Unsolved Western American Murders and Extended Cold Case Resolutions


Book Description

This edition profiles 75 illustrated murder cases committed within California, Oregon, Washington, Northern Idaho and Montana. Accompanying photography returns the reader to the scene of the crime with precise listed locations. The most daunting dilemma of a murder investigation is typically uncovering proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a perpetrator committed a killing. The evolution of forensic technology has enabled investigators to match DNA profiles from evidence obtained at a crime scene with specific individual samplings. This development has resulted in several high profile cases ultimately achieving resolution. Some of the accompanying profiles have developed promising suspects and probable perpetrators, but lacked the tangible evidence or persuasive courtroom presentation to convict. In a few instances, due to the notoriety of the trial, the court of popular opinion did convict the defendant, yet they remain free of incarceration. Other cases have simply lacked accompanying evidence from the outset and subsequent clues or confessions have never materialized. For a victim’s immediate circle of family, acquaintances and even society in general, a lack of closure becomes an accompanying torment. Stolen lives deserve accountability and one cannot fully understand the enormity of loss without concrete explanations of motive. Given time, some of these cases may one day find closure. Some murderers do have a conscience and scientific advancements may one day piece together the fractured incoherency of inconclusive evidence. CALIFORNIA Unsolved Murders: The Zodiac Serial Killer, Black Dahlia, Rapper Notorious B.I.G>, Gangster Bugsy Siegel, Bonnie Lee Bakley, Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Joseph The Animal Barboza, Kevin Collins, Actress Virginia Rapp, Gangster Fung Little Pete Jing Toy, Film Director William Desmond Taylor, Actor Ted Healy, Sleepy Lagoon Killing, Geneva Elroy, Vic Weiss, Crib Founder Raymond Washington, Wonderland Murders, Karen Mitchell Disappearance, Susan Berman, Kristin Smart, Eastside Salinas Gang Killings, Santa Rose Hitchhiker Murders, Bob Domingos and Linda Edwards, Kym Morgan and Ramona Irene Price. Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen, Mickey and Trudy Thompson and Golden State Serial Killer OREGON State Prison Director Michael Francke, Diane Hank, Roma Ollison, Anne Jeanne Tingry-Le-Coz, Old Town Pizza Phantom, Alice Wells, Frank Akin, 1946 Willamette River Murder, Larry Peyton and Beverly Allan and Kyron Horman Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Federal Public defender Nancy Bergeson WASHINGTON Ann Marie Burr, Edwin Pratt, Judge Tom Wales, Chalisa Lewis, Louis Bellessa, Labor activist Laura Law, Charles Mattson, Nathan Trigger Gilstrap, Marsha Weatter and Katherine Allen, Tacoma’s Puyallup Avenue Prostitutes, Oleg Babichenko, Roseanne Pleasant, Susette Werner, Timothy Alioth and Donna Plew, Tia Hicks, Fred Cohen and James Jimmy Smith Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Barbara Hickey, Brian Cole, Michella Welch, Jennifer Bastian and Serial Killer Donna Perry NORTHERN IDAHO Remains of Fatty Carroll’s Murder Victims MONTANA Union agitator Frank Little, John Bozeman, Marjorie and Nancy McQuiston, Julianne Stallman, Florence Beauty Salon Massacre, Paul Maclean, Sheila Fallang-Jordan, Bobby Kelly, Mrs. John Dougherty, Nyleen Kay Marshall, Dr. Henry Cayley and Eva Hart Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Verna Joy Kvale and Donna Meagher




