UM Case List/Updates

[Obi Wan]

Originally Posted by joshypiano

Thanks for that info. Was that taken from the AMW site?

You are welcome and thank you for the update thread.

No. I took the quote about the sentencing from Wiki. I knew about the movie because I watched it when it came out. Just researched the year as I had forgotton when it was released. The part about the body part I remember from the news when he was captured.

[princess lauren]

Hi.

I live in the UK and Unsolved Mysteries stopped being screened here about 15 years ago so I have to rely on clips off the net to watch it

I can still remember a bit of the first episode I ever watched, it gave me nightmares for months (I was pnly about 9 at the time!). It was an odd case and it had a woman in it and bikers sprayed 'We'll get you Jet' across her front door. Does anyone know which one I mean?

Anyway, I haven't seen any of the episodes that have updates with them, but, I have just been on the Unsolved site and thought I'd help out a bit with updates


Anthrax Murder
Five are dead after exposure to anthrax.

On Tuesday, October 16, 2001, Norma Wallace reported for work at the postal office in Trenton, New Jersey. Norma wasn’t feeling well and thought it was a mild case of the flu. But as the day wore on, she became increasingly ill. She could barely breathe.

Some 200 miles away in Washington, DC, another postal worker, Leroy Richmond, was suffering nearly identical symptoms. He too became gravely ill. In a matter of days, both Norma and Leroy were hospitalized and their conditions grew worse by the hour. They seemed to be slowly suffocating to death–and doctors couldn’t figure out why. But after administering a battery of tests, they finally came up with a diagnosis—anthrax poisoning.

On July 27th, 2008, a government scientist named Bruce Ivins was rushed to a Maryland hospital suffering from a massive overdose of prescription drugs. He died two days later. Shortly after, the FBI announced that Dr. Ivins had been the prime suspect in the anthrax terror of 2001.

One of the country’s leading anthrax researchers, Dr. Ivins helped investigate the attacks that killed five Americans and terrorized the nation. But Ivins eventually became a suspect himself, and according to the FBI, there is no doubt that he was the anthrax killer. The case is officially closed, though a motive for Dr. Ivins’ alleged crimes has not been established.


Armored Car Heist
Was an $11 million dollar armored car heist an inside job?

On June 26, 1990, an armored car was on the way to a scheduled delivery in Rochester, New York. Inside the truck was nearly $11 million dollars in cash. Just after 7:00 AM, the armored truck made an unauthorized stop at a convenience store. The driver, Albert Ranieri, waited in the truck. A guard, who we will call Mary Wilson, went inside the store:

While Mary Wilson was buying coffee and doughnuts, a daring assault was unfolding just 100 feet away. A man in a Halloween mask put a gun to Albert’s head while another gunman forced his way into the back of the truck. Five minutes later, Mary Wilson returned to the truck, unaware that her partner was no longer in control.

Albert Ranieri was forced, at gunpoint, to drive to a secluded location, one and a half miles from the convenience store. According to Captain Neil Flood of the Monroe County, New York sheriff’s department, the armored truck was followed by a gray van:

Authorities believe that the two robbers were met at the location by at least one other accomplice. Albert Ranieri was bound and gagged and forced on top of Mary Wilson. There was little dialogue between the robbers. According to Mary Wilson, the money was transferred with brisk efficiency:

It took Mary Wilson 15 painful minutes to rip through the plastic handcuffs. Unable to free her partner, she drove the armored truck to company headquarters and reported the robbery. In less than an hour, the thieves had made off with nearly $11 million dollars. The next day, the get-away van was discovered five miles away. The interior was littered with over $13,000 in small bills–the leftovers of what authorities have determined was the largest on-the-road armored car robbery in United States history. It looked like an inside job. A conveniently broken porthole allowed one robber to hold the driver at gunpoint, while the other used a key to get in through the truck’s side door. Both gunmen wore clothing which was nearly identical to the uniforms worn by company employees. Finally, only a limited number of people were aware of the enormous amount of untraceable cash being transported that day.

It was indeed an inside job. Albert Ranieri, the driver of the hijacked vehicle, was tried and found guilty of unrelated racketeering charges. But at that time he also pled guilty to the armored car robbery. Ranieri refused to name his accomplices. None of the $11 million has ever been recovered.



Harold Edward Bell
A Texas man commits murder, then flees the United States

Bryan, Texas, is the type of place that people have in mind when they dream of escaping the big city. But in September of 1984, the illusion of small-town security was shattered for one local couple whom we will call Sue and Bill. Sue had always considered herself strong and self-reliant. However, the events of September 6th would test her character in ways she never imagined:

“My husband was leaving for work and I went back into the bathroom in the master bedroom to finish getting dressed. I was standing there, looking in the mirror, finishing up my hair, and I picked up the make-up mirror. And I looked and he had a large hunting knife.”

Fearing for the safety of her child, Sue instinctively attacked. She forced the intruder from the bathroom and then drove him out of the house at gunpoint:

“It was very quick. And I don't think he was expecting me to do that. I think he probably was expecting me to plead with him not to do anything, and I reversed the situation on him.”

Sue had seen the man up close, but authorities were unable to identify him. She and her husband tried to put the incident behind them. Then four months later, Sue got another look at the attacker:

“I was going through the newspaper and I opened it up, and his picture was in the newspaper. And I was just shocked to have found out what he had done.”

