Mr. Johnston's 3rd Block Case Studies

In February of 1970 at almost 4 in the morning, police received a call of a stabbing at Jeffery MacDonald’s house. The house was found dark and most doors locked, but the back door allowed entry for police to discover Colette MacDonald, Jeffery’s wife who had been clubbed and stabbed 37 times, and his two daughters, Kimberly and Kristen, who had been each stabbed about 20 times. Jeffery had been found sustaining less severe injuries and alive where he was taken for treatment.

In 1974, a burglar in Visalia, California dubbed as the Visalia Ransacker robbed over 100 houses and ended up killing one person, but he did not stop there. He then, from 1976 to 1977, raped 50 women and killed 2 more people. Then from 1978 to 1986 killed at least 10 people in different areas and got dubbed as several names such as the Original Night Stalker and the Diamond Knot Killer and finally as the Golden State Killer

Richard Allen Davis is a convicted murderer who was last arrested in 1993 for the murder of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old girl. He had abducted her from her mother’s house in Petaluma, California. This case is what created the habitual offender laws also known as the three-strike law, where the prison sentence is increased significantly for the offender’s third violent crime or serious felony.

Richard Ramirez was a serial killer, rapist, and burglar who would pick completely random people to rob, rape, and kill. Dubbed as the 'Night Stalker,' he had a total of 14 victims from June 1984 to August 1985 in the nights of Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.

Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, was the longest and most expensive investigation in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI and Attorney General Janet Reno pushed for the publication of "Industrial Society and Its Future", Kaczynski's manifesto, which ultimately led to a tip from Kaczynski's brother David, who recognized the writing style. Between 1978 and 1995, the Unabomber killed three people and injured 23 others in an attempt to start a revolution by conducting a nationwide bombing campaign targeting people involved with modern technology.

JonBenét Ramsey, A 6-year-old pageant girl, was of a high-class family who was discovered to be missing at almost 6 am on a Christmas night along with a multiple paged ransom note wanting $118,000. Surprising to authorities, she was found 8 hours later in the basement by Jon Ramsey, her father.

Caylee Anthony was reported missing in July 2008 when her grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, had not seen her in an entire month. Cindy also reported that her daughter, Caylee’s mother, Casey had a dead body smell in her car and that she had given Cindy multiple excuses to where Caylee was. When questioned by detectives, Casey lied to detectives about how Caylee’s nanny had kidnapped her and was too afraid to talk to the police about it. Casey was charged with first-degree murder in October of 2008.