Originally posted in 2022. Sources have been updated.

Sylvia Salinas was born on January 7, 1959, in Galveston, TX. She grew up with three siblings in a Spanish-speaking home, where their Mexican heritage was celebrated by her parents. The devoutly Catholic family attended mass every Sunday and often prayed the rosary together before bedtime.

In the late 1970’s, Sylvia became the owner of her own grocery store, which she named “Salinas Food Store” and operated in the same neighborhood where she grew up. Sylvia was a well-known and loved in her community, known for her friendly attitude and the welcoming environment in her grocery store. She was also kind-hearted and generous, often helping customers by advancing store credit until they were paid. Because of her caring nature, Sylvia was affectionately known around Galveston as “Auntie Syl”, or “Tía Syl” in Spanish.

Sylvia was also extremely diligent and aware of her surroundings, especially during the time she frequently spent alone in the store. She kept a loaded revolver under the cashier counter for her protection and was extra diligent while working alone overnight. According to her friend and roommate, Cynthia, Sylvia was as ‘street smart’ as she was generous. Cynthia told The Daily News, Galveston that Sylvia had an ability to sense danger and “could tell when people who came into her store were a threat”.

The murder

On the morning of Tuesday, October 31, 1989, 30-year-old Sylvia Salinas was working in Salinas Food Store, located on the corner of 31st Street in Galveston. Her parents, Derlis and Maria, had stopped by to visit and help with some tasks around the store. Later that afternoon, Derlis and Maria left the store to walk the two blocks back to their home for some lunch. This was the last time the Salinas' saw their daughter alive.

At 1:22 pm, a private alarm company received an alert that a robbery was in progress at the Salinas Food Store on 31st Street and Avenue Q. The alarm was dispatched to the Galveston Police Department at 1:23 pm. Four minutes after receiving the report, the GPD arrived to a bloody crime scene.

Police found the store owner behind the counter, slumped over in a pool of blood in what was described as a “relaxed” position. She had been stabbed in the chest with a butcher knife, which sat next to her on the counter. Sylvia’s machete and loaded revolver were under the counter, untouched. Because of the position of her body and the lack of visible self-defense wounds, it appeared as though Sylvia was caught off guard by the attack.

On the counter just inches from where Sylvia sat was the blood-spattered cash register. The drawer of the register had been forced open and emptied of all bills, leaving behind coin change and food stamps. The drawer had significant blood smears, leading investigators to speculate that it had been pried open with the same knife that was used to stab Sylvia.

When the cash register drawer was forcibly opened during the robbery, an unseen alarm had been silently triggered to alert the alarm company of the broken register. Based on the timing of this alert, investigators established an estimated time of death to be around 1:20 pm.

Over 400 people attended Sylvia’s funeral at Mission Reina de la Paz on November 3, 1989. The Mass was said in both English and Spanish and conducted at Sylvia's childhood church.

Suspects and witnesses

Sylvia’s murder remained unsolved, and the case soon grew cold. An autopsy confirmed that there were no defensive wounds on Sylvia’s body and she was likely surprised by the attack.

Investigators theorized that the assailant knew Sylvia and the comings and goings of the Salinas Food Store, considering the murder was committed in broad daylight on Halloween afternoon. They remained unsure whether the knife used in the stabbing had been brought in by the attacker or whether it was in the store. Salinas Food Store did not operate a butcher department and Sylvia’s parents did not recognize the knife from their daughters’ store.

About ten minutes before the murder and robbery, an unidentified black man in dark clothing was seen outside the Salinas Food Store using the payphone. Investigators wondered if this man witnessed the assailant entering the store, but the man was never identified.

In a nearby alley less than a block away from the store, another unidentified man was seen running down the sidewalk around the time of the murder. This man was described as a white man with sandy blonde hair. Police remain unsure if either of these men had anything to do with Sylvia’s murder and no other witnesses came forward. In the years following the murder, law enforcement interviewed and cleared over 20 individuals in connection with Sylvia's murder.

Cold case re-examined

In September 2008, Galveston was hit by category four storm, Hurricane Ike. The Galveston Police Station was damaged by flooding, ruining several files and evidence from multiple cases.

When first responders arrived at Salinas Food Store, footage of the crime scene was taped during a walk-thru, and the VHS videotape was stored in evidence at the police station. Thankfully, this VHS tape was preserved during Hurricane Ike, along with some bloody prints found at the scene of the crime. While these prints may contain a match, the VHS footage remained the most significant piece of evidence in the case, as it provides an in-depth look at the crime scene and the people in the crowd outside of the store.

In March 2020, the Galveston Police Department told ABC13 Galveston that Sylvia's case was being reviewed by detectives after decades of being a cold file. The bloody prints found at the crime scene were being re-submitted to the crime lab for testing. There have been no updates on the results of these tests and Sylvia's murder remains unsolved.

newspaper articles

https://abc13.com/sylvia-salinas-galveston-store-owner-murdered-cold-case/3490547/

https://abc13.com/halloween-cold-case-haunts-womans-family-30-years-later/5663232/

https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/gone-cold-podcast-texas-true-crime-21107/killed-in-broad-daylight-sylvia-salinas-1246584531

In my ongoing pursuit of finding lesser known unsolved cold cases, I frequently use the newspaper archives as one of my research tools. Oftentimes I come across articles that, due to a lack of information, I save for later use. Several years ago I began compiling these cases into “categories” and sharing them here.

Today I am sharing seven stories of unsolved Halloween pranks that resulted in tragedy.

Story 1

On October 31, 1969, 25-year-old Myron Parenuik was traveling alone along a secluded section of highway in rural Canada. The dense patches of fog that evening made for limited visibility, and unfortunately, by the time a large tree that was laying across the roadway came into view, it was too late. Myron’s vehicle struck the tree at full speed.

The tree had fallen at “eye level” across the roadway, resting on an incline on either side of the road. According to police, it had “made a convertible” out of Myron’s car, nearly decapitating him. Sadly, he did not survive the accident.

Evidence at the scene indicated the tree had been felled using a chain saw. Police discovered a fresh “wedge” of trunk had been removed, causing it to fall in the direction of the highway. Less than ten miles away, on the same road, police discovered a second tree lying across the roadway. It too had a small wedge removed. A matching set of shoe prints and tire tracks showed the same person had been responsible for both incidents.

Unfortunately, despite a lengthy investigation, the person responsible was never identified.

Story 2

On Halloween night, 1939, Angus McMillan, a 46-year-old life insurance salesman, had returned to his hometown of Kelowna to celebrate the holiday with loved ones. After a visit with his brother, Daniel, Angus left.

However, the following morning, Daniel discovered his brother's car still running in the driveway. Upon closer inspection, he found Angus slumped over the steering wheel. Tragically, he was pronounced deceased upon arrival at the hospital.

A subsequent investigation revealed a partially eaten apple, deliberately lodged in the vehicle's already faulty tailpipe, had caused a lethal accumulation of carbon monoxide gas within the vehicle.

The person responsible was never found.

Story 3

On October 31, 1945, a Halloween prank in Russellville, Indiana, had devastating consequences. Romulus Boyd, a respected 82-year-old former high school principal and bank president, was well-known for his fear of fire. He had oftentimes expressed this fear to his former students, neighbors, and fellow employees at the bank.

A group of local youths, capitalizing on this vulnerability, set a pile of leaves ablaze on Romulus’ front porch using kerosene. When he opened his door to investigate the disturbance, the shock and terror of the flames triggered a massive sudden heart attack. Sadly, Romulus was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The group responsible were never found.

Story 4

(Warning this story contains details of animal cruelty. Reader beware.)

On November 1, 1996, El Paso, Texas resident Sam Ponder awoke to discover his Halloween display had been gruesomely vandalized. The vandals had replaced a jack-o-lantern, used as a dummy's head, with a real severed horse's head.

The person/s responsible was never found.

Story 5

On October 29, 1956, a Halloween prank in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, nearly caused a man to go blind. Neil Bolier, a seasoned semi-truck driver, was the unfortunate victim of said prank. That night, as he navigated the dark roads, a group of pranksters, traveling at high speed in the opposite direction, hurled a large pumpkin directly at his vehicle. The force of the impact shattered the windshield, sending a shower of glass into the cab.

Miraculously, Neil managed to bring his truck to a safe stop. However, over 50 pieces of glass had to be extracted from his eyes and face. Thankfully, doctors were able to save his eyesight and Neil made a full recovery .

The individuals responsible were never identified.

Story 6

On the morning of November 1, 1952, Herbert Bucholz and his two children, 3-year-old Wayne, and 6-year-old Pamela, were involved in a major traffic accident as a result of a Halloween prank. Tragically both children died; Pamela at the scene of the accident, and Wayne just days later in the hospital.

An investigation revealed a pair of stop signs were removed from a busy Wisconsin intersection on Halloween night, leading to the fatal car accident that had claimed the childrens’ lives.

Unfortunately, no arrests were ever made.

Story 7

On November 1, 1934, a passerby stumbled upon the nude body of a man in an empty Virginia parking lot. The victim was later identified as John Rainey, a WW1 veteran who had passed away a month prior.

A chilling investigation revealed that John’s body had been exhumed from a nearby cemetery as part of a Halloween prank. The perpetrators had desecrated his grave, then partially undressed his corpse, before dragging John’s body a quarter-mile to the parking lot, leaving behind a trail of tattered clothes and human “debris” in the process.

Despite a lengthy investigation the person responsible was never found.

Sources

Newspaper Clippings

Newspapers.com

Previous Similar Write Ups

Bizarre Break-ins Part 1

Bizarre Break-ins Part 2

The Parakeet Murders

Nicholas Cordova was born on October 16, 1979, in Mesa, Arizona. In his childhood, Nicholas moved to Casper, Wyoming, before he and his family moved back to the Phoenix Valley. Nicholas and his sister were raised by their mother and grandmother, and Nicholas was said to be calm and mellow, with great energy, and he was always smiling. In his teen years, Nicholas would attend Chandler High School, where he excelled in sports- being on both the football and wrestling teams. Nicholas  graduated from high school in 1998, and had a scholarship to college for his excellency in football, but at some point in his college career he shifted gears, and then went on to become a personal trainer, helping others with their fitness goals. Later in life, Nicholas would shift gears as far as his career, and entered into the heating & ventilation trade.

Nicholas would meet his wife, Alysha, in 2003, at his sister’s graduation party when his cousin had introduced them to one another. At the time, Alysha was 18 and Nicholas was 23 years old. The two spent time with one another at the party and hit it off immediately. When asked about how they met, Alysha told Fox 10 Phoenix news:

”Then at the end of the night, he was standing at the door when I left, and I was like, ‘You're cute, you should give me your number.’ And so, he gave me his number, and I feel like the rest is kind of history from there."

 They began dating and had dated for several years, before they decided they would wed in October of 2011. The couple would go on to have two children- they welcomed a baby boy named Cruize in 2012, and a baby girl they named Capri in 2015. The family was very close, with Nicholas being described as a devoted father and attentive husband. They were lucky enough to have a close support system of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents living around them, as they both grew up in Arizona. Things were going very well for the family. Alysha said this about their growing family:

”We were two and done. We had our son, and we had our daughter. We said if we had two boys, he was like, ‘We’d be done.’ I was like, ’No, if we had two boys, we’d try for a third.’ I could have talked him into it."

  In 2018, Nick bought half of an established cooling and heating company in the East valley called Gilbert Air, making him the co-owner of the business. The other co-owner was a man named David Sweetman, who preferred to be a “silent” partner-leaving the day to day tasks to Nicholas, such as organizing the teams and dealing with customers. Dave would only come into the office about once a month. The business partners hadn’t known each other well, but Nicholas was very hands on with the business and Dave tended to hang out on the sidelines, so the two hadn’t had a chance to become well acquainted.

Customers loved Nicholas, and left great reviews about him online, speaking about how kind and hard working he was. One such review stated:

”I can't say enough about this company! Hard to find good & honest businesses now a days. We had them go out to my mothers home to give her a quote. Nick not only took his time but explained and answered all her questions and concerns. The price was better than we expected and he actually saved her money on work she was told she needed by other companies. I will forever be grateful and highly recommend this company to everyone.”

Nick aspired to grow his half of the business over the next 5 years, where he then planned to sell it, and devote his time to being with his family and focusing on his children. His goal was to make enough money to retire early, because at the time he had been working so much at Gilbert Air that he didn’t feel he was spending sufficient time with his wife and children, with Alysha saying:

”He was gone a lot. He would leave sometimes before the kids got up. I'd be like, ‘Please be home before they go to bed so they can see you.’ But, he worked a lot and really tried to build the company up. It was his third baby."

Over Memorial Day weekend of 2020, the family spent a few days in Forest Lakes, after the stay at home order in Phoenix had just expired as it was I the midst of the pandemic. Their extended family and a handful of friends joined them, and they spent time enjoying what nature had to offer. When the family returned home, it was back to normal, which meant that Nicholas had to head back to work at Gilbert Air. Alysha was grateful they had this last weekend trip together, leaving her with memories in the form of smiling photos of Nicholas and the children.

On Wednesday, May 27th, Nick was in his office at Gilbert Air, located on the corner Guadalupe and Cooper Roads in the city of Gilbert, when he received a FaceTime call from his wife. Alysha explained to Nicholas that Cruize had just learned a cool trick from a TikTok video, and he wanted to show his dad what he had learned. Alysha handed the phone over to her children before heading into the kitchen to wash some dishes in the sink. She was only half listening to their conversation, but three minutes into the call she had overheard Capri say “Something is wrong with dad,” which immediately got her attention. She rushed back into the living room to grab the phone and check on her husband, but when she did, the screen only showed white- as if it had been dropped or put inside a pocket. The audio was working, however. She listened and heard some muffled sounds and shuffling, before the sounds of someone yelling.

Alysha tried to ask her husband what was happening, but she got no response. She rushed to grab her other phone and call 911, keeping Nicholas on FaceTime on her IPhone. In a panic, she explained to the dispatcher that someone had attacked her husband in his office, saying this:

”I think they’re beating him… I didn’t see anyone… I’m pretty sure I saw a black glove or gun above… I didn’t hear any shots or anything though. I could hear him yelling, screaming – someone was hitting him.”

While she was still on the phone with 911, Alysha could overhear a male voice on the FaceTime call. She yells to the man that she has the police on the phone, asking who he was. She gets no response, but only those same muffled sounds. Then she is heard saying “Dave! Pick up the phone!” referring to Nicholas’ co-owner, David Sweetman. The dispatcher hears this interaction and asks Alysha who that is. Alysha, distracted with trying to get Dave’s attention, doesn’t respond, but then finally says that it is her husband’s business partner, saying:

”He just came into the building, I don’t know.. He’s just saying ‘Oh my God.’”

Alysha recalled her helplessness being on the phone with 911, stating:

”It's terrifying. I felt helpless because I'm just screaming through this phone like someone, like someone do something. Someone say something. I’m pretty sure I saw a black glove or black gun above. I didn’t hear any shots or anything though. I could hear him screaming, yelling, someone was hitting him."

  Police were quickly dispatched to the office in Gilbert, and Alysha gathered her kids and made the twenty minute drive to her husband’s work. When she arrived there, the scene was already roped off with yellow tape, and she was told she was not allowed to go past when she attempted to dash underneath it. Alysha questioned where the ambulance was, or if Nick had already been transported to the hospital, desperate to know what was going on. The officers in front of her stayed quiet, before a detective walked over to her and explained the bad news- her husband was dead. She recalls crumbling to the ground, in shock.

