Code Adam

Happy True Crime Thursday!

Last week's story was about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, for this week's story I'm talking about a case that at one point was thought to be tied to Dahmer, but was later dismissed and linked to another serial killer.

I don't know about you guys, but I grew up watching the show America's Most Wanted, and never knew until later on that the host John Walsh had experienced a terrible crime committed towards his family himself. Today I am talking about the kidnapping and murder of Adam Walsh. 

Adam John Walsh was born on November 14, 1974 to John and Reve Walsh. Unfortunately when Adam was just 6 years old a monster would end his short life. 

On July 27th, 1981 Adam and his mom Reve were shopping at the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida at a Sears store. Reve left Adam at a kiosk with several other boys who were taking turns playing Atari, she wanted to ask an employee about a lamp that was on sale. When she was done around 12:15 she returned to find that Adam and the other boys weren't there. When she went to a store manager she was told that a scuffle had broken out over whose turn it was at the kiosk, a security guard demanded that the boys leave. He first asked them if their parents were in the store and they said no, Adam being the timid kid that he was didn't say anything. That's when he made them leave through the doors that they had came in, which was a different entrance than the one Adam and his mom had come through. Most likely after the other boys dispersed Adam was left alone and at an exit he wasn't familiar with.  

Meanwhile, Reve was looking all over the store and had him paged over the store intercom. By pure coincidence she ran into her mother in law Jean and she joined in the search for Adam. After looking for more than 90 minutes, she called the Hollywood Police at 1:55.

The Walsh's launched a massive search for their son that continued for weeks. 

On August 10, 1981, two fishermen found a severed head floating in a canal off the Florida turnpike. The Walsh's not thinking it was their son went on National television the morning of August 11th saying they hoped Adam was still alive and were offering a $100,000 reward for his safe return. Sadly later that day it was confirmed that the head was in fact Adam's. His cause of death was ruled as asphyxiation, and that Adam had died several days before the discovery. The rest of his body was never found. 

It became widely known that both John and Reve personally believed that the Hollywood police department botched the treatment of not only Adam as a missing person, but also the investigation into his murder. John stated that the lack of coordinated planning by the police after his son was reported missing resulted in crucial hours being lost. "They were a tiny local police agency that had limited resources and never manned a search anywhere near this size. We did have a gut intuition that mistakes were being made. Everything seemed so chaotic and disorganized." Over the years, he also claimed that police lost critical evidence. 

Adam became the poster child for child abductions. His parents became activists in the aftermath of their son's murder. They started the Adam Walsh Outreach Center for Missing Children out of their garage just a few days after Adam's funeral. Later on the couple lobbied for the Missing Children's Act, which would create a system for data to be entered into the FBI's National Crime Information Center database. In 1984, John cofounded the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and just a few years later he became the host of America's Most Wanted. In 1994, large retail stores implemented "Code Adam," it alerts and requires all store employees to be on the lookout. In 2006, George W. Bush signed The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, this expanded the national sex- offenders registry and created a national sex-abuse registry.  

The suspects;

* The Walsh's had a family friend James "Jimmy" Campbell who was questioned by police. He was cleared after he passed 2 polygraphs and went through hypnosis. 

* Edward James, a man who was arrested for abducting a boy in Florida was investigated in connection to Adam's case. According to a report by Detective Mark Smith, James had confessed to a cellmate that he had abducted and murdered Adam. They learned that James had been gone from his apartment complex for 2 weeks, and that he had a seat cover installed by an upholstery shop on August 27, 1981. After they interviewed James they took the recording and  it was subjected to a computer voice stress analysis and showed no signs of deception. Based upon this and the fact that they lacked evidence, detectives dismissed James being involved. 

* Jeffrey Dahmer, as you guys may have read last week he was arrested in Wisconsin in 1991 after killing more than a dozen boys and men. Jeffrey's father actually called the America's Most Wanted hotline shortly after his sons arrest, he told them that Jeffrey had been living in Miami Beach at the time and that he believed his son was a pedophile. Two eyewitnesses even came forward saying they saw Dahmer at the mall on the day that Adam was abducted after they saw his picture in the papers. One saw him in the toy department while the other saw him throw a struggling child into a blue van and speed off. The delivery shop that Dahmer worked at had a blue van at the time. His MO did include severing his victims heads. When they interviewed Dahmer about Adam in 1992 he denied up and down about being involved. He stated "I've told you everything, how I killed them, how I cooked them, who I ate. Why wouldn't I tell you if I did someone else?" After this surfaced John Walsh stated the he had seen no evidence actually linking Dahmer to Adam's abduction. Lack of evidence dismissed him as a suspect. 

