the 1st case I remember

[sugarbaby]

The 1st case that I remember pieces of was about a girl that had disappeared and when her family went to wake her in the morning, she was gone and there was a broken window with blood on it. And then they followed the trail of blood and found it leading to a lake and a canoe but they never found the girl or a body. Does anyone else remember this case? Can you help me fill in the details?

[GoldenGirlsFan92]

I can't even remmeber my first case that I saw.

[SP4CE INV4DERZ]

I think you are thinking of Wanda Jean Mays (spelling I'm unsure of). I personally think she just wondered off. I think it's on Crystaldawns favourite's volume 1 if you wanna see it again. oh and my first case is easy, Donald Kemp :)

[siamesemeg]

Yep, Wanda Jean Mays. Funnily enough, this is the first case I remember as well. I just watched it again for the first time in close to twenty years on Crystaldawn's DVD. Freaky. Poor gal, she probably did just run off in some kind of psychotic break or something.

The Donald Kemp case is perplexing in that I'm not certain what the mystery is - he really seems to have died in the blizzard. Was great to see/hear Raymond Burr hosting again, though.

[DarkDante]

^ I've always felt Don Kemp suffered a minor stroke which led to his death in the prarie.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Don Smith was the first case I saw... it scared the HELL out of me when I was younger.

[wiseguy182]

Oddly enough, the Wanda Jean Mays segment was the very first one I remember as well. I remember it being the first segment of the episode, and later on in the show they had a segment about a girl getting attacked in a park I believe, and she suffered amnesia. Like Siamesemeg, I just saw the segment for the first time in nearly 20 years on Crystaldawn's dvd.

Sugarbaby, here's a couple of the things I remember about the case that will help you with some of the details. Earlier in the day she disappeared, she was riding in a car with her father, and her father stated that she acted like she wanted to tell him something, but ended up not mentioning it. Her dad later dropped her off at their uncle and aunt's house. Her aunt and uncle went to wake her up around 5 a.m. and found the door locked. They eventually got the door open and found that Wanda wasn't in the room. The window was broken, but the weird thing was: it was broken from the inside. (leading many to speculate whether she broke it herself, or did a perpetrator(s) come in the house and break it inside themself(ves).) A couple of unconfirmed sightings of her in the area were reported, including one with her walking down the road with her head down and wearing oversized men's clothing. Hope this helps.

[sugarbaby]

thanks wiseguy....I couldn't remember all of the details except for the really scary parts about the blood. And I remember I was pretty young and did not sleep very well for the next couple of weeks because it happend in her bedroom!

[James T]

I cannot remember but the first couple of cases I seem to recall are the DJ Murder and a case where a child saw his/her mum being murdered in I think 1981 and was a ble to give a partial ID of the suspects features

[crystaldawn]

I believe a friend of Wanda Jean Mays posted here several months ago and she is still missing. I think she left the bedroom on her own and was even in the canoe but I'm unsure after that if she wandered off or was abducted. I tend to think that was her that was spotted in the men's clothes walking down the road. However there was also a witness that claims she saw Wanda in a car with a couple of mean looking guys. If she wandered off and died of exposure or even committed suicide its suprising to me her remains haven't been found.

As far as the first UM segment I remember boys on the tracks would be it. I also have some faint recollections of the Dennis Walker (missing baseball memorabilia) one from back when it originally aired.

[UMLongtimefan]

I can't even remmeber my first case that I saw.


Don't feel bad GGF I struggled to remember my first case even though I know I've seen every episode.

The earliest one I can clearly remember though is the JaiLai Murder one.

[Stack]

The earliest case I can remember involved a girl (pre-teen?) who was drowning in a swimming pool and she was having a near-death experience, where she was entering this brick wall tunnel towards the light. It was likely part of a whole sequence of those segments (ones that today I'd ignore but it caught my attention then!) I want to say that case was from the end of the 80's, since I started watching the show back in 1988 but I can't remember. For some reason, that case haunted me for years until I saw it repeated on Lifetime a couple years back.

[wiseguy182]

Stack, I was just thinking about that case about the girl in the swimming pool the other day, oddly enough. I can't remember whether or not it's on the miracles set, but it would be a good addition to it nonetheless.

