murder

Aaron Fraser was digging in the backyard of his home in Jacksonville, Florida when he made a gruesome discovery – human bones. This week he found out they were the skull and bones of his mother, Bonnie Haim, who had gone missing 25 years earlier. Prosecutors say the discovery of the bones helps put an end to a decades-old mystery. In 1993, when Aaron was just three-years-old, his mother Bonnie Haim and her husband Michael had been having marital problems. Bonnie disappeared on January 6 and police were called to investigate. Her husband told police she had left the home after a fight and had not returned. At the time, Michael told reporters: “Basically she just wasn't happy and she wanted to leave - and I couldn't

All the world’s a stage – and our platform grew more bizarre, and dangerous, this week. Convicted mob hit-man Salvatore “Sammy The Bull” Gravano has been released from prison on parole. In 1989, the 72-year-old mobster confessed to 19 murders (including his brother-in-law) but avoided death row after taking a generous plea deal which brought down his former boss, John Gotti. His plea allowed only 5 years behind bars (of which he served one) but in 2000, he was arrested again for running a large organized drug distribution ring and sentenced to 20 years in the slammer. He was released on September 18, 2017. Brooklyn Federal Judge Allyne Ross denied a bid by Gravano to receive an early release two years ago because of the 'staggering

On November 7, 1969, 26-year-old Sister Catherine Cesnik vanished. Her body was found a few months later, discarded unceremoniously in a garbage dump. The investigation into her disappearance and death revealed rampant abuse at her place of employment, Keough High School, a prominent Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. Many believe a quiet cover-up orchestrated by the Catholic Church and local Baltimore officials allowed Sister Cesnik’s murderers to remain free. The disappearance of Sister Catherine Cesnik Sister Cesnik was a teacher at Archbishop Keough High School, an all-girls Catholic school located at 120 Caton Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland (the school later merged with Seton High School and is now known as Seton Keough High School). Only a month or so prior to her disappearance, Sister Cesnik had inexplicably

Charles Manson and the Manson Family murders Huddled in Charles (Charlie) Manson’s commune in an abandoned movie set in the California desert,  the Manson Family lived under the belief that an apocalyptic race war called “Helter Skelter” was destined to reap impending doom on the world while bequeathing an enormous power base to the Manson Family. In order to precipitate the war, the Manson Family committed nine murders over four locations during a five-week period in the summer of 69. The events ended the Decade of Love and introduced the world to a real-life monstrosity that prior to, Americans thought only existed in their worst dreams. Who was Charles Manson? Charles Manson’s childhood is difficult to discern because, as with much of Manson’s narratives, the story changed often. He

It has been called one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in American history. The wrongful conviction and subsequent prison release of Steven Avery in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, spurned nationwide news, television interviews, and a Netflix documentary (Making a Murderer). Upon his release from prison his father warned him, “Manitowoc County’s not done with you. They are not even close to being done with you.” Less than two years later, his father’s words would ring true when Avery, along with his nephew Brendan Dassey, was again accused of a heinous crime – this time the abduction, sexual assault, and murder of local photographer, Teresa Halbach. The Avery’s – trying to fit a square peg into a round hole Manitowoc County, Wisconsin is a typical American farming community, hardworking,

Police respond to reports of gunshots in a wealthy Washington neighborhood On July 10, 2016 at 4:20 AM, Washington police officers responded to reports of gun shots in the affluent Bloomingdale neighborhood. Upon arriving at the 2100 block of Flagler Place, near Howard University on the northwest outskirts of downtown Washington D.C., they find a bleeding 27-year-old Seth Conrad Rich.  Seth had been walking home and talking to his girlfriend on the phone when he was shot multiple times. Near death, he was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries. The attack occurred less than a block from Seth’s home. His body was covered in bruises indicating he had been beaten. Police say there are no suspects, no motive, and no witnesses to

He was originally known by two names, the East Area Rapist (EAR) and the Original Night Stalker (ONS).  Once police realized the two were one and the same person, the Golden State Killer moniker took hold (often referred to as EAR/ONS or EARONS by case researchers). Altogether, he is believed to have burglarized more than 120 California homes, raped between 45-50 women, and slain 10-12 people during the years between 1976 and 1986. Today, police are no closer to capturing the man who has eluded them for more than four decades. The first attack defines a serial rapist’s modus operandi (June 1976) The East Area Rapist's first known attack occurred on a Friday, June 18, 1976. The assailant snuck into the Paseo Drive home of a 23-year-old

It’s common knowledge that Colombian jails are among the most crowded and violent in Latin America. They accommodate everyone from street thieves to violent leftist guerrillas and tragedies inside their walls are an everyday occurrence. One of the most dangerous prisons in the world is the La Modelo jail in the capital city of Bogota. This week Reuters reported that the dismembered remains of at least 100 prisoners and visitors have been found stuffed inside the prison’s drain pipes. It appears as if word leaked that bodies were being stuffed inside the pipes at La Modelo, which houses drug traffickers, Marxist rebels and paramilitaries. Investigators searched the pipes, and the pipes of jails in the cities of Popayan, Bucaramanga and Barranquilla, and found the butchered remains

