1. Ethel Kidd - That poor lady sexually assaulted and strung up to that tree. Since there were no apparent signs of decomposition, police were certain it was a trucker w/ refrigeration. The very first time I saw that segment and it was revealed that she was trussed up to that tree, which is noticeable from a busy road, I IMMEDIATELY thought "He lives near there and he loves driving by that sight...STAKE OUT THAT SIGHT!!". While the police, who have samples of the man's handwriting and significant evidence indicative of a very unique offender, stumble about trying to locate a trucker from out of state...it just so happens that this horrible horrible crime was carried out by an ex-con a man who lived near her and who fled IMMEDIATELY after the murder!! How is this guy not looked into or followed up on?! Not only was he not looked into, he definitely wasn't a person of interest in the case because if he had been, authorities would have had feelers out that as soon as he was booked into a correctional facility anywhere they would have been contacted to come and see him and interview him. Right?
Just the shoddiest of shoddy police work, in my opinion. Perhaps the scariest things of all was he was only weeks away from getting out.

2. Stanley Gryziec - My opinion is that this case is actually solved yet no one will ever see prosecution for it. The police department knows who did it, knows why it was done, and knows who was behind it. My opinion is that some portion of that very same PD was on the payroll of who was behind the murder and did their master's bidding by covering up and muddying the investigation. The rest of the PD has resigned themselves with not wanting to rock the boat and has made peace with that miscarriage of justice.

I think that bar was very important to local organized crime figure(s) in that area and Stanley's brother ran the place willingly as a front for them. So while the place became invaluable to the OC, Stanley was kept in the dark about the real business of the bar until his brother up and died...as people are prone to do. This would help to explain the rift between the two formerly very close brothers in the final months of Stanley was not his brother and refused to keep things as they had been. I imagine there were probably several attempts to get Stanley to "come around" and "play ball", perhaps messages run through the gentleman profiled at the end of the segment as being sought by the PD, but he stuck to his guns (poor choice of word) and it was deemed as being less trouble to simply remove Mr. Gryziec from the situation.

Another VERY STRONG possibility is that Stanley began cooperating with the PD or FBI and had begun wearing a wire while acting like he was entertaining offers from the local OC figures. This information is leaked, first by unknowing and idiot police officials to their pals on the force, then through the crooked and corrupt faction of the PD to the OC figures targeted for prosecution. In that scenario, Stanley has to go NOW. Not now, but RIGHT NOW.

OR...we could switch things a little bit and look at Stanley as being not so clean. Perhaps the rift with his brother came out of his brother's deathbed revealing that HE had been cooperating with authorities for some time and that he had tapes and information he wanted Stanley to deliver to the Authorities. Maybe Stanley was irate with his brother for becoming a snitch or irate because he knew HIS life was now in jeopardy if he ever was found out. Maybe he decided the best thing to do was to let the OC figures know what his brother was up to and it backfired. He may have sensed that they now did not trust Stanley as a living potential witness. This would help explain his eerily prophetic pronouncement to his daughter about not seeing her again. In this scenario Stanley would have been what mobsters call "a stand up guy" but he was still expendable just to make sure...

Whatever the reason, most unfortunately, as a message to anyone else thinking of defying orders or cooperating, it was decided by OC figures that Mrs. Gryziec should go to. Fortunately, however, she played dead well enough for the hitmen to leave her be while they ransacked her house for an hour before finding what they wanted and rewarding themselves with a congratulatory beer. I'm 100% positive they found what they came there for. Now what exactly the two hitmen, brought back into town special, were after in the house is anyone's guess. Its really only a Maguffin in a way...as is the reason Stanley was hit. Maybe it was the deed to the bar, maybe cooked accounting books from the past few decades that could spell trouble for all OC figures involved in the bar, maybe taped phone calls. Maybe it was Jimmy Hoffa or Marcellus Wallace's golden briefcase. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because the investigation was corrupt from the start and any leads that may have led to the truth were more than likely filed under "T" for "Trash", reports probably had deliberate obfuscations in them, and as we saw in the Unsolved Mysteries segment, interviews with strong potential witnesses were just flat out lost. I mean...they even got to the county medical examiner and had him list a gunshot wound as a stab wound. I have never, not once ever, heard of anyone making that same mistake. And make no mistake...a .22, while being a small caliber gun, is THEE handgun of choice for Organized Crime hitmen because of the ricochet damage it tends to do inside people's bodies.

Well, I guess this isn't so much a case of shoddy police work as it is a deliberately maddening criminalizing of the police department and everything that they should represent. Man I get hot about this type of stuff. We'll never get the truth in this case until some police officers consciences get the better of them and they start remembering, out loud and to a grand jury, things they have deliberately forgotten for the past 3 decades. Its been too long...justice is screaming to be meted out in this case.

I have been undeniably harsh in my criticism here and I am confident in my convictions...but I am completely willing to offer up that I may be 1005 incorrect in my assertions and accusations. I'm not so ignorant as to say I'd never come around to the "police department DID made mistakes but they're innocent of any nefarious activities" opinion, if I was shown the right evidence I guess...but as it stands I think there's a lot of corruption and malfeasance here that is obvious to any one paying attention.

