LA treatment cover story¶
The LA treatment cover story is the official excuse for the new disappearances in Radford, Virginia: letters and claims that the missing people have gone to rehab or psychiatric care in Los Angeles, backed by lawyers who threaten anyone who investigates.
| Type | Lore / cover story |
| Aliases | missing people in LA treatment |
| Claimed destination | A California rehab "like Narconon"; inpatient psychiatric treatment in Los Angeles |
| Status | Never verified; the team treats it as a cover |
| First appearance | Radford Horrors 02 |
Overview¶
In Radford Horrors 02 the sheriff, Molly Underhill, tells the team about the disappearances that followed Phoebe Augustine's. After Phoebe went missing, the sheriff's office was told she had gone to a rehab in California, "like Narconon", but could not reach her, and nobody in her family knew of a drug problem. Whenever the office asked around, "really scary lawyers" threatened to sue and sent threatening letters, and something similar happened with several other missing people. Visitors are not allowed at the rehab. The sheriff thinks the whole story is suspicious, "especially since" Phoebe was so closely tied to the earlier disappearances, who were "definitely not in rehab". She gives the team the lawyers' phone number, which the earlier FBI task force had also requested, along with a map and missing posters (Radford Horrors 02).
Elizabeth George¶
At the Douglas Pinball Emporium in Radford Horrors 03, Douglas Douglas explains that his overnight worker Elizabeth George was gone when he opened. He found a letter on her door saying she was in inpatient psychiatric treatment in Los Angeles, which he does not believe. The Flash Gordon machine she was repairing had been left open on the floor, there was a bloodstain in the parking lot, and the hand towels were missing from the employee bathroom. The episode's cold open had shown a woman tased and carried off by a man in a black balaclava (Radford Horrors 03).
Kurt recalls that other missing people were supposedly in LA psychiatric treatment, with lawyers threatening anyone who called. Ezra asks whether this was a feature of the first Radford case, and Andre says it was not. Andre adds that officially only a few people are missing, because the rest are "supposedly in drug or psychiatric treatment" at LA facilities (Radford Horrors 03).
Escalation to the FBI¶
In Radford Horrors 04, Webster calls Director Rudy Giuliani and passes on the team's suspicions: gray vans that kidnapped at least one person on camera seem to have arrived when the Safe Environment Fund did, and the missing people all left letters saying they had gone to an addiction therapy center in LA. This seems out of character for them, they could not afford it, and nobody is allowed to see or hear from them. Giuliani already has a man looking into the SEF, asks whether the center is "Narcanon" or "Narconon" (the paperwork spells it with an O), and agrees to put one of his researchers on it (Radford Horrors 04). Compare the Acceptable fact pattern order.
Trivia¶
Radford Horrors 02 describes the destination as a California rehab, while Radford Horrors 03 and 04 say Los Angeles.