Disappearance of Luke Durbin

Luke Durbin disappeared during the early hours on Friday 12 May 2006 from Ipswich, Suffolk. Durbin vanished after a night out with friends and was reported missing by his mother on the afternoon of Saturday 13 May 2006. Background: Durbin lived with his mother, Nicki and sister Alicia in Hollesley, Suffolk, both of whom he shared a close relationship with. An avid guitarist, he enrolled in a music technology course at a college in Colchester, Essex, although he dropped out after a year due to issues with the daily commute. Durbin then worked periodical jobs over the next year, until acquiring a job at a greengrocer in Aldeburgh, a month and a half before his disappearance. Durbin has been described as easygoing and affectionate, often bringing back groceries to cook for his mother and sister. His family stated his disappearance was uncharacteristic, having always been communicative over his whereabouts. Disappearance: Durbin’s friend Alex, a chef in London, had returned for the weekend to see friends and family, prompting Durbin to take time off work alongside another friend, Zach. Durbin rode his new motorbike to Alex’s place in Woodbridge, leaving his wallet, keys, phone and a change of clothes, planning to spend the night. Durbin wore a black/grey long-sleeved collared shirt under a reversible plum-grey sweatshirt, alongside faded denim jeans with a motif on the side thigh, and brown suede shoes. After some drinks at a local pub, Luke Durbin, Alex and Zach then took a cab from Woodbridge to Ipswich to go clubbing at Zest nightclub, although Alex took a taxi back shortly after having too much to drink. After some hours at Zest nightclub, Durbin lost contact with Zach after the latter went to purchase drinks. Durbin was reported at Ipswich train station, a 5-minute walk from Zest nightclub at around 02:00-03:00 AM BST. After being told no trains were running, Durbin is next spotted on CCTV at around 03:45 AM BST heading to Hawk Express Cabs. Having left his wallet at Alex’s place, the receptionist suggests Durbin call his mother for her bank card details, although he refused stating he didn’t wish to wake her. Durbin is then spotted on CCTV walking across the zebra crossing on Dogs Head Street headed towards the bus station at 04:00 AM. This is the last positive sighting of Durbin. Shortly after, a silver or white Volvo 440 is caught on CCTV with registration ‘M206 LYE’, later discovered to be false plates. The vehicle is of primary interest to investigators. The next day, Durbin’s family assumed he had gone to work, although after contacting friends and his work over his whereabouts, he was reported missing by his mother. Unconfirmed sightings: -A witness reported seeing an individual match Durbin’s description walking near Foxhall Stadium in Ipswich on the May 12, 2006 between 7:30-8:00 AM. This lead was reinvestigated in mid-late 2011 but failed to produce new evidence. -On 13 May 2006 between 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, two witnesses reported seeing Durbin in a dark blue Renault Mégane being driven by a man, near the Turban Centre car park in Quayside, Woodbridge. -In late March 2007, a classmate of Durbin’s from Farlingaye High School reported seeing him outside Aldwych Theatre in Drury Lane, London. Subsequent events: -After a fatal shooting of a patron in December 2006, a police appeal to the Ipswich Borough Council led to a revocation of Zest nightclub's license, leading to an immediate closure in January 2007. Council members cited the club's reputation for attracting violent criminals and failing to ensure a safe environment as grounds for its closure. -In March 2008, Durbin's mother alongside Valerie Nettles, mother of missing teen Damien Nettles organized a 'March for the Missing' event. The event intended to raise awareness over the scale of how many go missing every year in the United Kingdom, in addition to appealing to the government to provide financial support to the Missing People charity. -In August 2011, a 29-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman were arrested for identity fraud after using Luke Durbin’s details for making online purchases in August 2007. The pair were questioned but ultimately released. -In June 2012, a 40-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder with a 25-year-old arrested on suspicion of being concerned. Both were eventually bailed after questioning and a search of their homes. -The LotToDo Theatre Company's December 2012 production, 'The Missing' reenacted Durbin's story based on material from interviews with his family and friends. The production took place at The Etcetera Theatre in Camden, London. -In March 2019 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Missing People charity, artist Ben Moore curated the Unmissable exhibition at The Other Art Fair located at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, London. A group of artists commissioned 25 portraits of the missing over the years, with Durbin's portrait painted by artist Ru Knox. -In April 2020, a Channel 5 documentary explored Durbin’s drug dealing history and his ties to gangs in Brixton, London. It is speculated Durbin owed money to dealers within his network. According to investigators, after Durbin’s shift concluded at the greengrocer, he went on to finalise a drug deal in Woodbridge before meeting up with Alex and Zach, on the night he disappeared. -Suffolk Police have described Durbin's disappearance to be one of their most baffling cases. Criticism of investigation: Durbin's mother has voiced her criticisms towards the initial police investigation stating it wasn't taken seriously enough, leading to "grave mistakes" and missing a crucial window in declaring it a murder investigation. Following a review in 2010, the Suffolk Police relaunched Durbin's case as a murder inquiry, referring the case to their Major Investigations Team (MIT).

Disappearance of Damien Nettles

amien Nettles disappeared from Cowes on the Isle of Wight on 2nd November 1996 at the age of 16 during a night out with a friend. Nothing has been seen of him since. The investigation into his disappearance has been ongoing ever since, with five men arrested in 2011, although no charges have been brought. Background: Damien Nettles was born June 21, 1980, to parents Valerie and Edward. He has a sister named Sarah. At the time of his disappearance he was roughly 6' 4" in height. He loved the rock band Nirvana and was often seen wearing his Doc Martens boots. Disappearance: On the night of his disappearance, Nettles was wearing blue jeans and a black fleece. It was believed that he had not taken a bag of any kind or any personal belongings with him from home. Nettles planned to go to a party with his friend, Chris, who lived in East Cowes, so his father, Ed, gave him a lift there. The night started with Nettles and Chris attending the party and, after spending some time there, they left to purchase some cider. Nettles was, however, seen leaving the party carrying a black camera, which has never been found. Nettles then journeyed back over to West Cowes via the ferry with Chris. Once back in West Cowes, Nettles entered Yorkies, the High Street fish and chip shop, but left without ordering anything. They then made attempts to get into pubs, but their efforts failed, causing the two friends to part ways for the night with Chris heading home. Nettles then purchased chips from Yorkies and was later seen staggering about till just after midnight. A witness remembers that Nettles was attempting to open the car doors of a blue Ford Fiesta. This person recalls it being somewhere around 23:15 and claims it took place in the Harbour Lights pub car park. After this, another witness placed Nettles at a bus stop near one of The Co-operative Group supermarkets. He entered a bus here, but exited shortly after talking to the driver. It was alleged that he had tried to take the drivers picture with the camera he had on him. He was said to have thanked the driver at the time of exiting the bus. A third witness was waiting in their car for their child to be dropped off by a different bus. Whilst waiting, they claim a person matching Nettles description was eating chips, nestled together with his arms and legs close to his body. The witness then claims the figure approached him, saying “They are watching us”. Investigation: Numerous people who witnessed Nettles on the night of his disappearance alleged he looked as though he could’ve been heavily drunk and possibly somewhat confused. Another allegation was made that a drug dealer by the name of Bunny Iles had sold drugs to Nettles. A previous girlfriend of Nettles, Abbie Scott, revealed she believed there were some aspects of his life he was keeping secret, and went on to say it could have involved drugs, although she wasn’t entirely sure. However, it wasn't possible to completely verify all witness statements from the night of Nettles’ disappearance, as some of the CCTV footage from the High Street that could've featured him, was claimed to be lost by Police. As of 2011, eight arrests for conspiracy to murder had been made by Hampshire Constabulary. All these people were released and nobody was charged. On 1st November 2011 two arrests were made in Cowes on suspicion of conspiring to murder after the police received information. The suspects were a man, aged 44 and a woman, aged 35. They were both questioned whilst in custody and linked to an address in Marsh Road, Gurnard, Isle of Wight, which was searched by police in the hopes of finding Nettles, or any evidence related to the case. Prior to this, in May 2011, five arrests had been made on suspicion of murder. These included a man from Sandown, Isle of Wight, aged 48, a person from Cowes, aged 45, a person from Newport, Isle of Wight, aged 50, a person from Ryde, aged 37 and a person from Gravesend, Kent, aged 40. All were released on bail. A sixth arrest was also made in July 2011, a man from East Cowes, aged 38. He was also released. As of 4th October 2013, a £20,000 reward was on offer from Hampshire Constabulary for 6 months. Despite receiving 30 accounts of information during this period, the authorities were still no closer to solving the mystery of Nettles’ whereabouts. Regardless of the family’s pleas, the reward wasn’t extended. On 25 July 2016, a BBC Three series, Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared, was broadcast about the case. As reported in this documentary series, the police originally claimed that the man responsible for collecting video footage had lost the tapes after police had returned them, but records relating to evidence proved that was not the case. In episode five of Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared, Nettles' mother expresses frustration at the police's handling of her son's disappearance, which had led to an official complaint on her part. Frustration is also expressed at the police's refusal to be interviewed for the documentary, and although the police maintain that Nettles' case remains open, she states dissatisfaction about what this actually entails, commenting "if they'd done it right the first time I wouldn't be here now". Crucial records, including the log of calls made to police that night, are gone, police notebooks were not retained, and even details of which officers were on duty that night have now been lost. Other criticisms towards the handling of the investigation include requests made to commence searches both on land and from the air, being rejected, and the error made by police who initially listed Nettles as a missing adult rather than a missing child. There have been several public campaigns to bring attention to Nettles' case. Various theories have emerged to explain Damien's disappearance, including that he owed money to drug dealers. Rumours have persistently alleged that a local drug dealer who was in the area on the night Nettles vanished was involved. Witness accounts include recollections of holding a boy up against a wall whose physique matched Nettles'. Associates were arrested and later released. The documentary Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared also mentions rumours of Nick McNamara, shortly after Nettles' disappearance, referring to himself as a "damned man", and of him incinerating suspicious objects outside his house. The documentary also mentions McNamara possibly making a "deathbed confession" about Nettles before dying of a heroin overdose. In spite of the many investigations conducted, plenty of campaigning, and production of documentaries seeking a resolution, Nettles’ whereabouts still remains a mystery.