Ahhh...I see I am not alone in my assertions:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=158360&highlight=stanley+gryziec

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=83442&highlight=stanley+gryziec

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=143504&highlight=stanley+gryziec


Lastly...can anyone remind me of the case of the mentally handicapped man who is in prison for murdering and setting fire to his elderly neighbor? His family insists he was at home listening to records with a friend at the time it is estimated to have happened. ANother man in jail already for a similar crime has pled guilty to it, and the star wutness is a mentally challenged man himself who's story has never been told the same way twice (if I remember correctly).

What is his name?

Lastly...can anyone remind me of the case of the mentally handicapped man who is in prison for murdering and setting fire to his elderly neighbor? His family insists he was at home listening to records with a friend at the time it is estimated to have happened. ANother man in jail already for a similar crime has pled guilty to it, and the star wutness is a mentally challenged man himself who's story has never been told the same way twice (if I remember correctly).

What is his name?

I believe you're talking about Johnny Lee Wilson. He was eventually pardoned by the late Mel Carnahan who at the time was the Governor of Missouri.

Isn't it obvious?:

SOVA! SOVA! SOVA! SOVA! SOVA! SOVA!

Well obviously in the Kathy Bonderson case, we all know Sheriff E J Allmaras was waaaay wrong, it was in fact a murder committed by her husband.

I always got a bad feeling from Allmaras, I mean he seemed so darn stubborn and would probably never admit he was way off. I mean he had already made up his mind, it was an accident, period. :mad:

Boy there are so many shotty police work examples on UM, off hand I can think of a few: The Cumberland County, North Carolina Sheriff's Department in the Debbie Wolfe case where they left that burn barrell that her body was left in on the property instead of taking it in as evidence and it was "lost." Then they wouldnt admit they screwed up.

The Mountainair, New Mexico police department who covered up what in my opinion was the murder and not accidental shooting or suicide of Steve Sandlin. Chief Carson in my opinion, knows more than he was telling.

The Lawrence County, Missouri Sheriff's department that rail roaded Johnny Lee Wilson.

The Stevens County, Washington sheriff's department that bungled the investigation into a 13 year old boy's death, Russell was his first name, I forgot his last name.

The Pearl River County, Mississippi sheriff's department that covered up what happened to Norman Ladner, that is just my opinion that they covered it up.

Those are a few of the big ones I can think of, also I agree with the above poster that mentioned the Rome, New York police department which covered up what happened to Stanley Grezyiek.

Also another one, the Chicago Police Department and how they botched the investigation into the death of Chad Mauer.

I am not sure I agree though that t he Orange County, Virginia sheriff's department botched the investigation into Ethel Kidd's murder. While it should have been assumed the killer was local, apperantly no one thought it was unusual when ol Ed Beverly left town shortly after Ethel Kidd was found.

Definitely the police in the Tommy Burket case!

Oh yes Crystaldawn, that is a huge one I forgot, the Fairfax County, Virginia police department in the Tommy Burkett case. Also the Westerville, Ohio police department in the Tony Lombardi case. The Eddy County, North Dakota sheriff's department in the Kathy Bonderson case. There are just so many ones out there that were bad.

Definitely the police in the Tommy Burket case!

Can't disagree with that one. That case is just infuriating to watch. I can say the same thing about the Rae Ann Mossor case.

Ashley Freeman & Laura Bible case
Michael Rosenblum case (I think we all know that)
Janine Nacarico case

One that sticks out to me is the Cindy Anderson case where the cops after getting the anonymous lead about Cindy's whereabouts, were driving up and down the streets looking for two white houses side by side. Come now people! Surely, they could have checked public records of a family that owned two houses side by side or something besides driving up and down the streets.

Crystal Spencer, who I still believe that either someone in law enforcement killed her or maybe they just assumed that since she was a stripper, her case wouldn't matter as much...I dunno.

At some point they did locate the house although I never found information beyond that. Some people believe Ms. Anderson is buried in the basement of a house around the same area where the police were looking - I dunno anymore, if she was killed by people involved in organized crime I would wager her body was disposed of quite competently and her remains will probably never be found.

I don't know if this is considered poor police work rather than just plain corrupt, but what about the case of the KY prostitutes that ran this lounge, spa, or whatever it was; and they believed the cop was in on their murder?

The place with the prostitutes was called the "New Life Massage Parlor". I think in that case, the police dept in that area was very corrupt.

Wow...I gotta say the response to this post kinda surprised me. When I saw the number of replies to it so soon I thought "Hey!! Looks like a lot of people agree with me. The Ethel Kidd investigation was botched and the Stanley Gryziec investigation was never meant to succeed. I wonder what opinions and theories other people are going to have."

But then I read the responses. And they surprised me. Perhaps they shouldn't though. I think I may have misled you, or incorrectly stated my intention with this post, by putting work in "sarcastiquoteys". I honestly never considered that this would become a list post! I didn't mean to imply that I thought both cases were corrupt, nor did I mean to make a "lets bash the fuzz" post. Wow...that post title kinda sounds X-Rated.

(**makes mental note to start jotting notes for future writing of fuzz-bashing post**:happyface )


I'm not complaining. Far from it. I was really just caught off-guard with how many segments were so readily recalled as being segments in which the police work was fishy.


