Cases That Haunt You

becklynn said:

Tara Calico bothers me. We had moved to a small town in the same county. We went to Port St.Joe {Joeseph} to go to the beach. We stopped at the same conveinience store we always did. My mom went into the store and came out asking about a van we were parked right next to when we pulled in. My brother and I were 13 and 10 and did not even notice any of the cars next to us. A truck had pulled in the same space or the space beside where my mom was asking about. Turns out that was when the photos thought to be Tara and a young boy were found. My mom brought the picture the people had found out to the car and asked if we had seen them. I was so shocked at the duct tape and fear in their faces my mom did not show my younger brother. She went back in the store and I thought I remembered the van but I had not paid any attention. The police came and we went to the beach. My mother ws always upset about this. She felt she should have seen something. Guess I felt that too.

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Thats facinating.Tara Calico is another one of those cases.Those pictures...
I know how your Mom Felt.I was back and forth through St.Regis Montana several times during the Groene Children kidnapping and Missed Duncan and Shasta by hours at the Connoco in Kellogg Idaho.
You cant help but wonder if only...

MaryBeth said:

Sorry for posting twice on this thread...but there is another case I have been intrigued with for a long time. It has a thread on WS though it hasn't garnered much discussion. I became involved in this when I found the website of the two filmmakers who were making a documentary about this case. I began communicating with the filmmakers, and they turned out a wonderful documentary.

In Villisca, Iowa on June 10, 1912 there were eight people murdered with an axe while they slept. The victims were Josiah and Sara Moore and their four children, Herman, Katherine, Boyd and Paul and two visiting neighbor children, Lena and Ina Stillinger. The murder is unsolved to this day. But the story of the murders, their aftermath and how they ripped apart this very small town is fascinating. Here is the link to the WS thread and also the link to the documentary about the Villisca murders.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36661&highlight=Villisca

http://www.villiscamovie.com/

It's a fascinating case but particularly tragic because out of the eight victims, six were children. The film is very well done. I would highly recommend anyone interested in this case to check out the documentary.

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Post as many times as you like! I am.

Stella said:

Any of the old cases, like before 1960, get to me. Ruth Baumgardner, the Foote/Wolf double murder in Parma, Ohio in 1921. .

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I'm not familiar with the Foote/Wolfe case, could you share a bit?

The case of Tara Calico is one that really gets to me. It's also the only case that has ever given me nightmares. The photographs believed to be her are haunting. I follow several other cases on here, but Tara's really intrigues me.

raindrops300 said:

The case of Tara Calico is one that really gets to me. It's also the only case that has ever given me nightmares. The photographs believed to be her are haunting. I follow several other cases on here, but Tara's really intrigues me.

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Yeah,I know there is some debate but Im convinced thats her in that Van photo.
Its frustrating because obviously there is much more to the story of this tragedy then we'll probably ever know and because Id like shove a roll of Duck Tape down the Photographer's throat.

raindrops300 said:

The case of Tara Calico is one that really gets to me. It's also the only case that has ever given me nightmares. The photographs believed to be her are haunting. I follow several other cases on here, but Tara's really intrigues me.

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Yeah,I know there is some debate but Im convinced thats her in that Van photo.
Its frustrating because obviously there is much more to the story of this tragedy then we'll probably ever know and because Id like shove a roll of Duck Tape down the Photographer's throat.
(Woops,my emotional involvement is showing)

What a daunting question!!!

Cases that haunt me are mostly Does:

Lyle Stevik
Sharon Marshall
Rancine Jane Doe (that one PM-pic scares the living daylights out of me everytime)
'Jason Doe'
Buckskin Doe
Caledonia JD
Arroyo Grande JD
Tara Calico (Indeed those photos are just disturbing)

And those are just off the top of my head....

OilPainter:
Thanks flyboy for the information. I too saw the site and hope some answers emerge but I'm missing the implication of the wallet. Could you elaborate a little more on that? Why would his friend find it strange that he dropped his wallet? What does that mean?

The answer to this question is probably as obvious as the keyboard on my desk but I'm missing it.

