Friday night and as per usual, I was swiping through my dating app. I had no expectations, but I wanted to get out and meet some new faces.
I finished using my daily allowances on swipes and closed my phone. Before I had time to set it down, a notification appeared on my phone. “You have a match” as I began welling up with excitement. I swiped the phone screen and waited for her profile to load. Long brunette hair down past her shoulders, with radiant green eyes like emeralds. She was very beautiful, but I wanted to know more. She’s a casual dater, she loves to travel… Before I could read anything else, I get a message.
“Hey, I’m Kendra (although you already knew that lol). You’re pretty cute and your profile isn’t littered with photos of your dog, so I thought I would say hi!”. We spent most of the night sharing our dating ‘horror stories’ or just casually talking/flirting. 2am rolls around and I notice the bar across the streets sign had cut off. It’s was a hint, that I should get some sleep. I mention this in a message naming the bar and to our surprise, we find out we are pretty close. Apparently she lives a few blocks down the road. She asks me about how I would feel about getting together tomorrow night and without hesitance, I tell her yes.
The next day I spend in anxiousness and excitement for my date. In fact, I spent so much time talking to Kendra, that I paid no attention to making any actual preparations. I barely made time to shower and brush my teeth before I was out the door. Needless to say, I was incredibly nervous. I had only lived in the town for about a year and was still getting familiar with it, so I initially suggested the bar previously mentioned as a good meet up point without even realizing how sleazy that probably sounded. She didn’t pay much mind and suggested a bar a mile up the road. “Neutral ground and it’s not right across from your apartment if you try to kidnap me lol”. I didn’t know the bar myself, but Kendra did and I felt comfortable in her enough to take a chance. She shared how she grew up in the small town, but as I’m closing in on the place, landmarks she mentioned, aren’t adding up. She mentioned a movie theatre and some food chains but the theatre looked as though it had been closed for decades and the food chains were just empty shops.
My GPS tells me I have arrived as I pull into a semi small parking lot with about 10 other cars. The bar is essentially a dive. Bright neon illuminates the front of the building. I looked around to see if she was waiting for me, but I must have been early. I checked my phone for messages, but nothing. I looked up and notice a gentleman standing inside near the entrance. The gentleman turned and leaned his head around the door and promptly stepped out to greet me. I approached the gentleman and he asked for ID. I handed it to him and asked if he had seen a young brunette with green eyes. He told me “there are a lot of young girls here” before handing me back my ID and waving me in.
I decided to make my way to the back as I tried to message her. I began typing and I was stopped by a feminine voice. Kendra approached me from the back of the bar and hugged me. We sat at a table in the back and began chatting. I decided not to order any drinks so I could at least drive myself home. We were only there for about 40 minutes until she asked to leave. We split the tab and headed out the door. I was almost expecting for her to call it a night, but instead she grabbed my arm and whispered in my ear “you’re even cuter in person”. Everything was blurry from here until we got to her place. Things got heavy, fast and before I know it, we’re in her bedroom. About 30 minutes into it, she gets on top of me. She begins rolling her hips as her panting turns to moans and the moans begin getting louder. Eventually they become more guttural and her face turns from pleasure to pain. Her noises turn to agony and distress as her tone gets low and deep and she freezes. At this point, Im afraid she’s having a medical emergency and I begin trying to get her attention. After a moment, I panic, but before I can react, her chest cavity and stomach opens up as all of her intestines cover me in a red gooey paste. Her face is frozen in distress and horror as I watch the life leave her eyes. I screamed and threw her off of me. As I did, her torso separated from her legs as the rest of her entrails fall to the floor. Stunned and shaking, I ran to my phone.
It took the police almost an hour to arrive and the operator on the line couldn’t calm me down. I was handcuffed immediately and placed in a squad car. 2 hours later, I’m in an interrogation room being told to present everything that occurred from the moment we started speaking, until the moment the cops had arrived.
I explained everything to them, every time, they wanted me to start again from the beginning. They asked about key details, the bar, the patrons, who drove, etc. and I wasn’t sure what conclusion they were trying to draw, but I couldn’t shake the feeling it wasn’t good.
That next morning, a detective came into the room and told me I was free to leave. I was in complete shock. He wouldn’t tell me anything, but that I was no longer a suspect and free to go home. I was never contacted again and it was only recently that I did some digging into it and what I found was shocking.
Kendra was essentially a ghost and the police never could find any records of her existence. In fact, when police entered her residence, she had no clothes, no bed, no furniture. Apparently it was an empty apartment. The landlord had no record of her. When witnesses were approached, they verified seeing a woman and myself. Later when follow up interviews were made, they didn’t remember seeing either of us or even recounting their initial statement. Around this time, Kendra’s remains disappeared and were never recovered. This was such a bizarre case that the police department buried it.
I forgot about the entire incident for years. I was listening to some crime podcast, scrolling through missing persons reports the other day and there she was. Those stunning emerald green eyes and that beautiful flowing hair. The name says Adriana Novak and she was a Czech citizen who went missing in the city of Prague. She’s been missing for over 3 years. Last seen April 6th 2019, the night I was arrested for her murder.