Cases where one victim gets more attention than another

[wiseguy182]

Odd thread to be sure, but I noticed quite a few instances of this.

Tara Calico/Michael Henley ~ Perhaps not and probably not them, but we usually just refer to this segment by that name anyways for simplistic purposes. I suppose it could get renamed "The Polaroid Kids" segment, but it hasn't happened yet. Some doubt if they were even victims, though I always thought they were. Anyways, the girl who may or not be Tara Calico gets roughly 90% of the attention on here. AHEM!

Scott Johnson ~ It's sad I don't even know the other boy's name off the top of my head.

Wendy Camp/Cynthia Britto and Lisa Kregar ~ Up until a year or so ago, I probably couldn't have even told you the last 2 names.

Not a UM case, but one of the most egregious examples is the Atheist murders. Of the 6 shows I've seen, Madalyn Murray O'Hair gets roughly 99.9% of the attention. Also victims were her son John and granddaughter Robin. To a certain extent, it was that way IRL too. John was the President of American Atheists for the last 9 years of their lives, but was mostly just a figurehead as he was widely disliked by his fellow atheists and Madalyn called all of the shots, as it had been that way for decades. An interesting note I just learned: Robin was not John's daughter, but rather William's, who was Madalyn's other son, and the one she was estranged from (he had denounced atheism in 1980 and became religious). Madalyn, somehow rather, scored a victory when she won custody of Robin (I think William left her in her care while he was serving his country overseas). Presumably, Robin wanted it this way as well.

any others?

[dynoguy88]

Scott Johnson's friend was Peter Hill. The only way we were able to find out that name was because someone here found it in a 1975 newspaper article from the Google News archives.

The fact that UM did not mention his name or even show his picture told me that Peter's family probably did not want to participate in the segment. 18 years had passed since the boys deaths when the segment was filmed and aired. It might be that, unlike Sue Johnson who fought tooth and nail for over a decade to try and get the case reopened, the Hill family could have already gone on with their lives and didn't want to open old wounds.

Despite being a cold case and despite the fact that many of the original investigators had retired or moved away at the time of the segment, UM interviewed an impressive number of people attached to the case, including the original fire chief, investigator and the two eyewitnesses who reported the fire that day. If Peter's family wanted to participate and be interviewed (and were available) then they would have.

[xxxxmattxxxx69]

In the Ashley Freeman and Laura Bible case I feel like they get more attention than Danny and Kathy Freeman do. Even though no one knows what happened to Laura and Ashley and no one knows who killed Danny and Kathy

[James T]

Gordon Collins get all the attention for being missing yet Arlean Burlington seems to be an afterthought.

[TheCars1986]

The Haitian crew members of the Freedon.

Also Florian Bourch is looked at more of a suspect rather than missing person in the UM segment.

[RobinW]

Bryan Major in the Blind River Rest Stop segment: The McAllisters got most of the attention, but it's still pretty horrific that this innocent husband and father just happened to pull into the wrong rest stop at the wrong time and was senselessly murdered. In fact, you could say that Major inadvertently saved Gord McAllister's life, as the killer might have stayed behind to finish Gord off if another vehicle hadn't shown up at the rest stop.

[1990 UM fan]

Even though Unsolved Mysteries had both of these cases on separate episodes, Forensic Files also aired the Linda Sobek story with a few mentions of the similar case of Kimberly Pandelios. However, they really didn't pay much attention to Kimberly's case, and at the end of the episode, it still says her case has never been solved, when her killer was arrested and tried in 2004 and they just haven't updated it.

[wiseguy182]

Good responses everyone.

Linda Sobek definitely gets more attention than Kimberly Pandillos when it comes to true crime shows. I've also seen Sobek on American Justice and City Confidential, but UM is the only place I've seen Pandillos

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

First and biggest instance of this for me was Georges Gumbley in the Clifford Sherwood case. Clifford's mother describes how he and Georges were seen before school by another boy who they told to hurry ahead and they would catch up shortly, and "Clifford was never seen again and neither was Georges."

She then proceeds to trash her ex-husband, Tex, for being a crummy child thief and describes the torso of a boy being found which she refused to accept as Clifford.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GEORGES?

Clifford was supposed to have placed a call to his aunt which was cut short a la Anthonette Cayedito, and nothing at all from Georges, and a picture was found among Tex's effects showing Clifford slightly older than when he disappeared wearing clothes his mother and sisters did not recognize.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GEORGES?

If Tex was indeed a crummy child thief, was he a murderer who killed Georges to keep him quiet? Or did he spirit him away and turn him loose at some point to make it back on his own, but Georges never made it back alive? Or did the boys run away, have an accident, or were abducted by strangers? It seems immaterial; the whole segment focuses on whether Clifford survived being taken by Tex.

WHY would neither boy never contact family members?
WHY can the unidentified remains not be found and DNA tested with BOTH families and families of other missing boys from that time while they're at it?

WHAT HAPPENED TO GEORGES?

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

Kurt Sova and Eugene Kvet--if they had anything to do with one another.

Has any Satanist, cult, or serial killer been caught with a stash of victims' right shoes? Is there a Satanist ritual involving right shoes? Could some animal attracted by the salt in the shoe have taken them post death, or would an animal gnaw on other things generally and not just remove one shoe?

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by RobinW

Bryan Major in the Blind River Rest Stop segment: The McAllisters got most of the attention, but it's still pretty horrific that this innocent husband and father just happened to pull into the wrong rest stop at the wrong time and was senselessly murdered. In fact, you could say that Major inadvertently saved Gord McAllister's life, as the killer might have stayed behind to finish Gord off if another vehicle hadn't shown up at the rest stop.

That's a good one that I totally forgot about.

The two women in the Bob Dozier and John Russell segment are treated like after thoughts, even after the update. There were hints that Suzanne Russell was still alive, but there is virtually no mention of what happened to Kristin Tomlin.

[Tighthead]

The Clifford Sherwood one was so extreme as to be insulting to both George Gumbly and the audience. It was so bad that it made me a little skeptical of UM in general - they would ignore facts to push a narrative. I apply that to every suicide/murder case where the family says suicide was impossible.

As for Mrs. Sherwood, when you say that "I just know that body wasn't my son" and don't pursue identifying it, you have no credibility. I respect the grief and emotions of her situation, but the show just let everything slide.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by Tighthead

As for Mrs. Sherwood, when you say that "I just know that body wasn't my son" and don't pursue identifying it, you have no credibility.

I mentioned this in the other thread but even if she HAD looked at the body, how would she have been able to tell whether it was her son or not? The corpse was the lower torso of a boy. And after the passage of time, it HAD to have been badly decomposed. No parent would have been able to identify those remains as their child no matter how hard they looked.

[soilentgreen]

Robert Allen, whose identity was stolen by Marvin Gabrion, is only mentioned in passing on the UM segment. Wayne Davis and John Weeks possibly were also killed by him, but Weeks seems to have been culpable in Rachel and Shannon's kidnapping.

Christine Mirzayan's murder was only discussed as a possible connection to Chandra Levy and Joyce Chiang. The same with Stephen Harkins and Ruth Cooper in the Mike Riemer/Diana Robertson murders.

Barbara Agnew - whose kidnapping from a closed rest area is chilling to read - is merely brought up as one of the other victims of the New Hampshire serial killer.

Originally Posted by Cori aka ChrisSCrush

Kurt Sova and Eugene Kvet--if they had anything to do with one another.

I wonder why there was ever believed to be a connection. Was there ever a cause of death determined for Kvet?

[MegtheEgg86]

Robert Weeks' first wife, Patricia, is only briefly mentioned in that segment.