It's that time of the year when we all gather with the family (even from a distance of 6 feet, with 10 or fewer of us present, or via Zoom) and celebrate togetherness. And, boy, has 2020 been a rough year.
But imagine every year being that way. Every. Single. Year. For almost 30 years. That's what Kimberly McFarland's loved ones have been dealing with since the night someone decided to stab her to death while she was working overnight at a gas station in Redford, Michigan, on September 15, 1991. I'm working on trying to connect with those who knew Kim as well as law enforcement officials involved in her case. From what I can gather, Kim knew - and trusted - her assailant enough to let him into her LOCKED cash register station. Her assailant left her bleeding out from multiple stab wounds in the employee bathroom. Kim was known to be a gentle soul who loved country music and especially idolized Dolly Parton. She even wanted to become a music teacher so that she could share her passion for music with kids. Look for more information as I keep digging into Kim's life and death. I'm not going to stop. Kim hasn't been forgotten. Her voice didn't die with her. If you knew Kim and want to contribute to my piece on her, please contact me. And please share this so that others can help get the word out that we aren't letting her case go. I'd also love to hear from any LEOs who might be willing to contribute non-sensitive information relevant to Kim's case. SHARE. SHARE. SHARE. 'Tis the season for sharing, after all. Let's share Kim's story, her voice, her legacy... And let's maybe work on finally bringing her killer to justice. He's still out there. Stay tuned for more as I put these puzzle pieces together.
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April 22, 1981. Teenage sisters Tammy and Cathy Baxter were playing outside of their father John's home in Lawrence County, Ohio. They found a burned-down home that had been that way for an estimated 6-8 years. Near that home was a cistern closed up by a block and some wooden beams. The girls' curiosity got the better of them, and they peered into the dark depths of the cistern. What they saw made them run home and tell their father what they found. And what they found was a body. To understand this case, you have to know a little bit about the layout of the land. Rural Lawrence County is joined with Kentucky and West Virginia. If someone wished to evade the law, they could easily flee and vanish into another jurisdiction. And getting rid of a body? That'd be pretty easy, too. When Lawrence County law enforcement and the local fire department drained the cistern, they were able to extract the body, as well as several key pieces of evidence that had not deteriorated. They noted that there was still some muscle tissue clinging to the bones and pieces of clothing that were visible. There was also a concrete block attached to the body, which corresponds with the materials used to cover the opening of the cistern. All in all, this was evidently no mere accident. Her neck was broken. So, what was initially found? The victim was wearing three layers of clothing on her upper body. She had on gray pants and two layers of socks on her feet. Her hands also had socks on them that were held in place by rubber bands. (Motorcyclists commonly use rubber bands to keep the wind from blowing up their sleeves as they ride.) There has never been mention of any shoes or underwear found. Further evidence found at the scene suggests that the crime might've happened in Huntington. At the time, law enforcement pursued a lead in Huntington, but the suspect was only questioned, not detained or charged. They also looked into a local motorcycle gang, but they couldn't identify the woman or her killer. What was found with Belle in the well? A three-year-old bus ticket, a receipt for it, and a key to a Greyhound station locker in Huntington. Police matched the key to a locker there, which contained a bag. Inside of the bag were family pictures, some more clothing, and a memorial key from a revival held by popular televangelist Jerry Falwell. Employees at the bus station remembered seeing the woman, but none knew her name. Belle and her bag full of items were interred in an unmarked grave on private property set along Homeless Road, Lawrence County. A sad, lonely way to go. So, the case went dead cold. For thirty years, the files went untouched. Then, with the advent of new DNA technology and the NamUs database, Lawrence County reopened the case and inserted Belle's info into NamUs. Within two years, the case grew warmer and warmer. Finally, on June 15, 2011, Belle and her bag were disinterred and re-examined by the Boyd County Coroner's office. The exam led to a 3D facial reconstruction being crafted from clay, which was publicly revealed in 2012. The number of leads skyrocketed and seemed to point to the tri-state area as being of particular interest. In 2013, an updated model of Belle's face was released, and her genealogical profile indicated that she had strong roots in the tri-state area. The DNA Doe Project found that Belle had strong familial ties to Cabell County, West Virginia. 2018 saw the release of a new 3D facial reconstruction (as pictured above this article). Lawrence County detectives hope that this new model will lead to a positive identification of the Belle in the Well, especially since DNA technology has solved cases (like that of "Buckskin Doe" Marcia Lenore King) like Belle's. Someone out there knows who the Belle in the Well is and why she was dumped in a cistern. Let's take a closer look at who she might have been: Age: 30-60 years old Race: White Sex: Female Height: 5'2" to 5'4" Weight: 130 to 150 lbs Hair & eye colors: unknown (hair was likely brown) Distinguishing features: high cheekbones and signs of arthritis in her lumbar and thoracic spine. Dentals: overbite with upper teeth likely protruding over her bottom lip. Wear on teeth 22, 24, and 25. Perimortem (at or near her time of death) trauma to the premaxilla (a tiny cranial bone located at the upper jaw) which caused avulsions (tearing) of teeth 8 and 9. Personal items: Greyhound bus ticket and receipt, a Jerry Falwell combative coin. Investigating Agencies: (Please contact them if you have any information regarding this case!)
