tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61073994857631699482024-03-13T06:21:25.696-04:00Criminal MisconductA True Crime Blog of People Behaving BadlyLori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-4045078070251899142023-12-23T16:51:00.002-05:002023-12-24T09:01:19.480-05:00Barbara Jane Mackle: The Real 83 Hours Til Dawn Story Photo sourceA Christmastime AbductionIf you lived in Florida in 1968, you knew who the Mackle family was. The Mackle Company (soon to be Deltona), run by brothers Frank, Elliott, and Robert, began building large retirement-oriented communities in rural areas of the state in 1955. The brothers had noticed that Florida had become a popular vacation destination and rightly assumed Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-57295551093835742862023-02-11T16:03:00.002-05:002023-02-11T16:03:21.074-05:00Tom Neal: Killer Actor A publicity photo of Tom Neal early in his career (photo source)"Fate or some mysterious force can put the finger on you or me for no reason at all." - Tom Neal as Al Roberts in Detour (1945).From the moment of his birth in January of 1914, Tom Neal seemed destined for the fame he craved most of his life; his great uncle was the noted actor and theater manager John Drew. Neal was Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-64868955038295134032023-01-10T09:20:00.000-05:002023-01-10T09:20:03.734-05:00The Shooting of Maria Marshall: Greed, Corruption and Murder in New Jersey Maria Marshall (photo source)The 1980s were a decade of wealth and excess and Toms River, New Jersey personified all of that in its forty or so miles of land. The Ocean County Mall, opened in 1976, became Toms River's most popular recreational spot, where shopping was king. Once considered a Memorial Day through Labor Day vacation spot for New Yorkers, Philadelphians, and those Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-3235166374770391392022-04-02T14:27:00.004-04:002022-04-02T14:27:59.380-04:00Girl 27: The Brutal Assault of Patricia Douglas An MGM Extra Makes Rape a Federal CasePatricia Douglas (photo source)I wasn't trying to get anything. I just wanted someone to believe me. - Patricia DouglasHollywood and MGMLocated at 8439 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip in trendy West Hollywood, the Hacienda Park Apartments was home to many Hollywood notables of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Built in 1927 as luxury Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-7441341275872987672021-12-16T14:49:00.002-05:002021-12-16T14:49:25.136-05:00The Murder of Mia ZapataThe Killing of the Lead Singer of the Punk Rock Band The Gits Goes Cold For a Decade Before Justice is ServedMia performing (photo source)"Mia Zapata was an extraordinary human being. She was a beloved friend, a gifted songwriter, musician, visual artist and performer. . . . We prefer to remember her friendship, talent, humor, and the incredible art and music she left to the world." -Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-20950757500739141912021-11-29T10:41:00.003-05:002021-11-29T10:54:03.958-05:00The Texas Cadet MurderVictim Adrianne Jones (photo source) "There are not any winners in this case."Judge Joe DragoThe field (photo source) The Body in the FieldIt was around 7 a.m. on the morning of Monday, December 4, 1995, just light outside, when Gary Foster left his home, headed to a row of mailboxes to deposit an envelope before starting his day. Foster was a farmer and made daily checks on the Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-76799580804994579912021-10-25T19:03:00.005-04:002021-10-25T20:54:14.907-04:00Gay Gibson: Murder on the High Seas The Disappearance of a Young Actress Aboard an Ocean Liner Leads to One of Britain's Most Sensational TrialsActress Gay Gibson (photo source) It was around 2:58 a.m. on Saturday, October 18, 1947 when Frederick Steer, a duty watchman for Union-Castle Line ship Durban Castle, was awakened by a summons from cabin 126, a first-class cabin on the B deck. Upon arriving at the cabin, Steer Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-17220050776861176512021-10-07T18:42:00.000-04:002021-10-07T18:42:38.839-04:00Murder in Little WashingtonCould a Vicious Attack and the Murder of a North Carolina Businessman Lead Back to Dungeons and Dragons? Lieth Von Stein around the time of his murder (photo source)The CrimeIt was 4:24 a.m. on Monday, July 25, 1988 when the call came in to North Carolina's Beaufort County Law Enforcement Center. It had been a slow night, with dispatcher Michelle Sparrow reading a Stephen King novel Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-47065441159075196462021-09-21T17:11:00.004-04:002021-09-21T20:31:36.718-04:00Two Officers Down in El Segundo: The Cold Case Murders of Richard Phillips and Milton Curtis Fingerprints and a Signature Crack a 45 Year Old Case It was Sunday night, July 21, 1957 in Hawthorne, California. Bob Dewar was 17 years old and had attended a summer party with three friends earlier in the evening. It was before midnight when the quartet, consisting of two boys and two girls, decided to make a stop at the local Lover's Lane on Van Ness Avenue. AfterLori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-1726973042746459732021-09-04T18:51:00.003-04:002021-09-04T18:51:28.939-04:00The Science of DNA: Roger Keith Coleman and Wanda McCoyPost-Execution DNA Testing Answers the Question of Innocence or Guilt in a Vicious Rape-Murder Time's May 18, 1992 issue with Roger Coleman (photo source) "We who seek the truth, especially in criminal justice matters, must live or die by the sword of DNA." - Jim McCloskey
In its May 18, 1992 issue, Time magazine put a photograph of Virginia inmate Roger Keith Coleman on Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-88984185400374713202021-08-08T20:47:00.002-04:002021-08-08T20:47:36.551-04:00The Murder of Suzanne Marie CollinsThe Two-Decade Fight for Justice for a Murdered MarineLance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins (photo source)SuzanneIt was Thursday, July 11, 1985 in Millington, Tennessee, a city roughly 15 square miles large, less than ten miles outside of Memphis and home to Memphis Naval Air Station (since renamed Naval Support Activity Mid-South). As a major training center for both the Navy and the Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-73334839387223530842021-07-23T14:09:00.002-04:002021-07-23T14:09:36.301-04:00Jack the Ripper's LondonHow London's Socioeconomic and Industrial Changes Led to the Birth of England's Most Infamous Serial KillerCommercial Street in Whitechapel, late 1800s (photo source)When Alexandrina Victoria ascended to the throne of England in June of 1837, London was the largest city in the world, boasting not only the largest port (an honor held for about a decade), but the heart of global finance, tradeLori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-61678366391455797172021-07-03T11:50:00.003-04:002021-07-03T12:06:57.670-04:00Lisa Montgomery and the Murder of Bobbie Jo StinnettDid a Lifetime of Torture and Abuse Lead Lisa Montgomery to Slaughter Bobbie Jo Stinnett and Steal Her Unborn Child or Was Lisa Just Evil? Bobbie Jo Stinnett (photo source)Bobbie Jo In December of 2004, Skidmore, Missouri was a quiet farm town south of Omaha and north of Kansas City, with its less than 300 residents working mostly in farming and in nearby factories. Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-63046402685682560302021-06-20T13:47:00.001-04:002021-06-20T14:02:24.111-04:00William Heirens: The Man Known as The Lipstick KillerWas the teenager guilty of three heinous murders or did he spend his life in prison for crimes which he did not commit? (Photo source) ChicagoChicago in the 1940s was a juxtaposition of poverty and prosperity, security and crime, and optimism and pessimism. The city was segregated, with blacks and whites living in separate neighborhoods; the black middle class lived Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-54455450452267328032021-05-30T20:11:00.002-04:002021-05-30T20:30:40.356-04:00Louis Nava: Abducted and Killed in Broad Daylight(Photo source)The Assassination of an Atlanta-Area Teenager Leads to His Killer's Controversial Claims of Mental ImpairmentJune 6, 1998Louis Nava was sixteen years old in the summer of 1998, a member of the Dunwoody (Georgia) Takedown Club, captain of his Dunwoody High School wrestling team, and the second child and second of three sons in a family of four children. In addition to wrestlingLori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-18047592269739809982021-05-11T19:01:00.000-04:002021-05-11T19:01:18.335-04:00The Saga of Audrey Marie Hilley: The Black Widow of Alabama Marie Hilley at the Atlanta airport, January 20, 1983 (photo source)The End at the BeginningThursday, February 26, 1987 had been a nasty weather day in Anniston, Alabama. It had started raining on Saturday the 21st, raining solidly through Tuesday, leaving everything soggy and bitterly cold. The rain had picked up again that Thursday, accompanied by gusty winds that blew as hardLori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-70402617472867274112021-05-04T16:46:00.004-04:002021-05-05T08:03:48.391-04:00The Rape That Never Was: Gary Dotson and Cathleen Crowell WebbCathleen Crowell Webb and Gary Dotson in 1985 (photo source)The True Story Behind the First Person Exonerated by DNAIt was Saturday, July 9, 1977, shortly before 11 p.m. A Homewood, Illinois police officer