Elderly Vet Defends Family, Could Be Charged

Anthony "Big Ant" Nelson

Chicago’s gun ban in trouble?
by Robert A. Waters

On May 24, 2010, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley held a press conference on the evils of guns. With armed bodyguards standing on each side of the mayor, Chicago Reader newsman Mick Dumke asked him a logical question: if the ban on handguns works so well, why is the city suffering from an epidemic of gun violence? The mayor’s answer was so bizarre that even the mainstream press mocked him. “It’s been very effective,” Daley spat at the reporter. Then, theatrically picking a rifle up off the table, he held it in the air and said, “If I put this up your butt, you’ll find out how effective it is--if we put a round up your ass.”

Less than 48 hours later, the world would learn how out of touch Mayor Daley is.

Humboldt Park has existed on Chicago’s west side for nearly 150 years. Many ethnic groups have dwelt there over the years as they worked their way into the mainstream. Currently, large numbers of African-Americans live in the rows of old two-story houses on North Sawyer Avenue. In many nearby communities, crime and drugs are rampant, but the 600 block is a cut above. Neighbors look out for one another, and work hard to keep the community a place where families can raise children without fear.

On the morning of May 26, at about 5:30 a.m., an armed intruder broke out a basement window on North Sawyer and entered the home of an 80-year-old Korean veteran. The homeowner, who has not been named by police, was in his home with his wife and 12-year-old grandson. Butch Gant, the homeowner’s son, told reporters: “[The intruder] shot first and my father shot back. He was protecting himself. He didn’t have no other options.” The intruder fired twice but missed. The homeowner's single shot killed the invader.

Gant lives upstairs on the second floor while his father and mother occupy the first floor. “This man broke in our home...and attempted to rob us or kill us,” Gant said. “Better him than us.”

Gant says his father bought the gun after being robbed a few months earlier. The homeowner vowed to his son that he would never be a victim again.

Of course, there’s a major problem: having a loaded handgun in your home is illegal in Chicago. A case, McDonald vs. Chicago, currently before the United States Supreme Court, has challenged that law.

Chicago police, almost certainly due to the negative publicity the mayor is receiving, has not yet arrested the homeowner.

The dead intruder turned out to be a parolee named Anthony Nelson. He’d recently served a three-year sentence on drug charges. The Chicago Tribune reported that Nelson was a career criminal who “had a 13-page rap sheet that includes a number of drug and weapons convictions dating to 1998, according to police and court records.” His street name was “Big Ant.”

The homeowner’s wife, who also remains unidentified, spoke with a reporter about the shooting. “You’re in your bed asleep and somebody shoots a gun in your home," she said. "I’m still shook up.” As the gunfire erupted, she grabbed her grandson and ran to the living room. “The only thing I could think,” she said, “was God please save my husband, myself, and my grandbaby.”

A neighbor, Audrey Williams, said, “They did the right thing. If anyone tried to come in on me, I’d do the same thing.”

Another neighbor said both homeowners walk with canes. Their only way of protecting themselves was with a gun.

After the shooting, Mayor Daley was asked what he thought of the self-defense shooting. “I understand the frustration,” he said, then launched into another tirade about how guns shouldn’t be allowed anywhere in Chicago. Except, of course, on those bodyguards surrounding him and the cops. It was obvious that he did not understand.

Butch Gant understands. “How are we going to protect our homes without guns?” he said. “The gun law should be abolished.”

What about the victims?

The Brutal Murders of Martha Matich and Lisa Chapman by Robert A. Waters

Melbert Ray Ford’s execution is scheduled for June 9, 2010. The killer has been waiting on Georgia’s death row for 25 years. There’s no doubt as to his guilt or to the horrible brutality of the two cold-blooded murders he committed. Google “Melbert Ford” and you’ll find dozens of stories about him. In addition to news articles, there are numerous anti-death penalty groups clamoring to stop Ford’s execution. What you won’t find are stories about Martha Chapman Matich, 31, and her niece, eleven-year-old Lisa Chapman. Published verbatim below is the court record of the crimes committed by Ford. WARNING: The details are graphic and horrendous.

“After his relationship with Martha Matich broke up, [Melbert] Ford began harassing her by telephone. Two weeks prior to her death, Ford told a friend of his that he ‘was going to blow her... brains out.’ The day before her death, Ford unsuccessfully tried to convince a friend to drive him to the convenience store where Matich worked.

