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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 jewe...

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 i...

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...

Case #15: A Robbery Goes Wrong in Canada

Introduction:  This is something I kind of want to look at every now and then, just for a good bit of fun.  The Crime:  A group of office workers in Windsor, Ontario were outside on a break, enjoying a mix of ice cream and nice weather. They noticed something unusual.  A car pulled up into the driveway of a nearby bank. Inside the car were three men. Two of the three men put ski masks on, grabbed hand guns and ran into the bank. The third man, the driver, shifted the car into reverse and slowly backed the car near the bank's main door. From there, he just waited, keeping the car running.  This whole time, the office workers were just watching, silent and completely stunned. It wasn't too much longer before the other two criminals ran out of the bank with bags of money. As the two men neared the car, one of them stumbled and shot himself in the left foot.  The other criminal shouted for the driver to "hit it" as he ran behind the car in order to get in. The ...

Case #14: The Murder of Effie Phipps

English immigrant Luke Phipps and his wife Effie drifted around the East coast of the United States, often arguing and making babies (three while they were moving around). The two made their way to the Great Lakes port of Detroit. This is where the two decided to settle down for a little while. Luke found a job working at a billiard hall. This was also where things started to go wrong. Luke and Effie rented a flat and had a fourth child. Luke rented a room to his co-worker at the billiard hall, Harry Livingstone.  Around this time, Harry and Effie ended up developing feelings for each other. Luke began to notice just how much time Harry and Effie were spending together. This drove Luke to jealousy. On Christmas morning of 1882, Luke attacked Effie. He was eventually arrested and spent January of 1883 behind bars. When Luke was released, he found that Effie, Harry, and the children had all moved. Effie had taken her kids to a place called the Home for the Friendless. Effie and Harry...