October 9, 1893 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

On October 9, 1893, skeletal remains were found in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania near Wildwood. Two men hunting hops in a wooded area overgrown with brush would find the remains. That area was rarely used because of the brush. It was obvious that the man's body had been left there. He was lying straight with his arms by his sides. It was believed that he had been murdered around 6 months before. 

John Doe was believed to be around 40 years old. He was around 5'7" and 160 lbs. There was nothing left at the scene to identify him. 

I assume that in these news articles, they were the same remains as the areas are almost 10 miles apart and found on the same day. The remains were likely brought to Sharpsburg to be buried because they were a bigger community. I could be wrong though. 


SOURCES:
Find A Grave

Pittsburg Press October 10, 1893

Butler Citizen October 13, 1893

Murder of James Walsh

Around 1 am on May 18, 1853, 54-year-old James Walsh was found stabbed in a court area in 1 Pleasant Passage, Lower Holloway in London, England. He was unable to say much except it was a woman who stabbed him. But he was unable to say how it happened. He was taken to the hospital and died shortly after. 

SOURCES:

Unsolved Murders UK

Murder of John "Henry" Bernard Nurre

The image has a typo it's supposed to be 1814 not 1914

In 1890, 76-year-old John "Henry" Nurre and his third wife 57-year-old Elizabeth. The couple had been married for 20 years and lived in rural Clinton County near Brown’s Station, Iowa. The area that the couple were living in was mostly Catholic including them. They would seldom miss any meetings at the church.

Henry was also one of the richest men in their area of the state and was highly esteemed by many. He had more real estate mortgages in Jackson County than anyone else. For the last 4 years, he was a member of the Board of Supervisors of Clinton County. It was estimated that he was worth $250,000.

On March 12, 1890, Henry and Elizabeth did not show up to the 13-hour church meeting. This was concerning, however, it wasn't until they didn't show up to the Thursday meeting people got worried. Elizabeth's son-in-law Theo Hullman, and the Priest were worried because the two never showed up to the meeting. This was unusual for them. The two would go home and investigate to see why the two didn't show up.

When they went inside the house they would go into either the kitchen and find Henry dead near the table. He was in a large pool of blood and had a large gash on the back of his head and another which hit his jugular vein in his neck.

Elizabeth was found unconscious in their bedroom in the attic above the kitchen. She had been attacked with a hammer and she had nine deep scalp wounds. She would stay unconscious for several more weeks before regaining consciousness. However, she could not provide any information on what had happened.

It's believed that the attack happened on the evening of March 11th. Henry was sitting in the sitting room responding to a letter from his son. The letter was received on the 10th and the letter Henry was writing was dated the 11th. It seemed Henry was nearly finished with the letter when he was killed.

The murderer or murderers tried to clean up the pool of blood. There were clothes stained with the blood found on the teakettle. They then dragged Henry into the kitchen. It's unknown why they had done this, but maybe they were thinking of destroying the scene and never got to do it for some reason.


Elizabeth must have witnessed the murder as it seemed that she had run to their bedroom in the attic. She had tried to barricade the door, but they had broken it open with a poker. They would then attack her with the poker and then the hammer when they found it. The room was left a mess with the bestead broken to pieces, the bedding scattered and blood covered almost everything in the room. It was a miracle that she survived.

In another bedroom, a safe was found. It was unknown if the killer or killers were able to get it open, but the dial had been broken off. In the same room, there was a little satchel that Henry was known to carry money and papers. One of Elizabeth's skirts was lying over it and it wasn't seen by the killers. Inside was $1,105 and some papers indicating he was planning to go to Preston that night. Likely after he was done writing his letter and eating dinner.

Theo stated that it was not normal for Henry to have that much cash on him at once and usually only carried around $100 to $150. However, he himself had recently paid him the $1,000 on Sunday so it must have been that money in his satchel.

SOURCES:
Iowa Cold Cases

Find a Grave

Murder of Heidi Marie Cummings

On December 18, 2007, 51-year-old Heidi Cummings was found dead in her home in the 3500 block of Cutter in Fort Worth, Texas. It's believed that she may have known her killer and allowed them into the home where they shot her to death.

SOURCES:

Fort Worth, Texas Police Department

Find a Grave

Murder of Robert Allan

On December 1, 1904, 34-year-old Robert Allan was at his home at Drumshangie Farm between Greengairs and Airdrie, Scotland with his wife and 3-week-old child. This was the first night that they did not have any servants at the farm. 

Just after they went to bed some people came up to the window and disturbed them. This irritated  Robert and he opened the door holding his double-barrelled fowling piece. He fired into the sky to scare them away. This however did not happen as the people became more roudy. He went back in put on his trousers and went back out with his gun. He would fire another shot and never be seen alive again. It's believed he had followed the men down the roadway to where the trolley had been drawn.