was making his normal patrol rounds when he happened upon a teenage girl standing beside a road located not far from a shopping mall. The girl, sixteen-year-old Cathleen Crowell, Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-82636688285245183062021-04-23T08:59:00.003-04:002021-04-23T08:59:55.733-04:00The Crimes of Patricia Columbo: The True Story of Illinois' Longest-Serving Female Inmate (photo source)A Family Is Annihilated It was Thursday, May 6, 1976 when the maroon 1972 Thunderbird was spotted parked at 140 South Whipple in west Chicago. The officer responding to the suspicious vehicle report arrived around two o'clock and noted that the car had an Elk Grove Village sticker in the front window. There were no hubcaps, the right front window had been Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-1861619751422176302021-04-18T20:09:00.008-04:002021-04-19T07:43:28.896-04:00The Barbeque Murders of California Jim and Naomi Olive's Disappearance Leads to a Gruesome DiscoveryMarlene Olive, 1975 (photo source)No one stopsto step into my lifeand those in it have long agofallen asleep.I have been empty for so long.- Marlene Olive's poetryEarly on the morning of Sunday, June 22, 1975, a firefighter found a smoldering flame in a barbeque pit at China Camp State Park in Marin County, California. &Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-35228008219989162622021-04-06T15:04:00.008-04:002023-03-01T16:26:32.024-05:00Keith Harward and The Bite Mark Case of Newport NewsFlawed Forensic Science Leads to a 33-Year-Long Wrongful Incarceration Keith as a sailor (photo source)Newport NewsLying on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula and on the northern shore of the James River, Newport News is the fifth most populous city in Virginia. It's nearly 120 square miles, which includes 50 square miles of water, is divided into segments: Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-38211222284676218912021-03-25T14:08:00.007-04:002023-03-05T07:35:21.945-05:00Dr. Debora Green: An Estranged Wife's Fury Becomes a Mother's Ultimate BetrayalKate, Tim and Kelly Farrar, 1989 (photo source) The FireIt was shortly after midnight on Tuesday, October 24, 1995 when Drs. John and Mary Forman were awakened from their sleep by their dog's frantic barking. Their doorbell was ringing and someone was knocking on their side door. After urging from Mary, John woke up and went downstairs to investigate. Still half-asleep, he Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-39699907220778972802021-03-08T19:21:00.041-05:002023-03-07T15:41:37.952-05:00The Murder of Actor Sal Mineo Sal (photo: Fanpop.com)The EndIn the 1970s, West Hollywood was an enclave for those working in the movie industry, less expensive than Beverly Hills and Benedict Canyon, dotted with the irony of clubs and churches and mid-rent apartments. One such apartment building was located at 8567 Holloway Drive, just off Sunset Boulevard and the famed Sunset Strip. It was stucco withLori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-26884963866154361562021-02-19T16:22:00.001-05:002021-02-19T16:22:50.371-05:00The Disappearance of Jami Hagel Sherer Jami (photo source: imdb)JamiJami Hagel was a pretty, outgoing 22-year old in 1986 when she first met Steven Sherer. Unfailingly happy and never moody, the only daughter of a family with three sons, she had been a feisty tomboy in her childhood and teens who had loved horses, baseball and climbing trees and was fearless. She delighted in her younger twin brothers and had a very Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-62046966042765114732021-02-16T16:30:00.001-05:002021-02-16T16:30:16.399-05:00The Assassination of Sara Tokars Sara Tokars with her sons, Ricky and Mike (photo source: Atlanta Magazine)The MurderIt was Thanksgiving weekend, 1992. Sunday night, November 29, was a quiet one in the Marietta neighborhood of Kings Cove, which housed comfortable, upscale homes that ranged from twenty years old to new. It was not long after 10 p.m. when one of the homeowners heard a knocking at his front door Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6107399485763169948.post-83049976975421406782021-02-10T14:41:00.000-05:002021-02-10T14:41:15.496-05:00Mark Winger: From Hero Husband To Murder SuspectDonnah and Mark (photo source: CBS News)The End of the Dream When Donnah Brown married Mark Winger in 1989, it seemed the beginning of a fairy tale. Mark was a nuclear engineer for the state of Illinois making $72,000 a year (over $150,000 in 2020 coin) and Donnah worked as an operating room technician. The only thing that appeared to be missing was a family. When Donnah Lori Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916838797379853699noreply@blogger.com0