Not sure I’m in the right forum with this but I trust that someone will move me without prejudice.
I’ve been troubled lately by memories I have of an unsolved mystery that happened decades ago in my hometown. It’s such a tiny isolated area of Upper Appalachia and the events surrounding this case fell cold fast. If this had happened somewhere more populated, it would have been plastered all over a TV show, I think.
But I doubt it will ever be solved and when you read about it, you’ll see why.
I wrote it up over the last couple days in my blog in three short (I promise) parts:
having read your story, there is nothing to go on really. Could be absolutely anyone. I’m not sure why you think that some strangers on the internet can help with this.
The staff here accidentally banned me, thinking I was someone else (too). They researched further, discovered it was in error, wrote me an apology, and reinstated me. It was no big deal, really. I’m impressed—I’ve been on a lot of forums and never seen a follow-up.
As for confused dart cum (nice), you’re in a bad mood, aren’t you, honey?
Yes, I see what you mean. I’m familiar with these murders because they’re just over in New Hampshire from Maine, but I hadn’t thought of similarities.
The Zantops were younger and far more sophisticated than the Pottses. Also, the Dartmouth area, though quite rustic, is not as geographically or culturally isolated as Guernsey County, Ohio.
That said, the similarities in the settings do suggest that the Pottses could have been murdered by some ruthless, wanton youths who very well could have been there twice… We have a lot of those back there. Seriously.
No, it seems it didn’t have to do with the umkay/notokay thing. Though maybe I shouldn’t have made that joke about being their sister, Par-Kay.
Seriously, though, I think it had to do with some poster from way way back named tapu234 or something. Happily, it has been reestablished that I am The Tapu. Whew.
Things like the Umkay incident happen on forums all the time. Right after, everyone feels a little paranoid. It’s just natural. But really, scams like that are abruptly and completely over when the person gets banned. Everyone is probably already breathing a little easier. It’s but a a ripple.
I’ll answer questions to the point that I can, but you can also write a mod for assurance.
Here’s a disappearance (and likely murder) from the time we lived in Texas. Why would a young woman driving alone pull off onto the shoulder of I-45 at night? Staged accident, or something else?
I read the details of Jessica’s disappearance and I have a thought about why she might pull off like that. What if the vehicle with the rotating lights sped after her on the highway to make her stop, hoping she would think it was highway patrol. That might also explain why her wallet was out on the seat. If a “cop” had you get out of the car, though, you probably wouldn’t take your keys. Maybe at that point she realized it wasn’t a cop…
I’ll read the other cases in the grouping and see if anything supports that. Thanks!
I know of at least a couple of cases where police officers/sheriff’s deputies were convicted of murders after stopping young women for nonexistent traffic violations (there was such a case profiled on “Forensic Files” recently).
It’s recommended that if an “official” vehicle with flashing lights attempts to get you to pull over, you only do so in a well-lighted public area, not a dark stretch of road.
Random violent murders, odd behavior and… what?
What exactly are you looking for here other than “Well golly, that’s strange”. There is nowhere near enough information for strangers like ourselves to make any sort of useful assumptions about this series of events in your little three part vignette.
“Random violent murders”? So you think the two murders were random??
As for what I expected, let’s see: a little thought (see my response to Jackmannii above); and then anything you can add about an unsolved case like this that you have a connection to or special knowledge of.
Now tell me, why the hostility? I.e., “What exactly are you looking for here other than…” and “in your little 3-part vignette,” inter alia. If you don’t have anything interesting to add, you can just politely… not say it.
There was an alleged disappearance (probably murder) at a mall only a mile away from me. Years ago, a boy named Dwan Simms was reported missing by his mother at a mall in Livonia, MI. After reviewing security camera footage, however, police got suspicous after they couldn’t find any evidence that Dwan was even at the mall that day. Eventually, the case went cold.
My mother heard from a police officer she knows that they’re pretty sure that Dwan’s mother’s boyfriend killed him, and somehow convinced his mom to stage the “kidnapping” to explain the disappearance. They were never able to prove anything, however.
Gah, I hope they don’t have other children. That sucks when they know who did it but can’t do a thing.
Many people back where I’m from think that LE knows who committed both Pottses’ murders but they can’t or won’t go after them—that there’s a meth connection and the people who did it are too powerful in that world to be handled by LE.
Of course, people always say that about the police. In the case of Dwan, it sounds like they just don’t have evidence.
For what it’s worth, I’m voting for Patty. I wasn’t quite clear with all the Potts family history, but this Patty chick is the granddaughter of the late Pottses, whom they adopted from their own daughter as a child?
My guess: Patty wanted the, uh, “family estate,” such as it was. She got one of her scummy male pals to kill her grandparents/adoptive parents, but the guy didn’t finish the job. Patty, pissed off but scared of being caught, decided to lay low for a while and not go for the other half of the set.
Finally a while has passed and the apparently useless cops haven’t found hide nor hair of Patty’s hired (via money or sex or drugs or whatever) killer. Hell, maybe Patty got someone else to get rid of him, too. Clear away the evidence.
Now she’s tired of living in a van or in some crack den or wherever she’s been hanging out. She decides it’s time to close the deal. Decides she had luck on her side, what with no one finding any link between her and the killer, so she’ll try the same strategy again.
Another one-night-stand with sketchy morals, another death. Since the actual killer is someone who ran out of town or is dead himself, there’s no link to Patty, and no evidence, she finally gets the home she always wanted. Free of the pesky parents/grandparents who raised her.
This being nearly twenty-five years ago, do you know if there’s ever been any follow-up? Is Patty still in the house? What about Patty’s birth mom, any gossip about her?
Wow, you’re good!
I think you have a pretty good theory going there. I wish I did know more about what happened to Patty and the house, but my mom died not long ago and I don’t have a good information source.
I did remember one thing that Mary Belle told me back when she was all up in the air over Mrs. Potts riding the lawn mower around with impunity. Mary Belle was implying that maybe Mrs. Potts helped killed Mr. Potts, or was in on it with Patty, and that’s she wasn’t afraid to be there afterwards. I remember my dad saying once that the Pottses did fight a lot. Weird…
OKAY, HERE’S A BIG NEW DEVELOPMENT: Someone from that same little area where this took place searched “Potts Murders I-77” last night and hit my blog. What the what!!! That’s a mighty surprising… coincidence. Any thoughts on that?