“Ford told the friend that he planned to rob the store and work revenge upon Matich by killing her.

“On March 6, 1986, Ford talked to several people about robbing the store. He told [a friend] that he intended to kidnap Ms. Matich, take her into the woods, make her beg, and then shoot her in the forehead. Ford tried to talk another into helping him with his robbery (Ford had no car). When this effort failed, Ford responded that ‘there wasn’t anybody crazy around here anymore.’

“Finally, Ford met 19-year-old Roger Turner, who was out of a job and nearly out of money. By plying him with alcohol, and promising him that they could easily acquire eight thousand dollars, Ford persuaded Turner to help him.

“They drove in Turner’s car to Chapman’s Grocery, arriving just after closing time. Ford shot away the lower half of the locked and barred glass door and entered the store. Turner, waiting in the car, heard screams and gunshots. Then Ford ran from the store to the car, carrying a bag of money.

“At 10:20 p.m., the store’s burglar alarm sounded. A Newton County sheriff’s deputy arrived at 10:27 p.m. Ms. Matich was lying dead behind the counter, shot three times. Lisa Chapman was discovered in the bathroom, shot in the head but still alive, sitting on a bucket, bleeding from the head, and having convulsions. She could answer no questions. She died later.

“Ford and Turner were arrested the next day. Turner confessed first and was brought into Ford’s interrogation room to state to Ford that he had told the truth. Ford told him not to worry, that Turner was not involved in the murders. Afterwards, Ford told his interrogators that the shooting began after Martha Matich pushed the alarm button.

“He stated that, had he worn a mask, it would not have happened. Ford claimed at trial that he was too drunk to know what was happening, and that it was Turner who entered the store and killed the victims.”

In October, 1986, a Newton County jury convicted Ford of malice murder and felony murder of Lisa Chapman. They also convicted him of malice murder and felony murder of Martha Chapman Matich as well as armed robbery, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and burglary. He received two death sentences.

Here’s a sampling of online anti-death penalty comments:

“My thoughts and prayers are with all of Melbert’s friends and family at this difficult time.”

“Thoughts go to Melbert, his family, friends and supporters at this dreadful time.”

On the website “Clemency for Ray Ford,” a family member writes: “Ray is deeply remorseful for what he did at age 25. He has spent a lot of time thinking and praying about his actions and his participation in this crime. Before this case, Ray was a deeply religious man who was active in his church. In his early 20s, Ray strayed from the path by experimenting with and relying on drugs and alcohol. However, shortly into his time in prison, Ray realized that the only way for him is the way of the Lord and he reconnected with his spiritual past and has returned to Christ.”

Whatever you or I feel about the death penalty, the lives of two of the three people involved in the case have been willfully ignored. Martha Chapman Matich and Lisa Chapman, victims of the fury and rage of a rejected lover, have no website dedicated to their lives. They are little more than props to tell the violent tale of Melbert Ray Ford.

If one of their family members would like to contact me, I would consider publishing a story about their lives. Kmmblog at gmail.com is my email address.

SOLVED: Mei "Linda" Leung

Mei Leung, first victim of the Night Stalker
Searching for the Devil
By Robert A. Waters

Before he gained lasting infamy as the dreaded Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez murdered a nine-year-old girl. On April 10, 1984, Mei “Linda” Leung was beaten, stabbed, and raped in the tenderloin district of San Francisco. The case went unsolved for twenty-five years, but was never forgotten by Holly Pera, at that time a young beat cop.

When Pera became a cold case detective for the city five years ago, one of the first cases she pulled from the unsolved files was that of Leung. “I was a new police officer at the time [of the murder],” she said. “That’s part of the reason that the case was re-looked at. It’s the type of case as a new officer--a case involving a little girl--that you don’t forget.”

Trace evidence from the murder scene was submitted to the department’s crime lab. Matthew Gabriel, a DNA technician, made the match.

Richard Ramirez, California's Satan-worshiping Night Stalker

Police learned that at the time of the murder, Ramirez lived about six blocks from the girl’s apartment. Leung and her eight-year-old brother had gone to the basement to look for a dollar bill her brother had lost. Somehow, they got separated. When Leung’s brother returned about thirty minutes later, he found her lifeless body hanging from a pipe. There were never any strong suspects in the case.

