It is my understanding that she was attempting to call her grandfather but misdialed. She may not have been trained to call 911.
Last edited:
FL FL - Heather, 28, & Kira Radcliffe, 6, Gainesville, 9 December 2006
- Thread starter Truthful Lies
- Start date
It is my understanding that she was attempting to call her grandfather but misdialed. She may not have been trained to call 911.
Torching Kira's bedroom makes me wonder if Kira was raped. Could that have been the reason for the double murder? I think Heather knew her killer.
COLD, COLD, COLD. IMO detectives did little to properly investigate this double murder when it was fresh. There is no reason to believe they would have any interest in it all these many years later. Kira would be a young lady now, in full bloom. Such a heartbreaking tragedy.
bearfossils
TRUSTNO1
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2013
- Messages
- 163
- Reaction score
- 555
Bumping. The only thing more horrific than this crime is the absolute negligence on law enforcement’s part with their lazy, incompetent investigation. Heather and Kira deserve a passionate investigator who will dedicate themselves to finding justice for them. Anyone who is capable of murdering a mother and child needs to be locked up for life, not free to wander our streets and kill again. Hoping that Heather and Kira get the justice they so richly deserve sooner than later.
upz12
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2017
- Messages
- 27
- Reaction score
- 192
I'm a first time poster, so please be easy on me; I've never felt I had anything to contribute on these pages until this one. I live in Florida and will randomly read about cold cases in places where I’ve resided over the years – one of which is Gainesville.
In December of 2005, I graduated from UF and my professor for FMF that last semester was Professor Radcliffe. I remember him well, his wife passed away unexpectedly that semester and he missed a significant amount of time. Before she got sick, I distinctly remember the professor talking about his family often in the very proud way a grandparent does and specifically mentioning his grandchildren and children. After his wife passed though, he could barely get through lectures because he was so grief-stricken – he was a strong family man.
After graduating that December, I moved away and emailed Prof. Radcliffe once for a letter of recommendation which he graciously provided. Not living in Gainesville though, I never heard about his daughter and granddaughter the following year and was horrified to read this; I can’t figure out why this isn’t better known. (?) It’s not well covered by the Sun or any local news sites.
This page is pretty inactive but Bob, if you still read or monitor this site, I’m really sorry about your sister, niece and Dad. Your father was a very good man and I still remember a lot of what he taught me to this day. He impacted a lot of people’s lives in very meaningful ways. (as Heather and Kira did too, although I never had the honor of meeting them)
Reflecting on that period, the fall of 2006 in Gainesville would have been a really good time to live there. Gainesville was your typical one-university college town then, as it is now. Looking at that date on the calendar, the town would have been pretty euphoric, as UF beat Arkansas the previous weekend and earned a berth to play Ohio State in the National Championship game that January.
I checked the UF calendar for 12/2006; exams began that Saturday and ended the following week. That’s a complicating factor when you consider most students are ‘off-the-grid’ studying during finals, then partying and thus potentially unaware of the crime. On top of that, the majority of students immediately left town for the holidays after finals; that’s potentially 30k – 40k witnesses/suspects walking away at a crucial time in the investigation.
Referencing the Florida Alligator archives (the student newspaper) it doesn’t appear they ever wrote a story on the case but I didn’t scour the archives and they didn’t publish a paper after the crime until late in the first or second week of January.
Fall 2006 Commencement: Regalia Order Information and Deadline » Administrative Memo » University of Florida
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/alligator
People just didn’t know about this.
A couple of observations – I read all the Gainesville Sun articles from Dec. 2006 on Google archives and they lived on a cul-de-sac, NW 32nd Place:
· Like most college towns, during finals week the area around campus never really sleeps. She lived in an area that wouldn’t be classified as ‘student heavy’ and was away from campus but it had a student presence. (Mostly graduate students from my memory)
· The area directly East of her home was and still is a big commercial area that had a 24-hour Walmart (where Burlington is now on 13th) within a 10 minute walk east on NW 29th.
· Her house backed up to a round-a-bout on NW 29th that would have been a potential cut-through to NW 39th (from 13th) a major East-West thoroughfare.
· I don’t believe that McDonalds at 29th & 13th was 24-hours at the time but the Checkers was open 24-7 and was next to a low budget motel.
