Murder of Officer Neibert

 Around 2:30 am on June 13, 1896, 53-year-old officer Jacob Neibert was on duty in Muscatine, Iowa. On Burlington Rd Officer Neibert would come across two tramps. Around 6 shots would ring out in the night. Three shots would happen and then in a few minutes three more. gunshots were not uncommon enough to go check it out until H.J. Smith and his wife heard moans of help. 

H.J. would go out and ask "What's the trouble"? Officer Neibert would scream out "Jim! Oh, Jim! Come Help Me!" This was when they would find the police officer suffering from gunshot wounds. H.J. would run across the street to him.

He told of how two trams he tried to arrest had done it. He would give a description, but it was hard for him to speak as he continued to get weaker and weaker. H.J. would stand Officer Neibert up and try to walk him to his house. However, before they would make it there he would collapse to the ground. They would bring pillows and blankets to make him comfortable while waiting for help. The 15-year-old Smith's son would go and fetch a doctor. 

It was too late to save him. Other neighbors would come out to see the commotion. Soon after the Dr. got there Officer Neibert would take his last breath.

The nearby box car was investigated. This was where he was shot. there were five bullet holes in the boxcar. It seemed as if they were caused by two different caliber weapons. There was a lot of blood and evidence of a struggle inside. Officer Neigbert's club and gun both showed that it was used. 

It was apparent that one of the tramps had been injured. There was a significant amount of blood that led away from the scene that wasn't from Officer Neibert. The blood was traced all the way to the sash and door factory. A black soft felt hat was found at the scene likely belonging to one of the tramps. 

SOURCES:

Iowa Cold Cases

Muscatine

Officer Down Memorial Page

Iowa Cops

The Muscatine Journal June 16, 1896

Disappearance of Columbus G. McLeod

In 1908, 62/63-year-old Columbus G. McLeod was a DeSoto County sheriff. On November 30th he carried out game law enforcement duties in Lee County, Florida. He was searching for egret hunters at Cayo Pelau Island. He was never seen again and it's presumed he was killed. 

His boat was found sunken with sand sacks tied to it. His hat was located nearby with two axe chips, blood, and hair. His body was however never recovered. 

SOURCES:
Officer Down Memorial Page

Find a Grave
International Missing Persons

Murder of Marshal Willam E. Gibson

 

In 1882 Irish-born man 51/52 year-old Willam E. Gibson was a town Marshal for Horicon, Wisconsin. On October 19, 1882, he arrested a stranger for disorderly conduct. The man since he arrived spent most of his time drinking at the saloon and was drunk when arrested. The man was only in town for a couple of days and was believed to be a tramp.  William being a little careless and thinking the man only had one weapon did not check the other pocket.  

The man did not resist or fight to go to jail. When William let go of the man to unlock the door to the cell the man would pull a bulldog a 40-caliber revolver from his left pocket and shoot the him. He would flee from his crime.

It had taken around an hour before anyone knew that William had been shot. At the same time, there was a major fire at the Brunt & Davis Co. factory. The village's attention was focused on the fire which allowed the unknown man to flee the area.

The man had been in town for a day or two there were no clear descriptions of him. Even though there was a wide search for him he wasn't found. He had likely stolen a horse from the stables of Fred Puls about two miles east outside of Horicon and fled. If he was he would have been a victim of a lynching. It was believed that he may have been wanted for a bigger crime than public drunkness and that was why he shot Marshal Gibson.

The killer was never caught for this murder. 

SOURCES:
Find a Grave

Officer Down Memorial Page

Green Bay Press-Gazette October 21, 1882

The Eau Claire News October 29, 1882

Murder of Eric Monahan

 On Jan. 18, 1994, 32-year-old Eric Monahan was found in the motel room on 409 N. Scottsdale Rd, Scottdale, Arizona. He had been shot in the chest just below the neck with a semiautomatic pistol. Eric was police chief of the Cocopah Indian Reservation and was in Scottsdale with two other deputies to testify at a federal trial. Each had their own room in the motel.

SOURCES:

The City of Scottsdale

Spot a Crime

Arizona Daily Star Jan 21, 1994

Arizona Republic Jan 21, 1994

END OF WATCH: Murder of Officer Pitt McClellan Doxsie

 On October 26, 1897, 34-year-old Patrolman Pitt McClellan Doxsie was patrolling on horseback in the downtown area of Independence, Iowa. He would stumble upon a burglary in progress. He would get into a gunfight with the two thieves. He would be shot and killed, his body would be discovered in an alley.

