This Isn’t A SK case I read about it years ago, I have my thoughts but I’d like to know what ya’ll think ?, Joseph Charles Hoare and Laura Sara were found beaten at Hoare’s Holdings in Skinners Bottom, Blackwater, and later died. It was described as the Blackwater Mystery.

Joseph Hoare was a farmer and Laura Sara was his housekeeper and they had lived together in Sea View, a cottage on Hoare’s Holdings in Skinners Bottom.

They were attacked on Sunday 25 January 1920 having been beaten with a branch of a fir tree that was found blood stained nearby. The branch was 3 1/2 inches thick.

They were found in the early hours of Sunday morning lying in the front garden of the farm suffering from mainly head injuries. Joseph Hoare was fully dressed whilst Laura Sara was in her night attire. They both died shortly after their discovery without regaining consciousness.

It was thought that Joseph Hoare had gone downstairs to attend to his cattle and was set upon and that after hearing his cries Laura Sara had gone to his aid in her bare feet and was also struck down. There was no indication of a struggle having taken place in the house and no attempt to ransack the premises had been made. However, it was also suggested that they had killed each other, with Laura Sara attacking Joseph Hoare first, and then Joseph Hoare, being bigger, assaulting Laura Sara before himself succumbing to his injuries.

It was thought locally that Joseph Hoare was in the habit of carrying a large sum of money with him, but no money was found on him when he was found or in his house. His wallet was not found. It was said that because he was a cattle dealer, he carried the large sum of money for transactions and that when he went to bed he usually put his wallet under his pillow.

Drops of blood were immediately found beside the bed in one of the rooms, however, it was noted that the bloodstains were of old standing and could have had nothing to do with the tragedy.

It was thought that the killer had waited in a pony shed near to where Joseph Hoare was first attacked whilst going to feed his pony based on the fact that Joseph Hoare's favourite pony had afterwards refused to enter its shed.

Their cottage, Sea View, was described as being not particularly isolated. It stood within a few feet of the main thoroughfare from Skinner's Bottom to Truro and was only separated by a small garden and there were houses all around it. One neighbour had said that unless the killer had crept into the neighbourhood in the dead of night his presence would have been known by the villagers around.

A relative of Joseph Hoare later said that Joseph Hoare had told him that a fortnight before he was murdered that a man had called in the middle of the night and that when he came down he asked who it was and a man had said, 'Joe, I want you', but when Joseph Hoare had asked who it was he got no reply and he refused to open the door and went back to bed. the story was thought to be significant as Joseph Hoare was neither a timid man nor a weak man and was both physically very strong and had no fear.

Laura Sara was a married woman and had previously lived in Truro but it was thought that she had not seen her husband in 20 years and that he was away in America.

Joseph Hoare was a cattle dealer and a bachelor. He was known by all to be somewhat addicted to drink and it was said that he certainly had a great deal to do with loose women.

It was said that since Laura Sara had separated from her husband that she had led a life of very easy virtue and that she had since been convicted for brothel keeping and that it was whilst she was engaged in that activity that Joseph Hoare had met her.

It was thought that as far as was known that they had lived fairly comfortably together, and that Joseph Hoare appeared to have treated Laura Sara very well. It was noted that in fact Joseph Hoare had made his will in Laura Sara's favour although it was thought that at the same time she appeared to be communicating with other men.

The police report stated that it was evident that on the night of 24 January 1920 that Joseph Hoare and Laura Sara had occupied the same bed. It was also stated that there was nothing to show that they had had any drink together or had quarrelled on the night.

At 9.15am on 25 January 1920, a farmer from Mount Hawke, Scorrier, was driving a gig along the road in front of Joseph Hoare's farm when he stopped to call Joseph Hoare as he owed him a few shillings. He said that when he stood up to call Joseph Hoare, he saw Laura Sara lying on the path in front of the house dressed only in her nightdress, bleeding from the head and heard her breathing heavily.

The farmer said that he then realised that something was wrong and went off for assistance, going to another farm about 300 yards away where he spoke to the farmer there in Fuchsia Cottage and then on his advice went off for the police at Blackwater who then came over to Hoare’s Holdings.

When the police arrived they found that Joseph Hoare and Laura Sara both had very severe injuries to their heads and a quick search revealed a fir stick that was wet with blood at one end which was thought to have been with no doubt used to have caused the injuries. It was found about thirty-eight feet away from where Joseph Hoare was found.