One thing that really struck me is an early Sun article referencing a neighbor saying they were asked by investigators about blue collar workers visiting their homes during the period leading up to the crime; it’s also been mentioned they spent a lot of time playing in the backyard. If you find her address (it’s not difficult) the backyard is directly visible from the Eagle Trace Townhomes which were being built at the time of the crime. (I checked Zillow) The house directly behind her lot on 31st Place was built after the crime too, so I’m assuming that was open land, making both mother/daughter visible to anyone driving regularly on 29th and the construction workers.
GPD or ACSO has to have some sort of physical evidence. (finger nail scrapings, ect.) This case needs to be solved.
In December of 2005, I graduated from UF and my professor for FMF that last semester was Professor Radcliffe. I remember him well, his wife passed away unexpectedly that semester and he missed a significant amount of time. Before she got sick, I distinctly remember the professor talking about his family often in the very proud way a grandparent does and specifically mentioning his grandchildren and children. After his wife passed though, he could barely get through lectures because he was so grief-stricken – he was a strong family man.
After graduating that December, I moved away and emailed Prof. Radcliffe once for a letter of recommendation which he graciously provided. Not living in Gainesville though, I never heard about his daughter and granddaughter the following year and was horrified to read this; I can’t figure out why this isn’t better known. (?) It’s not well covered by the Sun or any local news sites.
This page is pretty inactive but Bob, if you still read or monitor this site, I’m really sorry about your sister, niece and Dad. Your father was a very good man and I still remember a lot of what he taught me to this day. He impacted a lot of people’s lives in very meaningful ways. (as Heather and Kira did too, although I never had the honor of meeting them)
Reflecting on that period, the fall of 2006 in Gainesville would have been a really good time to live there. Gainesville was your typical one-university college town then, as it is now. Looking at that date on the calendar, the town would have been pretty euphoric, as UF beat Arkansas the previous weekend and earned a berth to play Ohio State in the National Championship game that January.
I checked the UF calendar for 12/2006; exams began that Saturday and ended the following week. That’s a complicating factor when you consider most students are ‘off-the-grid’ studying during finals, then partying and thus potentially unaware of the crime. On top of that, the majority of students immediately left town for the holidays after finals; that’s potentially 30k – 40k witnesses/suspects walking away at a crucial time in the investigation.
Referencing the Florida Alligator archives (the student newspaper) it doesn’t appear they ever wrote a story on the case but I didn’t scour the archives and they didn’t publish a paper after the crime until late in the first or second week of January.
Fall 2006 Commencement: Regalia Order Information and Deadline » Administrative Memo » University of Florida
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/alligator
People just didn’t know about this.
A couple of observations – I read all the Gainesville Sun articles from Dec. 2006 on Google archives and they lived on a cul-de-sac, NW 32nd Place:
· Like most college towns, during finals week the area around campus never really sleeps. She lived in an area that wouldn’t be classified as ‘student heavy’ and was away from campus but it had a student presence. (Mostly graduate students from my memory)
· The area directly East of her home was and still is a big commercial area that had a 24-hour Walmart (where Burlington is now on 13th) within a 10 minute walk east on NW 29th.
· Her house backed up to a round-a-bout on NW 29th that would have been a potential cut-through to NW 39th (from 13th) a major East-West thoroughfare.
· I don’t believe that McDonalds at 29th & 13th was 24-hours at the time but the Checkers was open 24-7 and was next to a low budget motel.
One thing that really struck me is an early Sun article referencing a neighbor saying they were asked by investigators about blue collar workers visiting their homes during the period leading up to the crime; it’s also been mentioned they spent a lot of time playing in the backyard. If you find her address (it’s not difficult) the backyard is directly visible from the Eagle Trace Townhomes which were being built at the time of the crime. (I checked Zillow) The house directly behind her lot on 31st Place was built after the crime too, so I’m assuming that was open land, making both mother/daughter visible to anyone driving regularly on 29th and the construction workers.
GPD or ACSO has to have some sort of physical evidence. (finger nail scrapings, ect.) This case needs to be solved.
Last edited:
upz12
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2017
- Messages
- 27
- Reaction score
- 192
Cold case remains unsolved after 15 years
Police found the body of 28-year-old Heather Radcliffe and her 6-year-old daughter Kira after they responded to a house fire.
killarney rose
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2011
- Messages
- 3,332
- Reaction score
- 9,439
The Radcliffe case reminds me of this one-
www.websleuths.com
FL - Teresa, 25, & Tiffany Hall, 5, Cypress, 10 Dec 1991
In December 1991, a 26-year-old mother and her 6-year-old daughter were bludgeoned to death. Her husband was originally a suspect - but he was out of town at the time. Do you know anything about this case?
www.websleuths.com