His case will remain unsolved. 

SOURCES:

Iowa Cold Cases

Officer Down Memorial Page

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund

Murder of Denson Hudson

48-year-old Police Officer Denson Hudson and his partner Fred Risener were working in the early morning of March 18, 1941, in Apopka, Florida. Shortly after 1 a.m. the two officers spotted an open window at the Standard Oil Plant (it's now the Catfish Place) and approached the building.

There were two burglars inside the building and were breaking into the company safe when the officers stumbled upon them. The two unknown men would shoot at the officers with rifles hitting Officer Hudson. He was taken to the hospital but died from his injuries that night.

SOURCES:

Project Cold Case

Officer Down Memorial Page

The Apopka Voice 

Saviors of Doris Smith

 

On the night of September 16, 1995, Thomas Wright of Eldon, Missouri had a terrifying nightmare about his mother. It disturbed him greatly and it caused him to sit in his bed and pray for her. His mother is Doris Smith and was working as a deputy sheriff for the Miller County Sheriff's Department. 

He stated; “I could see my mother’s squad car. There was a struggle. I saw the person take my mother’s gun. It was a woman. I remember the gun moving back and forth and it looked like my mother really wasn’t winning the struggle. She needed help. A gunshot went off. And that was the most disturbing thing about the whole dream, the fact that I didn’t know who was shot and why. The only thing I could think at that point was that there was a possibility that my mother might have been taken away from me.”

The two have a strong bond and were best friends. He stated that they could typically feel each other's hurt.

On September 17, 1995, Doris was transferring a prisoner who wrote bad checks and was sentenced for a year. She had to drive the prisoner to a facility four hours away and as they traveled towards Laddonia, Missouri a series of events that similarly happened in Thomas's dream began.

Around 6 p.m. the prisoner had gotten her hands out of the handcuffs (her hands were small). She began to attack Doris and Doris had to fight for her gun and as well as her life. Unfortunately, Doris was constrained by her seatbelt and was losing the fight. Things had differed from Thomas's dream though. Two men helped Doris. By the time Doris found her composure the two men were gone.

But they know what they were driving as someone stopped at the scene and took a picture (posted above). The men were driving a pre-1995 dark blue Chevy CK pickup truck with tinted windows and an extend cab. They were also towing a blue and white boat.

Thomas and Doris were very thankful to the two for saving her life and went on the show Unsolved Mysteries to help find them. The website says that Doris still hasn't found the men who saved her that day.

SOURCES:
Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries Wikia

Murder of Deputy Sheriff Carnie Hopkins

On the night of September 9, 1984,54-year-old Livingston County Deputy Sherrif Carnie Hopkins was working. Around 11:20 p.m. he notified dispatch that he was checking on a hitchhiker on US 60  and Highway 137 about 3 miles East of Smithland, Kentucky. The intersection was also known as "The Monument". A few minutes later a dispatcher on the way to work found his body. A struggle had happened and he was somehow shot with his own gun. 

SOURCES:
Officer Down Memorial Page 

Kentucky State Police

WPSD

KFVS 12

Disappearance of James Willard McNeely

On April 8, 1972, 37-year-old James Willard McNeely, a Kentucky State Police trooper, was on a rescue mission in the Kentucky River in Franklin County. It's believed he drowned when his boat was swept over the dam at Lock 4 in Frankfort. His body was not found.

James was a 37-year-old white man. He had black hair and blue eyes. It's unknown what he was wearing. He was possibly wearing a KSP uniform, a jump utility uniform complete with KSP patches on the shoulder or civilian clothing. He may have had a KSP issued duty gun belt, and a sidearm, 12 rounds of ammunition, two dump pouches, and handcuffs.

SOURCES:
NamUs

November 22, 1969 Easton, Maryland John Doe

On November 22, 1969 a heist of the Holiday Inn in Easton, Maryland was planned. What the people doing the heist didn't know is that someone left a tip with the police that it was going to happen. Two police officers were waiting in the office of the hotel for the heist to start.  The unidentified man turned and pointed his gun towards police officer Myers. Myers shot the man causing his death. 

It was this man and four other people involved with the robbery. Joseph Queen age 24 of Philadelphia, Howard D. Queen age 32 of Philadelphia and Royal Oak, Charles H. Denshields age 24 of Easton; and Charles R. West age 23 of Washington D.C. 

