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“I like killing people because it’s so much fun.”
In July of 1969, a letter arrived at The San Francisco Examiner newspaper containing those chilling words in a coded message.
The sender: the soon-to-be-notorious Zodiac, killer terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s
That identity has stymied law-enforcement officials, professional code breakers and armchair criminologists for nearly five decades
In this episode, Sherry and I review a book written by Gary Stewart entitled Zodiac in which he lays out a case that his father, Earl Van Best, Jr. is the Zodiac killer.
He was adopted when he was just a few months old and never knew anyting about his birth parents until he was 39 and his birth mother contacted him.
He got to know her, but she would never talk about his father, so he started to research his father and at one point got freaked out when he was watching an old episode of Cold Case about the Zodiac killer and the police sketches looked exactly like his father. This started his finding more and more about his father that matched the Zodiac killer. Then the more research he did the more he found that convinced him his father was the Zodiac killer.
His case was so convincing that he got a well-known true crime writer to co-write a book with him that became a best seller and a TV series.
At the end of this episode we will poke holes in the case and let you decide if you think that Earl Van Best, Jr. is the Zodiac killer. -
“I like killing people because it’s so much fun.”
In July of 1969, a letter arrived at The San Francisco Examiner newspaper containing those chilling words in a coded message.
The sender: the soon-to-be-notorious Zodiac, killer terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s
That identity has stymied law-enforcement officials, professional code breakers and armchair criminologists for nearly five decades.
Between December 1968 and October 1969, three (3) women and four (4) men were attacked in San Francisco and Northern California.
All died except for two (2) of the men,
The killer originated the name "Zodiac" in a series of taunting letters and cards sent to the local Bay Area press. The letters included four (4) cryptograms.
Of the four cryptograms sent, only one has been definitively solved.
The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) marked the case "inactive" in April 2004, but re-opened it at some point prior to March 2007.
The California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.[
THE ZODIAK claims he killed 37 people. There’s really only proof of 5
During this episode, we interview Chris Garcia, a well-known expert on the Zodiac killings who has a podcast dedicated to the Zodiac killings.
We talk about a lot of the cases but concentrate on the cannonical cases - the ones that are assuredly attributed to the Zodiac.
The ones that we concentrate on are the Ferrin-Mageau, the Hartnell-Shepard and the Paul Stine cases.
On September 27, 1969, college students Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were sitting by Lake Berryessa enjoying a relaxing visit.
They did not know that a man was nearby, watching and waiting for the right moment to set his plan in motion.
Bryan heard some noise and asked Cecelia to look around for the source.
She saw a man as he moved behind a tree.
Cecelia and Bryan dismissed the man as harmless and did not notice as he donned a dark hood featuring the symbol of a white crossed-circle.
The stranger came prepared with a some pre-cut lengths of clothesline to restrain Bryan and Cecelia.
On his belt, a sheath held a foot-long knife and the holster for the gun in his hand. The man needed the gun to prevent Bryan and Cecelia from running away if they began to suspect his true intentions.
He would lie to them and keep them calm with the promise that he meant no harm. Once they complied and were subdued, the man would no longer need the gun and could proceed with his plan.
After stabbing them both, he left and drove to a phone booth and reported the attack.
At 7:40 PM, the Napa Police Department received a call from a telephone booth at a local car wash.
Officer David Slaight answered the call.
The voice of a young man addressed Slaight in a calm, deliberate tone. “I want to report a murder– no, a double murder. They are two miles north of park headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Kharmann Ghia.”
The Paul Stine murder was to become the fifth and final confirmed murder by the Zodiac Killer, despite this being challenged by many as a highly unlikely supposition, based upon future unsolved crimes bearing hallmarks of the killer and his claim in the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974 to have killed at least 37 people.
The Zodiac hailed Stine's cab and gave a Presidio address in the posh San Francisco neighborhood.
After stabbing Stine, he took at piece of his shirt, wiped down the car and walked awasy.
Three teenagers saw this event and called the police to report it. Unfortunately they reported the killer as a black man and this probably kept the Zodiac from being caught.
The crime appeared to be a routine robbery and murder until an envelope arrived at the office of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.
The letter inside stated, “This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington & Maple St. last night. To prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt.”
The Zodiac deviated from his previous pattern of attacking young couples in areas known as “lovers lane” spots.
Paul Stine was a cab driver, working alone and just doing his job when he was killed in a residential neighborhood
According to many experts, including Chris Garcia, this was the last of the killings by the Zodiac.
FIFTY years later, the Zodiac crimes remain unsolved and the case is part of true crime history. -
エピソードを見逃しましたか？
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“I like killing people because it’s so much fun.”
In July of 1969, a letter arrived at The San Francisco Examiner newspaper containing those chilling words in a coded message.