The newspaper listed the state's most-wanted criminals. Right at the top was the knife-wielding intruder. His name was Edward Harold Bell. Edward Bell’s long criminal record stretched back to 1969 and included aggravated rape and numerous counts of indecent exposure to children. Sue also learned that Edward Bell was wanted for a shocking murder that took place on August 24, 1978. That summer, 26-year-old Larry Dickens was visiting his mother and sister in Pasadena, Texas, a suburb of Houston. An ex-marine and youth counselor, Larry was also the father of a three-year-old girl. According to his mother, Dorothy Lang, Larry was cutting her lawn when Edward Bell pulled up in his pick-up truck:

“I was standing at the kitchen window. And there were a lot of children playing in the intersection right by our house. I saw this pick-up truck drive up. He parked, and he got out of his truck, and he was nude from his waist down.”

As Dorothy phoned the police, Larry went out to confront the flasher. His mother watched from the kitchen window as the man pulled out a gun:

“And I said, ‘Please don't shoot him.’ And the man just shot him, anyway. And then he turned and started running out of our garage. And Larry, even with all those bullets in him, was still trying to stop this man.”

Larry had been shot four times in the chest and once in the head with a .22 pistol. At just that moment, Larry’s 17-year-old sister, Dawna, was returning home from cheerleading practice:

“I pulled up to the stop sign and I saw a man cross the street to the edge of my driveway. And I looked and I got a good close look at the man. And I tried to block his exit. I realized he had just shot my brother. I just started screaming. And I just screamed and screamed, and then, when I couldn't scream anymore, I remember I just went over and I knelt down beside my brother and I watched him die.”

A dispatcher radioed the suspect’s description as police units headed to the scene. At that very instant, the officers recognized the suspect’s truck. Within 20 minutes of the murder, Bell was in the hands of police and on his way to face Larry’s mother and sister:

“They opened the back door of the police car so that I could see him there. I just wanted to get my hands on him. It hurts me so bad that he killed my brother. There's always going to be an emptiness. Part of me is missing.”

Incredibly, Edward Bell was released on bail less than two months after the murder. He quietly liquidated his assets, and with more than $140,000 in his pocket, disappeared.

When this story aired, at least two viewers recognized Edward Bell. One said he had recently met Bell during a business trip to Panama City, Panama. Another viewer claimed that Bell had lived in Panama for several years. According to Special Agent Rolando Moss of the Houston FBI, Bell was prospecting for gold on land he owned near Panama City:

“The Panama police were able to locate Mr. Bell, at which time, they placed him under arrest, and the FBI, along with the Panama City Police Department then brought Mr. Bell back to the United States.”

Edward Harold Bell was convicted of murder and sentenced to 70 years in prison. He has since been named as a “person of interest” in the murders of six young girls in the Galveston area. Bell will be eligible for parole in the year 2013.



Margo Freshwater
An 18-year-old former babysitter goes on a murderous rampage.

The year was 1970. Margo Freshwater, a wide-eyed teenager from Columbus, Ohio, found herself in an unlikely place—the Tennessee State Prison for Women. The one time babysitter had just been convicted of first-degree murder. But Margo would not remain incarcerated for long. On October 4th, Margo and another inmate made an audacious escape. According to Investigator Tommy Lewis of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Margo and her accomplice made a run for the fence while being escorted by a single unarmed guard:

“The guard had to make a decision whether to stay with the main group or chase after them. All the guard could do was try to summon some help and have somebody go after them.”

But the help arrived too late and Freshwater vanished. Margo Freshwater has been a wanted fugitive for more than 30 years. Police believed she had established a new identity and a new life. Those around her were probably unaware that she was a convicted killer.

Margo Freshwater was just 18-years-old when she walked into the office of 41-year-old Glenn Nash. He was a hard-drinking lawyer whose grip on reality was beginning to slip. Nash was being investigated by the Memphis Bar Association for misconduct. According to Investigator Lewis, he had come to the deluded conclusion that agents from the bar were conspiring against him:

“Glenn Nash was an intelligent person, but somewhere along the line his drinking and mental situation apparently deteriorated and he just took a left hand turn.”

Margo had come seeking Nash’s help in getting her boyfriend out of jail. Margo had no money to pay Nash and couldn't even afford a place to stay while in town. Although broke himself, Nash agreed to take the case pro bono. He also put Margo up at a local boarding house where they began an intense affair. But Nash was increasingly consumed by paranoid delusions that agents from the Memphis bar were after him. One evening, he told Margo's landlady they were going bowling. Instead they went on a three-state crime spree. Nash held up a liquor store as Margo watched. He ordered Margo to stay up front while he took the cashier to the back room. When a customer came into the store, Margo waited on him. Meanwhile, Nash remained out of sight, accusing the cashier of being an agent of the Memphis bar. The cashier, Hillman Robbins, was tied up with rope and shot five times in the head. According to Investigator Lewis, a .22 and .38 were both used in the murder:

“I seriously doubt Margo knew that any of this was coming until it got started.”

Witnesses saw two people matching Margo and Nash’s description flee the liquor store and hop into a white Ford Fairlane. Twelve days later, eyewitnesses described an almost identical scene at a Florida convenience store. A couple exited the building and sped off. Inside the store was the body of Esther Boyea. She had been shot in the neck.