Bob Saget

Robert Lane Saget was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Saget is known for playing Danny Tanner on the ABC sitcom Full House, and its Netflix sequel Fuller House. He was also the original host of America's Funniest Home Videos, and the voice of narrator Ted Mosby on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Saget was also known for his adult-oriented stand-up comedy, and his 2014 album That's What I'm Talkin' About was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. Early life: Saget was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 17, 1956, to a Jewish family. His father, Benjamin, was a supermarket executive, and his mother, Rosalyn "Dolly", was a hospital administrator. Early in his life, Saget's family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where he briefly attended Lake Taylor High. Saget would later attribute the start of his developing sense of humor to being a rebellious student at Norfolk's Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue. Due to a lack of family in Virginia, Saget had his bar mitzvah in Philadelphia when he turned 13. Saget's family moved from Virginia to the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, where he met Larry Fine of The Three Stooges and heard various stories from Fine. The family would then move back to Philadelphia prior to his senior year with Saget graduating from Abington Senior High School. Saget originally intended to become a doctor, but his Honors English teacher, Elaine Zimmerman, saw his creative potential and urged him to seek a career in films. Saget attended Temple University's film school, where he created Through Adam's Eyes, a black-and-white film about a boy who received reconstructive facial surgery, and was honored with an award of merit in the Student Academy Awards. While attending Temple, Saget made trips via train to The Improv and to Catch a Rising Star in New York City where he would play "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" while using a water bottle to make the guitar appear to weep. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1978. Saget intended to take graduate courses at the University of Southern California but quit after only a few days. Saget described himself at that time in an article by Glenn Esterly in the 1990 Saturday Evening Post: "I was a cocky, overweight twenty-two-year-old. Then I had a gangrenous appendix taken out, almost died, and I got over being cocky or overweight." Saget talked about his burst appendix on Anytime with Bob Kushell and said that it happened on the Fourth of July, at the UCLA Medical Center, and that they iced the area for seven hours before taking it out and finding that it had become gangrenous. Career- 1987–2001: Following a short stint as a member of CBS' The Morning Program in early 1987, Saget was cast as Danny Tanner in Full House, which became a success with family viewers, and landed in the Nielsen ratings' Top 30 beginning with season three. In 1989, Saget began as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, a role he held until 1997. During the early 1990s, Saget worked on both Full House and AFV simultaneously. In 2009, he returned to AFV for the 20th-anniversary one-hour special co-hosted with Tom Bergeron. Saget directed the 1996 ABC television movie For Hope, which was inspired by the life story of his sister, Gay Saget, who had died from scleroderma three years earlier. In 1998, he directed his first feature film, Dirty Work, starring Norm Macdonald and Artie Lange. Released one year after he left his long-running role as host of America's Funniest Home Videos, the film received broadly negative reviews from critics and earned low box office returns. However, it has since become a cult favorite, due partially to Artie Lange's later popularity on The Howard Stern Show where the film is sometimes mentioned, often in unflattering terms. In 1998, Saget made a cameo appearance as a cocaine addict in the stoner comedy Half Baked. 2001-2022: In 2001, Saget took on another widowed-dad role, starring on Raising Dad on The WB. It co-starred Kat Dennings, Brie Larson, and Jerry Adler and lasted only one season, from October 5, 2001, to May 10, 2002. He served as the voice of the future Ted Mosby, who narrated the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which ran for nine seasons from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014. He was host of the NBC game show 1 vs. 100 from 2006 to 2008. His HBO comedy special, That Ain't Right, came out on DVD on August 28, 2007. It is dedicated to his father, Ben Saget, who died at age 89 on January 30, 2007, due to complications from congestive heart failure. From 2005 to 2010, Saget had a recurring role in four episodes of the HBO TV series Entourage playing a parody version of himself. He would later appear in the 2015 feature film based on the series. 2005 also saw him be part of "Rollin' with Saget", a song by Jamie Kennedy and Stuart Stone, about a night out with him that shows off his raunchier behaviors. Saget even does vocals on the track. The video appeared on the MTV series Blowin' Up, and he would come to use it as a pseudo-theme song on his stand-up tours and website. Saget wrote, directed, and starred in Farce of the Penguins, a parody of 2005's March of the Penguins, which was released direct-to-DVD, in January 2007. Saget appeared in the Broadway musical The Drowsy Chaperone for a limited four-month engagement. He played "Man in Chair" while Jonathan Crombie, who normally played the character on Broadway, was with the national tour of the musical. On January 4, 2008, Saget's caricature was unveiled at Sardi's Restaurant. In April 2009, he debuted in a new sitcom along with his co-star Cynthia Stevenson on ABC called Surviving Suburbia. The series, which was originally slated to air on The CW, ended after a single abbreviated season. In 2010, Saget starred in the A&E series Strange Days, in which he followed others in different activities and lifestyles, documenting their adventures in unusual ways. In 2014, his book Dirty Daddy was released, in which he writes about his career, comedy influences, and experiences with life and death. He embarked on a small tour in support of the book, including the Pemberton Music Festival, where he introduced Snoop Dogg prior to performing his own set. In the same year, he toured Australia for the first time, with a stand-up show called Bob Saget Live: The Dirty Daddy Tour. The show was performed in the major cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth. In 2015 and 2016, he guest-starred in two episodes of Grandfathered, starring and produced by his Full House co-star John Stamos. From 2016 to 2020, Saget reprised his role as Danny Tanner for fifteen episodes of Full House's sequel series, Fuller House, including the series premiere and finale. In 2017, he released another stand-up special, Bob Saget: Zero to Sixty. In 2019, he was announced as host of ABC's Videos After Dark. Saget also hosted the game show Nashville Squares on CMT, and made his first of three appearances as a panelist on To Tell the Truth. In 2020, Saget competed in season four of The Masked Singer as "Squiggly Monster". Saget also launched a podcast titled Bob Saget's Here for You with Studio71. Its 130th and final episode, with comedian Dane Cook, was released posthumously on January 31, 2022. Personal life: Saget married Sherri Kramer in 1982. They had three daughters. The couple divorced in 1997. In 2018, Saget married Kelly Rizzo, host of Eat Travel Rock TV. Saget was a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. His scleroderma efforts benefited celebrities like Scary Movie star Regina Hall. In an interview with Ability Magazine, Saget discussed how his sister was diagnosed with scleroderma at 43 and died at 47. She had previously been misdiagnosed numerous times. Death: On January 9, 2022, at about 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), Saget was found unresponsive in his room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, south of Orlando, Florida, near Williamsburg. He had missed his scheduled checkout time, and family members became concerned after being unable to contact him. Emergency responders pronounced Saget dead at the scene; he was 65 years old. No cause of death was immediately announced, though foul play and drug use were ruled out by the sheriff and the medical examiner. At the time of his death, Saget was on a stand-up tour, and had performed in Ponte Vedra Beach the previous evening. -An autopsy report was released on February 9, 2022, and found that Saget had blunt head trauma from an accidental blow to the back of his head, likely from a fall, and subsequently died from the resulting injuries (subdural hematoma and subarachnoid hemorrhage) in his sleep. At the time of his death, he was COVID-19 positive, though there were no signs of inflammation. On February 15, 2022, Saget's family sued to prevent county officials from releasing additional documents from the investigation of his death, arguing that their graphic content would present privacy violations; a permanent injunction was issued against their release on March 14. -News of Saget's death broke during a broadcast of America's Funniest Home Videos in the Eastern and Central time zones, and ABC interrupted the program to announce it. A tribute video was posted on the show's official YouTube channel, and a dedication to Saget was added before the credits of the following episode. -Saget had been honored with donations and offers to help the charity Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF), whose board of directors Saget served on since 2003. According to a statement made by the foundation's executive director on January 13, 2022, the foundation has received donations from more than 1,500 donors from all over the world, totaling more than $90,000. Additionally, a donation of $1.5 million was awarded to the charity by one of its board members in the form of a grant, which will match every donation made in memory of Saget. -Saget's funeral took place on January 14, 2022. He was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery near the graves of his parents and sister. -A tribute special, filmed at The Comedy Store by longtime friend Mike Binder on January 30, is set for release on Netflix in June 2022. this is really sad since i watched full house and saw snippets of america's funniest home videos.

