Crimes New Roman

Warrior’s grave found in 1988 was identified as male - yet now the 2,600-year-old teenager ‘with wart on face’ is revealed to be female.

The 'stunning’ discovery appears further confirmation of ancient Greek claims about female fighters known as Amazons among the Scythians of central Asia.

In 1988 Dr Marina Kilunovskaya and Dr Vladimir Semyonov came across the partially mummified young warrior’s grave Saryg-Bulun in Siberia’s modern-day Tuva republic during an emergency excavation.

The archaeologists found the prepubescent warrior’s remains so well preserved that a ‘wart’ was visible on the face, and yet at the time there were no indications that this was a female.

‘It was so stunning when we just opened the lid and I saw the face there, with that wart, looking so impressive,’ said Dr. Kilunovskaya.

There was a rough seam on the skin in the abdomen area, implying an attempt at artificial mummification - but no traces were found of trepanation, which was usual among such burials.

The face of a Scottish woman persecuted for witchcraft more than 300 years ago has been reconstructed by forensic scientists.

Lilias Adie died in 1704 in prison before she could be burned for her “confessed” crimes of being a witch and having sex with the devil.

Locals buried her under a large stone on the Fife coast, perhaps believing it would stop her rising from the grave.

Her remains were exhumed in the 19th Century by antiquarians.

Crescent Lake in Olympic National Park, Washington was dead still on the 6th of July, 1940, when Louis Rolfe and his brother were fishing. In the afternoon, they spotted an object floating close to the shoreline. As they approached the object, they were horrified to find that it was a body.

They rushed to the dock of the Washington State Trout Hatchery to relay what they had found. At the scene, police retrieved the body of a woman shrouded in a blanket. The body was taken to the mortuary. The woman was described as being in her 30s and “white as marble.” She was well-preserved and her fat had turned into soap. She had saponified, which means the cold stopped the decomposition and the salts in the water had sporadically penetrated the fatty tissue. “There was no real smell or decay,” recalled a medical student.

The woman became known as “The Lady of the Lake” and now police had a task in identifying her. She had been beaten and strangled to death and then hogtied. The killer weighed her down with rocks and threw her into the lake. It would take 14 months before her identity became known. It was her dentistry that revealed her identity. In her mouth was a six-tooth bridge made of beaten gold. Pictures of the unique bridge were circulated around more than 5,000 dentists. A dentist in Faulkton, S.D. recognised it immediately and identified the unknown woman: Hallie Illingworth.

‘WANTED: Well-built 18-30 year old to be slaughtered and then consumed.’

In March 2001, German computer technician Armin Meiwes (top left) advertised on the internet for a “well-built 18-30 year old to be slaughtered and then consumed.” Surprisingly, he received a response from a willing participant - an engineer from Berlin named Bernd Brandes (top right).

On the evening of March 9th, the two men met at Meiwes’ home, where Brandes swallowed 20 sleeping tablets and half a bottle of schnapps before having his penis cut off and fried for both of them to eat. However, it was discarded as “too chewy” and instead chopped up for Meiwes’ dog to eat. Brandes, by this stage bleeding heavily, then took a bath while Meiwes read a Star Trek novel.

Meiwes periodically checked on Brandes to see if he had succumbed to the blood loss. When it appeared that he had become unconscious, Meiwes took a kitchen knife and stabbed Brandes in the throat with a kitchen knife. His body was then hung onto a meat hook and chopped into pieces, after which the flesh was packaged and stored in the freezer. Over the next few weeks, Meiwes defrosted and cooked the Brandes’ remains in olive oil and garlic, ultimately consuming almost 20kg of human flesh.

Armin Meiwes was eventually arrested in December 2002 after an Austrian student alerted authorities to a new advertisement posted online. After raiding his property, authorities discovered what was left of Brandes’ remains, as well as 4 hour long video documentation of his death.

Edward ‘Ashton’ Stubbs was just five days shy of his 16th birthday when he vanished on June 21st, 2013. Ashton is originally from El Paso, Texas, but during the summer of 2013, he traveled to, Fargo North Dakota to stay with his cousin. Ashton planned to work with his cousin at a construction site  in Dickinson for a summer job. 

On the day of his disappearance, Ashton was at the construction site laying drywall. At some point after lunch time, he walked away from the site and never returned. Ashton has never been seen or heard from again. 

Ashton left behind his wallet, identification and all of his money behind when he left the construction site. However, it is believed that he boarded a bus in Dickinson en route to his cousin’s house in Fargo. Ashton’s mother believes her son got angry about something on the construction site that caused him to walk away. 

