From what I can gather most criminals who were caught and convicted as result of Unsolved Mysteries have since been released or have died. However, there a few that remain in jail.

Example - David Gordon Smith from Oklahoma. - He shot and killed a police chief in a robbery. He escaped and was recaptured. David Gordon Smith remains in jail to this very day.

Stuart Heaton is another. Stuart is in Illinois and was convicted of killing Crystal Nabb. He got life. He has served almost 30 years. Stuart claims he's innocent but damning DNA tests seemed to prove otherwise. Neverthless, you would think after 30 years, there might have been some movement in the case if Stuart is really innocent. I guess Stuart's family and the legal profession has given up on him.

Quite a few are still alive and in prison.

Most well known one is probably Joe DeAngelo the EAR/GSK.

Other notables:

1. Johnny Salazar Stewart also comes to mind, he was Patrick Michael Mitchell's accomplice in the Gainsville bank robbery, I think he's still in jail, he got forty years and he's been in jail thirty. I'm surprised he hasn't been paroled honestly.

2. Rick Church, who murdered his girlfriend's parents and tried to kill her is still in jail.

3. the Talbott guy who was Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg's killer

I was about to say Ira Einhorn as well, as he was finally indicted back to the US for killing Holly his gf. But I checked and he just died this year back in April apparently.

A few examples -

Cheryl Holland and Eddie Wooten are still in prison in TN for murdering her aunt and uncle.

Darlie Routier is on death row in TX.

Alva Hank Worley, who has Kenneth McDuff’s accomplice in the abduction and murder of Colleen Reed, is still in prison.

Bill Blackwell, for the murder of Neal Jennings

Jesse James Hollywood is serving a life sentence

Yes, I think many of these individuals are from some of the later seasons of Unsolved Mysteries. I can find very few from the earlier 80's and early 90's seasons of Unsolved Mysteries. John Mooney who killed TK Hardy was from an an early season on Unsolved mysteries but he just got paroled in 2020.

Quite a few are still alive and in prison.

Wasn't at least one or 2 given the death penalty?

Michael Swango is still serving his life sentence in a federal supermax in Colorado.

Stuart Heaton is another. Stuart is in Illinois and was convicted of killing Crystal Nabb. He got life. He has served almost 30 years. Stuart claims he's innocent but damning DNA tests seemed to prove otherwise. Neverthless, you would think after 30 years, there might have been some movement in the case if Stuart is really innocent. I guess Stuart's family and the legal profession has given up on him.

That guy was so arrogant/obnoxious it amazes me he had any supporters. DNA tests were initially 562 thousand to one which there could be some doubt over, but more modern testing in 2001 pegged it at 31 billion to one in a worldwide population of just over 6 billion back then-yet still some people think he is innocent.:crazy:

That guy was so arrogant/obnoxious it amazes me he had any supporters. DNA tests were initially 562 thousand to one which there could be some doubt over, but more modern testing in 2001 pegged it at 31 billion to one in a worldwide population of just over 6 billion back then-yet still some people think he is innocent.:crazy:

Stuart may still be innocent. He only got one more DNA test. It could have been flawed. I think Stuart was railroaded from minute one.

I'm no lawyer and may be Illinois is an exemption, but it seems to me you can't just cuff people from their homes and haul them down to the police station and start questioning them and taking pictures of their hands.

At the very least, they needed a warrant to arrest Heaton is the first place, and Miranda certainly would have applied. Heaton was in custody and they were asking him questions and taking pictures. You can't do that without invoking Miranda.

Heaton should have immediately asked for a lawyer and that would have ended it.

Unfortunately, for Heaton, he probably only had a public defender who provide just lack luster defense. By the time, Heaton brought any of this up on appeal it was too late.

Stuart may still be innocent. He only got one more DNA test. It could have been flawed. I think Stuart was railroaded from minute one.

I'm no lawyer and may be Illinois is an exemption, but it seems to me you can't just cuff people from their homes and haul them down to the police station and start questioning them and taking pictures of their hands.

At the very least, they needed a warrant to arrest Heaton is the first place, and Miranda certainly would have applied. Heaton was in custody and they were asking him questions and taking pictures. You can't do that without invoking Miranda.

Heaton should have immediately asked for a lawyer and that would have ended it.

Unfortunately, for Heaton, he probably only had a public defender who provide just lack luster defense. By the time, Heaton brought any of this up on appeal it was too late.