*Ottis Toole. Fast forward to 2008, Florida police announced that they believed serial killer Ottis Toole had kidnapped and killed Adam Walsh and that they were closing Adam's case. Ottis was a drifter, arsonist and serial killer. He made things complicated with police because he confessed to many murders and than later recanted. According to police Ottis had been a suspect in the case since 1983. Ottis originally claimed that it was his accomplice Henry Lee Lucas that had decapitated Adam, Lucas even backed up Toole's claims.  Investigators shot this down when they discovered that Henry Lee Lucas was in prison at the time. So then Ottis changed his story. He said he abducted Adam in the Sears mall parking lot after luring him with toys and candy. He stated that when Adam started crying, he punched him in the face, raped him and decapitated him with a machete. Then he drove around with Adam's severed head for several days because he "forgot about it" before he eventually tossed it in the canal.  

He wasn't convicted of Adam's murder, but was convicted of 6 other murders. He died in prison when he was 49.

 

Over the years, some experts have expressed doubt that Toole was responsible for Adam's murder. When they announced that Toole was the killer, police did not announce any new physical evidence linking him to the crime. Toole's car could not be tested for DNA due to the fact that police had reportedly lost the evidence. However, John Walsh has said publicly many times that he believes that Ottis is his son's killer. 

Even though the Walsh's went through this tremendous heart break that no one should ever have to experience, they decided to try to use Adam and his story for good. To help prevent other children and parents from going through the same thing they did. To make people more aware, and as a soon to be parent I can't thank them enough for all they did to advocate for childrens safety. 

Resources:

https://time.com/4437205/adam-walsh-murder/

https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/crime-history/5-facts-to-know-about-kidnapping-and-murder-of-adam-walsh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Adam_Walsh

The Milwaukee Cannibal

Happy True Crime Thursday Ya'll! 

For this weeks topic I want to talk about an infamous serial killer. 

When it comes to the mind of a serial killer that is what I find to be the most fascinating. 

Diving into the minds of serial kills has grown drastically through out the years, to the point where we can pinpoint certain characteristics and traits that are linked to many serial killers. The traits that so many choose to ignore. That's the thing, we cannot ignore those signs. Lives could potentially be saved. 

I want you all to keep in mind a theory called the Macdonald Triad. In 1963, John Macdonald a professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine came up with this theory that he believed could predict future homicidal tendencies. 

The 3 individual behaviors during a persons adolescent years included; fire setting (first signs of releasing aggression), persistent bed wetting after a certain age (traced back to abuse) and cruelty to animals (the first violent acts.) 

So with that being said...lets talk about the completely jacked up mind of Jeffrey Dahmer. AKA The Milwaukee Cannibal.

For those not familiar with Dahmer…some of the things I'll be mentioning are not for the easily queasy kind of folks. 

Who was Jeffrey Dahmer? He was born May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. Joyce was a teletype machine instructor and Lionel was a student at Marquette University studying chemistry. The two did not have a happy marriage. Joyce was known to be tense and selfish, constantly seeking out attention/pity. She would work herself into an overwhelming state of anxiety over trivial matters. At one point she even attempted suicide by overdosing on pills. Lionel wasn't home much due to his schooling, but when he was home his attention went towards his wife and her demands for attention. Neither parent had a lot of time focused on their son.

Jeffrey was described as an "energetic and happy child" up until he underwent a double hernia surgery right before his 4th birthday, and when his younger brother was born he became noticeably subdued. Soon his peers at school noticed he was quiet and timid, on his 1st grade report card a teacher described him as reserved and that Jeffrey felt alone and neglected, most likely due to his mothers illness. Even with this new behavior he still managed to have a small group of friends.

He would take this group of friends with him to collect dead animals from the side of the road. He would take these animals back home to a shed were he would spend time dismembering them, he wanted to understand how they worked. Soon it progressed and Jeffrey started to lose friends after he became obsessed with fantasizing about dismembering animals, at one point he took the head of a dog and impaled it on a stake at the back of his house.

By 1968, the family had relocated to Bath, Ohio. One night during dinner Jeffrey asked his father what would happen if he submerged chicken bones in bleach. Since his father was into biology and chemistry he was excited to show him and that his son was taking an interest in it. Later in life Jeffrey would take the techniques his father taught him and apply it in a much more sinister matter.