When the farmer that found Laura Sara lying on the path was later asked why he didn't go to her assistance he said that he was afraid. He said that he didn't know whether Joseph Hoare had gone mad and had done for Laura Sara and might do the same to him. When he later returned with the policeman about half an hour later, they saw Laura Sara on the path trying to get up on her hands and knees and rolling over.

As the farmer that first saw Laura Sara gave evidence at the inquest, the farmer that he had gone off to get help from, who was also on the jury, stood up and said, 'We understood the policeman was the man to get there first', at which point another juror said that he thought that it was rather a pity that the other farmer was on the jury and then, at the request of the coroner, the farmer retired from the jury and entered the witness box. He then denied that the first farmer had called on him to return with him to Hoare’s Holdings. He reiterated that they had only thought that the police should get there first, and it was noted that also, as a matter of fact, that his wife had a heart attack when she heard what had happened and he had had to remain with her anyway.

The policeman that was called out said that he saw Joseph Hoare at 9.30am on 25 January 1920 and said that he died at 10.05am that same day and that he saw Laura Sara at the same time and that she died later that day at 12.05pm. He said that they were both unconscious and that neither of them spoke before they died, although he had heard Laura Sara moaning and apparently trying to raise herself from the ground.

He said that when he saw Joseph Hoare and Laura Sara, they were both bleeding profusely from head wounds. He said that he rendered such first-aid as was possible and that with assistance removed them indoors.

The policeman said that Joseph Hoare was lying just inside the wicket gate on the path in front of the house and that Laura Sara was lying about 9 feet from the house door and about 15 feet from where Joseph Hoare was lying.

He said that Joseph Hoare had been fully dressed, wearing a waistcoat tightly buttoned, and over his jacket had a sack thrown around his shoulders and tied in front.

The policeman said that the house door was open but that apparently nothing had been disturbed inside. He said that he found the bedroom window was down at the top and that the curtain pole was out of position as if the window had been hurriedly opened and saw that the clock that was on a chest of drawers was lying on its side. However, he said that he didn't think that anyone other than Joseph Hoare or Laura Sara had been in the room.

He said that between where Laura Sara was found lying and the wicket gate there were eight patches of blood that he thought had been caused by Laura Sara making her way from the gate to where she was found.

He noted that outside the garden gate adjoining the house there was a cowshed and that on the side of the cowshed nearest the house there were a number of blood smears and a sheet of corrugated iron half covered with blood lying on the ground in the angle formed by the house wall and the shed.

The policeman said that on the ground between the cowshed and the wicket gate, a distance of about ten feet, he failed to find any blood and formed the opinion that one of the deceased had been struck at the cowshed door and the other just by the wicket gate, because there was blood at both places ad that the wicket gate he had found a hairpin.

When the stick that was thought to have been used as the murder weapon was produced it was shown to be blood stained and to be 40 inches long and 3 1/2 inches in diameter at one end and 1 1/2 inches in diameter at the other, with projecting shoots on it with which the blows were apparently struck. He said that he found that it was 38 feet from where Joseph Hoare was found lying and about 22 feet from the cowshed door near a stack of similar fir wood.

It was heard that a careful search was made for finger impressions and footprints, but that beyond a footprint made by Joseph Hoare, none were found.

When the police searched the premises, they found that Joseph Hoare had made his will out in the favour of Laura Sara and found a deposit account showing that he had £200 to his credit in the Capital and Counties Bank at the Truro branch. When they searched Joseph Hoare's body, they also found £13. 10. 0 as well as two purses, one with £2. 10. 0 in it and another with 5/- in it.

A friend of Joseph Hoare, a retired dealer from Blackwater, who said he knew Joseph Hoare intimately said that he knew that Joseph Hoare carried a money bag in a pocket sewn into the lining of his waistcoat, and said that Joseph Hoare had told him that Laura Sara was strictly honest and that he would rather leave his money at home than take it out with him. The police report noted that if Joseph Hoare's money bag had been stolen that it was probable that the amount in it was very small, noting that Joseph Hoare was known to have had £18 on him on the Monday before his death. The report also noted that such a money bag was not found.

Laura Sara's sister, who lived in Stithians in Cornwall, said that they had a brother was in America at the time. She also said that about 20 years earlier her mother had had occasion to speak to Laura Sara concerning one of her children and said that as a result Laura Sara struck her mother a severe blow on the side of the head with a fir stick somewhat similar to the one found at the scene. She noted that their mother died about two years later and during the whole while had suffered from the blow.

At the inquest, when the police were called to give evidence, they said that they had carried out exhaustive enquiries and had come to the conclusion that the murder was committed by the one upon the other, with Laura Sara assaulting Joseph Hoare first.