The sender: the soon-to-be-notorious Zodiac, killer terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s
That identity has stymied law-enforcement officials, professional code breakers and armchair criminologists for nearly five decades.
Between December 1968 and October 1969, three (3) women and four (4) men were attacked in San Francisco and Northern California.
All were murdered except for two (2) of the men,
The killer originated the name "Zodiac" in a series of taunting letters and cards sent to the local Bay Area press. The letters included four (4) cryptograms.
Of the four cryptograms sent, only one has been definitively solved.
The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) marked the case "inactive" in April 2004, but re-opened it at some point prior to March 2007.
The California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.[
THE ZODIAC claims he killed 37 people. There’s really only proof of 7.
The murder of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards, in June 1963 is believed to be one of the first Zodiac killings.
The couple were brutally shot while fleeing on a Santa Barbara beach. It was a sunny day and the couple were relaxing on Senior Ditch Day when the killer approached them with a .22 rifle and shot them as they fled. Eleven times in the back for Robert and eight times for Linda.
The murders of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards have not been widely confirmed as Zodiac Killer victims, probably due to the time period and location, although some similarities do exist between this case and the Zodiac Killer attack at Lake Berryessa. In both instances a lone couple callously attacked near a beach used by fishermen.
Riverside, California was a safe place to raise children. The illusions of relative safety crumbled Halloween morning of 1966 when a pretty, wholesome coed was found brutally slain on her college campus.
Cheri Jo Bates was a freshman at Riverside Community College. Cheri Jo was an outgoing girl who was “popular but not cliquish.” She had no enemies that anyone knew about and was the apple of her father’s eye. Cheri Jo, the quintessential girl next door, had recently become engaged to Dennis Highland, her boyfriend of two years.
On Oct. 30, 1968, she spent part of the day with her father and then went to the library to study.
By 5:30 am the next day when she hadn't come home, her father reported her missing. Less than an hour later they found her mutilated body near the library.
The killer disabled Cheri’s car by ripping out the middle distributor coil. When she tried to start it, he likely offered to help. We will see this in another case many years later.
Cheri Jo’s case went silent. No further clues came for four years. The investigating team believed they identified the killer, but couldn’t convict him based on the evidence in their possession.
Riverside police never gave the suspect’s actual name, just the alias “Bob Barnett.”
Police believed Cheri Jo had a relationship with Bob.
On August 1, 1969, the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo Times-Herald each received an identical handwritten letter in an envelope without a return address. Beginning,
“Dear Editor: I am the killer of the 2 teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman,” the letters contained details from the Zodiac Killer’s murders that only the killer could have known.
The killer went on to threaten further attacks if the letters weren’t printed on the front page of the papers.
The first murders widely attributed to the Zodiac Killer were the shootings of high school students Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road, just inside Benicia city limits.
The couple, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, were on their first date and planned to attend a Christmas concert at Hogan High School about three blocks from Jensen's home.
According to the police report, the victims were apparently approached while inside Faraday's station wagon. Shots were fired into the vehicle in an apparent effort to force them out.
Jensen exited the front passenger door first, followed by Faraday. Faraday was shot as he emerged from the car, Jensen was then shot as she fled on foot.
: While Faraday and Jensen are traditionally considered definite Zodiac victims, there have been many other suspects in this case.
Twenty-two-year-old Darlene Ferrin was a wife, mother and a popular waitress at a Vallejo restaurant.
On the night of July 4, 1969, she picked up friend Michael Mageau and stopped her brown Corvair in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park.
Later Michael said that a car pulled into the parking lot, left and then came back minutes later.
The driver got out of the car, shined a bright light and fired into the Corvair with a 9mm handgun. Michael was shot in the jaw, shoulder and leg;
Darlene was hit several times.
There was no indication of robbery or sexual molestation. There were no witnesses. This is common with all Zodiac killings.
For the next few weeks, the investigation went nowhere.
Then, on July 31, 1969, letters were sent to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle.
The letters claimed to be from the killer of Faraday, Jensen and Ferrin.
The next 2 cases - Lake Berryessa and Paul Stine will be covered in depth in Episode 33. -
Their worlds seemed destined to collide. They were two of the most talented hip-hop rappers on the scene. And they both were dedicated to exposing the truth of the tribulations of life on the streets, social injustice and the racial divide.
But the biggest difference between Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls:
They represented different coasts.
What exploded into arguably the biggest rivalry in music history, ended up in the death of both artists, just as their careers were skyrocketing.
Tupac was gunned down on September 7, 1996, and died six days later, while Biggie was shot and killed six months later on March 9, 1997.
Neither murder has ever been solved.
