All articles tagged with #unsolved murder
Joseph Cummins was murdered in Liverpool in 2011 during a foggy night, and the case remains unsolved despite a £20,000 reward and ongoing police investigations, with his family still seeking justice after 15 years.
Oregon police have recovered partial remains of 'Oak Grove Jane Doe,' a woman murdered nearly 80 years ago, in the state's oldest unidentified case. The remains, exhumed from Mountain View Cemetery, are degraded but will undergo advanced forensic testing in hopes of identifying her and solving the long-standing mystery.
Vallis Slaughter, 39, was arrested in connection with the 2012 fatal shooting of Julio Torres in Pennsylvania, after DNA from a discarded cigarette butt and a bitten-off piece of a styrofoam cup led investigators to him. Slaughter faces charges including first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and conspiracy. The case was reexamined last year, leading to the identification of Slaughter through facial recognition software. He is also suspected in a homicide in Brooklyn and is awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania.
The body of Pauline Pusser, wife of former Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, was exhumed after more than 50 years following a new tip in the unsolved 1967 murder. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation oversaw the exhumation, as there was never an autopsy performed on her body. Pauline Pusser was killed in McNairy County in 1967, and the investigation into her killing has remained active. Buford Pusser, known for his efforts to combat organized crime, was also seriously wounded in the same incident and later died in a car wreck in 1974.
The body of a missing 19-year-old girl, known as 'Sahara Sue Doe,' found in Las Vegas in 1979, has been identified through DNA as Gwenn Marie Story. Story had traveled from Ohio to California with two male roommates to search for her biological father but was later found dead. Her killer(s) remain unknown, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is urging anyone with information to come forward. The Texas-based company Othram Labs used familial DNA to identify Story, and the investigation is ongoing. Story's family expressed gratitude for the investigators' efforts and is seeking closure in the case.
Las Vegas police have identified the body of a homicide victim found on the Las Vegas Strip in 1979 as Gwenn Marie Story, a 19-year-old from Ohio. DNA testing led to her identification last month, and police are now searching for her killer. Witnesses saw Story and an unidentified man visiting a liquor store near the crime scene before her body was discovered. Story had traveled to Las Vegas with two men from Cincinnati in an attempt to find her biological father. Her family is seeking closure and has expressed gratitude to the detectives who have worked on the case over the years. Tips can be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers.
The FBI plans to exhume the body of Joyce Malecki, a young woman whose unsolved 1969 murder was featured in the Netflix docuseries "The Keepers." Malecki's killing, which occurred days after the murder of a Baltimore nun under similar circumstances, has sparked speculation about a possible connection. The exhumation comes after the recent solving of another young woman's homicide from the same area. Investigators will extract DNA from Malecki's body to determine if there is any link to the suspect in the other case. Malecki's family hopes for justice and closure after 54 years of uncertainty.
The body of a man found in Crater Lake in Montgomery County in 1986 has been identified as Clarence Wilson after nearly four decades. Wilson had been shot twice and weighed down with cinderblocks. New DNA tests revealed his identity after his body was exhumed in 2015. Wilson's sister, who thought he was living in Texas, was devastated to learn he had been dead for 37 years. Detectives now have a name and can begin investigating his life.
Family members of Alicia Showalter Reynolds, a woman who was killed in an unsolved case in 1996, are urging police to investigate her death in connection with accused Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann. They noticed a resemblance between Heuermann and a police sketch of the presumed killer, known as the Route 29 Stalker. Reynolds' family has asked investigators to explore this potential connection. Heuermann is currently facing charges for the murders of three sex workers in the Gilgo Beach area. As investigations into Heuermann's alleged crimes expand, authorities are revisiting cold cases and considering potential connections to other unsolved murders across the country.
A letter allegedly written by President John F. Kennedy to his alleged mistress, Mary Pinchot Meyer, a month before his assassination in 1963, has resurfaced. The four-page letter, never sent, expresses Kennedy's desire for her to visit him and his frustration with her reluctance. Pinchot Meyer, who was married to a CIA agent, was later murdered in 1964 under suspicious circumstances. Her unsolved murder has fueled speculation that she may have known too much about JFK's assassination. Claims from her brother-in-law, Ben Bradlee, suggest that the chief of CIA counterintelligence broke into her studio to retrieve her diary, which allegedly contained references to her affair with the President.
The 1990 murder of Marlene Warren, shot by someone dressed as a clown, haunted the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office for decades. Despite identifying two suspects, the case went unsolved. New evidence emerged in 2017, including DNA matching Sheila Keen, who had married Marlene's husband, Mike Warren, after his release from prison. The evidence suggested that Keen was the killer clown, and she was subsequently arrested and charged with Marlene's murder.
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a Southern California street gang leader charged in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, will be represented by attorney Ross Goodman, a member of a prominent Las Vegas political family known for representing high-profile clients. Davis, who was arrested in September, has not yet entered a plea and is seeking another two weeks to confirm Goodman's hiring. The case has drawn renewed interest in Shakur's unsolved murder and raised questions about the unsolved killing of rival rapper Notorious B.I.G. Goodman has previously handled a range of high-profile cases, including representing former Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Damon Arnette and NFL players Chris Lammons and Alvin Kamara.
The Wichita Police Department has identified Paul Hart, who died in a traffic collision in 1999, as the suspect in the 1989 assault and death of Krista Martin. Despite DNA evidence being collected at the time, testing was not available, but it was preserved. After years of investigation and collaboration with genealogists, Hart was identified as the suspect through DNA samples from his direct relatives. The case remains unsolved as there is no known connection between Hart and Martin, and no murder weapon has been found. Charges would have been filed if Hart were still alive, but the case is now considered cleared.
After nearly 30 years, an arrest has been made in the unsolved murder of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur. Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former gang leader and witness to the crime, has been indicted for murder for allegedly orchestrating the drive-by shooting. Davis admitted his involvement in a 2019 memoir, and his decision to speak publicly about the case reinvigorated the investigation. Prosecutors allege that Davis sought retribution for a previous conflict involving his nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson. The arrest brings a long-awaited development in a case that has captivated the music industry and fueled conspiracy theories for decades.
The remains of a woman found over 30 years ago on the side of Interstate 40 in North Carolina have been identified as Lisa Coburn Kesler, a 20-year-old from Georgia. Investigators believe Kesler was strangled one week before her body was dumped. The use of DNA technology was not advanced enough at the time to identify an unknown person, but recent advancements allowed investigators to extract DNA from a degraded hair fragment and match it to a suspected maternal relative. The case remains unsolved, and authorities are now focused on identifying Kesler's killer.