I also suspect that even though he had a bad relationship with his boss and co-workers he probably thought he could stick it out for a few more weeks until school started.

So sad.

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Hi OilPainter,

I wrote to the website again and asked about the wallet and some other things. I was just going to summarize but I thought it was an interesting read. I'm forwarding it along pretty much as it came.

"We thought the wallet was interesting at first because we figured, if Mike were trying to intentionally disappear, one of the things he would do would be to completely get rid of his identify. So it would be logical that he would leave his wallet, his car, his bank account, all of it behind.

Mike lived with a large, very religious family. He was the sole member of the family who both rejected, and was a bit embarrassed by, some of the religious rituals the others practiced. Mike was also part of a blended family, and was quite a bit different from his step-siblings. He was generally an outsider in his own family.

He was close to his father. He was the "golden boy" of the family, and so they were a little jealous of him because people really liked Mike, he was smart, and everything seemed to go really well for him. It sounds funny, but it really is a good analogy: Mike's story really is very much like Cinderella.

At work, Mike had a boss who not only jumped on him for every little thing at every turn, he took great pride in humiliating Mike in front of customers and other employees. Mike was smart, charismatic, witty, kind, attractive, and really good at anything he set out to do. That included academics, drumming in the marching band, his job, you name it. His boss was the polar opposite of Mike, and he was nearly twice Mike's age. Mike never raised his voice or lost his temper, and his boss resented Mike for everything that he was. Mike always handled it well until that last day.

He wasn't going to go back to work at all after the last humiliation his boss subjected him to. His dad advised him that he should go back to work for his last remaining two weeks, since he enjoyed his job and was good at it, and not let his boss unfairly run him out of it.

His dad has never forgiven himself for that. He thinks, had he not given Mike that advice and just let him quit like he wanted to, Mike would still be here. The unfortunate thing about that is it's actually good advice for a father to give his teenage son. But on this particular day, Mike went missing.

We thought that Mike had just enough and took off. That's why the wallet was significant. But then we were able to verify that Mike had reserved and paid for a dorm room at the University he was attending, and had bought the supplies he needed for his freshman year.

We also found out, after a lot of investigating, that it wouldn't have mattered if Mike had returned to the store that day or not. Mike tended to attract people into his orbit that could be very jealous and possessive of him. Mike, for all of his book smarts, didn't seem to recognize this as fast as he could have. The men that targeted Mike had a specific need for him, and so they chose him as their victim. For what they wanted of him, they would have gotten Mike whether he had returned to that store that day or not."

I plan on writing back because now my curiosity about Michael being "chosen" is peaked. Kline, I hope I haven't hijacked your thread. If you'd like me to move Michael to his own thread just let me know.

gaia227, thanks for posting the Dyatlov Pass Incident. I hadn't read about that one before. But I'm adding it to my list of cases now. I've been scouring the internet reading up on it ever since you posted about it. It's a fascinating read.

Dolores Dellapenna.

This was a Philly girl who was grabbed right outside her home back in the late 70's. A neighbor even heard her scream. Poor Dolores was dismembered. Parts of her body were found in different places. Her head has never been found.

This is a heart wrenching case because Dolores's parents were obviously devastated. Local police and Detective's believed they knew that meth dealers killed Dolores and about 10 years ago they were going to announce a suspect who had been in prison for another crime. Alas, that didn't happen. I pray for Dolores all the time that she is in peace and I pray for her family.



Mark Hinbaugh.

Did I spell that correctly? The little boy missing for many years from Cape May County, New Jersey. For years we'd see this little boys adorable face from billboards on the way down the shore. It broke my heart everytime I saw a flier or poster. I pray wherever Mark is he is safe and at peace.

There are several cases that have especially touched me.