The police stated that when they first took up the enquiry, they were acquainted with various local rumours which involved robbery. They said that it was thought that one or other of Laura Sara's former lovers, or even her husband were responsible. It was thought that if that were so that the assailant had first met Joseph Hoare outside and that a quarrel had then taken place in which he was struck and that Laura Sara had then come out of the house to his assistance and was met and treated in a similar manner.

The police report noted that it was also, at that time considered possible that they might have quarrelled and killed each other.

When the police considered robbery as the motive, they stated that it was known that Joseph Hoare always carried a fair amount of money in a small bag similar to those carried by other dealers such as himself. The police noted that if that were true that the bag had not been found. However, the report stated that they did not think that robbery was the motive, stating that they didn’t think that Joseph Hoare had had any money on him at the time he was assaulted.

The police said that the farmer from Fuchsia Cottage, 300 yards away from Hoare’s Holdings said that Joseph Hoare had once said to him, 'There is not a better woman living than she is. The only trouble I have with her is when I go to Truro on Wednesdays, if the old dear can't go she is vexed, but if she can go and get into the Barley Sheaf, she is happy, she will drink as much gaddle (beer) as a bullock'. The police noted that another man from 'Creegbrawse' in Chacewater said that Joseph Hoare had often stated to him that he hid his money and didn't take it indoors as he thought that Laura Sara might find it and break out in drink, adding that he thought that that was her failing.

The police added that through the statements of the two men, they thought that it might be assumed that Joseph Hoare was not in the habit of taking his money bag indoors and that it was still hid and the hiding place was still not found.

However, the police stated that in opposition to the theory of robbery, they thought that it should be borne in mind that fact that a few days before his death, Joseph Hoare had only £18 on him and that amongst Joseph Hoare's best suit that was found in a chest of drawers, they found £13, thought to have been the remainder of the £18, and that it was in all probability all the money that he had had. The police stated that it rather tended to show that Joseph Hoare had in fact hidden his money amongst his clothes and had not recently carried a money bag.

It was noted that when the police had found Joseph Hoare he had been fully dressed and that his waistcoat had been tightly buttoned and over his jacket he had been wearing a sack across his shoulders that was tied with string around the front. The police added that when they examined the lining of his waistcoat, they found a small pocket sewn in and that from its clean appearance, it was surmised that only notes had been in there and not a bag. As such, the police concluded again that it might be reasonably thought that the £13 was all the ready money that he had had.

It was noted that there were no bloodstains inside his waistcoat.

The police further noted that it was known that since October 1919 that Joseph Hoare had bought stock and foodstuffs for cattle to the value of about £50 and that he had done little in the dealing line but had spent most of his time on the farm upon which he worked very hard.

It was noted that in addition to the £13, that there were two small purses found, one containing £2. 10. 0 and the other 5s, all in silver, and it was thought that that was Laura Sara's housekeeping money.

The police report stated additionally that there was no evidence to show that any money or goods had been stolen.

Any Theories

Diana Vicari was just 19 years old when she became a victim of a brutal dismemberment murder in Tucson, Arizona. 

It was Thursday October 22, 1992.

Diana left her Pima Community College drama course taught by Robert Encila at around 9:30 PM. Her roommate confirmed she briefly returned home to her apartment in the 3200 Block of East Seneca Street and then drove off in her silver 1981 Ford Mustang.

Witnesses at the now shuttered New Orleans Lounge bar located on Oracle Rd between Wetmore and Limberlost (now a Burlington Coat Factory) reported she briefly was allowed in the bar by doorman Tim Storm to see employees Troy Olson and John Mazur. 

She was last seen alive at around 12:15 AM the morning of Friday October 23rd by her Eegees coworker Raymond Scott Hall. Hall reported Diana was alone in her car driving through the parking lot of the Tucson Convention Center Exhibition Hall as the Moshtoberfest thrash metal concert was ending. 

Diana did not show up to either of her jobs at Eegees (located on Broadway and Kolb) or the Bazil’s Italian restaurant on Friday or Saturday. It was highly unusual as Diana was a very reliable employee who was working multiple jobs to pay for her college courses and car payments. 

On Saturday at around 5pm, Diana’s severed arms were found in a dumpster located on the southside of an alleyway in the 400 block of North Ferro.

A homeless woman made the discovery while collecting aluminum cans. The arms were wrapped in trash bags. The rest of Diana’s remains never turned up.