Police at first did not connect the two murders until they found Nash’s car abandoned on a highway shoulder. In the trunk they found a rope and bullet shells that matched those used in the Hillman Robbins’ murder. The car was traced to Glenn Nash and an APB was issued. But the couple’s rampage was not over. A cab driver, C.C. Surrett was shot to death shortly after picking up Glenn and Margo. The police staked out the nearby bus stations. According to Investigator Lewis, their efforts soon paid off:

“And when they arrested them they were transported to Hernando, Mississippi, to the Desoto County Jail where they were charged in connection with C.C. Surrett's murder.”

Glenn Nash and Margo Freshwater were charged with the murder of C.C. Surrett. Nash was declared insane, ruled incompetent to stand trial, and incarcerated at a mental hospital. Margo stood trial for the murder. She testified that she was held prisoner by Nash, and forced to participate in the crimes under threat of death. Twice the jury failed to reach a verdict. Three years later, Margo was tried for the murder of the first victim, Hillman Robbins. She was found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in state prison. But she would not remain there for long. Margo and another inmate hopped a barbed wire fence, hitched a ride, and disappeared. Her accomplice was eventually arrested in Chicago. But Margo Freshwater seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth.

Margo Freshwater has been arrested. It began with a tip that she was using the name “Tanya.” Police found a match between Freshwater’s birth date and the birthday of Tanya McCarter in Columbus, Ohio. Freshwater, aka McCarter, was taken into custody and her true identity was verified. At the time of her arrest, Freshwater, a mother of three, was with her family. They were unaware of her criminal past. Freshwater was returned to the same Tennessee Prison she escaped from 32 years earlier. She is currently serving her sentence of 99 years.



Lisa Kimmel
An 18-year-old woman is found dead in the North Platte River in Wyoming

On a little-used suspension bridge outside Casper, Wyoming, residents reported seeing unexplained lights in the early morning hours of March 26, 1988. Under the cover of darkness, a killer brought his victim to the bridge. After stabbing her repeatedly, he threw her into the chill waters of the North Platte River. The victim was later identified as 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell from Billings, Montana. She had been sexually assaulted, then killed in a manner that suggested some kind of bizarre torture. Lisa was last seen alive on the night of March 25th, and police believe that she was killed a few hours later. But what complicates the investigation is that many people claimed to have seen Lisa Marie Kimmell, or her car, during a week when police believe she was already dead.

At the time of her murder, Lisa Marie Kimmel was living in Denver, Colorado. On March 25th, she left town and headed for Cody, Wyoming, to visit her boyfriend. According to her friend Ed Jaroch, Lisa’s car carried the spunky license plate, “LIL MISS”:

“The plan was that she was supposed to leave Denver… and get to Cody to see me, sometime late that evening. I talked to her about 4:30, and she… thought she’d be in about midnight or something like that.”

Weather conditions were good, so Lisa should have made the trip to Cody in eight or nine hours. She was expected at her boyfriend’s house late Friday night. But by Saturday morning, she still had not arrived. Ed Jaroch frantically telephoned authorities in three different states. Later, Patrolman Alan Lesco of the Wyoming Highway Patrol reported that he stopped Lisa for speeding the night she disappeared:

“I was patrolling southbound on March 25th and I noted a small car northbound at 88 MPH, according to my radar. I turned around and pursued the car. I stopped her, near Oren Junction. She was well-kept, kind of person you’d like to have for a daughter.”

Lisa’s signature on the ticket verified her identity. It would be the last confirmed sighting of Lisa Marie Kimmell. As the week went on without any word from her daughter, Lisa’s mother began to worry:

“The outlook was looking a little grim, but even if that, even if the outcome wasn’t as we hoped, we still needed to find her.”

On April 2nd, one week after Lisa disappeared, Greg Bradford, a mechanic who was spending his Saturday fishing on the North Platte River, brought the search for Lisa Marie to a sad end:

“When I stepped up off the side of the bank, I looked over my shoulder and I saw the lady in the water. And then I remember when we were driving up from Cheyenne, they said this young girl was missing from Montana. So, I looked again, and said, ‘Oh my god, it must be her.’”

Police searched the area where Lisa’s body was discovered. On an old highway bridge, one quarter of a mile away, they found blood that was the same type as Lisa’s. Because the bridge is so inaccessible, and so seldom used, police concluded that the murderer probably lived in the area. Based on the eyewitness accounts of unexplained activity on the bridge, they estimated that Lisa was murdered early Saturday morning, roughly five hours after she was stopped for speeding. But soon, authorities began receiving information that complicated their investigation. Numerous eyewitnesses were reporting that they had seen Lisa’s car. According to Sheriff Ron Ketchum of the Natrona County Sheriff’s Department, some even claimed they had seen Lisa herself:

“We’ve had over a thousand sightings of this vehicle. A lot of them from law enforcement officers. And we were deluged with them at the point that we thought they had gone to Canada. We had some sightings in Canada.”

