Elaine “Lonnie” Johnson, 41, went missing from Parma, Ohio, in 1990. Her daughter is still searching and reaching out to the public for answers to discover what happened to her mom.

The Sun News looked into the case and spoke with Elaine’s daughter, Jodi Johnson Malcolm, who told police she went to her mother’s home on December 3, 1990, to check on her after she hadn’t shown up to work for 48 hours. Her mother was missing, but the apartment was tidy, and her wallet, identification, and credit cards, were all left behind. Elaine’s car was in the parking lot. There was laundry in the laundry room, and a locker had been left open.

The only thing that seemed to be missing was the actual key to her apartment.

As authorities attempted to figure out what happened to Elaine, The Sun Times reveals the last person who may have allegedly seen her was her ex-boyfriend. In a 2011 report, he is identified as 56-year-old Brian Sachs. Although he was questioned at the time, the publication says at some point he stopped cooperating with authorities. Sachs has not been charged with any crime related to this case.

Elaine has light brown hair that was bleached blonde at the time she went missing. she has brown eyes and a small scar on the left corner of her mouth. Reports say she stands 5 feet 7 inches tall, and at the time she vanished, she weighed about 130 pounds. Today, Elaine would be 62.

In December of last year, Elaine’s daughter Jodi posted this message on Facebook:

If you have any information to help Jodi and her family find their loved one, please contact Captain Robert DeSimone at: (440) 887-7330.

If you are in search of a missing person, make sure to enter their information into the database of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Read more:

Sun News Staff

Missing Person Elaine Benich Johnson Facebook page

The Charley Project

Main photo: Missing Person Elaine Benich Johnson Facebook page

These are the crime stories making headlines today, November 7, 2016 …

• Investigators have turned to Facebook to track down content that they believe will provide new leads in a five-year-old cold case involving the brutal killing of an Oklahoma woman. The dismembered body of Carina Saunders, 19, was discovered October 13, 2011, inside two duffel bags behind a grocery store in Bethany, Oklahoma. Nine months later, reports started to surface that Saunders’s killing was tied to a human-trafficking ring, and that the killing had been captured on video. Investigators say that Saunders was last seen getting inside a red pick-up truck at the Newcastle Casino on October 8 with a man with tattoo sleeves on both arms. The Facebook accounts of three people believed to have posted incriminating content related to Saunders, drugs, and prostitution have been requested via search warrants. On October 13, 2016, agents for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) announced a $10,000 reward for any information leading to Saunders’s killers. [Buzzfeed News]

• A Brooklyn man peed in a Lyft driver’s car, punched him in the face, and then stole his vehicle, police say. The livery driver had picked up the passenger, who was around 25 years old, along with a group of friends early in the morning on October 25 in Manhattan and drove them to Bushwick, police said. While the driver was en route to the final destination at 65 Roebling Street in Williamsburg, police say the passenger started urinating in the back seat, police said. The driver pulled over and got out of his brand new Toyota Highlander — but the driver exited and punched the him in the face. The passenger managed to get behind the wheel of the SUV and took off. [DNA Info]
• Prosecutors have filed a criminal charge against a former Playboy playmate accused of secretly photographing a 70-year-old naked woman in a gym changing room and posting the image on social media. Dani Mathers, 29, faces one count of invasion of privacy, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office announced in a news release Friday. The incident took place in July at an LA Fitness health club after an image surfaced on Snapchat of Mathers making comments about the woman’s appearance. Mathers, who has issued an apology, faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted, prosecutors said. [ABC 7]

Rex Crooks [Livingston County Sheriff’s Office]

• A 52-year-old New York man was arrested Sunday after allegedly driving drunk to pick up a family member at jail. Police say Rex Crooks showed up at jail to pick up the family member at 6 P.M. Sunday — whoops, the family member wasn’t being released until 6 A.M. Monday — and appeared to be drunk. Crooks allegedly blew a 0.31 on a breathalyzer — nearly four times the legal limit — and was charged with aggravated DWI. Crooks was also cited for parking in a handicapped spot, according to the Livingston County News. It was actually Crooks’s second aggravated DWI charge of October. [Fox News]
• A Michigan man who suspected neighborhood children of destroying his Donald Trump lawn signs was arrested on seven felony weapons counts Saturday night after he held a group of kids at gunpoint, police say. Michael Kubek, 56, told police that a group of kids, aged 12 to 14, had destroyed his Trump campaign signs and were running away from his residence in a Detroit suburb. During police questioning, the children said Kubek “pulled out a pistol and was pointing it at them,” before ordering them to sit on the ground. Kubek admitted to pointing a 9mm pistol at the children, but said he only used his unloaded weapon to scare them. Police seized his gun. [The Smoking Gun/ClickOnDetroit]

• Gary Ridgway [Wikimedia Commons]

  Rapists, convicted felons, and even serial killers including Gary Ridgway will be known as “students” and not “offenders” under new state guidelines, according to Washington State Department of Corrections officials.  “The term ‘offender’ does have a negative connotation and significantly impacts a broad group of people and communities,” Acting WA DOC Secretary Dick Morgan wrote in an internal department memo, obtained by KIRO-TV. “Times change, and so does our language.” Other experts say they do not believe that changing terminology will have a positive impact. [Palm Beach Post]

Heyward Hilton [Melbourne Police Department]

• A Florida man was booked into jail over the weekend after Melbourne police found 30 bags of heroin in a stolen car he was driving. Heyward Hilton, 18, was charged with possession of heroin with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia, fleeing to elude, possession of a felony controlled substance while in control of a motor vehicle, and having no driver’s license. Melbourne police arrested Heyward after spotting him in a stolen Buick that matched the description issued in an earlier alert at around 11 P.M. on Friday. [Florida Today]
• A St. Louis mother is demanding answers after a horrifying photo surfaced that appears to depict an officer giving a “thumbs up” sign and smiling over her son’s dead body. On August 8, 2016, Kim Staton’s son, 28-year-old Omar Rahman, was found dead in a home in Pine Lawn, and the Medical Examiner later ruled the death an accidental drug overdose. But a few weeks after Rahman’s death, a photo dated August 8 emerged. The KMOV reporter who has been investigating the case chose to blur the body in the photo as well as the face of the North County Cooperative officer, since no wrongdoing has been determined. Staton’s attorney calls the photo “horrifying” and says that the family wants a complete investigation into the incident. [WREG]
  Main photo: Carina Saunders KFOR-TV/Facebook (screenshot)

For months, residents of Anchorage, Alaska, have been on edge amid a rumored serial killer on the loose — a mysterious figure who seemed to shoot strangers along the city’s hiking trails or public parks, one or two at a time, and then disappear. This past Saturday, a sudden attack on an Anchorage police officer may have proven those fears to be correct.

Just before sunrise on November 12, Officer Arn Salao responded to a complaint from a taxi driver who said a customer stiffed him. Salao approached the alleged passenger, James Dale Ritchie, 40 (above, right), who unexpectedly spun around and shot the patrolman four times with a Colt Python .357 revolver. Police describe the attack as an “ambush.”

Both Salao and Sergeant Marc Patzke returned fire, killing Ritchie in the process. Salao was rushed into emergency surgery and is said to be “recovering.”

Police artist sketch compared to James Dale Ritchie’s driver’s license photo [Anchorage Police Department handout]

So does this mean James Dale Ritchie was the whispered-about serial killer? It’s too early to tell. The pistol was not registered to Ritchie, but authorities do consider the weapon a potential major break in the cases.

Anchorage Police Department spokesperson Jennifer Castro stated: “Without the ballistics and that gun, we had no evidential way of tying these cases together. That’s how important that gun is.”

Again, though, Castro retiterated: “We still have to determine who the suspect actually was in these cases. We’ve connected the weapon in these cases, but still have work to do on the suspect(s).”

The previous victims of this particular Colt Python .357 have been identified as Brianna Foisy, 20, and Jason Netter, 41, both killed on a bike path on July 3; Treyveonkindell Thompson, 21, shot to death on an isolated street on July 28; and Kevin Turner, 34, and Bryant DeHusson, 25, who were gunned down at the Valley of the Moon Park on August 28.

After the Thompson homicide, the Anchorage Police Department released a sketch of a “person of interest” in the shooting. On Tuesday, the APD showed the sketch alongside the photo from James Dale Ritchie’s driver’s license. The resemblance is striking.

