Hey everyone, here's the recent cases I've been writing about for the past couple of months!
The Tinder date murder
Sydney Loofe of Nebraska went to meet up with a woman she had matched with on Tinder. When she failed to call in sick to work the following day a missing persons report was filed and her loved ones began to search for her. Her body was found in a nearby lake, but what exactly happened to her that night? (Continue)
The Italian Macrobiotic Cult
People take their diets pretty seriously these days- but not as seriously as "Ma-pi" an Italian macrobiotic cult that starved its members and forced them to work for free on the many farms that supplied goods to the cult leaders macrobiotic empire. This cult claimed that following their strict diet could cure not only minor ailments but vicious and terminal types of cancer. Followers were isolated to rural locations and cut off from the outside world (Continue reading...)
The murder of Riley Powell and Bredlynne Otterson
When a young couple went missing, investigators turned to their social media accounts in an attempt to track them down. Facebook messages indicated that they had went to meet an older woman to smoke weed and hang out. When her jealous boyfriend returned home to find she had been in male company, he took matters into his own hands in a jealous fit of rage (continue)
The body in the suitcase
Rejection can hurt, but most people get over it- not Joshua Matthew Palmer. Palmer couldn't handle his much younger female friend being romantically disinterested in him. Lets explore the currently on-going trial as we attempt to figure out what really happened that night.
Reader discretion is advised for this post, some readers may find the details of the case difficult to read.
This post contains mentions of sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised. For those in need of help, information or advice: (UK) (AUS) (USA) (WORLD)
"The knights of the crystal blade" was a small, polygamist fundamentalist Mormon offshoot founded by a man named Samuel Shaffer. The cult believed that Doomsday would arrive in the form of a “Muslim invasion” and planned to kidnap children leading up to the end days. (continue)
The Doppelgänger
Viktoria Nasyrova came bearing the gift of cheesecake as an offering to her favorite beautician, a woman who looked strikingly similar to her, named Olga Tsvyk. After eating the cheesecake, Tsvyk suddenly felt dizzy and unwell. It soon became clear that Viktoria Nasyrova had came over for more than just eyelash extensions...
(continue)
The Janie Landers Cold Case
Janie Landers was a resident at The Fairview training facility in Salem when she went missing in the late seventies. Several days later her body was found in a forest 40 minutes away from the facility. She had died due to blunt force trauma to the back of the skull. The bloodied vest she was wearing was kept sealed up and secure for decades until one day there was finally a DNA match... (continue)
Toronto Serial Killer Identified
When men started turning up dead in Toronto's gay village, Church and Wellesley, regulars started to get worried. All the victims, bar one, were of middle eastern or Asian descent and had disappeared in the mid to late 2000's.
Investigators turned their attention to a man who had stalked and harassed people in the same area almost two decades ago, a man named Bruce McArthur (continue)
Hey everyone, I was recently researching some old unsolved cases I've posted about here in the past and found out that "The Buckskin girl" has finally been identified.
If you remember, the Buckskin girl, (who was nicknamed so on account of a unique handmade, deer skin poncho she was found wearing) was an unidentified, female homicide victim found in Troy, Ohio, on April 23rd 1981.
To quote my original post on the case:
"She was found fully clothed, although shoeless, with no signs of sexual assault. She had died due to blunt trauma to the head. Believed to have possibly been a hitchhiking teenage runaway, or even the possible victim of a serial killer, she was estimated between the ages of 18 - 26. She was white, between 5'4 and 5'6, with brown eyes and brown / red hair parted in the center and pulled back into two high braids. She had a scar on her chin, wrist, arm and ankle.
Due to the good condition of the body, investigators were able to obtain DNA, finger prints and dental information. Despite having the samples, the Buckskin girl has lay unidentified in Riverside cemetery, Troy, Ohio for 34 years, So, who was the Buckskin girl? And who killed her?"
Well it seems we can answer at least one of those questions now: Her name was Marcia Lenore King.
She was 21 years old and came from Littlerock, Arkansas. She was identified recently using her DNA with the help of the DNA Doe project (Read their FB update on the case HERE)
On the 28th of July
1986, 25 year old Suzy Lamplugh disappeared from Fulham, South
London, where she worked as a real estate agent. She had previously been
employed as a beautician on the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship, but had decided
to take a new direction.
