As Cops Close In, Suspect In 1974 “Satanic” Church Murder Of Arlis Perry Kills Himself

July 2, 2018, 2:00 pm

≫ Next: Shelbey Thornburgh: Was This Aspiring Model’s Killer Caught On Camera?

≪ Previous: “DJ Freez” Arrested As DNA From Gum & Bottle Links Him To 1992 Rape-Murder

SAN JOSE, CA — As police officers entered with a search warrant, the man suspected in the 1974 murder of a woman in a Stanford University campus church reportedly committed suicide on Wednesday in front of them.

Steve Blake Crawford, 72, had been a security guard at the university on October 13, 1974, the night when Arlis Perry, 19, was murdered and violated inside the Stanford Memorial Church. Crawford, in fact, claimed he had locked the church up himself hours earlier.

Perry’s severely beaten body was discovered naked from the waist down with her legs spread open. The young wife of a premed student at Stanford had been sexually assaulted with one candlestick, while another was carefully placed between her breasts. An icepick also stuck straight out from the back of Perry’s skull.

For decades, investigators had looked at Steve Crawford as a person of interest in the case. Finally, this year, DNA testing connected Crawford to a semen-stained pillow left at the crime scene.

Last week, detectives and deputies showed up to execute a search warrant on Crawford’s studio apartment. As officers knocked, Crawford reportedly asked for a minute to get dressed.

Thinking he might be trying to escape, police used a key supplied by the building owner to enter the residence, where they say they saw Crawford sitting on a bed, holding a firearm.

Taking defensive positions in the small space, the officers were unable to prevent Crawford from shooting himself. Body cameras reportedly captured the incident on video.

The Ultimate Evil book cover [Amazon]

Related: The Satanic ’60s — When Manson Follower Susan Atkins Danced Topless For Anton LaVey

Investigators going through Crawford’s personal belongings discovered a rambling suicide note written in 2016, and a jacket from the book The Ultimate Evil by investigative journalist Maury Terry.

The Ultimate Evil is a true crime classic about the occult underpinnings that the author says connects high-profile crimes such as the Manson Family murders, the Son of Sam slayings and, yes, the unsolved killing and desecration of Arlis Perry.

Watch Now: Have You Heard The Sensational Satanic Conspiracy Theory About The Son Of Sam?

Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters that police now consider the case of Arlis Perry’s murder closed and that they aren’t looking for anyone else.

Nonetheless, detectives are continuing to investigate Crawford. As Smith put it:

“During this time [1974], there were a lot of serial killers in this area. We have a chart of unsolved homicides and we’re looking at when he was living in this area. In homicides, even in cold cases, we have a warehouse of evidence. We keep the evidence for life, even when there’s a conviction.”

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Read more:
People
KABC
Palo Alto Online

Main photos: Steve Crawford, Arlis Perry [Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office]

The post As Cops Close In, Suspect In 1974 “Satanic” Church Murder Of Arlis Perry Kills Himself appeared first on CrimeFeed.

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Shelbey Thornburgh: Was This Aspiring Model’s Killer Caught On Camera?

July 9, 2018, 9:45 am

≫ Next: Body ID’d as Ohio Teen Missing Since 1974, Reddit Sleuthing Helped Crack Case

≪ Previous: As Cops Close In, Suspect In 1974 “Satanic” Church Murder Of Arlis Perry Kills Himself

HOUSTON, TX — On November 4, 2015, Shelbey Thornburgh was brutally murdered in her high-rise apartment in Houston. Police believe that her killer may have been caught on camera — but after the murder, he vanished without a trace.

Shelbey had moved to the big city to pursue her dreams of becoming a model, and was living alone in the complex on Bellaire Boulevard. But according to Shelbey’s family, the 20-year-old was soon facing a much darker reality.

Shelbey’s sister Krystina Scott says that her sister suffered from depression, which caused her to gain weight.

Krystina told Crime Watch Daily that Shelbey’s boyfriend encouraged her to take a job as a high-end escort. The plan, according to Krystina, was to use the escorting money to get a tummy tuck in order to further her modeling career.

On the night of her murder, the time stamp on security video footage reveals the mystery man entered Shelbey’s building at 8:34 P.M. and left at 8:57 P.M.

Police believe that the man in the video may have been Shelbey’s client. They reportedly had evidence that he and Shelbey had exchanged messages in order to set up a date.

“She did let him in. He proceeded to assault her and cut her neck,” Houston Police Officer D. Crowder said. He also later stated that there was no evidence that Shelbey had been sexually assaulted. After the gruesome attack, Shelbey’s killer disappeared — and left no fingerprints behind.

Police found the body at around 10:00 P.M., and started their investigation immediately. They questioned Shelbey’s boyfriend, who had a criminal past, three times. However he continued to maintain his innocence.

A few months after the murder, police released the surveillance footage. The man, who can be seen getting off the elevator and walking through the apartment building’s lobby, was clearly not Shelbey’s boyfriend, and police appealed to the public for help identifying him. Police describe the man in the video as a white male wearing a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. Police say that they believe that the suspect was wearing sunglasses to conceal his identity.

Investigators checked Shelbey’s phone records, but later said that the phone number was linked to a non-traceable Trac Phone.

Shelbey’s family and friends continue to search for answers, and to post updates on social media. Krystina has said, appealing for help finding the suspect, “I’m begging y’all, she was only 20 — didn’t deserve her life to be gone and cut at the throat.”

Crime Watch Daily quoted a police source as saying that the suspect was contacting other women similar who looked like Shelbey before the night of her murder — and that detectives had not ruled out the possibility that she may have been the victim of a serial killer.

Police have asked anyone with information about the case to call Houston Crime Stoppers anonymously at (713) 222-TIPS — there is a $5,000 reward.

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Body ID’d as Ohio Teen Missing Since 1974, Reddit Sleuthing Helped Crack Case

July 13, 2018, 2:00 pm

≫ Next: Arrest Made in 1988 Murder of 8-Year-Old April Tinsley; Suspect Had Taunted Cops

≪ Previous: Shelbey Thornburgh: Was This Aspiring Model’s Killer Caught On Camera?

CLEVELAND, OH — DNA testing has identified human remains discovered in 1975 as being those of an Akron teen who disappeared the previous year.

After four decades of mystery surrounding both the body and the missing teen — which may have been compounded by a simple clerical error — a post on Reddit kicked off the process that finally led to the identification.

Linda Pagano was 17 in September 1974, when she reportedly had an argument with her stepfather about her coming home late that led to him throwing the teen out of the house. After that, Linda was never seen or heard from again.

In February 1975, a partially decomposed skeleton washed up on a riverbank in Ohio’s Mill Stream Run Reservation. Examiners determined that the remains belonged to a woman in her late teens or early 20s and ruled the death a homicide.

No one, however, could conclusively connect Linda Pagano to that body. As a result, the unknown female was buried in a pauper’s grave in May 1975 and, from there, essentially forgotten.

A break only occurred 40 years later, when genealogy researcher Christina Scates came across a reference to “unknown white female bones” in Ohio and posted a about it on Reddit.

Forensic artist Carl Koppelman saw the post, and using a file photo of the woman’s partially exposed skull, he constructed an image of what she may have looked like and posted it online.

Linda Pagano in 1974 and Carl Koppelman’s forensic recreation image from 2015 [Ohio Attorney General’s Office]

Still, no information came forth until Cuyahoga County officials contacted Koppelman about another case. In passing, Koppelman asked the county reps about the unknown female bones to which he says they responded, “What bones?”

According to reports, Cuyahoga County looked again and discovered that a single misspelled word prevented Linda Pagano from being added to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS).