There are SO MANY cases that we Unsolved Mysteries fans believe have become unsolved mysteries due to: half-assed police work, corrupt police officials, or some semblance of both. I know I posted two examples, what I consider very egregious examples, of the aforementioned and I know that there are about a handful of other segments I've seen that I believe are significant examples as well. But consarnit to heck, I just wasn't expecting the list that has compiled in this post. ELL OH ELL

I wonder if its a function of the segments themselves that lead us to think this way. I wonder if information is deliberately left out or timelines are disjointed, a la Oliver Stone & JFK, essentially altering the facts of the case and assuring that they can only be interpreted in a certain way. I wonder if its got something to do with our own personal make-up and our own personal experiences with police investigations. I wonder if the show itself draws in, maintains, and designs itself towards a certain particularly skeptical fan base. Its probably a mixture of all of the above and moreso.



OKayall that outta the way...to respond:

Man oh man I am glad to see Mel Carnahan pardoned that poor man. Talk about a police force getting "tunnel vision" and just locking in on a suspect. A very poor (in that the evidence against him was poor) and easily bullied suspect. I think this one falls under the "lazy police work" label meaning that they got what they thought was a winnable case, should it go to trial, and set about building that case. Ignoring anything that came in to the contrary.

On a side note: isn't Mel Carnahan the guy that posthumously defeated an opponent for Governor? That's awesome.




I always got a bad feeling from Allmaras, I mean he seemed so darn stubborn and would probably never admit he was way off. I mean he had already made up his mind, it was an accident, period. :mad:


ididn'tdoit:
I don't condemn Allmaras for sticking to his guns. He came to a conclusion which seemed plausible to him based on the evidence. He must have known both of those residents of his small community for a long time and had predisposed opinions of them. He was directly challenged by someone from out of his jurisdiction and he felt that what occured was neither as nefarious nor salacious as his detractor inferred.
He was wrong, no ifs ands or doubts about it, but I didn't find him to be a stupid man...he probably just couldn't remove himself enough from his feelings of "Kathy's husband would NEVER just kill her!!"


kadrmas15: I'm not sure what you mean here:


I am not sure I agree though that the Orange County, Virginia sheriff's department botched the investigation into Ethel Kidd's murder. While it should have been assumed the killer was local, apperantly no one thought it was unusual when ol Ed Beverly left town shortly after Ethel Kidd was found.


To me, them not following up an ex-con leaving the community soon after a horrible crime takes place IS botching the investigation. Not only that, his name never even occured to them with examples of his handwriting. I'm not saying they were corrupt, but I am saying that there are some woefully inept people in that police department.


crystaldawn:
If you're still alive, please refresh my mammories about the Tommy Burkett case. If not, then just don't say anything.


UMfan77:
YES!!! Michael Rosenblum!! I remember watching that one with my dad when I was about 11 or 12 and I can remember how pissed off he got at that one. Ooooohh...that's gotta be all time numero uno on the list of "Crooked Police Chiefs". His poor dad.


Crystal Spencer, who I still believe that either someone in law enforcement killed her or maybe they just assumed that since she was a stripper, her case wouldn't matter as much...I dunno.


ForeverPluto:
Please explain what it was about the Crystal Spencer case that causes you to suspect corruption or willfull ineptitude on the PD's part? I would contend that the coroner definitely made a mistake or four on the auopsy report but I never got any sort of corrupt vibe from that one. Like in the Jack Davis case. Obviously the coroner was an a-hole who didn't know his a-hole from a sub-cutaneal hemmorhage in the lower 4th Lumbar hematoma...(that's medical speak)...but I don't think he was in cahoots with Mr. Davis' murderer (if there was one).


I am in the minority on this but I don't believe that there was anything more the police could have done in, nor do I think they are wrong about, the cases of:

Debbie Wolfe
Mike O'Meara
Norman Charles Ladner
Justin Burgwinkle
Danny Casolaro (DarkDante forgive me)
The military officer who was found dead in his bed and his dad and his dad's hairpiece think he was murdered - Jeffrey Dignan I think
TONY LOMBARDI

I had to capitalize and enlarge that one because to me that one isn't even mysterious at all. I have a lot written about that segment but I have to leave now, so...TO BE CONTINUED!!!

crystaldawn:
If you're still alive, please refresh my mammories about the Tommy Burkett case. If not, then just don't say anything.



Well the decedent crystaldawn has arisen. I'm sure I can't tell the story nearly as well as his late mother can so here's a link:

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37e5718219ec.htm
(last segment on v2 if you want to watch it)

As for the rest:

I tend to agree with your first theory concerning Stanley Gryziec. I think his brother and the bar he owned was a front for organized crime. I think the secret conversation not long before his brother's death was his brother filling him on some things in that regard. It would seem pretty logical that Stanley was against going along with this after his brother died and if he was left in charge of the bar. If Stanley knew the dirt and was willing to go along with it I don't think he would have been murdered.

I'm not saying the police dept. was corrupt in the Debbie Wolfe case but the one thing that does stand out was the barrel the mother says was in the pond with Debbie (that apparently was missing from her yard) but that the police department denies. I think there was a wealth of clues in this case with the men that were smitten with Debbie and the guy who called worried about her being gone from work when, at the time of the call, she hadn't been gone very long so maybe the police weren't too good about following up on all the leads. However I do remember RS saying the new sheriff had reopened the case.

