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True crime story updates.
By Steve Huff

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Last Entry: October 13, 2008 at 19:54:00

COMMENTS

Posted on October 13, 2008
The comments are gone from this site for now. If/when I go back to updating The True Crime Weblog, I will re-activate them. I did this for practical reasons -- I have to moderate comments at the True Crime Report, and that blog is now just as popular as this one has been in the past, and the comments are more active every day (check this post to see what the True Crime Report is)...

TRUE CRIME REPORT

Posted on August 19, 2008
Okay. If you want to know what I'm up to now, just go here: http://truecrimereport.com/ The reason The True Crime Weblog will be on hiatus for a while? Because I'm blogging crime like it's my job -- elsewhere. Because it is my job, now. Also, TCR has 4 'sister' blogs: Deadline Hollywood DailyTopless RobotJoystick DivisionHeartless DollAnyway -- there are plenty of entries up at the True

Grand Pause: A Letter to Readers of The True Crime Weblog

Posted on July 16, 2008
Dear True Crime Weblog Readers, In classical music, a "Grand Pause" is a particular type of pause within a musical selection. The length of a "G. P." is left to the discretion of the performer or conductor. The music will continue, but depending on the musician's sense of timing, you may think for a moment that everything has stopped...

Guede, Knox, Sollecito May Finally Face Charges in Kercher Murder

Posted on July 12, 2008
UPDATE, 7/14/08 I received a message from Chris Mellas that clarified the "Mr Anonymous" message below. Chris Mellas did not send the message -- that much is clear from the message he did send tonight. He doesn't seem to realize that I sometimes shed a journalistic stance in this blog and express subjective opinions, but overall his message was well-considered and clearly explained some things.

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Missing From Fort Bragg: 2nd Lieutenant Holley Lynn Wimunc

Posted on July 11, 2008
The soldier currently missing from Fort Bragg has been identified as 2nd Lieutentant Holley Lynn Wimunc, age 24. Holley Wimunc was part of Charlie Company and assigned to Fort Bragg's Womack Army Hospital. Wimunc vanished Thursday morning. Her apartment was burned; authorities have determined that the fire was set...

Something is Going On in Fayetteville, NC...

Posted on July 10, 2008
Something strange and disturbing may be afoot in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Either a killer who harkens back to Northern California and the late 60s is truly at work, or a number of men have decided now is the prime time to rid themselves of troublesome women...

The Ramseys Have Been Cleared. Now Shut the Hell Up About It.

Posted on July 09, 2008
I'm not a total idiot. The contingent of people on these here Internetz who believe John, Patsy, and Burke Ramsey conspired 12 years ago to rape, murder, and then conceal little JonBenet -- for that is essentially what most Ramsey-haters seem to think, in a nutshell -- is large, vocal, and relentless...

Hans Reiser Saves Himself From the Absolute Fiery Pit of Hell

Posted on July 08, 2008
Make no mistake about it: Hans Reiser is going to hell. I mean, if you believe in that sort of thing, then the one-time boy genius and innovator in super-duper special computer filing systems is definitely a prime candidate for the worst Satan and his imps can offer...

Cabin 28: The Keddie Murders Movie

Posted on July 04, 2008
First things first: HAPPY 4th OF JULY, Y'ALL! Okay, now that's out of the way. This blog receives a ton of hits from people searching for information about the Keddie Murders. Lately that's been because there was a claim that the movie The Strangers was partly inspired by the massacre in Cabin 28, but I think that was a load of bullshit cooked up by some viral marketing idiot...

The Megan Touma Murder: Look, it ain't the REAL Zodiac

Posted on July 02, 2008
People are free to talk about whatever they want on a message board, but let me make it clear that I reject one idea out-of-hand: the person who killed Spc. Megan Touma sometime around June 17, 2008 in Fayetteville, NC was not the actual Zodiac Killer...

Fugitive Fund Manager A-hole Surrenders

Posted on July 02, 2008
(Note: During my sort-of hiatus I realized one BIG reason why I was just about sick of doing this crime-blogging thing: I have been editing myself way too closely. I don't mean correcting typos, bad grammar, whatever -- I mean not saying what I think...

Not your friendly neighborhood crackhead: Nicholas T. Sheley

Posted on July 01, 2008
Investigators in Missouri and Illinois believe Nicholas T. Sheley, age 28, was on a major killing spree prior to his capture Tuesday night. Both the FBI and the Illinois State Police were offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest...