Timeline of Anchorage shootings [Anchorage Police Department handout]

Following the shootout, details about James Dale Ritchie are coming to light. The Alaska Dispatch News reports Ritchie grew up in East Anchorage and was apparently a popular athlete as a teenager, graduating in 1994.

From there, Ritchie’s appears to have continually made destructive choices, drifting into drugs and law-breaking. He served multiple jail terms beginning after a drug bust in 1998. He was arrested again for driving under the influence, drugs, and illegal gun possession in 1999. Most recently, Ritchie did two years behind bars for an attempted burglary in 2005.

Anchorage District Attorney Clint Champion said Ritchie has been laying low for the last decade, even relocating to Virginia for a while before moving back to Alaska this past February. Champion noted: “He hadn’t been on our radar for a while in Anchorage, so that’s part of what they’re trying to determine is, where he’s been, who he’d lived with, what other contacts he had.”

Police are asking anyone with information on Ritchie to come forward. Call APD at (907) 786-8900 or leave an anonymous tip through Anchorage Crime Stoppers online or by calling (907) 561-7867.

Read more:
ABC News
NBC News
KTVA
Alaska Dispatch News

Main image: Anchorage Police Department handout

These are the crime stories making headlines today, November 21, 2016 …

• Police in San Antonio are on a manhunt for the suspect (above) who shot a 20-year veteran officer to death, execution style, during a night of violence when four officers in three states were shot. Detective Benjamin Marconi, 50, was sitting in his cruiser writing a ticket when he was approached and shot. The San Antonio Police Department is looking for an individual in connection with the shooting who they describe as a tall, slim, black male, 20 to 30 years old, with a goatee who may have been driving a 2009 to 2012 black Mitsubishi Galant with black rims. In St. Louis, another gunman shot a sergeant twice in the face. Hours later, the suspected gunman was tracked down and killed in a shootout with other officers. The officer is in critical condition but is expected to survive. Two other officers in Florida and Missouri were also targeted in the same 24-hour period. [Fox News]

• Richard Patrick [Franklin County Jail]

  A Pennsylvania man has been charged with rape, indecent assault, endangering welfare of children, and sexual intercourse with an animal after two 14-year-old girls reported being raped by him years prior. Police say that the girls told them that Richard “Rick” Paul Patrick, 44, repeatedly touched them and raped them between 2008 and 2010. Police say that Patrick held one victim’s head underwater, and in another incident used peanut butter and a dog in the assault while he tied the girl to the bed and covered her face with a pillow. Patrick was reportedly the boyfriend of the girls’ mother. The mother no longer has custody of the children. The incidents reportedly took place at two different homes in Franklin County. Patrick, who admitted to police that he has anger issues, later said that he lived with the girls when they were around five and eight years old. [CBS21]

• Gloria Ross [East Baton Rouge Parish Prison]

  A Baton Rouge mother was arrested Thursday morning after police received reports that she tried to kill her eight-year-old son — because Jesus told her to. Gloria Ross, 40, was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for attempted first-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. Police got a call from a neighbor in the evening saying that Ross’ son had said his mother had cut him with a serrated kitchen knife. A responding officer observed a cut across the victim’s throat, and Ross was reportedly saying that “Jesus told her to kill her son.” The victim was transported to a local hospital with non–life threatening injuries. [WBRZ]
• A 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were ordered held without bail Sunday after being charged with murder in the shooting death of Jovan Wilson, the grandson of U.S. Representative Danny Davis. Tariq M. Harris, 16, and Dijae T. Banks, 17, have been charged as adults with first-degree murder in an attack that started as a fight over clothes and shoes, according to police. Jovan, 15, was killed at his Englewood home around 7 P.M. Friday after the suspects knocked on the door, and the girl wanted to retrieve a pair of shoes she had allegedly lent to the victim. The pair were taken into custody Saturday. [Chicago Tribune]

Jay Maynor [Cullman County Sheriff’s]

• An Alabama father who shot and killed his daughter’s sexual abuser pleaded guilty Monday and accepted a 40-year prison sentence in the hopes of sparing his daughter from having to relieve the details of her molestation through a trial. Jay Maynor, 43, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the June 2014 killing of Raymond Earl Brooks, a 59-year-old registered sex offender who was shot to death at his home north of Birmingham. Brooks pleaded guilty in 2002 to sexually abusing Maynor’s young daughter, and served 27 months of a five-year sentence. The shooting reportedly was prompted by a conversation Mayor had with his daughter about the abuse. [Fox News]
• Dana Rivers, who made headlines in 1999 when she fought a Sacramento school district’s decision to fire her after she underwent gender-reassignment surgery, has been arrested for a triple homicide involving three Oakland family members. Rivers, 61, has been described as an acquaintance of the victims, married couple Patricia Wright, 57, and Charlotte Reed, 56, and their 19-year-old son, Toto “Benny” Diambu-Wright. Oakland police said they were called to the family’s East Oakland home after midnight on November 11 on reports of gunshots, and allege that after shooting her victims, Rivers tried to set the house on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence. She is being charged with murder with special circumstances, which could make her eligible for the death penalty. [East Bay Times]
  
• The FBI is looking for a man they say has robbed four banks in Massachusetts, each time handing the teller a withdrawal slip on which he’s written “robery” on the back. Dubbed the “Spelling Bee Bandit,” the man is said to be thin, wears sunglasses, and doesn’t have a firearm. However, authorities say that with each heist, the grammatically challenged crook has become more aggressive with the tellers. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest. The FBI is asking anyone who has information that could help identify the robber to call the FBI Boston Division’s Violent Crimes Task Force at 1-857-386-2000. [Ozarks First]

• Jacob Wetterling [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]

  A Minnesota man who recently confessed to abducting, sexually assaulting, and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling 27 years ago is sentenced to 20 years on a child-pornography charge. Danny Heinrich, 53, led authorities to Jacob’s remains this summer as part of a plea bargain to end a cold case that has haunted Jacob’s family for almost 30 years. In return for Heinrich accepting a 20-year sentence, the maximum the law allows on the child-pornography count, he will not be charged with murder. Jacob was abducted near his home in the central Minnesota community of St. Joseph on October 22, 1989.  [Fox News]

Main image: Surveillance footage showing person of interest and vehicle wanted in connection with the shooting of Detective Benjamin Marconi [Photo: San Antonio Police Department/Facebook (screenshot)]

D.B. Cooper is not the actual name of “D. B. Cooper.” In fact, no one knows what he’s really called or even who he really was. The moniker stems from an errant media report that arose (and stuck) after this mysterious figure purchased a Portland-to-Seattle flight ticket using the alias “Dan Cooper” on November 24, 1971 — the night before Thanksgiving.

From there, the man who would forever after be known as D. B. Cooper boarded a Northwest Orient Boeing 727. Midway through the half-hour flight, Cooper said he had a bomb on board and demanded $200,000 cash to not set it off.

The pilot landed, Cooper got his loot (which would be worth about $1.2 million in 2016), and he released the other passengers unharmed. Cooper then ordered the craft back up into the air.

Upon hitting the proper altitude, the hijacker grabbed his ransom money, threw open a door, and parachuted out of the 727 into the open sky over the thick and lush Pacific Northwest woodlands.

At that point, D. B. Cooper vanished in every sense, except for the impact he’s made on American crime history and popular culture.

He was never found, alive or dead. Only $6,000 of the heisted cash ever turned up, and then only after a kid who was camping discovered three badly beaten up bundles along the Columbia River in 1980 — nearly a decade later.

The FBI worked the case tirelessly, especially as a rash of copycat hijackings cropped up (none of those would-be Coopers made it). The agency made various theories public through the years, and even compiled an array of suspects, many of whom had military or government backgrounds.

Money stolen by D.B. Cooper [Wikimedia Commons]

Other high-profile suspects include William Gossettt, an Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps veteran who was utterly obsessed with the Cooper case and went on to host a radio show about the paranormal; Richard McCoy, Jr., who almost pulled off the most notorious of the copycat hijackings; and Barbara Dayton, a transgender recreational pilot who wanted to go pro and blamed the FAA’s anti-trans regulations for preventing her from doing so.

As with every other D. B. Cooper lead, the feds eventually cleared or dismissed all these suspects, along with many others.

