Cold Case USA

D.B COOPER WAS MY UNCLE: MYSTERY SOLVED

2011-12-05T04:28:00.000-08:00

SOLVED?

LYNN DOYLE COOPER

AN ASTONISHING development could the see case of the mysterious hijacker D.B Cooper closed after more than 40-years.
An Oregon woman who says her uncle was the elusive criminal known and is now claiming that agents have told her that it is enough for them to close the file.
Marla Cooper told 14 News is claiming her uncle, a man named Lynn Doyle Cooper, is the man who escaped with $200,000 after parachuting out of the Northwest Orient Airlines 727 flight, back in 1971.
Burdened by guilt, she had broken a 40-year family secret to reveal the mysterious skyjacker's true identity.
She said that she was eight years old when her uncle, whom she called L.D Cooper, came to her home, badly injured, for Thanksgiving in 1971 - the day after the infamous incident.
He claimed his injuries were the result of a car crash, but given time to think about it, her parents came to believe that he was the hijacker.
She never saw him again and was later told that he died in 1999.
Cooper gave investigators with a photograph of LD and a guitar strap that he owned for fingerprint testing, the results of which have yet to be revealed.
But she added that agents had told her: "Regardless of the findings of the fingerprints, they would be closing the case after this.
"He said, 'I am certain your uncle did it. I feel certain that your uncle did it. And that, what's the point in continuing the investigation?'"
As we reported here back in 1971 the man who's ticket was in the name of D.B Cooper boarded the Northwest Orient Airlines 727 flight took off. Then once it had taken off, the man who gave his name as Dan, handed a flight attendant a note: 'Miss, I've got a bomb, come sit next to me — you're being hijacked.'
He then opened a briefcase that appeared to contain explosives and demanded $200,000 and parachutes.

With little choice officials met his demands when the plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where passengers and two flight attendants were released.
The man in 18F then ordered the flight crew to take the plane back into the air, insisting that it fly at an altitude of no more than 10,000 feet on its way to Mexico through Reno, Nevada.

About 40 minutes after take-off, a signal light in the cockpit showed that the plane's rear stairway had been extended and when the jet landed in Reno, the stairs were down and two parachutes, the money and Cooper were gone.
Marla Cooper however believes her uncle lost all the cash on the way down.
The FBI have yet to comment on this development.

HEATHER LYNN MAYO'S 911 CALL LEADS TO OWN ARREST

2011-12-01T04:17:00.000-08:00

BUSTED

TALK about getting what you deserve.
Heather Lynn Mayo called in the cops to help her boot her boyfriend from their apartment, but she ended up implicating herself in a fatal hit and run, when he told them all the details of the case.
Back in February Jeannie Fisher was run down in Palm Harbor, FL, but despite a large police investigation, no one was ever caught for the crime.
But 10 months after the case went cold Mayo called in the deputies to remove her boyfriend Robert Worden, who had just gotten out of jail, where he'd been serving a 40 day sentence for check fraud.
According to the Sun Sentinel Worden agreed to leave but as he walked out with the deputies, he pointed to a damaged black 1997 Ford Ranger in the apartment complex parking lot and said he had a story to tell them.
He said that Mayo broke down and admitted to hitting someone a few weeks after the accident, but was too scared of going to jail to come forward.
Cops said the pedestrian violated the driver's right of way that night, according to police, but under Florida law, police said, the driver had a legal obligation to stop and identify herself.
They said she confessed and was arrested.
The fact that no repairs had been made in the 10 months after the fatal crash also helped their case.
Pinellas Park police Sgt. Brian Unmisig said: "We found pieces of the turn signal and the passenger side mirror at the scene and they matched the parts that the vehicle was missing."
Mayo was also arrested on a warrant for driving with a suspended or revoked license. According to state records, her license was suspended in 2009 and 2010 for failing to pay traffic fines and last year she was cited for DUI.
She was booked into the Pinellas jail, where she was being held Tuesday in lieu of $52,250 bail.

WHO MURDERED ANNE MARIE TINSLEY, 8, IN 1988?

2011-11-29T05:19:00.000-08:00

ON APRIL 1, 1988, April Marie Tinsley vanished on her way home from school in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Despite a desperate manhunt for the 8-year-old cutie, it ended in tears on April 4, 1988 when her body was found in a ditch in southeastern DeKalb County. She had been raped and murdered. If you have any information on this heinous crime contact: Indiana State Police District Investigative Commander 5811 Ellison Road Fort Wayne, IN 46804 1-260-432-8661 or 1-800-552-0976.
America's Most Wanted has a superb report on this shocking case.
MORE ON ANNE MARIE TINSLEY

WAS ROBYN GARDNER IN ON INSURANCE SCAM?

2011-11-28T04:05:00.000-08:00

WHEN party girl Robyn Gardner, 35, vanished during a sex trip to Aruba on August 2, police on the Caribbean island thought they had their man: her companion, Gary V. Giordano. But now it appears that he is going to be sprung tomorrow. Cops think he's lying but there is little evidence. Now, a new possibility has emerged: Was the blonde swinger in on her own "death"?
CRIME SCENE USA HAS MORE

NEW LEADS IN MELANIE MELANSON 1989 DISAPPEARANCE

2011-11-28T03:58:00.000-08:00

'NEW LEADS'

SHE VANISHED over 21 years ago, but now a private detective believes that he has new leads in the mysterious disappearance of Melanie Melanson.
The 14-year-old was last seen at a high school party in a woods near her home in Woburn MA and then she vanished without trace.
But 22-years on P.I Michael Garrigan, who has worked the case from the very beginning says he has "credible leads" which could see people in the woods that night prosecuted.
He told Fox 25: "I developed some leads over the past year, we can’t discuss those at this time, but very credible leads from several sources.”
And with the help of trained cadaver dogs he hopes he's hoping to confirm that traces of human decomposition in the woods, which he believes hold the key to discovering the truth.
It's not the first time that investigators have returned to the woods. Detectives launched a revitalized search in 2009, just before what would have been Melanie’s 35th birthday.
While Melanie’s parents have passed on, her aunts and other family members are standing watch over the new search.
Garrigan says he can’t share many details on the investigation, but says he believes the people he hopes will ultimately be prosecuted were absolutely in the woods on that October night.

JENNIFER PERSIA, 16, MURDERED DURING '94 BURGLARY

2011-11-28T03:57:00.000-08:00

JENNIFER PERSIA was just 16 when she was found murdered on the living room floor of her home in Magnolia, New Jersey. She had been stabbed multiple times and cops soon discovered containers of coins and silver certificates were missing. That was April 4, 1994. The case is still unsolved. For information leading to an arrest and conviction in the slaying of Jennifer Lynne Persia. Anyone with information should call the Camden County Prosecutor's Office hotline at (856) 225-8476 or e-mail tipline@co.camden.nj.us. Offering a REWARD of more than $15,000. SEE THE CLIP ABOVE

HOESCHELE THOMAS 2007 KILLER BUSTED

2011-11-24T04:27:00.000-08:00

THOMAS

HE was a loving father in the wrong place at the wrong time, but now four years on cops say they've caught Hoeschele Thomas's killer.
The 48-year-old was minding his own business outside his Largo, FL home when a vehicle approached him and the guys inside asked him if he wanted to buy drugs.
When he refused, an argument erupted and someone in the car blasted him.
The case went cold until Detective John Spoor began reviewing the case again this summer and was able to make a connection between the weapon used in Thomas' murder and one used in a drive-by shooting that occurred several weeks later.
And that weapon was in the hands of Lloyd Neal, 22, who is already serving a life sentence at the Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry for a 2007 Clearwater murder case.
When the diligent lawman interviewed several people who confirmed Neal shot Thomas and bragged about it, the sheriff's office said.
Thomas' family told The Tampa Tribune they are pleased to hear the news.
Thomas' son, Hoeschele Thomas Jr said: "It has been hard, and I don't have a father figure in my life. I had to be a man on my own."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING: LIGHT POSTING FOR HOLIDAYS

2011-11-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

HEY, WE deserve a break too so we're going to kick back and take it easy this weekend. Sadly, some horrific crime usually occurs on the Thanksgiving holiday but it would be nice if this year was an exception. Have a fabulous, safe holiday. God Bless.
The team at COLD CASE USA

COPS SEEK CLUES IN COLD 1988 DEBRA BAKER HOMICIDE

2011-11-23T04:43:00.000-08:00

DEBRA Baker was savagely murdered on Jan. 13, 1988 in Austin, Texas. Now, cops believe a man named Mark Norwood is linked to the brutal murder but need more evidence. MORE ON DEBRA BAKER MURDER

D.B COOPER MYSTERY: DID HIJACKER PUBLISH MEMOIR??

2011-11-23T04:04:00.000-08:00

REAL?

THE MYSTERIOUS crook who pulled off America's biggest hijacking may have released a memoir, taunting authorities about his audacious crime.

The newly unearthed autobiography, tauntingly called "HA-HA-HA" has a drawing of a man in a suit holding a briefcase while parachuting from a jet.

The author claims to be D.B Cooper - the name given by the mystery passenger who escaped with $200,000 during the 1971 crime. As we reported here the man waited until the Northwest Orient Airlines 727 flight took off before the man who gave his name as Dan, handed a flight attendant a note: 'Miss, I've got a bomb, come sit next to me — you're being hijacked.'
He then opened a briefcase that appeared to contain explosives and demanded $200,000 and parachutes.

About 40 minutes after take-off, a signal light in the cockpit showed that the plane's rear stairway had been extended and when the jet landed in Reno, the stairs were down and two parachutes, the money and Cooper were gone.
Within the book's 330 pages, the author recounts his life prior to the hijacking, as a failed real-estate developer, heavy drinker and petty thief.
He explains how he pulled off the heist on November 24, 1971 - in part by having rented a house and a gassed car nearby where he landed near Pyramid Lake - and says he invested his ransom money in Boeing and silver, becoming very wealthy as a result.
The 1983 book from a Jefferson, Oregon publisher called Signum Books Ltd originally sold for $3.95, although a recent search by the outlet found only three copies for sale to date - each for around $30.
The back cover features a graphic of a certificate announcing a contest called 'Your Big Score'.

The certificate's first sentence reads: 'It's true. In this book are seven clues. By reading it carefully and discovering the clues, one could receive as much as $200,000 in twenty dollar bills.'

With so little known about the hijacker some believe the hijacker may have died following the 10,000 leap.
But no body has ever been found and few other signs of his fate have been discovered, so he continues to remain a mystery.

GA. COPS SEEK KILLER OF LEVI FRADY; SLAIN IN 1997

2011-11-22T05:46:00.000-08:00

LEVI FRADY, 11, was last seen alive Oct. 22, 1997 on Little Mill Road in Forsyth County. As night was falling he was looking forward to watching Game 5 of the World Series. It would be a game he did not see. His body was found the next day in Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area. He had been shot once in the head and twice in the chest, his body was partially submerged in a pit of water.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent John Cagle said: "It's really a tough investigation. There's really not much [evidence]."

What evidence there is is kept behind a steel door secured by a combination lock. It includes 66 volumes of information, bullets and bullet casings, and a red 20-inch bicycle with orange handlebar grips. Cops believe Levi was murdered where he was found. They are seeking a man who may have been a witness and was walking a long the road the day Levi went missing.
He is described as a white male in his late 50's, with a scruffy, gray beard. He was wearing a faded blue baseball cap. He walked in a stooped fashion. They are also seeking another man: He is described as a white male, 45 to 55, clean shaven, 6' -6' 1" , slim build with white or gray hair. He was driving a 1980 to 1985 medium blue Toyota, 2 wheel drive, pick-up truck with a white camper shell over the bed of the vehicle.

Anyone with information on the murder of Levi Frady or on the identity of the persons in the sketches is asked to contact the GBI Tip Line at 1-800-597-8477 or by writing:

SLIM HOPES FOR MISSING MARYELLEN MCMILLIN

2011-11-22T04:54:00.000-08:00

MISSING MARYELLEN

SHE left work and after going home to get changed she was supposed to be meeting friends for a drink later that night.

But after saying goodbye to her husband and her sister, who said she seemed disorientated at the time, Maryellen McMillin never arrived.

And although she was legally declared dead in 2004, a friend of the family revealed that until they get full proof the doubts will always linger.

They said: "There's always that lingering doubt, until something or someone comes up, you always wonder what may have happened."

When the physician's assistant described as "hardworking and conscientious" at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks, AK, didn't show up for work and the hunt was on, after she was supposed to be meeting her pals.

But despite a huge search, neither the 37-year-old or her dark green Subaru Loyale, with Alaska License number CSY-207 was ever seen again.

At first it was feared that she may have driven into a ditch, but searches turned up nothing.

There have also been a few possible sightings, once in Anchorage and at one point authorities thought she might be working in Wasilla.

There was also a suspicious phone call to her work in April 1999 asking if she was still alive, but with little to go on, cops can't act.

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Alaska State Troopers 907-451-5326

LAPD REOPEN NATALIE WOOD DROWNING MYSTERY

2011-11-18T04:47:00.000-08:00

LAPD cold case detectives are taking another look at the drowning death of movie star Natalie Wood after the boat's captain hinted at something more sinister recently. Wood drowned off Santa Catalina Island on Nov. 29, Thanksgiving weekend 1981. She was cruising with her husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken. Wagner said in 2008 that she became embroiled in a drink-fueled argument with Walken over his belief that she neglected her family for her

art. Cops at the time thought she had drunkenly stumbled overboard but now the captain has "made comments worthy of exploring." For years there has been speculation about her death.

Robert Wagner said: "Although no one in the Wagner family has heard from the LA County Sheriff’s department about this matter, they fully support the efforts of the LA County Sheriff’s Dept. and trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30 year anniversary of her tragic death." MORE FROM CNN

UNSOLVED NEW MEXICO MURDERS HAUNT 50 YRS LATER

2011-11-18T04:33:00.000-08:00

AS PEOPLE said, they weren't hookers, they weren't criminals but a vicious monster snuffed out the lives of two New Mexico girls more than 50 years ago. He has never been caught.

