Carnival of the True Crime Blogs No. 113

CLEWS features a new book written about the infamous killers, Leopold & Loeb. In her post, The lastest look at Leopold and Loeb, and an old one, Laura James reports that the book, For the thrill of it: Leopold and Loeb and the murder that shocked Chicago, was called "altogether absorbing," by the New York Times.

David Lohr writes on The Criminal Report Daily that Casey Anthony is back in the slammer. Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla decided not to revoke her bond (he later changed his mind), then Anthony was arrested on charges of uttering a forged instrument, fraudulent use of personal information and petty theft. Back in July Anthony is accused of stealing about $750 dollars and spending it in stores such as Target and Winn-Dixie. Anthony is expected to be released soon.

Guilty plea in the Ariana and Tyler Payne case is a new post on Crime, Interrupted which relates to the death of the two children. Their father, Chris Payne, has been accused of first degree murder. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Reina Gonzales has entered a plea of guilty in two second degree murder charges. Gonzales admits in videotaped testimony that her boyfriend had locked Ariana in a closet for over two months until she starved to death then Chris beat his son with a belt, giving him a headwound which soon became infected. After this the father locked his injured son in the closet with his dead sister and waited until he expired as well. She states that she did absoultely nothing to help Tyler and Ariana.

Erin Morarity wrote the latest post on In Cold Blog. The post, The case of Rachel Mullenix, is a puzzling look at the girl accused of playing a part in her mother's murder back in 2006. Rachel claims that her boyfriend, Ian Allen, committed the crime. Allen also atests to this. Whether or not Rachel actually weilded the butter knife is unknown. However, the 17-year-old assisted Allen in removing her mother's body, cleaning up the apartment and later sending her boyfriend a text message reading "I love you" before running off to Lousiana with him. The motive is not apparent.

Star's Pick of the Week

Another case of a child that was never found is on, When a child goes missing. The post, Trenton Duckett missing for two years, gives a description of the boy who disappeared on August 27, 2006. The child's mother, Melinda Duckett, was suspected to be involved. After Melinda was interviewed on Nancy Grace's TV show she committed suicide. Most believe that it was due to Grace's interviewing tactits. Melinda agreed to go on the show in order to help find her son when Grace started grilling her on his whereabouts and bringing up inconsistancies in what she told authorities.

Carnival of the True Crime Blogs No. 112

Boys (and men) do cry: Teena Brandon case revisited is an article on Crime Rant about the continued delay in the executions of one of the two men convicted of murdering a transgender person named Teena Brandon as well as two other people. John Lotter is now waiting to hear, not when he dies, but how he dies. Nebraska has decided that electrocution is "cruel and unusual" and are looking for an alternative means. There is an online petition entitled Save John Lotter from the electric chair.

A new entry on The Murder Book 2008 entitled Autopsy finds 2-year-old victim of battered child syndrome. Jashya Brown was found dead earlier this week. The suspects are the child's mother, who was previously accused of a similar crime, and Daquean Williams, a man who lived in the house and was believed to have been baby-sitting the youngster when she was found dead.

Parents Behaving Badly reports Child killer now a dad. Robert Thompson, along with Jon Venables, was convicted of abducting and murdering 2-year-old James Bulger over a decade ago. Both accused murderers were released and now live under assumed names. It came to light in early 2006 that Thompson, then 23, fathered a child with his girlfriend. It is believed that Thompson grew up in an abusive home and completed the circle of violence when he murdered Bulger. One wonders if the circle has really been broken.

A Sarcastic Crime Radio update on the Bigfoot mystery, Bigfoot 'corpse' had a rubber foot; Finders "admitted it was a costume," Says 'Squatch Detective' Host. Last week David Lohr reported on the result of the DNA testing on the beast, which turned out to be possum. After Bigfoot was examined it became apparent that this was not a prehistoric ape like creature, it was roadkill stuffed into a rubber suit. The pranksters, Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, eventually fessed up.