Ultimately, on July 8, 2016, the FBI announced that it was suspending investigation into D. B. Cooper. Forty-five years had passed, and 60 volumes of files sat on agency shelves. The case, officially, is cold.

For the public, however, the mystery, outlaw spirit, and daredevil pizzazz of D. B. Cooper captured the collective imagination and never let go.

The skydiving skyjacker became a folk hero, even as law enforcement hunted for years to track down a serious felon, who did, in fact, terrorize innocent holiday travelers and put a multitude of lives at grave risk.

Still, for many, it’s just hard not to be impressed with how the son-of-a-gun got away with it.

For example, the town of Ariel, Washington, one of the areas where Cooper was thought to have landed, commemorates the escape on the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year with a celebration called “D. B. Cooper Day.”

In addition to myriad TV specials, documentaries, and true-crime books dedicated to the case, numerous songs have paid tribute to Cooper, and he’s turned up as a character in a continuing array of novels, comic books, and TV programs.

Among the most high profile examples are the 1975 fiction best-seller Rainbow’s End by legendary crime writer James M. Cain, and the fact that Agent Dale Bartholomew, Kyle McLaughlin’s character on the definitively Pacific Northwest–set cult series Twin Peaks, is directly named after D. B. Cooper.

The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, a 1980 movie adaptation of the book Free Fall by poet J. D. Reed, stars Treat Williams in the title role and Robert Duvall as the FBI agent on his trail.

As a publicity stunt, Universal Pictures offered a $1 million reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of D. B. Cooper. To date, no one has ever claimed the money.

Main image: D. B. Cooper, FBI composite sketches

On August 22, 1998, a young female jogger vanished without a trace in Redding, California, from the same trail that Sherri Papini was using when she disappeared from her rural home on November 2, 2016.

Related: Sherri Papini’s Husband Says She Was Found With Nose Broken, Head Shaved, Weighed Only 87 Pounds

Papini was found on Thanksgiving morning near Yolo and returned to her family. But the family of 16-year-old Tera Smith, who was a classmate of Sherri’s at Central Valley High School, did not have a happy ending. The teen was never seen again — and no trace of her body was ever found.

Tera’s father Terry told the Daily Mail that Sherri’s husband Keith Papini came over to talk to him following Sherri’s disappearance. Terry said he admitted to Keith that he had been “idle” and placed far too much faith in law enforcement when he daughter went missing. “We just expected them to do everything, they were the professionals and we weren’t, but I do think they made some mistakes and hopefully learned from their mistakes,” he said.

While Sherri’s case baffled investigators from the start, Terry said that the police immediately had a person of interest in Tera’s case —Troy Zink, the 29-year-old married martial arts instructor that her parents said that she was having a romantic relationship with.

Tera Smith missing poster [Shasta County Sheriff’s Office]

He said that he believed his daughter met up with Zink so she could end the affair with him.

Zink, a convicted rapist who later served a four-year prison sentence for possession of firearms, was never named a suspect by the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and was never arrested or charged in Tera’s disappearance because of a lack of sufficient evidence.

But in his only interview with deputies, Zink reportedly told police that Tera called him on the night she disappeared and asked to meet near her home. He admitted to picking her up, but said that she asked for a loan, and became “agitated” when he refused. He reportedly told deputies that he dropped her off near a random intersection — and after she walked away, he decided to drive to a remote area to “pray.”

Read more: DailyMail.com

Main photo: from Tera Smith missing poster [Shasta County Sheriff’s Office]

Stephentown, NY — On June 30, 1983, 15-year-old Robert “Bobby” Gutkaiss left his home for his first day of work as a berry picker at Pease Farm in Stephentown, New York. That night, Bobby’s mom reported that her son never came home from the farm.

New York State Police are continuing to investigate the case as a cold case homicide.

The farm owner said Bobby showed up and worked until 6 P.M. and then left, walking north on Route 22 toward Stephentown. He said that he had instructed Bobby to return to the farm later that evening to receive his pay, but Bobby never came back.

Bobby’s body was found on July 7, 1983, on a logging road.  His death was ruled a homicide.

The case is still open, but mysteries and controversy surround Bobby’s three brothers, who were suspected of playing a role in Bobby’s death. The family has a history of sexual abuse and violence: In October 1993, his father Stanley Gutkaiss, 53, was charged with two counts of first-degree sodomy and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child, but pleaded not guilty and was released.

In a separate case, Gutkaiss’s three sons were charged with sex crimes involving young boys in August 1992. Timothy, 25, 23-year-old Michael, and 30-year-old Stanley, Jr., were charged with sexually abusing three young boys over a four-year period. Michael was found guilty of two counts of first-degree sodomy and three counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Timothy was found guilty of one count of sodomy, and Stanley Jr. was acquitted.

Many commenters on Facebook have written that they believe that Stanley, who passed away in 2006, played a role in the murder of his son. Jo-Michelle Scott, who claims to be a family relative, wrote: “One of these children was molested on top of Bobby grave by Stanley and told his mother of what happened and that Stanley threatened him that if he told he would also end up like Bobby. The family believes Bobbie father did it. He raped and molested many children and got away w it.”

The State Police Troop G Major Crimes Unit and the BCI Unit at SP Schodack ask that anyone with information regarding this case call the New York State Police at (518) 783-3211.

Read more:

News 10

NYSP News

Main photo: Bobby Gutkaiss [News 10 (screenshot)]

The post Cold Case: New York Police Still Searching For 15-Year-Old’s Killer appeared first on CrimeFeed.

On November 28, 2009, Larry Ely Murillo Moncada, 25, left his home in Council Bluffs, Iowa. No one has seen or heard from him since. Nonetheless, Larry’s family has maintained their search to find him and now they’re reaching out to ask for help.

At around 6:15 P.M., Larry Murillo — as he was most commonly known — walked out while clad in a navy blue hooded sweatshirt and light blue sweat pants. Despite freezing temperatures outside, Larry was also barefoot.

Ana Moncada, Larry’s mother, said her son was acting disoriented before he left. He expressed paranoid thoughts about being followed and was apparently suffering hallucinations. Specifically, Larry said voices in his head commanded him to eat sugar.

Ana told the press, “He felt his heart was beating too hard and thought if he ate sugar, his heart would not beat so hard.”

At the time he disappeared, Larry Murillo stood six feet tall and weighed 140 pounds. He had black hair, brown eyes, and is described as a Hispanic male. In the past he had used the name, Marion Murillo.

According to FBI statistics as of December 31, 2013, more than 84,000 adults are missing in the United States.

If you know anything about the disappearance or whereabouts of Larry Murillo, the Council Bluffs Police Department is taking leads. Please call: (712) 326-2508.

If you are in search of a missing person, make sure to enter their information into the database of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Read more:
Iowa Cold Cases
Daily Non Pareil

Main photo: Larry Murillo [Council Bluffs Police Department]

The post Cold Case: Have You Seen Larry Ely Murillo Moncada? appeared first on CrimeFeed.

At about 10 A.M. on January 15, 1947, Los Angeles resident Betty Bersinger walked with her three-year-old daughter past a vacant lot and saw what she first thought to be two pieces of a discarded department-store mannequin.

What Bersinger actually saw was the bisected and otherwise mangled corpse of Elizabeth Short, 22, the murder and torture victim who would be known forever after by the nickname, the “Black Dahlia.”

Related: How Is the Black Dahlia Case Still Unsolved After Nearly 7 Decades?

“Los Angeles Examiner” front page dated January 17, 1947

Short’s body had been chopped in half at the waist, with the naked two pieces place about a foot apart. She was specifically posed with her arms bent up behind her head and her legs spread open, displaying a mutilated vulva. Her mouth bore slashing scars that created the effect of a perverse smile. Someone had drained Short’s blood and carefully tucked her intestines up under her buttocks. Other wounds and cuts marked Short’s remains, including a broken nose, gashes on her face and thighs, and the removal of most of one breast.

To date, no one knows who committed this atrocity, and the mystery of the Black Dahlia continues to spook and enthrall humanity.

Elizabeth Short grew up in and around Boston. As a teen, she bounced back and forth between Massachusetts, Miami, and California, where, in 1943, Santa Barbara police picked her up for underage drinking. Come June 1946, Short settled in Los Angeles, hoping to break into the movie business. On January 9, 1947, she went missing.

