Plot Synopsis

VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED is a five-part event series that centers on Dryden, NY, which became the setting for a strange string of tragedies and murders between 1989 and 1999 that left residents wondering why death stalked their beloved town. To them it was a tragic coincidence, but outsiders gossiped about a curse, labeling Dryden as a real-life Village of the Damned. Using interviews with law enforcement and other key players, this series transports viewers back to the moments, days, months, and years that followed each crime and explores important and disturbing questions concerning how innocent people become ensnared by evil -- and how a tight-knit community survives when senseless crime pushes it past the breaking point. In 1989, the village of Dryden reels when a horrifying Christmastime massacre claims the entire Harris family. Suddenly, the once safe and quaint New York town finds itself torn apart by the grisly quadruple homicide of Tony, Dodie, Shelby, and Marc Harris. Residents live in fear while police race to identify the killer - or killers - but just when the horror seems to have passed, terror visits the town again when 2-year-old Aliza May Bush vanishes in a snowstorm. These events mark the beginning of a so-called "curse" that descends on Dryden for the next ten years. By February 1990, residents of Dryden can finally breathe a sigh of relief after the nightmare of the Harris family murders. But then, word spreads that little Aliza May Bush has gone missing in the blinding snow. Neighbors search for the girl for 13 days. It's not until Aliza's mother receives one of her daughter's pink mittens in the mail that police realize they are dealing with a kidnapping and time is running out. Then, three years later, the "curse" of Dryden returns when a young woman named Kirsten Clark awakes to witness the terrifying murder of her friend Scott Hume. As the dark cloud over Dryden lingers, two love stories turn to tragedy. In August 1993, Kirsten Clark reels from the horror of witnessing her friend Scott Hume's murder at the hands of another friend, Paul Jackson. Now, both Kirsten and Paul relive the terrifying events that led them down this twisted path. Just one year later, Dryden's beloved football coach, Stephen Starr, crosses paths with his daughter's deranged ex-boyfriend, Jonathan Merchant. For months, Jonathan threatens and stalks the Starr family. But no one predicts the violence that will erupt in the Starr home on the morning of December 30, 1994. As news spreads about the tragedy of Dryden's football coach Stephen Starr, the town comes together to pray that the worst is behind them. The worst horror is still to come. In September 1996, one month of terror brings the "curse" to a nightmarish crescendo with more tragedy befalling Dryden's football community. Star football player Scott Pace is killed, a man named Ed Bailey commits a horrific act of violence that stuns his family, and two Dryden High School cheerleaders suddenly vanish. These three tragedies will lead outsiders and the media to begin calling Dryden the Village of the Damned. Since December 1989, one tragedy after another has haunted Dryden. Then, in October 1996, the town's story reaches its terrifying conclusion when two beloved cheerleaders, Sarah Hajney and Jennifer Bolduc, vanish. Worse still, police find evidence in Sarah's home that the two met with foul play. As the town prays for the girls' safe return, police track a twisted sociopath who has been living in their midst for years.
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On Tuesday, December 26, 2017 at 10pm ET/PT, Investigation Discovery premiered "The Final Fall (Part 2)," the season finale of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. In October 1996, Dryden's story reaches its terrifying conclusion when two popular cheerleaders vanish. Town residents have no idea that a twisted sociopath has been living in their midst for years. The events will scar the town forever.