http://www.courttv.com/onair/shows/haunting_evidence/episodes/205.html

"DuPont Circle Mystery"
Premieres Wednesday, 7/18 at 10pm E/P
After a Saturday night out with friends, 28-year-old Joyce Chiang stopped at a Starbucks in DuPont Circle before walking home. That was the last that anyone saw of her. Months later, Chiang's lifeless body is recovered 10 miles downriver from Washington D.C. Despite all the media attention, the case soon went cold. Two years later, 24-year-old Chandra Levy also disappeared. Like Joyce, Chandra was a petite brunette who lived in DuPont Circle and frequented the same Starbucks. Curiously, both women interned for congressmen and both of their bodies were abandoned in D.C. parks. Does the team believe a serial killer is still prowling DuPont Circle.


http://www.courttv.com/onair/shows/haunting_evidence/episodes/207.html
The Ruins at Land's End"
Premieres Wednesday, 7/25 at 10pm E/P
Kristen Modafferi, an 18-year-old North Carolina college student had just moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to take art classes for the summer. But the day before her classes were to begin, Kristen didn't return home after work. Co-workers told investigators that on the day of her disappearance, Kristen asked for directions to the Land's End Park 10 miles away. Police dispatched a K-9 unit that tracked her scent from the parking lot downhill to the water's edge. But eerily, that's where the trail ended. Kristen Modafferi had vanished. Now, nearly a decade later, watch as our team tries to heat up this cold case.
Season 1 Mystery on the Appalachian Trail Mystery in the Ashes The Missing D.A. Hidden Truth Forgotten Fiancée Missing Teacher Mystery in the Desert Abduction at Comins Pond Lady of the Dunes Season 2 Missing in Paradise Women of Calder Field Long Journey Home Buried Secrets DuPont Circle Mystery The Ruins at Land's End

I don't place much stock in the psychics on this show or psychics in general but I 'd like to see what they have to say about these cases. I'll watch...

Yeah, I'll watch too. It would be great if anything could shed a little light on these cold cases.

I watched last night's show on Joyce Chiang. It was real disappointing, not really telling authorities much you couldn't already assume, except that her killer has a "type" and may be a serial rapist/killer.

Don't they have a pretty good idea of who did it in the Modafferi case? I think it's just a matter of witnesses who are holding up the investigation.

I think, surprisingly, E! did a good job on the Chandra Levy & Joyce Chiang cases on "THS Investigates." I've actually been multiple times to that Starbucks where Chiang was last seen . It seems like a relatively safe area because it's a busy/lively part of town. It gives me the creeps now. Anyway, try to catch that special if you haven't seen it. I'm not sure if it's the same killer, but there are some really creepy details in the case of Joyce Chiang like the killer returning to the scene where her body was found, and possibly leaving graffiti in the area where Joyce lived. It sounds like someone who is capable of killing again, and possibly someone who knew her....or at least stalked her.

The following is a recent post that I did on the Chiang case:

This may have already been the subject of a UM post, but I learned recently from Wikipedia that Joyce Chiang's brother Roger was sentenced to 24 mos. in federal prison after having pled guilty in Feb. 2005 to a count of mail fraud. I have attached the full Wikipedia entry to the end of this post.

Joyce Chiang, as you may remember, was an attorney for the INS when she disappeared while walking home to her apt. in the Du Pont Circle area of D.C. As a federal employee, the FBI coordinated the search and her wallet and jacket were discovered in Anacostia Park. Several months later her body was found several miles down river. The cause of her death was undetermined, and the investigation came under criticism for implying it was suicide. As I recall, the UM episode mentioned that she shared her apt. with Roger at the time of her disappearance.

Among the bizzare aspects of this case, was the fact that Roger, in retracing her route home, found an alley where spray-painted on the wall was a cryptic message "Good Day JC. May I never miss the thrill of being near you." Roger believed that the "JC" might be her sister and the message written by her killer. Also, Chandra Levy also lived in the Du Pont Circle area when she disappeared. I believe UM and other shows "CNN Investiges" being one of them, explored the possbility that the 2 disappearances/murders were related (as well as another female victim who bore a resemblance to the other 2). I believe all 3 women at one point were interns with federal agencies and lived and worked in the same area.

It was reported at the time of her disappeance that Joyce Chiang was under investigation for possible misconduct in her employment at the INS. To my knowledge, the exact nature of alleged misconduct was never revealed. However, that investigation was used by some to infer her mental state at the time (and why she might have taken her own life). Odd that her brother Roger became embroiled in his own investigation relating to government (embezzlement from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee). Roger assigned partial blame to his criminal conduct to stress from the death of his sister. Very odd development in my opinion.