Following clues found
in her work planner, police discovered that she had left her office at Sturges
estate agents on Fullham road around lunch time in order to meet a client who
was interested in a £130,000 property on Shorrolds road.
“37 Shorrolds road
o/s” the note said. “12:45, Mr. Kipper”.
“o/s” is believed to
stand for “outside”.
According to Google
maps, it’s only a six minute drive from the office to the property. Suzy
climbed into her white Ford Fiesta company car, registration number B396GAN
and presumably made her way to the appointment.
Mr. Kipper was unknown
to Suzy’s co-workers. They had no record of him on file at the office and it
wasn’t a name any of them recognized.
When the 25 year old
failed to return to the office, her family was contacted, and in turn, they
contacted the police to report her missing. The police search was thorough.
Officers employed the use of dogs and searched Sharrolds road, the surrounding area including Brompton cemetery and made a trip to the missing woman’s flat in Putney-
just less than 3 miles from her workplace.
There was nothing out of the
ordinary at Suzy’s flat. No sign of a struggle. No evidence that she planned to walk away voluntarily. Everything seemed to be in order.
Police utilized
helicopters to scan parks and cemeteries but found nothing.
The first worrying
sign in the case came when the woman’s car was found at around 10pm that night parked on Stevenage road. The
vehicle is described as being hastily parked, blocking off part of a residents garage and the doors
were unlocked. The seat had been adjusted in such a way that investigators
believe someone other than Suzy was driving. The keys were missing but her purse was in the vehicle.
As we can see from the
map, Stevenage road is just over a mile away, around a 7 minute drive, nearby
Fullham football ground and bishops park which stretches north of the Thames river.
Divers searched the
Thames, but came up empty handed.
I found this article,
which states Sturges estate agency also had a property at Stevenage road on
their books.
When
police reached out to the public for information they received a couple of
accounts from witnesses passing through the area who recalled seeing a young
woman arguing with a man. This article states that Suzy was seen exiting the property
on Shorrolds road with the client at around 1pm.
Despite massive media
coverage and hundreds upon hundreds of phone calls from the public, Suzy
Lamplugh was nowhere to be found. A search of her company car found no signs of
a struggle. Investigators entertained the notion that she initially went
voluntarily with whoever was driving her Ford fiesta that day, but were at a
loss when attempting to fill in the blanks of what happened afterwards.
Although 800
unidentified bodies were tested, none of them turned
out to be Suzy.
With
no leads in the case, it simply went cold.
Mr. Kipper
An artist came up with
this composite sketch using descriptions given by witnesses who saw Suzy and
the man arguing
The artist’s rendition
of Mr. Kipper turned out to resemble a later suspect in the case, a Mr. John Cannan.
Cannan was responsible
for the rape of a woman in the Reading area in 1986.
He was on a train from
Bristol to London and got off at Reading where he committed the crime. Although
he provided an alibi his DNA was present on the victim which eventually led to
his arrest.
Cannan then attempted to
kidnap a businesswoman from Bristol, Julia Holman, in the autumn of 1987.
Although he threatened her to comply at gunpoint, she refused to go down
without a fight and escaped.
He later murdered a
woman named Shirley Banks whom he killed in Bristol. Banks was the manager of a
local factory and a married woman who was quickly missed by her husband who
searched for her when she did not turn up to a bar they planned to meet at
after her shopping trip.
Strangely, she called into work the following day and
said she wouldn’t be able to come in due to sickness.It’s thought that Shirley Banks was kept
overnight at John Cannan’s residence at Foye House, Leigh Woods, Bristol, and
that he most likely threatened to hurt her if she didn’t call in to work. He
would have needed her to do this so it would appear as though she had gone
missing voluntarily to give him more time to do whatever he was going to do.
After Banks’ husband
reported her missing a massive search was underway. Her picture, name,
description and last known whereabouts were broadcasted on TV and printed in
the media.
John Cannon committed
crimes so compulsively that it was no surprise that he was eventually caught in
the act and chased down by civilians who alerted the authorities. Police
finally apprehended him on the 29th of October, 1987, after an
attempted robbery at a dress shop in Lemmington Spa.
A search of his vehicle, a
black BMW parked a stone’s throw away, turned up a fake plastic pistol (likely
the one he threatened Julia Holman with) and a length of rope. A bag and the
knife he used to threaten various victims were found discarded nearby.
The investigation
continued and as time passed more damning evidence turned up. The tax disc from
Banks’ missing orange Mini Clubman car was found in the glove box of Cannan’s
BMW.