Related: Is the Unsolved Killing of Georgette Bauerdorf Linked to the Black Dahlia Case?

A week later, the world came to know Elizabeth Short almost exclusively as the “Black Dahlia,” a nickname most likely arising from Raymond Chandler’s popular film noir, The Blue Dahlia, which was playing in theaters at the time. The moniker also likely tied into Short’s striking pale skin and raven hair, coupled with her proto-goth penchant for black dresses.

“The Blue Dahlia” (1946); a poster for the movie that inspired Elizabeth Short’s nickname

Immediately, newspapers ran wild with the story and a horrified public devoured every detail. The media portrayed Short either as a wide-eyed innocent beset by human monsters or a tawdry sex worker who fell prey to one of the perils of her trade. Both approaches kept the story dominating headlines for months.

As a result of the hoopla, the Los Angeles Police Department joined forces with the press, disseminating information that they hoped would lure the killer to justice.

In short order, more than 60 people “confessed” to the crime. Of those, the LAPD seriously investigated about 25. No conviction ever resulted.

Related: Was the Black Dahlia Killer Inspired by the Artist Man Ray?

Among the prior crimes looked into as possibly bearing connections to Short’s slaying was the recent spree by Chicago’s Lipstick Killer and previous decade’s Cleveland Torso Murders. No ties could be proven.

The Black Dahlia murder has tormented L.A. cops for decades, with many pursuing leads and configuring clues, even today, in their spare time. The case has also ignited active fascination and even obsession among myriad journalists, crime authors, private investigators, amateur sleuths, and conspiracy buffs.

Related: Thrift Shop Shelf — Rediscovering James Ellroy’s “The Black Dahlia”

The case has similarly inspired a multitude of books, films, documentaries, podcasts, and other multimedia examinations. The most famous examples are the fictionalized 1987 account The Black Dahlia by author James Ellroy and director Brian DePalma’s 2006 movie adaptation of the novel.

Elizabeth Short’s gravestone [WikiMedia Commons]

Most recently, in 2013, retired LAPD detective turned crime writer Steve Hodel publicly concluded that his own father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, had perpetrated the crime.

Steve Hodel’s new evidence included his father’s private photographs of Elizabeth Short, soil samples, and the use of a corpse-sniffing dog. Steve Hodel actually believes his father may have killed up to ten women.

Regardless, the Black Dahlia murder remains L.A.’s most notorious cold case and a chilling example of humanity at its most grotesquely inhumane.

Read more:
Time
Biography
The Lineup
The Guardian
L.A. Weekly
NBC News

Main photos: Elizabeth Short [Santa Monica Police Department, 1943/WikiMedia Commons]

The post The Black Dahlia Murder First Horrified The Public In 1947 — And It’s Haunted Us Ever Since appeared first on CrimeFeed.

“The Black Dahlia” is the nickname given to Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old Hollywood hopeful whose chopped-in-half, horrendously mutilated body turned up sanitized, drained of blood, and pointedly posed in a vacant lot on January 15, 1947.

Related: The Black Dahlia Murder First Horrified the Public in 1947 — And It’s Haunted Us Ever Since

The case horrified the public and dominated headlines for months. Police and private agencies alike worked frantically to find the killer, but even now, 70 years later, the Black Dahlia remains arguably the highest-profile cold case in LAPD history.

The unimaginably sadistic nature of the crime and the fact that no perpetrator has ever been named, let alone prosecuted, quickly and profoundly exuded a macabre grip on popular culture that has essentially never subsided.

On the anniversary of the Black Dahlia tragedy, here’s a roundup of how the case has been handled in the fields of art and entertainment.

“The Black Dahlia Avenger”, updated 2013 edition, cover

TRUE-CRIME BOOKS
A multitude of fact-based books investigating the life and death of Elizabeth Short exist, and more always seem to be forthcoming.

The 1998 bestseller Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder by John Gilmore, the son of an LAPD detective who worked the actual case, continues to stand out among its related titles.

In 2003, ex-cop Steve Hodel caused a sensation by publishing, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder — The True Story In the book, Hodel makes the case that Elizabeth Short’s killer was none other than his own father, Dr. George Hill Hodel. The author provides an even stronger argument in 2014’s The Black Dahlia Avenger II: Presenting the Follow-Up Investigation and Further Evidence. Hodel further asserts that his doctor dad was actually a serial killer who committed numerous monstrous travesties.

Related: Was the Black Dahlia Killer Inspired by the Artist Man Ray?

The 2006 release Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder by Mark Nelson and Sarah Hudson Bayliss connects the specifics of the case, particularly how Short’s body was presented, to works by surrealists Dada masters such as Man Ray and Salvador Dali. The authors more or less endorse the notion of Dr. George Hodel as the culprit, citing his obsession over these fields of art.

“The Black Dahlia” by James Ellroy, cover

FICTION
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy essentially ignited the modern fascination with the torture and slaughter of Elizabeth Short.

It’s an electrifying fictionalized account of the case, told in tough-as-nails style by an LAPD detective named Bucky Bleichert.

Related: Thrift Shop Shelf — Rediscovering James Ellroy’s “The Black Dahlia”

Perhaps even more than any of his other sensational work, The Black Dahlia established Ellroy as modern literature’s true master of the twisty, twisted crime novel — particularly those centered in mid-20th-century Los Angeles.

The short story “Black Dahlia and White Rose” by acclaimed writer Joyce Carol Oates imagines the circumstances from a variety of points of view.

FILM
The Black Dahlia (2006) is director Brian De Palma’s adaptation of James Ellroy’s 1987 bestseller. Mia Kirshner portrays the title role. Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart costar as the detectives partnered to work the case, with Scarlett Johansson as the femme fatale that comes between them.

True Confessions (1981), based on John Gregory Dunne’s bestselling 1977 novel, uses a Black Dahlia–inspired murder as the backdrop to explore the relationship between a pair of Los Angeles brothers, Tom and Desmond Spellacy, who are played, respectively, by Robert Duvall and Robert De Niro. Duvall is an LAPD detective; De Niro is a priest.

TELEVISION
Lucie Arnaz stars as Elizabeth Short in a 1975 CBS movie, Who Is the Black Dahlia?, amid a very seventies TV cast that also includes Tom Bosley, Donna Mills, June Lockhart, Macdonald Carey, Ronny Cox, and Effram Zimbalist, Jr.

In 2011, Mena Suvari took on the Black Dahlia role on American Horror Story: Murder House.

MUSIC
The popular Michigan death metal band that calls itself The Black Dahlia Murder requires no further explanation.

Elizabeth Short has turned up as a lyric and/or the inspiration for numerous songs by artists in an vast array of genres, as well. Some musical invocations of the case include “My Black Dahlia” by Hollywood Undead, “Illuminated” by the Cult, and “In California” by Neko Case, wherein she sings:

“Another suicide on the 405
The Black Dahlia she’s smiles and smiles
It’s the same old town that bled her dry
One more starlet one more time
Bound to make it do or die”

PODCASTS
The popular, provocative, and endlessly compelling Hollywood and Crime podcast has delved deep into the Black Dahlia with fascinating results.

“Hollywood and Crime” podcast logo/iTunes

Hosted by Hollywood historian Tracy Pattin, the Black Dahlia examination ranks among the podcast’s most dynamic and engaging.

Each segment powerfully conjures the dangerous depths of vintage show business and the L.A. underworld while presenting new evidence and, most importantly, bringing vivid humanity to Elizabeth Short, the tragic victim at the center of it all.

Main image: Black Dahlia (2006), official movie poster/promotional image

The post Dive Deeper Into The Black Dahlia Murder With Books, Movies, Music, More appeared first on CrimeFeed.

A revealing exchange between multimillionaire Robert Durst and John Lewin, the Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who will face him in court, has been made public days before his murder trial begins. The conversation took place without Durst’s lawyers present, and went on for three hours.

Related: Private Eye Files: The Secret Connection Between Robert Durst And Morris Black

In a few days, pre-trial hearings will begin in Los Angeles for Durst in connection with the murder of his former friend Susan Berman. Durst, whose bizarre story was documented in the HBO series The Jinx, is also suspected in the disappearance of his first wife, Kathie, and connected to the death of a neighbor, Morris Black.

