UM as an irritant to the authorities...

[Dazinho]

Last one for now - which UM cases left you the most convinced that the authorities/law enforcement either:-

1) knew exactly what had happened and were protecting someone from the consequences of their actions or,
2) had no intention or inclination towards solving the case, be it through laziness, lack of interest or whatever.

Eric T and Tommy Burkett jump out of the box on this one - would appreciate your thoughts on others.

Makes you realise how great a tool something like UM can be, if only to expose to people that the official version of what happened somewhere and the truth are not the same thing.

Whatever one's conclusions after walking away from an episode, I think it's brilliant for developing critical thinking and an inquisitive temperament.

Dazinho

[Steve W.]

Originally Posted by Dazinho

Last one for now - which UM cases left you the most convinced that the authorities/law enforcement either:-

1) knew exactly what had happened and were protecting someone from the consequences of their actions or,
2) had no intention or inclination towards solving the case, be it through laziness, lack of interest or whatever.

Eric T and Tommy Burkett jump out of the box on this one - would appreciate your thoughts on others.

Makes you realise how great a tool something like UM can be, if only to expose to people that the official version of what happened somewhere and the truth are not the same thing.

Whatever one's conclusions after walking away from an episode, I think it's brilliant for developing critical thinking and an inquisitive temperament.

Dazinho

1): I think the Doreen Picard/Susan Laferte, Keith Warren, Norman Ladner, and Michael Rosenblum cases all come to mind to fit that description.

2): I think the Kurt Sova, Jeremy Bright, and Oliver Munson cases all come to mind to fit that description.

[Blackout]

anything that required research they didn't want to solve lol

[dynoguy88]

Norman Ladner.

The Picayune police department ruled it a suicide and the Ladners originally assumed it was an accident. Then when evidence after evidence after evidence kept coming in to suggest it couldn't have been suicide, the police pretty much covered their ears and said, "I can't hear you, lalalalalalalalalala, I can't you hear you, lalalalalalalalalala"

[tamanshud]

Ugh, can't think of his name right now.

The black teen who was found weirdly hanging in the woods - was ruled a suicide. Dumbfounded that with all the evidence (at least as presented by UM) the cops could ever rule it as a definate suicide.

[Blackout]

Originally Posted by tamanshud

Ugh, can't think of his name right now.

The black teen who was found weirdly hanging in the woods - was ruled a suicide. Dumbfounded that with all the evidence (at least as presented by UM) the cops could ever rule it as a definate suicide.

Keith Warren i think?

[WishfulDreamer]

2) Debbie Wolfe case.

Horrible police work and an incredible injustice. That case leaves me reeling with fury because it is so obvious that this woman was murdered.

*The clothes on her body were not hers and were many sizes too large. MAJOR cause for alarm. Why would she be wearing clothes that weren't hers or were the wrong size if she simply "fell" into the river?" Especially undergarments. A bra three times too big? Ridiculous to think she would have put that on herself. For anyone who has mysteriously died to be wearing clothes that do not belong to them and that is clearly the wrong size by many factors is absolutely a cause for suspicion.
*Semen was found on her body, indicating intercourse before her death. But the police make no attempt to figure out who that could have been with. I believe this supports the theory of an assault.
*The state of her body indicates she was not conscious when thrown into the water.
*The entire burn barrel controversy, including the obvious footsteps into the water where it had been removed. Just by "coincidence" Debbie's burn barrel was missing. Police claim it never existed.
*Debbie, a meticulously neat woman, mysteriously had an unkempt car and house. This might not seem too suspicious but here are some red flags and cause for alarm: She didn't drink, but there were beer cans all around her property that had not been there before. Even if she wasn't murdered, who was over at her home drinking copious amounts of alcohol? Her uniform was strewn on the floor of her kitchen, if I recall correctly, in a heap. This seems pretty evident of an assault upon her in her home, which is why semen was later found on her.
*The two volunteers were both incredibly suspicious and for one of them to say she was out for multiple days when she hadn't been is a downright red flag. One of them also made repeated threats that he would be "coming over" because he "knew where she lived."

Yet the police say it was just an accident. Hands down some of the worst police "work" ever. Yes, there's nothing at ALL suspicious about a woman being found in the river wearing clothes that aren't hers and are too big, being found in a barrel that is now mysteriously missing from her property, being found with semen in her body despite no boyfriend or anyone noting they had been with her right before she vanished, as though she had been unconscious upon entry into the water, and with indications that someone else had been there at the time of the accident other than herself.


Absolutely absurd. This case makes me so furious.

[Steve W.]

Originally Posted by tamanshud

Ugh, can't think of his name right now.

The black teen who was found weirdly hanging in the woods - was ruled a suicide. Dumbfounded that with all the evidence (at least as presented by UM) the cops could ever rule it as a definate suicide.

Yep, that would be Keith Warren.

[1990 UM fan]

Tony Lombardi. The police felt he committed suicide from losing his driver's license when he didn't even have any history of depression and he was found dead in his own bed from a single gunshot to the head, nude and had bruises on his chest, a broken jaw, a gash over one of his eyes and a broken watch of his on the floor. I think his death stemmed from the DUI he had or possibly a jealous boyfriend of one of the girls Tony was seeing, or a combination of both.

[RobinW]

The Michael Rosenblum case is one in which the cops may have been covering their ass and being lazy at the same time. I'm not even sure they had anything to do with his disappearance, but they had to go into full "cover their ass" mode once they typed up that fake backdated letter about the impounded car and it spiraled out of control for them. The way I see it, if they weren't responsible for what happened to Michael, it was pretty despicable of them not to cooperate with the UM broadcast. This wasn't one of those "solved" suspicious death cases where they'd officially closed the case. When the segment originally aired, Michael's remains had not been found yet and he was still a MISSING PERSON. If they're innocent, why not try to do their actual job and help find him?

In some of the Final Appeal cases, I'm sure LE legitimately thought they had the right person (and in some cases, they actually did). However, in the Johnny Lee Wilson and Luis Diaz cases, it was blatantly obvious the cops KNEW they had f'ed up and put an innocent person in prison, but were never going to admit it.

On a related note, if UM was still on the air, I would LOVE for them to do a Final Appeal segment on the Ryan Ferguson murder case, which has been covered extensively on 48 Hours and Dateline. Virtually everyone can see this kid is innocent, but because the state refuses to acknowledge how badly they screwed this up, they still can't get him out of prison.

[flytrapp]

Wendy Camp. If LE had taken Ida, Chad and the other old biatch down to the station, separated them, and grilled them until someone spilled what happened, the case would be solved. One of them would have decided to save their own skin and throw the other two under the bus, I'm sure of it. Especially if the cops suggested to one that another was already turning on them to another cop in a different room. This case made LE look stupid, or "in bed" with the Noe's....which in turn also makes them stupid/crooked. I bet LE didn't appreciate UM poking around on that case.

Same with the Circleville case. They arrest and convict someone (partially based on the idea that HE is the letter writer) and letters keep on comin' while the guy is in jail!!!!???? Hellllloooo? UM made LE look stupid or crooked.

Kurt Sova. Why the HELL didn't LE grill that chick who held the party? She obviously knew something. If they gave me an hour with her I'd have the truth and she would have wet herself as a bonus for the Sova family and the UM "update" segment

[UnsolvedMFanatic]

The Two Mary murders. Mary Morris and Mary McGinnis Morris. I've spoken with both the current cold case detective as well as the one-time suspect (coworker of Mary's). And it is my opinion that there's a lot more there,but I don't believe,to be quite frank,that they care very much.

Then of course the Bordello murders,we all know the reasoning with case.