It was a crisp, windy, October day in the small town just outside of Milwaukee. Mount Crest High School was in session and the breeze was a little off. It was completely unheard of for tragedies to happen in the town. There was the occasional noise disturbance or teen party, but nothing disruptive enough to be on the news.

Deneese Crawford was a 17-year-old senior in high school who had it all. She was a cheer leader who was also on debate team. Her bright green eyes pierced anyone who looked at them and her long dark brown hair shined in the light. She drove a BMW, wore designer clothes, and her parents were one of the wealthiest couples in the town. Nearly every girl in school wanted to be Deneese. All the guys wanted her, but there was one guy in particular that wanted her more than anything in the world.

Jeremy Crest was also a senior in her high school. He was very reserved, wore oval-shaped glasses, and plain t-shirts with cargo pants every day to school. Deneese had no idea who he was, but he knew her. He knew more about her than even some of her friends did. Jeremy was a very different egg. He was involved in nothing at school, had all C’s and B’s for grades, and had no friends. He didn’t talk to anybody at school, not even his teachers. For all anyone knew, he was non-existent.
Jeremy’s mom lived in Chicago in a homeless shelter. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia right after Jeremy was born. Jeremy’s father received full custody of him and left his girlfriend in Chicago to hopefully receive medical attention. She ended up being too much of a disturbance and started living on the streets of Chicago and throughout homeless shelters.

On that October day, Jeremy decided to make his first move toward making his first “friend.” He walked up to Deneese in the hallway at school when she was at her locker by herself. “Hi Deneese.”
Deneese turned her head towards him with a puzzle look. “Do I know you?” she said.
Jeremy was shaking because he was so nervous to talk to her. “Uh-um- yeah. Well I don’t think you know me, but I know you. We’re in the same chem. class. I sit in the back corn-“The bell rang.
Deneese grabbed her bag and shut her locker. “Yeah hey I’ve got to go. It was nice meeting you!”
Deneese walked away to meet up with some of her friends. Jeremy stared at her the entire time she was walking until she turned the corner. He unzipped his backpack and grabbed a scarf that he stole from her two weeks prior to that day. He put it up to his nose and took a big sniff and stuck it back in the bag. He then walked into the bathroom, into a stall and locked it. He pulled out the scarf again and sniffed it for a good thirty seconds. He then stuck it down his pants, zipped his backpack, and walked to class three minutes late.
His teacher didn’t even notice he wasn’t there, so he was never counted late. There was a small lump in his pants from where the scarf was, but of course nobody noticed.
The school day was over, and he raced home in his rusty Honda. He instantly got on Facebook and began messaging Deneese. “Hey it’s me Jeremy! We met today and I didn’t get a chance to talk to you more.”
Deneese never replied so Jeremy started to get worried. In his mind he thought she was with another guy. He immediately messaged her again. “Hey idk if you got the last message but I just wanted to see if you wanted to text or hang out?”
Deneese still didn’t reply. Jeremy started sweating and went into panic mode. He started pulling at his hair and began to throw things that were in his room against the walls. He hopped back onto the computer chair and started typing a status on Facebook. “IF ANYONE TOUCHES DENEESE CRAWFORD BEFORE ME, I’M GOING TO MURDER YOU.” He then continued to message her.
Deneese got home after shopping with her friends at the mall. She logged onto Facebook and saw hundreds of the messages she received from Jeremy. She was extremely confused so she clicked his name to be directed to his profile. She saw the status he posted and her heart began to race. She clicked into the instant messenger and replied to him. “Please leave me alone. You’re starting to scare me and I don’t even know who you are.”
Jeremy’s heart finally cooled when he saw that she responded. He read the message and started to scream. His heart began to beat extremely fast again, so he walked over to his closet and pulled out a scrap book. The book was stuffed full of pictures of Deneese from freshman year all the way until that day. It was also filled with crazy love letters proposing marriage and even talking about having children with her. He took the book downstairs and grabbed a knife as well. Jeremy jumped into his car with the scrapbook and knife and drove to Deneese’s house.
He knew exactly where she lived, and he knew that her parents were at work. He pulled out a pen and paper from his glove department, and began writing. “Dear Deneese. If I can’t have you as my bride, NO ONE CAN.”
He took the letter, scrapbook, and knife, and walked up to the house. He rang the doorbell and waited for her to answer. Nobody answered the door, but her car was in the driveway. In his mind, he thought she was hiding from him. He walked to the back of the house and saw the door was unlocked. He slid open the door and entered the home.
Deneese had been watching from her parent’s bedroom window the entire time. She saw him park and walk up to the house. It was a matter of time before the cops would show up to arrest Jeremy for stalking her.
Moments later, Jeremy screamed at the top of his lungs. “Deneese! You can’t hide from me for long! I have something for you!”
Deneese’s heart sank. She immediately jumped into survival mode. She walked into her parent’s bathroom, and began to draw a bath. “I’m in the bathroom Jeremy! Come bathe with me!”
Jeremy ran to the bathroom to see Deneese standing in front of the tub. “I knew you loved me. Why did you have to wait until today to tell me you wanted me?”
Deneese was nervous. “Just get in the bath, silly.”
Jeremy started to put his stuff down. “Before I get in the bath with you, I want you to take off your clothes to show me you really love me.”
Deneese started to panic. “Oh but- I was going to wait until you were in the bath so I could put on a little show for you! I want you to be ready for me.”
Jeremy smiled. “Okay, babe.” He took off all his clothes and got into the tub.
Moments later, he heard the sound of cop cars and he began to panic. “I knew this was too good to be true! Now I’m going to kill you and then kill myself!”

Deneese screamed, grabbed the hair dryer plugged into the wall, and threw it into the tub. Jeremy was instantly electrocuted and died in the bathtub.

MRI’s showed lack of dopamine in the brain. Scientists concluded that he was also schizophrenic and couldn’t help what he was doing or thinking. Deneese will never forget that day.