Lancaster, PA: Police are looking for the thief who dug up Paula Ream‘s remains and coffin and disappeared into the night. Police said someone went into the Riverview Memorial Cemetery along the 1200 block of South Duke Street in Lancaster late Thursday night or early Friday morning and dug up Paula Ream’s grave. Paula Ream was […]
Crime Scene
DNA in four hours
Forensic scientists have developed a test that can match a suspect’s DNA to crime scene samples in just four hours. The new technique could greatly speed up forensic testing, making the process almost as easy as matching fingerprints. Police could check whether a suspect’s DNA matches profiles in a database before a decision is taken […]
Political meddling and apathy in Willingham case
Political meddling and apathy in Willingham case has me despondent. A Texas state board said last Friday that arson investigators in the Willingham case used flawed science but were not negligent in an investigation that led to a controversial 2004 execution. The panel also said that investigators did not commit misconduct. Cameron Todd Willingham was […]
Arrest for Keith Combs and Eugene Ellis
Finally justice for Keith Combs and Eugene Ellis: Authorities say DNA evidence led to an arrest in the 1993 killings of two enlisted sailors whose bodies were found in a field in San Diego County. Leopoldo Castro Chavez II was arrested last Wednesday on suspicion of gunning down the two men in an Otay Mesa […]
Fingerprints identify 1990 UK M25 victim!
Fingerprints identify 1990 UK M25 victim! New fingerprint technology has enabled police to identify a woman who was killed on the M25 in Hertfordshire, UK, 20 years ago. The victim’s name: Lesley Ann Pickavance. Lesley Ann had been in contact with her family, who are from Bedford, but was not living with them during the summer […]
Willeke Dost: foster mother and brother released
The woman and man arrested in the Willeke Dost case have been released. Herna Mulder was the foster mother and Bart is her son. Willeke Dost lived with the Mulder family before she disappeared in 1992. There is no evidence so far that they are responsible for Willeke’s death but they remain suspects in this […]
A Dutch Cold Case: Willeke Dost
Willeke Dost was only 15 years old when she went missing. Now, she is presumed dead. In 1992, the theory was that most likely Willeke had run away but now police think that she was murdered shortly after she disappeared. They now also believe that the original crime scene is near the foster parents’ farm. This switch […]
Update Hank Skinner
From the Sceptical Juror comes an update about the Skinner case: “The Supreme Court has handed down its rulings for May 17, 2010. There is no mention of Hank’s petition for a writ of certiorari. The next time the court will announce its rulings is next Monday, 24 May.” Mr. Skinner has asked for DNA testing of seven items: […]
Lapointe hearing May 7, 2010
The defense lawyers trying to clear Richard Lapointe of the horrendous 1987 murder of Mrs. Bernice Martin began an attack in court last Friday on a detective who they said secured the mentally disabled man’s questionable confession after a series of suggestive and, at times, threatening interrogations. Much of the testimony Friday focused on a […]
Update 1984 Cold Case of Elizabeth Heath
Elizabeth Heath, the 30-year-old mother whose skeletal remains were found last Wednesday in a chamber beneath the sub-flooring in a barn, was the victim of a homicide, the state medical examiner announced on Friday. The medical examiner’s office did not release the cause of Heath’s death at the request of prosecutors, who did not want […]