Thought this might be an interesting thread....lets all give examples of cases that have been shown on UM that were completely wrong in the theories presented once the case was solved.

Two that come to mind for me:

Carson Price - theories presented were that her drug dealing boyfriend or her mother job as a DA led to her being murdered on a state highway in front of a number of eyewitnesses. When the case was solved she was actually a random kidnapping done by a serial killer...just in the wrong place.

Bill Rundle and Tracey K. (can't recall the last name). They both disappeared after taking off for a ride and were going to meet up with her boyrfriend. Theory presented was "Bill's Hat" was found off a roadway possible reflecting the area where they might have been kidnapped. Years later Bills truck was found in water and both their bodies were found in the car. Apparently they drove into the water after getting lost. Not sure if the hat was every cleared up....was it really Bills.

Anyone got any others to put on this....

Goes to show that a number of times all these crazy ideas come up and the answer is sometimes just an easy solution.

Good idea for a thread.

One would be the Gayle Delano case. I don't blame UM for how they portrayed the case because Gayle apparently wanted people to think she disappeared after a date but of course they mainly mentioned the possibility of her meeting with foul play when it turned out she committed suicide.

The Wheeler murder is another good example. UM focused on the three people who were blaming each other and it turns out it was a random act of violence.

Kathy Bonderson's case seemed to indicate an accident or foul play but it never incinuated the husband was a suspect when it turns out he may have been responsible for her death. That also goes along with the Doreen Marfeo case as it turned out the husband may have been responsible for her death (although she has never been found).

In my opinion the Keith Reinhard segment was misleading as well. They seem to focus on Keith's book about Tom Young and mentioned how Young killed himself. They tried to draw similarities between Young's disappearance and Reinhard's disappearance. After reading more about the case that UM didn't mention, it seems pretty obvious to me that Keith went to climb that mountain and just didn't make it back down and probably died up there of the elements in an accident and hasn't been found yet.

Of course, when a show like UM presents theories on any given case, there is always the possibility of them being disproven. The theories are based on a variety of things, such as physical evidence or eyewitness accounts.

I think this is a really good idea for a thread. I think it's probably natural for police to blow insignificant things out of proportion when they don't have much physical evidence to go on. Also, statistically, you're much more likely to be murdered by a family member or friend. When you hear hooves, think horses - not zebras.

The first thing that pops into my mind is the Veronica "Tina" Jefferson murder. The police went on the theory that she knew her killer or was murdered by a guy who tried to pick her up at a grocery store b/c of eye-witnesses. Again, it was a more-or-less random attack by a serial killer.

Perhaps Micki Jo West...someone in the interview believed that the note-writer was not the murderer but definitely someone else (intimidated by the actual murderer)...later, it is revealed that the murderer himself likely wrote the notes

The California arsonist who videotaped his work---specifically the identity of "Omar." The police theorized that Omar was possibly the homeowner, or the owner of the contracting firm that was building the home, or even an entity within the arsonist's mind. Turns out he was the kid who lived across the street from the arsonist, and I believe may have been charged with a couple of minor things for conspiring with the arsonist as well.

The Kari Lynn Nixon segment and update were pretty big ones. UM seemed to have a case of tunnel vision with that one. Even though one of the investigating authorities said that the case had all the marks of an abduction, 99% of the focus was on the "runaway" theory. I understand there were leads to follow up at the time (and the girl in the New Kids video did look very much like Kari), but I always thought the abduction theory was far more plausible and never got the attention it deserved. Turns out she really was abducted and murdered that very night, as the scumbag who did it admitted to it sometime in the early '90s---'94, I believe.

There was one on the other day about the family of 3 who died after their apartment was set on fire - the police theorized it was a revenge killing done by someone who demanded money from the bank one of the victims worked at, when in fact the crime was committed by two boys - one 13 and one 14 years old. Unbelieveable....:rolleyes:

The Nancy Manni case where the theories ranged from a union boyfriend to her knowledge about drugs. In the end, it was just a guy she met.