Agency Name: Lawrence County Coroner's Office Agency Contact Person: Kurt Hoffman Agency Phone Number: 740-533-0202 Agency Case Number: HCCO-OC-45-81 NCIC Case Number: Unknown NamUs Case Number: 6259 I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Jen! This isn't a crime-related topic! What are you doing posting this?" Well, my lovely readers, I'm going to come right out and make the statement that I believe the sinking of the RMS Titanic was criminal in nature. And I'm going to explain why. This week, I served as a guest on the Conspiracy Therapy podcast's episode dedicated to the Titanic conspiracies. (And, yes, I am going to be plugging the hell out of this fantastic [but NSFW] episode!) Ryan, Larry, Josh, April, and I discussed the sinking and what could've caused it. Was it more than a simple twist of fate or even human negligence? Did someone (or something) have it out for the doomed ocean liner? Was it even the Titanic that sank? I'm going to go ahead and assume that most of you know what happened on the night of April 14-15, 1912. For those who don't, a brief summary courtesy of Wikipedia: RMS Titanic sank in the early morning of 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The largest passenger liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 23:40 (ship's time)[a] on Sunday, 14 April 1912. Her sinking two hours and forty minutes later at 02:20 (ship's time; 05:18 GMT) on Monday, 15 April, resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people, which made it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. So, how could a supposedly "unsinkable" ship founder on her maiden voyage? Why plow through a North Atlantic ice field full-steam ahead on a moonless night (aside from the desire to win the coveted Blue Riband)? The Titanic was supposed to be the "ship of dreams", so how did it become such a nightmare? We may never know the truth, but there are some clues that point us in the direction of a conspiracy. Let me explain. The Titanic was the middle child - the second of three liners - in a set of sisters. The Olympic was completed in May 1911 and had been constructed alongside her younger sister, the Titanic. The Britannic was completed in 1915 but sank in 1916 after hitting a mine in the Aegean Sea. Olympic was something of a trouble-maker. White Star Line prided itself on outdoing the Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauritania with its three new sister ships, but in September 1911, Olympic ran into the cruiser HMS Hawke. The Hawke's powerful bow rammed Olympic on the starboard side, close to her stern. This punctured Olympic's hull above and below her waterline, leading to the flooding of two watertight compartments. The propeller shaft was also damaged in the collision. Olympic limped back to port for repairs, but no lives were lost in the accident. Repairs would be expensive, extending into what in today's money would be millions of dollars. Guess who was the captain of the Olympic when she collided with the Hawke? Why, it was none other than Edward Smith, the captain who went down with the Titanic (and who was set to retire after its maiden voyage). Guess what was also known to be a construction flaw in both the Olympic and Titanic? The hull and rivets. At the high speed the Titanic was going, the hull and rivets failed due to their high sulfur content and the freezing water temperatures. In other words, all three factors explain why the impact with the iceberg caused too many watertight compartments to flood. The ship wasn't built to designer Thomas Andrews' (who perished in the sinking) standards, and he, at least according to Tom McCluskie, knew the rivets were subpar. Also, thanks to McCluskie, we know that Harland & Wolfe's records indicate that the ship's builders knew after the fact that Titanic had broken apart while sinking but didn't go out of their way to make this public knowledge. (In fact, it was only through the accounts of survivors like 17-year-old Jack Thayer that anyone in 1912 had reason to believe the ship split in two.) So, what am I getting at here? I'm getting at the idea that the Titanic could have been deliberately sank, that it might have actually been swapped with the Olympic, and that White Star might've done so as part of an insurance scam. But what proof is there that the Titanic was actually the Olympic? Well, here are a few items to consider:
The last serious indicator that the sinking of the Titanic might have been planned is that, oh, how convenient!, the Federal Reserve was able to be created in 1913. That's right. Centralized banking wasn't a thing in America until after the Titanic sank. It was, however, something that one of her top financiers, J. Piermont Morgan, advocated for. Perhaps ol' JP got inspired after reading Morgan Robertson's 1889 almost-verbatim telling of the sinking of a ship called the Titan. Robertson was the son of a ship's captain who sailed the Great Lakes. He also rather conveniently died due paraldehyde poisoning in 1915. JP had booked himself First Class on the Titanic's maiden voyage and even had a special bathtub installed in his room. However, JP apparently took ill right before the voyage and was caught playing hookie in France as the ship he financed sank. Calling in "sick" to work has never looked so scumbag-y. Who also played hookie? Ismay's wife was one; she was spotted in Wales, looking rather healthy that April. Milton Hershey (a close friend of JP Morgan's and the founder of the Hershey food empire) also called off the trip at the last minute. Oh yeah, did I mention that three powerful opponents to the creation of a centralized banking system were on board? John Jacob Astor, Isidor Straus, and Benjamin Guggenheim were all traveling First Class, and all three (as well as Strau's devoted wife and Guggenheim's manservant) went down with the ship. The Rothschild and Rockefeller families are other key players in this conspiracy theory. They were essentially viewed as banking agents for the Jesuits, who were keen on bringing down the Roman Catholic Church, its pope, and its wealthy status. (Oh, and Captain Smith? Jesuit.) The Jesuits were desperate to create a centralized banking system in America. It was a way to expand their wealth by getting America needlessly involved in major wars. (Just think about how rapidly World War I approached after the Titanic sank.) Let's also note that it was the Irish Jesuit priest, Father Francis Browne, who captured the last photographic images of the Titanic before she