Detective Perspective

On April 10, 2001, an explosion tore through a Scottsdale, Arizona home, sending flames into the air and shaking the surrounding neighborhood. Inside, investigators discovered a devastating scene. 38-year-old Mary Fisher and her two children, Brittney and Bobby, had been killed in their own beds, and the evidence showed they were murdered before the fire ever began. The scene had been carefully st...

On May 24, 2004, co-workers of 53 year old Oakey Albert Kite Jr., who went by Al, drove to his house to check on him after he failed to show up to work - something he had never done before. Inside his Aurora, Colorado townhome, officers discovered a horrific scene. Al had been bound, tortured for hours, and killed in his own basement. The killer cleaned up, removed key evidence, and disappeared -...

On the evening of June 7, 1997, 26-year-old Lori Bova had dinner with her husband and sister at the Red Lobster in Lakewood, New York.  Around 12 hours later, her husband reported her missing, claiming she left their apartment in the middle of the night to go for a walk and smoke a cigarette. She was never seen or heard from again. Nearly 30 years later, Lori’s disappearance remains unsolved, and...

On the morning of August 27, 2009, a man walking his dog made a devastating discovery at Caldwell Fields, a campground in the Jefferson National Forest near Blacksburg, Virginia. In a parking area, two Virginia Tech students - 18-year-old Heidi Childs and 19-year-old David Metzler - had been shot and killed. Just 12 hours earlier, the couple had gone to the campground to talk and spend time togeth...

In the early morning hours of February 10, 2009, Ron Cummings returned to his home in Satsuma, Florida after work and learned that his five-year-old daughter, HaLeigh, was missing. The side door was propped open with a dirty cinder block he had never seen before, and the babysitter told him she had no idea what happened. A massive search for HaLeigh began, but there was no sign of her anywhere.  M...

On May 16, 2003, a silent alarm was triggered inside Blue Ridge Savings Bank in Greer, South Carolina. When officers arrived just minutes later, they found the bank empty and the cash drawer cleared out. In a small utility room at the back of the building, they made a devastating discovery. Head teller Sylvia Holtzclaw, along with customers Dr. Eb Barnes and his wife Maggie Barnes, had all been sh...

On Valentine’s Day 2015, 27-year-old Erica Alonso went out with her ex-boyfriend in Orange County, California. She told her sister she would be home later that night. But Erica never came home. Weeks later, she was found deceased in a remote area of Orange County. Her body had been wrapped in plastic bags and secured with duct tape. Despite those circumstances, detectives said they did not believe...

On July 22, 1990, 13-year-old Deanna Merryfield was last seen in Killeen, Texas. In the early morning hours, she left her grandmother’s house to visit her twin sister and was later seen getting into a dark sedan with two older teenage boys. She was never seen or heard from again. More than three decades later, Deanna’s disappearance remains unsolved. Her family is still searching for answers and w...

In the early morning hours of January 6, 2023, 36-year-old Jason Marous was found unresponsive inside his vehicle parked in the lot of his Fort Lauderdale, Florida condo.  The driver’s door was slightly open. Jason was slumped over, covered in blood. He had been shot one time. Detectives later located surveillance footage showing a masked man walking in the area around the time of the murder, but...

On June 25, 2023, 39-year-old Amber Arnett was last seen in Lansing, Michigan. Surveillance footage captured her shopping with a friend, before she was dropped off at the gated property where she had been staying. After that, Amber was never seen or heard from again. More than two and a half years later, her disappearance remains an open case. Amber has not been found, and her family and community...

On the morning of August 12, 2005, a boater on Lake Huron came across a cabin cruiser drifting alone in the water, struggling against the wind and waves. When the Coast Guard arrived, they found the boat in neutral, with the radio still playing, and no one on board.  The boat belonged to attorneys Lana Stempien and Chuck Rutherford, who had set out days earlier on a planned trip to Mackinac Island...

On October 27, 1989, 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic vanished after school from a shopping center in Bay Village, Ohio. Detectives would later learn she had been lured there by a man pretending to know her family. For months, Amy’s parents, investigators, and an entire community searched for answers, hoping she would be found alive. Then, in February 1990, Amy’s body was discovered in a remote field in...