Runaway bride case

The runaway bride case concerns Jennifer Wilbanks, an American woman who ran away from home on April 26, 2005, in order to avoid her wedding with John Mason, her fiancé, on April 30. Her disappearance from Duluth, Georgia, sparked a nationwide search and intensive media coverage, including media speculation that Mason had killed her. On April 29, Wilbanks called Mason from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and falsely claimed that she had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a Hispanic man and a white woman. Jennifer Wilbanks gained notoriety in the United States and internationally, and her story persisted as a major topic of national news coverage for some time after she was found unharmed. Many critics of the mass media attacked the coverage as a "media circus". Howard Kurtz, an influential media critic for The Washington Post and CNN-TV, and Fox News wrote that the runaway bride had become a "runaway television embarrassment", comparing the story to a TV soap opera. Wilbanks repeated the false claims that fell apart under FBI interrogation resulting in a felony indictment of providing false information to law enforcement, a charge that could have resulted in up to five years of imprisonment. On June 2, 2005, Wilbanks pleaded no contest to this charge. As part of her plea bargain, she was sentenced to two years of probation and 120 hours of community service, and she was also ordered to pay $2,250 in restitution to the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department. As part of the plea bargain, a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report was dismissed. Wilbanks's criminal record was expunged after she successfully completed her period of probation. Timeline: -April 26, 2005 – Mason notified police that Wilbanks was missing two hours after she failed to return from her evening jog. -April 27 – 250 people took part in the search for Wilbanks. Local police speculated publicly that Wilbanks' disappearance might be "a case of the premarital jitters," but the search continued. The mayor of Duluth later reported the city spent between $40,000 and $60,000 in the search. -April 27 – Police received numerous pieces of evidence that later turned out to be false leads, including large clumps of dark brown hair in an area next to a retention pond, a variety of clothing, and purported murder weapons. -April 28 – Major Donald L. Woodruff of the City of Duluth's Police Department announced that because there were no other explanations, Wilbanks' disappearance was being handled as a criminal investigation. The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were now involved in the case. -April 29 – Wilbanks' relatives offered a $100,000 reward and planned vigils. Later that day, Wilbanks called Mason from a pay phone and told him that she had been kidnapped, but had just been released. She also called 911, declaring in a frantic voice that she had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a Hispanic man and a Caucasian woman in their 40s driving a blue van. When asked if she knew what direction her captors went after setting her free, she said, "I have no idea. I don't even know where I am." The calls were traced to a pay phone at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she was picked up by local police. Her family publicly thanked the media for getting through to the kidnappers. Later, during FBI interrogation, Wilbanks admitted that she had not been abducted, but needed time and space to escape the pressures of her upcoming wedding. -May 9 – Wilbanks entered a treatment facility "to address physical and mental issues which, she believes, played a major role in her running from herself." -May 17 – Wilbanks canceled her engagement to her fiancé. -May 25 – Wilbanks was charged with making false statements. -May 31 – Wilbanks reached an agreement with the city of Duluth to repay more than $13,000 in costs incurred by the city in their search. -October 10, 2006 – Wilbanks filed a lawsuit against her ex-fiancé for $500,000, claiming it is her share of a home the ex-fiancé purchased with the proceeds to a book deal he negotiated for them when she was medicated, plus punitive damages. Her ex-fiancé, Mason, counter-sued. -December 2006 – Both parties dropped their respective lawsuits. Aftermath and lawsuit: On May 22, 2006, People magazine reported that Wilbanks and Mason had officially called off their engagement. According to the BBC, Jennifer Wilbanks sold the media rights to her story to a New York City company for $500,000. Wilbanks did not offer to repay the whole cost of the search for her, which totaled almost $43,000. In September 2006, Wilbanks filed a lawsuit against her ex-fiancé, claiming that while she was hospitalized and under medication, she granted Mason power of attorney to negotiate the sale of the couple's story to a publisher in New York. According to her, Mason negotiated a deal for $500,000 and then used the money to buy a house, in his name only, from which he later evicted Wilbanks. She claimed $250,000 as her share of the house, and another $250,000 in punitive damages. Mason countersued, claiming emotional distress from being left at the altar. In December 2006, both of the parties dropped their respective lawsuits. On March 15, 2008, Wilbanks's ex-fiancé, John Mason, married another woman, Shelley Martin, in a quiet ceremony at his parents' home in Duluth, Georgia. Wilbanks and Mason's original wedding was to have had 600 guests and 28 bridesmaids. In June 2010, Wilbanks announced via Facebook that she had been dating twice-divorced landscaper Greg Hutson since early in 2009. Impact of the events: -Herobuilders, a manufacturer of action figures, rushed to produce a doll representing Wilbanks, wearing a jogging suit bearing the slogan "Vegas baby". It came with a small towel, to put over the doll's head, to model how she appeared on TV when in the custody of Albuquerque Police. -Wilbanks has inspired a "Runaway Bride" action figure and a hot sauce called "Jennifer's High Tailin' Hot Sauce". An auction on eBay of a slice of toast carved with a likeness of Wilbanks closed with a winning bid of $15,400. -Nearly two years after Wilbanks ran away, the incident was used by the Albuquerque Police Department as a means of attracting new recruits to the police force. The police department used the image of a bride in a white wedding dress and veil being apprehended by Police Officer Trish Hoffman, posted on a billboard with the advertisement reading "Running away from your current job? Call APD Recruiting" followed by the police department's telephone number. Hoffman was the officer who was pictured in the media leading Wilbanks through Albuquerque International Sunport after being taken into custody. The Police Department's reasoning for using the image was the fact that many people would recognize the reference to the incident and that people still talked about the incident. -A musical play based on the story of Jennifer Wilbanks opened on March 13, 2008, at the Red Clay Theater in Duluth, Georgia. -A photo of Wilbanks appears in the trailer of the 2008 movie about professional poker, The Grand, as one of the many women Woody Harrelson's character has been married to in the past. -Wilbanks' case is frequently used as an example, in both scholarly and popular articles and books. In 2012 Psychology Today wrote an article about cold feet that cited Wilbanks as an example. Diana M. Concannon textbook Kidnapping: An Investigator’s Guide began its chapter on staged kidnappings by using Wilbanks' case as an example.

Sherri Papini kidnapping hoax

An American woman named Sherri Papini disappeared from her husband and family on November 2, 2016, reportedly while out jogging a mile from her home in Redding, California.[1] Papini was 34 years old at the time. She reappeared three weeks later on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, having been reportedly freed by her captors at 4:30 that morning still wearing restraints, on the side of County Road 17 near Interstate 5 in Yolo County, about 150 miles (240 km) south of where she disappeared. The case garnered major media attention, with national law enforcement experts reporting doubts or otherwise baffled as to the unlikely details and inconsistencies of the reported abduction. On March 3, 2022, Papini was arrested on charges of making false statements to federal law enforcement officers and for mail fraud. According to the DOJ, Papini fabricated the story of her abduction. She had reportedly been staying with a former boyfriend during the time she was supposedly missing and had harmed herself in order to give credence to her false narrative. She maintained her story when questioned by a federal agent and a detective from the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office in August 2020, despite being advised that it was a crime to lie to a federal agent. From 2017 to 2021, Papini had received over $30,000 from the California Victim's Compensation Board. On March 9, 2022, Papini was released from jail before her trial, on a $120,000 bond and after surrendering her passport. She and her lawyer had no comment on the allegations against her. Papini had faced up to 25 years in prison between the charges of mail fraud and lying to a federal officer. However, six weeks after her arrest, Papini signed a plea deal admitting that she had orchestrated the hoax. Background: Sherri Louise Graeff was born on June 11, 1982. She married Keith Papini in 2009. The couple have two children together. Timeline: Sherri's husband Keith Papini first became concerned when he returned from his job at Best Buy on November 2 and could not find his wife at home. He eventually used the "Find My iPhone" application to locate her cell phone and ear buds at the intersection of Sunrise Drive and Old Oregon Trail (40.6950511°N 122.318494°W), about a mile from their home. According to Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko, in interviews Papini said she was held by two Hispanic women who took steps to keep their faces hidden from her, either by wearing masks or by keeping Papini's head covered. Papini was branded on her right shoulder during her captivity but details of what the brand includes have not been revealed. According to a statement by her husband Keith Papini, Sherri was physically abused during her captivity, had her nose broken and her hair cut off, and weighed 87 pounds (40 kg) when she was released. The sheriff said that this is still an active investigation and that authorities are "looking for a dark-colored SUV with two Hispanic females armed with a handgun." The sheriff indicated that there is sensitive information that is not being released at this time. Detectives have authored close to 20 search warrants and they said they’re examining cellphone records, bank accounts, email and social media profiles. Investigators have declined to discuss what prompted them to file the search warrants or why detectives have traveled out of state. According to Bosenko, Keith Papini "has been cooperative and even volunteered for a polygraph, which he passed." However, Bosenko has not ruled out Papini as a suspect in the abduction, stating "We are keeping an open mind and looking at all avenues." Keith has been reported as possibly compromising the investigation with his statements to the media after Sherri was found. Authorities declined to comment on specific details of the ongoing investigation but have reported that they are actively pursuing the case. In November, while Papini was still missing, authorities executed more than 12 search warrants in Michigan. The FBI has provided assistance in the case. Papini was found with both male and female DNA on her, neither of which matched her or her husband. The FBI ran the DNA through their database CODIS and found no matches. In March 2022, it was reported that DNA found on her clothing matched that of an ex-boyfriend, who confirmed that Papini stayed with him during the time she was allegedly kidnapped. Arrest: On March 3, 2022, Sherri Papini was arrested by the FBI, accused of lying to federal agents and faking her kidnapping to spend time with her ex-boyfriend, away from her husband and family. Six weeks after her arrest, Papini signed a plea deal admitting that she had orchestrated the hoax.

Steven Zelich

Steven Zelich is a convicted murderer and a former police officer for Milwaukee who was dubbed the "Wisconsin Suitcase Murderer" by the press. Murders: Zelich frequented S&M websites under the alias “mrhandcuffs”, where he searched for submissive sex slave partners. That's where he met his two victims, 19-year-old Jenny Gamez and 37-year-old Laura Simonson. Gamez was killed in Oregon in late 2012 and Simonson was killed in Minnesota mid 2013. Zelich claimed both died accidentally during sex. He admitted that after causing their deaths, he put their bodies into suitcases and hid them in his home. The suitcases were later put into the trunk of his vehicle, and then dumped along a Geneva, Wisconsin roadway in tall grass. On June 5, 2014, a highway worker discovered the pair of discarded suitcases. According to the subsequent criminal complaint, the more decomposed of the two bodies was partly concealed in black plastic garbage bags and had her hands bound behind her back with rope. The other body “was found with a rope wrapped around her neck, had a sexual ball gag strapped into her mouth with a collar and was naked.” Zelich, who had continued to use S&M dating websites after the recovery of the bodies, was arrested on June 27, 2014. Investigation: Laura Simonson was immediately identified from her dental records. Jenny Gamez was initially unable to be identified, and labeled a Jane Doe. Gamez was last seen by her family in Cottage Grove, Oregon in 2012 at which time she said she would be moving, and had not been reported missing. Walworth County released a composite sketch of Gamez, which led friends and family to identify her. The identification of Jenny Gamez was confirmed by dental records on June 28th, 2014. On the 25 of June 2014, Zelich was charged with two counts of hiding a corpse and given a million dollar bail. He was later charged with murder. Trial and imprisonment: Zelich pleaded guilty to the murder of Jenny Gamez in early 2016. He received 35 years imprisonment. In February 2017, he was sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder of Laura Simonson. Zelich received another 10 years for the charges of hiding of corpses in October 2017. In the media: -Crime Watch Daily reported on the case with a focus on the Walworth County police’s identification process of Jenny Gamez through forensic science.

