Quinn Renard Woodfolk (July 23, 1986 – missing July 4, 1998) was just a few days shy of his 12th birthday when he disappeared from Charlottesville, Virginia. His nickname was “Lil Quinn.” Quinn Renard Woodfolk has black hair and brown eyes. He has a scar near his right eye. Some websites state that he has a scar […]
Case of the Month: Sophie Sergie (1973 – 1993)
This month is the 24th anniversary of the Sophie Sergie murder that still haunts the Fairbanks authorities. On April 26, 1993, around 2pm, Sophie Sergie (20) was found dead by a janitor. Her body was in a bathtub in the second floor women’s restroom of Bartlett Hall, University of Alaska. She was raped and killed. The […]
Burke, Council, and Hawkins
The unsolved cases website of the Metropolitan Police Department for the District of Columbia splits up cases in categories. You can search for missing person cases, cases with rewards, most wanted cases, and unsolved homicides. The latter group is split up by years and decades. Here are the oldest three cases. They need more media […]
RIP Robert Kovack
DNA tests on human remains found near the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia confirmed that the remains belonged to Robert Leroy Kovack (24). Robert Kovack went missing on September 19, 1998. Kovack had started his second year in the graduate architecture program at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. He was leaving Blacksburg on Friday evening to go home […]
The Brain Defense: neuroscience in court
Neuroscience plays a role in the courtroom just like partial fingerprinting and DNA. It is a field with which many struggle. Is it true when someone says: “my brain made me do it?” Is that person hearing voices or simply making excuses? It is tempting to think that indeed, they make up excuses to avoid […]
Remembering the Frog Boys
They are known as the Frog Boys and theirs is the Case of the Month for March, 2017. U Cheol-won (13), Jo Ho-yeon (12), Kim Yeong-gyu (11), Park Chan-in (10), and Kim Jong-sik (9) went to catch frogs near Mount Waryong, South Korea, on March 26, 1991. It was a national holiday so they didn’t […]
Who killed Bob Crane?
John Hook, an American reporter, will release his book “Who Killed Bob Crane?” on February 21, 2017. As a treat for my readers, John gave me photography to use on my blog and an excerpt of the first chapter. The Case The book explores the unsolved murder of American icon and Hogan’s Heroes TV star […]
Elodie Kulik and familial DNA
In the night from January 10 to 11, 2002, Elodie Kulik (24) was murdered. She was kidnapped and raped. Her body was set on fire. Her remains were left in a farmer’s field. Her attacker(s) tried to burn anything that could identify them but they didn’t succeed. The authorities found Elodie’s red Peugeot less than a mile […]
A Cruel Necessity by L.C. Tyler
I love historical mysteries and books where we deal with forensic sciences in their early stages. So when I heard that “A Cruel Necessity” by L.C. Tyler would bring me a dead body with an expertly slashed throat underneath a dung heap I had to read the book in one sitting. Naturally. The author takes […]
Case of the Month: Doni Grindstaff
Expanding the reach of cold cases is the title of a chapter dedicated to Doni Grindstaff. I wrote it for the book “Solving the Unsolved.” The book was released by the American Investigative Society Of Cold Cases (AISOCC). I am posting part of the text here by request of Doni’s family and readers. __ If you […]