Free Republic

Detectives finally discovered the fate of the family who vanished in their car almost 70 years ago on their way to find Christmas decorations in Oregon. The group of five went missing in December 1958 in a case that gripped America. Two of the children were found dead months after the disappearance, but the other members had not turned up. But now, parents Kenneth and Barbara, and daughter, Barbie Martin, have been identified from human remains found in the Columbia River, officials said.

Arizona’s Family has learned new information about the life an Arizona woman had after she allegedly killed her baby 45 years ago in North Dakota. Investigators said Nancy Trottier, 65, lived a life of serving the disabled following the alleged crime. She had no criminal history when she was arrested in Arizona last week and is charged with murder. For 41 years, Trottier was a teacher at the North Dakota School for the Deaf. She is a mother of four who has dedicated her life to teaching children with disabilities. The baby, whom police named Rebecca, was discovered in the...

A more than 50-year-old Utah cold case murder has been identified as another victim of the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy using advanced DNA techniques.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — This week marks the 25th anniversary of one of Arizona's most notorious unsolved crimes. On the morning of April 10, 2001, Scottsdale police responded to reports of an explosion at a home near 74th and Oak streets. Upon arrival, the bodies of Mary Fisher and her two children, Bobby and Brittney, were discovered in the burning residence. The three victims appeared to have sustained fatal injuries before the house fire. And the family's patriarch, Robert Fisher, was nowhere to be seen. Police later named Fisher as a suspect as investigators believed he rigged the family's home to...

A man who had a history of impersonating law enforcement has been arrested in a 1990 cold case double murder known as the "Lovers' Lane" killings, authorities said. Floyd William Parrott, 64, is charged with capital murder for the killings of Cheryl Henry, 22, and Garland "Andy" Atkinson, 21, Houston police said. The victims' car was found parked in a cul-de-sac on Aug. 23, 1990, police said. Henry and Atkinson, who had been dating for a few weeks, were found near the car, according to court documents. Both of their necks were cut with knives and they were tied up...

A decades-old cold case has reached a breakthrough, with a suspect arrested in connection with the 1994 murder of Clive Bland in Pacific Beach. Detectives with the San Diego Police Department’s Cold Case Unit say 50-year-old Jeffry Brandenburg was arrested on Thursday in Santa Cruz. He has been booked for the murder of 40-year-old Clive Bland. Bland was stabbed on January 2, 1994, and was found slumped over on the porch of 778 Tourmaline Street. But evidence showed the stabbing happened on the beach near Tourmaline Surf Park. Police suggested Bland had gotten into his car and appeared he had...

A North Carolina mother of three who vanished over two decades ago was found alive and living a new life — leaving her family reeling with questions over her whereabouts, according to authorities and reports. Michele Lyn Hundley Smith, then 38, disappeared in December 2001 after leaving her home in Eden to do Christmas shopping at a Kmart in Virginia, according to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office. Smith’s “troubling” disappearance prompted multiple agencies across North Carolina and Virginia, including the FBI, to search for the mother of three for “countless” hours and pursue multiple investigative leads, cops said. A missing...

Nearly 44 years after 13-year-old Sarah Geer was brutally raped and strangled to death in a Cloverdale alley, the girl’s murderer has been convicted, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office announced. On Friday, a Sonoma County jury found 66-year-old James Oliver Unick guilty of the May 23, 1982, murder and found true that he committed a sexual assault during the commission of murder. Unick was ultimately identified as the suspect and arrested on July 22, 2024, after a cigarette he had smoked was collected by FBI agents and analyzed to be a match of DNA evidence at the scene of...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — After over 45 years of uncertainty, the families of Lynn Vest and her 2-year-old nephew, Jeremy Pickens, finally have answers. The pair disappeared in November 1980 after going out to run errands, last seen at Hamilton and Main in Whitehall, and were found dead in the trunk of Vest's car, four miles away at Kelton and Main Streets. The father of Vest, a CPD robbery detective at the time, had reported them missing. Lynn had been strangled, and Jeremy suffocated. Missing from the scene were Lynn's credit card, some money, and her wedding ring. On Friday,...

Tulsa Police are appealing to the community for assistance in solving two unsolved homicide cases from last year. Despite maintaining one of the highest homicide solve rates in the country, with a near 95% solve rate last year, two cases remain open. The Tulsa Police Department (TPD) believes that someone in the community holds the key to solving these cases. Richard Meulenberg, TPD public information officer, highlighted Tulsa's exceptional solve rate, stating, "Tulsa, historically, over the last several years, our solve rate is significantly above the national average. The national average for solving homicides hovers just at or below 60%."...