TEEN MICHAEL HINSON'S 1970 MURDER STILL UNSOLVED

2011-11-18T04:21:00.000-08:00

ON Sept. 12, 1970 Michael Hinson, a Grade 11 Dorman High School baseball player, was shot while at the intersection of Asheville Hwy. and California Ave. in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The shooter is believed to be the front passenger in a green late 60’s model Plymouth Fury, and may have lived in the Cleveland Park community at the time.

Detectives are seeking information from witnesses and/or from anyone who may have knowledge about this cases. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office at (864) 503-4509 or (864) 503-4596. Callers may remain anonymous.

PORTUGAL REFUSES TO EXTRADITE GEORGE WRIGHT

2011-11-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

KILLER

WRIGHT TODAY

A PORTUGUESE court is refusing to extradite a murdering militant, who was convicted of killing a war hero and allegedly hijacked a plane before spending 41 years on the lam.
As we reported here George Wright's murdered gas station attendant and father of two, Walter Paterson, in Wall, NJ back in November 1962.
But eight years into his 15 to 30 years sentence, for killing the decorated World War Two veteran, in 1970, he manged to escape with three other men from the Bayside State Prison.
Disappearing, the FBI think he hooked up with the Black Liberation Army in Detroit, living in a "communal family"and hatching a daring plan to hijack the plane.
Dressed as a priest, and using the alias Rev L. Burgess, in July 1972, it's thought Wright boarded a Delta Airlines flight from Detroit to Miami.
Together with three men, two women and three small children including his own two-year-old daughter they took the 86 passengers hostage.
Then they forced the plane to fly to Algeria, but while they were eventually allowed to stay, the government there returned the plane and the money to the U.S.
Wright then went on the run before he eventually turned up in Portugal, found because a fingerprint provided by U.S. authorities was matched to his in a national Portuguese database.
He got Portuguese citizenship through his 1991 marriage to a Portuguese woman and after the tiny West African nation Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, gave him the new name of "Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos" complete with fake names for parents and made him a citizen.
But although the U.S want him returned Wright's lawyer, Manuel Luis Ferreira, told The Associated Press that the judge accepted his arguments that his client is now Portuguese and that the statute of limitations on the killing had expired.
U.S. officials were "extremely disappointed" with the denial for extradition and "will review the decision and consult with Portuguese authorities to determine a path forward that results in Mr. Wright's return to the United States," according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon.
The case could be appealed to a higher Portuguese court.

MYSTERY STILL SURROUNDS JEAN VIKEN'S SHOOTING

2011-11-17T04:54:00.000-08:00

IN HAPPIER TIMES

SHE was a beloved mother of four young kids who was found executed in dense woods near her home.
But nearly four years after her 2008 murder a dark cloud remains over her memory as her killer's have yet to face justice for the horrific crime near Hawkins, WI.
Her sister Jane told WSAW: "We were celebrating her birthday when she didn't show up. So we were desperately worried about her.
"She was loving mom and a devoted daughter and sister. We were so scared. If anyone know's anything we'd urge them to come forward."
Taylor County Detective Steve Bowers said that the web of clues scattered around the forest spelled out the clear message that the killing was not a random act.
He said: “Evidence we found at the scene indicated that she had been shot at least two, if not four times by a 357 revolver. She had then been transported from the scene."Her body was left in a rural location in Sawyer County and the vehicle was left at a different location."
He added: "On arrival officers noted there was a pan that appeared to have been cooking for a lengthy period of time and the purse that Jean Viken normally took with her everywhere was also in the house."
Her body was discovered by fishermen.
At the time there were persons of interest in the case, but to date no arrests have been made
Authorities say just one tip could help in making an arrest. If you have any information please call the Taylor County Sheriff's Department at 715-748-2200.

BECKY BORNGOFT SEES RAPIST JAILED 17-YEARS ON

2011-11-16T04:53:00.000-08:00

JUSTICE AT LAST

SHE WAITED more than 17-years for justice but Becky Bornhoft has finally seen her rapist jailed for the vicious attack.
Back in 1995 she was fast asleep in bed when a loud crash on her door woke her up.
She said: "It was only a second or two before he entered my bedroom.
Smashing her in the head, he put his weight on her and forced her to disarm the home alarm which was blaring after his crude break in.
Then he attacked.
She recalled: "I checked out" mentally during the assault."
When she came back to herself, she was crouching on the floor in her closet -- and found that her attacker pushed a dresser in front of the closet door.
Pushing her way out, she went to her car and it was only then that she realized she had no clothes on and went back inside back in.
"Mentally, you're just broken," Bornhoft said of the aftermath.
She also suffered severe arm and shoulder soreness, loose teeth and cuts on her neck and the top of her head.
But it was the fear that took the longest time to overcome, especially as her attacker remained at large, despite a huge police investigation.
But in January 2009, they got the break they needed when Byron Gay was caught trying to break into the home of a Denver police lieutenant.
The officer's daughter was home alone , started to go upstairs and saw him in the living room, wearing a ski mask.
She silently went downstairs, hid under a pile of laundry and called 911.
If someone is charged with a felony, the defendant's DNA goes into the database and that matched samples taken from her attack.
First Gay was tried in the burglary case -- and sentenced to 48 years.
Then the three sexual assault cases were combined so the victimes would have to testify only once.
And despite his attempts to stare down them and their supporters in the courtroom, he was convicted and sentenced to life.

MOTIVE FOR RHONDA HINSON MURDER BAFFLES COPS

2011-11-15T05:24:00.000-08:00

THIS CHRISTMAS will mark 30 years since Rhonda Annette Hinson was cruelly murdered after leaving her staff party. The 19-year-old Burke's County woman's shooting death remains unsolved and still frustrates detectives. There was never any apparent motive. On the evening of December 22, 1981 Rhonda had attended the Hickory Steel Company's party at the Legion in Hickory. She left around midnight. Picked up her car at a friend's house and called her boyfriend. On her way home, a bullet from a high-powered rifle was fired into her car, hitting her back and heart. She was later found dead lying in a ditch. But there were

questions from the start. Tough questions: doctors felt she would have been incapable of getting out of the car after she was shot. Did her killer pull her from the car? Did she know him/her? Was it random? Mistaken identity? Ultimately, the question is: why?

To report information concerning the case of Rhonda A. Hinson, contact Lt. Becky Weatherman of the Burke County Sheriff's Office at (828) 438-5506, or Crimestoppers at (828) 437-3333. The e-mail address for the Sheriff's Office's Criminal Investigation Division is cid@burkesheriff.org. Remember, you may call anonymously and be eligible for the reward money listed above if your information leads to the arrest and conviction of Rhonda's killer.

NEW HOPE AS TIP REOPENS KATIE SEEFELDT CASE

2011-11-15T04:05:00.000-08:00

AGE PROGRESSED

AGE 12

SHE was a naughty, grounded, 12-year-old girl when she vanished without trace back in October 2002.
Today she would be 21, but the mystery surrounding her disappearance remains.
Investigators once believed Katie Seefeldt may have run away, but but now after what officers are calling a credible tip in the case deputies have begun searching for bones.
The night of her disappearance Katie answered the phone and told the whoever it was at the end of the line: "You guys know I can't have phone calls this late, and if you continue to call me, my mom is going to keep me grounded longer."
Her mother Sholly Seefeldt said when she woke up the next morning, her daughter and a lot of her new clothes were gone.
Sholly told KMBC: "She was very outgoing and loving," adding that knew her daughter was also pushing the boundaries.
"I wanted her not to be the wild child that I was, which she kind of resented me for that."
For some time deputies had thought she had run away from her Kansas City, MO, home but now they're digging for bones.
They have been searching the general area for a couple of weeks and have narrowed their search to more specific spots, digging about 18 inches into the soil for bones or other clues.
Sholly added: "I had a bad feeling in my gut. There was nothing really bad between us.

I love her with all my heart, with all my soul,"

Anyone who knows anything about her whereabouts is asked to call the Jackson County Sheriff's Office at 816-524-4302 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

KILLER FRANCISCO ACEVEDO POSED NAKED VICTIMS

2011-11-15T03:35:00.000-08:00

"JUSTICE"

A TWISTED killer, who beat and strangled his victims, before posing them naked with their hands tied behind their backs has been found guilty of their murders.
Francisco Acevedo's killing spree began in 1989, with the slaying of Maria Ramos, but his thrist for blood could not be quenched.
So two-years later he beat and strangled Tawanda Hodges and five years later in 1996 he murdered Kimberly Moore in the same way.
All of the victims were posed in a sickening manner, after their deaths to cause as much horror as possible to the person who found them.
Moore's stepfather, Donald Dozier told lohud.com: "I feel happy that justice has been done,"
The case was the culmination of a nine-year investigation by Detective John T. Geiss of Yonkers' Cold Case Squad, who led a nine-year investigation into the murders.
They finally got a break when Acevedo wasn't arrested until 2009, when he provided DNA as a condition of a parole application.
It matched the DNA found inside all three victims.
He said: "Today was about Maria and Tawanda and Kimberly. It's been a long wait."
Acevedo could be imprisoned for 75 years to life if the judge orders maximum sentences to run consecutively for the murders when he is sentenced in January.

TEXAS COUPLE'S 1980 MURDER HAS 'NO CLEAR MOTIVE'

2011-11-14T05:01:00.000-08:00

THE SLAYING was brutal. On May 9, 1980, neighbors heard gunfire from the quiet house in San Antonio. Seconds later a 1973 tan or gold Mercury Montego sped down the street. It belonged to Margaret and Keith Conable. Neighbors thought one of them must be sick. But the next morning, a neighbor noticed the car was still gone and went over to do a check on the pair. Inside, a horror show: both had been brutally beaten to death. The car and some CB radios were missing. Over the years, several tips have been followed but the case remains unsolved with no clear motive. The CBs and the Mercury Montego (TXECF275) remain missing.

If you have information on any of the Cold Cases listed above, including information on Suspects, Witnesses, or other Individuals who might assist us solve these criminal cases, Please call the San Antonio Police Department COLD CASE TIP LINE anytime day or night at 210-207-7401.

NO NEWS IN ANCHOR JODI HUISENTRUIT'S VANISHING

2011-11-14T04:57:00.000-08:00

MYSTERY

SHE was a popular TV news anchor who simply vanished one morning in a mystery which has baffled cops and the general public for more than 16-years.
Cops believe there was a struggle before Jodi Huisentruit disappeared as her car keys were left in the parking lot along with a single shoe.
But although they suspect foul play may have been involved, no body has ever been found for the KIMT reporter, although she was legally declared dead in 2001.
Now a new book from former fellow TV personality Beth Bednar is raising new questions about the disturbing case and she's accusing cops in Mason City, IA, of not investigating properly.
She told KEYC that Dead Air: The Disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit includes new leads which investigator's have yet to follow up.
She said: "I remember hearing about the case. I followed a lot of the media as well, and her sister actually lived next door to my grandmother.
"I think someone knows something, I think perhaps more than one knows a lot more than they are telling. There are certain things that I wrote about in the book that the police never investigated adequately."
She also claims to have interviewed a woman who claimed she was in the vicinity at the time when Huinsentruit went missing and claimed to have relevant information to the case adding that supposed information was never followed up on by police.
She said: "It was a curious amount of secrecy in Mason City when I was talking to people about her disappearance, it is still very hush hush."
She also hopes information in this book will shed light on the case and play a role in reopening it.

RICHARD FINNEY 1986 MURDER: COPS APPEAL FOR HELP

2011-11-11T04:47:00.000-08:00

FINNEY

HIS stabbing was so vicious that the knife used had been bent to a 90-degree-angle, but despite cops spending thousands of hours trying to solve the murder, his killer remains at large.
So after trying everything including extensive DNA testing, cops are appealing for the public's help to bring Richard Finney's killer to justice.
The 75-year-old traveling salesman was found in Escondido, CO, apartment on November 13, 1986, and the killer, who entered through an unlocked front door, stole cash, a Masonic ring and toiletries.
Chuck Gaylor, a cold case homicide investigator and retired Escondido detective sergeant said they'd hoped the murderer's bloody palm print on a wall would lead them to him.
But to no avail.
He said: “We are hoping someone will come forward with a name, a suspect. In four years of reworking this case, we’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours trying to figure out who murdered Richard Finney.
“It’s a detective’s dream with the palm print evidence with a DNA profile of the victim and the suspect. But it’s a nightmare because we don’t have a name. That’s why we need the public’s help.”
Finney’s daughter, Bea Turi, said she is grateful for the “diligent” efforts by police.
The 72 told the San Diego Union Tribune that her brother died without knowing what happened to their father, “and that bothered him to the end, and I hope it doesn’t happen to me, too.”
Turi said her father’s violent death is especially disturbing for her because he was charming and outgoing with strangers.
Through Crime Stoppers, police are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to a suspect. Gaylor said he hopes that people come forward and give their name and contact information, but tipsters may remain anonymous. To report information on this case, call Gaylor at (760) 839-4929 or the anonymous tip line at (760) 743-8477, or go to police.escondido.org.

TED BUNDY CONFESSED: DEBRA KENT STILL MISSING

2011-11-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

CRAZY

MURDERED?

NOTORIOUS serial killer Ted Bundy ultimately confessed to her murder, but with little evidence to go on, cops cannot be sure that she is dead.
Debra Kent was just 17-years-old when she vanished after attending a high school play with her parents in Bountiful, UT.
Back in November she'd offered to pick up her brother and hurried away to the parking lot.
But she never made it and while her brother waited at the ice rink, her parents were also confused until midnight, when they realized that theirs was the only car in parking lot.
Several people who lived near the school later admitted to hearing two short, terrified screams between 22:30 and 23.00.
Later, a father told police he'd arrived late at the play and saw a light colored Volkswagen Bug racing away from the school.
A small handcuff key was found in the parking lot.
The key matched handcuffs serial killer Ted Bundy used to try to abduct Carol DaRonch earlier that month but nothing else was turned up.
Minimal skeletal remains were later found, but it wasn't enough to positively identify her and even thoughBundy confessed to Debbie's murder before his execution, cops cannot be certain, so the case remains open.
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: The Utah Missing Persons Clearinghouse on 888-770-6477

LIGHTSEY SAUL BUMPED OFF LOVE RIVAL BACK IN '88

2011-11-10T04:35:00.000-08:00

KILLER

A DEADLY affair with his pals wife led Lightsey Nathan Saul to bump off his love rival and now 24-years on he's been convicted of murder.
Cops say that the 59-year-old murdered his pal Joe Daggett because he was hopelessly in love with his wife.
Cops believe that in March 1988, Saul disposed of his pal, whose body has never been found, before leaving his car in Midland International Airport car park.
The whereabouts of Daggett still remain a mystery, but he is presumed dead.
Since the rancher's disappearance more than two decades ago, the Texas Rangers and local law enforcement doggedly pursued the case and ultimately tied Saul to Daggett's murder.
Saul was taken into custody by New Mexico State Police as a fugitive from justice and will now serve the rest of his life behind bars after being sentenced to 60-years behind bars.
Two other suspects have also been tied to Daggett’s disappearance, George McIntyre and Robert Ezell, have also been indicted for conspiracy to commit capital murder.