Murder of Sharon Lee Gallegos

Sharon Lee Gallegos was a formerly unidentified American murder victim known as Little Miss Nobody whose body was found in Congress, Yavapai County, Arizona on July 31, 1960. Her remains were estimated to have been discovered within one to two weeks of the date of her murder. Due to the advanced state of decomposition of the child's remains, the specific cause of death of Gallegos has never been established, although her death has always been considered to be a homicide. On March 15, 2022, investigators in Arizona announced the identification of Gallegos's remains, almost 62 years after the discovery of her body. The child had been kidnapped from outside her grandmother's home in Alamogordo, New Mexico by two unknown individuals ten days prior to the discovery of her body. Gallegos became known as "Little Miss Nobody" after contemporary efforts to identify her proved unsuccessful and no family or friends came forward to identify or claim her body. Her 2022 identification is the oldest cold case solved in Yavapai County; efforts to identify her abductors are ongoing. Early lifeGallegos lived in Alamogordo with her mother, Lupe Gallegos, along with her two older siblings, grandmother, and six other relatives, including four other children aged between five and fifteen. Her biological father, a soldier, had left the family when Gallegos was a baby, and the child had no contact with him. Her family was not wealthy, and Gallegos's mother supported the family by working as a maid at a local motel. Despite general financial limitations, the Gallegos family was close-knit. Sharon herself has been described as a "feisty" and "happy-go-lucky" child who enjoyed performing simple errands for her mother and playing close to the family home with her siblings and other neighborhood children. Due to her fair complexion by comparison to her siblings, the child was affectionately known to relatives as "La Güera." Prior stalking concerns: Authorities believe the couple who kidnapped Gallegos had been actively stalking the child for days, if not weeks, before her actual kidnapping. On Sunday, July 17, this couple were seen after the child and her mother had attended a church with two children (one a freckle-faced male; one a "small" female) in this same dark-green car. Following the church service, the female abductor had asked several attendees probing questions pertaining to Sharon and her mother, Lupe. Shortly thereafter, on or about July 19, this female abductor is known to have knocked on a neighbor's door, inquiring as to Gallegos's mother, her actual address, and her children, specifically whether she had a little girl. Other questions asked included whether Gallegos's mother had numerous children and her current financial situation. This woman then claimed to this neighbor her reason for inquiring as to Gallegos's mother's current social and financial situation was that she intended to offer Gallegos's mother a job. Gallegos's mother later stated that her daughter's behavior had markedly changed in the days immediately prior to her disappearance: the child became markedly nervous and wary, and suddenly ceased wishing to retrieve groceries for the family from a local grocery store (an errand she particularly enjoyed). She also became visibly upset whenever she observed a dark-green car near her home or places she visited, asking relatives to pick her up and carry her past the vehicle. At the time of her disappearance, Gallegos was approximately 3 ft 6 in (110 cm) in height and had light brown hair. She was last seen wearing pink shorts and white shoes. Abduction: At approximately 3 p.m. on July 21, 1960, Gallegos was kidnapped by a man and woman while playing with two cousins (aged five and eleven) in an alley at the rear of her Virginia Avenue home. The couple offered to buy Gallegos some candy and new clothing if she would get in the car with them; Gallegos refused and was then dragged by the arm into the "dirty, old green car" (believed to be a dark-green 1951 or 1952 model Dodge or Plymouth sedan) by the female abductor, who had exited the vehicle. This woman was described by the witnesses as a short, bespectacled and heavy-set individual in her 30s, with dirty blonde hair; the man was described as fair, thin Caucasian with a long nose and straight, sandy-colored hair. Immediately upon dragging the child into the car, the vehicle sped away, and was last seen turning west onto Fifth Street at high speed. The child witnesses to Gallegos's abduction immediately reported the incident to her mother, who in turn immediately notified authorities. Within one hour, police had set up roadblocks at the Texas-New Mexico state border, ultimately searching numerous vehicles of the description described by the eyewitnesses. This tactic failed to apprehend the abductors. Motive: Although investigators remained open-minded as to the actual motive for the child's abduction, the prospect of kidnapping for ransom was quickly discounted both due to the family's modest means and the fact no demands for money were received. Moreover, the circumstances surrounding the abduction and evident previous stalking indicated the child had been specifically targeted. One of the child witnesses to Gallegos's abduction, 11-year-old Dolores Badial, was adamant she had observed the same vehicle into which the child had been dragged parked outside the Gallegos household shortly before the actual abduction as she and Gallegos had walked toward the vehicle en route to a local grocery store. According to Badial, the female occupant had been staring intently at the Gallegos household and the actual sight of the car had greatly distressed the child, who asked to be carried as the two passed the vehicle. A friend and neighbor of the Gallegos family, Helen González, also informed investigators she had observed a dark-green vehicle matching the description provided by the eyewitnesses parked at the site of the abduction the previous Sunday. However, by July 28, investigators had announced their investigation into the possibility "a relative or possible acquaintance" of the Gallegos family being the abductor(s) had failed to bear any fruition. Discovery of remains: On July 31, 1960, the partially buried body of a female child was found in Sand Wash Creek Bed on Old Alamo Road in Congress, Arizona, approximately 48 kilometers from the town of Wickenburg and roughly half a mile west of Highway 93. Her body was discovered by a Las Vegas schoolteacher named Russell Allen, who had been searching for rocks to decorate his garden. The child's body was initially taken to Widmer Funeral Home.Investigators at the scene later stated at the inquest into the child's death that tire impressions indicated the perpetrator(s) had drove off Highway 93 to the actual disposal location before "turning around" in their vehicle and driving from the actual burial location. In addition, the individuals(s) responsible for the child's death had possibly made two separate attempts to dig an alternate grave for the child's body in the location she was subsequently discovered. This conclusion was determined by two evident disturbances in the sand close to the actual burial site. The body was clothed in red shorts and a buttoned blue blouse with a distinctive, vertical linear pattern. The child wore a pair of adult-sized rubber thong sandals that had been cut to fit her feet and fastened with leather straps. The child's toes and fingernails had evidently been painted bright red. Sections of the child's clothing were also recovered close to the shallow grave. Two sets of footprints were recovered at the crime scene, one of which had evidently been made by an adult; the other possibly by the sandal-footed child, indicating she may have walked to the site of her murder. Investigators also recovered an apparently bloodstained pocket knife near the body, but were unable to definitively determine whether this utensil held any relation to the crime scene. The clothing, knife, and footprint impressions found upon and/or near the child's body were sent to an FBI laboratory to undergo further examination. Autopsy: The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy determined that the body was that of a white girl, most likely between the ages of five and seven years old, 3 feet–6 inches to 4 feet–5 inches in height, and likely weighing 50 to 60 pounds. The child had been dead for between one and two weeks prior to the discovery of her remains. Her hair color was brown, possibly having been tinted or dyed auburn, and she had a full set of intact milk teeth described as being in a markedly good condition. The actual cause of death of the child was never determined by medical examiners, although her death was officially declared to be a homicide. Furthermore, the contemporary report of the child's autopsy states that her remains were charred, presumably from her body having been set alight around the time of her death. Although unable to determine the actual cause of death, the forensic pathologist was able to definitively state the decedent had not suffered any bone fractures either at the time of her death, or in her lifetime. Because the child had been in an advanced state of decomposition at the time of her discovery, creating an actual composite drawing of the child's facial features was not possible. Initial investigation: With active assistance from the local media, private citizens, and (later) assistance from officials as eminent as individuals within the FBI, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office worked tirelessly in their efforts to discover the decedent's identity. An all-points bulletin was initially broadcast across all sheriff radio and teletype networks following the discovery of the child's body, and Yavapai County Sheriff Jim Cramer, Deputy County Attorney George Ireland and other local law enforcement personnel later travelled hundreds of miles in radius via both air and land in their efforts to discover her identity. People previously convicted of various offenses involving young children were subjected to prolonged interrogations, and the sheriff's office also received dozens of letters, telephone calls, and telegrams in response to their nationwide public appeals for information in their efforts to discover the child's identity. Any possibility the decedent had been any known missing young girl was investigated, and discounted. Due to initial eyewitness accounts of a family seen walking close to where the child's body was discovered on July 27, and that one of the two young girls within this troupe had been wearing similar clothing and sandals to the decedent, speculation that the child may have been a member of this family of transients was also considered. A known transient family named Davidson were subjected to over an hour of questioning in early August. The family had been seen hitchhiking close to Prescott in late-July, with a confirmed sighting occurring near Alamogordo on the date of Gallegos's abduction. Police questioning concluded that the family likely had no connection to either the unidentified child or Sharon Gallegos, and the family were released following the verification of their alibis. By the first week of August 1960, Sharon Gallegos was considered by investigators to be a potential candidate for the remains discovered in Yavapai County. Although the location of the unidentified child's remains was some 800 kilometers from the location of the Gallegos's abduction, only ten days had elapsed between her abduction and this discovery. Despite the fact that the clothing the victim wore was inconsistent to that Gallegos was last seen wearing, investigators could not eliminate Gallegos as being the decedent due to this material fact, as her clothing and footwear could have easily been changed in the intervening ten days. Shortly thereafter, police released a statement indicating they believed the unidentified child—estimated to be "around seven"—was therefore older than Gallegos, and could not be the abductee. In March 1961, a possibility arose that the decedent may have been one Debbie Dudley; a four-year-old girl missing from Virginia. Investigators had failed to find the bodies of Dudley and her remaining siblings after the body of her seven-year-old sister, Carol Ann, was found wrapped in a blanket on February 9, 1961, she having died due to a combination of the malnutrition, exposure, and neglect she had endured from her parents. Debbie's remains were later found in Southern Virginia. She was interred alongside her sister. The parents were later charged with both murders. On August 8, 1961, Sheriff Cramer led a party of law enforcement officers and a camera crew to film the location where the child's body had been found. Later that afternoon, Sheriff Cramer and Yavapai County Attorney George Ireland presented evidence—including the adult-sized rubber sandals which had been cut to fit the child's feet—to the media, with Sheriff Cramer stating: "Somewhere, there is someone who has the answer that we have been looking for; maybe this will be the thing that will bring that person forward." The footage of this scene and the interview with Sheriff Cramer was later broadcast on television in the hope fresh leads toward establishing the identity of the child would ensue, although the program brought no significant new information. Despite the numerous and extensive local and national efforts conducted to identify her, all contemporary efforts to either identify the child, or trace any of her relatives, failed. Funeral: The funeral of the unidentified child was conducted on August 10, 1960. She was laid to rest in Mountain View Cemetery, with the campaign for funds to provide a dignified burial—as opposed to anonymous interment inside a pauper's grave—being spearheaded by local talk radio announcer Dave Palladin. In interviews, Palladin stated his primary motivation was that he found the thought of a "little girl buried in Boot Hill" as being "insufferable" to him; adding his insistence that the child received a decent Christian burial. Prior to her funeral, the child had become colloquially known within and around Yavapai County as "Little Miss Nobody"—a name which remained affixed until her 2022 identification. The funeral service for Little Miss Nobody was conducted at the Congregational Church in Prescott, Arizona, and was officiated by Dr. Charles Franklin Parker, with over 70 mourners in attendance. At this service, a placard was placed upon Little Miss Nobody's pale blue casket, with the inscription reading: "God's little child, date of birth unknown, date of death unknown." Her headstone is inscribed with a section of a quote from St. Matthew, which reads, "Blessed are the Pure in Heart." During the eulogy at the funeral of Little Miss Nobody, Dr. Parker recited a poem entitled "For a Little Girl Unknown" before addressing those in attendance with a speech in which he stated: "Here is a little wanderer who has been in our midst. We don't know her name; we can only guess her age. It occurs to me we may not know, but God knows. There are no unknowns, no orphans in God's world. ... She doesn't need a name today. She has the name of an angel somewhere in eternity ... we may never know the why's and wherefores, but, somewhere, someone is going to be watching the paper to learn what happened to a little girl left on the desert. If there has been a misdeed, probably a disquieted conscience will go on and on." Renewed efforts: Due to recent advances in technology and DNA profiling, a decision to exhume the body of Little Miss Nobody to obtain a DNA sample was made in 2018, with The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offering to pay for the exhumation and required testing. Resultingly, samples of the girl's DNA were successfully obtained from her body, and entered into both the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children databases for comparison with nationwide unsolved murders and missing person reports. Samples of the child's DNA were sent to Othram Inc. in January 2022 in the hope advances in forensic genealogy may identify a close relative of the child and thus establish her identity. A renewed forensic examination of Little Miss Nobody's remains following her 2018 exhumation determined the highest likelihood of the child's age as between 3 and 6 years, with her height most likely being 3 ft 6 in. These updated estimates were based upon both the skeletal and dental conclusions from the examination of her remains. The University of North Texas Center for Human Identification also created a detailed forensic facial reconstruction of the decedent, depicting how she may have appeared in life, before her body was reburied at Mountain View Cemetery. Identification: On March 15, 2022, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office announced that Little Miss Nobody had been identified as Sharon Lee Gallegos. The child's identification was made via the usage of genetic genealogy analysis conducted by Othram Inc.: a corporation specializing in the usage of forensic genealogy to identify unidentified decedents. The child's identity had been established in February, although the official announcement of her identification was withheld pending Gallegos's surviving relatives' notification of developments. At a press conference held to announce the formal identification of Little Miss Nobody, a spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office informed all present prior to the actual announcement of Gallegos's identity of his hope nobody would again refer to her by the media moniker by which she had been known since 1960, adding the "unidentified little girl who won the hearts of Yavapai County in 1960, and who occupied the minds and time of our sheriff's office and partners for 62 years will now, rightfully, be given her name back." A nephew of Gallegos then informed the media of the compassion given to his aunt by Prescott residents in the decades she had remained unidentified, stating: "My family were amazed how the people rallied around her. Thank you for keeping my aunt safe and never forgetting her." Ongoing investigation: Investigations into Gallegos's abduction and murder are ongoing, with the primary focuses being upon identifying the child's abductors and determining the precise chain of events to occur in the ten days between the actual abduction and the discovery of Gallegos's body.