When the Mini was
eventually located in a garage near Cannan’s flat, police discovered the once
orange vehicle had been painted blue in an attempt to disguise the once distinctive
car.
A thumb print in
Cannan’s flat matched that of Shirley.
Her remains were found at “Dead woman’s
ditch” in Somerset, England on the Quantock Hills. She had been raped and bludgeoned
with a rock.
Keep these details in
mind as we continue on.
Cannan had been committing
crimes against women since he was just 14 years old. Back in 1968 when he was a
teenager living in Erdington, Warwickshire, he assaulted a woman in a phone
box.
He was actually married from
1978 – 1980 to a woman named June Vale. The couple had a daughter together.
Cannon eventually left his wife for another woman named Daphne Sargent. When
Sargent tried to leave him, he attempted to stop her using violence.
From there
he began to rob stores and rape women at knifepoint, resulting in his
incarceration at Her Majesties Prison in Bristol where he was serving eight
years. He was transferred to Wormwood Scrubs prison in London, eventually.
Here’s an interesting
piece of information concerning his whereabouts on the day that Suzy went
missing- Cannan was on day release from wormwood scrubs. The distance
between Wormwood scrubs and Fullham road is just over 4 miles away, an average
of 18 minutes by car.
Those who were unaware
of his criminal history would describe him as good looking and charming. He had
a way with women and claimed that he’d had around 100 one night stands. John
Cannan was fond of middle class professional woman. He had a shtick of his own
that involved playing the role of a business man and wooing his targets with bouquets
of flowers, boxes of candy, champagne and trinkets. If things went well, he
would date them, if they rejected his advances, he would most likely attack
them.
In it, he comes across as thoughtful and charming.
Listen closely and he may not be as eloquent as he tried so hard to seem, often
using words incorrectly in sentences.
One of Cannan’s ex-girlfriends
came forward to police to share some disturbing information. She revealed to
investigators that John Cannan had some kind of fascination with Suzy’s case.
At one point while they were driving past Norton Barracks, a military site in Worcestershire,
Cannan said to her “Suzy Lamplugh is buried there”. Police searched the area
extensively but found nothing.
A couple of years
later police entertained the idea that the ex-girlfriend was possibly referring
to Norton Manor Royal Marines barracks, located just 8 miles away from where
the body of Shirley Banks was discovered in Somerset. Still, a search turned up
nothing. Years later a car linked to Cannan was recovered. It had a fake license plate that said: SLP 386 (possibly Suzy Lamplough, 3rd victim, 1986?)
Apparently this
suspicion came up following a documentary about the serial killer who was
active in Ipswich in the mid 2000’s.
The murders spanned 10
days in which Wright claimed 5 victims. If we look at the Stranglers M.O Suzy
doesn’t appear to fit his victim type, however police found a photograph
amongst the serial killers personal possessions that feature himself and Suzy.
He too worked on the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship at the same time as Suzy. He was ruled out as a suspect and denied any role.
I personally can’t
escape the idea that Cannan is responsible. Suzy fits his victim type (“Posh” professional women, 20 something etc.) We also know that he
was near Fulham on the day of her disappearance. We know he talked about Suzy on
many occasions to his girlfriend at the time, making his morbid jokes about
knowing where she was buried. Plus the license plate with what could be an abbreviation
for her name, the year and victim number.
Lastly, this article states that Suzy
was being harassed by a man from Bristol (Cannan was born there) who drove
around in a black BMW. Witnesses who saw Suzy with “Mr. Kipper” that day said
the man drove the same kind of car.
Suzy Lamplugh's remains were never found.
UPDATE: Cannan still denies the killing. Police are in the process of searching his mother's home. READ HERE<<
Hello everyone. Here's the blogs I wrote up for the Generation why podcast website last month. All recent cases / recent updates in cold cases as usual.
Murder of Mandy Stavik solved
Eighteen year old Mandy Stavik disappeared while out jogging around her local area in 1989.
Her pet dog, a German shepherd named Kyra returned to the family home later that day, however Mandy did not.
She was later discovered in the Noosack River by divers and it was revealed that she had been struck across the back of the head with a heavy
44 year old teacher Theresa Lockhart went missing on 18th of May 2017.
Her vehicle was found parked several miles away from her home but she was not in it.