Bad Headline of the Day: Fox News Implies the Real Zodiac is Back

Posted on July 01, 2008
Previously, on The True Crime Weblog: "Zodiac's Ghost: Letter citing infamous serial killer as inspiration claims kill in N.C." I guess I'm off hiatus, now. It's a little like being Michael Corleone -- every time I think I'm out and ready to do something else, some psycho does something that pulls me back in...

Random Plug for my Random Blog

Posted on June 30, 2008
"Some Questions For Michael Ian Black, Pt. 1." Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting brief Q & A sessions between me and Michael Ian Black in my personal weblog, Random Lunatic News. The link at the top of this message goes to part 1, where I was happy to find that my questions and my prep surprised him...

Zodiac's Ghost: Letter citing infamous serial killer as inspiration claims kill in N.C.

Posted on June 28, 2008
UPDATES AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST. If there was ever a good reason to break my hiatus from updating this blog, this is it. From FayObserver.com: "'I'm killer' of Spc. Touma." A quote from the article -- bold emphasis has been added:A person claiming to be the killer of the pregnant soldier found dead in a motel has written an anonymous letter calling the murder a "master piece" and

Brief Break from Hiatus: Neil Entwistle Guilty, Faces Life in Prison

Posted on June 25, 2008
Neil Entwistle was found guilty today in the shooting deaths of his wife Rachel and baby daughter Lillian. The jury rejected the killer's claim that Rachel committed murder-suicide. Six women and six men took 11 hours to find Entwistle guilty on 2 counts of first-degree murder and firearms charges...

A short break...

Posted on June 17, 2008
I'm going to take a brief summer break from updating this blog. I will still provide commentary for the duration of the Entwistle Case, and you'll be able to find that here. Random Lunatic News will still be updated every day, likely more than once a day...

The Anomaly Report (non-crime post)

Posted on June 13, 2008
Okay, so the other day I wrote this and published it on my tumblelog, Random Lunatic News: "An idea." In that post I said the following: My idea is for a Tumblelog with a design similar to I am Neurotic, with an e-mail address and form for submissions from readers, but ask instead for stories of the strange...

Amber Alert: Angelica Wylie, Stockton, CA

Posted on June 12, 2008
The California Highway Patrol has issued an Amber Alert for Angelica Wylie, age 12. The white, 5'1", brown-haired, brown-eyed girl from Stockton, CA may be with registered sex offender Billy Don Potts, age 71. Potts may have taken Wylie some time around 7 p...

From Huff's Crime Blog: Neil Entwistle... Pimpin'

Posted on June 09, 2008
Michele R. McPhee's book about the Entwistle case, Heartless: The True Story of Neil Entwistle and the Cold Blooded Murder of his Wife and Child, hit bookstores on June 3, 2008. I haven't read the book yet, but I picked it up tonight and plan to read it over the next few weeks...

Not remotely true crime related, just cool

Posted on June 07, 2008
One of my favorite discoveries in recent weeks has been the blog written by actor, screenwriter, comedian and author Michael Ian Black. If you remember The State from MTV in the early 90s, you know who I'm talking about (a number of other performers who started out in The State are now on Reno 911, one of the only shows I make it a point to watch whenever it's on -- Michael's done some guest

Jerome Sydney Barrett Indicted in Trimble Case

Posted on June 06, 2008
Click here see my previous entries about the unsolved murder of Marcia Trimble. Today, Nashville District Attorney Torry Johnson finally announced charges against convicted sexual predator Jerome Sidney Barrett for the murder of the Green Hills school girl on Feb...

From Huff's Crime Blog: Neil Entwistle... Running Cons?

Posted on June 05, 2008
The following was first posted in Huff's Crime Blog on January 24, 2006. I am basically reproducing the post as it has appeared for the last 2.5 years, correcting links that are dead or outdated and only the most glaring spelling or grammar issues. In these entries written when this story was first breaking there will be factual errors, and incorrect speculation: deal with it...

EntwistleMurderTrial.com, Part II

Posted on June 04, 2008
Jury selection is underway in Massachusetts in the murder trial of Briton Neil Entwistle, age 29. I've already mentioned EntwistleMurderTrial.com in a previous entry, but today is the first day both Wendy Murphy and I have provided any commentary. Here's a quote from Ms...

