Alina Fitzpatrick Nine Years Later

Nine years ago 17 year old Alina Fitzpatrick had someone drop her off near the intersection of NW 24th and Western Avenue in Oklahoma City. It was nearly 10pm, but it was also a Friday evening so there wasn't any worry about getting to school the next morning. Not that it mattered. Her physical presence wasn't needed at Putnam City North High School. She had stopped attending classes there and had enrolled in the Putnam City School District's, "Virtual High School," program. The reason given the media for the change was that she was being bullied. To this day the district denies it has any record of such a thing occurring.

There were other oddities. It was reported she felt that she was being followed. Friends told investigators and the press she had changed her cell phone number because of a string of anonymous calls which were disturbing. The phone, which was turned off shortly after she got out of the car, has never been found. 

According to a witness young Ms. Fitzpatrick was going to visit somebody in an apartment complex near the intersection, although she was vague about exactly who that person was. That moment was the last time people who weren't involved with her death saw her alive.

Less than a week later, on Wednesday, November 9th her nude body was found dumped in an empty lot on the far northeast side of town. She had been physically abused. Her body was covered with bruises and abrasions which the ME determined happened near her time of death. In addition there was a gag in her mouth. There were also drugs in her system.

The local media noted her discovery and death, but the coverage of her brutal demise was muted by the horror of another murder. 19 year old Carina Saunders' dismembered and beheaded body had been found less than three weeks earlier.  

Indeed, it seemed the metro area simply couldn't handle two gruesome crimes at the same time. Especially when the suburban Bethany police who were in charge of the Saunders' investigation were more than willing tell anyone who would listen exactly who they suspected of the crime, their motive, and the method they used to perpetrate it.

Who knows, perhaps it was for the best. After all, at least the suspects, if there ever were any, in the murder of Alina Fitzpatrick, unlike those in Saunders' case, didn't know exactly what the city cops were doing.

The door slammer was when the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner, Chai S. Choy issued his final autopsy report. It found none of the bodily injuries suffered by Alina Fitzpatrick were severe enough to cause her death. However, the 0.96 micrograms of meth per milliliter of blood in her heart might have been. Choy ruled her death, "suspicious," rather than a homicide. 

A conversation with a print investigative reporter later revealed the police, "had little hope," of solving the mystery of Alina Fitzpatrick's death. He also said their investigation, for all practical purposes, halted as soon as the ME report noted the probability of an overdose.

In other words the obvious foul play didn't matter, The possible OD gave them an easy out to move on to other crimes.

Alina Y. Fitzpatrick was buried on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011. If she was alive today she would be 26 years old. The whole world would still be ahead of her. 

Tragically though sometimes evil wins. Even worse, sometimes it wins because no one wants to be bothered with it.

11-19-20