But, there’s no question that they started off as friends and ended up as enemies
Biggie’s murder was originally investigated by a detective named Kelly Cooper and then transferred to Russell Poole, whom we met last week
This started an investigation which revealed the largest scandal of a major police department in the country.
And of course, we know from last week, that Russell Poole theorized that the LAPD was involved as many of them worked for Suge Knight, thus implying that they had the access and motivation to kill Biggie Smalls.
Last week we know that Russell Poole pointed the finger at a corrupt officer named David Mack and his partner and friend Amir Mohammed.
Russell became even more convinced that the LAPD was involved when they tried to cover up his work and he eventually quitting/being fired in 1999.
The general public was pretty well convinced that he was right.
The Task Force, taken over by Greg Kading did everything they could to discredit Russell Poole's theory because the City of Los Angeles was facing a $400 million law suit from Biggie's mother for future earnings of Biggie's career, which was cut short.
One of the prevailing theories about Biggie's murder was that Suge Knight ordered it and it was done by "Poochie" Wardell, one of Suge's closest and most trusted associates.
As far as Tupac was concerned, there is some consensus that Orlando Anderson was the shooter who killed Tupac, but who was behind it is up for some question.
There is strong evidence that Orlando's uncle, Keffe 'D was hired by Puffy D to kill Tupac,
There is also the theory that Suge Knight, himself wanted Tupac dead because Tupac was talking about leaving Death Row Records and also Suge owed him somewhere upwards of $10 million for royalties....money he didn't have.
The cases are still officially unsolved although there are strong suspects in both cases. -
Their worlds seemed destined to collide. They were two of the most talented hip-hop rappers on the scene. And they both were dedicated to exposing the truth of the tribulations of life on the streets, social injustice and the racial divide.
But the biggest difference between Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls:
They represented different coasts.
What exploded into arguably the biggest rivalry in music history, ended up in the death of both artists, just as their careers were skyrocketing.
Tupac was gunned down on September 7, 1996, and died six days later, while Biggie was shot and killed six months later on March 9, 1997.
Neither murder has ever been solved.
But, there’s no question that they started off as friends and ended up as enemies
From day one, there were questions about who was involved, who wanted Biggie dead, who pulled the trigger and who helped after the fact.
Rumors that it was the latest slaying in an ongoing, and increasingly violent West Coast v. East Coast beef hit the airwaves and inspired more bloodshed.
Biggie’s murder was a tragic milestone in ’90s American culture, one that still has people reeling and heads spinning all these years later.
For many, it was also, regrettably but undeniably, a quintessentially Los Angeles crime—steeped in celebrity, money, and entertainment, and wrapped in a shroud of conspiracy.
In his 2002 book, LAbyrinth, Sullivan connected Biggie’s murder to Suge Knight, Death Row Records, and a coterie of LAPD officers who were allegedly working as record company security and may have been involved in the Wallace attack.
Former LAPD officer David Mack, working in connection with Death Row Records’ Suge Knight, was believed to be involved in arranging the murder of Christopher Wallace, with Amir Muhammad allegedly acting as triggerman.
Mack was also implicated in the Rampart police corruption scandal and was convicted for his role in a $722,000 robbery of a Los Angeles Bank of America branch, resulting in a fourteen year sentence in federal prison.
FBI agent Phil Carson, originally came to the Wallace murder by way of investigating LAPD corruption
The FBI’s investigation into David Mack’s involvement in the Biggie slaying was stymied by the fear potential cooperators had of Mack, the former LAPD officer.
Phil Carson visited Mack in federal prison and interviewed him in connection with the Wallace murder and its links to police corruption.
Some pal eople believe they spotted Biggie alive in 2016:
WHY HAVEN’T THESE CASES BEEN SOLVED?
Russell suspects police involvement because it was so well-orchestrated and police officers know exactly what to do.
Russell pointed the finger a DAVID MACK, an LAPD police officer who used scanners and radios to orchestrate the hit. Many of these were found in his house.
Officer Rafael Perez was Mack’s former partner and best friend was convicted for the sale of drugs, racketeering and falsifying evidence.
Russell also suspected Harry Billips AKA AMMO MUHAMMED as a possible hit man. -
Their worlds seemed destined to collide. They were two of the most talented hip-hop rappers on the scene. And they both were dedicated to exposing the truth of the tribulations of life on the streets, social injustice and the racial divide.
But the biggest difference between Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls:
They represented different coasts.
What exploded into arguably the biggest rivalry in music history, ended up in the death of both artists, just as their careers were skyrocketing.
Tupac was gunned down on September 7, 1996, and died six days later, while Biggie was shot and killed six months later on March 9, 1997.
Neither murder has ever been solved.
But, there’s no question that they started off as friends and ended up as enemies.
