Louis Kennedy

**Louis Kennedy** is a minor character in *Bloodwash*.

## Description

### Appearance

Louis Kennedy is a middle-aged Caucasian man with short dark brown hair. He wore a dirty, slightly unbuttoned, white dress shirt, blue jeans and black shoes in his physical appearance. He was also depicted wearing a dark blue dress shirt on a polaroid and his driver's license.

### Personality

Louis was universally described as a sleazy womanizer with "a real eye for the younger girls". He had no qualms about pursuing a sexual liasion with an implicitly school-aged girl, an employee of his no less, and is said to have been exceedingly dominating and possessive in that regard. He was suspected of having a mean streak in his treatment of women, with his intemperate nature and resulting criminal record being frequently discussed, even years after his death. His immoral nature was both a draw and deterrent for many, with like-minded individuals seeing him as a shrewd Lothario, while the rest of those around him saw him as the crude, lecherous old man he really was, though everyone unifyingly agreed that Louis saw himself as, and may have been quite literally, a lady killer, driven by the single-minded fixation on satisfying his base impulses.

### History

Louis Kennedy was the proprietor of West End Laundry, located on the Pleasant Plaza strip mall in Youngstown, Ohio. In the past, he was booked for public intoxication, which, considering the later high-alert warning by police, is implied to have been one of the less severe of his frequent run-ins with the law. He also became friends with a repeat patron of his, who had similar sexual inclinations and shared his attraction to a young employee, Samantha Rhodes. Several years before 1986, Louis began having an affair with Samantha and though the exact nature of their relationship is uncertain, it is generally agreed that Louis was more likely than not abusive, having taken advantage of the age difference and their work dynamic.

Eventually, Samantha got pregnant, a development which publicly raised questions about the child's paternity. Immediately, Louis came under suspicion by townsfolk since he was the most obvious candidate due to his sexual proclivities and being the girl's boss, not to mention his constant parading around of Samantha in his private friend circle. In a desperate and delusional bid to prevent the identification of the baby's father, Louis locked Samantha in the laundry one night and set the building on fire, hoping that it would be filed away as an accident. His reasons for resorting to such extreme measures are not specified. It's possible that Louis wanted to avoid a scandal involving yet another young woman, which could have cost his business or reputation, or did not want to pay child support. What is especially notable though is that Samantha's age is never given, meaning that the reveal could have resulted in legal action if she was underaged at the start of their relationship. In any case, Louis was put under constant surveillance by a police taskforce that named him not only the top suspect in the arson, but also the abduction and murder of Samantha Rhodes. Just a few weeks into the investigation, however, Louis suddenly disappeared and although the police launched an all points bulletin for the arrest of the potentially dangerous fugitive right away, Louis Kennedy remained missing.

In truth, Louis had never left town and was actually murdered by Samantha, who survived the attempt on her life, albeit at the cost of horrendous burns and the loss of her unborn child. Rendered insane by the experience, Samantha tracked her would-be killer down and ended his life in the same laundry he tried to take hers. Despite having had her revenge on the man responsible for her ruining her, Samantha's newfound bloodlust did not end there and instead only marked the beginning of a years-long killing spree targeting pregnant women, during which the unidentified perpetrator became known as the Womb Ripper.

## *Bloodwash*

Louis is frequently mentioned in the first half of the game. Sara can find a polaroid of him and Samantha inside a lockbox at the Appliance Store, which the Patron and Peepaw will identify as Louis. While the Patron reminisces about the "hot broad" that Louis had working for him and fondly remembers him as a "slick bastard", Peepaw laments on the tragedy of both his and Samantha's disappearance. After finding the key to the laundromat's restrooms, Sara can pick up a police report on Louis Kennedy. If shown, the Patron will affirm his friendship with Louis and share that he believes that he fell victim to an alien abduction. Peepaw will instead voices his disgust for the man, noting that Louis regularly tried to get with girls much younger than himself and that he is certain that he was the one who impregnated Samantha. Sara, and by extension the player, suspect that Louis was the one behind the laundromat fire and furthermore come to believe that he had some role in the recent disappearances and murders of pregnant women like Samantha.

After the Womb Ripper attacks the laundromat and forces Sara into entering Louis' old laundry, a newspaper article can be found describing the disappearance and search for Louis after the police team surveilling him lost sight of him. A dessicated body can later be found deep inside West End Laundry, identified by the driver's license in his wallet as Louis Kennedy, much to Sara's confusion. After the fight with the Womb Ripper reveals the killer to be Samantha Rhodes, Sara pieces together the story and fully realizes that Louis wasn't the one responsible for the local murders, but was instead the catalyst and first victim.

## Trivia

* In spite of his minor role and posthumous appearance, Louis Kennedy can be seen as the overarching antagonist of *Bloodwash*, since he is indirectly responsible for the conception of the Womb Ripper.