The Lizzie Borden Murders

 Lizzie Borden is a woman believed to have murdered her father (Andrew Jackson Borden) and stepmother (Abby Borden) in 1892, in the town of Fall River, Massachusetts, even though she was acquitted.

Lizzie Borden claimed to have found the body of her father sometime before 11:30 in the morning.  The body of his wife was found later by a family member.

Both had been killed with a hatchet.  There are many pictures of the crime scene, all you really have to do is do a Google image search for “Lizzie Borden crime scene”, and you’ll see them. I won’t post them here due to the fact that they are graphic.

When authorities examined Lizzie’s testimonies, they found them to be inconsistent, so they tried her. The hatchet that police believed to have been the murder weapon was later found in the basement during an investigation, however there was never any more evidence found on the actual hatchet. Another piece of evidence against Lizzie was that within the few days following the murder, Lizzie was seen burning one of her old dresses. Authorities believed it may have been the dress she was wearing during the murder.

The way that many people saw the trial during this time is much like the way we still see the OJ Simpson trial today. It made her infamous, as it did for him.

The actual house where the murders were committed is still standing. In fact, it’s a bed and breakfast now.

Sources:

Crime Library 

Lizzie Borden B&B Site 

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Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta

 The body of Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta, mother of 1, was found in her minivan by her family. Police had called the woman’s family to come pick up the minivan, which was parked in a reserved lot for police officers near the courthouse. Police had failed to check inside the minivan, but that is where the body of the 22 year old woman lay.

The family of the woman claims that she had been missing since earlier in the week. When the vehicle was found, police claimed that there were no signs of foul play, and no blood.  This was a relief to the family, at least until they opened the door to the van and saw part of the body.

Authorities revealed that Ponce-Orta’s death was caused by a stab wound to the neck.

I wonder why the police did not check the van before releasing it to the family? They even said there were no signs of foul play – how could they have known without checking inside the van?

No arrests have been made, however, police are pursuing interests.

David & Carol Keeffe

 David and Carol Keeffe were both found shot to death in their garage. They lived in northern Pennsylvania, Endless Mountains to be exact. David Keefe had been a prominent lawyer, going on thirty years of practice, in his town.

Friends and family are baffled by the murders, wondering why such a pleasant couple would be murdered in such a way. Police were contact on November 19, 2006 by the couple’s daughter after they did not return her phone calls.

The coroner determined that both David and Carol had been shot multiple times in the head, but no other leads developed.  Police do believe that the murders were planned. The house the couple lived in is not viewable from the road, and it was not a case of burglary.  They do speculate that Keeffe’s position as a lawyer created hostility between him and others, and the killings are possibly tied in to this.
This case still remains a mystery.

Virginia Tech Massacre

The Virginia Tech Massacre is considered the deadliest school shooting in United States history, consisting of two separate attacks made by the same person. Both occurred on the same day – April 16, 2007, hours apart. The Virginia Tech campus, located in Blacksburg, Virginia, was home to Seung-Hui Cho and more than 30 others who were murdered that day.

Seung-Hui Cho moved to the United States at age eight from South Korea. At the time of the shooting, Cho was a senior English major at the university. One point that should be made is that Cho suffered from severe anxiety disorder during school, and had received support and therapy for it. Cho had been accused of stalking two female students almost two years before the shooting, and was declared mentally ill.

The first attack to take place was in West Ambler Johnston Hall, a residence hall that almost 900 students call home. The attack occurred around 7 AM. At this time, Cho shot his first victim, freshman Emily J. Hilscher, and a second, senior Ryan Clark.

It is during the next block of time that Cho returned to his dorm, changed clothes, and deleted his email and campus account.  He also removed the hard drive from his computer. This, along with a cell phone, were never found. It was almost two hours after those first two killings that Cho mailed a package of writings and video recordings to NBC News, postmarked 9:01 AM.

Soon after sending the package, Cho entered Norris Hall, which is apparently an engineering hall, and chained three doors shut. Several students claimed that he peeked into a couple of classes before shooting. The first attack occurred in a class taught by Professor Loganathan, who was shot and murdered. Then, Cho continued shooting, and killed 9 of the 13 students in attendance.

Next, Cho crossed the hall to a course taught by Christopher J. Bishop, who was also killed. Four students were killed here, and six wounded. He entered at least two more classes, shooting the entire time, sometimes re-entering a classroom. The entire shooting lasted nine minutes, but during this short amount of time, Cho was able to fire 174 rounds, kill 30 people, and injure 17 more. It is also reported that 6 more people were injured as they attempted to jump out of a second-story building to escape.

Cho was found dead, due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound by police once they were able to get into the building.

During times of tragedy, there are often great people who are willing to put their lives on the line to help others. Professor Liviu Librescau held the door to his classroom shut while Cho tried to enter it. While the professor was able to save the lives of many students, he was shot through the door, and one student was killed in his classroom.

Another professor, Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, tried to barricade the door as well, but was not successful and was killed.  A student, Henry Lee, attempted to help her and was killed.

Waleed Shaalan allegedly distracted Cho from shooting another student after they were already injured, and was shot a second time and killed.

Student Zach Petkewicz and professor Haiyan Cheng barricaded a classroom with a table, and nobody in the classroom was injured or killed.

