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Case #21: The Murders of Sharon Williams and Walter Scott

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Arriving on the Scene: The date is October 19th, 1983.  In the town of St. Charles, Missouri, a call is placed, alerting investigators that a vehicle had been run off the road. Some of the interesting notes were a small fire on the driver's side, and the fact that the engine was still running.  Deputy Ed Copeland made his way down into the ravine the car had ended up in. He found an open door, and was able to climb into the car. He noted hearing gasping and gurgling. He saw a woman laying on her back stuffed underneath the dash. The next thing he noticed was a break in the windshield. He said that he noticed she was in some sort of trouble, and he tried to open her airway so that she could breathe. The next thing he noticed was an injury to the back of her head. He noticed this woman had wig on, and described the back of the woman's head as "mushy." Copeland also said that trying to get this woman out of the car and pass her on to the paramedics was something he had n

Case #20: The Crimes of Reverend AB Schirmer

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Part of a news broadcast showing Reverend AB Schirmer's wives On October 29th, 2008, investigators were called to a crime scene at Reeders Methodist Church in Reeders, Pennsylvania. The victim is Joesph Musante, a parishioner at the church. A window leading into the church's office had been broken. There was also a gun laying at Joseph's feet.  Investigators immediately determined to look into this case as a homicide, at least until they could prove otherwise. The evidence would show that Joe Musante died of a gunshot wound to the head.  It should also be noted that nothing appeared to be out of place. Initially it might actually appear as though Joe's death was a suicide.  So, the question becomes: why did Joe Musante go into the church in the first place. Right now, the evidence seems like it could go either way. There's nothing that seems to definitively point to murder, nor is there anything that definitively points to suicide.   The first step investigators rea

Case #19: The Murder of Timothy O'Bryan

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Starting Note:  Before I move into the case, I just wanted to say I'm sorry that I was pretty radio silent for the month of September. Ok, here we go.  Halloween Night: Timothy O'Bryan For this case, we are going back to 1974. It was Halloween Night in Deer Park, TX. Ronald Clark O'Bryan was watching over his two kids, eight-year-old Timothy and five year-old Elizabeth. He was with them while they were trick or treating. They were also joined by O'Bryan's neighbor Jim Bates and his son.  Before long, they had come upon a house with no lights on. The kids went up to the house and knocked on the door anyways, but nobody answered. The kids ran on to the next house, and Bates followed. Ronald was temporarily left alone. Ronald caught back up with them a short while later, with some pixy stix. Ronald handed some out to each of the three kids trick or treating as well as another boy Ronald recognized from church, and some for Jim Bates' other child.  As the night unwo

Case #18: The Murder of Sheila Elrod

The date was February 12th, 1980. The place was San Angelo, Texas. Officer Robert Lloyd and his partner had been on patrol when they received a call about a shooting at a place called Musick Jewelry Store.  Lloyd said he didn't know what to expect. When he and his partner walked inside, they found a female laying on the floor, face down in the middle of the showroom.  The victim was 20-year-old Sheila Elrod. She was the store clerk.  Sheila's killers had gone there with the intention of robbing the jewelry store. They ended up walking away with roughly $100,000 in jewelry.  One of the people involved in the investigation was sergeant Fred Dietz. Dietz used to work security at the jewelry store and he knew Sheila.  Dietz was also one of the first people to get work, with the intention of catching Sheila's killer. One of the things her killers hadn't intended on was leaving behind a clue, which they did.  It was determined that Sheila's killers broke the jewelry cases

Case #17: The Murder of Mona Lisa Abney

 On January 28th, 1978, crime scene Technician Scott Boatright was called to a homicide at a Holiday Inn in Tysons Corner, Virginia.  The victim was 25-year-old Mona Lisa Abney. Her body was discovered when the maid entered the hotel room in order to clean it. Mona's hotel room had been ransacked, and her cash, credit cards, and jewelry were all missing.  However, something Scott Boatright would notice was that the ransacking had been staged. Boatright had also noted that the killer may have wanted it to look like there was a bigger struggle than what had actually occurred.  The medical examiner would go on to determine that Mona Lisa Abney had been raped and strangled. This does seem to match up with how she was found. She was found laying on her back, almost named from her waist down.  The investigators (mainly a man named Ron Yeager) actually began working their way through the hotel. One of the people they talked to was a maid who claimed to have let a man into Mona's room.

Case #16: The Death of Richard Alfredo - Part 2

Refresher: As I jump back into this case, I should probably do a little bit of refreshing. 61-year-old Richard Alfredo apparently died due to heart problems. Rumors began to surface that his death wasn't so natural after all. The police investigated. They ultimately exhumed Richard's body and traces of LSD and prescription medicine. Richard's girlfriend, Christina Martin, was arrested, charged, and found guilty for Richard's murder. When her case came up for a routine appeal, her lawyer seemed to find something in her file.  Christina's Lawyer:  So, jumping back into the case, let's talk a little bit about Christina's lawyer. He was a public defender named Kevin Mahoney. Mahoney said himself that he while was waiting to pick up Christina's case file, he began talking to a man standing next to him. This man had turned out to be an assistant D.A. Mahoney said that this man told him to look closely at Christina Martin's file. Mahoney said he found this

Case #16: The Death of Richard Alfredo - Part 1

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The victim, Richard Alfredo Introduction:  When 61-year-old Richard Alfredo died in his home, it was assumed that he had died of natural causes. After all, he had a history of heart problems. But, a new possibility seemed to have been brought to light after his death when rumors began to around, suggesting that Richard had actually been murdered.  Richard Alfredo's Death:  Richard had died in January of 1990. On the night he had died, his girlfriend called the police to tell them Richard was unresponsive. As I already stated, when authorities arrived on the scene, Richard's girlfriend had informed them  that he had a history of heart trouble. One of the technicians, Allen Manley had noted a scar from a past heart surgery. Authorities had attempted CPR, but it did not work. Richard was pronounced dead an hour later at a nearby hospital.  Something I found interesting was that the medical examiner decided not to perform an autopsy because of Richard's history with heart probl