Florida

i'm going on a family vacation soon. it's to Florida, which my family loves. I'm happy about going to Florida for fun

Disappearance of Nicole Morin

On July 30, 1985, eight-year-old Nicole Louise Morin left her penthouse apartment on the 20th floor of an apartment building in the Etobicoke borough of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to meet a friend in the lobby for a swim date. She never arrived and has not been seen or heard from since. The Toronto Police Service launched the biggest missing-person investigation in their history, forming a 20-member task force and investing more than 25,000 man-hours following up leads. No physical evidence has ever been found to solve the disappearance. While it is now considered a cold case, Toronto police and missing-child organizations continue to keep it in the public eye in an effort to garner fresh leads. They have produced several video re-enactments of Morin's last known movements and released age-enhanced photographs coinciding with anniversaries of her disappearance. Early life: Nicole Louise Morin was born on April 1, 1977. She was the only child of Arthur (Art) and Jeanette Morin, who had married 12 years before her birth. Morin had brown hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 4 ft 0 in (1.22 m) tall and weighed 51 lb (23 kg). In July 1985, Morin was living with her mother in a 20th-floor penthouse apartment in the Etobicoke borough of Toronto. Her father lived in Mississauga. Morin was on summer vacation from Wellesworth Junior School, where she was in Grade 3. Disappearance: On July 30, 1985, at approximately 10:30 am, Morin went down to the lobby of her building to pick up the mail. She returned to the apartment to get ready for a planned swim date with a friend. The pool was located in the rear of their building complex. Before leaving the apartment, she spoke to her friend via the intercom and said she would meet her in the lobby shortly. She left the apartment at about 11 am wearing a peach-coloured, one-piece bathing suit, green hairband, and red canvas shoes; she carried a plastic bag containing a white T-shirt, green and white shorts, suntan lotion, hairbrush, a peach-coloured blanket and a purple beach towel. Fifteen minutes later, the friend buzzed her apartment to ask why Morin had not met her yet. Nicole's mother Jeanette, who was busy with small children in a daycare group that she ran in her apartment, assumed that Morin had gone to the pool herself or was playing with other children at the rear of the complex. She did not call the police to report her missing child until about 3:00 pm. Investigation: The police investigation initially involved "active searches and canvassing" of all of the apartments in the complex. The first day, police set up roadblocks around the building and circulated vehicles with public address systems to alert neighbourhood residents to the missing child's description. Knocking on every door in Morin's 429-unit complex, police entered apartments even if no one answered the knock. After a woman who lived in the building identified Morin from a photograph, police determined that Morin had travelled down the elevator and entered the lobby. From there, however, no other evidence was found as to Morin's whereabouts. The next day, additional Toronto Police Service officers were brought in, and a "police dragnet consisting of mounted horsemen, marine units, helicopters and foot patrols" began combing the area near Highway 27, which was in the vicinity of the apartment building. Tracking dogs were also brought in to explore the building's underground garages, utility rooms, storage units, and sump pump rooms. A neighbour recalled seeing an unidentified blonde woman with a notebook on the floor that Nicole's apartment was located on, about 45 minutes before the disappearance. Police sought her as a possible witness, but she was never identified, nor did anyone come forwards claiming to be her. More than 900 neighbourhood residents joined the search. The newly formed Toronto Crime Stoppers organization took on the disappearance as its first significant case. This organization posted a $1,000 reward, printed posters, and produced a video re-enactment of Morin's last known movements which aired on television several weeks later. The Toronto Star printed 6,000 copies of a poster showing Morin's picture and the phone number of the Metro Toronto Police. Three thousand copies of a watercolour sketch of Morin were commissioned by the Toronto police and distributed to police departments, post offices, and local stores. The search was the biggest missing-person investigation in the history of the Toronto Police Service. Toronto police formed a 20-member task force which remained active for nine months. They invested 25,000 man hours following up leads. By November, police had questioned about 6,000 individuals, including hundreds of sex offenders. The first year's investigation cost an estimated $1.8 million. The police also offered a $100,000 reward for Morin's safe return, a reward that is still applicable today. Police cleared all family members and acquaintances from suspicion. An unexplained note was found in the apartment on which Morin had written in pencil a few months earlier: "I'm going to disappear". Although police discouraged it, Art Morin raised funds to hire a private investigator. He also left his job, set up an office, and searched for clues for his missing daughter in Canada and the United States. He moved back in with Jeanette after Nicole's disappearance, but the couple permanently separated in 1987. Jeanette consulted with a psychic in Calgary in her own effort to locate her daughter. In 2004, researchers for a Belgian organization known as Fondation Princesses de Croÿ et Massimo Lancellotti announced that they had tentatively matched photographs of Morin seen on a Canadian police website with pictures on a Dutch website that advocates for sexually-abused children. Using biometrical analysis, the researchers claimed a strong resemblance between Morin and a child in a pedophile network in Zandvoort. Despite the years of investigations and thousands of leads, no physical evidence has ever been uncovered to solve the disappearance. Ongoing efforts: -While the case is considered a cold case, Toronto police and missing-child organizations continue to keep it in the public eye in an effort to garner fresh leads. Several video re-enactments of Morin's last movements have been produced, including a 2007 television re-enactment for GTA's Most Wanted. For the 29th anniversary of the disappearance in 2014, the Toronto Police Video Unit produced a re-enactment which was also screened at Mac's Convenience Stores throughout the province of Ontario. -For the 30th anniversary of the disappearance in 2015, Toronto police organized a 5K run called Nicole's Run at Centennial Park in Etobicoke. The event included a candlelight vigil. In addition to raising awareness of the case, the run collected $3,000 in donations for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which operates a missing-child website. -In 2019, on the 34th anniversary of the disappearance, the Toronto police's missing-persons unit released an age-enhanced picture of Morin suggesting what she might look like in her early 40s. -In 2001, Toronto Crime Stoppers disseminated an age-enhanced photograph of Morin as a woman in her mid-20s to more than 1,000 Crime Stoppers programs in 17 countries via the internet. Child Find Ontario has also endeavoured to maintain public awareness of the case by arranging for Morin's picture, physical description, and age-enhanced photographs to appear "on electronic screens in Esso gas stations, billing envelopes from Rogers Cable and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto Transit Commission display screens, and on the back of transport trucks". -Morin's mother Jeanette died in 2007. Her father still lives in the Etobicoke area.