AMBER ELIZABETH SCHOLZ STILL A MYSTERY 30-YEARS ON

2011-11-09T05:12:00.000-08:00

WITHOUT TRACE

IT'S been 30-years since she vanished, but cops are refusing to give up on the case of Amber Elizabeth Scholz.

On November 8, 1981 the gorgeous 21-year-old had been partying with pals and was dropped of by a friend at her Rock Spring, WY apartment.

She was never seen again.

Scholz's father called the police when he was unable to reach his daughter later that day, but when officers called round, there was no sign of forced entry or a struggle.

A police source said: "It's a genuine mystery. There was nothing out of the ordinary about her home and her friends said she seemed fine when they dropped her off.
"We'll not let this case go though. It will always remain open and we want to solve it, as much as anything to find out what happened."

Oddly however, while they found her wallet and an uncashed paycheck her car, a 1971 Oldsmobile two-door couple with WY plates, 4-93AW was gone.

It has never been recovered.

At the time she was involved in a custody battle over her son with her ex-husband, but there was never any suggestion that he was involved in her death.

Anyone with information on this case, please contact the Rock Springs Police Department on 307 352 1575.

DID JOHN WAYNE GACY MURDER CANADIANS?

2011-11-08T04:22:00.000-08:00

KILLER CLOWN

CANADIAN VICTIMS?

SERIAL KILLER clown John Wayne Gacy who murdered at least 33 teenage boys in America is now being eyed by Canadian investigators.
The Ontario Provincial Police are dusting off their case files to see if any of the eight unidentified bodies found in the crawlspace of his Chicago home are from their country.
It's believed Gacy may have regularly crossed the border during his prime killing years between 1972 and 1978.

He later became known as the "Killer Clown" due to his charitable services at fundraising events, parades and children's parties where he would dress as "Pogo the Clown", a character he devised himself.
OPP detectives will be now look at cases that fit Gacy’s profile, including the type of young men he targeted, from across a wide span of years.
While there are reports at least one Canadian family has contacted American officials to ask about a possible connection to a lost loved one, police have not given any details.
Sgt. Pierre Chamberland told the Toronto Sun they are waiting for U.S. officials — specifically the Cook County Sheriff’s Office that is spearheading the effort to identify the mystery eight — to contact them with more specific information.
He said: “We do have several unresolved cases."

COPS RENEW PAIGE RENKOSKI HUNT; MURDER EYED

2011-11-07T04:31:00.000-08:00

COPS are turning up the heat on the mysterious disappearance of Michigan woman Paige Renkoski. The 30-year-old Okemos woman was driving home from Detroit Metropolitan Airport when she disappeared in May 1990. Cops have ruled the case a homicide even though her body hasn't been found. HUNT FOR PAIGE RENKOSKI

MARY RIVERA SENSATION: CHARGES DROPPED

2011-11-07T04:17:00.000-08:00

DROPPED

THE ELDERLY fugitive who was busted for killing her husband more than 40 years after he died has had all the charges against her dropped.
As we reported here beck in 1970, Mary Rivera, now 76, was accused of killing her husband by "throwing hot grease on him and by throwing other substances and liquids."
But after posting the $10,000 bond she fled from her Houston home with her three children, including twin sons, and eventually made her way to Lake Park, GA, near the Florida border.
Hiding in plain sight, she appeared to have evaded justice, until late last month, when she was picked up by the Harris County Cold Case team.
A spokesman said at the time: "The defendant was charged with committing a rather brutal murder of her husband.
"Although she was able to elude authorities for over 40 years, she ultimately must face judgment in a court of law for the murder of her husband."
But now a judge has dismissed the charges because too much time had elapsed between when Rivera was indicted and when she was arrested, her lawyer has said.
No word on when Rivera will return to Georgia

SOUTHSIDE SLAYER GUILTY OF THREE MORE MURDERS

2011-11-05T02:59:00.000-07:00

DEATH?

THE SERIAL killer dubbed the "Southside Slayer" has been found guilty of murdering three more women - including a girl of just 15. Michael Hughes viciously raped and sodomized his teen victim, Yvonne Coleman, before strangling her to death, back in January 1986, cops said.
Her nude body was found near a park barbecue pit.
The youngster had skipped school a day before to spend time with her boyfriend and was last seen leaving his house to catch a bus home.
Former security guard Hughes, was also accused and found guilty of murdering two prostitutes, Verna Williams and Deborah Jackson, in 1986 and 1993.
According to the LA Times Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman showed jurors a slideshow to illustrate how the victims' bodies were posed in sexual ways to shock anyone who found them.
The 55-year-old was already serving a life sentence for killing four women in 1992 and 1993 when he was found guilty for these additional murders.
Cops said DNA linked him to the gruesome crimes.
Prosecutors will now seek the death penalty when the sentencing trial begins on Monday.
Hughes was investigated by a task force looking into three separate serial killers accused of stalking women during a crack cocaine epidemic that forced women onto the streets as prostitutes to feed their addictions.
As many as 90 women were killed in inner-city Los Angeles during that time.

NEW EFFORT IN 1981 CHRISTINE GUENTHER MURDER

2011-11-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

IT HAS been 30 years since Christine Guenther was murdered, her body discovered by a hunter on Oct. 31, 1981. The 15-year-old's killer has never been caught. The resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania vanished from a bus stop Oct. 26 after getting out of school. She had a doctor's appointment in Pittsburgh but never made it and instead ended up bludgeoned to death. Cops are curious about the five days she was missing which they think is the key. With new technological tools her family are hoping the case can finally be resolved and they can find peace. They've even started a website: www.chrisguenthermurder.com. Anyone who has any information on the events surrounding Christine’s disappearance and murder is asked to contact the Allegheny County Police Department 24-hour tip line at (412) 473-3000 or the Allegheny County Homicide Unit at (412) 473-1300. MORE ON CHRISTINE

ROOMIE BUSTED FOR 1995 MARY ANN O'NEILL MURDER

2011-11-04T05:23:00.000-07:00

JUSTICE?

CAUGHT

HE was a suspect from the start, but Raymundo Pereda managed to evade authorities for more than 16-years for the brutal murder of his former roommate.
But investigators finally caught up with their man, hiding in plain sight and now they're hoping he'll face justice for the vicious murder of Mary Ann O'Neill.
Back in November 1995, the 53-year-old's body was found in the trunk of her car in her Placentia, CA.
She had been killed with a blow to the head.
Pereda, who had moved out about a month before her murder, was immediately suspected, but try as they might, cops couldn't catch up with him and the case went cold.
Then in 2009, Detective Jason Reger dusted off the case file and began an earnest hunt for her killer which would ultimately lead him to Pereda.
A partial fingerprint from the DMV, blew the case wide open, when he cross-referenced it with the national crime database.
That fingerprint matched one from Efran Calderon Castro, who had been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Las Vegas – the same place detectives had found Pereda's pickup truck, abandoned, years earlier.
It was enough to bring him in.
Placentia Police Chief Rick Hicks told KTLA: "Not only was Pereda living under an assumed name, but he had adopted a different date of birth and had a Social Security number."
O'Neill's family were delighted with the news.
Her daughter Kelly Gaughran told KABC: "This is a wonderful day but it's bittersweet also, because we still don't have our mom. But at least someone is going to pay for what's been done."
Detectives brought Pereda back to Orange County Wednesday. His bail is set at $1 million.

VICIOUS 2008 RAPIST IS MANUEL MCGEE: COPS

2011-11-04T03:23:00.000-07:00

RAPIST?

A VICIOUS rapist, who played the good Samaritan before violently attacking a woman has been busted more than three years on from the vicious crime, cops say.
Manuel McGee allegedly promised to help direct her to Federal Boulevard in Denver, CO, but instead he led her into a secluded park, where he raped her.
Grabbing her neck he violently threw her to the ground and announced that he was, "going to f**k her and kill her."
The woman told cops she was choked five or six times, nearly losing consciousness, during which time he ripped off her pants and underwear and raped her for an estimated 30 minutes.
Thankfully he didn't carry out the second part of his threat and instead he grabbed her wallet and purse and left.
For three-years her attacked evaded justice, but now cops think they have their man after DNA found at the 2008 scene matched Mcgee's.
Late last month he was busted for aggravated motor vehicle crime - a felony theft which requires cops to take a DNA sample.
Denver District Attorney’s spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough told CBS Denver: "He had to give his DNA up at the time of that felony arrest, it went in to the database and Denver detectives received word that there was a DNA match."
She added: “I think it has come as quite a surprise,” she said. “She is working through that now with her family and her support system."
McGee is now facing charges of attempted first degree murder, sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact, in addition to the charges from the Lakewood auto theft case.

DAD SEEKS ANSWERS IN 1974 PHYLLIS BOHLE MURDER

2011-11-02T06:09:00.000-07:00

THE ELDERLY father of Phyllis Bohle is offering a $10,000 reward to help solve the case. Bohle, 23, was beaten and stabbed to death in her Severn, Maryland home on March 25, 1974. But the case quickly went cold, but now with new technology cops are hoping to finally bring peace to her family. Cops say several pieces of evidence discovered at the time are now undergoing DNA testing and the dead woman's friends and relatives are being re-interviewed.
Her father Bud Gray, now 83, said: “It’s been bothering me quite a bit, and the older I get, the worse it gets. I don’t even sleep at nighttime without thinking about it. It just gets to me.” Bohle was found in the middle of her bedroom, covered in blood from the violent incident and that the she was beaten with a fireplace poker and stabbed six times. MORE ON PHYLLIS BOHLE MURDER

PREGNANT SOLDIER AMANDA GONZALES: REWARD UPPED

2011-11-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

STRANGLED

THE KILLER of a pregnant soldier who was five months pregnant when she was viciously strangled to death will not be allowed to get away with murder, military investigators have vowed.
And now a reward of $125,000 has been offered by special agents with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command in a bid to smoke out her killer.
November 5 marks the tenth anniversary of Pfc Amanda Gonzales' brutal murder.
The army cook was just 19 when she was found dead in her barracks near Hanau, Germany, which has since closed.
Her killing remains unsolved, despite DNA evidence taken from the scene on the base being analyzed.
Investigator's are however refusing to give up and her family continue to hope that one day they will see justice.
Back in 2008 her father Santos Gonzales told Stars & Stripes that he was still haunted by not knowing what happened to his daughter.
"It's frustrating as hell. that was my first daughter, my only daughter. It still hurts. I know she had been in a struggle. I want some answers and maybe get a little closure.
CID spokesman Chris Grey told KHOU: "Increasing the reward to $125,000 is a testament to the determination we have in solving this case and bringing the person or persons responsible to justice.
"We are confident that someone out there knows something about the untimely death of this soldier and her unborn child, and we are not giving up. We strongly encourage anyone with information to contact us immediately.If you have information on Gonzales’ murder, call CID Headquarters at 571-305-4349 or 571-305-4302.
Information can also be sent via email to usarmy.belvoir.usacidc.mail.crime-tips@mail.mil.
Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous may do so.

'GRIM SLEEPER' LONNIE FRANKLIN JR - SIX MORE??

2011-11-01T03:19:00.000-07:00

GRIM SLEEPER?

THE "Grim Sleeper" serial killer suspect has been linked to six more murders than the 10 he has already been charged with, cops say.
Lonnie Franklin Jr is accused of killing 10 women, all of whom were found in alleyways within a few miles of his home in downtown LA as we reported here.
All the victims, some of whom were prostitutes, were shot, strangled or both and most had been sexually assaulted.
The killer was dubbed 'the grim sleeper' because of the long gaps between the deaths, which began in the 1980s and ended in this century.
Cops were baffled for years, but they finally linked Franklin to the crimes after a DNA database showed a convicted felon, his 28-year-old son, matched the genetic blueprint found at 15 crime scene locations.
When they arrested him they found photographs and videos of another 100 women at his home.
Franklin, a mechanic, was arrested and indicted in July 2010 and indicted and now cops are investigating him in connection with another 250 murders.
The LA Times is reporting however that they will not immediately seek additional charges in the other killings because they don't want to complicate the case against Franklin as it moves toward trial.
Meanwhile, Franklin's attorney, Louisa Pensanti, said the new allegations are false.
She also accused authorities of making the allegations public in order to infect the jury pool.

