Weird UM Connections

[Thiussat]

Not to sound like Mr. Wheeler here, but let's talk about co-incidences. Or more to the point, let's talk about how UM cases overlap with other cases which may or may not have been depicted on UM.

Let's start with the Dana Satterfield case, which was aired on UM in 1995. A man named Jonathan Vick was convicted of this crime in 2006 (his DNA was found on her body and his face matches the UM composite perfectly).

Fast forward to the early 2000's and two more women from Spartanburg County, SC go missing. Both of these women worked at the same Waffle House restaruant together. And guess what? One of them (Heather Sellars) was engaged at one time to none other than Jonathan Vick. The other woman is named Michelle Whitaker. Both went missing within a month of each other.

Now, the other day I was watching "Disappeared" and they profiled the Michelle Whitaker case. They mentioned the Dana Satterfield case which happened in about the same area Michelle was from. They also mentioned Vick and his engagement to Heather Sellars who had worked with Michelle and the same restaurant. Heather went missing one month after Michelle. After watching the first half of the episode, I was positive Michelle and Heather could both be victims of Vick's, or at least a victim of someone like him. Michelle's family was sure she was dead. The police in SC were absolutely positive she was dead. Someone even sent in an anonymous letter claiming to know the location of Michelle's body.

But it turns out, Michelle was found *alive* and well in Oregon. Someone she worked with just happened to stumble upon a missing persons website and phoned Police. Police from SC flew out and fingerprinted her which resulted in a positive ID. However, since Michelle was an adult all they could tell the family was that she was alive and well.

It turns out, Michelle had simply walked away and decided to start over with her life. This proves that some cases that look very grim are indeed cases where people walked away voluntarily. In Michelle's case, her family was certain she wouldn't walk away because they all said "she would contact us." But she didn't. This proves that one cannot always take family member's procolomations of "he/she would never do that" as truth. People do strange things that might surprise you no matter how well you think you know them.

But, I digress. I mainly found it interesting how Michelle's case sort of intersected with Dana Satterfield's case because Michelle's co-worker, Heather Sellars, was engaged to Jonathan Vick (who killed Satterfield). BTW, Sellars is still missing and believed to have been killed by Vick.

Anyone else have any examples of UM cases intersecting with other cases? Or even UM cases that intersect with each other?

[RobinW]

I've always been real intrigued by the possibility that in addition to the murder of Larry Dickens, Edward Harold Bell may have also been responsible for one of the "Final Appeal" cases on UM. Though it's never been officially proven, Bell has been considered a suspect in the murders of the two girls that Michael Lloyd Self got convicted for!
http://thepolicenews.net/html/gcpnaug06.pdf

Of course, the best example of a criminal that caused two separate UM cases to cross paths is Alfredo Prieto, who was discovered to be responsible for the murders of Tina Jefferson, Warren Fulton and Rachael Raver.

I also found it funny that the town of Medford, Oregon was home to two infamous UM fraudsters, Dennis Walker and Steven Cox, during the same time period. UM also profiled a meth manufacturer, John "Thumper" Brown, who was operating in Medford at that time as well!

[zack007attack]

I think there could be a connection between Norman Ladner and Don Henry/Kevin Ives. The cases are remarkably similar; they happened in the wildnerness of the southern states and might be connected to drug trafficking. Honestly, I don't think the cases may ever be solved because of how hard it would be to compile enough evidence to catch the perpetrators.

There might also be a connection between Dexter Stefonek and Dwayne McCorkendale. Again, similar settings but apparently different motives.

[Thiussat]

OK, I've got another one for you guys. I have been catching up on some old episodes I haven't seen in a while and came across two different UM segments that I feel really could have the same perp responsible for both murders. I don't know if anyone has made this connection before, but I would be surprised if at least one UM fan hasn't already thought of it.

The two episodes are the Ethel Kidd segment and the Alicia Reynolds segment. The Ethel Kidd murder took place in Burr Hill, VA in 1989. Ethel was snatched from her driveway by a man who was probably asking for directions (as indicated by the road atlas he left in her driveway).

Alicia Reynolds was on her way to shop in Charlotesville, VA in 1996 but never made it. Her car was found near Culpepper, VA abandoned. Her body was later found. Alicia fell victim to the guy who cruised the roads, pulled up alongside women, told them something was wrong with their car, and then took them in his car for "help." Numerous women came forward saying they had fallen for his ruse. Alicia was the unlucky one who he decided to murder. A composite sketch was released of this man and he appeared to be between 35-45 years old with a medium build and brown hair.

OK, what connection is there? Well I punched in Burr Hill, VA and Culpepper, VA in google maps and discovered they are only 14 miles apart. Even though the MO's of the murders are not really the same (Ethel was snatched from her driveway, Alicia was snatched from her car), there is one striking similarity. The killer of Ethel Kidd had left behind some written messages in the Atlas he dropped. One of them was something like "Pull over and let's ****." This clearly indicates he was pulling up alongside women on the road and trying to get them to pull over. Same MO as the Alicia Reynolds killer except slightly more crude and less "polite." But nonetheless, we know both perps were pulling up alongside women on the road trying to get them to pull over.

Finally, we know Ethel's killer was caught and later died in prison in 2008. His mugshot does look similar to the composite sketch of the suspect in Alicia's case. The only thing I am not sure about is the Wiki says he was already in prison for an unrelated crime when he was indicted with Ethel's murder. Since Alicia's murder happened in 1996, I am wondering if this guy was already in prison at that time? If not, then this may explain why no one ever saw the guy on the roads again after Alicia's murder (because he got locked up for something else).

The only thing that doesn't fit is that the guy in Alicia's case seemed like a "newb" to the whole killing business. It was like he was trying to get his courage up with all the women he pulled over (or maybe he was just being extremely meticulous). Since Ethel was killed in '89 and Alicia in '96, it doesn't make sense for him to go through the whole "confidence" process 7 years after he had already murdered.

So what we have:

• The two locations are only 14 miles apart.

• Both perps pulled up alongside women on the highway and tried to get them to pull over.

• Both perps look alike and appear to be about the same age.

If anyone here has the exact duration of Ethel's murderer's prison sentence it would help me know if this is a complete coincidence or if there is something to it. I'm not saying I am right, but it is interesting nonetheless.

[RobinW]

I can't find the info about when Edward Wayne Beverly was originally sent to prison, but I do know that he was about to be released in 1996-97 when he was tied to Ethel Kidd's murder and charged for the crime. I'm pretty certain he would have already been incarcerated when Alicia Showalter Reynolds was murdered in 1996. Nice theory though! I had no idea both crimes were so close together!

For another interesting UM connection, I'm extremely intrigued by the possible that recently deceased killer Loren Herzog could have been responsible for both the Swedish hitchhiker murders and the abduction of Michaela Garecht. While kidnapping children didn't seem to be Herzog's M.O., he certainly bears quite a resemblance to that composite sketch!

[WishfulDreamer]

Tony Alamo sheltered Rick Church when he was on the run! Ironic because of his killing AND last name.