One of the most reliable sightings occurred roughly ten hours after Lisa was supposedly killed. Donna Kirkpatrick, the wife of a local county sheriff, reported that she had seen Lisa driving her car in the city of Buffalo, Wyoming:

“It was Saturday at noon, and I noticed a little black sports car had pulled out right in front of me. Then I noticed the license plate. It was a Montana license plate with ‘little miss’ on it… And, at that point I decided that I needed to see if the car went with whoever was driving it. I am absolutely positive there was a young gal driving it… there’s not a doubt in my mind.”

Another eyewitness reported seeing Lisa more than a day after police believe she was murdered. But this sighting was in Casper, Wyoming—more than 100 miles from Buffalo. Diana Houston was driving through Casper when a car with an out of state license plate caught her attention:

“It was Sunday afternoon, and I saw a Montana license plate on a vehicle. And being from Montana, it caught my eye. So I looked, and the license plate said, ‘little miss.’ I went by I saw somebody with blonde hair driving, and had on a yellow sweater.”

Lisa was last seen at 9:00 PM on Friday night and was reported missing by 9:00 AM Saturday morning. Yet she was reportedly seen twice later that day and once on Sunday. If Lisa was alive, why hadn’t she showed up at her boyfriend’s or her parents’ house? And if she had been killed early Saturday morning as police suspect, who was driving the car with Lisa’s distinctive license plates?

Fourteen years after Lisa Marie Kimmell was murdered, the Wyoming DNA database matched an inmate named Dale Wayne Eaton to the crime. When police searched Eaton’s property, they found Lisa’s car buried underground. Lisa had been held there for six days. Eaton was tried for murder and other charges. The jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to death. The sightings of Lisa Marie Kimmell were never explained. Lisa’s parents were awarded Dale Eaton’s property in a civil suit and burned the buildings to the ground.


Pierre
While wandering California, a man forgets his name and where he came from

In May of 1992, a man named “Pierre” said he inexplicably found himself along a deserted stretch of California coastline. Feeling weak, hungry, and terribly confused, Pierre spotted a telephone, his first chance to obtain help. Only then, did it dawn on Pierre that he had no one to call:

“Then I realized I couldn’t phone anybody and that’s when I realized I didn’t know anybody, including me. Those first few minutes, you’re literally nothing and you feel so empty. It’s very lonely and painful to be empty.”

Alone and distraught, Pierre searched through his belongings. Tucked into one of his shirts was a crumpled piece of paper. It was a library card from the Boston Public Library. Handwritten on the back was the name, “April, Pierre”:

“It… must be me. It’s in my belongings, with my socks. It’s with my shirt. It’s with my things.”

Pierre claimed he was plagued by hazy memories of San Diego, California, 400 miles to the south. With just $17 in his pocket, he set out hitchhiking. Three days later, Pierre was wandering the streets of San Diego, searching for something that might tell him who he was.

“I was so sure this city would bring everything back and it did not. I saw downtown and said nothing. I looked at the buildings and they meant nothing. And I walked the streets of the city for a long time.”

Pierre felt he was hovering on the brink of madness. Finally, a sympathetic bus driver gave him a ride to the St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Shelter. Dr. Julie Becker was a Counseling Program Manager at the shelter when Pierre walked in:

“We’ve had cases of people pretending they didn’t know who they were. But Pierre was very unique, sometimes in the other cases the residents are after something. And that wasn’t Pierre’s case at all. He didn’t ask for anything. He didn’t even ask for help.”

After six months of physical and psychological examinations, doctors could find no cause for Pierre’s memory loss. They did, however, theorize that Pierre was suffering from “trauma induced amnesia.” While at St. Vincent’s, Pierre concentrated on reviving his lost memory. Soon, fragments of his former self began to emerge. Pierre apparently had considerable knowledge about physics, advanced math, and computers. He even became convinced that he could fly an airplane. Pierre also found that he had a talent for music and learned to play the guitar in just a few hours.

Hoping to add detail to Pierre’s fragmented memories, Unsolved Mysteries arranged for him to consult with a police sketch artist. Two portraits were created of people who may have been significant in Pierre’s past. The first was a man whom Pierre believed was his cousin Luke, nicknamed Curly. The second drawing was a woman whom Pierre believed was once his employer. Pierre thought her name might be Carol:

“If I try to remember something too hard, I get a beautiful headache that I wouldn’t want to inflict on my worst enemy… I just want to find out what the past is, if I can.”

On the night of our broadcast, the woman Pierre called Carol recognized him as a former employee. She confirmed that his name is indeed Pierre April. Carol contacted Pierre and told him that he has two sisters and that his parents live in Lachine, Canada. The following day, Pierre talked to his dad for the first time in more than five months:

“It was a very emotional moment. And then I even had to tell him that I couldn’t even trust him a hundred percent, that I wanted a package with family pictures in it and with my birth certificate.”

When the package arrived, Pierre and his fiancée, a woman he met in San Diego, sat down with a friend to get a first look at Pierre’s long lost past:

“It is strange to be told who you are and what you did. I am someone again. And for quite a few months, I was nobody and nothing.”



Stockton Arsonist
An arsonist is finally identified and captured.

On August 15, 1989, an overheated car pulled to the side of a road in Stockton, California. The owner was a man we’ll call Joseph Villa. Joseph inspected the damage while his wife and son looked on. He decided that he and his son should walk to the nearest phone. On the way, they noticed a camouflage jacket on the ground. Inside a pocket was an unlabeled videotape.