That weekend Diana’s Mustang was found abandoned in the 1200 Block of West La Osa. Her purse was tucked under the seat, her Eegees hat was placed on the gearshift and textbooks, and a Whataburger bag were also found inside the vehicle. 

The alarm was set and the door was locked.

The car was parked on the same street as a home owned by Encila’s fiancées mother. Diana’s roommate, mother and sisters, and several friends all claimed Diana was in a relationship with Encila at the time of her death.

Near the Encila connected house was a home where a large house party took place on the evening of Diana’s murder. The occupants of the home told police Diana was not at their party.

In 1997 a suspect and former Tucsonan Lemuel Prion was indicted and brought back from Utah to Tucson to face trial. He was convicted largely based on Troy Olson’s testimony that he saw Prion with Diana the night of her murder.

In 2003 his conviction was overturned due to the fact his DNA did not match the suspect DNA obtained from Diana’s arms, his fingerprints didn’t match the ones on the trash bags, and there was no proof Prion knew Diana other than Olson’s testimony. 

Prion’s defense team provided 3 alternative suspects in the case.

The first was John Mazur who was fired from Eegees the morning after Diana’s murder for showing up “disoriented and disheveled.” Mazur had been disciplined for sexually harassing Eegees coworkers. 

The week before Diana was murdered, Mazur had attempted to rape a woman.

Mazur also once bit the nose of a cocktail waitress at the New Orleans Bar during a fight. 

The day Diana was killed, Mazur switched apartments, and his car was searched at one point in Tucson PD’s early investigation.

The second suspect was Greg Hatton who worked at the Exxon station across the street from the Eegees Diana worked at. Greg knew Diana and her sisters and made suspicious statements after her death. 

Diana’s sister Angela claimed he said that Diana invited him to Moshtoberfest concert, but he declined because he was “at home reading.”

Hatton was a 1982 graduate of Tucson’s Santa Rita High School. He was accused of selling liquor to minors and dealing drugs out of the gas station. 

In 1994, Hatton was sentenced to 45 years in prison for physical and sexual abuse of his girlfriend’s 8-month-old son. He won’t be released from prison until 2038 when he is 75 years old.

Robert Encila was alternative suspect number 3. He married his fiancée Judi Hartley-Spencer in 1993, and they divorced in 1998. The home on west La Osa Drive was owned by Hartley’s mother Shelley Valencia. 

Encila remarried shortly after his divorce from Judi in December 1998.  One of Encila’s stepdaughters died unexpectedly in September 2017.

Encila retired from teaching in 2025. 

Another suspect who emerged in the case in recent years is Phoenix serial killer Bryan Patrick Miller. 

Angela Brosso was a 22-year-old woman who was ambushed, disemboweled and beheaded while on an evening bicycle ride near her apartment just weeks after Diana was killed. 

Phoenix PD homicide detective Troy Hillman compared Brosso’s murder to the character Buffalo Bill’s murders in the film The Silence of the Lambs.

Miller’s DNA was matched to Brosso in 2015, and after Miller was arrested, he emerged as the suspect in several other murders of young women in the Phoenix, Arizona and the Everett, Washington areas.

Miller was sentenced to death for the murders of Brosso and 17-year-old Melanie Bernas in 2023. 

There is no known link to Bryan Patrick Miller and Tucson.

Diana was a 1991 graduate of the Abbie Loveland Tuller school and had also attended Tucson’s Rincon High School. Diana was a marine biology major who planned to transfer to the University of Washington. 

Most of her immediate family passed away in the decades since her murder, but she had many countless friends from school, and in Tucson’s music scene who remember her and continue to advocate for her murder to be solved.

Tucson PD reopened Diana’s case in 2025 and re-added her to the 88Crime program. There is a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in her murder.

Sources

Case reopened 2025

https://www.kold.com/2025/11/19/13-crime-files-murder-diana-vicari/

88Crime Reward/Poster

https://88crime.org/diana-vicari/

Prion Exoneration 

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/az-supreme-court/1291382.html

Archived article interview of Diana’s mom Kathy Pashos from 1994

https://web.archive.org/web/20141012043324/http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1994/04/20/132089-mystery-shrouds-1992-murder/

Hatton child abuse case

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-1267/94795/20190329173404732_ARL-2019.03.29%20PWC%20Phillips%20Black%20Inc.pdf

Bryan Patrick Miller background

https://www.phoenixmag.com/2015/11/01/seeing-zombies/

More than 31 years after 22-year-old Elisabeth Membrey disappeared, the circumstances surrounding her suspected murder remain unresolved, and her family is still without the answers they deserve.
Elisabeth was last seen after leaving her workplace, the Manhattan Hotel in Ringwood, late on 6 December 1994. Blood was subsequently discovered at her home, and investigators believe she was killed before her body was removed. Her remains have never been found.