Investigators were unable to find any evidence that Ashton ever returned to Fargo that day, or if he even boarded a bus at all. Once news about his disappearance hit the media, investigators received numerous tips about potential sightings, but none of them panned out. The case has now unfortunately gone cold and Ashton remains missing.

There are not many prisoners in the UK who have been been sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison, but Jamie Reynolds is one of them.

On 26th May 2013, Georgia Williams (17) arrived at the home of Jamie Reynolds (23) in Shropshire, England under the impression that she would be assisting him with a photography project. Sadly, Georgia had no idea that her friend was deceiving her, as she was actually being lured to her death. Reynolds had been harbouring a longstanding obsession with violent pornography, and Georgia was the primary subject of his sadistic sexual fantasies.

Photographic evidence shows that Georgia did pose in some photos taken that evening, in which she seemed relaxed and unthreatened. However, the last photo of Georgia shows her with her hands bound behind her back and a rope resembling a noose dangling above her. This was the last photo taken of Georgia alive, although her facial expression still does not indicate any signs of fear or distress. Messages sent by Reynolds to Georgia prior to their meeting showed that he wanted her to participate in a ‘simulation hanging’.

When Georgia failed to return home and did not respond to phone calls, her parents alerted the authorities and a nationwide manhunt ensued. Meanwhile, Reynolds had already strangled Georgia to death and sexually violated her body afterwards. He had then taken photographs as a keepsake and bundled her body into a van. By the time authorities were involved, he had driven 50 miles away to Wrexham, Wales, where he visited a cinema and watched a movie before dumping Georgia’s body in a remote woodland area. Reynolds was arrested in Scotland three days after Georgia was reported missing, but he refused to disclose what had happened to her or where she was. Instead, her naked body was later discovered by police beside the stream where Reynolds had left her.

During the trial, stories of Reynolds’ past deviant behaviour came to light, and a psychiatric report had determined that he displayed all the traits of “progressing to become a serial killer”. For example, Reynolds had already received a final warning from police in 2008 after trapping another 17 year old girl in his home, but she was able to escape and alert the authorities. Later in 2011, he was again reported to police for reversing his vehicle into a girl who had turned down his romantic advances. Similarly, it emerged that Georgia had also refuted any possibility of a relationship with Reynolds, as text messages read out in court revealed that Georgia had told him “I don’t see you in that way. Just stop, I don’t want to ruin our friendship. I told you last time, I just wanted to be friends.”

Reynolds also had almost 17,000 pictures and 72 videos depicting extreme pornography stored on hard drives, which included photoshopped images of women that he knew personally with ropes around their necks. Police also discovered a notebook in Reynolds’ possession which contained handwritten sexual stories involving Georgia. After the prosecution argued that Reynolds had carried out a scripted and premeditated murder for sexual gratification, he was convicted in December 2013 and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Since the popularity of Netflix’s documentary “The Staircase”, many people are now familiar with the name Michael Peterson and his conviction for the murder of his wife, Kathleen. However, fewer people are aware of the other possible explanation for her death, known as ‘The Owl Theory’.

Michael Peterson

In 2001, Michael found his wife Kathleen lifeless at the bottom of a staircase in their family home. During a frantic call to 911, he explained that his wife had accidentally fallen and lost a lot of blood. They had both been relaxing in the garden together, but Kathleen decided to make her way back into the house, leaving Michael in the garden alone for a while longer. As Michael claimed to be outside at the time of the incident, he was not sure how long his wife had been lay there when he found her. Given that Kathleen had consumed alcohol and valium that evening, it is acknowledged that she may have been more susceptible to an accident whilst climbing stairs. By the time emergency services arrived at the scene, Kathleen Peterson had died. As the only other resident in the house, Michael was immediately placed in the spotlight as a prime suspect for her death. 

It was believed that the couple became embroiled in a fight due to recent revelations about Michael’s homosexual infidelity, and he had murdered her in a fit of rage. Michael Peterson was ultimately charged and later convicted for her death in 2003, despite findings by a forensic expert which indicated that the blood-spatter found at the bottom of the staircase was consistent with an accidental fall. Initially, it was suspected that Kathleen’s head injuries had been inflicted by a fire poker, which was discovered to be missing from the home at the time of the murder. However, it was eventually found in the family’s garage and showed no signs of wear or usage in a prolonged period of time. 