Disappearance of Cédrika Provencher

Cédrika Provencher was a Canadian girl from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, who disappeared aged 9 on 31 July 2007. Her disappearance resulted in one of the biggest police searches in Québec's history. She was declared "missing" on 31 July 2007, (but some commentators in the media already believed that she was kidnapped), and "likely abducted" 72 hours later. Despite the offer of a reward, her whereabouts remained unknown for more than eight years. On 12 December 2015, Québec provincial police (SQ) announced that her remains had been found by hunters in a woody area not far from Trois-Rivières. No one has been charged in relation to her death. Disappearance and search: It is believed that Cédrika was asked by a man to help search for a lost dog, and agreed to help. She cycled around the area, knocking on doors and asking residents if they had seen the dog. She was seen emerging from a wooded area with a friend, closely followed by a man. She was then seen on her bike in a local park and on various nearby streets. At 8:30 pm, her bicycle was found leaning against a fire hydrant on the corner of streets Chabanel and Chapais. On 2 August 2007, 72 hours later, municipal officers suggested that she had been abducted, even though it was already known since day one that a man asked her about a dog. The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) therefore took over the investigation from the smaller Trois-Rivières police service, as per law. Neither police forces declared the AMBER Alert. Hundreds of citizens assisted in the search for Cédrika, to no avail. On 13 August, while around 60 investigators were working full-time on the case, a reward of CA$80,000 was offered in exchange of information. It was raised to CA$170,000 in 2009. Between August 2007 and July 2008, various newspapers published information on various aspects of the search, but no concrete information surfaced to be able to find Cédrika or even to establish whether she was still alive. Discovery of remains: On 11 December 2015, three hunters stumbled upon a set of human remains in the woods in Saint-Maurice, a small town near Trois-Rivières close to Highway 40, about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the last place Cédrika had been seen. On December 12, it was confirmed that the remains were Cédrika's. Police had no further information at the time, and said that they would need to carry out further investigations. On 16 December, Radio-Canada revealed that investigators were still looking for a person of interest who had been seen around the area where Cédrika disappeared. Investigation: Jonathan Bettez has been considered a prime suspect since early on, but has never been indicted due to a complete lack of direct evidence. Suspect in Cédrika's disappearance: The case against Bettez, at least as revealed in media, is strictly circumstantial. Around the presumed time and place of the kidnapping on 31 July 2007, someone witnessed a "suspicious" red sedan car with chromed door handles. Since this car was also recorded by a surveillance camera at a nearby gas station, police managed to narrow it down to the 2004 red Acura TSX model, which is assembled with such handles. The news that the police were looking for a "red Acura" quickly spread through media outlets. In summer 2007, 258 vehicles of this model and color were registered in the province. Only six exactly matched the characteristics that were sought and Bettez was the only owner whose alibi could not be corroborated. He met with investigators for the first time on 6 September 2007, and on five more occasions before 24 October. Since then, he has been the object of intense police surveillance, including the use of hidden cameras and wiretapping. On 6 September he initially agreed to let his vehicle be searched, but at that time the car was in a repair shop. Investigators only gained access to the car in December after obtaining a search warrant, but no meaningful forensic evidence was found. In the meantime, the SQ announced through media in November that it was "certain" the infamous Acura rouge car was involved in the kidnapping. Bettez has always refused to take a polygraph test and, according to crime journalist Claude Poirier, he was at some point planning to flee to Switzerland, a country which has no extradition treaty with Canada. According to court documents filed during pre-hearing and obtained by journalists, he was the object in 2009 of a year-long undercover operation similar to the "Mr. Big technique", in an attempt to elicit confidences concerning Cédrika — to no avail. Even before 2016 Bettez was already rumored to be involved in the case. In 2011, a journalist from the investigative television program J.E. tried to interview Bettez, which he declined on camera. At the time, the segment aired on TVA channel but the suspect was kept unnamed and his face blurred. Arrest and acquittal: The fact that Bettez was the main suspect was revealed by journalists on 29 August 2016 after he was arrested and charged with six counts of possessing and distributing child pornography. He was however acquitted on 6 October 2018 by judge Jacques Lacoursière, before the beginning of hearings, as the proof against him was considered to have been obtained illegitimately. This evidence was acquired in December 2015, a day or two after the finding of Cédrika's remains, when investigators involved in the case decided to look into whether Bettez, the sole suspect, could be a user of such pornography. Without any warrant, Facebook gave them 12 IP addresses associated with his account within the previous year or so. They justified their request by claiming a sense of "urgency" inherent to the recent finding of the corpse, and concern that evidence could be destroyed. However, Judge Lacoursière found that there was no urgency and that a proper warrant should have been obtained. The querying of an international police database then showed that one of the IP addresses, which investigators learned was from Bettez's place of work (a small company owned by Bettez's father, with more than a dozen employees on its network), had been used to view and share illicit content between 2010 and 2011. With this knowledge, police officers chose, instead of asking a judge for a specific search warrant, to only request a "general warrant" from a justice of the peace, which is easier to obtain and was only intended as an "overview browsing" of Bettez's seized goods. The detailed and thus unauthorized inspection of his electronic devices subsequently revealed traces of a number of illegal files that had been deleted.

Disappearance of Julie Surprenant

Julie Surprenant is a missing Canadian girl who disappeared in Terrebonne, Quebec on November 15, 1999 at the age of 16. Her family's neighbor, Richard Bouillon, reportedly made a deathbed confession regarding her murder, though her remains have yet to be found and her fate remains unknown. Background: Prior to her disappearance, Surprenant was a member of her school's improv-comedy troupe and worked as a gift wrapper for the holidays at the Galleries Terrebonne shopping center. She resided with her father, who had recently separated from her mother and moved into the neighborhood. Allegedly, he asked the landlord whether the neighborhood was considered safe. Disappearance: After school, on the evening of November 15, 1999, Surprenant informed her father she would be spending a majority of her evening at the youth community center near the corner of Hauteville and Côte Boisée streets, as was common for her. The center was located next to the bus stop for the line she regularly took home or to work. Surprenant departed from the youth center at 8:30 PM with a friend prior to boarding the line to her house. Her friend boarded off at the shopping center stop, noticing Surprenant sitting at the front next to the driver. The bus driver recalled chatting with her for the remainder of the bus ride, noticing a man standing in the bus shelter at the stop. Upon asking him whether he wanted to board, the man replied he did not. At the time of her disappearance, Surprenant was wearing a floral skirt with a blue petticoat, navy blue socks over black tights, a blue scarf with a fish pattern, a green wool jacket and a dark brown leather coat. She was also carrying a black canvas backpack on which she had drawn a peace symbol. Upon awaking the following morning, Surprenant's father realized she had still not arrived home. He proceeded to check their answering machine, phone her high school, and call her boyfriend to inquire about her whereabouts. Investigation and aftermath: The police were officially notified of Surprenant's disappearance at 5:45 PM on November 16, the following day. Initially, her case was considered an abduction. Upon learning of the man at the bus shelter, they attempted to determine his identity, though were ultimately unsuccessful in doing so, resulting in Surprenant's disappearance becoming a cold case. The family's neighbour, Richard Bouillon, a convicted sexual predator, became a prime suspect. Initially, he insisted he was not responsible. In 2001, when confronted by a journalist regarding microscopic traces of blood found in his apartment during a police search, he claimed an old roommate was responsible and left hurriedly, slamming his car door on the journalist's arm in the process. In 2004, Michael Surprenant established the AFPAD, an association dedicated to families of missing or murdered people to aid in the investigations of his daughter's disappearance as well as those of others. In 2011, it was revealed that Bouillon had made a deathbed confession to two hospital employees in Laval in 2006, admitting that he had murdered Surprenant after having previously proclaimed his innocence. He claimed he had killed her, stuffed her body into a sports bag with some bricks, and thrown it into the Rivière des Mille Îles across the way from a church in Terrebonne, having also considered leaving it on the doorstep on the church. The coroner's report, released in 2012, concluded that Bouillon likely raped and killed her. Bouillon was never charged as the authorities had insufficient evidence to do so. In 2014, Surprenant's family and friends created a monument in her memory. Despite a search of the river Bouillon claimed he dumped Surprenant in completed in September of 2011, her remains have yet to be found.

Babes in the Wood murders (Stanley Park)

The Babes in the Wood murders is a name which has been used in the media to refer to a child murder case in which the bodies of two brothers, David and Derek D’Alton, also known as David and Derek Bousquet, were found concealed in woodland. The Vancouver Police Department identified the brothers publicly on February 15, 2022. Discovery: The remains of two male victims (murdered about 1947) were discovered in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Wednesday, January 14, 1953. Police determined that a hatchet found at the crime scene, which was of a type commonly used by shingle weavers and lathers, had been used to kill the boys by striking them in the head. Their corpses had been arranged so that they were lying down in a straight line, with each boy's soles facing the other's, and then concealed with a woman's rain cape. The investigation was hampered when the medical examiner concluded that one victim was female. A DNA test conducted in 1998 proved that both victims were male and that they were brothers; they were between the ages of six and ten when they died. In 2018, detectives were planning on using consumer DNA databases such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe to research the identities of the victims. This investigation came to a close in 2022, when the children were identified via forensic genealogy as David and Derek D’Alton, the sons of Eileen Bousquet, who died in 1996.