Tupac Amaru Shakur, born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971– September 13, 1996, popularly known by his stage name 2Pac”
He is considered by many as one of the most significant rappers of all time. Much of Shakur's work has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of resistance and activism against inequality.
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), widely known by his stage name The Notorious B.I.G., or, more commonly among the familiar, Biggie Smalls or simply Biggie,[2] was an American rapper, in the New York and gangsta rap traditions, who ranks among the greatest rappers ever.
On November 30, 1994, Tupac Shakur was shot five times during a robbery in a recording-studio lobby in New York. He was headed up to meet Biggie and Puffy.
They were scheduled to work on a project together for another rapper, Little Shawn.
Shakur survived, but believed Biggie and his label boss Combs had orchestrated the attack.
It didn't help that the B-side to Biggie's single "Big Poppa," released a little more than two months after the incident, featured the song "Who Shot Ya?" Tupac interpreted this as Biggie taunting him, and released an explosive diss track, "Hit 'Em Up," the following year, on which he claimed to have slept with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans.
Next week we will discuss all the different theories surrounding the death of these 2 superstars. -
On June 23, 2001, Mary Jane Rebollar was found dead in her own car which had been abandoned in a field and set on fire. An autopsy revealed that she died of multiple stab wounds. The ensuing investigation led to the arrest and indictment of Gustavo Mireles.
Actual Innocence Review is a non-profit organization found by Daryl Parker, who is our guest today.
AIR has conducted an exhaustive investigation of the facts of this case, in which Mr. Mireles was convicted of the 2001 murder of Mary Jane Rebollar, and sentenced to Life in prison. We believe there is significant evidence to support Mr. Mireles’ claim of Actual Innocence.
On June 21st, 2001, Gustavo Mireles went to a bar in Donna, TX, where he casually met and talked to the victim, Mary Jane Rebollar and her female friend.
After initial polite conversation, Mary Jane and her friend went to play pool, while Gustavo returned to watching a soccer game on the bar's television.
Mary Jane's friend left early, but Mary Jane and Gustavo both stayed until closing time, when everyone left and went home.
Mary Jane was found two days later in the closed cab of her truck, which was parked in a plowed field.
She had been stabbed over forty times with a screwdriver-type weapon.
Two drops of blood at the scene and a pubic hair "matched" Gustavo.
-Gustavo had no record of violence, and only one misdemeanor violation at the time of the crime
- Mary Jane's boyfriend was a cartel drug-dealer with a violent criminal history
- Mary Jane's family, who reported her missing, describe the boyfriend's conflicting stories as to where he was over the two days before her body was found
- When police went to speak to the boyfriend about the murder, they found over $1 million worth of drugs in his house
- Those drugs were packed in boxes from a company belonging to a politically connected family
- Due to the size of the drug bust, investigators called in the DEA, who whisked the boyfriend away
- Investigators let the drug bust supersede the homicide, and failed to even document their interview with the boyfriend
- Investigators failed to discover that Mary Jane's friend was having an affair with her boyfriend, and had left the bar early to go meet him
- Despite the bar owner being able to read and write English, investigators wrote the statement out for him, in which he identified Gustavo as talking to Mary Jane in a car after closing time
- The bar owner has since clarified that he saw Gustavo speaking with a woman in a car, not the victim in her red and white pickup truck
- The bar owner said it was too dark to identify the woman Gustavo was speaking with
- The bar owner said that Gustavo and the woman in the car were the only people in the parking lot, so the victim was already gone
- Despite a very bloody crime scene, police found none of the victim's DNA on Gustavo's clothing
- The crime scene DNA was badly degraded because of the hot conditions inside the truck cab
- The two blood drops and pubic hair identifying Gustavo supposedly found at the crime scene were not degraded at all
- Police had collected blood and hair samples from Gustavo, and had those samples in their possession at the same time they possessed the crime scene evidence
- The relevant samples were received by the lab in unsealed condition
- There is no scientific explanation for the difference in degradation in these samples
- This is strong evidence that the samples attributed to Gustavo from the crime scene were actually taken from the samples police collected from him after his arrest
- Blood spatter evidence in crime scene photos demonstrate that at least two people loaded Mary Jane's body into the truck
- Mary Jane had female tissue under her nails
- Police found several strands of apparent female hair in Mary Jane's hands, which they then decided not to collect
- Two fingerprints found at the crime scene did not match either Mary Jane, or Gustavo
- Despite knowing this, the prosecutor attempted to suggest to the jury that the prints could have been Gustavo's
- The state has repeatedly refused to provide the identity of the person who left the fingerprints at the scene
- The truck was left just adjacent to a state trooper's house, who happened to be Gustavo's cousin
Circumstantial Evidence
•Mireles has no criminal record
•Mireles has not history of violence
•Mireles has no relationship with the victim, only having met her a few hours at the Starz bar
•Mireles has no motive for killing her
•No weapon was found on Mireles or in his possessions
•Mireles had no opportunity to commit the crime
•Mireles had no significant scratches that Dr. Salina said the killer would have.
