Regional Murder Mysteries

[sdreid]

Thanks Matt - Well done

[sdreid]

I will be surprised if it's the uncle since the murder went far beyond a crime of passion but I guess we'll know soon.

[sdreid]

I suppose he could have been laying a false trail.

[sdreid]

I don't see much about this missing man, Williams Briggs, on the internet other than basically a repeat of what is on the Wiki.

The missing man's full name was William Thomas Briggs.

[sdreid]

The Wiki article said Williams but I don't see that in other accounts.

[sdreid]

Since I think we can consider the Trick-or-Treat murders just solved, I'll add a replacement.

X -- In Normal, Illinois on August 28 of 1993, Jennifer Lockmiller was found murdered in her apartment. The co-ed had been strangled with an electrical cord and stabbed with scissors. Alan Beaman, her former boyfriend, was convicted of the slaying. After 13 years in prison, the guilty verdict was thrown out by a higher court and the State quickly dropped the charges. The case remains unsolved. Interestingly, one of Beaman's biggest champions was Jennifer's mother who always thought he was innocent. Some believe that the original verdict was due to the defendant's perceived cocky attitude.

Alan Beaman was declared legally innocent by a judge today.

[sdreid]

I expect that he will seek some sort of damages/reparations now.

[sdreid]

Carol Rofstad, 21, was found mortally beaten outside her sorority house in Normal, Illinois on December 23 of 1975. The Illinois State University student died the next day. A piece of railroad tie discovered near her was the suspected murder weapon. Two young white men, one carrying some kind of club, were seen in the area on the evening of the 22nd, the likely time of the attack. Most of the students had already left for the Christmas break but Carol, who was from a Chicago suburb, delayed her trip home because she was working at a store and was helping them make it through the last busy shopping days. The murder is unsolved.

I drove past the Rofstad murder scene a few weeks ago and it appears that the building at the address is still there although I didn't see any indication that it is still a sorority house.

[RivkahChaya]

I don't think many honestly believe that Wayne Williams murdered all the victims assigned to the Atlanta Child Killer.

Except that there were no more murders after he was arrested.

Now, it's possible that he didn't commit every single murder considered part of the "Atlanta Child Murders," but at the time, Atlanta had the highest per capita murder rate in the US, higher than NYC, or Miami. If I had to guess, I would say that the few teenage girls included in the "child murder" case were not Williams' victims, but I won't say for certain they weren't, either, because apparently motiveless murders and disappearances of children of both genders came to a screeching halt after his arrest. I will say that I think he absolutely did do the murders he was convicted of, which was only two or three of them-- the ones where there was fiber evidence, and where his car was seen driving away from a body dump.

Andrew Gable missed one PA mystery: the boy in the box. In the 1950s, a boy about 4 years old was found naked in a box that had one contained a crib or bassinet (IIRC, the latter). He'd been beaten to death, so the ME called it willful murder, but not only was there never an arrest, the boy was never identified.

A college student named Lauren Spierer went missing two years ago in the town where I used to live, and where DH and I went to college. There's security footage of her heading apparently home at 4am, but she didn't make it. The last person known to be with her was not only drunk, but in a fight with someone, and claims to have no memory of the night. He got punched pretty hard in the head (obvious bruising) although his story has changed, and it's suspicious. Also, her shoes were in his apartment. Her parents don't think she would have walked home barefoot.

She'd been drinking at a bar with a fake ID, and also getting high, apparently with codeine, according to some friends who were with her in the bar, but claim not to have seen her after about midnight (when the security footage shows she was alive).

She was really tiny, and had a heart condition called long QT syndrome, for which she took medication. When she first turned up missing, there was a huge search for her, because she could have passed out just about anywhere.

After dragging rivers, and searching landfills with cadaver dogs, the police concluded that someone is responsible for concealing her-- either that, or she disappeared intentionally, but she was 20, not in debt, or in any kind of trouble, and left money behind, so the idea that she disappeared intentionally wasn't pursued.

Her parents think that she died from drinking, doing drugs, and her heart condition, and because her friends who were with her didn't want to be arrested for underage drinking, trafficking in drugs, or even murder for providing her with drugs, they hid the body. The parents are bringing a wrongful death suit against a couple of the friends, because they are frustrated with the police not being able to charge them with anything.

I think the parents are hoping to win a judgment, and they'll try to use dismissing it to bargain a confession out of them-- what they really want is their daughter's body.

[RivkahChaya]

Alan Beaman was declared legally innocent by a judge today.

Do you mean, "not guilty," or do you mean he got a judgment of factual innocence?

[sdreid]

Do you mean, "not guilty," or do you mean he got a judgment of factual innocence?

Judged factually innocent is my understanding.

[RivkahChaya]

That's impressive, because it's hard even to get a hearing for that.

[sdreid]

Another case around here was the murder of Matthew A. Tuning who was found beaten to death on his bed in his Springfield, IL home. He was missed when failed to pick up his 8 y/o son from school. His truck was missing but was found the same day. Twelve years later the case is unresolved.

[Andrew Gable]

Andrew Gable missed one PA mystery: the boy in the box. In the 1950s, a boy about 4 years old was found naked in a box that had one contained a crib or bassinet (IIRC, the latter). He'd been beaten to death, so the ME called it willful murder, but not only was there never an arrest, the boy was never identified.

I don't know *how* I forgot it, it's one of the bigger unsolved crimes in the state, but somehow I did. I think it was a bassinet box. I seem to recall that police were attempting to trace a blanket the body was wrapped in; I think they were linking it to a group home nearby, I guess thinking maybe the boy's killer came from there, but I don't recall anything concrete coming of that.

Documentation of some old unsolved murders is woefully inadequate, I assume not just here but probably worldwide, which is why I'm indebted for the posting of those articles on the Ritterson killing. A ton of information I hadn't known before (I didn't know much more than that it happened, really). Most of the ones I mentioned fall into that category; the bones discovered in York, as far as I know, don't receive more than a handful of newspaper articles addressing them. And the David Shearer killing I mentioned is woefully underdocumented; the murder was mentioned twice (once when the body was found, and then when it was buried).

[sdreid]

Regarding PA, for me it would also be the New Castle Murder Swamp although many try to tie it to the Cleveland Torso Case.