Disappearance of Joanne Pedersen

Jo Anna "Joanne" Maria Pedersen disappeared on the evening of 19 February 1983 around 8:15 p.m. in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Disappearance: Pedersen, age 10, her 11-year old sister, and her 14-year old female cousin were walking home from a mall when an argument ensued between Pedersen and the two elder girls. Her sister and cousin ran to their house to lock Pedersen out of the house as a prank. When Pedersen eventually arrived, she tried for a few minutes to get in, but the girls did not open the door until Pedersen had already left. Pedersen decided to give up on trying to get into the house and instead went to a corner store close to her house with the intent to call her mother and step-father, who were at a Legion hall at the time, to pick her up. Pedersen tried to talk to an employee at the Penny Pinchers, a convenience store that was located at the corner of Watson Road and Vedder Road in Chilliwack, but the employee was busy with other customers. She resorted to using a payphone outside and dialed the number to the Legion hall and asked for her step-father. As Pedersen's parents arranged to pick her up, a man took the phone from Pedersen and told her parents that they had thirty minutes to pick up their daughter before he would call the police. Her parents made it to the location within the time frame, but by the time they were there Pedersen had vanished. Investigation: Witnesses reported seeing an adult male standing next to Pedersen at the location from where the call was made. The unidentified man was described as approximately 20 to 30 years old, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, slim to medium build, light to dark colored hair that was below the ears, clean shaven, and wearing a dark or brown jacket. Witnesses also described a vehicle associated with the man, a two-door white or cream-colored domestic car from the early to mid-70s with a dark Landau roof. The man has been associated as a suspect, but Upper Fraser Valley police say it is possible that the man was initially trying to help Pedersen and urged him to come forward and talk to police to help with the investigation. Pedersen's mother, Angela Reilly, said in 2008 as a message to the man, "As a mother, I'm pleading with you to come forward. Please do that for me." Police believe the man is still somewhere in the Fraser Valley and aware of the media coverage. Chilliwack RCMP have received three anonymous letters since the 25th anniversary from a man who claims to be a witness to the events leading up to the disappearance of Pedersen. Police say it is imperative to identify this witness so they can speak with him. The investigation remains open.

Disappearance of Dylan Ehler

Dylan Ehler is a Canadian boy who disappeared on May 6, 2020 while allegedly playing by a river near his house in Truro, Nova Scotia. Last seen on Elizabeth Street before his disappearance, which occurred during strict social distancing restrictions at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dylan became the subject of numerous news articles, podcasts and videos throughout Canada. Dylan's parents, Ashley Brown and Jason Ehler, argued that the police response to the disappearance should have been stronger. They also brought to court allegations of cyberbullying, accusing social media user Tom Hurley, who believed that Dylan was killed by someone within his immediate family and had created a Facebook group on the subject. Background: Dylan Norman John Ehler was three years old when he went missing from his grandmother’s (Dorothy Parsons') backyard on Elizabeth Street in Truro, Nova Scotia. Dylan's mother, Ashley Brown, had gone to meet a friend for coffee and had dropped the boy off to be babysat by Dorothy. Ashley and Jason Ehler had recently been in a domestic dispute involving a broken cell phone at the time. According to Dorothy, Dylan had been in the backyard with her pet dog, and went missing when Dorothy went to tether the dog to its lead. "I went to tie the dog on her lead and I turn around and Dylan is just gone. Gone. I have no explanation," Parsons claimed, and argued that she believed that somebody had stolen Dylan. Police investigators, who began looking into the case six hours after Dylan's disappearance, believed that the boy might have fallen into Lepper Brook, which fed into Salmon River, a waterway in Truro known for a strong undercurrent. Dylan was last seen wearing a camouflage winter jacket with a fur hood and United States flag patches on the arms and chest, a red dinosaur t-shirt, camouflage jogging pants, and grey-and-orange rubber boots. The rubber boots were all that was left of Dylan after his disappearance, having been found in the water by firefighters. Allegations of police misconduct: Ashley Brown and Jason Ehler have since argued that the inability to find Dylan is related in part to the lack of prompt response time by authorities, and have expressed criticism toward volunteer rescue workers aiding in the search. According to Ashley, "they never treated Dylan’s case like a criminal investigation. They just treated it like a search and rescue. I know that they didn't block off any streets. They didn't stop the public from coming into the crime scene of the area that he went missing and they were very late on issuing alerts and getting help. So I think that tunnel vision did have a play in that. Once they found the boots and that was it, that's where he went and essentially the police tell us that we need to accept it. And move on." Police searched the waterways near Dorothy Parson's backyard for several days, using underwater cameras and thermal imaging devices, as well as rigging up a mannequin with similar bodily proportions to Dylan, putting it in the water to test what would happen. Ashley Brown's videos: After Dylan's disappearance, disturbing videos were discovered posted to the social media platform TikTok by Ashley Brown. One video featured Ashley smoking marijuana and calling Dylan a "motherfucker" to his face, then telling him that he would get her sent to jail one day. Another video had been posted of Ashley singing, to the tune of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" from Disney's Frozen; "Will you help me hide a body? Come on, we can’t delay... no one can see him on the floor... get him out the door, before he can decayyyyyyy..." The videos had been deleted by Ashley, then reposted to a true crime website, after which they were eventually removed from there, as well. They are still publicly available elsewhere. Snippets of Ashley's TikTok videos can be found featured in the W5 documentary by CTV News, Where's Dylan?. Public response: In the wake of Dylan's disappearance, and in the light of Ashley Brown's video uploads, various online communities considered that Ashley or another family member had murdered Dylan and hidden his body somewhere. Katherine Laidlaw of Wired considered that this public response was in part fuelled by the rural nature of Eastern Canada and the high rate of missing persons in the province, noting that much of Nova Scotia was covered with thick forestry and undeveloped land, and that the town of Truro was most famous for "being the headquarters of one of the world’s oldest underwear factories." A Facebook group was started by Tom Hurley (using the name "Tom Hubley") with over 17,000 members at its height, where the case was debated and it was alleged that one of Dylan's family members had killed him. Dylan was jokingly compared to fictional character Georgie from the Stephen King book It, a little boy who was killed by a clown while sailing a paper boat in the water. The Ehler-Brown Family was also accused of negligence toward Dylan, leading to Halifax lawyer Allison Harris enacting Nova Scotia's "Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act" in order to have Hurley's Facebook group removed. A settlement was reached in August 2021, in which Hurley was forbidden from contacting the Ehler-Brown Family, and from creating any new internet groups about the disappearance of Dylan. This sparked a debate about the general public's right to speculate on true crime cases even if it offended those involved, versus crossing the line into illegal content, which the Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act does not define. Ehler-Brown Family response: Ashley Brown, Jason Ehler and Dorothy Parsons have consistently maintained their lack of involvement in Dylan's disappearance. Dorothy in particular has suggested that the boy may have been kidnapped while she was busy with her dog, although the police do not suspect foul play. In an interview for CTV News, Ashley Brown admitted that her TikTok videos were inappropriate, but argued that the public has taken them out of context; the Frozen dead body song video in particular was intended, according to Ashley, to coincide with an ongoing internet trend of posting parodies of Frozen soundtracks, and Ashley's video was meant to be morbid humour in no way related to Dylan. A year after Dylan's disappearance, the Ehler-Brown Family placed numerous paper boats in Lepper Brook as a form of memorial to the boy, which the public could join in on. "Today was more of a gathering for Dylan, to talk about him and spread awareness, to hold a special moment for him," said Jason Ehler. "He would have loved to have thrown boats in the water." Ehler Alert petition: In the hopes of establishing a stronger public alert system in Nova Scotia, Ashley Brown and Jason Ehler started a petition for setting up the "Ehler Alert", a public alert system which would facilitate "the rapid distribution of information to the public about young children lost in potentially hazardous environments," according to Jason.

Josh Duggar

I know I've written about him earlier but he's convicted. this was not shocking to anyone and if they are shocked it's likely the kids and the family and that's it. i'm not shocked. a former babysitter who is older heard about it, which i'm like "wow." Anyways, since i'm still trying to remain neutral i'm still not as shocked. he is the perpetrator in this case. that's kinda sad about that kinda thing isn't that likely to get his dad outta the senate run.