* Sharon Marshall - I read A Beautiful Child last month and I've thought of her every day since.
* Betty McCullough - a 10 year old girl who could not hear or speak. Early one morning in 1941 she walked outside of her home in Silver Creek Falls, Oregon to get some water from the pump and disappeared. Tragically, Betty was terminally ill and only had a few more years to live. http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2054dfor.html
* Marjorie West - a 4 year old girl who disappeared in 1938 while picking wildflowers during a family picnic in the White Gravel area near Bradford, Pennsylvania. http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/799dfpa.html
* Sabrina Paige Aisenberg
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1867dffl.html
* Daniel Morecombe, a 12 year old boy who disappeared from my state, Queensland, Australia. http://www.mako.org.au/danielmorcombe1.html
* An unidentified teenage girl who died of a drug overdose in Tempe Arizona in 2002.
http://doenetwork.org/cases/501ufaz.html
* The unidentified young man wearing a Grateful Dead shirt who died in a traffic accident.
* The two unidentified young brothers, who were found murdered in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada in 1953. They were about 7 to 10 years old and had been murdered with an axe, possibly by their mother. Doe Network case numbers http://doenetwork.org/cases/68umbc.html
http://doenetwork.org/cases/69umbc.html
* The boy in the box
* An undentified man about 28 years old who was horribly murdered in 1977 and dumped in a septic tank in Tofield, Alberta, Canada. No one should have to go through eternity known only as 'Septic Tank Sam'. http://doenetwork.org/cases/1046umab.html
* The unidentified young teenagers whose skeletal remains were found in Mendocino County, California in 1979 (the year I was born). http://doenetwork.org/cases/111umca.html
http://doenetwork.org/cases/131ufca.html
* A newborn boy who was neglected to death and dumped in the trash in 1980 in Pennslyvania. http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase946.html
http://doenetwork.org/cases/131ufca.html
* The unidentified little boy who was beaten and thrown in Massey Creek, Southern Fairfax County, Virginia in 1972. http://doenetwork.org/cases/461umva.html
* An unidentified young woman who was strangled and shot and then dismembered in 1972. She was pregnant with a full term baby girl. Her remains were found in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. http://doenetwork.org/cases/169ufpa.html
* An unidentified 2 or 3 day old baby boy who was placed in a plastic bag and thrown in a pond in Huntington Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania in 1981. http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase992.html
* Princess Doe http://doenetwork.org/cases/36ufnj.html
* Little Delta Dawn http://doenetwork.org/cases/45ufms.html

The cases that haunt me the most are the ones where people disappear and no-one has any idea what happened. I think those situations can be the hardest on loved ones - there is no closure, they will always be looking. Not to say that there is ever 'closure' for families of victims but I can't imagine not knowing anything. If there is a body then at least one can focus on trying to find the perp. If there is a highly likely perp then you focus on trying to convist the perp and find a body.

For thse reasons I think more about Maura Murray and Rachel Cooke then Natalie Holloway (I feel certain that the boys killed her and I hope they rot in hell!!! but it doesn't call to me).

I worry more about Leana Warner (Beaner) then Caylee (now that it appears quite certain that KC killed her).

etc.

http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/579200

*A Sad Christmas Story But Important Reminder About Safety*

tuppence said:

The cases that haunt me the most are the ones where people disappear and no-one has any idea what happened. I think those situations can be the hardest on loved ones - there is no closure, they will always be looking. Not to say that there is ever 'closure' for families of victims but I can't imagine not knowing anything. If there is a body then at least one can focus on trying to find the perp. If there is a highly likely perp then you focus on trying to convist the perp and find a body.

For thse reasons I think more about Maura Murray and Rachel Cooke then Natalie Holloway (I feel certain that the boys killed her and I hope they rot in hell!!! but it doesn't call to me).

I worry more about Leana Warner (Beaner) then Caylee (now that it appears quite certain that KC killed her).

etc.

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I totaly agree.
As a parent I cant think of a better definition of hell then to have one of your children walk out of the house one day and never come back.
To have years go by and to have to live with the various scenarios your imagination would torture you with.And never an answer.
Thats why the Bonnie Bickwit and Mitchel Weiser case hit me so hard.
Gone since 1973.I dont want to imagine.

