Was Jill Dando Killed Because Of Her Work With CrimeWatch?

"Don't have nightmares. Do Sleep well."

Jill Wendy Dando was a kind person and well liked. She was born on November 9th, 1961 in at Ashcombe House Maternity Home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset to Jack Dando and Winifred Mary Jean Hockey. Jill has a brother named Nigel.

Jill was raised as a Baptist and remained a devout follower. When she was three years old, it was discovered that she had a hole in her heart and a blocked pulmonary artery. As a result, she had heart surgery on January 12th, 1965.

She wanted to be on tv so bad she wrote Jimmy Savile to try to get on his show.

Jill went to Worle Infant School, Greenwood Junior School, Worle Comprehensive School, and Broadoak Sixth Form Centre, where she was head girl. She studied journalism at the South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education in Cardiff. Jill was a member of Weston-super-Mare Amateur Dramatic Society and Exeter Little Theatre Company. She appeared in plays at the Barnfield Theatre. In 1979 she was a volunteer at Sunshine Hospital Radio in Weston-super-Mare.

Jill's first job was as a trainee reporter for the Weston Mercury, a local newspaper company where her father and brother worked. After five years, she started to work for the BBC, becoming a newsreader for BBC Radio Devon in 1985. That year, she transferred to BBC South West, and presented a regional news magazine program, Spotlight South West. In 1987, she worked for Television South West, then BBC Spotlight in Plymouth. In early 1988, Jill moved to national television in London to present BBC television news, specifically the short on-the-hour bulletins that aired on both BBC1 and BBC2.

Jill presented the BBC television program Breakfast Time, Breakfast News, the BBC One O'Clock News, the Six O'Clock News, the travel program Holiday, the crime appeal series Crimewatch and occasionally Songs of Praise. She moved to Fulham in 1994.

From 1989 to 1996, Jill dated BBC executive Bob Wheaton. She then had a brief relationship with national park warden Simon Basil.

Jill was among those with the highest profile of the BBC's on-screen staff, and had been the 1997 BBC Personality of the Year.

In December of 1997, Jill went on a blind date with gynecologist Alan Farthing. The date went well and the two continued to see each other. Alan, who had been separated from his wife at the time, finalized his divorce a few months later.

On January 31st, 1999, Jill and Alan announced their engagement, which was set for September 25th, 1999.

On the April 25th, 1999, Jill presented the first episode of Antiques Inspectors. She was scheduled to present the Six O'Clock News on the evening of the following day. She was featured on the cover of that week's Radio Times magazine. Jill was also booked to host the British Academy Television Awards 1999, alongside Michael Parkinson, at Grosvenor House Hotel on May 9th.

On the morning of April 26th,1999, 37-year-old Jill left her Alan's home in Chiswick. She drove to her house in Fulham, which was a little over 40 minutes away. She had lived in the house, but by April 1999 was in the process of selling it and did not visit it frequently. It was about 11:32 am and as Jill was about to put her keys in the lock to open the front door when she was grabbed from behind. With their right arm, the assailant held her and forced her to the ground, so that her face was almost touching the tiled step of the porch. Then, with their left hand, they fired a single shot at her left temple, killing her instantly. The bullet entered her head just above her ear, parallel to the ground, and came out the right side of her head. This all happened within about 30 seconds of Jill getting out of her car and approaching her front door.

Jill had been shot by a bullet from a 9mm Short caliber semi-automatic pistol. The cartridge appeared to have been subject to workshop modification, possibly to reduce its charge.

According to a British intelligence expert, the gun was place so close to Jill's head that the gases escaping the barrel of the gun exploded inside her head and muffed the sounds of the gunshot. This also prevented blood splatter from getting on the murderer.

Richard Hughes, her next door neighbor, heard a surprised cry from Jill "like someone greeting a friend". Hughes looked out of his front window and, while not realizing what had happened, made the only certain sighting of the killer. A white man was walking away from Jill's house. He well dressed, with dark hair and a solid build. He was six-foot-tall, around 40 years old and wearing a dark Barbour jacket and possibly had a cell phone.

Jill's body was discovered about fourteen minutes after she was shot by neighbor Helen Doble. Police were called at 11:47 am. Jill was taken to the nearby Charing Cross Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival at 1:03pm. 

After the murder, an investigation by the Metropolitan Police, Operation Oxborough, began. Within six months, they had spoken to more than 2,500 people and taken more than 1,000 statements.

The possibility of Jill's murder being a contract killing was thought of first, but since she was living with her fiancé and was only rarely visiting her Fulham residence, it was considered unlikely that a professional assassin would have been sufficiently well informed about her movements to have known at what time she was going to be there. CCTV evidence of Jill's last journey did not show any sign of her being followed.

It was also argued that a professional assassin would not use such a poor quality weapon. The police began to entertain the idea that the killing had been carried out by a crazed individual acting on an opportunist basis. This is what led them to Barry.

Little process was made within the first year, so the police concentrated their attention on Barry George. Barry lived about half a mile from Jill's house and had a history of stalking women and sexual offences. He was put under surveillance, arrested on May 25th, 2000 and charged with Jill's murder on May 28th.