On March 24, 1998, 23-year-old Stacey Colbert was reported missing from her apartment in Columbus, Ohio. Inside, detectives found signs that she had been abducted. For more than six years, Stacey’s family searched for answers, with no idea what had happened to her or where she might be. Then, in November 2004, her remains were discovered in a remote area of Delaware County, Ohio. Her death was rul...

At around 11:35 p.m. on July 30, 2011, neighbors near a home in Norwalk, Iowa, stepped outside after smelling smoke and saw flames rising high above the trees. Within minutes, firefighters arrived to find the house fully engulfed. Once the fire was extinguished, a body was discovered inside the burned remains of the home. That victim was later identified as Bill Wood. An autopsy revealed he had be...

On April 4, 1991, 20-year-old Angela Hammond, who was four months pregnant, stopped at a payphone outside a grocery store in Clinton, Missouri to call her fiancé. During the call, she told him a strange pickup truck had been circling the block. Moments later, he heard her scream and then the line went dead. More than 34 years later, she has never been found. Detectives believe she was abducted, bu...

Recent developments and renewed attention are being examined in several ongoing and unresolved cases, including Kristina Branum and Christopher Mittendorf, Brandy Hutchins, Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain, Trudy Appleby, Blake Chappell, Lonene “Lonnie” Rogers, Oakley Carlson, and Danielle Bell. This week, we're revisiting those cases, and discussing the latest. Editor: Shannon Keirce Research/Writing: H...

At around 2:15 am on June 7, 1992, 18-year-old Stacy McCall and 19-year-old Suzie Streeter returned to Suzie’s home in Springfield, Missouri after a night of graduation celebrations. Suzie’s mother, Sherill Levitt, was already inside. Hours later, at 8:00 am, a friend called to finalize their plans for the day, but no one answered. When she went to the house, Stacy, Suzie, and Sherill’s cars were...

On the night of December 4, 1998, 21-year-old Yale senior Suzanne Jovin left her apartment to return a carpool key to the campus police office. She told a classmate she planned to go home afterward and get some rest. Just over 30 minutes later, Suzanne was found stabbed to death nearly two miles away on a street corner in a wealthy neighborhood. Detectives determined she could not have walked ther...

On May 26, 2009, 27-year-old Tracy Ocasio spent the night watching the Orlando Magic game at one of her favorite bars in Orlando, Florida. She told her mother she’d be home afterward, but she never returned. The next morning, Tracy didn’t answer her phone, and by that evening, her yellow Chevy Cobalt was found abandoned just a few miles from her house - unlocked, with none of her belongings inside...

In the early morning hours of February 25, 2006, 29-year-old Toby Beaugh and his wife of ten months, Melissa, were walking home after celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana. Just blocks from their house, a black pickup truck nearly hit them at an intersection, then circled back to wait on the next street. When Toby stepped forward to cross, the driver slammed on the gas, striking him hea...

**If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. You can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). You can also chat at TheHotline.org or text START to 88788. All three options are available 24/7, free, and completely confidential. There are additional resources on the Hotline’s website, including safety planning tools and guides for su...

On January 26, 2011, 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg left work early when a snowstorm hit Philadelphia. She stopped for gas on her way home, then spent the afternoon grading papers in the apartment she shared with her fiancé, Sam. That evening, Sam called 911 to report that he had found Ellen in the kitchen with a knife in her chest. She had been stabbed twenty times, including multiple wounds to the...

On January 26, 2011, 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg left work early when a snowstorm hit Philadelphia. She stopped for gas on her way home, then spent the afternoon grading papers in the apartment she shared with her fiancé, Sam. That evening, Sam called 911 to report that he had found Ellen in the kitchen with a knife in her chest. She had been stabbed twenty times, including multiple wounds to the...

On January 26, 2011, 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg left work early when a snowstorm hit Philadelphia. She stopped for gas on her way home, then spent the afternoon grading papers in the apartment she shared with her fiancé, Sam. That evening, Sam called 911 to report that he had found Ellen in the kitchen with a knife in her chest. She had been stabbed twenty times, including multiple wounds to the...

At around 3:45 a.m. on October 4, 2011, Jeremy Irwin came home from a late-night electrical job to find the front door unlocked and the lights still on inside his Kansas City home. As he walked through the house, turning off lights and checking on his children, he made a chilling discovery - his nearly eleven-month-old daughter, Lisa, was gone. Lisa had been last seen the night before, at around 6...