A couple of newspapers claimed that he had been Identified as 24 year old  Donald Jones of Washington D.C. It is unknown to me if it was a false identification and or if the Newspapers got it wrong at the time or if he was not officially identified as Donald Jones. His NamUs does not mention this.

He was a 20 to 29 year African American male. He was around 5'7 and 155 lbs. Eye and hair color are not listed, but it could be possible his hair was black or dark brown. He was sporting a goatee and a thin mustache. He was circumcised and has a blood type B. He was wearing a pair red shorts, a undershirt, a pair green short pants, a pair blue checked pants, a blue sweater, a black vest, a pair brown ladies gloves, and brown shoes.

But he is listed on Namus with DNA available, but not submitted. He doesn't have Dentals and fingerprints available.

SOURCES:
https://www.identifyus.org/en/cases/4837
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14788653/nov_22_1969_maryland_john_doe_possibly/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14788268/nov_22_1969_john_doe/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14788329/nov_22_1969_mayland_john_doe/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14788639/nov_22_1969_maryland_john_doe_possibly/

Murder of Jolene Hass

22 year old Jolene Hass grew up in Iowa. She had met A.J. Rippatoe in Ft. Dodge, Iowa. they both eventually moved to Sioux City, Iowa. This was where Jolene began to do prostitution. She was deep in drug culture and the local outlaw motorcycle gangs. She eventually became an informant that testified against many people including A.J. Rippatoe.

In 1975 Jolene was supposed to testify against several suspects in the fall of 1975. She was then moved to Sturgis where she had been beaten and raped by 3 unknown males trying to buy drugs from her. Two days after the rape they moved her to the Delroy motel in Rapid City, South Dakota. She was then going by Jolene Schutt and was working for the police department for 3 months.

On November 10, 1975 Hass was found murdered in her motel room by a a RCPD detective and DCI agent to check on their witness. She was stabbed multiple times with possibly a switchblade.The knife was not found, the  rope she was strangled with was found around her neck. The found that she eaten right before her death. They think that when she went out to eat that she may had been noticed by someone.

At first they did not reveal the nature of her death and what she had done, because they hoped someone would brag about killing a narc. At least one of the investigators believed that it was a hired killing by one of the people she was informing against.

There was one person who claimed to have murdered Hass for money, but when confronted they said they didn't. They also took a polygraph that confirmed this. Then in 1977 another suspect of this case was found buried in cornfield. He was killed by James Cowell, who was part of the El Forestos Motorcycle Gang, was prosecuted for the suspects murder along with the murder of his girlfriend and two mechanics.

 This case remains unsolved.

SOURCES:
https://www.rcgov.org/departments/police-department/investigations/unsolved-homicides-309.html
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13919791/jolene_hass_murder/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13919880/jolene_hass_murder/
http://law.justia.com/cases/iowa/supreme-court/1976/58995-0.html (Article of a case against Janice Ivory that Jolene Hass was an informant on. Case happened in 1974, but trial happened in 1976.)
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/cold-cases-spanning-five-decades/article_12d44e06-0afd-5028-865b-fd0febca608b.html

Nimrod Johnson Miller

Nimrod Johnson Miller was the Burnet County Sheriff in Texas he had served four years by the time he was 37. He had left on August 26, 1881 in search of and to arrest W.P. Brown who was a suspect in a murder in February 1976 . W.P. Brown was reported to be near Paul’s Valley in Indian Territory which would had been modern day Oklahoma.

Shortly after Sheriff Miller’s disappearance, his nephew, Deputy Sheriff L.J. Conner of Burnet County began a search for his Uncle. It was revealed that initially Sheriff Miller had traveled to Austin Texas where he was robbed, but had recovered his money. On August 30 he had left Sherman, Texas and was reported to be in Dennison, Texas September 1, 1881. The last time anyone had seen Sheriff Miller was at Caddo, Indian Territory trying to purchase a horse for the travel to Paul’s Valley.

After that it was unknown what had happened to the Sheriff til an Arkansas prisoner, Sam Paul, confessed that he witnessed Sheriff Miller's murder. He had said it had happened in Chickasaw county. If it is true then he was ambushed in Indian Territory and was killed by being shot by arrows. His body was never recovered.

There isn’t much information known about him. They don’t know his height or weight at the time or eye color or hair color. They didn’t even know what day he was born on just the year 1844.  

SOURCES:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2343dmok.html

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29398869