The Lakewood Slashings were a series of murders committed in Lakewood in October 2015, primarily targeting students at George Washington High School and their loved ones.

The murders were orchestrated by true crime podcaster Piper Shaw, aided by two ex-convicts: Kieran Wilcox and Gemma O’Neil. Piper and her accomplices disguised themselves by wearing black ponchos, and hiding their faces behind masks reminiscent of the one worn by local true crime boogeyman Brandon James, Piper’s biological father.

Piper’s stated motivation was to get revenge on her mother, Maggie Duval for giving her up as a baby (she was the product of the ill-fated teenage fling between Brandon and Maggie that indirectly sparked Brandon’s 1994 killing spree) and on her half-sister Emma Duval, for having the idyllic suburban life that Piper felt had been denied her. Piper targeted Emma’s friends as part of a campaign to expose them as venal, selfish hypocrites. In the course of this, she and her accomplices ended up hijacking the prolific Lakewood Eyes blackmail ring from its organizers Nina Patterson and Tyler O’Neil, Gemma’s brother, using the kompromat they found there in their operations.

The killings culminated in a showdown on Halloween night, wherein Piper confronted Emma and Maggie on the dock at Wren Lake, where Brandon had been gunned down 21 years previously. Piper was ultimately shot dead by Audrey Jensen, who Piper had been planning to use as a scapegoat. Piper’s true accomplices remained unmasked afterward, with the very fact of other killers being a subject of debate.

History

The Murders

Piper, Kieran, and Gemma arrived in Lakewood on October 18, 2015. While Kieran drove into town with his sister, and Gemma prepared to “surprise” her brother with her arrival, Piper claimed her first victims. Killing Robert and Gina Winters by filling their car with nerve gas, she stole their phones and their keys before targeting their teenage daughter, Stacy Winters, a freshman at GW High. Piper called Stacy from a burner phone, claiming to be a “friend of a friend”, and subjected her to a sadistic “game” that ultimately led to Stacy finishing off her mortally wounded boyfriend Brock Carmichael before being taken out by Piper herself.¹

Before leaving the scene, Piper absconded with Stacy and Brock’s phones.²

Victims

Trivia

The Lakewood Slashings comprise the main plot of Volume I of The Story so Far, where they serve as the SRU’s equivalent to the murder spree that occurs in the first season of Scream the TV Series. Every character who dies in Season 1 of the TV series is likewise killed in the Lakewood Slashings, though not in the same order or circumstances.

1. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Prologue ↩︎
2. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 8 ↩︎