CALI COPS CLEAR 1987 MILDRED PORTER HOMICIDE

2011-10-31T05:30:00.000-07:00

CALIFORNIA cops believe they've solved a vicious 24-year-old murder. Detectives in Riverside County say that on Jan. 27, 1987 the body of Mildred Porter, 79, was found inside her mobile home. She had been bound and gagged and had been asphixiated. Several items had been missing from her home--including her car keys, a small camera and a Bulova watch. But police never made an arrest until new evidence surfaced in 2008.
Spokesman John Hall said: ."Authorities were advised fingerprints located on broken window glass found inside and outside the victim’s home connected (the suspect) to the crime scene."
Keith Allen Pipes, 44, of Hemet, California has been charged with murder. PRINTS NAIL CALIFORNIA KILLER

ON DEATHBED RUSSELL SMREKAR ADMITS '75 SLAY

2011-10-31T05:05:00.000-07:00

A CONVICTED killer on his deathbed has confessed to the 1975 murder of his college roommate of Illinois. Michael Mansfield, 19, vanished while on home on Christmas break on Dec. 31. he was never seen again. But his disappearance came just six days before he was supposed to testify against Russell Smrekar--his Lincoln College roommate--who had been accused of stealing a guitar from a dorm. The following year, Smrekar was accused of stealing two steaks from a supermarket, and a witness in that case — Ruth Martin — also disappeared. Two other witnesses to the latter crime, Jay and Robin Fry, were also killed. Smrekar was convicted of their murders and sentenced to 200 to 600 years . He died on Thursday at Menard Correctional Center. Cops always believed Smrekar murdered Mansfield but couldn't seal the deal. When cold case cops found out he was dying, he confessed to killing Mansfield and Martin. COLD CASE CONFESSION

PI: 'I KNOW WHO MURDERED CONNIE EVANS IN 1964'

2011-10-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

NO ONE will ever know for sure who murdered Mary Constance Evans on her 15th birthday--Oct. 24, 1964. The main suspect is dead but a private eye says the riddle is solved. Connie Evans vanished after leaving her West Goshen Township home on a two-mile walk to West Chester, Pennsylvania. The search dragged on for weeks with hundreds of volunteers scouring the area. Five weeks later her body was found in a shallow grave sending chills throughout the area. As cops beat the bushes for an arrest, the days dragged on, then years. The file grew to a staggering 2000 pages. Eileen Auch Law was just 11 when Evans was murdered and the case was hammered into her conscience. Eventually, inspired in part by the mystery, she became a private detective. And she thinks she knows who murdered Connie Evans in 1964. CONNIE EVANS MURDER MYSTERY

HITCHIKER THEORY IN 1975 RUPERT MURDER DISPUTED

2011-10-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

CHARLES and Leslie Rupert were newlyweds, deeply in love and passionate about the rehabilitation of ex-convicts. And then, in a flash, their lives were mysteriously snuffed out in February 1975. The University of Arizona grad students were found shot execution-style in a drainage ditch. On Feb. 1, 1975, the couple were driving home after a banquet for the Seventh Step Foundation, an organization that helped ex-cons. The Ruperts left the banquet at 10:45 p.m. and a day later a passing motorist found their bodies. Charles had been shot once in the side of the head and twice in the back with a .38-caliber revolver. Leslie was shot once behind the ear. Their car was found hours later--wiped clean of fingerprints except for what appeared to be the
letter "p" written on the rear window. Cops ruled out robbery. A gas-station attendant near where their sedan was found said he saw a stocky, brown-haired man in his mid- to late 20s pull the car into his station between 1:30 and 5 a.m. Cops believe the pair were murdered by hitchikers but there are a lot of other theories. MORE ON 1975 RUPER MURDER

TODDLER THE ONLY WITNESS DELORES THOMPSON SLAY

2011-10-28T03:22:00.000-07:00

BLUDGEONED

HE witnessed something no one should see, let alone a two-and-a-half year old boy.
But Delores Thompson's son is still the only person who saw what happened to his 27-year-old mom and her pal Gwendolyne Fulce, 21, when they were viciously beaten back in September 1973.
Sadly he can't remember what happened, but by the time his father arrived to pick him up the two women had been brutally bludgeoned to death.
The toddler had been left among their bloody remains in her Portland, OR home.
Portland Police Cold Case Detective Meredith Hopper told KPTV: "He was laying on a couch near one of the victims. The victims were in different rooms and unfortunately, the father had to search for his son because his concern was if his son was also a victim."
The boy's brother Clark Thompson was only 7 years old when his mother was murdered and he has few concrete memories of his mother with him and his siblings.
He told the station: "The last memory I have of her was two caskets."
Hopper, who was not even born at the time of the murder, is however refusing to give up on the case and are determined to catch the killer and forensic evidence is now being re-examined with new technology in the hope of generating new leads.
Clark Thompson meanwhile, just wants to see justice.
He said: "How would you feel if your momma didn't make it to 30? I just want justice to be served, you know what I'm saying? They took my mother away from me."
If you have any information, call Crimestoppers at (503) 823-HELP (4357).

FREEZER BODY: FRANK JULIAN 'REFUSED LIE DETECTOR'

2011-10-28T02:55:00.000-07:00

KILLER?

A MAN who kept a woman's body hidden in a storage unit refused to take a lie detector test after his girlfriend went missing, a retired detective revealed yesterday.
As we reported here Frank Julian's relatives found the hidden corpse in an unplugged freezer, when they were cleaning up after his death.
Cops now suspect it may be the body of his on again, off again girlfriend, Kitty Wardwell, who vanished in July 1983, aged just 29.
Joe Zamboni who worked the case, is convinced that Julian will be posthumously branded a killer, as he was always the chief suspect when he was alive, saying his story about going with Wardwell to Salem, N.H., having a fight and then leaving her behind at a motel didn't add up.
He told the Bangor Daily News: "The last person who saw them alive, you have to look at them very closely. That's common sense. You don't have to be a homicide investigator to figure that out.

"The impression I got from him was that he didn't really care."
He added that Julian had also refused a lie detector test, but it had been difficult to advance the investigation because there was no body and no crime scene.
After Wardwell's disappearance, Julian put the episode behind him, buying wholesale items and selling them at a succession of variety stores.
His sons still operate two stores in Lewiston and Auburn and have refused to comment.

TEXAS KILLING FIELDS: REAL STORY OF THE I-45 KILLER

2011-10-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

I-45 from Houston to Galveston, Texas is the bloodiest stretch of highway in America. Now, a new movie called Texas Killing Fields is in theaters. However, here are the basics on the murders that have haunted the area for decades. Just 50 miles long, over the past 38 years nearly 40 women and young girls have been murdered or vanished along this highway.

Their bodies have been dumped in fields, parks and the many bodies of water in the area, usually in a sickening state. As of today, the killer is still on the loose.

And detectives admit, they’re no closer to catching him—although scientific advances could finally the macabre dance of death. He first struck June 17, 1971. Colette Wilson, 13, had been dropped off from school band practice by the conductor at a bus stop. The young girl seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. Five months later her nude body was discovered 40 miles away.

She died of a single gunshot wound to the head and her flute was never located.

“I sometimes wonder what it would be like if Colette hadn’t died,’ her sister Alice Killough says, adding the girl’s death drove her dad to an early grave at 42.

‘She’d have her own children now.’

Two weeks later the killer struck again. Brenda Jones, 14, disappeared while walking to Galveston General Hospital—right off I-45—to visit a sick relative.

Her body was found the next day floating in Galveston Bay, a slip crammed into her mouth and dead of a head wound.

Gloria Gonzales, 19, disappeared on October 28, 1971 from near her home in Houston. Her corpse was found several days later—less than 35 yards from where Collette’s body had been found.

Before bloody 1971 was over three more girls would be dead. Alison Craven, 12, disappeared November 9, her body found four months later. Debbie Ackerman, 15, and her friend Maria Johnson, both 15, went to the mall November 11.

Their bodies were found floating in the water two days later, both shot in the back of the head, their feet and hands bound.

For nearly 40 years, the agony of loved ones has continued like an insidious twist of the knife.

Still no justice.

‘We’ve got no suspects, no closure and we’ve still got a serial killer walking around some place,’ says Tim Miller.

Miller’s 16-year-old daughter, Laura Lynn, disappeared in 1984 and for the distraught dad, the years have been agonizing.

‘It’s been a living hell,’ he says, wiping away tears.

As the years then decades passed, the carnage continued—and still no peace.

Who is the maniac stalking, raping, killing and beheading the women of south Texas?

Police fear there may even be even more than a single serial killer in the area.

Some—including notorious serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who boasted of murdering more than 300 people in a 40-year rampage—have confessed to the slayings.

Lucas is dead now but detectives believe their man is still lurking, waiting, ready to kill again.

Criminal profiler John White believes the killer is a white male between the ages of 55 and 60.

‘He’s big and he’s strong, he’s an opportunist who picks girls using payphones at convenience stores,’ White says.

‘This murderer grabs and snatches or tricks them.’

The profiler adds the killer is above normal intelligence who drives a dark-coloured pick-up truck.

‘Two of the most gruesome mutilation murders where the girls were decapitated or their hands cut off were located in almost the exact same spot—26 years later,’ White says.

‘He beats them, then tortures them. And for almost 40 years, he’s gotten away with murder.’

Sandra Rambler disappeared from her home in 1983 and has not been seen since. Just 14, she left behind her purse and a new coat her father bought her.

‘She wanted to be a model,’ her dad Alton Rambler says.

‘I last saw her before I went to work. I remember teasing her for picking at some food on my plate, she was happy,’ he says.

But when he came home, the door was open and Sandra was gone. Her body has not been found and police believe she was murdered.

A dog discovered the body of cocktail waitress Heidi Villareal Fye, 23, carrying her skull to a nearby house.

She had vanished six months earlier walking to use the payphone at the same convenience store where Laura Miller disappeared.

“Many of these girls had the same look, the same hairstyle, were close to the same age, were on foot and their bodies found near water,’ says Det. Att Wingo, who worked on a number of the probes.

‘A lot of the detectives thought they knew who did it—they just couldn’t prove it.’

As the 1980s gave way to the 1990s, the body count continued to mount.

Because many rootless people roam in and out of the Texas Gulf Coast area, a substantial number of the victims lie nameless in a chilly morgue.

The name ‘Jane Doe’ the only hint they walked through this life.

The area also has a high number of registered sex offenders.

And the families’ agony goes on.

And on.

Krystal Jean Baker, 13, disappeared March 15 1996.

The pretty teen was last seen using a telephone at a Texas City convenience store—like many of the other victims.

Several hours later fishermen found her sexually ravaged body. Krystal had been beaten and strangled to death.

The girl looked like Marilyn Monroe—her great aunt, Norma Jean Baker.

Her mum Monetta remains haunted.

“Someone is doing this when we least expect it and enjoying getting away with it right under our noses,’ she says.

‘This could happen to anyone’s child. Every time I see kids using that same pay phone, I just shudder.

‘There’s a crazy man out there who has no heart. I can’t understand why anyone would deliberately want to hurt my baby.’

He struck again in April 1997.

This time the victim was Laura Kate Smither, 12.

The aspiring ballerina vanished while jogging near her home.

Seventeen grim days later her body was found on the edge of a pond near I-45—she was nude except for one sock and a ring.

She had been decapitated.

And like in a number of other cases the only clue police had to go on was the dark pickup truck.

Laura Kate’s dad Bob believes the killer is a sadistic genious.

‘These were girls weren’t stupid. Not just any stranger could beckon them into a car,’ he says.

As the 1990s came to a close, the killing machinery seemed to slow down.

Fewer bodies were being found—and they were unrelated to the I-45 killer. Had he gone dormant? Was he in jail?

Or was he dead?

The graveyards and morgues of south Texas are filled with the monster’s twisted handiwork.

Det. Jared Stout compared unraveling the riddle to ‘solving a 3,000-piece jigsaw puzzle which is 3-D with ill-defined boundaries and all shades of colour but no shapes.’

“The world isn’t big enough for us not to find such a killer. But sometimes it seems like Star Trek... and whoever did this was beemed up to the enterprise.”

MICHAEL NADEAU GUILTY OF 2002 KATHLEEN WHITE SLAY

2011-10-27T04:48:00.000-07:00

CAUGHT

A VICIOUS thief who strangled a 79-year-old senior to death and killer her dog, during a deadly 2002 home invasion, has pleaded guilty to her murder.
Kathleen White’s body was discovered found stuffed inside her car’s trunk in her garage during a welfare check.
The widow’s only companion, a poodle, had also been killed and left inside the Irving, TX home, cops said.
But for over eight years, investigators were baffled by the gruesome crime until DNA matched evidence gathered at White’s home.
They picked up 49-year-old Michael Nadeau in an El Paso homeless shelter and charged him with capital murder.
But rather than face the death penalty, he pleaded guilty in exchanged for a life sentence.
White’s neighbors told Fox4 they are glad to finally have closure in the case.
Anna Ayala said: “That’s something good to know, and that gives us a sigh of relief that they did finally find the person that did this to her.
"Everybody had alarm systems put in because of that. It was scary because we didn’t know who it was that did it.”

ROBERT DURST STILL SUSPECT IN WIFE'S MURDER

2011-10-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Robert 'Batshit Bobby' Durst, the son of the late real estate mogul Seymour Durst, was a suspect 30 years ago in his wife’s disappearance. And he still is. “It remains an open case, as does every unsolved homicide,” said Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for the Westchester District Attorney. Kathleen Durst, a 29-year-old medical student, vanished Jan. 31, 1982 after meeting Durst for dinner at their lakeside cottage in South Salem. Kathleen had been openly complaining to friends that Durst has become increasingly possessive – and violent. Her remains have never been found.

Durst, 71, a known cross-dresser, was charged in 2001 with a different murder. A trail of blood from his next door neighbor in Galveston, Texas, had led right to his apartment. Durst was acquitted of the charge. MORE IN THE NY POST

PREGNANT MARY GENCY'S 1974 KILLERS GET JUSTICE

2011-10-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

JUSTICE

A VICIOUS boyfriend who brutally battered his pregnant girlfriend to death has been brought to justice 34-years after the murder.
Back in 1974 Mary Irene Gency was just 16, when her nude, frozen body was found near the Sportsman's club in North Charleroi, PA, with multiple skull fractures inflicted by heavy object.
But it was only recent advances in DNA technology that allowed them to analyze samples found at the scene that led cops to her killers - her boyfriend of the time Robert Unwin Jr and his best pal David Davioli, both 54.
Davioli, who cops suspected at the time, but had to release through lack of evidence told cops that on the night of the murder the three of them were smoking marijuana.
Then both of them had sex with Gency.
He testified that Mr. Urwin grabbed a tool from the trunk of Mr. Davoli's car and began beating Ms. Gency in the head, before both of them left her for dead.
According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette he added that he kept silent for 34 years because he feared for his safety and that of his family.

His testimony was part of a deal he struck with the prosecution in which he pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and tampering with evidence and the prosecution will recommend he receive a two- to four-year sentence.

Unwin meanwhile, will be sentenced at a later date.

COPS REFUSE TO GIVE UP ON PAIGE RENKOSKI COLD CASE

2011-10-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

VANISHED

SUSPECT

IT'S 21years since Paige Renkoski vanished but cops are still determined to find out why she mysteriously disappeared.

