UNIDENTIFIED: September 30, 1952 Gilpin County Maria Doe

On September 30, 1952, a man went on a hunting trip in a wooded area in Gilpin County, Colorado. He spotted legs underneath a burned log and reported it to the police. The log was 7ft long and was in an unused gravel pit 100 yards from Highway 119 and 35ft from Clear Creek.

 The body belonged to a young woman who had been killed within the last month. She had blunt force trauma to her head, but it was unknown what her cause of death was. It was possible that the injury had killed her, but also possible that it simply knocked her unconscious and she was burned alive.

She's a white female between 17 and 30-years-old. She was around 5'7" and had brown/black hair. She would have had a notable overbite. A fragment of a turquoise sequinned blouse, metal rivets of blue jeans, and a sole of a shoe. She was wearing a whinstone necklace and earrings. A purse, small electric razor, and an empty lipstick container. A man's wedding ring with no setting was found near the scene.

This case is often known as Maria or Pyre Case.

SOURCES:
NamUs
Doe Network
Greeley Daily Tribune (October 1, 1952)

Murders of Esther and Charles Morris

On the night of September 28, 1879, around 8 to 8:30 p.m. Esther and Charles Morris were going to bed in their home in Decatur, Michigan. Their maid of 5 years was upstairs sleeping at the time. During the night possibly between 9 to 10 p.m., someone knocked on the back door of their home.

Charles was the one to answer the door. He didn't answer the door with his gun and his family believed that he may have known the person. Soon Charles was shot twice. He was shot once in the neck and once in the Chest. Charles laid dead on the back porch.

Esther was in the sitting room and may have witnessed the murder. She was holding Charles Revolver at the time. She had dropped it when the murderer shot towards her and missed. She ran and tried to hide in the closet. Inside the closet, they shot her three times. Twice in the chest and once in the arm.
A woman who worked for the Morris's, Jennie Bull, was sleeping upstairs and knew nothing until the next morning. A more recent article from 1987 stated Jennie heard Charles arguing with a man, it scared her, but she didn't hear anything else. Older articles that came out at the time contradicted this and state that even though Jennie's room was directly above where Esther was murdered she heard nothing.

The next morning either Jennie or the farmhand who was coming to the house to work found Charles first. Some articles stated that Jennie found the bodies when she woke up that morning and waited for the farmhand and told him of what had happened. As the closest neighbors weren't actually that close.


Robbery wasn't a motive for the murder as nothing was stolen except for a horse the killer road off with. There were expensive things out in the open in the house that wasn't touched. The horse was found a few days later in South Bend, Indiana. The horse seemed to be  jaded and exhausted. It was bearing an unrecognizable branding on the left rear flank.

Around 9:30 to 10 p.m., a young man returning home who lived close to the Morris's saw a man riding a horse very fast. He didn't think anything of it at the time till he heard of the murders the next day. He said the man riding the horse was wearing a strange hat.
The police tried to beat a former handyman of the Morris's into a confession. He never confessed and left the town due to the accusations and the way people treated him. There was no evidence of him killing the couple other than people's suspicions.

The crime was left unsolved and never will be.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia
Detroit Free Press
St. Joseph Herald
The True Northerner
The Herald-Palladium

Murder of Andrew H. Reagan.

27-year-old Andrew Reagan was last seen alive on September 22, 1954. He had left the McCurdy Coral Room after having drinks with some friends at the McCurdy Coral Room. After he left he was never seen alive again. At the time he was working as a terminal manager of B.B.I. Trucking company.

On October 1, 1954, four laborers were checking a fence while riding a tractor on a Jim Ellis Farm. This was when they found his body was found lying in a ditch along a country road five miles Northwest of Henderson, Kentucky. Andrew was from Evansville Indiana and where he was found was just 12 miles south of there. 

He had been killed from at least 9 blows to the head with a tire tool-type instrument. His wallet was missing along with his money and I.D. inside of it. This leads investigators to believe the motive for the murder may have been robbery.