left Queenstown, Ireland (her final port-of-call). One image in particular shows Captain Smith peering over the bridge. Could these two men have met for a private discourse before the ship set sail? Certainly. Critics and conspiracy theorists cite the following Jesuit oath as an explanation as to why Smith might've been so easy for the Order to manipulate: I should regard myself as a dead body, without will or intelligence, as a little crucifix which is turned about unresistingly at the will of him who holds it as a staff in the hands of an old man, who uses it as he requires it, and as it suits him best. — R. W. Thompson, The Footprints of the Jesuits, Hunt and Eaton, p. 54. In other words, if Smith was given the order to sink the ship, he might've viewed himself as powerless and already a member of the deceased. But could he be so heartless, so lacking in compassion for the 1,500 other lives that were taken that night? Could anyone be that ruthless, that driven by greed? Honestly, I can't say for certain that the Titanic was sank as part of a cruel scheme enacted by power-hungry people. But damn, there is quite some compelling evidence to suggest so. The 700 who survived, 1500 who died, and all of their loved ones deserved better. They deserved answers for this unfathomable tragedy, and after two international inquests, they never really got them. All I can say is: Follow the money... References
Titanic's Last Secrets: The Further Adventures of Shadow Divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler by Brad Matsen The Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson Imagine this: You're out walking your dog on a day that's like any other. The 92-acre lot where subdivision work near 118th Street was halted a year earlier, amid the 2008 recession, lies vacant. This is Albuquerque's West Mesa in 2009 - a desolate plateau situated west of the Rio Grande. Suddenly, your dog spots something out of the ordinary. You get closer to inspect. Bones. Human remains. You realize that you're standing atop a burial site, so you phone the police. This is what sparked the hunt for the serial killer(s) who became known as the West Mesa Bone Collector in 2009. After a woman walking her dog discovered human bones, crime scene technicians were able to assess that there were the remains of 11 women buried at the site between 2001 and 2005. In 2006, residential development began on the land, but by 2008, development was stunted as the housing bubble burst, leaving the economy in ruins. It was around this time that neighbours began to complain about the flooding that happened on the site, which ended up being the result of the burial of the natural arroyo. A retaining wall was constructed to help channel rainwater into a detention pond, and the construction of this wall is what seemingly dredged up the long-buried bones. But who were these women, and who killed them? 11 victims were identified, all of whom were women, predominantly Hispanic, and who ranged between the ages of 15 and 32. After detectives dug into their lives, it was discovered that many of them had used drugs and/or were known to be sex workers. The Victims
As of right now, no suspect has ever been officially identified. Instead, there are a series of possibilities and a string of dead-end leads. So, who is the infamous West Mesa Bone Collector? The Potential Suspects
In January 2018, Albuquerque Police Department talked about naming suspects, including Lorenzo Montoya and Joseph Blea. Chief Mike Geier is pursuing the case. And, in the summer of 2018, a construction crew working near 118th Street and Cenote Road SW located human remains that could be additional murder victims of the West Mesa Bone Collector. However, this will take months to determine as specialized DNA testing is required to identify the remains.
Perhaps, once the DNA testing is complete, we will have a new clue or two as to who killed all of these women. Or, perhaps, this case will always remain unsolved. Whatever happens, it is important to remember that the victims weren't just addicts and hookers; they were mothers, daughters, sisters, friends. They did not deserve the fates they received at the hands of a brutal murderer. 15 year old Barbara Grimes and her 13 year old sister Patricia were huge Elvis fans, as many young girls were back in 1956. On the night of December 28th, 1956, the girls went to the theater near their McKinley Park, Chicago-area home to see Elvis' latest flick, Love Me Tender. The girls never returned home. Some folks assumed the girls had high-tailed it to Nashville in pursuit of Elvis. Rumors started to spread about the girls' activities, too. Sightings were reported left and right. Friends saw the girls at the theater, and people reported seeing them on the bus home, only to get off halfway through their ride. Two boys saw them a few minutes later, walking together and laughing just two blocks from home. A security guard reported seeing the girls on the morning of the 29th when they stopped to ask him for directions. A classmate spotted them walking with two unknown girls later that evening. Additionally, two employees at the Claremont Hotel said the girls checked into a room on the 30th. But those rumors all came to a halt three weeks later when a construction worker found their naked and frozen bodies dumped on the side of the road. Barbara had superficial stab wounds on her chest, but it wasn't immediately obvious what had killed them. The autopsy reported that the girls had likely died five hours after leaving home to see the movie on December 28th. After the girls went missing, a series of bizarre phone calls were made. On January 14 (a week before the bodies were discovered), Patricia's classmate Sandra's mother received a call at home around midnight. When she answered, the caller hung up. Another call came in, and a quiet voice asked for Sandra but soon hung up. Sandra's mother swore that the voice belonged to Patricia. The next day, local police received a call from an anonymous person claiming that, in a dream, he saw that the girls were dead, their bodies disposed in Santa Fe Park. Cops brushed him off, but seven days later, the bodies were discovered as described about a mile from the park. When the girls were found by Leonard Prescott, he initially thought he had found discarded mannequins since the bodies were so rigid yet in good condition. There had been a snowstorm recently, followed by a rapid thaw that left the bodies exposed at the embankment of Devil's Creek. It