Local Mysteries

[mortytbusybody]

Call me crazy, but there is something about a mystery taking place in your hometown that makes it all the more heart-wrenching or scary to watch. My question to you all is has there ever been a UM episode with a case from or very near your town? And do you find it haunts you more than other cases might?

[mortytbusybody]

Here's my reply to my own post!
I was born in Redwood City, CA (ooh Scott Peterson trial town!!! YAWN!!! He did it, get over it) and now live in Palo Alto (five miles south). I got a couple hometown favs:
1) The case of a house that was video taped burning down, and the arsonist is talking over the footage (watch it burn...etc.) Two Redwood City teenagers were later arrested for the crime and several other arsons in the area. (If you watch the update footage you can see a cross on the hill in the distance, I use to live right next to it.)
2) The case of Gilbert Ortiz, who was given a poisoned protein shake by his witch of a wife Elizabeth who later took his son and fled to Mexico...she was later caught thank God. (Side note on this case, in the reenactment, I always laugh because the ambulance races around the corner...from a dead end road!!! )
3) The two Swedish maids, Maria and Marie, who were hitchiking through CA and were later found dead outside Los Angeles. They were last seen hitchiking in Redwood City, just meters from the Toys R Us Gilbert Ortiz worked at. (The store faces hwy. 101) Anyone know if this case was solved? I thought they had a suspect (Loren?) from Canada.
4) The case of Gretchen Burford, the lawyer who was abducted from an ATM in Palo Alto. She was forced to drive to another ATM, where a struggle ensued and she was stabbed and killed. I go to that Wells Fargo she was abducted from all the time, and because of her case I ALWAYS lock my car and survey the parking lot carefully before I use the ATM. Ironically, they don't mention on the UM segment that she had just married a city official named Wayne Dernatz TWO WEEKS before she was killed. I wonder why they didn't talk to or mention him?
Well, those are the ones that stick out. For the last two I pray that there will be closure for the families of these victims soon.

[Babydollz24]

The case of the Wackers, the old couple that was terrorized for so many years by an unknown attacker took place in the same county that I live in, and I live in Stark County, Ohio. That really freaks me out to know that the attacker is still out there....

[crystaldawn]

By the way, what happened with their case? Did they still go on being harassed long after the UM story aired? Have the Wacker's passed away? I've tried to search the internet, but could find nothing about them.

[justins5256]

I remember seeing a "special alert" type deal about a wanted child molester who was from my home town, Royal Palm Beach, Florida. Royal Palm Beach is such a small rural community (most people lump Royal Palm with West Palm Beach - a larger city). Needless to say, it freaked me out since the guy must have been local.

Justin

[CrushedVelvet]

I recently moved to Fallbrook, CA which is pretty small and so I was stunned one night to be watcing old UM re-runs and saw a case of a woman who lives in Fallbrook and was jogging one morning after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver and she saw a ray of light thru the trees (its rural) and believes it to be a sign from her dead daughter...weird...I have been watching the show from the get-go but never saw that one before.???

[UMfan77]

The segment about the serial rapist in Amherst, NY (segment was shown in the mid-nineties) happened in my home town. This serial rapist has attacked several women on railroad tracks and one woman died after having her mouth and nose covered with duct tape.

[Babydollz24]

The other day, I looked in our local phone book under the last name "wacker, and there are 4 listed. If anyone remembers the couple's first names, I could find out if they are still alive. I wonder if they are alive if they are still terrrorized. No one seems to know.

[crystaldawn]

Their names are Bill & Dorothy Wacker. They appeared to be in their 70's during the taping of their segment which would make them in their 80's now, if they're still alive.

[magellan333]

-The case where the three men were murdered while riding ATVs took place on Signal Mountain near my hometown.

-The case where the couple were murdered by their daughter and their home burned also took place locally. The couple's last name was Wooten if I recall correctly.

I do believe there was a third one in the Chattanooga area, but I can't recall it right now.

[Babydollz24]

There is one B. Wacker in the phone book, it just gives a letter, and no full name, I wonder if that is them?

[magellan333]

Why would somebody terrorized like they were list their names in the phone book?

[Babydollz24]

you'd be suprised

[temptation1979ga]

A few come to mind here in Macon, GA:

First of all, the Kenneth Robert Stanton story (the child molester with the huge scary glasses who claimed he was wanted to inspect milk in the fridge) was filmed at a house in Macon.

A case with the woman who remembers a past life...a boyfriend named Tommy and a riverboat, and she drowns herself...etc....Stack mentions she lives now in macon, Ga.

in 95-6, there was the case of two Mercer Univ. college students from Macon who were killed out on lake juliette. UM came out once again and filmed some scenes at Regal CInemas and on I-75 here. Interesting note: The killer turned out to be the very son of one of the top investigating officers!

[Makoto_4]

At least 2 cases occurred in my hometown Hayward, CA:

-the kidnapping of 9-year-old Michaela Garecht outside of a market

-Frank "Mr. Monty" Montenegro, the schoolteacher who sexually molested two of his students

Makoto_4