Back in 1990 the 30-year-old was last seen on the Interstate near her DeWitt Township, MI, home talking to a man.

But while cops found her unlocked 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass in the same location, with the engine running and the headlights on.
Her shoes and purse were still inside the vehicle, but since then there has been no sign of the substitute teacher. But a cold case team is refusing to give up and have now developed three new suspect sketches in the hope that they will jolt someone's memory and help them unlock the case.

SUSPECT

Team member Mike Frayer told the Detroit Free Press: "Somebody out there knows something."
The first is based on a tip from a now-retired Michigan State Police intelligence officer is considered "extremely credible" and a second sketch based on a tip from a woman resembles a former truck driver serving time in New York for four murders.
Investigators are hoping to compare the truck driver's palm print, which was taken after his arrest, with palm prints found on Paige Renkoski's vehicle.
Described by Frayer as "spookier," Frayer said, explaining how a saleswoman who worked for a photographer accepted a ride from a Hispanic trucker after her vehicle broke down on the same part of the Interstate 96 about six months before Renkoski went missing.
She told officers that once she got into the cab of the semi, the trucker told her: "This is the biggest mistake you ever made."
But Frayer explained: "She thought fast on her feet. She clutched her purse and told him that she traveled a lot and she carried a firearm in her purse. He kicked her out. That may have saved her life."
The third tip comes from a male accountant he told police he noticed a black male with an "old, beaten car" flashing a police badge at him in an attempt to get him to stop on the expressway, investigators said.
"We feel guardedly optimistic," Frayer said about the investigation thus far. "We're establishing more of a foundation." If you have information for the cold-case team, call the Sheriff's Department at (517) 546-2440.

DAD ARRESTED IN 1978 SEX SLAYING OF SHERRI TAYLOR

2011-10-25T04:59:00.000-07:00

COLD CASE detectives in Biloxi, Mississippi have made an arrest in the baffling 1978 homicide of a pretty teen girl. Sherri Taylor, 15, was raped and murdered on July 11, 1978. Now, her father William Taylor has been charged with statutory rape as a muddy case gets clearer.
Police say Sherri's father claimed he discovered her body in the bathroom of the trailer they shared when he returned home from work. Det. Michael Brown said: "It was a brutal murder. She had been stabbed several times. The autopsy report shows that she had been sexually assaulted. Semen was
covered all over her body."
Police say those results showed that Sherri was sexually assaulted by her father and he confessed to having sex with the girl but not killing her. SHERRI TAYLOR, MURDERED IN 1978

FREEZER BODY MAY BE MISSING KITTY WARDWELL: COPS

2011-10-24T01:59:00.000-07:00


KILLER?

THE body of a Maine woman missing for almost 30 years may have been found in a freezer belonging to her ex-boyfriend, cops say.
Kitty Wardwell was reported missing by her on-again, off again boyfriend, Frank Julian, back in July 1983 and was never seen again.
But after he died earlier this month, aged 80, relatives were clearing out his storage unit when they came across human remains in an unplugged freezer at a storage unit registered to him.
Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland told the Bangor Daily News: “Remains have been found, but we don’t know whose body this is definitively at this time.
“We have put both families in the loop about the discovery and we have interviewed a number of members of both families, but the final determination will be made by the medical examiner.”
He added: "Our investigation now looks to the Medical Examiner's Office for answers. DNA may need to be used to make a positive identification."
Wardwell was reported missing by a close pal, but when they questioned the novelty salesman at the time, he told cops that that he had dropped the then the then 29-year-old woman off at a Salem, NH, motel after a fight and had traveled back to his Lewiston ME home without her.
A later investigation revealed cops suspected she may have been the victim of foul play.

COPS CLOSING IN ON DONNA CANNADAY'S KILLER?

2011-10-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

DANCE teacher Donna Cannaday never would have left her house without her shoes. And the doors were open. Money was left behind. On Oct. 19 1989, the 22-year-old beauty disappeared--but on ly for a short time. Hours later her brother, fiance and a pal found her dumped in an irrigation ditch in a soybean field not far from the Chesapeake Regional Airport. She had been shot in the head and for 22 years her file has gathered dust. Det. Ronnie Young feels the mystery can be solved with new leads and technology.
He said: “I’ve got good guts on this, and these people agreed. My suspect pool has definitely narrowed."
But the one question that has nagged detectives for two decades is this: why?
Robbery has never been considered a motive since nothing was taken from her person or her house. There was no evidence of sexual assualt.

Young added: “Nothing appeared to be disturbed in the house. There didn’t appear to be any signs of struggle in the house.” MORE ON DONNA CANNADAY COLD CASE

LEESA JO SHANER KILLER JAILED FOR '73 HOMICIDE

2011-10-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

The ruthless killer of Leesa Jo Shaner, who was kidnapped from her car at Tuscon International Airport, violently murdered and left in a shallow grave 38 years ago, has finally been sentenced. William Zamastill was already serving a life sentence in a Wisconsin prison for kidnapping, raping and murdering a woman in that state in 1978. While in prison, he was also convicted in a 2003 killing of a brother and sister in Barstow, Ca. Zamastill had always been a suspect in Shaner’s death, but he slipped through the law’s fingers until authorities reopened the case in 2009 and discovered new evidence.
A judge on Thursday added another life term onto Zamastill’s sentence for kidnapping 22-year-old Shaner from her car in the parking lot of the airport.

Shaner had just given birth to a baby boy six weeks earlier. She was at the airport to meet her husband, an air force officer flying in from his base in Japan. Shaner’s father was an FBI agent who passed away in 2007. “He always had faith that the FBI would bring this to a conclusion and he was right,” said James Turgal Jr., special agent in charge for the Phoenix Division.

EPIFANEO JAIMES ARROYO BUSTED FOR 1980 STAB

2011-10-22T04:15:00.000-07:00

'KILLER'

A FUGITIVE murder suspect who allegedly stabbed a man to death after a vicious 1980 nightclub brawl, before going on the run, has been busted for murder.
Miguel Frias was partying with pals in north Houston, when a fight broke out between his pals and another group in a nightclub.
As it spilled out into the car park Epifaneo Jaimes Arroyo and his brother followed him down the road where they were observed beating and stabbing him, according to the DA's office.
But he vanished before cops could catch up with him, until DA investigator Chuck Lowery began looking at the acse again earlier this year.

He eventually found the accused killer in Georgia and now they are seeking to extradite him back to Texas to face justice.
Harris County DA Pat Lykos told the Houston Chronicle: "Dangerous felons have evaded authorities for years, but they don't know about our secret weapon - investigator Chuck Lowery.
"He has been tracking down people who have avoided capture for decades and returning them to face justice. If you are a fugitive from Harris County, you might as well surrender now."

UPDATE: NEW DETAILS EMERGE IN MARY RIVERA CASE

2011-10-21T05:25:00.000-07:00

CAUGHT

THE ELDERLY fugitive who was busted for the murder of her husband 41-years after he died, killed him by "pouring hot grease and other liquids" on him, cops say.
As we reported here, the ailing 76-year-old was picked up in her Georgia home, stunning friends and neighbors, who knew her as a mild mannered waitress.
Court records from the 1970 case allege that Rivera was accused of killing her husband by "throwing hot grease on him and by throwing other substances and liquids."
They don't however, indicate a motive, but while neighbors say she told them that her husband had been abusive towards her, authorities said police were never called to the couple's Houston home on allegations of domestic violence.
Rivera had been a fugitive since she posted a $10,000 bond in 1970 following her indictment and authorities said she fled with her three children, including twin sons, and eventually made her way to Lake Park, GA, near the Florida border.
Neighbors questioned why Rivera was being arrested after so many years and noted her frail health, including heart, back and breathing problems.
But a spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorney's Office in Texas said Rivera needs to face justice.
She added: "The defendant was charged with committing a rather brutal murder of her husband. Although she was able to elude authorities for over 40 years, she ultimately must face judgment in a court of law for the murder of her husband."

MURDER CATCHES UP WITH MARY RIVERA 41-YEARS ON

2011-10-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

FOUR decades after her husband was murdered, cops have busted Mary Rivera for the 1970 killing.
Cops say that back in 1971, the 76-year-old killed her husband but, shortly after his death she moved with her children, who are now all grown up, to Georgia from her Houston TX.
The Harris County Cold Case Squad, recently reopened the case and unlike their colleagues in the 70s and 80s when they didn't have the resources to keep track of suspects, today they are bringing people to justice.
Friends were shocked that the kindly old lady they knew and loved could be accused of such a heinous crime.
Her pal Lorraine Robertson told WCTV: "I don't believe Mary killed her husband. Mary's not like that."
She added that she was with Rivera when police arrested her.
"I could feel Mary's whole body shaking and she just got in the car and we all said we loved her. And I pray to God, that God intervenes and lets her come home."
One neighbor, who didn't want to go on camera, also told the station that Rivera told her that her husband abused her.
Robertson says they should just let her go.

MISSING BENITA RODRIGUEZ IN 'HOUSE OF HORRORS'

2011-10-19T04:31:00.000-07:00

EVIL

MISSING

THE MYSTERY surrounding the Philadelphia house of horrors deepened yesterday when a missing Florida teen was found with the group.
Benita Rodriguez, 15, disappeared from her West Palm Beach home in July, but according to authorities, she was not kept in the squalid basement, but with the three suspects in the case.
In the extraordinary twist on the story, it emerged she had become friends with one of the suspects sons, Gregory Thomas, when the group lived until earlier this month.
Her mom, who did not wish to be identified said: "The same day that my daughter came up missing, the next day when we went there, they were gone."
Details surrounding her connection to the case are sketchy and police are not yet sure how much she knew about the 'house of horrors'.
In the meantime two more victims have identified themselves along with Herbert Knowles, which our sister site Crime Scene USA revealed yesterday.
Tamara Breeden, was 29, when she vanished six-years ago and with no sign of her Philly cops closed the case last year.
She told KYW that she had been beaten by her accused captors, Linda Ann Weston, 51, Thomas Gregory, 47, and Eddie Wright, 49, who cops believe held them captive so they could cash their disability checks.
While another victim Derwin McLemire, 41, another victim, had a more direct message for them, saying: "That was real dirty of you. That was wrong."
He added that when he tried and failed to escaped from Weston's home: "they got me."
Mr McLemire had forgotten what day it was after being held captive for so long saying: "I got a birthday coming up Friday and I didn’t even know it was coming up."
All three victims, who are believed to have a mental age of 10, are now being looked after in a supervised care home.
Their captors meanwhile are holed up in the big house, charged with criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, kidnapping, criminal trespass, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and related offenses.

MYSTERY UNRAVELS IN 1946 BEDDIE WALRAVEN MURDER

2011-10-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

IT WAS the end of a long life and Kitty Hodges had something to say on her death bed. It was 1994 and she drifted in an out of consciousness. And that's when she told her granddaughter Becky Herrera a bizarre tale of murder. She had been stunning once but the last years had been hard, living in squalor with a staggering 87 cats. In the end, all she wanted was for Becky to pray for her soul.
FLASHBACK: 1971. A person hiking in the open and rolling desert near Baker stumbled across some old bones — a piece of skull, two thighs, a jaw fragment. They belonged to an adult female.
Four years later, Liskie T. "Terry" Mabry a career criminal and Kitty's onetime husband confessed to murdering a woman in 1946. The way Terry told it, Kitty
had caught him sleeping nude with another woman — a beautiful Texan named Beddie Walraven, then 27. Mabry said Kitty was so enraged that she put a bullet in the back of the sleeping Walraven's head. Then, Mabry claimed, he and Kitty buried the body in the unforgiving Mojave Desert.
And that where the mystery stood for decades--until now. MORE IN THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

REED JEPPSON DISAPPEARED INTO THIN AIR IN 1964

2011-10-18T05:35:00.000-07:00

ON OCT. 11, 1964 after church Reed Jeppson took his two German short hair pointers for a walk--and was never seen again. There was never anything to indicate foul play or that he had run away. Reed Jeppson was simply gone. At the time of his disappearance, he was 15, 5'6", 130 lbs, blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore braces at the time and was wearing Levis, a white shirt and a pullover. If you have any information contact Salt Lake City Police Det. Cody Lougy at 1-801-799-3454.

CHEESE NABS ELEONARA KNOERNSCHILD'S 1984 KILLERS

2011-10-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

MURDERED

A PIECE of cheese helped cops finally catch up with the brothers who viciously battered and strangled an senior back in 1984.
Cops had long suspected Brian McBenge, now 49, in the horrific murder of Eleonara Knoernschild, 84, but at the time there was insufficient evidence to charge him with the heinous crime in St Charles, MO.
Investigators had long suspected there was an accomplice involved, but with little to go on the case soon went cold and no charges were ever filed.
But now thanks to a bite into a piece of cheese, they finally got their man, after DNA testing linked not only him, but his brother Cecil, now 46, to the murder.
Authorities said: "The piece of cheese had been bit into," adding that Cecil's DNA was on a pair of her stockings.
Knoernschild's daughter, Doris Wines told KSDK that she was glad that the people believed responsible had finally been arrested adding that she had thought that probably wouldn't happen after so many years.
She added: "They'll get their justice now."
St. Charles Prosecutor Jack Banus also told the station: "There was not sufficient evidence to charge Brian McBenge at that time.
"We had never known who was with Brian, although the evidence was consistent with someone being present at the time the homicide occurred until recently when we got the DNA evidence that came back and identified Brian and his brother, Cecil."

ARRESTS MADE IN TROYA SHECKLES 2009 EXECUTION

2011-10-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

EXECUTED

THEY walked up to her in a crowded park and executed her in broad daylight, yet shamefully, despite a huge number of potential witnesses no one came forward to help cops with their investigation.
But despite a lack of information, cops persisted, determined to find out who whacked Troya Sheckles and earlier this week that paid off, with the arrests of Steven Pettway and DeJuan Hammond for the 2009 murder.
At the time she was killed, Sheckles was scheduled to testify against Dejuan's brother Lloyd Hammond who is charged with murdering her boyfriend.
Cops say after murdering her they went on to kill again as they has been in jail since June for shooting a woman in the head while breaking into her home.
Louisville Metro Police Lt Barry Wilkerson said it's a sign of just how dangerous these men are, adding that Pettway had been a juvenile at the time of the murder, which is why it had taken time to get an indictment.
He told Wave 3: "That's why the detectives were very persistent in trying to get enough info to get these individuals off the street."
He added that Sheckles' family have been waiting patiently for this day.
One relative told the station: "They cut a beautiful, vibrant woman's life short."
Cops added that they are going to do what they can to bring them justice, while maintaining that they are still interviewing people involved and there could be even more arrests.