was later noted that the stab wounds on Barbara's chest were likely from an ice pick and that she had blunt force trauma to the head and face. Patricia's face was also bruised. Toxicology reports came out negative for alcohol and drugs. The bodies were clean and lacked obvious fatal injuries. There was, however, evidence that Barbara had engaged in sexual activity around the time of her disappearance, and it seemed likely that Patricia had also been sexually assaulted. One coroner who worked the case felt that the bodies must've been dumped a while back and covered by snowfall, even though there wasn't enough snow to cover the bodies until January 7th. While the girls were still missing, their beloved Elvis received word of their disappearance and, on January 19th, issued a public plea for the girls to return home. In lieu of this, Ann Landers (a popular Chicago Sun-Times advice columnist) got a letter from a young girl saying she saw the sisters get forced into a car by a young man the night they disappeared. She even gave a partial license plate number. However, nothing ever came of this lead. Searching for a suspect was going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The suspect list in the Grimes murders is small and murky. At the top of this short list sits Edward Lee 'Bennie' Bedwell, a 21 year old drifter with limited literacy hailing from Tennessee. He was tall and bore a mild resemblance to Elvis. Bedwell held a job at a skeevy Chicago restaurant in December of '56. The owners reported seeing him and another man with two girls who fit the descriptions of Patricia and Barbara early on December 30th. Bedwell was arrested and questioned for three days. He admitted in a signed confession that he and another man (William Cole Willingham) were with the girls between December 30th and January 7th. According to this statement, the girls had been willing to go with them until they refused sex, which was when the men beat and threw them into a ditch.
Loretta Grimes (mother of the girls) called this an outright "lie" and said that her girls wouldn't engage in the behaviors (like drinking alcohol) claimed by Bedwell. Tox reports backed up Loretta's statement since it did not indicate any signs of alcohol or hot dogs, which Bedwell said the girls had consumed. Willingham eventually confessed to being with the girls until December 30th but not to killing them. Bedwell later recanted his statement. Max Fleig was another suspect on the radar in 1957. Fleig was 17 and confessed to the crime in an unofficial polygraph but was not able to be charged due to Illinois laws preventing juveniles from taking polygraphs. The police had coaxed Fleig into taking the polygraph, and there was never any evidence to connect him with the murders. However, Fleig was later imprisoned for killing a woman in an unrelated event. Finally, we have Walter Kranz, the 53 year old "psychic" caller. Handwriting experts thought he might have written a ransom note delivered to Loretta, but Kranz continually denied his involvement and was released due to a lack of evidence. Sadly, Loretta died at 83 in 1989 never knowing the identity of who killed her daughters. There was, strangely enough, a man who called Loretta a year after the girls were found, bragging about how he had killed 15 year old Bonnie Leigh Scott from Addison, Illinois. Her body had been found nude and disposed of over a guard rail near Palos Hills. According to Loretta, this was the same taunting voice that had called her shortly after her daughters' bodies were found to brag about how he had undressed their corpses. Loretta said she would "never forget that voice" and likely never did. It was also recently suggested that another girl, 14 at the time, had been abducted alongside the Grimes sisters but managed to escape. She never spoke out publicly in fear of her life. Regardless of whether or not this is true, someone out there knows who killed Barbara and Patricia Grimes. Someone has knowledge that could help identify a killer and allow the Grimes girls' living siblings some peace of mind. It has been 28 years to the day since Paige Marie Renkoski disappeared. Paige was a modelesque blonde from Okemos, Michigan. She stood at about 5'6" to 5'7" and weighed a svelte 125 pounds. The vibrant 30-year-old had no real reason to vanish, but she did. Hers is now one of Michigan's oldest cold cases. May 24, 1990 was a busy day for Paige Renkoski. At 11:30 am, she dropped her mother Ardis off at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. After that, she paid a visit to a friend in Canton Township, which is about a 20-minute drive northwest of the airport. After 3:30 that afternoon, Paige was gone, her '86 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais left idling on the shoulder of westbound I-96 about half a mile from the Fowlerville exit. Paige's shoes and purse were found inside the car, along with a beer she bought at a store in Canton just west of I-275. The store clerk there recalled seeing Paige dressed in "distinctive multi-colored, loose-fitting, flower-patterned pants and a distinctive necklace." Passing motorists saw Paige standing on the shoulder of westbound I-96 between 3 and 3:30 pm talking to several males posed next to a maroon minivan. Police did not respond to the report of the abandoned car until 6 pm. Paige's car was not initially processed as a crime scene because it was simply marked as an abandoned car. However, when investigators finally processed the vehicle for prints, they found several as-yet unidentified palm and fingerprints. Despite multiple eyewitness accounts of the suspects and maroon minivan and the prints in the Oldsmobile, no trace of Paige has ever been found. Several searches were conducted over the years. In May of 2011, police searched a pond in Handy Township using ground-penetrating radar. At this site, back around the time of Paige's disappearance, a woman had found boots covered in cement. However, seemingly nothing turned up in the search. In November of 2011, the FBI, along with state and local police, dug around in Conway Township using cadaver dogs after discovering a case file from 1999 that mentioned this was where Paige would be found. 28 years later, nothing has come from the reports or searches for Paige Marie Renkoski. In February of 2018, around the time when Paige would've celebrated her 58th birthday, a double memorial was held for her and her mother Ardis, who passed away in December of 2017, never knowing her daughter's fate.