Gilbert Police immediately began their investigation, questioning neighboring offices and local nearby businesses. No one nearby had heard any gunshots, and neither had Alysha while she was on the FaceTime call. David Sweetman was also questioned, and he had handed over his own gun for testing. He explained what happened that afternoon, saying that he had been knocked out by the attackers from behind, and when he finally gained consciousness, the suspects were gone. That’s when he heard Alysha’s voice on the phone and discovered Nicholas’ body. When asked if Dave would like to be transported to the hospital or given medical attention for his head injury, he had refused their offer. When questioned by police, Sweetman had claimed that there were two men who entered Gilbert Air that day, one who had hit him over the head, and the other had shot Nicholas. He had called it a robbery, however, police quickly noted that a substantial amount of cash had been left behind in the office. Two witnesses claimed that they had left the building at 5pm that day and hadn’t seen anything suspicious, but, did state that Nicholas and David had a closed door meeting right before the two witnesses left, and it was louder than usual. Alysha had stated that after the murder, someone had insinuated to her that Nicholas had been involved in something shady, but Alysha adamantly denies this, stating:

”He wasn't involved in anything shady or any criminal activity. Is there something I could have possibly not have known? No way. 100%. There was nothing, nothing shady going on with him at all."

  Police also gathered security footage of the area. They had heard from a witness that they had seen two men leaving the parking lot in a white pickup truck shortly after the murder. The police noted how tight the timeline was: the FaceTime called started at 5:25, Alysha was alerted by Capri at 5:28, and had called the police at 5:30. All of this had happened in under 5 minutes. On surveillance footage that has never been shown to the public, the entire murder was caught on tape. According to Alysha, which has been relayed to her by police, the surveillance footage from outside of the officer shows Nick running out the door, followed by two men: one tall slender Mexican man, and another Mexican man who is shorter and heavyset. Nick tries to escape, but the shooter fires 5 shots- the first three miss, and the last two enter in Nicholas’s back. The two men were wearing bright colored construction outfits.

In mid-June, police released surveillance video of an Arco gas station a few blocks away from the site of the murder. It had been time stamped at 5:33 p.m., showing a stocky man enter the gas station, pay for gas with cash, before pumping it and leaving. He was described as standing around 5’8” with a heavy build, wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans. This man was identified to be a suspect in the murder of Nicholas Cordova, and it is now determined that this man wasn’t the shooter, but he was the accomplice and driver of the truck seen fleeing the parking lot of Gilbert Air. The truck was described by police as being a two-tone red and silver Ford F-150.

  When Nicholas became co-owner of Gilbert Air in 2018, he applied for two life insurance policies, one for $3 million which named Alysha as the beneficiary, and one for $5 million for the business. However, without Alysha’s knowledge, in December of that same year, the beneficiary was changed to Gilbert Air. So, in the event of Nick’s death, Gilbert Air would receive the $8 million dollar payout, and not his wife. Taking out a life insurance on a business partner or employee is not uncommon- this allows the business to keep functioning in the event of the death of someone with an important role. However, three days after Nichoa’s death, Dave pressured Alysha to file the insurance claim, and told her that her part of the claim was a mere $500,000. Alysha filed a complaint with the court, claiming that the change of beneficiaries was fraudulent. The case was taken to court, where the judge decided that the insurance claims would be split 50/50.

In 2013, shortly after what was described as a nasty separation from his wife, neurologist Laura Sweetman, she had died from drowning in her bathtub. Official rulings declared her death as an overdose as well a drowning, and David Sweetman would receive an insurance payout in her death. However, shortly before her death on April 21, 2013, police had been dispatched to the Sweetman home for a domestic dispute, and the report stated that David Sweetman had manhandled Laura against her will, and that he had threatened to kill both her and himself. Laura stated that she had attempted to leave several times but that David had grabbed her by her throat and pulled her back into the residence, and he had repeatedly choked her. Laura was quick to think had had recorded the incident as an audio file on her phone, which lasted one hour and 2 minutes, in order to prove what had happened to the police. Police stated in their report that they had listened to the audio and they had heard David threaten to shoot himself but that they had not heard him threaten to kill Laura. In the recording Laura had asked to leave numerous times but David would not allow her, and at one instance they heard what sounded like a physical struggle and Laura had been yelling for help. Only 9 months later, Laura would be discovered dead in the bathtub due to drowning.

It’s been over four years since the death of Nicholas Cordova, and it appears that very little progress has been made in this case. The Gilbert police department has switched the detectives in Nicholas’ case out four times in four years, and each new detective that is assigned to the case essentially has to start from scratch, so very little progress has been made. The man in the surveillance video has never been identified, and it is also unknown how deeply they dug into David Sweetman. Alysha described life after Nicholas as very difficult- how she misses her best friend, and how their children miss their father, every day. She said that reality began to set in after six months, when she realized Nicholas hadn’t just gone on vacation and would be back, but how he was gone in a permanent way. She believes there will be justice for the death of her husband, and that police will discover who took his life, and her happiness, away that summer evening. If you know anything about the case of Nicholas Cordova, or recognize the man in the surveillance photo, you can contact Gilbert Police at 480. 503. 6500

  In a recent interview with Fix 10 Phoenix, Alysha spoke about life after Nicholas’s death, saying:

”It's really hard being in this house, because this is the home that we'd planned to raise our kids in together. He put that tire swing up in the front yard and everything in here we've done together. But, for me, it's like darkness in here. Having to live in this house that we planned on growing old together in, and then him not physically being here."

*Links*

[Phoenix Fox 10](https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/who-killed-nick-cordova-fathers-murder-heard-over-facetime-remains-unsolved-gilbert-pd)

[Scottsdale Progress](https://www.scottsdale.org/city_news/police-seek-help-in-probing-scottsdale-man-s-slaying/article_f5b0953c-b266-11ea-9211-db989884ddf5.html)

I love reading these kinds of posts, especially around Halloween, so I thought I'd make my own.

Here are two of my favourite spooky mysteries!

The Green Children of Woolpit

The Green Children of Woolpit is a legend that dates back to the 12th century. According to chroniclers William of Newburgh and Ralph of Coggeshall, two green-skinned children—a brother and sister— were discovered in a wolf pit near the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England. The children also wore strange clothes and spoke in an unknown language. At first, they refused to eat any food other than raw beans,e but eventually adapted to eating a regular diet. While the boy reportedly died shortly after their arrival, the girl eventually adapted to life in Woolpit, eventually losing her green tint and learning English. The girl later explained that she and her brother came from a place called “St. Martin’s Land,” where the sun never shone and everything was green. She said they had become lost when they followed their father’s cattle into a cave and, after following the of church bells, they found themselves in the wolf pit were they were found. Some theories speculate that the children may have been refugees from a nearby Flemish settlement, with the “green” skin potentially caused by dietary deficiencies.

Sources

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Green-Children-of-Woolpit/

https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/09/28/who-were-the-green-children-of-woolpit/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_children_of_Woolpit

The Devil’s Footprints

In 1855, after a heavy snowstorm in Devon, locals awoke to find a strange set of hoof-like tracks that stretched over 100 miles through towns, rivers, and walls as if the whatever made the footprints could walk through or over anything. Many believed that the tracks were made by the devil, while others suggested an unknown animal such as hopping mice or an escaped kangaroo private menagerie but to this day, the origin of the footprints remains a mystery.

Sources

https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/the-mystery-of-the-devils-footprints/

https://www.davidcastleton.net/devils-footprints-devon-snow-england-hoofmarks-hoofprints/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Footprints

Happy Halloween everyone!

This is a weekly thread for media recommendations. What have you watched/read/listened to recently? What is a podcast, video, book, or movie that you've enjoyed and think others would also enjoy? Let us know in the comments.

A woman sat huddled in the bus stop in front of the busy car wash on Grand and Van Buren in Phoenix, Arizona, for hours (Google Street View). Dirty vehicles entered the car wash and departed, dripping and clean. Buses came and went, yet the woman in the blue coat never stood to continue her journey. She had, in fact, been deceased for several hours – or perhaps, days.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner later determined that the woman at the bus stop had died as the result of a methamphetamine overdose. A sketch of the woman’s face was distributed and shown on the local news, but no one came forward to claim or name her. She was Caucasian with short, slightly curly brown hair, blue eyes, and was thought to be between the ages of 45 and 65 (born between about 1958-1978). She stood about 5’4” and weighed 128 pounds at the time of her death. A rose was tattooed on her right calf, and a heart with two names, which have not been released, on her upper left arm. The weather had been cool for Phoenix – between 45-68°F – and the woman wore a blue United Colors of Benetton jacket over a blue tank top, along with gray sweatpants and multicolored socks.

Investigators entered the woman’s DNA into CODIS, and checked her fingerprints with the FBI, but came up empty handed. After remaining unidentified for over a year, the Maricopa County Medical Examiner has chosen to partner, once again, with the Investigative Genetic Genealogy department at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Students and researchers at RIGG will utilize DNA databases where users have opted in to allow law enforcement access, such as GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA, in an effort to gain a lead in the search for the woman at the bust stop’s identity.

SOURCES:

1. Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center: Cases in Progress

2. NamUS: Unidentified Person #UP101894

3. Unidentified Wiki: Phoenix Jane Doe (2023)

4. Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner: Unidentified Persons Bureau: Case Number 23-01464

5. WorldWeather: Weather in Phoenix in February 2023did

Farrell - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost
Shaylene was a senior at Piqua High School. at 10a on Monday August 8, 1994, she left to go to the nearby shop and save store where she worked part time to purchase an iced tea.

She drove her mother's silver 1981 Chevrolet Malibu, which was found abandoned in the parking lot of the store on Route 36. Shaylene was reported missing by her mother when she failed to show up to her 7:00 PM shift that day. 

In the weeks before her disappearance her mother caught her smoking marijuana and kicked her out. Shaylene was staying with a friend, but still kept in close contact with her family.

Suspected serial killer Christopher J Below has been mentioned as a potential suspect in her case.

Years ago, I spoke with her mother while preparing an episode on this case and her mother mentioned a couple of local men that she suspected. They have not been named publicly.

it is widely reported that police believe Shaylene met with foul play.

Description -

• Dark brown hair
• Hazel eyes.
• Pierced ears.
• Brown mole under lower lip.
• Birthmark on left thigh above knee.
• Scar on right leg above knee.
• Four missing teeth and fillings in eleven teeth.
• Smoked cigarettes and occasionally drank.
• May wear eyeglasses.

Old thread on her case from 5 years ago - Shaylene Farrell, Missing from Piqua, Ohio 25 years ago this week : r/UnresolvedMysteries

Shaylene Marie Farrell – The Charley Project

Song was raised in Seoul, South Korea. In 1995 she immigrated to America and lived among relatives in Springfield, Virginia After high school she enrolled in Pennsylvania State University. Song planned to majore in integrative arts. She was scheduled to graduate during the spring of 2002.

Song attend and on campus Halloween party on October 31 2001 . At 2:00Am on the following moring of November 1 2001, Song left the party. She then visited a friend's residence staying for a few hours that moring. A second friend then drove an intoxicated Song home. Song exited the friends vehicle, outside of her residence at State College Park Apartments in the 300 block of west Clinton Avenue. This was the last time her friend would see Song alive. Four day passed by until Song's friend group reported her missing on November 4 2001.

Inside her apartment remained behind a number of personal belongings. Among these items were Song's car keys pocketbook, credit card and driver's license. Her cell had been turned off. Call logs indicated she didn't contact anyone the night she vanished or in the days after. Song's family, who traveled from South Korea to the United States after her disappearance, cleaned her apartment shortly after the initial police search. In doing so they may have accidentally destroyed critical evidence.

Song did not have any travel plans in November 2002. Her loved ones stated that it is uncharacteristic of her to leave without informing anyone before hand. Those who knew her insisted that she was mentally and emotionally fine. Stating Song displayed no personal problems at the time of her disappearance.

Law enforcement did however explore the possibility that Song's disappearance was drug-related. Her personal diary seemed to indicate she and her friends experimented with marijuana and LSD. Eventually police discarded this angle of investigation due to lack of evidence.

At some point investigators investigated a lead from a woman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hundreds of miles away from when Song was last seen. In Philadelphia's chinatown area

The tip alleged that a short while after Song disappeared ,the witness saw a woman who matched Song's description. The witness claimed Song was in the company an unidentified man. The witness told investigators this woman called for help. The man with her then told the witness to leave them alone. The man was described as having an olive skin complexion with medium lenght hair. Law enforcement officers discounted this statement ,due in lagre part to the alleged witness's story being inconsistent.

Another possible lead was investigated when bank robber Hugo Marcus Selenski was arrested and several skeletal human remains, believed to be from between five and twelve people, were found in his backyard. However none of the remains were from Song.

Selenski confess to officers both he and an his accomplice, (Michael Jason Kerkowski Jr.,) and kidnapped her and kept her captured in a walk-in safe in his home. At sometime Slelenski stated Song died during her captivity. Him and Kerkowski then buried Song's body in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

Kerkowski could not confirm or deny Selenski's account because he was one of the people buried in Selenski's backyard. (Selenski said he murdered Kerkowski after learning that he had kept Song's bunny ears as a souvenir of the crime.) One of Selenski's other accossiates however, told police that Selenski bragged of the murder to him. Police were unable to prove Selenski's connection to Song's disappearance and suspected murder. He is still considered a suspect/person of interest. Selenski was acquitted of the murder,but was convicted in 2006 on two counts of necrophilia.

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3643dfpa.html

https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/3088

This is a weekly thread for off topic discussion. Talk about anything that interests you; what's going on in your world?. If you have any suggestions or observations about the sub let us know in this thread.

The Hoggle siblings went missing in Maryland 10 years ago last month.

They were 2 and 3 years old at the time of their disappearance.

"It's hard to even really put into words," their dad, Troy Turner says. "I mean, you realize how long it's been and then you realize how little has really happened."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an age progression for the siblings at the 10 year mark since their disappearance.

Turner last saw his kids Labor Day weekend in 2014.

"I remember we had.. a good day overall," he says of September 6th.

The kids' mother, Catherine, had been doing well overall, after a previous hospitalization for mental health.

The family had also made a plan together with the hospital, that she wouldn't be left alone with the kids.

The family had gotten together earlier in the day and then he dropped them off at Catherine's parents' house, waiting for Catherine's dad to arrive, before saying goodbye to the kids so he could go to work.

"[I] kissed the kids goodbye, told them I loved them."

That evening, at some point, Catherine had been left alone with the kids. She apparently took two-year-old Jacob to get some pizza.

When Catherine's mother got home and Catherine returned without Jacob, she said she'd left the toddler at a friend's house for a sleepover.

"No one calls me when she comes back without my child," Turner says. "Had I received that call, then Sarah would still be with us, because the second I got that call, I would have called the police."

Instead, he gets home on the later side and decides not to wake the kids with a good night kiss.

"I say this with great regret," he says, "it's the one that I didn't go in, when I got back later, to kiss my kids and you know, kneel by the bed."

"I was tired and perhaps it was selfish," he added. "I said, if I wake them up, then I'm up too, so I went to sleep."

But the next morning, Catherine and the two kids are gone.

He's on the phone with police when Catherine pulls up without them.

She tells Troy that she took them and dropped them off at a daycare. He believed her, until later in the day when he asked her to tell him where to pick them up. Catherine leads Troy on a wild goose chase around Montgomery County from one daycare to another. At one point saying she didn't know the name, location or phone number of where she dropped them off.

Troy eventually decides to go to the police station and Catherine asks to stop for some soda first. They do, because he knows she needs the caffeine with her meds, and she bails.

He goes without her, to report her missing as well, and Catherine's mother is there, which is when he learns Jacob had never returned home the night before.

Catherine was at one point charged with murder in this case but was found incompetent to stand trial. After 5 years of being found incompetent to stand trial, the State's Attorney had to drop the charges, per Maryland law.

Troy was asked if he thinks his children are still alive.

