cold cases

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Infamous Lindbergh Baby Case Takes a Dark Turn

Skeptics doubt guilt of the man convicted, while an author suggests Lindbergh himself is a suspect

(Newser) - It was, at the time, the "crime of the century"—the 1932 kidnapping and murder of 20-month-old Charles Lindbergh Jr., son of the famed pilot. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was eventually executed for the 1932 crime, but as the New York Times reports, many continue to believe he was...

A Newborn Was Found Dead at Airport in 2005. Now, an Arrest

Police say the mother of the infant has been identified

(Newser) - On October 10, 2005, a baby girl with her umbilical cord still attached was found dead, wrapped in hotel towels and newspapers and stuffed inside a plastic Marriott bag, in the trash bin of a women's bathroom at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport. On Tuesday, authorities said they'...

New Wrinkles Emerge in Case of Teen Missing Since 1980

Officer may be reinterviewed in the case of decades-old disappearance of Randy Sellers

(Newser) - It's been an unanswered question since 1980, writes Shaila Dewan in the New York Times : "What happened to Randy?" The reference is to Randy Sellers, a 17-year-old who attended the Kenton County Fair in Kentucky and hasn't been seen since, per the Cincinnati Enquirer . Police were summoned...

Man Who Blamed Identical Twin for Rapes Gets 140 Years

California's Kevin Konther ultimately didn't get away with attacks that happened more than 25 years ago

(Newser) - In 2019, DNA testing led investigators with the Orange County Sheriff's Department to haul in two suspects for a set of cold-case rapes in California—identical twins, each insisting they were innocent. In fact, Kevin Konther blamed his brother for the crimes, which included the rape of a 9-year-old...

They Were Stabbed and Left to Die. 50 Years Later, a Suspect

Indianapolis cops say Thomas Edward Williams, attacked 2 sisters, friend in 1975; he has since died

(Newser) - A nearly 50-year-old cold case surrounding three young girls stabbed and left to die in an Indiana cornfield has finally reached a conclusion, although it's one that will end without justice. In a Thursday presser , the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department announced that DNA evidence was able to help identify...

California Detective Has Become a Cold Case Ace
California Detective Has
Become a Cold Case Ace
LONGFORM

California Detective Has Become a Cold Case Ace

'San Francisco Chronicle' profiles one who has solved eight of them in seven years

(Newser) - Cold cases hold particular fascination in the true crime genre, and detective Matt Hutchison can relate. He's managed to solve eight of them in seven years as an officer rotating into the robbery-homicide beat in California's Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. And while detectives disguising themselves as busboys...

Father Killed 5-Year-Old, Faked Tears on TV: Charges

Justin Turner's stepmother and father face murder charges in 1989 slaying

(Newser) - As a TV news crew recorded the moment in March 1989, a South Carolina man who had joined the police search for his missing 5-year-old son stepped inside a small camping trailer on his property. A few seconds later, he backed out of it, saying: "My son's in...

Missouri Citizen Sleuth Cracks 10-Year Local Mystery

James Hinkle discovered the missing car and likely remains of Donnie Erwin in Missouri

(Newser) - Citizen sleuth James Hinkle has developed a unique set of skills over the years—drone camera operator, rescue diver, and volunteer firefighter—and per the Washington Post , they've helped him crack a 10-year cold case. In December, Hinkle's nearly two years of investigating waterways helped recover the missing...

Suspect Named in 3 Cold Case Murders in Virginia

Authorities investigate links the deceased Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. may have to other killings

(Newser) - If he were alive today, Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. would be charged in three cold case murders. But the fisherman and hunter—positively linked to two of the "Colonial Parkway Murders," a series of double killings in the late 1980s, as well as the murder of a woman—...

Headless Body Posed in Vineyard Is Identified

Ada Beth Kaplan was 64 when she was killed, posed in 'degrading way' in California

(Newser) - Authorities described the scene as "creepy." In 2011, the body of a woman was found "posed in an intentionally degrading way" on a dirt road at a vineyard in Arvin, California, per SFGate . Even more horrific, the body was drained of blood, with its head and thumbs...

Man Found 47 Years Ago in Arizona Finally Has a Name

Luis Alonso Paredes was found shot to death in a shallow grave by hikers in 1976

(Newser) - Remains found by hikers in a shallow grave 47 years ago near a lake on the border of Arizona and Nevada have been identified. The man was Luis Alonso Paredes, who was from El Salvador but may have been living or working in the Las Vegas area at the time...