By the age of 14, Jeffrey had taken his first drink with one of his fellow students at school. This began his downward spiral. He started smuggling alcohol of all kinds into school in the lining of his jacket. His drinking was noticed by other students as well as teachers. He may have been quiet, but he was very intelligent and had excellent grades. He enjoyed playing tennis and at one point even became a member of the high school band. One of Jeffreys many struggles was when he realized that he was gay and he felt the need to hide it from everyone.

At the age of 16, Jeffrey began to have sexual fantasies about domination and submission. He wanted to have a submissive partner that he could have complete control over. Soon these fantasies started to merge with his dissection fantasies. He at one point took interest in a local jogger, he created several rape and dissection fantasies for him in his mind. Thinking about rendering the jogger unconscious and making use of his body. Lucky for the jogger that on the day Jeffrey finally was going to act out his fantasies the jogger did not go out due to illness, Jeffrey never tried to implement this plan again.

Although mainly an introvert Jeffrey gained the reputation as the class clown, he loved to play pranks and act like a fool. It's believed this might have been due to behaviors he learned from his mom in order to get attention. With him becoming a full blown alcoholic and goofing off all the time his grades stated to slip, he still managed to graduate in 1978. That same year  his parents made the mutual decision to end their marriage.

Jeffrey decided to live with his father and his fathers new wife for a bit before he enrolled at Ohio State University, he spent most of his time skipping classes and getting drunk. He ended up dropping out after 2 semesters and returned home. His father told him that he either had to get a job or join the Army. Jeffrey decided to enlist. Out of his 6 years he was supposed to be enlisted he was discharged after 2 due to his drunken behavior.  With all the problems that Jeffrey's drinking was causing his father sent him to live with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin.

One little thing I forgot to mention...

During the summer his parents were divorcing Jeffrey was left in the family home alone. It was then that the 18 year old committed his first murder, he could no longer hold back his dark and twisted fantasies. He picked up a hitchhiker by the name of Steven Hicks, he took him back to the house to drink beer. It took a turn when Steven wanted to leave. Jeffrey hit him in the head with a 10 lb. dumbbell. He then dissected, dissolved, pulverized and scattered the impossible to identify remains throughout his backyard. He killed Hicks simply because he wanted him to stay. After this incident it would be 9 years before Jeffrey Dahmer would kill again. 

After Dahmer moved in with his grandmother he stayed there for 6 years. He continued to drink heavily and was well known to police. In August of 1982 he was arrested after he exposed himself at a state fair, and then in September of 1986 he was arrested for masturbating in public. He was charged and served 10 months for public exposure. Soon after his release he was arrested again, this time for sexually fondling a 13 year old boy. He was sentenced to 5 years of probation....no jail time. He was able to convince the judge in this case that all he needed was some therapy and he'd be all better. Even through all of this Jeffreys father stood by him, always making sure that he had a good lawyer to represent him. He started to realize that his son wasn't normal and although he didn't quite understand why, he did understand one thing and that was that his son didn't have a conscience. 

While cruising gay bars in September of 1987 he met 26 year old Steven Toumi. The 2 of them spent the night heavily drinking before they went to a hotel. According to Dahmer when he awoke he found Steven dead, he said he had blacked out and doesn't remember all the details of that night. So he packed up Stevens body into a suitcase, carried it out of the hotel and took it back to his grandmothers house. In the basement of the home he was overcome by his sexual necrophilia desires, he acted upon those and then discarded the body into the garbage after he dismembered it.

Now, I'm not going to touch base on all of  Dahmer's victims, mainly because there are 17 of them that are known. I do feel like they need to be acknowledged so I will list all of the names at the end. 

In September of 1988, Jeffrey was able to move into 1 bedroom apartment after he got a job as a mixer at Ambrosia Chocolate Factory. Which was beneficial for him since killing his victims was getting more and more difficult to hide in his grandmothers basement. 

Jeffrey's MO was always the same, he would meet men at a gay bar or mall and then he would offer them money and alcohol if they agreed to pose for photos. When he got them alone he would drug them, on occasion torture them, and then kill them by strangulation the majority of the time. He would then masturbate over the corpse or have sex with the corpse, cut the body up and get rid of the remains...well not all of them as we will find out later. 

