Carmen Melinda Croan (Jan 16, 1963 – Aug 23, 1981) was murdered when she was just 18 years old. She doesn’t have a good web presence. The only information on the Odessa Crime Stoppers page is as follows: “It has been over 20 years since the brutal slaying of Carmen Croan. Her body was found on […]
Cruelty
The Grahlman murders
The Case of the Month for April 2014: the Grahlman murders from April 5, 2003. I read about the Grahlman arson/double homicide case on Jody Ewing’s Iowa Cold Cases. Please read the circumstances of the crime there. No need to repeat Jody here. After I read the overview, many questions popped up in my mind and […]
Beyond the Man in the Iron Mask
Beyond the Man in the Iron Mask: by request, I post all three parts that I wrote as guest posts for other bloggers here for readability. ___________________________________ I like to read about old unsolved cases. We usually refer to them as historical mysteries. One of them is the story of the unknown prisoner or the man […]
Book alert about the case of Kathy Whorton
Kathy’s sister Debbie Wilson is releasing a book called “Sweet Scent of Justice” to tell the story of her sister’s murder. Police found her car abandoned near the then-Northeast Louisiana University, where she was a college student. Less than an hour later, an anonymous caller led authorities to her body. Kathy had been shot twice in […]
Possible prosecution in 1985 Blakelock case
All the papers were buzzing since last night about a possible prosecution in the 1985 cold case of UK Police Officer Keith Blakelock. Officer Blakelock and his colleague Pc Coombes was was attacked by 300-strong mob as he tried to protect firefighters who were tackling a supermarket blaze at the height of the riot known as the […]
Recap #cclivechat Aug 3, 2012
Our guest today was Virginia Braden! Virginia Braden is a licensed Private Investigator and Behavioral Profiler specializing in violent crimes and cold case investigations. This includes death investigations, missing persons, and unidentified remains cases as well as rapes, sexual and physical assaults, stalking, domestic violence cases and elder abuse and child abuse cases. Virginia Braden […]
Update Robert Henderson
Robert Henderson visited the University of Hawaii in the summer of ’96. Five days later his naked body would be discovered at the Ilikai Hotel. Fourteen years later Jason Lee McCormick came forward to say he did it. “Everyone agrees to the facts. There is no question in the government’s mind, or my mind, as to what happened. The question […]
Moira Holly Branagan Alert
The Grand Jury is making progress in the cold case of Moira Holly Branagan. New material have been sent to the labs to be examined for DNA, and a report is expected at the end of the month. Moira “Holly” Branagan (1962 – 1979) was found stabbed 18 times in the back with a 10-inch kitchen […]
Book alert: Cold Case Research
Book alert: Cold Case Research. In 2012 “Cold Case Research” will come out. The author is Silvia Pettem and this is how she describes her book: “Cold Case Research: Resources for Unidentified, Missing, and Cold Homicide Cases,” to be published by CRC Press in 2012. Topics include the latest search engine tools such as TLO, the […]
Guest Post: “There are monsters that walk among us”
Guest Post: “There are monsters that walk among us” by Darren Bruce. Darren is a married father of three and has been a police officer for seventeen years. “I am a Detective Sergeant who has taken on various roles and am soon to undertake a change to run a Serious Sexual Offences Investigation Team. Over the years […]
Adam has been identified
“The five-year-old’s identity has remained a mystery after he was smuggled into Britain and murdered in a voodoo-style ritual killing. He was drugged with a ‘black-magic’ potion and sacrificed before being thrown into the Thames, where his torso washed up next to the Globe Theatre in September 2001. Detailed analysis of a substance in the boy’s […]
Execution date set for Skinner
According to the website of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Henry Skinner is set to be executed Nov. 9, 2011. In March of this year, the justices ruled that Skinner had the right to sue a Texas district attorney under a federal civil rights law for refusing to allow him access to evidence for […]
Stacie Lee Ann Lutz Anderson found
“The lady in the Barrel” has been identified by DNA. Forensic scientists used DNA that was collected during the autopsy. The woman was killed in 1990. DNA from her sister was used to identify her as Stacie Lee Ann Lutz Anderson. “There were no dental records or X-ray files that anthropologists could consult to identify […]
Update: Keith Blakelock
Fantastic news in the case of Keith Blakelock: “Police have launched a fresh investigation into the murder of a police constable who was killed in riots in north London more than 18 years ago, Scotland Yard said. Pc Keith Blakelock was hacked to death during the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham in October 1985. A fresh […]
Zeigler, Part XV
Zeigler, Part XV: “Just testify that you were Zeigler’s homosexual lover and we’ll help you out!” A Florida, Orange County woman in her 80’s, reads an affidavit that she signed alleging that the state tried to get her son to testify that he was William Thomas Zeigler’s homosexual lover. As you know, the state went through great […]
Zeigler, Part XIII
Zeigler, Part XIII WARNING: this post contains actual crime scene photographs. They are very graphic. The photographs are not included to sensationalize the case. They are included because they tell a story. If you scroll down and continue to read, you will view them at your own risk. ________________________________________________________________ Zeigler’s first trial attorney Ralph “Terry” […]
Paula Ream’s remains stolen
Lancaster, PA: Police are looking for the thief who dug up Paula Ream‘s remains and coffin and disappeared into the night. Police said someone went into the Riverview Memorial Cemetery along the 1200 block of South Duke Street in Lancaster late Thursday night or early Friday morning and dug up Paula Ream’s grave. Paula Ream was […]
Zeigler, Part XI
Zeigler, Part XI: On Juror Intimidation and Judicial Override You can debate all you want but I have made up my mind; Zeigler is guilty! That was what jury foreman Charles Ashley announced right after he had been elected foreman. According to other jurors, he had made up his mind about two weeks prior … […]
Update Quang Lu
Police believed millionaire loan shark Quang Lu was murdered shortly after he disappeared in October 2007. The discovery of a body in a barrel last week on Sunday proved the prediction by police specializing in Asian organized crime was correct. Homicide detectives said Tuesday the well-preserved body of Quang Lu known on the streets as […]
A Chinese Wrongful Conviction
Reuters reports about a Chinese case where a man who was supposedly hacked to death in a fight has reappeared in his hometown after 10 years, raising questions about police torture to extract a confession from the alleged killer. Zhao Zuohai, the supposed killer, was acquitted of the crime and released by a Henan court May 8, […]