Immediately after Jill's murder, a number of telephone calls were made to the BBC and other media outlets claiming responsibility for the killing on behalf of Serb groups. The callers spoke with central European accents and threatened further killings. These calls were mainly seen as hoaxes. However, Barry's defense barrister, Michael Mansfield QC, proposed that the Serbian warlord leader Arkan had ordered Jill's assassination in retaliation for the NATO bombing of Radio Television of Serbia's headquarters on April 23rd, 1999.

Mansfield suggested that Jill's earlier presentation of an appeal for aid for Kosovar Albanian refugees may have attracted the attention of Bosnian-Serb hardliners.

An opposition journalist was assassinated outside his home in Belgrade just a few days before Jill's murder and the method used in both cases was identical.

Barry was tried, convicted, and on July 2nd, 2001 was sentenced to life imprisonment. Barry appealed twice, both were unsuccessful, but after discredited forensics evidence was excluded from the prosecution's case, Barry's third appeal succeeded in November 2007. A second trial lasting eight weeks ended in Barry's acquittal on August 1st, 2008.

So if Barry didn't kill Jill... who did? 

Cold case reviews by the police after 2008 have concluded that Jill was killed by a professional assassin in a "hard contact execution". Conservative MP Patrick Mercer was reported as saying, "It [Jill's murder] had all the hallmarks of covert forces. The killer even used specially tailored ammunition, which was a Serbian assassination trademark and something I saw when I was over there."

Susan Cox Powell

 

Susan Marie Cox Powell was generous and kind-hearted person who liked to make others feel good. She liked to ride horses. She did well in church and school. She loved choir. She also loved getting her hair and nails done and would wear stylish clothes.

Susan was born on October 16th, 1981 in Alamogordo, New Mexico to Judy and Chuck Cox. She had 3 sisters.

She was pursuing her cosmetology license and actively involved in the LDS church when she reconnected with Josh Powell. Josh Powell had previously dated Susan's older sister and now he had his sights set on Susan.

Josh in 1976, to Steven and Terrica Powell in Puyallup, Washington. Joshua's parents had a dysfunctional marriage. Steven allegedly shared pornography with Joshua and his two brothers and refused to teach or enforce limits on certain behaviors. When Josh was a teenager he allegedly killed gerbils belonging to one of his sisters and threatened his mother with a butcher knife. He also had a history of attempting suicide.

By 1998, Josh was living in Seattle and attending the University of Washington. He met Catherine Terry Everett at a local LDS Church congregation. The two moved into an apartment together and Josh became possessive. He would limit what she could and couldn't do when it came to her family. When Everett visited a friend in Utah without Josh she didn't return and broke up with him over the phone.

During a dinner party at Josh's Tacoma apartment in November 2000 Susan fell in love with Josh. They began dating and in the Portland Oregon Temple in April 2001 they were married.

Due to financial difficulties, in 2002 Josh and Susan Powell briefly moved into Steve’s home in South Hill, Washington. Steven began following Susan around the house with a camera. He would secretly steal her underwear and replace it with duplicates. He also used a small mirror to spy on her when she used the bathroom, read her journals, and even posted love songs online.

Josh and Susan moved into their own apartment. When Steven would visit he'd take Susan's childhood journals and make copies. 

In July of 2003 that Josh and Susan were considering taking a new job in Greeley, Colorado. This news spurred desperation in Steven to confess his love to Susan.

On July 13, 2003, Josh and Susan traveled to a trucking firm in Kent, Washington because Josh was interested in a trucking job. Steve drove to the trucking company as well with camcorder in hand.

Josh practiced driving a semi and Steve offered to give Susan a ride to her parents’ house in South Hill. Susan agreed and pretty soon, Susan and Steve were in his minivan on their way to South Hill. 

Steve placed his camcorder in a bag but accidently left it recording. The picture on the tape was black, but the microphone captured Steve's confession of love.  It also recorded Susan's awkward reply.

"I don’t know where you’re going with this." 

Poor Susan was trapped in a minivan with her deranged father in law that was obsessed with her. 

Susan and Josh relocated to West Valley City, Utah, in 2004. Susan took up a job with Wells Fargo Financial. In Susan's emails she attributed her marital problems both to financial stress brought upon by Joshua's extravagant spending habits and to his "very, very controlling" behavior towards her.

Joshua filed for bankruptcy in 2007, declaring over $200,000 in debts.

By 2008, Susan was expressing fears and frustrations about her marriage to friends.

She recorded a video in July 2009 surveying property damage she attributed to Joshua and wrote a secret will. In the will she said "I want it documented that there is extreme turmoil in our marriage" and, "If I die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one."

December 6, 2009, Susan and her two sons, Charles and Braden, attended church services at the Hunter 36th Ward.

A neighbor visited them at home in the afternoon, leaving about 5:00 p.m. The neighbor said that Josh fixed pancakes for dinner and that Susan got very sleepy afterwards and went to bed early.

The entire Powell family were reported missing on December 7 by relatives. Joshua's mother Terrica and sister Jennifer Graves went looking for the family at their house shortly after being informed that the children had not been dropped off at daycare that morning. They called the police when they failed to make contact with Joshua and Susan. The police broke into the house and found no one inside, but noticed two fans blowing on a wet spot on a carpet in the house. Susan did not show up at her job on December 7. Her purse, cell phone, and car were all found at the house.