One of Dahmer's victims, Konerak Sinthasomphone almost escaped the clutches of Dahmer in May of 1991. Konerak was the younger brother of the boy Dahmer had molested back in 1989. In the early morning hours of May 27th he was found wandering the streets disoriented and completely nude. Police arrived on scene alongside paramedics, 2 women were standing with Konerak....and Dahmer. The story Jeffrey had told police was that the boy was his 19 year old lover who was drunk and that the 2 of them were in a quarrel. Despite the protest of the 2 women who had witnessed Konerak fighting Dahmer off before the police got there, police believed Jeffrey's story and escorted Jeffrey and Konerak back to the apartment. They saw that Dahmer's apartment appeared neat and found nothing out of the ordinary besides an unpleasant smell. So they left Konerak under Jeffreys care. Within hours Konerak met the same fate as Dahmer's other victims. 

It all came crashing down on July 22nd, 1991 when Jeffrey was unable to hold captive what would have been his 18th known victim, Tracy Edwards. Edwards was able to escape and was discovered by police around midnight, they noticed him due to the handcuffs he had dangling from his wrist. They assumed he somehow had escaped from authorities, when they stopped him he told them about Dahmer and how the 2 of them had struggled when Jeffrey tried to handcuffs on him. He led them to his apartment... 

Jeffrey opened his door when the officers arrived and was answering all of their questions in a very calm manner. He agreed to turn over the handcuff key and went to the bedroom to get it. Luckily one of the officers went with him and while he was glancing around the room he noticed photos of what appeared to be parts of bodies and a fridge full of human skulls. They made the decision to arrest Dahmer, when they went to place the cuffs on him his calm demeanor quickly chanced and he began to struggle and fight with police. With Dahmer out of the apartment they quickly discovered the disgusting secrets he was keeping. They discovered skulls and other various body parts, along with an extensive photo collection that documented his crimes. The items found in the apartment included;
- A human head and 3 bags of organs were found in the refrigerator 
- 3 heads, a torso and various internal organs were inside a free standing freezer
- Chemicals, formaldehyde, ether, and chloroform plus 2 skulls, 2 hands and male genitalia were found in the closet
- A filing cabinet that contained 3 painted skulls, a skeleton, a dried scalp, male genitalia, and photographs.
- A box with 2 skulls inside 
-A 57 galloon vat filled with acid and 3 torsos
- Victims ID's 
- Blood soaked mattress and blood splatters

Jeffrey Dahmer was indicted on 17 murder charges, it was later reduced to 15. He plead not guilty by reason of insanity. Dahmer wrote a 160 page confession that included details of how he would eat his victims and how his necrophilia urges were so strong that he was not able to control his actions. The defense tried to prove that he was in control and capable of planning, manipulating and covering up his crimes. After 5 hours of the jury deliberating they returned with the verdict of guilty on 15 counts of murder. Dahmer received 15 life terms. After his sentencing Jeffrey read a statement to the court, "I hated no one. I knew I was sick or evil or both. Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness, and now I have some peace. I know how much harm I have caused...Thank God there will be no more harm that I can do. I believe that only the Lord Jesus Christ can save me from my sins...I ask for no consideration." 

He was sent to the Columbia Correctional Institute, he was kept away from the general prison population at first for his own safety. He was considered a model prisoner and was a self- proclaimed, born again Christian. Gradually they allowed contact with other inmates. Well, on November 28,1994 Jeffrey Dahmer was beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver, Scarver was a schizophrenic who had been convicted of 1st degree murder. For reasons unknown the guards had left Dahmer, Scarver and another inmate Jesse Anderson alone for 20 minutes. Anderson was also beaten to death by Scarver. Jeffrey Dahmer died in the ambulance before he reached the hospital.

Well, there you have it folks the summed up life, murders, imprisonment and death of Jeffrey Dahmer. 

Known Victims

• Stephen Hicks, 18: June 1978
• Steven Tuomi, 26: September 1987
• Jamie Doxtator, 14: October 1987
• Richard Guerrero, 25: March 1988
• Anthony Sears, 24: February 1989
• Eddie Smith, 36: June 1990
• Ricky Beeks, 27: July 1990
• Ernest Miller, 22: September 1990
• David Thomas, 23: September 1990
• Curtis Straughter, 16: February 1991
• Errol Lindsey, 19: April 1991
• Tony Hughes, 31: May 24, 1991
• Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14: May 27, 1991
• Matt Turner, 20: June 30, 1991
• Jeremiah Weinberger, 23: July 5, 1991
• Oliver Lacy, 23: July 12, 1991
• Joseph Bradeholt, 25: July 19, 1991

Resources:
https://vocal.media/criminal/serial-killer-files-jeffrey-dahmer-part-1-early-life-and-family

https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-serial-killer-jeffrey-dahmer-973116

Soham Murder

Happy True Crime Thursday! 