As far as the Kathy Bonderson case, I think Allmaras was as stubborn as a mule and had already made up his mind in the case and thought how dare an outsider come in and try to prove him wrong. I do believe he has since passed away but I wonder what he would have thought of the news that Kathy Bonderson's husband had killed himself when it seemed the police were closing in. Would it make him rethink his opinion of the case?

The military officer who was found dead in his bed and his dad and his dad's hairpiece think he was murdered - Jeffrey Dignan I think
:lol: OMG, that line totally caught me off guard, too funny :lol:

:lol: OMG, that line totally caught me off guard, too funny :lol:

Yes Corky you wouldn't have even had to tell us the victim's name and I would have known exactly who you were referring to...:lol:

Hey Crystaldawn did you get the check I sent to you for volumes 9 through 11? It should have got there today or it will be there tomorrow. Now to respond to what other people said.

Well Corky, the reason I disagreed with you, was because, if the sheriff's department wasnt tipped off that Ed Beverly had left town shortly after Ethel Kidd's murder how was he supposed to be a suspect? Was he an ex-con at the time of the murder?

He was in prison in Tennessee for armed robbery when he was pin pointed as the suspect in 1997 I believe it was. If he had never been in trouble in Orange County, Virginia before Ethel Kidd's murder, how was he supposed to be a suspect? If he had been one of these career criminals, I think he would have been a suspect from the start.

It could be also that the person that knew him that later fingered him didnt see the writing before or maybe because he was in prison they didnt turn him in until he was getting close to release, maybe they didnt finger him when he was free because they were afraid of him coming after them? I will agree with you though the cops should have assumed it was someone local since it would have to be someone that knew the area in order to place the body where it was. Also, Ethel's son in law Thomas passed away in the late 90's, 1998 or 1999, somewhere in there.

Crystaldawn I do agree with you that it seemed Sheriff Almaras was determined for the death of Kathy Bonderson to be an accident and no one was going to make him think otherwise. Also he probably knew both Kathy and Rob or at least knew who they were and didnt want to ruffle Rob's feathers perhaps. Rob offing himself when he realized the cops were onto him certainly makes him look guilty, after I have watched the UM segment a few more times, it becomes more obvious to me each time that Kathy was murdered, it is just very obvious.

I mean, Almaras whole theory is that the car blew up, yet the gas tank was intact and they couldnt pin point the fire starting from any other point on the car, Kathy Bonderson also had no smoke in her lungs so she was dead before the fire started, and there were signs of gasoline inside the car.

I am not sure Rob necessarily planned on murdering Kathy, but in my opinion he was responsible for her death. My own personal theory is that he didnt pre meditate Kathy's murder. It is my opinion that they got into an argument and he maybe pushed her or something and she fell and hit her head and died and he panicked and decided to cover up the crime.

I think the sheriff's burning of the bed in the Eric Tamiyasu case could qualify here.

Definitely the police in the Tommy Burket case!
I've never seen that one and that article was the first I read. It's an outrage! So sad!

One that sticks out to me is the Cindy Anderson case where the cops after getting the anonymous lead about Cindy's whereabouts, were driving up and down the streets looking for two white houses side by side. Come now people! Surely, they could have checked public records of a family that owned two houses side by side or something besides driving up and down the streets.

Crystal Spencer, who I still believe that either someone in law enforcement killed her or maybe they just assumed that since she was a stripper, her case wouldn't matter as much...I dunno.
What makes you suspect law enforcement in the Crystal Spencer case?

Crystaldawn I do agree with you that it seemed Sheriff Almaras was determined for the death of Kathy Bonderson to be an accident and no one was going to make him think otherwise. Also he probably knew both Kathy and Rob or at least knew who they were and didnt want to ruffle Rob's feathers perhaps. Rob offing himself when he realized the cops were onto him certainly makes him look guilty, after I have watched the UM segment a few more times, it becomes more obvious to me each time that Kathy was murdered, it is just very obvious.

I mean, Almaras whole theory is that the car blew up, yet the gas tank was intact and they couldnt pin point the fire starting from any other point on the car, Kathy Bonderson also had no smoke in her lungs so she was dead before the fire started, and there were signs of gasoline inside the car.

I am not sure Rob necessarily planned on murdering Kathy, but in my opinion he was responsible for her death. My own personal theory is that he didnt pre meditate Kathy's murder. It is my opinion that they got into an argument and he maybe pushed her or something and she fell and hit her head and died and he panicked and decided to cover up the crime.
Yes, that sheriff Almarras seemed to be out of his element for sure. He was frustrated that they would second guess him and would even think to exhume Kathy's body and re-examine the evidence in a case like this. His explanation that the car suddenly exploded after bouncing off the railroad tracks onto the grass was laughable. I love how he acted defiant and sat in a throne chair during the UM interview. You think if someone had made a mistake like that and it was found to be totally wrong (Kathy was murdered, the scene was staged, it was obviously arson, no evidence of structural damage to the vehicle's chassis, and the empty gas can nearby), he would be humble in the interview. Instead, he was acting like a stubborn jackass that got showed up by people that actually know what they are doing.

For me, it's the cases of Kurt Sova, Jeremy Bright and Russel Evans. It baffles the mind that these cases never got solved. :confused:

Russel Evans? Can someone refresh my memory?

Russel Evans? Can someone refresh my memory?