The Clearwater Scientology invasion In 1975, under the direction of L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology began a top secret operation codenamed Project Normandy with the objective to “establish and control” a U.S. city and county. The target was Clearwater, Florida. The mayor of Clearwater at the time, went so far as to call it “the occupation of Clearwater”. Today the Scientology headquarters are firmly situated in downtown Clearwater, located just northwest of Tampa Bay, lying on the west coast of Florida. According to the St. Petersburg Times, the Church owns some 67+ buildings over ten square miles including their mammoth headquarters (referred to as the “Flag Land Base”), motels, training centers, offices, and “religious retreats”. The value of their real-estate holdings in Clearwater is believed to be

Julia Martha Thomas hires Kate Webster as a maid Dubbed the “Barnes Mystery” or the “Richmond Murder”, the case became one of the most notorious crimes in the late 19th-century Britain. Julia Martha Thomas, a widow in her 50s who lived in Richmond in southwest London, was murdered on March 2, 1879 by her maid, Kate Webster, a 30-year-old Irishwoman with a long history of criminal activities. Webster disposed of the body by dismembering it, boiling the flesh off the bones, and throwing most of the remains into the River Thames. The boiled fat from the body however, she retained for her own devious use. In 1879, Julia Martha Thomas lived alone in a small cottage at 2 Mayfield Cottages on Park Road in Richmond, just outside

It’s not difficult to see that Robert (Bob) Durst is different. Born April 12, 1943 in New York City, the oldest of four children, he is the son of New York City real-estate moguls Seymour and Bernice Durst and brother of commercial developer Douglas Durst of the Durst Organization – and an heir to the enormous Durst skyscraper fortune. The first thing you will notice about Bob Durst is his coal black eyes which give him an unusual, otherworldly appearance. Throw in the occasional stutters, a habit of mumbling to himself, frequent squinting and blinking of his eyes, and intermittent references to himself as “we” and it becomes near impossible to see him as anything but different. His unusual physical and behavioral quirks are compounded by

First victim discovered – police track down suspected serial killer His first alleged victim was 19-year-old Afrika Hardy (aka Octavia), a known prostitute in Hammond, Indiana who advertised her services on the Illinois section of Backpage.com. “Are you ready to have some real FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am 5'7 and 165 pounds. I am very friendly but I DON'T TAKE NO STUFF NEITHER. I Love Mature Men.” On October 17, 2014, a female friend helped Afrika arrange a meeting with 43-year-old Darren Deon Vann at a Motel 6 at 3840 179th Street in Hammond, Indiana. Soon thereafter, the friend began receiving “suspicious text messages” from Afrika’s phone. Alarmed and concerned for Afrika’s safey, she called a male friend who went to the Motel 6 to check on her. There, at around 9:30

Two 12-year-old Waukesha, Wisconsin girls have been arrested after a vicious knife attack against a 12-year-old friend. The victim was stabbed 19 times but thankfully, is expected to recover from her wounds (one wound missed a major artery near her heart by a millimeter). Officials believe the pair spent several months planning their May 31, 2014 attack and that they believed by killing the young girl, they would prove to Slenderman that they were “worthy” and gain favor from the mysterious demonic entity. Slenderman is a tall, faceless, grotesquely skinny figure rumored to capture and shuffle kids off in the night (see here for more on Slenderman). One of the girls told investigators they decided to kill their friend so they could become “proxies” of the

Could Jason Simpson be guilty of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman? The book titled “O.J. is innocent and I can prove it” by private investigator William C. Dear, suggests that O.J. may indeed be innocent for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman (see full OJ Simpson murders story here). In the book, Dear suggests that the real murderer is O.J. Simpson’s son, Jason Simpson, who was 24-years-old at the time. Dear proposes that O.J. did visit the crime scene shortly after the two victims were murdered but rather than committing the crimes himself, merely initiated a series of actions to help cover up the crime and protect his son.  It's an interesting theory - but does it bear merit in the case against

The mysterious death of Elisa Lam In February 2013, after hotel residents complained of funny-tasting, discolored water and poor water pressure, 21-year-old Elisa Lam, a student from Vancouver, Canada, was found dead inside the Cecil Hotel’s rooftop water tank in Los Angeles. The coroner’s finding was surprising to many – accidental death by drowning – despite the fact that no drugs nor alcohol were found during the autopsy of Lam's body and Elisa showed no previous signs of depression or angst. Even more disturbing, an elevator surveillance tape recorded Elisa’s behavior just moments before her death. The four-minute video shows Lam pressing all of the elevator buttons, talking to an invisible entity, frightfully hiding in the elevator’s corner, and making a series of bizarre arm and