"Well, it depends on who you're asking," he says. "If you're asking the logical side of my brain that looks at the facts, talks to the police and things like that, then I believe she probably killed them. If you're asking Sarah and Jacob's father, my job is to believe in my kids and try to find them."

https://www.wmar2news.com/marylandcoldcases/a-fathers-decade-long-fight-to-find-his-kids

Sigrid Miller Stevenson was born to her parents Peter and Barbara Stevenson on January 24, 1952, in Alameda county, California. Sigrid was the first child born to the couple, and she was raised along her younger sister Sylvia in Livermore, California, 40 miles east of San Francisco. Sigrid’s father, who was a lieutenant in the Marine Corps and went on to be a nuclear chemist, had a love for music, which he happily passed onto his young daughter. Peter taught Sigrid how to play the guitar at a young age, which sparked a love for music and the arts, just like her father had, and she would take this passion and move onto the instrument she would come to love the most: the piano. Sigrid began to take piano lessons at an early age and that talent developed and blossomed into her deepest passion, and something that she would continue with for the rest of her life. In Sigrid’s school years, she would perform in piano recitals and volunteered for the school’s drama department, playing the piano in the school plays. This love of the arts wasn’t just restricted to the piano, however, as Sigrid also was a writer as well as a medium artist.  Sigrid, or “Siggy,” as she was called by friends, stated that Sigrid was fiercely independent, a free thinker, and a bit of an introvert. Though she had many friends, Sigrid was known to keep people at arm’s length, and much more preferred to spend time on her own. One of Sigrid’s favorite activities was to take long walks by herself in the scenic spots of Livermore, where she would find somewhere secluded, sit down, and either write in her journal, or sketch. Her teachers at Livermore High School described Sigrid as unique, artistic, eccentric, and one professor even went as far as to call her “weird.” While Sigrid preferred to focus on the artistic side of life, she was also a very good student, and graduated from Livermore High School in the spring of 1970

 In the fall of 1970, Sigrid began attending classes at the University of California at Riverside, where she had wanted to pursue a degree in music and education. At the time, Sigrid’s main goal was to become a concert pianist, but this dream began to shift and change during her time at college. When Sigrid wasn’t attending classes at the college, she was teaching at her side job, where she taught the piano to special needs children, which sparked something inside of her. Sigrid had a deep love for children, and during her time teaching, she realized that she wanted to pursue a degree in education so she could become a music teacher. While away at college, Sigrid’s parents would often call her and try to persuade her to become more involved with college activities- whether it be making friends, going to dances, or even date- but, Sigrid had no interest in anything other than her love for music and pursing her passion in education. Fellow students said that Sigrid would practice the piano for hours every morning and every night, and if there was an unoccupied piano around, Sigrid was on it. Her peers had admired her passion for music and the arts, but they would also acknowledge that it was an obsession, and one that could not be derailed or broken.

Sigrid graduated from University of California at Riverside in 1974, when she was 22 years old. After graduation Sigrid, following her wanderlust, took some time to travel, when she wasn’t teaching children how to play the piano. In 1976, Sigrid made a life altering decision: She wanted to pursue her master’s degree in musical education, and she knew exactly where she wanted to study at. Sigrid applied to Trenton State in New Jersey, which was located forty miles northeast of Philadelphia. Sigrid had chosen this particular school because at the time, it was well known for being one of the best music instruction schools in the country. Sigrid enrolled at Trenton when she was 24 years old in the fall of 1976, where she was registered in advanced music classes as a graduate student. Sigrid did exceedingly well in her classes and managed to impress her professors in her studies and her gift in music, and things seemed to be going well for her. One sticking point for Sigrid was her relationship with her dorm roommate, who she didn’t seem to get along with, as her roommate found her to be bothersome. This roommate stated that Sigrid did a lot of solo travel and hitchhiking, which worried her, and that Sigrid seemed to be far too trusting and friendly with strangers.

 One of Sigrid’s favorite places to be on the Trenton campus was Kendall Hall, a theatre that was constructed in 1932 which housed two theatres, one larger and one smaller, offices, classrooms, and a costume shop. Sigrid would often ride her green bike to Kendall Hall and sneak into the building after it was already closed, in order to play the piano for as long as she liked. People who knew Sigrid stated that she would stay on the main stage of Kendall Hall playing the piano for hours, often times into the late hours of the night, or early hours of the morning, and then sleep underneath the stage or crash in the costume department. Kendall Hall was notorious for being easy to sneak into at the time, because the locks of the building didn’t lock properly, and security would routinely search the hall for students who may have snuck in there, and give them a fair but firm warning to leave. Sigrid herself was caught in Kendall Hall many times after hours, and she was ordered to go, much to her dismay.

After Sigrid had completed her first year of schooling at Trenton State, Sigrid did a bit of travelling around, but it’s unknown exactly where these travels had taken her. After some time, Sigrid returned back to the area and began to rent a room with a Professor from Trenton until August of 1977, when she moved out. After this, she began to rent a room from in local firefighter’s home that he shared with his family, however, this man nor his family has ever been identified publicly. Things were looking good for Sigrid, as she had just gotten a job teaching music at Fisher Junior High and would be scheduled to start that fall. In her free time, Sigrid continued teaching music to special needs children and began singing in the choir at the local Presbyterian church. At the end of August, Sigrid, following the deep wanderlust in her soul, decided to take an extended hitchhiking trip throughout New England, through Canada, and as far as Nova Scotia. Though funds were limited, Sigrid kept her trip going by selling sketches of the landscapes she was visiting to locals in the area. When Sigrid returned to New Jersey on Friday, September 2, Sigrid suddenly found herself without any place to stay, as the firefighter and his family were out of town and their return had gotten delayed. With nowhere else to go, Sigrid began to sneak back into Kendall Hall and spend her evenings playing the piano before sleeping in the costume room once again.

Classes were scheduled to begin on September 7, where over 5000 grad students were enrolled, but the week leading up to classes beginning, the campus was like a ghost town. The weekend prior to the start of the fall semester, only 50 students and staff members were on the campus grounds, and that number dwindled when Labor Day was beginning to approach. Over the summer, Kendall Hall was being used frequently, as local theatre groups would put on plays and the school’s theatre workshop used the stage, but the final play of the season was put on on Saturday, September 3^(rd). The play that day had 16 cast members, 30 people were in attendance in the audience, and a few of the cast members had personally invited Sigrid to be in the audience and watch the final production. Later, when speaking to police, many cast members had confirmed that Sigrid had attended, and afterwards she had joined the cast and crew downstairs in the basement dressing room for an after party. At the party, Sigrid had spent time talking to the cast members about the predicament of her host family being out of town, and how she would be sleeping at Kendall Hall for the next few nights. Sigrid left the party at 12:30 am and went to sleep in the costume shop, while the party continued. Before she went to sleep, Sigrid had written in her journal how annoyed she was that the cast members were being so loud when she wanted to turn in for the night, and how she wanted to wake up early and leave the building before she was caught by security who make their patrol of the hall around 11 am. Sigrid wrote about how she was nervous about being caught, because she had already been warned numerous times by security in the past about sleeping in the building.

 Sigrid was spotted the next day in the afternoon, where an acquaintance had seen her at a movie theatre about 15 miles away from Trenton State. It’s never been verified which movie theatre this actually was, however, that was the last confirmed sighting of the 25 year old. At 11:30 pm on Sunday night, 22 year old security guard Thomas Kokotajilo was doing his normal round around the campus, and as he approached the south entrance of Kendall hall, he saw a familiar sight: a green bicycle parked in the bike rack outside the doors. This caught Thomas’ attention as the building should have been completely unoccupied at that time of night, so Thomas made his way around to the front entrance, assuming he would come upon a student trespasser inside and need to escort them out. The front entrance was locked, Thomas took out his keys and opened the doors and made his way inside the dark building. All the lights were off except for the red lights of the emergency exit signs that lit up the hallway, and he recalled having a very eerie feeling as he travelled down the hallways towards the main stage entrance. As he approached the stage, Thomas spotted what looked to be a white canvas sheet lying in the middle of the stage next to the piano, surrounded by pools of blood. Thomas climbed onto the stage, and using his flashlight, he could see that underneath the sheet was a nude human body. He drew his weapon fearing the killer was still inside and called for backup. When authorities arrived, they discovered that the body was of a woman, and she had been hit about the head, with the damage to her face being so extensive that they could not immediately identify her by features alone. The woman’s head had been covered by either her own blood-soaked shirt, with police theorizing this might have been done to muffle her screams, and some reports state that her wrists had at one point been bound. Blood was everywhere, from the floors, to the piano and music sheets, and there had been a trail of blood from the piano to where the body was left in the middle of the stage, as if she had been dragged to that spot. The bottoms of the woman’s feet were bloody and caked with mud.

 At the scene, the police collected a few of the woman’s personal effects, and through this, they were able to identify her as Sigrid Stevenson. They found her backpack which contained her journal, sketchbook, and a large amount of clothing. Inside the backpack they also found her wallet which held Sigrid’s ID, $7 in cash, and a handful of traveler’s checks, and a can of beans. Due to the money and the traveler’s checks being left at the scene, a robbery gone wrong was quickly ruled out. Dr. Stanley Austin, the supervisor of the graduate music program, was brought in as a second confirmation that the woman lying dead on the stage was in fact Sigrid Stevenson, according to the ID, but he was only able to identify her as Sigrid based on her hair, as the damage done to her face was too extensive.

The murder weapon, which has only ever been described as a blunt instrument, was missing from the scene, and authorities speculated that it could have been a heavy piece of wood that had been under the piano to balance it, as it was missing after the murder. They believed that Sigrid had been playing the piano when the attacker snuck up behind her, surprising her. Unfortunately, no evidence leading to who the killer might be was left behind at the scene: surprisingly, there were no fingerprints, footprints, fibers, or hair left behind.

Police read through every entry of Sigrid’s diary, and while they acknowledged it as thorough and well written, none of the entries had provided any clues as to who may have wanted to harm Sigrid. They turned to faculty and staff in order to see if they had any information about what may have happened, and Dr. Stanley Austin told them a very important piece of information: that they white canvas sheet covering Sigrid was a piano cover, and it hadn’t belonged to the piano that Sigrid was playing that night. In fact, it hadn’t belonged in that building, at all. The piano Sigrid was playing was old and essentially worthless, so they didn’t feel the need to cover it, however, a $10,000 piano located in Bray Hall across campus had a white canvas piano cover, and Dr. Austin confirmed that the cover lain across Sigrid’s body was the one from Bray Hall. Another staff member came forward to state that he had seen the white cover on the $10,000 piano only a week prior. Unlike Kendall Hall, Bray Hall was newer and had functioning locks, and in order to get into the concert hall where the cover had been, one would need exactly three keys to enter. One key to enter Bray Hall, another key to enter the concert hall, and a final key to get into Kendall Hall. There were no windows at Bray Hall that one could break and enter the building. The question was who had all three keys in order to enter and retrieve the piano cover? And why? Police theorized that the killer had retrieved the piano cover in order to use it to remove Sigrid’s body, but had changed his mind.

Dr. Austin had only two keys, and the janitors on staff also only had two keys. The only people in possession of all three keys were the 12 campus police officers and the 7 security officers. Dr. Austin was adamant that no one could enter Bray Hall without a key, and stated to authorities:

“Believe me, if there was a way that anyone could have gotten access to the concert room and the piano, Sigrid would have found it.”

Campus law enforcement was being looked at closely, for two reasons. One, for the fact that they were the only ones who had all three keys in order to get the piano cover, and two, because the marks around Sigrid’s wrists that had left a deep symmetrical furrow appeared to possibly be from handcuffs. Behind Sigrid’s back were two arm width spots free from blood, which some investigators feel could have been due to her being handcuffed from behind. Ewing township police ordered that all members of the campus police and security, as well as all officers from Ewing township themselves, turn in their handcuffs and batons for testing, to see if any trace evidence such as blood could be found. They did find blood on one pair of handcuffs from one officer, but it was determined to have from an arrest incident prior to Sigrid’s murder.  Many officers were given polygraph tests, and a handful came back as inconclusive, while the rest came back as truthful. The two officers on duty at Trenton the night of the murder participated in the polygraphs, and both had passed. However, one of the officers on duty that day later was speaking to another officer in the locker room at the police station and this man told the other officer that he had killed Sigrid. The officer that this was told to thought he was kidding, but following his duties, he went to the detectives on the case and reported what he had heard. This officer who had claimed to have been involved in the murder had incidents come to light that he had been drinking a lot and had gone to parties often where he had been harassing women. When spoken to, the officer stated that he hadn’t ever met or spoken to Sigrid, and they hadn’t pressed him further.

While police were beginning their investigation, Sigrid’s body was taken to the Mercer County Medical office for an autopsy. There they discovered the extent of her wounds: she had suffered multiple lacerations to the face and scalp, and had a fractured skull. In total, Sigrid had 15 deep scalp wounds, and her cause of death were blood clots due to the excessive bleeding. In addition, Sigrid had two broken ribs, a broken nose, and bruising on her chest and elbows. They performed a vaginal swab on Sigrid, which showed that there were sperm cells present, but there were dead heads of sperm, and this indicated that she most likely had been sexually assaulted. They estimated Sigrid’s time of death to be anywhere between 7:30 to 10 pm.

Authorities began to interview friends and acquaintances of Sigrid, to dive deeper into her life and background, however, very few people had any insight to share. Dr. Austin had told the police that he knew Sigrid decently well, and all the time he had known her she had never expressed to him any worries about her safety or wellbeing. Police were quick to interview the cast of the play as well as all those who had attended the play on the day of her death. Still, no one was able to offer much. However, a man by the name of Sydney Porcelain came forward, stating that he may be able to help. Sydney was a part of the cast of the play and had loosely known Sigrid, as he had met her the prior July during play rehearsals and had been impressed by her talents on the piano. Sydney had asked Sigrid if she would play the piano for some songs he had wanted to record, and she had agreed, however, she had left town for her hitchhiking vacation shortly afterward and hadn’t had a chance to follow through. Sydney had stated that Sigrid was very friendly and had often told her business to anyone and everyone, and he could understand how she would be “taken advantage of” and how she was “the natural victim type.”

 Sydney went on to tell investigators that he was a self-proclaimed psychic, and that he had even helped the police in prior cases using his psychic skill. He had assisted the police in the John List case at one point, but he got his “visions” embarrassingly wrong. He had told authorities in the List case how John was dead and somewhere nearby, but as it turned out, John was alive and well and later arrested for the murders of his entire family.

 During questioning for Sigrid’s murder, Sydney did produce an alibi, and had offered his “psychic services” in the case, and surprisingly, authorities agreed. He asked to hold Sigrid’s personal possessions in order to pick up “vibrations” from them, and police offered him her backpack. They literally handed over their physical evidence to be touched by someone they were questioning. Sydney held the backpack and stated that he had no prior knowledge of the killing, which seemed impossible, as the facts of the cases were reported on heavily in the papers at the time, but claimed that he sensed she had met a violent death by being beaten and that he kept seeing the letter “S” in his mind. He stated that he couldn’t be sure if the letter S referred to the killer or Sigrid herself. He went on to say that the killer was someone who worked with wire, and that on the day of Sigrid’s death he had a bad “premonition,” but he hadn’t known what it meant, and didn’t elaborate further.

 Another cast member of the play was interviewed, and she stated that she had seen Sigrid on the day of the play and had spoken to her. She claimed that during the first act of the play, Sigrid was in good spirits and was happy and vivacious, but later, after the play was over, Sigrid’s mood had soured and she seemed to be feeling down. Sigrid told the woman that she had gotten into an argument with a man, and that she more or less had “lost the argument.” It couldn’t be determined who this man was who had argued with Sigrid, but it is believed that he was a member of the cast or crew of the play.

 A member of the play named Chuck came on police’s radar years after the murder, and he was seriously considered as a suspect. Chuck’s role in the play was of a police officer, and part of his costume was handcuffs and a baton, which had never been taken in for testing around the time of Sigrid’s death. However, when Sigrid’s personal belongings were inventoried, they discovered a playbill, and inside the playbill under the names of cast and crew, Chuck’s name was circled, and underneath she had written “nice man, gave me a beer.” It is known that Chuck and Sigrid had at least one prior interaction with one another. When the cast was getting ready for the play one evening, chuck had walked into the dressing room Sigrid had been sleeping in, and when he entered, he startled her awake. The two had a lengthy conversation, however, police don’t know the nature of the conversation or what was said. Some officers had wondered if the man that Sigrid had a confrontation with on the last night she was alive could have been Chuck.