Ilene Misheloff
Candy Starr-1975
Natalee Holloway
Caylee Anthony
Maddi McCann
Jon Benet Ramsey
Chandra Levy

Boy, that Maura Murray case is weird. Hard to separate whether she was targeted opportunistically because she was vulnerable at the time, or whether her bizarre behavior was what directly caused her demise.

littlehorn said:

Boy, that Maura Murray case is weird. Hard to separate whether she was targeted opportunistically because she was vulnerable at the time, or whether her bizarre behavior was what directly caused her demise.

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littlehorn - have you read this in-depth article about her disappearence? It has a lot of info and is really interesting. A must read for anyone interested in Maura's case.

http://southshorexpress.net/content/view/48/174/

Maura is one of those that really gets me. So many inconsistencies, things that just don't add up, the various sightings of her, the damage to the car not being congruent with the accident scene, the rag stuffed in the tailpipe, the eerie message left on her boyfriends cell phone, Maura's actions before she left on that fateful trip to whereever she was going.

It is enough to drive a person nuts.

Thanks for that link, it's a great article, I'm reading it right now!

Back in mid '70s a young girl was murdered by stranglulation here. The barn she was murdered in has been restored and sit in a small park along with an old house which houses the local historical society. I pass the barn several times a week either on my bike or driving by and the spot is so tranquil, overlooking the Pacific Ocean; you would never know what happened there.

This is my hometown and it was a small beach town then and everybody knew everybody. The children involved were a girl about 8, her younger brother and a boy about 11 or 12. The kids lived in some rundown apartments overlooking the lagoon. They had been playing in an old barn about a block from the beach and supposedly, the girl went missing. The older boy told a story about her being carried off by a "bushy haired stranger" and after a search, her body was found in the barn.
The kicker was, the police never believed the story. No search ever provided any evidence that a bushy haired stranger was hanging around. I know this because I was casually dating a police officer at the time. The five year old said that the older boy choked her but he was a Downs child and the DA said his testimony would not be allowed. The older boy told several stories before his parents sort of said, ""put up or shut up" and the whole matter was dropped.

Both families involved were not "locals" and poor, so there was little effort to reach the truth. Both families moved on and I guess, left the area altogether.

I do wonder what happened to the older boy, where he is today. He knows he murdered her; did he murder again? Is he a father of children now? Does he live a normal life or is one of the monsters we read about and discuss here?

CASuzk said:

Back in mid '70s a young girl was murdered by stranglulation here. The barn she was murdered in has been restored and sit in a small park along with an old house which houses the local historical society. I pass the barn several times a week either on my bike or driving by and the spot is so tranquil, overlooking the Pacific Ocean; you would never know what happened there.

This is my hometown and it was a small beach town then and everybody knew everybody. The children involved were a girl about 8, her younger brother and a boy about 11 or 12. The kids lived in some rundown apartments overlooking the lagoon. They had been playing in an old barn about a block from the beach and supposedly, the girl went missing. The older boy told a story about her being carried off by a "bushy haired stranger" and after a search, her body was found in the barn.
The kicker was, the police never believed the story. No search ever provided any evidence that a bushy haired stranger was hanging around. I know this because I was casually dating a police officer at the time. The five year old said that the older boy choked her but he was a Downs child and the DA said his testimony would not be allowed. The older boy told several stories before his parents sort of said, ""put up or shut up" and the whole matter was dropped.

Both families involved were not "locals" and poor, so there was little effort to reach the truth. Both families moved on and I guess, left the area altogether.

I do wonder what happened to the older boy, where he is today. He knows he murdered her; did he murder again? Is he a father of children now? Does he live a normal life or is one of the monsters we read about and discuss here?

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wow. very creepy story. do you know his name?

Here's another one I wanted to add to my list. The 1928 disappearance of Glen and Bessie Hyde. This one fascinates me more than haunts me. The book about this case that Brad Dimock wrote, Sunk Without a Sound, is wonderful. I think it's pretty obvious what happened, but the folklore surrounding this case is intriguing to read about.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35012&highlight=Bessie+Hyde

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/hyde_bessie.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/hyde_glen.html