The weekend of November 25 and 26, 2017 mark the 50th and 64th anniversaries of two police officers featured on this blog: Robert Lawrence Tatman and Richard Stanley Burchfield. Both Tatman and Burchfield were killed in the line of duty. Both were shot. Both were young husbands. Both were young fathers. Robert Lawrence Tatman Champaign […]
Archives for 2017
Daniel K. Wood, Jr. (Oct. 30, 1941 – Jul. 23, 1954)
UPDATE 1: thanks to one of my readers I can now post a real picture of Daniel and add his full name: Daniel Kenneth Wood. This picture on the left comes from the 1959-1960 Pennell Institute high school yearbook. His former classmates made a memorial page in what would have been his senior year. UPDATE […]
Where is Douglas Charles Chapman?
Douglas Charles Chapman (Feb 5, 1968 – June 2, 1971 date missing) was last seen around 1030am while he was playing in a sand pile in the garden of his parental home in Alfred, York County, Maine. His mother was inside the home on the phone. Dad was at work. Doug is a white male […]
Harris County Deputy Sheriff Edward “Edd”Williams
UPDATE: thanks to one of my Twitter followers I have information to add to the case. I am still working on getting sharp screenshots from old newspaper articles. Many papers have their archives hidden behind a pay wall, alas. But here is the text: Harris County Deputy Sheriff Edward “Edd”Williams was off duty when he […]
New trial for Daniel Dougherty
On October 31, the Pennsylvania Superior Court gave Daniel Dougherty what he has coveted: a new trial. For the third time. The defense and appellate courts agreed: Daniel Dougherty had two unfair trials. The three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that Dougherty should get a new trial. They cited three crucial errors the […]
John Anthony Muncy (Dec. 7, 1967 – Oct. 15, 1983)
John Anthony “Tony” Muncy (15) was last seen on October 15, 1983 in the evening hours at the York Plaza Movie Theatre in Columbus. On October 16, 1983, his dismembered body was found on South Galena Road, Galena, Delaware County, Ohio. Cause of death: multiple stab wounds in the back. All extremities were either partly […]
What happened to the Houghland Family?
I brought in the paper this morning and saw this missing person ad at the bottom of the page. A boy with beautiful brown eye was looking at me. Next to him, an age-progressed picture of what he might look like today. It was Richard Houghland, not yet nine years old, missing. I googled his […]
The 1914 murder of David Ombler
David Ombler was 72 years old when he was beaten to death in his own home. His murder is possibly Britain’s oldest unsolved homicide. It happened May 30, 1914. The Case On May 30, 1914, Mr. Ombler (72), a market trader from Hull, was found by his neighbor lying on his back on his kitchen floor […]
Unmasking the East Area Rapist / Golden State Killer
Some crimes are committed by unknown persons. In other cases we know their names. Sometimes we discover their DNA and learn details about them without yet having a name. And some carry more than one name. I knew the name “Night Stalker.” This name usually refers to Richard Ramirez who was on death row until […]
The cold case of Walter Harrison Arnold, Sr.
Walter Harrison Arnold, Sr. (Aug. 31, 1940 – Dec. 4, 2008) was found dead on Dec. 4, 2008 in his bedroom at home in the 700 block of Morninglory Lane (Victoria, Texas). He was 68 years old. He had just learned he was cancer-free. Arnold, Sr. liked hunting, fishing, cooking, and play cards. He was […]