis three by a foreign language professor stated that without a doubt the accents were completely from Aster City. Analysis four by an Aster City acoustic research institute director, formerly of the police agency institute of science and police research known for his forensic audio work stated, "The telephone call to Jones' Candy Company on April 24th is a girl of junior high school age, the child's telephone call Sugary Saccharine Company on September 18th is a boy about five or six years old in elementary school." He also noted that "Because it was smooth, I'd guess that the sentences were studied quite a bit and recorded with it almost memorized." Additional expert opinion of the boy's voice stated that it seemed that the sentences in the recordings were made up of various attempts, re-recorded and edited. It was also theorized that the criminal group may have simply invited a random neighborhood child to read the instructions into the recorder, though investigation headquarters questioned whether the criminals who had been so careful up to now, would have been so casual as to risk a child leading to their capture. Both of the recordings in question were set up on special telephone lines where police invited the public to call. Once dialed, the phone line would play the recordings as well as urge listeners to contact police with any information on the voices or case. When played over television, radio, and phone lines, the voices everyone in Aster City had been waiting to hear held a surprise, they turned out to be those of a woman and child, accompanied with the male criminals, it gave the appearance that the criminal group was a family. With all of its members from father to mother to child. The citizens of Aster City began to question who could this evil and dangerous family be. Living alongside them secretly, day to day.

Read in part, an article published on October 12th, reads, 'Headline: Extortionist "It'll be like a treasure hunt."

Extortionists who laced candies with lethal doses of cyanide have threatened to poison other foods unless stores stopped selling products made by the Sugary Saccharine Confectionery Company, police said Wednesday. The latest twist in the case that has baffled police for seven months came in the form of a letter sent to the president of a Darkwoods-based supermarket chain, police said, "It is going to be like treasure hunting," The extortionists taunted in the letter. Police so far have recovered thirteen packages of Sugary Saccharine Company candies laced with cyanide. The extortionists, who are believed to be responsible for the kidnapping of the president of another candy company last March, have warned that twenty cyanide spiked packages of candy are lurking on store shelves. All the packages recovered so far have been labeled with warnings that they contain cyanide, but in letters to news organizations, the group has threatened to put thirty unmarked packages of cyanide-laced sweets on the store shelves, unless Sugary Saccharine Company agrees to its extortion demands.'

Read in full an article published on October 13th, reads, 'Headline: Poisoning of candy in Aster City forces layoffs.

The Sugary Saccharine Candy Company hit by sales losses after extortionists poisoned its products with cyanide, laid off four hundred and fifty workers today, and cut production in half. As the police continued searching for poison candy, one hundred special phone lines were added to the twenty-two set up Thursday to allow callers to listen to the taped voices of two people speaking for the extortionists. A spokesman said that more than 8.6 million people phoned to listen to the tapes in the first twenty-four hours, but that no one had provided clues. Sugary Saccharine Company announced it was laying off four hundred and fifty part-time workers and cutting its production in half. Nearly nine hundred stores have stopped selling Sugary Saccharine Company candy since twelve cyanide-laced packages were found this week.'