Dark Deeds

On April 27, 2003, 27 members of a 50 member church congregation at the Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church in New Sweden, Maine gathered for a meeting to discuss the purchase of a new furnace for the church. While at the meeting, 16 members drank coffee from one of two urns holding coffee for the congregation. These 16 members ended up being treated for severe vomiting at two hospitals, one member, named Walter Reid Morrill passed away at the age of 78 due to this illness. Upon investigation, police determined one of the urns holding coffee had been poisoned with extreme levels of arsenic.

To this day, the case is closed due to police believing they knew who had done it, but the town is divided in whether the case should reopen and find the accomplices or remain closed and let bygones be bygones.

sources:

Imhoff, Frank. (2006, April 21). Case Closed on Lutheran Church arsenic poisoning in Maine. Retrieved from: https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/7127

WGME. (2018, April 27). Special Report: New Sweden Arsenic poisonings. Retrieved from: https://wgme.com/news/local/special-report-new-sweden-arsenic-poisonings

Murderpedia. Daniel Bondeson. Retrieved from: https://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/bondeson-daniel.htm

Sharp, David. (2008, June 15). In Maine, pains linger for arsenic poisoning survivors. Retrieved from: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jun-15-adna-arsenic15-story.html

Zernike, Kate. (2003, May 1). Arsenic Poisoning at Church Mystifies a Maine Town. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/01/us/arsenic-poisoning-at-church-mystifies-a-maine-town.html

Robinson, Bryan. (2006, January 7). Church Poisoning May Never Be Solved. Retrieved from: https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96750&page=1

This episode features two cases that occurred 78 years apart, yet are eerily similar and both remain unsolved. First, the tale of the Hinterkaifeck murders which occurred on March 31, 1922. Five members of the Gruber family along with their maid, Maria Baumgartner, were brutally slain with a Mattock. Before this, strange happenings began occurring on the Hinterkaifeck farm even as far back as six months before the murders. Investigators believe the murderer may have been living in the family's home up until the murders and then shortly after. These murders remain unsolved 98 years later.

On December 31, 2000, all four members of the Miyazawa family were murdered in their home. The youngest at just six years old was strangled and the remaining members brutally stabbed. There were strange events leading up to the murders, a plethora of obvious DNA and evidence, and the murderer even remained in the home for hours after the murders. yet these murders still remain unsolved 20 years later.

Sources:

The Scare Chamber. The Unsolved Hinterkaifeck Murders. Retrieved from: https://www.thescarechamber.com/the-unsolved-hinterkaifeck-murders/

Vatomsky, Sonya. (2017, August 31). The Chilling Story of the Hinterkaifeck Killings, Germany’s Most Famous Unsolved Crime. Retrieved from: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502044/chilling-story-hinterkaifeck-killings-germanys-most-famous-unsolved-crime

Serena, Katie. (2017, November 13). The Gruesome Tale of the Unsolved Hinterkaifeck Murders. Retrieved from: https://allthatsinteresting.com/hinterkaifeck-murders

De Sturler, Alice. (2014, May 1). Case of the Month: Hinterkaifeck. Retrieved from: https://defrostingcoldcases.com/case-month-hinterkaifeck/

Unresolved. The Setagaya Murders. Retrieved from: https://unresolved.me/the-setagaya-murders

On November 3, 1998, Maddie Clifton went outside to play and encountered a 14 year old neighbor boy, Joshua Phillips. The two began hitting a baseball back and forth when he suddenly hit the ball and struck her in the eye. Claiming he was fearing he would be in trouble with his parents, especially his abusive father, as he was not to have friends over when they weren't home and he had hurt Maddie, he took her into his house, strangled her for 15 minutes with a phone cord, but when this did not quiet her crying, he struck her in the head with a baseball bat and stabbed her with a pocket knife, then stuffing her body under his waterbed. He re-entered his room later to find that Maddie had not died, so he stabbed her again, this time in the throat, returning her body back to it's hiding spot, where a week later, his mother made the gruesome discovery.

Sources:

Mills, Gary. (NA). The Murder of Maddie Clifton-Timeline. Retrieved from: https://www.sutori.com/story/the-murder-of-maddie-clifton--8rtVFLKHAxZAhZnVsdWXY3Yh Sutori.

Kelley, Eileen. (2018, November 10). Lives Go On After Disappearance , death of Maddie Clifton, 8. Retrieved from: https://apnews.com/9b731b15a7b04f2399e5c5d8ef55c2c2 AP News.

CrimeInMyPocket. (2018, November 30). Joshua Phillips. Retrieved from: https://crimeinmypocket.com/2018/11/30/joshua-phillips/

AUDIO:

Josh’s Apology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwj5R6_omoE

Josh’s Mom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68oZoYn8y9U

News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1N3oAj758w

On the night of January 6, 2007, couple, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were saying goodbye to one another as they left a friend's apartment when they were approached by a few individuals planning to steal Channon's vehicle. The carjacking then turned fatal when Christopher was tortured, raped, and shot, his body then left to burn near the railroad tracks. Channon was kept in the home of the ringleader, LeMaricus, where she was brutally raped and tortured, bleach poured down her throat and on her body to dispose of evidence, and then ultimately wrapped in trash bags and stuffed into a trash can with a broken neck, left to slowly suffocate.