He would be found dead on an old pit road leading from the farm to Watstown. He was lying across a track partially on his right side with one arm underneath him. His gun was a few feet away from him resting on the embankment on the road. It was found that he had been shot in the stomach. It's believed he was shot with his own gun. 

One theory was that he had stumbled in the dark and accidentally shot himself, but his guy was found several feet away and the locks of the gun were found to be empty of cartridge cases. The other is that Robert and one of the men fought over the gun and he was shot in the struggle. That the killer moved him and his gun from their original positions. 

SOURCES:

Unsolved Murders UK

Suspicious Death of Martha Mansfield

 

Martha Mansfield was determined to become an actress at the age of 14. Her first role would happen in a play of Little Women in 1912. She would act, sing and dance in some plays, and model in photographs before being signed by Essanay Studios.

On November 29, 1923, 24-year-old Martha was working at a location in San Antonio, Texas. She was playing the role of Agatha Warren in the movie The Warrens of Virginia. Because it was based in the Civil War she was wearing a costume based on the time. Which was of hoop skirts and flimsy ruffles. 

After filming was done Martha went to her car where her chauffeur was waiting. Her skirt would burst into flames. Those around tried to save her. The chauffeur tried to take her clothes off and the leading man Wilfred Lytell threw his heavy overcoat onto her. 

Both Martha and the Chaufer were burned. Martha's body was severely burned, but her face was not because of Wilfred's jacket. The Chaufer's hands were badly burned. They would be taken to the hospital. However the following day Martha would die. It was from burns of all extremities, general toxemia, and suppression of urine. 

It's unknown what exactly happened. It was known that a match was the culprit of the fire, but it was unknown who had done it. Some witnesses stated that they saw the match go through the window. Others theorized that Martha was trying to smoke and accidentally dropped the match. However, her mother stated that she didn't smoke and that it in fact made it uncomfortable. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

IMDB

Muskogee Daily Pheonix  and Times-Democrat November 30, 1923

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News November 30, 1923

Pensacola News Journal December 1, 1923

News 4 San Antonio Nevember 30, 2020

Murder of Jesa "Toni" Corazza

 

In 1934, 17-year-old Jesa "Toni" Corazza was a dancer and lived on Randor St in the Chelsea area of London, England. She acquired certain fame in theaters and even had a part in one or two films. By October she would become pregnant and did not want to keep it. At this time abortion was illegal in England and would seek help and have one illegally. On October 28, 1934, Toni would miscarry and be sent to St. Luke Hospital in London, England. 

Toni denied that she had an abortion and claimed that she fell dancing, but there was evidence of an instrument used by someone accustomed to this type of work. It was also found that she was taking pills to induce a miscarriage and they were hidden inside a matchbook inside her purse.

 

Toni would develop acute blood poisoning due to the instrument used in the surgery. She would not admit to either who the father was or who had given her the abortion. She would even say that she may have slipped on accident while dancing as an excuse for her condition. She passed away on November 13th due to heart failure caused by the blood poisoning. 

Her mother said that she didn't know if anyone had interfered with her daughter. She stated that Toni tried to tell her something as she was dying, but she couldn't be understood. 

A jury would find a verdict of murder against some person or persons unknown was returned.

SOURCES:

Unsolved Murders UK

Evening Standard November 19, 1934

Kingston News and West London Times November 23, 1934

Evening Standard November 26, 1934

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 John Caylor

On the night of October 10, 2003, John Caylor went to a party at a home on Waltonian Road in Harmony, New York. It seemed like a normal party and no one openly noted anything weird about it. John's brother was supposed to come pick him up from the party and would call him a few times in the early morning hours. However, his brother was asleep at the time and missed the call. 

Later that morning at the residence where the party was John's body would be found in the front yard. It was found that he had been beaten with a blunt object, and strangled. 

According to a news article, John did argue with someone at the party. There was a lot of drinking going on and no one said what the fight was about if it was about anything. The person of interest was never publically identified, but they did make statements that made him suspicious. The suspect died several years later making the case probably never going to be officially solved. 

SOURCES:

Chautauqua County Sheriff

Post Journal  November 20, 2021

Murder of Edward Crabtree

On September 24, 1989, the body of 51-year-old Edward Crabtree was found behind L&N Hotel near Henley St and Western Ave in Knoxville, Tennessee. He had been killed from being hit on the right side of the head with a blunt object. It's believed that the motive was robbery as his pocket was turned out and his wallet laid 60 ft from his body. 

Edward was from Rossville, Georgia. 

SOURCES:

Knoxville Tennessee

Uncovered

The Knoxville News Sentinel September 26, 1989

Murder of Judith Wolfe

About 2:30 am on September 17, 2006, 66-year-old Judith Wolfe was inside the car she was living in with her cat Buttons. She parked and sat in her car at  2100 S. 101st E. Ave in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A man would open the driver's door and enter the car attacking Judith. He would punch her in the face and then push her into the floorboard and further attacked. 

