True Crime Stories

While a spouse against spouse crime is the most common and of course I have blogged about several of those types of cases here, it is not my primary focus on cases. Sadly they are just so “commonplace.” The spouse is the first one suspected in a crime, we all know that. When blogging about such cases I try to find the “more interesting” ones. They are the ones that have multiple murders or interesting legal proceedings. This case has both. Lois Music married Phillip Huff in 1974. They appeared to have a few children and then in February of 1983 Phillip was murdered in Orange County Indiana. I believe the couple lived in the town of Paoli but they could have just as easily lived in the town of French Lick, most famous as being the place basketball great Larry Bird grew up. Okay, I always wonder if people like Larry Bird and John Mellencamp are as “big” outside of Indiana as they are in the state. There are very few details about Phillip Huffs murder but apparently his wife c...

  I apologize that I have not been on here in quite some time. I had a few blogs researched already and I am transferring my notes to try and refresh my memory to put them together. Hopefully I will get back in the groove again soon. Howard Witkin was from a prominent family in Santa Clara California. He managed a family owned glass and mirror business. In 1966 Howard married Judi Barnett. Judi was originally from Michigan and after three children and a divorce she relocated with the children back to her home state. Once in Michigan Judi would marry again to a man named Robert Singer. It is unclear whether Singer was already a restaurateur or if this would occur after his marriage to Judi. What I can say is that in December of 1979 Robert opened The Onion Crock in Flint Michigan. A man by the name of Kevin McCarthy was in charge of the hiring and firing of the employees and all but Robert's “right hand man.” As is often the case in such environments, McCarthy was pri...

  Lets just say that I am a middle aged woman and leave it at that. I have been reading true crime books since I was in high school. In the 1980's and 90's television was all about movies based on true crimes. It was also an era of television where there were “mini-series'” on quite often. Many of the true story ones were two night movies. For the last decade or more I have watched almost exclusively shows that revolve around true crime. To add to that this blog alone has over 700 cases that I have researched as much as possible and published. I say all of this to explain why I find it funny that I can still be surprised that perpetrators can be so careless and stupid. On August 8, 2012 Susan Walls made a 9-1-1 call from her Unionville Tennessee home. She would report that she had returned home and it looked like there had been a burglary. It was unclear whether the dispatcher could not understand what Susan was trying to say because she appeared upset or for ano...

  My goal today is to get several blogs put together and published. May the Force be with me (yes, along with many of my passions is a love for Star Wars) as I attempt to make that happen. I have several already researched and I have attempted to do this one more than once but I'm like the dog who sees the squirrel (yep, animated movies too) and loses my attention span! I blog about more cases that go to trial than those that end in plea deals or any other way mainly because those are the better cases to research. There is always more information out there in cases that go to trial as there are more articles about information and those that end in convictions generally have appeals filed which also gives a lot of information. That being said, taking a case to trial is not always the smart thing to do for a defendant. It is said, and has often been proven, that prosecutors and judges prefer plea deals. It saves time and money for the county or state for one. Often prosecut...

  As the mother of two boys this case particularly hits a spot with me. We used to have a joke with one of my sons that he has a tendency to find girls who have “crazy” mothers and while it was true and was a joke, this case proves that it is not always a joke. On the morning of March 5, 1993 eighteen year old high school senior Albert Joseph “Joey” Fischer Jr. was in his driveway in Brownsville Texas washing his car before school. His mom would find him laying in a pool of blood. He had been shot once in the head and once in the chest. The water hose was still in his hand. At the scene of the crime police found a card to a fortune teller and Mexican faith healer named Maria Martinez. Investigators talked to Maria and it seems she just spilled her guts, although I cannot say I understand her train of thinking. According to Maria, Dora Cisneros was a frequent client of hers and had asked her to put a curse on Joey Fischer. Joey had dated Dora's youngest daughter, Chr...

On Sunday November 14, 1998 in the town of Elkridge Maryland a woman named Sara Williamson Raras was murdered in her home. She was laying in a puddle of blood and she had deep cuts to her neck, wrists and stomach. As per is the generally the case, her estranged husband, Lorenzo Raras was the prime suspect. Lorenzo and Sara were married in September of 1994. Three years later they had a son, Lorenzo Williamson Raras who they called “Will.” A few months after Will was born Sara called the police in January of 1998. She reported that Lorenzo had made “murder threats” against her. She told law enforcement that Lorenzo had been diagnosed with depression but was failing to take his medication. He owned at least five guns at the time. Investigators would learn later that shortly after this incident Lorenzo sold the guns and it seems the couple stayed together. But, at the end of June Sara told Lorenzo she wanted a separation. Again she called the police because she stated that w...

Many beliefs and behaviors are learned and passed down from generation to generation. The theory that male children are superior to female children is one of them. Of course until the early 1900's women were still even legally considered to be inferior. Some would argue today that women are still considered that way but it is nothing compared to where we started. This goes back at least as far as ancient times and just carried on down. Many female children babies were abandoned or even murdered in China when there was a one child policy in place for more than thirty years. Male children carry on surnames which make them important to fathers in particular. But mother's doted on their sons, some more than others. Sons were treated better than daughters. Daughters were expected to marry well; sons were expected to do well. Many mothers would not just try to convince their sons that no one would love them like they would, they made sure the women dating their son...

In my last blog I discussed the issue that when outgoing governor, Matt Bevin left office in Kentucky in late 2019 he commuted a lot of sentences and issued pardons. There was huge controversies surrounding them and there was indications that the FBI was looking into several of them. It was said that a majority of them were low level drug crimes but there were a few that stuck out.... this is one of them. On the night of March 12, 1991 sixty year old Charles Westerfield opened the door of his Owensboro Kentucky home and saw a man dressed in a surgical suit. The man opened fire on Westerfield as he daughter (I was not able to determine how old she was) stood nearby. He would die from his injuries. Charles Westerfield worked at Southwire Rod and Cable Company in nearby Hawesville Kentucky. He also had only what I could find as described as a “side business.” His partner in this business was Irvin Edge who also worked at Southwire. Authorities would later say that ...

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...