True Crime Stories

We all know that when someone disappears or is murdered the first suspects are those closest to the victim. It is not necessarily unusual for one spouse to kill another or to even pay someone else to do it for them. In fact, I have often said that sadly those sorts of cases are almost “run of the mill” cases. It is also not unusual for a convicted perpetrator to maintain their innocence for... well, forever. The latter is one of the main things that make this case a bit unique from other cases. Even still this case has a few twists and turns that you do not see often. Doug Stewart and his wife, Venus, had a very fast courtship. They were married four days after they had met each other. Doug's sister was friends with Venus and had introduced them. They both lived near the Colon Michigan area. After a few years they began to have some problems and for whatever reason they decided that moving to another area would give them a “do over” and would energize their ma...

This obviously is not about a specific case. I am simply curious what those who like true crime stories think about the new way they are catching perpetrators through matches on genealogy sites. There have been several cases in which have led to the arrest of suspects. The Golden State Killer case is probably the most famous. An old cold case in Indiana involving the murder of a child also claims to have been solved through this method, among others. These genealogy sites were obviously initially launched to help people in their quest to find relatives or expand their family trees. At least some of them are public sites which gives law enforcement the opportunity to access. The process has been described as law enforcement, or those working in conjunction with them enter unknown DNA from unsolved cases into the site to see if there are any connections to those who have previous, by their own accord entered their own DNA. The site is able to find any ...

I just recently finished watching the “limited series” called “Dirty John.” It is the story of con-man John Meehan who ultimately met his fate at the hands of the daughter of his wife/victim. I had thought about searching that case for a blog but ultimately decided to wait and yet as I moved on to the murder of Summer Inman I felt as if there were many similar things within the two cases. Of course the main difference in this case is that it was Summer who would lose her life and not those who had instilled fear in her. In both the Inman case and the Meehan case the women involved expressed fear of their husbands to the courts and to those around them. Despite this it also seems that both women did not take that fear or the threats made to them as seriously as they stated to others. In both cases, especially in the case of Summer, it was as if they were poking their perpetrators. The Meehan case could have just as easily ended in the death of Debra Meehan or some...

Michael Hutchinson It should be no surprise to anyone here that I read almost exclusively true crime stories, or that is my main obsession on television also. I am currently reading a book written by Sarah Perry, the daughter of Crystal Perry, Michael Hutchinson's victim. Sarah was twelve years old when her mother was murdered in the home they shared together. By the time prosecutors would identify Hutchinson Sarah had lived equal time within her life with, and without, her mother. Crystal Perry was a single mother of one when she was murdered on May 11, 1994 in her home in Bridgton Maine. Sarah had been in her room asleep when she had first been awoken by her mother yelling. She believes she fell back asleep because sadly over the years Sarah had gotten used to her mother arguing with her boyfriends. As the time neared one in the morning Sarah was again awoken by her mother only this time her mother seemed to be screaming as loud as she could. At this point Sa...

This is bit of a strange case. In some ways it is much like the Susan Smith case in where one of the people spearheading the search for the missing is the one responsible for their death. In other ways I have to be left wondering about possible mental issues involving the defendant in this case. The latter may never be resolved as I am one of those who believes that no matter what position each side in a case takes they can always find an “expert” to agree with them. I have seen many cases in which one side or another have all but “expert shopped” until they did find such a person. There have been at least a few cases in which the prosecution was “caught” per se doing this. Now, before I get any further I should state that whether I believe the defendant in this case has mental issues or not does not change the fact that I believe he was responsible for the crime he was convicted of committing. Although he confessed to the police and they seemingly had the evidenc...

Cases such as this one are difficult to blog about for me. Several things come into play here but no matter what legal or medical outcome is made in the end there is still a death and a family mourning a loved one. As a reader of my blog you know that I am as interested and fascinated about the crimes as I am about the legal process and how things are done. Guilty or Innocent there are rules and laws to follow and there must be evidence to prove someone committed a crime. This was not a crime in which the death penalty was sought but I have often stated that it is those sorts of cases that I believe there should be absolutely no doubt of the defendant's guilt before imposing the death penalty. In those cases especially, but in all cases it is imperative that a proper investigation is conducted. Then things are not done properly not only can it delay or impede justice for a victim and their family, it can also cause undue stress, among other things to a susp...