Juanna Rodriguez Hall
Like a gift from the heavens, it was easy to tell
It was love from above, like it saved me from hell
She had fire in her soul, it was easy to see how the devil himself could be pulled out of me
-- Santana - Into The Night
Sobriquet: Anna
Appearance: 5' 8", shoulder length straight black hair, which she mostly wears tied back. Anna's dark eyes are quick and sharp. She is slender with tough womanly curves.
Behavior: Anna is a passionate woman inclined who spends most of her time keeping a tight rein on her emotions. Empathetic and kind, Anna is a streetwise cop who see's the emotions and reasons for why people do what they do.
History: Born May 1958, Juanna comes from the wilds of New Mexico, having grown up in the empty badlands around Albuquerque. After high school she moved to Sante Fe for criminal justice at UNM. After graduation she worked three years in Sante Fe before moving to Denver to be a beat cop. Two years after coming to Denver she met the widower Tremen Hall in the hospital while being treated for minor injuries. They started dating, and in a whirlwind romance they decided to get married. Tremen loved her, but in reality was spiraling in on his own darkness. Anna and Catherine made fast friends, holding onto each other as Tremen became more and more erratic. After three years she could take is unpredictable behavior no more, watching him go from loving father to unstoppable psychopath when his temper was aroused. Their marriage came to an end when Tremen nearly beat a Korean delivery boy to death for bumping them while on a date.
Even after they split, Juanna spent a lot of her off time watching Catherine for Tremen. When Tremen was sentenced to death row, Juanna was the one who he gave his custody to, not wanting to send Cathy to Chicago with his sisters. Juanna kept her and raised her from the time of Tremen's "death" until she left for college. Juanna used Tremen's insurance and her own paycheck to pay for the care of his daughter. Catherine spent a long time hating Juanna for “hurting” her father more than he already had been over her mother death. Catherine knew in her mind that it wasn’t true, but spent a long time blaming Juanna for Tremens psychological split. The two spent many nights fighting like cats and dogs, and other nights holding each other and crying for the man who brought them together.
Wanting to move on but saddled with the care of a young girl who hated her half of the time was a real trial for Juanna. Juanna moved up the ladder at work, becoming an investigator of some renown in Denver. Juanna tried to date after her divorce, but the stigma of raising the daughter of the cannibal doctor kept most men at a distance. Then in 1993 Juanna is hit by something completely unexpected.
First came the news of the shooting of Catherne’s Aunt and Uncle Reese in Chicago. Uncle Bill had died from a gunshot to the chest, aunt Lorren was in ICU at Chicago Memorial from a head wound. Catherine and Juanna packed up and went to Chicago for the funeral. The Hall siblings were in an uproar, as the Reese children were missing. Calista and Jason were nowhere to be found. Juanna asked some questions as a professional to the police, but there were very few clues to be had. Lorren stabilized, and her wound seemed to heal very rapidly, though she remained in a coma. Upset there were no answers about the children Juanna and Catherine returned to Denver, both thinking they would do more digging to help find the kids from Denver.
The two Hall women were not prepared for what came next. An FBI detective named Shephard call Juanna and Catherine to ask them if they have been in touch with Tremen. At first Juanna was furious, and threatened him with all kinds of hell if he brought such absurdities up again. Catherine was beside herself with the idea that her Daddy might be alive. Juanna told her over and over it was impossible, that Tremen died in the fire. After a couple of weeks of little sleep, Juanna found a way to bribe some guys at the Denver FBI office to get her Tremens file. To her horror she realized that his body, nor anything resembling his burned corpse, had ever been found.
The next several months began a painstaking mission to determine if her deranged ex-husband was on the loose. It wasn’t until she began looking at the money Tremen left for Catherine that she was sure. Tremen, or someone who could sign his drafts with that weird T scrawl H scrawl she had seen on their marriage license was drawing out and putting in money. Shaken to her core, Juanna and Catherine went to the house Tremen had left Catherine on lower Sherman Street. The house had remained closed as far as they both knew since Tremen’s incarceration. Inside it was apparent someone had been living here. Several someones. Using all her skills as a detective, Juanna scoured the house. The walk-in refrigerator in the basement that had been installed gave her chills for more reasons than the temperature. There were signs of human blood on the floor. Not telling anyone but Catherine what she was doing she submitted the finger prints she found in the house. When Tremen’s name came up on the report, both Juanna and Catherine broke down crying. There were also a lot of prints from two runaways that had disappeared from Denver a couple of years ago. Further research into the girls told her that they were in foster care in Chicago. A phone call to Special Agent Shephard revealed that they had been taken along with a man he was sure was Tremen Hall. Chicago SWAT had killed him in the Chicago Memorial morgue. But somehow the man who paramedics swore was dead, jumped out of a moving van and escaped.
In an effort for help from the agent, Juanna told him about the evidence that Tremen had been alive and living in the house on Sherman Street. SA Shephard flew down the next day and asked for permission to examine the house. Juanna was surprised when he didn’t bring in lab techs to search the house. When she asked him why, he smiled ruefully and replied “Tremen Hall is dead according to the Colorado department of Corrections. I can’t set up a man hunt for a dead man.”
After that it seemed that every time she turned around she was seeing a man who resembled Tremen. She helped agent Shephard track money exchanges, and knew whoever this was had traveled to Montreal Canada. Twice Juanna traveled there looking for him. Every time it was fruitless.
Then money started to move around New York. Juanna called Shephard and told him. His response was a terse commentary on how Tremen had sent him on a chase to Canada, after some human trafficking ring. The FBI and Royal Mounted Police searched Montreal, but other than a string of bodies and destroyed properties, there was no sign of the man. Worse yet the Canadians thought he was totally daft for chasing a man listed as dead all these years. They even showed Shephard a photo of the man responsible, who had a completely different face than cannibal doctor.
Now Juanna is obsessed with finding Tremen. More than anyone else Juanna and Catherine know how perceptive and intelligent the man is, also how prone to kill those who stand in his way. Juanna is now quietly ridiculed in Denver by cops who refuse to believe that Tremen Hall escaped the prison alive.
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