cold-case-diaries

[cold-case-diaries]

[cold-case-diaries]

the volume in this bus

the real cringe of the world is that there are people who actually believe the west memphis three killed those 3 boys

[cold-case-diaries]

In the early hours of February 1, 1982, Tina Foglia (19) was at Hammerheads, a club in West Islip, New York. She went to see a local band from Queens she liked, before leaving at around 3 am. Her family reported her missing on February 3. 

That was also the day they found her dismembered body, put inside several plastic bags and left in an exit ramp in Sagtikos Parkway, in Suffolk County. The autopsy determined she had died of asphyxia by smothering, and that her limbs had been cleanly cut, possibly with a butcher’s knife.

Tina’s murder has never been solved and the case remains open, with police still asking for tips as recently as June 2017. Some have theorized that she might have been a victim of the still unidentified Long Island Serial Killer, since Suffolk County has been the area he’s left bodies and Sagtikos Parkway leads to Oak and Gilgo Beaches, his dumping ground of choice.

This is, of course, mere conjecture at this time. The LISK is listed as active since 1996, but as it often happens with serial killers, it’s almost impossible to determine the exact number of his victims or when did they really started their crimes. Tina’s sister says that shortly before she was murdered, Tina said she was dating a doctor she really liked, but never revealed his name. It’s also possible she was hitchhiking the night she left the club and her killer picked her up that way.

[cold-case-diaries]

Shannan Gilbert and the Long Island Serial Killer

The year is 2010. 24 year-old Shannan Gilbert is working as an escort in New York. On may first of the same year she goes with her driver Mike to meet a client at his home in Oak Beach, Long Island. According to her client, who has gone by the name Joe, out of nowhere she started saying they were trying to kill her. There was a 22-minute 911 call made by Shannan that night which has not yet been released by police. During that call she allegedly ran out of the house and into the night, all alone.

A few days later a man claiming to be Dr. Peter Hackett called Shannan’s mother (Mari Gilbert) and claimed that he ran “a home for wayward girls” and that Shannan had been there that night. He also asked if Shannan had been found yet. This came as a shock to Mari: her daughter hadn’t even been reported missing yet. 

The call was traced back to Hackett’s wife’s phone, and it was determined to have been made in New Jersey, just miles away from where Mari Gilbert lived.

In 2011 Peter Hackett vehemently denied both making this call and running the “home for wayward girls”. 

Many years later questions still remain: how did Dr. Hackett get Mari’s phone number? Was the location of the call just a bizarre coincidence, or something more sinister? 

Later on that year a detective and his dog named Blue went searching for Shannon, not really expecting to find anything. After a few weeks of searches Blue found something unexpected.

He had found a body of a young woman. But it was not Shannan Gilbert. It was Melissa Barthelemy, a 24 year-old escort who was last seen in the Bronx over a year earlier. The subsequent search led to the discovery of eight women, one man, and one female toddler, in total. But there was still no sign of Shannan

[cold-case-diaries]

Victimology in the WM3 case

!I’ve always been fascinated by psychology: anything from mental health to what makes a killer. While it’s important to understand why someone commits a crime, when you are working an unsolved case it’s just as important to look at the victims. 

Britannica.com describes victimology as a “ branch of criminology that scientifically studies the relationship between an injured party and an offender by examining the causes and the nature of the consequent suffering. Specifically, victimology focuses on whether the perpetrators were complete strangers, mere acquaintances, friends, family members, or even intimates and why a particular person or place was targeted. “ 

To solve a crime you must go back to the beginning, and in this case that is 8 year-old Stevie Branch, Micheal Moore, and Chris Byers. 

The age of said little boys eliminates a few possible motives. I’d say we can rule out a drug or gang motive. Although the boys were found nude, there is no evidence of any sexual abuse. Revenge is a possible motive, but personally I find it unlikely that someone would get angry enough at an 8 year-old to murder them. 

One more interesting thing is the way the bodies were hidden. They were tied right wrist to right ankle (the same on the left side). The boys as well as their clothes were submerged in a muddy creek bed using sticks to hold them down. This indicates a high level of criminal sophistication (ie: someone who is intelligent, calm under pressure, likely in their 30′s or 40′s). In addition to this, the offender likely has a known personal relationship to at least one victim because he didn’t just leave as soon as the crime was done: he knew if he just left the boys out in the open (and the police had done their jobs correctly) that he would be tied to the crime immediately.

