365个英语简短小故事-271. Stepmother Kills Herself

Lois Castle, 58, committed suicide¹ at home with a revolver yesterday. Two police officers heard a single gunshot as they were about to knock on her front door. They were at her house to arrest her for the 1970 murder of her young stepdaughter. Castle apparently² realized that she was going to be arrested. Only a month earlier she had been interviewed by detectives about Dorothy’s death 35 years ago.

In 1970, Castle told police that the girl had fallen out of a tree she was climbing and hit her head on a rock. But Dorothy’s natural father, Dwayne, who was married to Castle at the time, thought his wife was lying. “She said she would hurt me if I bother her again,” Dorothy had told her father earlier.

“Your little girl is making up stories about me. I try to love her, but she rejects me,” Castle told Dwayne.

An autopsy³ was inconclusive, and the death was ruled accidental. Dwayne divorced Castle shortly thereafter⁴.

But the case was reopened recently when a playmate of Dorothy’s came forward. Beverly Lisenby, also seven at that time, said she was about to knock on the door of Dorothy’s house that fateful day. But instead of knocking, she listened quietly as she heard Dorothy screaming for help and Castle telling her to shut up. Beverly listened until it was silent inside, then ran back home. She was so shaken by the event that she had told no one in all these years.

The coroner dug up Dorothy’s body and did a second autopsy. Using new crime-solving tools, he determined⁵ that Dorothy had been struck in the skull⁶ several times by a rock the size of a baseball.

The police are now trying to locate Dwayne to tell him the good news.
 

1 suicide   

n.自杀，自毁，自杀性行为

参考例句：

• The number of suicide has increased.自杀案件的数量增加了。
• The death was adjudged a suicide by sleeping pills.该死亡事件被判定为服用安眠药自杀。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

4 thereafter   

adv.此后，以后

参考例句：

• Thereafter they did not speak.此后他们就不再讲话了。
• On the opening day all tickets are a dollar, thereafter,they'll be two dollars.开张那天票价一元，以后两元。

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。