Those who knew Theresa were well aware of her husbands violent temper and had often heard him yelling at his wife, who usually did not retaliate.
The truth finally comes out, but what exactly happened to Theresa Lockhart and how did the police find out? READ HERE <<
The murder of Savannah Gold
In August 2017, 21 year old Savannah Gold left her home to go to work at the "Bonefish grill" in Jacksonville and was never seen alive again.
15 minutes later her parents receive a text message from her phone informing them that she'd met a "great guy" and they were running away together. The suspicious message was riddled with spelling errors...CONTINUE<<
The murder of Natalie Bollinger
The body of 19 year old Natalie Bollinger was discovered on a dirt road on the 30th of December 2017. She had been reported missing the previous day by her parents.
Facebook friends were quick to point out that Bollinger had posted previously about having a stalker, and even named the 42 year old man- Shawn Schwartz.
A visit to his profile exposed feed of angry video rants that leave most viewers very unnerved.
He claims he did not have any part in the death of the 19 year old, however he is considered a suspect in the case by many. He was arrested on unrelated charges but is currently out on bail.
Blaze Bernstein was a 19 year old pre-med student who went missing from Foothill ranch, California on the 2nd of January, 2018.
He walked into Borrego Park, just a 10 minute walk from his family home, at around 11pm and was never seen alive again.
He could not be reached by cell phone and neglected to catch his flight back to Pennsylvania after winter break. 7 days later police discovered the body of a young man...CONTINUE<<
The Turpin family "house of horrors"
In January 2018, local police received a phone call from a child who had escaped her parents home where she had been held captive.
Officers paid a visit to the residence and were shocked to discover 13 malnourished and abused children tied up and chained to beds.
19 year old Pennsylvania resident Corinna Slusser has been missing since the 20th of September 2017.
After a failed suicide attempt she met a 32 year old man while recovering in hospital, and decided to move to Harlem with him.
Slusser was last seen leaving the Haven motel in Queens, New York and has not contacted her family, updated her social media or been since. Police and family fear she is the victim of sex trafficking. CONTINUE <<
Kicking off 2018 with a post about the unsolved murder of British Teenager Billie-Jo Jenkins.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
The Murder
Billie Jo Jenkins
didn’t have an easy start in life. Her mother was unable to raise her alone after her father (Bayard Jenkins) was incarcerated and so she was put up for
adoption as a child. Eventually, at the age of 8, she found a home with a
family in the beautiful, historic town of Hastings, East Sussex on the Southeast Coast of England. She was adopted by the Jenkins family who shared her Surname-
a coincidence suggesting it was meant to be.
Unfortunately for the young girl,
her short life would end in a violent and bloody death.
On the 15th
of February 1997 her foster mother, Lois, had taken out two of her biological
daughters for the day. Later, Billie’s foster father, Sion, took out the
couples other two natural daughters, leaving Billie Jo home alone at 48 Lower
Park Road where she planned to paint the patio doors in the garden. She would
earn extra pocket money for the task, and was happy that she was awarded the
job.
Sadly, it wouldn’t
turn out to be the quiet day the teenager had anticipated, in fact, it would be
her last day alive, and tragically, she would not meet a peaceful end.
The police received a
phone call from the Jenkins residence later that day at 3:38pm day from Sion:
“My
daughter’s fallen, or she’s got head injuries, there’s blood everywhere, she’s
on the floor.” He told them.
She had been bludgeoned to death with an 18 inch long, 1.5lb tent-peg that was
laying around in the garden. Part of a black plastic bag was found forced deep
inside her nostril cavity.
The tent spike was
originally thought to have been on the roof of the coal shed before being
wielded as a murder weapon.
The girl was found
clinging on to life by a thread on the patio floor where she had been
painting that afternoon. There was no sign of life. No sign of breathing.
Initially the finger
of blame was pointed in the direction of her foster father, Sion Jenkins.
During an analysis of
the clothes he was wearing on the day of Billie Joe’s murder, a fine mist
consisting of 158 individual droplets of the girl’s
blood was found sprayed
across his jacket, shoes and trousers.
At the first trial in
1998 this forensic evidence was used to support the theory that Sion was
responsible for the murder of the 13 year old.
He was found guilty at
Lewes Crown Court and slapped with a life sentence.
Retrial, forensic evidence, accusations
After repeated claims
he won the right to a retrial in 2004. The mist of Billie Jo’s blood on his
clothing became the main focus of the trial.
How did it get
there?
Did it actually indicate that Sion was the perpetrator?
It was argued that the blood could have stained
his clothes a result of the wound to Billie Jo’s throat- the blood could have
possibly exited the puncture in her airway as she exhaled her final breaths-
after all, Sion did attempt to move her away from the patio. It was argued that
the victim would have had to be breathing extremely heavily at the time,
however Sion himself on the day of the murder claimed his foster daughter
didn’t seem to be breathing at all. Moreover, the clothes of the neighbor who
tended to the victim and the uniforms worn by the paramedics did not display blood transfer similar to that
found on the clothes of Sion Jenkins.
The victim’s leggings, however, did bear a very similar pattern of
fine mist- and this
fine mist of blood was likely caused by her attacker bringing down the murder
weapon onto an already bloodied area.
At retrial, another
forensic expect argued that the pattern of blood splatter (the uniform mist or
spray) could have indeed came from the victims airway as her father crouched
down to cradle her in his arms. He argued that if Sion was indeed the perpetrator
of the crime that his clothing would display blood splatter droplets of very
different size and shape.
The issue was, that it
was thought possible that the microscopic blood stain could have gotten onto
his jacket in both scenarios.
The question was, was it as a result of a
murder or the attempt of a father to save his daughters life?
Would a guilty man
be jailed or would an innocent
man be locked up for life?
This article has a quote from a friend of Sion's (Peter Gaimster) where he mentions that the night of the murder, Sion refused to wear his blue fleece, despite how cold it was outside.
Sion Jenkins was
released in 2006 when a jury couldn’t come to a mutual conclusion at retrial.
As he walked free from the courthouse, two female relatives of the victim threw
their fists at him in anguish.
A week later, an article was published in the
Independent newspaper.
In it, Lois Jenkins told all, and claimed that her husband had a violent and
possessive nature and had been physically abusive to her when they were first
married. She described once being slapped so hard that it resulted in a
perforated eardrum.
Two friends of Billie
Jo relayed stories of the girl turning up to school with various injuries,
such as scratches and a bloody lip, and attributing them to her father. Sion would later deny any accusation against him.
This accusation did
pique my interest, though, and when looking for further information on this
accusation I
found a story on the free-library website about the girl in question. Going
off the tags it seems to have originally have been published in the mirror on
the 6th of July 1998.
In the article, a 19 year old girl given the alias "Rachel" to protect her identity, claims that Sion Jenkins found her home phone number in her brother's school file at the all boys school he worked at after meeting her at a friends house. The two developed a romantic relationship where they went on secret dates together where he encouraged the teenager to dress in revealing outfits. She goes on to say that she believed he was controlling and that she was shocked to discover that she looked exactly like his foster daughter, Billie Jo.
Eventually Rachel stopped seeing him as he began to give her the creeps.
"He gave me the spooks". She said: "When I saw a picture of Billie-Jo on TV I couldn't believe it. She was my double. It could have been me. It's hard to believe I got so close to a murderer. "I was absolutely besotted with Sion, completely taken in by his charm and confidence. Now I just feel sick when I think about being with him. It seems like one horrible nightmare."
Fear enveloped Lois Jenkins as
the reality that her husband could be responsible for the murder set in. Sion believes that police
came to her and the children to convince them of his guilt. Lois claimed that he
used corporal punishment towards his daughters, which Sion denied in a 2006 interview
with Trevor McDonald. Despite their original denial of their fathers punishment
techniques at the time of the murder, the Jenkins children provided the
“Tonight” network with a statement saying that Sion was lying and he had indeed
beaten them with sticks and slippers.
At the time of the murder the children gave contradicting and
confused accounts of what happened that day in 1998, whether this is because
they simply could not remember the minor details of that day, or due to
pressure from the police or loyalty to their father is unknown. The girls were
so young at the time that the whole situation most likely confused them when
being questioned.
Although Sion Jenkins
started off as supply teacher in London, he eventually steered his career in
the direction of headmaster. He managed to get a job as deputy headmaster at a
local school, William Parker School in Hastings, and was eventually gunning for
the headmaster position. There was a slight issue with his ambition, however- his credentials were bogus. He lied about the schools he had attended and
the grades he had achieved in order to get into his teaching position. Afraid
of being rumbled, he changed direction and decided he wanted to go into
politics. When later asked about his fabricated resume, he claimed that he lied
simply to provide a better quality of life for his family.
That day
This article gives a bit more detail concerning the
whereabouts of the Jenkins family at the time that Billie Joe was murdered.
It states that Lois
was out shopping (here I found an account that they walking on the beach) with
daughters 9 year old Esther and 7 year old Maya. 10 year old Lottie (Charlotte) was at a
music class and 12 year old Annie was at home, as was Billie Joe.
Annie was
inside the house cleaning a room and Billie Joe was outside painting the doors
in the back yard.
The court documents
from 2008 state that Annie heard her father talking to Billie-Joe before they
left the house. She did not hear Billie Joe verbally respond.
At 3 in the afternoon,
Annie climbed into her father’s car and accompanied him in picking up her
younger sister, Lottie, from her clarinette class, leaving Billie Jo home
alone.
Now apparently there
were a couple of minutes when the 3 returned where Sion Jenkins was not
in company of his daughters. This was thought to be the window of opportunity he
could have had in which to bludgeon Billie Joe to death with the metal tent spike.
(He would have had around 3-4 minutes to do so)
In the court documents it is stated that Sion lied to both the 999
dispatcher and the officers on scene when stating that he had not been inside
the house during the time of the attack. He also stated that he had been gone
much longer than he actually was.
Lottie did
point out that her father acted strangely not soon after, claiming that he came
back outside and announced they had go to the store to pick up some turpentine
to clean up any paint Billie Jo had spilled / get supplies. Lottie said that
he neglected to bring any cash with him and drove twice around the park, going
past the house. This information is detailed here.
In the interview with
Trevor McDonald, Sion claims that Lottie was supposed to take over painting the
patio doors, so they went to collect the appropriate supplies.
This court document states that there was already “white spirit”
turpentine in the home. Again, in the 2006 interview with Trevor McDonald, Sion Jenkins deflects this point by saying
there was indeed already a bottle of “white Spirit” at the home, however it was
several years old and so far back in a cupboard that he had forgotten of its
existence.
Interviewer Trevor McDonald then points out that police believed
Sion knew he had some / deliberately neglected to check so that
he would have an alibi- a very good point to consider indeed. Sion being seen
at the DIY store around the time of Billie-Joe’s murder might, in his mind, get
him off the hook. Then driving needlessly around the park with his roof down for no reason at all
so witnesses would be able to see him in his very memorable (in my opinion) MG could further help him convince authorities that he wasn’t home at
the time.
Sion insists that if that was the case, he would have went
inside the store and spent a significant amount of time there, but didn’t.
Taking an aborted trip to the DIY shop does not make him guilty, but not
going in doesn’t make him innocent either.
Sion states that he
couldn’t make a 3-point turn on his street because he considered it dangerous
and so decided to drive around the park as an alternative and that’s why he
took such a long route. He claims he simply forgot the money.
When they returned
home, Lottie discovered Billie Jo with a bloody face and head.
A neighbor, Denise
Franklin, who was called over by Sion Jenkins, described seeing Billie Joe on her back with her head titled to the left. At this time Sion had
already dialed 999 and told the dispatcher that he had positioned the victim on
her side, when in fact he had not.
She had been kneeling
on a rug that was wrapped with a plastic black bin liner for comfort while she
painted the doors. Part of the black plastic was stuffed up into the girls
nose, and when the neighbor pulled it out (presumably to help the girl
breathe- although both adults at the scene claimed there was no sign of the
victim breathing when they found her) blood poured from her nostril.
Despite
being in such close contact with Billie Joe, Franklin’s clothing did not show
the fine mist of blood that Sion’s did.
Another strange fact
in the case, is that when the emergency services and local police arrived, Sion
Jenkins sat in his car and put up the roof (which had been previously rolled
down on the drive to the DIY shop and around the park.) Charlotte (Lottie) was
supposed to clean the car for extra pocket money and was rushing excitedly to
do so before Billie Jo was discovered bludgeoned. Police theorize that he sat
in the car because he had bludgeoned his foster daughter and was worried that
there was blood in the car before he had a chance to clean it, so he deliberately
transferred some by himself by sitting in there after pretending
to discover the body.
He put his actions down to being in shock when
questioned in court.
Mr. B (also
referred to as Mr.X)
There was one other
suspect in the case and his name in the media is “Mr.B”. He is thought to be
something of a red heron, however there are some interesting details as to why
he was a suspect at the time.
