True Crime Stories

This is an odd case for me. It is one of those cases that ran cold for twenty years. It is also a case in which prosecutors arrested and charged a suspect some five years after the crime only to drop the charges saying there was insufficient evidence. When this happens it makes the job of the prosecutor that much harder because the defense has a “fall guy.” They do not always have to say that the previous suspect is the actual perpetrator, but they can simply argue that the prosecutor and law enforcement had been so convinced that person was the suspect that they had gone as far as to arrest someone and charge them, only to decide the person was either innocent or as this case stated, there was not enough evidence to move forward. Jason Tibbs was convicted in the murder of Rayna Rison, twenty-one years after her murder. He had been an early suspect when Rayna first disappeared March 26, 1993 after his class ring was found in her car. At the time authorities believed T...

This crime is one of the most heinous that I have come across, not necessarily because of the crime itself, but because of the relationship between the victims and the perpetrator. Even still one of the things that shocks me is how the justice system handled things inside the court. For over two decades many states have required those convicted of sex offenses to register with the local police department upon their release from prison and have restrictions they must follow. In 2006 the federal government it mandated that states have a registry, which all did, but by their rules. There are still arguments on whether the federal rules are the “right ones,” just as there are still arguments on whether the registry itself is legal. Initially these registries were enacted to warn law enforcement and the public of the “worse of the worse” when it came to sexual crimes, especially those against children. Over the years the states have added more and more offenses to the ...

On June 25, 2006 Owensboro Kentucky resident Calvin Stoudt called 911 saying he had returned home from church to find his wife, forty-six year old Corrine dead in their home. The investigation into the crime uncovered secrets that many among friends and family of Corrine had not been made aware. When Corrine met Calvin she lived in Illinois. Her parents lived in Owensboro and after a painful divorce her father introduced her to Calvin. The two seemed to hit it off very well, at least at first and Corrine moved to Owensboro. Like Corrine, Calvin too was divorced but while she believed Calvin had only been married once before it would later be discovered that Corrine was his fourth wife. Over the years the marriage started deteriorating. For Corrine it didn't help when her parents left Kentucky and moved back to Springfield Illinois, some four hours away. Corrine had always been very involved in her church and over their years together this is one thing ...

This is one of the most confusing cases that I have ever tried to research. In fact, I attempted to do it one other time but became overwhelmed and frustrated at all of the issues at hand. A social worker involved in the case was quoted as saying that this was one of the most dysfunctional family situations that she had ever dealt with. While I agree that the dysfunction was a huge issue in my research as it led from one strange fact to another, it was only part of the issues I had in keeping things straight. Around 1996 Angelina Young and Joshua Gouker had a son. He was also named Joshua but did not carry his fathers surname. He maintained his mother's maiden name. So father and son were both name Joshua but they had different last names. For purposes of this blog I will use the phrases “Big Josh” and “Little Josh” to try and lessen the confusion, if that is at all possible. About a year or so after Little Josh was born there was another boy born in the Lo...

You have seen several cases from the Oklahoma City area from me lately. Sometimes that happens due to how I make my list of cases and whether they grab my interest when I am going through the list. This all started with the case of Curtis McCarty, a man who was sentenced to death three times but later released from prison. Often when I read about one case others are mentioned and that was such the situation with McCarty. Much of the information on his case centered around the local prosecutor at the time, a man named Robert “Cowboy Bob” Macy and a lab technician named Joyce “Black Magic” Gilchrist. In the process several other cases, such as this one, relating to Robert Lee Miller Jr. was mentioned, as questionable cases. Robert Lee Miller Jr. was convicted and sentenced to death in the murders of eighty-three year old Anne Fowler and ninety-two year old Zelma Cutler. Both of the elderly women had been raped and murdered in their homes. Anne Fowler had been foun...

You have often heard me give my thoughts on the death penalty. I believe that in someone is sentenced to death, let alone actually executed, there should be absolutely no question as to whether they are guilty of the crime. Now, some would say that there is no way to come to that conclusion but I do not necessarily believe that. I believe that in most cases DNA can absolutely determine the guilt of someone, at least someone who has physically committed the crime. Of course there are cases in which DNA really makes no difference. Those are the cases in which the defendant's DNA is all over a home and crime scene but then again it is generally their home or property they use on a regular basis. Now, DNA cannot prove the guilt of someone accused of hiring someone else to commit a crime and investigators have to look elsewhere for evidence. Murder for hire cases can be difficult to prove. I'm currently reading a book on the murder of Dr. John Hill in Texas in...