 In 2011, an ex-girlfriend of Chuck’s came forward claiming that she believed he had something to do with the murder in 1977. This ex-girlfriend claimed that when she had dated Chuck in the 1980’s he had been incredibly abusive towards her, and one night after a particularly brutal beating, chuck had said to her that he could “kill her and get away with it, because I’ve done it before.” However, Chuck had passed a polygraph around the time of the murder. Furthermore, around the time of this claim, investigators were still working on the case of Sigrid’s murder, and had recovered a partial DNA from the vaginal swabs from the autopsy. This DNA wasn’t enough to test against any suspect profile, however, but, they had another idea. They unknotted the knots in the blouse that had been tied around Sigrid’s head, and they were able to gather a better DNA profile from skin cells left behind. As this was going on, Chuck happened to die in 2016, and eager to get a sample of his DNA to test against, they had to think fast. Authorities contacted Chuck’s brother to see if they could run the DNA profile against his own DNA, and he had agreed. When the results came back, the sample from the knots did not match Chuck and he was quickly ruled out as a suspect.

 In recent years, other suspects have come to the forefront of the investigation. Namely, two suspects who happened to work for Trenton State College. One was a lighting technician, whose mood had abruptly changed after the murder. He is being considered for a handful of reasons: one, being that when Sigrid was playing the piano the night that she died, the lights of the stage must have been turned on for her to see the keys of the piano and read her sheet music. When her body was found, all the lights had been turned off, and only an experienced lighting technician would have been able to work the lights in the theatre as they were complex. Two, because he had the keys to the theatres, and when he was initially interviewed and asked about the keys, he had claimed that he didn’t believe he had them. When police reminded him that he did in fact have keys to the building as part of his job, he suddenly remembered having them, and handed them over to authorities. This man was also polygraphed, and passed, and he had provided a statement to police. While he was initially ruled out as a suspect due to passing the polygraph, detectives in recent years aren’t so keen to disregard him and would like him to be reinterviewed again.

 Another possible suspect being considered as a good candidate as the killer was a maintenance worker for Trenton State College in 1977. He also had keys to the building, and he was known to have frequent interactions with Sigrid and had often let her into the building after hours to sleep or play the piano. He had been spotted with Sigrid many times in the months leading up to the murder, by both students and campus police officers alike. When investigators searched through Sigrid’s belongings shortly after her death, they had discovered his name, address, and phone number written down in her diary, and it was believed the two had some form of a relationship, though the nature of the relationship is unknown. Soon after Sigrid was killed, the maintenance worker, who was known to have substance abuse problems, was fired from Trenton, and shortly after was admitted to a detox program. While he also was polygraphed and passed, he was not investigated thoroughly back in the 1970’s, and recent detectives would like to investigate this man further.

 Sigrid Miller Stevenson was laid to rest in Princeton Cemetery, under a headstone with the simple inscription that read: “Sigrid M Stevenson, 1952-1977.” In the aftermath of her death, an entry was placed in the school yearbook to memorialize her, however, sadly, her name was misspelled. A scholarship in her name was also put into effect, but it doesn’t seem to exist anymore. It seems like Trenton State College more or less forgot Sigrid, with her murder transforming from a real-life story of an innocent brutally murdered woman taken to soon, to a sort of vague ghost story told year after year about a haunted theatre and eerie happenings within the Kendall Hall building. Each year the story changes a little bit more, and new students who hear the tale of the haunted theatre no longer even associated it with a living, breathing, human who had died at the hands of a heartless perpetrator, but rather a tale to share to spook their friends and peers. It’s been 47 years since Sigrid was murdered, and she has never received the justice that she deserves.

Links

Find a Grave

New Jersey.com

Jie Zhao Li was born on April 10, 1975. She lived in Honolulu, Hawaii and attended Royal Elementary School. Jie lived in an apartment on Nuuanu Avenue. She and her family had only arrived in Hawaii the year before (although one source says it was the year before). At the time, her school/classroom was having a fundraiser for a trip to the Big Island and was selling Zippy's Chili tickets door to door.

On the afternoon of February 11, 1988, Jie asked her mother if she could go out and sell some tickets. Her mother agreed and said that Jie should be back by 6:00pm. Jie's mom even gave her a wristwatch so she could keep track of time and see how quickly she could sell tickets. At around 4:45pm, Jie headed to the nearby 7-11 store on Nuuanu Avenue and Kuakini Street.

Jie was seen outside the store asking people if they wanted to buy some tickets. According to the Charley Project: She was speaking to people as they were getting in and out of their cars, and witnesses stated she may have gotten into a Chevrolet sedan, described as a 1955, 1956 or 1957 model. When Jie did not return home by the agreed upon time of 6:00pm, her mom became concerned. Jie was a good kid who would never not come home. Her parents went looking for Jie but was not reported missing until the next morning.

The police conducted a large search for Jie, to no avail. Every car that matched the description of that mid-1950s Chevrolet sedan were looked into but nothing came of it. It was like Jie vanished into thin air. There were some composite sketches of a man who may have been driving the car, but that man has never been identified. Foul play is suspected in her case.

When she vanished, Jie Zhao Li was twelve years old. She stood 4'11 inches tall, weighed around 75 pounds. She had black/dark brown hair, brown eyes and had crooked teeth with partially grown in baby teeth. Jie was wearing a yellow t-shirt, shorts that were either red pink or white, and carried a dark blue purse.

https://charleyproject.org/case/jie-zhao-li

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/24596931/after-26-years-family-still-wonders-where-is-jie-zhao-li/

https://www.khon2.com/news/little-girls-disappearance-remains-one-of-hawaiis-biggest-unsolved-mysteries/

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/33dfhi.html

https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/6301

https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Jie_Zhao_Li

Hello everyone! As always, I'd like to thank you all for the comments and upvotes under my last post about Krista Daniel- I hope that she will be found soon and safe.

Today I'd like to write about a sad but highly interesting Doe case. I've learned about it thanks to this post on the r/gratefuldoe subreddit, and I'd like to give credit where it is due :)

EDIT: It seems like I made quite a big mistake in the title of the post- the car mention wasn't found almost a year later, but a mere few weeks BEFORE the remains were. I am very sorry for the mistake- I must've made it due some tiredness I felt while writing. I had no intention of spreading misinformation. I edited the text of the post where appropriate, but I cannot edit the title. Thank you for your understanding.

DISCOVERY

On the 1st of January, human remains have been found 200 feet (61 m) from the water line in an area known as Lover's Cove, Calville Bay, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada, USA. At this point, the remains consisted of mostly bones, with some soft tissues left. The manner of death was determined to be suicide. It's estimated that he most likely died about two months earlier at most.

The body was determined to belong to a white male, about 30 to 40 years of age. He was estimated to be about 5'3" (63 inch / 160 cm), but his weight couldn't be measured. His eye and hair color are unknown, and it's also unknown if he had any distinguishing marks. There was something a bit unusual about him, however: He's described as having "large mandibular tori", which are bony growths on the inner side of the jaw that can be seen under the tongue. He was wearing a gray jacket, a brown belt, green socks, faded Levi's jeans, and black boots that had a vertical zipper on the inner surfaces. Other items found with him were men's prescription clear glasses with wire frames, a red handkerchief, a small, blue FM Sony Walkman radio, and a red nylon bag.

Receipts found around John's remains implied that he was in Houston, Texas between October-November 1987. A Davis Industries Model D-32, double barrel Derringer pistol with a matching carrying bag were also found near him.

A few weeks earlier, on the 12th of December 1987, a 1973 MGB convertible, bearing Oklahoma plates (AT 1692) was towed from the Calville Bay parking lot. During an additional search of the parking lot, more receipts from the Houston area were found (from a supermarket called Kroger Company and an auto shop), but the most notable item found was a suicide note written by a "Karl Klinge", dated for the 6th of December 1987. It's contents have been released- it goes as follows:

"My name is Karl Klinge. I have been suffering from a terminal illness and I have decided to take my life rather than prolong my pain and suffering. There are no living relatives to notify, all are dead and the most recent was my mother who died two months ago and was my only reason for living. No regrets. Karl Klinge"

Last known owner of the car was allegedly tracked down, but he knew nothing about the man he sold the car to. The gun was never registered or reported as stolen; The manufacturer went out of buisness.

CONCLUSION

Cases of suicides where the deceased leaves some sort of a letter are always very fascinating to me. They give an insight into what pushed the victim to taking their own life, tell us about what mental state they were in, sometimes even into what kind of person they were when they were alive. If what Karl wrote about him is true, then he must've felt very isolated and alone, due to not having any living family left and losing his mother fairly recently.

It's unclear what kind of "terminal illness" Karl had, as there is no info in any of my sources. Perhaps whatever he was suffering from had decomposed (sorry for being graphic) before he was found- something that attacked his organs or soft tissues and couldn't be gleamed from his bones alone. I tried to look up if mandibular tori was a symptom of some disease, but no luck- the main cause seems to be local stress on teeth. Of course, the tori could've been associated with a disease, I'd imagine, but not directly- maybe something like the stress of disease made him clench his jaw in a way that made the tori appear? I suppose that the "terminal illness" could also refer to depression- it could've been a way to frame it without being obvious, as, well, it is often terminal; Many people, potentially including Karl, take their lives due to it.

Some sources state that the car related to this case was "lifted from the water", but that seems to be a misinformation; All the more reliable sources say that it was towed from a parking lot.

Some people theorize that Karl might've been a foreginer, potentially British. Houston is home to an international airport, and that's where he had receipts from. The derringer he had was a small pistol- derringers are known to be pretty much palm-sized, so it's very possible that he bought it explicitly to take his own life. Detectives searched for any Klingres that might've fit the description of Karl's mother, but didn't manage to locate anyone fitting. It's very likely that his name was an alias- wouldn't be the first suicide case where the deceased left a letter with one. However, Karl Klingre was a name of a British driver, which is where the victim might've taken his alias from. If he really was a foreginer, he might've flown to the US to make his identification more difficult.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of determination to solve his case- it's an old suicide, and cases like this tend to be very low on the list of priorities, as there's no threat to the public and a smaller likelyhood of any family actively looking for them (in Karl's case, there literally might be none). However, there is still hope; His dentals are available, as is his DNA- his fingerprints are not, but I saw that he was described to be lacking "at least one" hand, so I'm assuming they were too decayed and likely scattered by animals. Since his DNA is available, it's a matter of time and resources to perform a genetic genealogy on him, and hopefully find out that Karl still has some living relatives after all, even if very distant.

If you believe that you have any info about Karl Klingre's identity, contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at (702) 828-3111 (case number 88-37249).

SOURCES:

1. doenetwork.org
2. NamUS.gov
3. taptalk.com

Karl's websleuths.com thread

I wanted to start a discussion about Aaliyah Hall Bell. Aaliyah, who was 18 at the time went missing two days before Thanksgiving in 2014. Nov 25th, 2014 This case is very local for me and I think about her often.

Per the Charlie Project:

Bell was last seen walking down Chestnut Street near her uncle's home in Rock Hill, South Carolina on November 25, 2014, two days before Thanksgiving. She has never been heard from again. She left behind her cellular phone, wallet, all her clothes and other belongings.

A family member wired her $100 on the day of her disappearance so she could go shopping, but she never picked up the money. Since Bell's disappearance she hasn't been active on her social media accounts and hasn't contacted her family, which is uncharacteristic of her behavior.

There were possible sightings of Bell at a motel after her disappearance. She may be in Charlotte or Fayetteville, North Carolina or in Atlanta, Georgia. Bell's loved ones stated she would not have accepted a ride from a stranger or someone she didn't trust. Her family believes she may not have left voluntarily and, if she did, someone or something may be preventing her from returning home; they are concerned for her safety.

Bell was a student at Phoenix Academy on Flint Street at the time of her disappearance; it's a non-traditional high school with a flexible schedule that offers online classes as well as face-to-face instruction twice a week. She attended school on the day of her disappearance. She planned to become a hairsylist after graduation. Her case remains unsolved.

**In 2023, there was an investigation to see if Rex Heuermann was tied to the disappearance of Aaliyah, however that came back negative. Heuermann has no ties to Aaliyah and her case remains unsolved. —————————————— My understanding and other info:

1. On the night she went missing (after 11pm), Aaliyah left her Uncle Bobby Hall’s home who lived on Chestnut street at the time. She set out to walk to her godmother’s home who lived a couple of blocks away.
2. It was raining that night. It was unclear if it was a misty rain or steady rain.
3. Family reports that while at the Hall residence, Aaliyah did ask an individual (who has not been named) in the home to walk her home and they declined. (Shuts down the runaway theory)
4. Aaliyah left behind her wallet/purse and phones which was unusual.
5. A family member wired Aaliyah $100 earlier that day and it was never picked up.
6. All of her social media activity stopped the night she went missing. She has not been seen or heard from since.
7. Aaliyah went missing in the Southside of Rock Hill which is not the safest at night. However, not too much violent crime happens in Rock Hill these days.
8. Police never mentioned any evidence of a hit and run, which leads me to believe she was picked up/abducted.

I believe Aaliyah was picked up and forced in a vehicle en route to her godmothers home.

Could she have been hit by a vehicle and concealed? It was dark and rainy that night. Did Aaliyah drink or was she drinking that night with family? She was at a family gathering and it isn’t far fetched. Could this have hindered her judgement if so? She did leave her belongings including phone behind. Could she have been randomly abducted? Crime of opportunity?

What are your thoughts?

Source:

https://charleyproject.org/case/aaliyah-shadeay-bell

https://www.live5news.com/2020/11/25/age-progressed-photo-missing-sc-woman-released-mystery-continues/

Yesterday, I took a deep dive on an Air Force Colonel Philip Shue, staff psychiatrist, who died in a car crash (car driven into a tree, resulting in a traumatic head injury and death on the spot) in 2003.

What first appeared to be a tragic accident, quickly turned out to be a very, VERY weird case. Why?

Shue was found with tape wrapped around each wrist and on top of each boot (adhered to the pant legs) with a few inches of it hanging loosely.

More horrifyingly, both of his nipples were cut off along with their aureolas (in a rather clean manner, though one with, apparently, more precision) and he had an incision in the middle of the chest.

His left pinky finger was also cut off.

Furthermore, examination of his underwear and genital area showed that he must have been wearing a diaper at some point before the accident (as proved by fibre and gel residue on his underwear and scrotum, usually found in diapers, and a tab with cartoon moon and sun found in his undershorts).

I found no further comment or information on this other than the original autopsy, so there’s no saying why he wore a diaper in the first place. He was in good physical health, so had no need of it as far as that’s concerned. Possibly, and that’s just my theory, he wore it or had it put on for the duration of inflicting injuries, in case his bladder would let loose due to pain?

At the same time, the aspect of pain was of little concern due to the below information:

Lidocaine (a local anesthetic) was found in his system. Since Shue worked as a staff psychiatrist at Wilford Hall Medical Center at the time of his death, he could have had an easy access to the drug and did, in fact, prescribe himself lidocaine cream for unrelated skin issue on his chest a few days prior.

That being said, the concentration of the drug in his blood was higher than would be expected from topical administration alone (yet not high enough to cause mental deterioration, as noted by the autopsy), which implies he might have (or have been) injected with the drug in the chest area despite the lack of needle marks on his body.

The explanation provided in the autopsy suggests that if he injected himself in the chest, where, indeed, most of his wounds were, further incisions he made (or that had been made to him) would cover the needle marks.

In his car, a few objects of interest had been found:

• a working cellphone (no calls prior to the accident took place—however, a witness who took the phone out just after the accident, reported it was a flip phone with blood on the inside, which might have indicated an attempt by Shue to use it after collision);

• a package of unopened gauge needless;

• 47 dollars in one of Shue’s pockets (but no wallet);

• two small pocketknives;

• latex glove (appearing to never have been worn but covered in blood, same as his steering wheel, and one of the knives);

• a Swiss-army knife.

