The Clot Thickens: Things Mom Never Told You About Street Animals (Homicidal Humor) (Volume 3)
There are now seven generations of Fosters who have made their homes in Texas. They first came here when Texas was part of northern Mexico and the Mexicans wanted a group of Anglos to act as a buffer against raiding Comanches from the high plains. My ancestors lied and claimed to be Catholic in order to receive a land grant in what is now part of Austin and Washington counties along the Brazos River.Members of the Foster clan participated in the revo-lution of the Texians versus the Mexican army. One an-cestor was captured as a prisoner of war along with James Fannin after the battle of Goliad. That Foster patriot was murdered by means of a firing squad at the mission of La Bahia. The murdered man’s father (though he was in his seventies) orchestrated part of the Runaway Scrape (as it came to be known) from Austin County by directing the escape of women and children from the advancing Mexican army.  My great-grandfather was asked to resign from the office of sheriff of Austin County after he shot and killed three men in front of the county courthouse for “back-talking” him. His actions were deemed too outlandish for those of an elected official. He was not indicted for murder, however, because the three men he killed that day were all trash and the world was a better place with-out them. His son (my grandfather) fled to Houston as a fugitive from justice following a shooting near the Washington-Waller county line. He went on to become a wealthy man but never returned to Austin County, Texas.I spent twenty-three of the thirty-four years I worked in law enforcement in the Houston Police Department’s Homicide Division. I preferred to work the physical parts of the murder cases I was assigned to. I personally averaged twenty-five to thirty-eight actual murder scenes a year. That does not include the cases I assisted in by taking witness statements, confessions or in executing warrants.Working in a homicide division exposes you to the most human side of life. You see into the private lives of others and must detach yourself from any emotional feelings and consider everything as evidence. If you internalize what you see it can consume you.