The Dee Dee segment they aired today, where a bartender thought she saw a woman who turned up missing, and a local biker was under suspection ....then UPDATE~! and Dee Dee was killed by her apartment's janitor and her body never found

did anyone notice that in the background of the Dede Rosenthal case that they were showing Greg webb putting Anna Anton in the trunk of his car?

The Dee Dee segment they aired today, where a bartender thought she saw a woman who turned up missing, and a local biker was under suspection ....then UPDATE~! and Dee Dee was killed by her apartment's janitor and her body never found
Is that the one where the bartender told the lady, "Dee Dee, you better go home. Dee Dee, your mother is worried sick about you"? I bet the lady she was talking to thought the bartender was a nutjob.

You can add any number of the cases where the families of missing people were told by workers at homeless shelters that they were 100% certain that their family member had been there just recently. I think that happened in the Dan Wilson segment. That always annoyed me. You'd think that the workers wouldn't claim 100% certainty unless they were 100% certain (what a novel concept). It's cruel to get family members' hopes up that way.

Is that the one where the bartender told the lady, "Dee Dee, you better go home. Dee Dee, your mother is worried sick about you"? I bet the lady she was talking to thought the bartender was a nutjob.

You can add any number of the cases where the families of missing people were told by workers at homeless shelters that they were 100% certain that their family member had been there just recently. I think that happened in the Dan Wilson segment. That always annoyed me. You'd think that the workers wouldn't claim 100% certainty unless they were 100% certain (what a novel concept). It's cruel to get family members' hopes up that way.
Right, I agree that it's sad when families get their hopes up, but generally they always want to believe their missing loved one is alive. There's a case that the show profiled - can't recall names offhand - but a man's wife disappeared and HIS family was certain he had killed her, while HER family was defending him and believed him innocent. I think the reason was simply because they wanted to believe their daughter might be alive, and if they believed her husband was involved in her disappearance then it would mean she was dead.

As far as the people who report these sightings go, they are almost always well-meaning. They probably believe they saw this missing person and are just making an honest but heartbreaking mistake. Although, sometimes these sightings turn out to be true - case in point, the missing man who owned fisheries; the sightings of him disoriented on a train may have been true, since he later turned up alive.

You can add any number of the cases where the families of missing people were told by workers at homeless shelters that they were 100% certain that their family member had been there just recently. I think that happened in the Dan Wilson segment. That always annoyed me. You'd think that the workers wouldn't claim 100% certainty unless they were 100% certain (what a novel concept). It's cruel to get family members' hopes up that way.

Matthew Chase. :( And wasn't the Adam Hecht case like that too? I've only seen the segment once and it was years ago.

One troubling segment was of a woman who had worked in a nightclub (in Florida, I think.) The family was terrorized several times by biker-types and she led her current husband to believe this was the work of her ex-husband, the father of her two girls. After she died, her husband/widower went to the nightclub and a local TV station and in every case was told he'd better forget she ever existed.

After the segment aired, the woman's ex-husband surfaced and proved to be a PERFECTLY nice man who had NO IDEA where his daughters had been all that time. Not saying the reenactment was wrong exactly, but there was absolutely no explanation as to this woman's origins, what she had been involved in, who terrorized her family, or why. And they acted as if the mystery was "solved" when the father was reunited with his daughters and didn't address the rest of these unexplained issues.

One troubling segment was of a woman who had worked in a nightclub (in Florida, I think.) The family was terrorized several times by biker-types and she led her current husband to believe this was the work of her ex-husband, the father of her two girls. After she died, her husband/widower went to the nightclub and a local TV station and in every case was told he'd better forget she ever existed.

After the segment aired, the woman's ex-husband surfaced and proved to be a PERFECTLY nice man who had NO IDEA where his daughters had been all that time. Not saying the reenactment was wrong exactly, but there was absolutely no explanation as to this woman's origins, what she had been involved in, who terrorized her family, or why. And they acted as if the mystery was "solved" when the father was reunited with his daughters and didn't address the rest of these unexplained issues.

