True Crime Stories

It is not unusual when I research a case to find sites and things from people who proclaim that the person convicted was innocent. I think we are all forced to admit that there have obviously been innocent people convicted of crimes. You cannot look at especially the scientifically proven exonerations that have occurred and not come to that conclusion. I have often mused however at some of those sites that I have come upon after I have found pretty clear cut proof that the defendant was rightly convicted. Then there are the cases like that of Stuart Heaton. While initially starting the research on this case I have to say that I questioned the guilt of Heaton. As I said it is not uncommon to find people among the Internet proclaiming a person's innocence. In this case it often came from an argument that DNA was in its infancy and that there had been not only disputes as to how the tests were conducted, but the conclusions. When I first saw that a doctor testifi...

It is often said that prosecutors do not get to pick their witnesses. People who commit crimes often run in crowds of shady people. And those same shady people generally have their own criminal background. Much was made in the case against Dino Guglielmelli by his family and his defense about a man named Rick Fuhrmann. Fuhrmann was described as a business associate of Dino's but he came with his own criminal background. Dino Guglielmelli married his wife, Monica, in 2003. They had known each other less than a year. Monica Olsen was a fashion model and Dino was an up and coming entrepreneur. The couple would settle in Santa Clarita California. Dino would make his eventual fortune with his business, Creation's Garden, in making and distributing vitamins, dietary supplements and even skin care products. At the height of the business Creation's Garden had four factories and cleared forty-eight million dollars a year. Monica would leave the fashion busin...

This is a case where it seems apparent that someone “dropped the ball.” Whether that someone was a specific person, an entity or an entire system could be left up for debate. What is not up for debate is the fact that two innocent people lost their lives. For many years Christopher Perrien had been in and out of jail on a variety of charges that at the time ranged from fraud to theft. It appears as if in late 2011 he was doing some time for a charge of financial fraud but on September 1, 2011 he had been released through a work release program. This meant that he could leave the jail to work and would be required to return to the jail at night. He had provided the jail with information that he worked for a place called Advanced Building Contractors. He provided a phone number and a letter supplied by the employer. It is not completely clear if any of this was ever followed up on. Instead he was allowed out of custody from the hours of 8:00 in the morning to 7:00 ...

I heard about this case many years ago. It has been featured on shows like Forensic Files and The Detectives. It was also one of those stories that was made into a Lifetime television movie. One of the things that I find most interesting about some cases are some of the locations. For instance I have done several cases from the city and area in which I currently live and when I put the cases together I can picture the area as to the way it looks now. In fact, I live around the corner from where one of the cases I have blogged about occurred and I think of it every time I drive down that road. In this case I would become at least semi-familiar with one of the areas many years after I heard of John David Smith. I also learned the area had a history. Although John David Smith did not likely know it, his marriage to Betty “Fran” Gladden would be his eventual undoing. That is not to say that I necessarily believe that when he met and later married Fran that he knew ho...

I have several cases put together that I have already researched. I can research in the middle of doing other things but when it comes time to put it all together I need a quiet room and that is not always possible. The other issue with having several researched is that while they may have grabbed my interest when I researched them, when it came time to compose them they seemed less interesting or required more research and depending on how I am feeling, or the time available that sometimes does not happen. This is a case though that not only caught my interest in many ways and I have the time to put it together. I did not know going into this story that it would lead into another, even more interesting case. This case also reminded me why my husband has said on many occasions I could not be a defense attorney. I could defend a guilty person if it was on the merits of the law and the way an investigation was conducted, if in fact it was found to be against the right...

I have blogged about over six hundred cases here at this site; I have a list of hundreds more to research and compose; I watch almost exclusively documentary shows on true crimes and I rarely read fiction books. From time to time I still run across cases that surprise even me. This is one of them. We all have issues and quirks. Thirty-seven year old Cari Farver may have had a few more than the average person. At some point she had suffered with mental illness and it was this issue that muddied the waters when she disappeared. In November of 2012 things seemed to be going very well for Cari. She had a teenage son that many believe grounded her in many ways but Max did live with his grandparents most of the time it seems. Cari lived on the Iowa border in the town of Macedonia. Cari recently had a new man in her life, a man named David Kroupa. David lived just across the border in Omaha Nebraska. David and Cari had been dating for about two weeks when she disappeare...

It still amazes me that in this day and age people think they can get away with murder, especially when it involves a spouse. Of course murderers always seem to believe that they are smarter than investigators and that they can explain things away or lie and not get caught. This is just such a case. On August 17, 2014 thirty-eight year old Rob Limon was working at the railroad yard in Tehachapi California, about thirty-five miles southeast of Bakersfield. He was shot dead and found in the railroad yard by co-workers. One of the first people notified and interviewed was Rob's wife, Sabrina. Two days after his murder the couple would have celebrated their fourteenth wedding anniversary. They had two children together. Sabrina was asked if either she, or Rob, had been unfaithful or if she knew anyone who would have wanted him murdered. She repeatedly insisted that the couple was happy and faithful to each other. A few weeks after the murder a couple, who had...

Generally my blogs are titled with the perpetrators name, or in cases in which there are multiple perpetrators I will title it “The Murder of” or “The Death of....” This case is a bit different. Most people believe that John Hill was the perpetrator in the death of his wife (and some say there were others). He was also the victim of murder himself. Although I suppose to be fair I should tell you there is a conspiracy theory that he faked his death. This case is full of interesting characters. There is the millionaire oilman who is hellbent on exacting revenge against the son in law he is convinced murdered his daughter; there is the prominent plastic surgeon who most would say had an affair with the wrong woman; and then there is the lawyer who would defend him. I spoke of Richard “Racehorse” Haynes some time ago in my blog about T. Cullen Davis. I looked back to see what it was I may have said about him at the time, and I have to say my opinion of the man has chan...