By 2009, a DNA profile had been milked from the tiny amount of evidence submitted to Gabriel. It was submitted to state and federal databases and the investigators got a surprise: the DNA matched Ramirez.

Throughout 1984 and 1985, the serial killer called the Night Stalker terrorized San Francisco. Using darkness for cover, he broke into dozens of homes, torturing, raping, and killing the occupants. His oldest victim was 83, the youngest 16. Ramirez used lipstick and other items found in the home to scrawl Satanic symbols such as pentagrams on the bodies or inside the house. Some of those who survived told of the killer forcing them at gunpoint to swear that they loved Satan.

With each attack, news coverage increased until it became a crescendo of outrage. Investigators finally identified Ramirez after lifting fingerprints from one of the crime scenes and from a stolen car that he’d driven to another attack. With his photograph plastered all over every newspaper in the country, the Night Stalker had no place to hide. When he tried to steal a car in a mostly Spanish neighborhood in Los Angeles, citizens recognized him, gave chase, caught him, and beat him severely. He was lucky police arrived or he may have been killed by the enraged populace.

The Night Stalker was eventually convicted of 13 murders and dozens of other counts. He was sentenced to death and has been on California’s death row for decades.

As far as is known, Mei Leung was his first murder victim. It’s unknown why Ramirez was in the basement where her body was found. Since he stole for a living, it’s possible that the killer was searching for valuables or for a way to enter some of the apartments. If so, it was a random killing and may have been the catalyst for Ramirez’s rampage which started two months later.

Unfortunately, Mei Leung was an innocent victim who stumbled on a disciple of Satan.

Truth Versus Fiction

Rainey Bethea (center) was hanged for raping a seventy-year-old Kentucky woman in 1936--media mis-represented aftermath

The Last Public Hanging in America
by Robert A. Waters

Early on, I learned to distrust the news media and have never found a reason to change my opinion. The story of the last public hanging in America is a case in point.

On August 6, 1936, Rainey Bethea was executed for the rape of seventy-year-old Lischia Edwards. The crime occurred in Daviess County, near Owensboro, Kentucky. There was absolutely no doubt as to the killer’s guilt. Bethea was black, Edwards white.

The Scopes “Monkey Trial” trial had occurred just eleven years earlier and white southerners had become objects of northern ridicule. Northern publications such as the New York Times and Time Magazine couldn’t write enough stories about the ignorant, racist South. So when this story broke, hundreds of reporters were sent down to Kentucky to excoriate the yahoos. At the expense of truth, they wouldn’t disappoint their readers.

Bethea was a petty criminal who’d been convicted of several crimes, including burglary, theft, and grand larceny. He worked sporadically as a laborer and loved to tip the bottle. On June 7, he’d been drinking all day when he decided to burglarize Edwards’s home. He climbed up on the roof and let himself in through the kitchen window.

When he entered the widow’s bedroom, she awoke. Bethea then strangled Edwards, and raped her.

While searching the house for valuables, the killer took off his own ring. He’d obtained it while serving time at the Kentucky State Penitentiary and it was unique, made of black celluloid. After stealing several gold rings from the home, Bethea fled. He went to a nearby barn where he buried his stolen loot. In his haste, he left his own ring behind.

At the time, Daviess County had a female sheriff. Florence Thompson had been appointed to fill the position after her husband, Everett, the former sheriff, died in office. She’d been sheriff for only a month when the murder of Lischia Edwards took place.

Investigators found Bethea’s ring at the scene of the crime. After several citizens identified it as belonging to the former convict, investigators obtained a copy of his fingerprints from the prison. They found matching prints “all over the Edwards house.” Four days later, he was captured while attempting to escape. Bethea quickly confessed and told investigators where to find the buried rings.

He confessed several more times and pled guilty to the charge of rape. At the time, the state of Kentucky mandated the electric chair for anyone convicted of murder and robbery. Public hanging, however, was the only punishment for rape. The state decided to try Bethea for the rape charge since they felt that his lawyers would wage long-lasting appeals if he were convicted of all three crimes because of the two different methods of execution. Bethea was tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang.

Sheriff Thompson was scheduled to hang Bethea. A woman hangman was a first and this brought more spectators and reporters to the scene. The sheriff, however, secretly arranged for a professional executor and a former sheriff to do the job. She later said, “I did not want people pointing to my children and saying their mother was the one who hanged a Negro at Owensboro.”

Approximately ten thousand people showed up for the hanging. They were generally quiet and respectful. There were no major incidents of taunting or booing. No one rushed the gallows for souvenirs. The only glitch was when the executioner showed up drunk and had trouble finding the trigger to release the trapdoor. He was finally guided to it and did his job. After fourteen minutes, the killer was pronounced dead. He was taken from the gallows and buried in a pauper’s grave.

Despite the subdued crowd, one wire service reporter wrote the follwowing: "Cheering, booing, eating and joking, 20,000 persons witnessed the public execution of Rainey Bethea, 22, frightened Negro boy, at Owensboro, Ky., yesterday. In callous, carnival spirit, the mob charged the gallows after the trap was sprung, tore the executioner's hood from the corpse, chipping the gallows for souvenirs. Mothers attended with babes in arms, hot dog vendors hawked their wares and a woman across the street held a necktie breakfast for relatives. The woman sheriff, at the last minute, decided not to spring the trap."

One headline read, “Drop Through Trap to Eternity Provides Populace With Roman Holiday.”

Time Magazine reported: “At 5:25 a. m. everything was ready. At 5:28 there was a swish, a snap. Doctors climbed through the supports, felt Bethea's pulse. The spectators closed in. At 5:44½ a. m. physicians pronounced Bethea dead. With a yell the spectators charged from every side, eager hands clawed at the black death hood. In a moment it was torn to shreds. The lucky ones stuffed the bits of black cloth proudly into their pockets. Slowly the crowd straggled away.”

The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer’s rebuttal to the northern newspapers was biting. Here are some quotes: “Ambitious and irresponsible reporters and photographers who swarmed into Owensboro for the Bethea hanging dipped their ready hands into the cloaca of evil designs and plastered over the name of this fair city the dirty results of their pandering.”

Another blast from the same editorial: “When a priest held up his hand from the scaffold for silence, as Bethea was about to go to his death, there was no ‘blood thirst’ mob ‘shouting and yelling.’ Present were several thousand, who came from near and far to see a man legally hanged for the most heinous crime ever committed in Daviess county, and several thousand more, who turned out to see how the rest would act. When that hand went up in a gesture for silence, the buzz of the multitude’s conversations died down till the fall of the proverbial pin could have been heard.

“The smart scribes and sob sisters looked on. All they saw was a black man standing on a scaffold with a rope around his neck and a mass of people peering up at him. That was too tame, they would call it a ‘jeering’ throng. All they heard was the click of the trap door. That would not do. There would have to be ‘cheering.’ So they said there was. Then they heard cameramen from cities where nothing is cared about the horrible crime Bethea committed. They were bawling at officials to ‘move out of the way,’ to ‘give us a break.’ They had to have their souvenirs to show the half civilized readers of their yellow sheets. The boys and girls who had to tell the story needed more color to regale them with atrocious accounts of how the people behaved.”

It is now acknowledged that the media wildly exaggerated the “holiday atmosphere.”

Partially because of the negative publicity, public hangings were soon outlawed in Kentucky.

Though I looked up numerous websites, I was unable to find much information about the victim, Lischia Edwards. It’s obvious that the media had a pre-determined view of how it was going to cover the story and, regardless of truth, printed their slanted lies. The victim was not a part of their equation.

UNSOLVED: The Skyla Whitaker and Taylor Paschal-Placker Murders

Killers Walking Free
By Robert A. Waters

The numbers are staggering.

According to a recent article in the Albany Times Union, 30,000 murder cases in New York are unsolved. Author Bryan Fitzgerald writes that these make up ten percent of all unsolved cases in the United States.

Capitol Weekly reports that half of all California murders, more than 1,000 per year, go unsolved.

Despite the efforts of law enforcement agencies and new sci-fyish technological advances, 300,000 killers in America are walking free.

The effects of an unsolved murder can be debilitating to family members, friends, and even communities.

A case in point: Skyla Whitaker, 11, and her friend Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, were gunned down nearly two years ago as they walked along a rural Oklahoma road.

On June 8, 2008, a 911 call came in to the Okfuskee County (Oklahoma) Sheriff’s Department. “Somebody’s killed two girls,” the caller, Taylor’s grandmother, screamed. “They went for a walk and they’re both dead.” Lying in a ditch alongside County Road 5425 were the bloody bullet-riddled bodies of the two lifelong friends.