10 Cold Cases That Were Closed in 2023
10 Cold Cases That
Were Closed in 2023
best of 2023

10 Cold Cases That Were Closed in 2023

Some date back half a century

(Newser) - Forensic genetic genealogy is leading to more and more decades-old cases being closed—bringing long desired answers to the relatives of the dead. Here are the 10 cold case developments we covered in 2023 that were most-read by our readers:

Body Found 25 Years Ago in Lake Finally Has a Name

Arkansas' Roger Dale Parham, whose body was found in Kentucky, had been an FBI fugitive

(Newser) - Nearly 25 years after a body was found wrapped in chains and anchored in a lake in Kentucky, authorities have identified the individual as a man who was on the run from the FBI. Roger Dale Parham was arrested for rape involving a minor in Arkansas in November 1998 and...

After Unsolved Murder Features in Netflix Doc, FBI to Exhume Body

It's not clear what authorities are looking for with regard to Joyce Malecki cold case

(Newser) - FBI investigators are planning to exhume the body of a young woman whose unsolved 1969 killing has been a source of widespread speculation, especially since Netflix's documentary series The Keepers examined the slaying of a Baltimore nun that unfolded days earlier under eerily similar circumstances. Joyce Malecki went Christmas...

She Turned to Podcasters Over Sister's Killing. It Ended Badly
She Turned to Podcasters Over
Sister's Killing. It Ended Badly
in case you missed it

She Turned to Podcasters Over Sister's Killing. It Ended Badly

The 'New York Times' looks at how families can be retraumatized by online sleuthing

(Newser) - Liz Flatt was 8 when her sister, Debbie Sue Williamson, was murdered in 1975. The cold case continued to haunt her into adulthood, so in 2016, she decided to make a new push to get the crime solved. The years that followed brought her to CrimeCon, where she met George...

Her Body Was Found by Rock Climbers 26 Years Ago

Authorities finally have a name for apparent homicide victim found in Nevada

(Newser) - For more than a quarter of a century, investigators in Nevada were unable to identify a body found by rock climbers in rural Washoe County—though since people don't tend to bury themselves under piles of rocks, they deduced that she was a homicide victim. With the help of...

Mom Arrested 35 Years After Girl Found Dead in Concrete

Kenyatta Odom, 5, was killed by her mother and the mother's boyfriend in 1988: Georgia indictment

(Newser) - A man was walking through the woods near Millwood, Georgia, days before Christmas in 1988, when he came upon a TV cabinet encased in concrete, which he correctly viewed as suspicious, per WVIT . He called the Ware County Sheriff's Office, which sent detectives to investigate. "I really was...

2 Podcast Fans Help Right a Decades-Old Wrong

They brought 'Crime Junkie' case to husband's dad, who was chief of police in Odessa, Texas

(Newser) - In some ways, the exoneration of James Reyos in Odessa, Texas, has a familiar ring to it. A reexamination of evidence from a decades-old murder convinced the state's highest court to clear him earlier this month, as the Texas Monthly recounts. But the story has a unique twist: Reyos,...

The Long Journey Into Who Killed Ocean City's Fudge King
Writer May Have Cracked
Ocean City Cold Case
LONGFORM

Writer May Have Cracked Ocean City Cold Case

Ocean City's 'Fudge King,' Harry Anglemyer, was murdered in 1964

(Newser) - Who killed New Jersey's Fudge King? That's the question writer Tom Donaghy grappled with for several years, detailing the twisty true-crime account in Atavist Magazine . As a kid visiting the Jersey Shore, Donaghy was a frequent visitor of the Copper Kettle, a fudge shop that wiped out all...

Podcast Sparks Probe Into Mystery Serial Killer 'Bible John'

Police allegedly concealed identity of man thought to have killed 3 women in Glasgow

(Newser) - Scottish police are reexamining three unsolved murders attributed to the country's most notorious alleged serial killer following an award-winning BBC podcast that suggested a police coverup. Journalist Audrey Gillan's Bible John: Creation of the Serial Killer , released in late 2022, told how Helen Puttock, Jemima MacDonald, and Patricia...

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