For this weeks story I kind of stumbled upon it, I was doing research for a case of a missing girl (I won't name who, as I will still cover it) and as I was watching the documentary they started listing some similarities of a person tied to another case. This case was the murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. I became intrigued and decided to switch over to their case for this week. Now, I do want to warn you that this does involve 2 young girls under the age of 13. These are some of the hardest stories out there for me to research and write about, but my goal is to get these stories out there in the hopes that it can help in anyway possible for now or in the future.  

August 4, 2002

Holly on the left, Jessica on the right

On August  4, 2002 in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England, 10 year old Jessica Chapman left her home around 11:45 am to go over to her best friend Holly Wells' home, also 10 years old. The girls had known each other since they were 4 years old and were like sisters. Holly was a girly girl that loved makeup, dancing and singing. Jessica was more of a tom boy and loved to be outside and play sports. Both girls were known as very bright and sweet kids.

Jessica told her parents that morning that she was excited to give Holly a necklace that she had gotten for her, engraved with the letter H.  The girls spent the afternoon enjoying a nice barbecue at Holly's family home. By 3:15 pm the pair had changed into matching Manchester United football shirts, it was their favorite team. At 5:04 pm a picture of the girls was taken by Nicola (Holly's mom) before the children ate their dinner with the other guests.

Around 6:15 pm the girls decided to leave the home to buy some sweets, but they never told anyone they were leaving and they never returned home. There is footage of them getting their sweets and heading back the direction of Holly's house.

At 8:00 pm Nicola went into Holly's room to invite the girls to say goodbye to their house guests, but she discovered that the girls were missing from their home. Kevin (Holly's Dad) joined her in searching their home and the nearby streets. She called the Chapman home to see if the girls had gone over there, she learned that the girls weren't over there and in fact Jessica's parents were starting to wonder why she hadn't returned home yet. Frantically the parents of the girls searched where ever they thought the girls might be, ultimately a missing persons report was filed at 9:55 pm

In the early days of the investigation several members of the community came forward saying they had seen the children the evening they disappeared. Mark Tuck told police he saw the girls around 6:30 pm that night as him and his wife drove past them, he remembers them because of the shirts they were wearing, saying to his wife "Look! There's two little Beckhams over there." A young woman by the name of Karen Greenwood remembered seeing the girls walking "arm in arm" along College Road about 2 minutes later. Ian Huntly, a caretaker at Soham Village College that lived on campus along College road, said he had been outside cleaning his dog around 6:30 when the girls walked by, he said he briefly talked to them as they knew his fiancé Maxine Carr, she was a teachers assistant at their school. They had asked if she was there and he told them that she wasn't feeling well and was taking a bath. They then asked if she had gotten the full time position she had applied for. He told them unfortunately no and that she wouldn't be returning to school next year, the girls said to tell her that they were sorry to hear that and to tell her they said hello. Then they continued on towards the library. Police had a clear path that the girls took due to camera footage and the eyewitnesses. 

Several people mentioned seeing a white van in the area, police were able to locate it on August 7th in Caravan Park, but nothing came of it. Then on the 12th of August, police took to the media to ask for help in tracing the driver of a dark green, 4 door saloon car that was seen struggling with 2 young girls by a taxi driver that had come forward. The driver stated that the individual had driven upon the A142 south of Soham toward Newmarket on the early morning of August 12th. The next evening a dog walker told police he had come across 2 mounds of recently disturbed earth just outside of Newmarket. The police did an examination of the location only to find that the mounds were just made from badgers. 

On August 17th at approximately 12:30 pm a 48 year old gamekeeper named Keith Pryer sadly discovered the bodies of both girls lying next to each other in an irrigation ditch 5 feet deep near a pheasant pen in Suffolk, about 10 miles east of Soham. He came across the bodies after he noticed an "unusual and unpleasant smell" in the area several days earlier. He returned to the area with 2 friends to investigate the source of the smell on the 17th. He immediately reported his findings to police.