So guilt is about procedure rather than reality? We need another DNA test despite both of them showing he is guilty, with the second one showing the odds of it not being him were about five times more than the number of people on earth? I get there was doubt from 1994 to 2001, but the 2001 test showed he is where he belongs. Heaton apparently refused to take the stand & put his version of events over as it is 'against his relgion' so he has nobody to blame but himself.

So guilt is about procedure rather than reality? We need another DNA test despite both of them showing he is guilty, with the second one showing the odds of it not being him were about five times more than the number of people on earth? I get there was doubt from 1994 to 2001, but the 2001 test showed he is where he belongs. Heaton apparently refused to take the stand & put his version of events over as it is 'against his relgion' so he has nobody to blame but himself.
I thought after the 2001 test it was considered a closed case? Is there any reason to doubt?

One guy I’m glad is in prison...George Washington Hicks....for killing Roxanne and Christopher Jeeves. This was a case that took years to solve, investigators never gave up and finally caught him. I think I’ve read somewhere that he denied the charge, in spite of overwhelming evidence and his repetitive history of violent sexual assault. Anyway I also heard that he was actually going to be up for parole at some point, so the DA office charged him with Christopher’s murder later to secure another life sentence. He definitely earned that sentence for what he did. Absolute monster he is.

Clayton Wagner, the abortion clinic domestic terrorist. He said god made him invisible as to be able to escape prison, but he was caught in 2002 by a tipster that looked at his fbi picture. He was also an anthrax prankster.

So guilt is about procedure rather than reality? We need another DNA test despite both of them showing he is guilty, with the second one showing the odds of it not being him were about five times more than the number of people on earth? I get there was doubt from 1994 to 2001, but the 2001 test showed he is where he belongs. Heaton apparently refused to take the stand & put his version of events over as it is 'against his relgion' so he has nobody to blame but himself.

It was probably a mistake Heaton did not testify. Heaton is likely innocent and the dna sample they had to work with has lead to flawed results. They never were able find any other forensics that tied Heaton to the crime and I think that was a real problem. Even in the OJ Simpson case, they found forensic trace in OJ's truck. They would have found something.

I'm pretty sure Strickland's still locked up, although the trashy Girlfriend who was in on their crime got released years ago. :mad:

I'm pretty sure Strickland's still locked up, although the trashy Girlfriend who was in on their crime got released years ago. :mad:

As repulsive her part in his crime was it is clear she was a grooming victim of a paedophile & she likely gravitated toward him because of her overbearing parents-she was only allowed to leave the house to go to church & to the ball game. Her friends stated she got the attention from him that she didn't from her parents-which is an all too familiar story. I highly doubt she knew Strickland's intention was to murder Elmer & she was patently trapped with him due to having a child & under his control-she was only 16 or just turned 17 when this happened.

I'm pretty sure Strickland's still locked up, although the trashy Girlfriend who was in on their crime got released years ago. :mad:

She wasn't no whore!!! :lol:

I'm pretty sure Strickland's still locked up, although the trashy Girlfriend who was in on their crime got released years ago. :mad:

I'm pretty sure Jerry Strickland died in prison a few years ago. It was rather recently, maybe in the last two or three years.

Missy and her son, by what I can gather, appear to be living an incredibly normal, well-adjusted life.

It always bothers me when they do an update on a particularly heinous crime and they say the person has since been released ie: Beverly Noe.

I'm pretty sure Jerry Strickland died in prison a few years ago. It was rather recently, maybe in the last two or three years.

Missy and her son, by what I can gather, appear to be living an incredibly normal, well-adjusted life.

Not surprising, she would likely never have gone down a criminal path if not for Strickland. It is good they went relatively soft on her, nowadays she would be recognised as a grooming victim of a paedophile.

Stuart may still be innocent. He only got one more DNA test. It could have been flawed. I think Stuart was railroaded from minute one.

I'm no lawyer and may be Illinois is an exemption, but it seems to me you can't just cuff people from their homes and haul them down to the police station and start questioning them and taking pictures of their hands.

At the very least, they needed a warrant to arrest Heaton is the first place, and Miranda certainly would have applied. Heaton was in custody and they were asking him questions and taking pictures. You can't do that without invoking Miranda.

Heaton should have immediately asked for a lawyer and that would have ended it.

