This isn’t an easy post for me to make. I don’t want to think the worst, but recent events are pushing me in that direction. The Editor-in-Chief of the Emerson Valley Gazette, Charles Donovan, has disappeared. Nobody has seen him since July 8th, when a neighbor reported seeing him tearing out of his driveway in a silver 2018 BMW X5.

Although Mr. Donovan owns the house, he had been living in an apartment elsewhere in town following his separation from Mrs. Donovan in March 2023. She was living alone in the house until her death in April 2024. Because the Donovans remained separated and never filed for divorce, the house remained in both their names, and reverted to sole ownership of Mr. Donovan following his wife’s death.

The Emerson Valley Sheriff’s Department is still investigating Mrs. Donovan’s murder, unable to find enough evidence to make an arrest. While Mr. Donovan is still considered a person of interest in the case, he was cleared as a suspect after DNA found underneath Mrs. Donovan’s fingernails proved not to be a match for her husband. However, Mr. Donovan’s disappearance raises questions about the matter.

According to Sheriff Victor Grayson, he had requested that Mr. Donovan remain in town, and to inform the department if he needed to travel anywhere. There was no communication from Mr. Donovan in the time prior to his disappearance, and he has made no attempt to contact the authorities in the time since. The sheriff believes Mr. Donovan’s suspicious behavior indicates a guilty conscience, and has decided to take another look at him as a suspect.

Due to the Gazette being hacked back in May of this year, Mr. Donovan had removed access to the site from all other contributors besides the main admin account. He was in the process of restoring as much of the site as possible when he disappeared. While I have been unable to gain access to the admin account to keep the site running, I was able to get my old contributor account restored so I can at least add new posts.

Until such time that Mr. Donovan returns and is definitively cleared of murdering his wife, I will serve as the Acting Editor-in-Chief. All new articles will be posted from my account. If it turns out Mr. Donovan DID murder his wife, the change will be made permanent. While I have dreamed about being in charge of a newspaper since I was a young boy, this is not the way I’d have wanted it to happen. Despite the circumstances, I promise to do everything in my power to make sure the Gazette continues on as it has for over a century.

-Martin Fitzgerald, Acting Editor-in-Chief, Emerson Valley Gazette