Although no murder weapon could be identified, it was determined by the prosecution that the lacerations sustained to the top and back of Kathleen’s head were the result of repeated blows with a “light, yet rigid” weapon. However, the defence refuted this theory due to the fact that Kathleen’s skull had received neither any fracture nor brain damage, which would be expected in a death caused by blows to the head. Based on the doubts cast here in regards to Michael Peterson’s involvement, this is where The Owl Theory plays a role in potentially explaining Kathleen’s death.

The Owl Theory

This theory uses evidence found on Kathleen Peterson’s body to propose that she was viciously attacked by an owl, perhaps minutes prior to her death. Although it has been acknowledged that the owl attack itself was not the direct cause of her demise, it has been argued that it set in motion a sequence of events which ultimately led to a fatal accident. For instance, it can be pointed out that pine needles and owl feathers were detected in Kathleen’s hair and also underneath her fingernails, leading to the obvious assumption that she had come into contact with an owl at some point during that night. In addition, upon closer inspection of Kathleen’s body, forked lacerations consistent with gouges caused by talons were identified on her scalp. 

Based on these findings, the events of that night are alleged to have occurred as follows: Kathleen was outside her home that evening with Michael, drinking alcohol and dazed due to the anti-anxiety and muscle relaxant medication in her system. At some point, she decided to head back into the house. Given the abundant population of barred owls in the area, it is not impossible that one swooped down and attacked her while she was in the garden; leading her to cover her head with her hands for protection and rush back into the house. Due to the distance and route between the back door and where the couple had been sitting, it is plausible that this attack occurred without Michael noticing. Kathleen then went inside to escape the owl, which had ripped out chunks of her hair, causing her to leave traces of blood on the door handle leading in from the garden due to the blood now on her fingers. She attempted to go upstairs in order to deal with the injuries caused by the attack and clean herself up, which was not necessarily a simple task given Kathleen’s medicated and intoxicated state. Ultimately, it is suggested that she lost her balance, fell down the flight and her head took full impact on the wall at the bottom. 

“Mr Cruel” was the name adopted by the media to describe an unidentified assailant in Melbourne, Australia who abducted three young girls between 1988-1991, one of whom was murdered. Pictured right are the victims: Sharon Wills, Nicola Lynas and Karmein Chan (l-r).  Pictured left is a police sketch of the mask worn by the stranger during his attacks.

December 1988: Mr Cruel broke into the home of Sharon Wills wearing a blue balaclava and overalls at around 5:30am, immediately severing the phone line. He firstly went into Sharon’s parents’ bedroom, where he threatened each of them with a gun and tied them face down with copper wire. Following this, he entered the bedroom where Sharon and her three sisters slept. He blindfolded 10 year old Sharon and placed a gag in her mouth before abducting her. Throughout her ordeal, Mr Cruel would frequently assault her but ensured that she was consistently fed. 18 hours after her kidnap, the young girl was released in the grounds of Bayswater High School, although her original clothing had been taken and she was instead found to be wearing green bin bags. He had also bathed Sharon before her release, which was later compared to a mother carefully and gently washing her baby.

July 1990: At around 11:30pm, an intruder once again speculated to be Mr Cruel forced entry into the home of 13 year old Nicola Lynas brandishing a knife and a handgun. Once inside, after discovering that neither parent was home, he cut the phone lines and woke Nicola by tapping her on the head with a knife. After restraining her sibling, he taped over Nicola’s eyes and removed her from the premises, leaving the other girl with her hands bound. He transported Nicola to another property and molested her there for fifty hours, at one point assaulting her while she was forced to wear her school tennis dress. Upon her release, she was left in the grounds of a power station still wearing a blindfold. Similarly to Sharon, Nicola had also been bathed and cleaned prior to her release. She was also frequently given food and drink.

April 1991: 13 year old Karmein Chan was abducted from her home as she babysat her two younger siblings. Her parents were a short distance away working in their Chinese restaurant. Karmein’s younger sisters spoke of how a man wearing a balaclava and carrying a knife appeared while they were watching a movie. Although he apparently stated that he did not want to hurt anybody, the two younger girls were then forced into a wardrobe and Karmein was taken. Despite releasing previous captives, Karmein was sadly not so fortunate. In April 1992, her body was discovered near a landfill. The back of her skull was found to have sustained three bullet wounds and was estimated to have been there for around 12 months. It is speculated that Karmein may have been murdered because she recognised her abductor or had managed to remove his mask. 

