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.

Dottie Caylor Was Afraid To Leave Her House, Yet Her Husband Said That He Dropped Her Off At A Train Station Before She Vanished.

"Dottie" Dorothy May Rusnak Caylor had always been a good conversationalist in small groups. She also had a disarming wit, able to find the humor in almost anything. 

She was born on January 9th, 1944 in Chardon, Ohio to Susan Westlund Rusnak and Joseph P. Rusnak. She was the second and youngest child in the no-nonsense family who lived on the edge of an old family orchard. Dottie's dad worked in a factory as an electrician and her mother was a teacher.

Dottie had a passion for reading and writing. Her sister Diane excelled in school and when people described the Rusnak sisters, Diane was identified as the "smart one." Dottie was just as smart, but her lack of confidence in her own intelligence and abilities would haunt her throughout her life.

Dottie was described as quiet and was comfortable in her own company. She cherished open spaces and loved to wander through the orchard, enjoying the sun as it hit her sweet face.

She played baseball in the front yard and joined the 4-H Club. As a teen, she took an interest in Catholicism and sought out the church. Dottie contemplated becoming a nun, but when she graduated from high school, she followed her mother's advice and went to secretarial school.

Dottie graduated from secretarial school when she was 19. She then took a job as a legal secretary for a Cleveland firm and moved out of her parents' home and into that of a friend's grandmother's.

Diane had graduated school as well and was teaching art at a junior high in Berkley. She had been writing to Dottie, urging her to come join her out there. A now 20-year-old Dottie finally decided to go, loaded her VW and headed to Berkeley. The two sisters and Diane's friend, Joanie, rented a small apartment on Rose Street.

Living with her sister, Diane realized that Dottie was more mature now. Dottie was hardly the life of the party, but at times she would attend social events, concerts and campus gatherings. Other days she would spend in her room or drive alone for hours on Mount Diablo and the Berkeley hills.

Dottie then started to take diet pills. Dottie and Diane also began getting into silly arguments and wouldn't speak to each other for months.

A few years later, Dottie was left alone living at the apartment after Diane moved in with a boyfriend and Joanie got married. Diane and her boyfriend found Dottie a new place to live and new roommates. And with their encouragement, Dottie took a secretarial job on campus and also took some classes.

In 1970, Dottie met Jim Rupp. Jim was a graduate student at UC Berkeley and an entomologist. He was also dating one of Dottie's roommates. Jim dated the roommate for three years. After which Dottie and Jim started dating. They both loved the outdoors and could talk for hours about anything. Soon Jim professed his love for Dottie.

Some of Dottie's friends and her sister never really warmed up to Jim. There was just something off about him and they were right. A few months into their relationship Jim made a confession. Jim's real name was Jule Caylor and he was married and had a 5-year-old daughter. He said that he was in a loveless marriage and that he and his wife were going through a divorce. He also said that he hadn't wanted to hurt her and that he hoped she would forgive him and stay with him.

Dottie decided to stay with Jim and the couple moved into a rental in Lafayette.

In Thanksgiving of 1971, a sobbing Dottie attended a family gathering alone because Jule spent the entire day with his wife and daughter.

Dottie eventually found out that Jules wasn't going through a divorce. He hadn't even filed yet. He kept saying he didn't want his daughter to come from a broken home and he didn't want to pay alimony to his wife. This frustrated Dottie and after she prodded Jule for three years, he divorced his wife and married Dottie.

Even thought Jule's parents didn't approve of Dottie, they had their wedding in a simple backyard ceremony at his parents' home in Lindsay. Jule wore mismatched brown coat and pants and a green shirt. Dottie wore a long white lacy dress. Aside from Jule's parents and his now10-year-old daughter, Diane was the only other person at the wedding.

Dottie seemed so happy and and despite her fear of flying, the couple then left for a honeymoon trip to Hawaii.

That same year, Dottie and Jule bought a ranch-style three-bedroom house in Concord for $7,000. This home would be Dottie's refuge and prison.

Jule was working for the U.S. Forest Service using infrared aerial photography to pinpoint disease and changes within forests. And because Jule was working to develop the technology and process he traveled around the country to teach, lecture and to photograph forest lands. He was gone for weeks at a time, and Dottie was often all alone, with no friends and no contact with her husband.