So began a mystery that lasts to this day. Why would one or more killers shoot two ordinary children who were out for a walk?

Skyla had been shot eight times: two bullets ripped into her right arm; one round shattered her left arm and another her left shoulder; two slugs entered her chest, one her abdomen, and one her neck. The wound to Skyla’s left shoulder did the most damage. According to the autopsy report, it perforated “through the left third intercostal space, upper lobe of the left lung, esophagus, superior vena cava, right pulmonary artery, middle lobe of right lung, right fourth intercostals space, and fifth rib to the right breast.”

Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker’s autopsy reported that she had five separate bullet wounds to the face, hand, and groin. Several were kill-shots.

Investigators stated that one of the weapons used to kill the girls was a .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun. However, they refused to release information about the second gun. It was said that each victim sustained bullet wounds from both guns.

Neither child lived a high-risk life-style. They were popular with their classmates and teachers. Skyla wanted to be a veterinarian. She had several pet cats and a goat that followed her everywhere. Taylor, who had been home-schooled for several years, was described as “the smartest girl in school.” She wanted to be a forensic scientist.

The murders devastated both families. William Whitaker, Skyla’s father, said, “They were both really great kids. They were both active in their schools [and] they were both really smart. This is a horrible thing to happen to them...It’s [been] a day-to-day thing getting through the last year.”

Taylor’s grandfather, Peter Placker, said, "I want this to come to an end more than anybody else does. I mean I can't find a reason anymore to smile...I know no other way to explain it but pure hell. That girl meant everything to me. The past year I spent most of the time by myself. I am afraid to show affection to my other family members because I am scared somebody else is gonna be next...The [murderer is] still out there. If they are crazy enough to do it once they are going to do it again."

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is in charge of the case. Investigators have several clues including tire tracks, shoe tracks, shell casings, and bullets. And they released the sketch of a “Native American with a long ponytail” who was allegedly at the scene near the time of the shooting. Due to the remoteness of the area, it is thought that the killers are local. The place would be difficult for a stranger to find. But after nearly two years, the investigation seems to be floundering. OSBI is beginning to feel pressure from the media and some frustrated family members.

Who murdered the two girls, and why? One of the first theories proposed was that Skyla and Taylor stumbled onto a meth lab and were murdered so they wouldn’t tell. But it seems preposterous that a meth lab would be placed on a road used by hundreds of residents of the community.

Another theory is that the girls knew their killers. They may have witnessed some kind of criminal activity and were eliminated.

My guess, for what it’s worth, is that there were two killers and they shot the girls for entertainment. Target practice, maybe. Like the DC sniper. Or the Ohio sniper. Or the Arizona sniper.

Whoever it is and whatever the motive, they need to be captured and given the ultimate punishment. The souls of two innocent children demand justice.

"There is nothing new under the sun"

People are murdered with all kinds of instruments: guns, knives, axes, clubs, baseball bats, automobiles, ice picks, poison, bombs, to name a few. In fact, explosives are common among terrorists but are not usually found in your everyday domestic murder. Here’s a murder-suicide that occurred in 1910. This article comes from the Cass City (Michigan) Chronicle and is reported here verbatim. As the great philosopher Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

CASS CITY (MICHIGAN) CHRONICLE
APRIL 22, 1910

KILLS SON, WIFE AND HIMSELF

CRAZED NEGAUNEE MINER PUTS DYNAMITE UNDER THEIR BEDS.

INFANT GIRL HAS MIRACULOUS ESCAPE BODIES ARE TERRIBLY MANGLED.

Murder and Suicide at Negaunee.

"Placing a stick of dynamite under a bed occupied by his wife and year-old daughter and under that occupied by himself and his 5-year-old son, Frank Saarinen, aged 30, & miner, blew wife, son and himself to atoms at Negaunee. The infant girl escaped miraculously.

Saarinen and his family had been two weeks in Negaunee, and so far as is known by neighbors there had been no domestic difficulties. It is believed that the man was seized by a fit of insanity. The dynamite he probably carried with him from the mine in which he was employed.