It is reported that students Katelyn Carney, Derek O’Dell, Trey Perkins, and Erin Sheehan, barricaded their classroom after it was already attacked, and helped those injured. Cho returned, however, two of the students prevented him from re-turning. They were both injured in the process.

Victims – RIP

Ryan Clark

Emily Hilscher

Liviu Librescu

Minal Panchal

G. V. Loganathan

Jarrett Lane

Brian Bluhm

Matthew Gwaltney

Jeremy Herbstritt

Partahi Lumbantoruan

Daniel O’Neil

Juan Ortiz

Julia Pryde

Waleed Shaalan

Christopher James Bishop

Lauren McCain

Michael Pohle Jr.

Maxine Turner

Nicole White

Jocelyne Couture-Nowak

Ross Alameddine

Austin Cloyd

Daniel Perez Cueva

Catilin Hammaren

Rachael Hill

Matthew La Porte

Henry Lee

Erin Peterson

Mary Read

Reema Samaha

Leslie Sherman

Kevin Granata

Latasha Norman

 In November of 2007, the body of missing Mississippi college student Latasha Norman was  found. Police claim that Norman’s ex-boyfriend, Stanley Dwayne Cole, led them to her body. Since then, he has been taken into custody and charged with murder.

Latasha Norman was last seen on November 13th leaving a class. The next time her body was seen, she was on the side of the road next to piles of trash. It was not clear how long the body had been there.

Mindy Brenyi – Murderer or victim?

 It was in the year 1995 that a desperate sixteen year old, Mindy Brenyi, stole her father’s shotgun and then killed him with it. Mindy’s stepmother came home to find the girl with the gun to her own head. She was able to talk Mindy out of the suicide, however, and Mindy gave a confession to the Paulding County Sheriff Department.

Mindy Brenyi claimed that her father had abused her sexually, physically, and emotionally for years. She became pregnant, and did not know how to tell her father. Claiming that she originally planned on only killing herself, Mindy described her father coming home early, and thinking that he was going to kill her.

Joni Berenyi, Mindy’s stepmother, had a different story, however. She claims that Andy Brenyi was a good father – strict, but not abusive. Mindy’s own grandparents describe her as a rebellious teen, lying, doing drugs, and stealing things from the family. They felt as if Andy had to enforce strict rules to keep his daughter in line.

Not everybody is against Mindy, however. Her mother, Shirley, sides with her daughter. Shirley claims that Andy had been abusive towards her, and so she left him and the children.

Mindy plead no contest to murder in 1996, and was halfway through her minimum 10-year sentence, however at that time, battered child syndrome was not an accepted defense. In 1998, Mindy and her attorney rejected a plea bargain and decided to pursue an acquittal. That year, Mindy was on trial for a third time.

Mindy’s story went that she went to the bathroom to kill herself, but she began to have second thoughts since she was pregnant.  The prosecutor asked why she chose the bathroom that she did choose. Why the kitchen bathroom when she could have chosen a bedroom bathroom? The kitchen bathroom could be the perfect room to plot the murder of her father. He also claimed that there was no confrontation, as Andy was shot in the back, approximately forty feet away.

Mindy’s mother, Shirley, was a witness in the trial, and claimed that Andy was abusive and violent to bother her, and their children. Shirley claimed that Mindy even begged to be helped, however, she could not offer details so Shirley did not do anything about it. Mindy’s lawyer also claimed that she was diagnosed as depressed, suicidal, and homicidal. After spending at least nine days in the hospital, nobody was aware of the abuse. A child abuse investigator was called in when Mindy started running away, and on trial, she agreed that there were signs of emotional abuse.

The jury deliberated for a full day, 24 hours, and reached the verdict – guilty of aggravated murder. Mindy was sentenced to life in prison, and would be eligible for parole in 23 years. Mindy appealed her conviction, however, the appeal was denied by the Ohio Supreme Court.

The Black Dahlia – Elizabeth Short

Elizabeth Short, otherwise known as The Black Dahlia, was born in 1924, and was murdered in 1947. Her mutilated body was found in Leimert Park in Los Angeles, and remains unsolved to this very day.

Elizabeth Short, a wannabe actress, was spotted by a passerby. Her body was found nude, and completely cut in half. Her face was severely cut, and her entire body was bruised.

There have been many suspects along the years, including Orson Welles and Woody Guthrie. Nobody has been convicted of the horrendous murder.

It is doubtful that Betty Short will ever have justice, but I find the case interesting nonetheless. There are many graphic pictures of the crime scene, and of Elizabeth’s body, and I have seen many of them, but I will not post them here because I know that a lot of people do not have a strong stomach.

Rip Elizabeth Short a.k.a. The Black Dahlia

Meredith Kercher

Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher was born in February of 1986 in England, and was an English student at Leeds University. She went abroad to finish her degree. Meredith Kercher was murdered on Nov. 1 of this year. She was stabbed to death in Italy.

There were four leading suspects in the case, however now two men and one women are being held in custody, two in Italy and one in Germany. Amanda Knox is a student from the United States, and is the female suspect. She had been living with Meredith. According to various news sources, Amanda Knox confessed to murdering Kercher after Kercher refused to participate in an orgy with her and two males.

There are still many questions left to be answered about Meredith Kercher’s death, and unfortunately, we may never know the honest truth.

Two of the suspects

RIP Meredith, you did not deserve this.