She at one point got out of the vehicle and was lying in the street covered in a blanket. Her cat Buttons was found with her, but the vehicle was gone. Soon after someone would find her and call 911. Judith was alive and told police what had happened, but unfortunately died on the 28th. 

Her vehicle was found backed into a spot at the Shoreline Apartments nearby. 

SOURCES:

Tulsa Police Department

News On 6 October 16, 2006

Murder of Johnnie Dean Williams

On September 15, 1972, Johnnie Williams would visit with his wife and newborn daughter at the hospital. That evening he would spend the night out taking $800 with him to a club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Knowing that Johnnie was going to the club she would call them around midnight to talk to him. However, he wasn't there. On September 18th Johnnie's wife would report him missing as no one had seen him for days. 

On the 24th a farmer would be working his fields east of 1800 N Mingo. In the field Johnnie's body would be found. He had been beaten and then shot between the eyes. It's believed he was robbed as there was no money on him and his pockets were turned inside out.

SOURCES:

City of Tulsa

Uncovered

Oklahoma Cold Cases

Murder of Kimberly Steele

On September 14, 2011, a home at 123 Town & Country Lane in Searcy, Arkansas was on fire. The mobile home belonged to 46-year-old Kimberly Steele and she had not been seen for two days at this point. It was determined that the home was set on fire in multiple places and there was no sign of Kimberly. Her two dogs were killed in the fire. A small blue car was seen at the residence shortly before the fire was noticed. Since there were no signs of Kimberly after the fire her parents reported her missing on the 15th. 

That same day Kimberly's body would be found. She was found in Prairie County at the Wattensaw Refuge. She has been shot in the head and her body caught on fire.

SOURCES: 

White County, Arkansas Sherriff's Office

Uncovered

ABC 7 September 24, 2011

Murder of Isaiah Cherry

 

On September 8, 2018, 33-year-old Isaiah Cherry was murdered at 2306 Greenwood Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky. There is little information in this case. 

SOURCES:

Louisville, Police

Uncovered

Murder of Flora Alice Fisher

On July 24, 1904, 27-year-old Flora Fisher complained of her insides hurting. The next day she would get a consultation from 3 doctors. Flora stated that she didn't know what caused her illness. 

On September 5, 1904,  Flora was taken to Westminster Hospital in London, England. She would soon after die from sepsis caused by an illegal abortion. It was obvious that these were not self-inflicted and that someone had done this to her. 

Her husband was informed and it was said in newspapers that he seemed surprised. He had no idea and that he and Flora were not the type of people to do something like that. 

SOURCES:

Unsolved Murders UK

Daily Mirror September 10, 1904

Saturday Telegraph September 24, 1904

The Sunday People September 25, 1904

Murder of Carlton Mosley

On September 3, 2000, Carlton Mosley was in a vehicle in the 500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Bakersville, California, Carlton was struck by gunfire and died from a shot to the back of the head. 

SOURCES:

Bakersville 

Murder of Ronald Fetherson

At 8:38 pm on August 30, 2009, 911 was called to the apartment of 53-year-old Ronald Fetherson in Apartment 56-G at 1207 Truman Street in Durham, North Carolina. Inside Ronald was found in his living room stabbed to death and his body mutilated. 

Neighbors stated that Ronald was last seen around 8 pm the night before. His dog was also barking the whole night. It was initially believed that he had lived alone, but people told them that he had a roommate that he may have recently fought with recently. 

SOURCES:

City of Durham

11 ABC October 7, 2013

WRAL October 20. 2020

Murder of Anthony Hardy

 

On Saturday, September 28, 2019, around 2:15 am, 52-year-old Anthony Hardy was stabbed in the 2800 block of Jasper Street, SE in Washington, D.C. First responders found him and he was sent to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. 

SOURCES:
Metropolitan Police Washington, D.C.
Metropolitan Police Washington, D.C. (PDF)
UnCovered

DC Witness

WTOP News September 28, 2019

1992 Jackson County, Oregon John Doe (Body not Found)

A witness came forward and told law enforcement of an execution-style murder of an 18-year-old Hispanic male on Butte Falls Highway in Jackson County, Oregon. The body was not found and the victim was not identified. There is little information and it is unclear what the date of the murder was. It's possible that it happened in 1992 since the case number is Case #92-13183.

SOURCES:

Jackson County, Oregon

2009 Annual Report page 30

Murder of Virgilio Aguilera

At approximately 7:17 p.m. on August 23, 2020, unknown persons did a drive-by shooting on 5314 Brandenberry Drive in Columbus, Ohio. At the time 52-year-old Virgilio Aguilera was in the area and struck by one of the rounds. He would be brought to the hospital but passed away two hours later. 

It's not stated if Virgilio was the target. 

SOURCES:

Ohio Attorney General

The City of Columbus

The Columbus Dispatch August 23, 2020