In Search of Lost Crime

(Part 1 of 2) 🐟 On  September 13th 1915 a Norwegian steamship comes across a drifting  herring lugger in the middle of the sea. The ship, from the Dutch port of Katwijk, has been dismantled, the crew is  singing hymns incessantly and on the deck they see... Pools of blood. 🐟 The ship would go down in history as the Gekkenlogger, the Crazy Lugger, and in Katwijk they still prefer not to talk abou...

On 21 August 1910, shepherd José Maria Grimaldos sold a few sheep. Afterwards, it is was if the earth had simply gobbled him up... José Maria was gone without a trace. And he hadn't brought any of his meagre possessions. Very suspicious. The people in the village of Tresjuncos immediately start shouting that it was murder and they also have two convenient suspects in mind: Two other shepherds, fro...

This is part 3 of 3, please listen to part 1 & 2 first.   New Year's Eve 1921, 8.36pm. It is a cold, drizzly evening. at Hollandspoor station in The Hague, the train has just arrived from Amsterdam. A passenger about to board the first-class compartment says to the porter that there is a drunken bum on the floor. The porter shrugs his shoulders. It's New Year's Eve, of course there are drunk peopl...

This is part 2 of 3, please listen to part 1 first.   New Year's Eve 1921, 8.36pm. It is a cold, drizzly evening. at Hollandspoor station in The Hague, the train has just arrived from Amsterdam. A passenger about to board the first-class compartment says to the porter that there is a drunken bum on the floor. The porter shrugs his shoulders. It's New Year's Eve, of course there are drunk people. T...

According to her later statements, Annie has found her mother's body in a pool of blood. She then fainted on top of her mother, which explains why she is covered in blood...    Is that how it happened? And even if it is, will anyone believe Weird Annie didn't kill her mother...? Subscribe for more whimsical, historical true crime stories and follow me on Instagram: @insearchoflostcrime  

On the first of May, 1962 market farmer Piet Evers dies suddenly after drinking a cup of coffee. 'A weakness of the heart' say the doctors. But in his hometown of Bemmel, the Netherlands, tongues are starting to wag... Piet's daughter Annie is... weird. Not very nice at all. Maybe she had something to do with it? Annie is arrested for the murder of her father and she ends up confessing to the crim...

On the first of May, 1962 market farmer Piet Evers dies suddenly after drinking a cup of coffee. 'A weakness of the heart' say the doctors. But in his hometown of Bemmel, the Netherlands, tongues are starting to wag... Piet's daughter Annie is... weird. Not very nice at all. Maybe she had something to do with it? A few years later Annie is arrested for the murder of her father and she ends up conf...

Part 3 of the missing Alcasser Girls. Main suspect Antonio Angles has vanished and the court decides to go ahead with the court case against the only remaining suspect, Miguel Ricart, anyway. Not everyone is convinced Ricart is guilty, including the parents of two of the three girls...     

In 1992, three schoolgirls go missing in the Spanish village of Alcàsser: Toñi, Desiree and Miriam never come home after a night out. Their bodies were found on January 23, 1993, exactly 30 years ago this week. A suspect, one Miguel Ricart, was arrested almost immediately. He confesses to the crime. But that was really just the beginning of the story… The Alcàsser case is still a sensitive subject...

In 1992, three schoolgirls go missing in the Spanish village of Alcàsser: Toñi, Desiree and Miriam never come home after a night out. Their bodies were found on January 23, 1993, exactly 30 years ago this week. A suspect, one Miguel Ricart, was arrested almost immediately. He confesses to the crime. But that was really just the beginning of the story… The Alcàsser case is still a sensitive subject...

Maria Catherina van der Linden-Swanenburg, also known as Goeie Mie, 'Kind Mary', was a Dutch mass murderer who killed at least 27 people and was suspected of killing more than 90 people. So how did she get away with murder for so long and what drove her to kill most of her family and an awful lot of her neighbours? And what is the delightful Dutch word for pin worms?  In Search of Lost Crime focus...

On December 13, 1928, a packing box arrives at Mediodía train station in Madrid. It has been sent from Barcelona by a José López. The box is never collected though and after about four months it starts to smell rather… peculiar.  

Part two of the story of famous Dutch aviation pioneer Constantijn 'Pinneke' Busch, the King of the Crash. One fateful day in September 1915 he simply vanishes into thin air.... The police assume he has run off to start a new life so the case is closed after only a few days. . Ten years later however the case is blown wide open by that classic crime staple: an anonymous letter.... 

Constantijn 'Pinneke' Busch was a Dutch aviation pioneer. In 1912 he was the first man to attempt to fly over the Dutch city of Roozendaal. In 1915, after a business meeting, Pinneke suddenly disappears along with 12.000 Dutch guilders. A small fortune. The police give up looking rather quickly, assuming he just flew off into the sunset, with this a big wad of cash. And then, unexpectedly, in 1925...