About 5:00 p.m., Josh returned home with the two boys and was taken to the police station for questioning. He claimed he had left Susan sleeping at home shortly after midnight on December 7. He had taken his boys on a camping trip to Simpson Springs in western Utah, in a snow storm.... Police visited Simpson Springs on December 10, but found no evidence of the campsite that Joshua had described.

Police searched the Powell residence on December 9 and found traces of Susan's blood on the floor.

They also found life insurance policies on Susan for US$1.5 million, and a handwritten letter from Susan expressing fear for her life.

DNA test results, released in 2013, matched one blood sample with Susan, while another sample was determined to have come from an "unknown male contributor".

August 2012, West Valley City police released documents showing that Joshua "did not appear to be concerned about Susan's welfare" He liquidated her retirement accounts, cancelled her regularly scheduled chiropractic sessions; withdrew his children from daycare and spoke to coworkers about how to hide a body in an abandoned mineshaft in the western Utah desert.

Police interviewed the eldest son, Charlie. He confirmed that the camping trip Joshua described took place. Unlike his father, he stated that Susan had gone with them and she did not return. A teacher reported that Charlie had claimed that his mother was dead. Susan's parents claimed that, while at daycare, Braden drew a picture of a van with three people in it, and said that "Mommy was in the trunk".

Investigators informed the media that they planned to question Joshua again, and subpoenaed all footage and interviews of Joshua from local television stations. December 14, Joshua retained an attorney. Police said that he grew increasingly uncooperative. He took his sons to his hometown of Puyallup, Washington, to stay with his father Steven for the holidays. December 24, Joshua was considered a person of interest in the investigation. January 6, he returned with his brother Michael to pack the family's belongings.

Soon afterwards, the website SusanPowell.org was established.

The site's anonymous entries defended Joshua as the victim of a smear campaign by Susan's family, his sister Jennifer, and the LDS Church. Posts also speculated that Susan's disappearance was connected to that of Steven Koecher, a Salt Lake Tribune journalist who vanished the same week as Susan. The posts claimed that the two had run off to Brazil together. 2010, both men claimed that Susan had abandoned her family due to mental illness and that she had left with another man. Susan's family rejected these claims as being "unsupported" by any evidence

Investigators' learned that Joshua's father, Steven "Steve" Powell, had been obsessively infatuated with his son's wife.

Computer images seized from Steven's house in 2010 turned up 4,500 images of Susan taken without her knowledge, including close-ups of specific body parts.

September 14, 2011, Utah authorities discovered a possible gravesite while searching Topaz Mountain, that Joshua had frequented as a campsite.

There were signs of recent soil disturbance and shoveling.

After digging a few feet down, police were unable to find any remains, in spite of careful sifting of the soil. Federal anthropologists ruled out the possibility of the site being an ancient burial ground. Authorities said they were following a scent detected by their sniffer dogs.

After a police raid in their home in 2011, both Joshua and Steven spoke to major news outlets regarding journals that Susan had allegedly written about the relationship between Steven and herself. Steven claimed that he and Susan had been falling in love prior to her disappearance.

He cited the content of the journals, that were written when Susan was a teenager, as evidence to support his theory that she was mentally unstable and could have run away with another man. A judge issued a permanent injunction forbidding Joshua and Steven from publishing any material from Susan's journals. The judge ordered the pair to either return or destroy any journals already published.

September 22, Steven was arrested on charges of voyeurism and child pornography.

Police found evidence that he had secretly videotaped numerous women and young girls, including Susan. John Long, assistant Attorney General for Washington State, said that Joshua was a "subject" in the child porn investigation. A friend of Steven claimed that he was preoccupied with pornography and "was hung up on Susan sexually". Charles "Chuck" Cox, Susan's father, filed for custody of her children the day after Steven was arrested. Cox eventually was granted temporary custody of the boys. The court ruled that Joshua would have to move out of his father's home if he wanted to regain custody, even though he is a person of interest in his wife's disappearance. Josh rented a house in Graham, Washington. Authorities later alleged that he had never actually moved into that house. He just made it appear as if he had satisfied the court's instructions while continuing to live at his father's home.

September 2011, Joshua's sister Jennifer stated that she believed Joshua was "responsible for his wife Susan Powell's disappearance".

She worked with police and went undercover to try to get some answers in Susan's disappearance. She even went so far as to ask Josh point blank, while she was wearing a wire, if and what he did to Susan.

His other sister Alina had also been suspicious of him as well, but later she said withdrew her suspicions and felt that Joshua had been unduly harassed by the investigation. September 28, Mayor Mike  Winder stated, "We feel that we are getting to that tipping point where we have more hot evidence than we have had in the past two years", and that the case was moving forward.

2011, Joshua underwent a series of court-ordered evaluations.

The evaluations determined that Joshua had adequate parenting skills, a steady employment history and no criminal record or history of domestic violence. They also raised issues concerning the ongoing criminal investigations, Joshua's failure to admit normal personal shortcomings, his overbearing behavior with his sons, and his persistent defensiveness and paranoia. The initial recommendation was for Joshua to have visitation with his sons several times a week, supervised by a social worker.

January 2012, Utah police discovered about 400 images of simulated child pornography, bestiality and incest on Joshua's computer. The images, were not illegal due to their being in a hand-drawn, or cartoonish 3-D format. They were cause for "great concern", particularly given Joshua's earlier denial of possessing any such material. Joshua was recommended to receive a more thorough psychosexual evaluation and polygraph test, but no change was suggested in the visitation schedule with the Powell boys despite everything...

There has to be something wrong with the system when a man like this can still have visitation and in his own house..

Chuck Cox told child protective services and other authorities that he felt that if Josh felt cornered or pushed, that he might do something terrible to the boys.

Michael established a Google Sites page which claimed that Susan's parents were abusing and neglecting the boys in collusion with child welfare authorities. He also posted that West Valley Utah police had both mishandled the investigation into Susan's disappearance and were harassing Joshua. Lawyers for the Cox family disputed the allegations, and Google removed the site after a few days due to terms of use violations.

February 5, 2012, a social worker called 9-1-1 after bringing Charlie and Braden to a supervised visit at the house Josh rented. The woman, who was supposed to monitor the visit between Joshua and the boys, said he grabbed them and would not let her in the door.

She said she beat on the door and yelled to be let in to no avail. She went back to her car to call her supervisor. The house exploded, killing Joshua and the two children. Local authorities treated the case as a double murder-suicide, saying that the act appeared to have been deliberate.

Authorities notified Steven, who was in jail. Supposedly he "didn't seem very upset by the news, but was angry towards authorities who notified him". Steven invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions about the Susan Powell case. Cox and others have stated they believe that Steven knows what actually happened to Susan. Steven was convicted of voyeurism charges in May 2012 in a trial.

Officials confirmed that the explosion had been deliberately planned.

The cause of death for Joshua and the two boys was carbon monoxide poisoning. The coroner also noted that both children had significant chopping injuries on the head and neck. A hatchet was recovered near Joshua's body. He had attacked the boys with it before being overwhelmed by smoke and fumes. There was also found two five-gallon cans of gasoline, as well as evidence that gasoline had been spread throughout the house.

Friends and relatives of Joshua told authorities that he had contacted them by email minutes before. Some of them, received instructions about finding his money and shutting off his utilities. Records showed that he had withdrawn $7,000 from his bank account and had donated his children's toys and books to local charities the day before. Joshua named Michael as the main beneficiary of his life insurance policy.

Charles and Braden are buried at Woodbine Cemetery, which also contains a memorial for Susan. Later police believe they have another person of interest in Susan's disappearance, Josh's brother Michael. Police questioned Michael several times in 2012, after discovering that he had abandoned his car in a junkyard in Oregon several weeks after Susan's disappearance

Michael was "evasive". Utah authorities have since said they believe that Joshua and Michael were accomplices in the murder of Susan

February 11, 2013, Michael took his own life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He jumped from the roof of a parking garage.

May 21, 2013, West Valley City police announced that they had closed the active investigation into Susan's disappearance.

After, the handwritten will, written by Susan, was found in a safety deposit box. It instructed the reader not to show her husband the will.

That is where the video she made in 2009 was kept as well.

March 2015, Cox won a court battle over the control of Susan's  estate. Joshua's mother, Terrica, and his sister, Alina, sought to have Susan declared legally dead to collect life insurance. The Cox ultimately gained full control of the estate.

Steven was released from prison on July 11, 2017. He had served a total of seven years following his voyeurism and child pornography convictions. Steven passed away of natural causes on Monday, July 23, 2018 in Tacoma, Washington. And with his passing he took whatever secrets he had about Susan's disappearance with him to his grave.

Who Killed Princess Blue AKA Julie Gwenn Davis?

"That's the last thing I remember of her, her giving me a hug, telling me she loved me, and she broke down in tears and walked away, and that's the last time I saw her," Danny said.

Princess Blue AKA Julie Gwenn Davis' remains sat unidentified for over 30 years. Her bones had been found along County Road 101 in Manvel, Texas on September 10th, 1990. At the time it was a dead end road East of Highway 288. A man had gotten out of his car to relieve himself and noticed a pile of debris setting behind a barricade. Upon further investigation he discovered what was a human skull sitting inside of a tire, with the rest of her disarticulated skeleton laying underneath. The man and his wife then went and called police.

Police collected Julie's bones as well as the jewelry found along with them. There was no purse, no ID, no clothing and no hair found at the scene.

The medical examiner could not determine the cause or manner of her death. However, she was likely between 15 and 19 years old with  two fractured ribs, a "defect" on a bone beneath her left knee and an upper left front tooth had been surgically removed. Her height was estimated at 4'8" to 5'2 and there were no drugs found in her system. It is possible that her remains could have sat there for 6 months to a year before they were found.

The police circulated her description, where she was found and pictures of a turquoise unicorn ring as well as a pearl bracelet that had been found at with her remains.

The case went cold for 16 years until a new detective on the case went through what little evidence there was. 

He discovered a 1975 graduation ring from the class from Robert E. Lee High School in Houston, Texas. The ring had a big blue sapphire in it and the detective decided to name her "Princess Blue." 

A sketch was rendered of what Princess Blue might have looked like. DNA advances revealed that she was white with African American ancestry.