Additional notes from the scene were as follows:

• No blood found on the scene belonged to anyone but Shue;

• There were no finger prints on the duct tape (neither his or anyone else’s);

• The weapon used to inflict the injuries was not found in the car.

Some of those findings quickly devolved into theories of Shue having been abducted and tortured but miraculously escaping in his car before losing the control of the vehicle and dying in an accident.

There are some information to support this angle, most importantly the apparent death threats that he’s been getting for three years before his demise. His ex-wife (with whom he was not on the best terms) had a life insurance that she’d greatly benefit from should Shue perish.

Additionally, the lack of weapon and finger prints suggested a carefully-orchestrated assault that must have taken place outside of the vehicle and all tools used were discarded (and never found).

This would also, at a first glance, line up with a tragic car accident. After all, if one was escaping his captors after having been tortured, we might expect they’d not be in the best headspace to drive.

The bloody phone would also be an indicator of Shue wanting to call someone for help after driving into the tree (though this is a loose category, considering the information on blood inside it came from a witness who tampered with the scene).

Other than the immediate death scene, Shue had also been reported to have been in good spirits preceding his death. His psychiatrist had been under the impression Shue’s mental condition had been steadily improving.

To add to that, his and his wife’s offer on a new house had been accepted and he was offered a forensic psychology fellowship that’d ensure employment after his upcoming retirement from the Air Force.

Regardless, a suicide angle makes, surprisingly, even more sense.

First off, none of the threats Shue had received have ever been reported to the police, nor even shown to the people closest to him like his wife.

In fact, the whole ordeal that led to threats had been bizarre, at best. Apparently, while studying in a library (late 1999), Shue went to the toilet and, upon returning, found his laptop missing.

He reported theft to the police but the laptop was subsequently returned to him (placed on the roof of his car) alas with his hard drive wiped and a threat of harm to those around him attached. Worthy of note is how the only copy of his thesis was wiped along with the hard drive, which could, potentially suggest someone wanting to harm his career.

Shue did not report those threats, as aforementioned, because, apparently, he was instructed not to by those leaving them.

We only know of this situation because Shue shared the information (without physical proof) with his psychiatrist.

As for the psychiatrist, Shue has been treated with various medications for psychiatric issues over the course of a few years preceding his death as he had suffered from severe anxiety and, as noted by his doctor, paranoia. Interestingly, Shue himself sensed what his doctor thought and mentioned that he knew he sounded paranoid, but what he said was true.

Nevertheless, at the time of death, he has been on a prescription of clonazepam and venlafaxine. However, only the former showed up in the toxicology report. The latter was not present in his blood which indicated he had stopped taking his medication days prior to his death, without consulting his doctor.

The psychiatric issues he has been experiencing for years along with a sudden and uncontrolled putting off his meds (which do increase the anxiety and suicidal thoughts if one suddenly stops taking them) do lead credence to the suicide theory.

Furthermore, the witnesses to his car accident provided accounts that suggest Shue had the control of his vehicle (as implied by him having done a difficult road maneuver before driving a car into the tree) at least up until taking a sharp turn towards his final, and tragic, destination.

Furthermore, no brake lights were on as he approached the tree at increasing speed (60-65 miles per hour). It is, of course, possible that the lights were on but simply no witness observed them.

The psychological autopsy implies that he also passed a police patrol on his way, which, if he was previously abducted and capable of driving a car, would surely get his attention.

The same autopsy also suggests that the lack of strong evidence pointing to homicide, doesn’t mean Shue directly intended to take his life. It is possible the self-mutilation and driving into the tree were meant to injure but not kill him. Or that they were, actually, unrelated.

After all, it has been proven that his pre car crash injuries, while ghoulish, weren’t severe enough to cause intense bleeding and deteriorate his health killing him behind the wheel or even leading to the accident (in as far as physical not mental condition is concerned, of course).

It could be that he was experiencing a psychotic episode and momentarily regained full sanity while already in a car, which scared him and led to the tragic accident.

At the same time, the two could be an exceedingly strange plan to kill himself, full stop.

Regardless of both the physical and psychological autopsy ruling Shue’s case a suicide, there are aspects to the ordeal that make many wonder what had actually occurred.

Did Shue mutilate himself and then committed suicide?

Did he intend to kill himself via the mutilation but, when it failed, drove the car into the tree?

Did he intend for the crash to kill him or simply injure him?

Or was he, despite the evidence pointing elsewhere, tortured (mutilation) and then died tragically as an indirect effect of it?

Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/psychological_autopsy.pdf

https://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/BCME_autopsy.pdf

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/request-files/request/2008/RQ0764GA.pdf

‼️ HIS PARTIAL REMAINS WERE FOUND LAST YEAR

On the evening of December 22, 2018, Matthew was heading home after hanging out with a co-worker in Lacey, Washington. As his cellphone was out of battery and he didn’t have a method of transportation to get home, he decided to walk. While going down Sleater Kinney Road, he noticed a group of individuals across the street, from which three people in hooded sweatshirts began to approach and follow him. Concerned, Matthew decided to enter the nearby Rite Aid store at 7th Avenue SE and Sleater Kinney Road SE to see if they would continue on. However, when he exited the store an hour later, he found them sitting out front.

Believing he was simply being paranoid, Matthew continued on home. Once he’d reached the backroads, he tripped on his work boots and was jumped by the trio following him. According to his account of the assault, the three of them began to beat and cut him. They slashed his body with a knife and carved the word “kill” into his chest. While the assault of happening, Matthew screamed out for help and found himself coming in and out of consciousness.

Matthew managed to make his way home after the three individuals fled. At some point in the night, he recorded a video of himself crying while covered in blood. He posted it to his social media, where it was noticed by his older brother, who tried frantically to get ahold of the then 20-year-old. Matthew took down the video upon waking up the next morning.

Traumatized by what had happened to him the night before, Matthew made his way to his mother’s house on the morning of December 23. Sarah was alarmed by what had happened to her son and urged him to visit the hospital and report the incident to the police, both things Matthew refused to do because he was worried about putting his family in danger. When asked if he knew the three individuals who attacked him, he claimed not to, but stated he hadn’t owed anyone any money when pressed further.

When Matthew later recounted the incident to his friends, he refused to mention any names or reveal why anyone would want to harm him, simply stating he knew that people were out to get him.

Outside of the assault in December 2018, Matthew was experiencing stress as a result of his financial situation. In order to pay his bills, his mother suggested he focus on finding a job, something he eventually did.

Fast forward to February 28, 2019, Matthew and his sister spent the day bowling. Between 4:00pm and 4:30pm, they returned to the family home, where they planned to spend the rest of the day watching movies. The pair were in his sister’s room, which is located off the garage, away from the main house. Before starting the first movie, between 5:05pm and 5:10pm, Matthew told his sister he needed to grab his cellphone, which he’d left in the house. He never returned to the room.

At around 5:27pm on February 28, 2019, police deputies responded to the 17800 block of Old Highway 99 SW in Thurston County, Washington after Matthew’s neighbour called 911 to report his acting erratically. She relayed to dispatch that he’d been ranting about his family’s death and claiming that unknown individuals were after him. She and others who contacted the authorities said he appeared to have been in the midst of a mental breakdown. After the interaction with his neighbour, he is reported to have hopped a nearby fence and run into the road, causing several vehicles to swerve and stop in order to avoid him. At this time, he jumped onto a car and into the bed of a pickup truck before running away.

At around 5:30pm, Matthew entered the Speedway grocery store located in the 19200 block of Old Highway SW, approximately two miles from his parents’ home. According to the clerk who was working at the time, he appeared panicked and sweaty, with dried blood around his mouth, and continued to say his entire family had been murdered. While he was looking for a place to hide, the clerk called 911, prompting him to run out of the store. The time was around 6:30pm, and it was the last time he was seen or heard from.

His partial remain were found last year.

Detail: https://storiesoftheunsolved.com/2020/03/27/the-disappearance-of-matthew-anfeldt/ Source about the partial remains: https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/remains-of-thurston-county-man-found-nearly-5-years-after-his-disappearance-investigation-continues.amp

I’d love to hear yall theories about this case. This case is just so sad and bizzare, and he’s on my mind every single day.

In 1997, one-year-old Jaidyn Leskie vanished from his home in Moe, Victoria, while in the care of Greg Domaszewicz, his mother’s boyfriend at the time. The events that followed Jaidyn’s disappearance have puzzled investigators, captured the nation’s attention, and led to multiple inquests, yet the case remains unresolved. Despite Greg Domaszewicz’s acquittal, questions surrounding Jaidyn’s death persist, making it one of Australia’s most haunting mysteries.

The Disappearance

On the night of June 14, 1997, Jaidyn’s mother, Bilynda Murphy, went out for the evening, leaving her toddler in the care of Greg Domaszewicz. Domaszewicz claims that while he was babysitting Jaidyn, he briefly left to pick up Murphy from a pub. Upon returning, he says he discovered two windows smashed, reportedly by a pig’s head thrown by locals in a bizarre act of vandalism. Domaszewicz alleged that Jaidyn had been abducted during this time.

Despite a massive search effort, Jaidyn’s body was not discovered until six months later on New Year’s Day, 1998, in Blue Rock Dam. His body was wrapped in a sleeping bag and weighed down with a crowbar. The cause of death was later determined to be head trauma, and the case became one of Australia’s most infamous unsolved child murders.

The Trial and Acquittal of Greg Domaszewicz

Greg Domaszewicz, who had been babysitting Jaidyn on the night of his disappearance, was soon charged with the toddler’s murder. The prosecution argued that Domaszewicz had injured Jaidyn—possibly accidentally—while working on his car, panicked, and then disposed of the body to cover it up. Investigators found inconsistencies in Domaszewicz’s story, including his admission that he had “cleaned up blood” from a nosebleed Jaidyn suffered earlier that day. However, Jaidyn’s injuries at the time of death were far more severe, including a broken arm that had been crudely splinted.

Despite the circumstantial evidence, Domaszewicz was acquitted in 1998. The jury found reasonable doubt, and Domaszewicz walked free, continuing to maintain his innocence.

Controversies and Inquests

The mystery of Jaidyn Leskie’s death didn’t end with Domaszewicz’s acquittal. Multiple coronial inquests have been held, with a particularly damning one in 2006, where the coroner concluded that Domaszewicz had likely contributed to Jaidyn’s death and disposed of his body, though he stopped short of stating definitively that Domaszewicz had killed the boy. The coroner’s inability to determine precisely how Jaidyn died—whether by accident or otherwise—kept the case unresolved.

The inquests also revealed several critical failures in the original investigation. For example, despite broken windows and claims of an abduction, police did not fingerprint inside the house. This has been widely criticized as a missed opportunity that could have conclusively proven whether someone else had entered the home.

Domaszewicz’s Later Run-ins with the Law

In 2021, over two decades after Jaidyn’s disappearance, Greg Domaszewicz made headlines again for entirely different reasons. He was due to appear in court over an unrelated assault case but failed to show up, leading to a warrant for his arrest. The incident involved a run-in with a group of cricketers in 2019, where Domaszewicz armed himself with a makeshift spear after a dispute. This bizarre altercation raised public interest once again, prompting many to revisit the unresolved Jaidyn Leskie case.

During this time, Domaszewicz had also broken his long-held silence about the night Jaidyn disappeared. In an interview with Channel Nine’s Under Investigation, he continued to deny any wrongdoing, insisting that Jaidyn’s injuries were minor and that he simply “cleaned up the blood” from a nosebleed. However, the severe injuries found during Jaidyn’s autopsy, including head trauma and a broken arm, stand in stark contrast to his account.

The Lingering Mystery

Jaidyn Leskie’s tragic death has left many questions unanswered. Forensic pathologists concluded that while his broken arm was poorly treated, it was the head injury that ultimately killed him. The fact that his body was discovered six months later, preserved in cold water, has fueled speculation, with some questioning whether Jaidyn died on the night he disappeared or was kept alive for some time after.

Greg Domaszewicz’s story has remained consistent in his denial of guilt, yet his version of events has never fully aligned with the evidence. Investigators have pointed to other theories, such as the possibility that the car Domaszewicz was working on may have accidentally injured the toddler, but many believe there are still missing pieces to the puzzle.

The case has captivated the Australian public for more than two decades, leading to widespread speculation, conspiracy theories, and sensational media coverage. Despite four separate inquiries and countless media investigations, the death of Jaidyn Leskie remains one of Australia’s most notorious unresolved mysteries.

What do you think happened that night? Was it an accident covered up in panic, or something more sinister? The Jaidyn Leskie case continues to haunt those who seek answers.

Sources

• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9452557/amp/Mechanic-acquitted-murder-baby-Jaidyn-Leskie-run.html

• https://amp.theage.com.au/national/victoria/man-acquitted-of-murdering-toddler-jaidyn-leskie-guilty-of-makeshift-spear-incident-20210910-p58qnd.html

• https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780732280871/the-jaidyn-leskie-murder/

I am happy to announce that the DNA Doe Project has been able to identify Florence Junction Jane Doe 1988 as Evelyn "Dottie" Lees. Below is some additional information about our work on this identification:

After 36 years of anonymity as a Jane Doe discovered buried in a shallow grave near Florence Junction, Arizona, Evelyn “Dottie” Lees has been identified by the DNA Doe Project. Born in 1898 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Lees was living in Scottsdale before her disappearance. The investigation into the circumstances of her death was handled by the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

At the time of the discovery of her remains in 1988, authorities estimated that the unknown woman was between 50 and 99 years old at the time of her death, but believed that she would be on the younger side of that estimate. In actuality, she was 88 or 89 years old when she died. Her father was British, and her DNA relatives were spread across a broad geographic area. 

Dr. Bruce Anderson, Forensic Anthropologist with the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, brought the case to the DNA Doe Project in 2023, hoping that genetic genealogy analysis of the remains would yield leads to her identity. “I responded in 1988 to the desert clandestine grave and have been trying to get her identified for nearly 35 years,” he explained in an email to the non-profit group’s Director of Case Management.

Like many DNA Doe Project cases, the work to identify Dottie Lees was funded by donors to the non-profit, who contributed nearly $5,000 toward the lab fees and case management costs. 

The process of investigative genetic genealogy involves creating a DNA profile for the unidentified person, then analyzing the lists of people whose profiles are a partial match to the unknown person to build a family tree. Using traditional genealogy techniques and records, researchers typically go back many generations and sometimes hundreds of years to identify common ancestors before they start to build forward in time to find the identity of the Jane or John Doe. 

After bone samples from the remains were processed to produce a DNA profile uploaded to GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA, it took a team of expert volunteer investigative genetic genealogists a matter of hours to find Dottie’s branch of the family tree. 

A team of nine investigative genetic genealogists worked on the case together during a weekend retreat. “The case really started to heat up when we identified a married couple from the 19th century who shared DNA with the Doe,” said Lance Daly, team co-leader. “The Doe's estimated year of birth was about 1900; therefore, we knew we were looking at the names of her possible grandparents."

“Her recent British heritage meant that her DNA matches came from all over the world,” said team co-leader Matthew Waterfield. “Although they were fairly distant relatives of hers, our team quickly found connections between them, and they led us to Dottie within hours."

The DNA Doe Project is grateful to the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, who entrusted the case to the DNA Doe Project; Astrea Forensics for extraction of DNA from bone and sample prep for whole-genome sequencing; Azenta Life Sciences for sequencing; Kevin Lord for bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro and FTDNA for providing their databases; our generous donors who joined our mission and contributed to this case; and DDP’s dedicated teams of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our Jane and John Does home.

https://dnadoeproject.org/case/florence-junction-clandestine-grave-jane-doe-1988/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/165264198

In January of 1975, Sonya Moore was born at Concord Hospital in New Hampshire to her parents, twenty year old Debra Moore, and twenty two year old John Moore. Growing up, Sonya was described as someone who loved to laugh, was a good student, an excellent reader, and very smart, but, she had a little bit of trouble fitting in with the others at school. Sonya grew up in the town of Penacook, a suburb in northern Concord, where she would eventually meet her best friend, April. They two girls were neighbors, only living a half a block away from one another, and would spend all of their free time outside of school playing together. The two friends would have sleep overs, climb trees, swing on the tire swing in the front of Sonya’s home, and, as big sisters often do, occasionally pick on Sonya’s little sister, picking her up and placing her inside of a toy box, much to her little sister’s dismay. One of their favorite activities together was to play with Sonya’s pets, a cat and a dog, whom they both adored and loved.