That one puzzled me too. I can't remember the husband's name, the one that was searching for his wife's family. I thought it was so strange how her co-workers were so secretive about her. The poor man was trying so hard to find out who his wife was. I don't think he even knew her real name.

The Wheeler case. You have the three principal suspects all blaming each other for the murder but it turns out that it was a random act of violence.

Matthew Chase. :( And wasn't the Adam Hecht case like that too? I've only seen the segment once and it was years ago.

That Matthew Chase update sure came out of left field.....they really gave you hope that maybe he was alive, even though you could see the "figure" behind him at the ATM.

One troubling segment was of a woman who had worked in a nightclub (in Florida, I think.) The family was terrorized several times by biker-types and she led her current husband to believe this was the work of her ex-husband, the father of her two girls. After she died, her husband/widower went to the nightclub and a local TV station and in every case was told he'd better forget she ever existed.

After the segment aired, the woman's ex-husband surfaced and proved to be a PERFECTLY nice man who had NO IDEA where his daughters had been all that time. Not saying the reenactment was wrong exactly, but there was absolutely no explanation as to this woman's origins, what she had been involved in, who terrorized her family, or why. And they acted as if the mystery was "solved" when the father was reunited with his daughters and didn't address the rest of these unexplained issues.
This was the case of "Georgia Ann Boyd", nicknamed Jerri, whose real name was Edith Geraldine Johns-Moore. She was married to Dereld Tacy when she passed away.
One thing that I found really puzzling about the case was her children. She was only 22 when she died, but she had two boys with Dereld Tacy, two girls (Sally and Angel) with her previous husband, AND two more children from an earlier marriage (Eugene and Rhonda). So either she was lying about her age, or she got married incredibly young.
Also, I remember she worked as a go-go dancer at a club near a military base, which is how Dereld first met her. After she died, Dereld went back to club to find if they had any information on her. The manager of the club absolutely bold-facedly (if that a word) lied to Dereld and said he had never heard of her. Some of the women who had worked with Georgia talked to Dereld and basically told him he should just leave town and forget about it.

Charli-Ann

Not only that, but her picture was aired on a local TV station once and abruptly pulled as if the people who broadcast it had been threatened. And none of these people (from the club or TV station) were interviewed on UM.

This was the case of "Georgia Ann Boyd", nicknamed Jerri, whose real name was Edith Geraldine Johns-Moore. She was married to Dereld Tacy when she passed away.
One thing that I found really puzzling about the case was her children. She was only 22 when she died, but she had two boys with Dereld Tacy, two girls (Sally and Angel) with her previous husband, AND two more children from an earlier marriage (Eugene and Rhonda). So either she was lying about her age, or she got married incredibly young.
Also, I remember she worked as a go-go dancer at a club near a military base, which is how Dereld first met her. After she died, Dereld went back to club to find if they had any information on her. The manager of the club absolutely bold-facedly (if that a word) lied to Dereld and said he had never heard of her. Some of the women who had worked with Georgia talked to Dereld and basically told him he should just leave town and forget about it.

Charli-Ann


I wonder if the stonewalling a the go-go club was really a red herring. I can think of a number of reasons why a place would deny knowing a dancer:
-The club was operating some side ventures (drugs, prostitution, gambling) and didn't want a bunch of people asking questions
-Jerri herself had asked them not to talk about her if anyone ever came asking
-Jerri was underaged when she worked there
-They were just secretive or protective or mean :)

Wait, was Matthew Chase's killer found, or are you talking about his body being found?

The Nancy Manni case where the theories ranged from a union boyfriend to her knowledge about drugs. In the end, it was just a guy she met.

Don't remember this one. Was it the one where she was working for an airline? Is that solved?

One troubling segment was of a woman who had worked in a nightclub (in Florida, I think.) The family was terrorized several times by biker-types and she led her current husband to believe this was the work of her ex-husband, the father of her two girls. After she died, her husband/widower went to the nightclub and a local TV station and in every case was told he'd better forget she ever existed.