Officials corrected the mistake immediately, then exhumed the skeletal remains and ordered DNA testing. In short order, examiners identified the body as belonging to Linda Pagano.

Linda’s family received the news this past Tuesday. Mike Pagano, Linda’s brother, expressed gratitude mixed with sadness, saying:

“I pretty much figured it was her. I wasn’t really surprised. Relieved. It’s basically over, and we get some closure.”

Mike also said the family was planning a proper funeral for Linda and deemed the DNA discovery and the seemingly random events that led to it a “miracle.”

While DNA finally did prove that it was Linda Pagano who was murdered back in 1975, how it happened and who did it remains a mystery. The investigation continues anew, now with fresh inspiration.

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Main image: Linda Pagano [Ohio Attorney General’s Office]

The post Body ID’d as Ohio Teen Missing Since 1974, Reddit Sleuthing Helped Crack Case appeared first on CrimeFeed.

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Arrest Made in 1988 Murder of 8-Year-Old April Tinsley; Suspect Had Taunted Cops

July 16, 2018, 7:34 am

≫ Next: “Joseph DeAngelo Raped My Girlfriend”: 41 Years Later, Male GSK Victim Speaks Out

≪ Previous: Body ID’d as Ohio Teen Missing Since 1974, Reddit Sleuthing Helped Crack Case

FORT WAYNE, IN — Police have arrested a suspect in one of Indiana’s most notorious and haunting cold cases: the 1988 abduction, rape, and murder of eight-year-old April Tinsley.

Armed with a probable cause arrest affidavit, authorities arrived at the mobile home of John D. Miller, 59, on Sunday morning. When a detective asked Miller if he knew why they were there, the suspect reportedly responded: “April Tinsley.”

Police say that Miller then immediately confessed to the crime, stating that he grabbed April back in 1988 and took her to his trailer where he sexually assaulted the child and “choked her for about 10 minutes” so that she would not tell anyone what he had done.

Miller also admitted to sodomizing the little girl’s dead body, according to the affidavit. Afterward, Miller said he drove April’s remains down a county road and dumped them in a ditch.

Upon discovering April’s shoe in the car on the way back, Miller tossed it out the window. A passerby found April three days later.

The crime immediately captivated the public and generated intense media scrutiny. Despite the attention the trail got cold fast and remained that way for decades. Police were able to obtain a male DNA sample from April’s underpants, but no matches ever came up in the criminal system.

Compounding the horror, the killer seemed to taunt investigators through the years. In 1990, for example, a note scrawled on a rural barn stated:

“I kill 8 year old April M Tinsley did you find her other shoe haha I will kill again”

The next apparent taunt actually led to an eventual break. In 2004, police were summoned to three separate locations where used condoms had been placed alongside notes claiming that they belonged to the man who murdered April Tinsley.

Investigators used those condoms and notes to establish a DNA profile of a potential suspect. The next steps took years, but snowballing DNA technology consistently led authorities in the direction of John D. Miller.

Earlier in 2018 police obtained Miller’s DNA from used condoms he discarded in the trash. Authorities now allege it matched the sample from both April’s clothing and the 2004 condoms.

Over the course of 2016 and 2017, DNA tech company Parabon created and released increasingly detailed forensic composites of what April Tinsley’s killer might look like.

Side-by-side comparison of John D. Miller’s Allen County Jail mugshot with Parabon Nanolab’s forensic composite [Parabon Nanolabs press release]

Authorities have indicated that Parabon’s efforts proved vital, but they are withholding complete details until a press conference scheduled for Tuesday takes place.

Aside from a handful of minor traffic violations John D. Miller has no criminal record. That is believed to have made it particularly difficult to line up his DNA with that of April’s suspected killer.

Officers took Miller to the Allen County Jail where he was booked and is being held on suspicion of murder, child molesting and confinement. He is expected to make his first court appearance Monday.

The arrest of John D. Miller occurred on the very same day that Investigation Discovery covered the search for April Tinsely’s killer on the premiere episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn.

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Main photos: April Tinsley [FBI], left, and John D. Miller [Allen County Jail]

The post Arrest Made in 1988 Murder of 8-Year-Old April Tinsley; Suspect Had Taunted Cops appeared first on CrimeFeed.

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“Joseph DeAngelo Raped My Girlfriend”: 41 Years Later, Male GSK Victim Speaks Out

July 17, 2018, 11:30 am

≫ Next: She Went To Show A House & Never Came Out: Who Killed Realtor Lindsay Buziak?

≪ Previous: Arrest Made in 1988 Murder of 8-Year-Old April Tinsley; Suspect Had Taunted Cops

The first male victim of the Golden State Killer to speak out publicly has revealed horrific details about what happened the night his girlfriend was raped by Joseph DeAngelo nearly 41 years ago.

Victor Hayes was 21 years old on October 1, 1977, when a masked intruder broke into his East Sacramento apartment, shined a flashlight in his face, and forced his girlfriend to tie him up.

He told the San Jose Mercury News that he felt helpless as DeAngelo took his girlfriend into another room and raped her – and said what happened that night has affected his entire life.

Hayes has said that he decided to go public because he hoped that talking about the experience would be therapeutic.

In the months before he and his girlfriend were attacked, the GSK — also known as the East Area Rapist — was terrorizing couples in Sacramento.

Hayes told the press he took precautions, including sawing wooden 2x4s to create stoppers on all the windows and sliding glass doors on his home, as well as sleeping with two guns in his bedroom.

But one night Hayes went to bed early, and his girlfriend forgot to put a wooden stopper on one of the sliding glass door tracks.

Around 1:30am on the night of the attack, Hayes woke up to a flashlight shining in his face – and saw a masked man holding a gun who told him “something to the effect of ‘don’t move or I’ll kill you’.”

The man forced Hayes to lie on his stomach and gave his girlfriend shoelaces to tie his hands behind his back.

Joseph James DeAngelo [Sacramento Sheriff’s Office]

Hayes said the man then told Hayes’ girlfriend to place cups and saucers from the kitchen on the small of his back so that he would hear him if he moved.

The masked man then raped Hayes’ girlfriend in the living room.

Hayes described his anger as the rapist came back into the room and whispered “I’m gonna party with Sharon” — which was the name of Hayes’ mother.

He said the rapist fled when some of Hayes’ friends came to his apartment at around 2:00 a.m. and started banging on the door. The noise caused the attacker to flee, and Hayes was able to untie his girlfriend.

A neighbor called police, and Hayes said he became upset when he heard an officer laughing as he dusted the crime scene for prints. Hayes said he burned with anger:

“That was it for me … What could possibly be appropriate to be laughing at this time in my house after this just happened? A thought goes in my head: ‘This is exactly why these dumb b-stards haven’t caught the guy because they’re so damn unprofessional’.”

Joseph DeAngelo, a 72-year-old former police officer, was arrested in connection with the Golden State Killer murders in April after being linked to the attacks through DNA evidence.

When Hayes learned about DeAngelo’s arrest in April he said that he felt angry that the statute of limitations had run out on his case, stating:

“Since this guy got caught, I beat the s*** outta myself bad cause I shoulda found this guy a long time ago. This guy has been all around me. It’s shaped the way I’ve been my whole life. It’s made me distrustful of people in authority. I’m quick to be able to notice faults in people.”

The paper was unable to get in touch with Hayes’ former girlfriend to get her account of the attack.

Joseph DeAngelo is accused of killing 13 people and raping more than 50 women in California during the 1970s and ’80s. Investigators have told Hayes they believe he and his girlfriend were attack number 24.

Read more:
San Jose Mercury News
Reddit

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Main photo: Victor Hayes [San Jose Mercury News / YouTube (screenshot)]

The post “Joseph DeAngelo Raped My Girlfriend”: 41 Years Later, Male GSK Victim Speaks Out appeared first on CrimeFeed.