In my opinion this very well could’ve been a punishment gone wrong. We know for a fact that when they went missing, both Stevie and Chris were doing things they weren’t supposed to. Stevie was supposed to be home but was instead riding bikes with his friends, and Chris was supposed to be cleaning his carport. We also know that all three boys had fathers who could be considered disciplinarians. P.S. I’m not saying the fathers did it, but allegedly (trying to not get sued) Stevie Branch’s stepfather Terry Hobbs was abusive to both Stevie and his mother

If you’ve made it this far thank you so much! I’d love it if people would reblog this and add their opinions and theories, I’m always open to new information and perspectives

see ya tomorrow,

          reagan

[cold-case-diaries]

About my account

My name is Reagan and I’m a 19 year-old college student majoring in journalism! My plan is to be an investigative journalist and solve cold cases once I graduate

A few unsolved cases I’m interested in are the West Memphis three case and the Long Island serial killer/killers

Tomorrow I plan on writing up a post about victimology in the WM3 case so I’ll see you then! :)

[cold-case-diaries]

👏 KENDRICK 👏 JOHNSON 👏 WAS 👏 MURDERED 👏

Remember Kendrick Johnson. His body was found rolled up in a wrestling mat at his high school in 2013. The authorities initially ruled his death as an accident only 24 hours after his body was found. The first autopsy stated that he died from “positional asphyxia”. However, his parents weren’t convinced and they hired a private pathologist. The second autopsy showed that Kendrick suffered from a hemorrhage on the right side of his neck, which most likely resulted from a blunt force trauma (meaning that he was striked by a physical object). The pathologist concluded that his death was not an accident. A third autopsy confirmed it as well. He was only 17 years old. It’s been over seven years and his parents are still fighting for his justice because they believe that the authorities didn’t take his case seriously. SIGN THIS PETITION TO REOPEN HIS CASE

[cold-case-diaries]

Do you think Terry Hobbs killed the west memphis kids?

I certainly believe there was more evidence pointing toward Hobbs being the perpetrator as opposed to the West Memphis Three, even at the crime scene… His hair was found intertwined in the laces used to bind those boys. A hair of David Jacoby (one of his accomplices) was found on a tree stump. - 

“In 2007, new evidence regarding the Murders was discovered and made public. For one thing, it is generally known that hairs that had been found at the crime scene were tested for DNA: one hair was consistent with the hair of Terry and one hair was consistent with the hair of his friend, David Jacoby.” (x) 

What about Stevie’s penknife, which he supposedly carried everywhere, being found locked in his toolbox? -

 “Additionally, after the Murders my sister Jo Lynn McCauhey and I found in Terry’s nightstand a knife that Stevie carried with him constantly and which I had believed was with him when he died. It was a pocket knife that my father had given to Stevie, and Stevie loved that knife. I had been shocked that the police did not find it with Stevie when they found his body. I had always assumed that my son’s murderer had taken the knife during the crime. I could not believe it was in Terry’s things. He had never told me that he had it.” (x)

It’s odd how he disappeared two weeks after the murders because he claimed he couldn’t deal with his wife.  He was unaccounted for from 5pm to 8pm, when the murders supposedly took place. Even his ex-wife, Pam, Stevie’s mother, now believes he killed them and multiple people have come forward with information regarding his involvement. His nephew being one of them. How about the fact that his neighbour saw him with the three boys at around 5:30pm, even though he denies he saw any of them that day? He beat his wife and he beat Stevie. Stevie’s aunt stated he molested Stevie’s sister and forced her own son to watch him masturbate. - 

“Terry has also mistreated our daughter, Amanda. In 1993, when Amanda was 4 years old, my sister, Jo Lynn McCaughey, told me that Amanda had told her that Terry had put his finger into Amanda’s “booty”.  (x) 

“I took Amanda to the hospital in Blytheville, Arkansas, so a doctor could do a physical examination. That doctor told me that Amanda had been vaginally penetrated and that she had a yeast infection.” (x) 

“In approximately 2002, when Amanda was older, approximately 13 years old, and developing into a young woman, she told Jo Lynn (and Jo Lynn told me) that Terry grabbed her breasts. This revelation caused me great concern because it was the second time Amanda had said that Terry had sexually molested her.”  (x)  

He was also seen at the laundromat the night of the murders. -

 “Also, my sister Jo Lynn told me that she saw Terry wash clothes, bed linens and curtains from Stevie’s room at an odd time around the time of the Murders.” (x)

Multiple affidavits were written regarding his involvement that all matched, yet they were ignored:

“In April of 1995, I told Billy Stewart what Buddy had told me about the murders. few days later, Billy asked Buddy about it. Buddy told Billy that Buddy, L G Hollingsworth, and the two men in the truck named Terry Hobbs and David Jacoby, had killed the boys behind Blue Beacon Truck Wash, that they had beaten them, stripped their clothes off, and had cut them in the groin area before throwing them in a ditch.”