Jules Hammer and her blog The Cellar feature a new post entitled Jazzi-Jet on Pridesites, Part 2 (note: Jules ask you to read Part 1 first). The post features more of accused killer Joseph E. Duncan's disturbing, retina burning, vomit causing photographs. And Duncan has a lot more in his Cellar.

Today's Atrocities has posted a full missing persons report on the 3-year-old Caylee Anthony who vanished several months ago. The post, Caylee Anthony - An accurate missing persons filer, lists Caylee's vital statistics and brief summary of when she was last seen. Photos of Caylee, her mother Casey (who is a person of interest in this case), and Casey's car are also featured.

Star's pick of the week

Michelle Simonsen, writer of the Michelle Says So blog, guest blogs on The Criminal Report Daily. Her post, Toto, I don't think we're in Kanas anymore, tells the story of one woman who went to Cancun to relax and ended up being raped and almost beaten to death. Rebecca Sinnott, 38, raced back to the US after the attack with wounds so severe the air pressure on flight back could have crushed her skull. Sinnott's case remains open, but since then Sinnott has become a passionate advocate for women who have been assaulted while in Mexico as well as the administration that negligently tried to cover the incident up.

Sinnott runs her own advocate website; It Happened In Mexico.

Carnival of the True Crime Blogs No. 111

New week, new crimes, new blogs.

A new blog on CLEWS features links and short summaries of three new crime books. The guillotine's final bite and more new books lists upcoming true crime books including When the Guillotine Fell: The Bloody Beginning and Horrifying End to France's River of Blood, 1791-1977, No Choirboys, a book about teenagers on death row told through their own words, and the first book about Drew Peterson, Fatal Vows.

According to Crime, Interrupted blogger Tami, Robert Craft has a bad temper. Robert Craft, a man who, let's face it, looks like a serial killer, was arrested on multiple charges after allegedly attempting to harm his family. His stepson intervened after Craft allegedly struck his 11 year old daughter. Furious, Craft attempted to attack his family with a chainsaw and later, a weed whacker. After he couldn't get
his tools to work he tried to run over the family with his car.

A short update on the Malefactor's Register, Mark Gribben wants you to know that he's Not Dead and will resume writing articles soon.

Fist pounding 101, a new blog on When a child goes missing, gives an update on the case of Melinda Duckett, who shot herself after being interviewed for Nancy Grace's show. Duckett's parents, the grandparents of Melinda's missing son, Trenton, are suing Nancy Grace (the Sylvia Browne of true crime journalism) as well as CNN, citing that Grace's harsh interviewing techniques may have been a factor in her suicide.

Star's pick of the week

It's a sad day for Bigfoot hunters everywhere. Discovery blogger David Lohr has published a new blog entitled Read the Alleged Bigfoot DNA Email.

The e-mail was sent from Curt Nelson, a professor of biology, to Tom Biscardi the CEO Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. I won't get into the explanation for how the experiment was conducted, mostly because I don't understand it, but in the end Nelson reported that from the three samples of DNA, one was human, one couldn't be determined due to a technical issue and the last one was from a possum (they're so cute!). Lohr's blog also has two photos that were released at the press conference.

P.S. Congratulations to Corey Mitchell for his new book, Pure Murder, reaching #1 on the Amazon bestsellers list!

Carnival of the True Crime Blogs No. 110

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

An older post on The True Crime Weblog gives a brief recognition to the death of John List, a man accused of slaughtering his entire family. The post, John List dies at 82, states that List was convicted of murdering his mother, wife and their three children. After the deaths List vanished and managed to evade police for 18 years. He was eventually caught and found guilty.

The Door Busters of Olive Street is a new entry on Bunker Hill. Thomas Brown broke into the rooming house that he had been banned from, seeking revenge. However, Della Davis, the owner of the building was ready for him and shot him three times, grazing his chin and hitting him in the shoulder and chest. Davis stated that she shot him, added that she had no regrets about doing it.