Dottie developed severe agoraphobia and was afraid to leave her house. She would make lists of household chores that needed to be done and lists of things she needed at the store, but never would venture out to get. She also wrote letters sometimes accusatory letters to Jule's parents, whom she blamed for Jule's behavior, and to the women she believed Jule was seeing.

To Dottie's and her sister's friends, Jule seemed to go out of his way to avoid being at home. When he was there he was a controlling man and always thought that he could do a better job than anyone at any task. He was also as bad as Dottie when it came to making notes and writing long letters. He even had notations wrote in code which, when deciphered, revealed lists of women's names, which fueled Dottie's fear that Jule was seeing other women.

Jule had cheated on his previous wife and Dottie was sure he was doing that to her too. Dottie started keeping track of Jule's trips. Even if a car drove too slowly out front she would take down the description and license plate of the car, assuming it was one of his various lovers.

Some of the women that Dottie had written had replied back to her and confirmed what she feared all along, that Jule was cheating on her. By that time she saw them as other victim's of Jule's lies. Yet, Dottie stayed with Jule. How could she leave if she wanted to? She was afraid to leave the house.

Then on Thanksgiving of 1981, Dottie and Jule got into a fight where Jule hit Dottie in the face with a typing stand. A bloodied Dottie drove herself to Kaiser Hospital in Walnut Creek and Jule called police. He told them Dottie had threatened him with a pair of scissors and he had struck her in self-defense. He also would claim that he had to put a lock on his bedroom door in order to keep himself safe from Dottie. Dottie spent the night at a battered women’s shelter. She too told the police that she acted in self defense. Neither one of them pressed charges.

This latest incident was a wake up call to Dottie and she started planning her escape from Jule's clutches. Dottie told Jule she wanted a divorce, but Jule refused. She insisted that she would reconsider only if he went to counseling. Jule did go to counseling, but at the end of the program, he refused to sign a statement admitting that he had been abusive to Dottie.

Jule wrote cards to Dottie saying that he loved her and would try to make things work and that he wanted to spend more time with her. However, soon Dottie discovered phone calls and hotel receipts from Jule's business trip to Alaska, revealing yet another affair.

Dottie decided that she needed to do something to better equip herself with a life without Jule so she enrolled in a support group for women who were planning divorce or had suddenly found themselves widowed. Dottie also began attending the nondenominational Unity Center church in Walnut Creek. She was becoming more brave and eventually joined other classes.

In 1984, Dottie met Shelley Wilson, a widow dealing with the recent unexpected death of her husband. Shelley became a role model for Dottie, and almost immediately, the two became best friends. Shelley and Dottie talked frequently on the phone, went to lunch or dinner together, caught a movie now and then and attended lectures and self-help groups.

Dottie even opened a bank account and applied for credit cards in her own name. She also rented a post office box and asked a friend to keep a file cabinet for her which contained evidence of her husband's past affairs and activities. It also contained a $5,000 cashier's check, which Dorothy had inherited and kept secret from Jule.

Jule was keeping a secret from Dorothy as well... In December 1984, Jule had become engaged to a Colorado woman he had met on a business trip. And they had purchased wedding rings.

Dottie was doing a lot better, but she still feared driving across bridges or through tunnels. Shelley drove most of the time and would pick up Dottie up at her house. When Jule was home, Dottie instead insisted on meeting Shelley at the Concord BART station. Dottie told Shelley that she did not want Jule to know anything about her friends or the new life she was shaping for herself. She also told Shelley that Jule was mentally and physically abusive to her and that she wanted a divorce.

Shelley begged Dottie to come live with her, but Dottie would not. She felt secure in the house she was at. The next year however, things changed.

Jule was transferring from San Francisco to Salt Lake City for the U.S. Forest Service. The couple had gone to a divorce mediator and agreed that Dottie would stay in Concord, in the house. She would figure out a way to pay Jule for his half. Even though Jule agreed to this arrangement he wasn't too happy about it. Dottie had not worked since they had married and because of this Jule's thought that Dottie had no rights to half the house.

In January 1985, Dottie wrote a letter to Jule's mother.