Joseph and his son decided to take the video home and watch it. The video was of a house on fire. The family immediately turned it over to police, who were convinced that the person holding the camera had also set the fire. Captain Frank Curry of the California Department of Forestry assumed the disturbing voice heard on the tape belonged to the arsonist:

“I’ve never run across anything as eerie as this tape. It frightened me. As a matter of fact, I thought about it that night when I went to bed.”

Captain Curry and investigators studied the videotape in order to pinpoint the location of the fire:

“When we listened to the tape, it was hard to understand certain words that this person was saying. So we sat down and we actually went through this tape, I mean hundreds of times and came up with a script. He says, I told you I’d do it Omar. Is Omar the property owner? It’s a revenge type burn. Is Omar the construction person that maybe hired this person and fired him and made that a revenge motive for the fire? We really didn’t know who Omar is.”

A county arson investigator accompanied Joseph Villa’s brother to the spot where the tape had been discovered. Amazingly, the jacket was still there. In it they found a wooden pestle, the kind used to grind herbs for satanic rituals. Nearby, they also found a glove that matched the jacket and a ceramic skull. According to Captain Curry, the skull suggested Satanism, as did the words of the arsonist:

“Those are basically the clues, all we have on the video and that’s why we need to find out where this went down. Where is this home? As we viewed the tape, we realized that there was fire suppression equipment that had responded to the incident. And we thought if we can enhance the tape, bring those shots in a little bit closer to us, we may be able to get a door mark or a house number or maybe even a fire department insignia on the door.”

Despite a frame-by-frame analysis, the photographic enhancements did not reveal any new details. Investigators were still unable to match the tape with any reported fires in the state of California. The tape was found by the Villa family just a few yards from Interstate 205, near Stockton. Interstate 205 feeds into several major highways. According to Dough Allen, a law enforcement coordinator for the California Department of Forestry, the fire could have happened anywhere in the U.S.:

“I think the person who made this videotape and is responsible for the fire will, without a doubt in my mind, continue to set fires. And the person needs to be apprehended and stopped before his fires become more destructive. And there’s a few of these type of serial arsonists that will move into another criminal area.”

The house appeared to be a one-story ranch with two chimneys. There is another house on the left side of the picture, partly hidden by a white trailer. The trailer indicated that the burning house was possibly under construction.

Within minutes of our broadcast, several viewers called and identified the house seen burning on the videotape. It was located in Redwood City, California, 80 miles west of Stockton. The house that was destroyed was under construction at the time. Today it has been rebuilt. Surprisingly, on the night of the blaze, Woodside Fire Captain John Dellinges also videotaped the fire:

“While I was setting up the command post, directing companies to extinguish the fire, I had set up my video camera to film the fire for training and investigation purposes.”

By comparing Captain Dellinges’ tape with the video shot by the arsonist, investigators were able to confirm that this was definitely the fire’s location. According to Detective Mark Pollo of the Redwood City Police, authorities had two suspects:

“Some of the calls received led us to a 17-year-old Woodside youth. We interviewed that youth. Through that interview, it led us to a 19-year-old Redwood City youth who was arrested and interviewed and subsequently admitted to burning the house, taking the video and was the one who talked on the videotape.”

Both suspects were underage when they set the fire and were tried as minors. One served time at juvenile hall. The other was committed to a state mental hospital.



New York Serial Rapist
A serial rapist claims victims in Buffalo, New York, and its suburbs

For more than twenty years, a cunning serial rapist has prowled Buffalo, New York, and its suburbs. A female victim, whose has chosen to have her identity concealed, recalled the horrific events of her attack:

“I was 17-years-old, and I was walking to summer school. I was running a little bit late, so I decided to cut through the pass. I was almost at the end of the path and I heard something behind me…. He looked like a normal, everyday guy. He started dragging me back into the woods, and then he started strangling me. And then I thought, that's it. I was going to die. I really thought I'd never see any of my family again. And when he was finished, I asked him, ‘What's going to happen?’ And he told me, ‘Nothing.’ He almost sounded sorry. And then he left.”

The reign of terror had only begun. A few months later, in June of 1988, the rapist was lying in wait as a 16-year-old girl walked to school along an isolated railroad track. According to Lieutenant P.W. Reinig of the Buffalo Police Department, once again the assailant double-wrapped a rope around his victim's neck and taped her eyes shut:

“Almost a year later, another young girl was using this as a shortcut on her way to school. The same individual passed her and immediately afterwards double-wrapped a rope around her neck, gained control of her, and took her to the bush area. He forced her to place tape over her eyes. He bound her and sexually assaulted her.”

Within a few months, a fourth victim had been raped. Each described the rapist as a short, stocky man in his mid-30s who had a mustache. Four months passed. Then, he claimed a fifth victim in a secluded location in Amherst, New York. Captain Thomas Gould of the Amherst Police Department was one of the first investigators to arrive on the scene:

“He placed a rope around her neck. He wrapped it twice. She described him as a very powerful man. He lifted her over this fence and took her into the wooded area over here, where he bound her hands behind her back, and he placed surgical tape over her eyes. And at that point, he raped her.”