The initial suspect, Judith Lord's neighbor, has been found responsible for her murder.The 1975 murder of Judith Lord in New Hampshire has now been solved through modern forensic science, the state Attorney General’s Office announced Monday. On May 20, 1975, Judith “Judy” Lord, 22, was found strangled to death in her home at the Concord Garden Apartments. The buildings operations manager, who went to Lord’s apartment to collect overdue rent, entered after hearing a baby’s persistent cries and discovered Lord lying unresponsive in an upstairs bedroom with a blue plastic sauna suit covering her face, officials said. Lord’s 20-month-old son...

By KGThanks to advanced DNA technology, law enforcement has solved a 12-year-old case. Authorities now say the unidentified human remains -- discovered more than a decade ago -- belong to Velma Louise Silva Lee of Napa. Lee was born in 1936 and had been missing for years. Advanced DNA technology opened the door and shed light on a case that has stumped investigators for more than a decade. The mystery surrounding a human skull found in Redding 12 years ago has finally been solved. The family of Lee now has some answers. "This person's name was finally realized after many,...

Saskatoon police say they have solved a mystery that goes back more than a century. The remains of an unknown female were discovered in a well shaft in Saskatoon's Sutherland neighbourhood in 2006. Now, almost 20 years later, she has been identified as Alice Spence (nee Burke), a woman of Irish ancestry who was about 35 years old at the time of her death. Investigators believe Alice, who lived in what was the town of Sutherland at the time, died of foul play sometime from 1916 to 1918. -snip The case sat for nearly 20 years without a lead until...

For the first time in the U.S., an identical twin has been convicted of a crime based on DNA analysis. The breakthrough came from Parabon Nanolabs, who’s scientists used deep whole genome sequencing to identify extremely rare “somatic mutations” that differentiated Russell Marubbio and his twin, John. The results were admitted as evidence in court, making last week’s conviction of Russell in the 1987 rape of a 50-year-old woman a landmark case. Case background On Dec. 19, 1987, the victim, a 50-year-old woman, was working as a clerk at a gas station in Woodbridge, Va. She left the store to...

New details are emerging following a 17-year cold case involving the murder of Demond Taylor, a Florissant Valley Campus Police Officer. On June 20, 2008, Taylor was fatally shot while sitting inside a car near Page and Academy Avenues in the city of St. Louis. Taylor was off duty at the time of the shooting. For 17 years, the case went unsolved. But this past weekend, the circuit attorney’s office, alongside St. Louis police, announced charges against 46-year-old Brandon Levy. According to court documents, investigators relied largely on eyewitness testimony. Police say three witnesses came forward between 2018 and 2025,...

On May 16, 2025, the remains of a human foot inside a hiking boot were found in a shoe on the shores of Fishlake, Utah. Investigators were able to determine the hiking boot was only made in 1996 for one year. Sevier County Sheriff’s Office (Utah) had a cold case where an individual from Washington, Utah had gone missing in September 1997. That individual was David White. White intended to go fishing with friends and had rented a nearby hotel room. Those plans fell through so White, an avid fisherman, went fishing solo. His boat was later reportedly found trolling...

A 4-year-old boy who was found dead in Lorton, Virginia, more than 50 years ago, and whose name has remained a mystery, has finally been identified after a flood of tips, a series of DNA tests and decades of twists and turns. Fairfax County police Chief Kevin Davis announced the breakthrough Monday, saying the child’s identification has led police to two people who are believed to have been involved in his killing, and another missing boy whose body has never been discovered. The case of the boy, identified as 4-year-old Carl Matthew Bryant, confounded police and the public for decades....

Police have arrested a 67-year-old man in connection with the death of a woman over 30 years ago. Shona Stevens, 31, was found badly injured on a footpath in a wooded area near to the rear of Alder Green in the Bourtreehill Park area of Irvine on Thursday, November 10, 1994 and died later in hospital. The police investigation was hampered after vital evidence from the crime scene was feared to have been blown away by the downdraught of the helicopter ­airlifting Shona to hospital in Glasgow. Shona sadly died three days later after sustaining serious head injuries. Five weeks...

FRANKLIN — A cold case from 1994 that captured national attention was the focus of a significant update from Franklin Police on Monday. The press conference took place at the gravesite of the infant known as Baby Hope, located in Greenlawn Cemetery, marking the first major update on the murder case in several years. On April 13, 1994, two boys searching through a trash can in Temple Park in Franklin for aluminum cans stumbled upon the body of a newborn infant. The preliminary investigation revealed that the baby had been stabbed to death shortly after her birth. The discovery shocked...

Audrey vanished in 1962 after a babysitter said they took a bus from Madison to Indianapolis. She was never seen again, until she resurfaced 60 years later at age 82A woman who vanished 60 years ago has been found alive at the age of 82, leaving her family and authorities stunned. Audrey Backberg, who disappeared from her Wisconsin home in 1962, has resurfaced, claiming she has “no regrets" about her decision. Audrey was just 20 years old when she vanished. Her disappearance led to a frantic search by her family and local police, which eventually turned into a ‘cold...