Lots of cold cases are being reviewed in this Sum it Up. The Crewe Murders are going under the loop again but this time by a film crew.
Kerry Porter hopes that the results of tests run on carpet fiber will help prove his innocence. He got new hope due to police informant Francois Cunningham’s statement made to Louisville Metro Police Detective Denny Butler almost a year and a half ago. Cunningham told Butler that Porter did not murder Tyrone Camp in 1996 but that Juan Sanders was the killer. The Kentucky Innocence Project is on the case!
Sailor Danny Kelly’s 1969 murder case is also under review. “The gunshots went unnoticed, muffled by the pillow pressed against Danny Kelly’s head. One bullet pierced his skull. Then, four more, the spent cartridges clattering to the floor beside him. The young sailor slumped across his bed and died, his blood soaking the sheets around him in the West Ashley apartment he called home. Forty-two years have passed since that warm October evening in 1969 when a gunman took Kelly’s life just a few hours shy of his 26th birthday. The killing remains unsolved, an enduring mystery from an era of unrest.” Cold case investigators are looking into the possibility that Kelly might have been murdered by the last cop to see Kelly alive. Details are here.
In Texas, authorities are trying to defrost a cold case that has ties to Oklahoma City, OK. Frank Narvaez was found stabbed to death on Sept. 30, 1983, in a Denton hotel room(TX). His car, a gray 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass, was found later that morning abandoned in Oklahoma City. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Denton police at (940) 349-7912. Read more here.
More bloggers are adding some cold case news to their blogs. One of them is my friend Ollie over at Diet Justice. He just posted about the sad disappearance of Madeleine McCann. “British detectives reviewing the search for Madeleine McCann have held their first face-to-face meetings with Portuguese police chiefs.” Thanks, Ollie, for keeping Madeleine’s case in the blogosphere!
Not just bloggers are paying more attention to cold cases, academia is jumping in too! “Mike Arntfield, professor in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies (Canada), is inviting FIMS students to participate in the investigative society to help examine cold cases. The idea builds on Arntfield’s course, The Serial Killer in the Media and Popular Culture, which he developed two years ago.”
The New Jersey Online has an article with a couple of baffling cold cases. The article starts with the Feb 1965 double murder of Anna Rubenstein and her 11 year old daughter Mae.
“The Middlesex County medical examiner determined Rubenstein was stabbed with a long-blade kitchen knife some 35 times. Mae suffered 15 stab wounds and her jugular vein was slashed.” Mae was home alone when she was attacked. Anna came home, surprised the attacker, and was murdered while fighting for her daughter.
“No one has ever been labeled a suspect in the slayings. No weapon was ever found.” To spare the husband the atrocity, the crime scene was cleaned up super fast however, we know now that biological materials might have been cleaned up that could possibly now be re-examined for DNA. Scroll down for the links to five more parts in New Jersey Cold Cases. The article is here.
A motive or explanation of such a violent crime also has not been established, as investigators found no attempts of sexual assault or even robbery — with more than $100 that was in the house left behind.
If you are up for some cold case sleuthing yourself, here is an excellent Australian case from December 1948 to crack your brain cells. The case is called “the Body on Somerton Beach” since obviously, that is where the body was found.
Was this man murdered or did he commit suicide? Above all, who was this man? His is a mysterious story including notes found on him with a code that has yet to be cracked. Make sure you scroll down and read all the comments as well! Have a go and lemme know!
Jack the Ripper, could it be that he was actually Carl Feigenbaum, a key suspect from Germany? “To Ripper expert Trevor Marriott, a former murder squad detective, German merchant Carl Feigenbaum is the top suspect. Convicted of murdering his landlady in Manhattan, Feigenbaum died in the electric chair in New York’s Sing Sing prison in 1894. His lawyer suspected him of the Ripper murders too. No photos of Feigenbaum exist. So Marriott has produced this new e-fit for BBC One’s National Treasures Live, created from the description on the admittance form when he was in prison on remand in New York.” Check the article here.
We also saw some arrests in cold cases:
Last August, Robert Lawrence Wilson was arrested for the 1990 strangulation murder of Tammy Lynn Bounds. Tammy was only eighteen years old at the time of her murder and was (7) seven months pregnant with her second child. She was last seen alive on June 21, 1990. Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to call the Cold Case Detectives at 936-760-5876 or, the Montgomery County Crime Stoppers at 800-392-(STOP) 7867. As always, anyone contacting Crime Stoppers will remain anonymous.
William Floyd Zamastil, a convicted killer already serving a life sentence in Wisconsin for a 1978 double-murder, has been charged in the 1973 murder of Leesa Jo Shaner. The investigation with focus on DNA is ongoing so we need to wait here before more details will emerge.
I came across some very interesting forensic articles.
Great news on the front of hair analysis: “Canadian researchers have just finished collecting samples for a database that may help police solve cold cases based on chemical information found in people’s hair. That’s because patterns of certain chemical elements get into people’s hair from their food and the water they drink, and the record of their past habits and locations is retained as their hair grows out.” What you eat, drink, and where you live leave traces in your blood and hair. Let’s hope that it will give investigators more leads in cold cases if they get a better sense of where the victim has been according to their hair.
From Forensic Nexus comes this article with stunning Australian crime scene photography. Warning: all photographs are from real crimes scenes and yes, the victim is visible in all of them. Just the heads-up!
A retired RMCP blood-spatter expert Ross Spenard has pleaded guilty to perjury. “During his May 2009 testimony at the trial of Charlie Rae Lincoln, Spenard admitted he lied when Lincoln’s lawyer Matt Nathanson confronted him with documents that contradicted his testimony.” Hat tip to my collaborator Ralph Ristenbatt.
My collaborator Joe Giacalone has been busy guest blogging. The article is called “the Bill of Writes” and is posted on Patricia Stoltey‘s blog. Joe writes about how to handle the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments in crime stories.
Enjoy!