In the mid to late 90's there was a conspiracy theory (fueled primarily by right wing media outlets, talk radio, et. al.) that the Joyce Chiang case and another female government employee who was found murdered in a gov't bldg. were related and that the perpetrator was somehow tied to the Clinton Administration. This (somehow) also involved the Monica Lewinsky (also an intern). Also, I seem to recall shortly before the Lewinsky scandal broke, another female intern was shot and killed during a robery of a coffee shop in or around Du Pont Circle. While I disimissed it at the time as a conspiracy thoery, it is interesting to see the similarities of these cases; the fact that all of the women had similar appearances and ties to the federal gov't (w/ 4 of them being interns); and that they all remain unsolved to this day.

Wikipedia Excerpt:

Roger Chiang (江俊立)was a Democratic Party operative, former Director of the Asian/Pacific Islander-American ("API") outreach office of the Democratic National Committee ("DNC"), and later, Director of Constituency Outreach for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ("DSCC").


[edit] Embezzlement
In November 2004, Chiang was investigated by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, DC for the suspected theft of over $360,000 in checks from the DSCC. Chiang had apparently established a separate bank account, under the name DSCAMPO, into which he deposited checks that were written to the order of the DSCC. The DSCC cooperated with the investigation, and then-DSCC spokesman Brad Woodhouse outed Chiang to the media.

On June 2, 2005, Chiang was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison after having pled guilty on February 12 in federal district court to a count of mail fraud. Punishment also called for a $5,000 fine, 240 hours of community service, complete restitution, and two years of supervised release following incarceration.

Chiang had traveled the country on behalf of the DSCC, collecting checks made out to the organization. Beginning in about August 2004, he no longer submitted those checks to the DSCC, and had also begun stealing checks from the desks of DSCC finance staffers, before the checks were processed. He then mailed the checks to an Internet-only bank at which he had established an account, and withdrew funds via ATM. Chiang was caught when a contributor who had written a check to the DSCC inquired why their contribution had not been acknowledged.

Chiang's attorney indicated that, as part of his plea, Chiang would assign partial blame for his actions to the stress arising from the death of his sister (see below), and his subsequent anti-depressant use.


[edit] Rise to prominence
Chiang had risen to some degree of public prominence in May 2001, as the brother of slain Washington, DC INS attorney Joyce Chiang, after similarities to the Chandra Levy disappearance brought television news coverage to the Chiang disappearance and homicide. Roger Chiang appeared on televised appeals for more information from the public and the DC police on the disappearance of his sister.

Before joining the DNC in June 2001, Chiang worked as a research assistant at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In December 2000, he was appointed by President Clinton as an adviser at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he was the highest-ranking Asian-American, serving as a key adviser to Secretary Andrew Cuomo and as the Department's representative to the White House Commission on Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. Previously, he had worked for the Gore-Lieberman 2000 and Clinton-Gore 1996 presidential campaigns.

Among the several awards he had received are the president's citation for meritorious service, HUD's award for excellence, and a citation as the "Rising Asian American in Government" by the Asian American Government Executives Network. In 2002, Chiang was named one of the "Top 30 Under 30 Most Influential Asian Pacific Americans" by PoliticalCircus.com.

With the weakening of Democratic support in other traditionally Democratic ethnic minority groups, there has been a rise in Democratic Party outreach to the API community, including several 'house party' conference calls that included Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Chiang played a large role in directing this outreach, and his political stature had grown with this trend, until his activities derailed his political career.

Wow. Thanks for the update, Zanzibar. That is rather strange that both brother and sister would be (or were allegedly) involved in white collar crime/fraud. I don't get the sense that the two instances were connected, with the possible exception of some family background of "moral flexibility." Perhaps one could look at it as an indicator that Joyce knew people that were less-than-upstanding citizens, and that could have gotten her in trouble.

I really don't buy the whole intern conspiracy thing. Women interning for the federal gov't are a dime a dozen in Washington, D.C.. Heck, I interned for the gov't in D.C. at one point (during the Clinton Administration even)! One would expect that some would be involved in mysterious deaths from time to time. These are often young women who live in the city where they're close to work and a lively social scene instead of the relative safety of the surrounding suburbs. Also, it's a big enough metropolis that there could be multiple killers at work, so I'm not even really convinced (yet) that there is a serial killer here.

Bumping this up for Mastermind. There are some details on Joyce's case in this thread.