The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway

Though I am not positive, I imagine that this case is part of the reason why my parents won't allow me to leave the country with my friends for a grad trip until I turn 18. This case is frightening because it has many possible endings. It is different from the other cases I have discussed because not only is the killer unknown, but the body is also missing. The corpse plays a huge part in the investigation. In this case it might have even revealed the missing clues to put the offender behind bars.



Natalee Holloway on her Aruba grad trip (2005)

Natalee Holloway was born on October 21st 1986. She was a beautiful girl with a promising future. She was a senior at a school in Mississippi looking to have a fun and wild week in Aruba with her friends to celebrate their success in May of 2005. After settling in at their resort, on May 30th, Natalee and her friends from school went to a bar near by. She met this Dutchman named Joron van der Sloot. He was an international student taking his classes in Aruba. The night was eventually coming to an end, so Natalee accompanied him back to his place. That was the last time her friends had ever seen her. Van der Sloot being the last person to see her is the only suspect.

Natalee Holloway was declared dead after being missing for 7 years by an Alabama judge, even though her whereabouts are still unknown to this day.

This case has no concrete information on what happened to Natalee. Nancy Grace announced before that "The Jaw bone of Natalee Holloway" had been found on her show. But it was not true. There are plenty of different 'clues' online at anyone's disposal. Mind you they are mostly all fake. Each one is different from the next.



Suspected body of Holloway found in Aruban waters

A couple years after Holloway's disappearance, a Pennsylvania couple was snorkeling in the Aruban waters. Upon their arrival at home, they finally developed the picture that they had taken underwater. This is what they found. This image is suspected to be the deteriorated body of Natalee. Investigators claimed to get a scuba diving team together to investigate, but there has been no new news concerning this event for years. Which means it probably wasn't even a body to begin with.

On a side note, van der Sloot has confessed to murdering a white female in Peru by the name of Stephany Flores Ramirez. He claimed to have killed her 5 years after the accusations toward him regarding Holloway.


Joron van der Sloot

There are many theories to what happened to Holloway the night of her disappearance. The most common one was that she was raped and killed on Joron van der Sloot's boat. Investigators suspect that she has bricks tied to her feet and she is at the bottom of the ocean. Then there is another theory, the more unlikely one that I believe in. The interview was removed from the internet, but years ago I watched this video with van der Sloot implying that he sold Holloway to some men that he had met up with in the ocean. This of course, might just be another one of his lies, but I think he actually admitted the truth.

Van der Sloot admits to taking Holloway to the beach, where most people think he raped her on his boat and dropped her body in the water. But I believe he sold her body to someone in the waters who might be using her for a sex service in another country. That's right, I do believe she's still alive. So does Dr. Phil McGraw. It's a terrifying thought to think that she is still out there praying for help. If my assumption is true, and she is a white slave, her chance for being found is close to none. These industries work very secretly and often have the women drinking or taking drugs constantly. They aren't completely conscious of what's is going on. The sex industry generates billions of dollars each year. It was something he could profit from, since he didn't have much of it. By selling a beautiful American girl, he was probably paid a satisfying amount. All sex slave industries want to get their hands on an American to be their property and join their business.

It makes me sad that the Holloway family will never have the reassurance to know what happened to their daughter that night. With all the theories, some being worse than others, I can't even imagine what goes on in their head. All the different thoughts would keep me awake every night until I found out the truth. I would stop at nothing to find out what happened, just like Mrs. Beth Holloway has been doing for nearly 10 years.

We can all avoid this situation from repeating, especially since our own graduation is just around the corner. See you all next time and thanks for reading.