SISTER OF HELEN KILGORE 'REFUSING TO GIVE UP'

2011-10-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

MURDERED

PLAQUE

THE SISTER of a Texas teen, who's severely beaten body was found wrapped in a blue moving blanket with a single gunshot wound to her head is refusing to give up.
Back in 1984 Helen Marie Kilgore's death shocked the Corpus Christi, TX community and left her sister Kelly devastated.
But 27-years on, this week after gaining approval to erect a cross and plaque at the spot where she was found, her sister Kelly vowed to keep her sister's memory alive.
She also told KWTX that she's hoping to bring attention to the case in hopes of providing investigators with new evidence that might lead them to the girl's killer.
Another relative told the station: "She's refusing to give up. Somebody must know something about what happened to poor Helen and we're still hoping that even after all this time we will get a break in the case."
Bosque County investigator Clint Pullin reopened the case at the beginning of the year and believes he is making some progress.
He said: "It's an old cold case, but I've been working on it very hard since the first of the year."

He added that investigators believe she may have been killed elsewhere, put into the trunk of a car and later dumped along the road in Bosque County.
While Texas Rangers did identify a suspect at the time, a Bosque County grand jury declined to indict him, but Pulling declined to say whether the focus of the case was on him.

COPS CHARGE JAMES MILES IN 2000 CALI COLD CASE

2011-10-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

COPS in Santa Maria, California have arrested a 70-year-old man in the 2000 murder of his roommate. James 'Angry Jim' Miles was arrested and charged Thursday. According to cops, Miles was suspected at the time of the murder of David Wayne Anderson, who was shot to death in his home. The case went cold but was reopened in July and that was when the evidence was found that nailed the miserable-looking old man. The victim's brother, Patrick Anderson said: "Thank God a new detective turned over a new leaf and caught the guy. I didn’t think this would ever be solved. This is a very good day." However, he added he never suspected Miles and said the two men got along well.
MORE ON 2000 COLD CASE

MYRON TRAYLOR MISSING SINCE 1988; FOUL PLAY EYED

2011-10-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

Myron Traylor, 13, vanished from Phoenix, Arizona, on July 28, 1988. He is 5’5", 106 lbs., black hair, brown eyes. At the time of his disappearance he was wearing a red and white striped shirt, white/blue print shorts, and white tennis shoes. He has a ½ inch scar on the right side of his head.
Cops say Myron and his mother were walking to his grandmother’s house a block from their hime. Myron and his mother separated as Myron stopped to get a drink at a fast food restaurant in the area of 16th Street and Southern. Myron has not been seen since and the case is considered a non-family abduction. Cops suspect his mom's ex-boyfriend--a drug player--at the time is responsible but have never been able to put together enough evidence. Myron's mother died in 2002.

JILTED RICARDO CRUZ STABBED EX'S MOM: COPS

2011-10-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

CRUZ

A JILTED lover will now face a murder charge for the brutal November 2003 stabbing of his girlfriend's mom.
Ricardo Cruz, now 34, had known Honey Vitagliano, 31, since high school and the two began to date several years later.
But although he showered her with expensive gifts including $900 pair of diamond earrings, and took her on several outings to upscale restaurants and a Mendocino Coast resort, she made it clear she was not her boyfriend.
She told a Santa Rosa CA, court: "He spent a ridiculous amount of money for someone who wasn't a boyfriend, but I went along. It was a good time."
She added that Cruz made a habit of calling her mom Kathryn, 55, for relationship advice and would go round while she was at work.
Then a few weeks before her mom was viciously stabbed to death, she broke things off with Cruz and he continually called her.
But after the murder he stopped calling although it didn't immediately occur to her that he may be a suspect.
Cops initially focused on her ex, but after they obtained a voluntary DNA sample from Cruz last year, they found it was a perfect match for DNA sample taken from a scraping of one of Vitagliano's fingernails after her death.
Cruz who is denying murder, remains in Solano County Jail custody with bail set at $1 million.

ACCUSED MARIA RIDULPH KILLER FACES RAPE BEEF FIRST

2011-10-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

PROSECUTORS in Illinois say they're going to try Jack Daniel McCullough for a rape charge before trying him in the 1957 kidnapping sex slaying of Maria Ridulph, 7. The onetime police officer, now 71, will be tried January 9, 2012 on the rape beef. He has pleaded not guilty.

Pretty Maria vanished from her neighborhood on Dec. 3, 1957, triggering massive searches that focused national attention on the tiny farm town but failed to find the missing girl. Her body was discovered five months later in another county.

Despite the attention the case went cold for decades although McCullough was a person of interest at the time and he lived nearby. Earlier this year he was charged in the heinous crime.

In September, prosecutors charged him with raping and taking indecent liberties with a girl, 14, in 1961 and 1962. McCullough — then known as John Tessier — was 22 when the sex crimes occurred.

DNA NABS RAPIST LUIS GARCIA FOR 2000 ATTACK

2011-10-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

RAPIST

A SADISTIC rapist who posed as a good Samaritan before viciously attacking a woman has been busted after DNA linked him to the 2000 crime.
The victim who's car had broken down was waiting at a bus stop when Luis Garcia allegedly offered her a ride with his pal.
But instead of driving her for help they went punched and kicked her and dragged her into an apartment in Tacoma, WA.
Ripping off her clothes, one of the attackers put on a condom and raped her, before forcing her into the bathroom and telling her to wash.
She refused and when the men left, the woman, who was still nude fled and got help from another apartment.

After she was taken to hospital doctors found they'd beaten her so badly that she had several facial fractures, along with other injuries.
Cops found the used condom in the apartment, which they used to build a DNA profile, but although they ran it through several DNA databases a match was never found.
But when they tried again in 2008 Garcia, 27, matched the attacker, but he'd disappeared, until cops picked him up on a routine traffic stop on Saturday.
He told cops he'd been living in California.
He was arraigned on the rape and assault charges Monday and ordered held in the Pierce County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.

COPS BUST SUSPECT IN 1983 OK OLA KIRK HOMICIDE

2011-10-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

LESTER BLACKBEAR was one day away from freedom--then the past caught up with him. Blackbear was charged with first-degree murder in the 1983 unsolved slaying of Ola Kirk, 77, in Geary, Oklahoma. Blackbear--a lifelong criminal--was always on the periphery over three decades and now, kindly Ola's family is finally at peace.
Kay Mathews said: "It's a relief. Maybe the wait is over. I know it's probably going to be a long process yet, but it's getting closer and the family wants closure." Last year a retired detective--who claimed investigators dropped the ball in the original probe-- found Blackbear living off the grid in Phoenix, Arizona after doing time for several other violent crimes. He was extradited back to Oklahoma on an unrelated charge and sentenced to a short prison term. Blackbear was denied parole while OSBI tested old evidence from the murder scene for new DNA samples, and it paid off. Blackbear could face the death penalty if convicted.

MICH. COMIC BOOK KILLER MICHAEL GEORGE GUILTY!

2011-10-12T05:26:00.000-07:00

MICHAEL GEORGE is guilty. The accused Comic Book Store Killer was convicted in Macomb County, Michigan yesterday of first-degree murder in the July 13, 1990 death of his wife Barbara who was found shot to death. The largely circumstantial case was sealed by a customer's chance call to the comic book store on the day of the murder. According to The Detroit News: Michael Renaud, a regular customer, claimed George took a phone call at the store just before the slaying July 13, 1990. George's mother, Janet, said he was asleep on her couch at the time.
"Comparing Renaud's timetable with Janet George — the jury spent an awful lot of time on that," said George's attorney, Carl Marlinga. "Those were the issues they felt were key."
It was always believed that George didn't like the fact that his wife had gotten fat and he was carrying on an affair with a store employee who later became his wife. With the insurance money he hoped to become the McDonalds of comic book impresarios.
Barbara George's brother Joe Kowynia told the News: "He thought he could get away with murder, and it didn't work — twice. Now that this is over, our family can go on with our lives, and Barb can rest in peace. He can rot in jail." MORE ON COMIC BOOK MURDER

STILL NO SIGN OF MISSING JENNIFER LYNN PENTILLA

2011-10-12T05:21:00.000-07:00

PENTILLA

A MISSING missionary who was on her way to Mexico when she vanished continues to baffle authorities almost 20-years since she vanished.

Dedicated Jennifer Lynn Pentilla, was just 18-years-old when she decided to meet a missionary group in Las Cruces, NM and help the poor, before heading south of the border.

Armed with a backpack and a couple of bibles, she planned to ride down on her mountain bike from San Diego and called in with mom eight times to report her progress.

But on October 17, she changed her plans, telling her mother that she'd heard that a woman traveling alone in Mexico could be dangerous and she'd decided to go and meet a pal in Minnesota instead.

Her mom offered to pay for her transport there after she made more concrete plans, and Pentilla agreed to call her back that evening.

But she never called back, never arrived at the friend's home and has not been heard from again.

About a year later, on September 4, 1992, two dove hunters found Pentilla's camping equipment and journal under a tarp in a remote area between Hatch and Deming off of State Road 26, about 46 miles northeast of Deming.

But despite a large investigation by the Missoula Police Department and a large amount of national news coverage no information has surfaced.

CONCRETE THE KEY IN DAVID PARKER RAY MURDERS

2011-10-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

RAY

TROIA

THE TWISTED "Toy Box Killer" may never have been caught because he buried his victims in concrete, it was revealed yesterday.
As we reported here, David Parker Ray, repeatedly bragged about torturing and killing over 40 women in his 20ft white trailer which he called the "toy box" including Air Force worker Jill Troia, who vanished 16-years ago.
But although he was jailed for the sexual torture of three women, Ray who died in prison in 2002, was never convicted of murder.
But thanks to a tipster, cops have reopened the case and re-sweeping the Elephant Butte lake near Ray's home.
The man who did not wish to be named told KRQE that the bodies may never have been found because the victims were encased in concrete.
He said Ray often hired him to pour concrete into large tires during the 1990's, which he told him he used them to anchor the marina down.
He explained: “I would go up to like an empty lot above the state parks area that was surrounded by concrete and cinderblock walls, where nobody could actually see in there."
He added that he always met him alone and insisted he stay in the truck when pouring the concrete.
He said: “You can definitely hide a body in one of them."
An FBI agent said encasing bodies in concrete at the bottom of the lake was a definite possibility, but added that they believe he may have used different ways to dispose of the bodies.
Frank Fisher said: “Something is a little suspicious when a person does not let somebody walk around or look around the area."
“Even in his own writings he would suggest ways to dispose of bodies, for instance to put them in areas where he knew they were going to pave roads."

LAURA KEMPTON'S 1981 MURDER LINKED TO '82 SLAYING

2011-10-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

On Monday, September 28, 1981 at 9:30am, the body of Laura Kempton, 23 years old, was found murdered in her apartment located at 20 Chapel St.in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The autopsy conducted by the NH Medical Examiner reported that Kempton died of massive head trauma, consistent with being struck by a blunt object, causing contusions and lacerations of the brain. Kempton was a student at the Portsmouth Beauty School and was employed at Macro Polo, Inc. and Karen's Ice Cream Parlor. Another woman, Tammy Little, who also attended the beauty school was murdered in a similar fashion a year later. It is believed the cases are linked.

NM COPS HUNT FOR BODIES OF JILL TROIA, 40 OTHERS

2011-10-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

COPS in New Mexico are searching for up to 40 bodies after a killer boasted his tally was sky high. And they've reopened the case of Jill Troia, 22, who disappeared in 1995 and is suspected to be a victim of David Parker Ray. It's believed Parker Ray dumped bodies near the Elephant Butte Reservoir and caves. Troia vanished in 1995.
According to Fox News: Ray wrote detailed accounts of sexual tortures and burials of victims, including one he described as an Asian woman -- a description that fits Troia. But authorities have said it's unclear if his writings were fantasies or actual crimes he committed.
He was arrested in 1999 after a naked woman wearing just a dog collar and a chain fled his house of horrors. She had been tortured by Ray and inside his house--that he called his "toy box"-- they found his surgical tools and video cameras. He was initially charged with 37 counts involving three women -- the woman who fled naked, a Colorado woman who was tortured in 1996 and another woman.
In 2001, Ray was convicted of kidnapping and torturing the Colorado woman, and he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and rape charges in the case of the woman who fled naked. He died in prison in 2002. No bodies have ever been located after a number of searches in the area around the reservoir.
Troia was last seen in October 1995 at the Frontier Restaurant with another woman--Ray's daughter Glenda Jean, who she had been dating in a lesbian relationship. She was later reported missing
Detectives have long believed the Glenda and her dad were linked to the disappearance. She was jailed on a kidnapping beef while Ray's girlfriend, Cynthia Lea Hendy, got hit with 36 years.

MORE ON NEW MEXICO MASSACRE

STILL HOPE FOR GORGEOUS ANNA WATERS

2011-10-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

AGE PROGRESSED

WHEN KIDNAPPED

HER family have still not given up hope that something or someone will lead them to the gorgeous little girl who vanished without trace in January 1973.

Gorgeous Anna Waters was just five-years-old when disappeared after her family left her happily playing in the backyard of their San Mateo, CA home.

But while investigator's initially thought she may have fallen in a nearby creek, the began to suspect foul play when no trace of her was found.

Her stepbrother told his family he remembered a strange couple driving alongside Anna, trying in vain to tempt her the kindergartener into their vehicle.

Since then, repeated appeals and an age progressed photo, have yet to reveal any results, but cops are refusing to give up hope.

An source close to the San Mateo County Sheriff's office said: "All it takes is one little piece of information, one little clue or heaven forbid, one slip up and we'll know what happened.

"We never stop thinking about cases like this and we never give up."

If you have any information concerning Waters' whereabouts, please contact: San Mateo County Sheriff's Office on 650-364-1811.

