Dorothy Donovan murder on FF tonight (Friday, Feb. 5)

[Kane]

In case anyone reads this in time, Forensic Files will be airing the episode about the 1991 murder of Dorothy Donovan tonight (Friday , February 5). It will air at 9:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time) and again four hours later at 1:00 am. For those of you who have yet to see that FF episode, you have two chances to see it tonight.

The episode is titled "Stranger In The Night." It was originally shown in December 2008.

[Corky Kneivel]

Refresh my memory...was she profiled on UM?

[justins5256]

Thanks for the head's up, Kane. I got to watch and found it most interesting. I always wondered how Gilbert Cannon (sp?) found Donovan's house. It was apparently just a horrible coincidence.

I also didn't grasp how much the investigation was focused on Charles Holden. I suppose it didn't really occur to me to think he was involved because UM didn't paint it that way. However, I think it goes to show how wrongful convictions get started. The fact that Holden was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, had large debts, refused to take a polygraph, and had a sketchy and seemingly unbelievable account of the evening's events would probably be more than sufficient "evidence" to convict him in the court of public opinion or possibly worse.

[Kane]

Refresh my memory...was she profiled on UM?

Yes. That was why I was giving members of this forum a heads-up on the forthcoming broadcast of the Forensic Files episode on the case. The case was featured on UM at the end of the 1994-95 season. (The UM segment is currently available for viewing at a certain unmentionable web site.)

Dorothy Donovan was a seventy-year-old Delaware woman who was found stabbed to death in her home in 1991. Her son, Charles Holden, was suspected of the crime, since the detectives were not buying his story about him picking up a hitchhiker. But DNA evidence cleared him of the murder.

It wasn't until 2005 when DNA linked a man named Gilbert Cannon to the murder. He pled guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In both UM and FF, it was established that the ride Charles was giving the hitchhiker ended when the hitchhiker got violent. At one point, the ride stopped which led to both men exiting the pick-up truck. Charles got back in the truck and drove off without the hitchhiker.

In the FF episode (titled "Stranger In The Night"), how the hitchhiker arrived at Dorothy Donovan's house was explained: Cannon said that he kept walking, trying to find a house to go into. But all the houses he saw had lights turned on. Eventually, he came upon a house with no lights on, and assumed that no one was home. So he broke in. That house just happened to be the residence of Dorothy Donovan. It is believed that the break-in woke up Dorothy, and that she went to investigate the noise, only to be killed by Gilbert Cannon.

[sharonite]

Horrible, yes, but to me the odds just seem too high for this to be a coincidence. Is it not possible that, while making idle chat to a passenger who hadn't yet revealed himself as a raging murderous maniac, Charles Holden made some passing reference to where he lived (the name of the street, landmarks on his property, etc.), and that his mother lived next door? I know this isn't the brightest thing to do, but then again--as this case so tragically illustrates--picking up a hitchhiker isn't exactly the brightest thing to do, either.

[Thinman]

Horrible, yes, but to me the odds just seem too high for this to be a coincidence. Is it not possible that, while making idle chat to a passenger who hadn't yet revealed himself as a raging murderous maniac, Charles Holden made some passing reference to where he lived (the name of the street, landmarks on his property, etc.), and that his mother lived next door? I know this isn't the brightest thing to do, but then again--as this case so tragically illustrates--picking up a hitchhiker isn't exactly the brightest thing to do, either.

I have always surmised that Holden introduced himself by his full name. Hitchhiker then looks him up in a telephone booth phonebook and finds his address.

All in all, one of the creepiest segments UM ever profiled. This one makes your skin crawl.

[Corky Kneivel]

Yes. That was why I was giving members of this forum a heads-up on the forthcoming broadcast of the Forensic Files episode on the case. The case was featured on UM at the end of the 1994-95 season. (The UM segment is currently available for viewing at a certain unmentionable web site.)

Dorothy Donovan was a seventy-year-old Delaware woman who was found stabbed to death in her home in 1991. Her son, Charles Holden, was suspected of the crime, since the detectives were not buying his story about him picking up a hitchhiker. But DNA evidence cleared him of the murder.

It wasn't until 2005 when DNA linked a man named Gilbert Cannon to the murder. He pled guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In both UM and FF, it was established that the ride Charles was giving the hitchhiker ended when the hitchhiker got violent. At one point, the ride stopped which led to both men exiting the pick-up truck. Charles got back in the truck and drove off without the hitchhiker.

In the FF episode (titled "Stranger In The Night"), how the hitchhiker arrived at Dorothy Donovan's house was explained: Cannon said that he kept walking, trying to find a house to go into. But all the houses he saw had lights turned on. Eventually, he came upon a house with no lights on, and assumed that no one was home. So he broke in. That house just happened to be the residence of Dorothy Donovan. It is believed that the break-in woke up Dorothy, and that she went to investigate the noise, only to be killed by Gilbert Cannon.



Thanks, Kane. I didn't recognize her name but I remember the segment very well. As a kid it scared the bajeebus out of me.

[Mastermind]

I have always surmised that Holden introduced himself by his full name. Hitchhiker then looks him up in a telephone booth phonebook and finds his address.

Don't most people introduce themselves by their first names to complete strangers?

[Kane]

I also didn't grasp how much the investigation was focused on Charles Holden. I suppose it didn't really occur to me to think he was involved because UM didn't paint it that way.

Because it was mentioned in the segment that blood evidence cleared Charles of his mother's murder, UM may have deemed it unnecessary to focus too much on his initial status as a suspect, and instead reserve much of that focus on finding the killer.

[Arnold_OldSchool]

This is up on both YT and DM if anyone wants to watch