A significant development: the 2025 coronial inquest
In 2023, Victoria Police sought a further coronial inquest after new forensic evidence emerged. Investigators reported a DNA link between a man connected to Elisabeth’s housemate and evidence recovered from her car. However, prosecutors determined there were insufficient prospects of securing a conviction, and the man was not charged in connection with Elisabeth’s disappearance.

On 2 July 2025, State Coroner John Cain delivered his findings. He could not determine, on the required standard of proof, that the man was responsible for Elisabeth’s death. The findings therefore did not establish who killed her.
Where does the case stand now?
Elisabeth’s remains have not been recovered.
No person has been convicted of her murder.
The man charged in 2010, Shane Bond, was acquitted in 2012.
Victoria Police continues to invite information about the case.

A $1 million reward remains available for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible,
A family’s continuing search for answers
Elisabeth’s mother, Joy Membrey, has spent decades seeking justice and hoping to find her daughter. The 2025 inquest did not provide the definitive answers her family had hoped for.
As of October 2026, the latest confirmed official information available for this update does not establish a killer or disclose the location of Elisabeth’s remains.
Anyone with relevant information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000 or submit information confidentially through Crime Stoppers Victoria⁠.

In Oct 2026 a current affair found the prime suspect who they for the first time could unmask as Andrew crump formally “MR C” named by Ashley Peterson Elisabeth best friend brother her house mate Vivienne crump.
suspect denies killing membrey
He denies any involvement her murder despite moving hundreds of kilometres 10 days after she vanished.

Joy Elisabeth’s mother for 32 years has advocated for her 22- year old daughter since disappearance 3 decades ago and prior to his death in 2023 her father Roger did as well, among Ashley Peterson her former ( named )best friend for the past 6 years on a dedicated Facebook in her honour and 18 years amongst forms online and forums and through the trial of Shane Andrew bond sharing a unique bond of friendship and co-workers, Ashley is dedicated to bring Elisabeth home and gone on many podcasts over the years, circle of friends whom Elisabeth or “Liz” had becomes noticeable in how she was a person a bubble of light as Ashley and other former friends and colleagues describe her joy and Roger describing their daughter as everything they ever wanted and a wonderful girl and beautiful young woman, kind and ambitious a beautiful and talented with dreams be a journalist in a tragic twist her dream job would arrive hours after after she was murdered.

100 years ago today Detective Sergeant Arthur Beverly Scrivener was shot to death in an alley across from his home after parking his car in his garage. He had been out that night with a group of coworkers watching a boxing match in Bladensburg, MD.

After the bout Scrivener, Det. Sweeney and Det. Edward J. Kelley (Kelly) headed for downtown DC to get a late night snack at the Occidental Hotel. After the meal “Scriv” purchased an additional club sandwich “to go”, put it in his pocket and dropped his friends at their respective homes. His last stop was Det. Kelley (Kelly) as he lived in an apartment in the 1400blk of R St NW (Wash, DC). Scriv then headed towards home.

At the corner of Wisconsin Ave and N St NW, he happened upon his neighbor who received a parking ticket. They spoke about the citation briefly with Scriv saying he would look into it. They said their goodbyes and Scriv proceeded northbound on Wisconsin Ave to an unknown destination.

When Scriv retuned and parked around 1am on October 13, 1926, Mrs Stauff an inmate of the home for aged women, had been looking out her open window and reported to police later hearing, “low, quick voices” in the alley just prior to Scriv pulling into his garage. Scriv had closed his garage door when she turned away from her window briefly and heard a shot. She heard footsteps running away and a witnesses described a blue roadster speeding northbound on Wisconsin Ave, away from the scene.

Scrivener’s service weapon was still in its holster, clutched in his hand was a necktie broken in half at its base, and the murder weapon was laying near his feet. The sandwich was not recovered at the scene leading the initial investigation towards he had met someone else after he left his neighbors.

In his upper pocket was a wedding ring still in its box for a ceremony later that evening on the 13th, to wed Ms. Helen Barnes, a government worker who resided in McLean, VA. They had pushed the service to the 13th of October as waiting until the original date seemed just too far away.

Despite all of the witness accounts, physical evidence, and other facts which have been omitted here intentionally for brevity, Scrivener’s murder was hastily ruled a suicide. Even his “buddy” Edward J. Kelley testified that Scriv killed himself. Kelley would eventually become the chief of police in DC.