↧

She Went To Show A House & Never Came Out: Who Killed Realtor Lindsay Buziak?

July 18, 2018, 9:30 am

≫ Next: “I Killed My Dad & Buried Him In The Garden After Finding His Child Porn Collection”

≪ Previous: “Joseph DeAngelo Raped My Girlfriend”: 41 Years Later, Male GSK Victim Speaks Out

On February 2, 2008 realtor Lindsay Buziak walked into a property viewing in Saanach, an affluent suburb of Victoria, British Columbia.

When she turned the key in the door of 1702 De Sousa Place, the 24-year-old had no way of knowing that she was walking into a death trap.

Lindsay’s boyfriend found her body in a pool of blood in the second-floor bedroom, and investigators later determined that she had been stabbed over 40 times.

To this day, her killer has never been caught.

The home that Lindsay was showing [Investigation Discovery]

When police reconstructed the last day of Lindsay’s life, they found out that she was on her way to meet potential clients.

Lindsay had received a call from a woman who told her that she and her husband were looking for a home in the price range of $1 million.

She told friends that the caller had a foreign accent that she could not place, sounding “a bit Spanish, but not really,” and said she believed the caller may have been faking an accent in order to conceal her identity.

The caller claimed that she had gotten Lindsay’s number from another client — but Lindsay was reportedly unable to verify this information. Thusly concerned, Lindsay mentioned the off-putting phone call to her boyfriend, Jason Zailo, and her father, Jeff Buziak.

Regardless, Jason encouraged Lindsay to take on the client because of the high commission she would get from the sale. He even offered to wait outside for her in his car.

On the day of the murder, Lindsay and Jason ate a late lunch, and left the restaurant in separate vehicles.

Linsday with her father Jeff Buziak [Investigation Discovery]

Jason then stopped by a local auto shop to pick up a car. He texted Lindsay to say that he would be late.

Police later found CCTV at the auto shop that showed Jason and his colleague leaving just before 5:30 p.m.

Lindsay, in turn, made the trip to De Sousa Place, and a couple showed up for the viewing.

Two witnesses would later state that they saw Lindsay enter the home with a six-foot white man with dark hair and a blonde woman aged between 35 and 45 wearing a patterned dress.

At 5:38 p.m., Jason texted Lindsay. That message was never opened. Jason then went across the street and waited.

Half an hour later, he went to the front door. Jason could see Lindsay’s shoes through the glass, but when no one answered, he and his colleague called 911.

During this time, Jason’s colleague found a gap in the fence in the back garden. He went inside the house and let Jason in.

Upon entering, Jason found his girlfriend lying in a pool of blood in the master bedroom, and called emergency services a second time.

Investigators later determined that Lindsay’s body had no defensive wounds. None of her belongings had been stolen, and she was not sexually assaulted.

“The first strike was from behind, severed her spinal cord,” Jeff Buziak said.

Jason and his colleague were taken into custody, but released without charge after police saw the surveillance footage from the auto shop.

Lindsay with Jason Zailo [Investigation Discovery]

According to the Saanich Police Department, Jason has been interviewed several times over the years and has always cooperated with the police — but he has declined to provide a DNA sample.

The killer reportedly left behind no DNA or fingerprints. Lindsay’s father continues to be suspicious of Jason, but police began developing a theory that Lindsay’s killers were professionals.

The cell phone used by the unknown woman to call Lindsay was purchased in Vancouver several months before the murder. It was registered to a fake name and random address, and has not been used since the murder.

Over the years, several theories have arisen about what happened to Lindsay. Was it personal? Was it tied to money laundering or drugs? Or could it be a thrill killing couple who targeted her after seeing one of her real estate ads?

Later in 2008, a close friend of Lindsay’s named Nikki claimed that she was awakened by a telephone call in the middle of the night from a woman with a strange accent.

She said that after calling back, she later determined that the person on the phone was Shirley Zailo. However Shirley Zailo denies that the call took place.

In August 2017, a public message was posted an investigative website run by Jeff Buziak, stating: “I killed Lindsey [sic] and stupid cops will never prove it.”

However the “confession” was marked by numerous misspellings and did not contain any information that was not publicly known – so investigators concluded that it was merely another dead end.

The identity of the purported clients to whom Lindsay was showing the property remain unknown to the public.

Saanich police will say only that they have not found what they need to recommend charges or make an arrest.

Jeff Buziak has offered a $500,000 reward for anyone with information connected to the case.

Saanich Police Staff Sgt. Chris Horsley has stated that the case is a “complex investigation” and added that is still ongoing.

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Main photo: Lindsay Buziak [Investigation Discovery]

The post She Went To Show A House & Never Came Out: Who Killed Realtor Lindsay Buziak? appeared first on CrimeFeed.

↧

“I Killed My Dad & Buried Him In The Garden After Finding His Child Porn Collection”

July 19, 2018, 2:00 pm

≫ Next: How “The Taco Bell Strangler” Serial Killer Was Busted Over An Earring

≪ Previous: She Went To Show A House & Never Came Out: Who Killed Realtor Lindsay Buziak?

STOCKPORT, ENGLAND — A 63-year-old woman who confessed that she killed her father after finding his child pornography connection has been charged with his murder.

Barbara Coombes walked into a police station in Stockport, England, in January and confessed to police that she killed her father, Kenneth Coombes, 12 years earlier and buried his body in their back garden.

Barbara said that her father had abused her physically and repeatedly raped her for over 40 years.

The Guardian reported that the abuse started when Barbara was only five years old — and that she said when she was between the ages of six and nine her father “took her to a photography club where he forced her to display her genitals while other men took photographs of her.”

Barbara was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Barbara described herself as like her father’s “sex slave,” according to The Guardian. She said that she finally “snapped” in January 2006 after finding child pornography in the home they shared, her attorney Martin Heslop said in a news release. Shockingly, she said that she found lewd images of herself and another child as babies — which made her realize that she wasn’t her father’s only victim.

Having hit her breaking point after a lifetime of sexual abuse, Barbara hit her father with a gardening spade, according to Greater Manchester police. She hit her father in the back of the head first, and then a second time when he turned around. Barbara used the sharp blade of the spade to slit her father’s throat. She then wrapped the body in a rug, buried it in their garden, and took his belongings out of the house, according to police.

Barbara told her friends and family that her dad had been cremated. But she managed to hide his death from the government — and was able to collect $230,000 in benefits before she confessed to the crime.

She finally told police what had happened after authorities continued to pressure her for a meeting with Kenneth.

Barbara, now 64, also pleaded guilty to fraud and obtaining property by deception as well as preventing a lawful and decent burial.

Her attorney stated that she had post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression. The judge said that she had endured “40 years of extreme mental, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of your father.”

Nevertheless, the judge did not find that Barbara had killed her father in self-defense. Law enforcement took a harsher tone about the crime.

Senior Investigating Officer Duncan Thorpe of the Greater Manchester police said in a statement that Barbara “showed absolutely no concern for what she had done and denied everyone the chance to say good-bye” and pointed out that she only admitted to the crime when she “had no other choice.”

Barbara’s daughter said in court that, despite her grief, she would support her mother and hopes to build a relationship with her. “I hope when this is done we can repair our relationship to something approaching normal,” she said.

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How “The Taco Bell Strangler” Serial Killer Was Busted Over An Earring

July 25, 2018, 12:00 pm

≫ Next: Steve Powell, Controversial Father-In-Law Of Missing Utah Woman Susan Powell, Dies

≪ Previous: “I Killed My Dad & Buried Him In The Garden After Finding His Child Porn Collection”

CHARLOTTE, NC — During the early 1990s, a serial killer was stalking Charlotte. Crack was flooding into the city, the murder rate was skyrocketing — and young African-American women were disappearing.