There was around 650 students that had graduated Robert E. Lee Highschool in 1975. Investigators armed with the sketch focused on those students. None of the classmates that were interviewed recognized the sketch of Princess Blue.

Princess Blue's bones were sent back to the lab for phenotyping, which can determine eye, hair, skin color and her genetic ancestry.

Julie Gwenn Davis was a teenager with blonde, curly hair. She grew up in Orange, Texas and went missing in the late 1980's after she had moved to New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 18.

Since Julie's disappearance, her brother Danny has searched and wondered what happened to his sister. In 2019 Danny and his brother summited their DNA to state police in hopes of identifying a different missing woman. 6 months later, Danny's DNA was a match Princess Blue. It was a bitter sweet moment for Danny. He would never see Julie again, but could finally put her to rest.

Julie's parents both passed away never knowing what happened to their daughter. Danny believes that Julie was murdered. He along with the rest of Julie's siblings are on a quest for justice.

Danny was told by his sister, Shelly, that Shelly met Julie's husband at one point and she said he was from Houston. That could explain the ring from Robert E. Lee High School. Danny believes Julie got married at 18, shortly after she left home and headed for New Orleans. Danny was 17 years old at the time.

A silver ring with a scroll design, a gold ring with six clear stones and two silver rings(both rings were described as almost identical to one other.) had also been found with Julie's remains.

If you have any information in Julie's case, no matter how small, please contact the Orange County, Texas Sheriff's Office at 409-883-2612.

Hope Ann Moore Was Turning Her Life Around When She Disappeared.

Hope Ann Moore was born on January 3rd, 1967. She had a troubled past but was trying to change for her two sons.

In April, 1999, 32-year-old Hope was living with her boyfriend Clint Kent, and his older brother, Scott "Scotty" Kent on the 1600 block of Channelview Drive in Galveston, Texas.

Hope had been with Clint for four years and they had a son, but she was still legally married to another man whom she also had a son with. Clint was legally separated from his wife, but not divorced. Allegedly, Hope was also secretly seeing another man. And allegedly, after Scott joined the household, Hope had problems with him and claimed he'd tried to rape her.

Hope had a steady job at at the Bob Pagan Ford dealership and gotten a raise. She was a hard worker as well as passing every random drug test.

On the 26th, Hope didn't show up for work. Her boss thought this was odd because she had never done that before. The next day Clint showed up at the dealership, handed in Hope's keys and informed them that she wouldn't be back. The next day Hope's boss called police and reported her missing.

Clint said he was visiting his parents out of town on the day Hope disappeared. He claimed that he tampered with her brand-new truck before he left, because he didn't want her to be able to leave home. Clint refused to take a lie-detector test.

Scott claimed that Hope had came home on the 25th, in a pickup truck, packed some clothes and her checkbook, and left in an older model, dirty, beat-up Chevrolet Impala. 

Both Clint and Scott are considered possible suspects in Hope's disappearance. Scott had pawned two of Hope's gold rings eight days after her disappearance, and allegedly forged a check on her bank account for $345.52, which was the exact balance of the account. 

Hope has never been seen again and there has been no activity on her social security card.

Hope's eldest son was eleven years old at the time of her disappearance. She had sent him to stay at a children's home a few weeks before she went missing. Clint later told Hope's son that she'd abandoned the family. He now believes his mother met with foul play.

Authorities have always suspected Clint and Scott in Hope's disappearance and so has a private investigator.

At the time of her disappearance Hope was 5'0 - 5'1, 145 - 155 pounds with blonde hair and green eyes. She had scars on her left knee, between her eyebrows, and on her right elbow, as well as a burn near her right thumb.

She might have been wearing blue floral-print shorts and possibly garnet earrings, a rope necklace, and rings on all her fingers when she disappeared.

Hope would be 54 years old if she is still alive.

If you have any information, no matter how small, please contact Galveston Police Department at 409-765-3770 or 409-765-3766

League City Police Department at 409-797-3767

There is a blind guy who can ride his bike in traffic using his tongue!

Daniel Kish was born blind and figured out how to use echolocation by clicking his tongue and listening to the echoes. Daniel works with a non-profit organization known as World Access for the Blind to help train around 500 blind students in the technique he named “FlashSonar.” He has been nicknamed the “Real-life Batman”.

He enjoys various outdoor hobbies, including mountain biking and hiking.

A Veteran Spat Out A Bullet That Was Stuck For over 50 Years In His Brain.

On March 24th, 1921, a 78-year-old American Civil War veteran, named Willis Meadows, coughed up a bullet that a bullet had been stuck in his head for 58 years. Willis had been shot in the eye during the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863 and was in pretty good health. In 1921 he went to an extreme coughing fit and couldn't breathe. All of the sudden, a bullet flew out of his mouth onto the coffee table.

In 1950, the man who shot Willis, Peter Knapp, saw Willis' story in a local newspaper. That is when Peter realized he was the one who had fired that bullet way back when. Within a few months, Peter contacted Willis. Despite Willis' past as a confederate soldier and Peter's as a Union soldier, the two became friends.

The History and Legends of St. Patrick's Day.

St. Patrick's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration, held on the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland.

St. Patrick didn’t always live in Ireland. In fact, he was born in Britain and didn’t arrive in Ireland until he was 16 years old, when he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave.  He later escaped, but returned to Ireland and started teaching others about the religion. He is said to have converted many to Christians.