SHERRI LYNNE TAYLOR 1978 SEX SLAYING WAS 'PERSONAL'

2011-10-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

ON JULY 11, 1978 Sherri Lynne Taylor, 15, pictured center, got ready for her summer job on the Biloxi Strip on the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi. She never arrived at work. Sherri was murdered in the mobile home trailer she shared with her dad at the Sea and the Sand. Her killer has never been caught but now cops they can develop a DNA profile of the killer from 33 year-old evidence.
Det. Michael Brown said: “The FBI Crime Lab examined the evidence back then and found nothing to identify a suspect. We believe technology that wasn’t available then can help us solve the crime now.”

Sherri was stabbed multiple times, including one to each eye, and was sexually assaulted, cops say. The wounds in the pretty teen's eyes tell
cops she knew her killer. Brown said: “The manner of death tells us the person who killed her knew the victim very well."
Her sister Stephanie Taylor said: “She was so outgoing. If she were alive today, she may have been the one who rented catamarans out on the beach or worked with tourists." MORE ON SHERRI LYNNE TAYLOR

BACK TO SQUARE 1: WHO MURDERED LESLIE LONG?

2011-10-10T05:38:00.000-07:00

WHO KILLED Leslie Long in Palmdale, California in 1978. Cops know this: it was a brutal rape, kidnapping murder they thought they had solved. Leslie, 20, and a mom of three was snatched from a Chevron station where she worked overnights. Her body was found three days later. It was believed two escaped convicts committed the heinous crime but because they were safely on ice, the case was not prosecuted. Now, new technology has shockingly cleared the two men and cops have to start again at the beginning.
Sgt. Brian Schoonmaker told the LA Daily News: "We are back to, basically, square one."
The Board of Supervisors last week authorized a $20,000 reward for information identifying the killers, adding to the $5,000 already offered by Chevron and
$1,000 from the city of Palmdale.
Karen Long, 36, Leslie's daughter hopes someone will help crack the horrific crime. She said: "I realize how slim the chances are but I'm a God-believing person and I know he can do that and make that happen." MORE ON THE LESLIE LONG MYSTERY

HUBBY EYED IN 1994 CECILIA NEWBALL DISAPPEARANCE

2011-10-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

On September 20, 1994, Cecilia Newball, 32, was 9-months pregnant and looking forward to giving birth. But on that day, Cecilia and her son Rene Perez, 6, vanished from their Chatsworth area apartment in the Los Angeles area under suspicious circumstances. Cecilia took none of her personal belongings, including her prenatal medicines. Neither Cecilia nor Rene Perez have been seen since that date. The investigation determined that her rat husband was having an extra-martial affair at the time of her disappearance. LA County homicide detectives consider him a person of interest. Investigators are seeking the public’s assistance, and asking anyone with information on the disappearance of the victims to contact Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau.

MELVIN PARKER GUILTY IN 1994 DOROTHY PAIGE SLAY

2011-10-10T04:43:00.000-07:00

PARKER

PAIGE

THEY SUSPECTED him at the time, but when Melvin Parker's wife and the chief witness against him went into hiding, the case collapsed.
Fast forward 17-years and cops reopen the case of Dorothy Paige, who in August 1994 was found brutally stabbed and strangled in her Madison, WI, apartment.
And the cold case detectives immediately focus in on Melvin Parker, now 48, who just five years after Paige's murder was jailed on child abuse and burglary convictions.
He had been charged with murder in 1998, but that charge was dismissed after a key witness, Parker's wife Michele went into hiding, claiming that police were bending her story to make it fit their case.
But it was the discovery that a witness who corroborated Michele Parker had lied to the original case detective, that finally cracked it for them.
So with little choice Parker ended with a no contest plea to first-degree reckless homicide.
Assistant DA Brian Asmus told The State Journal: "This has been a long time coming for family members of Dorothy Paige, to finally have someone held accountable."
Paige's mother, Doris Koecher did not attend the hearing but said in a victim impact statement written by Amy Olson that Paige's death has been "a living hell" that has left her deeply depressed and withdrawn from the community.
She wrote: "I see no reason to give this person any type of leniency. Doris has expressed to me that if there is a possibility of the death penalty, that would be nice."

JURY DELIBERATING IN 1990 COMIC STORE HOMICIDE

2011-10-07T06:51:00.000-07:00

MICHAEL GEORGE

IT IS a circumstantial that would have even Spider-Man tangled up in knots. A jury in suburban Detroit now has to decide whether aspiring comic book impresario Michael George murdered his overweight wife Barbara in the back of their comic on July 13, 1990. His mom Janet is providing alibi but that doesn't matter much, our moms would too. Her story is contradicted by Michael Renaud, a regular of the family comic store. The comic fan says Michael picked up the phone at the store just before the murder. On Thursday, the closing arguments took three hours.
George was convicted at his first trial in 2008. A judge granted a new trial the same year, citing prosecutorial misconduct and potential
new evidence. The 51-year-old comic titan is charged with first- and second-degree murder, insurance fraud, false pretenses and firearm offenses.
Prosecutors theorize an unfaithful George killed his wife, cashed in on her life insurance and married his mistress. The defense says the murder stemmed from a robbery.
MORE FROM THE DETROIT NEWS

BRIAN SEGURA WANTED FOR CARRIE BILLEAUD MURDER

2011-10-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

A COLD case that has lain dormant for more than six years could finally see an arrest made this week.
Back in December 2004 Carrie Billeaud's battered body was found in her water well and supply store in New Iberia, LA.
But with few leads the case went cold, until earlier this week when Sheriff Louis Ackal announced that Brian Segura as a person of interest in the case.
The 30-year-old was allegedly a regular at her store, is already in custody on unrelated charges.
Sheriff Ackal told the Daily Iberian: "It is still an ongoing investigation, we are working with the District Attorney's office here in Iberia Parish on the case."
"Until we (DA) have both agreed on the circumstance on the case file itself, we're not going to make any comments until then."As for Segura, he will appear in court Monday on charges of aggravated kidnapping and armed robbery. Police say he held a woman and her child at knife-point in March, and forced the victim to get money out of an ATM.
Segura also faces attempted first degree murder charges for allegedly taking a jailer hostage using a homemade shank in July. He remains in the Iberia Parish Jail.

GRANDMA CAROLINE NEAL EXECUTED AT 7-ELEVEN IN '00

2011-10-07T04:21:00.000-07:00

CAROLINE Neal was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother who died senselessly. On Sept. 10, 2000 the Kansas City woman was working the overnight shift at a 7-Eleven when around 1:30 to 2:30 a.m. two black males entered the store and opened fire on the 58-year-old, who died at the scene. She had only taken the job in July to earn extra money. Cops believe that a store manager had previously kicked the same men out of the store for shoplifting. The men were in the store less than 20 seconds. Police said that the gunmen did not rob the store. Her husband said:"That date is an evil time for me. I remember the night I woke her up to go to work and I walked her to the door and out to the car. She got to the car and said, 'Can I have a hug?' hose were the last words he'd ever hear from her.

If you have any information call the Kansas City [MO.] Police Cold Case Unit.

DID CHILD KILLER PENTON KILL SHANNON SHERRILL?

2011-10-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

A CHILLING Indiana cold case marked a sad anniversary Wednesday. Shannon Sherrill was just 6-years-old when she was last seen outside her mom's trailer home on Oct. 5, 1986. And things quickly went ice cold and it appears cops are no closer to a resolution today than they were in the 1980s.
But the tragic little girl's family has never given hope that the killer will be caught.

Over the years, detectives have followed leads involving David Elliott Penton, a man who is serving a life sentence in Ohio for murdering a 9-year-old girl there but there has never been enough evidence to put him on the hook for the grisly slaying. Indiana State Police recently began looking at the case again. In 2003, family members endured the pain of having someone come forward claiming to be Sherrill, but it was later determined to be a hoax. Donna Walker received an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to impersonation. Experts suspect that Penton is a serial killer who has cruised the country raping and killing young girls. A source said: "Look, Penton fits but there just isn't enough evidence to get an indictment. There's no doubt he's a monster and there's a very good chance that he had something to do with Shannon's disappearance." MORE ON SHANNON SHERRILL

SERIAL KILLER ED BELLS COPS TO UNSOLVED TEXAS SLAYS

2011-10-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

DOES A killer have a conscience? That's what Edward Harold Bell wants us to believe. Now serving a 70-year sentence for murdering a Houston-area Marine vet in 1978, Bell has come forward asking for immunity and ready to plead on the murders of as many as 11 young girls in the Houston-Galveston area in the early to mid 1970s. Among the suspect victims are, Sharon Shaw, pictured left, and Rhonda Johnson, right. According to the Houston Chronicle six different agencies: the Harris County Sheriff's, the Pasadena PD, the Galveston PD, the Galveston County Sheriff's, the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office and
the Harris County DA - said theywill reopen files to determine if evidence could corroborate or disprove Bell’s claims.
In his interview with the Chronicle, Bell provided detailed descriptions of at least four young females between the ages of 12 and 19 that he claims to have kidnapped and murdered from Brazoria, Harris or Galveston counties. The killer previously told cops he would hunt in his 1977 GMC truck carrying two guns, porn mags and a 32 AA bra. In 1978, cops busted Bell for shooting Larry Dickens, a Pasadena Marine Veteran, when he attempted to stop Bell as he masturbated in front of a group of girls.MORE ON EDWARD HAROLD BELL

KILLER MOM LYNNE BROWN ON RUN SINCE 1975

2011-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

THE MURDERS were bone-chilling. Two little children, each shot twice in the head. Their killer? Mom. On Feb. 22, 1975 cops in Clackamas County, Oregon believe Geoffrey Lyman Brown and Leslie Michelle Brown were shot to do death by their mother Lynne Brown (a.k.a. Lynne Fortner, Mitzi Brown, Mitzi Fortner.) Geoffrey, 5, and Leslie, 7, were found dead March 12, 1975. They were lying on a blanket.
Geoffrey and Leslie were last seen leaving with their mother, Lynne Brown, for a one-day visit from Lynne’s ex-husband’s house on Feb. 22, 1975. Lynne Brown has not been seen or heard from since.

Lynne Brown is described as a white female, 5'2", 110 lbs., with brown hair and green eyes. A forensic artist has prepared an aged drawing as Ms. Brown might appear now. A warrant was issued in October 2006 as a result of this Cold Case investigation.
Lynne Brown had a history of mental problems and once threatened to kill her mother with a butcher knife, police said. On another occasion, she told a friend that if her ex-husband, Lyman Brown, won custody of their children, she might someday "shoot the kids and Lyman would never find her."

WANTED! JANEAKA NICOLE CONN FOR $20 MURDER

2011-10-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

WANTED

A SUSPECTED killer, who murdered a woman in an argument over $20 is being sought by cops for the 2005 slay.
Janeaka Nicole Conn is the second suspected killer of Kendrea Boykin, who five years ago was blasted in her Louisville KY, home by shots fired from the outside.
But the case went cold until recently when several witnesses came forward after her family held a vigil in her memory, hoping to stir up new information in the unsolved crime.
Several people came forward, fingering Anquanette Davis, who was tracked down in a McDonalds last week and Janeaka Nicole Conn, who cops are now eager to speak with.
Earlier on the day of the shooting the pair had argued with Boykin's husband over $20 and it's believed they went back later to exact a deadly revenge.
Boykin died the following day in hospital.
If you have any information on Janeaka Conn's whereabouts, call Louisville Metro Police at 574-5673.

WITNESSES SAW ROBYN GARDNER MURDER: SOURCE

2011-10-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

COPS IN Aruba tell the National Enquirer they now have two witnesses who saw a woman being violently attacked. They now believe the victim was missing Maryland woman Robyn Gardner. The source told the Enquirer: “The cops believe a local couple actually witnessed the beginning of what turned out to be Robyn’s murder." MORE AT CRIME SCENE USA

COPS STYMIED IN CATCHING HEIDI SEEMAN KILLER

2011-10-04T06:45:00.000-07:00

FOR 21 years a killer has gone unpunished. On Saturday, August 4, 1990, after spending the night with a friend, Heidi Seeman, 11, was walking home when she was snatched off the street. Her friend, who had walked her halfway home, last saw Heidi at Stahl Rd. and Willow Run, on San Antonio's Northeast side.
A witness in this case described a shiny red car, with tinted windows and a thin red stripe down the side, seen driving in the neighborhood in a suspicious manner, just prior to Heidi Seeman being abducted.
On Saturday, August 25, 1990, the decomposed remains of Heidi Seeman were discovered in an isolated property in Hays County, Texas. She had been murdered.
Over the years several leads have been investigated and suspects developed, but not enough evidence has been found for police to file a case against anyone.

COPS BUST MAN IN 2008 MARILYN HABIAN MURDER

2011-10-04T06:14:00.000-07:00

A NORTHERN OHIO man was indicted Monday for the 2008 cold case killing of school teacher Marilyn Habian. Richard Penque allegedly murdered Habian in her Euclid home. She was a Habian was a teacher at Alexander Graham Bell Elementary School in Cleveland and also taught ballet. Penque will be arraigned today on beefs for murder, burglary, kidnapping, attempted arson and tampering with evidence. Habian died of a gunshot wound to her chest. Habian’s body was discovered when her boyfriend, Eddie Mitchell,
went to check on her the morning of April 7, 2008, after she did not show up for work. Her car was found running in the driveway so it's likely she caught Penque in the act as she was about to go to work. Her house had been broken into less than two months before the homicide. A man stole shoes and speaker equipment from Habian’s 18-year-old son who sometimes stayed at the house. Habian spent six years dancing with the Royal Winnipeg company before becoming a teacher.

COMIC BOOK MURDER: DID 'SKINNY MAN' MURDER BABS?