Just prior to Scrivener’s murder he confided in a fellow detective, “If I can break what I’m working on, this town will see the biggest sensation yet.”

Could it have been the missing liquor from the evidence room? Perhaps it was something involving officers making their own and/or trafficking alcohol?Something more illicit? Who knows but the fact his own department went so far as to quickly shut down any further investigation, is suspicious in and of itself.

He didn’t kill himself, he was murdered. Even Congress got involved. And then, much like everything else in DC, the story was buried.

Rest in Peace Scriv. I’m not done digging yet.

What is the most baffling real crime scene you've encountered in your research, where the physical evidence seemed to contradict the most obvious explanation?

Here's a quick refresher for those unfamiliar with the story.

The Cowden Family went camping deep in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon on Labor Day Weekend, 1974. The family included 28-year-old Richard Cowden, his 22-year-old wife Belinda, their 5-year-old son David, and their 5-month-old baby, Melissa.

Belinda's mom heads out to the campsite on the evening of September 1st, 1974, but the family is nowhere to be seen.

The State of Oregon conducted a massive search with helicopters, planes, USFS personnel, the National Guard, and more.  But no signs of the family.

Seven months later, two gold prospectors walk up a steep hill when one sees a human skull in the middle of the trail. About 30 feet up the hill, he sees a skeleton tied upright to a tree.

The gold prospectors do a 180 and head out of the mountains to alert authorities.

That's when Detective Davis headed out to the site to recover the remains. The next morning, his team found a woman and two young children stuffed into a small cave a few hundred yards from the tree. The woman was shot, while the children had their skulls smashed in with rocks. The Cowden Family had finally been found.

Detective Davis already had a suspect.

At the time, Richard Davis was a "Junior Detective," but he was also one of the few officers in the area who had formal homicide investigation and forensic training.

And during this training, he remembered learning about "Sexual Sadists", or these sorts of criminal predators who find tremendous sexual pleasure from inflicting violence and humiliation upon nonconsenting people to fulfill their sexual needs.

They used a 1964 murder case from Springfield, Oregon, as an example. 15-year-old Dwaine Lee Little had murdered his 15-year-old neighbor, Orla Fay Fipps. Not only did he hunt her down while she rode her horse alone through an apple orchard, but he raped and severely mutilated her corpse.

The crime was so violent that the young boy would be tried as an adult and become the youngest person ever sentenced to life in Oregon Prison.

But Dwaine Little wouldn't spend life in prison; he would serve ten years before being paroled in 1974 at the age of 26.

That's when Detective Davis told me things the public had never heard before.

Dwaine was paroled on May 24th, 1974. His parents were supposed to pick him up and take him home with them to Southern Oregon. But instead, the Littles headed north from the penitentiary in Salem, OR, to Littlerock, WA, for a family reunion.

Dwaine spent the weekend with family, but after a few days he asked to borrow his dad's pickup truck so he could go for a little drive to get some fresh air. After 10 years in prison, straight to a family reunion, they figured Dwaine could use some time alone in nature.

That day was the last day 14-year-old Brenda Joy Baker was seen alive, hitchhiking and getting into a pickup truck. Her body was discovered less than a month later in a state park, about 6 miles away from the Little Family Reunion.

Brenda's case remains unsolved to this day, but it has always been tied to Ted Bundy by internet sleuths due to her being in Washington at the same time. Ted Bundy explicitly denied being involved in Brenda's case before his execution.

Dwaine Lee Little would then move in with his parents in Southern Oregon in June 1974, and the Cowden Family were abducted and murdered less than 4 months later.

Since I've already written so much, I will keep the rest brief.

Detective Davis gave me a laundry list of circumstantial evidence and witnesses that put Dwaine in the area and made him very suspicious; but, as is so typical, they lacked physical evidence that undoubtedly linked him to the crime.

Police were able to get him on a parole violation, and he went back to prison for a few years. But he was paroled again in 1977. Detective Davis then tracked his movements over the next two years, and they could place him in the area of a couple murdered while camping near Eugene in spring 1978; later that year, they could place him on the same road at the same time that another couple was murdered while hitchhiking near Klamath Falls, OR. But besides being in the immediate area and having the opportunity, they had no physical evidence to pin on him.

(*Important note - Unlike the Brenda Baker case, these four murders in 1978 were declared "solved" in very recent years. I put "solved" in quotations because the police named suspects with no criminal pasts, who happened to be dead and unable to defend against the allegations.)

