Defrosting Cold Cases

Zeigler DNA Appeal denied From the Orlando Sentinel: “The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday denied an appellate motion by convicted killer Tommy Zeigler, the latest ruling in his three-plus-decade fight to get off death row.  Zeigler appealed to the state Supreme Court after a circuit judge denied his request to have DNA tests performed on [...]

Jimmy’s family has sent me a picture that I may use on my blog.   It is a lovely picture of brother and sister: Jimmy & Donna. Thank you for sharing, V

Open letter from M. Holmes re Tess Hilt. Michall has been very active in trying to get justice for Tess. This letter, printed with his permission, is an update about the case. Open letter from M. Holmes: “Hi V, It is almost 11 months ago since we began to defrost Tess’ case. Tess was brutally [...]

Did Sture Bergwall kill the Stegehuis Family? That is THE question now in Sweden so they are reopening this case. The Dutch couple Marinus and Jannie Stegehuis were found murdered in their tent in July 1984 near Lake Vuolep Appojaure, Sweden. Sture Bergwall, convicted and sentenced in their case, is serving life for several crimes. However, [...]

Twenty-three years ago today, Jimmy Stanaway died after a brutal attack on his life. His case was never solved and it is colder than cold today. Nobody is looking for his murderer and the family has lost hope that they will ever find out the truth. Of course, we understand that current cases always have priority [...]

In March 1979, Albert Ray McQueen was committed to Eastern State Hospital, a Kentucky mental institution, by court order. On March 23, 1979, McQueen somehow left the hospital. He was reported missing six weeks later on May 2, 1979! In this time period, then hospital director Ralph claimed that he could not discuss the situation [...]

The case of Eddie Gilfoyle is anything but straightforward or clear cut. His pregnant wife’s estimated time of dead occurred hours before she was found. In that time period, Eddie was at work. Paula was portrait as a happily expecting first time mom while she had a history of a suicide attempt and on no [...]

Jasper S. will stand trial for the 1999 murder of Marianne Vaatstra on February 27, 2013. Marianne was sixteen years old when she was found raped and murdered. On September 29, 2012, police began a “DNA relationship testing” in a 5 km radius of the crime scene of approx. 8,000 men. In this study, on a voluntary [...]

John Heath’s murder trial has been delayed until March 20, 2013. The CT Post writes “John Heath, the Newtown man who was charged last year with his wife’s decades-old murder, had his trial at Danbury Superior Court continued to March 20, according to the city’s state’s attorney’s office.  His attorney, Frank O’Reilly, previously derided the prosecution’s case [...]

The first #crimechat of 2013 is dedicated to a cold case with zero media attention: the shooting death of Richard Lee Waggoner. Imagine losing a family member to a murder that never got solved. Nobody to stand trial, nobody convicted for this crime. Nobody who can bring you any news. And then the silence … [...]