As the title of a new post on Today's Atrocities states; Suspect arrested in swimmer killings. Scott Johnson is accused of opening fire at a group swimming in a river, killing three of them and wounding another. He has not been formally charged and there is no apparently motive for the shootings.

A disturbing post on The Criminal Report Daily, Necrophiliac might have violated other corpses, is about the exoneration of a murderer and the conviction of a necrophiliac. David Lohr writes that David Steffen was convicted of murdering and raping 19 year old Karen Range in 1982. However, there now is another man suspected of raping Range. Kenneth Douglas was employed at the morgue where Range's body was taken and allegedly admitted to having sex with her corpse before the body was autopsied.

Star's Pick of the Week

Lou Pearlman Picked the wrong day to manage boybands. Over at Hollywood on Trial, blogger Corey Mitchell writes that Pearlman, the brains behind *N SYNC and the Backstreet Boys, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, one count of money laundering and one count of bank fraud. It must have tore up his heart to
have finally been caught laundering the larger than life sum of over $300 million dollars. Now he can say bye, bye, bye to his freedom as he could receive a jail sentence of up to 25 years.

Carnival of the True Crime Blogs No. 109

It's finally August, summer is almost over and the blogs keep coming.

A recently post on Corey Mitchell's Blood of the Scribe features a Publisher's Weekly book review of Matthew Randazzo V's new book Ring of Hell: the story of Chris Benoit and the fall of the pro wrestling industry. Publisher's Weekly not too impressed with Matthew Randazzo's book on wrestler Chris Benoit complains that the book is not so much about Benoit, but about the entire industry and will disappoint the reader who wants to read about the wrestler's murder/suicide.

One of CLEWS' new articles Fictionalists and talking heads have serial killers all wrong introduces some information from the FBI's report on serial murders. They state that the stereotype of the serial killer (a white, male, super intelligent, loner) is not always accurate. The report chastises the self-proclaimed authorities who appear on TV giving their opinions about cases that they are not involved in.

In an update from The Criminal Report Daily, David Lohr reveals in his article, Test Results Due back in Casey Anthony case, that the DNA test results of evidence that was recovered from Casey Anthony's car will be ready next week. Corporal Yuri Melich stated that he believed the stench in the trunk of Anthony's car
was due to the decomposition of a body. Investigation Discovery has full coverage of the Casey Anthony case.

When a child goes missing also writes about the Casey Anthony case, featuring an article entitled Scheduled Benefit. The benefit is to raise money to help find missing Caylee. If Caylee is found before the benefit begins, the family plans on going ahead with the event and donating the money to the Kid Finder's Network. They write that unless more charges are filed against the child's mother, she could go free.

August 2 -- 2 dead in drug sale gone bad... is a new entry on The Murder Book 2008. Paul LaRosa writes that Darren Lynch is accused of murdering and disposing of the bodies of Joseph Odierno, 35, and Jairo Santos, 22. The reason for this alleged killing was because Odierno and Santos allegedly sold Lynch a mixture of baking soda and sugar when he had paid them $20,000 for cocaine.

Star's pick of the week

Crime, Interrupted reports on a story about Christoper Morgen Taylor: he did it all for the nookie. Taylor didn't understand the meaning of the word "no" and when his girlfriend refused to have sex with him, he allegedly decided to try to persuade her by using a stun gun. He was charged with sexual battery and unlawful use of the gun. The moral of this story; If your hand can hold a stun gun, then it can do some other things too.

Blogroll special: Michelle Says So

True Crime Blogroll has a special treat for all of our die hard true crime readers. As part of a new monthly feature we're featuring Michelle's blogs, Michelle Says So and Boycott Aruba -- Justice for Natalee, and recognizing Michelle for her stellar work in the true crime genre.