Source(s)
-http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-12/missing-teen-aruba/52512174/1

-http://www.biography.com/people/natalee-holloway-573944

-http://abcnews.go.com/International/natalee-holloway-jaw-bone-missing-american-teen/story?id=12222677

-http://www.cbsnews.com/news/natalee-holloways-body-found-picture-leads-divers-to-renew-search/

-http://www.cbsnews.com/news/joran-van-der-sloot-pleads-guilty-to-murder-of-stephany-flores/

-http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10086587/ns/msnbc-the_abrams_report/t/why-some-say-natalee-may-still-be-alive/#.UyteqrBOVow

-http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/natalee-holloway-legally-dead_n_1202737.html

The "Tylenol Murderer"

Welcome back. This next case takes place about 30 years ago in Illinois. Something in particular about this one is that it ended dry, there were no leads and it was closed because there wasn't going to be any new evidence appearancing any time soon.

This case appeals to me so much because I found that the offender is pretty intelligent. Yes there were finger prints on the bottles, but they could not be traced back to him/her. He was a ghost. I can't imagine how the families of the victims feel when they have no reassurance, no answers to their questions. The thought knowing he/she's still at large probably haunts them still to this day.

In September 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman was feeling sick at home and took a Tylenol Extra Strength to stop her from feeling any pain. What she didn't know is that it would do so much more.  It would also stop her heart from beating. Mary lied dead on the floor shortly after ingesting the medication. Little did we know, Mary had become the first victim to have lost her life to this famous unknown American serial killer.

That same day, only a few hours later, a 27 year old man, named Adam Jenus, was the next victim. He took the pill for headache relief and died as a result. The day prior to his funeral, his fiancé and his brother took the same medication to soothe them from the physical pain that came from grieving. They were both dead before the funeral could take place. Police suspected it might have been a gas leak.

Eventually it became evident that the 4 people had died shortly after ingesting Tylenol. A couple days after that discovery, 3 more people lost their lives to the Tylenol terrorist. So the investigators decided to do a toxicology test on the medication, and it came out positive with traces of cyanide (chemical often used in the gas chambers during WWII). There were only 2 suspects to this case, and they both turned out to be innocent in the end. Which left this case completely dry, with no evidence to point the investigators in any direction.


In my opinion, for someone to get their hands on such a toxic and dangerous chemical, they must have worked in one of the chemical factories in the area. Or they simply had profound chemistry knowledge. The reason to why this person did this is unknown. I suspect he/she might have been a social misfit and wanted to punish their community because they didn't fit in. Which would be why they planted their lethal poison in the 6 pharmacies in the small town.

According to Johnson & Johnson (the Tylenol manufacturing company), the cyanide was inserted into the capsules after they were manufactured in the factory. That leads investigators to believe the killer stole the medication from the stores, added the lethal chemical then returned them to their place on the shelf to be sold to some poor soul.

But whoever he/she is, must have planned everything carefully to avoid getting caught by law enforcement. I think that whoever did this must have mental issues to think that they have the right to take somebody's life, especially that of a child.  It is a heinous act and difficult to understand.  Even if the law enforcement did figure it out, it would still be hard to wrap your head around it trying to understand why. It's an act against nature.

Source(s)
-http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/tylenol_murders/index.html
-http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/tylenol_murders/index.html

America's Angel: Caylee Anthony

Caylee Marie Anthony (age 3)

Welcome to my first official case discussion. I've chosen this particular case to begin with because I'm sure most people are familiar with it and I'm looking to grasp your attention as soon as possible.

For those of you who have not heard of this story, or simply have forgotten the details, it is the story of a irresponsible mom (Casey Anthony) who loved to party and had been pregnant at the age of 19, with her daughter Caylee Anthony. When Casey wanted her old "fun" life back, she did what she had to do. In my opinion, as well as probably most others, I believe she killed her own daughter in cold blood. The only reason Casey is not in prison at this very moment, and is living a free life, is because of the Presumption of Innocence. There is not enough evidence to determine that she committed the crime 100%. That being said, she is off the hook.