Matthew Gretz Confesses to Murdering Kira Simonian

Posted on June 02, 2008
Matthew Gretz pleaded guilty today to 2nd degree murder. He killed his wife, artist and grad student Kira Simonian. In court on Monday, Gretz said, "I stabbed and intentionally killed my wife." Gretz beat his wife and then stabbed her several times in her neck and chest...

Yet Another D. B. Cooper Suspect: William Pratt "Wolfgang" Gossett

Posted on May 30, 2008
William Pratt "Wolfgang" Gossett died of a stroke on September 1, 2003 in Lincoln City, Oregon. He'd led a long, fascinating life. Gossett had been an expert in military law, a teacher and assistant principal, a private investigator, a corrections officer and then administrator, a radio personality and a vicar general in the Old Catholic diocese of Salt Lake City, Utah...

EntwistleMurderTrial.com

Posted on May 30, 2008
The Metrowest Daily News, based in Framingham, MA, has created a website about the upcoming murder trial of Neil Entwistle: http://www.entwistlemurdertrial.com/ If you click "Bios" at the top of the page once you get to that site, you'll see my mug in the "Experts" section, alongside Framingham defense attorney John LaChance and a very familiar face to anyone who follows true crime stories via

Unsolved: The Keddie Murders

Posted on May 26, 2008
NOTE: In the coming weeks I will be re-visiting some crime stories I've covered on this and other blogs in the past. I will sometimes re-post old entries from old sites with updates, and will write new posts as well. This post is, in a loose way, part of that effort...

Family of five found dead in San Clemente, CA

Posted on May 26, 2008
Five dead bodies were found in a home in a gated community in San Clemente, CA on Sunday. A spokesperson for the local sheriff's dept. indicated that the deaths were likely the result of "foul play." Authorities came to 31 Campanilla to do a welfare check after a relative of the family living there became concerned and called the Orange County Sheriff's Dept...

From Huff's Crime Blog: Rachel, Neil and Lillian

Posted on May 25, 2008
Briton Neil Entwistle, age 29, will soon be on trial for the January 20, 2006 murders of his wife Rachel and their baby girl, Lillian. I'll be commenting regularly on the trial for a Boston-area publication (actually, the news outlet in question is in Framingham)...

The Lost Girl, by Larkin Vonalt

Posted on May 20, 2008
(True Crime Weblog contributor Larkin Vonalt is a writer living in Ohio.) The woman is screaming into the television camera. There are words coming out of her mouth, but all you really hear is rage. Rage, and despair. The pain is writ so large upon her face that even at a distance one cannot help turning away out of respect...

anarchy for beginners: blog by a suicidal pedophile... with a twist UPDATED

Posted on May 19, 2008
Is anarchy for beginners another stunt, like 90 Day Jane, or is Jocelyn for real?On the "about" page, anarchy blogger Jocelyn writes:I?m 24, work in book publishing, and live with one cat in an overpriced studio, in a nice neighborhood in Brooklyn full of hipster delights...

Downtime

Posted on May 18, 2008
I didn't intend to put this blog on a brief hiatus, but it kind of happened anyway. I've been dealing with a health issue (nothing I can't handle) and it's made it difficult for me to do paying work or just plain, everyday blogging. I have been updating my tumblelogs: RandomLunaticNews...

The Murder of Ira Yarmolenko

Posted on May 08, 2008
[A version of the following was first posted to the True Crime Tumblelog. I decided it was more appropriate to this site.] UNC Charlotte student Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko has been found murdered in Mt. Holly, NC. The pretty 20-year-old student's body lay beside the Catawba River, her vehicle close by...

DC Madam: Let's Just Cut the Crap, Shall We?

Posted on May 03, 2008
Deborah Jeane Palfrey probably had every intention of killing herself. She may have actively planned her exit from at least April 15 onwards. In an earlier post I noted arguments for Palfrey having been murdered, and attempted to remain neutral. I can no longer do so...

Does the number of unsolved murders in the White Mountains strike anyone as odd or disproportionate?

Posted on May 02, 2008
A very short post. Here's the link someone raised in a Franconia/North Country topix forum just now. Frankly, I'm overwhelmed. Given the population density and the nature of what most of these people were doing -- you know, like hiking as opposed to gang warfare -- it doesn't seem right to me...

TrueCrimeMagazine.com: What do I do?

