True Crime Stories

Sadly, spouse on spouse murders seems almost common place now days. By 2004 when this crime was committed it was already a well established fact, but yet this was one of those cases that I remember very well when it happened. I cannot honestly say what exactly kept my attention so much in this case. Every case is a bit different and have their own twists and turns and this case is no different in that aspect. However, it could have been that Mark Hacking's deceit was so elaborate and far reaching that it seemed unbelievable. Even today, while I do not doubt that Mark Hacking pulled the wool over people's eyes, I question how people were not onto his lies long before he took the life of his wife. On July 19, 2004 Mark Hacking, of Salt Lake City Utah called 9-1-1 at ten minutes to eleven in the morning to report his wife missing. According to Mark, his wife, Lori, had left the house to go for a morning run and had never returned. The Hacking's had been m...

This blog may be especially long because it actually contains two unrelated crimes. The only connection is that the two victims of these violent crimes were brothers. In fact, one of the crimes was committed in Hong Kong while the other in the United States some three years later. This is the story about Robert and Andrew Kissel. Robert was an investment banker who worked for such businesses as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Andrew was a real estate developer with a bit of a shady past and future at the time of his death. But lets start with Robert as his murder occurred first. Robert had married his wife Nancy in 1989. By the time of his death in 2003 the couple had three children and were living in Hong Kong. They had moved there in 1997 (or 1998 depending on what information you read) while he was working at Goldman Sachs. He would later change employment to Merrill Lynch. He was considered to be a workaholic who was devoted to his work. There would be disputes late...

I often pride myself in knowing particular things about the law. In doing this blog of course I learn new things. Each case is specific and teach different things. Sometimes I may learn, as I recently have, that a state has abolished the death penalty, or maybe they seem close to doing so. Sometimes I may learn that a court has overturned a conviction that I was unaware of prior to researching deeper into a case. But, if someone would have asked me if there was a Statue of Limitations on murder I would have answered with a resounding no. I would have been wrong, although admittedly just barely. New Mexico is apparently the only state in which a statue of limitations exists on murder. And, it seems that until the early 2000's it applied to all degrees of murder. It was then that it was changed but only regarding first degree murder. What this meant was that any murder that was “solved” past the six year statue of limitations could only be tried in a court under the first...

My husband comes from a family in which mental illness has affected many and yet there was a unspoken rule that it was not discussed or addressed most of the time.  Of course there were times in which things could not be ignored and someone had an issue which had to be addressed but for one, only if that issue did not involve the law, and for two, it was only addressed long enough to get through the immediate problem and then they went back to ignoring things. There was no rule of acceptance or admittance and if one could keep their distance they did.  I have often said that there is a fine line between an excuse and a reason and sometimes people are blinded to that.  I do not mean to say that crimes committed by those who have a mental illness should not be addressed or go unpunished but I do feel that it sometimes gives a reason or an answer to things and I think this case qualifies.  Again, do not take this as an excuse as to the crimes committed by Martin MacNeil...

At around 8 am on August 24, 2007 Tami Duvall would call 9-1-1 and state that she had come home to find her estranged husband, Alan, in a chair in her back yard dead.  She would tell authorities when they arrived that he had come to her home the evening prior to work on an air conditioning unit. She was quick to let police know that her husband was a very heavy drinker and had apparently slept outside due to his alcohol consumption as well as the fact they were not living together.  It would take investigators nearly three years to build a case but on August 6, 2010 Tami was charged in murder of her husband. It seems that the local police in Columbus Indiana were suspicious from the get go and Tami did nothing to quell those suspicions.  Not only would she try to prevent an autopsy being performed she was insistent on having his body cremated despite the fact that he had a burial plot already available.  The autopsy was performed however apparently as it was determ...

On July 30, 2008 Michelle Hall would call 9-1-1 and report that her husband had shot her and then himself in their Sharpsburg Georgia home.  By the end of the night John "Britt" Hall would be in a body bag and Michelle Hall would be in handcuffs. Michelle's story fell apart rather quickly and just over a year later a jury would convict her in the murder of her husband.  This does not seem to be one of those spousal murders in which there was all kinds of life insurance, although I cannot say there was none.  It does not even seem that the prosecution knew for sure what caused the argument between the couple that ended in his death. But, the exact reason did not matter.  The prosecution had her changing stories, an expert to testify that the forensics and medical examination did not match either or her scenarios, a daughter who would hear the escalating argument that included the victim yelling for her to put the gun down, and testimony that just about anything coul...

This case would be one that if you ever watch the television show How to get Away with Murder would be used as a case on what NOT to do.  I mentioned in the last blog that I finished that the defense in that case had all but said their client was an idiot, which was not the case there, but surely qualifies here. On August 31, 2006 in Metairie Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, Mary Elizabeth Marinello was headed to her car after a therapy appointment when she was gunned down in the parking lot.  It was 4:00 in the afternoon.  She would be shot twice in the face and die the next day at the hospital. Witnesses would say that they saw a "scruffy" man near the area and take off on a bicycle.  Surveillance video from the parking lot would show this person pacing back and forth through the parking lot for about twenty-five minutes for the shooting.  While some argued that the video was grainy and unclear to the point of not being able to be sure the gender of the...

The trial against Brett Parker in the murders of his wife and his best friend was not really all that sensational in and of itself.  Of course, as all cases do, it had it's own twists and turns but the thing that I found most interesting or I suppose comical would be a better words is while his defense was not arguing he was mentally incompetent or necessarily of low intelligence as we so often see. No, Brett Parker's defense basically said he was an idiot.  And no, they were not saying this in the context of the fact that he had committed the crime and he just was not smart enough to cover things up.  They said it in the context of he was too dumb to have committed the crime AND covered it up.  Well, while the prosecution argued Brett Parker was not an idiot as his attorney seemed to indicate they surely had to admit that he attempted to cover it up.  So, maybe the defense attorney was correct about their client. On April 13, 2012 Brett Parker called 9-1-1 an...

It appears I have gotten to another section of my list that has several spousal murders one right after another.  I have to admit that these are not the cases that I find most interesting.  Everyone, including perpetrators, know that the first place investigators look is at the spouse or significant other.  Few are smart enough to pull it off without questions.  Of course there have been a few that I have blogged about that have been acquitted of murdering their spouse.  Maybe they are guilty, or maybe the investigators who know the perpetrators is almost always someone closest to the victim had tunnel vision.  In the end it always comes down to what Jamie Foxx said in Law Abiding Citizen , "It's not what you know, it's what you can prove." It is not unusual when I am doing research on a case to find websites that are devoted to the idea that the convicted murderer is innocent.  This case was no exception. However, I think the appeals court nearly sa...