•None of the victim’s DNA was found on any of Mireles belongings
•Delia Rodriguez lied to the victim, in her initial statement to police, and later during her testimony at trial, to cover her relationship with Arce
•The field where the truck/body was left was adjacent to a state trooper’s house. This state trooper was also a distant relative of Mr. Mireles and could have identified him.
•It is highly unlikely, that had Mr. Mireles committed this crime, he would have chosen to park the victim’s truck in a field next to a state trooper’s house and set it on fire.
•This was obviously done by someone who had no idea that the trooper lived there. -
This episode brings you up-to-date on the latest information about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
In 2011, Operation Grange was instituted by Scotland Yard to help solve the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. They translated and reviewed more than 100,000 documents associated with the case. At that point, they held out hope that Madeleine was still alive
The McCanns also believed and have always held out that she is alive. They pinned their hope on cases like Jaycee Dugard, an 11 year-old who was abducted by a pedophile, Phillip Garrido and his wife. She escaped 18 years later after having been held in a backyard shed and having given birth to 2 children.
The other famous case that gave the McCanns hope was the Elizabeth Smart abduction by a pedophile, David Mitchell and his wife. Elizabeth was found and released 9 months after her capture.
These 2 girls who returned home alive gave the McCanns hope.
The astonishing element of this case is the amount of money that has been spent. To date, almost $20 million has gone toward the Madeleine McCann investigation. This has raised resentment from many parents who have not benefited from this same treatment.
Over the years, there have been many leads that all ended up as false.
Currently, there are a couple of live leads that the police are actively following.
One is Martin Ney, a German pedophile who is currently in jail for the murder of 3 prepubescent boys. He appears to match sketches of the abductor seen by the Martin family and Jane Tanner.
Another person associated with Ney is also a person of interest. Both are suspected to be part of a pedophile sex ring.
Currently, the McCanns have entered a legal action with the Court of Human Rights in France to overturn a decision in favor of Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese inspector who wrote a scathing book accusing the McCanns of being involved in the coverup of their daughter's accidental death.
As of March of 2020, there are still dozens of active leads in the case, although no one has been charged in the case.
It is still an open case -
There are two distinct views of what happened to Madeleine McCann.
The primary Portuguese police investigator, Goncalo Amaral wrote a book, THE TRUTH OF THE LIE, and is of the opinion that the parents, Kate and Gerry McCann accidentally killed their daughter, Madeleine with a sedative and then covered up the crime.
Kate McCann wrote a book, MADELEINE defending she and her husband from all the accusations that has them involved in the disappearance of their child.
Robert Murat, an Englishman, living with his mother, next door to the McCann's holiday apartment became a suspect very early on, but no solid evidence could ever be discovered that would link him to the disappearance.
There is a lot of discussion about the window in the room that Madeleine was sleeping. Kate claims that is was open when she arrived. No one else remembers seeing it open after the disappearance. This small detail along with a lot of other discrepancies caused the Portuguese police to question the involvment of the parents.
Because of the politics of this case, the Portuguese police were hampered in their attempts to thoroughly investigate this case.
For instance, they tried to reconstruct the night of the disappearance, but never got the cooperation of the McCanns or the other friends who were traveling with them.
The press complicated everything and were primarily on the side of the McCanns.
An Irish family who were returning to their holiday apartment reported that they saw a man carrying a child around 9:55 on the night of the disappearance. They didn't think anything about it until they returned to Ireland and saw a report on the disappearance and realized they might have seen the abductor. Later when Gerry and Kate returned to England, the Smiths saw Gerry getting off the plane and said that it who they saw carrying the child.
One of the most important events that came out of the investigation was the use of Martin Grime's cadaver and blood dogs to search the McCann's apartment and the clothes and cars of anyone involved. The dogs found traces of blood and cadaver in two (2) locations in the apartment and 2 locations of the McCann's rented car.
Then the DNA results created another controversy with the Portuguese police saying the results are conclusive enough and the McCanns' saying that they're not conclusive and flawed. -
There are two very different views of what happened to Madeleine. There is a book written by Goncalo Amaral, the Portugueses police lead investigator and he has written the book, The Truth of the Lie, to defend the actions of the police and particulary himself because he felt like he was never given the chance to explain why the police did what they did.
Kate McCann wrote a 500 page book was written to defend themselves from all the accusations that came from the Portuguese police.
