Unsolved News Round-up 14.02.21
A woman kept mum in the freezer for 10 years and five different cold cases solved...
Africa
🇰🇪Kenya: Animal activist’s 2018 murder still unsolved
Esmond Bradley Martin was one of the world's best known investigators into the ivory and rhino horn black market, notably it was his work that led China to ban the trade of Ivory in the 1990s. Martin was brutally stabbed in February 4, 2018 by someone who entered with no forced entry. Though Martin was wealthy, nothing appeared to have been taken. More here.
🇲🇼 Malawi: Worrying rise in murders & attacks of people with albinism
Amnesty International has called for action in the cases to protect the vulnerable group in the country. In the past four months alone, there have been seven recorded attacks against people with albinism in the country, ranging from killings, tampering of graves, attempted abductions and physical violence. The attacks are driven by wild superstitions that body parts of albinos have magical powers to cure deadly diseases. More here.
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone: Poverty drives sex industry plagued by sex-trafficking, murder
Many of Sierra Leone’s estimated 26,000 sex workers come from extreme poverty and entered the trade as minors. Instead of being given help, the local police often arrest them and slap them with hefty fines or jail time. BBC’s Africa Eye investigates through the lens of an unsolved murder. More here.
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe: Step-Mother allegedly tries to cover teenagers murder with faked suicide
13-year-old Ishmael Chishakwe was visiting his father and stepmother at their home when they announced he had committed suicide. Neighbours are said to have become suspicious and intervened after some alleged facts didn’t make sense. More here.
Asia
🇦🇫 Afghanistan: Assassinations of dissident voices on the rise
Journalists, religious scholars, activists and judges have all been targeted in a recent wave of political assassinations that has spread panic across Afghanistan and forced many into hiding. More here.
🇰🇭 Cambodia: Murder of Canadian expat seven years ago still unsolved
On Valentine’s Day 2014, Siem Reap resident and Canadian expat Dave Walker left his room at the Green Village Angkor Guesthouse and was never seen alive again. Ten weeks later, on May 1, Walker’s badly decomposed body was found near the Angkor Thom Victory Gate. Autopsy details released to date reveal no clear cause of death, though friends of Walker’s are convinced he was murdered by an associate. More here.
🇯🇵 Japan: Woman kept mum in freezer for 10 years
Yumi Yoshino, 48, claimed she found her mother dead and proceeded to hide the body because she “didn't want to move out”, she has allegedly lived with the body in the freezer for 10 years. The body was found bent over in the freezer by a cleaner after Yoshino was forced out of their Tokyo apartment. Initial investigations indicate no external injuries. More here.
🇱🇧 Lebanon: Activist murdered in growing concern over lack of punishment
Lokman Slim was shot dead and found in his car on Thursday February 4th in south Lebanon — the first killing of a high-profile activist in years. Slim ran a research centre, made documentaries with his wife and led efforts to build an archive on Lebanon's 1975-1990 sectarian civil war. He spoke out against what he described as the intimidation tactics of the Iranian-backed, armed Shi'ite Hezbollah group and its attempts to monopolise Lebanese politics. Hezbollah has condemned the murder, but Slim's sister has suggested he was murdered because of those views. More here.
🇳🇵Nepal: Police say they are close to solving rape & murder of 17-year-old
17-year-old Bhagirathi Bhatta from Dogdakedar Rural Municipality was thought to be walking home from school on Feburary 3rd, 2021 when she was raped and strangled to death by an unknown assailant. She was found in a community forest that lies between the school and her home. Tragically, Bhagirathi had lost her father a month prior and her mother was coping with both losses. Police claim she was likely killed by someone known to her and they are close to solving the case. More here.
🇰🇵 North Korea: Incredible story of 13-year-old who stolen from Japan in the 1970s, forcced to train spies
Megumi Yokota was 13 when she was mistakenly stolen by two North Koreans in Niigata, Japan. Returning to North Korea with the teenager in tow, the spies were chastised, however the higher ups saw an opportunity, Yokota was forced to train. spies to spy on Japan. What followed was a mysterious tale including DNA lies, a family who never gave up hope and international scandal. More here.
Europe
🏴 England: Police hope new appeal in 1979 Jane Doe case will bring answers
With more cold cases and Jane Doe solvings happening at pace in our current forensic era, cold case detectives are reassessing their cases. Police in Kent have long been baffled by the body of the woman dumped in Bedgebury Forest on October 23 1979. Despite the victim not being identified, an ex-lorry (truck) driver was arrested for her murder but found not guilty at a trial in 2000. More here.
🇮🇪 Ireland: Daughters appeal for help in unsolved 1987 murder of their mother
Antoinette Smith went missing after a night out at a David Bowie concert was last seen in West Dublin in the early hours of July 12, 1987. Her body was found almost a year later in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, dumped in an isolated drain. The mother of two’s murder has never been solved. Her now adult daughters are re-appealing for help in the case. More here.