2011-10-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

THE DEFENSE has thrown a bombshell witness into the Detroit Comic Book Cold Case murder. Former comic book store owner Michael George, now 51, is on trial for murdering his wife in their suburban comic store in the summer of 1990. George killed his "overweight" wife because he was unhappy in their marriage and wanted the insurance money and his own Wonder Woman. He wanted to open a chain of comic book stores across the country with his loot. The defense contends the murder stemmed from a robbery. And Douglas Kenyon, 15 at the time of the murder, may be their ticket. He told court yesterday he noticed something odd about an "evasive" man standing in
the back corner of comic book store the day Barbara George was murdered. The guy had a "skinny build" wearing jeans, a hoodie and baseball cap — odd attire for the 90-degree day.
He said: "He was all the way in the back corner, as if he didn't want anyone to see him. He kept looking over his shoulders even as we were leaving the store."
Barbara George, rang up Kenyon's purchase and he left. Within 30 minutes George was dead with a bullet in her head in the backroom. MORE IN THE DETROIT NEWS

LEONARD TERRANCE WOODS BUSTED FOR '92 SLAY

2011-10-04T04:47:00.000-07:00

WOODS

HER mouth was covered in duct tape, her wrists and ankles bound with plastic zip ties and there was a deep gashes on the back of her head.
But although cops suspected Leonard Terrance Woods in 45-year-old Judith Goldman's 1992 murder, with little evidence, they were forced to let him go.
But in 2010 detectives reopened the case, conducting new interviews with witnesses and re-evalutating the physical evidence and they finally got a break.
Some of that evidence, found underneath Goodman's fingernails went in for DNA testing and they got themselves a match - the man they'd always suspected - Leonard Woods.
They believe he beat her with a decorative hook they found in her apartment KTLA reports.
Riverside homicide detectives picked him up in his Moreno Valley, CA home and after interviewing Woods, they later booked him at the Robert Presley Detention Center.
He is set to be arraigned one one count of murder and use of a deadly weapon Thursday in Riverside Superior Court. He could face 25 years to life in prison if he's convicted.

AMANDA KNOX INNOCENT IN ROOMIE'S SEX MURDER

2011-10-03T13:41:00.001-07:00

PM UPDATE: An Italian jury has overturned Amanda Knox's murder conviction. The 24-year-old American exchange student had been convicted in the grisly 2007 grisly murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher during a sex orgy gone awry. Her Italian boyfriend and another man were also found guilty at the time. The wealthy American girl's parents spared no expense in springing her while the Kerchers appeared dumbfounded as the prosecution's case unraveled.
ABC NEWS said: When the judge cracked the tension by announcing that she was acquitted, Knox nearly collapsed. She was rushed out of the courtroom, barely able to walk, stumbling while being hauled along by court officers. The former exchange student was crying and doubled over, her head occasionally coming up for big breaths of air. Sitting stunned in the courtroom was Kercher's family. Her mother, Arline Kercher, sat stoicly long after the elated Knox family hugged each other fiercely and streamed out into the street where they were greeted by boos and the word: "DISGRACE." Knox's family has been a constant presence at the nearly year-long hearings, but Kercher's family has stayed away. The Kerchers arrived today to hear the verdict.

In her statement top the jury this morning, the woman known around the world as Foxy Knoxy for her calculated attempts at playing the vamp said she and the dead woman were friends.

She said: "I want to go home. I want to go back to my life. I don't want to be punished... I don't want my future taken away from me for something I didn't do because I am innocent. We had a friendship... She was concerned for me. She was always kind to me. She cared about me."

FOXY KNOXY WALKS ON SEX SLAYING

KILLER ROBERT KOWALSKI FINGERED IN '96 MURDER

2011-10-03T05:23:00.000-07:00

A CONVICTED killer now faces charges in a 1996 Alaska cold case. Alaska State Police say a grand jury has indicted 50 year-old Robert D. Kowalski, 50, on Friday, charging him with first and second-degree murder. In the July 1996 murder that happened at Glacier Bear Lodge in Yakutat, Sandra Perry, 39, was shot in the head. The pair were living common-law in Washington state and were in Alaska on vacation, cops say. Kowalski, then 34, claimed the couple heard a bear outside and when he got a shotgun, he tripped onto the bed and fell onto Perry. He told authorities that as he was getting up, the gun accidentally went off, shooting Perry in the head. But a man in the next room heard the poaiur arguing viciously before the gun went off. The cold case unit re-examined the case after Kowalski was convicted in 2008 of killing his girlfriend in Montana with a single shot to the head. MORE IN THE ALASKA DAILY NEWS

HIJACKING KILLER GEORGE WRIGHT: 'I'M PORTUGESE'

2011-10-03T03:50:00.000-07:00

THE MURDERING militant who was busted in Portugal after almost 40-years on the run for murdering a war veteran and hijacking a plane is claiming his new identity should prevent him from being deported.
U.S authorities are trying to extradite George Wright, now 68, to serve the remainder of his 15 to 30 year sentence for the 1962 murder of war hero and father of two Walter Paterson in Wall, NJ.
ack in 1970 he escaped from prison and went on to hijack a plane with fellow members of the Black Liberation Army, including his children securing a whopping $1million ransom for the lives of the 86 passengers and crew on board as we reported here.
It was the biggest amount of money ever paid at the time, but after they escaped to Algeria, they never got to enjoy their spoils and it was handed
back to the US by the country's authorities.
Wright meanwhile was granted political asylum by the west African country Guinea-Bissau in 1980s and he became a Portuguese citizen, called Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos, in 1991 after marrying a Portuguese woman.
His lawyer Manuel Luis Ferreira says that he has the right to serve the time in Portugal because he has Portuguese citizenship based on his new identity.
He said: "As a Portuguese citizen, if he has to answer to any authority or if he has to serve any sentence, it has to be to Portuguese authorities and in Portuguese territory."
Official documents belonging to Wright and provided to the AP show Portugal accepted his new identity papers when it granted him citizenship.
Wright has a Portuguese passport, issued in 2007, and other documents including a Portuguese social security number, driving license and voter registration card.
"There's no doubt whatsoever about his nationality," Ferreira said, adding that Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos "is now his real name."
Ferreira is due to present his written arguments to the judge on Thursday after an initial hearing last Tuesday when Wright opposed his extradition.

ACCUSED MARIA RIDULPH KILLER FINGERED IN NEW RAPE

2011-10-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

RAPIST?

PRETTY MARIA

A FORMER cops accused of the 1957 kidnapping and killing Maria Ridulph has now been charged with sexually assaulting another teenage girl in the same small Illinois town.
As we reported here in one of America's oldest cold cases of murder Jack McCullogh, 71, was busted earlier this year for the murder of the girl dubbed "Pretty Maria."
She was last seen in the December of that year by a friend who she'd been playing with outside her Sycamore, IL home. A young man walked up and introduce himself as "Johnny" and she accepted piggyback rides
from the mysterious stranger and her friend left her.
Her body was found the following spring in a wooded area about 120 miles away.
McCullogh had been a suspect at the time of Maria’s disappearance, but he told cops that he’d been on a train from Rockford to Chicago on the day Maria was abducted.
After he ran away to join the military and changed his name "the case ran cold" according to court documents.
But the case was re-opened last year after one of his ex-girlfriends in 2010 came across an unused and unstamped train ticket for the Rockford-to-Chicago trip, ripping apart his alibi.
Now McCullogh, who denied any role in the murder last year has been charged in a separate case with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl from the same small town.
Illinois State Police announced the grand jury indictment of Jack McCullough on Friday for the
sexual assault which also happened in Sycamore, although they remained tight lipped on when the attack had taken place.
He's now also charged with one count of child sexual assault and four counts of indecent liberties with a child.
Illinois State Police director Hiram Grau said: "Sadly, we have another victim, and for the families of all victims, the pain never goes away,"

CANADIAN SERIAL KILLER CLIFFORD OLSON DEAD!

2011-09-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

ONE OF the world's most notorious serial killers is dead. Canadian monster Clifford Olson died Friday in a hospital in Quebec after a long battle with cancer. The 71-year-old killer preyed on the young during his reign of terror in the late 1970s and early '80s in the Pacific coast province of British Columbia. And even after he was captured and incarcerated for life, he continued to torment his victim's families with his sinister manipulations of court process. Cops have always suspected there were more victims. For more, see our sister site CRIME SCENE USA

20 YRS. LATER SEEK KILLER OF TEXAS COP ROXYANN ALLEE

2011-09-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON homicide detectives are turning up the heat on two killers who viciously murdered a Harris County Sheriff's Deputy in 1Harris County991. Deputy Roxyann Allee was abducted as she walked to her car in the parking lot of Greenspoint Mall about 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 30, 1991. Witnesses saw two men force the veteran officer into her van which was later found charred. Her badge, identity card and blood were in the debris, but her gun and purse were missing. Allee's body was later found and she had been shot numerous times. Her attackers were described as
black and about 5'9". The second man was described as black, in his late 20s to early 30 and tall with a muscular build. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. Crime Stoppers and private sources are offering a total of $10,000 for information that leads to the arrest and charges being filed against of the men. The murder was believed to have been random.

DID SERIAL SLAYER KILL CHRISTINE MORTON, OTHERS?

2011-09-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

DETECTIVES IN Austin, Texas are trying to a link a troubling 1988 cold case to the chillingly similar slaying two years earlier of Christine Morton, pictured right. Now, the working theory is that a serial killer may have been at work although Morton's husband has been in prison for nearly 25 years for the crime. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Debra Jane Baker of Austin was beaten to death with a blunt object in her bed while she slept--identical to Morton's slaying 12 miles away. Morton's husband has been trying to get DNA testing to determine if
there are links to another unsolved homicide: the 1980 bludgeoning death of Mildred McKinney who died in nearly the exact same circumstances.

Morton has always claimed he was innocent and blaming his wife's slaying on an unknown intruder.
About two weeks ago, cold case detectives began re-interviewing Baker's relatives based on a tip from Morton's lawyers with the Innocence Project of New York. The tip included the name and DNA profile of a man whose DNA was discovered on a recently tested piece of evidence from the Morton case: a bandanna that also contained Christine Morton's blood and one of her hairs.
THE MURDERS:
• Christine Morton, 31, was killed in August 1986 by eight blows to her head as she lay in bed. A neighbor checking on the Mortons' 3-year-old son wandering outside alone, discovered her body beneath a comforter, suitcase and wicker basket.
• McKinney, 73, also was attacked in bed, according to blood splatters on her headboard. She was found Nov. 4, 1980, on her bedroom floor also beneath household items — a reclining chair, small table and vacuum cleaner. Unlike Morton, her hands were bound and she had been raped.
• Baker, 34, was killed Jan. 13, 1988, by six blows to the head while lying in bed. She was alone at the time; her two young children were spending the night with her estranged husband.
MORE IN THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN

DR. ROBERT LANDIS LONG KILLED IN FRONT OF DAUGHTER

2011-09-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

IT WAS a horrific, senseless crime and it has been cold a very long time. On Thursday, May 7, 1987 Robert Landis Long, 47, was out for a walk with his daughter in Gainesville, Florida. Two black males approached them on foot walking in the opposite direction. They continued walking past. But not long after, the suspects reappeared and demanded Long's money. He refused and gave chase. One turned around and shot him. Leaving Long bleeding to death on the sidewalk in front of his child. If you have any information contact the Gainesville Police.

COPS STILL HOPEFUL ON BOBBY ADAMS 1991 MURDER

2011-09-30T03:42:00.000-07:00

ADAMS

HE WAS a humble taxi driver doing the graveyard shift, when a mysterious murderer hopped into the back of his cab.
Bobby Adam's body had never been found, but his vehicle was covered in blood near his Charleston, WV and cops believe that 20-years ago he was the victim of a horrifically violent crime.
"People don't lose that much blood and survive," said Charleston Police Sgt. Bobby Eggleton told The State Journal.
At the time, police knew only that the cab's passenger was a white man in his 40's, with blond hair and while over the years that have had suspects and persons of interest and even rumored locations of remains, none of them provided a body or charges.
But cops are refusing to give up on the case and have vowed to carry on investigating until they bring their killer to justice.
"DNA technology is progressing all the time," said one source close to the investigation.
"It's catching people who'd long thought they'd got away with their crimes and we're hopeful that someone or something will help us catch a break.
"We will not rest easy and neither should the killer."
C&H Taxi services made changes, too. They've updated their technology, including installing cameras inside of cabs and at the office to avoid similar situations.
C&H CEO Jeb Corey, who owned the cab Adams was driving, has also updated their technology, which he claims makes it: "Extremely difficult to get away with anything."
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Charleston Police Department at 320-348-6480.

NO CLOSURE IN 1974 NEW JERSEY DOUBLE SEX SLAYING

2011-09-29T05:31:00.000-07:00

On August 9, 1974, Mary Ann Pryor, age 17, of North Bergen, New Jersey, right, planned on going to the Garden State Plaza Mall with her friend, Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16. At about 4:30 p.m., the two girls were dropped off at a Ridgefield, New Jersey bus stop by Lorraine’s boyfriend. It was assumed that the girls would then take a bus to the mall. However, this was not confirmed and the girls, both students at North Bergen High School, were known to be regular hitchhikers. Mary Ann Pryor was last seen wearing bell bottom pants with patches and a halter top. She was also wearing a necklace with a gold cross. Neither girl returned home that evening. On August 14, 1974, the bodies of Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly were found lying in a wooded area behind Rolling Ridge Road in Montvale, New Jersey. They had been raped, beaten and strangled. Their ankles bound. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office or Sgt. Russ Christiana at 1-201-226-5677.

JAY MERCIER ARRESTED IN 1980 RITA ST. PETER MURDER

2011-09-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

MAINE State Police detectives have arrested a 55-year-old man in the grisly 1980 slaying of Rita St. Peter, 20. On July 5, 1980, cops say the attractive young woman had been drinking at a bar in Madison and staying with friends in nearby Anson, working at a drive-in restaurant. She was last seen walking across a bridge in the early morning hours until her body was found dumped later that day. Cops said at the time they had suspects in the slaying but couldn't seal the deal and the case went cold. Although detectives would not
confirm the cause of death at the time, the Bangor Daily News said she had been severely beaten and then run over by a car. In 1980, one law enforcement official suggested that St. Peter's murder may be linked to that of a 24-year-old teacher from Philadelphia whose skelton was found in the area. Cops arrested Jay S. Mercier, 55. Mercier is not a suspect in any other unsolved murders in Maine, McCausland said in a telephone interview.
“This is the oldest cold case to date that we’ve been able to solve,” Lt. Christopher Coleman of the Maine State Police told the Bangor Daily News. MORE IN THE BANGOR NEWS