The assailant was described as stocky, with black hair and a black mustache. According to Captain Gould, he attacked two more victims in Amherst:

“A 32-year-old female was using this path early in the morning for exercise. As she got to this point right here, a rope was placed around her neck, and she was immediately rendered unconscious.”

The woman was found one hour later, still unconscious. Double-wrapped marks on her neck told police who they were dealing with. But this time was different. This time he nearly killed his victim.

22-year-old Linda Yalem was a student at the university in Buffalo when she crossed paths with the rapist. Linda was the seventh known victim, and she was the first to die. By Captain Gould’s account, Linda Yalem was left in the woods with her mouth and nose wrapped tight with duct tape:

“It was premeditated murder. He planned to kill her when he grabbed her that day. Once he put that tape over her nose and her mouth, there was no chance for survival.”

After Linda’s murder, the attacks stopped. Authorities wondered if the suspect had moved, gone to prison, or even died. Then four years later, in October of 1999, a 14-year old girl was raped in Buffalo. For Captain Gould and several other law enforcement officials, the reality of the serial rapist’s return proved difficult:

“This guy strikes so infrequently, he's very hard to profile. Very, very difficult. He's either got tremendous self-control, or else he's hitting in other parts of the country that we're not aware of.”

More than 20 years after the so-called “Bike Path Rapist” first struck, police arrested Altemio Sanchez, whose DNA matched samples found at the crime scenes. He was convicted of two murders and sentenced to 75 years to life. During their investigation, police learned that Sanchez had committed two other rapes in the same park where he claimed his first victim. They also discovered that an innocent man was serving a 35-year sentence for those two rapes. The wrongly convicted man, Anthony Capozzi, was finally set free after serving 21 years behind bars.




I was googling some of the cases before that I couldn't find on the Unsolved site and I found this blog about Tammi Lynn Leppert, how true it is, I don't know:

http://rcooke.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=269146

[Phanekim]

These posts about tammy leppert have been greatly debated and their back and forth between suzanne/tim rue have leaked over to several forums.

some forums i believe have banned suzanne and some forums have banned tim like this one. It has become quite heated. if you look at a few posts down, there is a tammy leppert thread...feel free to post there.

[kamy]

Originally Posted by Cori aka ChrisSCrush

Wow, THANKS for the updates! I watched this program faithfully for YEARS and had no idea some of these were even updated!

I was surprised that the "identical twin" cases of Pat Mealbach and Jim Boomgarden don't seem to have been updated. I remember looking up Pat Mealbach's website and there was no update on her being a Dodge heiress. I felt her claim seemed to have particular merit while Jim Boomgarden's seemed equally lacking in merit. He was some kind of wacko. Either suffers from dissociative disorder, thinking he's his own twin, or just gets off on pranking people. I don't believe half that stuff ever happened.

Here are a few others:

John Wilkes Booth: as may be imagined, much research has been done on this. Here http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/evaleg.html is a book on the subject. In brief, the Unsolved Mysteries story was a lot of hooey which had been circulating for years. I think I have it on the same videotape as an old MGM documentary, The Man in the Barn, from 1935 or so, making the same silly claims. The doctor attending really did say, on first viewing the body, that there was no resemblance to Booth, but quickly changed his mind on viewing the tattoo and the surgical scar of his own work in an operation he performed on Booth. The "Unsolved Mystery" is why such serious mistakes were made. No family member was asked to identify Booth, though several lived in the area and were available. His corpse was not photographed or publicly displayed. This would not have been at all out of line for the times. Bodies of Old West criminals were frequently photographed and shown, and Abraham Lincoln's body was very widely displayed so the public could comprehend and deal with the assassination. Years later, 50,000 people viewed Bonnie and Clyde's remains, which were positively identified by family members, and you don't see too many shows about them surviving and starting a new life somewhere!

Anastasia, Grand Duchess of Russia: you with the beautiful imperial daughters avatar should be on to this. Remains discovered in the summer of 2007 are almost certainly those of the two missing Romanov children, Alexei and one of his sisters, though tests are still being conducted and nothing is confirmed. Look for updates on the message board of the Alexander Palace Time Machine website, which seems to be one of the best sources online. After the 1991 discovery of most of the victims of the execution, people searched for years for the remains of the two children said to be burned. Not until detailed notes made by the executioner were released was the exact spot pinpointed. Everything was found exactly where he said it would be, so there is no reason to believe he lied concerning other details. Arguments continue as to which daughter was Grand Duchess Anastasia and which was her sister Maria. The remains buried in Russia under Anastasia's name are of a person a few years older than Anastasia's age, and several inches taller than she was known to have been shortly before her death--so it's looking as if that's Maria and the recently-discovered body is Anastasia.

As for Anna Anderson, a Nova special after the remains were discovered cast doubt on her claims. The Romanov DNA was tested against living relatives of theirs, and DNA from a piece of tissue removed from Anna Anderson/Anastasia Manahan was tested against those and the Polish family she was said to have been from. Her DNA matched theirs and not the Romanovs. Now, with the discovery of the missing bones, her story has been put completely to the lie.