[Beetlejuice69]

Billy the Kid was the first one I remember. :wave:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/BigTMan/08_32455.jpg

[compulsive dvd]

The first one I saw was about a guy who had killed his mistress. The mistress had found out the man was married. The wife's name was Anna. I remember how he shot the woman in the reenactment with a shotgun. I probably saw a rerun considering all the wanted cases in the show had updates. They found this guy, he was real small and had white hair. The show also had someone named I think Robert Clark or Robert Smith. They caught him too. I remember him winking at the camera in footage the had of his arrest. I did not sleep well for months after I saw this show. Once I got over that, I tried watching again and was hooked.

[DarkDante]

The two cases you mentioned are John Burns and Robert Weeks. Burns shot his mistress Eleanor Farver after she found out that Burns was actually married. It took the police a long time to locate him because he totally fabricated his past so nobody actually knew who he was. It turned out that Burns was actually named Will Cashmen and he escaped from a Pennslyvania prison back in the 50s while serving time on a rape charge. He then moved to Michigan where he lived under the name "John Burns" until he shot his mistress in 1970.

He then moved back to Pennslyvania where he worked as a handyman. UM flushed him out of hiding after the segment aired and by the time he was arrested he just looked like a "tired little old man". He was convicted of Farver's murder but died before he could be sentenced.

Robert Weeks was suspected in the disappearance of his wife and two of his girlfriends. He was apparently a very violent man who did not handle rejection well and apparently killed all three women although on the update to the segment and also in print articles I have found it never mentioned whether or not any remains were found or if Weeks was convicted on the heavy amount of circumstancial evidence against him.

Either way he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife and one of his girlfriends' Cynthia Jabour. He was also suspected in the disapperance/death? of another one of his girlfriends, Carol Riley but her remains have apparently never been found and he to my knowledge has never been charged with any crime in relation to her. Although I do suspect that since she is not listed on the DOE NETWORK as a missing person, her family assumes she is dead.

[jscout]

Mays missing 20 years today; FBI close to ID?


By CHARLES WHISENANT - The Arab Tribune
Monday, May 15, 2006 2:44 PM CDT


Jim and Dot Mays on banks of Lake Guntersville in the 1980s
It was 20 years ago Saturday Wanda Mays was discovered missing. After all of the years of questions, the FBI could be close to determining whether a partial skull found two years ago is hers.

Wanda Mays disappeared from her aunt and uncle's house in Warrenton during the night of May 12 or early morning hours of May 13, 1986. The case has been featured twice on the network television series Unsolved Mysteries, and countless Marshall County sheriff and district attorney's investigators have worked the case, as have private investigators hired by Wanda's parents, Jim and Dot Mays of Arab.

"It's unbelievable," said Dot Mays, Wanda's mother. "It seems like it was only yesterday. I just can hardly believe it's been 20 years."

The most recent hope the family had for finding Wanda came in April 2004. That's when it was announced that a couple walking along a creek bed in Warrenton that January had found a skull near where Wanda came up missing.

Dot Mays gave DNA samples then that were compared to DNA extracted from the skull and bone fragments that were found. So far, FBI analysts have tested three DNA samples from the skull, compared them to Dot Mays' DNA, and have ruled out all other missing persons.

"Of all the family members of other missing persons that gave samples, so far I'm the only one they haven't ruled out (being a match on the skull)," Mays said. "That's not a positive match, but I'm the only one left in their data base that hasn't been ruled out."


In other words, she said, the FBI has ruled out all other missing persons except Wanda Mays. But, they haven't identified her, either.

"(The FBI) tells us they need four good DNA samples from the skull, and so far they have only been able to get three," she said. "I told them I didn't want a maybe. I want to know yes or no - is it Wanda? They haven't told us one way or the other what their tests have shown so far."

The FBI doesn't have Wanda's bloody nightgown that was found years ago near where she came up missing.

"The (Marshall County) sheriff's department lost it," Dot Mays said. "We don't know what happened to it."



The Mayses haven't heard from the FBI in about six months, but were told that they would get a call as soon as the fourth sample was found and tested.

