Defrosting Cold Cases

Research website by Alice de Sturler

Kristina S. Hickey (1969 – 1984)

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Introduction Kristina S. Hickey (1969 – 1984) was murdered in Park Forest, Illinois, 1984. She was 15 years old and still in high school. On January 15, 1987, Christopher Abernathy was convicted for Kristina’s murder. On February 11, 2015, after 30 years of incarceration, Abernathy was exonerated by DNA and set free. But who killed […]

Cold Country by Russell Rowland

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Cold Country by Russell Rowland may start slow but don’t let that fool you. It will suddenly accelerate and the puzzle pieces will hit you like a sledgehammer. We are in the year 1968 in a very small town called Paradise Valley, Montana. It reminded me of Walnut Grove from the Little House on the […]

Brenda Jean LaCombe (1962 – 1982)  

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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 […]

Missing: Joanna Kay Otto

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Joanna Kay Otto (Aug 3, 1973 – missing Nov 20, 1992) was nineteen years old on Nov 20, 1992 when she went missing from Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida. Her case is classified as endangered missing. Foul play is suspected. Her case was added to the NamUs database on Oct 4, 2013. Joanna Kay Otto was […]

Tami Renee Jackson (Dec 17, 1976 – Jan 26, 1994)

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Tami Renee Jackson (17) was found murdered on January 26, 1994. Her remains were on an isolated area of Hutchinson Island in Savannah, Georgia. Tami was stabbed 130 times. She was bound and run over by a car. The picture on the left comes from the justice page made on Facebook by her sisters. Nobody has ever […]

Munich by Robert Harris

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It is only fitting that a book review in September should feature World War Two. The book Munich by Robert Harris is an excellent choice. September dates On September 1, 1938 the Munich Agreement was signed by Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy. It agreed to let Germany annex Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia under the […]

Sherlena Burgess and La Shonia Yvette Austin

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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: Wendy Eaton 

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Wendy “Whizzie” Eaton (May 26, 1959 – missing May 17, 1975) was last seen on May 17, 1975. She is from Media, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Wendy was a sophomore (10 grade) at Penncrest High School. She got good grades, loved scouting, camping, and church activities. She plays piano, guitar, and is a skilled singer. Her case […]