In the conversation with Lewin, Durst references the dismemberment of Black’s body, after what he claimed was a killing in self-defense. After Lewin commented that cutting up a dead body with a saw would be very difficult, Durst agreed, and added:

“Cutting up that body the way I was doing it, was the hard way. The proper way is what a surgeon would do with a scalpel and he would cut around the ligaments and then do the joint, not on the bone.”

Lewin begins the interview by flattering Durst’s “dry sense of humor” before coaxing him to discuss the time period leading up to Susan Berman’s murder — after Durst learned authorities were reopening the investigation into his wife’s disappearance.

Related: Watch Footage Of Robert Durst Urinating On Candy At CVS

“I know that when you killed Susan that was not something you want to do,” Lewin says during a part of the interview that was shown on 48 Hours. Durst replied, “I’m gonna stay away from killing Susan.”

In another shocking segment of the interview, Durst appears to be leading up to negotiating a deal. “If there’s something that I could do that would be worthwhile … and they could do something for me….” he begins, adding, “if you’d like some details from me, if I knew about where Kathie’s body is … and about what happened with Susan….”

Durst then seems to be angling for the ability to select where he would imprisoned, seemingly having accepted the notion that it would be very unlikely that he would be a free man. He acknowledged, “…if I tell you these things, I’m pleading guilty.” Lewin states that he has no real control over where Durst would be incarcerated, but that he could make a recommendation.

It’s rare that an exchange like this would be made available before a trial, but Lewin recently filed it, which does make it public.

Related: Robert Durst Enters Not Guilty Plea For Killing Longtime Friend Susan Berman

“I do want to say here and now though, I am not guilty,” Robert Durst said during his November 7, 2016, arraignment in Los Angeles. “I did not kill Susan Berman.”

During his appearance on The Jinx, Durst shocked the world when he appeared to confess that he “killed them all” while unaware that his microphone was still recording. He has since denied that his rambling captured on the series was a confession, and stated that he was “on meth the whole time” the show was being filmed.

Related: Robert Durst Claims He Was “Speeding” On Meth While Filming HBO’s The Jinx

Durst is currently in prison serving time on a federal gun charge.

Read more:

CBS News

Main photo: Robert Durst [Jezebel/Facebook]

The post Robert Durst’s Talk With Prosecutor Made Public; Is He Asking To Make A Deal? appeared first on CrimeFeed.

The “secret witness” who testified on Wednesday in a California court against multimillionaire New York real estate heir Robert Durst has been identified as a friend of murder victim Susan Berman. Nathan “Nick” Chavin, who reportedly fears for his life, arrived in the courtroom with private security.

Related: 5 Infamous Cases That Prove That Getting Away With Murder Isn’t So Hard

Chavin said that he met Durst through Berman, who was killed in Los Angeles in 2000. Chavin and Durst would party together, going out for “boys’ nights out” in Manhattan. Chavin added that Durst had claimed that he and Kathleen had an open marriage.

While Chavin acknowledged that Durst was his best friend, he also related conversations with Kathleen in which she described her husband as “impossible,” and chillingly claimed to be afraid that he would hurt her.

Chavin was one of two witnesses whose identity was shrouded in secrecy as the latest twist in the sensational trial. Prosecutors have suggested that Chavin fears for his safety due to the fact that he has information that could “bury” Durst. The witnesses are actually testifying before the trial begins out of concern that Durst could somehow harm or silence them so they wouldn’t be able to incriminate him. But Durst’s attorneys have said that claims he could harm witnesses are absurd, due to his age and illness.

Related: Possible Link Found Between Missing College Girl And Robert Durst

The testimony of the other witness, Dr. Albert Kuperman, 85, centers on a phone call he received 35 years ago. On February 1, 1982, Kuperman, a retired associate dean at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, got a call from a woman who identified herself as Kathie Durst.

She said she was sick with diarrhea and a headache and wouldn’t make it to her first day of a pediatrics clerkship in her final year of medical school. The call was long believed to be the last conversation anyone had with Kathie Durst.

Related: Robert Durst’s Talk With Prosecutor Made Public; Is He Asking To Make A Deal?

But Deputy District Attorney John Lewin has suggested that someone else, possibly Susan Berman, could have placed the call. Durst told Lewin that filmmakers who interviewed him for the six-part HBO series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” thought Berman posed as Kathie Durst on the phone that day. At the time, Durst said Berman never would have made the call.

Prosecutors alleged that Durst killed his close friend Berman because he thought she was going to talk to police about the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie Durst, who was never found.

Related: Robert Durst Enters Not Guilty Plea For Killing Longtime Friend Susan Berman

Durst, 73, was arrested two years ago and has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

In the final episode of The Jinx, he can be heard muttering to himself on a microphone he was unaware was still recording: “You’re caught! What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

The judge will decide at a preliminary hearing in October whether Durst will go to trial.

Read more:

Los Angeles Times

NBC New York 

Main photo: Robert Durst [NBC Chicago/Facebook]

The post “Secret Witness” In Robert Durst Murder Case Spills Details appeared first on CrimeFeed.

BROOKLYN, NY — On February 14, 2005, 19-year-old Rashawn Brazell failed to show up for a Valentine’s Day lunch date with his mother. Three days later, on February 17, subway workers found a bloody plastic bag filled with his body parts in a tunnel near the “A” train platform at Nostrand Avenue station.

More body parts were discovered at a Greenpoint recycling plant, but Rashawn’s head was never recovered.

Related: NYC Subway Rider Who Assaulted Transwoman Isn’t Saying Sorry Anytime Soon

The horrifying unsolved murder has left a devastated family still searching for answers, and wondering if the psycho who killed Rashawn is still out there, and maybe still killing.

According to his mother, Desire Brazell, who was working at homeless shelter in Washington Heights the day he vanished, Rashawn was supposed to get his taxes done that Monday morning. He was last seen leaving his family’s Gates Avenue apartment around 7:30 A.M.

According to some reports, a man buzzed his apartment and Rashawn went down to meet him. He was walking toward the Gates Avenue station, but it is not clear if he ever boarded the train.

Related: Former Cop Arrested For Masturbating On NYC Subway, Threatening Witness With A Gun

“I didn’t get to look on him again,” Desire Brazell said. “No one deserves to end up being thrown away, like they’re just trash.”

Rashawn’s friends and family described him as a bright, loving, and funny young man who loved fashion and designed his own clothes. He had a bright future, and his whole life ahead of him.

Through the years, rumors have continued to swirl around the case, including one that homicide detectives think someone who worked in or around the New York City transit system was involved.

Related: Dismembered Body Parts Found In Recycling Bin Probably Belong To Woman Who Vanished After Internet Date

“I believe that somebody who had knowledge of the subway system had to be involved in this,” said Brooklyn North Homicide detective, Richard Amato. “We checked all the rooms in the subway, in between stations, and we never found the original crime scene.”

Another clue that detectives focused on was a black “Rooster” tool bag found near the crime scene that contained drill bits and Rashawn’s blood.

Investigators stated that the bag could be purchased at Lowe’s but was also given to some New York City transit authority workers in a test trial.

Rashawn was gay, and following the murder, some media stories focused on his sexuality as a possible motive. But his family and friends are not convinced that a jilted lover was involved or that his sexuality was a factor.

Family members revealed that shortly before his death Rashawn talked about breaking away from some people in his life and making changes. But he wasn’t specific, and kept his social life compartmentalized so detectives following this lead have been frustrated in finding answers.

While making his documentary called Rashawn’s Desire: The Untold Story of Rashawn Brazell, filmmaker Terik King told PIX11 that he believed that Rashawn’s good nature may have given the teen “a blind spot when it came to how evil people could be.”

King also said that the man who runs a scholarship fund in Rashawn’s name has gotten cryptic and taunting messages every year that sound as if they could have been from the alleged killer. “The tone of it was, ‘He wasn’t an angel, this happened, I’m sorry, I paid someone to do it,” King told PIX11.

Related: Police: Sex Offender Threw Woman’s Dismembered Remains In Garbage

Detectives continue to investigate the case, and it has been featured on America’s Most Wanted.

Rashawn’s mother continues to keep his memory alive and hopes that one day she will learn what really happened to her son.

The NYPD Crime Stoppers Unit is offering a $22,000 reward for anyone who can offer information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the murder of Rashawn Brazell.