Mr.B is described as a
mentally ill male with a fetish for plastic bags. Although I haven’t seen it
officially confirmed, he was thought to have paranoid schizophrenia. He was
seen by multiple witnesses in the area on the afternoon of Billie Jo’s murder
who describe him as sitting on a bench opposite the murdered girl’s home
“sniffing” and “snorting” at a blue plastic carrier bag.
Part of a black
plastic bag was found forced deep in Billie Joe’s nostril cavity, a bizarre
detail in the case that made many people following the case uncomfortable when
reading of Mr.B’s presence in the area around the time of the murder.
The court ruled him
out as a suspect because they believed the only thing linking him to the crime
was his plastic bag Paraphilia and the coincidence that a piece of black plastic
bin liner was found in Billie Joe’s nasal cavity. Apparently he was also sitting
on a public bench opposite the Jenkins residence at the time of the crime. This article mentions that he liked to stuff pieces of plastic bags up his nose and into his mouth.
This website, which advocates for the innocence of Sion
Jenkins, explains that Mr.B had an obsessive idea revolving around "sealing up openings", although I'm not sure from where this information originates. The owner
of the website implies a link between the plastic bag found in the victims
nostril and Mr.B’s Paraphilia.
Is this attempt to
shift the blame from Sion Jenkins to Mr.B valid or reaching?
This article in the independent tells of how Sion and Lois "lived in fear" of a prowler.
A statement given by family friend Peter Gaimster details an evening at the Jenkins residence (just four days before the girls murder) where Sion mentioned a prowler and showed him the extra security measures they had taken.
He said the family were so concerned that they even planned to move in the future.
Despite their worries, their car being vandalized and a series of strange phone calls they had received, they had neglected to alert the police about the issue.
The M25 rapist Antoni Imiela
In February an article was published considering Antoni Imiela, also known as "The M25 rapist" and "the summer rapist" may be a possible suspect.
Imiela was given the nickname due to his crimes against women and children that took place in various cities along the M25 motorway. He was responsible for 9 rapes between 2000 - 2001 and 1 attempted rape of a child whom he beat and choked. His victims ranged between the ages of 10 - 52. He has thought to have been committing crimes since the late eighties.
At the time he was dating his future wife, Christine Ashenden, who lived around 2 miles from the Jenkins home. Imiela had been courting her for a while and was a regular visitor in Hastings by '97.
He was known to stalk his victims and lie in wait for extended periods of time before committing his crimes. Could he have been waiting in the park behind Billie-Jo's home on the day of her murder?
Was he the prowler the family feared?
Perhaps he saw her walking her dog every night after school and began to follow her and learn her routine.
As we can see in the picture of the back of the home, it looks very easy to access. (source)
The security lights that Sion fitted would have been rendered useless in the daylight.
Imiela was said to own and often wear a leather jacket similar to the one Billie-Jo described her unidentified stalker as wearing.
Did Imiela wait for the Jenkins family to leave Billie-Jo alone and unsupervised before grabbing a makeshift weapon from the coal shed roof to bludgeon the 13 year old, but was disturbed when Sion and his daughters arrived home so quickly after leaving?
Autopsy revealed that the victim was not sexually assaulted in any way, which is the main part of Antoni Imiela's MO, but perhaps he did not get the chance. He did, however, beat any victims that resisted his attacks.
He also used one of his victims cell phones to harass her mother with disgusting comments about what he had done.
A 26 year old victim also had a black plastic bag put over her head.
He told another victim "13 is a lovely age".
Now
These days Sion is no
long married to Lois Jenkins, who packed up and relocated to the isolated
island of Tasmania, Australia with the couple’s four girls- Annie, Charlotte,
Esther and Maya. She remarried a martial arts trainer, gave birth to another
child and lives far from the horror of what happened in 1997- at least
physically.
The memory of the nightmare will be something that never leaves
her.
Sion didn’t move quite the same distance and
currently resides in Bath, England, where he has also remarried. He married
woman named Christina Ferneyhough. She had been writing to him during his
incarceration and the pair tied the knot on his release.
He is currently studying law and has written a book where he discusses whom he believes to be the main suspect in the case- a tall man with dark hair who he claims was in his home on the day of the murder. He originally believed the unidentified man to be an officer in plain clothes, his neighbor at the time, Denise Lancaster, commented that she did not believe the man existed.
