December 29, 2022
PETE KELLY, EX CHICAGO COP THE REAL FEAR FACTOR
October 26, 2022
JOHN LIST - THE 1971 FATHER OF THE YEAR
On November 9, 1971, John List did a terrible thing. He murdered his entire family. His day started as normal. He had his normal routine: coffee with his wife and seeing his children off to school before heading into work. However, today would be different.
After meticulous planning, he pointed a gun at the back of his wife’s head and with one click he she was dead. He continued his carnage by going into the attic where his 84-year old mother was sleeping. He murdered her by shooting her in the face above her left eye.
When his daughter Patricia and son Frederick came home from school, List hid behind the door. As they walked inside he shot both children execution style. He thought it was ok because they never saw it coming and didn’t suffer.
All that murdering made John hungry. He made a sandwich and drove to the bank to withdraw his money and close all his accounts. He then went to the local high school to watch his only living son's soccer game. When they got home List blindsided his son and shot him in the chest…the boy fought for his life but succumbed to the bullets that ravaged his body.
John List moved the bodies of his wife, daughter and sons into the ballroom and dumped them on top of sleeping bags and covered their faces with a white cloth. He left his mother in the attic to rot. Next he sat down and calmly and wrote a letter to his pastor explaining that he feared his financial struggles would make his family turn away from God. The world was full of poverty and evil. He killed them out of mercy. He slept peacefully in his bed that night.
The next morning he canceled all deliveries and called his children’s schools letting them know their family would be on vacation. He cleverly cut his face out of all the pictures in the house. It would be like chasing a ghost. When he disappeared he left all the lights on and a radio playing religious hymns in the background.
John planned the murders perfectly and month passed before anyone suspected a thing.
List met a widow named Helen and they were married in 1951. They had 3 children. Patricia, John and Frederick. They were devout members of a Lutheran church where List taught Sunday school.
By the early 1970's List's American dream was crumbling. He lost his job. For months he pretended to go to work while he looked for other jobs to no avail. He couldn’t bear to tell his family about the loss of his income. He couldn't disappoint his family. He was ashamed of his failures and believed he must kill his entire family in order to "save" them.
In February 1988, the couple moved to a house in Midlothian, Virginia. List resumed his career as an accountant for a small accounting firm.
List was a fugitive for 17 years, 6 months and 23 days. John thought he would never be caught. They were perfect murders. He didn't leave a trace. He was found guilty by a jury and a judge sentenced him to five life terms. John List died in prison in 2008 at age 82.
The memory of the murders still haunts Westfield residents. In an interview in 2008, parents told a reporter in New Jersey that children will not walk past that property, nor do they even want to live on the same street.
Nine months after the murders the List family home burned down. The cause of the fire was arson but the crime was never solved. A few years later a new home was built in its place.
Currently there is a Netflix series called "The Watcher" which is loosely based on the crimes of John List.
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October 14, 2022
AVENGING LISA LIGHTFOOT
In 2008 I reported to jury duty for the first time. When that summons comes in the mail, most people are annoyed at the inconvenience, but for me I was elated. I was praying to be selected for a juicy criminal case.
I shuffled into the courtroom for the “voir dire” process (an old French word for “truth“), in which both the prosecutor and the defendant’s counsel asks each potential juror questions to decide whether or not they want them on the jury. In this first phase of voir dire, each side is entitled to what is called a peremptory challenge, a complete strategic move, in which either side can excuse a juror without giving a reason.
When I found out the case was a felony trial my interest peaked. When I was told that it was a cold case for murder and rape dating back to 1985, I put on my poker face! I promised myself that if I was picked I would stay impartial during the proceedings, taking in all the facts and circumstances while making my decision of innocence or guilt.
Then the shady looking defense attorney approached me.
Defense Attorney: Michelle…what do you do for a living?
Me: I’m a paralegal and a true crime writer. I also work with missing person’s families.
Defense Attorney: So, do you have anything published in regards to this crime writing?
Me: I have two blogs and other outlets where I write.
Defense Attorney: How do you get your information?
Me: The internet. Databases. Sometimes talking to victim’s families. It depends on what I’m writing.
Defense Attorney: What do you think of DNA evidence? Do you find it credible?
(Inside my head: Seriously…what planet was he living on? Did he think I was ignorant? As if I was uninformed of modern science?)
