Jerry Lynn Burns is facing first-degree murder charges for the Dec 20, 1979 murder of Michelle Martinko. He is held at the Linn County Jail (Iowa). Burns Burns has his own company Advanced Coating Concepts in Delaware County, Iowa. It is a powder-coating shop but they are also a Hustler turf equipment dealer. Burns was […]
Archives for 2018
Happy Holidays
The end of 2018 is approaching fast. As always, I am grateful for my readers’ continued support. You share so many cases online, it really helps to get the victims’ stories out. I also wish to thank everyone who emailed me with newspaper clippings, images, memories, missed details, typos, book recommendations, cases suggestions so the […]
Arrest in 1979 murder of Michelle Martinko
Michelle Martinko was found dead on Dec. 20, 1979. She was repeatedly stabbed most notably in her face and chest. Police discovered her body in the family Buick in the parking lot of the Westdale Mall, Cedar rapids, Iowa. Police said there was no sign of a sexual assault, but she had wounds that indicated […]
Vickie Lynn Harrell, more information
On August 12, 1972 Vickie Lynn Harrell stepped into her 4-door dark blue 1965 Plymouth Valiant. She was in the K-Mart parking lot on the east side of Bloomington, Indiana. This is the last time she was seen alive. On August 13, 1972 when Vickie does not return home, her roommate reports her missing to […]
Update 1982 murder of Barbara Mendez
On April 28, 1982, Barbara Mendez (Feb 21, 1949 – April 28, 1982) was found bludgeoned to death inside the Park City Credit Union (Minocqua, Wisconsin). Barbara’s case went cold but in 2018, husband Robin D. Mendez, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. The couple have two daughters, Dawn Mendez Shape and Christy Mendez Wadas. […]
Update Joseph James DeAngelo, Jr.
DeAngelo, Jr. appeared in court on Dec 6, 2018. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Sweet decided he will keep his court appointed attorney Diane Howard as he is not deemed to have enough financial means to do otherwise. “Prosecutors from Contra Costa, Tulare, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Orange counties have agreed to a joint trial […]
Update Nicky Verstappen
On Dec 12, 2018 Jos Brech appeared in court. He denied having abused, kidnapped, and killed Nicky Verstappen (11) in 1998. The prosecution explained where Brech’s DNA was found: most (18 spots) was on all four sides of Nicky’s underwear, one spot on his PJ bottoms, and one spot on his body. They also found […]
The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes
I read about the book ‘The Coroner’s Daughter’ by Andrew Hughes in the BBC History Magazine. As my readers know I like to read historical fiction especially if it takes place at the onset of forensic sciences. Well, Hughes opens the story with a severed hand and floating baby lungs in a glass bowl with […]
Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I
Albino Luciani, known as smiling Pope John Paul I, died on Sept 28, 1978 after a papal reign of only 33 days. He was 65 years old. Lack of clarity The death of Albino Luciani (Oct 17, 1912 – Sept 28, 1978) has long been one of speculation, intrigue, conspiracy, and wild accusations involving the […]
The lingering case of Tommy Zeigler
Blood and truth: the lingering case of Tommy Zeigler and how Florida fights DNA testing. The Tampa Bay is publishing a new six-series about the case of William Thomas Zeigler. As my readers know, I have been involved in this case since the 90s. There are so many posts about this case on my blog that […]
Sally Shepherd, more details
My readers are the best. I said it before and I will keep saying it. Three readers have contacted me about the Sally Shepherd case providing more details. The Case Sally Shepherd was picked up somewhere in Peckham, South London, stripped naked, raped, and beaten to death at the end of 1979. She was struck […]
Suzy Lamplugh: excavation unsuccessful
The Metropolitan Police is still trying to find answers in the case of Suzy Lamplugh (25) who went missing in July 1986. She was officially declared dead and presumed murdered in 1994. Suzy Lamplugh was a realtor and had left her office in London to meet a client only known as Mr. Kipper. The case […]
Hazel Juanita Hanna and Cynthia Lorraine Bell
UPDATE Nov 12, 2018: one of my readers sent me some newspaper articles with more details and pictures identifying each girl, just scroll down. _____ Hazel Juanita Hanna and Cynthia Lorraine Bell were murdered in Missouri, 1976. There is shockingly little online. If you have links to more newspaper articles about this case, please contact […]
Willeke Dost: new excavation planned
UPDATE NOV 12, 2018: nothing was found. ____ Dutch police made the following announcement: “The Drenthe police are launching a new search for Willeke Dost, a then 15-year-old girl who disappeared from her foster parents’ farm in Koekange in 1992. The police will dig in an area near the farm where witnesses say they saw […]
Herman Edward Wilhelm Luhrsen
One of my readers mentioned the unsolved case of Herman Edward Wilhelm Luhrsen (Dec 4, 1886 – Feb 14, 1937). He said it was strange, with multiple angles, and without a good web presence. He kindly summarized the case for me in an email. I got curious and tried to find more articles in the public […]
Samantha and Gianna Rucki
Today a new book came out about the Samantha and Gianna Rucki case. It is called “The Girls Are Gone: The True Story of Two Sisters Who Vanished, the Father Who Kept Searching, and the Adults Who Conspired to Keep the Truth Hidden” by Michael Brodkorb & Allison Mann. Wise Ink Creative Publishing was kind […]
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrea Burnet
The book’s title is your red flag: is it a blood-covered piece of work or, a cursed work? If it is the first, who spilled the blood and why? If it is the latter, is the killer cursed by their crimes or were they predestined to commit these crimes? And the project itself, who started it […]
True crime podcasts
A lot of people have asked me whether I will ever write a true crime book or crime fiction. Maybe. Others asked me if I will add podcasts to my blog. No, definitely not. We all have our different ways to absorb information. We all have our diverse talents for sharing stories. I think mine is […]
Melissa Millan (Oct 13, 1960 – Nov 20, 2014)
Melissa Millan by Elizabeth Bramon An arrest was finally made in the 2014 murder of Melissa Millan of Simsbury, CT. William Winters Leverett 27, of Windsor Locks, CT was arraigned in Enfield Superior Court on Monday, September 24, 2018 on the charges of murder in the first degree for the November 20, 2014 stabbing death […]
Johnny Rush Bowman (Sept 15, 1952 – Aug 19, 1984)
Virginia State Trooper Johnny Rush Bowman (Sept 15, 1952 – Aug 19, 1984) was stabbed 45 times by an unknown attacker (or attackers) on Aug. 19, 1984, around 415 am after answering the door at his own home in Manassas, Virginia. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest […]