The Backroom

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HELLO! It's been a long time. I'm sorry I have been gone so long but hopefully I'm here to stay! Just a quick little episode today. Enjoy!

On the morning of January 29, 2022, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe was found unresponsive in a snowbank outside of fellow officer, Brian Albert's home. It is alleged that O'Keefe's girlfriend, Karen Read, ran him over and fled the scene after a night of drinking. In the past 2 years since, the truth is hard to find. Now there's a new narrative, John O'Keefe's death was a police cover up. 

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Lana Clarkson gained fame in the 80s as a model and actress who appeared in movies such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Scarface. She also appeared in ads for Nike, Budweiser, and Mercedes. She is most well known for being the lead in low budget Sci-fi movies directed by Roger Corman. Corman's target audience was teenage boys. Lana was a small sex symbol in the 1980s. But her fame fell as time went on, eventually working part time as a hostess. On February 3, 2003, she met famed record producer Phil Spector. Spector, who was well respected in the music industry for producing work for John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Tina Turner, has a history of anger issues and was abusive. Within hours, Lana Clarkson would be dead. Her body was found in Spector's California mansion, slumped over in a chair with a gunshot wound to the mouth. Although Spector said that Lana had accidentally committed suicide, Spector's driver told investigators that Spector said "I think I killed somebody". Yet, forensic investigators didn't find Spector's finger prints on the gun. Spector was charged with Lana's murder, During the trial, it was uncovered that Spector had pulled a gun on four different women in the past, all because they rejected him. After a mistrial, he was eventually found guilty and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison, Spector died in 2021 from COVID-19 complications.

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Meredith Kercher was a young exchange student from London, who was studying abroad in Italy. She had a lot to look forward to in life. All that changed on the night of November 1, 2007. Meredith's bedroom door was locked and her roommates tried to knock with no avail. Eventually, the door was kicked down after one roommate found both of Meredith's phones in a nearby garden, something that wasn't normal. They discovered Meredith's nude body, wrapped in a blanket on her bedroom floor. She had been stabbed and it was later discovered that she had been sexually assaulted. Before the discovery of her body, Meredith's roommates unintentionally moved things around in the apartment and contaminated the crime scene. Almost immediately, investigators pointed the finger at Meredith's American roommate. Her name was Amanda Knox. Amanda, her boyfriend, and a man named Rudy Guede were arrested and charged with Meredith’s murder. Rudy Guede, who had a history of break ins and was infatuated with knives, stated that Amanda wasn’t there at the crime scene. He then changed his story and said Amanda was there and she stabbed Meredith. All three were convicted in 2011. In the appeal case, it was concluded that evidence from the crime scene was mishandled and had no trace of DNA from Amanda or her boyfriend. Rudy’s DNA was the only one found. This was ignored during the original trials. In 2015, Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend were acquitted of murder. In 2021, Rudy Guede was released from an Italian prison. It is believed that he acted alone. 

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Today, we take a little break from true crime....kinda, as I talk with my friend Keith about random things. There's even a little appearance from Momma Mary (My mom). I'll be back next episode with a new case! enjoy!!!!

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Israel Keyes was raised in a large family. He was the second of 10 children born to Heidi and John Keyes. The children were raised very religious and attended a church called the Arch, that taught white supremacist Christian ideologies. In his youth, Israel became obsessed with Ted Bundy, even idolizing the notorious serial killer. The Keyes children were raised in a one room cabin in Washington were their parents forced them to live in tents and hunt for their own food. As a hobby, Israel would hunt anything with a heartbeat, even skinning a deer alive on one occasion. Children at the church would isolate him because of this behavior.  Eventually, he realized that he was different from his peers and developed antisocial behavior and withdrew himself socially in his teen years. It's believed that between 1997 and 2012, Israel murdered at least 11 people. He picked his victims at random and prepare for a long while before committing the murder. His last confirmed murder was and 18 year old coffee booth worker named Samantha Koenig in Anchorage, Alaska. Keyes took her phone and debit card, sexually assaulted her, then strangled her. He left her body in a shed for two week while he went on vacation with his family. He returned, applied makeup to her face, sewed her eyes OPEN with fishing wire and took a picture with a four day old newspaper, posing as if she was still alive. After, he demanded $30,000 in ransom and then dismembered Samantha's body and dumped it in a lake. He was caught a month later in Texas. Israel Keyes committed suicide on December 2, 2012 in his jail cell. His trial was set to begin in March 2013. 