It was early on in the process that the Portuguese police became suspicious of the parents and part of the conflict is attributable to the differences in the two cultures. The British approach and the Portuguese approach are tie to their cultures. There is also a language barrier that further contributes to the chasm between the two.
From the very beginning there was a conflict between the parents and the police. The Portuguese police were incensed by the treatment that they got from the British police and politicians. They felt like they were being left out and were being treated as if they were a third world police force. Here again you can sense the cultural differences.
The police were also shocked at the level of political involvement and the massive amount of press that descended on Praia de Luz. The police also became more suspicious as the McCanns hired a press consultant to handle their interaction with the press.
From the beginning the Portuguese police noticed many inconsistencies in the reports and interviews of the McCanns and all the friends they were traveling with.
The McCanns panicked and called everyone they knew. The police, on the other hand, never panic because they know that there are many things that could have happened, one being, that Madeleine wandered off and was not abducted. The McCanns jumped to that conclusion without much consideration.....another suspicious action according to the police.
Goncalo retires, or is forced out, much to the pressure put on the Portuguese government by the British government. He has been a policeman for 26 years and resents what happened to him.
The events immediately following the disappearance of Madeleine demonstrate that the McCanns and friends took control and the police never had control, meaning that the "crime" scene was destroyed by all the people that trampled through it during the panic right after Madeleine was discovered missing. -
Months after Madeleine goes missing, Brian Kennedy, a wealthy Brit hired Metedo 3 to help solve the disappearance. Metedo 3 dove in and started infiltrating the underworld of pedophiles and the dark web.
Even though they put a lot of work into the case, they came up with no solid leads and Brian fired them.
Then he hired a very powerful American investigative company called Oakley International. The founder Kevin Halligen had assembled a dream team and they went to work.
They went back to zero and looked at all the original sightings and work that had been done.
During this time Gonzalo Amaral had written a book and it was released. A TV program was made from the book and both accused the parents of covering up the accidental death of Madeleine. It changed the minds of many of the Portuguese public. In 2009, a court sided with the McCanns and banned the continued distribution of the book and TV program.
Brian was receiving huge bills from Oakley's investigation and he was starting to get suspicious.
Oakley was making all kinds of claims that turned out to be useless.
It was eventually discovered that Kevin Harrigen was a complete fraud and had done this kind of scam before.
18 months went by without any progress.
The McCanns' hired another investigative team that came up with two (2) of the most significant sightings that had never been reported before.
One was a woman who lived above them who saw a man steathly leaving the McCann apartment the afternoon before the disappearance.
The other was a couple seen near Lagos, the port, early the next morning crossing a road with a baby in their arms.
Finally, the McCanns convinced Scotland Yard and the local British police to take over the case.
They made some significant progress identifying some sketchy men who had been hanging around the area. It seems they might have been associated with a trafficking ring.
Six years later there still is not clear evidence of what happened to Madeleine McCann. -
On the evening of May 3, 2007, a three-year-old girl disappeared into thin air at a resort in the southern part of Portugal, Praia de Luz.
Madeleine McCann was on vacation with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann and her twin two-year-old siblings…..plus a collection of their doctor friends and their kids.
The grown-ups dined every evening at Tapas, the restaurant at the resort, and Madeleine and the 2-year-old twins had been left alone asleep at 8:30 in the ground-floor apartment, while the McCanns and their friends had dinner.
The parents checked on the children throughout the evening, until Madeleine's mother discovered she was missing between 9:45 and 10:00.
The McCanns, being under suspicion of being involved in their daughters disappearance, decided to return to their home in Leicestershire, even though they had vowed to remain in Portugal until their daughter was found.
At this point, a multi-millionaire named Brian Kennedy decided to help by putting his money behind the mysterious disappearance of Madeleine.
He hired the well-renowned firm, Metedo 3 and they aggressively pursued every lead. There were many sightings, all of which turned out to not be Madeleine.
The Portuguese police released a 9 page document detailing a case that blamed the parents for the accidental death of Madeleine and then a cover up.
The DNA report was also back and did not conclusively identify any of the DNA as Madeleines
The case is starting to fall apart because a lot of things are not adding up and the British and Portuguese police are at odds as to what happened.
On Oct. 2, 2007, the lead Portuguese investigator, Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case. He decides to retire and eventually writes a book about the case.
At this point, there is growing awareness of pedophile and sex rings that exist that could possibly have something to do with the Madeleine case. -
On the evening of May 3, 2007, a three-year-old girl disappeared into thin air at a resort in the southern part of Portugal, Praia de Luz.
Madeleine McCann was on vacation with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann and her twin two-year-old siblings…..plus a collection of their doctor friends and their kids.
The grown-ups dined every evening at Tapas, the restaurant at the resort, and Madeleine and the 2-year-old twins had been left alone asleep at 8:30 in the ground-floor apartment, while the McCanns and their friends had dinner.