Police had ruled out the possibility of a homicide back when the case was fresh, but after 28 years, this missing person case is, unfortunately, more than likely a homicide. Nobody has yet faced charges for Paige's disappearance. Will they ever? In my current work-in-progress, I have my main character, Jake Turunen, moving into an old, run-down former orphanage. While the story behind that building is fictional, it has some groundings in reality. Allow me to introduce you to the Old City Orphanage in Marquette, Michigan. In the past, it was known as the Holy Family or Holy Cross Orphanage. When it opened in 1915, it played home to 60 Native American orphans and eight nuns. In its heyday, the building housed about 200 children, and it stopped housing orphans in 1967. The building was left abandoned in 1982, but since then, stories have swirled about not just various forms of mistreatment during its operational years, but ghosts are said to linger here. One tale has it that a girl who played outside for too long in a harsh blizzard froze to death, and the nuns put her body on display as a lesson to the other children. Some say that the nuns even set the kids out in the cold to die when they didn't want to deal with them. While some of these stories are probably false, children did die and have funerals within this building. Of course, you will have to ask the residents of the new apartments that the building has been renovated into if the place is actually haunted. Before renovations began, neighbours reported hearing and even seeing children playing in the abandoned structure, screaming and laughing throughout the empty rooms and halls. Now, here's a little sneak-peek at my (very much unedited) depiction of the orphanage in House of Urchins.
4 Mugwort Lane was everything the real estate agent had cracked it up to be – “a steaming shithole of mud and weeds pretending to be a house.” Jake had seen the pictures. He knew it was part of the package deal; Jake got to work as the town’s notary-slash-historian with a higher-than-expected annual salary but had to live in the eerie old orphanage that hadn’t experienced human contact in probably several decades. Much like the children it must have once housed, 4 Mugwort Lane was unloved and unwanted. And Jake knew exactly how that felt. Pulling into the winding dirt driveway (if it could be called a driveway), Jake put the Honda in park near the front door. The house was not merely a house; it was a large manor that was enveloped by a sweeping veranda and capped off by a widow’s walk, which seemed out-of-place being so far inland. But it must’ve been part of the architectural trend in its day. Back then, every Midwesterner with a chunk of change wanted to pretend they were a wealthy New Englander dwelling along a romantic seascape. Must’ve been part of the original design, Jake thought to himself as he gazed up at the lonesome peak. And the original intended use was certainly not as an orphanage. As his eyes traveled across the front façade, a sudden chill swept over Jake’s body. Goosebumps laced the exposed skin of his brown arms and the back of his neck. Jake instinctively rubbed his hands along his arms to warm himself, but the chill, he realized, came from within. Something was not right with the house. Technically, aesthetically, there were many things obviously wrong with the white, sprawling mansion at 4 Mugwort Lane, but even the skeptic inside Jake could not easily fight off the turning of his gut. Sure, the sagging white-painted steps leading up to the wide veranda were sagging and weather-worn. Yes, multiple windows on the second story were busted-out and boarded. The bright red graffiti sprayed on the front door did not really help matters, either: Welcum 2 HELL How creative, Jake mused, attempting to negate the sense of foreboding growing in his belly. As long as I don’t find actual cum spritzed around the house, I think I’ll be okay. But maybe I should invest in a black light… Northern California's gorgeous Yosemite National Park (which sprawls out over 747,956 acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains) hosts about 4.1 million visitors every year. However, there are some unaccounted-for visitors who have taken up permanent residence and others who have straight-up gone missing without a trace. Let's start with the fun stuff - the reports of paranormal phenomena within Yosemite's borders. One of the most important things you should know about Yosemite is that there is said to be a Native American curse on the land. The Ahwahneechee tribe lived on this land until they were wiped out by disease, although some chose to remain even after others migrated away. Once the sickness was gone, Chief Tenaya ended up bringing about 200 people back to Yosemite Valley. Of course, in the 1850's, the Ahwahneechee were coming into conflict with the settlers who wanted to oust them from the area for poaching their livestock. The settlers were determined to send the tribal members to a reservation in Fresno. Although Chief Tenaya and his people agreed to move to the reservation, they turned back and fled to their homeland in Yosemite. The Mariposa Brigade, charged with the relocation, re-entered Yosemite and killed Tenaya's youngest son as punishment for returning. Tenaya and his people agreed to return to the reservation, but Tenaya left them with a curse. While Tenaya did eventually return to the Valley, only to be struck in the head with a rock and killed in 1853. However, it seems like Tenaya's curse was never lifted. Since then, many freak accidents have occurred, and there is even a stretch of land in Tenaya Canyon known as the "Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite". In fact, this is where naturalist John Miur almost met his demise in 1873. The curse might be part of what makes Yosemite so mysterious and powerful. There are rumors of ghosts haunting the former Ahwahnee Hotel, which opened in 1927 near the Half Dome and inspired Stanley Kubrick's aesthetic take on the Overlook Hotel in his film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining. The hotel's designer, Mary Curry Tressider, had an apartment on the