After the segment aired, the woman's ex-husband surfaced and proved to be a PERFECTLY nice man who had NO IDEA where his daughters had been all that time. Not saying the reenactment was wrong exactly, but there was absolutely no explanation as to this woman's origins, what she had been involved in, who terrorized her family, or why. And they acted as if the mystery was "solved" when the father was reunited with his daughters and didn't address the rest of these unexplained issues.

Wow, absolutely no recollection of this case either.

The way UM portrayed Amy Billig was definitely not entirely forthright either (and probably a good reminder of the show's number one goal: to appeal to audience sympathies, not to present "the truth"). UM had us believing that poor innocent Amy was kidnapped on her way to the art museum or something, when it turns out (according to American Justice in an episode they did years later) that Amy, at 15, was already experimenting with cocaine and that it would not have been at all out of character for her to go to a party with some random biker dudes.

That said, she was only 15, and I'm sure naive about the world in the way all 15 year olds are; certainly, she did not deserve her fate (the same guy who led her mother on a wild goose chase ended up recounting, on his deathbed, how Amy had died of an "accidental overdose" at a biker party the night she disappeared - though I'm sure her exact cause of death could still be hotly debated - and then, for fear of being pursued by the authorities, bikers at the party dismemebered her corpse and fed it so alligators in a nearby Florida swamp). Amy Billig was an at-risk teenager; UM very carefully avoided telling us that.

Wait, was Matthew Chase's killer found, or are you talking about his body being found?

Matthew's body being found. No updates to the case.

The way UM portrayed Amy Billig was definitely not entirely forthright either (and probably a good reminder of the show's number one goal: to appeal to audience sympathies, not to present "the truth"). UM had us believing that poor innocent Amy was kidnapped on her way to the art museum or something, when it turns out (according to American Justice in an episode they did years later) that Amy, at 15, was already experimenting with cocaine and that it would not have been at all out of character for her to go to a party with some random biker dudes.

That said, she was only 15, and I'm sure naive about the world in the way all 15 year olds are; certainly, she did not deserve her fate (the same guy who led her mother on a wild goose chase ended up recounting, on his deathbed, how Amy had died of an "accidental overdose" at a biker party the night she disappeared - though I'm sure her exact cause of death could still be hotly debated - and then, for fear of being pursued by the authorities, bikers at the party dismemebered her corpse and fed it so alligators in a nearby Florida swamp). Amy Billig was an at-risk teenager; UM very carefully avoided telling us that.


I automatically thought of Missy Munday as I was reading this. It seems to me that UM was set on portraying her as a manipulated victim that really had no control over what she was doing. I believe RS even referred to her as an "innocent teenage girl" or something to that effect in the beginning of the segment, and there was, of course, all that interview footage of Munday's mother: "Missy would never do this....Missy would never do that...." It was refreshing to hear from the law enforcement official at the end say that she was "as guilty as he (Strickland) was" and that he "wanted them both."

A little off topic here, but almost everyone in the Munday/Strickland segment irritates the water out of me. It's nearly as bad as the Paul Pollis segment.

Don't remember this one. Was it the one where she was working for an airline? Is that solved?

No. Nancy Manni was a student at a Maryland seamanship school. I remember an update on the case, but I don't recall the specifics.

The murder of an airline worker was a different case. The victim's name was Susan Taraskiewicz. Susan worked at the Logan Airport in Boston. She was found dead in her car in September 1992. To date, no one has ever been charged with her murder.

No. Nancy Manni was a student at a Maryland seamanship school. I remember an update on the case, but I don't recall the specifics.




From what I remember, it wasn't either of the guys mentioned in the segment. The suspect said he met in a bar or something like that. They went on the boat and she fell. It was all an accident according to him. CD, did I miss anything?

That pretty much sums up what happened to Nancy...her ex-boyfriend and boyfriend at the time were both theorized to have been involved in her murder and it turned out to be just a random guy at a bar who killed her.

