FBI: Body resembles alleged 1976 family killer

The body of a John Doe who bears a "strong resemblance" to a former state department employee accused of the gruesome 1976 sledgehammer murders of his wife, mother and three sons, is being exhumed by the FBI.
Investigators believe the unidentified man who was killed by a hit and run driver in 1981 may well be William Bradford "Brad" Bishop Jr., a mainstay on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitive's list for years.
He allegedly bludgeoned his family members to death at their home in Bethseda Md. in 1976. Their burned bodies were found in a shallow grave in Columbia N.C..  
They day after they were killed Bishop's last confirmed sighting was at a sporting goods store in Jacksonville N.C..
Two weeks later his station wagon was found in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which encompasses more than 500,000 acres.

An avid outdoorsman, Bishop, "could have remained in the North Carolina/Alabama/Tennessee aread for many years without being discovered," according to an affidavit written by FBI agent.  
Investigators will test Bishop's DNA to see if it matches that of the John Doe, but the FBI could not give a timescale for when the results will be known.

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Second man named in Lyon's sisters disapperance

Cops have named a second person of interest in the 1975 disappearance of two young sisters who vanished from a Maryland shopping center.
Investigators at Bedford County Sheriff's office said they were "very confident" they are close to finding out what happened to Sheila and Katherine Lyon, aged 12 and 10.
They also confirmed they were assisting Montgomery County Police with a homicide investigation.
Cops have been searching a property that was once owned by the family of Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., who is also known as Michael Welch. He was named as a person of interest in February.
He has been in prison since 1997 after he was convicted of assaulting a 10-year-old girl.
Now cops have named his uncle Richard Allen Welch Sr. who they believe either owned or still owns the property being searched.
With less than $4 in their pockets on March 25, 1975, the sisters left their home in Kensington, Md., to get some pizza for lunch.
A friend saw them with an older man who had a tape recorder and a briefcase, according to missing persons reports.
Although they were later seen walking home, they had not arrived by their 4 p.m. curfew but they did not arrive and by 7 p.m. the cops were called.
What happened to the girls has remained a mystery ever since.

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'Cold blooded' Paul Curry guilty of wife's 1994 murder

A "vicious, cold blooded" former nuclear engineer who was driven by an "insatiable appetite for money" was convicted of the 1994 murder of his wife.
Paul Curry gave a sleeping pill to his wife Linda and then poisoned her with a shot of nicotine because he wanted the $547.695 payout from her life insurance policy, prosecutors said.
The 57-year-old was questioned by cops after her death but it wasn't until 2010 that prosecutors put a case together and alleged that he murdered her.
Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh said she had a level of the sleeping aid Ambien, in her system after she was found at their San Onofre, Calif. home. This had not been prescribed to her, he said.
She also had injection marks on the temple behind her ears, he added.

"He had to make sure she was completely sedated before he injected the nicotine," he said, adding that high doses induce vomiting.
Curry admitted to fiddling his insurance but denied any role in her death.
However a California jury disagreed and he will sentenced for first degree murder at a later date.

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Still missing a month on, 14-year-old Adelle Burns

A 14-year-old Florida girl is still missing more than a month after she disappeared from the bed she was sharing with her sister.
Adelle Burns left a note telling her mom that she would be with friend's in Mississippi, but there has been no word from her since.
Her mom Glenna Phillips told the Tallahassee Democrat that the family "just want her home."
"We want her home and we hope she is sage wherever she's at," she said. "Somebody is helping her. A 14-year-old cannot run away and survive on her own without money or anything. There are so many ifs in this situation."
The family is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to her return.
The Leon County Sheriff's Office said they did not consider Burns to be at risk, but spokesperson James McQuaig told the paper, "there's a great concern for this child's safety."

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Stephanie Low's body found in shallow grave

Low

 The body of a woman missing for nearly four years has been discovered in a shallow grave in the national forest near Wabeno, Wis., cops said. 

Stephanie Low was found Friday around 80 miles northeast of the Wausau apartment where she was last seen on Oct. 10, 2010, Police Chief Jeff Hardel said. 

At the time cops found blood droplets, missing bedding and the smell of bleach in the 22-year-old's home. 

Hardel told WSAW that a person of interest reportedly confesses to six people that he went to Low's apartment with the intention of ripping her off. 

No criminal charges have been filed in relation to the case, but cops say they will be coming. 