"We don't know how long it will take to get the fourth sample, or if they can even get the fourth sample," Dot Mays said. "They said if they had a tooth, it would be easier, but they don't. They said it's very difficult to get good DNA samples from bone fragments.

Earlier reports indicated that investigators believe the skull belonged to a female between 30 and 50 years old.

"Wanda was 26 when she disappeared," Mays said.

The Mayses haven't given up hope of finding their daughter alive. They have traveled the country following up on tips and looking for their daughter.

"It's been 20 years, but I will never give up," Mays said, though admitting that she has "weakened a little" at the realistic chances.

"Where the skull was found was close to where she came up missing has weakened me a little," she said. "Plus the fact that (the FBI) has ruled out other people, but not Wanda. That has weighed heavily on me."

That the FBI hasn't ruled out the skull being Wanda's is the main reason she's not so sure that Wanda is alive.

"My son told me that if Wanda was alive, she would find a way to let us know," she continued. "I'll never give up hope that she's alive, but I know that if she isn't alive that she is with the Lord."

Time doesn't ease pain

For the first few years after Wanda was discovered missing, Mays cried a lot.

"It's just really hard for a parent to accept that something has happened to their daughter," she said. "But after a while you get to where … the ache is always there, but it doesn't manifest itself to the degree of crying all the time or getting upset all the time."

Mays hopes people never forget Wanda.

"I want people to always keep her in mind," she said. "We have friends that tell us when they travel, they still look for Wanda. We do, too - everywhere we go."

In the 20 years they've been looking for Wanda, the Mayses have traveled to Florida, North Carolina, Montana, Tennessee and other states looking for her.

"We got a lot of calls from people saying they thought they saw Wanda, and we'd go there," Mays said. "We don't get calls anymore. I guess it's been too long."

Mays said she and Jim don't dwell on it any more.

"The Lord has given me a lot of piece," she said. "We miss Wanda all the time. We always will. I hope no one ever has to go through what we have. It's hard not to think of her, and, at the same time, it is hard to think of her, because we just don't know anything (about what happened)."

To know - or not

Some of the talk about Wanda still bothers Mays.

"When people say, 'I hope (the skull) is her so you can have closure,' I think how dumb that is," she said. "I have never felt like I wanted closure. I want the feeling that she is still out there and that one day she will return home.

"I guess I have mixed emotions," she continued. "Part of me wants to know what happened to her, and part of me doesn't want to know. I really don't want (the skull) to be Wanda, because, if it's not, then there is still hope that she's alive."

If DNA testing on the skull confirms that the person is from the Mays family, that will be a good enough answer for Jim Mays.

"He said that would tell him that it is Wanda," Dot Mays said in an earlier interview. "They might not be able to say it definitely is her, but if the tests show it's from my family, that will be good enough."

And, while they are hopeful the tests might reveal some answers about their missing daughter, they also realize that, if it is Wanda, the find will only lead to questions of what happened to her.

The skull was found about 1.9 miles from Marshall County Park Number 2, or as Jim Mays said, about 300 yards as the crow flies from the house where Wanda was last seen.

Mays said she would never give up hope.

"That's the main thing I want people to know," she said. "We haven't given up. We love her, and we miss her, but we haven't given up. She's our baby. It's hard to think of not getting her back - but if she's not here, then she's with God, and we will be with her again some day."

[jscout]

Wanda was not a person to do such a thing,, i appreciate the fact people keep her memory alive by making up stories, butu for us her family it is very tough and something we deal with everyday and now 20 years later the woundsare reopened

[jscout]

Just to set everyone straight on the known events of Wanda Mays, she clebrated Mothers' day on May 12, 1986 with her mother and father at Catfish cabin in albertville alabama, she stopped by her aunts house to wish her a happy mothers day and when the time got late she was asked to stay, the room was found unslept in her nightgown on the pier and a canoe was later found that day in the lake with traces not as much as was portrayed on UM in the lake and brough in. the lake was drug and nothing was ever found. it is now 20 years later and we her family miss her dearly. there continue to be reports of her whereabouts and we always remain hoepful to find her.. but no one in her family commited or cuaed her any harm or foul play.. Wanda's story was the first episode of Unsolved mysteries.

