Everyone knows about OJ and other big city murders and crimes.
But what has happened in your “small” town?
I grew up in a small town in Illinois.
In the 60’s, at a place called Starved Rock State Park, three middle aged women from Chicago drove down for the day, had lunch at the lodge and decided to take a walk in St. Louis Canyon, one of many scenic canyons in the park. This was a state park, and the walk was hardly a hike…just a nice path with beautiful scenery.
The next day, their bodies were found in a small cave toward the end of the canyon.
The local newspapers had the first “extra” edition in years.
The national press was all over the place and the local towns were in shock. Nothing like this had ever happened in that county.
Shortly afterwards, a young man who worked in the kitchen at the lodge was arrested, and three months later, found guilty of murdering the three women.
1)Mukesh Duggal: A film producer in Bollywood. My father owns a post-production studio. He was a client at the time. He was shot dead by two hitmen on a bike before he could reach his car while leaving for office in the morning. There was a weird eerie feeling at our office once we heard the news. He was supposed to come that day for some ongoing work. The men who killed him were part of Bombay’s underworld. Long story short, he pissed off some factions. Officially, the case is unsolved, but…
2)Dariya Kumar & Wife: The husband I knew for a decade. They stayed in an unsecured house in Bombay. One morning, the maid or someone on a daily errand discovered their bodies. Seemed like a burglary. But knowing of the familial disputes and one unstable but powerful relative, I have my doubts. There really wasn’t much to steal. This one was more nerve-wracking and hit closer to home. My father was called in for questioning. It still remains unsolved, unofficially as well.
Jim Jones came from Lynn, Indiana. I grew up in a town 7 miles from Lynn. Funny thing is i never knew Jijm Jones was from Lynn until someone in school told me when i was about 13. I guess Lynn tries to downplay the connection to Jim Jones. can’t imagine why.
R. Gene Simmons , came from a town near my hometown. One of the victims (one of two that weren’t his family), dated a friend of mine in college. Very, very sad day that was, right around Christmas…
I’m from Trenton, NJ - not a small town. I went to school in the suburbs. When I was in 12th grade, there was this super-bitch new girl who was in 11th grade, and rode my school bus. I hated her with a white hot hate.
Fast-forward a year. I’m a Freshman at Georgia Tech, a thousand miles away. My friends and I are watching the news, and who do I see but bitch-girl! The school administration had banned her from the senior prom because she refused to wear stockings or panty-hose during school hours. Yes, it was a Catholic school (Notre Dame High School). The panty-hose thing was national news, apparently.
The only “murder” that I can recall which happened in my hometown occurred when I was in elementary. I don’t know what the outcome of the case was, so I can’t say if it was a murder or not. A high school kid had an angry fight with his father and stormed out of the house. Hours later, (something like 2 AM or so) the kid came back home, and went to sleep on the couch. His father woke up upon hearing the kid come home, and thought that a burglar had entered the house, he got his gun, came downstairs, and without turning on the lights, shot his son asleep on the couch. Once he turned on the lights, he realized he’d killed his own son.
One of my mom’s best friends was also murdered. I never met the woman (that I can recall), nor do I know where she lived. Anyway, she was a widow with a teenage son. One Friday he killed her with an axe and left her body in the living room, covered with a sheet. On Monday, he went to school and told his teacher what he’d done. She didn’t believe him, so the next day, he brought the axe. At this point, the teacher thought that the kid was a little “troubled” so she took him home from school so that she could have a talk with his mother. She, of course, discovered that the kid was telling the truth, and called the cops. The reason the kid gave for killing his mother was that he “got tired of her constant nagging.” Years later, it made the papers in Columbus that another teenager beat his mother to death with a baseball bat. I noticed some time after that, that mine had disappeared. (Didn’t find out what had happened to my mother’s friend until years after my bat disappeared.)
And more recently, Mark Winger was convicted of killing his wife, Donnah Winger, and Roger Harrington after being free for about 5 years. His story was on 48 hours about 2 weeks ago and is in the February edition of Reader’s Digest. He worked in my office - they stormed the place with bullet proof vests, etc, and arrested him after re-opening the case. I’ll explain more if anyone wants me to - it’s a pretty wild story.
Rabbi Fred Neulander was just convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his wife right here. The media coverage of it was horribly biased - everyone was positive he was a cold-blooded killer or a saint. Had some interesting discussions about it in history class.
Wilmington DE - Thomas Capano killed Anne Marie Fahey, tried, convicted and now rotting in jail waiting for appeal, after he will be executed. The Ex-wife has moved, I’m sure about the Mistress, she may still live and work in town.
I work in Wilmington DE, my company knew both the Capano’s and the Faheys.
Anne Rice wrote the Novel - And Never Let Her Go, and CBS made it a T.V. Movie.
I grew up in Montclair, NJ, home to one of those famous post-office shootings.
That’s pretty much the story in a nutshell. They moved the post office after that, and in its place is a store that sells “organic” lawn sculptures (i.e., made of some kind of poop) that fertilize your soil while they decorate your lawn.
In my town (less than 10,000 people) this big murder happened a year ago, Feb. 5, 2001. At the local funeral home, the owner’s son (who was also a funeral director) and a college student who worked there were shot and killed. No signs of a robbery, and the shooter(s) haven’t been caught yet.
It happened in broad daylight, and no one saw anything, even though the funeral home is on a heavily traveled road, with an apartment building, houses and a school very close by.
The county coroner (who was stopping by to sign a death ceftificate) found the bodies, and it had happened less than an hour before.
It is a sad and senseless thing, and really has affected this small community - everyone at one time or another has met the funeral home owner and his son, so it has hit us hard.
Despite the huge reward out for the killer(s), no postive leads have come.
A relative of mine and his girlfriend were attacked by a burglar. The girlfriend and her baby died (she was pregnant). The burglar was charged with seven counts, two each for the woman and her baby. ___________________________
Rather strange having a newspaper article talking about your relatives.
Glen Wolseiffer was a dentist in Wilkes-Barre, PA whose wife was murdered. He said a burglar broke in and killed her, but a jury later convicted Glen himself of the crime. I think it was later made into a TV movie. There was also a guy, Robert Curley, who died mysteriously of what eventually turned out to be thallium poisoning. Many years after his death, his wife copped a plea to putting rat poison in his thermos.
A man working at Save-A-Lot was stabbed with a screwdriver, then his body stuffed into a freezer. The police drained this big pond next to one of my friends house, and found the screwdriver. The killer was caught. Save-A-Lot is now known as Stab-A-Lot.
A mentally unstable woman kidnapped her newborn niece in the night, drove to a Buddhist temple near our community, stabbed the child to death, & then blew out her own brains in the parking lot.
A rambling note from the woman was found, referring to the supernatural.