pattern became clear to agents on the Melancholy Killer Task Force. “He seemed to be traveling in a cir- cle around the United States,” Reardon said. “He started in the Pacific North- west and worked his way to Florida and was headed up north. We were confi- dent he was on a specific journey and we were hoping we could predict where he’d strike again.” The investigators’ instincts were cor- rect, though the next two murders took place in Pennsylvania and Illinois be- fore the FBI could catch up. That’s when they went public with his name. It turns out the FBI were not the only ones looking for Dwyer. His ex-girl- friend, Sheila Phillips, had also been on her own journey searching for him. CHAISE-ING LOVE During his time living in Seattle in 1996, Dwyer found a job as a delivery work- er for a furniture store. He began dating Sheila Phillips, the daughter of the furni- ture store’s owner, Julian Phillips. A former employee of the store de- scribed Sheila as a quiet introvert. “She was a wallflower,” the employee said. “She was pretty to look at, but often stayed in the background.” The employee also said Julian Phillips never approved of his daughter’s rela- tionship with Dwyer. Dwyer and Sheila continued to date for eight or nine months but broke up when the pressure from her family be- came too much. After they broke up, Sheila’s father fired Dwyer. Investigators said after their breakup, Dwyer would walk the streets of Seattle late at night. They believe the breakup was the impetus that began his murder spree, because two weeks later his first-known victim, a waitress, was found murdered in a Seattle park. Sheila Phillips did not take Dwyer’s sud- den disappearance from Seattle lightly. The former employee said she ran away several times to go looking for Dwyer. “She would disappear for one or two weeks at a time and then she would come back,” the employee remembered. “In fact, she had been gone for a few weeks when he was arrested in ‘98. I always thought she must have really loved him.” Sheila would not catch up with Dwyer before the FBI. On July 5, 1998 the FBI arrested Dwyer on a highway outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. The next time Sheila would see Dw- yer was when she testified at his trial as a character witness on his behalf. Before the trial ended, the media’s re- lentless chase caused her to cower from the spotlight and all but disappear. She could not be reached by Et Tu Maga- zine for comment. Julian Phillips even closed his store temporarily in 1998 and for a few months the following year, due to the overwhelming press and publicity brought on by Dwyer’s previous employ- ment and whirlwind relationship with his daughter. ODD JOBS The furniture store position was not the only “odd job” held by the Melancholy Killer. His first-known employment was in Prince Rupert, British Columbia when he was just 18 years old. He got a summer job in the Canadian fishing industry. He worked numerous jobs in the fish processing plants, gutting and cleaning fish for market. During his time off, he became known as the quiet guy who read and wrote poetry. He kept to him- self, never going out with his coworkers after work or socializing off the job. It is not known if Dwyer committed A POET’S DEADLY JOURNEY