[greatgarrett2]

This has nothing to do with Wanda Jean Mays, but a couple of the first cases I remember were Charles Mulet (sp?), I forget what he was wanted for and a con-man who lived in a Florida trailer park and called himself 'Rusty'. The latter was later caught and found out to be William Eugene Hilliard. His mugshot looked nothing like the actor who played him at the trailer park.

[Mijada]

The first episodes I remember were I believe the very first ones that were aired when UM was only on every now and then as a special. One was about this psychic lady who had a dream about a little boy falling in a river and drowning hours before it happened. She knew in detail what the boy was wearing and where his body would be found. She was also trying to help investigators solve the murder of a teenage girl.
The second case was about this elderly lady who believed she was related to the Dodge family. She had unexplained scars on her back I believe which led her to think that she was the conjoined twin of one of the Dodge daughters and was separated and given up for adoption. They compared pics of her children to members of the Dodge family and there were many resemblances.

[RightOnDude]

Just to set everyone straight on the known events of Wanda Mays, she clebrated Mothers' day on May 12, 1986 with her mother and father at Catfish cabin in albertville alabama, she stopped by her aunts house to wish her a happy mothers day and when the time got late she was asked to stay, the room was found unslept in her nightgown on the pier and a canoe was later found that day in the lake with traces not as much as was portrayed on UM in the lake and brough in. the lake was drug and nothing was ever found. it is now 20 years later and we her family miss her dearly. there continue to be reports of her whereabouts and we always remain hoepful to find her.. but no one in her family commited or cuaed her any harm or foul play.. Wanda's story was the first episode of Unsolved mysteries.

jscout, I am very sorry for your family's loss. What do YOU suspect happened in this case? Is there anyone you suspect? I live in Alabama myself. Albertville is a pretty small town, and I am sure SOMONE would have had to have said or seen something after all these years. Unless it was an outsider passing through.

[jscout]

We are never really sure of what happened. there hasbeen many specualtions and honestly it is hard to discuss any of them as that is what they are.. we do still get people saying they have seen her and people have recognized. the question now is though if the remains that were found do belong to her or not.. there are alot of things that could make us believe they are.. all in all though if it was her foul play was nvolved.

[Gangreen]

i remember the story of the girl riding her bike homeand stopping to pee,she was sexually assaulted and left for dead,i remember her eyes hemoraging and being blood red,and i think her mom was describing it in detail,

Any more info would be appreciated

[Beardsley_Mantooth]

Good gracious its been so many years now that I dont know if I remember the very first one I ever saw, I recall maybe it was the Queen Mary episode but I coud be mistaking it for another ghostly case. At anyrate, I recall being a young lad of perhaps 7 or 8 and the kids at school were talking about this cool new show on NBC called Unsolved Mysteries. Wanting to be in with the gang I checked it out and recall being traumatized by the scary music and just the overall creepiness of the show, I dont think I slept for a week after watching that night. :lol: But I kept coming back for more, fell in love with it and still watch to this day (well up until maybe a year ago...is it still on lifetime in the afternoon?)

Anyway this place is pretty cool and its great reliving all these cases and having a place to discuss them. I'm glad I found this forum and I think I'll like it here :)

[wiseguy182]

Beardsley Mantooth, you're probably right on both counts. The Queen Mary one was on one of the very first regular episodes (non-specials) of UM way back in the fall of 1988. It aired around Halloween time and it was part of a episode dedicated to nothing but ghost stories. Among the other stories featured that night was the Tallman's ghost, often considered to be one of the spookiest segments.

