True Crime

“Dime Mystery Magazine”  July 1943

Death Is the Wedding Guest by Bruno Fischer

The Corpse and the Candle by Fredric Brown

Bodies for the Black Market by William R. Cox

The Light That Brought Death by Stewart Sterling

Killers’ Tournament by Russell Gray

On October 11, 1945, a black teenager was found wandering the streets of Jacksonville, Illinois early in the morning. He was unable to communicate, as he was deaf and mute. He was put into a mental institution and later given the name John Doe No. 24, as he was the 24th unidentified person in the states mental health care system. When John Doe was in the institution, he survived beatings, overcrowding, hunger, and dehumanizing treatment that was so common in institutions during the 1950s. Despite all of this, he took on responsibilities, made friends, and even developed a sense of humor. John Doe had often written the name “Lewis” on a piece of paper, which may have hinted at what his name was. Unfortunately, after many years of struggling with his health, becoming blind due to diabetes, and developing colon cancer, he died of a stroke on November 28, 1993. Singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter purchased a headstone for John Doe No. 24 after hearing about his story and later wrote a song entitled “John Doe No. 24″. Despite efforts by authorities to identify John Doe, he remains unidentified and his case unsolved.

Sources:

Doe Network

NY Times

The Original Ronald McDonald (C. 1960)

This was the original design of Ronald McDonald for McDonald restaurants. 

Neurotoxins That Present Strong Connections to Aggressive/Violent Behaviour. 

Manganese.

Depletes the neurotransmitters of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Long term negative effects on the brain and nervous system development and functioning. Excessive exposure has been linked to poor attention, poor impulse control, and other neurological factors.

Cadmium.

Has a nonspecific effect on most neurotransmitters. Restricts calcium-meditated release of the transmitters. Long term negative effects on brain development and intelligence. Excessive exposure may lead to aggression and violence.

Lead.

Damages functioning of neurotransmitters and destroys neurons relevant to learning, memory, cognition and self-regulation. Especially affects the prefrontal cortex. Exposure is associated with a variety of behavioural problems including poor organisation skills, violence, delinquency and criminal behaviour.

Mercury.

Damages functioning of neurotransmitters. Adversely affects the functioning and development of the central nervous system. Research suggests it contributes to problems in vision, learning, memory, attention, and behavioural control. At high doses, it appears to damage wide areas of brain functioning.

The Disorganized Offender.

The disorganized offender is likely to be of below-average intelligence or of low birth status in the family. Also, harsh parental discipline is sometimes reported in childhood. The father’s work history is unstable, and the disorganized offender seems to mirror this pattern with his own inconsistent and poor work history. Typically, this offender is usually preoccupied with recurring obsessional and/or primitive thoughts and is in a confused and distressed frame of mind at the time of the crime. This type of offender is socially inadequate and often he has never married, lives alone or with a parental figure and lives in close proximity to the crime scene. This offender is also fearful of people and often acts impulsively. The impression given by the disorganized crime scene is that the crime has been committed suddenly and with no set plan of action for deterring detection. The victim may be known to the offender, but the age and sex of the victim do not matter. This offender depersonalizes the victim. Specific areas of the body may be targetted for extreme brutality. Any sexually sadistic acts, often in the form of extreme mutilation, are usually performed after the victim has died.

A Case Example of a Disorganized Offender.

A husband returning home from work at 6PM discovered his wife’s corpse in the bedroom of their home. An autopsy later revealed that she had been murdered sometime in the morning after being confronted by the assailant as she took garbage outside. The victim was shot in the head four times and thereafter disembowelled with a knife obtained in her home. No evidence of sexual assault or molestation was found, other than slash wounds to her breasts and mutilation to internal reproductive organs. The victim was first slashed in the abdomen, and the assailant pulled her intestines out of the body cavity. The victim also had what was later determined to be animal faeces in her mouth. Garbage was strewn around the house. A yoghurt cup was found, and indications that the murderer used the cup to collect blood from the victim, which he then drank. 

On the same day, a house burglary occurred within a mile of the victim’s residence. Garbage was found thrown around the home and the assailant has urinated and defecated in the house. Fortunately, no one was home at the time.

Two days later, the carcass of a dog was found in the same neighbourhood. The dog had also been shot and disembowelled, the same as the murder victim. 

Four days after the first slaying, a woman found the corpses of her male-friend, her female neighbour and the neighbour’s child after receiving no answer on the telephone as the three of them had planned a day trip. The child’s crib was covered in brain and skull matter and the woman had been disembowelled. The killer had attempted to remove one of her eye’s and had inserted a knife into her anus. Fingerprints with blood were found on her abdomen. The perpetrator was eventually arrested. It was uncovered that he had previously been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia after he was found sucking blood from a dead bird.

Morbidology 01: Timmy Wiltsey

This story takes place in South Amboy, New Jersey, and spans over 25 years. 5-year-old Timothy William Wiltsey, or Timmy as he was affectionately known by his loved ones, lived in a modest home with his single mother, 23-year-old Michelle Lodzinski. Those who knew Timmy recalled that he was mostly timid and shy but that he could be outgoing when he felt like it. He had a peculiar quirk of sleeping with his sneakers on and adored his cat, Norton, who slept in his bed each night. In the mornings, Timmy would wake up and wait for Nortan to “attack” his feet from under the covers. Timmy also adored the ice-cream man and fire trucks. He was quite a quirky young boy and family members would say that he loved lawn mowers and get quite angry if a relative cut their grass without him present.