The house was badly damaged by the terrific double explosion, both sticks of dynamite exploding at almost the same moment. How the infant escaped is a mystery to the local authorities. When terrified neighbors rushed into the house after the explosion the babe was found unhurt on the floor of the bedroom, while all about it was the debris of the shattered bed and other furniture and huddled in a heap in one corner the terribly mangled, unrecognizable remains of the woman.

Saarinen and his son were also badly mangled by the explosion, the boy's legs and arms being torn from his body. As a result of the tragedy local mine officials say they will exercise a more Careful watch over their stocks of dynamite and prevent the men from having free access to the explosive."

Missing Girl -- Heather Nicole Stanley

According to the Ocala Star Banner, Heather Nicole Stanley has been located safe in a house in Summerfield. Thanks to all who viewed this and for the tip that led to deputies finding her.

Heather Nicole Stanley

Officials seek whereabouts of missing teenage girl
By Austin L. Miller
Staff writer
Ocala Star Banner
May 11, 2010

Belleview, Florida is a few miles south of my hometown of Ocala. If you know anything about this girl, please contact the Belleview Police Dpeartment.

BELLEVIEW - Police officials need assistance to find a teenager who has been missing for several days.

Officials say 14-year-old Heather Nicole Stanley left her Belleview home Thursday at 6:15 p.m. and has not been seen or heard from since.

Her parents reported her missing Friday at 12:05 p.m. to the Belleview Police Department.

Heather is 5 feet 8, weighs 120 pounds and has medium length straight blond hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a green top and blue shorts.

The Belleview Middle School student was not at school Friday, Monday or Tuesday.

Although she has run away before, police say she would either she call someone or they would find her within a day. So far, however, Heather has not contacted friends or family members since Thursday and officers are concerned for her safety.

From the time she was reported missing, officers have looked for the teen, shown her picture around various places and checked hospitals and detention centers. They have followed up on a few leads, but so far nothing has panned out.

Anyone with information about Heather's whereabouts can call the Belleview Police Department and ask for Detective Jimmie Sparrow at 245-7044, Crime Stoppers at 368-STOP, or visit www.ocalacrimestoppers.com.

UNSOLVED -- The Sharron Prior Murder

The Lost Daughter
by Robert A. Waters

On Saturday evening, March 29, 1975, sixteen-year-old Sharron Prior walked out of her home into a drizzling rain. She planned to head over to Marina’s, a pizza restaurant, five minutes away. Her boyfriend would be there, as well as lots of friends from her high school. As they did on most weekends, they would sip cokes and play music. Sometimes an impromptu dance would break out. They were all friends doing what friends in those days did.

The pretty blonde-haired teen never made it. She disappeared within two blocks of her home. Four days later, her body was discovered in a beekeeper’s field. She’d been raped, beaten, and strangled. Investigators believe she was held captive for three days before being murdered.

It’s been 35 years now, and her killer has never been caught.

Locals call Point St. Charles “The Point.” It’s a blue-collar neighborhood located in Montreal, Canada. Violent crime just doesn’t happen there...

...And yet, an hour before Sharron disappeared, a man armed with a knife attempted to abduct a woman in the same neighborhood. He ran away when some children suddenly appeared. The assailant was never identified.

...And yet, in 1981, 12-year-old Tammy Leaky went missing just blocks from where Sharron was abducted. Later that day, she was found dead. Raped, beaten, and strangled. Her killer has also never been found. For what it’s worth, an FBI profiler claimed that two similar murders in the same area were no doubt the work of the same person or persons.

Yvonne Prior still lives in the Point. And every day she thinks of her lost daughter. She and her children have set up a website in Sharron’s name. It’s one of the better online sites honoring victims that I’ve seen.

According to at least one article published on the website, cops have the killer’s DNA. If so, he has remained beneath the radar--his DNA has not been found in any database.

Some investigators speculate that there were two killers. A footprint of a small individual was found at the scene where Sharron was found. The shirt of a taller man was also found. Neither was ever matched to anyone but they suggest more than one killer.

Could a stranger have taken Sharron? Or was it someone she knew? Was it a neighbor or some anonymous monster living in the area? Is he still alive?

As the decades pass, it seems less likely that Sharron Prior will receive the justice she deserves. Yet there’s always hope. DNA matches from old cases happen every day. Occasionally, someone who has crucial information comes forward to blow the lid off an old unsolved mystery.

After all these years, I pray that Sharron’s family gets justice.

Check out http://www.sharronprior.com for more information about this case.