[Beardsley_Mantooth]

Thanks for the info Wiseguy, I would imagine probably was the episode considering when it was aired. The fall of 88 would have been the start of my 3rd grade year and have been right around the time I started watching the show :) Thanks for clearing that up, it was starting to bug me :lol:

[Aaron321]

first one i remember and it scared the begezees out of me at the time(someone is going to have to fill me in on the names)was a guy and a girl just got married and were out in vegas or somewhere where they were gambling(i remember plenty of slot machines)and somehow the guys mother or mother-in-law is murdered
(i believe she was shot)i think out in the parking lot,really not sure where but i know they found her body on the drivers side of the vehicle.anyway i think they were looking at him as a suspect,but i don't know what became of it.I actually don't think i have seen this case since then.if anyone remembers this case,knows the original date,the case(persons),and if there were any updates that would be super if you could post.

the one thing i remember was talking to a girl about it in my 6th grade class so it must have been a very very early episode considering i'm 30 this year.

[wiseguy182]

Aaron321, I've seen this case not too awfully long ago, probably within the last year. Sorry I don't remember any names. There was no update on the case as of that time. Personally, I thought this guy was as guilty as sin.

[dynoguy88]

The earliest segment I can remember watching was the case of the Connecticut woman driving to work down a lonely country road and she pulled up behind some jacka*s in a black pick up truck who stopped, got out of his truck and shot the woman in the face through her drivers side window.

The woman survived the attack but the bullet was lodged into the back of her neck and she said she was too afraid to have surgery to remove it for fear of complications and even death.

People reported to police about an hour before the shooting that a man in a black pick up truck had been taunting other drivers in the same area driving on and off the road and holding up traffic. The guy sounds like a real loser but he was never found. The police found out that there were over 300,000 black pick up trucks in the state at the time. As far as I know, there has been no updates.

This incident happened in August of 1988 and was profiled on the show not too long afterwards. It was a senseless crime with rotten luck. No cars were driving by at the time of the shooting but many passed by right after the man sped off. Talk about awful timing.

[MissFit29]

Kathy Hobbs was the first I really remember clearly, and also Tara Calico.

The Baskins case was the one that really got me hooked on the show.

[bawitter]

The first case I remember is the boys on the tracks

[bell83]

First one I remember (although there were earlier ones I watched) was the Amelia Earhart segment. Just prior to seeing it, I had seen a Weekly World News in the local Grand Union, that had as a cover story "Amelia Earhart Alive!" and apparently living in New Jersey. Being a kid, I assumed that if something was printed in a "newspaper" it was true, so I actually wanted to call 1-800-876-5353 and tell them :D

[Alvin Karpis]

It was Dennis Walker or the Sara Jo, I cant remember for sure

[Mystery Man]

I'm 99 percent sure my first was the Patty Stallings segment.

[Corky Kneivel]

I must have been 10 years old. I can faintly remember being in my parent's bedroom, lying on their bed, and watching the Raymond Burr hosted epsiode which featured a story about a pick up truck found, doors wide open, deserted at a 4-way intersection on a lonely highway. Spooked the h-e-doublehockeysticks out of me. I don't recall the circumstances of the segment...only the pick up truck.

I can also remember the image of the guy walking up and shooting Roger Wheeler to death. I always thought, because of UM and the opening to Miami Vice, that jai alai was a dangerous and criminal sport, lol.

I can remember being so excited when I saw that they were making a regular TV show out of the specials.

[justins5256]

I believe the first story I saw was about "Missing Time". Not entirely sure though.

[WishfulDreamer]

First one ever at nine years old: The case of the bandits that broke into the Woods home (one with a Dracula mask, the other with a ski mask) and kept hitting the lady's head against a microwave because she didn't know the combination to their safe. That one made me look in my closet every night to be sure no burglars were hiding!

[soilentgreen]

Eleanor Farber murder/John Burns -- I was used to seeing Karl Malden on the American Express commercials. "Don't leave home without them!" Also some hazy recollections of the Roger Wheeler segment.

[undertakeress]

Mine was the Dorothy Allison, the psychic, episode..where she found the boy that fell into the creek, and the girl that was found in the oil drum...I think it may have been one of the specials.

[youngUMfan]

The first case I remember was the footlocker segment. pretty scary to be viewing it while in elementary school

[DP1]

The first case I ever saw was the one with the radio DJ who claimed he was seeing the UFOs. It was part of that two-hour UM special they did.

[brianh333]

without question - Frederick Valentich

[Apostapler]

The bunbed segment and the Tatums. I was so young and scared!