SOURCES:

Kentucky State Police

Nashville Banner

The Owensboro Messenger

The Courier-Journal

Muncie Evening Press

Unsolved Murder of Joanne Ena Lynn

It started out like any other school day on September 19, 1949, for 11-year-old Joanne Lynn. She would leave her home in Hemlock, New York to walk to school. When Joanne walked pass the Smith's home she waved and talked to Mrs. Smith. 

"Good Morning Mrs. Smith. It's a nice morning isn't it?"  The girl was cheerful.

After Mrs. Smith agreed Joanne continued on her walk. Mrs. Smith told her son Eddie to hurry up and catch up with Joanne so they can walk to school together. By the time the 7-year-old made it to the highway, Joanne was nowhere in sight like she should have been. She would not arrive at school and it wasn't until Joanne didn't arrive home from school that no one knew something was wrong. 

Police were contacted and a large search was done for the girl. The hills and gullies were comber and the lakes were combed. After four days of not finding the girl the national guard to help search. They would search through the pouring rain and still not find the girl. 

On September 24th  14-year-old Norma Marsden was gathering butternuts four miles from Hemlock and 7 miles away from where she was last seen. In the pasture, Joanne's body was found. She had been shot twice. 

It's believed that she was either coaxed or forced into a car and possibly waited a day before killing her as people in the area stated they heard gunshots on Tuesday. Her killer had attempted to sexually assault her and Even though Joanne was fully clothed her undergarments and sweater were missing. The killer then took her to a grove of locust trees and pointed the gun at her. One bullet entered her arm and then forehead as she was blocking her face. She was then shot a second time through her left breast and the bullet came out of her back.  Her fingernail scrapping suggested she fought hard with her attacker. The gun used was a German Luger semi-automatic pistol. The gun was possible well taken care of.

SOURCES:

New York State Police

Kidnapping, Murder, and Mayhem
Hemlock and Candice Lakes

Find a Grave

The Daily Messenger September 27, 1949

Democrat and Chronicle October 1, 1949

Democrat and Chronicle September 1, 1963

Murder of Mr. Cook

A few days before September 18, 1852, a 74-year-old farmer named Tipple didn't like another farmer named Cook. Cook resided near Ancaster in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Tipple met Cook near Cook's farm where they had a short argument. Tipple then shot Cook through his heart causing instant death.

Both were veterans. Cook was a soldier of 73rd Regiment and Tipple served on board a man-of-war. I could not find any other articles on this case. 

SOURCES:

Ottawa Daily Citizen  September 18, 1852

The Wall Street Bombing

At noon of September 16, 1920, the lunch rush was going through on Wall Street Manhattan, New York. a horse-drawn wagon was stopped across the street from the headquarters of the J.P. Morgan bank at 23 Wall Street. They made sure to park it on the busiest corner. It's believed that the driver left and blend into the crowd. Then that day changed the lives of everyone and their families in a matter of seconds. 

There was a large explosion.  Inside the wagon 100 lbs of dynamite with 500 lbs of head cast iron weights that were on a time set detonation. The weights tore through the air and the wagon and horse were demolished. Everyone nearby was affected by the bomb. It was so strong it caused a street car a block over derail and debris went as high as the 34th floor the Equitable building. 

There were 38 fatalities and around 300 people were injured. Many of them being workers on Wallstreet as messengers, stenographers, clerks, and brokers William H. Remick who was president of the New York Stock Exchange at the time. There was more than $2 Million ($25 Million today) worth of damages. 

Rescuers worked hard to help save as many as they could. One boy 17-year-old James Saul got a parked car and helped transport around 30 people to the hospital. 

It was believed that the terrorist attack was done by a small group of Italian Anarchists or Communist Terrorists.  But it would never be known for sure of who had done the terrorist attack. 

