True Crime Stories

On August 24, 2011 Michelle DeSpain called 911 from her Jonesboro Arkansas home and reported that she found her thirty-four year old husband, Marc shot inside their home. Officers would arrive on the scene and almost immediately knew things did not look right. While Marc lay dead in the home, the house looked as if it had been ransacked but in a way in which the investigators thought looked staged. Soon as officers were surrounding the scene Marc's parents and sister were on the scene. Michelle immediately let investigators know that she believed Marc's father was involved in Marc's murder. In a situation such as this obviously those closest to the victim are the first to be suspected but it is a rare case when a parent is involved in the murder of their grown child. In fact, I have to say that I cannot think of any particular cases off the top of my head. Of course there are cases where parents kill their children but those cases almost exclusively revolve...

I am unsure what surprises me the most about this case. First there is a young man who was obviously wholly manipulated by an older woman into killing her husband and then bought so many of her lies even after the crime was committed that he was very close to completely taking the rap for her. But then there is the manipulative woman who the prosecutor literally described as “stupid.” I would have to agree with the prosecutor. Here was a woman that was apparently miserable in her marriage and decided that murder was more profitable than a divorce, who manipulated her lover to commit the crime for her, but who also not only did not think the crime out completely but did not cover her tracks and then caved very easily it seems. Kevin Mengel Jr was thirty-three years old and the father of three children when he was bludgeoned to death with more than one shovel (two broke in the process) in a garage in his landscaping business on June 17, 2010 in West Goshen Pennsylvania. Hi...

This is a case that has always stuck with me a bit because of the gruesomeness of the crime, let alone the fact that the man who prosecutors say was behind the viciousness was actually a friend of the victim. When you add the stupidity of the perpetrators it makes the case even more senseless and callous. Twenty year old Kimberly Antonakos disappeared in the early morning of March 1, 1995 from Queens New York. Kimberly was the daughter of divorced parents and her father was a very wealthy and successful business man. He was in the business of computers and in 1995 that area was booming! Within hours it seems that Thomas Antonakos knew his daughter was missing and contacted the police. The search began and many of Kimberly's friends helped search for her, including Joshua Torres. Joshua, his girlfriend and their young toddler were staying with Kimberly at the time she disappeared while they waited for their new apartment to be ready to move in. For almost four day...

I have been slacking the last few weeks when it comes to working on my blog but I knew that I needed to sit down today and work on it. I have a few already researched but they weren't “grabbing” me as I say and the motivation was not there. I generally start working through my list of cases to research (It's up to nearly 1500 now although I have done many) but knowing the dreary day outside was not going to make things better I decided to start with one that I saw an episode of Fear thy Neighbor about last night. Once again I was shown how bias and loose with the facts so many of these dramatic shows based on true stories can be. The Fear they Neighbor episode told the story of Richard Day, a man who, by their claims, had been so angered by the treatment of his step-son by a family of neighbor children that while in a fit of rage had ran over and killed one of the family members on accident. Now, I do believe that the fact that Robert Campbell was hit and drug b...

As I sat down today to begin researching cases, this was the next on my list. I have two others that I researched last week and have not put together but they haven't “caught” me just yet to make me want to compose them. This one however has. Two things stick out with me about this particular case. First, this could very easily have become a case in which an innocent person could have been charged, and maybe even convicted. Secondly, it makes you question deals that prosecutors make with people and why they are not quick to nab those who have violated the terms. In the early morning hours of February 21, 2008 Melissa Oxley was awakened by a very loud “bang” as she described it. Instead of immediately attempting to wake her husband of 18 months, Ben, who was laying beside her in bed her first instinct was to run downstairs and check the front door of their Minden Nevada home. Some reports say she found it open, some say she simply found it unlocked and a few others...