Star LaBranche: I love the title of your blog, how did you decide on it?

Michelle: When I was growing up, whenever I questioned my mom, she would always say, “Because I said so!” I’m an opinionated woman (if you can’t tell from my writing), so I thought “Michelle Says So” was perfect for me. It gives me sort of an identity in my passion. Either you love me or hate me. I like that…why? “Because Michelle Says So!”

SL: How long have you been blogging?

M: A little over 3 years. I’ve been a writer since 13, way before the internet, but I started blogging just for fun to get my creative juices flowing for a book I’ve been writing. The blog “blew up” and I was instantly addicted. Now I cannot conceive giving up my pursuit for justice of all victims.

SL: What first drew you to true crime?

M: Weird enough, I was a horror movie freak growing up. I’ve always been interested in the criminal mind. When I went to undergrad in Wisconsin, I was a psychology/criminal justice major thinking I would get into forensic/criminal psychology. That changed when I decided to switch majors to political science so I could go to law school and become a prosecutor; putting away criminals instead of studying them.

Even though I decided not to pursue law (only attending one year of law school) I am still absolutely fascinated with the criminal mind and the law. My staple channel is Investigation Discovery or documentaries and shows such as “The FBI Files”, “The Investigators”, “American Justice”, “Cold Case Files”, etc. And my personal library of true crime is outstanding.

SL: What true crime issues are important to you and why?

M: Any violent crime. Specifically crimes against women and sexual assault. I am a survivor of rape myself, so it has always hit home. I did nothing legally when it happened to me, so helping others is sort of a way for me to help others avenge what I could and did not do for myself. I hate to see women as victims and I would do anything to help seek justice on their behalf.

SL: You have another blog about boycotting Aruba and Netherlands Antilles because of the Natalee Halloway case. Why are you so passionate about this case?

As I mentioned before, I am a victim of sexual assault. Back in my day, there weren’t date rape drugs, but alcohol was the drug of choice to take advantage of helpless girls. I saw myself in Natalee and thought “that could have been me 1000 times over”. I was so angered with the Dutch justice system and how Joran van der Sloot, et al., managed to worm their way out of doing what he/they did.

To me, I don’t need a court to tell me what happened. I fully believe Joran killed (or unintentionally killed) Natalee and I have made it my mission to let her voice be heard through my words and actions. I promised her mother Beth Twitty and Natalee herself that I would not allow her to be forgotten and not to let her victimizers get away with what they did to her.

SL: If you could solve one currently unsolved crime what would it be and why?

M: I would say Natalee Holloway, but if one has followed the case, you would know that Joran was secretly taped admitting what happened to Natalee. End of story. It is a solved crime to me, and in my eyes, Joran mirrors OJ Simpson to a T. Both killers that are allowed to walk free basking in their evil.

Right now I am working with a family here in Indiana in regards to Molly Dattilo, who was 23 when she went missing 4 years ago. I have become close with her cousin, Keri Dattilo, who is the epitome of an avenger and my personal hero. We know who the person of interest is, he was the last person to be seen with Molly. We know what happened, but the Indianapolis police have withheld evidence to the family and have not been aggressive in solving the case.

They claim they do not have enough evidence to hold him, but there was forensic evidence (possible vomit) in his vehicle that was not preserved and the man involved sold his car shortly after Molly went missing. She has been missing for 4 years and her body has not been found. I would love to see the day when she is finally found, put her to rest properly for her family’s sake and prosecute this person. Check out her website. Her family would appreciate any publicity to keep her name out there.

I wouldn’t mind solving Amy Bradley’s case as well; who incidentally was abducted while off her cruise ship that was docked in the Netherlands Antilles and is thought to be a victim of sex trafficking and has been sighted.

SL: What is your favorite color?

M: Green…fresh like beautiful grass the day after a rain.

Thanks to Michelle for being part of our first special feature! You can also check out Michelle on NowPublic.