Posted on May 02, 2008
All the content that was formerly at CrimeBlog.US -- including comments from readers -- is now at TrueCrimeMagazine.com. There's a couple of extra posts there, made since I began using that URL, detailing a couple of my favorite historic true crime stories, too...

The End of the World, by Larkin Vonalt

Posted on May 02, 2008
(Larkin Vonalt is a writer living in Ohio and until today she was simply a long-time reader of the True Crime Weblog. This well-written contribution is thoughtful, detailed, and tells one of the saddest true crime stories you may ever read. Though her first post here is sad, Larkin's jump from the comments section to a blog post is truly most welcome...

DC Madam Suicide... or not?

Posted on May 01, 2008
In the previous post I took a skeptical view of the so-called Smiley Face Gang, a hypothetical cabal of serial killers supposedly taking out fine young men all over the country by dunking them in local bodies of water. This time I'm not going to give an opinion...

The Smiley Face Killers: An Opinion, Subject to Change

Posted on April 29, 2008
This is an editorial about the so-called "Smiley Face Gang," and the murders they may have committed. So far, I'm not buying it. So far. I get tips regarding crime stories in the news all the time. Recently, I've received a number of e-mails with links to variations on this story: "'Smiley Face Gang' Linked to 40 Murders...

Repeat and fade away: Nashville songwriter accused of murder

Posted on April 28, 2008
Rich Fagan singing on The Nashville Network in the early 90s. If I have biases when it comes to the stories I choose to cover in this blog, one of those biases is in favor of stories from my hometown. Like the following... Nashville, TN -- Police arrested 61-year-old songwriter Richard William Fagan on Sunday for the murder of his manager and roommate, Gaetano Thomas "Tom" Oteri...

Sarah Ellen Procter, Charged with the Murder of Charlotte Whale, 5/28/1888

Posted on April 27, 2008
The Old Bailey, London's main criminal court, has published all court proceedings between 1674 and 1913 online. True crime historians everywhere have begun to salivate as surely as Pavlov's dog drooled at the ring of a bell.I've already taken a "found poetry" approach to a few recent posts in the True Crime Tumblelog...

KingCast says of course the NYC Police were acquitted in the killing of Sean Bell because police almost never do any wrong in America.

Posted on April 25, 2008
Here is the BBC coverage. UPDATE: "I could have been Sean Bell." Exactly. And any one of us could have been Brian Noakes in Corvallis, Liko Kenney in Franconia or Michael Isreal in Hamilton, Ohio. Sometimes we extract some measure of Justice by working together...

The Executioners' Song: Guest post by Seamus McGraw

Posted on April 24, 2008
(Seamus McGraw needs little introduction to most true crime aficionados. Seamus was a prolific contributor to The Crime Library, and he's also written for Radar, SPIN magazine, Playboy, Penthouse and Maxim. Seamus was a greater influence on me than he probably realized when I was a Crime Library contributor...

Bad, bad Becky Bargy

Posted on April 22, 2008
No matter what he was like in life, the chances are pretty good that James Bargy didn't deserve to die the way police say he did. Authorities in Columbia, Tennessee say Bargy, age 29, died from suffocation. Police found Bargy deceased inside his Columbia home on April 19...

Down down down, Kelly Ayotte is going down....

Posted on April 22, 2008
Hey wild man Floyd why were you bustin' caps up in Connie McKenzie's crib? Nice to see that no matter which way Liko looked to run you had him covered with your truck half way out in the street and stuff. You indeed are a pro, what it's as if you've killed 43 people or something...

The short version: Why p. 42 is the crucial weak spot of NH AG Kelly Ayotte's refusal to open a murder investigation on Gregory W. Floyd.

Posted on April 21, 2008
As time goes on certain things come into perspective for you. I have mentioned this issue on several occasions but never put it all together until now. So that "Official Report" that says at p.42 that Floyd was unarmed when Liko Kenney struck McKay with the car is a total lie...

Why I believe NH Attorney General needs to charge Gregory W. Floyd with the murder of Liko Kenney.

Posted on April 20, 2008
(New True Crime Weblog contributor Christopher King is an attorney and civil rights activist. He lives in Nashua, NH. You can learn much more about Christopher by reading his blog: Chris King's 1st Amendment Page. ~ Steve Huff) Not quite one year ago -- on May 11 -- two men died on Route 116 in Franconia, New Hampshire...

