The latest update in the trial re Ryan Guitron: Kelly Meehan pleaded not guilty to his murder. Her boyfriend Vencil Leo Ash III has requested that some evidence against him is suppressed. Judge Weimer denied that request. Jury trial will start June 25, 2012. Guitron, an oil field worker, was last seen in Fort Collins about […]
Missing Person
Justice for Joe Helt by Silvia Pettem
Joe Helt was last seen on January 16, 1987. The 17-year-old high school junior from Ellenville, New York, disappeared after a party at an abandoned ski lodge. One account states that he got a ride with three other teens, their car got stuck in the snow, and Joe decided to walk home. According to various […]
Book alert: “Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery” by John Leake
“Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery” about Duncan MacPherson by author John Leake is my new “must read” for this summer. Duncan Alvin MacPherson (Feb 3, 1966 – Aug 9, 1989), a Canadian professional ice hockey player, went missing during a short stay in Austria. John emailed to give me the heads up about the book. I scanned […]
The 1975 Scioto River mystery
The 1975 mystery of the unidentified man found in the Scioto River in Chillicothe, Ohio has finally been solved. In 1975, a man’s body was pulled from the Scioto River. He was naked and his ankles were tied with rope. The autopsy showed that the man died by drowning but the tied ankles leave authorities with many questions. […]
Elizabeth Heath autopsy details
More details have appeared in the Hartford Courant about Elizabeth Heath‘s violent death. Dr. H. Wayne Carver, the chief state medical examiner, was in charge of Elizabeth’s autopsy. It was not easy for him. Elizabeth’s remains covered 188 separate envelopes. “Gough Heath’s maxilla — the upper jaw — had been traumatically amputated from the skull, the […]
Arrest in cold case Elizabeth Heath
Police have arrested John Heath for murder in connection with the killing of his wife, Elizabeth Heath, 28 years ago. Elizabeth was reported missing in 1984. Her skeletal remains were found beneath the subflooring in a barn in April 2010. Heath, 68, of Bridgewater was arrested by warrant last Monday. He was charged with murder and held […]
#CCLiveChat recap March 9, 2012
So good to be back online with CCLiveChat! Again, the hour moved fast and our friends on their mobiles had quite a struggle to keep up. But that does not matter. I am very glad they were all there. We discussed some DCC news and the “no progress” in the Zeigler case to move over […]
Joseph Halpern Part 3 by Silvia Pettem
Joseph’s nephew had started his search for his uncle, Joseph Halpern, missing since 1933, by contacting the sheriffs’ offices in the four Colorado counties that border Rocky Mountain National Park. The nephew asked about unidentified remains that might be identifiable with DNA comparisons. In 2009, when the NamUs System was inaugurated, the nephew, as a […]
Joseph Halpern Part 2 by Silvia Pettem
For six days in August 1933, park authorities searched drainages and followed all possible trails for the missing 22-year-old hiker, Joseph Halpern. Authorities also checked the registers on Taylor and nearby peaks, but none showed Joseph’s signature––a customary procedure for climbers, once they reach a summit. Perhaps trying to be encouraging, a writer for the […]
Joseph Halpern Part 1 by Silvia Pettem
In the summer of 1933, twenty-two-year-old Cook County, Illinois, resident Joseph Halpern was vacationing in Rocky Mountain National Park with his parents and Samuel Garrick, a college friend. The motorists had driven Joseph’s Ford sedan and had stopped in the Black Hills and at Yellowstone National Park on their way west. Even though the country […]