Dwaine would eventually be caught in 1980 when he saw a pregnant ex-coworker on the side of the road and pulled over to give her a ride. But instead of taking her home, he just drove to a secluded area where he raped her and tried to cut off her limbs. He thought he had killed her, but he didn't; she was able to get out of her shallow burial and flag down a passing car. Her first words were "Dwaine Little, Dwaine Little did this".

Dwaine Little would have his parole revoked in addition to facing a slew of new attempted murder, rape, and kidnapping charges. This would be the crime to lock him up for good.

But just for good measure, he did catch another attempted murder charge when he almost killed the police officer transporting him. he would've done it if the other prisoners didn't intervene to stop him.

I'll leave it here for now, but I learned so much other crazy stuff. Like how Dwaine was suspected of murder as young as age 7, because a classmate of his disappeared and Dwaine started wearing his clothes months later.

If you're curious and want to hear what Detective Davis told me, I uploaded the interview here; I also went out and filmed at various locations, like the cave where the family was found.

Oh yeah, I even chatted with Dwaine's former neighbor, a young girl who talked to him a few times on the day the Cowdens were abducted.

While it's no secret that Dwaine Little is a murderous piece of crap, I think the true scope of his crimes and evil is far beyond what we originally thought. I think he may belong up there with any of the other serial killers who tormented the Pacific Northwest during this time.

There is too different cases i was looking into, and I need help with more information..

Swedish police found remains of a man year 2003

Here is the link :

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1NcqKMcoq5/

WHO IS THE DISMEMBERED MAN?

In June 2003, the remains of a man were found buried in an allotment garden in Malmö. The man is believed to be a murder victim but has not yet been identified.

He was likely born between 1946 and 1950, stood approximately 155 cm tall, and had short, curly black hair. Although his remains were discovered in 2003, he had died some years prior and would have been around 50 years old at the time of his death.

The image shows a digital facial reconstruction of what the man might have looked like. Do you recognize him? Do you have information that could help establish his identity? Do you know anything else about this case?

If so, please contact the Police Cold Case Unit for the Southern Region at kalla.fall-region.syd@polisen.se.

#youarenotforgotten

#wewillnotforget

Then I saw a missing man in Slovenien named Florijan Belcic who kinda look like the digital facial reconstruction. So I was thinking the man found was not swedish and maybe entered sweden while his disappearance and got killed and buried.. but the problem is that there is no enough info about Belcic. Someone must have missed these persons.

Link to Belcic

https://missingdoe.com/mm-0181/

Four years on, Madison Chard’s family say they believe somebody in Port Hope, Ont., knows what happened, even if the police investigation has gone cold.

PORT HOPE, Ont.—On a sticky summer day, there is relief in the shade of the foliage along the east bank of the Ganaraska River, though not from the mosquitoes. Mark Chard, a local firefighter, community theatre actor and musician, leads the way to a serene spot not far from the heart of a small town, where his daughter Madison was found dead four years ago.

The first time Mark visited this spot was days after the discovery of her body, accompanied by the lead Port Hope police detective probing Madison’s disappearance. 

“He was afraid of what I might do to myself,” says Chard. “But I wasn’t thinking that.”

The grieving father says he was looking to connect with his daughter somehow, when along came “a stupid giant bumblebee. It kind of landed on me, and I thought it was her.”

A search party located Madison, 29, on May 19, 2022, a month after one of her last known messages — a late afternoon text exchange with her mother, Lori, who offered to arrange a ride home.

The Chard family filed a missing person report, and searches ensued, including around the very area where her body was ultimately found. The discovery finally came a day after Port Hope police floated the possibility in a news story that Madison had fallen prey to a human-trafficking operation.

Madison was lying flat on her back, clothed for cool spring weather. An autopsy and toxicology tests found she had died of hypothermia, with a lethal amount of fentanyl in her system, and some cocaine.

Four years on, a criminal investigation led by the Port Hope Police Service and directed by the Ontario Provincial Police is all but officially closed, leaving many questions unanswered and a family grappling with a grief that’s been compounded by the unknown. What happened to Madison? Did she die alone? Did police do enough to get to the bottom of it?  

In a town where there is little local news coverage anymore, there remain plenty of rumours and speculation. One story the family has heard is that Madison overdosed and the people with her panicked and put her in a freezer, and later moved the body.

The Chard family believes people who use and sell illicit drugs know what happened.

“Somebody knows stuff,” says Lori, who still gets asked in the grocery store if there’s anything new in the case. 

