The Road Trip

Two years ago today was a busy day for Harlow Cuadra and Joe Kerekes. Besides the nearly eight hour drive to Pennsylvania, they had to do some shopping and other miscellaneous chores in preparation of their plan to murder Bryan Kocis the following evening.

The first task of the day was getting a rental car (I guess they figured the Beemer or "Ole Blue" would have been too conspicuous). They drove an Xterra off the Enterprise lot at approximately 9:40 am:

Next, it was off for some gun and knife shopping at a nearby pawn shop about four minutes later:

So, figure about about 10 am it was that Harlow and Joe began the long drive to northeast Pennsylvania.

If you enter Harlow and Joe's address, and then Bryan's address, into Google Maps you get a route from Virginia Beach, across Chesapeake Bay, through Delaware, Philadelphia, Allentown and thence to Dallas, PA. That's the route Cpl. Hannon took as he was transporting Joe from Virginia to Luzerne County, PA following his extradition. However, during said trip Joe, feeling in a chatty mood that day for some reason, asked Hannon why they "weren't taking the Route 264 West route, as he had taken that route prior to when he had made trips to Pennsylvania." Yeah, I know: LOL!

If we assume Harlow and Joe took the 264 West to go murder Bryan, then the trip they took would have likely led through Richmond, D.C., and Harrisburg. Okay. You know, I'm not sure why they took this longer route, but in any case, it actually works out better. Google Maps tracks this distance at 445 miles, making a round trip 990 miles. Milage on the rental car turned out to be 1052 miles. This is closer than the round trip milage on the Delaware route (770 miles).

On the eight hour drive up, "Danny" and Bryan continue to correspond by phone and email (through Harlow's Sprint PCS AirCard), ironing out the details of the "Cobra model audition" scheduled for the following evening. Although the affidavit does not spell out the full rich tapestry of the entire conversation between Harlow and Bryan on this day, we do know that it involved Harlow needing to bring an overnight bag with him, the purpose of which spelled out explicitely on the Blacks Beach Tapes:

JOSEPH KEREKES: Oh, yea they were gonna have sex all night first.




HARLOW CUADRA: Oh yea, he wanted that.




JOSEPH KEREKES: Yea, yea, that's what was guaranteed already, I mean planned already to spend the night, ah, to ya know this and that...



GRANT ROY: So, then he hired you to do for escorting?




JOSEPH KEREKES: Well, without money involved, it was ah...




GRANT ROY: Oh yea, that's, that's how Bryan works.

Somewhat more ominously, the conversations also involved Harlow getting Bryan's assurance that they would be alone that night:

Finally they arrive in Luzerne County, probably around 6 pm. No doubt fatigued after the long drive, they check into the Fox Ridge Inn, which Joe pays for with cash, probably hoping thereby for their stay to go undocumented. Innkeeper Thakor Patel later described at the preliminary hearing how well that idea worked:

Thakor Patel testified that he is the owner/manager of the Fox Ridge Inn in Plains Township. He stated that on January 23, 2007, Joe Kerekes checked-in for two nights and the room was registered for two people. Kerekes was required to show photo identification at the time of check-in and registered that the vehicle he arrived in was gray in color. Kerekes, on the check-in slip, noted that he was from Virginia and originally started to provide an address of "1028 Str" before crossing it out and giving a different address. ... Mr. Patel documented Mr. Kerekes' VA Drivers License NO. XXXXXXXXX. Later, Cpl. Hannon noted this was in fact Kerekes' Virginia Drivers License.

Yeah, I know: LOL!

At this point, Harlow and Joe probably had food delivered to the room, and settled in for the night. As eventful as this day was, tomorrow promised to be even more eventful.

Update: Recently returned from a completely different road trip, Brent speculates on the paranormal presence of a certain damned soul inhabiting (and inhibiting) his motor vehicle:

Oh, yeah . . . that and my car completely overheated on the way home. I think I drove it too fast, for too long. Grant took it back in yesterday and they had to replace a hose and a thermostat. I don’t think I actually melted anything, but it was still expensive as hell. Sometimes I think Bryan’s soul is caught circulating through the steaming, hot mechanics of my car; sort of like his own personal purgatory? I’m such a Doorq sometimes!

Your Friend and Lover,
Brent

Is Brent still driving the Jetta? If it were the Jetta, I'd be more inclined to believe this...

OTOH, if I were Bryan's ghost I'm pretty sure I'd rather hang out in "Ole Blue" these days. Or the Masarati.

Update 2: Grant the exorcist -