sixth floor and resided there until her death in 1970. It is said that her ghost haunts that floor, playing pranks, calling out to guests of the hotel, and even tucking them into bed! Another "ghost" seen around the Ahwahnee Hotel is that of President John F. Kennedy's rocking chair. That's right, a spectral rocking chair has been seen in the rooms and halls on the third floor where he stayed in 1962. Due to severe back pain, JFK had requested this rocking chair be placed in his room. The Sierra Sky Ranch is another haunted hot spot in Yosemite. It has been said that ghost children have been heard and seen playing in the halls, main living room, and media room. Lights turn on and off by themselves, and faucets and appliances run on their own. Doors can be heard slamming shut, visitors receive tugs on their clothing, and there is a distinct passing scent of ladies' perfume in the main house and library. Visitors to the bar and the bartenders sometimes receive spectral kisses on their cheeks. The most malevolent spirit is that of an angry man who is said to knock over furniture around the veranda. Grouse Lake is also subject to some weird events. In 1857, the man who would become the park's first ranger a decade later, Galen Clark, was hiking to Grouse Lake when he heard a loud wailing sound coming from the water. Stunned, Clark asked the tribal people in the area what kind of animal could emit such a noise. Their reply? It was the spirit of a tribal boy who had drowned in the lake three years prior. Apparently, this boy's spirit did not like receiving visitors. Additionally, the stunning Bridalveil Fall (which drops 617 feet down) is said to host an evil spirit named Pohono. Pohono would lure his victims to their deaths (via a terrifying tumble over the cliff's edge) by hypnotizing them with a rainbow or physically manifesting as an apparition that beckons to them. There are a number of deaths on record of those who have slipped or been blown over, as winds up at the top are highly unpredictable. There have been reports of campers hearing voicing echoing from the falls at nighttime. Now, for the disappearances. There have been so many disappearances in Yosemite over the years that it will be impossible for me to list them all in one blog entry. I will tackle some of the most well-known and mind-boggling cases in this article, but I highly encourage you to research the others. In fact, do yourself a favour and Google "David Paulides Missing 411" or see the link in the References list below. I guarantee your mind will be blown, as mine was when I first learned about this project. The basics are:
One of the factors is missing or distorted time or perception of weather. For example, 6-year-old Lillian Carney was picking blueberries with her family at noon in Maine when she just disappeared. Miraculously, she was found alive tow days later, only a few miles from where she was last seen. While being interviewed, she said the sun shone the whole time she was in the woods. That is especially odd considering the weather was partly cloudy and that she had spent two nights outdoors. Plus, what 6-year-old would just say that? Anyway, without further adieu, here are some of the most puzzling missing persons cases from Yosemite. In 1981, 14-year-old Stacy Ann Arras was camping with her father and six others at the Sunrise Sierra Camp. An elderly group member accompanied Stacy when she went to take pictures near the lake but had to stop and rest while Stacy continued. He was the last person to see Stacy. A massive search was conducted, but the only thing ever found was the lens cap to Stacy's camera. In 2005, a 51-year-old expert hiker named Michael Allen Ficery made his way up the Pacific Crest Trail and never returned. His backpack was retrieved near Tilltill Mountain, which was not part of Michael's intended hiking path, as this terrain is extremely dangerous for even the most advanced hiker. Another bizarre case is that of George Penca, a 30-year-old man who went missing in June 2011. He was hiking Upper Yosemite Falls with his church group when he fell behind and vanished. While the weather was extremely mild, many believe that George accidentally strayed from the path and fell down a steep embankment. However, absolutely no trace of George has ever been found. On August 14, 2000, Ruthanne Ruppert, 49, had been treated for an infection at the Yosemite Medical Clinic around noon and seemed to plan on doing a day hike from Yosemite Falls to the Foresta area. She was never seen again. The only remains found were in 2008, when her backpack turned up in a drainage areas of Fireplace Creek. Of course, bodies of the missing are sometimes found. For example, in August of 2017, the body of Portsmouth sailor Alexander Joseph Sevier, age 24, were discovered after Sevier went missing in early May. Despite a massive search, Sevier's body wasn't found for months, and when it was, it required DNA testing to confirm his identity. Yosemite has also played host to some gruesome murder mysteries. The most disturbing is that of the psychotic handyman at Cedar Lodge. In early February of 1999, Carole Sund, her teenage daughter Juli, and Juli's friend Silvina Pelosso never checked out of the lodge. Carole's vehicle was found parked deep within the mountains, with Carole and Silvina inside - very much deceased. Shortly thereafter, the FBI received a map, leading them to discover Juli's body. She had died by having her throat slashed. Another woman - Yosemite Institute teacher Joie Ruth Armstrong - went missing that July. Her headless body was discovered in a drainage ditch; her head was located nearby. Police eventually learned that the suspect was the lodge's own handyman, Cary Stayner, who harbored a vicious hatred for women. He had even planned on murdering his girlfriend and daughter on Valentine's Day but ended up not following through with it. Yosemite National Park will always remain shrouded in mystery. As beautiful as this area is, it is equally deadly. A misplaced step can send you falling to your death. But perhaps it is what lurks beneath the surface that makes Yosemite one of the most dangerous places on earth.