Eventually, the homicide detectives of the Charlotte Police Department arrested Henry Wallace, who would end up confessing to 11 murders in a killing spree that shocked the city.

Unlike serial killers who target strangers at random, Wallace preyed on his friends and coworkers, many of whom he met while managing a Taco Bell in East Charlotte — leading to his nickname, “The Taco Bell Strangler.”

On March 10, 1994, Detective Garry McFadden of the Charlotte Police Department was called to the scene of a homicide. The victim was an 18-year-old African-American female named Brandi Henderson. Her boyfriend, Lamar, had gone to work, and come home at around midnight to find signs of a struggle in the living room. When he got to the bedroom, he found Brandi’s body on the bed with two towels wrapped around her neck. Investigators determined that she had been strangled.

Lamar found his 10-month old son with clothing tied around his neck. He managed to remove the ligature, saving his son’s life, but was unable to revive Brandi.

Detectives did not realize it at the time, but Brandi was not the killer’s first victim — and would also not be his last. On February 19, 1993, 20-year-old Shawna Hawk was murdered. Her mother, Dee Sumpter, remembered hearing Shawna, who attended classes and worked a full-time job at Taco Bell, getting ready to drop her two-year-old godson off at daycare.

“It was a freezing cold day. I awakened, Shawna awakened. She had a full day that day,” Sumpter said.

Shawna Hawk [Investigation Discovery]

Dee said that she last spoke to her daughter when Shawna called at around 2 P.M. When she got home around 5 P.M., she received a phone call from Shawna’s boyfriend, Darren, who was concerned that he had not seen his girlfriend.

After Dee learned that Shawna had not shown up to pick up her godson, she called Darren and told him to come over. They began to search the house — and Darren was horrified when he found Shawna’s dead body in a bathtub full of cold water. “He screamed over and over, loud,” Dee remembered.

Charlotte PD arrived on the scene. “Every crime scene tells a story,” McFadden said. “I remembered that the tub was full of water. There was a child’s toy floating in the tub. But it wasn’t like your average crime scene. Very neat. Very clean. My big question is: ‘Why is there no forced entry?'” McFadden said. “It appeared as though she knew her assailant.”

Shawna’s autopsy report showed no evidence of sexual assault. Shawna’s neck was bruised and her vocal cords showed signs of trauma — which indicated that the cause of death was strangulation.

Detectives collected evidence at the scene including fingerprints, but found no trace of the killer. Police initially focused on Darren as a possible suspect, but said that he never met the standard of probable cause.

Several weeks later, a security guard found Shawna’s car parked at the school she attended. McFadden noticed that the seat was pushed back, and found evidence that the car had been wiped clean. Since Shawna was just five-foot-two, they developed a theory that her killer had driven the vehicle to the garage.

Though Shawna’s and Brandi’s crime scenes were different, with one being organized and the other showing signs of a struggle, McFadden remembers comparing them to determine if there was a possible connection. McFadden then spoke to Sergeant Rick Sanders, who told him that he had also worked a case with another Black female who had also been strangled with a towel.

Caroline Love [Investigation Discovery]

McFadden looked through case files and was able to find yet another victim: A friend and former coworker of Shawna Hawk’s named Caroline Love, who had disappeared in 1992.

Caroline’s sister, her roommate, and her roommate’s boyfriend had reported her missing when she failed to come home. Her apartment showed no sign of forced entry. Over the next few months, Caroline’s family and friends continued to search for her, but found no trace.

Police looked into other cases of women who had gone missing under suspicious circumstances. “We knew we had a problem, but we didn’t know how big that problem was,” McFadden said.

Soon, another body was found: It was 33-year-old Sharon Nance, a woman McFadden actually knew personally. Sharon had been beaten to death and dumped in a wooded area. McFadden knew her from the streets, as she was working as a prostitute at the time. She had been living with her aunt, and had vanished after leaving for a night out.

McFadden remembers Nance:

“It was heartbreaking…. Her lifestyle complicated things, but I think we need to look at it from a different perspective. She was a person. She was loved. She was a human being. So no matter what your lifestyle is like, you’re still someone’s daughter…. I think we need to look at that more closely, especially as law enforcement when you are investigating these cases. Not because of their profession or lifestyle.”

In 1992, police assembled a task force to investigate the growing number of disappearances, and to look for similarities in the cases. But the task force could not find plausible links, and ended up concluding that the murders were not the work of a serial killer.

During the early 1990s, the population of Charlotte was booming — and so was the crime rate. Yet there were only nine homicide detectives employed to cover the entire city.

On June 25, 1993, police found another young Black female victim, named Audrey Spain. And on September 15, Michelle Stinson was found deceased in her kitchen area — with a ligature mark around her neck.

Garry McFadden [Investigation Discovery]

Police determined that Michelle had been stabbed multiple times, and strangled with a belt.

The victims’ friends and families were desperate for answers — and some were angry because they felt that their loved ones’ deaths were not given enough coverage because the victims were low-income African-American women.

Dee Sumpter founded a support group called Mothers of Murdered Offspring, went to the press and wrote a letter to the killer that was printed in the paper.

On February 20, Vanessa Mack, a 25-year-old single mother of two, was found dead in her bed. She was the fourth strangulation victim in seven months. Once again, she was lying on her back with a thick ligature around her neck, and there was no sign of sexual assault.

Police said that the attack appeared to be the most brutal yet. Forensic evidence indicated that the killer had loosened, and tightened, the noose around her neck several times.

This time, police found a clue: Mack’s bank card had been stolen, and surveillance footage from an ATM where it was used showed part of a face in frame. But all detectives could determine was that the person who used the card was a Black male who wore a cross earring.

Meanwhile, the crime scenes were getting messier and more brutal, which indicated to police that the killer’s rage was growing.

Vanessa Mack [Investigation Discovery]

Since police believed that many of the victims knew their killer, they spoke to Brandi’s cousin George. He had been talking to Brandi on the night she disappeared, and told police that during the conversation Brandi had heard someone knock on the door, and told him that she needed to get off of the phone.

Police asked Lamar who his girlfriend would have let inside the apartment. Lamara gave detectives three names. One of the people he mentioned, Henry Wallace, had a shoplifting charge in his past.

But when Detective James Stansberry looked at Wallace’s photo, he was shocked to see a cross earring that appeared identical to the one in the bank surveillance video.

But as detectives scrambled to find Wallace, they got word of yet another homicide — in the same apartment complex where Brandi Henderson’s body had been found.

This time Betty Baucom, 24, was dead. Two towels were around her neck. She had been strangled, furniture was knocked over, and there was much more evidence of a violent struggle.

Police flooded the apartment complex and began knocking on doors to get information. Sergeant Sanders took the unusual step of going on TV and warning the public not to let anyone into their residence — even if they knew them.

Baucomb’s car was missing, and detectives were surprised to later find it parked across the street from the apartment complex. “This makes me believe that the killer is playing a cat-and-mouse game and actually taunting us,” McFadden said.

Det. James Stansberry [Investigation Discovery]

Detectives got another big break in the case when they found a palm print on the back of Betty’s car — and matched it to Henry Wallace.

Police launched a massive manhunt for Wallace. Before they found him, 35-year-old Deborah Slaughter was found murdered in her apartment — and the killer had used exactly the same modus operandi.

On March 12, police tracked Wallace down to a residence in East Charlotte and found him inside, hiding in a bathroom.

Detectives said that Wallace was calm when they questioned him. Wallace, a former DJ who had served in the Navy, admitted to knowing many of the victims. He was personable and able to convince the women to give them access to their homes.

