Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Criminal.
Twisted Prison Love
This story is almost too strange to be true; the weird thing is that not only is it true but when the TV mini-series (Escape at Dannemora) was being made, they had to find ways to make it seem more logical. Why? Because a married, 50-something woman slept with two prisoners at New York's Clinton Correctional Facility. That part is the only logical part of this sordid tale.
By Edward Anderson7 years ago in Criminal
The Impossible Murder of Joseph Bowne Elwell
If you're an avid watcher of The X-Files, Sherlock, or CSI, you have most likely seen the "Locked Room Mystery" trope come into play. It's a common plot scenario where a murder victim is found dead inside a locked room, no visible weapon, and no way for a criminal to escape.
By Skunk Uzeki7 years ago in Criminal
10 Hazing Deaths That Shocked College Campuses
How far would you go to make friends? Would you join a school organization? Would you pay monthly dues so you could hang out with them? Would you guzzle drinks, get beat up, or let your "friends" drop you off in the middle of the woods?
By Iggy Paulsen7 years ago in Criminal
The Marriage of Bonnie Parker
Bonnie wanted to be a writer. She filled her notebooks up with poems she scribbled on the porch to escape the Texas summer heat. Time would drip slow as molasses through her fingers. She was bored, she was broke. She, above all, had the nagging feeling she was meant for so much more.
By Aliza Dube7 years ago in Criminal
Crisscrossed
PART ONE JANUARY 2ND- 12TH 2020 Thursday, January 2nd, 2020 Police presence throughout San Jose scarcely matched the usual circumstances. Less than 20% of the daily force assigned to beat duty walked or patrolled the streets. The remaining officers sat patiently watching the clock march towards 9 AM in front of make shift terminals constructed the previous week. A room that typically housed 30-40 detectives now held close to 200 men and women.
By Tony Harris7 years ago in Criminal
The Boy in the Box
On the morning of February 25, 1957, the body of a young boy between the age of three and seven was found in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia. A young man who was trapping animals found the body, and in fear of having his traps taken away, he didn't tell the police what he saw. A few days later another young man saw a rabbit running under a bush, and decided to investigate because he knew about animal traps. He discovered the body, and he too was going to keep quiet, but decided to tell the police. After being told about the boy's body, the police launched an investigation. 400,000 flyers were put in The Philadelphia Inquire. 270 police recruits combed over the crime scene and found a handkerchief with the letter G on the corner, a child's scar, and a man's blue corduroy hat. The police even took it a step further, and a postmortem photo of the boy fully dressed and sitting in a chair was distributed to the public. The police hoped that this photo would lead to clues about the identity of the boy, but nothing came of it. There are many theories and tips about this case, and even though most of them lead nowhere, there were two that stood out to police. The first theory came from a psychic. The psychic said that the boy was from a foster home that was less than a mile away from where the body was discovered. A man and his stepdaughter ran the foster home. Soon after the stepdaughter became pregnant out of wedlock. Embarrassed by this, the man kept the child a secret which would explain why he was malnourished. The police tried to locate the man and his stepdaughter and finally found them, now married. They were interviewed, but no links between the foster home and the child were found. The second theory came to police in February 2002 by a woman known only as Martha, who told police that her mother had purchased the boy whose name was Jonathan from his biological parents in the summer of 1954. She then told police that the boy was abused by her mother, both physically and sexually, for two and a half years. During one evening the boy vomited up his dinner of baked beans and was severely beaten for it. Her mother then put the boy in the bath where he died. The police had not told the public about finding baked beans in the child's stomach and how the child's fingers were waterlogged. After the boy died, Martha's mother then cut the boys distinctively long hair and made Martha help her dispose of the body. However, before they could dump the boy's body, a good Samaritan stopped and asked the two women if they needed help. Even though Martha's story included evidence that only the police knew, they decided to talk to a neighbor who was friends with both women. The neighbor told police that they had been inside the home and there was no evidence that a little boy had ever lived there. The neighbor also told police that Martha was mentally ill and that her story was ridiculous. A forensic artist by the name of Frank Bender developed a theory that the victim was born a female, and whoever killed her cut off her hair to hide her identity. Bender then released a sketch of what the victim would look like as a female, but still, no one came to claim that they knew the victim. The boy's body was buried in Potter's Cemetery, but later was dug up for DNA evidence. He was later reburied at Ivy Hill Cemetery. His identity and his murder remain unsolved.
By Kai Alexander7 years ago in Criminal
Suicide Square (Pt. 1)
Suicide Square By J. K. Chenevert, BSCJ, CPS ~ Preface ~ The Boy Who Lives at The End of The Hall Upon entering, at first encounter, the hallway, dark and forbidding in its’ seemingly endless depth, would initially appear warm and welcoming to the casual visitor, with its deep, rich, highly-polished, mahogany wood, soothing amber lighting and air of serenity and calmness. The walls are covered in royal purple and gold LeMay fabric and the carpet, a deep burgundy, almost blood-like in color, runs the hallways’ indiscernible length and into its engulfing darkness. As one would move down the corridor, they would encounter a multitude of doors, doors lining each side, of the now darkening hallway—doors in various states of condition and disrepair. Further down, there are grey streaks of black across the walls as noxious mold continuously forms from decades of toxic and intoxicating environments. The antique, disused wooden furniture, so regal and elegant upon first entering the hallway, is now rotting; stained with a myriad of lethal constituents and elements, while the purple and gold LeMay wall covering hangs limp, peeling and eaten away by insects and vermin. The hallway, at this point, to anyone intrepid enough to travel thus far, would feel dead still, near silent, ominous, heavy with expectation and foreboding, the air, thick and stifling… and then suddenly, inexplicably, dread would overcome them, as they instantly realize, they are not alone, as the sounds of creeping lifeforms creak across worn wooden floorboards behind those decaying, uninviting doors… and… on occasion… they may become the unfortunate individual who, inadvertently or with malice, causes one of those doors to fly open abruptly and cause whatever is inside, to come out. Behind one such door, a badly scarred, barricaded door that looks as if someone had tried many times to stop something inexplicably horrible from getting out is the “The boy who lives at the end of the hall.”
By J.K. Chenevert, BSCJ, CPS7 years ago in Criminal
The Truth Behind Lenore Bing Pt. 2
As I said before, names have been changed to protect identities. Enjoy! The more I read into her book the more I realized the stories I heard as a child were true!! Ms. Bing was long gone before I was born but to this very day, grandparents and parents tell their children about “the Bing down the road.” Personally, I wanted to go inside the house for myself and go walk around but as I previously stated, no one is allowed on or near the property.
By Catrina Palko7 years ago in Criminal
Why Do Women Fall in Love with Convicted Killers?. Top Story - November 2018.
Some women are positively crazy for serial killers. Ted Bundy was a mass murderer who wrote fan letters, reportedly received hundreds of love letters from young women when he was incarcerated. Richard Ramirez had dozens of groupies visit him and send him letters during his trial, and he would even go on to marry one of these groupies after more than a decade of courtship. (You can imagine the courtship process is certainly slower when one of the parties is on death row.)
By Joseph D. N. Kendrick7 years ago in Criminal