The parents checked on the children throughout the evening, until Madeleine's mother discovered she was missing between 9:45 and 10:00.
The Portuguese police were coming under fire from the public, the British police and the British press to make some progress on this case. There was also incredible internal pressure to solve this case.
The Madeleine McCann case grew in it's media coverage and at one point was getting more attention than the death of Princess Diana.
The number of sightings were growing, most of which turned out not to be Madeleine.
The resentment on the part of the Portuguese public was growing because local children who went missing didn't get 1/10 of the attention and resources that the Madeleine McCann case was garnering.
The Portuguese police brought in cadaver and blood dogs and they searched the McCann's holiday apartment.
The cadaver dog found evidence of human decomposition in 2 places in the apartment. The blood dog found evidence of blood in one of the same places, behind the couch. Then they searched the car and both dogs found evidence of human decomposition and blood on the drivers door of the McCann's rental car and in the boot of that car.
That was the turning point in the case. The Portuguese police were convinced that the parents had something to do with the disappearance.
The theory was that the McCann's had sedated their children before they went to dinner, and unfortunately they oversedated Madeleine and then devised this elaborate plan to cover her death. -
On the eventing of May 3, 2007, a three-year-old girl disappeared into thin air at a resort on the southern coast of Portugal.
Madeleine McCann was on vacation with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann and her twin two-year-old siblings.....plus a collection of other British friends and their kids.
The grown-ups dined almost every evening at Tapas, the restaurant at the resort. Madeleine and the twins had been left asleep in the room, without supervision in the ground floor apartment since 8:30 pm.
The parents checed the children throughout the evening, until Madeleine's mother discovered her missing around 10 pm.
The first few days were hectic and then the press got word and it grew and grew until the media from all over Europe, Britian and the US congregated on Praia de Luz to cover the missing girl.
The Portuguese police were not prepared for the onslaught of attention and criticism that developed as the days passed and no suspects were found.
The McCanns' had no faith in the Portuguese police and called their contacts in the UK to help get the work out and to get the British police involved.
There were an unusually large number of pedophiles living in the area, so the attention was directed to that population and finally to Robert Murat, a Brit who had a house within view of the McCann's vacation apartment. There was no evidence that Robert had anything to do with the missing girl, but the police needed to solve this case and keep word from spreading and killing the tourist business.
Sergey Polinka, a young Russian on vacation, also became a subject on interest because he had been hired by Robert Murat to design a website for him.
The case unexplainably became the biggest media circus since Princess Diana was killed. The parents toured Europe trying to get the word out. They raised $2.5 million pounds from celebrities like JK Rowling, David Beckham, etc. Even the British prime minister and Home Secretary got involved and commented on the case.
At one point, the Portuguese police started to question the involvment of the parents, and then things got interesting.
In our next episode, we will explore the theory that the parents, Kate and Gerry McCann accidentally overdosed Madeleine with sleeping medicine and then covered it up by promoting the abduction scenario. -
On Friday, December 6, 1991 when the fire trucks arrived at a fire at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop near Northcross Mall in Austin, Texas, they found, not only a fire but the dead bodies of 4 teenage girls.
In this episode we continue the investigation of this case.
In 1999, a new detective named Hector Polanco took over the case and was determined to find the killers of these girls. In October of that year, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn were brought in for questioning.
Interestingly enough, Maurice was the teen that they questioned at the mall a week after the murders because he was suspicious and was carrying a 22 caliber gun. It did not match the ballistics of the gun that shot the girls, but Hector used that as a lead to arrest theses four that were brought in for questioning.
Eventually, Hector coerced Michael and Robert to confess and those confessions were used to convict both of them for the murders. Both of the trials used their confessions and not much else to convict them because there was no evidence to link them to the crimes.
Robert was sentenced to death and Michael was given life imprisonment.
In 2008, DNA from Amy's body came back not matching either Robert or Michael or the other 2 boys.
The two were released in 2009 but have never been declared innocent by the courts.
Recently, a match was found for the DNA was found in a University of Central Florida database, but the FBI and the Florida facility state that they can't release the information due to privacy rights.
The case is still unsolved but they now have a matching DNA for the crimes. -
On Friday, December 6, 1991, when the fire trucks arrived at a fire at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop on W. Anderson Lane in Austin, Texas, they put out a fire in the rear of the store and then discovered the charred remains of 4 teenage girls. Only Amy Ayres was not burned beyond recognition.
Two of the girls, Jennifer Harbison and Aliza Thomas were working the late shift and Jennifer's sister, Sara and her friend, Amy joined them to help close the store.
The fire was reported at 11:57 by a Austin PD patrolman and the first fire truck arrived around 12:03.