As for the Unsolved Mysteries segment: very well-done. They tried to be accurate in the reenactment, having the people speak Russian, and the Tzar carrying Alexei. Perhaps no film has shown the room as small as it really was due to filming considerations, but this probably gave as good an idea as possible given filming conditions. Also, the part with Gleb Botkin showing Anna Anderson his animal paintings and her identifying them with the stories Anastasia had made to go along with them--Gleb and Tatiana Botkin were the children of the doctor, who, it turns out from the recently-revealed documents, was the second person shot--he was shot going to the assistance of the Tzar who was shot first. For some reason they decided to help Anna Anderson in her claim by feeding her information, as much as they knew. (Not all entirely accurate, as was revealed by insiders more in the know.) The schoolteacher, Mr. Gilliard, saw through her. Why his wife went for her so is a good question. AA picked up more over the years from reading, and from people who would come forward believing she was Anastasia and relate some anecdote which she would incorporate into her narrative, so it's hard to tell what was real and what was invented. She claimed to have worn a cross made from wood taken from the purported Noah's Ark, but the Tzar's Ark expedition seems to be a fabrication too, alas. ANNA ANDERSON, 100% NOT ANASTASIA NICHOLAIEVNA!

Message in a bottle: the little boy who threw a message in a bottle into a body of water and received an answer years later from someone who found it in San Diego: you left out the Mystery part. He threw it into a landlocked lake near Ovid, New York. It would have had to sail round the world to reach California! Again, a nicely-done, worthwhile segment, and very heartwarming after all the murders.

A picture of two children showing them tied up in a white van was found underneath where a white van had been parked. The bound and gagged youngsters were thought to be teenager Tara Calico and 9 year-old Michael Henley. Michael Henley's remains were found in the area where he went missing, and he's thought to have met with an accident. (Pretty strange that his father and uncle BOTH drove away from the scene--why did one not drive for help and the other stay in case Mikey returned?) Anyhow, the mystery now is: if the two kids tied up were not the Tara and Mikey, or if one of them, at least, was certainly not who he was thought to be...who were they? Also, was Mikey's size, age, and clothing when his remains were found identical to when he was lost? They had one or two cases, like the guy in Wyoming who was seen alive after his disappearance, thought to have been placed in an area where they disappeared long after being killed somewhere else.

Keri Lynn Nixon--well, the guy confessed and they found her body. Was the woman who claimed to have seen her alive a total liar (she struck me as someone just wanting attention) or was a runaway using Keri Lynn's name? Giving her name would almost prove it wasn't her...what runaway would give their own name? Who wrote the letters claiming she was living in the Flint, Michigan, area?

Child Prodigies: the one I remember was a boy named Philip, 8 years old at the time of the program, may have lived in Colorado. At the age of four he discovered a mistake in a museum mural, of French helmets on Spanish conquistadors, which had gone unspotted for years. Philip Pauli now seems to be on the faculty of the University of Denver. It would be nice to have an update!

Little boy born oxygen-deprived or something, thought to be dead for 75 minutes: they said he lived but might suffer some impairment. He must be 10 or 12 by now. How is he doing?

Georgia Rudolph, the reincarnation woman: her story was so richly detailed but so crazy (remembering walking as a little girl to the grave of a grandmother who died years after the person of whom she was supposedly the reincarnation) I looked her up online and found a website by someone claiming she's a major liar. She had a friend in Ohio, had visited the area, found the most dramatic story she could, then came back claiming to be the reincarnation of poor Sandra Jenkins. She also gave testimony in a trial claiming to have seen something which couldn't be seen from the place she claimed to have been. As for the guy claiming to be the reincarnation of Tommy Hix, I notice they dropped him after one mention and never had him on again. Perhaps his credibility is even poorer than hers.

Cindy Anderson, Toledo, disappearance: there was an update saying she'd been murdered by people with whom she worked because she knew too much about crooked dealings of theirs. This could explain her dreams as being not so much psychic but very real and justified fears. The whole story of her being stalked and abducted was concocted by them to throw suspicion off. They were convicted but I don't know if her body was found.

Lisa Marie Kimmell, the "Lil Miss" disappearance, should be listed and updated. Her abduction and murder were solved.

Elvis Presley suicide--well, there was sort of an update this spring, when the evidence was reexamined and doctors determined "it really was his heart," but that doesn't DISPROVE an overdose, since drugs will stop a heart as well as heart disease, and he had plenty of both. About the intentional overdose theory, his stepbrother seemed so sure, but I have a hard time with it. Why bother to get engaged, plan a tour, and then end it all? Most disturbingly, WHY do this with Lisa Marie in the house? It was her last day before going back to her mother's. Elvis couldn't wait ONE DAY and spare his beloved only child that ordeal? Too twisted to imagine. There is a new book by a woman who knew him for years strongly debunking the suicide theory, claiming he was ill.

Resurrection Mary: Ursula Bielski http://www.chicagohauntings.com/chicagohaunts.html has done the best research on this. Almost certainly NOT Mary Bregovy. Ona Norkus is the best candidate. They seriously need to round up some witnesses (unlike those on the Unsolved Mysteries segment, some have gotten a clear view of her face) and do a photo lineup with all the candidates, plus vintage pictures of others who fit the description, and see who they pick. I was so interested in this I corresponded with the man who provided Ursula Bielski the information on Ona Norkus, and others from the area. The most shocking omission from the Unsolved Mysteries segment was of the PHYSICAL EVIDENCE left in the form of scarring on cemetery gates by Resurrection Mary's handprints in 1977. The bars, which bore clear imprints of palms and fingers burned into the metal, were removed and supposedly defaced with a blowtorch and asbestos gloves, then replaced upside-down from their original position, though they may in fact be replacement bars made in a similar shape from a different sort of metal (anyone in the Chicago area, want to go out with a magnet and test?) and the originals stored in a vault someplace.