It's the case of the boy who's cause of death was officially attributed to a hit and run but a lot of physical evidence points to a physical altercation. A friend of Russel was harrassed by a bunch of thugs. Russel came to his defense and eventually stopped the fight. A lot of people felt that Russel's death was a direct result of this confrontation, from a fight that got out of hand. I feel like the police disregarded a lot of physical evidence, IMO.

The Natalie Holloway case.

Oh yeah, I just saw this one the other day off one of Heather's early volumes. No threads came up when I searched for him, except this one. I think you misspelled his name. But yes, it did seem like the investigators in that case fudged it big time. At the very least, it was a hit & run manslaughter case and the authorities tried to make it out to be someone hitting him and not realizing it was a person they hit. I'll have to watch that one again to get a better grasp on the details since I just saw that segment for the first time.

The Kurt Sova case feels like an accidental death caused by drugs to me and that is why the people at that party were all lying about it. I wonder why they couldn't find a cause of death. That was probably the most bizarre component to that case other than the strange guy in the trenchcoat.

As far as Jeremy Bright, there seems to be too many tales and rumors being told that they will probably never get the facts separated from the supposed truths in that case.

One that sticks out to me is the Cindy Anderson case where the cops after getting the anonymous lead about Cindy's whereabouts, were driving up and down the streets looking for two white houses side by side. Come now people! Surely, they could have checked public records of a family that owned two houses side by side or something besides driving up and down the streets.

Crystal Spencer, who I still believe that either someone in law enforcement killed her or maybe they just assumed that since she was a stripper, her case wouldn't matter as much...I dunno.

Thank god! I thought I was the only one who thought the Toledo police were morons! WTF? Driving around looking for two houses side by side? That's what Hall of Records are for!

As far as Jeremy Bright, there seems to be too many tales and rumors being told that they will probably never get the facts separated from the supposed truths in that case.

I agree with you that there are so many different anecdotes, leads and rumors that have muddled this case. But the first angle the police took was that Jeremy was lured by the carnival's way of life and decided to join them. This was by far, the least likely scenario IMO. That's why this police department qualify in my book. If the investigation had been approached differently, the case might have been at least solved.

Thank god! I thought I was the only one who thought the Toledo police were morons! WTF? Driving around looking for two houses side by side? That's what Hall of Records are for!

I thought the exact same thing! Can't the public records indicate which houses are owned side-by-side by the same people? And as for the phone call, it's too bad that they had someone else get on the line to scare off the caller. This case will always give me goosebumps with the whole "being held in the basement by the son" theory. Even if it was false, just thinking about it is absolutely chilling.

Doreen Picard and Susan Laferte. NO one mentioned it so i will

Dorothy Picard and Susan Laferte. NO one mentioned it so i will

Agreed. Not finding the murder weapon for 3-4 days when it's there all along is pretty sad. :rolleyes:

The ones that come to mind for myself are:

1. The Keith Warren case - the settled for suicide too quick and did not launch a proper investigation. Also there are signs of a possible police cover up or involvement.

2. Eric Tamiyasu case - sheriff burning the bed which most definitely yielded more evidence and was destroyed purposely.

3. Jodi Bordeaux - I'm not saying its real bad police work but from what I can tell, a pregnant woman was executed and absolutely nothing has been done about it. I don't understand how there isn't more of an outcry from residents there about this heinous murder.

Agreed. Not finding the murder weapon for 3-4 days when it's there all along is pretty sad. :rolleyes:

police cover-up: I'm guessing they found it right away but played dumb until one of their own probably had them cornered into telling them that they found it:

the two main suspects in this case, Raymond "Beaver" Tempest (the one who's in prison for it now) and Donald Degasse, both had brothers that worked for that town's (Woonsocket, Rhode Island) police department

Let's see:

1) Arnold Archambeau - Overlooking two bodies in close proximity to an accident and then later claiming that the bodies were not in the area and may have been "placed" there at a later time period.

2) Green River Killer - Questioned & released Gary Ridgeway (the man convicted later of the crimes) several times, as well as many other people most of whom were neither killers nor had anything to do w/ the killings.

3) Jeffrey Dahmer - Returned a victim to a killer (who subsequently killed him) and then were unable to fire the incompetent officers that did this.

4) Angela Hammond - Waited almost 20 years to test available DNA evidence in the case. Failed to put out a timely APB on the vehicle allegedly used in the abduction.

5) Keith Warren - Police failed to contact family members in a timely manner, made unwanted funeral plans for the remains and then failed to adequately investigate the case. They also destroyed evidence for no reason and then allowed an officer to send the family a package containing crime scene photos for no valid reason.

Anytime there's a missing person, and there is an "extensive" search of the area which yields nothing. And then years later some hiker stumbles upon them. Those cases always seemed like the cops didn't do a very good job. Also the case with the arsonist who filmed himself and wanted Omar to look at the flames, it seems like that should have been solved before the UM broadcast.

-- The Newport Creamery robbery in 1935, where Marshal George Conniff is allegedly murdered by officer Clyde Ralstin. Some members of the Spokane P.D. were covering for Ralstin.

-- Michael Self and the confessions obtained by Don Morris and Tommy Deal.

-- Kathy Page's homicide: there was no film in the camera that was used to take photos at the crime scene and a warrant to search her home wasn't obtained until a couple of years later.

The background of Ralph Probst's homicide is pretty interesting as well.