As Sonya grew a bit older, her personality began to shift, something that had caught April by surprise. When Sonya was about 9 or 10, her parents had divorced, and this was something that has weighed heavily on the young girl’s heart and mind. April said this about Sonya’s sudden change in life circumstances and personality:

“I remember her being a little distraught when they separated, when they were getting divorced. Before that, she seemed very happy and outgoing. I mean, she liked to play. She didn't think anything of like household worries, I guess. And at that time, she was going to school frequently. She wasn't skipping or getting into trouble or anything like that that I recall. After her parents started having problems and were separating, she started having issues.”

Wanting to hold on to her life as she knew it the tightest she could, Sonya and April would routinely sneak into the Moore home after it had already been put up for sale, and often spent the night there. Despite there being no heat on, no lights, and being totally empty, Sonya found comfort and solace being back in the space where her family had been complete, and April was always there to support her, saying:

“I think she found comfort being there... wanting her old life back.”

As Sonya grew into her adolescent years, she began to grow more defiant to the authority in her life, and often get into trouble. Sonya found herself very drawn to sexual affection, and would often find herself entangled with older men and boys, and in an order to stand out and to atttact that attention, April stated that Sonya began to dress very provocatively and stood her ground on that choice, being unapologetic about it. This strong willed personality set Sonya apart from the other kids in her school, and she was often ostracized and bullied for her appearance. Feeling as if she didn’t belong, Sonya often skipped school and would begin to get into trouble for being truant. April joined Sonya to parties where they always seemed to be the youngest ones there, and April met Sonya’s boyfriend, a much older man, but April stated that she felt they couple wasn’t exclusive. April went on to say:

*“Pretty much anybody that she slept with, I think like she felt like that was the connection that she was looking for, for a relationship. And most of these men that she was with were older men—like she's 12, 13, 14 years old, and she's with guys who are 25, 30 years old or older.

Even to this day, I am stunned at the thought of an older man doing that to a young girl. Whether she wants to or not, it's not right. I think she was searching for validation and love. She was searching for something that she didn't get when she was a child, and [still working out the trauma from the] breakup of her parents. I think from a young, early age, she would coincide sex with being loved and being in a relationship. So, anybody that she was with, I think she put them together to mean that they care for her and love and accept her. And this is not the case.”*

Sonya’s mother, Debra was desperate to get help for her daughter, and often would file petitions with the court in New Hampshire seeking help from the state. The purpose of these petitions was to find a place for Sonya to stay that would provide her mental health care, but instead, the courts just continued to swap Sonya between her mother and fathers home, exasperating the issue. Sonya did briefly spend sometime at a home called the Hassle House in Concord, which attended to troubled teens, but this was short lived, and Sonya began to fear that she may end up in a juvenile detention center.

On Wednesday, November 1, 1989, Sonya left her mother’s home for the evening, but as the night grew later, and Sonya didn’t return, Debra wasn’t exactly worried. Debra was used to Sonya staying out later than she was supposed to, and assumed that Sonya would be home by morning to attend a court hearing that she wasn’t supposed to miss. When Thursday morning rolled around, Debra opened the door to Sonya’s room, she was surprised to discover that her daughter wasn’t asleep in her bed. Debra attended the court hearing for Sonya in her absence, which was for a juvenile crime of theft that Sonya was being charged with, and when asked by the judge why Sonya wasn’t in attendance, Debra stated ”That’s just Sonya being Sonya.”

At days dragged on, the police were contacted, but they had believed that Sonya was missing voluntarily, and did not make her disappearance a priority. But as days dragged into weeks, that opinion began to slowly change, and police believed that either Sonya had run away and was hiding out somewhere, or that something had happened to her that made it impossible for her to return home. Debra had looked through Sonya’s room for any signs that she had packed a bag to run away, but nothing seemed to be missing, except the clothes that she had worn the day that she left the house. Sonya left that evening wearing a white shirt that read “Hampton Beach” across the center, pants, and a necklace with a pendant that was in the shape of an arrowhead and studded with rhinestones. This necklace had been a special gift from her father for her 14th birthday. The other items Sonya had taken with her the night she left was a boombox with cassette tapes, and a small amount of money. Sonya was last seen around 3pm on the day of her disappearance when she had a meeting with her lawyer. April was spoken to by police, as she was one of the last people to have seen Sonya that November day, and she stated this about being interviewed:

”It was probably like mid-November or so, maybe beginning of December... and I had officers come to my house and ask me if I knew Sonya, and I said yes. And they said, ‘well, she's missing and she hasn't been home for quite a while now, and we have gotten tips that you are one of the last people that saw her.’ And I just told them what I knew. And they said that they would follow up and they had some other people that they needed to speak with. I did think that she would come back eventually.”

Sonya’s disappearance was finally publicly reported on in the media on December 30th, after Christmas had come and gone without any signs of the 14 year old. In an article written by The Concord Monitor, the writer explained that the police had made the search public that week, and they believed that Sonya may have dyed her hair black and was going by the name of ‘Christine Bliss.’ Sargent Ralph Lewis stated in the article that Sonya did not look or act like other 14 year old girls. Debra was also interviewed for the article, where she stated that she was worried about her daughter having fallen in with the wrong crowd who may have hurt her. She followed this up with the statement:

”If she’s out there, I love her, and I want her to come home.”

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 7th, 1990, a unidentified man was driving to Dunbarton, New Hampshire, to a wildlife preserve called “Stark Pond Wildlife Management Area,” to spend time in nature. This area is not inhabited by anyone, it’s simply woods, lakes, and a recreational area for people to hike and enjoy the outdoors. This particular day was very rainy, and the roads were wet and treacherous, so there weren’t many people in the area that afternoon. The man made it to his destination, Stark Pond, and parked his car and sat on a hill overlooking the previously icy waters. However, the waters had recently thawed, and as he gazed at the pond, he noticed something floating in the water. As he got closer, he realized it was the body of a young girl.

Dunbarton PD arrived at the scene, and realized that they were going to need help retrieving the body from the river, so they immediately called the New Hampshire Fish and Game department. They were able to get a dive team out to the pond who were able to suit up and bring the body to the banks, where they noticed she had only been wearing a Hampton Beach white t shirt, and the necklace that Sonya was last seen wearing. They were able to then identify the body as Sonya Moore.

Dr. Roger Fossum performed an autopsy on Sonya’s body the following Sunday, and while they were able to determine that she had died due to homicidal violence, they could not specifically define a cause of death. Samples of her blood and bodily fluid were sent out for testing to Pennsylvania, however, the results have never been disclosed to the public. The attorney generals office spoke to the Monitor paper again, where they stated that they believed Sonya’s body had been in the pond since the time she went missing, but it was concealed in the icy waters until the very morning that she was discovered, when the ice has thawed enough to allow the body to surface.

Strangely, another young girl in the area had also gone missing around the time that Sonya had, and the two cases had a lot of similarities. Fourteen year old Carrie Moss went missing in July of 1989, and was last seen riding her bike in her hometown of New Boston, which is about 15 miles away from Concord. The similarities between Sonya and Carrie were eerie, to say the least: both girls had strawberry blonde hair, both had been dating older men at the time of their disappearances, both had often hitchhiked and ran away, and strangely, Carrie also had a court date on the day after she had gone missing. Both girls even knew some of the same people and ran in the same circles.

In the summer of 1991, a ten year old boy was walking in a rural area of Manchester, which was only 7.5 miles away from where Sonya’s body was found, when he stumbled on the body of Carrie Moss. Although unconfirmed, authorities believe that Carrie had also been murdered. While the two girl’s deaths aren’t conclusively linked, many people believe that the same killer is responsible for both of their murders.

Sadly, even after Sonya had gone missing, she was still continually bullied by kids in the neighborhood. A reporter had spoken to Sonya’s grandmother shortly after Sonya had been found, and the grandmother relayed a story about a time she was in her front yard when a handful of boys from Sonya’s school rode up to her on their bikes and asked her if Sonya had been found yet. When her grandmother stated no, she hadn’t, the boys retorted back with “That’s good!” April remembers that Sonya always tried to be kind and loving to those around her when she was alive, staying:

”She didn't go with the other crowd. When other people were picking on other people, she kind of would try and go and deter or go the other way, you know. She tried to be kind and nice to everybody because obviously her and I were both picked on. She was pretty good at listening. She wasn't that great at giving advice, but, but she would listen to you. She didn't go with the other crowd. When other people were picking on other people, she kind of would try and go and deter or go the other way, you know. She tried to be kind and nice to everybody because obviously her and I were both picked on. She was pretty good at listening. She wasn't that great at giving advice, but, but she would listen to you. I only wish others could have treated her with compassion and kindness and gotten to know her, and to have given her a chance and see what was on the inside and not to have judged her for what was on the outside.”

Links

WMUR

NH DOJ

(TRIGGER WARNING/DISCLAIMER: This write-up has been marked NSFW since it contains CSA

Thanks to Drchilli for suggesting this case via this post asking for case suggestions from my international readers since I focus on International cases

This write-up is a little shorter than usual but suggestions do take priority. To make up for it likely being short, I tried to find every single mention of it I possibly could.

I also tried to do my best with the nature of this case

CORRECTION: It was only Carrie's father who was out of town. Her mother went behind his back to approve and host the party)

Akiel Chambers was born on January 4, 1987. His mother lived abroad in England while his father lived in another part of the country leading to Akiel being raised by his aunt in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Little information is known on his short life past what's relevant to the case. He attended Blackman's Private School in the upscale neighbourhood of Maraval. It was said that music was his main interest at school and he regularly sang, especially songs by Bob Marley

Akiel was close friends with many of his classmates. Because of these friendships, he was one out of the 25-30 children invited to the birthday party of one Carrie James, the daughter of a local businessman known as Charles James.

Carrie's parents were away so she was convinced to hold a secret pool party for her birthday. Her birthday came on May 23, 1998, and Akiel accepted the invitation and was dropped off at the house. His aunt wasn't going to be staying at the party so he was given strict instructions not to go in the pool as he couldn't swim, but was otherwise told to have fun.

The party lasted until 6:00 PM when everyone was told to leave as Carrie's parents were on their way home while the parents of the other children were showing up to the house to collect their own children. The only problem was that nobody had seen Akiel, by the time his aunt arrived he was still nowhere to be found. The remaining children who hadn't been picked up yet began looking around for him. Some believed that he had left the party in another's car or was at one of the computer rooms in the neighbouring homes.

The entire house, pool and the adjacent bushes were searched while they all called out Akiel's name but no trace of him could be found. He had somehow completely disappeared from the party without anyone noticing him. It was now when the police had been called. The police conducted a similar search to that of the school children before then but they too turned up no trace of the missing child.

They would periodically return to the home to double and even triple-check but there was still no sign of him anywhere. They tried asking for a list of those who attended the party but again, they didn't know about the party.

On May 24, the police returned to the house to question Carrie's parents now that they had returned home. As they had just arrived home and didn't know about the party itself, they didn't know anything about Akiel's disappearance. While police questioned Carrie's mother, her father was told to search the bushes next door to try and help the police. While he was gone, 11-year-old Akiel's body would finally be found.

As the police were questioning Carrie's mother, the officers were also searching the home and one of them went to the backyard area where he saw Akiel's body lying at the bottom of the pool. According to witnesses present, the police were visibly confused and baffled and didn't immediately retrieve the body because they were talking to each other about how little sense it had made.

That pool was searched many times and in a span that lasted less than a day. More than that, the pool was completely clean and clear so anyone could just see to the bottom of it so one didn't even have to go in to check if any bodies were lying at the bottom. And yet somehow he had found his way into the pool.

Akiel was only wearing red swimming trunks and his body was in a crouched position. Once they did remove Akiel's body from the pool, it was sent off for an autopsy which quickly ruled that an accidental drowning was not the cause of death. Akiel had been smothered to death and horrifically enough, the coroner found signs of rape in Akeil's anus over a long period of time. The police had to track down most of the party attendees themselves, starting with those closest to The James's Residence.

Carrie told police that she had asked Akiel if he was going to go in the pool to which he told her that he was going to listen to his aunt and not enter the water. She told the police that he was adamant about not going into the pool and did not see him enter at any point during the party. The last time she saw him alive was when they were eating food during dinner time, right before the birthday cake was brought out. She also confirmed that his body was not in the pool prior to his discovery.

Most of the other children confirmed this and also stated that they never saw him enter the pool or even go anywhere near it. Only one of his classmates, his self-proclaimed best friend said differently. He said that he did see him enter the pool, wearing the red swimming trunks but also a white top that wasn't found on his body. He never saw him at the cake cutting nor dinner but he did see him leave the pool. Ultimately, Akiel was last seen around 5:30 PM, just before the various parents arrived to pick up their children.

Soon an anonymous witness came forward, a woman showed up to drop her son off but decided to stay for the entire party instead just to be sure her son would be safe. She briefly spoke with Akeil as she noticed he seemed to be feeling a little bit down about not being allowed into the pool. Behind him was an adult male who she didn't seem to recognize.

Akeil then entered the house to go to the bathroom and he was soon followed by this man. Akeil never noticed him but she said that whenever she saw Akeil, he was never too far away. He was also seen looking for him when his disappearance was first noted but before the police were called. Another anonymous parent also said there was an adult man at the party who showed an interest in him and followed him into the house so there was a witness backing this claim.

Little information seems to be known on how the investigation progressed past this point, whoever this strange man was, he has never been identified. The medical examiner did some swaps and obtained foreign DNA samples. They belonged to at least two people, one had likely carried out the murder and the other was believed to have hidden the body somewhere before returning 12 hours later to dispose of Akeil's body in the pool. However, the small Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago had no DNA database to enter the samples into and no suspects to compare the samples against.

By all accounts the investigation hit a dead end as soon as it started. Many attribute this to the experience of the investigators. Only junior officers and investigators worked the case and even as it grew colder and colder, it was still never transferred to a major crimes squad. Furthermore, because of their inexperience the swimming trunks and DNA samples were improperly stored, sometime around 2000 and wound up lost, leaving police without their main piece of evidence.

In May 2018, pushing the 20th anniversary of Akiel's murder the case was reopened in a way. Technically the murder wasn't reinvestigated but the conduct of the officers back in 1998 was audited over claims and rumours that the evidence had been destroyed on purpose as opposed to mere negligence. They further denied any claims that they willingly destroyed evidence or refused to act on it.

The closest there's ever been to a suspect came in May 2022, approaching the 24th anniversary of Akiel's murder. A former officer was the head of a task force established in 1997 to investigate claims of abuse and mismanagement of the various children's homes and institutions involved in helping children. 25-years-later in 2022 he claimed that his investigation implicated high-ranking members of Trinidadian society who were running a "pedophile ring".

As the party took place in an upscale neighbourhood, it was alluded to that this alleged ring must've been involved. Some even claimed that they knew the names of the two involved but for some reason, they didn't provide them despite pleas from Akiel's family. No evidence no matter how circumstantial was ever presented to back up his claims.

Unfortunately, that is where the case ends, at a standstill without any evidence remaining. It remains unsolved without a single suspect ever being named.