The Fall of Carmine Baffa UPDATED

Posted on April 17, 2008
SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF ENTRY. Carmine Edmund Baffa, 52, ran seminars across the country, stalking through starry-eyed crowds hanging on his every word, wearing a headset mic as he instructed others on how they could achieve "life improvement." Baffa was all about "Human Performance Engineering...

The Search For Kaelin Rose Glazier Ends

Posted on April 17, 2008
(New True Crime Weblog contributor Tamar Silverman is a writer and sleuth residing in the Pacific Northwest. ~ Steve Huff) Kaelin Rose Glazier vanished from tiny Ruch, Oregon on November 6th, 1996. The 15-year-old sophomore at South Medford High left a friend's house that Wednesday to go to a church youth function...

New Stuff -- The True Crime Weblog Board and Tumblr

Posted on April 16, 2008
I wanted to introduce readers to some works in progress. It's important that I make it clear that the following two features are experiments and not stuff I've set in stone. There are several reasons I'm calling them experiments at the moment -- one is my own ability to keep up with them, depending on my health and/or professional workload...

The Pauper to Princess "Scam"(?)

Posted on April 13, 2008
(NOTE: Two Web addresses referenced in this story are NOT SAFE FOR WORK.) A home in Central Florida for a so-called "reality show" was raided by law enforcement this weekend. Neighbors around the house in Apopka, Florida had grown suspicious. Eight women living in the residence were ostensibly there to go from Pauper to Princess, but to people living nearby it looked like the women were

Wanna Blog About Crime?

Posted on April 11, 2008
(NOTE, 4/11/08: I'm going to keep this post at the top of the blog's main page for a few days. Scroll down to see any new entries.) For a lot of reasons, most of them positive, I would like to have some co-bloggers on this site. There are already a few other folks listed as authors for The True Crime Weblog, but they are friends who have access if they need it, and they all have their own fish

Because I'm a glutton for punishment: Open Thread Redux, The Meredith Kercher Murder

Posted on April 11, 2008
Well, since the previous thread is up to an astonishing 4,354 comments and counting, I figured it was time to let you intrepid folks who are bound to discuss the murder of Meredith Kercher last November in Perugia, Italy have a new open thread. Here you can bicker, get all nationalistic, sleuth, and generally pontificate to your hearts' content...

All-American Girl: The Murder of Meghan Landowski

Posted on April 11, 2008
Meghan Landowski's stepfather came home Thursday evening to a parent's worst nightmare. He found Meghan dead inside the family home on Roberts Court in the Simonsdale neighborhood of Portsmouth, VA. The petite 16-year-old Woodrow Wilson High School sophomore had been murdered...

True Crime Headlines, 4/08/08

Posted on April 08, 2008
Possible gunman on campus of Alfred University From the University's website:Police are on campus, investigating a report of a Caucasian male, possibly carrying a gun. He is described as wearing a green hoodie sweatshirt and carrying a back pack. More information will follow...

A Black Widow's Trail?

Posted on April 07, 2008
(A mild health issue has slowed my writing for a couple of days. The following really couldn't wait, in part because I'm sure some readers will find this unfolding story just as fascinating as I do. I decided to be careful with this post because it touches on a long-term, ongoing investigation that stretches from Missouri to Utah...

True Crime Headlines, 4/04/08

Posted on April 04, 2008
This won't be the only kind of entry in this blog from now on, but I liked the one I posted yesterday, so expect "True Crime Headlines" on a regular basis. I haven't arranged the headlines in any particular order. I may also add to the entry throughout the day...

True Crime Headlines, 4/03/08

Posted on April 03, 2008
The following are links to some crime stories currently in the news. Feel free to discuss any of them in the comments on this entry. Please be clear as to the story you're talking about when you do. I may add to this entry throughout the day today. (If this looks a little Fark-like, well -- that is one of my favorite websites...

A Progressive Interview with Gregg Olsen, Author of A COLD DARK PLACE

Posted on April 02, 2008
Gregg Olsen, friend of The True Crime Weblog and co-author of the popular true crime blog CrimeRant.com, has published his second novel, A COLD DARK PLACE. After several best-selling true crime books, this is Gregg's second entry into the suspense/thriller genre (his first, A WICKED SNOW, was published in March, 2007)...