Me: I absolutely believe in DNA evidence and its credibility.
I was finished. At the time I had 10+ years in the legal field; but I was “pro-DNA”, and a true crime writer to boot. After 5 minutes of silence, I heard the judge calling out names. All the women in the front row next to me started to jump out of their chairs. Then I hear, “Michelle Thank you for your service.” I asked the woman next to me, “Does this mean we’re done? Did I get booted?”
My chair was closest to the deputy prosecutor and when I stood up to leave we locked eyes. She gestured with her face a frown screaming in disappointment. Let’s face it. I am a prosecutor’s dream juror.
As I left the courthouse I couldn’t get that man's face out of my mind. The entire time I sat across from him I purposely stared him down. I was playing that childhood game to see who will blink or look away first. My eyes were fixated on him, trying to intimidate him and reveal his weakness without his counsel noticing.
I won the stare down contest. Every time he looked at me and saw my icy stare, his eyes became shifty and then looked away nervously. I saw into the depths of those cold eyes and I saw a monster. I had no information on the facts, I did not know him, I had no knowledge of this murder; yet, he reeked of evil.
When I got home I immediately jumped on the internet. Ethically speaking, it would have been wrong for me to be a juror. But I won’t lie when I say that I wish I could have been on this jury.
Especially after I read the background of the case.
This piece of human garbage was going to be decided by 12 other people. The day the verdict was read I was thankful to the “reasonable” jurors who sent this monster away forever.
STATE OF INDIANA V. JIMMY ATTEBERRY
In 1985 19-year old Lisa Lightfoot left her Indianapolis, Indiana apartment to go to a convenience store. When she did not come home her boyfriend, who lived with Lisa, called the police to report she was missing.
Lisa’s brother stated that he searched for her vehicle and found her lifeless body abandoned in an alley near railroad tracks. She had been stabbed twice in the chest, once on each breast, which caused her to bleed into her lungs. She had also been strangled so that her larynx was flattened and the muscles behind her esophagus had been crushed against her spine. Her fingernails were torn in self-defense of her attacker. Her fatal injury was the result of repeated blows to her head from a concrete block which the police found broken into pieces in the alley. The blows from the block crushed Lisa’s skull and eye socket. Further examination revealed that she was pregnant at the time of her murder and was raped during the attack.
Police considered Atteberry a person of interest in the initial investigation. He had lived in the same apartment complex as Lisa, but in 1985 DNA evidence was not available. There were few leads and Lisa’s case went into the cold case files.
In October 2006, Indianapolis police collected DNA from the semen stains found in Lisa’s underwear and it matched with Jimmy Atteberry. He was living in St. Louis, Missouri on a work release program from other rapes he committed in Illinois and Missouri. When asked about Indiana, Atteberry admitted that he had worked at the Salvation Army in Indianapolis during the summer months of 1985.
The jury found Atteberry guilty as charged and was sentenced to 60 years for his conviction for murder and to 50 years for his conviction for rape.
(Source) https://caselaw.findlaw.com/in-court-of-appeals/1399315.html
October 7, 2022
SEX CRIMES - WHY I LEFT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
One of the most painful parts of being a Catholic child was going to confession. I remember when I was 16 I was truthful behind the partition. I told Father Don I disrespected my mother on a daily basis with drag down fights. I drank and smoked weed. I had sex with my boyfriend.
The next thing I heard was, "BLASPHMER! BLASPHMER!" He's yelling at me about the sex thing and I said, "My mom told me it's OK if you're truly in love" that was out of context but I used it anyway to make a point to Father Don. I said, "Isn't God supposed to be forgiving?
The other families in our parish were very cruel to me and my family. I can't imagine what we ever did to them. They held their piggy snouts in the air, ignored us and had parties across the street from my house without inviting us. I was bullied by older kids who went to my church. I became insecure and mad that they treated us like dysfunctional dogs.
Then there was Father John D. Murphy. He came to our parish in 1983. Everyone loved Father John. He was so open and friendly, warm, inviting. No one ever had a bad thing to say about him. He talked about the work he did in Chicago. He "mentored" young boys from the wrong side of the tracks. Everyone thought "Oh...that is so noble of him!" He was our "Father Flanigan".
