unsolved crimes

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Exhumed Body, DNA Wrap Up 61-Year-Old Murder Case in NY

Albany police now say late Joseph Nowakowski raped, killed Catherine Blackburn in 1964

(Newser) - Authorities in New York's capital have identified the man they say raped, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death a woman inside her home more than 60 years ago. Officials linked DNA from Joseph Nowakowski, who died in 1998, to the killing of 50-year-old Catherine Blackburn in September 1964, Albany Police...

Police: We Aren't Sitting On Any Strong JonBenet Leads

Boulder, Colorado, police give annual update on investigation into JonBenet Ramsey's death

(Newser) - Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, rebutted assertions this week that they have viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing. The AP reports the police...

$100K Reward in Cold Case of Murdered Teens

Virginia State Police seek new leads in 2009 shooting deaths of Heidi Childs and David Metzler

(Newser) - Police are seeking new leads in a 15-year-old double murder in Virginia, with the promise of a $100,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. The case is that of Heidi Childs and David Metzler , who were dating sophomores at Virginia Tech when they were shot to death...

A Texas Dad Still Wants to Know: Who Killed His Boy?

Marshall Stewart has been searching for his son's killers since 1988

(Newser) - "For thirty-five f—ing years, my brain's been turning over all these questions," says Sean Stewart. Questions like why the bodies of his 16-year-old brother, Shane, and Sally McNelly, 18, were left in the brush along a rough dirt path leading to a reservoir outside San Angelo...

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...

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...

63 Years After Girl Was Killed, a New Sketch of Suspect

Teen's sister, who was with her when she was abducted, helped to create it

(Newser) - On the night of November 13, 1960, Ohio 14-year-old Nancy Eagleson was walking home from the movies with her 5-year-old sister, Sheryl, when a man drove up to the pair, asking them if they needed a ride home before forcing Nancy into the car and pushing Sheryl aside. Nancy was...

AI Study Shows What Phrasing Can Tank Solving Rape Crimes

An analysis of police reports found biased language led to more convictions

(Newser) - While AI is often in the news for how it might destroy humankind (or at the very least, take our jobs), it also has potential for good, like helping solve crimes. Per Cleveland.com , a professor published two articles in the Journal of Criminal Justice that demonstrate how she used...

Multiple People Now 'on the Radar' in JonBenet Case
Multiple People Now 'on the
Radar' in JonBenet Case
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 30, 2023 6:30 AM CDT

Multiple People Now 'on the Radar' in JonBenet Case

Cops in Colorado say they're looking into 'new persons of interest' in 1996 murder of 6-year-old

(Newser) - It's been 27 years since 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered over the Christmas holiday in her Colorado home, with most of the leads on who killed her having gone cold over time. Now, however, Boulder police suggest they may be making advances on that front. "There are...

Murder of JonBenet Ramsey to Get a Fresh Look

Colorado Bureau of Investigation team to take up the cold case in 2023

(Newser) - The Colorado Bureau of Investigation will take a fresh look at the unsolved murder of JonBenet Ramsey next year. The CBI's Cold Case Review Team—a group of "investigative, analytical, and forensic experts from across the state" who meet two to four times a year—will take up...

Rate of Unsolved Murders Has 'Never Been This Bad'

Almost half of US murders now going unsolved

(Newser) - Relatives of murder victims in the US are less likely than ever to see their loved one's killer face justice. According to FBI data, the "clearance rate"—the proportion of murder cases solved or otherwise closed per year—for homicides nationwide has fallen to a record low...

Victim of 'Happy Face Killer' Identified, 29 Years Later

Patricia Skiple was found dead in 1993

(Newser) - A victim of the Happy Face Killer has been identified nearly 30 years after her body was left near a California highway, authorities said Monday. Patricia Skiple of Colton, Ore., had been known only as “Blue Pacheco" for the color of her clothing until genetic genealogy was used to...

He Recalled a Story His Dad Told Him, Helped Solved Case

Sheriff's office says the 1972 Durham case is now closed

(Newser) - A crack in the decades-old case came in 2019. Shane Birt agreed to be interviewed for a book on notorious Georgia crimes, including a case his father had participated in, reports the Watauga Democrat . He recounted a story his father, Billy Sunday Birt, had told him during a prison visit:...

His Parents' Deaths Unsolved, Son Flags 'Eerily Similar' Case
His Parents' Deaths Unsolved,
Son Flags 'Eerily Similar' Case
in case you missed it
Feb 5, 2022 4:25 PM CST

His Parents' Deaths Unsolved, Son Flags 'Eerily Similar' Case

John and Joyce Sheridan were found dead in 2014

(Newser) - John and Joyce Sheridan's children didn't buy the official explanation of their deaths. The couple of 47 years were found dead in the burning master bedroom of their New Jersey home early on Sept. 28, 2014. It was ruled a murder-suicide, with the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office...

$150K Reward Offered in Lake Tahoe Killing

Shooter hid in home for 4 hours, police say

(Newser) - The daughter of a Lake Tahoe, Calif., man shot to death in a June home invasion is offering 150,000 reasons for someone to come forward about the crime, FOX 40 reports. A man shown on surveillance video sneaked into the home of Robert Spohr and Wendy Wood, hid until...

1963 Killing May Be Solved— but Suspect May Not Be Alive

Authorities have been searching for months with no luck

(Newser) - Margaret "Peggy" Beck was serving as a counselor for the first time at a Girl Scout camp in Colorado on the night of Aug. 18, 1963, when her tent mate got sick and went to the infirmary for the rest of the evening. So Beck, 16, was alone in...

After Suicide, Police Seek Connection to Murder of 2 Girls

Paul Etter lived near where Indiana teens were kidnapped

(Newser) - Police have a new suspect in the 2017 murder of two 13-year-old girls in Indiana—but they're never going to be able to question him. Paul Etter, 55, killed himself June 27 after an hours-long standoff with police in Boone County, the Lafayette Journal & Courier reports. He lived...

Algorithm Finds 51 Eerily Similar Chicago Murders

'It just screams serial killer'

(Newser) - The bodies turned up in some of Chicago's most derelict places: alleys, abandoned buildings, weed-choked lots, and garbage containers, per the AP . The victims were mostly black women who had been strangled or suffocated. Authorities believed many were prostitutes or drug addicts or both. There was evidence of sexual...

Public Urged to Keep Providing Tips in Killing of 2 Girls

Indiana murders not a cold case, police say

(Newser) - Indiana authorities urged the public Wednesday to keep passing on tips in the slayings of two teenage girls killed during a hike , saying on the 2-year anniversary of the crime that the next tip could help solve the case. Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, vanished on Feb. 13,...

Informant's Reference to 'GH' May Be Black Dahlia Clue

Steve Hodel says initials refer to his physician father, who he thinks is the legendary killer

(Newser) - A retired Los Angeles detective who's long claimed to have solved one of the most vile murders in American history says he has new evidence pointing the finger squarely at … his father. Steve Hodel has spent decades researching the 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, dubbed the...

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