searchfortruth.info > Homicide Victims

Homicide Victims

Autopsy On Missing Woman Shows No Obvious Signs Of Trauma, Coroner Says

by

An autopsy performed on a Laguna Hills woman, whose body was found Monday in the Cleveland National Forest, showed no obvious signs of trauma, officials said.

Erica Alonso, 27 at the time, was last seen Feb. 15 after leaving her boyfriend's home in Irvine, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Her body was found about 10:30 p.m. Monday by biologists working for the California Department of Transportation.

The Orange County coroner's office completed its autopsy but has not been able to determine a cause of death, sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock said. Results for toxicology tests could take six to eight weeks.

Read More!

Justice Story: Death of the Speed King

by

In a way, the surprising thing was not that Marion (Mickey) Thompson was dead, but that he had lived so long. He had been flirting with death all his life.

How he died was even more out of character for the man known as the Speed King. It was not, as everyone had predicted, in a hunk of metal hurtling across the Utah salt flats or on a hairpin turn on a mountain road or on a drag strip.

When Thompson met death, he was moving at about 2 mph, walking toward his Toyota van at dawn on March 16, 1988. Padding along beside him was his wife of 17 years, L kmkmTrudy.

They were on their way to work at Anaheim Stadium, where they ran a racing-promotion company - Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group.

No one saw the killing, but neighbors in the posh community of Bradbury, Calif., heard screams and Thompson's voice, pleading,

Read More!

Paula Sladewski Pictures Exclusive: Parents Told Playboy Model to Leave Violent Relationship

by

NEW YORK (CBS)

Murdered model Paula Sladewski's step-father, Richard Watkins, said there was never a "honeymoon period" for the slain beauty and her boyfriend Kevin Klym. And the mourning dad begged the couple to break off their violent relationship. Photo: Paula Sladewski and boyfriend Kevin Klym.

"They fought from the beginning - physical, knock down fights," Watkins told CBS News' Crimesider.

Police have said Klym is a person of interest in the Jan. 3 murder that left Sladewski's body so badly burned it took Miami police two days to identify her - eventually through her dental records. She was believed dead before her body was desecrated, but police have not yet said how she died.

She was last seen alive sometime between 7 and 9 a.m. Sunday morning at a Miami night club. In a missing person report he filed hours before her burning body was found in a dumpster, Klym told police...

Read More!

Elderly Female Serial Sexual Homicide: A Limited Empirical Test of Criminal Investigative Analysis

by

Abstract:   The purpose of criminal investigative analysis is to assist law enforcement in identifying and apprehending violent offenders by discerning important suspect and crime scene characteristics. Criminal investigative analysis grew out of micro-level reviews of unusually violent crime cases. Lack of agreement as to what constitutes criminal investigative analysis has led some to view the process as more art than science. In an effort to clarify some of the issues, this study analyzed cases of serial sexual homicides of elderly women. Although the sexual homicide of elderly women is a small percentage of overall homicides in the United States, the study provided empirical evidence supporting use of criminal investigative analysis in solving these unusual cases. The study also revealed several points that merit further discussion: (1) Criminal investigative analysis is not simply impressionistic, but is based on practical and sound analysis by investigative analysts; (2) Elderly female sexual homicides illustrated an intra-racial offending pattern; and (3)...

Read More!

Column One : Murder Or Natural Causes? : Four Years After Crystal Spencer’s Death, Her Case Remains A Mystery. Following The Trail Leads To Rumors, Theories And Mishandled Evidence.

by

The death of Crystal Spencer has evolved into a bizarre mystery--a tangled web of rumors and botched evidence, lawsuits and personal obsession.

Nearly four years ago, the 29-year-old topless dancer was found dead in her disheveled Burbank apartment. She was half-nude, her body decomposed beyond recognition. Her telephone was off the hook.

Whether she was murdered, or merely died of a sudden illness, is a lingering question. Authorities labeled the cause of death "undetermined," leaving angry, tormented loved ones to cling to theories: Spencer was killed by the Japanese mafia. Spencer was an FBI informant murdered by strip-club hoodlums. Spencer was strangled by a ruthless suitor.

The case has taken on a "Twilight Zone" quality, as if fate intended some sleight of hand. On the night of her death, the couple downstairs heard what they later described as muffled shrieks and screams, the apparent cries of someone "being tortured." But they never called police...

Read More!