Read more:

PIX 11

New York Daily News

Main photo: Rashawn Brazell [Rashawn’s Desire/Facebook]

The post Unsolved: The Psycho Who Killed And Dismembered Rashawn Brazell Is Still Out There appeared first on CrimeFeed.

Serial murders peaked in the United States during the 1980s, and sunny Los Angeles became the primary hunting ground for a string of psychopaths. Of the 2,670 total serial murders that took place that decade, roughly one-fifth took place in California, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Related: No Sympathy For These Devils: The 1980s Heavy Metal “Satanic Panic”

“At the time we were considered the homicide capital of the world, or the United States at least,” Mike Stallcup, a retired detective who worked in the LAPD Robbery Homicide Division, said in an episode of Vanity Fair Confidential called “Murder on the Sunset Strip.”

“I believe we had close to 1,200 homicides within the city of Los Angeles. We were running hard at that time — fast and furious,” Stallcup continued.

Below are a few of the most notorious.

Douglas Clark and Carol Bundy — “The Sunset Strip Killers“

Carol Bundy [Wikimedia Commons]

Douglas Clark [Wikimedia Commons]

Bundy also killed and decapitated her ex-boyfriend.

Clark wanted to fulfill his fantasy of killing a woman during sex.

His first victims were Gina Narano and Cynthia Chandler, whom he picked up on the Sunset Strip and ordered to perform fellatio on him before shooting them both in the head and taking them to a garage to rape their dead bodies.

Related: Slaughter On The Sunset Strip: Sex Killers Doug Clark And Carol Bundy Terrorized L.A.

He dumped their bodies near the Ventura Freeway. At one point, Bundy called the police, but refused to give her name.

Clark went on to murder more victims, and took one victim’s head back home and stored it in the fridge — and Bundy, upon seeing the grisly trophy put make-up on it before Clark used it to commit necrophilia.

In August 1980, Bundy lured Jack Murray, her ex-boyfriend, into a van and killed and decapitated him.

Writer Mark MacNamara, who interviewed Bundy for an article he wrote in Vanity Fair, said that he believes Murray may have been involved in the killings as well, and it haunts him that he will never know the full story.

Clark was sentenced to death in 1983. Bundy received a life sentence, and died in prison in 2003. 

Randy Kraft — “The Scorecard Killer“

Randy Kraft [Wikimedia Commons]

Kraft, who was convicted in 1989 of murdering 16 victims, is also believed to have committed the rape and murder of up to 51 additional boys and young men.

Related: The Convoluted Inner World And Secret Codes Of Dennis “BTK” Rader

Kraft became known as the “Scorecard Killer,” because upon his arrest, investigators discovered a coded list depicting cryptic references to his victims.

Richard Ramirez [Wikimedia Commons]

Ramirez went on a months-long rampage of sexual assault and murder that generated widespread fear throughout Southern California.

His modus operandi was to enter homes in the early morning hours through open windows or doors.

Related: Crime History: Richard Ramirez, The Satanic Serial-Killing “Night Stalker,” Was Apprehended 31 Years Ago

He killed 13 people in a variety of ways: Some were found strangled, others had their throats slashed, but most had been fatally shot.

Spray-painted pentagrams — a distinctive Satanist symbol — were also found on the walls of some victims’ homes.

“The Golden State Killer”

Police have been searching for the “Golden State Killer,” also known as the “Original Night Stalker,” for over 40 years. Police attempted to change the nickname so that the public did not confuse the case with Night Stalker Richard Ramirez.

Authorities say that he committed 12 murders, about 45 rapes, and dozens of home break-ins from 1976 to 1986.

Related: Authorities Relauch Search For The “Original Night Stalker,” 4 Decades After Killings Began

Investigators have also linked him to the 1986 rape of an 18-year-old in Irvine, as well as rape, murder, and attempted murder cases from 1979 through 1981 in Goleta, Ventura, Laguna Niguel, and Irvine.

The FBI continues to search for information, and have offered a reward of $50,000 for help in finding him.

William George Bonin — “The Freeway Killer“

Bonin raped, tortured, and murdered a minimum of 21 boys and young men in a series of killings in 1979 and 1980 in southern California — and authorities believe that he may have committed 15 more.

Bonin became known as the “Freeway Killer” due to the fact that the majority of his victims’ bodies were discovered alongside numerous freeways in southern California. He shares this nickname with Randy Kraft and Patrick Kearney, an unrelated serial killer who murdered over 40 victims during the 1970s.

Related: Serial Killers By The Numbers: 11 Facts About The Darkest Side Of Humanity

Described by the prosecutor at his first trial as “the most arch-evil person who ever existed,” Bonin was convicted of 14 of the murders. He spent 14 years on death row and was executed at San Quentin in 1996.

Phillip Carl Jablonski 

Jablonski was convicted of murdering five women — including his first wife, his second wife, and her mother — between 1978 and ’91 in California and Utah.

Jablonski met his second wife Carol Spadoni after she answered a newspaper ad he placed while Jablonski was serving time for having murdered his first wife, Melinda Kimball, in Palm Springs, California, in 1978.

Phillip Jablonski mug shot [Wikimedia Commons]

On April 22, 1991, Jablonski murdered Fathyma Vann, 38, in Indio, California. Fathyma was found shot in the head and sexually assaulted in the desert with the words “I Love Jesus” carved in her back.

Related: Woman Sets Herself On Fire At War Memorial, Claims She Is Burning For Jesus

Her body had been subjected to other mutilations including the cutting off of her ears and removal of her eyes.

The following day, April 23, 1991, Spadoni and her mother, Eva Peterson, 72, were found murdered at their home in Burlingame, California.

Jablonski was also charged with the robbery and subsequent murder of Margie Rogers, 58, in Grand County, Utah, on April 27, 1991.

He was captured the next day and eventually sentenced to death.

Angelo Buono (left) and Kenneth Bianchi (right) [Wikimedia Commons]

Angelo Buono, Jr., and Kenneth Bianchi, “The Hillside Stranglers“Angelo Anthony Buono, Jr., and his cousin Kenneth Bianchi had the city of Los Angeles terrified during their murder spree.They were convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing 10 women between October 1977 and February 1978. Buono, an auto upholsterer, and Bianchi started killing after a discussion about how the prostitutes that Buono often brought home would hardly be missed by anyone if they disappeared.

Over the next few months, the men developed a pattern: They drove their victims back to Buono’s house where they were sexually assaulted, tortured, and strangled to death. The duo then dumped the bodies in lascivious positions on hillsides in the Los Angeles area, and the press dubbed them the “Hillside Strangler” because, at the time, authorities believed that they were looking for a single killer.

Related: These Killer Cousins Terrified The Hollywood Hills

The killings stopped suddenly in February 1978. The men were arrested in 1979, and Bianci received six life sentences, while Buono got life without the possibility of parole. Buono died in prison, and Bianchi is still behind bars.

Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., — “The Grim Sleeper” 

Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. [Los Angeles Police Department]

Lonnie Franklin, Jr., started his killing spree in South Los Angeles in the summer of 1985 and continued until 1988, when a woman who was raped and shot lived to describe her attacker as a black man in his early 20s with a pockmarked face.Another body was found in Inglewood in March 2002, and the 13-year delay in between the deaths led to his description as “The Grim Sleeper.”

On July 7, 2010, Los Angeles police arrested Franklin, and in 2016 he was found guilty on 10 counts of murder in the killings of nine women and a 15-year-old girl.

Related: The Grim Sleeper: How A Serial Killer Eluded Capture For Years

Jurors later recommended Franklin should be put to death, and investigators believe that there may be more victims out there.

Read more:

Los Angeles Times 

247WallSt

Main photo: View over Los Angeles [Vanity Fair Confidential/Investigation Discovery (screenshot)]

The post Sex, Sun, And Serial Killers: Los Angeles In The 1980s appeared first on CrimeFeed.

The Brooklyn man who has been charged with the 2004 murder of a 17-year-old girl may also be responsible for the long-unsolved killing and dismemberment of Rashawn Brazell in 2005.

Kwauhuru Govan was charged in November 2016 with murdering Sharabia Thomas, who vanished on her way to school in Bedford-Stuyvesant for a field trip. Her body parts were found in two laundry bags the next day.