"Jule's threats to 'pop me off,' as he puts it, may succeed, but in the long run won't get him anywhere." "The neighbors are watching him now to help protect me." "And if he carried through with his murder threats, he'll just find himself sitting in jail for the rest of his life, or worse."

In May 1985, Dottie and her sister, Diane, met for the first time since the previous Christmas. They had lunch together at at a Concord coffee shop. Dottie told Diane that she feared Jule but that she was not going to let him control her anymore. Jule wanted Dottie to sign papers refinancing the house and she felt she was being cheated.  Dottie also told Diane that she had opened her own checking account and rented a post office box. She had also packed up Jule's possessions and put them in storage.

If you are to believe Jules version, in the morning of Friday, June 12th, Dottie packed an overnight bag and told him she was going to visit a friend in California. Jules offered Dottie a ride to the Pleasant Hill BART station, which she allegedly accepted. On the way to the station Dottie told him that she was going to stay away until he left for Utah. Jules then claims that they arrived at the station at 8 a.m. He watched Dottie walk into the station with her over night bag and her turquoise leather purse in hand. After Dottie was out of sight Jules then he drove on to the Forest Service office in Pleasant Hill. In the evening, he returned to his empty house.

The next morning was Jule's last day if work in the Bay area. He told co-workers he was fighting some sort of bug and decided to work just half a day, leaving around noon. He parked at the Concord BART station and took the train into San Francisco.

When the BART train dropped him back in Concord, he saw Dottie's blue VW parked next to his. He peered inside and saw Dottie's purse on the floorboard. He unlocked the car and went through the bag. Her $30 in cash, her driver's license, a Diablo Valley College "Spring 1985" student ID and her library card were still inside. Only her bee-sting kit was missing. Jule put the purse in a bag and pushed it under the seat. He then left a note in the car saying that he was worried about her and asked her to call him. It also stated that she messed up his life by refusing to sign loan papers, and that it was Dottie's idea, not his, for him to seek out other women. 

"My Dearest Dottie,

It is Saturday, June 15, and you have been gone four days. I am so lonely I really don't know how to survive. I need you -- I always have. I have tried so hard to be good to you -- to be good for you. If you could only see that. I couldn't believe it when I found your car parked beside mine on Thursday. I have been checking and making sure it isn't ticketed. What in the world did you get into to get all the footprints on your freshly washed paint? -- and why in the world did you leave your purse? How are you getting by with so few clothes? Whom are you with? Please, God call me and let me know what you are doing and where you will be -- when you will be back.

You thought I could get an independent loan if you would not sign. But I can't. So you really screwed up my life by refusing to sign those loan papers since the property is in both of our names. I don't know what to do. I can neither sell it nor get a loan (on it) until you are willing to sign the papers with me. Are you with Shelly? She called a few days ago but she has not called back, so you must be with her. Please give me her last name or a phone number. Since I cannot reach you, I must rent out this place to be able to obtain enough income to cover the loan on my other place ¿ otherwise I cannot get anything in SLC. So you will have to take the room you planned to take with Shelly. I have no choice being in the position you have placed me in. So now I cannot give you any choice either. Don't try to screw up this deal. You must cooperate with me this time since you gave me no options last time.

Since I don't know even where to contact you, I don't know where to send your things. I would send them to your sister, but I don't want to embarrass you or burden her since she doesn't have much room. I will simply take all the stuff with me unless you contact me and tell me to do something different. In any case you can get back from me everything that is yours. I don't know what else to do. I don't know any of your friends so I have no place to move it.

I am trying to figure out how to forward my mail. But since I must rent this I have to forward your mail also. But again I don't know where or to whom. So I will forward all of our mail to Utah. It will go to my office since I don't know when I will be able to get into my new home ¿ if I even can still get it with the delays that have arisen from your refusal to sign the loan. But strangely enough I still care for you ¿ even through all the horrible hurts and loneliness you have put me through. If I could have you here, trying, helping me again I would give you everything that you asked for. It might not strain me that much. And if you really would work as you said you would so you can get financially independent in a year then I would really lose very little. Please oh please contact me. Don't wait until I am in SLC to let me know what to do. It just is not fair.

Being alone is no fun (for me). I hope it is no fun for you either. You said you have grown tired of marriage. So what? Everybody finds things get rough at some time in their life. I am still trying for you. Can't you try for me? No, I guess not! Trying together is past for now. Perhaps at some later time???

I have been checking your car several times a day -- leaving notes. I will leave this letter for now. For some reason I am a little apprehensive. I cannot understand why or how you could get along without your purse. Are you OK? You must be. You are so good at taking care of yourself.

The guy who wanted to buy the boat just came back. I think I will sell it to him. It is just too much of a pain to try to take it with me. Please come back home. I need to get so many details straightened out that only you can help me with. Please come home.

How I wish I didn't still love you. How I wish you still did love me.

Jule

P.S. You know where to find me in SLC. Contact me there (work) like you said you would. I will give you my home address and phone number as soon as I have one. What your doing with Harriett? You must stop torturing me this way. I simply cannot take it any more. If you are going to do something, for God's sake do it. If you aren't, then for God's sake stop talking about it. I cannot stand the mind-bending the "now we do it, now we don't" syndrome. Decide something, Dottie, and do it. This indecision is killing me. You are the one who demanded I search for a new love. That wasn't my idea."

He then locked the car and left.

The next day, he moved Dottie's car to a different parking spot to keep her from getting a ticket. He also drove to his parents' Central Valley home in Lindsay to leave Dottie's dog, Sally, with them.

That Sunday was Father's Day. Jule called a real estate agent and asked her to list the house for rent. When she came to see the house, it was freshly repainted on the inside. Also inside was a distraught Jule, crying over the dissolution of his marriage. Jules told the agent that Dottie had refused to sign refinancing papers, which left him in a financial bind. So he had no choice but to rent out the house.

Also that Sunday, Shelley Wilson called Dottie and Jule's house. She had been trying to reach Dottie to no avail since Wednesday. Dottie's beloved dog "Benji" had died the month before, which had devastated Dottie. Shelley wanted to see how things were going and she knew it was close to time for Jule to move to Salt Lake.

Jule actually answered this time and told Shelley that Dottie wasn't there. He said that she had left earlier in the week to visit friends and hadn't seen or heard from her since. Shelley then asked Jule if he had reported her missing. Jule said he had. Shelley didn't believe him and immediately hung up and called the Concord police. They had no report on Dottie.

Shelley called Dottie's sister Diane and everyone she knew who also knew Dottie. Diane also began calling everyone she knew.

Diane was hopeful that Dottie was teaching Jule a lesson and would come back after a while, even though deep down Diane knew better. After all, Diane would most likely be the person and Dottie ran to and Jule was the only one who knew about Dottie's so called trip. Dottie had never breathed a word about it to anyone.

One of Jule's neighbors urged him to contact the Concord station, which he did at 3 p.m. on June 17th. The following day the station officials called the local police.

A grave in the back yard of Dottie's home was exhumed, only Benji's body was found inside. A garage mechanic came forward and told police Dottie and Jule had been in the day before Dottie disappeared arguing about money. Neighbors were interviewed. Some described the couple as quiet and loving while others said that they were loud and reclusive. Some reported hearing shouting matches while others said they had seen them walking the neighborhood hand-in-hand. The couple's next-door neighbors, John and Peggy Nesbit, were surprised to see Jule pouring a concrete patio in the back yard around the time of Dottie's disappearance. They said they had never seen Jule even attempt any household improvements. Investigators also found out that even though Jule had told them, as well as family and friends, that he had to put the house of for rent due to him not having Dottie around to sign papers to sell or mortgage the house, Jule signed a contract on June 7th to put their Concord house up for rent.

A week after Dottie was last seen, Diane called Jule and Dottie's house. A strange man answered the phone stating he was with a moving company. Diane and Shelley rushed over to Dottie's house to find movers loading everything onto a truck. Dottie's 1963 VW was even being readied for transport. Although Jule had said Dorothy was not supposed to return home until June 24th, He was leaving for Utah and taking all of Dottie's belongings with him. 

Diane begged Jule to leave Dottie's car with her. Dottie had bought the car before her marriage to Jule. And meant a lot to Dottie. It symbolized freedom to her. And anyway, wouldn't Dottie need something to drive when she returned? Jule answer was no. And as the movers packed up Dottie's stuff to be transported to Utah, Shelley grabbed everything she could that belonged to Dottie.

Dottie's case was going not where, so Diane sought help from two Bay Area private detectives, Francie Koehler and Randy Ontiveros. They had a reputation for finding missing people. It was pretty obvious to Francie that Dottie had met foul play. Dottie's home was her safe haven and which she had won from Jule and Francie doubted that Dottie would abandon it. 

The obvious place to start the investigation was with Jule, whom was the last person to see her alive. This is when they discovered about the woman from Colorado that Jule had met and became engaged to before Dottie's disappearance. BART paid part of the expense to fly her in to speak with her with Diane chipping in the rest. The woman met with Kerwin, Concord Detective Don Maich, Francie and Diane.

The lady, who had a 6-year-old son, worked for the U.S. Forest Service. And in May of 1984, Jule was in Colorado to teach an imaging process that uses aerial infrared photography. She said that she saw him at the soda machine looking sad, lonely and vulnerable. She felt sorry for him, so she went over and talked to him. They ended up going for a walk and to dinner. Then four days later Jule told her he wanted to spend the night with her. She told him he was moving too quickly.

Jule returned home and started writing and calling the woman professing his love. That fall they met a few times. They also spent Thanksgiving and then Christmas together when Jule proposed. She accepted and they purchased a diamond engagement ring and a wedding band for her. However, Jule wouldn't commit to a wedding date.

The woman didn't know about Dottie. She did think it was odd that Jule never let her visit him in California, but he had told her that he traveled too much and basically lived in hotel rooms.

Around the time of Dottie's disappearance, Jule was supposed to go to Colorado and see the woman, but he called her and said there had been a change of plans. He told her the tenants in his rental house had left a mess and he had to clean it up. He said it looked like they had killed an animal in the kitchen. This surprised Francie and everyone else because Dottie and Jule didn't own any rental property.

In June of 1985 Jule talked the woman about his move to Utah were he said he would buy a house big enough for them, her son and the child they planned to have together. The woman was trying to get a transfer to Salt Lake City. That Christmas, Jule invited her to visit him in Utah, and to meet his daughter, a college student who would soon be starting medical school.

The woman made it to Utah and right before Jule left for the railroad station to pick up his daughter he came clean and told her. He told her that he had been married twice and that in fact he was still married. And when Jule came back with his daughter, she notice the engagement ring on the woman's had. The daughter asked how they could be planning a wedding when Dottie was still missing.

The woman had all sorts of questions for Jule. Jule said that his life had been hellish and that he hated Dottie and there was no need to talk about her because she was out of his life for good. 

"She's gone. I'm glad she's gone, and if she's dead someplace, it's good riddance." Jule had told the woman.

The woman now was frightened of Jule and was worried that she too would disappear. She called her mom collect and told her that she was leaving Utah at 7 a.m., and if she wasn't home in 10 hours, her mother was to call the police. Jule followed her around the house as she gathered up her things and her son and left.

Jule kept sending her letters professing his love and asking her for another chance. But by Christmas of 1986, the letters stopped because Jule found someone else, another co-worker.

In 1988, the police received a letter postmarked Gary, Indiana claiming that Jule had killed Dottie with a tire iron and buried her body under a birch tree in a remote area of Concord where new homes were being built. DNA from saliva on the stamp and envelope flap has male characteristics, but they have been unable to match it anyone. A document examiner believes the letter's handwriting is similar to Jule's, but no definitive match has been made and the author of the letter had never been identified.

In 1995, Dottie and Jule's neighbors, John and Peggy Nesbit found something interesting. John and his son removed a large portion of the ivy from the fence that separated their property from Dottie and Jule's former house. Leaning against the fence was a rusted meat cleaver with a handle wrapped in duct tape. John quickly handed it over to police and told them about a conversation he had had with Jule before he left for Utah. John had been working in his back yard when Jule looked over the wooden fence and told John that he shouldn't cut the ivy on the fence because the fence would collapse.

In 2003, when Jule retired, he filed for divorce from her on grounds of desertion. A judge granted the divorce and awarded all the marital property to Jule. This ticked off Diane who filed a lawsuit and the divorce was set aside. The Utah judge subsequently ruled that Dottie was dead at the time Jule sought the divorce, so there was no marriage to dissolve.