That seems to be the ongoing theme here, it seems as if a case is presented thats fairly cut-and-dry but in most cases the family or friends of the victim just don't want to accept what happened to them, so then the theories begin. I was watching the Deborah Poe segment and there was a theory about a woman who came in and saw a guy who was a heavy metal head behind the counter when Deborah was supposed to be working, and police theorized that he was involved in her murder. Highly unlikely considering if he killed Deborah, where was her body, why would he stick around on the scene of a crime he just comitted (especially a murder), and to top it all off why would he ring up a customer for cigarettes and not be shaking or acting suspicious in doing so? The customer said she had to point out the cigarettes, but wouldn't it have been more likely for the guy to say, "Sorry I don't work here, I'm looking for the clerk but can't find anyone" if he just murdered Deborah? Doesn't it seem more plausible that the guy did come into the store and when he couldn't find anyone decided to line his pockets with money from the drawer and was startled and surprised by the cigarette customer? That makes more sense to me but UM didn't even pose that as a possible scenario.

The way UM portrayed Amy Billig was definitely not entirely forthright either (and probably a good reminder of the show's number one goal: to appeal to audience sympathies, not to present "the truth"). UM had us believing that poor innocent Amy was kidnapped on her way to the art museum or something, when it turns out (according to American Justice in an episode they did years later) that Amy, at 15, was already experimenting with cocaine and that it would not have been at all out of character for her to go to a party with some random biker dudes.

That said, she was only 15, and I'm sure naive about the world in the way all 15 year olds are; certainly, she did not deserve her fate (the same guy who led her mother on a wild goose chase ended up recounting, on his deathbed, how Amy had died of an "accidental overdose" at a biker party the night she disappeared - though I'm sure her exact cause of death could still be hotly debated - and then, for fear of being pursued by the authorities, bikers at the party dismemebered her corpse and fed it so alligators in a nearby Florida swamp). Amy Billig was an at-risk teenager; UM very carefully avoided telling us that.


Right on! I have posted this elsewhere on this forum several times. I have also read that Billig wore roach clips in her hair and that she was pretty outspoken. I have often wondered if she was partying with the bikers and said something that upset one of them.

Another example of UM not being totally forthright is the Jesse James Hollywood segment. JJH's dad was a drug dealer as well and monetarily supported his son while JJH wa son the run. UM left this out. Also, UM left out the fact that Nick Markowitz was not the innocent and naive 15-year old boy. Markowitz had been caught with marijuana and valium in the past (by his parents). He may have been in with Ben's friends a little more than UM would have you believe.

However, we are talking about 2 teenagers here. We have all done hings we are ashamed of in our lives. Both are great tragedies and neither deserved their fate. BTW, I would love to see the amy billig segment on AJ. Do you hav eany idea where I can get a copy? I know they sometimes release those on DVD but I haven't found it anywhere to date.

Kevin Hughes segment. In the re-enactment, Kevin Hughes describes the individual who comes to the door of Evergreen Records and walks away as "some black guy" when Sammy Sadler asks who was outside. It's a little difficult to tell in the segment as all one can see is his back, but the individual isindeed African American (strangely enough, another actor portrays the gunman running down the street and is clearly white; you can see it through the eyeholes in his ski mask). This actually fits in with what Sadler told police during the initial investigation---he believed the assailant to be a black male of slender build. Richard d'Antonio, however, was later convicted of killing Hughes and was definitely not black nor of slender build.

The case of the girl with the Montanna license plate of "LILMISS"...three different people swear they saw her car on two different days but when it was updated they said that a man abducted her and held her for three days so there's no explanation for the sightings...I just watched this epsiode today on Spike, and I can't for the life of me remember the victims name. But the way the update was narrated it seemed like the girl was held against her will for days and the sightings were reported within the timespan of her being held captive...and then Farina said something about the sightings not making sense or still being unexplained, so it's pretty odd to have three people swear they saw her (LILMISS is definitely something you wouldn't forget), but perhaps they were mistaken on the days.