Finally Wallace came clean, and gave police a list of nine women who were missing in Charlotte. Police had not realized that many of the women were victims of the same serial killer.

Image taken from surveillance footage showing the cross earring [Investigation Discovery]

In a shocking twist, Wallace confessed to murdering Caroline Love — and revealed that he had been the boyfriend of Caroline’s roommate, Sadie, the one who had gone along when Sadie reported her missing.

Wallace also admitted that he had sexually assaulted the women, but covered up the rapes by redressing the victims. He described in detail the women’s appearances, and how he raped and killed the women, robbing them to feed his crack habit.

He also confessed to two additional murders: Those of Sharon Nance and 18-year-old Tashanda Bethea.

Following the Wallace case, the Charlotte Police Department hired more detectives and made changes to the way that police were taught to communicate and deal with victims’ family members.

In 1997, Wallace was found guilty of nine counts of first-degree murder, and sentenced to death. He is currently on Death Row at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Following his sentencing, Wallace made a statement to his victims’ families. He said:

“None of these women, none of your daughters, mothers, sisters, or family members in any way deserved what they got. They did nothing to me that warranted their death.”

For more on Henry Wallace, “The Taco Bell Strangler,” watch Investigation Discovery’s Bad Henry on ID GO now!

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Main photo: Henry Louis Wallace [Investigation Discovery]

The post How “The Taco Bell Strangler” Serial Killer Was Busted Over An Earring appeared first on CrimeFeed.

↧

Steve Powell, Controversial Father-In-Law Of Missing Utah Woman Susan Powell, Dies

July 26, 2018, 7:30 am

≫ Next: Man Who Jumped Out Of Freezer, Yelled About Satan & Died Was Cold Case Suspect

≪ Previous: How “The Taco Bell Strangler” Serial Killer Was Busted Over An Earring

TACOMA, WA — Steve Powell, the father of a man who killed his young sons and himself, died at a Tacoma hospital early Monday morning, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. Powell is reported to have expired from heart-related issues.

Powell was also the father-in-law of Susan Cox Powell, who has been missing since 2009.

Susan Powell was last seen alive at church on Sunday, December 9, 2009. After she disappeared, police found her keys, wallet, and cell phone at the family residence in West Valley City, Utah.

Her body was never found, and she was presumed legally dead five years after she vanished. Her husband Josh was never arrested or charged in connection with Susan’s disappearance, but police considered him a person of interest in the case.

Josh claimed he left Susan sleeping at home when he packed up the kids just after midnight and took them camping. But Susan’s friends and family did not believe Josh’s claims, and immediately asked why he would take the children out camping in freezing weather in the middle of the night.

Detectives later found emails in which Susan wrote to friends about stress at home, largely due to finances and Josh turning increasingly abusive.

In July 2008, Susan chillingly sent out video messages hoping to document her home life “if anything happens to me or my family.” She also locked a note in a safe-deposit box that stated, “If I die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one.”

Josh and Susan Powell with their two sons [Wikipedia/Fair Use]

In February 2012, Josh Powell killed his two sons, seven-year-old Charlie and five-year-old Braden, and himself while police in Utah were investigating him in connection with Susan’s disappearance.

After a social worker in Tacoma arrived at Josh’s home with the boys during what was meant to be a supervised visit, Josh set off an explosion that killed himself and the boys instantly. The murder-suicide was a tragic ending to a long custody battle between Josh and Susan’s parents, Chuck and Judy Cox.

In 2015, a Utah judge supported Susan’s parents and ruled that her father had the right to cut Josh Powell’s mother and sister from a trust that was set to receive $2 million in life-insurance proceeds following Susan’s death.

As if the tragedies and legal issues with this family weren’t already enough, incredibly, in August of 2015, Steve Powell was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of voyeurism and possession of child pornography after taking pictures of young neighbor girls using the bathroom. He was released in July 2017, and was forced to register as a level-two sex offender.

Pierce County sheriff’s office spokesman Ed Troyer said, “We found many pictures of young girls as young as, we believe, seven years old in explicit positions. They’re pictures he shouldn’t have taken, pictures of girls in showers, on toilets, in the bath. He’s basically a peeping Tom with high-end camera equipment.”

During the investigation of Steve Powell, police found “creepy” images of his daughter-in-law Susan in his possession, but nothing specifically criminal. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, they were images of Powell masturbating to Susan’s photo and images of naked women onto which Susan’s head had been pasted. Steve Powell had also reportedly made sexual comments about his daughter-in-law, and even suggested to his son Josh that the two men share her.

According to Troyer, Steve Powell was always arrogant and uncooperative with the police. He and other investigators believe that Powell very likely had knowledge of the location of his daughter’s body, and were hoping for a death-bed confession from the hospital. While that wasn’t forthcoming, authorities are hoping to be able to search his possessions one more time, in case anything can be found related to the disappearance or murder of Susan.

While reporting on Steve Powell’s death, news station KIRO 7 anchor Steve Raible stated, “No one is mourning Steven Powell.” Another KIRO 7 reporter, Graham Johnson, who has been covering the Powell family for years, said that when the Sheriff’s Department told the news stations that Powell had died of heart issues, “police and reporters wondered aloud if he even had a heart.”

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Man Who Jumped Out Of Freezer, Yelled About Satan & Died Was Cold Case Suspect

August 8, 2018, 11:05 am

≫ Next: DNA Test Stunningly Accurate As Serial Hammer Slayer With Predicted Last Name Arrested

≪ Previous: Steve Powell, Controversial Father-In-Law Of Missing Utah Woman Susan Powell, Dies

NEW YORK, NY — Last Sunday, a knife-wielding man jumped out of a Manhattan restaurant’s freezer yelling about Satan and then abruptly died on the spot. Police have now revealed that he was a suspect in a 1988 double-homicide cold case.

According to witnesses, Carlton Henderson bolted out of the kitchen freezer at Sarabeth’s, an Upper West Side brunch spot, and shouted, “Away from me, Satan!” He then reportedly grabbed a knife and threatened staffers.

Workers said they tackled and disarmed Henderson, after which he went into cardiac arrest and died.

Police have since revealed that Henderson had recently been serving time in Boston on a pending double-murder case that dates back 30 years. On August 1, however, a judge tossed out key evidence and released Henderson on his own recognizance.

In June 2017, authorities in St. Louis arrested Henderson in connection to the 1988 gunshot deaths in Boston of William Medina, 26, and Antonio Dos Reis, 22, after bullets from that case matched a gun recovered from a 1993 fatal shooting in Miami.

Cops initially picked up Henderson in 1993 on drug and gun charges related to the Miami incident, whereupon he reportedly bartered information on the 1988 Boston slayings in exchange for a reduced sentence.

Henderson did his time in Miami and was then extradited to Boston, where he was charged with the double-murder.

Alas, last Wednesday, Judge Janet Sanders ruled that Henderson’s 1993 statements were inadmissible because investigators made him believe they could not be used against him. As a result, Henderson strolled out of jail free and, somehow, into Sarabeth’s actual walk-in cold case.

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Main photo: Carlton Henderson [St. Louis Police Dept]

The post Man Who Jumped Out Of Freezer, Yelled About Satan & Died Was Cold Case Suspect appeared first on CrimeFeed.

↧

DNA Test Stunningly Accurate As Serial Hammer Slayer With Predicted Last Name Arrested

August 10, 2018, 12:09 pm

≫ Next: Woman Tracks Down Her Brother’s Killer On Facebook 40 Years Later

≪ Previous: Man Who Jumped Out Of Freezer, Yelled About Satan & Died Was Cold Case Suspect

AURORA, CO — A Nevada prison inmate named Alex Christopher Ewing has been charged with murder in connection with the unsolved hammer-attack killings of four victims in Colorado in 1984, officials announced Friday.