Sources

https://web.archive.org/web/20210128153519/http://ttwhistleblower.com/18-years-pool-party-killed-akiel-chambers/

https://newsday.co.tt/2022/05/19/robinson-regis-robert-sabga-must-share-info-on-akiel-chamberss-death-with-police/

https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/akiels-family-tormented-as-new-info-on-murder-emerges-6.2.1495914.96040592af

https://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2.399690.bca9a02ee5

http://akiel-chambers.last-memories.com/

https://trinidadexpress.com/newsextra/sabga-links-pedophile-ring-to-akiel-chambers-case/article_637cf57a-d5c3-11ec-98a9-8f35896dc158.html

https://trinidadexpress.com/news/akiel-s-case-still-unsolved/article_44dad936-5bd1-11e8-94b0-77b838c79afa.html

https://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/forum/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=1226

https://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/forum/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=1253

https://tt.loopnews.com/content/griffith-slams-claim-he-didnt-act-evidence-akiel-chambers-case

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/10/19/news/guyana/12-years-oncase-of-akiel-chambers-to-be-reopened-in-tt/

https://tt.loopnews.com/content/pca-audit-police-probe-akiel-chambers-case

With the advent of genetic genealogy, John and Jane Doe cases that had gone cold decades earlier are getting their identities returned to them at an unprecedented rate previously thought impossible five years ago. However, for some Does, their name is only half the puzzle for investigators: now they have to solve their murders. In this series, I hope to bring light to cases that have gone cold twice over. Today's case is that of Dawn Clare Plonsky Wilkerson, a woman who was found murdered in October of 2001.

On Tuesday, October 9th, 2001, a land surveying crew inspecting an embankment off of Interstate 65 near Franklin, Kentucky discovered the body of a blonde-haired woman, haphazardly thrown over the highway's guard rail and into a copse of trees near the northbound lane. The small town of Franklin lies just 12 miles (19 km) north of Kentucky's border with Tennessee. Jane Doe wore a white T-shirt, blue shorts, a pair of sandals, and an assortment of jewelry, including seven ear piercings and two rings, one of which investigators believed to be a wedding band.

Since she was found near a major highway, law enforcement suspected she could be from just about anywhere and quickly set to work trying to identify her. Local law enforcement turned to Kentucky State Forensic Anthropologist, Dr. Emily Craig, who determined that Jane Doe was a white woman, likely between twenty-five and thirty-five-years-old, who had a history of severe dental neglect, including several missing teeth, healed fractures of her ribs, and right arm, that may have suffered from chronic back pain. Craig suspected that she had also been pregnant previously, and may have even been at the time of her death. A victim of a homicide, Jane Doe had likely died a week to six months before her discovery. Since her remains were decomposed after exposure to the elements, her fingerprints were unrecoverable, further hindering a possible identification.

Upon the release of a forensic reconstruction done by Dr. Craig, a witness came forward and stated that they recognized the woman as a hitchhiker they had last seen in Nashville, Tennessee, hoping to head east towards North Carolina or Virginia. However, despite this lead, and many others, the investigation quickly went cold, leaving investigators with no name for Jane Doe and no evidence to point towards her killer. Isotope testing was performed on her remains, pointing to a childhood spent in the Great Lakes region, though they were unable to narrow it down further.

In May of 2018, buoyed by the recent success of the DNA Doe Project in identifying Marsha King (formerly known as the Buckskin Girl for her distinctive jacket) through genetic genealogy, the Kentucky State Police reached out to the DNA sleuths with hopes of identifying her. Genealogists later noted that her case was uniquely difficult to solve due to distant matches on publicly available genealogy sites. Finally, two years after her genealogical profile was uploaded, Kentucky Jane Doe was identified as Dawn Clare Plonsky Wilkerson in June 2021.

Born in 1956, Dawn grew up in Wisconsin in a large family as one of six children, marrying J M in the early 1970s, with whom she had a son, L, at just age 18. The couple divorced in 1976, though she kept her name until getting engaged to J S in 1984, still living in Racine, Wisconsin at the time. Dawn later moved to Tennessee, settling in Nashville by 1997 and marrying a Mr. D Wilkerson. Not much is known else about Dawn's life before its abrupt end, nor anything about her disappearance. At the time of her death, she was forty-five years old, ten years older than the highest end of her estimated age range, and apparently still residing in Nashville.

-

https://www.wkrn.com/news/nashville-woman-identified-after-remains-found-20-years-ago-on-kentucky-interstate/

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/111ufky.html

https://www.lebanondemocrat.com/portland/news/investigators-re-assess--year-old-cold-case/article_90b70a87-3597-5c39-89eb-53903a2d50dc.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20170709034752/https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/unidentified-persons/jane-doe-8/

https://web.archive.org/web/20210727082342/https://www.bgdailynews.com/news/police-persistent-in-cold-case-work/article_a7ab4ee3-4b8f-5d78-8e57-53911e4920ab.html

https://imgur.com/a/pgq5e5N

In 1982, Carmen Burhans (41) and Diego Garcia (28) lived in a home on Division Street in the Glassell Park neighborhood of Los Angeles California.

The couple shared the home with Carmen's daughter from a previous marriage, Barbara (8), and Carmen's mother.

Little is known about the family, but notably, Diego was originally from Cuba, and according to one source, struggled with maintaining employment during his and Carmen's relationship.

On March 15, 1982, Burhans' mother awoke from her bedroom on the home's upper floor and went downstairs for breakfast where she found Carmen in tears. Despite seeing her cry, Burhans's mother reportedly never asked her daughter what was wrong.

At noon that day, Diego, Carmen, and Barbara were observed getting into the family's 1977 brown Toyota Corolla. The family reportedly took no belongings with them.

Over a month later on April 25, the Garcia-Burhans' Toyota was found buried under 5 feet of snow at the bottom of a steep gorge in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The area where the vehicle was discovered was near route 2, in the area of Big Pines California, and nearly 100 miles from the family's home.

The roof of the car was caved in and most notably, there were no bodies present inside. Additionally, there were no signs of foul play within the vehicle or in the surrounding area. This has led law enforcement to conclude that the car was empty when it fell into the ravine.

Investigators have reportedly theorized that the vehicle was deliberately disposed of in the ravine, or that it may have accidentally been pushed over the edge by a plow after becoming buried under the snowfall.

Following the discovery, several witnesses reportedly came forward and confirmed seeing Carmen in the vicinity to where the car was found, but no conclusive leads came from these sightings.

According to one source, the road adjacent to the gorge where the car was discovered was closed on March 16, the day after the family disappeared. This would mean the car had to have been abandoned either on the day of the Garcia-Burhans’ disappearance or sometime well after the family vanished.

Multiple sources note that in the months leading up to the family’s disappearance, Carmen converted to Mormonism. During the investigation, claims surfaced that Carmen had become involved in a cult which practiced animal sacrifice, however these allegations have never been substantiated.

No trace of the Garcia-Burhans family has ever been found. While the exact circumstances of their disappearance remain unclear, investigators reportedly believe foul play was involved.

Anyone with any information on the disappearance of Carmen Burhans, Barbara Burhans, and Diego Garcia is urged to contact the Los Angeles Police Department at (877) 275-5273.

I wanted to highlight this case as I believe it deserves more coverage. I found it particularly haunting when I first learned about it several years ago.

The lack of information and strange implications of the vehicle’s discovery leave a bad feeling in my stomach. I’m curious to learn what you all make of this case.

Sources:

[California DOJ] https://oag.ca.gov/missing/person/diego-garcia

[The Charley Project] https://charleyproject.org/case/carmen-maria-burhans-garcia

[Dark Curiosities] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dvkFAbroptc

[Unidentified Wiki] https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Carmen_Burhans_Garcia

[Doe Network] https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2900dfca.html

[NamUs] https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/4529

Lawson was abducted from her Jasper, Alabama home while responding to a telephone call from a woman who told Lawson she was a nurse and someone in Lawson's family was seriously ill in the hospital. A masked assailant managed to subdue and tie up her husband. Karen McPherson pleaded guilty to the kidnapping. McPherson said she and her cousin, Jerry Bland, planned the kidnapping for $300,000 ransom. Bland killed himself at his home three weeks after Lawson disappeared. Lawson's family payed the ransom and authorities found most of what they believe is the ransom money in the home of Bland. Despite numerous tips and a private investigator hired by Lawson's family, her body has never been found. A court declared Lawson dead in 1993. Lawson is originally from Cleveland, Tennessee. She's a graduate of the Alabama School of Law.

I have looked for some unidentified persons. But they have all either been logically too far away or do not match Carrie's physical description. I would love to help bring closure to her family this is such a sad case. Thanks for taking a moment out of your time to read this. Here is Carrie's Namus Link https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/4798?nav

On September 26th 2022, Brandon Wayne Hogan (37 years old at the time) was doing grounds maintenance task work as part of a three prison-inmate crew under supervision of the Sheriff's Office Community Manager before he ran off and climbed over the wall surrounding Seaton Cemetery in Coryell County, Texas.

Heather Ashley, Coryell County Sheriff’s Office, public information officer said at the time “We’re advising that residents secure their outbuildings, their barns, definitely their houses and their vehicles and just stay aware,

Deputies don’t want to alarm anyone but do want to remind residents to stay vigilant as they are unsure if Hogan is armed.

“He did not leave with a weapon, but we don’t know if he has found one or, you know, when it comes to being armed or dangerous, a rock or a stick could be dangerous.”

Sheriff Scott Williams said "We have run down hundreds of leads, Brandon Hogan is a dangerous man.....we are gonna look for you every day, we are never gonna quit, we are gonna bring you back and lock you up where you belong."

The reward for information leading to Hogan's arrest was increased to $6,000 while Hogan was also added to the 10 most wanted Texas fugitive's list.

Hogan was in jail awaiting trial on charges of assault of a family member via choking, theft of a firearm, burglary and criminal mischief. He could face additional charges of escape.

Over two years later he remains on the run.

https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/coryell-county/coryell-county-inmate-still-missing-after-nearly-2-years

This is a weekly thread for off topic discussion. Talk about anything that interests you; what's going on in your world?. If you have any suggestions or observations about the sub let us know in this thread.

Do you recognize this John Doe? On Monday November 5th 1990, an unidentified male estimated to be between the age 18-25 jumped onto the tracks at Bloor-Young station in Toronto Ontario. He was taken to St. Michael’s hospital where he subsequently died from his injuries. His physical description was described as: Approximately 5'10, 174 lbs or 79 kg. He had blue eyes, wavy brown shoulder length hair, cutting scars on both wrists, the back of his left hand, and scars on both sides of his neck. His teeth were well maintained with no fillings. he was wearing glasses at the time of his death. As for recognizable facial features, he had an extremely unique ear shape as well as a distinct short button nose. Which you can see if you choose to look at his postmortem photo.

(It should be noted that due to his Injury’s his height may be off by an inch or two.)

His outfit that day consisted of: a dark pinstripe suit coat with grey vertical stripes, a blue long-sleeved shirt with vertical stripes, a knit black sweater with white horizontal stripes, a white thick knit sweater, dark black or blue Levi jeans, white running shoes and green jockey underwear. These are not photos of the exact clothes he was wearing, I just wanted to add visuals so someone can get an idea of how he styled himself.

On his person he carried: a Maxell brand cassette tape with various personal recordings of artists, a bicycle chain bracelet, a brass ring, a tie clip, a pair of glasses, a TTC pass card #K118549, and 70$ in cash.

Due to a media suppression on TTC (Toronto Transit) suicides, John doe's case was only mentioned in the Toronto star in 2016, 26 years after his passing and his case has since garnered little attention aside from a few social media posts over the years.

Anecdotally, I read a post that a member of Websluths reached out to the Toronto police inquiring about what songs were on his cassette tape, the TPS responded that they were no longer in possession of his belongings.

I have reached out to the Toronto police about a month ago inquiring about the possibility of putting his DNA onto an Ancestry website but they have yet to get back to me.

If you do recognize this john doe, even if you don't know his name or if you recognize him from a different province or country, please send your tips to the Missing Persons and Unidentified Bodies/Remains Unit Phone Number: 1-877-934-6363 or 1-705-330-4144Agency E-mail: opp.isb.resolve(at)opp.ca or tips(at)missing-u.ca

No tip is too small

I sincerely hope that his memory is persevered long enough for him to eventually get his name back. It hurts to know that his loved ones are out there with no idea what became of him. Constantly wondering if he ever found peace. Hoping desperately that he was able to overcome his pain and find happiness because the other outcomes are far too distressing to think of. I know he's stayed on the mind of somebody. Regardless of how many years have passed, I know there's someone out there who misses him. The young man with an affinity for music and a bicycle chain bracelet on his wrist

Sources

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/main.html?id=798umon

https://www.services.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/missing-disparus/case-dossier.jsf?case=2006000899&id=7&lang=en

https://www.newspapers.com/image/950801077/?match=1&terms=he%20was%20found%20with%20a%20bicycle%20chain%20

https://www.njherald.com/gcdn/presto/2022/03/14/NNJH/c0bf6e2e-85f0-4f7e-91ca-2d93ca668067-BR6pt4sk04.JPG?width=660&height=541&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

The joyful McBride herself

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It was a Friday afternoon in the summer of 1990 in the forested northern edges of New Jersey. 27-year-old Lisa McBride would chat with her parents on the phone, and then join three friends to drive to a Clint Black concert in New York City at the Beacon Theater.

Lisa was an avid hiker and a lively executive secretary at Lakeland Savings Bank in Sussex County, New Jersey. She attended West Milford High School where she graduated in 1981 before taking classes at Rider College in Lawrenceville. She had a wide circle of friends and owned her home in Highland Lakes, which she painted and landscaped herself, and where she lived alone with her two cats. She was an amateur competitive shooter, who regularly called her parents just to talk, and practiced ballet with the same passion that she taught it to children. As a teenager she was a member of New Generation Dancers in Wanaque, an 8-girl troupe that performed ballet, tap, jazz, and modern dances. At 16 she performed with them in Romania. She hoped to open her own studio one day.

It was around 70 degrees with a cool breeze as Lisa and her friends crossed back into Sussex County driving back home from the concert. They stopped at Big John's Pub in West Milford before her friends (??) dropped Lisa off at her home on Glen Road, a winding, knotted community of mountain lake houses, navigate-able by only those who've lived there. A neighbor saw Lisa entering her home and locking the door sometime between 1:45 and 2:00am in the morning.]

[Edit: I've also read reports that Lisa drove home herself. I don't know if that means she dropped her friends off beforehand or not.]

When Lisa didn't show up for her 9am shift at Lakeland Bank the next day, her coworkers were flummoxed. She hadn't missed a day of work in three years. They called her home in Highland Lakes, and when no one answered, they called her family. Norma, Lisa's mother, got the call and then phoned the police.

When the police arrived at Lisa's house they didn't find Lisa, and they didn't find her bed-sheets, comforter, black purse, and key chain, either. Norma stated that there were signs of trouble inside the house where things had been "strewn about". There were no signs of forced entry at the house, though we know Lisa did keep a key hidden outside. However, when her brother Douglas showed up that morning to work on her gas range, the key was still there.

A few newspapers report that the telephone lines had been cut, but it's unclear who found them this way (her brother Douglas or the police), and if it was publicly confirmed. A screen window was also found cut. [This contradicts other reports that says there was no signs of forced entry. The screen cut was reported many years later--perhaps to keep information close to the chest at first?]

At this point, the police had determined that it was an involuntary disappearance and that she didn't leave her home willingly.

Richard Honig, Sussex County Prosecutor and head of the task force assembled to search for Lisa McBride, moved from his county office to Vernon Police Station where they set up makeshift headquarters in a trailer on the property. The special task force was seventeen members strong, and when the "massive round-the-clock" search started, even the FBI took interest. They were looking for a 5'7", 135 lb woman with long brown hair. Lisa was just 27.

"We don't have a suspect at this point, but it may turn out that we probably have already interviewed the guilty person or persons and don't know it yet," Richard Honig said. "...I believe we will eventually find the answers."

