On May 21, 1980, Katherine Reitz Brow was stabbed over 30 times in her Ayer, Massachusetts home. There were bloodstains throughout the house and her purse, some jewelry and an envelope where she had been known to keep cash was missing. Investigators found hair, blood ladened fingerprints on the toaster and the kitchen faucet which was left running. A bloody paring knife which was perceived to be the murder weapon was found in the waste basket. Mr. Water’s became a suspect because he lived next to the victim with his girlfriend, Brenda Marsh. He also worked at a local diner that Ms. Brow frequented and employee’s revealed that she had been known to keep large amounts of cash in her home. His alibi was that he had been in court during the day
We were presented with many facts that all pointed to Mr. Washburn as the murder. In the house all of the entrances were thoroughly inspected by authorities, and they found no sign of ransacking. “[They] examined all the locking mechanisms, all the doors and windows. In [their] opinion there was no evidence of any forced entry” (P.81). When police looked for fingerprints, “They were all of the Washburn family and the maid” (P.81). There was no trace of an outside party; somebody usually in the Washburn house committed the murder. While in the living room, an officer found a drop of blood. The evidence technician was called the next night to run some tests. “He sprayed the living room carpet with luminol. It is a luminous spray, and when it comes in contact with blood it illuminates” (P.82). To both men’s surprise the whole living room was illuminating. After spraying further the men found a trail from the living room through the kitchen to the garage. In the closet the men found a wet mop, which was tested for blood and also came back positive. Somebody tried to clean his or her bloody mess, and try to save himself. The physical evidence proves the killer was somebody who was familiar to the Washburn household.
On June 19th of 1990, Robert Baltovich’s girlfriend Elizabeth Bain went missing. Elizabeth told her family that she was going to check the tennis schedules at her school, the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus. She never returned, but her car was eventually recovered. It was found with blood on the backseat, with forensic tests showing that it was Elizabeth’s. With no clear evidence, the “solving” of the case was completely based on eyewitness testimonies, which eventually had Robert arrested for the murder of his girlfriend.
Simone’s body was found half-dressed with her shirt pushed up to around the neck and her shorts were hung off the pelvis with the cords undone. Some of her jewelry and two coins were found next to her body. There was a fireplace and discarded .22-caliber shells were found close by. Simone suffered similar wounds to the previous victims, with multiple stab wounds on her torso.
While Williams Heirens is known for many crimes, his most famous ones are the murders of 3 females. On June 5, 1945, 43-year-old Josephine Ross was found dead in her apartment. She was found with multiple stab wounds across her torso and neck. Her head was wrapped in one of her dresses (Blanco). On December 11, 1945, 31-year-old Frances Brown was found naked in the bathtub of her apartment. Her head was wrapped in her nightclothes, with a knife jammed into her neck, and a bullet in her head. Her neck was slit when she discovered a 17-year-old in her apartment robbing her. After he cut her throat, he shot her in the head to make sure that she was dead. He then proceeded to wash the blood off of her body and wrap her head in her pajamas. After he killed her, he took her lipstick and scrawled on the wall, “Catch me before I kill more I cannot control myself.” On January 7, 1946, 6-year-old Suzanne Degnan was reported missing from her home. Police later found dismembered parts of her body scattered throughout Chicago’s sewage drains. When sewage workers first found her head, they thought it ...
Serial Killer Floats Theory." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Dec. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
The following day, a fisherman was at the Treeland Blvd. pond when he spotted some stuff floating in the water. Upon closer inspection he noticed it was firefighters gear and figured something must be wrong since firefighters do not just leave their equipment. The police had the pond drained and found a green Chevy truck at the bottom. Inside the truck was a substantial amount of blood; when the blood was tested it was that of Brandy Hall. The amount of blood in the cab of the truck makes it unlikely she will be found alive. The woods around the pond were also searched but nothing more was found.
Two detectives were assigned to the case: Harry Hanson and Finis Brown. [2] When they and the police arrived at the crime scene, it was already swarming with people, gawkers and reporters. The entire situation was out of hand and crowded, everyone trampling all over any hopes for good evidence. [2] One thing they did report finding was a nearby cement block with watery blood on it, tire tracks and a heel print on the ground. There was dew under the body so they knew it had been set there just after 2 a.m. when temperatures dropped to 38 degrees.
To conclude, despite all the possibilities and other theories of Mrs. Maloney committing the crime out of anger or severe frustration towards Mr. Maloney, there is no credible way to prove it. Mrs. Maloney simply killed her husband as a result of mental anguish, self defense and trauma inflicted upon her. Mrs. Maloney did not plan to kill her husband. She was simply a victim of her situation and could not control her actions. Mrs. Maloney should not be spending time in jail, but safe at home grieving the loss of her husband.