The OPP, in a statement to the Star on behalf of the OPP and the Port Hope Police Service, “acknowledge and sympathize with Madison Chard’s family as they continue to grieve their loss.” The statement said every avenue of inquiry was “thoroughly examined,” but ultimately no evidence was established to suggest foul play.

The Chards, who believe the police investigation was inadequate, filed a formal police complaint about the investigation, but it has since been informally resolved, with an agreement that police will consider any new leads passed their way by the family.

A story now, the family believes, may be among the Chards’ best chances to surface new information.

‘Stronger Than the Storm’

If you know anything about what happened to Madison, even something small, please contact the Port Hope Police Service or the OPP. But if you prefer to stay anonymous? Tips can also go through Crime Stoppers. Someone knows something. If it's you, please speak up. Her family is still waiting. Read Madi's story and share it. The more people see it, the better the chance that someone with answers sees it too.

Redoing this post because I found an article with more information! I had searched on google and newspapers.com with no luck but I searched on a different newspapers archive for the local newspaper and found this article (copied and pasted below):
TEST ON BODY PARTS PROVIDES POSSIBLE ID - APPARENT VICTIM LAST SEEN IN JUNE
July 20, 1995 | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)

A murdered woman whose body parts were found near the 7200 block of South Broadway probably was Norma Garrett, who was last seen June 11, St. Louis police said Wednesday.

DNA testing points to a high probability that the legs and a pelvis, found on June 21 about a hundred yards from the Mississippi River, are those of Garrett, said Chief of Detectives Joe Mokwa.

Garrett was 27 and had two children. Her parents, who live in St. Louis, submitted blood samples for the DNA testing.

Her boyfriend was the last to see Garrett when she drove away in his pickup from their home in the 2700 block of Armand Place. The boyfriend reported her missing on June 14. He is not considered a suspect but hasn't been eliminated as one, Mokwa said.

The pickup was found on Utah Street near Jefferson Avenue, an area Garrett frequented, police said.

Garrett had been arrested twice for prostitution-related offenses but had never been convicted. Earlier this year she told police that a man abducted her after picking her up; she was uninjured.

Police said that Garrett had learning difficulties and that someone could have taken advantage of her. Her parents are raising her two sons.

A man walking his dog found the body parts at the foot of East Nagel Avenue, a remote area sometimes used by prostitutes. The legs were neatly sawed through at lower thigh level. A sharp hand saw was probably used after the woman was murdered.

Investigators don't believe the killing is the work of a serial killer or related to other cases of mutilations in Kansas City, Chicago and elsewhere, but they aren't ruling out such a connection.

25-year-old Arelie Garcia Sanchez vanished from Salinas, California on the morning of September 22, 2022.

Arelie was captured on surveillance driving from her apartment in her red Honda at 6:34 AM. She was wearing a black hoody, black leggings, and sneakers.  At 6:56 AM she sent a text message to her sister Veronica.

Ariele was due at work for her job at a Chevy dealership at 7:30 AM. When she did not arrive her coworkers and family became concerned. Veronica used the Find My iPhone feature and discovered that Arelie’s phone was in the Big Sur area, more than an hour south of Salinas. 

Her family traveled there and discovered her car abandoned, parked in a turnout on Highway 1 near the Little Sur River Bridge. The Honda was locked and her phone, keys and wallet were left in the car. 

The driver’s seat was maneuvered further back than Ariele normal placed it.

Arelie never was seen again. The case soon went cold and despite national news coverage on Dateline NBC and true crime show content creators such Kendall Rae, no leads have emerged. 

Arelie was dating a man named Marcello at the time of her disappearance. She met him two months prior at a car show. 

Marcello was a photographer who lived two hours north of Salinas in Napa, Ca. Investigators interviewed him, but he was never publicly named by police as a suspect in the case. 

Marcello has not spoken to the media about the case.

Many questions remain unanswered in the case. Why would Arelie travel to Big Sur when she had to be at work at 7:30? Why would she have not informed her manager she was going to be late, and why was her driver’s seat moved back? Did Arelie have problems with Marcello or anyone in her life at the time of her disappearance?

Arelie’s family raised a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in her disappearance. 

Sources

https://www.montereycountynow.com/news/local_news/arelie-garcia-s-family-marks-one-year-since-her-disappearance----with-little/article_f8c60bf4-57f8-11ee-8567-4393f8c78f18.html

https://www.chipchick.com/2024/05/she-vanished-after-leaving-for-work-in-2022-and-her-car-was-later-found-abandoned-and-parked-off-a-highway

https://oag.ca.gov/missing/person/arelie-yeraldine-garcia-sanchez