Worst examples of police "work"

[Corky Kneivel]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ahhh...I see I am not alone in my assertions:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...tanley+gryziec

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...tanley+gryziec

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...tanley+gryziec


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

What is his name?

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by Corky Kneivel

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

What is his name?

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

[DarkDante]

Isn't it obvious?:

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

[ididn'tdoit]

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

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

[kadrmas15]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[crystaldawn]

Definitely the police in the Tommy Burket case!

[kadrmas15]

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

[HyeTev]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Definitely the police in the Tommy Burket case!

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

[UMfan77]

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

[ForeverPluto]

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

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

[DarkDante]

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

[JRA2000TL]

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

[UMfan77]

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

[Corky Kneivel]

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

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

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


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


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

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



OKayall that outta the way...to respond:

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

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

Originally Posted by ididn'tdoit

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

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


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

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

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

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


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


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

Originally Posted by ForeverPluto

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

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


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

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

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

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by Corky Kneivel

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

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

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

As for the rest:

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

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

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