Even though you are likely to see a four-leaf clover on St. Patrick’s Day, Patrick allegedly used a three-leaf clover, or shamrock, as part of his teachings. He used the shamrock to represent the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

Ireland is an island that is green with leafy trees and grassy hills. Due to that fact, the nation is sometimes called the Emerald Isle. 

The color that people originally associated with St. Patrick was blue! Green wasn't really associated with St. Patrick’s Day festivities until  the 18th century, when the shamrock became a national symbol. 

Even the mythical fairies called leprechauns didn't use to wear green. They were actually first described as wearing red.

The reason you’re supposed to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day or risk getting pinched is a tradition tied to folklore that says wearing green makes you invisible to leprechaun. The people that the leprechaun can see they like to pinch. Some people also think that wearing the color will bring good luck, and others wear it to honor their Irish ancestry.

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in the United States of America. It was held on March 17th, 1601 in a Spanish colony in what is now St. Augustine, Florida. It was organized by the Spanish Colony's Irish vicar Ricardo Artur. 

Corned Beef and cabbage was an American innovation. Ham and cabbage was eaten in Ireland, but corned beef offered a cheaper substitute for impoverished immigrants. Irish-Americans in the late 19th century and early 20th, purchased leftover corned beef from ships returning from the tea trade in China.

Larry's Body Was Found Hidden In House 5 Months After He Disappeared.

"What other people think of me are none of my business."

Lawrence "Larry" Howard Groves was someone you either liked or didn't know due to his frank nature and no-nonsense approach. He was dependable and would do anything for anything to anyone. His partner, Tom Bennet, was about ten years his senior and taught him everything he knew about antiques. 

Larry was born on July 10th, 1962 in South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana to Wanda Groves.

In 1979 Larry was 17 and had moved in with Tom in a Bungalow  in the town of Lakeville, Indiana. The couple had a hard time being accepted there. Larry took the brunt of the harassment due to him being more effeminate and less aggressive than Tom.

In 2001, Tom passed away from a heart attack. Derl had previously retained the house that Tom and Larry lived in. Once Tom  passed away the ownership of the home reverted to Derl, who told Larry that he could continue to live in the bungalow as long as he wanted.

On January 12th, 2003, Larry was 40 years old and along with his two dogs, was still living in the home he once shared with Tom. He was staying busy running his antique business.

At around 11 p.m. Larry was on the phone with his friend Sandy Smith from Mississippi. The pair were 10 minutes into their nightly phone call when someone on the other side of Larry's door began angrily pounding on it. Sandy could hear a man angrily shouting to be let in. Sandy asked Larry who it was. Larry said he would handle it and call her back in 20 minutes. Larry never did call her back, and he was never heard from again.

Larry had stopped going to his successful antique business. When his family went to his home and found it was locked and no one had access.

On January 28th, Larry's mother reported Larry missing. She found out nobody had heard from Larry in weeks. Upon entering his house, authorities found no trace of Larry or his dogs.

In the month after Larry's initial disappearance, his  neighbor, Fred  claimed to have seen trucks coming and going from Larry's home. Fred didn't think anything of this since Larry often drove a truck and loaded it up with antiques.

In April Larry's sister Pam went to his house and searched for details that the police might have missed. The house was immaculate with nothing taken, nor out of place. On Memorial Day weekend Larry's mother also searched the house for clues and found nothing out of place.

Then on June 18th, Larry's neighbor, a man named Dick, noticed that the peach tree in Larry's garden was starting to come far over the fence, which separated their properties. The ripened fruit was falling to the ground and was attracting bees that would attack his dog every time he would let it outside. This annoyed Dick and he went out and began cutting back the branches that were hanging over the fence. As he was cutting the branches Dick noticed a disturbing amount of big  flies covering the inside of a window in Larry's house. 

There were crows that had gathering on the fence by Larry's house and had been feasting on the flies. Dick felt uneasy and called Derl and he came over and together they went to investigate what was going on in Larry's house.

Once inside Larry's home Dick and Derl were hit with a foul odor. They surmised that it was the rotting meat in the fridge, but on closer inspection they realize it mostly was coming from the crawl space. Together the men move Larry's desk and pulled back the rug that revealed the trap door to the crawl space. Inside the crawl space was Larry's body, that had disintegrated so badly in the summer heat that the cause of death could not be determined. However, investigators did find evidence Larry had bravely fought his killer. There was blood on Larry’s clothing that didn’t belong to him. There was also hair that didn't belong to him on his clothes and te crawl space. 

Larry' family was devastated. They also didn't know there had been a trap door or a crawl space in Larry's house. It seems the only person that knew about the crawl space was Derl and Larry's killer.

Indiana state police found the man who had turned up at Larry's door on January 12th. The suspect has never been publicly named, but was described as cold and calculated by the detective that had interviewed him. The detective said that the man never lost his composure. The interview had ended with the remaining suspect silent until his lawyer arrived. 

The police did find out that the suspect had used Larry's truck to load up antiques and sell them to Michigan-based dealers in the years following Larry's death. 

