Regional Murder Mysteries

[sdreid]

5 -- On November 26 of 1955, 8-year-old Janice May vanished in Canton, IL. She was soon found beside a set of railroad tracks. The little girl, who died a short time later, had been raped and beaten with a piece of broken concrete. A cab driver, named Lloyd Miller, inexplicably left town right after the crime and was eventually arrested. Police also found a pair of red stained undershorts, reportedly belonging to Miller. He was convicted of the slaying and sentenced to the electric chair. After eleven years on death row and ten execution dates, the "bloody" boxers were finally tested and the stains were found to be paint. He was released and had no further trouble with the law but his innocence is still the subject of debate. Legally, the murder is still a mystery.

There have been at least two books written about this case, Tenth Stay at Midnight and Scapegoat Justice.

[sdreid]

6 -- Susan Hendricks, her children, Rebekah, 9, Grace, 7, and Benjamin, 5, were found hacked to death in their Bloomington, IL home on November 9 of 1983. The weapons were an ax and a butcher knife. Her husband, David claimed to be away on a business trip at the time of the murders but this couldn't be proven. He was also shown to be having an affair at the time. It was charged that he'd killed his family because they were in the way of his extramarital activities. Mr. Hendricks was convicted but later won a new trial which ended in an acquittal. Not everyone agreed with that verdict but the case is officially unsolved.

The 1992 book Reasonable Doubt is about this case.

[sdreid]

2 -- As he approached his home in Peoria, IL on March 10 of 1947, George McNear, the president of the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad, is cut down by a shot gun. He was walking back from attending a Bradley University basketball game. His company was embroiled in a bitter multi-year strike in which both sides had resorted to goon tactics. A couple of weeks previous, two strikers had been killed in a picket line incident. It was one of the few strikes that occurred during World War Two with the main issue involving the continued employment of steam locomotive firemen even though they were no longer needed on the new diesels. The murder was never solved.

Mr. McNear's private railroad car is being moved to the Wheels O' Time Museum today in what will likely be its final journey.

[belinda]

Who really did this?

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/winchester-murder-trial-fair-or-not/300449.aspx

[sdreid]

Thanks Belinda. What was the inquiry finding in that case?

[sdreid]

Heard lately from Taylor Pensoneau, who wrote the good book Brothers Notorious a few years back about the Shelton brothers. He's about to publish a biography of Charlie Harris that might shed some more light here.

I can't list them all but there are several books about the Shelton Brothers.

[sdreid]

Heard lately from Taylor Pensoneau, who wrote the good book Brothers Notorious a few years back about the Shelton brothers. He's about to publish a biography of Charlie Harris that might shed some more light here.

I see that Pensoneau is now on a book tour with his Harris work.

[sdreid]

I see that Pensoneau is now on a book tour with his Harris work.

His book about Charles "Blackie" Harris is entitled Dapper & Deadly.

[sdreid]

1941 - The Blue Moon Hotel in Coney Island, Brooklyn. A day before he was
to give testimony against the leaders of "Murder Inc.", Abe "Kid Twist" Reles fell out of a twelve story window from the hotel. The police guard said he tried to flee (and there were a few pitiful tied up bed sheets from the window. Most people have assumed differently. Reles, who had been singing against his old associates to save his carcass, is recalled as "the canary who could sing but could not fly!"

I see where gangster son Bobby Spillane just "fell" from a sixth floor window yesterday.

[Rubyretro]

I'm from Brighton, England, originally; we seem to have a tradition of 'Trunk Murders' there en.wikipedia.org/.../Brighton_trunk_murders

[sdreid]

Thanks Ruby-Yes and that group is even globally known unlike the ones in my area.

[ChainzCooper]

We have a regional murder mystery where I'm from in NC. Michael Peterson who allegedly pushed his wife down a flight of stairs. I say allegedly because we all know the owl really did it
Jordan

[sdreid]

Hi Jordan:

Wasn't he suspected of killing another woman the same way several years earlier?

[ChainzCooper]

Hi Jordan:

Wasn't he suspected of killing another woman the same way several years earlier?

Hey, Thanks for your reply I appreciate it.
Yes, there was a period where Peterson lived in Germany (in the 1980's I believe) and a woman he knew was found dead in the same way that his wife was in 2001. This evidence was introduced at his trial. I live in Durham and my parents are friends with the man who was lead prosecutor in this case former District Attorney (now Judge) Jim Hardin. Hes a really nice guy. The most bizarre part of this whole thing is that his neighbor actually believes a wild owl killed her. And no I'm not kidding.
Jordan

[sdreid]

Thanks Jordan. Yes, I believe his trial was featured on Court TV.