Amanda Lee Fravel went missing on Friday, June 13, 1986 from Las Vegas, Nevada. She was supposed to go home to see her mother in California. Her mother had even sent her an airplane ticket for the trip. She was to board June 14th. However, Amanda never boarded any plane and never arrived in California. […]
Case of the Month
1991 East Allentown John Doe
NamUs profile #UP16506 is about the unidentified 1991 East Allentown case that was uploaded on April 7, 2017. This case remains unsolved so I made it the Case of the Month for September, 2020. The Case On Sunday, April 28, 1991 around 6pm, two hikers on a hillside near Albert Street, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, found scattered […]
Louise Raney Keko (Aug 18, 1938 – Aug 4, 1991)
The case of Louise Raney Keko (Aug 18, 1938 – Aug 4, 1991) is still unsolved. For obvious reasons, she is the case of the Month for August. UPDATE: I received the picture you see here on the left from the family with permission to use on this post. Thank you! ** I came across […]
Missing: Jefferie Hill
Jefferie Hill (2) was last seen on September 28, 1968, in Tokoroa, New Zealand. He was almost three years old when he vanished. Authorities assume that he drowned in the Matarawa Creek that ran behind his home. But, doubt remains. This is the Case of the Month for July 2020. Missing On Saturday, September 28, […]
Mary Emma Bisenthal Hammond
Mary Emma Bisenthal Hammond (Aug 1, 1958 – missing Sept 8, 1983) left for work in the early morning hours of September 8, 1983. She went missing and was never seen again. This is the Case of the Month for June 2020. What do we know? September 1983 On September 8, 1983 Mary Emma Bisenthal Hammond […]
Coe Caroline Paisley (1965 – 1994)
From the Miami-Dade Police Department Homicide Bureau Cold Case Squad: Location: 1223 Wallace Street, Coral Gables, Florida. Date & Time: 3:29 pm on Wednesday, August 3, 1994. “At the above time, date, and location the victim was discovered unconscious inside of a duplex apartment that she owned and was renovating. It was revealed that two […]
Brian Edwin Shookman (Jan 19, 1980 – missing July 28, 2012)
Brian Edwin Shookman was last seen on July 28, 2012. He had been in Kellogg, Idaho for a family reunion over the weekend. He stayed at his cousins. The plan was to barbecue in a local park however, Brian did not show up. They never saw him again. This is the Case of the Month […]
Vanessa Lynn Buss (Dec 1, 1960 – Oct 7, 1985)
Vanessa Lynn Buss (Dec 1, 1960 – Oct 7, 1985) was shot to death in Houston, Texas. She was twenty-four years old. There is hardly anything online about her murder so it is fitting to make hers the Case of the Month for March 2020. UPDATE: Her brother Rance contacted me and gave his sister’s […]
Remember Joshua Wayne Crawford
Joshua Wayne Crawford (July 2, 1982 – July 2, 2003) was just 21 years old when his life was cut short. He was found dead inside his apartment at 6949 Exeter Court, Frederick, Maryland. His case remains unsolved. This is the Case of the Month for February 2020. Introduction Joshua was the middle son of […]
Susan Jessica Morey (Aug 13, 1962 – June 18, 1990)
I was browsing through newspapers when I stumbled onto this piece. It is from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri. The date is June 22, 1990. Check this out on page 18: “Murdered Woman Identified: St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone said Thursday that a woman found stabbed to death Monday In […]
Janet Eva Roberson Gregston
On August 21, 1984 around 415pm, police found Janet Eva Roberson Gregston (Dec 20, 1955 – Aug 21, 1984) murdered about two miles east of US 385 (Andrews Highway) on the North East Loop 338, Ector County, Texas. She had been stabbed twenty times and her throat was slashed. She was also pregnant. Her case […]
Brenda Jean LaCombe (1962 – 1982)
Brenda Jean LaCombe (19) went missing on May 16, 1982 from Lowell, Massachusetts. Around 1245am on May 16, she left her grandmother’s house in the Francis Gatehouse Mill Apartment Complex, Lowell, Mass. On June 4, 1982, a jogger found her remains behind a stone wall on the side of Littleton County road off Interstate 495 […]
Sherlena Burgess and La Shonia Yvette Austin
Two cousins Sherlena “Penny” Burgess (April 22, 1980 – Sept 14, 2003) and La Shonia “Shon” Yvette Austin (Nov 13, 1978 – Sept 19, 2003) were murdered after a night out on Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee. One of my readers alerted me to this case. There is not much online. That’s why this is the […]
Missing: Linda Ann Miller
Linda Ann Miller (July 3, 1954 – last seen July 1, 1973) was nineteen when she was last seen. Her last known location was San Rafael, California. Whether that was where she lived or where she was born, isn’t clear. UPDATE: one of my readers, you guys really are the best, found that Linda was […]
Who killed Alana Kela?
Alana Kela (? – 1993) was born in Hawaii, USA. I do not have an exact island name or date of birth. She died in 1993 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, from a single gunshot wound to her head. Her murder remains unsolved. This is the Case of the Month for July 2019. […]
Missing: Elijah Gersham Cravens
Elijah Gersham Cravens (possibly Oct 20, 1867 – last seen Jan 1, 1902) from Okmulgee, Oklahoma was last seen on January 1, 1902. Cravens was a farmer who lived outside Okmulgee, OK. When he went missing he was approx. between 30 and 40 years old. There is no official last address on file. Case He […]
Gerard Homer Soules (Aug 3, 1936 – June 4, 1992)
Gerard Homer Soules (Aug 3, 1936 – June 4, 1992) was a famous trapeze artist with Ringling Bros. He performed in the center ring for five years. His last performance was for Queen Elizabeth. His signature move was a forward somersault off the trapeze catching the bar again with his heels. Soules never missed until […]
The Ethics of Forensic Genealogy
Introduction Lately, we have seen numerous cases that were unsolved for decades, where the use of forensic genealogy provided authorities with answers. Checking people’s family trees based on characteristics from the DNA sample on file has given us a string of cases where a suspect has now been identified. The media started to pick up […]
Deborah Ann Danhaus (Oct 4, 1952 – Aug 1971)
We do not know exactly when in August 1971 Deborah Ann Danhaus (18) from Amboy, Illinois was murdered. We do not know why either. All we know is that the case went cold fast. Should any evidence still be in storage, hopefully properly preserved, they should be re-examined with modern technology. When I searched for […]
Christine Ann Diefenbach (May 15, 1973 – Feb 7, 1988)
Christine Ann Diefenbach (May 15, 1973 – Feb 7, 1988) is the Case of the Month for February 2019. Her murder remains unsolved. Introduction It has been 31 years since Christine Ann Diefenbach (14) was murdered in Richmond Hill, Queens County, New York. Christine was a shy, artistic ninth-grader at Intermediate School 217 in Queens County. […]