The girls had been missing for 13 days at this point and it was obvious that they were in the advanced state of decomposition. In an apparent effort to destroy any physical evidence the killer had attempted to burn the bodies. Despite the efforts to destroy evidence investigators were able to ID the girls, and came to the conclusion that they had died elsewhere. They also discovered multiple hairs on a tree branch nearby that belonged to Jessica. 

On August 30th, a public memorial service was held to remember and celebrate both of the girls, about 2,000 people attended while 31,000 messages had been entered into an online book of condolences.

What monster did this to these poor sweet girls?

I want to take you back to witness Ian Huntley.

Police were suspicious of Ian from the beginning and his house was actually searched by a police officer on August 5, no incriminating evidence was discovered on this date. That officer did notice several pieces of clothing on the clothes line outside despite the fact that it had been raining. He also said it was obvious that extensive cleaning had been done to the houses interior. Huntley told him it was due to them just having flooding issues. Despite not finding anything and him having no criminal background he remained a strong suspect due to his suspicious sometimes agitated demeanor. There was also one more problem, he had an alibi. His fiancé Maxine Carr.

She stated that she was home when the girls stopped by, but she had been in the shower. She told the media while the girls were still missing, "I only wish we had asked them where they were going... If only we knew then what we know now, then we could have stopped them, or done something about it" She also discussed the girls and her time with them at school. Maxine said that Jessica had told her that she wanted to be a bridesmaid at her wedding, and that the tomboy would only be willing to wear a dress for that occasion. Maxine also showed reporters a thank you card that she had gotten from Holly on the last day of school. Saying "She was just lovely, really lovely." Before she made the appeal to the children to "just get on the phone and come home, or if somebody's got them, just let them go." Seems like a sweet teacher to the girls...except I want you to see her statement about Holly... it was made in the past tense. What did she know that she wasn't telling?

During the active search for the girls Ian would actively participate in them. Adding to their suspicions they noticed Ian making efforts to ask police questions such as how their investigation was progressing and just how long DNA evidence could survive without deteriorating. One of the officers he was talking to noticed 3 vertical scratch marks on Ian's chin, but he claims it had been inflicted by his dog. By week 2 of the girls disappearance Ian was visibly not ok, it was obvious that he was not sleeping and had begun to lose weight. On August 13th, he was prescribed anti-depressants after some erratic and distressful behavior. To one officer he got upset and said "you think I've done it? I was the last person to see them!"

On August 16th, just a day before the girls were found, both Ian and Maxine were questioned by

police, each for about 7 hours. Both still sticking to the same statements as before. What they didn't know was by this time the police had received numerous statements from residents in Grimsby that Ian had been accused of rape several years earlier, they recognized him from his multiple television interviews. While he had never been convicted there had been multiple incidents with woman and underage girls, the charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence. They also discovered through exes that he was very controlling and abusive. Other witnesses came forward saying that Maxine had been seen in Grimsby Town Centre on the night the girls went missing and that she had been visiting her mom at the time, which means she in fact was not home in Soham with Ian like she had indicated.

That night police searched the grounds of Soham Village College where Ian worked as the caretaker and also searched their home. These searches located numerous items of major importance. It wasn't made public at the time, but police had discovered in a shed clothing the girls had been wearing including charred and cut Manchester shirts located at Ian's place of work. His fingerprints were discovered on the container those clothes were in as well as fiber samples matched what had been found on the clothing to Ian's clothing and his home. They also searched his car and found that it had been extensively cleaned, but they still found trace amounts of a very distinct mixture of brick dust, chalk and concrete. The same type used to pave the road leading to where the girls' bodies were discovered.  They also found that a seat cover and the lining of the trunk had been removed.

Police arrested both Ian and Maxine, they strongly believed that the girls were murdered the same day that they went missing or close to it.  During his initial questioning Ian didn't answer any questions, but he also was acting bizarre enough that the police sent him to a mental hospital to undergo a psychological evaluation. Maxine on the other hand quickly spilled the beans, she confessed that she had lied about her whereabouts on August 4th, she returned home on August 7th after visiting her mother in Grimsby. Ian had initially told Maxine before she got home that he had seen the girls shortly before they went missing, "the thing is, Maxine, they came in our home." Ian then told her that the children came in because Holly suddenly had a nose bleed while they were talking, he said that Jessica sat on the bed and tried to help Holly control the bleeding, before both girls got up and left the home. He told her he was concerned about being falsely accused of any involvement, because of his past rape accusations (that he claimed were also false accusations) So she agreed to come up with the lie that she was there with him. She swore up and down that it wasn't him, even when police presented her with all of their evidence she was still adamant that he wasn't responsible. I'm not sure that I myself believe she had nothing to do with this due to her use of talking about the girls in past tense when they were still considered missing. Regardless the jury believed her claims of only lying to protect Ian and that was it. She was found not guilty to assisting an offender and guilty for perverting the course of justice, she was sentenced to 3 1/2 years. 