Unfortunately, for Heaton, he probably only had a public defender who provide just lack luster defense. By the time, Heaton brought any of this up on appeal it was too late.

Hi! Not sure if we've met before. I'm a prosecutor. Before that I was a public defender.

I gotta say... I'm not a fan of your comments about "just lack luster defense" on the part of a public defender. Public defenders are in front of judges daily. They go to court more than those so-called "hotshot" attorneys do.

How do I know? In my five years as a Public Defender, I went to trial over 30 times. I stopped counting at 30, but the actual number is probably closer to 50. Won a good majority of those, too. Those "lackluster" attorneys will see the inside of a courtroom 10 times more than a quote-unquote "real" attorney.

But I digress.

I've already commented on this before, but the DNA seals it for me with regard to Heaton. He wasn't "railroaded." He was caught. Plain and simple.

Also... Marvin Gabrion is still in prison, too.

Hi! Not sure if we've met before. I'm a prosecutor. Before that I was a public defender.

I gotta say... I'm not a fan of your comments about "just lack luster defense" on the part of a public defender. Public defenders are in front of judges daily. They go to court more than those so-called "hotshot" attorneys do.

How do I know? In my five years as a Public Defender, I went to trial over 30 times. I stopped counting at 30, but the actual number is probably closer to 50. Won a good majority of those, too. Those "lackluster" attorneys will see the inside of a courtroom 10 times more than a quote-unquote "real" attorney.

But I digress.

I've already commented on this before, but the DNA seals it for me with regard to Heaton. He wasn't "railroaded." He was caught. Plain and simple.

Absolutely agree with your comment about public defenders. Anyone who sees them as "lackluster" is uninformed.

I get where the OP was coming from on this, I think.. So many updates seem to say "Served his time and has been released"

Some seem almost comical.. "He slapped his girlfriend, kicked the cat and raped the dog on his way out the door. At court, he said "oops"... He's now served his time and has been released"

Example.. The Tim Good/"David Freeman" case. First, how that bastard only got 10 years.. Coupled with.. I don't know WV's laws, but I presume they aren't the 85% ones.. Means for killing a man and stealing ~$1 million from him.. He may have served 5 years.

Alan Sneed.. 5 years for basically rape of a mentally handicapped 14 year old. He's dead now, but he "Served his time and was released"

Alex Kelly.. 16 years for rape, released after 10.

Charles Boomer.. 45 years for robbing 30 banks.. Served his time and was released.

Charles Chester.. Murder and bank robbery. 13 years. Released.

There's got to be some better ones that I'm just not thinking of where you can't believe they ever let someone out.

There's got to be some better ones that I'm just not thinking of where you can't believe they ever let someone out.

Greg Webb. 7 years for shooting a woman in her own home and throwing her body in a field.

Gordon Weaver only served a short sentence for the murder of his wife.

James Donald King was paroled after a very short time for the murder of his first wife and of course went on to kill the second.

Some of these sentences are just ridiculous.

Greg Webb. 7 years for shooting a woman in her own home and throwing her body in a field.

Gordon Weaver only served a short sentence for the murder of his wife.

James Donald King was paroled after a very short time for the murder of his first wife and of course went on to kill the second.

Some of these sentences are just ridiculous.


Oh yeah.. Greg Webb.. He was the cop, right? Yeah.. Zero sense there. That's a total WTF sentence.

Oh yeah.. Greg Webb.. He was the cop, right? Yeah.. Zero sense there. That's a total WTF sentence.

I always assumed they dropped his charges down because even though we all know that he killed Anna Anton, there were enough problems with the case that they reduced the charge to manslaughter as to avoid losing the murder trial in its entirety.

Obviously, I don't have the court file in front of me, but that was my best guess.

Joe Weldon Smith is still locked up . He killed his wife and 2 step daughters and then tried to kill his landlord Frank Allen who escaped

Steve Wilson I believe is still incarcerated.

Leslie Isben Rogge is still locked up and not eligible to be released until 2048 when he will be 108

I re-watched the TK Harty/John Mooney episode again yesterday on Peacock and decided to look John up, thinking he had long since passed away or was still locked up. He's still living and actually got paroled last summer...

https://www.onlineathens.com/story/news/crime/2020/07/08/john-mooney-paroled-after-serving-time-for-1977-murder-of-tk-harty-in-athens/114773628/

William Eugene Hilliard - the child molester at the nudist camp - was arrested about a month after UM aired his segment in 1989 and he’s still serving his life sentence in Florida.

