True Crime Stories

*** I want to state before I start that Randy W. and his son Randy H. are both accused of this crime. While Randy H. is not legally a “Jr.” he is often called this. So, for clarification purposes I plan to use “Jr.” when referring to him.*** On April 5, 2010 two men entered the home of Nova Southeastern University professor Joseph Morrissey's home in Plantation Florida. Both Joseph and his wife, Linda were bound and tied up while their five year old son slept upstairs. At some point the couple, either both together or Joseph alone, were forced to with draw money from their bank account. One man went to the bank while the other stayed home with the couple's son. It has been said that it was done this way so that the couple would completely comply with the two men knowing that if they did not their son could be in danger. By all account the couple did not know, or maybe later remember, who the two men were. Once they returned from the bank one of the men put...

In April of 2011 Deborah Delaney disappeared from her Peoria Arizona home. No one knows exactly when it happened. Her husband did not report her missing. Her mother, Patricia Smyth did after not being able to reach her daughter on that Easter Sunday. Deborah's husband, William would claim that she had left a note that she was leaving him. Authorities would come to believe that the type written note had actually been written by William himself to explain his wife's absence. What he did not apparently know was that a few years earlier Deborah had written a letter, showed it to her mother and had her mother also sign it, and then left it with her mother. The handwritten letter would detail the problems in the Delaney marriage and in fact was written solely for the reason if she were to die or disappear suddenly. For the next year William Delaney was on the police radar in the disappearance of his wife. It was said that the last time he had been interviewed, appar...

On July 18, 1984 the United States would see the worse mass shooting to date. It would retain this status until 1991 when a man walked into a Luby's restaurant and kill twenty-three people (two more than at the McDonald's). I am going be honest and say that the Luby's shooting is on my list and I have not researched it to any real extent at this point. In fact, I believe I have done only a few mass shootings here on my blog at this point. They are usually open and shut cases in the perspective as to who was responsible and more often than not the perpetrator is killed at the scene either by their own hands or by someone else. When that occurs it leaves so many open questions most of the time as to the motive of the crime. When there is is a work place rampage the answers are generally in plain sight. It is in cases such as this that the answers are not so clear and the only person that has those answers can no longer speak. It was on that day in July that J...

It seems that everyone who is into true crime have those cases that they are obsessed with and cases they could scream if they heard one more word about them. For me this case falls into the latter category. The problem is though, I am unsure why I feel this way. This case is similar to two other cases, those of Tom Foley and David Camm. In all of these cases the men were accused of murdering their wives and would receive multiple trials. Like the Tom Foley case, a witness would come forward in this case after a conviction and the courts found that it warranted a new trial. Like the David Camm case, Calvin Harris would be convicted twice by two juries but the courts would overturn the convictions. David Camm would be acquitted after his third trial while Calvin Harris' third trial would end with the jury unable to make a decision and it would be a forth trial before Harris would be acquitted. Camm's case is another that I have not blogged about and I believe it is...

There have been studies done and while I cannot quote them specifically, that discuss the odds of people knowing someone who died of a violent crime. It is obviously not out of the realm of possibilities but it is not up there with people dying of heart ailments or things such as that. However, with each mysterious or odd death that surrounds a person the more questions that begin to be asked. In the case of Judy Buenoano she had a husband, two boyfriends, and a son all die between 1971 and 1980. She also had another boyfriend who was severely injured in a car bombing. He would survive and it would be his suspicions and investigators findings that would unravel the mysteries. On June 25, 1983 Florida resident John Gentry got into his car to head to the liquor store to get some things to celebrate with his finance', Judy Buenoano, who had just told him she was pregnant. He got into his car and when he turned the ignition there was an explosion. Investigators would...

For the second time today I am faced with a case that I am unsure how I feel about. Just as in the one prior, I am left with many unanswered questions. The difference here however is that there will likely never be an appeal on the case, or one substantial enough that would give the details I am looking for, things that only a trial or court hearing would produce. In the end Jennifer Nibbe opted to plead guilty to the second degree murder of her husband and we are only left with the words of family and attorney as to what really went on. What we do know is that on August 31, 2010 James Nibbe lost his life. He was sleeping in his Crystal Lake Minnesota home when he was shot in his head. His wife, Jennifer was present in the home, as well as a sixteen year old son. Jennifer would call 9-1-1 and claim that a “masked intruder” came into the home, grabbed the family rifle that was positioned at the door, shot her husband and then met her outside the bathroom door at gunpo...

I do not always agree with the laws surrounding someone who claims mental illness or insanity as a defense. It is not that I do not believe that mentally ill people commit crimes nor is it that I do not believe that someone can be insane and commit them, because I do. However, the rules surrounding those such defenses, in my opinion are skewed. Now, before I go any further I do not necessarily believe that the defendant in this case was mentally ill or insane. Maybe he was but I question his defense attorneys using this as a defense against the evidence found against his client. In order to be successful with a defense of insanity or mentally ill, almost ALL states, including Iowa where this case took place, the defendant must prove that they did not know the difference between right and wrong. They also have to prove that they had no concept or understanding of what the consequences of their actions, to others, or themselves could be. In my opinion, the evidence in thi...