Alexander Ewing [Nevada Dept. Of Corrections]

Ewing, 57, has been in prison in Nevada since 1984. He was convicted of attempted murder after attacking a Henderson couple with an ax handle.

Police say that Ewing killed Bruce and Debra Bennett and their seven-year-old daughter, Melissa, and left the couple’s other child, three-year-old Vanessa, clinging to life with serious head injuries. Both daughters were sexually assaulted.

The Bennetts were brutally bludgeoned with a hammer, and Bruce’s throat was cut with a knife. The family murder was the last of four hammer attacks in the metro area over a 12-day period.

Patricia Smith [Lakewood Police]

Ewing is also charged with the death of Patricia Louise Smith, 50, who was murdered in the Lakewood condominium she shared with her daughter and grandchildren.

The hunt for the hammer-wielding serial killer was the subject of an episode of Investigation Discovery’s On The Case With Paula Zahn, called “Scattered Clues, Shattered Lives.”

During the episode, ID interviewed the genealogist whose testing identified the killer as having the surname Ewing. Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick suggested “Ewing” as the perpetrator’s last name after she compared Y chromosome data taken from the crime scene to DNA databases.

Aurora Police first revealed the results of that testing on the show. This was one of the first times this technique, which has made national headlines since the Golden State Killer was arrested using DNA databases, was publicly mentioned.

The DNA was found on the Bennetts’ sheets, but no match was found in the FBI database — and the case went cold.

The hammer used to kill Patricia Smith [police evidence photos]

Zahn also interviewed pilot Ron Holm, whose live-in girlfriend, Donna Dixon, was attacked in January 1994. Police believe that the same attacker who killed the Bennett family may have targeted Dixon.

Holm described his horror as he came home from a flight and discovered Dixon curled up on a blood-soaked bed. Incredibly, the 28-year-old flight attendant was still alive.

Homicide Detective Marc Brandt believed that Dixon had been attacked as she exited her car. Investigators found a large ball-peen hammer in Dixon’s car, which they determined was probably the weapon. Police said the crime was sexually motivated.

“I’m swinging the door open when the hammer hit me,” she said. “It’s so hard to imagine that as you are stepping out of the car that the momentum knocks you right back. It happened that fast.”

Dixon has no memory of anything after the first blow. When she woke up, she was naked on the garage floor. Confused and dazed, she somehow managed to stagger inside her home.

Crime scene photo of Donna Dixon’s garage [Investigation Discovery]

She says that she has “no idea” how she managed to crawl back inside the house, and also did not realize at the time that she had been sexually assaulted. Doctors would later state that they believed the icy temperatures slowed her blood loss — and saved her life.

The Bennett family [Investigation Discovery]

Dixon had lost a tremendous amount of blood and suffered brain trauma. It took months for her to begin to learn to speak again — and Holm was right by her side. Holm and Dixon, who later married, have never stopped searching for a suspect.

Ewing, 57, is already serving a sentence of 8 to 40 years at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City, according to prison spokeswoman Brooke Santina.

He is eligible for parole on July 1, 2021, and his sentence expires April 10, 2037.

Anyone who might have had contact with Alexander Ewing from 1983 to 1984 is asked to call the Aurora Police Department at (303) 739-6400 or the Lakewood Police Department at (303) 763-6800.

Watch the “Scattered Clues, Shattered Lives” episode of On The Case With Paula Zahn on ID GO now!

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Main photo: Alexander Ewing [Nevada Dept. Of Corrections]

The post DNA Test Stunningly Accurate As Serial Hammer Slayer With Predicted Last Name Arrested appeared first on CrimeFeed.

↧

Woman Tracks Down Her Brother’s Killer On Facebook 40 Years Later

August 15, 2018, 11:25 am

≫ Next: Did Orson Welles Kill The Black Dahlia? How One Celebrity Conspiracy Theory Won’t Die

≪ Previous: DNA Test Stunningly Accurate As Serial Hammer Slayer With Predicted Last Name Arrested

OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND — In 1977, a British medical school graduate and his girlfriend set sail on a round-the-world adventure, only to be murdered at sea.

Decades later, the man’s sister says she identified the killer by using Facebook. Police arrested the suspect last year but, alas, the accused murderer himself died in prison before going to trial.

Penny Farmer, now 57, was just a teenager in 1978 when her brother Christopher, 25, and his girlfriend Peta Frampton, 24, disappeared while traveling in Latin America.

Christopher’s father, BBC journalist Charles Farmer, investigated the vanishing and discovered that two bodies had been pulled from the water near Guatemala. Dental records later confirmed that they were Christopher and Peta.

The victims had been beaten up, hog tied, weighed down with heavy boat equipment, and tossed overboard.

Investigators tracked down Silas Duane Boston, a boat owner who was the last person to see the couple alive after offering them a lift from Belize to Mexico.

Boston claimed that Christopher and Peta had disembarked from the trip after seeing the poor condition of the boat. His last words to the British consulate were:

“Let me know if you hear anything about them.”

From there, Silas Duane Boston seemed to fall off the face of the earth. No one could locate him for the next 38 years — until Penny Farmer took up her own investigation on Facebook in October 2015.

First, it came to light that Boston had been on the run at the time. He had been wanted back in Sacramento for statutory rape.

Just by combing through social media, then, Penny discovered that Boston was still alive, as were his two sons, Vince and Russell. She also learned that Vince and Russell Boston had been 12 and 13 back in 1978 — and they were on the boat when their father murdered Christopher and Peta.

Chris Farmer with the two sons of Silas Duane Boston in 1978 [US District Court]

The two now-adult brothers came clean to Penny. They admitted they saw their father fly into a homicidal rage after Christopher gave Boston guff for bullying and verbally abusing Russell.

Vince and Russell told Penny they witnessed Boston savagely beat Christopher and Peta, then tie them up and throw them into the sea. The men said they had kept silent for so long out of fear.

Penny contacted the Greater Manchester Police with her Facebook evidence and the agency, in turn, reached out to both Interpol and the Sacramento Police.

Through sheer coincidence, California authorities had reopened a number of cold cases at the time, one of which was the 1968 disappearance of Mary Lou Boston — Silas Duane Boston’s wife and the mother of his two sons.

Excerpt from the criminal complaint [United States District Court]

Excerpt from the criminal complaint. Read the full document here. [United States District Court]

Police arrested Boston in a California nursing home on December 2, 2016, and charged him with the murders of Christopher Farmer and Peta Frampton. After eluding justice for four decades, Boston seemed finally poised to be held accountable in a court of law. But that fate was not to be.

Years of alcohol abuse had required Boston to undergo dialysis and, upon being locked up, he refused treatment. In April 2017, then, Silas Duane Boston died while being moved from the county jail to UC Davis Medical Center. He was 76 years old.

On top of being charged with double homicide and suspected of killing his wife, recent investigations into Boston implicate him in other crimes dating back 50 years, including other murders.

When he died, Boston had spent a total of four months behind bars.

Penny Farmer has written a new book about her experience, Dead in the Water: Bringing Down My Brother’s Killer After His 38 Years on the Run.

In discussing the death of Boston just as she and her 92-year-old mom were preparing to fly to California for his trial, Penny said:

“I was gutted, absolutely gutted. I thought we were going to see justice. I was ready to stand up in court and tell them what a monster he was. But he wouldn’t even let us have that … I wouldn’t like to say suicide but he did it for a reason and that was because he knew the game was up.”

Penny also explained what compelled her to write the book, stating:

“First of all I wanted it to be a lasting memorial to Chris and Peta who were two great people. They were so loved. There’s not a day goes by we don’t think about them. Secondly, you can’t deny it’s a truly remarkable story.”