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David Russell Williams was a trained Canadian Forces pilot with 23 year career. He was the perfect military man. He spent time all over Canada, but settled in Ottawa with his wife Mary. On January 28, 2010, 27 year old Jessica Lloyd vanished from her home in Tweed, Ontario. Investigators notice a footprint and tire tread marks in the snow next to Lloyd's home. Over the next week, police set up a check point on the highway to check the tire tread of every motorist who drove through. Williams was stopped and a one of the officers noticed the similarities between the treat on Williams' Nissan Pathfinder and the tread marks at the crime scene. On February 7, Ontario Provincial Police called Williams at his home in Ottawa and asked him to come down for questioning. In the ten hour interrogation, Williams confessed to murdering Lloyd, as well as 37 year old Marie France-Comeau, a military flight attendant. Williams also admitted to several sexual assaults and over 80 break ins. Investigators found 48 pairs of ladies underwear and bras taken during his break ins, as well as photographs of Williams wearing them. He also stated he had pedophiliac tendencies, stealing underwear from victims as young as 9 years old. Russell Williams was subsequently sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for his crimes. 

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Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès was raised thinking that strength, wealth and success were key to life. Xavier's family was a known noble aristocratic family that dated back to mid 18th century France. Xavier married Agnès Hodanger in 1992 and Xavier adopted Agnès' two year old son Arthur. The couple had three more children: Thomas, Anne and Benoît. The family resided in an upper class neighborhood in Nantes, France. Xavier was a successful businessman and Agnès worked at a Catholic school. On April 21, 2011, french police entered the home of the Dupont de Ligonnès family for the sixth time in two weeks. Relatives and neighbors hadn't seen or heard from the family, which was unlike them. In the first five searches, police found nothing that was suspicious. This time, they made a horrific discovery. In the backyard, under the terrace was a hole containing large plastic bags full of bodies. They were the remains of Agnès, Anna, Arthur, Benoît and the family's two dogs. Thomas, believed to be killed the night after the rest of the family, was buried in a separate grave. They were believed to have been killed between April 3 and 5. Xavier's remains were nowhere to be found, making him a suspect immediately.  Between April 10 and April 22, Xavier was seen on security camera withdrawing money from his bank account. There wre also several charges on his credit cards for food. His car was found the next day in a parking lot of a hotel over 80 miles away. Investigators learned that Xavier was not as successful as thought and the family was almost out of money. It's believed that Xavier killed his family and fled. His whereabouts are unknown to this day. 

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On January  25, 1959, 23 year old Igor Dyatlov and nine others set off on a skiing and hiking expedition in the norther Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union. Two days in, one of the hikers left the expedition due to health issues. Before leaving, Dyatlov was told to send a telegram once he had returned to the town of Vizhai, which was supposed to happen by February 12. When the 12th of February came and went, there was no immediate panic, as it was common for telegrams to be delayed during the time. However, by February 20th, the hikers' families were demanding for a search party to be sent, with police and the Soviet army becoming involved as well. Searchers eventually found the group's tent. It was mangled and had been cut open from the inside. Footprints made by shoeless feet were found. At the bottom of a slope, two group members were found dead. Three more, including Dyatlov, were found dead. They barely clothed  and it seemed as if they were headed back to their campsite. In May, the other four were found dead near a ravine. Three of the four had fatal internal injuries that were so severe that they were comparable to injuries sustained in a bad car crash. Besides soft tissue damage from being submerged in water, there were no external injuries, causing confusion among investigators. Six members died of Hypothermia, while three died of severe internal injuries that are unexplained. The official cause of the incident is an avalanche, but many believe it was something else. Many in the area on the night of the incident reported seeing large orange spheres floating and falling from the sky. The Soviet government silenced those claims. 

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On the morning of January 15, 1947, a woman and her three year old daughter were out for a walk in the undeveloped neighborhood of Leiment Park in Los Angeles. The woman saw what appeared to be a discarded store mannequin lying in a vacant lot. As she got closer, she made a horrific discovery; the body of Elizabeth Short, nude and severed into two pieces. Her body was had been mutilated and severed precisely at the waist . All the blood had been drained, giving the skin a pale white glow. the bottom half of the body laid a foot away with the intestines neatly tucked under the buttocks. Giant lacerations were made from the corners of her mouth to her ears, giving her the effect of what as known as the "Glasgow Smile". Famed reported Aggie Underwood was one of the first reporters to arrive at the scene, taking the now infamous and gruesome photos of Elizabeth's body. In the weeks and months following the murder, investigators search far and wide for evidence and interviewed of 150 men who were deemed as potential suspects. The Los Angeles Examiner received cut and pasted letters from the "killer" with items belonging to Elizabeth. No suspect has ever been found and the case remains cold. George Hodel, a Hollywood physician, is believed to have been the one who murdered Short and even his own son, who was a LAPD homicide detective stands by that claim. Before the murder, Hodel was accused of killing his secretary, but no charges were ever filed. He also was accused of molesting his own daughter. Hodel fled the country on several occasions, even living in the Philippines from 1950 to 1990. George Hodel died in 1999 and was never formally charge with the Black Dahlia murder.