SOURCES:
History

FBI

Britannica 

Wikipedia

MISSING: Myrisha Faye and AJ Campbell

 Myrisha Faye Campbell circa 1958 and age-progressed to 57

A.J. Campbell jr. circa 1958 and age-progressed to 54

3-year-old Myrisha Faye Campbell and her little brother 11-month-old A.J Campbell jr were picked up by their father A.J. Campbell sr. on September 6, 1958, from their home in Goliad, Texas. Their father claimed that he just wanted to take them out for a ride during one of his scheduled court-ordered visitations. He took them at 9:00 a.m. and was supposed to return with them at 3 p.m., but the children never returned home

Jewel and A.J. sr. had been married for 8 years and throughout the marriage A.J. sr was abusive towards Jewel. So eventually had left A.J. sr. and had taken the children with her. She had supported them by taking a teaching job in Goliad, Texas.

William Randal jr. was the only other person to last see the children alive. William Randal and A.J. sr. picked up the children together in Randal’s 2- door pink and charcoal-gray 1955 Chevrolet Tudor. The had went through Cuero and Gonzales, Texas and picked up two large cans of lard. When they were 3 miles out of Goliad A.J. sr. said he needed to go see a friend and Randal had gotten out of vehicle leaving the children alone with A.J. sr.

30 to 40 minutes later A.J. sr. returned with none of the children in sight. He had claimed that he had gotten into a fight with his brother-in-law and had left the children with another relative. Randal noticed that A.J. sr was acting nervous and agitated. A.J. sr. even asked if there was blood on him and warned Randal not to tell anyone about the fight. A.J sr. and Randal had driven to Austin Texas and separated promising to meet at a bus stop at midnight the next day to return the car. A.J. sr. never arrived causing Randal to ride the bus back home and reported his car stolen.

On September 7, A.J. sr. called a minister in Fort Worth, Texas. He had implied to the minister that he had killed the children by telling him that they were “at rest with the world” and that he was going to kill himself. Which he had followed through with when his body was found in Randal’s car on a road near Austin. It was ruled a suicide because he shot himself in the head with a 16- gauge shotgun.

A suicide note was found addressed to Jewel. In the note, he admitted he had buried both of the children. He also stated that he loved the children and that he still loved Jewel. He wished her happiness. His note did not indicate where he had buried the children or their whereabouts.

Jewel remarried afterward and took the last name Robertson, and had two more children. Jewel passed away in 2013, but her two other children are still actively looking for A.J. jr and Myrisha. They believe that there might be a chance that A.J. sr. had sold or given the children away instead of killing them.

Myrisha was 3 years old white female with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. She was 2’6 and 28 pounds. Myrisha was last seen wearing a pink dress with puffed sleeves and a Peter Pan collar, pink socks, and white buckle shoes.

A.J. Jr. was 11 months old he is a white male with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was 2’2 and 25 lbs. He has a birthmark on his eyelid and a birthmark below his lower lip. His fingers were also clubbed at the ends. A.J was last seen wearing a light blue and white checkered shirt with a dark blue collar and a yellow diaper with a clear plastic liner over it.

SOURCES:
Charley Project (A.J)
Charley Project (Myrisha)

End Of Watch: Sheriff Nimrod Johnson

37-year-old Sheriff Nimrod Johnson was Sheriff for Burnet County Sheriff in Texas he worked for them 4 years. On August 26, 1881, he left to arrest W.P. Brown who was a murder suspect of a murder that happened in Feb 1876. He was reported to be near Paul's Valley in Indian Territory(modern Oklahoma).

Shortly after Sheriff Miller traveled to Austin, Texas. He had been robbed but was able to recover his money. On August 30th he left Sherman, Texas and he made it to Dennison, Texas by September 1st. He was last seen alive at Caddo, Indian Territory. He was trying to purchase a horse to travel to Paul's Valley.

His nephew went to search for him, but could not find him. It wasn't until later when an Arkansas prisoner, Sam Paul, confessed he witnessed what had happened to the Sheriff. He stated that in Chickasaw county that he was ambushed and killed with arrows. After this information, they still weren't able to recover the body.

SOURCES:
Doe Network
Find a Grave