Unsolved Western American Murders and Extended Cold Case Resolutions


Book Description

This edition profiles 75 illustrated murder cases committed within California, Oregon, Washington, Northern Idaho and Montana. Accompanying photography returns the reader to the scene of the crime with precise listed locations.The most daunting dilemma of a murder investigation is typically uncovering proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a perpetrator committed a killing. The evolution of forensic technology has enabled investigators to match DNA profiles from evidence obtained at a crime scene with specific individual samplings. This development has resulted in several high profile cases ultimately achieving resolution.Some of the accompanying profiles have developed promising suspects and probable perpetrators, but lacked the tangible evidence or persuasive courtroom presentation to convict. In a few instances, due to the notoriety of the trial, the court of popular opinion did convict the defendant, yet they remain free of incarceration. Other cases have simply lacked accompanying evidence from the outset and subsequent clues or confessions have never materialized. For a victim's immediate circle of family, acquaintances and even society in general, a lack of closure becomes an accompanying torment. Stolen lives deserve accountability and one cannot fully understand the enormity of loss without concrete explanations of motive. Given time, some of these cases may one day find closure. Some murderers do have a conscience and scientific advancements may one day piece together the fractured incoherency of inconclusive evidence.CALIFORNIAUnsolved Murders: The Zodiac Serial Killer, Black Dahlia, Rapper Notorious B.I.G>, Gangster Bugsy Siegel, Bonnie Lee Bakley, Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Joseph The Animal Barboza, Kevin Collins, Actress Virginia Rapp, Gangster Fung Little Pete Jing Toy, Film Director William Desmond Taylor, Actor Ted Healy, Sleepy Lagoon Killing, Geneva Elroy, Vic Weiss, Crib Founder Raymond Washington, Wonderland Murders, Karen Mitchell Disappearance, Susan Berman, Kristin Smart, Eastside Salinas Gang Killings, Santa Rose Hitchhiker Murders, Bob Domingos and Linda Edwards, Kym Morgan and Ramona Irene Price.Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen, Mickey and Trudy Thompson and Golden State Serial KillerOREGONState Prison Director Michael Francke, Diane Hank, Roma Ollison, Anne Jeanne Tingry-Le-Coz, Old Town Pizza Phantom, Frank Akin, 1946 Willamette River Murder, Larry Peyton and Beverly Allan and Kyron HormanExtended Cold Cases Resolved: Federal Public defender Nancy BergesonWASHINGTONAnn Marie Burr, Edwin Pratt, Judge Tom Wales, Chalisa Lewis, Louis Bellessa, Labor activist Laura Law, Charles Mattson, Nathan Trigger Gilstrap, Marsha Weatter and Katherine Allen, Tacoma's Puyallup Avenue Prostitutes, Oleg Babichenko, Roseanne Pleasant, Susette Werner, Timothy Alioth and Donna Plew, Tia Hicks, Fred Cohen and James Jimmy SmithExtended Cold Cases Resolved: Barbara Hickey, Brian Cole, Michella Welch, Jennifer Bastian and Serial Killer Donna PerryNORTHERN IDAHORemains of Fatty Carroll's Murder VictimsMONTANAUnion agitator Frank Little, John Bozeman, Marjorie and Nancy McQuiston, Julianne Stallman, Florence Beauty Salon Massacre, Paul Maclean, Sheila Fallang-Jordan, Bobby Kelly, Mrs. John Dougherty, Nyleen Kay Marshall, Dr. Henry Cayley and Eva HartExtended Cold Cases Resolved: Verna Joy Kvale and Donna Meaghe




A Cold Case


Book Description

A tale of crime and punishment from a prizewinning writer. A few years ago, Andy Rosenzweig, an inspector for the Manhattan District Attorney's office, was abruptly reminded of an old, unsolved double homicide. It bothered him that Frankie Koehler, the notoriously dangerous suspect, had eluded capture and was still at large. Rosenzweig had known the victims of the crime, for they were childhood friends from the South Bronx: Richie Glennon, a Runyonesque ex-prizefighter at home with both cops and criminals, and Pete McGinn, a spirited restaurateur and father of four. Rosenzweig resolved to find the killer and close the case. In a surprising, intensely dramatic narrative, Philip Gourevitch brings together the story of Rosenzweig's pursuit with a mesmerizing account of Koehler's criminal personality and years on the lam. A Cold Case carries us deep into the lives and minds, the passions and perplexities, of an extraordinary cop and an extraordinary criminal whose lives were entwined over three decades. Set in a New York City that has all but disappeared, and written with a keen ear for the vibrant idiom of the colorful men and women who peopled its streets, this is nonetheless a book for our times. Gourevitch masterfully transforms a criminal investigation into a searching literary reckoning with the forces that drive one man to murder and another to hunt murderers."




