True Crime Stories

Cases that involve the deaths of children are the most difficult to research and put together due to the emotional level. They are especially difficult when there are clearly signs that things could have been different if someone had acted upon their knowledge. This case is just such a case. Caroline Young lived in Hayward California located in Alameda County. In 1993 she had custody of her daughter Vanessa Torres' two children, six year old Darin and four year old Dai-Zshia. Reports are shady as to when she received custody of them. While all indicate that she had cared for the children for many years, some made it appears that she had gotten them each separately as infants but that may not be the facts. It was clear that Vanessa had been deemed unfit to care for the children and had spent some time in jail on drug charges and those relating to prostitution. However by 1993 Vanessa was not in jail and it was indicated that she too lived with Caroline and her ch...

This is a bit of an odd case. This is not a case in which a couple murdered people together like Ray and Fay Copeland, or say, Bonnie and Clyde. Between the two they would be convicted or plead guilty to four murders. One occurred before the couple met and married in 1976. The others occurred some four years after and while there is speculation that there may have been some collaboration between the two, nothing has ever legally proven this and only considered to be speculation at this point, although as you will see later, it could be “good” speculation. It is also alleged that another murder occurred before the couple met, but again there seems to be no evidence to back this up. On September 29, 2013 Gerald and Alice Uden were arrested at their Chadwick Missouri home. The couple, who were now in their seventies, had lived on the sixty acres that they owned since the 1980's and it appears that no one suspected that the couple were anything but upstanding. Wel...

This was one of those cases that while I was reading it, it was very clear that Milo Stanley had committed a horrendous crime and that he was guilty but in the same respect, I do not believe that he had a fair trial. Nor do I believe that the court ruled appropriately. This is not necessarily something that you have never heard me say about a case but the latter part in which I disagreed with the court, is a little more rare from me. I fear certain rulings from courts because official rulings that are upheld set a precedence meaning future cases can look back at them to help them make new rulings. In this particular case Milo Stanley confessed to the murders of his wife and five year old daughter but only after he had requested an attorney and questioning had continued. Milo's defense would later argue that this confession had been obtained illegally and that it should not have been entered into his jury trial. The appeals court later denied that saying that altho...

On June 16, 1988 eight prisoners escaped from the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville Kentucky. While I did not live near the Indiana/Kentucky border then, as I do now, I have to say I have often been amazed at the stories of prison escapes coming out of Kentucky. It appears to happen fairly often although most seem to be no more than one or two people. I am also surprised at how long it seems to be discovered as well as how elaborate the planning seemed to be. In a few it has amazed me that someone, somewhere, had not caught on that things were going on. I remember one case where I believe two or three escaped and had dug a hole through a wall. Obviously this took time to do... yes, we know Andy Dufresne did it in the movie, but this is real life. That being said, just how the eight men escaped was not made clear. Within a few days three of the men were captured within a short distance from the prison. This left William Hall, Derrick Quintero, James Blanton,...

I am unsure I have ever said this, but there is no other way to put this, Jessie Dotson is simply put, not a good person and by all accounts he never really as been. In 1990, when he was fifteen years old he was charged with disorderly conduct after he threatened his mother when she tried to discipline him. A month later he was charged with assault after he hit a thirteen year old boy in the fact and threatened “to put him in the hospital if he didn't bring him $25 the next day.” The following year he was arrested again for disorderly conduct after he came home and wanted to fight his brother, he had punched several holes in the wall and once again threatened to kill his mother. When the police arrived he was still refusing to calm down and was still attempting to fight his brother. A few months later a car he was riding in was pulled over and two guns were found on the floorboards of the vehicle. Again the next year was another disorderly charge when he got into...

I am currently reading the book The Darkest Night by Ron Franscell. I have always loved to read but the only time I seem to have to do so is as I am going to sleep at night and it seems that the older I get, the more tired reading makes me. Thankfully I still read and comprehend fairly fast so while it seems to take forever to get through a book, it could take much longer. But, before I began this book I had never heard of this story. It is heartbreaking on so many levels! Around 9:00 on the night of September 24, 1973, eighteen year old Becky Thomson was going to run to the grocery store for a few things for her mother and asked her eleven year old sister, Amy Burridge if she would like to go. The two piled into Becky's car and headed to the store in their town of Casper Wyoming. They went to the small store and when they came out they discovered that there was a flat tire on the car. Becky was irritated because she had recently had the tire fixed and she ...

Some of you may remember a television movie back in 1983 with this title. It starred Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith. One of the funny things about that movie is that Andy Griffith, someone who was known first by “wholesome” television from the series carrying his name and later as the lawyer “Matlock” played the “bad guy” here while Johnny Cash, known for his rebelness (is that a word? Spell check does not think so.), was the “good guy.” One of the strange things about this case is that while we have a victim, and a perpetrator was brought to justice, and I can tell you that the perpetrator, John Wallace was executed on November 3, 1950, the best that I can tell you is that the victim, William “Wilson” Turner, was murdered in April of 1948. John Wallace has been described as a “wealthy landowner” in Meriwether County Georgia in 1948. By most accounts despite anyone else who may or may not have held any power title, it was Wallace who ran and controlled things ...

Once again I have dug down deep into history to find a case. I like doing these for many reasons. One is that there is generally not a lot out there about them as they have been lost in history. While often the crimes are similar to what we see today in modern times, the forensics and the laws are generally what we see today. I do admit that while in our modern death penalty cases it sometimes leaves me irritated that they can drag for decades in the appeals process, let alone at the point in which we are now where there are so many arguments in the states regarding not just the practice itself but the “medications” used. But, in the same respect the “swift” justice that was handed out in the 1800's and well into the mid-1900's sometimes also bothers me. So often there would be a simple matter of just a few months between the crime and the death of the accused. In my opinion, not to mention time has shown us this to be true, there is no doubt innocent people were p...