The case of the girl with the Montanna license plate of "LILMISS"...three different people swear they saw her car on two different days but when it was updated they said that a man abducted her and held her for three days so there's no explanation for the sightings...I just watched this epsiode today on Spike, and I can't for the life of me remember the victims name. But the way the update was narrated it seemed like the girl was held against her will for days and the sightings were reported within the timespan of her being held captive...and then Farina said something about the sightings not making sense or still being unexplained, so it's pretty odd to have three people swear they saw her (LILMISS is definitely something you wouldn't forget), but perhaps they were mistaken on the days.

Yes, and could there have been someone with the same plate from a different state, and if so, what are the chances of the car being similar? In this case, the killer actually buried the victim's car on his property, so unlikely it was being driven around unless by an accomplice of his.

I agree, definitely the Lisa Marie Kimmell case. Everyone seemed to be thinking that they needed to find the car to solve that case, but that would have almost been impossible.

I think the Monika Rizzo case has been pretty screwy too. Especially since the bone fragments were mis-identified a couple times. Not to mention how Leonard tried to play a sad victim in the interview only to be put into prison for harming the new lady in his life and having a shoot-out with the cops.

The Doreen/Steve Marfeo case was pretty messed up too, how that one turned out with Steve killing his ex-girlfriend, wounding her new boyfriend, then fleeing to an isolated area to then kill himself.

Also the one where the lady (Colleen Reed, I think her name was) was abducted from the car wash in Texas. Then it turns out that serial killer Kenneth McDuff (and his accomplice) did it while out on parole for multiple murders. Yikes.

The Larry Gibson case. Oh wait, that wasn't UM's fault.:p

Well, there's the Jessica Keen case.

http://www.forgottenoh.com/Cemeteries/fosterchapel.html

The UM segment had a law enforcement officer explaining how Jessica died after running full speed into the fence post. Did law enforcement SERIOUSLY MISS that a monument was ripped out of the ground, the broken pieces tossed to the other side of the fence, and that Jessica's injuries were much more extensive and consistent with a beating than with a single blow from a fence post, or was this information withheld? Were they just trying to make her mother feel better by claiming she died instantly?

I automatically thought of Missy Munday as I was reading this. It seems to me that UM was set on portraying her as a manipulated victim that really had no control over what she was doing. I believe RS even referred to her as an "innocent teenage girl" or something to that effect in the beginning of the segment, and there was, of course, all that interview footage of Munday's mother: "Missy would never do this....Missy would never do that...." It was refreshing to hear from the law enforcement official at the end say that she was "as guilty as he (Strickland) was" and that he "wanted them both."

A little off topic here, but almost everyone in the Munday/Strickland segment irritates the water out of me. It's nearly as bad as the Paul Pollis segment.

Sorry for dragging up such an old thread but I'm rooting through the boards to comment on cases I have seen.
Missy was at the car place for like 2 hours whilst Jerry was elsewhere doing something. She had plenty of time to ask for help and she didn't. Hence I don't think she was the poor innocent victim that she was portrayed to be,

I automatically thought of Missy Munday as I was reading this. It seems to me that UM was set on portraying her as a manipulated victim that really had no control over what she was doing. I believe RS even referred to her as an "innocent teenage girl" or something to that effect in the beginning of the segment, and there was, of course, all that interview footage of Munday's mother: "Missy would never do this....Missy would never do that...." It was refreshing to hear from the law enforcement official at the end say that she was "as guilty as he (Strickland) was" and that he "wanted them both."

A little off topic here, but almost everyone in the Munday/Strickland segment irritates the water out of me. It's nearly as bad as the Paul Pollis segment.

Sorry for dragging up such an old thread but I'm rooting through the boards to comment on cases I have seen.
Missy was at the car place for like 2 hours whilst Jerry was elsewhere doing something. She had plenty of time to ask for help and she didn't. Hence I don't think she was the poor innocent victim that she was portrayed to be,

Danny Paquette - UM somehow tried to link his murder to the killing of his mother as some not-so-weird coincidence and perhaps it was the work of the same murderer, or a hunting accident. In reality, he was killed by his stepdaughter's boyfriend after she told him Danny was sexually abusing her.

Sherry Eyerly: If you believe William Scott Smith's confession, then that means "psychic" John Catchings would be wrong about his "visions" and believing that Darrell Wilson had abducted and murdered her.