Here is a simplified timeline of only few of the key events in the trial:

July 2008
Casey's mother contacted authorities to arrest their daughter for stealing their vehicle. Upon inspecting the vehicle after it's return to the owners, Mr. & Mrs. Anthony found that the trunk smelt like that of a body decaying. It is also brought to attention that their granddaughter had been missing for 31 days, with no records filed of a missing persons report.

This part alone drives me crazy. The thought of a mother not contacting police after her child's disappearance, to me is a red flag right away. The only reason the police were informed on this is because the child's grandparents were worried that something had happened to their grand daughter. If the grand parents hadn't contacted authorities, I wouldn't be surprised if the child's absence remained a mystery forever.

August 2008
The police took samples of air from the trunk of the vehicle and determine that it once held the body of a dead victim. Casey is arrested for suspicion of child neglect.

December 2008
The body of Caylee Anthony was found in a  forest near the Anthony home. The body was found in a black garbage bag by a local resident. There was duck tape placed on the child's lower face as well as traces of chloroform in the bag.

May 2011
The defence attorney states that the child had drowned in the pool of her grandparents home in Orlando.

Which is a lie that they end up contradicting themselves with. For this lie, she is charged for giving false information to law enforcement.

July 2011
Casey is found guilty only for 2 counts of providing false information to law enforcement. As consequence, she serves one year of supervised probation.

Skip to 1:30 for the charges

I remember hearing about this case as a kid, and just thinking to myself how much of a rotten person she is. For a kid to conclude that she is guilty of murder, it should be pretty obvious for any adult to understand. It's cases like these that make me wish the Presumption of Innocence didn't exist. I don't  believe she planned any of it. I feel that she simply got lucky. I forgot to mention that her computer had a reoccurring research history of the word "chloroform" 84 times. As well as "foolproof suffocation".

After all the evidence that I've mentioned, plus all extra evidence I haven't mentioned in this blog, there's no way in my mind that this woman is not guilty of the murder of her little daughter. She has luckily, yet unfortunately, been given a second chance.


If you wish to learn more about this case, you should click here, it is a link to the CBC timeline which mentions every single event that took place in her case.

I'd love to hear your opinion, make sure you state your opinion anonymously through the polls !





Source(s)
-http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/us/casey-anthony-trial-fast-facts/
-http://www.cbsnews.com/news/casey-anthony-detectives-overlooked-google-search-for-fool-proof-suffocation-methods-sheriff-says/
-http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/14874887/casey-anthony-googled-word-chloroform-84-times

Introduction

Welcome to my blog about unsolved murder cases. In 2012, Canada had a total of 543 homicides, which was 55 less than in 2011.  This equates to about 1.56 persons in a population of 100,000.  In the United States, the FBI says there were 14,827 murders that same year. Which is approximately 40 people every day. Nearly 40% of those criminals are at large every year. To me, a citizen, that number seems dangerously high. But then again, in the eyes of law enforcement, it's a great success. The main reason that these percentages are so high is because of the Presumption of Innocence, which is the principal that the United Nations had adopted in 1948. One murder case in particular inspired our nation to adopt this rule was the case of Steven Truscott.  Steven was a 14 year old boy at the time and was accused for the murder of his friend which almost lead him to death row. The Presumption of Innocence means, in other words, that you are innocent until proven guilty. So amongst the 40% of those criminals who have been given a second chance at freedom, very few of them get away without being at least a suspect.

This News clip is prior to Steven Truscott's confirmed innocence. 

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be discussing various murder cases that have been closed or held off until new evidence is provided. All of these cases have ended at a dead end, with out putting anyone behind bars. But there have been suspects. Either there were missing clues, or the boot didn't fit. Which is where I come in; I will be filling in the blanks and giving my opinion on who committed the crime. Now if I've captivated your interest, come visit this page again next week for one of the most controversial murder mysteries in American history. 



Source(s):
-http://www.cancrime.com/2009/06/09/if-steven-truscott-didnt-kill-lynne-harper-who-did/
-http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/131219/dq131219b-eng.htm