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Main photo: Penny Farmer/YouTube video [screenshot]

The post Woman Tracks Down Her Brother’s Killer On Facebook 40 Years Later appeared first on CrimeFeed.

↧

Did Orson Welles Kill The Black Dahlia? How One Celebrity Conspiracy Theory Won’t Die

August 15, 2018, 1:47 pm

≫ Next: How Did Kristal Anne Reisinger Disappear From A Town With A Population Of 143?

≪ Previous: Woman Tracks Down Her Brother’s Killer On Facebook 40 Years Later

LOS ANGELES, CA — On the morning of January 15, 1947, the mangled, tortured, and chopped-in-two corpse of Elizabeth Short, 22, turned up in a vacant lot in Los Angeles.

Instantly, the unspeakable fate that befell Short and the sexually desecrated, purposefully arranged condition of her remains horrified and captivated the public, as the case quickly came be known by the victim’s nickname: the Black Dahlia.

More than 70 years later, the Black Dahlia continues to enthrall true crime devotees, both with the nightmarish details of how Short suffered and the frustrating fact that the killer or killers have never been identified, let alone brought to justice.

Through the decades, then, scores of books, websites, documentaries, dramatic films, TV specials, and other media undertakings have been devoted to the case. Still, the Black Dahlia remains one of history’s definitive unsolved mysteries.

Naturally, with so much attention focused on the material, numerous theories have arisen. Some seem credible, others dwell on the fringes of conspiracy. One of the most bizarre examples of the latter is that Hollywood legend Orson Welles did it!

In terms of high-profile accusations, the Welles claim is not unprecedented. Other celebrities have been linked to the Black Dahlia in the past. Among them:

• Woody Guthrie

The folksinger and left-wing activist came up on detectives’ radar after he got busted for sending graphically erotic letters to a woman in Northern California who reportedly did not want to receive them and turned them over to the police. The L.A. County D.A. tried to connect Guthrie to the Dahlia, but he was cleared in short order. Guthrie did get busted for sending prohibited material through the mail, though.

• Bugsy Siegel

The LAPD took an official long, hard look at notorious gangster Bugsy Siegel after the Dahlia murder, eager to bust him for anything that might lock him up for good. Still, the investigation led nowhere, and its been surmised that rival mobster Jack Dragna tipped off the cops hoping to frame Siegel for the crime.

• Man Ray

Dr. George Hodel, a Los Angeles physician, has long been one of the most talked-about suspects in the Black Dahlia case. Retired LAPD Detective Steve Hodel, the doctor’s own son, believes his father committed the atrocity — and that his dad did it to emulate to creative works by Man Ray, the master surrealist.

The doctor and the artist were friends, and Steve says his father attempted to outdo all previous surrealist works by killing the model.

However, since Man Ray himself fled Hollywood for Paris shortly after Elizabeth Short died, entirely unsubstantiated rumors have suggested that perhaps he, too, was involved.

Still, in recent times, no other celebrity suspect has generated more outrageous discussion regarding the Black Dahlia than Orson Welles.

In her 1999 memoir Childhood Stories: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia, author Mary Pacios points her finger directly at Welles — the Hollywood wunderkind who reinvented cinema in his own image with Citizen Kane (1939) and then spent decades careening downward in fits and starts.

Pacios grew up with Elizabeth Short in Boston and said she came forward with her theory after James Ellroy’s best-selling 1987 novel inspired by the murder, The Black Dahlia, confused the public regarding the “facts” as she understood them.

Specifically, Pacio contends that Welles suffered from mental illness and was prone to explosive violence. To back her claim, Pacios cites a 1937 stage production of Julius Caesar in which Welles accidentally stabbed costar Joseph Holland. She also accuses the actor and filmmaker of having “paid off” a rape victim to stay silent.

In terms of evidence connecting Welles to Elizabeth Short’s death, Pacios points to the following:

• Orson Welles was a highly skilled magician who performed for the troops during World War II. A highlight of his act was sawing a woman in half.

• Welles was intimately familiar with the area where Short’s body was discovered.

• Virginia Short told Pacios that Elizabeth had written her a letter stating she was going to audition for Orson Welles.

• Both Short and Welles frequented Brittingham’s restaurant. Since she was an aspiring actress, it’s likely they would have met there.

• On January 24, 1947, Welles applied for a passport. That very same day, someone claiming to be the killer mailed out a packet to Los Angeles newspapers.

• After that, Welles stayed in Europe for 10 months, refusing to come back and finish editing his movie adaptation of Macbeth, in spite of Republic Studios insistence that he return.

• For the “house of mirrors” sequence of his film noir masterpiece The Lady From Shanghai (1947), Welles allegedly created mannequins three months before the murder that he marked up with lacerations almost identical to those inflicted on Elizabeth Short.

• The woman who first came across Elizabeth Short’s remains initially thought the corpse was a discarded department-store mannequin.

• Pacios believes Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn destroyed the footage of the mannequins to cover up potential evidence.

Orson Welles, it must be noted, was never investigated, let alone named as a suspect in the murder of Elizabeth Short. In addition, the connections made by Mario Pacios had never resulted in any serious new investigations into the possibility of Welles even being aware of Short.

Still, conspiracy theories have a way of taking on lives of their own and someone, somewhere may well be working right now to prove that the man who created what’s still hailed as Hollywood’s greatest motion picture also perpetrated Hollywood’s most infamous homicide.

For more about Elizabeth Short, watch the “Unsolved Cases” episode of Investigation Discovery’s Most Evil on ID GO now!

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The Black Dahlia

Main photos: Elizabeth Short; Orson Welles [WikiMedia Commons]

The post Did Orson Welles Kill The Black Dahlia? How One Celebrity Conspiracy Theory Won’t Die appeared first on CrimeFeed.

↧

How Did Kristal Anne Reisinger Disappear From A Town With A Population Of 143?

August 21, 2018, 10:23 am

≫ Next: Who Are The 2 Amateur Genealogists Who Are Solving Cold Cases With DNA?

≪ Previous: Did Orson Welles Kill The Black Dahlia? How One Celebrity Conspiracy Theory Won’t Die

CRESTONE, CO — In July 2016, a young mother named Kristal Anne Reisinger mysteriously disappeared from Crestone, Colorado.

The 29-year-old had recently moved from Denver to Crestone, a tiny town (population: 143) in southern Colorado near Great Sand Dunes National Park, with her five-year-old daughter Kasha.

Reisinger’s perplexing disappearance is the subject of the new season of the true crime podcast Up And Vanished.

Family and friends say that Reisinger moved to the area, which has long been considered sacred ground by the Navajo Nation, on a quest for spiritual enlightenment. But she seems to have found something far more sinister.

“She was definitely on a spiritual path,” Reisinger’s former boyfriend, Elijah Guana, told Fox 31. “She was practicing Tarot cards, and was really into Hindu and Buddhism — really into Native American traditions (and) the nature of raising consciences and living a peaceful life. Her motto was ‘do no harm.’”

Kristal Reisinger [Missing Persons of America]

Then, around July 13, 2016, she disappeared.

A family friend went to check on her at her apartment, and was disturbed: He found items she had recently purchased sitting out, ready to use, but no sign of her.

Saguache County Sheriff Dan Warwick said that investigators had considered the possibility that Reisinger had gone on a “walk-about” or spiritual quest. But family and friends insisted that the young mother would never abandon and cut off communication with her daughter. Reisinger’s family said that she had a habit of calling Kasha almost every day.

Locals told police that Reisinger had attended a full moon drum circle, where hundreds of people gather for the ceremony and wild party at a campground on the outskirts of town.