In 1994 one of my mom's friend's from church was visiting Chicago and took her family to the Shedd Aquarium. To her surprise Father John was working there as an employee taking tickets. She was so surprised to see him that she ran up to him with open arms trying to hug him and say hello! As soon as their eyes locked Father John looked away and didn't acknowledge her. Then he disappeared for the second time. Just as abruptly how he left St. Rita's in 1993.
I found out years later that Father John had molested an altar boy that I knew in church and at school. This prompted me to research what happened to Father John and why he was working at the Shedd Aquarium. Thank the lord for the internet or no one would have ever known what he did.
I found this article, the first of many to come. This was the day I denounced my religion and vowed to never return to this church or anywhere else.
February 15, 2003 (Source)
CHICAGO - Two men who say they were molested as children at a Chicago church filed a lawsuit Friday against a former Catholic priest who served at a Caledonia church for about 10 years. In addition to John D. Murphy, a former priest at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Caledonia, the suit names the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and a religious order as defendants.
"...The complaint alleged that Murphy molested them in the 1970s and 1980s at the St. Rita's parish in Chicago. The men say they were minors when the abuse took place, one while on trips with Murphy to a Michigan seminary and the other while Murphy worked at St. Rita of Cascia Church in Chicago."
"Instead of teaching them the ways of the priest, he taught them the ways of the predator," said Jeff Anderson, the men's attorney.
Murphy served at St. Rita's, 4339 Douglas Ave., in Racine from 1983 to 1993. Members of the church said Friday that Murphy worked with children at St. Rita's, performing all the roles of a priest at the church and its school…Father John's replacement, Rev. Joseph Stobba stated that he knew of Murphy, but never worked closely with him. From all he had heard, Stobba said Murphy was a "fine person" with a good reputation in Racine.
"...the lawsuit questions the decision of the Augustinian religious order for not investigating alleged previous complaints against the priest."
The Chicago Tribune (Source)
February 15, 2003
"…John D. Murphy, 60, who left the priesthood in 1993, had been working as a guest services supervisor at Shedd Aquarium and as a docent who led tours there that included children. The aquarium said it hired Murphy in 1994 based on a "positive written record" from the order's personnel director and that it did not learn of the allegations until Feb. 5, according to Shedd spokesman Roger German.
"…Following independent professional advice, Murphy was considered fit to minister without restrictions, he was assigned to St. Rita's, a parish in Racine, Wisconsin. Additional allegations surfaced in 1993, and Murphy chose to resign."
February 14, 2003 (Source)
December 9, 2004
"...A group of men who claimed in a lawsuit they were sexually abused by a Chicago priest more than 20 years ago distributed fliers bearing Murphy's picture and detailing his history to the homes, grocery stores and schools in his Carpentersville neighborhood.
Neighbors were grateful that information came out..and angry that no one had before. John D. Murphy was never convicted of sexual abuse, never even charged. His name does not appear on a sex offender registry.
In the settlement, which does not include any statement of guilt, the archdiocese paid the men undisclosed financial rewards, promised to build a memorial for them and vowed to involve abuse victims and their families in a national review board that hears allegations against priests, Jim Geoly, an attorney for the Augustinian Order.
Across the street, the Baldwin family were startled to learn their friendly neighbor was accused of sexual abuse. "All we knew is that he's real nice and walked his dog and said hi to everybody…We should have been told about this sooner."
"...Murphy was removed from service as a priest and immediately reassigned to St. Rita parish in Racine, Wisconsin. In 1993, he left the priesthood. The 1981 complaint was not forwarded to authorities because it "was not considered serious sexual misconduct," said Jim Geoly, an attorney for the Augustinian Order. "It was not crystal clear what the crime was."
But the absence of criminal charges has left Murphy able to go where he wants without anyone knowing who he is.
October 4, 2022
FORGOTTEN SERIAL KILLER - HERB BAUMEISTER
It was a crisp day on July 3, 1996 in Grand Bend, Ontario. He wasn’t going back to Indianapolis. He had to run because everyone knew about his heinous secrets. His family knew. The police knew. His neighbors and business colleagues knew. The public knew. The media knew. Now he was nowhere to be found.
When he arrived at his destination, he sat in his car crying like a coward and wrote a suicide note where he talked about his failed marriage, his business failures and his mental illness. In this letter he never mentioned the men and boys he murdered in cold blood.
