RICHARD FINNEY 1986 MURDER: COPS APPEAL FOR HELP

FINNEY

HIS stabbing was so vicious that the knife used had been bent to a 90-degree-angle, but despite cops spending thousands of hours trying to solve the murder, his killer remains at large.
So after trying everything including extensive DNA testing, cops are appealing for the public's help to bring Richard Finney's killer to justice.
The 75-year-old traveling salesman was found in Escondido, CO, apartment on November 13, 1986, and the killer, who entered through an unlocked front door, stole cash, a Masonic ring and toiletries.  
Chuck Gaylor, a cold case homicide investigator and retired Escondido detective sergeant said they'd hoped the murderer's bloody palm print on a wall would lead them to him.
But to no avail.
He said: “We are hoping someone will come forward with a name, a suspect. In four years of reworking this case, we’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours trying to figure out who murdered Richard Finney.
“It’s a detective’s dream with the palm print evidence with a DNA profile of the victim and the suspect. But it’s a nightmare because we don’t have a name. That’s why we need the public’s help.”
Finney’s daughter, Bea Turi, said she is grateful for the “diligent” efforts by police.
The 72 told the San Diego Union Tribune that her brother died without knowing what happened to their father, “and that bothered him to the end, and I hope it doesn’t happen to me, too.”
Turi said her father’s violent death is especially disturbing for her because he was charming and outgoing with strangers.
Through Crime Stoppers, police are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to a suspect. Gaylor said he hopes that people come forward and give their name and contact information, but tipsters may remain anonymous. To report information on this case, call Gaylor at (760) 839-4929 or the anonymous tip line at (760) 743-8477, or go to police.escondido.org.

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SOUTHSIDE SLAYER GUILTY OF THREE MORE MURDERS

DEATH?

THE SERIAL killer dubbed the "Southside Slayer" has been found guilty of murdering three more women - including a girl of just 15. Michael Hughes viciously raped and sodomized his teen victim, Yvonne Coleman, before strangling her to death, back in January 1986, cops said.
Her nude body was found near a park barbecue pit.
The youngster had skipped school a day before to spend time with her boyfriend and was last seen leaving his house to catch a bus home.
Former security guard Hughes, was also accused and found guilty of murdering two prostitutes, Verna Williams and Deborah Jackson, in 1986 and 1993.
According to the LA Times Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman showed jurors a slideshow to illustrate how the victims' bodies were posed in sexual ways to shock anyone who found them.
The 55-year-old was already serving a life sentence for killing four women in 1992 and 1993 when he was found guilty for these additional murders. 
Cops said DNA linked him to the gruesome crimes.
Prosecutors will now seek the death penalty when the sentencing trial begins on Monday.
Hughes was investigated by a task force looking into three separate serial killers accused of stalking women during a crack cocaine epidemic that forced women onto the streets as prostitutes to feed their addictions.
As many as 90 women were killed in inner-city Los Angeles during that time.

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DRIFTER PLEADS GUILTY IN KATHY ENGLE 1986 SLAY

JUSTICE

CAUGHT

THEY'VE waited for a-quarter-of-a-century for justice but finally Kathy Engle's family have seen justice for her 1986 slay.
With an accomplice, former drifter Kyle Eckardt  is believed to have kidnapped her and raped the wife and mother of two near her Oklahoma City before cutting her throat.
Her body was a “Pretty grisly sight,” according to the man who found her in a meadow in the far west of the state. 
Eckardt was already in jail for assaulting a Tulsa woman who's naked body was found in her apartment's bath tub, although the medical examiner could not determine how she died.

The medical examiner could not determine how she died, but as result his DNA was put into the database, which linked him to Engle's death. 
A second suspect, Steven A, Boerner was later was identified from a fingerprint on the car's steering wheel but the ex-con died in 1992 in a trucking accident, before he could see justice.
Eckardt entered what is known as an Alford plea to the first-degree murder charge which means a criminal defendant can take a plea deal to avoid a worse punishment without admitting guilty.
He told the judge in writing that he does not admit to the acts but did not want to risk getting the death penalty at trial.
That didn't stop Engle's family venting their fury on him. 
According to The Oklahoman Engles older sister, Mary Ann Jones told him the family now finally will have some peace knowing he will never be able to bully, terrorize or torture any woman again.
Her daughter added: “It is cowardly the way you killed my mother. You couldn't even face her.”
He will now serve life in prison.

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JEREMY BRIGHT VANISHED FROM ORE. FAIR IN 1986

IN AUGUST 1986, Jeremy Bright vanished from the Coos County (Oregon) Fair. He was never seen again and was just 14 when he vanished. But his family has never forgotten him and recently released 1,000 balloons in his honor. Standing 6'1", Jeremy had whopping size 13 shoes. It's a memory his mother Dianne Beatty cherishes. He had been in Coos Bay with his sister, visiting family when he left to pick her up at the county fair. His mom said at the time there was no amber alert and was assured he was just another teen who had run off. Jeremy will come home eventually, she was assured.
Twenty-five years later that has not been the case. When his sister S'Te Elmore realized her older brother
wasn't coming to get her at the fair, she didn't think that meant he would never return.
She said: "It's a struggle. You never want to give up hope. Twenty-five years later, we just want answers. Our main goal is to find Jeremy and to lay him to rest. Just to know that he's taken care of."
Now married with nine children, Elmore said she misses her brother and thinks of him all the time and how her children will never know him.
The family hasn't given up hope someone will come forward with information and crack open the cold case. A detective is still working the case, and Elmore has regular contact with the Coos County Sheriff's Office, she said. They believe his body is still somewhere in the county.
Beatty adds: "God will take care of justice for us. We want to heal, that's all."MORE IN THE COOS BAY WORLD

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