Anytime there's a missing person, and there is an "extensive" search of the area which yields nothing. And then years later some hiker stumbles upon them. Those cases always seemed like the cops didn't do a very good job.

Hands down, the worst example of this is the Ashley Freeman/Lauria Bible case where the cops conveniently miss an entire BODY at the crime scene, which Lauria's non-police parents find almost instantly when they go back later to investigate the scene themselves. Unless there was a cover-up, I have no idea how they messed up that badly!

Or how about the police somehow losing the entire barrel that Debbie Wolfe's body was found in and trying to claim there was no barrel at all? Right after the coroner's outrageous claim that her death wasn't a homicide, but a drowning, meaning she somehow stuffed herself inside a barrel and submerged herself in the middle of a lake singlehandedly!

I'd also say the police in the Michael Rosenblum case received a nice bittersweet taste of karma for trying to disguse their screw-ups. It's possible they had nothing to do with his death at all and that the chief only requested that backdated letter about the car be typed up in order to cover up a minor mistake. However, all that did was make them look VERY suspcious and nearly got the chief fired. Again, the police may have been entirely innocent of Michael's disapperance and death, but if that's the case, their adherence to the "we screw up, we cover up" mentality came back to bite them big time!

Yes, Crystaldawn! The Burkett Case for sure. I won't go into details as it's getting late and I should head to bed being sick and all, but here's one key point that sticks in my mind: The police detective says, "At the insistence of the Burkett's we interviewed the neighbors..." In the choice words of a fellow youtuber, that police detective should be fired and disgraced forever. Such questioning should have been automatic!!! Also, that comment just made me laugh, but is very, very true.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Bobby Fuller case. The up-and-coming rock star whose the death the police refused to accept as anything other than suicide, despite nothing that pointed to it and a mountain of circumstantial evidence that indicated otherwise, and I was definitely shaking my head at the scene where one of the cops tosses the gas can found in the car into a trash can. A guy at the scene says to him "isn't that considered evidence?" and the cop looks blankly at him and says "um, no."

I read somewhere that the fires set by the Seattle arsonist were ruled accidental. I don't know how that is possible considering the fires were water resistant and would just burn stronger

I just watched the Debbie Wolf case. It is just so obvious, to me at least, that she was murdered. The police severely mishandled the investigation by not collecting the evidence in time nor securing the crime scene - thus allowing the murderer to return and retrieve the incriminating barrel Debbie's body was found in. I think the police know they made a mistake. However, it is easier for them to pass off Debbie's death as an accident than it is to admit they dropped the ball. I feel so bad for Debbie's family. I hope they were able to somehow get some closure in the end, though I can't imagine how.

I feel it's the JonBenet Ramsey murder. I can't believe it still hasn't been solved! It has been what close to 20 years? I mean the police were horrible going over evidence in the case and at the murder site. It's ridiculous. They need to find justice for the unnecessary and grisly murder of this young, beautiful girl who's life had barely begun. They were all a bunch of idiots and poor Patty had to die without knowing who killed her daughter. Before you all go on and on about thinking the parents did it, I highly doubt they did. There is just not enough evidence to prove that they did. It had to have been someone they knew who had access to their house. I hope the murder will get solved one day, so JonBenet and Patty can really rest in peace. I don't think John will ever give up on figuring out who killed his daughter.

What doesn't make sense to me is why someone would kill JonBenet and not Burke. :confused:

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Bobby Fuller case. The up-and-coming rock star whose the death the police refused to accept as anything other than suicide, despite nothing that pointed to it and a mountain of circumstantial evidence that indicated otherwise, and I was definitely shaking my head at the scene where one of the cops tosses the gas can found in the car into a trash can. A guy at the scene says to him "isn't that considered evidence?" and the cop looks blankly at him and says "um, no."

Thanks for mentioning that one. Also one from a slightly later time period where a guy supposedly died in a car crash but the victim's family believes one of his girlfriend's relatives stabbed him and his injury caused him to crash the car and the girlfriend won't talk.

What doesn't make sense to me is why someone would kill JonBenet and not Burke. :confused:

Unless Burke did it which was looked into at the time and eventually ruled out.

As I mentioned in another thread, Jessica Lynn Keen, Madison County, Ohio--how the the "observant" cops said hitting a fencepost while running through a cemetery at night killed her, and failed to notice the hole where a small stone was ripped out nearby, or where it was tossed right on the other side of the fence after the killer beat her to death with it! :rolleyes:

Read more: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=279227&highlight=tombstone#ixzz1RaoQAswN

O. J. Simpson, sloppy and wrong police work contributed to a killer going free.

This one, I think, wasn't on UM but I saw it on Dateline or someplace. A young man and his fianceé who were in the military. One night he went out with a young woman and after the fianceé learned they had sex demanded he kill the woman and assisted him to do so. This was found out only after the fianceé went into a barracks with a lot of others and mentioned it. NO ONE thought to follow up on who the murder victim was last seen with.

How about cases where parents have to do their own investigations? Michael Rosenblum and that kid killed in the woods by drug dealers with his own rifle--shot at an angle and with a wound to the top of his head which could not be self-inflicted--and the authorities said it was suicide. (Like athlete's foot guy, killed by an intruder with his own gun and the cops said he was despondent, no doubt that the athlete's foot wasn't clearing up.) Also the two young boys in Arizona who were ruled to have died in an accident when they were clearly killed after witnessing illegal activity.