Related: Till Death Do Us Part: 5 Shocking Valentine’s Day Murders

Sharabia Thomas [Brooklyn DA]

According to PIX11 News, DNA evidence found under the fingernails of Thomas tied Govan, who recently served time in Florida for robbery, to her murder.

Related: Unsolved: The Psycho Who Killed And Dismembered Rashawn Brazell Is Still Out There 

While Govan was imprisoned in Florida, investigators interrogated him in reference to the Brazell case. Govan claimed to have been out of state at the time of the killing, but that turned out to be a false statement. His answers contained other inconsistencies, but he did admit to knowing Brazell.

In a followup investigation, authorities learned “certain information and evidence linking Govan to this killing,” according to the NYPD Chief of Detectives.

Rumors have circulated for years about the murderer having a connection to the subway system, and evidence including a black tool bag with Brazell’s blood on it, but the perpetrator has remained a mystery for over a decade.

Govan, 38, caused a dramatic scene in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday when NYPD detectives and court officers dragged him into court kicking and screaming. It took more than a dozen officers to carry him into the room.

“Kwauhuru Govan is innocent! I can’t even dissect a frog,” the suspect yelled, adding: “Is this what America has come to? Is this what President Trump will allow?”

Related: Dismembered Body Parts Found In Recycling Bin Probably Belong To Woman Who Vanished After Internet Date

Because Govan refused to allow police to fingerprint him in connection with the second murder charge, the judge ordered that Govan be returned to jail and come back to court today.

District Attorney Eric Gonzalez says he plans to hold a news briefing with the victim’s mother, Desire Brazell.

“I didn’t get to look on him again,” Desire Brazell told PIX11 in a 2014 interview. “No one deserves to end up being thrown away, like they’re just trash.”

Investigators say it is not clear yet if Govan is a serial killer, but the NYPD chief of detectives have said that there “may be more” victims. They are currently considering him in at least two other unsolved murder cases.

Read more:

PIX 11

New York Daily News 

Main photo: Kwauhuru Govan in Brooklyn Supreme Court [Time News/YouTube (screenshot)]

The post “Valentine’s Season Killer” Charged With Murdering, Dismembering Teens — Including Rashawn Brazell appeared first on CrimeFeed.

OCILLA, GA — Police have announced that an arrest has been made in the case of a teacher and former beauty queen who vanished 11 years ago.

Ryan Alexander Duke, 33, has been charged with the 2005 killing of Tara Grinstead, 30. He is a former student of the Georgia school where Grinstead taught. Duke graduated from County High School in Ocilla, Georgia, three years before Grinstead was killed.

In addition to being a teacher, Grinstead competed in several Miss Georgia pageants and was crowned Miss Tifton in 1999. Still active in the pageant scene, Grinstead had been helping contestants in a Miss Sweet Potato pageant on the day she disappeared. She then attended a a coworker’s barbecue, after which she disappeared without a trace. The alarm was raised when she failed to show up for work the following Monday.

Her house was reportedly found locked, with her cellphone inside and her car in the driveway. But Grinstead’s purse and keys were missing, and a latex glove was found in her front yard.

Five years after she disappeared, a judge declared Grinstead dead.

Ryan Alexander Duke [Georgia Bureau of Investigation]

Duke was arrested on Wednesday and has been charged with concealing a death, burglary, and aggravated assault. The warrant claims that Duke had planned to rob Grinstead, and then “used his hands in an offensive manner” to cause her serious bodily harm. He also allegedly took her corpse out of her house, and her remains have never been found.

Grinstead’s family told reporters that the arrest brings some closure, but also “starts another chapter in a very long and painful journey.”

Read more:

KTLA

Fox 5 Atlanta

Fox News

Main photo: Tara Grinstead [What Happened to Tara Grinstead? Facebook]

The post Arrest Made In Cold Case Of Missing Beauty Queen Tara Grinstead appeared first on CrimeFeed.

Kwauhuru Govan, the Brooklyn man who has been charged with the murder and dismemberment of two teenagers – and is being investigated in connection with two more killings – was employed by the City of New York, CrimeFeed can reveal.

Related: “Valentine’s Season Killer” Charged With Murdering, Dismembering Teens — Including Rashawn Brazell

Between the years of 2009 and 2011, Govan, who police suspect may be involved in two more unsolved murders, was paid a rate of $5 per hour by The Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) by “personnel monitors,” according to online payroll records.

In 2011 for instance, he was paid a total of $121 by the Civil Service Department for his work as a “test monitor.”

DCAS payroll records screen shot [SeeThroughNY.net/screenshot]

Police arrested Govan, 38, last November in connection with the 2004 slaying of 17-year-old Sharabia Thomas, who disappeared on her way to a class field trip, after they discovered a match in DNA found under the victim’s fingernails.

Thomas’ body was found in laundry bags in an alley on Palmetto Street in February 2004.

Since then, police have also charged him with the murder of 19-year-old Rashawn Brazell, who was last seen heading to the Gates Avenue subway stop on February 14, 2005.

He failed to show up for a Valentine’s Day lunch with his mother — and three days later, a bag containing his body parts was found in a subway tunnel on the “A” line near Nostrand Avenue.

Related: Unsolved: The Psycho Who Killed And Dismembered Rashawn Brazell Is Still Out There

The murders have haunted the community for over a decade – and police believe that they may be just the tip of the iceberg.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters that investigators are now eyeing Govan in two additional killings: a John Doe whose body parts were discovered in the summer of 2005 and another female victim whose remains were found in the summer of 2007.

Govan lived on Gates Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn, for several years during the time period when the killings took place.

Brazell used to live across the street from Govan, and Govan has told reporters that he grew up with the victim. Thomas also lived just two blocks from Govan, also on Gates Avenue in Bushwick.

Govan has denied any involvement in the killings, and caused a scene in Brooklyn Supreme Court by insisting that he was being framed and screaming that he “can’t even dissect a frog!”

“I had no motive, means, or opportunity,” Govan, who is being held in solitary confinement, later told the Daily News.

Referring to Brazell, he said: “Everyone who lived in that block, Gates between Bushwick and Broadway, we were like family. There are people who’ve been on that block for decades. My first cousin is his cousin.”

Govan was serving time in Florida for robbery at the time of his arrest and has lived there and in California, so police suspect that more bodies may be out there.

When asked whether he believed Govan was a serial killer, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters that “there’s a great possibility that might be the case.”

Read more:

PIX 11

New York Daily News

Main photo: Kwauhuru Govan [Photo: Times News/YouTube (screenshot)]

The post New Info: Did The City Of New York Hire A Serial Killer? appeared first on CrimeFeed.

It’s been 20 years since his murder, but Christopher Wallace — who is better known by his stage names The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie, or Biggie Smalls — continues to be hugely influential in music and pop culture.

On March 9, 1997, Wallace was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles — and the identity of the gunman is still considered to be one of rap’s biggest unsolved mysteries.

Wallace was born and raised in Brooklyn, and when he released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994 he immediately became a central figure in the East Coast hip-hop scene during a time when West Coast hip-hop was dominant in the mainstream.

While recording his second album, Wallace became heavily involved in the increasingly ugly East Coast vs. West Coast hip hop battles.

Related: Suge Knight Charged With Murder For Allegedly Running A Man Over On A Film Set

Notorious B.I.G. with former friend Tupac Shakur [lyovlyov777/YouTube (screenshot)]

In a 1995 prison interview with Vibe, Shakur accused Uptown Records’ founder Andre Harrell, Sean Combs, and Wallace of having prior knowledge of a robbery that resulted in him being shot five times and losing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry on the night of November 30, 1994.

Wallace and his entourage denied the accusation, calling it a “coincidence” that he had been at the studio at the same time as Shakur.

Related: Who Shot Tupac Shakur? 20 Years Later, Former LAPD Detective Says He Knows

Following his release from prison, Shakur signed to Death Row Records, and the insults and violence on both sides continued to mount.

Sketch of the suspect in Wallace’s shooting [Wikimedia Commons]

Evans later recalled Wallace’s reaction the night that Shakur was shot. She said:

“I remember Big calling me and crying. I know for a fact he was in Jersey. He called me crying because he was in shock. I think it’s fair to say he was probably afraid, given everything that was going on at that time and all the hype that was put on this so-called beef that he didn’t really have in his heart against anyone.”