Personally, I'm not sure what to believe in this case (almost feel like it could be a false confession with Smith's lack of details in how he and an accomplice supposedly kidnapped/killed her). If they were going to hold her for ransom, why would they kill her in almost the exact same time frame that they supposedly called the Domino's where she worked?

I think it's possible that Wilson was in fact responsible and that's why he killed himself when authorities caught onto him. There's other examples of people committing suicide when authorities are onto them, so I don't think he did it just because of "the stress" of being investigated+possibly mental illness theory.

More on the guy that made the confession in 2007: http://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/smith-william-scott.htm

Kerri Lynn Nixon case springs to mind.

Lisa Marie Kimmell. The theory was that she was killed the night she went missing and that's how the reenactment portrayed the event, when in fact she was held for days before being murdered. :(

Lisa Marie Kimmell. The theory was that she was killed the night she went missing and that's how the reenactment portrayed the event, when in fact she was held for days before being murdered. :(


Hey Meg, may I ask who the folk are in your Avatar? They looks familiar and kinda creepy. Cheers. :talk:

Hey Meg, may I ask who the folk are in your Avatar? They looks familiar and kinda creepy. Cheers. :talk:

Hey! It's Hugh and Dian Harlin from Morro Bay, CA. Their story ran somewhere around the fourth or fifth season. Dian was found murdered in October 1982 and Hugh was considered a suspect even up to his disappearance four years later. This is the only photo of them together that was shown on the segment, which I too agree is kinda creepy. :)

Right on! I have posted this elsewhere on this forum several times. I have also read that Billig wore roach clips in her hair and that she was pretty outspoken. I have often wondered if she was partying with the bikers and said something that upset one of them.

.
I've wondered if she was there willingly,and when her mother approached the bikers and made it sound like she was abducted,they then killed her.They may have been afraid Amy would portray it that way,so as not to get in any trouble herself.
I've just always felt it was a bad,bad idea for Amy's mother to approach the bikers on her own.That should have been handled in a professional way,like via police silently infiltrating the bikers to see if she was there.Perhaps the whole thing would have turned out differently then? idk,JAT.

The Canadian UFO story comes to mind..you can google this one and read about it,(the one where the lady sees a UFO land in a field behind her house).But UM made the case appear different from what it really was.It's solved,according to what I've read.
wasn't her name Diane Laminick,or something similar?

Didn't the re-enactment for the Aimee Willard case have someone in a cop car pulling her over? They seemed to think that was what might have gotten her to stop and be fatally attacked.

I don't think that piece of crap Arthur Bomar Jr. (who I believe is also a suspect in a 1993 or '94 double-homicide of two video store clerks) was driving one when he bumped into her on the highway and coerced her into pulling over and getting out of her car.

I know I'm cheating by mentioning this but I saw the episode "Disappeared" did about Susan Walsh and they mentioned that the authorities had ruled out the Russian Mafia and Vampire Cult angles, which looking back now, seem unlikely, and got me to thinking: how many of UM's cases, in which conspiracies and whatnot are hinted at, turn out to involve fewer than five people, many times even only one killer, and turn out to be about something as prosaic as money or trying to cover up an extramarital affair? Or even just a random sicko getting his jollies or something?

There would two in PA that come to mind
1-A girl who was killed UM was talking to a friend of her who say he saw two guys trying to pick her up but it try out he was the killer

2-A girl was killed there would looking at couple of cops and emts in her death but she was killed by a ex con

"2-A girl was killed there would looking at couple of cops and emts in her death but she was killed by a ex con"


I think this is the Aimee Willard case I mentioned above.

There was one on the other day about the family of 3 who died after their apartment was set on fire - the police theorized it was a revenge killing done by someone who demanded money from the bank one of the victims worked at, when in fact the crime was committed by two boys - one 13 and one 14 years old. Unbelieveable....:rolleyes:
Which case is this? I think I vaguely recall something like it from UM's later days.

Which case is this? I think I vaguely recall something like it from UM's later days.