Caught on YouTube: A Crime in Progress? UPDATED

Posted on April 01, 2008
**SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST** An early morning tip sent via my contact form led me to an odd YouTube video. It appears to show a young man who is obsessed with a woman of roughly the same age. While there are no names attached to the video, it looks as though he (or someone with access to his tapes) is posting footage made while stalking...

"Lets just go buck wild!!!" -- Alleged Interstate Shooter Slade Woodson

Posted on March 28, 2008
Police in Virginia have arrested 19-year-old Slade Woodson of Afton, VA in connection with a series of random shootings that recently took place along I-64 in Waynesboro. Random bullets fired by one, possibly two shooter(s) struck six vehicles on the Interstate Wednesday night and Thursday morning, injuring two...

The Governor's Other Hooker?

Posted on March 28, 2008
"With Second Girl Allegations, Spitzer Gets Closer to 'GOD'." The link above takes you to a post I wrote for Radar Magazine's "Fresh Intelligence" about the newest Madam/escort linked to former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. A quote from the post:Though he's saying it isn't so, former NY Gov...

GUEST POST: More About CrimeJunkies.com

Posted on March 27, 2008
The webmaster/creator of CrimeJunkies.com prefers to remain anonymous. This person is a former Court TV producer whom I first 'met' (via phone, hence the quotes) when she was working for a popular legal talk show on that network. Our guest blogger has, in her own words, "covered all the major crime news and high-profile trials in the past few years including Natalee Holloway, Scott Peterson,

Dan Cooper's Parachute

Posted on March 26, 2008
He said his name was Dan Cooper. Someone mistakenly reported the name as "D.B. Cooper" later and it stuck. But the name he gave was Dan. He said he had a bomb, and to the flight crew on the Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle, it looked like he was telling the truth...

John List Dead at 82

Posted on March 24, 2008
Family annihilator John Emil List died on Friday. List was serving a life sentence for his crimes in the New Jersey State Prison. He'd been moved to a medical facility in Trenton, NJ shortly before his death at the age of 82. John List spent Nov. 9, 1971 murdering his family...

Shooter on the loose in Iowa City

Posted on March 24, 2008
The University of Iowa in Iowa City has put out the following text message for students and faculty on campus:An active shooter is reported to be in the Iowa City Area. He is a white male in his mid 40s driving a 1998 Tan Toyota Sienna Minivan, Iowa License plate 501-BLO...

Seattle John Doe: Who the Hell is this Guy?

Posted on March 22, 2008
The balding, blue-eyed man is medium height, weighs about 170. His age is a mystery. He could be 40, he could be in his early 50s. In every photo he wears the same expression, and it's hard to dismiss the impression that he's smirking. He is holding onto a secret, something he'll never willingly tell another...

True Crime Sites of Interest

Posted on March 21, 2008
In spite of the abiding interest in the subject matter, new true crime-related sites don't pop up all that often -- at least in my experience. And believe me, I look for them. Generally, the ones I hear about come through my e-mail or a random link from another site...

Maine Gothic: A Boy and His Mother

Posted on March 19, 2008
Even Maine's most famous horror novelist couldn't make this up. Well... he could, but it'd probably be too disturbing, depressing, and tawdry for him to bother. Just before midnight on Sunday, Matthew Audet, age 22, called police in Lewiston, Maine. He told them his 47-year-old mother Debra wasn't breathing...

Accused Rapist Shawn Wuertley: Background Check, Anyone?

Posted on March 18, 2008
Some people can't get jobs if they have bad credit. Then there's accused rapist Shawn Wuertley, age 29 (link goes to his MySpace page). Wuertley was arrested today in Panama City Beach, Florida for false imprisonment, rape and attempted felony murder...

OPEN THREAD: Continuing Discussion of the Murder of Meredith Kercher

Posted on March 18, 2008
I must admit I'm not fond of open threads. Essentially, it's like letting a bunch of strangers take over a blog post, and I guess I'm territorial enough to be bothered by that. But I can't deny that some readers love them. I'll never be able to put up with the anarchy of a generalized open thread, where people can theoretically discuss whatever is on their minds, but certain subjects covered by

NYC Crane Collapse: Criminal Negligence?

Posted on March 15, 2008
After monitoring the news for a bit, I decided to address this disaster in this blog. I am, in part, plagiarizing myself, as some of this post will mirror an update I appended to the entry about twisters near Atlanta (I live in the Atlanta area) at Random Lunatic News...