It seems like, more and more, law enforcement agencies throughout the US are abusing their power. Instead of serving and protecting citizens, they're serving and protecting themselves. This can't be said for all departments and all cops, but it seems to be the case with Fresno Law Enforcement. Ask John Lang. Oh wait, you can't. He's dead. And Fresno police are the top suspects in the case. On January 20, 2016, John Lang was found dead in his Fresno home, which was also on fire. Police on the scene originally reported that Lang, who was 51 at the time of his death, had been stabbed multiple times in his upper back and abdomen. A few days later, the sheriff's office and coroner came out with a statement that Lang had died as the result of "three superficial, self-inflicted stab wounds" to his chest and that his back had no wounds. Then, after stabbing himself, the sheriff's office asserted that Lang had set himself on fire. Their explanation? The responding lieutenant, Joe Gomez, had simply made a mistake and released incorrect information to the media. Sounds legit. Except, it doesn't. At all. Especially when you examine the events in the days leading up to Lang's demise. Lang had contacted a local ABC30 reported, Corin Hoggard, via Facebook five days prior to his death. What Lang had to say was chilling. As it turns out, Lang had been recording what he thought were undercover Fresno cops pulling up in vans outside of his house, monitoring him. In fact, Lang started publishing video surveillance footage on his YouTube account as early as March of 2015. On January 13, 2016, Lang spoke with Mac McCauley regarding why Fresno cops were stalking him. Mac McCauley · Granite Bay, California What occured in your life to bring you to the attention of the cops, both city and county, that you believe you are being stalked? Lang, it seems, was becoming increasingly worried that Fresno police would soon execute him. By January 16, it appears Lang knew his fate was sealed. By the way, Guarantee Carpet Care doesn't exist! It has a Yelp page that was created shortly after Lang's death. It even got its first - and only - five-star review just five days after Lang was killed. Before his death, Lang had begged gun-owning friends to stay with him at his home. That's how scared he was. Then, on January 17, Lang penned this message to the FBI and Department of Justice: Open Letter the the USDOJ and the FBI I am fairly certain that Fresno Law Enforcement is trying to set me up on some type a charge related to child pornography. I’ve been trying to figure out why they would send Child Molester George Adams Ramirez my way when I was renting the property next to me for Don Green. Also I was at a loss as to how Fresno LE was able to turn so many people against me so quickly. The only thing that makes sense coupled with George Ramirez situation is if Fresno LE told these folks I was a child porn suspect. Imagine a police officer dressed in his official uniform pulling up in a police cruiser. Imagine the same police officer or detective telling a group of coworkers of the accused or other folks that said person is a bad guy who is under investigation for the crimes of child pornography, and cops would like their help in putting a really bad guy away. This would be a no brainier for most reasonable people. There is no more heinous, hideous, and inhuman crime than that of a child porn person. This crime evokes more human emotion than any other. And it is to that effect that Fresno Law Enforcement uses to suit their purpose in my situation. It’s Fresno Law Enforcement’s “weapon of mass destruction”. This would also explain why the FBI shows little interest in my pleas for help. There has long been a believe in Law Enforcement circles that if someone is guilty of something, then helping that process along by fabricating evidence is completely acceptable. This rational can provide a loophole for truth and justice to be ignored when an innocent person is charged or suspected of crimes, as it is with my situation. Let this example serve as a warning to all my activist and blogger friends. We are by no means free. If and when the Government targets us, we are completely and utterly done, and there is really nothing we can do about it. Through my example the Government is trying to drive home the point that they want obidient, submisive, and loyal subjects. And they will settle for nothing less.. I’m also fairly certain I’ve figured out how Fresno Law Enforcement handled the actual access and internet distribution of the offensive material. Let’s just say that the FEDS should re-investigate all Child porn cases in Fresno where ATT Internet Services provided the Internet service. Especially cases where the accused had a conflict with the City Of Fresno or high ranking City of Fresno personnel. Other elements are simply handled by planting various elements of false evidence here and there once they enter a residence. That is why Fresno LE was so determined to get a search warrant for an official home entry in my case. As I’ve mentioned in the past Fresno LE had already illegally and secretly entered by home, copied my hard drives in order to get a good game plan for the eventual false arrest. There also appears to be a pattern here. Anyone who has ever talked publicly about, accused, or discussed Jerry Dyer’s suposed sex scandle with that 16 year old girl has found themselfs in some type of legal peril within a few short years.. And with this letter I have for certain signed my death warrant with Fresno LE. Kind Regards, John Lang Fresno Ca 93728 That final sentence chills me right to the bone. Normally, I would - as I think most of us rational-minded people would do - think, "Eh, this guy might just be a bit paranoid." But the evidence