As for Ian, he started to change up his story, but nobody was buying it. He said the that 2 girls came inside his home after Holly had a nosebleed, he insisted that she drowned in the bath and that he killed Jessica, but only to silence her screams. Once his psychological assessment showed that he was mentally fit to stand trial, he told the same story to jurors. Maxine was present and this was the first time supposedly she had heard him say that he was there when the girls died. On December 17, 2003 he was found guilty of 2 counts of murder, he was sentenced to life in prison. He showed no emotions as the verdict was read. No one, but Ian knows exactly the events that truly happened that day or why. If he would have been convicted of any of his past crimes he most likely wouldn't have gotten the job at the college and wouldn't have been there to cross the path of Holly and Jessica that Summer day. What's even more disgusting was Ian did multiple television interviews saying he hoped the girls were found and joined in the search effort with the families all while knowing the truth. 

A Christmas Mystery

Happy True Crime Thursday!

I hope you all had a great holiday season! 

You guys know by now I love myself a good mystery and even though Christmas has passed I still want to share this one with you. 

This mystery is what happened Christmas of 1945 at the Sodder household.

George Sodder was born in Italy in 1895 and came to the United States 13 years later with an older brother. George found work on the railroads in Pennsylvania carrying supplies and water to workers. After a few years he traveled to Smithers, West  Virginia and worked as a driver. It took a couple more years, but he eventually started his own trucking company that started by hauling fill dirt to construction sites and later hauled coal that was mined in the area. 

He met Jennie Cipriani who was a storekeepers daughter, she also came from Italy as a child. The two of them got married, and in 1923 they had their first child that would eventually be one out of ten children. The couple settled near Fayetteville, West Virginia, in an area that was prominently Italian immigrants. George's business was very successful and the family became one of the most respected families around.  The last of the Sodder Children was born in 1943. At this time their second oldest son left home to serve in the military during World War II.

Fast forward to the early morning hours of Christmas 1945, a blaze broke out at the Sodder household. George and Jennie awoke to the smell of smoke, they hustled to gather their children and get out of the home. The flames were so large that there was nothing they could do but watch their home collapse into a smoldering heap. That's not the only tragedy that would occur that morning. 

On the night of Christmas Eve the family celebrated by opening a few gifts. The parents went off to bed along with their youngest daughter Sylvia. The younger children were given the OK to stay up later than usual to enjoy some of the new toys they received, the oldest daughter stayed awake to watch them play. The 2 oldest sons went off to bed. By midnight all of the household had settled down and were in bed.

Soon after the phone in George's office starting ringing, this woke up Jennie. She picked up the phone and heard a strange laughter followed by a voice asking for a name that she didn't recognize. She just thought it to be someone with the wrong number. She started making her way back to bed when she realized that the lights throughout the home were still on and the doors were left unlocked, she didn't think twice about it since the kids were the last ones up. She shut everything down and went back to bed.

Just a short time later she would be woken up again, she heard the sounds of something landing on the roof of the house and rolling off. Nothing came of it, she just went back to sleep. One thing we know for sure is that it definitely wasn't Santa Claus. She was woken up again about a half hour later, this time it was to the smell of smoke. She got up in a panic and noticed flames coming from the office. She scrambled to grab Sylvia and alerted her husband as to what was going on. They were able to get their children Marion, Sylvia, John and George Jr. The flames prevented them from going upstairs to get the others. When they tried to dial out they realized their phones weren't working. Marion ran to a neighbors house to use their phone, but wasn't able to get a response while the rest of the family stood outside and yelled at the house to hopefully wake up the others. They didn't hear anything from their children at all. Another neighbor left to go find the Fire Chief F.J. Morris.

It took hours...yes hours for help to arrive, even though the fire department was only 2 miles away from the Sodder home. The department wasn't set up like it was today. George and Jennie did everything they could to try and rescue their children, but non successful. George had an idea to grab the ladder that he always kept on the side of the house to climb through an upstairs window. There was one problem to that idea...when he ran to get the ladder it was no where in sight. So then he had the idea to back up one of his coal trucks next to the house to boost himself into a window, but....the engine wouldn't start. This is where things became hopeless for the family. Over the next 45 minutes they watched their home burn down. 