Unfortunately Timmy never got the chance to reach his full potential. In May of 1991, Timmy was reported missing by his mother from a carnival. It would take over two decades before justice was finally served.

Prison’s a frame of thought. We’re all our own prisons. We are each our own wardens. We do our own time. Prison is in your mind. Can’t you see I’m free?

19 year old Faith Hedgepeth was a junior at UNC Chapel Hill when she was brutally murdered in her off-campus apartment on September 7th, 2012. Faith was a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Native American Tribe and hoped to one day return to her community to work as a doctor. She was working hard to accomplish that goal—in fact, on the night prior to her murder, Faith and her roommate Karena Rosario (pictured above with Faith, top left) spent the evening at the campus library to work on a project. The two returned to their apartment at around 12am and then promptly left again at 12:30am to go to Thrill nightclub—a spot that was popular amongst Chapel Hill students.

Faith and Karena returned to their apartment around 3am. Around 4:30am, Karena left the apartment once more, when she was picked up by another fellow Chapel Hill student, Jordan McCrary. Out of habit, Karena did not lock the door to their apartment when she left. Hours later, Karena wanted to return home, but was unable to get ahold of Faith for a ride. She instead called one of their mutual friends, Marisol Rangel, to pick her up. Karena and Marisol returned to Karena and Faith’s apartment around 11am. They called out Faith’s name, and when she did not answer, they opened her bedroom door and found Faith’s body partially covered by a bloody comforter on her bedroom floor. Karena immediately called 911 to report that her roommate had been murdered. When police arrived at the grisly scene, they found a paper bag near Faith’s body with words “I’m not stupid bitch jealous” (pictured above, bottom left) written on it.

As police investigated Faith’s murder, they pieced together a timeline that revealed interesting circumstances surrounding the events leading up to her death. From this timeline, it became clear that they initially had a lot of potential suspects.

Ashley Ann Williams vanished at the age of 22 on September 10th, 2017. She was reportedly last seen in Chula Vista, California and has never been seen or heard from again. There are unfortunately very few details available about Ashley’s disappearance, and it appears that news about her case did not circulate throughout the media. However, a Facebook page dedicated to finding Ashley has been set up that provides a few more details about the investigation.  

A post on the page has been written that states, “Ashley Williams is MISSING and has been missing since 9/10/2017!  She was last in Chula Vista. Friends and family have not heard from her since. This didn’t make the news or reach many social media outlets, and I’m not sure some of her other friends are even informed! Please share this and bring peace to Ashley and her loved ones. There is very little information available to go on in this case and anything helps, whether it seems relevant or not. If you want to remain anonymous you can reach out at [email protected].

If you find out that Ashley is simply avoiding her family and she is in a safe situation please contact the police phone number listed at CAG website and let them know what you found out. If you make contact, urge her to contact local authorities to explain she is safe. It is not illegal to avoid your family or lose contact with most your friends (but it is concerning and makes people think the person might have been harmed or harmed themselves). If she contacts police to tell them she is safe she can ask them not to reveal her location to her family. Police will simply tell them she was located unharmed and close the missing persons case. Chula Vista Police Department 619-691-5151.”

While this post hints at the possibility that Ashley might be missing on her own accord, other posters on the Facebook page have hinted at the possibility that Ashley’s boyfriend might have had something to do with her disappearance. There is unfortunately very little information about this man, and it is unclear if he’s been investigated by police.

Morbidology the Podcast - 12: Mick Philpott

As human beings, we all have ambitions and goals. For a number of people all across the world, their life’s ambition is quite simply to have a large family. In a perfect world, babies are born into hard-working families that do their best to provide for them a loving home and a stable environment. But what about those that are seen as nothing more than a source of income?

Mick Philpott first saw his name in the headlines in 2006, when he requested a bigger council-house for his massive family. Philpott had fathered 17 children by a number of different women and to fund his family, he relied solely on state benefits. His lifestyle was something which angered a number of hard-working Britons who felt as though he was procreating solely as a means of income.  

Britain had almost forgotten about the Philpott family when in 2012, tragedy struck when their house went up in flames, opening one of the most shocking criminal investigations that Derby had ever seen.

Episode 12 is available across all podcast platforms. Please listen and then share your thoughts with me!

Podcast Promos:

Lessons from Lifeline & Our Lives Their Deaths. 

Claudia Lawrence was a 35 year old chef that went missing from Heworth, York, England on March 18th, 2009. Lawrence was last seen near her home in Melrose Gate, York, Heworth as she was returning from work as a chef at the University of York’s Goodricke College at Roger Kirke Centre. However, she did speak to a friend and her mother over the phone that night to make plans with her mother for Mother’s Day that was coming up. Her last text message to her friend was at 8:23pm.

When Claudia failed to show up to work the next morning, she was reported missing to the North Yorkshire Police (or the NYP). Her band card and passport were both found at her house while she was missing. There were breakfast dishes in the sink and Claudia had also made her bed. It’s believed that Claudia left for work that morning because her work uniform was also never found. The police took forensics in Claudia’s home, car and other locations, but since there is no actual crime scene, the police are at a loss where to go from here.

Though there is no sure answer on what happened to Claudia, the police have always treated it like a homicide case and investigation. Claudia has been missing for more than a decade and the police are no closer to finding her than they were the day she went missing. However, police are convinced that whoever abducted by someone local to York and that is was someone that Claudia knew.

Throughout the madness and Claudia still being missing, a law was made in her honor. Guardianship (Missing’s Persons) Act 2014 which is also known as Claudia’s Law would allow for a a guardian to be appointed to a person for their personal and financial affairs if a person is missing over 90 days.