Sources:

AUDIO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqS6OFuUXe8

http://www.wbir.com/video/news/local/gary-christian-remembers-his-lost-little-girl/51-2471894?jwsource=cl

Satterfield, Jamie. (2017, January 6). Time no cure for pain in torture slayings of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. Retrieved from: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/01/06/time-no-cure-pain-torture-slayings-channon-christian-and-christopher-newsom/96196018/

Donila, Mike. (2017, January 5). 10 years later: Remembering Christian-Newsom. Retrieved from: https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/10-years-later-remembering-christian-newsom/381967577

Gregg, Maggie. (2019, August 13). Timeline of the Channon Christian-Christian Newsom Murders. Retrieved from: https://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/Timeline-of-the-Channon-Christian-Christopher-Newsom-murders--513420461.html

On June 11, 2001 police entered the mobile home of Barbie and Ken Atkinson after Ken showed a neighbor that they had been keeping their 8 year old daughter, Lauren Kavanaugh, in a 4x9 closet for 5 years. When police saw Lauren, she was severely malnourished, only weighing 25.6 pounds, the size of a toddler, with matted, lice-filled hair and obvious signs of severe abuse. It was a shock that she even survived, but she lives with the constant trauma of the abuse, and her case is one of the most severe of child-abuse ever seen.

Farwell, Scott. Interactives: The Girl in the Closet. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from: http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/2013_October/lauren/#.XqO17vaSlPZ

Farwell, Scott. 'My life hasn't ever been normal' The story of the girl in the closet-in brief. Retrieved from: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018/12/20/my-life-hasn-t-ever-been-normal-the-story-of-girl-in-the-closet-lauren-kavanaugh-in-brief/

Lockett, John. (2017, January 26). Horrifying ordeal of girl raped, tortured, ... Retrieved from: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2709088/horror-ordeal-of-girl-raped-tortured-live-in-filthy-cupboard-for-five-years-from-age-of-three/

Vries, Lloyd. (2002, December 13). Closet Girl's Stepdad Gets Maximum. Retrieved from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/closet-girls-stepdad-gets-maximum/

Emily, Jennifer. (2019, February 28). 'Girl in the Closet' Lauren Kavanaugh Indicted after Admitting she sexually assaulted a teenage girl. Retrieved from: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/03/01/girl-in-the-closet-lauren-kavanaugh-indicted-after-admitting-she-sexually-assaulted-a-teenage-girl/

Audio/Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x80u-8yI2GE&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h-C3ph1wWc#action=share

https://youtu.be/9x7we8rPxhI

On June 23, 1965, police were called to do a welfare check on elderly couple Fred and Edwina Rogers in their Texas home, and when police arrived to view the home, they found a chilling discovery. Edwina and Fred had been dismembered and placed onto the shelves in the icebox after being beaten. Edwina had been beaten and shot execution style while Fred was beaten with a claw hammer, his eyes gouged out and genitals mutilated. Evidence has pointed to their reclusive son who was 43 years old and living with them, as the murderer but he had fled and was never found.

Sources:

Leigh, Cat. (2019, May 6). The Icebox Murders. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/true-crime-by-cat-leigh/the-icebox-murders-907f8c565e5e

True Crime and Coffee Reddit User. (2019). The Icebox Murders: The Unsolved Murder and Dismemberment of Fred and Edwina Rogers. Retrieved from: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnsolvedMurders/comments/cgxmiz/the_icebox_murders_the_unsolved_murder_and/

Rossen, Jake. (2019, November 4). Cold Case: Revisiting Houston’s Infamous Ice Box Murders. Retrieved from: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/602369/ice-box-murders-houston

Video: KHOU 11: Missing Pieces: The Icebox Murders. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2xlhcBjDE8

Samuel Little is a serial killer who traveled the United States, beating and strangling an upwards of 93 women between the years 1970-2005. He is known for his 700 hour long confession that included colored chalk drawings of his victims and vivid descriptions that most would find difficult to remember. He has been matched to 50 cases, convicted of 8 of the murders, and an additional 40 remain pending. He went unnoticed for so long due to his choice of victims, often African American females who were involved in sex work and drugs. Their deaths were often ruled overdoses, accidental, or by natural causes, with some being ruled as homicides but no one could ever find the killer until he was picked up for a warrant on charges involving narcotics in a Kentucky homeless shelter. His DNA was collected and matched to three murders, and he finally made a confession to a Texas Ranger when linked to a fourth murder in Texas. He is not often heard of when it comes to discussing famous serial killers, which is baffling, as his victim count far exceeds Dahmer's, Bundy's, and any of the widely talked about serial killers.

You can find his other confessions as well as pictures on the FBI source included below.

Sources:

Grey, Orrin. (2020, January 27). Samuel Little: The Most Prolific Serial Killer in United States History. Retrieved from: https://the-line-up.com/samuel-little-serial-killer

Margaritoff, Marco. (2019, February 27). The Grisly Story of Samuel Little, The Most Prolific Serial Killer in American History. Retrieved from: https://allthatsinteresting.com/samuel-little

Fbi.gov. (2019, October 6). FBI Seeking Assistance Connecting Victims to Samuel Little’s Confessions. Retrieved from: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/samuel-little-most-prolific-serial-killer-in-us-history-100619

Biography.com. (2019, December 5). Samuel Little. Retrieved from: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/samuel-little

Videos retrieved on FBI. Gov: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/samuel-little-most-prolific-serial-killer-in-us-history-100619