The night he was shot, Wallace attended an afterparty hosted by Vibe magazine and Qwest records at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Fellow guests included Faith Evans, Aaliyah, Sean Combs, and members of the rival Bloods and Crips gangs.

Related: Rap Songs, Books, Comedy, And More — The Pop Culture Response To The O.J. Simpson Case

In the early morning hours of March 9, Wallace left in a GMC Suburban SUV and, while the SUV was stopped at a red light at the corner of Wilshire Blvd and South Fairfax, a dark-colored Chevrolet Impala SS pulled up alongside Wallace’s car. The driver, a black male, rolled down his window, drew a 9mm blue-steel pistol, and fired at the SUV.

Wallace was hit with four bullets, and his entourage rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:15 A.M. — six months after Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Wallace’s autopsy was released to the public in December 2012, over a decade after his death. According to the report, three of the four shots were not fatal, but the fourth struck his right hip and hit several vita organs before stopping in his left shoulder.

Related: Did L.A. Gangs Make A Social-Media Bet To Kill 100 People In 100 Days?

Wallace’s murder remains unsolved, and there are many theories regarding the identities and motives of the murderers.

In Murder Rap: Inside The Biggie & Tupac Murders, former LAPD detective Greg Kading concluded that Wallace’s murder was orchestrated in retaliation for the killing of Tupac Shakur. According to Kading, Combs hired Crips gang member Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis to kill Shakur and Suge Knight for $1 million. He alleges that on September 7, 1996, Keffe D’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, shot Tupac in Las Vegas. 

Kading believes that Knight hired gang member Wardell “Poochie” Fouse to kill Wallace in retaliation. 

Life After Death was released 16 days after Wallace’s death and immediately shot to number one on the charts. He has certified sales of 17 million units in the United States

Related: Rapper Troy Ave Charged With Attempted Murder, Pleads Not Guilty In Shooting At NYC Concert

A tribute single called “I’ll Be Missing You” – released in 1997 by Puff Daddy, 112, and Faith – won a Grammy award.

Read more:

The Sun

HipHopDX

Main photo: Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G. [Wikimedia Commons]

The post Who Shot Ya? 20 Years Later, Biggie Smalls Murder Still A B.I.G. Mystery appeared first on CrimeFeed.

Just before midnight on March 13, 1973, University of Iowa (UI) student Brenda Simpson, 20, stopped by the dorm room of Sarah Ann Ottens, who was also 20.

The two young women were the only residents in Rienow Hall who had stayed on campus during Spring Break. Then, suddenly and tragically, Brenda discovered that she had become the sole such resident.

Sarah was sprawled out on the floor beneath a bed sheet — partially nude, badly beaten, and very much dead. Signs of a struggle surrounded the body. Her clothes looked to have been torn off. A discarded broom handle lay nearby. Bloody water pooled in the room’s sink.

Related: Murder at Yale, No One in Jail — The 1988 Slaying of Suzanne Jovin

Instead of hitting the beach for Spring Break that year, Sarah stayed local to pick up extra hours waitressing at the University Hospital School dining facility. She had also told her family in Morrison, Illinois, that she’d be stopping home later that week for a visit. All that, obviously, never came to pass.

Sarah Ann Ottens [Iowa Cold Case files]

A grand jury indicted Hall and set his bail at $50,000, a sum he could not afford. In addition, while awaiting trial, Hall faced forgery charges from a separate case.

Related: Murder U — 5 On-Campus Killers We’ll Never Forget

Many members of Iowa City’s Black community and Hall’s athlete friends rallied to his support. Still, considering evidence such as a bloody fingerprint at the scene and a clump of Sarah’s hair in his shoe, in 1974 a jury found Hall guilty and a judge sentenced him to 50 years.

Almost right away, though, trouble arose regarding Hall’s trial. Before the court proceedings, one juror allegedly said he thought Hall did it. Witnesses reported that “most” of the jurors drank alcohol just before their final deliberation.

In addition, racial-bias allegations abounded, as did talk of an unidentified white man who had been spotted with Sarah the day she died.

Related: How the Clery Act Protects College Students From Campus Violence

Hall remained locked up, though, until 1983, when an appeal claimed that not only had another man who was suspected of three UI sex crimes confessed to killing Sarah, but that the prosecution had actively withheld such evidence. That appeal worked. After serving seven years, Hall walked out of jail a free man.

Alas, on March 20, 1992, James Wendall Hall fatally strangled Susan Hajek, 31, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He’s been in jail for that crime since ’93.

While many state officials still believe Hall killed Sarah Ann Ottens, her murder case remains officially open. Perhaps you can help finally close it. Anyone with information regarding Sarah Ann Ottens’ murder is asked to contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010.

Read more:
Iowa Cold Cases
Iowa Unsolved
The Dark Side of America
Justia US Law
New York Times
The Guardian

Main photo: Sarah Ann Ottens [Iowa Cold Case files]

The post Spring Break Cold Case: Who Killed Sarah Ann Ottens In Her UI Dorm? appeared first on CrimeFeed.

It was Spring Break 2009 when 17-year-old Brittanee Marie Drexel traveled to Myrtle Beach from Rochester, New York, without telling her parents.

On April 25, 2009, the teen was seen was on security video walking into the Blue Water Resort hotel where a male friend, Peter Brozowitz, was staying with other people. Police say the teen then left to go back to her motel to return some clothing to another friend — and after that, she disappeared without a trace. Her body has never been found and no charges have been filed.

But last year, an FBI agent gave the first detailed account of what authorities believe happened to the teen, based on an account from an imprisoned man who says he saw Drexel’s horrific last moments and made a jailhouse confession. He revealed that Drexel had been held in a drug “stash” house for several days, gang-raped, murdered, and left in an alligator pit in McClellanville — about an hour from the hotel.

Related: 17-Year-Old Was Raped, Shot, Fed To Alligators According To New Testimony

The revelations were made during FBI agent Gerrick Munoz’s testimony in the hearing for Timothy Da’Shaun Taylor, 25, on an unrelated robbery case. Munoz testified that a prison informant told authorities that in 2009 he saw Taylor allegedly “sexually abusing” Drexel with other men at a “stash house” in the McClellanville area.

The informant, Taquan Brown, said that while he was there, he allegedly saw Drexel try to escape, before he heard two gunshots.

Brown, who is serving a 25-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter, said he believes that Taylor’s father, 43-year-old Timothy Shaun Taylor, pulled the trigger on Drexel, Munoz said. Brown then told Munoz that two shots rang out, and he assumed the elder Taylor shot the girl, whose body was wrapped up and taken away.

Asked what happened to the girl’s body, Munoz testified that it has not been found but that “several witnesses have told us Miss Drexel’s body was placed in a pit, or gator pit, to have her body disposed of. Eaten by the gators.” Munoz told the court that investigators have searched several alligator ponds and the stash house, but found no trace of Drexel.

Drexel’s mother Dawn told Dr. Phil last October that the FBI and police told her that her daughter’s case was not likely to ever be solved.

“The jailhouse informant said he walked into this house in McClellanville – it’s called a stash house,” Dawn told Dr. Phil.

“It’s somewhere where they can put drugs and illegal things. He was walking through the house and he had said that Deshaun and other men were raping my daughter. He had walked through… Brittanee tried to escape and they ran out and got her and brought her back into the house and pistol whipped her and beat her and shot her.”

Taylor’s attorney, David Aylor, characterized the transcript as “clearly nothing but a squeeze-job” designed to pressure him into confessing, and Taylor has vehemently denied any involvement with Drexel’s death. In a statement, he said:

“I had no involvement with anything to do with Brittanee Drexel. I don’t know Taquan Brown and I don’t know why he would call my name. I am being prosecuted again for a crime I already helped them solve and already did my time for, all because some guy in prison is trying to cut a deal. It’s not fair to be charged for the same crime twice and that’s not how our system is supposed to work.”

The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for information that could help lead to the person or persons responsible for Brittanee Drexel’s disappearance, and is asking anyone with information to call (800) CALL-FBI.

If you are in search of a missing person, make sure to enter their information into the database of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Read more:

DailyMail.com

Fox News 

People

Main photo: Brittanee Drexel [Justice For Brittannee Drexel/Facebook]

The post Fed To Alligators? The Shocking Spring Break Story Of Brittanee Drexell appeared first on CrimeFeed.