A Rage To Kill And Other True Cases

seventy years old now. Her last husband is sixty-one, but no one has heard from Happy Boccaci for a long time.

To an Athlete Dying Young
    Many athletes pursue an inner radiance that comes only when they exceed what they believe their bodies can do. The young woman in the following case was a tremendous athlete, and she had realized many goals she had set for herself, often against great odds.
    She had seen many dreams come true. But dreams can be addictive,
especially
when they come true. She wanted to crowd as many into her life as she could before time and fate ended them. The last dream seemed, in many ways, the easiest to bring to life.
    Sadly, even though she accomplished the task she had set for herself, there was someone determined to smash her triumph even as she exulted in success.
    It is a bleak commentary on society that city parks have become dangerous places for women. They may be safe enough in the daylight, or if one is accompanied by a large dog. But the isolated trails of city parks have gradually become off-limits for women when shadows grow long. Too often these parks are oases within the inner city, bordered by streets filled with predators. The next case deals with the dangers women face when they venture too far off the beaten path—even in cities.
    The huge sprawling national parks of America once seemed safer than metropolitan parks—at least when it came to human predators. Although there have been horrendous headlines about women who were dragged off and mauled to death by grizzly bears, man remains the deadliest creature of all.

J ane Costantino was a beautiful, vibrant woman with masses of long blonde hair, and a perfectly toned body. She considered the world her home, particularly the outdoors. She had always met life head on, and never used the fact that she was a female to avoid hard work and daunting tasks, but sometimes it seemed that Jane almost dared the fates to challenge her. She was an adventuress not unlike Amelia Earhart, another independent woman who came of age in her thirties, and who broke barriers that most women were afraid to challenge. Jane would brook no fear in herself; she liked to say she wasn’t afraid of anything. Of course, that was an exaggeration. Like everyone, she had her fears, but when something frightened her, she set out to conquer it.
    Jane was an easterner by birth. She grew up on Long Island, attended Fordham University in New York City, and worked for a few years as a social worker there. But she felt confined in the city so she went west. She sought hotter deserts, higher mountains, broader prairies. But before relocating to the west, she went first across the Atlantic to Europe.
    During her tour of Europe, Jane Costantino met a Colorado man who seemed to share many of her interests. When he told her he owned a string of pack horses in his home state, she was hooked. She married him and moved with him to Denver. Their marriage survived only two years, but Jane loved Colorado and she stayed on in the Denver area. Still, she used the mile-high city only as a home base. She would always be a traveller at heart who couldn’t resist the call of the road.
    Jane wasn’t wealthy, and she had to plan carefully to be able to afford the trips she took. She had to work seven days a week for most of the year as a waitress to save money for each new summer’s adventures. She lived, if not frugally,
sparely,
during the eight or nine months she was in Denver. It was a trade-off that she accepted gladly. The possessions that most people sought meant little to her and she happily drove a beat-up old Volkswagen bug. She lived in a tiny apartment in an old brick apartment house in Denver. Everything extra went to buy the best in hiking and camping equipment. In an era when many women were floundering to find their identity, Jane Costantino knew exactly what she wanted and she worked hard to make it come true.
    She was a good waitress, “the best we’ve ever had here,” according to one Denver bartender. She was blessed with a great personality and a smile that went with her strong good looks. It wasn’t an act; she genuinely liked the people she waited on, and they rewarded her with generous tips that she kept in glass jars at home until she saved enough to add to her savings account.
    There aren’t many people who can quote a poem or song that absolutely sums up their philosophies of life, but Jane could. She lived by the lines of her favorite