speaks for itself and goes as far back as 2009, when Lang was pulled over and ticketed. This prompted Lang to start researching Fresno LE's habit of scanning license plates in private retail parking lots. As Lang said, this was done in order to "optimize ticket revenue at a very minimal expense" to Fresno LE. License plate scanning is something we are all pretty familiar with these days. While scanners are meant to help police track down criminals on their "hot lists", only a small percentage of the plates they scan end up coming back to those with stolen or wanted vehicles. Most of the time, cops are scanning the plates of law-abiding citizens. The amount of information cops can accumulate from reading your plate multiple times is downright unnerving. They can essentially pinpoint where you live and work. Also, private companies are using these readers and sharing information with police with little in the way of regulation. Lang claimed to have suffered years of harassment after he started probing into Fresno LE's abuse of its scanner system, which hit a peak in 2013, and it continued from there. In 2014, Lang received a response to a Craigslist ad he had posted for his jet ski, and three people showed up. One, Lang said, seemed to be an undercover Fresno Sheriff employee, and another was Jody Murray from Fresno Bee. By this point, Lang knew he was being followed. Suspicious characters kept trailing him wherever he did his normal daily routine. He also received more and more suspicious phone calls. As you can read here, Lang thoroughly documented these instances and reported them to trusted sources. The official coroner's report, which you can read for yourself by going here, cited the cause of death as a mixture of fire and soot inhalation. The three stab wounds are secondary to that and were deemed nonfatal. How do stab wounds to the back (where it's really difficult to stab yourself and fruitless to even try, especially if you're attempting suicide) just disappear? How come Lang's face has been virtually obliterated from the Internet? (Believe me, guys, I'm not the only one who has extensively searched for photos of Lang.) Why wasn't this case put on nationwide media blast? The truth is, we will never get to know the entire truth because it is being kept from us. Perhaps George Orwell and Ron Paul were right: "Truth is treason in the empire of lies." Normally, I don't post about cases as they are happening, However, this one is so gruesome and horrifying that it has to be put out there. Even though it just happened this week, it is barely a blip on the news stations' radars. And, with the way this case is unfolding, I get the feeling that Brandy is not the killer's first - or maybe final - victim. Or that it is someone she knows. Either way, in my mind, it's too elaborate to not the work of a first-time murderer. So, here are the gory details. On Monday, 9 April, 2018, a woman named Patricia Smith was walking her dog in Canarise Park in Brooklyn, New York, when she spotted a plastic bag containing what was a woman's nude torso. Smith called the police, who soon discovered the woman's head and limbs also scattered throughout the park. On Wednesday, 11 April, a bloody saw was found in one of the park's trash bins. Police were unable to ID the woman but put out information on the local news. A grandmother watching the news saw the "chocolate" tattoo above the victim's left breast and quickly phoned her daughter, Nicole Odom. Nicole went to the 69th Precinct and made a positive ID. The victim was her daughter, 26-year-old Brandy Odom. Brandy had been working as a security guard and, as her mother said, was highly ambitious. She had hoped to work as a city school safety agent. The last time Nicole heard from her daughter was in March of this year. Brandy's cause of death has yet to be determined, but police believe that she was killed elsewhere and dismembered post mortem before being unceremoniously dumped in the park. A vigil was held for Brandy, at which Nicole spoke out, demanding justice for Brandy. Those with any information surrounding the murder of Brandy Odom are urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-8477. Believe me, I will be following this case as it unravels. In the meantime, I want to encourage everyone to share Brandy's story so that her killer can be stopped and her family and friends given some peace. UPDATEA few major events have unraveled in the wake of the discovery of Brandy's dismembered body. First, police now have a clearer time-frame for when Brandy Odom was missing. Brandy had failed to reply to a letter sent by the NYPD on April 1 asking if she was still interested in becoming a school safety agent. Police also believe that she was killed within 24 hours of the discovery of her body on April 9. Therefore, police are trying to account for her whereabouts from April 1-8 and are looking through video surveillance for clues. Also, another young woman, 22 year-old Olivia Elliott, reported being abducted about a block away from Canarsie Park. She was able to call her mother 10 hours after being abducted and reported that two men carrying guns had grabbed her. Police have not yet linked her case to Brandy's case, but the location of the alleged abduction has people on alert. References:
"Brooklyn woman found after she claimed she was abducted near park where dismembered body turned up" "Hunt continues for savage killer of woman found dismembered in Brooklyn park" "Brandy Odom Named as Woman Whose Limbs and Torso Were Found in Brooklyn Park" NYPD 69th Precinct Twitter Message "Brandy Odom's Mother Demands Justice For Slain Child At Vigil" "What happened to Brandy Odom?" "What Happened to Brandy Odom? Mystery Surrounds Nude Body Parts Found in N.Y.C. Park" |