When Detective John Jones was called to the scene, he only knew there were 4 bodies. He had no idea the grisly scene that he was to about to find.
The girls had all met in the local high school FHA and were planning to have sleep-over that night.
Before they closed, 2 young guys were sitting at a booth, suspiciously not having yogurt and were the last customers seen in the store before closing.
We only know that the girls were found naked, bound, all shot in the head and at least one sexually assaulted.
This is the beginning of a journey that will be detailed in this episode and the next.
For anyone who remembers anything about that night or this crime, please contact Austin Crimestoppers at 512-472-TIPS (8477) -
On a cold November night in 2012, a barefoot 26-year-old Emma Fillipoff disappeared after having a 45 minute conversation with two policeman in downtown Victoria, BC in front of the grand Empress Hotel.
Emma Fillipof moved to Victoria from her home in Perth Ontario about a year before and never settled down, constantly going between friend's houses, boats in the Inner Harbor and a women's shelter.
On November 28th she found out her mother was coming to Victoria and it set off a series of desperate moves which resulted in Emma disappearing without a trace.
On that day she bought a pre-paid credit card at a local 7-11 and later bought a prepaid cell phone. Now Emma had never owned a cell phone and was seen peering out the glass door of the 7-11 as though she were looking for someone.
Later she abruptly left the Sandy Merriman Shelter for Women, hailed a cab to the airport and then decided against that because she told the driver she couldn't afford the $60. He returned her to where he had picked her up.
She was reportedly seen one last time at 5 am the next morning out from Victoria near the Juan de Fuca Commuinty Center, where the next Wednesday her prepaid credit card was found by a guy who tried to use it to buy cigarettes.
Emma was never seen again and no credible sightings of her have surfaced since. No body has ever turned up and several cadaver dog searches have been done and the Inner Harbor was searched by dive teams.
If anyone has any information on Emma and her whereabouts, please go to the website http://www.helpfindemmafillipoff.com/ or contact the Victoria Police at 250-995-7654 -
On a cold November night in 2012 in Victoria BC, a barefoot 26 year old Emma Fillipoff disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again. No one has seen her since and no body has ever been discovered.
Emma grew up in Perth, Ottawa and was a happy artistic girl who also was very private.
She moved to Victoria, BC in 2011, moving in with a friend who said she took long walks, sometimes as long as 8 hours.
Emma was unique and moved around, even staying on a boat in the picturesque Victoria Inner Harbour. Eventually, she ended up in a women's shelter, probably because she was virtually homeless.
On November 28, 2012, Emma went to a 7-11 and bought a $200 prepaid credit card. She was then seen by a childhood friend from Perth who was riding a bus and spotted her on the street downtown.
Later that day, she went back to the 7-11 and bought a prepaid cell phone. She had never owned a cell phone in her life.
Later she tried to take a cab to the airport, but decided she couldn't afford the $60 fare.
Next she ran into an acquaintance from the library who walked with her and then became concerned about her and ducked into a cafe to call the police.
The police came and questioned her for about 40 minutes in front of the Empress Hotel in downtown Victoria, BC.
She was never seen again and the mystery continues.
There have been sightings and related incidents, but not creditable information as to what happened to her. -
In this episode, we explore the details of the Maura Murray case that not everyone knows including some updates on events and people associated with the case. You will learn:
* What legal problems Maura had before she left town on February 9, 2004?
* What lies she told right after the wreck?
* What signs were there that she was leaving for more than a week?
* What signs were there that she planned to return?
* What was found in her car when the police arrived?
* What was unusual about the car after the wreck?
* Had Maura been in a wreck previously?
* Where was Maura headed?
* Has a body ever been found?
* Have there been sightings of Maura?
* What has recently happened to her then-boyfriend, Bill Rausch?
* What does the family think happened to her?
All this and more details that you probably have not heard. -
The disappearance of Maura Murray on Feb. 9, 2004, on Route 112 in Haverhill, NH is still a mystery. Lance and Tim have been involved in investigating the case for several years. They produced a 4 part series called Finding Maura Murray with James Renner. The theory they were pursuing was that Maura ran away and is living in Canada. This theory is still valid because there have been sightings and there has never been any other credible theory.
No body has ever been found, even after multiple massive searches in the White Mountain area.
Lance and Tim discussed some of the details of the disappearance including
* Her wrecking her father's car the Saturday night before she disappeared on Monday,
* Her withdrawing $280 from her checking account as she left town
* Her purchase of more booze than 2 people could drink
* Her lying to her professors about a death in the family
* Her disappearing in an unexplainable 10 minute time frame
* The secrets she was harboring about the legal trouble she was in
and on and on.
The case is fascinating and is still being investigated by media, the family and law enforcement. - もっと表示する