“LG said that all four were sitting close together smoking and drinking when just before the sun started to set, the three boys on two bicycles surprised them. L G said that Mr. Hobbs shouted, “You better get them boys! You got to catch them! Get them! Hurry up and get them!” L G said that He, Buddy, and Mr. Jacoby all took off running after the boys.“

“According to L.G., Mr. Hobbs snapped and hit the boy with severe force in the head two or three times.93. After the first few blows Hobbs stopped long enough to shout at the boy, “I am going to teach your little fucking ass!” After that, L G said that Mr. Hobbs was in a rage beating the kid over and over and over again.95. L G said that the rest of them started beating the other kids.”

“L G said that after the kids were beaten until they could not stand or run that Mr.Hobbs made L G and Buddy to take the boys’ pants off.98. L G said that after the boys were undressed that Mr. Hobbs pointed at one of the boys and made L G and Buddy hold him down and to spread his legs apart.99. While they forced his legs open, Mr. Hobbs took a knife and reached underneath, cutting the boy’s scrotum and penis.100. After cutting the boy, he told them to toss the boys’ bodies in the ditch of water.101. L G told me that they cleaned up the area as it was getting dark, that they placed he clothes and shoes in the water, and lastly submerged the bicycles in the bayou.”

“L G said that after they submerged the bicycles, they all left the woods.103. L G told me that he was one of the first people questioned, and that he had failed his lie detector test.104. He acted like this proved he had done it.105. He acted proud that he had done it, like killing those kids made him a real toughguy.106. After L G told me this, I knew that Buddy had been telling me the truth. I knew that I had to do something about this, that I could not keep this a secret.107. I immediately told the Crittenden County Criminal Investigator, Ed Laxton, about what Buddy and L G told me, but I never heard back from him.”

“On February 21, 2012, I wrote Prosecutor Scott Ellington a detailed letter about these facts. I stressed my desire to talk to him concerning this because it was important that the truth be known.109. Prosecutor Ellington has never responded to my request.110. I am sharing this information today so that the truth may be told. I want the parents of these little boys to know what really happened to their children and for justice to be done to the ones who did this. This has been a difficult thing to hold and to have ignored. I hope that now, it will finally be heard back from him.”

(x)

- the above quotes are taken from the affidavit of Bennie David Guy.

“I learned through my connection in the drug-trade that Mr. Hobbs preferred sex with young boys.”

“Roy told me that Mr. Hobbs was one of the people who murdered the three boyson May 5, 1993, and that one of the boys was Mr. Hobbs’ stepson.”

“Roy further told me that the three boys had caught the four men doing something in the Blue Beacon Wood that was going to cause trouble between Mr. Hobbs and his wife.”

“Mr. Hobbs said that the other two children had to die because of what all that theyhad seen.”

“Buddy told me that he and L G were forced to hold the children while Mr. Hobbsand Mr. Jacoby killed them. Mr. Jacoby beat one of the boys until the boy was quiet and hisbody fell limp. Buddy believed that the boy was dead.”

(x) - the above are quotes are taken from the affidavit of Billy Wayne Stewart.

“If Terry Hobbs said he did not see Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, or Christopher Byers on May 5, 1993, he is not telling the truth. I know for a fact that Terry Hobbs saw, was with, and spoke to Stevie, Michael, or Christopher on May 5,1993. I am absolutely, completely and totally positive that I saw Stevie, Michael and Christopher in my backyard and headed back to Terry Hobbs’ house on the evening of May 5, 1993. I am also absolutely, completely and totally positive that I saw Terry Hobbs hollering at Stevie, Michael and Christopher to get back down to the Hobbs’ house on May 5, 1993 at approximately 6:30 PM. I cannot imagine why Terry Hobbs would claim that he did not see Stevie, Michael or Christopher at all on May 5, 1993.”

“Following the murders, I was aware that there was a search in West Memphis forthe killer or killers. I also knew that the West Memphis Three were convicted ofthe murders. However, I was not aware until very recently that Terry Hobbs hasrepeatedly stated that he did not see Stevie, Michael, or Christopher at all on theevening of May 5, 1993. In fact, it is my understanding that Terry Hobbs hasstated that he did not see Stevie or the boys at all the whole day of May 5, 1993.Terry Hobbs’ claim that he did not see the boys on May 5, 1993 simply was notmade public in the news reports or papers that I read. Had I know that TerryHobbs had claimed that he did not see Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, orMichael Moore at all on May 5, 1993, I would have stepped forward immediatelyto provide the above information.”

(x) - the above are quotes taken from the affidavit of Jamie Cark Ballard.

I don’t understand why he was never fully investigated from the start. I doubt anything will ever be done about it and he will never be properly investigated because that means the state of Arkansas admitting how much they fucked up.