He held his .357 magnum and mulled over his plan. His life was over. His wife already filed for divorce and he would never see his kids again. He knew he’d be in prison for life, or worse, the death penalty. He wouldn’t make it in prison for a day, let alone the rest of his life. He had no choice. He took the gun, pressed it against his forehead and pulled the trigger.
HERB BAUMEISTER - INDIANA’S FORGOTTEN SERIAL KILLER
On June 24, 1996, police searched the woods behind the Herb Baumeister's 18 acre estate and his 11,000 square-foot Tudor house.
They had no idea that they would find more than 5,000 human bones in what one searcher later described as a scene “like a bomb went off in a people factory.” The human remains of 11 people had been burned and buried on their property.
In the fall of 1994, Baumeister’s son Erich brought his mother a human skull. When she asked where he’d found it, he said that he found it in the woods. Erich took her back to where he found the skull. She found a half-buried pile of bones—enough to make up an entire human skeleton.
Herb Baumeister was born in April 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana. As a child he began exhibiting anti-social behavior and was obsessed with death. He gathered road kill, dead animals and birds would take them to school and put them on his teacher's desk. Another shocking moment was when he was caught urinating on his teacher’s desk. He was failing his classes and distracting other students. Something was very wrong. Really wrong. Young Herb was diagnosed with schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. Despite the severity of his diagnoses, Herb did not receive any treatment.
In 1965 he attended Indiana University for a semester and dropped out. After his father’s angry coaxing, he studied at Butler University in Indianapolis for a year. This is when he met his future wife, Julie Saiter. They were married in November 1971.
After getting married, Baumeister had many jobs. At one point he worked for the Indiana State Bureau of Motor Vehicles and was fired when he urinated on a letter addressed to the Governor of Indiana and on his supervisor’s desk.
In the 1970s, Baumeister was committed to a psychiatric hospital by his father. His wife stated that she was supportive of Baumeister and that he was "hurting and needed help.”
On October 2, 1982, 14 year-old Delvoyd Lee Baker was found dead and semi-nude near a river in Hamilton County, Indiana. Delvoyd was last seen on the evening of October 2, 1982, in downtown Indianapolis, Delvoyd’s parents told police that he was riding his bike in and around downtown Indianapolis and called home at 10:30 p.m. to tell them he would be coming home late because he was going to see a movie.
Apparently, Delvoyd and a 16-year-old friend had been going to the Indianapolis gay bars for the last three months, and according to his friend, he and Delvoyd prostituted themselves for $20-25 per night. There were several differences in comparison with other victims. Some of the police believed his homicide was not similar because he was the youngest and the only black victim.
On May 28, 1983, 22-year-old Michael Andrew Riley disappeared after leaving the “The Vogue'' nightclub in Indianapolis. He was last seen leaving The Vogue with an unfamiliar man. Riley's nude body was found in a ditch in Hancock County, Indiana on June 5, 1983. The autopsy determined that he had been strangled with a towel or similar fabric.
On May 7, 1985, 17 year-old Eric Allen Roettger vanished and his body was found near a stream in rural Preble County, Ohio. Witnesses claimed that they saw Eric at a bus stop in the early morning and that he accepted a ride from a passing car. When he was found, he had a burn mark on his left shoulder and had been strangled with a rope.
In August, 1986, 29 year-old Michael Allen Glenn’s body was found in a ditch near Eaton, Ohio. He lived in a trailer park on the outskirts of Indianapolis and worked as a handyman. Strangulation marks from a rope were found on his neck. He was identified three years later with the help of fingerprinting.
On October 15, 1987, 21 year-old James Robbins went missing around 10:00 p.m. after leaving his mother's home in Indianapolis. He was last seen walking in a southern direction of Indianapolis. Two days later, his naked corpse was found in a ditch in rural Shelby County, Indiana near I-70 with strangulation marks around his neck.
In August 1989, 26 year-old Steven Elliot was found dead in rural Preble County, Ohio near I-70 wearing nothing but underwear. He had been strangled with a rope.
During these years Herb and Julie had 3 children and in 1988, he opened his first store called Save-a-lot thift store. It was so successful that he opened a 2nd location. Herb's business required a lot of out-of-town pickups and deliveries. He would drive to Columbus, Ohio regularly traveling on I-70 add to his collection of items for the shop.
- Three bodies were discovered in Preble County, Ohio between 1985 and 1989.
- All three men were from the Indianapolis area.
- All three men had been picked up by a stranger in Columbus, Ohio.