The search for Lisa held no punches. Overhead, helicopters with infrared beams searched hundreds of miles of New Jersey woods, and dogs covered the same acreage below on the ground. Police would go on to investigate over 750 leads and interview over 300 people, both in person and by phone. Twenty psychics offered tips, more than $150,000 in reward money was offered for information, and the NRA--of which Lisa was an active member--swooped in to assist in the search hoping they could find clues of her disappearance with hunting season around the corner. Norma gave them fliers, too, and asked the NRA to join the search. Lisa's father, George, had a plastic company, the company that printed the fliers. Those flyers ended up all over northern New Jersey as community members posted them on poles and traffic lights all across the area, in store fronts, and at the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show grounds where they knew big events would bring in big crowds. George posted $100,000 for her safe return, and another $10,000 to the person who found her [remains].

It's been published that it seems that the killer had considerable local knowledge, since there are only a few ways in and out of the community and it is not an easy area to drive to begin with. Her body was also found 30 miles away, close to the border of PA in a secluded area.

The newspapers and TV reporters were broadcasting the disappearance all over North Jersey. NBC TV ran a segment on Lisa in "Missing Reward".

Rodger F Iverson, the NRA director at the time, said "we will walk shoulder-to-shoulder through the forest. We will climb every mountain and pray Lisa is not there." Iverson printed information about her disappearance in sports and hunting magazines all across the country, asking for hunters, trappers, and hikers to keep a look out. The Coalition of NJ Sportsman also committed to help in the search, led by the chairman Richard Miller. The Sierra Club also said they'd lend assistance.

The volunteers were set up to search the 30,000-acre Waywayanda State Park (location) as well as Canistear Road in Vernon on Sunday October 20th, 1990, with a rain date set for October 28th. The search territory included parts of the Newark Watershed. They were told to look for the remains of a human body.

But the search never happened.

Early on Saturday morning, October 20th, 1990, just before the big search for Lisa was supposed to begin, Lisa's remains were found off of Old Mine Road (location of road--it is long and goes south from the pin point) in Sandyston Township, NJ. She was found by a hunter about 50 yards into the dense woods, unclothed and mostly decomposed, laying on top of brush at the base of a cherry tree.

The hunter from Montague that happened upon the body was reported as a grouse hunter or a birdwatcher, but his identity has never been revealed. He summoned a park ranger and ultimately received a $10,000 reward for finding Lisa's remains

The area where she was found is a secluded section of woods of the Delaware Water Gap, less than two miles from the Dingmans Ferry Bridge which leads from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

The New Jersey State Police, Vernon Township Police, and investigators from the prosecutor's office searched the area of discovery. They combed the site and the roadside with a metal detector, but no details were released about the findings. Richard Honig said they recovered new evidence where her body was found and were examining it for clues, but he didn't share more.

Richard Miller called off his search crew, which included dozens of gun clubs, sporting clubs, ham radio clubs, community groups, and the Red Cross.

Richard Honig, Sgt Michael Buono, and Virgil Rome went to the McBride's home to break the news to the family.

Lisa's remains were transported to the Medical Examiner's Office in Newark, NJ. She was identified through dental records, but determining the cause of death was difficult due to the condition of her remains. An autopsy and anthropological tests were conducted. It was now also confirmed a homicide and they said they had addition information for leads.

A year later, her house was still sealed off as a crime scene. And today, there has been no cause of death released, though her death certificate states she died from "external violence." There have never been any arrests made in the case.

Virgil Rome said the three friends Lisa went with to the concert with have been cleared, although their identities have never been publicly released.

A main suspect in the case was a man who had been unsuccessfully trying to "court" Lisa by asking her on dates, showing up at the bank where she worked, waiting in the parking lot for her, and even leaving flowers on her car. Lisa told friends she was being followed by the man, and that he'd shown up to see her at Big John's Pub, too.

The stalker was a major focus in the beginning. For more than a year the police couldn't find him and no one remembered the man's name. But one day in 1992, Norma was shuffling through things in Lisa's room and happened across a license plate number that Lisa's friend had scrawled down. It turns out it was the license plate belonging to the man who had tried to ask Lisa out six months before the murder, the stalker.

When investigators finally tracked him down to talk to him he was living out west, and was able to satisfy investigators with his alibi, ultimately proving he was also out west on June 23rd, 1990, the day Lisa had disappeared. He was also forthcoming about trying to get dates with Lisa.

John T., the owner of Big John's Pub where Lisa and her friends had stopped after the concert, said he thought the killer had been interviewed but wasn't optimistic that the killer would be caught. He said that the authorities knew a lot more than what they were saying.

The site Lisa was found was about an hours drive from her house, in an area that is heavily hunted during squirrel and grouse season, which began October 13th. The authorities said that the area had not been checked in the previous searches.

On October 20th, 1990, The Daily Record printed Lisa's obituary. Her funeral was at Restland Memorial Park Chapel in East Hanover, NJ the following month on November 12th. The chapel, a replica of an 11th century English church, was visited by close to 200 mourners. Reverend John F Dow, who baptized Lisa, read the gospel from John and Psalm 23. An organ played a rendition of one of Lisa's favorite songs, "Memory", from the musical Cats. She was buried in a cherrywood casket next to her grandfather, Albert Trinder, in the family plot.

Lisa McBride was the daughter of George E and Norma M Trinder of Newton, NJ. She was the sister of Douglas of Vernon, NJ. She was the godmother of Rebecca Lynn.

A scholarship fund was created in Lisa's honor, the Lisa Marie McBride Memorial Fund, which is in the care of the local Vernon Police Athletic League (PAL).

Circumstances suggest that Lisa was killed at her Glen Road home in Highland Lakes. She didn't have a steady boyfriend. Authorities have said multiple times that they believe they already interviewed the killer, and that they may have been in Lisa's circle of acquaintances. Norma has said she thinks it had to be someone she knew.

Most of Lisa's loved ones remembered her for her laughter. They said it was infectious. She would call up her bank friend, a date at the time, Roy Jr, to tell him the Pee Wee Herman word of the day on Saturdays. Linda Fredricksen, a family friend, said "it was hard to get a decent picture of her because she was always making faces or doing something to make us laugh."

"Lisa had a way of downplaying the stressful days and make us smile," one of her coworkers wrote. Many of the Vernon police officers involved in the investigation knew her from dancing lessons she gave to the officers' children. Everyone recalls her as independent, down-to-earth, active, fun, and popular.

"Every year at holiday time, Lisa's friends climb to the top of Kanouse Mtn to erect an enormous star." From the last article I read, it had been going on for 15 years strong. You can see it driving north on Rt 23, heading towards Echo Lake Road. The batteries needed to be changed every day. It required a 25-minute climb up a rock peak to reach. Lisa had once joked that she wanted a decorated Christmas tree up there, and that they could just, you know, run extension cords from her friend Jimmy's house on Union Valley Road to make it happen.

Norma and George said they prefer to go to the cemetery to visit Lisa in June when it's full of life instead of October when it's dead and dying.

Today is October 20th, 2024, and it's been 34 years since Lisa's body was found in that cold October that was dead and dying. But she is not forgotten, and we will keep her light aflame.

I've got an eye out for Justice for Lisa.

--

If you have a few minutes, give "Memory" a listen in honor of an independent woman who a life full of laughter left to live.

"Memory" - Elaine Page; one of Lisa's favorite songs

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdBVJbzkoqo\]

"Touch me

It's so easy to leave me

All alone with the memory

Of my days in the sun

If you touch me

You'll understand what happiness is

Look

A new day has begun"

--

Websleuths

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/nj-lisa-mcbride-27-vernon-twp-23-jun-1990.38054/page-4

More recent article about her exhumation:

https://www.njherald.com/story/news/2022/03/15/lisa-mcbride-nj-cold-case-police-exhume-body-dna-evidence/7040908001/

Please excuse my mistakes, and let me know if you have corrections/better sources. My sources were entirely based on newspaper articles from newspaper dot com. I grew up in this area and lived a similar life as her (over a decade ago), and I'd like to post my thoughts, but I'd like to hear what you have to say first.

Thank you for your time and for reading about Lisa.

More photographs:

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/03/14/NNJH/2869b502-b100-47b8-8b37-398cc0a633bb-BR6pt4sk02.JPG?width=660&height=509&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

https://www.njherald.com/gcdn/presto/2022/03/14/NNJH/52783ef7-6cae-417c-ad87-21e8a04fb247-BR6pt4sk03.JPG?width=660&height=530&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

https://www.njherald.com/gcdn/presto/2022/03/14/NNJH/53442a7b-c09b-4a54-8457-b76e490171db-BR6pt4sk01.JPG?width=300&height=350&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

EDITS: a handful for adding images, links, clearer wording

I will keep the question broad here, whether it's a witness or possible witness dying, or a suspect dying or committing suicide, before they can be meaningfully investigated or interviewed, or maybe just a dude who died without deathbed confessing..  For example I was recently read about Niamh Maye, who was a backpacker on a gap year picking fruit in Australia,  took a ride in a hearse and disappeared in Australia, and one of the people she was last seen with killed himself shortly after, after he was accused of an unrelated rape (forgive me if I've gotten any details wrong there.) In my understanding that's been a major hindrance to figuring out what happened (though I think the authorities do believe she is deceased.) Anybody aware of any other cases where deaths got in the way of a good investigation. 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/our-daughter-s-gap-year-turned-into-a-chasm-the-family-haunted-by-a-20-year-mystery-20220323-p5a7cs.html

Jennifer Harrison was a 17 year old girl who went missing in 1998. According to her father, she last called him on his birthday that year, and he hasn't heard from her since. Per the Charley Project, she was reported to be on her way to a Super 8 motel in Kitsap (unconfirmed). At the time of her disappearance, Jennifer was 5'2" and around 110 lbs.

Gary Ridgway aka the Green River Killer, is a serial killer who killed a minimum of 48 women and girls (71–90+ confessed and suspected), in Washington state and Oregon from 1982–1998, and possibly as recent as 2001. His victims were primarily vulnerable women and underage runaways. Although Jennifer is not a confirmed runaway, she still fits the profile of his victims, and the location is suspicious as well. Bremerton and Kitsap, WA are only 35 miles away from one of the confirmed sites of his murders.

There is also the possibility that she is a victim of Timothy Burkhart, another killer active in the area at that time who killed at least two teenage girls roughly 30 miles away from Jennifer's last known location.

I haven't seen too much information about this case. Wondering if anyone found anything that I missed/knows if these two have been ruled out already?

Hello everyone! As always, thank you for all your comments and votes under my last post about the Skagit Jane Doe; I hope that her name will be given back to her soon.

Today I'd like to highlight a case of a very strange disappearance.

BACKGROUND

Krista Daniel was 42 when she went missing from Detroit, Michigan, USA.

She was a mother of five young children, with the oldest being 17 and the youngest being 2. Her husband died a month earlier.

Krista worked at a restaurant at the time, but she aspired to move into nursing.

Her family said that Krista was "intelligent" and "kind-hearted".

DISAPPEARANCE

Krista was last seen in the area of 8 Mile Road and I-75 Service Drive on the 22nd of April. She was reported to be in a good mental and physical condition.

She last spoke with her mother, Teri Daniel, at about 7:20 PM. Teri sent a family friend to meet up with Krista at Olar's, a party store, to lend her some money; She was supposed to come home (on foot) after that. Krista was last seen at around 7:30 PM as she was leaving Olar's, a party store. After she came out of the store, Krista crossed the west bound lanes of Eight Mile heading towards Hawthorn. She was last seen at around 7:45 PM.

The police believes that Krista was assaulted, possibly shot, and thrown into a trunk of a car. This was stated by a lot of eyewitnesses who came forward after it was announced that Krista went missing.

CONCLUSION

There isn't a lot of info available on Krista's story, unfortunately, which is strange- she was allegedly kidnapped right from the street of a large city during fairly early hours (I imagine Detroit is busy at any hour of the day), and nobody seems to know who did it and why.

Kidnapping someone like that is pretty brazen. Not to mention that Krista was assaulted only about 15 minutes after she parted ways with the family friend and started going home. To me, that means that the kidnapper was either following her, or that they were waiting in ambush, and Krista just happened to be the first woman walking on foot that happened to be there (making her an easy target).

I think that the big question in this case is if Krista was targeted or a victim of a crime of opportunity- that can help us narrow down the reasons as to why Krista was attacked. Teri says that she doesn't know why someone would want her daughter dead (the full quote is below); This means that Krista didn't have any enemies, criminal ties, or outstanding debts, or at least any that her mother would know about. That doesn't mean that Krista's life was simple and easy- her husband died a month earlier, and now she was left with 5 kids below 18, which would take a toll on anyone. It's possible that Krista turned to drugs to cope, or she did something that would put her on the radar- something that would put dangerous people on her trail. I'm not saying that to put Krista in bad light, or to judge her- it's just my speculation. She was in a difficult moment in life, and it's possible she made some risky choices in her state.

Something about the brutality of this crime just doesn't sit right with me. For a moment I wondered if Krista might've been attacked because someone wanted to rob her- perhaps they saw that she got money from the family friend, so they thought that they might be able to easily take it from her. But then why not only asssault her, but also shoot her and pull her into a car? Robberies can turn violent, sure, but rarely to that degree. No witnesses say anything about any attempted robbery either.

I feel like this had to be something personal, but the only things I can come up with is money/debts, or someone who wanted Krista dead for personal reasons, someone who absolutely hated her guts. We don't know anything about Krista's enemies- from what little we know, it seems like she was an average mother working in the restaurant industry to support her family. She was recently widowed, so a spurned lover seems unlikely. I feel like the most likely reason is money, as it often is. Perhaps Krista borrowed money from a loan shark, or had a debt at the wrong person, and that's why she was killed- she just wasn't paying her due.

There is a small chance that Krista was kidnapped by someone completely random. Of course, she could just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and crossed paths with a crazy man, but I'd say that's unlikely.

It's so bizzare to me that, apparently, there was quite a lot of witnesses who saw Krista being kidnapped, and yet there are no descriptions of the alleged kidnapper that I could find. There's just nothing, not even basic things like estimated height and weight, race, rough description of clothing, no info about the car... Just nothing. I don't know how is that even possible; Could nobody say absolutely anything about a man who was just seen attacking a woman and dragging her into his car? Or does the police not want to release that info for some ridiculous reason? If not for the fact that it's the police saying that Krista was kidnapped in these strange circumstances, and it's not just a local rumor or the family's theory, I would think that it's a hoax.

To this day, Teri is doing what she can to get any justice for her daughter. She spoke during a crimestoppers event focused on combatting gun violence in Detroit, asking the public for any tips about her daughter's case, but also highlighting other local missing people whose cases have went cold and need new leads.

Teri says that she doesn't know why someone would want to kill her daughter. In one article, she said that she doesn't know if "If she owed him money, whatever it was drug-related, I'm not sure" (sic). Something about this quote feels off to me, I think it's the "whatever"- I think that it was supposed to be "wether"? And it's interesting that she called Krista's murderer a "he"- I wonder if she said that as a reflex, or if she actually has a suspect in mind and knows that it's a "he". Teri says that she knows that there are people who know more about Krista's disappearance, but that they are afraid to speak up. She and her other daughter are currently raising Krista's five kids. Teri doesn't believe that Krista is alive anymore and just wants to know where her daughter's body is so that she could bury it, and that Krista's children had a place to mourn her. Teri says that she had eyewitnesses tell her that Krista simply isn't alive anymore.

Krista Lynn Daniel was 42 when she went missing, making her about 46 now. She's a white woman, 5' 4" (64 Inch / 163 cm) and 130 lbs (59 kg). Her hair was gray or partially gray and pulled into a ponytail, and her eyes are green. She has a mole on her left eyebrow, a scar on her right arm, and a linear scar on her abdomen. She has a tattoo saying "Charlie" on her ankle. Krista was last seen wearing blue jeans and a teal winter coat.

If you believe that you have any info regarding Krista's case, contact the Detroit Police Department at (313) 596-1800 (case number 200424-0194).

SOURCES:

1. clickondetroit.com
2. fox2detroit.com
3. cbsnews.com
4. NamUS.gov

Krista's websleuths.com thread