The reason this was omitted is probably because any mention of RM is not permitted near Resurrection Cemetery whether by strangers or paid-up members, SO the segment wasn't filmed there, and they couldn't film the gates, or probably obtain permission to show even a still picture of them, so just left that part out. Also, the rumor is that the story is so discouraged because the Catholic church doesn't believe in ghosts, but teaches that the departed go to either Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. The actual reason is a lot closer to, every time the story has publicity, a bunch of cars full of yahoos come in, disturb the peace of the neighborhood, and cause a lot of vandalism to the cemetery. A real shame. Also, the story that Mary is a "lost" soul who tends to appear to strangers to the area, lost and disoriented at night, has a lot to it but is not entirely true. Longtime residents have seen her, and sometimes during the day, though night is more common. They just don't talk about it because, for the reasons mentioned, it's not the thing to do.

Mary does prefer men--over 70% of witnesses are men. Unfortunately the best witness, Jerry Palus, seems to have greatly exaggerated if not outright lied. It's believed that some relatives of Palus's picked Mary up hitchhiking and gave her a short ride in a car--all her rides are short--she simply doesn't interact with people to the length and duration of Palus's account. The address he gave as the home of her mother also never panned out. His story incorporates many elements of the story of "Lavender," an apparition from the Ramapo region of New York. http://www.theflagship.net/coldspot/...y-newyork.html Although many people claimed to know a friend of a friend of "Lavender," she has never been identified. A whole show could be devoted to the similarities between Resurrection Mary, Lavender, and the Ghosts of Blue Bell Hill in England. I send everything I learn on Mary to the lady who runs this site: http://www.mysticaluniverse.com/hp/rm/rm.html When I get rich, I am SOOO going down to Resurrection Cemetery with a car full of young men in evening clothes as bait!

Wow, lots of great info, thanks! Sorry I'm a little late reading all of this, so it's very new to me.

[MegtheEgg86]

March 16, 1994
***the hunt for a gunman who killed a Jewish community leader in 1990

crystaldawn, what was this? No names are coming to me.

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

crystaldawn, what was this? No names are coming to me.

Sounds like the Anita Greene case. She was murdered and her husband was convicted of having it done but the actual shooter was never found.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Sounds like the Anita Greene case. She was murdered and her husband was convicted of having it done but the actual shooter was never found.

Ok, thanks!

[dks64]

This list is AMAZING! I'm not far into it, but have discovered two things:


***The search for newsstand owner Charlie Scheel's heirs. Update:

It says update, but no update is posted (in blue).

***The search for suspects in the murder of Arkansas telephone worker Charlie Sigmin where his satan worshipping wife Anne is thought to be a suspect.Update

This is also in blue, says update, but it's blank. I just saw this episode on Lifetime a few days ago and the man involved, Garey Goff, turned himself in and pleaded guilty to 2nd degree murder (sentenced to 20 years, served 13 years and 5 months). Ann Sigmin is still on the run.

[dks64]

There was an update on the Judith Himes case. The police received a type written letter saying that she died from complications related to the illegal abortion (reaction to the medication given) and that she was placed in biscayne bay. It's not a solved case, but the police believe this was a legit letter.

[Thiussat]

Wow that Tammy Lepert thread on that other site is pretty crazy. T. Rue sounds like a wacko (though I do believe he knew Tammy and is probably telling some half-truths). Most of his postings just seem like incoherent ramblings with no rhyme or reason. Was this guy mentioned on the UM segment?

[unsolved243]

I have some updates.

Special 2:
Jacqueline Edmonds, a female thieve, turned herself in.

Special 5:
Michael Martin was released from prison in 1999.
Charlie Scheel's daughter came forward.

Special 7:
Louis Carlucci was captured and was released four years later.

Season 1

November 9, 1988:
British woman finds her father's family.

January 11, 1989:
Art Frankford has been captured.

January 18, 1989:
John Martin's killer, David Wayne Mills, has been captured and is serving a life sentence.

February 1, 1989:
Bill Purinton finds his sister Jackie.

April 12, 1989:
Michael Wade Mohwan has been captured.

May 3, 1989:
Ron Rushton has been captured.

September 13, 1989:
Todd Mcaffe's housekeeper, Ruthie anderson, has been indicted for his murder.

[owenrock]

Hello new to the site here...just wanted to say that I havent looked through all of these, but some and its interesting to look back at all the cases covered by UM....There are probably quite a few needing updating...1 that I know of is he Rick Church case from Season 3, hes been captured and serving a life sentence

[1990 UM fan]

some of these need updated now that some have been solved

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

awesome thread joshypiano. I'm from arlington originally

[joshypiano]

Originally Posted by DALLASTEXAN!!

awesome thread joshypiano. I'm from arlington originally

Yeah I know...i havent been active on the board for a while and I started to rework the list into a new format but I think im going to give up on that and continue it as is and add all the updates. I don't think I have altered anything on it in over two years. I promise I will get on it soon.