Eventually, the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office shifted the case from a missing person investigation to suspected foul play. Two detectives from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation have also joined the team looking into what might have happened to Reisinger.

According to Reisinger’s landlord, Ara McDonald, and multiple sheriff’s sources, the last person to have called Reisinger is a local man with a felony criminal history of drugging and assaulting a victim. Reisinger even confided in McDonald once that she’d been to a drum-circle party one night where she’d been given a lot of drugs, and she thought that someone had “taken advantage of her.”

Up And Vanished art [Beck Media & Marketing]

Up And Vanished promo art [Beck Media & Marketing]

Investigators have looked into several possibilities for her vanishing: Did Reisinger walk away to start a new life? Could she have suffered a drug overdose? Or was she targeted by someone sinister?

Reisinger’s friends and family have offered up to $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of person(s) responsible for her disappearance. Anyone with information about Kristal is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (719) 655-2525.

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Who Are The 2 Amateur Genealogists Who Are Solving Cold Cases With DNA?

October 4, 2018, 10:14 am

≪ Previous: How Did Kristal Anne Reisinger Disappear From A Town With A Population Of 143?

The following is an excerpt from “Beyond the Jungle of Bad: The True Story of Two Women From California Who Are Solving All The Mysteries,” a longform article by James Renner, author of True Crime Addict.

cover art for True Crime Addict [Amazon]

Renner reveals the stories of Colleen Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press, two women whose intelligence, ambition, and desire to help solve mysteries have led to the use of forensic genealogy to solve open cases.

Case Study: Lyle Stevik

This mystery began on September 14, 2001, three days after the towers came down. A young man checked into the Quinault Inn, a motel in Amanda Park, Washington, under the name “Lyle Stevik” (main image, above).” He had no luggage. No I.D. Only the clothes on his back, some cash, and a toothbrush. Three days later, he was found hanging from a belt tied around a clothes rod in the closet of his room. His name was fictitious, a character from a Joyce Carol Oates’ novel, and the address he gave to the clerk led to a hotel in Idaho.

Armchair sleuths wondered if the man was part of the terror cell that had orchestrated the September 11 attacks – did he kill himself before the feds could catch him?

Police collected his DNA, sent it to the lab, and then entered his profile into the F.B.I.’s Combined DNA Index System – known as CODIS – the government’s private database of felon DNA. No match. But that only meant he’d never been to prison.

Colleen [Fitzpatrick] read about the case and reached out to the local coroner, Lane Youmans. It was the perfect mystery for the DNA Doe Project to solve. Youmans was game but there was a problem — the county didn’t have the money for testing. So Colleen and Margaret [Press] organized their first “DoeFundMe” campaign to raise funds for a new, autosomal DNA test. Redditors and members of their Facebook group opened their wallets. They raised the $1,500 needed for the testing within 12 hours.

Youmans sent Lyle’s DNA to the lab, where it was sequenced and then converted to electronic data and saved on a hard drive. Colleen then had a bioinformatics expert extract specific snips from this data that are also used by GEDMatch. The markers from Lyle’s profile were then compared to the markers from other people’s profiles on the website (the software does this – nobody can ever see or directly access someone else’s DNA profile). Markers found in Lyle’s DNA matched to probable distant cousins in Northern New Mexico and the greater Four-Corners area. But it was hard to narrow it down from there. The problem was endogamy.

Artist reconstruction of Lyle Stevik [Wikipedia]

Endogamy occurs in isolated community groups – most notably Appalachia, where cousins intermarry and people are sometimes related to each other in five different ways. In the Lyle Stevik case, the results brought Colleen and Margaret to a region of the United States that originally settled by Spanish conquistadors who took Native Americans as wives. Their descendants had been isolated from the greater world and there had been a lot of intermarriage. The team felt they were close but it was going to be difficult to hone in on the man’s identity because of the intertwined branches of his family tree.

GEDmatch has lots of nifty tools. One of them is a program called “Are my parents related?” Colleen clicked on it, expecting to find that Lyle’s parents were related like everyone around them, but they were not. Colleen knew that this must mean one of Lyle’s parents were not from the same region. Another researcher in their group noticed a particular snip on Lyle’s Y-chromosome that matched to a man from south America – which suggested his father likely came from there, too. And that meant his mother must be the parent who was native to the Four Corners area.

The team spent hundreds of hours building out family trees for the matches. One lucky volunteer contacted a family member from this region to help them make better sense of the family tree. That family member mentioned that she had heard that a young man, distantly related to her, had gone missing some years ago. They had stumbled onto their answer sooner than expected.

“These cases are like trying to figure out a giant Sudoku puzzle,” says Margaret. “And this solution fit the puzzle.”

Case closed. Sure. But the state of Washington does not release the names of suicides. And the family of the deceased did not come forward, publicly.

“In many cultures there’s shame associated with suicide,” Margaret explains. “My brother committed suicide. It was never in the papers. The publicity would have added to the pain. I can think of no reason this family would want to make it public.”

That made some Redditors who had donated money very angry. “They’re saying, ‘We have a right to this knowledge. We’re entitled to know who he is,’” says Margaret.

It was an unexpected reaction but Colleen and Margaret were not discouraged. Lyle’s case and the others they were working on proved that the DNA Doe Project worked. “This was unprecedented,” says Colleen. But there was a growing concern that others in the genealogical community would view what they were doing as an invasion of privacy. Each time they solved a new case, it brought more attention. Eventually, GEDMatch would have to decide what was permissible. And what would happen to their efforts to identify their John and Jane Does if the database they relied on suddenly changed its terms of service? What if it simply shut down? “If GEDmatch rolled up the sidewalk, we were toast.”

Margaret sighs. “And then the Golden State Killer happened.”

Now that police know what a forensic genealogist can do, Colleen’s phone rings incessantly. She still does most of her work sitting at a small table in the kitchen of the same townhouse she’s lived in for decades. “I’m getting calls and emails every day. I’m working on a dozen cases.”

Her house is not large — a couple of rooms and bedrooms upstairs. She sublets one of her rooms to a friend. For her dream job to survive, the DNA Doe Project will need funding.

Her siblings are not so worried, though. They remember the girl from Lakeview who found a way to get all the beads she ever needed. “She loves a challenge,” says her sister, Bebe. “Maybe it’s in her DNA.”

Colleen’s brother, Tim, is a part-time deputy back home and runs search-and-rescue boats when he’s not designing Christmas decorations for fancy businesses in four states. “I’m really proud of her,” he says. “It puts a smile on her face which she hasn’t had in a long time. I’m enjoying watching her. It’s tremendous.”

No matter what happens, Colleen and Margaret have each other’s back. “When you work these cases, you feel that incipient gloom and it can affect you,” says Margaret. “We rely on each other and our team and we focus on the excitement of being the ones to solve a case. And we are. We’re solving them doe by doe by doe. It’s a jungle of bad out there but we’re chopping through it.”

There’s a picture of the Dalai Lama hanging on Colleen’s wall. It’s signed. “I don’t know what the reason is I find myself here, now,” she muses, thinking on the events that stretch back to New Orleans and a simpler time. “Was it to bring closure to these cases? It could be. I might have fulfilled my purpose 10 years ago. How do I know? You just gotta do what you can.”

Click here to read the full text of “Beyond the Jungle of Bad: The True Story of Two Women From California Who Are Solving All The Mysteries.”

James Renner is the author of True Crime Addict. Recently, he filmed a virtual reality docu-series about the Delphi Murders.

Main photos: Colleen Fitzpatrick [courtesy Colleen Fitzpatrick]; Margaret Press [courtesy Margaret Press]

The post Who Are The 2 Amateur Genealogists Who Are Solving Cold Cases With DNA? appeared first on CrimeFeed.

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