True Crime Stories

George and Alene Jenkins had tried to have children for several years without success. Eventually they adopted two children but the specifics on how, when, or how old the children were upon their adoption are unknown to me. By 1995 the couple lived in Las Vegas with their fifteen year old son, Joshua and ten year old daughter, Megan. It is unclear how old Joshua was when he began having behavioral issues but it was said that by the age of five he was in “treatment for his educational, behavioral and mental health obstacles.” It seems that things did not get better as he got older. Sometime in late 1995 or early 1996 it was discovered that Joshua was “plotting” to kill George. He armed himself with a crossbow and a rifle and attempted to attack him. His plot failed and his parents sent him to Visa del Mar, a boarding school in Los Angeles for troubled children. This was apparently not the first issue they had with Joshua as it was said that the police were called several t...

Most people believe when they put their child up for adoption that they are giving their child a better life and more chances than could be offered to them if they kept the child. However, I have shown you case after case where that is not the situation and more often than we would like to admit the child has been handed a life of torture. But, what about the other side of that? What about the good and decent people who adopt a child not just to improve the child's life, but their own also? It is hard even today to make that choice and know through genetics what one may be getting themselves into but it was almost impossible back in 1957 when James Clarke Sr. and his wife Elizabeth adopted a four month old child. Do not get me wrong in thinking that I do not believe that a child deserves a chance even if there are things such as mental health issues in their genes. But, at least today people are able to have the opportunity to know this going into a situation. I ca...

Television in the early 1980's was dominated by the “new” concept of what became known as a “mini series.” To qualify for that status a “movie” would span over the period of at least two nights. One of the biggest known was one called North & South . There eventually would be three separate installments of this series and while for the most part it is largely forgotten, those who do remember it generally do so because it was one of our earliest looks at actor Patrick Swayze. By the mid-1980s television was changing again and it became the true crime era. From time to time both concepts would merge and you may have a two night true crime story movie. I remember one called In a Child's Name about a dentist who was accused of murdering his wife and his sister in law made it her quest to bring him to justice. I think I remember this one so well because at the end of the first night the parents of the dentist were sleeping in the room in which he had allegedly ...

After a birthday dinner with her boyfriend, Matthew Heikkila on January 29, 1991 Marta Morales went to his home that he shared with his parents, Dawn and Richard. They had only been dating a few months and there had already been a few issues but until they reached the home things seemed to be going okay. However, they got to the home and Matthew pulled out handcuffs and put one on Marta and one on himself and led her into the house.  Once inside he proceeded to show her the body of his mother, whom he had shot hours earlier, before picking her up for their date.  Richard also laid in the home dead and Marta was likely shown his body too but most reports just state she saw Dawn's. Matthew then forced Marta to spend the night in the home handcuffed to him. He would waiver between sleeping and discussing how he was going to kill both her and himself.  Eventually, by morning plans had changed.  By this time he has decided they would both live but that they were going to ...