In November of 2006, the FBI crime lab in Phoenix established the hair and blood samples taken from Larry's body and in the crawl space did not conclusively match the man suspected of the murder, although one year later, it was revealed that there might be more evidence to test. 

I cannot find anything more on Larry's case. And as far as i know his dogs were never found. To me it seems that Larry's killer must have been familiar with Larry's house and possibly is dogs. There might also be more than one suspect, but i could be wrong.

Anyone with information, no matter how small could solve this case. If you know anything, please call the Indiana State Police in Bremen, IN at 1-574-546-4900 or 1-800-552-2959.

Walter Collins' Mother Was Put in A Psychiatric Hospital For Not Believing That An Imposter Was Her Son.

 

Walter Conrad Collins was a happy boy. He was quiet and well behaved. He had a dog named "Tiny" who was his best friend. 

Walter was born on September 23rd, 1918 in Venice, Los Angeles County, California. His parents were Walter Joseph Anson Collins and Christine Ida Dunne Collins.

Christine worked as a manager for the telephone company when she had met a man who went by the name Walter Joseph Collins. 

Walter Joseph Collins worked for the streetcar system and is real last name was really Anson. Anson had been sentenced in 1910 for 4 robberies totaling $179. He got 10 years in Folsom but was paroled. He also spent 3 years in San Quentin.

Christine and Anson married in 1916. They moved to Lincoln Heights where Christine gave birth to Walter two years later.

In 1923, Anson was sentenced to Folsom State Prison for armed robbery of street cars.

On March 10th, 1928 nine year old Walter had been given money by his mother to go to the movies. As darkness begin to settle in, and Walter was not home yet, Christine began to worry. She thought that maybe Walter was playing somewhere nearby, but after a few hours she decided to report him missing to police.

At first, Christine Collins, and the police believed that enemies of Anson had abducted Walter, but they never found any evidence to support their suspicions. After a nationwide search turned out to be fruitless as well, the police were faced with negative publicity. That is, until five months after Walter disappeared.

A boy claiming to be Walter was found in DeKalb, Illinois. Letters and photographs were exchanged and Christine paid for the boy to be brought to California. A public reunion was then organized by the police, who hoped to negate the bad publicity.

When the boy arrived, even though he resembled Walter, Christine knew that he was not her son. The police were under immense pressure and refused to believe Christine's out cries that the boy was not Walter. However, eventually Christine caved to the cops urgings to "try the boy out" and she took him home.

The boy seemed to have memory problems but after a while he began to tell fragmented stories of working on a farm. He also about after he was abducted, his captures made him steal and then abandoned him to live a "hobo life."

Christine still wasn't convinced that the boy was her Walter. Even though she was armed with dental records proving her case, Christine was committed to the psychiatric ward at Los Angeles County Hospital under a "Code 12" which meant that she was jailed or committed because she was deemed difficult or an inconvenience.

Eventually, police discovered a "murder farm" in another part of California. They were looking for Sarah Northcott and her son Gordon. They seemed to be involved in the murder of four boys. The police also had picked up a boy named Sanford Clark who claimed that one of the murder victims was Walter Collins.

Clark was Gordon's nephew. Gordon moved from British Columbia to Los Angeles, California with his parents in 1924. Two years later, Gordon asked his father to purchase a plot of land in the community of Wineville, California, where he built a chicken ranch and a house with the help of both his father and Clark. Upon Clark's arrival to the Wineville ranch, Gordon began to beat and sexually abuse Clark.

In August 1928, Clark's 19-year-old older sister Jessie visited him at the Wineville ranch. Clark told her that he feared for his life. Jessie learned from Clark that Gordon had murdered four boys at his ranch with an ax. Once she returned to Canada one week later, Jessie informed an American consul there of what Gordon had done. The consul then wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Police Department detailing Jessie's sworn complaint. 

On August 31st, 1928, two Immigration Service inspectors visited the ranch and took Clark into custody while Gordon and his mother had fled to Canada.

Clark told authorities about three shallow graves at the ranch. When the graves were searched there were a few body parts discovered. 

Now the police didn't want to believe the story that Clark was spinning. However, Clark was so resolute in his resolved they decided to re-question the boy whom they assumed was Walter. And when they did they got the shock of their lives. The boy broke down and cried, "No, i am not Walter Collins. I was only playing that i was." He admitted that he was really 12-year-old Arthur Hutchins Jr., a runaway from Iowa. His motive for posing as Walter was to get to Hollywood so he could meet his favorite actor, Tom Mix. Christine was released ten days after Hutchins admitted that he was not her son and filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department.

Finally Gordon and Sarah were arrested near Vernon, British Columbia on September 19th, 1928. Two months later, the police took Gordon back to his ranch to get more information. While there, he verbally confessed to five murders, including Nelson and Lewis Winslow, Walter Collins, and a Mexican boy named Alvin Gothea. He However later that day, Gordon changed his tune and in a written confession claimed that his only victim was Alvin.

Sarah also confessed to the murder of Walter Collins. She said she delivered the final blow to the boy and then buried him in a hole near the chicken coop. She was placed on trial for Walter's murder and was found guilty. At her sentencing Clark testified that Gordon had kidnapped, molested, beaten, and killed three young boys with the help of Sarah and Clark himself. Clark also testified about Alvin's murder, after which Gordon had forced Clark to help dispose of the victim's head by burning it in a fire pit and then crushing the skull. Gordon stated that he "left the headless body by the side of the road near Puente because he had no other place to put it." He stated that quicklime was used to dispose of the remains and that the bodies were buried on the ranch.