That night, many witnesses reported having seen a man changing the tire of his van and waving any possible help away angrily while others reported seeing a woman wandering around the side of the dangerous highway. More witnesses reported that Kenneth and his wife were having many violent disputes at their home that usually resulted in Kenneth pursuing an angry Yvonne around the block. The most compelling evidence against Mathison, however, is purely scientific. Detective Paul Ferreira first noticed that the extensive blood stains inside the Mathison van. After hearing Mathison’s original account, he summoned the assistance of famed forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee to analyze what he thought was inconsistent evidence. Blood stains on the paneling and the spare tire in the cargo area reveal low-velocity blood stains meaning that the blood probably dripped from Yvonne’s head onto the floor. The stains found on the roof and steering wheel were contact transfer patterns probably caused by Mathison’s bloody hands. Blood stains on the driver’s side of the van were contact-dripping patterns which indicate that Mathison touched the inside of the van multiple times before and after moving his wife’s body. The final groups of blood stains on the instrument panel of the van were medium-velocity stains which show investigators that Mathison probably struck his wife at least once in the front seat causing the blood to fly from her open head wound. The enormous amounts of blood inside the van lead prosecutor Kurt Spohn to investigate the Mathison case as a murder instead of a misdemeanor traffic violation.
Sue Grafton once stated: “Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they're right.” This is clearly the thought the Boulder Colorado police conceived in the case of little beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. As many have observed from the onslaught of media coverage, the day after Christmas 1996, six year old Jon Benet Ramsey was found buried under a white blanket, bound, beaten, and strangled to death in the wine cellar of their Boulder home. With such a strikingly rare and glamorous story of a six year old beauty queen dead, who was a part of a “perfect American upper-middle class family”, combined with a lack of a lead and ever mounting suspicion piling up against the parents it was no surprise to find that it was fuel to the media and soon stories sold and became a matter of competition between the press. So, like wildfire, this heart-breaking story spread, stretching across the nation, shattering the souls of the world. News broadcasts, magazine and newspaper articles, and television specials all shaped and molded peoples perceptions of this beautiful child’s murder, especially her parents, John and Pasty Ramsey’s involvement or lack there of. The police and FBI’s merciless quest to connect Jon Benet’s murder to her parents, seemed to cause the them to overlook important evidence, or at the very least dismiss suspicious findings that would otherwise send red flags to investigators. There are many contributors as to why this case remains unsolved including lack of investigative expertise, failure to protect valuable evidence, and focusing too much on the parents as suspects but, ultimately, the over involvement of...
REPORTER: The reporter/ grandmother (Shirley) called with concerns for the victim, Erica (24 y/o, Caucasian female). According to the reporter, Erica’s husband (Jonathan) has her hid out somewhere; they do not have a permanent home. The reporter said, 1 year ago, the victim was dating Jonathan and they moved in with three different family members. Jonathon was doing drugs and drinking. Erica is disabled and not capable of making good decisions. The reporter said the couple is currently married, and they have been living from place to place. The family doesn’t know where Erica is. In October of 2015, some friends (unknown) took the victim to the coast in Ocean Springs; she didn’t have a phone or any family there. The victim called the reporter
One of the most interesting pieces of data that my research has turned up is a very compelling, meticulously researched, and extremely detailed forensic analysis by Brent Turvey, MS, of the crime, along with a psychological profile of the possible killers. It is attached to this essay in its entirety. The main conclusions of this analysis are in marked contrast to the conclusions reached by the Arkansas investigative authorities. Among the more significant are the following:
Rosa Lee Cunningham is a 52-year old African American female. She is 5-foot-1-inch, 145 pounds. Rosa Lee is married however, is living separately from her husband. She has eight adult children, Bobby, Richard, Ronnie, Donna (Patty), Alvin, Eric, Donald (Ducky) and one child who name she did not disclose. She bore her eldest child at age fourteen and six different men fathered her children. At Rosa Lee’s recent hospital admission to Howard University Hospital emergency room blood test revealed she is still using heroin. Though Rosa Lee recently enrolled in a drug-treatment program it does not appear that she has any intention on ending her drug usage. When asked why she no longer uses heroin she stated she doesn’t always have the resources to support her addiction. Rosa Lee is unemployed and receiving very little in government assistance. She appears to
Guillen, Tomas. Serial Killers: Issues Explored Through the Green River Murders. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
“There is very little that is new in crime. Similar patterns of behavior will emerge time and time again. People commit the same crimes for the same motives. They get caught because they make the same mistakes, and when arrested they trot out the same excuses. If they get away with it, it is often a matter of luck. I have been able to come up with a few simple rules which should always be observed when one is contemplating murder.” [Linda Crime Notes] The difficulty with committing murder is the elevated danger of being trapped. Once decided that murder is defensible, the predicament of how to do it and how to keep away from being found out are your initial feelings. Unluckily, the cops have turned out to be very sophisticated in their examination but there are ways to trick the police and the coroner's office. If more people knew how to blow up a car with Drano, or reason an enormous heart attack devoid of any bodily signs of foul play. A large number of unsettled or mysterious deaths in which much life indemnity policy would be remunerated without question, are rising. Using any intoxicating drain clog remover to bluster up a car is very effectual, yet it is very hard to heave off. You don't have to be connected to a murder in order to be a suspect in a murder case. If they find a piece of hair they will take it to a lab, anything to find the murderer. They don't just trace murderers "connected" to a murder. It could be anyone. The first thing you must do is make sure your intended victim is nowhere in view one hour previous to the car is on track. The second thing is that rubber gloves are very important; you do not want to leave fingerprints on a burnt out car or on the drain opener bottle. Disposing the rubber gloves at a...