Alex Conway is a psychopathic grad student responsible for robberies, assaults, and the murder of Justine Stebbins.
Background[]
Little is known about Conway's history, except his parents died when he was young, he was a grad student at Chelsea University majoring in Behavioral Science, and he had a gambling addiction. Alex was indebted to 30 grand in losses at casinos in Atlantic City, which he paid by armed robberies of four businesses. At one robbery, he struck someone at the base of their spine with a pry bar, stunning them with brief paralysis to their legs. Conway eventually came to meet Carrie Newton, who he seduced and manipulated into getting engaged to him and thinking the world of him as a man. Out of trying to keep his finances together, and thriving from his craving for dominance, Conway eventually switched to trolling for women in escort services to rob, lying that it was for his university thesis. One woman, Stacey Tipton, who was generating income after the market crash ruined her and her husband's telemarketing work in Norwick, Connecticut, arranged a hotel meeting through an online ad with Conway. Conway forced her at gunpoint into cable ties, robbed her from her purse, and then tried to force a ball gag on her mouth. Fighting for her life, Stacey thrashed and screamed, causing Conway to beat her once and flee. One of the lab techs at the university, Robby Vickery, was trying to brag about his relationship with Justine Stebbins, a college student who was working from a hotel as an escort for her tuition. As Conway recognized her from the same site Stacey put an ad out on, she was his next target.
Brilliant Disguise[]
Conway arranged for a call with Justine to meet her at the hotel she was staying at. He bound her at gunpoint, gagged her, robber her, and then shot her at the base of her spine to paralyze her. He sadistically delayed killing her for several minutes to watch Justine as she was in pain and terrified, then shot her at the base of her neck execution-style. She was then hidden in a food service cart already removed from another room for the guests to find. Vickery was suspected at first once the police knew he was dating her, and taking compromising photos of her, but tracking Stacey revealed a pattern, and tracking his phone calls revealed to his stays in Atlantic City, then the casinos he gambled at, where he and Carrie were on security footage and Carrie used her credit card. knowing they needed to trap Conway, and finding out a transgender escort was his next target, they took over the arrangements and prepared a meeting. Conway smelled a setup when he realized they knew his M.O., so he came with Carrie and his prepaid cellphone he used for the calls. however, when detectives arrested him, the realized his ".22" gun was filled with BBs.
The prosecution decided to deliberately get Conway released to feed his ego and wait to shake him off his game while buying time for more evidence. it was revealed he was responsible for the robberies, and when his concentrated spinal strike to a victim was discovered, they convinced Carrie to roll on Conway with the encouragement of her parents. She admitted she lied about his alibi and was devastated. Conway was successfully arraigned and taken to trial. One of the jurors, Jordan Pinter, was revealed to have known about Conway's loss of his parents, like Pinter himself experienced. As the jury wasn't informed, and Pinter was originally uninterested, they realized he was prejudiced by someone to tamper with the trial. A sting to track him revealed Carrie died her hair and wore colored contacts to stalk and sleep with Pinter to sway his vote. He was removed and the trial proceeded, as there was no going back because of Conway's pension for recidivism. His lawyer, Ray Backlund, harassed Stacey, as well as provoked Vickery on the state to try and paint him as guilty. However, Cutter was prepared by saying he previously had Rubirosa appeal to a juror because he was attracted to her to sway a verdict. Conway was furious at being told he wasn't in control, so he admitted he made Carrie commit jury tampering.
Conway was found guilty of second-degree murderer and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. When Carrie showed a tattoo of his name on her chest and shouted, she'd be waiting for him, he blankly stared past her as he was taken away.
Known Victims[]
- The Atlantic City robberies:
- Three convenience stores and gas stations (all robbed at gunpoint)
- An unspecified palm reading office (robbed at gunpoint)
- Unnamed victim (assaulted; briefly stunned by striking his spine with a pry bar)
- Norwick, Connecticut: Stacey Tipton (attempted; held at gunpoint, bound, gagged, robbed, and beaten)
- New York City, New York: Justine Stebbins (bound, gagged, robbed, and shot in her back and head; placed in a food cart postmortem)