The Spitzer Scandal UPDATED

Posted on March 13, 2008
CHECK THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR AN UPDATE, ADDED 3/13/08. This entry was originally published 3/10, and has been updated for today to keep it at the top of the index page. If you haven't already heard, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (D) has some 'splainin' to do...

Murder at the University of Arkansas: Takatak and the Insubstantial Pageant

Posted on March 10, 2008
From the Northwest Arkansas Times:What began as a welfare check Sunday morning led to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol arresting a Fayetteville man suspected of killing a University of Arkansas student. Zachariah Marcyniuk, 28, faces a charge of first-degree murder for the death of Katherine Wood, 24...

The Ultimate True Crime Tale: Jack the Ripper

Posted on March 09, 2008
In May this year a major exhibition will open at the Museum in Docklands, London -- "Jack the Ripper and the East End." From the museum webpage about the exhibition:From police files and photographs to letters from the public and the supposed Ripper himself, examine, for the first time, surviving documents and artefacts from the investigation and follow the crimes as they unfolded...

Major Break in the Lauren Burk Murder Case

Posted on March 07, 2008
The local Fox affiliate here in Atlanta is reporting a "major break" in the investigation into the murder of Auburn University freshman Lauren Burk. A press conference will be held Saturday morning in Auburn to address any new developments in the case...

Faux Memoirist Margaret "Peggy" Seltzer: So I turned over some rocks...

Posted on March 06, 2008
I've been fascinated for a few days now with the story of author Margaret "Peggy" Seltzer and her fake memoir, Love and Consequences. Seltzer wanted others to believe that she was Margaret B. Jones, AKA "Bree," a half-white, half Native American woman who spent her youth as a foster child in South Central Los Angeles...

Lori Slesinski and Lauren Burk: Is there a connection?

Posted on March 05, 2008
Lauren A. Burk, an 18-year-old freshman at Auburn University, was murdered last night in Auburn, Alabama. Lauren, a 2007 graduate of Walton High School, came from Marietta, Georgia -- just down the road from where I live. Burk's death has been all over the news in Atlanta today...

Ivette Gonzalez Davila: Portrait of a Pathological Narcissist?

Posted on March 04, 2008
In an entry posted yesterday, The True Crime Weblog was the first publication to name Ivette Gonzalez Davila as a suspect in the murders of Army medics Randi and Tim Miller: "Fort Lewis Honor Guard Soldier Allegedly Kills Couple, Kidnaps Baby *UPDATED*" Davila titled the brief video at the beginning of this post "Video of first days" -- presumably the beginning of her training for the Fort

IF LOOKS COULD KILL, by M. William Phelps -- In Bookstores Tomorrow

Posted on March 03, 2008
Many readers of The True Crime Weblog may know M. William Phelps as one half of the writing team running the snarky, hip, and always readable true crime blog, CrimeRant.com. Most may also know that Phelps has been successfully publishing crime-centric nonfiction for nearly a decade now...

Fort Lewis Honor Guard Soldier Allegedly Kills Couple, Kidnaps Baby UPDATED

Posted on March 03, 2008
UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST. THIS JUST GETS STRANGER. A woman named Ivette Gonzalez Davila sits in the Pierce County, Washington jail, charged with 2 counts of 1st degree murder and kidnapping. While Davila had not been officially named on Monday afternoon as the suspect in a double homicide and babynapping that occurred in Tacoma, Washington on Saturday, the Tacoma News-Tribune reported that the

7 Shot in West Palm Beach Wendy's

Posted on March 03, 2008
WPTV in West Palm Beach, Florida and MSNBC are reporting that 7 people have been shot inside a Wendy's Restaurant at 1366 Military Trail in West Palm. MSNBC has aired footage of victims being removed from the scene, and the cable news network has reported at least 2 fatalities...

The Caffey Family Murders REVISED

Posted on March 02, 2008
Authorities in Rains County, Texas say that just before dawn on Saturday, 19-year-old Charlie James Wilkinson, Charles Allen Waid, age 20, and Bobbi Gale Johnson, 18, rampaged through the home of Penny and Terry Caffey, leaving 3 dead and Terry Caffey fighting for his life...

Deadly Ricin Discovered in Vegas Hotel UPDATED

Posted on March 02, 2008
UPDATE, 3/02/08 (Post date and time have been changed to bump this entry to the top of the blog's main page.) An article published today in the Salt Lake Tribune has new information about Roger Von Bergendorff, the man currently in a coma in a Vegas hospital after possible exposure to ricin...