Caylee Anthony will go down as one of the alltime worst examples of police negligence. If only they could be charged with dereliction of duty or something. A meter reader in August reports a suspicious object which was not there before right near the area where a missing child has already received national attention, and the police basically tell him to shut up, forget about it, and stop bothering them? Then in December (presumably when foliage has died back enough so they can't ignore it anymore) they find the bag containing Caylee's body--far too late to determine a cause of death, so a guilty murderer walks!

I'd still like to know the deal on "Georgia Ann Boyd," nicknamed Jerri, real name Edith Geraldine Johns-Moore, married to Dereld Tacy when she passed away.

Read more: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=235625&page=2&highlight=nightclub#ixzz1RatVi7Js

Who was really harassing her, if not her ex-husband, who actually had no idea of where she was? What was she involved in so shocking it couldn't even be mentioned on TV and they had to change the entire subject of the story in the update? It certainly sounds like a great subject for a true crime book.

Yes, Crystaldawn! The Burkett Case for sure. I won't go into details as it's getting late and I should head to bed being sick and all, but here's one key point that sticks in my mind: The police detective says, "At the insistence of the Burkett's we interviewed the neighbors..." In the choice words of a fellow youtuber, that police detective should be fired and disgraced forever. Such questioning should have been automatic!!! Also, that comment just made me laugh, but is very, very true.

Every time I watch this story it makes me so mad. That detective is full of crap. It is very clear he was murdered and the police should have automatically interviewed the neighbors.

I don't think anyone mentioned the Joyce Chiang case. The police closed the case because they couldn't determine how she died. They thought she committed suicide by going into the river on a cold night.

I saw recently where they have now determined she was murdered. The police cheif on UM in this story should have been fired.

Also the case with the arsonist who filmed himself and wanted Omar to look at the flames, it seems like that should have been solved before the UM broadcast.

JUST PLAIN STUPID! A fire brigade responded. So what, the cops couldn't read the names on the trucks in the video? Just check all 911 fire reports within a certain time frame. DUH! :mad:

I just watched the Debbie Wolf case. It is just so obvious, to me at least, that she was murdered. The police severely mishandled the investigation by not collecting the evidence in time nor securing the crime scene - thus allowing the murderer to return and retrieve the incriminating barrel Debbie's body was found in. I think the police know they made a mistake. However, it is easier for them to pass off Debbie's death as an accident than it is to admit they dropped the ball. I feel so bad for Debbie's family. I hope they were able to somehow get some closure in the end, though I can't imagine how.

I agree. Even the investigator interviewed appeared to know his department screwed up with the whole barrel incident, yet didn't want to come out and admit it.

1. Ethel Kidd - That poor lady sexually assaulted and strung up to that tree. Since there were no apparent signs of decomposition, police were certain it was a trucker w/ refrigeration. The very first time I saw that segment and it was revealed that she was trussed up to that tree, which is noticeable from a busy road, I IMMEDIATELY thought "He lives near there and he loves driving by that sight...STAKE OUT THAT SIGHT!!". While the police, who have samples of the man's handwriting and significant evidence indicative of a very unique offender, stumble about trying to locate a trucker from out of state...it just so happens that this horrible horrible crime was carried out by an ex-con a man who lived near her and who fled IMMEDIATELY after the murder!! How is this guy not looked into or followed up on?! Not only was he not looked into, he definitely wasn't a person of interest in the case because if he had been, authorities would have had feelers out that as soon as he was booked into a correctional facility anywhere they would have been contacted to come and see him and interview him. Right?
Just the shoddiest of shoddy police work, in my opinion. Perhaps the scariest things of all was he was only weeks away from getting out.

2. Stanley Gryziec - My opinion is that this case is actually solved yet no one will ever see prosecution for it. The police department knows who did it, knows why it was done, and knows who was behind it. My opinion is that some portion of that very same PD was on the payroll of who was behind the murder and did their master's bidding by covering up and muddying the investigation. The rest of the PD has resigned themselves with not wanting to rock the boat and has made peace with that miscarriage of justice.

I think that bar was very important to local organized crime figure(s) in that area and Stanley's brother ran the place willingly as a front for them. So while the place became invaluable to the OC, Stanley was kept in the dark about the real business of the bar until his brother up and died...as people are prone to do. This would help to explain the rift between the two formerly very close brothers in the final months of Stanley was not his brother and refused to keep things as they had been. I imagine there were probably several attempts to get Stanley to "come around" and "play ball", perhaps messages run through the gentleman profiled at the end of the segment as being sought by the PD, but he stuck to his guns (poor choice of word) and it was deemed as being less trouble to simply remove Mr. Gryziec from the situation.

Another VERY STRONG possibility is that Stanley began cooperating with the PD or FBI and had begun wearing a wire while acting like he was entertaining offers from the local OC figures. This information is leaked, first by unknowing and idiot police officials to their pals on the force, then through the crooked and corrupt faction of the PD to the OC figures targeted for prosecution. In that scenario, Stanley has to go NOW. Not now, but RIGHT NOW.