Sarah was sentenced to life in prison in December 1928. She served less than 12 years of her sentence before being paroled. And died in 1944.

Gordon’s trial began in January 1929.  He fired several defense attorneys and decided to defend himself. He admitted to abusing boys because he loved them. His mother testified for him and claimed she was actually his grandmother. She said that her husband had raped her daughter Winnefred and Gordon was Winnefred’s son. Gordon also claimed to have an incestuous relationship with Sarah and that his father had molested him. Sarah didn’t prove to be a very credible witness since the only continuous statement she made was that she would do anything for Gordon.

After a 27-day trial and two hours’ deliberation, the jury found Gordon guilty of the murders of the Winslow boys and Alvin. He was sentenced to death on February 19th, 1929. He was hanged in San Quentin on October 2nd 1930.

Clark spent a number of years at the Whittier State Industrial School for Boys. He was released and sent back to Canada and was never heard of again.

Christine did not accept the results of the trial and chose to believe and hope that Walter had survived because the State of California had never been able to find the entire body. Also a fifth suspected victim was found alive and well years later, leading Christine to believe there was a chance that Walter was still out there alive somewhere. Christine used aliases and lived alone through the 1950's. She died in Los Angeles on December 8th, 1964, at the age of 75.

Was Kurt McFall Murdered By A Cult? Or Did Simply Slip And Fall To His Death?

17-year-old Kurt Thomas McFall was a smart, well-spoken curly-haired, popular kid who made friends easily. He loved anything to do with computers and was also an experienced mountain climber and diver. He also liked to play Dungeons and Dragons. 

Kurt was born on December 9th, 1966, in San Diego, California to Tommy Keith McFall and Joan Marjorie Svoboda. His parents had divorced, and he was living in a town house in Concord with his dad.

In high school, Kurt was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and they'd hang out, dressed in costumes and practice sword fighting in the parking lot of an Oakland subway station. 

By the time his senior year came around Kurt was getting more and more into SCA. He was really into the accoutrements of SCA, including his sword and suit of armor and unbeknownst to his father, joined a separate, paganist group headed by a much older man named Gabriel "Cardadoc" Carrillo. 

On Saturday, September 8th, 1984, Kurt drove from his home in across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco. He told his father he was staying with a friend and would be home the next evening.  Unfortunately, Kurt would never make it back home.

The person that Kurt had went to go see was Carrillo. According to Carrillo the two had dinner and went to a movie. At around midnight, Kurt went swimming at Ocean Beach, a few blocks from Carrillo's apartment. They then went back to the apartment. Kurt was restless and unable to sleep. At around 3 a.m., he left the apartment, claiming that he was headed back to Ocean Beach.

The next evening Kurt’s car was found abandoned on a golf course overlooking the ocean. Kurt’s driver’s license was on the floor and his car keys were on the seat. A $20 bill was in the glove compartment and the suit of armor which Kurt had made for sword fighting was missing from the trunk. There were also beer bottles scattered in, and around, the car.

At 10:15 a.m. on that Monday, two men were birdwatching when they spotted a half naked and bruised body on a remote beach below the cliffs of San Francisco Bay. This was bellow where Kurt's car had been found and less than two miles from Carrillo's apartment. The body turned out to be Kurt.

Kurt's body was in fairly good condition, fairly pale, which indicated that he probably was in the water for an extended period of time. No obvious external trauma. He had no shoes, socks or shirt. His back and shoulders were covered with cuts and abrasions. The belt he wore was missing its buckle. The autopsy stated that there was no drugs or alcohol in his system. It also stated that Kurt died of multiple traumatic injuries of unknown origins as well as severe blood loss, which was said to be consistent with a fall. Kurt's cause of death has been ruled as "known".

Kurt's dad knew there was foul play involved:

“The car has to be a phony scene that was set up, because Kurt did not drink beer. That’s also inconsistent with the autopsy report that shows that there was no sign of alcohol or drugs in the body when it was recovered. So that looked very suspicious.”

“Kurt told a friend of his that he was involved in some kind of Satanic cult and that he wanted out, but he thought that they might try to kill him. He really feared for his life. It was a murder. It needs to be investigated. There’s no doubt in my mind that Kurt could’ve handled himself in that cliff area because he was an experienced mountain climber and he was a diver. So he would not have drowned in the water or fallen down the hill.”

Kurt's dad also talked to the coroner and asked him with he think happened. The coroner told him that he thought that Kurt's death appeared to be a homicide, but that he did not have enough proof to rule it as such.

Two months after Kurt's death, a woman contacted police fearing for her life. She claimed to have been involved in a "coven" and named two people who were threatening her. These same two people were allegedly named by Kurt in a letter one month before his death. He allegedly stated in the letter that the two were "evil beyond belief". 

Thomas and some of Kurt's friends believe that Kurt stumbled onto something the cult wanted to keep secret and was killed because of it.

Carrillo denied any involvement in Kurt's death. He passed away in 2007.

Kurt's death remains unsolved.