I think it's the case of Donna Baldeo and her family.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Donna_Baldeo

I know I'm cheating by mentioning this but I saw the episode "Disappeared" did about Susan Walsh and they mentioned that the authorities had ruled out the Russian Mafia and Vampire Cult angles, which looking back now, seem unlikely, and got me to thinking: how many of UM's cases, in which conspiracies and whatnot are hinted at, turn out to involve fewer than five people, many times even only one killer, and turn out to be about something as prosaic as money or trying to cover up an extramarital affair? Or even just a random sicko getting his jollies or something?

I think most conspiracy angles tend to be bunk, but they make good TV and appeal to magical thinkers.

And by conspiracy, I'm not talking about the technical conspiracy of a couple people, but the massive cover-up - the government, the police, massive cults abducting/raping/murdering, etc., etc. all plotting to "hide" the "truth."

That seems to be the ongoing theme here, it seems as if a case is presented thats fairly cut-and-dry but in most cases the family or friends of the victim just don't want to accept what happened to them, so then the theories begin.

This.

Sure, there are a few cases where the investigation seems clearly inadequate (Keith Warren springs to mind) or where there remain legitimate questions as to what happened, but I think it's important to keep Occam's Razor in mind: the simplest answer is usually correct. Not always, of course, but more often than not.

I think it's the case of Donna Baldeo and her family.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Donna_Baldeo

The Donna Baldeo case definitely highlights one of the weaknesses in the "Unexplained Death" segments on UM. Although they were always very interesting, UM often centered in on one theory of the case regardless of its accuracy. While investigating a case like Baldeo's, the police would obviously look for anyone who had a reason to harm her and would explore the possibility that it was the note writer from the bank, but to present that as the only possibility behind the murder just creates tunnel vision in the minds of the people you're trying to appeal to for help.

Anyone remember that guy that thought his brother was the Green River Killer? Whoops.

Anyone remember that guy that thought his brother was the Green River Killer? Whoops.
Bob Stevens thought his brother Bill was the killer.
The funny thing is when the police were actually investigating Bill, Bob completely denied Bill was the killer and even offered alibis for the time of the killings. I guess he later decided he could make money off his deceased brother and tried to.

Bob Stevens thought his brother Bill was the killer.
The funny thing is when the police were actually investigating Bill, Bob completely denied Bill was the killer and even offered alibis for the time of the killings. I guess he later decided he could make money off his deceased brother and tried to.

Reminds me of this dude:

http://www.laweekly.com/2003-04-24/columns/urban-myths-busting-the-black-dahlia-avenger/


Weren't most of the theories presented in the "CRX killer" segment not at all how it went down? Michele Cartagena and Grant Hendrickson weren't followed to the lake, and they never had a confrontation with Andy Cook elsewhere before they went there. He just happened upon them at the lake and shot them, I think.

Anyone remember that guy that thought his brother was the Green River Killer? Whoops.

I actually thought the guy was on to something in that segment. Wasn't there a possibility that Ridgeway did not act alone?

Not a chance. This guy's brother might have allegedly done his own nefarious deeds, but Ridgeway did it all on his own.

Brook Baker. None of theories presented in UM were true

I actually thought the guy was on to something in that segment. Wasn't there a possibility that Ridgeway did not act alone?

even back in the day ridgeway was always the second or third suspect. in the green river killer book he was called the truck painter. he had earlier interjected himself into the investigation by telling the police he knew one of the victims (the one where he took his baby son with him to the crime)

even back in the day ridgeway was always the second or third suspect. in the green river killer book he was called the truck painter. he had earlier interjected himself into the investigation by telling the police he knew one of the victims (the one where he took his baby son with him to the crime)
Most of the Detectives on the case didn't think it was Ridgway either. That includes Tom Jensen and Dave Reichert, who are often depicted as "knowing it was Ridgway all along" or some other such nonsense.

The Wheeler case. You have the three principal suspects all blaming each other for the murder but it turns out that it was a random act of violence.
yep this is the first one that comes to mind for me