OR...we could switch things a little bit and look at Stanley as being not so clean. Perhaps the rift with his brother came out of his brother's deathbed revealing that HE had been cooperating with authorities for some time and that he had tapes and information he wanted Stanley to deliver to the Authorities. Maybe Stanley was irate with his brother for becoming a snitch or irate because he knew HIS life was now in jeopardy if he ever was found out. Maybe he decided the best thing to do was to let the OC figures know what his brother was up to and it backfired. He may have sensed that they now did not trust Stanley as a living potential witness. This would help explain his eerily prophetic pronouncement to his daughter about not seeing her again. In this scenario Stanley would have been what mobsters call "a stand up guy" but he was still expendable just to make sure...

Whatever the reason, most unfortunately, as a message to anyone else thinking of defying orders or cooperating, it was decided by OC figures that Mrs. Gryziec should go to. Fortunately, however, she played dead well enough for the hitmen to leave her be while they ransacked her house for an hour before finding what they wanted and rewarding themselves with a congratulatory beer. I'm 100% positive they found what they came there for. Now what exactly the two hitmen, brought back into town special, were after in the house is anyone's guess. Its really only a Maguffin in a way...as is the reason Stanley was hit. Maybe it was the deed to the bar, maybe cooked accounting books from the past few decades that could spell trouble for all OC figures involved in the bar, maybe taped phone calls. Maybe it was Jimmy Hoffa or Marcellus Wallace's golden briefcase. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because the investigation was corrupt from the start and any leads that may have led to the truth were more than likely filed under "T" for "Trash", reports probably had deliberate obfuscations in them, and as we saw in the Unsolved Mysteries segment, interviews with strong potential witnesses were just flat out lost. I mean...they even got to the county medical examiner and had him list a gunshot wound as a stab wound. I have never, not once ever, heard of anyone making that same mistake. And make no mistake...a .22, while being a small caliber gun, is THEE handgun of choice for Organized Crime hitmen because of the ricochet damage it tends to do inside people's bodies.

Well, I guess this isn't so much a case of shoddy police work as it is a deliberately maddening criminalizing of the police department and everything that they should represent. Man I get hot about this type of stuff. We'll never get the truth in this case until some police officers consciences get the better of them and they start remembering, out loud and to a grand jury, things they have deliberately forgotten for the past 3 decades. Its been too long...justice is screaming to be meted out in this case.

I have been undeniably harsh in my criticism here and I am confident in my convictions...but I am completely willing to offer up that I may be 1005 incorrect in my assertions and accusations. I'm not so ignorant as to say I'd never come around to the "police department DID made mistakes but they're innocent of any nefarious activities" opinion, if I was shown the right evidence I guess...but as it stands I think there's a lot of corruption and malfeasance here that is obvious to any one paying attention.

Ahhh...I see I am not alone in my assertions:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=158360&highlight=stanley+gryziec

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=83442&highlight=stanley+gryziec

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=143504&highlight=stanley+gryziec


Lastly...can anyone remind me of the case of the mentally handicapped man who is in prison for murdering and setting fire to his elderly neighbor? His family insists he was at home listening to records with a friend at the time it is estimated to have happened. ANother man in jail already for a similar crime has pled guilty to it, and the star wutness is a mentally challenged man himself who's story has never been told the same way twice (if I remember correctly).

What is his name?


I always thought the Scott Johnson case was bad. The cops seemed to have been part of the drug deals going on. They had witnesses who they ignored because of their previous run-ins with the law. He was obviously murdered.

(cough) West. Memphis. Three (cough)

Don't even get me freakin' started on that!!! :mad:

Notice how every death they cant explain they just rule it a suicide and give up. The episode about Brian Nisenfeld seemed abit off to me,they just ruled it a suicide without one shred of evidence to the contrary. The Burned Evidence episode was the biggest one though.

I don't think anyone mentioned the Joyce Chiang case. The police closed the case because they couldn't determine how she died. They thought she committed suicide by going into the river on a cold night.

I saw recently where they have now determined she was murdered. The police cheif on UM in this story should have been fired.

I hated the guy,very obnoxious.

Bumping this thread up to say that while it might not be the worst example of shoddy investigating, it was still a big screw up on the part of the cops.

When Amy Billig went missing, her mother asked the police to obtain her fingerprints from items in her room (there were no other sources to obtain her prints). She wanted this done so that in the event Amy was eventually found, alive or dead, she could possibly be identified through fingerprints.

The police decided it wasn't important.

Then, three months later, Amy still hasn't been located, so the police think that maybe it's not a bad idea to have her fingerprints in their case file afterall. They show up to lift the prints from items she touched, but can't get anything because the high humidity and heat in FL degrades fingerprints quickly.

Gah!

These were FL cops! They must have already had enough experience lifting prints from crime scenes that they knew about the fast degradation and that they only had a short amount of time to obtain this evidence. And they still decided not to get a missing teenager's prints into her file when they had the opportunity.

This police screw-up wasn't specifically mentioned on the show, but I couldn't believe it when I found out years after the fact that the cops on the Morris Davis case botched the ballistics tests and mistakenly thought that a completely different gun was the original murder weapon. In addition to wasting a lot of time on a false lead, their mistake could have conceivably caused a lot of trouble for an innocent man. I always felt bad for the gun's original owner, who was interviewed in silhouette on UM and clearly had no idea how he got mixed up in this. His story about not knowing how his gun disappeared from his closet sounded so unbelievable on the surface, but it turns out he was telling the truth since that gun wasn't actually used to commit the murder at all!