National editor Harry Jaffe writes often about crime;this is online editor Ann Limpert’s first feature-length story for the magazine. Dialogue in the story was taken from official transcripts, taped interviews, and court records. When official records were not available, dialogue was confirmed by at least two people. Bill Sturgis is not the real name of Ed Chen’s accomplice;no other names were changed.

Bruce Guth pulled the cell phone from his belt and dialed up Chester Toney.

“We got a call from a woman this morning,”said Guth, head of homicide in Fairfax County. “She said her boyfriend killed his whole family. Happened a few years ago.”

We get a lot of crazy calls, Toney thought. The Fairfax County detective wrote her name and a number on his pad.

Toney was on his way to court, so he stopped to see his partner, Steve Shillingford. It was about 1 PM.

“Hey, Steve,”he said. “Would you call this girl for me? Guth asked me to check out her story. Says her boyfriend killed his parents.”

Toney went to court. By the time he returned, Shillingford had the young woman, Vickie Henry, on the phone.

“My ex-boyfriend killed his mother and father and brother,”Henry told Shillingford.

She started to tell him more. Shillingford put his hand over the receiver.

They agreed to meet at 5 PM at the Reston Town Center in front of the Hyatt hotel. The detectives grabbed a tape recorder and jumped in Shillingford’s Dodge Intrepid. They took the back way to Reston Town Center, parked in front of the hotel, and waited. It was 5 PM.