Killers of the Flower Moon


Book Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, “one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."—New York Magazine • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NOW A MARTIN SCORSESE PICTURE “A shocking whodunit…What more could fans of true-crime thrillers ask?”—USA Today “A masterful work of literary journalism crafted with the urgency of a mystery.” —The Boston Globe In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager!




Great Lakes Cold Case Files


Book Description




The Book of Cold Cases


Book Description

A Most Anticipated Novel by PopSugar * Crime Reads * Goodreads * A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel. In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect—a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion. Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases—a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea’s surprise, Beth says yes. They meet regularly at Beth’s mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she’s not looking, and she could swear she’s seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn’t right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?




Who Killed These Girls?


Book Description

"On December 6, 1991, the naked, bound-and-gagged bodies of ... four girls--each one shot in the head--were found in an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop in Austin, Texas. Grief, shock, and horror spread out from their families and friends to overtake the city itself. Though all branches of law enforcement were brought to bear, the investigation was often misdirected and after eight years only two men (then teenagers) were tried; moreover, their subsequent convictions were eventually overturned, and Austin PD detectives are still working on what is now a very cold case"--]cProvided by publisher.




Unsolved: The JonBenét Ramsey Murder 25 Years Later


Book Description

In 1996, six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey was tortured and murdered in her family home. Twenty-five years later, Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist Paula Woodward revisits the cold case to share new insider information on the heinous murder that gripped the nation. After the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, rumors and misinformation planted by Boulder, Colorado law enforcement sped rapidly around the world. Suspicion immediately fell on the family as police sought to exploit her death in the media. Prosecutors and law enforcement intentionally manipulated existing evidence and ignored inconvenient evidence. Child beauty pageant photos of JonBenét whipped the case into a judgmental frenzy. Paula Woodward was one of the few journalists who reported the family’s side of the story. She’s still investigating the 25-year conspiracy to convict John and Patsy Ramsey by law enforcement who acted with arrogance, insecurity, incompetence, and benign neglect. In Unsolved, the follow-up to Woodward’s award-winning and acclaimed true crime exposé We Have Your Daughter, Woodward explores outstanding questions still swirling around the cold case: Who wrote the baffling ransom note? What was found in the 11 pages of exclusive police report summaries backgrounding the Ramseys? And why has the case languished for years? Included in the book are new, exclusive interviews with John Ramsey, his wife Jan, and his son John Andrew as they look back at the case, 25 years later, and react with stunning candor. New photos and reports from JonBenét’s teachers, friends, and family cut through the sensationalized headlines to show who JonBenét really was. Interwoven throughout the book is expert commentary on what the actual evidence shows, and whether the killer might ever be caught. With never-before-released evidence from a now-passive investigation, Unsolved presents the known facts of the killing of JonBenét Ramsey, the bizarre yet intriguing aspects of this ongoing mystery, and gives you rare insight into whether a family member or an intruder savagely murdered JonBenét.




The Westside Park Murders


Book Description

On a warm night in September 1985, teenagers Kimberly Dowell and Ethan Dixon were brutally murdered in Westside Park in Muncie, Indiana. Their killer has never been charged. Early on, police focused on a family member of one of the teens as a primary suspect. The investigation even ruled out fantastic scenarios, including a theory that the perpetrator was a Dungeons & Dragons devotee. The case grew cold. Only decades later did a dogged police investigator narrow the scope to a suspect whose name has never been publicly revealed until now. Keith Roysdon and Douglas Walker, authors of Wicked Muncie and Muncie Murder & Mayhem, have followed the investigation into the Westside Park murders for decades and, for the first time, report the complete and untold story.




The Man from the Train


Book Description

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Some of these cases—like the infamous Villisca, Iowa, murders—received national attention. But most incidents went almost unnoticed outside the communities in which they occurred. Few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal and uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. “A suspenseful historical account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history. “A beautifully written and extraordinarily researched narrative…This is no pure whodunit, but rather a how-many-did-he-do” (Buffalo News).