December is often described as the most wonderful time of the year. It’s a time for celebration and family. It’s a season of the heart, bearing hope that the upcoming year will be even better than the last. For one family, Christmastime would turn into a time of tragedy.

Gary and Stephanie Gillette were newlyweds and in December 1985, they felt elated to spend their first Christmas together in Corpus Christi, Texas. They planned to get together with Gary’s three young daughters on the 14th to decorate the house for the fast-approaching holiday. The girls patiently waited for a phone call from either their father or Stephanie, asking them to come over. The day went by without a word from Gary and Stephanie, and the sisters moved on with plans of their own. Shae, the oldest of the girls, visited her father’s house before heading out to a movie. The lights were on, and someone left the garage door open. Shae peeked into the windows, hoping to gather more information, but saw no movement. All was still and quiet.

The following day, Shae returned to the house, this time with Debbie, her mother and Gary’s first wife, at her side. As they pulled up onto the block, a throng of vehicles greeted them. They parked further down the street, promptly got out, and ran to the house. A team of police cars parked outside the Gillette’s home. Investigators canvassed the area, combing through the lawn and disappearing into the once silent house, carrying bags and investigation equipment with them. Journalists sprinkled around the area with their cameras poised in hand as they documented the developing crime scene. By this time, a horde of curious spectators gathered to watch. Shae and her mother had to weed their way through to reach the property. Debbie flagged down an officer to speak with. After some time, she returned to her daughter and, her face somber and stricken with tears, delivered the grim news that both Gary and Stephanie were dead.

It was a double homicide. During the early morning hours of December 14th, someone murdered the newlyweds in the master bedroom as they slept. The killer or killers attacked them with a hatchet, striking them numerous times at their heads. A scattering of stab wounds covered their torsos. The inordinate amount of aggression shown towards Gary and Stephanie implied that the act was eminently personal to the perpetrator.

Despite the gruesome manner of their deaths, neighbors reported hearing no screams or any other noises that may indicate foul play during the night and early morning hours. The doors remained locked and showed no sign of forced entry. The rest of the home, too, appeared undisturbed. Two guns, a watch, and Gary’s custom rings had vanished. The most noticeable missing item was Gary’s car, which detectives soon found parked several parks down. They uncovered fingerprints inside the vehicle and hundreds inside the house. All were collected for evidence.

Throughout the years, investigators have kept details on the case close to hand. Because of no signs of forced entry and the amount of overkill, they have speculated it that the killer is likely someone the couple knew. Police once considered one of Gary’s oldest friends a prime suspect. This man, who has not been publicly named, returned to the Gillette’s home with Gary after attending a Christmas party together on the night of December 13th. Not only was he the last person to see Gary and Stephanie alive, but he was also the individual to notify police that something may be wrong in the house. Although he made for a solid suspect, detectives eventually dropped the case against this unnamed man due to a lack of substantial evidence.

In the 19th century, death was trending. The newly invented medium of photography became a way to cope with death, and post-mortem photography offered a popular new way to preserve the memory of loved ones.

The invention of photography also coincided with the increasing popularity of hauntings, seances, and mediums during the rise of the spiritualist movement. Photography was a perfect way to connect with the spirit realm…or so it seemed.

William H. Mumler cashed in. A jeweler’s engraver by trade and the accidental inventor of “spirit photography,” Mumler figured out how to produce images with double exposures, giving one of the figures a ghostly quality.

His first ghostly image taken in March of 1861 was a total accident. He took a self-portrait in a friend’s studio using a plate that already was exposed. This image was circulated as a gag, and then fell into the hands of somebody at The Herald of Progress, a spiritualist journal. And from there his popularity exploded and his story began to change.

Soon, accounts of Mumler’s first self portrait were embellished with stories of his arm feeling numb. Some stories claimed he couldn’t take more than two or three spirit photographs a day, for connecting with the spirit world was exhausting work.

For just shy of two years, Mumler worked as a medium, taking portraits of living folks and “capturing” the spirits of their lost loved ones or sometimes lost strangers from beyond the grave.

These ghostly renderings became so popular that spiritualists hailed these photographs as scientific evidence of their beliefs. Even Mary Todd Lincoln had her photograph taken by Mumler.

In February 1863, a doctor sat for a portrait and when his spirit photograph developed, he recognized the spirit as a man who was very much alive. He was outraged and led the crusade to oust Mumler as a faker. Mumler was sued and acquitted, but his reputation was ruined.

The Getty owns an album of 39 Mumler spirit cartes-de-visite bound in a leather album. See each of the 39 spirit photographs here.