Jule tried to run for the Utah State legislature, but after party members learned the police were investigating Dottie's disappearance.

Dottie's case was reopened in August of 2001. In December of 2005, they requested a warrant to search Dorothy and Jule's former home. Crews pulled up boards on a deck and removed two slabs of concrete. They also brought in a back hoe to dig along the side of the house and a portion of the rear yard. Then they turned their attention to the patio area. Unfortunatly, the search turned up no physical evidence.

Also in 2001, a reporter for The Contra Costa Times, interviewed Jule. Jule told the reporter that he forgot about his wife’s disappearance, saying that he assumed she was deceased. He also changed his version of his wife’s disappearance claimed that he never drove Dottie to the BART station, but that he thought she drove herself.

Diane filed a lawsuit against Jule requesting that Dottie be declared legally dead and Diane be appointed executor of her estate. A judge found evidence that Dorothy was deceased, but the lawsuit has been stalled pending the outcome of the police investigation into her disappearance.

Jule's was named a person of interest by Concord police but has never officially been a suspect in the still-open investigation.

Dottie's dad passed away in 1997 and her mom passed in 2005. 

Diane is still alive and hoping that one day her sister will be found.

At the time of Dottie's disappearance she was 41 years old, 5'9" and 190lbs. She had brown hair and blue eyes. She wore plastic-framed eyeglasses. She also had a scar above her left eye. Dottie would be 76 years old if she were still alive.

If you have any information regarding Dottie's case please contact the Concord Police Department at 925-671-3240 or 925-671-3040.

Katherine Lillian Armstrong Never Made It To Choir Practice On Halloween Night.

Katherine Lillian Armstrong was often known by her middle name. Lillian was a very proud, very independent woman.

She never married and had lived alone for all her life in Doncaster House in New Castle.

In 1957 she retired from her job as headmistress at the city’s Denton Road Junior School.

She was a devout Methodist and would sing with the choir at the Central Methodist Church, on Newcastle’s Northumberland Road. She had regular choir practice at 7:30pm every Thursday night.

On Thursday, October 31st, 1963, Lillian was last seen by two children who saw her looking out of her window at around 6:30pm. She never made it to choir practice that evening.

The next morning at 10:30, Lillian’s cousin who lived nearby, Ada Ridley, went to visit Lillian. Ada became concerned when there was no answer to her repeated knocks. Lillian was a habitual early riser and should have answered the door by now. Also something that Ada found peculiar, all of the curtains were closed. Ada had a feeling something was wrong and decided to call the police.

When officers arrived, they had to force their way into Lillian's house. Once inside they found Lillian's body near the bottom of the stairs. She was fully clothed, wearing a dress and carpet slippers, and had a nylon stocking tied tightly around her neck. Her face and neck were also heavily bloodstained. Defensive wounds on her hands indicated that Lillian had fought back against her attacker and it was theorized that she might have fought so valiantly as to make her attacker bleed. Blood was found throughout the entire house. There was no sign of forced entry and appeared that there had been nothing taken from the house. There was no murder weapon found at the scene and no fingerprints or footprints either.

The autopsy revealed that Lillian had been stabbed no less than 28 times to her face and neck and that her death was due to the blood loss. 

The murder weapon was thought to have been a long-bladed instrument of some kind. Police worked on the theory that the killer would have discarded the after leaving the scene and scoured the area to no avail. Police had also went to over 5,000 houses questioning the occupants, but that turned up fruitless as well. By November 4th Scotland Yard was brought in.

Police were considering the possibility that more than one person could have been involved in Lillian’s murder. They were looking into local teens in the area as well as men with criminal records that had to do with violence against women.

Ada as well thought that there was more than one culprit of this dastardly deed. She believed her cousin had been killed by teenagers who had entered her home as a prank before being disturbed. Ada also said that she had been worried about Lillian living alone and had begged her to move closer to the rest of the family.

“My cousin’s home was big, dark and gloomy. It got no sun,” Ada said. “Time and time again I told her she should leave and take a flat near me. But she was very independent and said she was not at all afraid of living alone.”

By January 1964, 16,000 local people had been interviewed and the murderer of another local 70 year old woman was questioned. Nothing panned out and no clues were found. To this day Lillian's murder remains unsolved.