On November 24th, 2009 Defrosting Cold Cases (DCC) finally went live. It had been living in my head for quite some time. Then it migrated to notebooks before I dipped my toes into the waters of WordPress. It started when I was law faculty in the US and worked with a police department. When I […]
The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris
The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris covers the life of Joseph Lister and the evolution of forensic sciences in Victorian times. Fitzharris Lindsey Fitzharris received her Ph.D in the history of science and medicine from Oxford University. Her blog is called the Chirurgeon’s Apprentice and it is worth exploring. Joseph Lister Joseph Lister (April 5, […]
Sonia Carmen Herok Stone
What happened to Sonia Carmen Herok Stone (May 27, 1951 – October 15, 1981), that is what her family wants to know. Sonia was found murdered in her house in Carmel, California, in 1981. She left behind one daughter. Her case remains unsolved. Sonia Sonia Carmen Herok Stone moved from Quebec, Canada to Carmel, California […]
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 […]
Casanova and the Faceless Woman by Olivier Barde-Cabuçon
Olivier Barde-Cabuçon wrote the book Casanova and the Faceless Woman, a case for the Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths in French. It was expertly translated from French to English by Louise Lalaurie Rogers. Translations I usually shy away from translated works. One of my favorite German books is Das Parfum by Patrick Süskind. Years […]
Zeigler: moral right denied
The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala has rejected the appeal made on behalf of William Thomas Zeigler to have his pre-trial evidence from the 70s tested with modern DNA technology. Ayala denied this request “even though her conviction integrity unit urged her in April to grant it, saying it […]
Kristina S. Hickey (1969 – 1984)
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
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)
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
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 […]