I’ve been rewatching this show, and have been struck by some of the prison sentences in the updates. It seemed like lot of people end up only serving a quarter of their sentence, and several murders had short sentences - one of the cases I just watched (can’t remember which) got like 17 years for murder and was released after only serving 6. Obviously the cases on this show are just a small sample of the judicial system, but it was a bit eye opening for me.

I get where the OP was coming from on this, I think.. So many updates seem to say "Served his time and has been released"

There's got to be some better ones that I'm just not thinking of where you can't believe they ever let someone out.

I struggle with knowing that Ryan Love is a free man today. He murdered the taxi driver, Lucie Turmel, and stole her $100.00 worth of cab earnings that night in order to flash that cash to people at an upcoming family reunion. I guess he thought that would make him look like a big shot. UM said she was stabbed repeatedly in the neck. But she was actually stabbed a total of 35 times.

Love was charged with second degree murder and received a 20 year prison sentence. He was paroled after 19 years. I guess robbery automatically made his sentence second degree. But that's such a wrist slap of a sentence considering what he did to her for such little money.

I don't know how you can see these pictures, know the severity of them and not be infuriated that he only served 19 years....warning, these are graphic...

https://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f10/murder-lucie-turmel-147147/

I struggle with knowing that Ryan Love is a free man today. He murdered the taxi driver, Lucie Turmel, and stole her $100.00 worth of cab earnings that night in order to flash that cash to people at an upcoming family reunion. I guess he thought that would make him look like a big shot. UM said she was stabbed repeatedly in the neck. But she was actually stabbed a total of 35 times.

Love was charged with second degree murder and received a 20 year prison sentence. He was paroled after 19 years. I guess robbery automatically made his sentence second degree. But that's such a wrist slap of a sentence considering what he did to her for such little money.

I don't know how you can see these pictures, know the severity of them and not be infuriated that he only served 19 years....warning, these are graphic...

https://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f10/murder-lucie-turmel-147147/

ohno: Horrifying. Total overkill.

Charles Reddish who was found guilty of murdering Dede Rosenthal (despite her body never being found) is still serving his life sentence at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. He also killed his girlfriend, and raped her then teenage daughter in an unrelated case too.

Gary E. Schara who killed young teacher Liza Ziegert. Only been a few yrs ago since they caught him. Also Franklin L Perkins whose been in prison in California since 1993 for running down DJ and motorcyclist Lee Swelyn. I had just recently rewatched these cases, Both scary looking a-holes that are where they belong.

A couple of the more infamous criminals (along with the already mentioned Darlie Routier) of course - Jeffrey McDonald and Olympic Bomber/extremist Eric Rudolph are alive and serving there sentences.

I'm pretty sure Jerry Strickland died in prison a few years ago. It was rather recently, maybe in the last two or three years.

Missy and her son, by what I can gather, appear to be living an incredibly normal, well-adjusted life.

Good ol Jerry is still around. He's imprisoned in the Thumb area.

https://mdocweb.state.mi.us/OTIS2/otis2profile.aspx?mdocNumber=196117

I re-watched the TK Harty/John Mooney episode again yesterday on Peacock and decided to look John up, thinking he had long since passed away or was still locked up. He's still living and actually got paroled last summer...

https://www.onlineathens.com/story/news/crime/2020/07/08/john-mooney-paroled-after-serving-time-for-1977-murder-of-tk-harty-in-athens/114773628/

Just found this podcast on the TK Harty case last week. Listened to all 7 parts and you learn stuff that was never revealed in UM.

https://classiccitycrimepodcast.com/tkharty

I re-watched the TK Harty/John Mooney episode again yesterday on Peacock and decided to look John up, thinking he had long since passed away or was still locked up. He's still living and actually got paroled last summer...

https://www.onlineathens.com/story/news/crime/2020/07/08/john-mooney-paroled-after-serving-time-for-1977-murder-of-tk-harty-in-athens/114773628/


The big mouth trigger man Elmo Florence died in 2017. I'm not sure when he was paroled

I would bet Tommy Zeigler is the one who has been serving his sentence for the longest period of time. He was convicted in 1976.

G. Daniel Walker is 89 and still serving, although he's been moved to a medical needs facility in Stockton. Look up his name on the California's inmate database search and it'll provide the full details.