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Mother fears Hannah Graham victim of serial killer

Gill Harrington has been down the terrible road the family of missing University of Virginia Hannah Graham is now traveling -- and fears a serial killer is hunting in the area. Her daughter Morgan was kidnapped and murdered in 2009 after a Metallica concert -- and now she's seeing chilling similarities between the two cases. MORE AT COLD CASE USA

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Cops resume search in 1975 Lyon sisters cold case

Maryland police have resumed their search for two sisters who vanished in 1975 at a rural cemetery in Virgin

ia. Sheila Lyon, 12, and her sister Katherine, 10, disappeared on March 25, 1975 when they went for lunch at a local mall in the Washington, DC suburb of Wheaton. But last February, cops identified convicted child molester Lloyd Lee Welch as a person of interest in the tragic case. He was living nearby when the girls went missing and is currently doing a jolt in the big house. The property being search was once owned by Welch's relatives. Cops say they placed him at the mall the day the girls went missing.  MORE FROM FOX NEWS

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Mitchell Ruble nabbed in 1981 shotgun slaying

Police have arrested a former Ohio sheriff's deputy and charged him with the cold case murder of a fellow cop in 1981.  Mitchell Ruble, 63, was arrested charged with the brutal shotgun slaying of  Deputy Lt. Ray "Joe" Clark.
Cops say that Clark was watching a basketball game when he went to his kitchen to fetch a snack. At that instant, a shotgun blast slammed into his head killing him instantly. According to cops, the motive was most likely revenge: Clark canned Ruble in 1979 for  "inappropriate conduct while on duty." 
MORE IN THE DETROIT NEWS

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Hannah Graham update: 3 other women missing

UPDATE: Detectives are piecing together new sightings of missing university co-ed Hannah Elizabeth Graham that may help them unravel the mystery of her disappearance. The University of Virginia student last weekend after a boozy outing with pals in Charlottesville, Va. 
Now, new video footage obtained by cops suggests she made it to a downtown mall before vanishing. She had earlier left  McGrady's Irish Pub around 12:45 a.m., WJLA is reporting. The new footage shows the pretty student walking back and forth at a Shell station. The last anyone heard from her was 1:30 a.m. when she texted pals that she was lost. On a more chilling note at least three other young women have disappeared from the area over the past five years, heightening fears for Graham's safety.

MORE FROM WJLA

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Va. cops hunt for missing Hannah Elizabeth Graham

Cops in Charlottesville, Virginia have released new photos of missing co-ed Hannah Elizabeth Graham who vanished last Saturday.
The 18-year-old sent a text to pals around 1:20 a.m. and hasn't been heard from since. The University of Virginia student is 5’11” with a skinny build, blue eyes, light brown hair and freckles. Graham was last seen wearing a black crop top with mesh cutouts.

The new photos show Graham around 9:30 p.m. on the Friday night she disappeared. Cops say the pretty student left a party alone and then 45 minutes later texted friends that she was lost. Detectives believe she was "fairly well intoxicated."
“Hannah is a wonderful young lady. She’s the type of girl anyone would want to have as a daughter,” said Karen Blunk, a neighbor of Graham’s who watched her grow up. “I want everybody to think of the family and help us get Hannah home soon.”
 Anyone with information about Graham was asked to call Charlottesville Police Department at 434-970-3280 or CrimeStoppers at 434-977-4000.

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OREGON COPS RELEASE NEW SKETCH OF 1996 COLD CASE

Cops pushing for new leads in a 1996 cold case have released a new sketch of an unidentified murder victim found dead in rural Oregon.
Suspicious circumstances at the Polk County crime scene lead investigators to believe that the case was a homicide. Her body may have been in the area for as long as a year before it was found.
A search of missing persons from the county and the state didn't turn up a match, but police believe she may have been from out of state, according to a statement from Polk County Sheriff's.
The woman is described as white with black and grey hair, around 45-years-old and between five and five feet-six inches tall
With a slight build, she had a possible curvature of the spine and a surgical incision in her forehead from sinus surgery that apparently occurred years before her death.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Polk County Sheriff's Office on 503 623 1878.

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PROF PLEADS TO ROLE IN 1995 MEAT CLEAVER MURDER

Norma Esparza

A psychology professor has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter in the cold case murder of her alleged rapist who was found hacked to death with a meat cleaver 20-years ago.
Norma Esparza told a California courtroom that she never meant for Gonzalo Ramirez to be killed in the Spring of 1995, but that her ex-boyfriend Gianni Anthony Van had forced her to point him out after she told him about the rape.
The following morning Orange County cops found the 24-year-old's body at the side of the road, beaten and hacked to death with a meat cleaver.
Esparza, a professor at Webster University in Geneva, Switzerland was arrested two-years ago when she tried to reenter the U.S. for an academic conference two years ago.