- A fourth body was pulled from a ditch in a nearby stretch of country road in 1990, once again, strangled and reported missing from the Indianapolis area.
These nine men would eventually be connected to the I-70 strangler, though there may be more.
The Baumeisters had serious marital problems. They only had sexual intercourse 6 times in their entire 25 years of marriage. Since they moved to Fox Hollow Herb's behavior had gotten worse. Julie was living in luxury, but was extremely unhappy. Her husband was dealing with a mental illness and other strange behaviors that was unhealthy for her and their children. He was drinking. He started petty arguments with his neighbors. He would be gone for days or weeks without contacting his family.
In the summer, Julie and the children would stay at a lake house owned by Herb Baumeister’s mother. They would stay throughout the summer and Herb drove up to visit them on the weekends when he wasn’t managing the stores.
Little did she know that Herb wasn't going to work. And when he did manage the stores, he never came home from work immediately. He was going to downtown Indianapolis' gay bars and bringing men home with him for sex in his indoor pool.
According to Baumeister’s employees at the Sav-A-Lot stores Herb became careless and neglectful of his duties during this time. They stated that most of the time he didn’t show up for work, and when he did, he was rude and belligerent. Employees quit and the stores began to deteriorate. The business took a turn for the worse.
On October 7, 1991, 42 year-old Otto Gary Becker’s body was found in a ditch in rural Henry County, Indiana. Police located several witnesses who claimed to have seen Becker in a car with two other men on I-70 near Indianapolis. According to them, one of the men was holding Becker down while the other was driving.
Tony stated that "Brian Smart" drove him to his estate. He told Tony that it wasn't his house, but that he was staying there doing construction for the owners. Smart showed Tony the pool house. Tony saw numerous mannequins around the pool and immediately felt uncomfortable. Smart offered Tony a drink, which he turned down. He then asked Tony if he had ever engaged in erotic asphyxiation before, and if he would like to try it.
At the end of August 1995, Tony saw Brian Smart at a gay bar in downtown Indianapolis. He ran outside and saw the same car he rode in with Smart that previous year. He wrote down his license plate number and investigators traced the license plate, it did not turn up Brian Smart as owner of the vehicle. It was Herb Baumeister.
According to Tony, Baumeister talked about having killed people and was confident he wouldn’t get caught because he had been operating for years without detection.
That same year police confronted Baumeister’s wife to search their property and told her that they suspected that her husband was a murderer. Julie didn’t believe it at first. But then she remembered that skull her son Erich brought her that he found in the woods. Previously, Baumeister had told Julie that the skeleton was a part of an anatomical display his father, a doctor, had kept.
During this time Herb was arrested several times. He was in a hit-and-run accident while drinking and driving. In 1986, he was charged with stealing his friend’s car. He got out of both charges and he never served any time in prison.
Before Julie filed for divorce Herb's drinking problem was out of control. He was drinking morning, noon and night. He was intoxicated at work and his employees were quitting because they were unable to stand his erratic mood swings. Herb would disappear for days or weeks on end. Julie never asked or checked where he went, she was just relieved that he wasn't around.
Julie finally allowed the police to search her home and the entire premises when Herb was gone. After an inspection of the gravel along the grass and in Baumeister’s backyard, they realized it was not gravel. It was charred, crushed up bones. Forensics confirmed that they were human. The bodies were found with, hand cuffs, clothing, and shotgun shells.
Over 5,500 bone fragments and teeth were recovered from the site. It was believed they belonged to a total of 11 men, however, only 8 were eventually identified:
John Lee Bayer, age 20
Richard Douglas Hamilton, age 20
Steven S. Hale, age 26
Allen Wayne Broussard, age 28
Jeffrey A Jones, age 31
Manuel Resendez, age 31
Roger Allen Goodlet, age 33
Michael Frederick Kiern, age 46
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The current homeowner, Rob Graves, stated that the death toll was somewhere at 17 to 20 young men and boys buried or burned on he property. He said he finds remains all the time, and that the home is active with spirits and angry souls.
Things happen here that you can’t explain,” said Graves. On YouTube you can find clips from a variety of paranormal that Graves has allowed to investigate the property.
Guests in the apartment on the property claim that the knocker on the front door becomes hot and bangs violently by itself. A family friend staying in the apartment claims to have seen a full-body apparition of a young man running from the apartment.