Missing in Arkansas: Keaton Renee Byrd, Age 23 UPDATED

Posted on March 01, 2008
No one has seen Camden, Arkansas resident Keaton Renee Byrd, age 23, since February 28, 2008. The last time anyone spoke with Keaton was around 1:30 a.m. that morning, and she sounded fine. The last person to speak with Keaton told police that Keaton said she had to drop someone off before heading home that night...

Kevin Underwood Found Guilty of Murder

Posted on February 29, 2008
Long story short, Kevin Ray Underwood has been found guilty of Jamie Rose Bolin's horrifying murder. Nearly 2 years ago I wrote the following articles about the Underwood case for The Crime Library: "Kevin Underwood: Another Deadly Blogger?" "Added to the Blogroll of Evil: Kevin Ray Underwood...

The True Crime Weblog in the Chicago Tribune

Posted on February 26, 2008
A few days ago I spoke with Chicago Tribune Internet Critic Steve Johnson about web sleuthing, specifically as it related to Steven Kazmierczak, the young man who killed several people on the campus of Northern Illinois University before committing suicide on February 14...

Talking About Marcia Trimble UPDATED

Posted on February 26, 2008
The following are links to previous entries I've written about the murder of Marcia Trimble, one of Nashville, Tennessee's most infamous unsolved crimes. Marcia was murdered 33 years ago yesterday, on February 25, 1975: "Marcia Trimble, Meredith Harris, and Me...

Missing in Missouri: Musician Dora Magrath UPDATED

Posted on February 22, 2008
SEE UPDATES AT BOTTOM OF POST. University City, Missouri resident Dora Magrath, age 22, hasn't been seen since Thursday, February 21. Dora's mother, Linda Holtzman, told reporters in St. Louis that her daughter was headed to a coffee shop around 12:30 Thursday afternoon when she disappeared...

Murdered: Kathleen Savio (An Open Thread About the Peterson Case)

Posted on February 21, 2008
The AP is reporting that ex-cop Drew Peterson's ex-wife Kathleen Savio was murdered. A coroner originally ruled that Savio's death in 2004 was an accident. A second autopsy was done on Savio's remains after the October 28, 2007 disappearance of Drew Peterson's 4th wife Stacy...

Some Random Things

Posted on February 21, 2008
MY OWN ANGLE ON THE ALLEGED McCAIN SCANDAL I've got a short item up at Radar's "Fresh Intelligence" documenting mysterious online posts made well in advance of the New York Times article that first hit the Web last night: "Anonymous Web Poster Had Goods on McCain, Times...

Tuesday Morning Note, 2/19/08

Posted on February 19, 2008
I only have a moment, but I wanted to plug this Radar story I submitted last night: Randy Jackson Using American Idol to Push His Failed Artists? The title tells you a lot. Click and read to find out some details. If you like the piece, be sure to click "recommend it" at the bottom of the post...

The Temporary Return of the Dreaded PayPal Button

Posted on February 16, 2008
My wife and I decided some time ago to remove me from her insurance because under her current plan, my coverage was an extra few hundred dollars a month that we could use for other things. I do earn money now as a freelance writer and circumstances are improving, but I am paid monthly, and haven't gotten to the point where I can pay for my own health insurance and still cover other bills and

OPEN THREAD: The Murder of Meredith Kercher

Posted on February 15, 2008
Anyone interested in continuing the discussion begun in the previous open thread about the November, 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy can begin posting below. Few crimes about which I've blogged or even written about professionally have generated the sort of ongoing discussion this case has...

Bobby Cutts Jr. Found Guilty

Posted on February 15, 2008
Previous entries about the murder of Jessie Davis: "Mysteriously Missing: Jessie Davis.""Bobby Cutts Jr., AKA DALAW150." Bobby Cutts Jr. has been found guilty on several counts of murder. On one count of aggravated murder, he was found not guilty. The weight of the guilty verdicts will surely mitigate the lone "not guilty...

The NIU Campus Assault: Killer 'Unofficially' Named

Posted on February 15, 2008
(Original post about the incident here.) Three more victims from the assault on a geology lecture hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University have been named by the Dekalb (Il.) County Coroner:Catalina Garcia, 20, from Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, Carpentersville; Julianna Gehant, 32, from Meridan, Illinois...