 The Fire Department did a search through the rubble to find the remains of Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jennie and Betty, but there weren't any traces of them....no bodies, no bones...nothing. Fire Chief Morris told George and Jennie that the blaze was caused by faulty wiring and was likely hot enough to completely destroy the bodies. Although it seemed like a logical explanation, their gut feelings told them something wasn't quite right. They didn't believe the fire was an accident, and they also believed that their children might still be alive. 

Lets go back to shortly before the tragedy struck, a man attempting to sell fire insurance approached Mr. Sodder, when he turned him down the man became upset. He said "your goddamn house is going up in smoke, and your children will be destroyed." You see even though the Sodder family was well known, George was also disliked because he was vocal about his criticism of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. This man also said "you are going to be paid for dirty remarks you have been making about Mussolini." Coincidence or not a private investigator later on revealed that this same man served on the coroner's jury that established the fire was an accident. 

Another visitor who had approached George in the months leading up to the fire told him he was looking for a job. He took this occasion to go around to the back of the house and warned George that a pair of fuse boxes located there would "cause a fire someday." This was puzzling to George because the house just recently had been re-wired after the family had a new stove installed, the local electric company had pronounced everything safe. 

Then in the weeks before Christmas some of the older Sodder boys had noticed a strange car parked along the main highway through town, with its occupants watching the younger Sodder children as they walked home from school. 

What's even more strange is apparently the fire department had indeed found some bones and a heart at the scene, but for whatever reason the fire chief never told the Sodder's family about it. It would be years before they found this out and when they did they confronted him. The chief led them to the site where the remains had been buried, but upon further testing it was determined that the heart was actually a beef liver and the bones belonged to someone older than any of the Sodder children. In 1947, the couple even asked J. Edgar Hoover himself to get the FBI involved in the investigation. They received a personal reply back "Although I would like to be of service, the matter related appears to be of local character and does not come within the investigative jurisdiction of this bureau." FBI agents said they would be happy to assist if local authorities gave them the go ahead...the Fayetteville police and fire department said no. 

Along with her other doubts, Jennie Sodder as we know didn't believe the claims that her children's bodies would have been burned completely in the fire. Many of their household appliances had been found, still recognizable, in the ashes, as well as fragments of the tin roof.  She contrasted the results of the fire at home with a newspaper account of a similar fire that killed a family of 7, skeletal remains of all the victims were found. She started conducting experiments, burning small piles of various animals bones to see if they would be completely consumed. They never were. An employee of a local crematorium that she contacted told her pieces of human bodies typically remain even after burning at 2000 degree Fahrenheit for 2 hours, which was far longer and hotter than their house fire. 

To add even more suspicion, there was someone from the telephone company that discovered someone had crawled up a telephone pole and cut the phone line leading to the Sodder’s house.

There was also the account of a local bus driver. “The driver of a bus that passed through Fayetteville late Christmas Eve said he had seen some people throwing “balls of fire” at the house. A few months later, when the snow had melted, Sylvia found a small, hard, dark-green, rubber ball-like object in the brush nearby. George, recalling his wife’s account of a loud thump on the roof before the fire, said it looked like a “pineapple bomb” hand grenade or some other incendiary device used in combat. The family later claimed that, contrary to the fire marshal’s conclusion, the fire had started on the roof, although there was by then no way to prove it.”

The Sodder family was desperate for answers, but continued to get nothing but more questions and no one willing to help. 

As years went on, rumors about the story extended past West Virginia. Photos poured in from strangers around the country who were convinced they had spotted the missing Sodder children, now all grown up. One in particular- allegedly of a much older Louis Sodder was so convincing to the family that it was hung over the fireplace in their new home. Another picture was received from New York City of a young girl who looked so much like Betty that George drove to see her, but was turned away by her parents. 

The family also received a letter from someone saying young Martha was in a convent in St. Louis. They also had a motel operator come forward saying he saw the children right after the fire. 

All these claims, yet none that were what they were looking for. The mystery has yet to be solved.

What do you guys think about this case?

See you all next week, looking forward to the New Year and the new stories to share with you all!

Resources:

https://thoughtcatalog.com/emily-madriga/2018/03/35-puzzling-facts-about-the-sodder-children-disappearance/

https://scarestreet.com/sodder-children/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodder_children_disappearance