Murder of Tammy Terrell

Tammy Corrine Terrell was an American murder victim from Roswell, New Mexico. Her body was discovered on October 5, 1980, in Henderson, Nevada, and remained unidentified until December 2021. Her case has been the subject of extensive efforts by investigators and has been highlighted as inspiring other work to solve cold cases of unidentified murder victims. Prior to her identification, she was known as "Arroyo Grande Jane Doe". Discovery: At approximately 9:20 p.m. on October 5, 1980, the nude body of a white adolescent or young woman between 13 and 25 years old (most likely 17–18 years old) was found with blunt force trauma including multiple wounds to the back of the head (believed to be from a roofing hammer or framing hammer), signs of injury to the face, and seven puncture-type stab wounds on the upper left area of her back. One of her lower teeth had been knocked out in the attack. Her body was found just south of State Route 146, near the Arroyo Grande wash, where the I-215 Beltway is currently. She had been placed in a position described as "posed, basically" and was face-down. The body was discovered by two brothers who were driving on a dirt road, one of whom was an off-duty police officer. The cause of death was identified as an unknown two-pronged instrument with prongs around three inches long that was used to stab the victim. The body appeared to have been washed, and a piece of yellow or orange shower curtain was nearby. Her hair was a natural brownish blond, red, or strawberry blond color at shoulder-length (about 11 inches long). She was around five feet two inches tall and weighed between 98 and 110 pounds. She still had her wisdom teeth (which were impacted) and had a visible gap between two of her upper-right teeth, possibly occurring postmortem. There is also the possibility she had fractured her jaw in the past. She had pierced ears and her nails were painted silver. The victim had dental fillings in some of her teeth, showing that she had seen a dentist. Her eyes were a hazel or blue color (some sources say green) and she had a small (about 1⁄2″×1⁄4″), crude, apparently amateur tattoo of an "S" on the inside of her right forearm, made with blue ink. The tattoo appeared to have been "inked" not long before she died. She had a vaccination scar on her left bicep. It was determined that she had probably died the day before her body was discovered. The victim also had undergone an unusual "suture procedure" to straighten one of her teeth, which led investigators to believe she was not impoverished. The police officer who discovered her body donated money for burial of the body, regularly visits the burial site with his wife, and leaves flowers in her memory. Investigation: Investigators made extensive efforts to try to identify the body of the young woman. The victim's fingerprints were taken and her dental characteristics were recorded, but could not be matched to anyone. Eventually, the victim's DNA profile was developed by the University of North Texas and was entered into national databases, which failed to turn up her identity.[1] Several television shows broadcast information about the case in the hope of generating leads, none of which led to her identification or the apprehension of her killer or killers. Forensic facial reconstructions were created to provide a likeness of the Jane Doe, which were hoped to enable recognition by those that may have known her. The body has been exhumed at least four times for further investigations – in 2002, 2003, 2009, and 2016. In 2003, her body was exhumed after authorities followed clues to a missing girl from California, who was eventually ruled out by DNA analysis. Twenty missing people were excluded as potential identities for the victim. The former coroner for Clark County when the victim's body was found has worked with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to help with the case. In a video released in October 2015, he said "someone is missing their little girl – someone knows who she is – someone needs to come forward and help us", saying that he hoped the reconstructions created of the victim would trigger recognition. He said this victim's case was an impetus for the local department to develop a "cold case unit" for its unsolved cases. "She is the case that started it all for us," he said. The officer who found the body described similar feelings about the case. In June 2015, the case was officially reopened by investigators. On October 5, 2015, the 35th anniversary of her discovery, NCMEC released two new reconstructions, one frontal view of the face and the other as the profile. The new image replaced a version that the organization had created. Identification: On December 2, 2021, the Henderson Police Department announced that the Arroyo Grande Jane Doe had been identified as 17-year-old Tammy Corrine Terrell from Roswell, New Mexico. She was identified through forensic genealogy in an effort supervised by Barbara Rae-Venter, a genetic genealogist who also took part in the identification of the Golden State Killer in 2018. DNA samples from her two sisters were used to positively identify her. Terrell was last seen on September 28, 1980, when she was dropped off at the Roswell State Fair. Later that night, she was seen at a restaurant in Roswell with a white man and a woman, possibly planning to head for California. The investigation into her murder is ongoing.

Murder of Amy Yeary

Amy Marie Yeary was an American woman whose body was discovered on November 23, 2008, near Campbellsport, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. Her body remained unidentified for 13 years before investigators announced her identification via forensic genealogy and dental records on November 23, 2021. Her face was reconstructed digitally by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2009 and again in 2018 to approximate her appearance, as decomposition ruled out visual identification. After the revised rendering was released, her remains were exhumed for additional forensic information. Isotope testing indicated she originated from New Mexico or Arizona and had lived in the Midwestern United States for about a year or less before her death. Genetic genealogy research was also utilized as a way to locate potential relatives. Before her identification in 2021 Yeary was known as "Fond du Lac County Jane Doe". She is believed to have been a victim of human trafficking. Discovery: The remains of a young woman were found frozen in a creek by hunters on November 23, 2008, in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, near an abandoned farm. To extract the body, investigators were forced to chisel away the ice, and scuba divers searched the bottom for evidence. Some articles of clothing were found, including a strapless Zoey Beth brand black-and-pink top with a pink bow, determined to have come from Family Dollar, where it had been available in the spring of 2008. The underclothing that she wore, also from Family Dollar, was shipped only between July 1 and July 15, 2008. The legs of her Angels brand jeans had been rolled up for several turns, and an elastic ponytail holder was found on her wrist. No socks or shoes were found at the scene. Initially, no jewelry was found, until a penny-sized St. Benedict medal was found by divers. The medal may not have belonged to her, as examiners could not be certain how long it had been in the water. However, some reports state that a bracelet with several pendants on it was also found on the girl's remains. Her hair was a shoulder-length light brown of differing shades, possibly due to having been highlighted. Because items of her clothing were in various sizes, ascertaining her build was problematic; however, it has been determined that she most likely weighed around 120 pounds. Examination: Her cause of death was inconclusive, as severe decomposition of the body had removed all signs of possible violence from the remains. However, the manner of death is believed to be homicide, as suicide was eliminated as a possibility. The location where the remains were found had also raised suspicion among authorities. Toxicology tests were conducted to see if any drugs or alcohol had been in her system, but the results were never released. Although the body was found in autumn, she had died in the summer, two to four months previously. This was established by examining traces from insects that were found on the remains. She had an overbite, and some fillings and dental sealants were found on the upper molars with no current cavities. The overbite was not described as extreme, but may have been noticeable, which could be a reliable feature depicted in her facial reconstruction. The estimated height was between 4'10" and 5'4", the victim being between fifteen and twenty-one years old and weighing between 110 to 135 pounds, at an "average frame". Examiners believe she was either white or Hispanic, although the possibility that she was Native American or Asian cannot be ruled out. She also may have been biracial. Other physical characteristics included a healed rib fracture and being pigeon toed or knock-kneed, which may have been noticeable when she walked, as her feet were slanted inward. She also suffered from spina bifida occulta, but may have been unaware of the condition. To obtain DNA information, her femur was transported to the University of Texas. Her DNA was entered into the National DNA database and dental records were created that can be compared to those of reported missing persons. Investigation: At least 200 leads have been explored in the effort to identify the victim. A computer-generated reconstruction was created from the skull by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from mortuary photographs and a CT scan of the skull that were submitted to the center. The reconstruction of the victim generated over two hundred tips that did not produce solid leads, as the composite apparently resembled a large number of missing people. Former missing person Amanda Berry, one of several possible identities of the Jane Doe, was ruled out by DNA analysis. She was recovered alive in 2013. Besides Amanda Berry, two other individuals who were eventually located were also ruled out of the case: Connie McCallister and Brittany Peart. McCallister, native to Wisconsin, was abducted at age 16 and taken to Mexico. She was eventually recovered alive after meeting a "church missionary" who reported the information to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Brittany Peart disappeared in July 2008 from Elkton, Maryland. Peart's remains were located and identified in December 2011. Her cause of death remains unreleased. The Jane Doe's body was buried in 2011 after the investigation turned cold. Television shows such as America's Most Wanted broadcast the case to possibly reveal new clues. A Facebook page was also created to generate leads for the case. On April 23, 2018, a revised reconstruction was released and authorities announced that the victim would be exhumed for isotope testing and DNA phenotyping to determine geographical locations where she may have lived and to develop a clearer estimation of her ethnicity and physical characteristics. Genetic genealogy, credited with identifying a suspect in the Golden State Killer case, would also be used to locate individuals biologically related to the victim. In August 2018, the results of an isotopic analysis performed by Utah’s IsoForensics laboratory were released. They indicated that the Jane Doe had likely spent most of her life in the Southwestern United States, possibly in Arizona or New Mexico. She had lived in the Midwest—perhaps in southwestern Wisconsin, northern Iowa, or southern Minnesota—for less than a year preceding her death. Investigators speculated that her case was related to the so-called West Mesa murders, but this was later ruled out. Identification: Thirteen years to the date of the discovery of her remains, it was announced that Yeary was positively identified via leads produced by forensic genetic genealogy conducted by Barbara Rae-Venter. The identification was confirmed with comparison of DNA from her mother, sister, and dental x-rays. Officials say Yeary would have been 18 years old when she died in 2008. They also learned she spent time in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Beloit in the weeks preceding her death. While speaking with Yeary's mother, detectives learned that Yeary made a phone call to her mother from Beloit in 2008 saying she wanted a ride home. The mother was unable to accommodate that request at the time. Yeary was never heard from by her family again.

Hello Kitty murder

The Hello Kitty murder was a 1999 case in which a nightclub hostess was abducted and tortured in an apartment in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, after stealing a wallet. On 17 March, Fan Man-yee (樊敏儀) was kidnapped and tortured by three men before dying a month later. She was then decapitated and her skull was placed inside of a Hello Kitty doll. Murder: A 23-year-old night club hostess by the name of Fan Man-yee (樊敏儀) was kidnapped by three men and one girl: 34-year-old Chan Man-lok (陳文樂), 27-year-old Leung Shing-cho (梁勝祖), 21-year-old Leung Wai-lun (梁偉倫), and Chan Man-lok's 13-year-old girlfriend after stealing a wallet from one of them. They took her to an apartment at No. 31 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, where they imprisoned her. They beat her, burned her, raped her, forced her to consume feces and urine, and forced her to say she enjoyed the beatings and if she didn't they would hurt her even more. All over a debt dispute of HK$20,000 (US$2,560). After a month of imprisonment and torture, Fan was killed (or died as a result of injuries) and dismembered. Her captors placed her skull inside of a Hello Kitty mermaid doll and discarded the rest of her remains. Only her skull, one tooth, and some internal organs were recovered. Fan's remains were found only after Chan's girlfriend led police to the scene. Trial: After a six-week and four days trial, the three men were convicted of manslaughter, as the jury ruled the remains were not sufficient to show whether Fan was murdered or died in another way, such as a drug overdose. The jury could not rule that the men intended to kill 23-year-old Fan Man-yee, which would have meant a mandatory life sentence, but it was determined she died as a result of their abuse. The underage girlfriend of one of the men testified at the trial in exchange for immunity. Justice Peter Nguyen, who sentenced the trio to life in prison, stated, "Never in Hong Kong in recent years has a court heard of such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence, and viciousness." Psychiatric reports described the three, members of a secret triad society, as "remorseless". There would be no review for parole for 20 years, i.e. until 2020. Aftermath: -The apartment building, in which the crime took place, was demolished in September 2012 and has been rebuilt as a hotel in 2016. -The publicity around the case resulted in the production and release of films that told the story. Both Human Pork Chop (烹屍之喪盡天良) and There is a Secret in my Soup were released in 2001. -Bones's season four episode titled "The Girl in the Mask" is based on this case.