The 40-year-old had previously rejected a plea that would have given her a three-year sentence. She is expected to be sentenced to six-years in state prison and will testify against her co-defendants according to the Orange County district attorney's office.
According to the LA Times Co-defendants Van, 45, and Shannon Ray Gries, 43, are expected to go on trial next year, charged with felony murder in the commission of a kidnapping.
A third suspect, Diane Tran, 45 has already pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Her husband
Kody Tran, who was also a suspect in the case, shot himself during a standoff with police.

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ERIK CROSS DRAGGED BEHIND CAR, MURDERED IN '83

It was a living nightmare for a father: Discovering your child lying dead on the side of the road. It
was June 26, 1983 in Vicksburg, Michigan when the body of Erik Stirling Cross, 16, was discovered by his dad. Now, more than 30 years have passed and answers are still few.
What is known is this:
* The blue-eyed, red-headed teenage boy attended a party the night before less than a mile from his home. He left around 1:00 a.m., according to police.

* Around 6 a.m., his dad told cops he woke up to the sound of a loud muffler. It pulled into the driveway, left, then returned.
What cops do know is that Erik was dragged by a vehicle and deliberately struck. The young man was so badly injured, the coroner said, it was hard to say exactly what killed him.
Anyone with information regarding the murder of Erik Cross is urged to contact the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office at 269-383-8723 or the Silent Observer. There is a $1,765 reward.

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COPS GET BREAK IN 1975 LYON SISTERS KIDNAPPING

Cops in Maryland are fingering a convicted sex offender in connection with the terrifying 1975 disappearance of two young sisters. The mystery has haunted the Washington area ever since.

The Lyon sisters -- Sheila, 12, and Katherine, 10 -- were on their way home from the Wheaton Plaza Shopping Center in March 1975 when they vanished. A composite sketch was widely distributed and tips flowed in, but the Lyon sisters were never seen or heard from again. 

 "It was just stunning. It could have been anybody's kids," said Charleen Merkel, a shopper at Westfield Wheaton who remembers the disappearance well.

They were last seen talking to an older man who had a tape recorder and briefcase. He was never located. 

The girls left their Kensington, Md. home on March 25, 1975 to walk the half-mile or so to Wheaton Plaza, now known as Westfield Wheaton mall. They were on spring break, and wanted to get some pizza for lunch and see the Easter decorations. They had less than $4 with them.

A friend of the girls saw them outside the Orange Bowl restaurant, with an older man who had a tape recorder and a briefcase, according to news and missing persons reports. A sketch of that man was made and distributed, but the man was never located. MORE FROM NBCWASHINGTON

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CORTNEY CLAYTON MURDER: SUSPICIONS RUN DEEP

Cortney Clayton went for an evening walk on the evening of Sept. 2, 1988 to get a soda from a nearby convenience store in her tiny hometown of Stamford, Texas. The pretty little girl never came home and on Sunday, March 26, 1989 the 7-year-old's remains were discovered in a field 50 miles away.
Her family said that she was a smart, adventurous and happy child. With just 4,000 people, many townspeople have always felt the killer was from Stamford.
''I have always felt that somebody here in town knows something,''  Candy Clayton, Cortney's mother, said in 2007. ''Even if they don't know they know it. 'One good thing about living in Stamford is that people here haven't forgotten about Cortney." By the time Cortney's body was found by a hunter, there was little evidence at the scene.
Anyone with information is asked to submit a tip thru the Texas Rangers’ Cold Case website or contact us at the Missing Persons Watts Line: 1-800-346-3243 .

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COPS CRACK 1974 EILEEN FERRO COLD CASE MURDER

Eileen Ferro was just 21-year-old when she was viciously stabbed to death in her Shrewsbury, Massachusetts home. Now, 40 years later cops have finally made an arrest in the grisly crime. Thanks to DNA evidence detectives arrested a 69-year-old Austell, Georgia man, Lonzo Guthrie and charged him with mCNN
urder. For more, check out

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EVELYN SHANK SHOT TO DEATH IN VEGAS IN 1959

She is the oldest unsolved murder victim in a city that has seen plenty of them during its wild existence. Evelyn Shank was the night clerk at the Travelodge and the victim of a kidnap/robbery, Vegas cops say. Her relief worker arrived to discover the switchboard/desk area unoccupied. When he could not locate Shank he called cops. Detectives learned that $174.50 had been taken from the till and an all-points bulletin was broadcast and road blocks were set up throughout the vicinity.
On February 7, 1959, Shank's body was found. A gunshot to the head delivered death. Cops say a 1949-1950 Ford sedan (possibly dark blue) with the headlights on was seen parked near the front door by the co-worker. When he returned from searching for Shank -- the car was gone. Anyone with information is urged call Las Vegas Metro Homicide Cold Case Detail at 702-828-COLD.

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