🇲🇹 Malta: Unsolved 1982 murder victims family still hope for justice
The Cauchi family’s excruciating wait for justice has been long and filled with so much waiting for even a slight move forward in the case, they are determined to keep fighting. Lino Cauchi disappeared in 1982, in 1985, a man suspected to be Cauchi’s remains were found but it wasn’t until 1988 that the remainss were forensically confirmed as Cauchi’s. The family recently brought a lawsuit to access evidence. More here.
North America
🇨🇦 Canada: Man who committed murder as a 16-year-old to be tried as a youth 13+ years later
37-year-old Tara-Anne Landgraf was stabbed to death on a Calgary street on August 5th 2007. Police also believe she was sexually assaulted. Now, a 29-year-old man, who was only 16 at the time has been identified via DNA as the killer. The man will be treated as a youth and tried in youth court, despite his current age. He has also been granted anonymity. It is believed the victim was not known to the suspect, it will be interesting to see if the suspect has links to any other unsolved crimes since. More here.
🥇California: 1990 fatal stabbing of Darrel O’Donnell solved
Darrel O’Donnell was 27 when he was stabbed to death in a Mounutain View parking lot. Witnesses were unable to offer much in the way of useful information and the case quickly went cold. More here.
⛰️ Colorado: Unsolved bowling alley triple murder gets a new appeal
On Jan. 27, 2002, Erin Golla, Jim Springer and Bobby Zajac were shot and killed inside what was then the AMF Broadway Bowl bowling alley in Littleton, all three were in their twenties. The motive appeared to be robbery but there are very few clues. The police hope someone who has knowledge of the crime will finally come forward after the passage of time. More here.
🛣️ Indiana: FBI’s Gang Response Investigative Team arrest man in 1992 mother daughter murders
Victor Lofton of Humboldt, Tennessee, was charged last week in Lake County Superior Court with two counts of murder in the July 1992 killings of Felicia Howard, 21, and her daughter, DenNisha Howard, who were found dead inside their Gary apartment. More here.
⚜️Louisiana: Girls aged 12-14 charged with stabbing murder of another girl, 15, livestream
A shocking attack on a girl in a Lake Charles Walmart took place when four girls who stabbed her and livestreamed it on Facebook, Instagram & TikTok. Tragically the victim died from the attack. The attackers were shown on the livestream shouting and proclaiming their participation in the murder. More here.
🚢 Massachusetts: Could DNA finally solve New Bedford Highway Serial Killer murders?
From 1988-1989 Eleven women vanished from the same area of New Bedford. The remains of the women were found on two highways. All victims appeared to come from a vulnerable background plagued with substance abuse. The killer has never been caught and it’s one of the least told stories of unsolved serial killings. More here.
🧤 Michigan: Newly discovered blood sample solves 1988 murder
Gayle Barrus, 30, was last seen alive at a Battle Creek coffee shop. Her body was found 16 days later along a road. Police said she was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. The case went cold. Her son who had been haunted by the murder, began chasing the investigation up in 2018. The renewed investigation eventually led to a blood sample from Roger Plato, who was bizarrely killed three days before Barrus’ body was found as he tried to flee accusations of another assault. More here.
🗽 New York: Woman whose death originally considered a heart attack, now ruled poisoning
On Jan. 20, 2017 Mei Xiang Li was taken off life support, she had, doctors thought suffered a massive heart attack. However, an unusually large amount of Cyanide was found in her system after NYPD exhumed here body. Li regularly loaned money to friends and acquaintances but was apparently, rarely paid back. More here.
⬆️ North Carolina: Boyfriend arrested in 2003 murder of Kathy Jean Jones Williamson
Curtis Tyrone Watson allegedly found Williamson’s body on Christmas Eve 2003 and contacted police. But his discovery was apparently a cover, Williamson had been beaten to death by Watson who was reportedly in a relationship with her at the time. Police were tipped off after a 2016 Facebook post Watson was responsible, he was found in a homeless shelter at the end of January 2021 and booked. More here.
🛩️ Ohio: Death Row inmate may be linked to other unsolved murders
Roland Davis is currently on Death Row for stabbing an 86-year-old woman to death in Ohio. He’s also accused of killing Sharon Gill on March 21, 1990. Now police are hunting for more murders Davis may have committed between Ohio & Florida. More here.
🐝 Utah: Officials admit they don’t know how many cases of missing & murdered indigenous people are active in the state
A 2News investigation has found many case files have sadly been lost to misclassification or plain negligence. However, the local Department of Safety has identified at least 15 cold cases involving indigenous people and an additional 25 still under active investigation. Learn more about each of the cases and the victims here.
Oceania
🇦🇺 Australia: Jawbone washed up on the beach, finally identified
The jawbone was discovered in September 2011 sparking a major Police search and investigation. But it remained unidentified for years with DNA searches failing to find a match. A breakthrough in familial DNA led to William Moran, who was lost at sea off the New South Wales north coast more than 40 years ago. Mr Moran, who was 24 at the time, disappeared when his motor cruiser was hit by rough seas off Evans Head in September 1979. His wife Philippa was also killed in the tragedy. More here.
Want to see me cover a case as part of the detailed newsletters? Please email me at tips@unsolvednews.com — I would love to hear from you.