True Crime Tuesday: The Cold Case of April Tinsley

One of the most fascinating things happening in the crime-solving world right now is the use of genealogy databases, like Ancestry and 23 And Me, to solve cold cases.

Most recently, and maybe most famously, we saw it this year when the Golden State Killer was finally apprehended after 40+ years undetected.

Privacy and ethics debates aside, I actually think it’s brilliant to be looking for matches this way if it gets more wastes of fucking oxygen off the street.

In the case I want to tell you about for this week’s instalment of TCT, the Fort Wayne Police Department ran testing on DNA evidence from a 1988 cold case using a genealogy database and came back with hits on two living brothers of the DNA source.

That’s ah-meezing.

What are killers supposed to do? “Hey, family? Please don’t give your DNA over to 23 and Me. The police might find out I’m a serial killer they’ve been hunting for the last 30 or so years. Okay? Thanks, great talk.”

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This is the Cold Case of April Tinsley.

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True Crime Tuesday: A Graphic Novel Murder

Gooooood morning friends, lovers, Vietnam and strangers! It’s my favourite day of the blogging week once again, True Crime Tuesday! *crowd goes wild*

Today I’ve got a cracker of a case to share. I’ve been obsessing over it all weekend as the trial just started so there’s lots of new information spilling out.

…but first, a joke:

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This might actually be my new favourite serial killer joke. Yes, that’s a thing I’m allowed to have a favourite of. My previous favourite was:

Q: What does Jeffrey Dahmer sing while he’s making his lunch?

A: My bologna has a first name…

Classic.

And now that’s you’re in a good mood, let’s completely ruin that, shall we?

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True Crime Tuesday: The Humboldt Broncos and an NYC Body

It feels like it’s been a minute since I’ve done a True Crime post. Maybe because I feel like I’ve been really busy, but also the days are just absolutely dragging at work. I wasn’t even totally sure I was going to do one this week until a creepy story broke on Monday night from New York…but we’ll get to that in a minute.

I want to start with something a little bit different that I know is not technically “true crime”, but I created this regular post to talk about crazy/interesting crimes talking place across the globe so we can be aware, but also to talk about the deaths of people who were victims, taken from this world before it seemed fair or just, before they had a chance to experience whatever they went for in life.

And so, with that in mind, the Humboldt Broncos fit that sentiment.

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Review: Final Girls by Riley Sager

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★★★★★

Dutton | 2017

It’s my birthday and I’m King of the World!

Okay, it’s not my birthday, nor am I a king, but that’s how this book makes me feel.

I’m not going to shame other people for their opinions on this one, but I will say if you didn’t like it, I truly believe you missed the beauty of what Riley Sager did here.

But, still, no judgement. I respect you all, I’m just a little bit in love with this novel.

At Pine Cottage, ten years earlier, Quincy Carpenter emerges from the woods, bloody and screaming, the only survivor of a murderous massacre. We’re talking slasher-flick-sized proportions. The only problem is, Quincy has repressed all memories of that night. She has no idea what happened.

By surviving this horrific event, Quincy becomes a member of a very exclusive club, dubbed in the media as The Final Girls.

“Final girls is film-geek speak for the last woman standing at the end of a horror movie.”

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True Crime Tuesday: Teenage Thelma And Louise

It’s that time again! And maybe that time is occurring too much? I’m waffling on that, considering making True Crime Tuesday a bi-weekly post to give myself more room to research and write. But we’ll see.

So, last week I wrote about The Snapchat Murders – the story of two young girls who are the victims of a still-free killer.

This week, let’s turn that concept on its head. This is the story of two young girls who are the killers.

Holly Harvey and Sandra Ketchum.

3CDE141200000578-0-image-a-36_1486321674387 — Sandra Ketchum (left) and Holly Harvey (right.)

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True Crime Tuesday: The Michigan Murderer

“Ken, two kids just came in with some story about a body out in a field somewhere. Want to go down and see what it’s all about?”

Last True Crime Tuesday, I talked about the still unsolved Robison Family Murders.

One of the theories (however unlikely, and if you read this post you’ll see why) batted around has been that the family fell victim to John Norman Collins, aka the Ypsilanti Ripper, the Michigan Murderer, and the Co-Ed Killer.

Oh shit, I just love those classically cheesy serial killer nicknames.

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John Norman Collins beat and strangled seven women to death between 1967 and 1969. Grab a drink, snuggle in and let’s take a longggggggg journey through a savage serial killer’s spree. This is an intense one and probably comes across best if you read it like Keith Morrison is narrating it.

When I first started to learn about John Norman Collins, I was struck by how much he reminded me of Ted Bundy – good looking, “all-American”; a fun, kind and motivated fraternity brother. A normal guy, who aspired to be a school teacher and gave no outward indication of his darker side; a darker side directed towards young university girls.

Collins happened before Bundy. He’s the original co-ed nightmare.

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True Crime Tuesday: The Robison Family Murders

1968. Summer.

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The worst mass murder in Michigan’s history is about to take place in the quiet lakeside community of Good Hart.

The Robisons, Richard and Shirley, were planning on spending their entire summer with their four children at their seasonal home. The simple log cabin sat on the shore of Lake Michigan in the north woods. Secluded among tall pines and dense woods, the cabin was nearly impossible to see from the road.

At 42 years old, Richard Robison was a successful man. He was an advertising executive who owned a magazine called ‘Impesario’. His wife, 40-year-old Shirley Robison, was a housewife. Their children, 19-year-old Richie, 16-year-old Gary, 12-year-old Randall and 7-year-old Susan had enjoyed a stable and fortunate upbringing.

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True Crime Tuesday: Werewolf Lovers

WHY YES I DO MICHAEL C. HALL.

Number One: Ted Fucking Bundy.

…Um, I haven’t figured out the rest of the list.

So, before we get into this week’s true crime story, I just want to ask: have you seen Zac Efron as Ted Bundy for the upcoming biopic “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile“? I am shooketh.

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I will admit, I definitely felt like screaming WHY GOD WHYYYYYYYYYYY when I heard Efron had been cast, but seeing this shot really calms my skepticism. I’ll reserve full judgement until I see his portrayal, but so far so good.

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