On the 21st of May 2002, two men abducted, raped and killed a 6-year-old girl in

Banning, Ohio. A week later, the body of the young girl was pulled out of Lake Antecura by
local authorities. It was so horribly disfigured that an identification could not be made at the
time. Local newspapers dubbed the case 'The Antecura Girl' and the name quickly caught on. For
weeks, the people talked about 'The Antecura Girl' and demanded that the authorities find those
responsible for this heinous crime. As tensions ran high, parents grew more vigilant, preventing
their children from walking the streets alone and going out to play. No one dared to acknowledge
what everyone feared: what if it happens again?
It would take another week for the medical examiner to identify the girl as Tracy Manor,
a local girl who had gone missing weeks before. What would make this one of the most
remarkable cases in Ohio are the circumstances surrounding the case and how this case affected
the community as a whole. Fifteen years have passed and the people of Banning still wonder
how such a tragedy could have occurred. Today, we will retrace the steps of this case to try to
understand what led to the untimely demise of the young Tracy Manor.
Tracy Manor was a 6-year old girl with brown hair and grey eyes who loved doing sports
and singing in her school's choir. Many remember her as a cheerful and bright girl who did not
let her circumstances affect her. Tracy lived with her single mother, Sarah Manor, in a blue
house in Oakward.
Sarah Manor was a waitress at the local diner and often had trouble making ends meet.
The last few months before Tracy's disappearance, their financial situation was particularly bad.
The family barely had enough to eat and were on the verge of being evicted from their home.
However, Sarah Manor found some comfort at the bottom of a bottle. Witnesses reported
smelling alcohol on her breath when she was on the clock and her being frequently late to pick
up her daughter at school and sports practice.
On the 21st of May, Tracy was seen waiting for her mother to pick her up by the parking
lot outside her soccer club. As it was raining on and off the whole day, the parking lot was
almost deserted. It is presumed that after waiting for one hour, Tracy decided to walk home
alone, because she did not want her mother to get into trouble. In order to reach home, Tracy had
to cross the big parking lot.
Authorities think that it was at this moment that she was pulled into a nearby black van.
Witnesses reported seeing this same black van outside of Tracy’s school and soccer club on
multiple occasions. Some even reported it to the authorities, but there was no follow-up
investigation. Tracy herself had reported to her primary school teacher that she sometimes felt
like she was being watched, but the teacher did not take this seriously.
Sources inside the police station have come forward, admitting that at the time the
authorities had their eye on two male suspects that were suspected of being paedophiles. These
suspects, John Williams (45) and Chris Rich (42), were brought in for questioning two days
before Tracy’s abduction, but were later released due to lack of evidence. Williams worked at
Global International Banking in SanChia and Rich was a construction worker. Both men had not
shown up at work for weeks. However, this was not unusual, which is why their employers did
not check the men’s motive. Some of Rich’s work colleagues also reported him making strange,
possibly paedophiliac remarks. On a routine sweep of Williams’ computer, the tech division
recovered a schedule of Tracy’s daily activities. Williams explained it away, by saying that it
was his daughter’s schedule and the name on it was a mistake. The employers never followed up
the matter of the possibly paedophiliac comments or the schedule.
In the preliminary stages of the investigations, authorities suspected that her father, who
had recently lost a ruthless custody battle, was responsible for her disappearance. However, after
the body of Tracy Manor had been examined, they set their sights on a new line of investigation.
The body was badly damaged and coldly tossed in a lake. This revealed that the perpetrator had
no emotional connection to the victim and felt no remorse. Following this line of thought,
authorities deduced that it could not have been the father, also because he had tried so hard to
win custody of Tracy. So, what led the authorities back on the trail of John Williams and Chris
Rich?
Believe it or not, a traffic camera caught the two fleeing the scene of the crime after the
estimated time of Tracy’s death in the same black van that had been spotted before. Authorities
arrived just in time at Williams’ and Rich’s homes to prevent them from leaving the country.
Their families were on their way to Mexico for a family holiday. Authorities also recovered the
black van that was hidden in a shed behind Williams’ property. Police found evidence of blood,
semen and hair follicles in the back of the van. The blood and hair follicles matched Tracy’s
blood and hair type. Upon further investigation, they also recovered Tracy’s backpack from
Rich’s home. It seems that he gave Tracy’s backpack as a present to his daughter.
 After a few hours of questioning, Rich boldly declared that the girl had to be released
from this putrid world, because she was a reincarnation of the Moon God who would wash all
their sins away upon her release into the spirit world. In contrast, Williams remained silent
during most of the interrogation. When he heard that Rich had claimed that it was all his idea, he
broke his silence, clearly enraged. Williams confessed that he had been planning the crime for
years and that Rich was just along for the ride.
On the 21st of May, the two men followed Tracy from her home to soccer practice,
waiting for the perfect time to abduct her. Weirdly enough, Williams did not believe in Rich’s
reincarnation story. When asked why he had chosen Tracy Manor, he coldly said that she was an
easy target. They also revealed that they disposed of the body in the lake after the rape to get rid
of possible evidence that could have been traced back to them.
The wives of the two men refused to comment, urging the media to respect their privacy.
Close family friends revealed that the husbands would just disappear at unusual hours of the day,
leaving their wives wondering where they were. Still, their wives did not question their
behaviour and always used to say that their husbands did not always have to tell them everything
they were doing. Rich’s wife once overheard a conversation on the phone between him and his
accomplice, and she heard her husband mentioning the name Tracy a lot. Her only reaction to
this was accusing her husband of cheating on her with a woman called Tracy. Williams had
developed unusual sleep patterns, having restless nights and talking in his sleep in which he even
mentioned Tracy’s name. His wife stopped asking questions when Williams claimed that it was
all caused by stress at work. On October 11th, John Williams and Chris Rich pleaded guilty to
First Degree Murder in order to avoid death penalty.
Many thought that they had dodged a bullet and deserved a more severe punishment.
Others still wondered how these dangerous men could have lived in their communities without
anyone noticing that something was amiss. If something had gone differently on that awful day,
maybe Tracy Manor would still be with us. We might never know the answer to this, but the
people of Banning have reflected on this case and have made sure to learn from it. They have
enforced a buddy system that makes sure that no child will ever have to walk alone and also
reports of potential paedophiles are investigated more thoroughly. It might not make up for what
happened to Tracy Manor, but at least they can do their best to prevent it from ever happening
again.