#unsolved deaths

[nerdybitch]

I'm loaded with book

[ohhowpeculiar]

Who Murdered Margaret and Seana Tapp? 

On August 8, 1984, Jim Rollins arrived at a home in Ferntree Gully, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, to pick up his date for the opera. When no one answered the door and Jim realized that all of the lights were out, he became concerned and entered the home through an unlocked back door. 

He found his date, Margaret Tapp, tucked into bed. When Jim went to wake her, he noticed a strangulation mark around her neck and realized she wasn’t sleeping. Margaret had been killed the night before. 

After phoning the police and Margaret’s sister, Jim suddenly remembered that Margaret’s 9-year-old daughter, Seana, was supposed to be home as well. He entered her bedroom to find the little girl also strangled in her bed. She had been the victim of what investigators have called “a very sickening sexual attack.” Both Margaret and Seana were neatly tucked into bed by the killer so as to look like they were asleep. The killer had used a rope to strangle them and it was not found at the scene.

Investigators found no evidence of forced entry or a struggle, nor did they find any unidentifiable fingerprints. Footprints from a pair of Dunlop Volley sneakers, a popular shoe at the time, were left on the floor of the home and were never identified. DNA was retrieved from semen on Seana’s clothing, but a decent sample would not be extracted for several years. 

A neighbor reported having heard a muffled cry at around 11 PM on the night of the 7th. Their dog had also barked at something outside the home at around midnight, perhaps the killer making their escape from the Tapp home. Between this witness testimony and the fact that both victims were wearing nightdresses, police determined that the murders had taken place either very late on the 7th or in the early hours of the 8th of August. 

In addition, neighbors had reported seeing a red Ford utility vehicle parked near the house not long before the murders. The owner of the car has never been identified. 

Margaret had worked as a nurse for many years and was also attending law school part-time at the time of the murders, bringing her into contact with many people. She also had a very active social life and was known to have dated multiple men, including men who were married. 

In fact, the home where the murders took place had been bought for her by a doctor named John Bradtke she had a long-term relationship with. When Dr. Bradtke died in a car accident a year before the murders, Margaret fought the doctor’s widow for ownership of the home and was ultimately awarded half-ownership, after which she bought the second half. Whether she continued to have an acrimonious relationship with Mrs. Bradtke is uncertain. 

In 2008, a man named Russell John Gesah was charged with the murders based on a DNA match. Two weeks later, the charges were withdrawn when it was discovered that the DNA sample had been contaminated in the lab. This revelation brought to light many issues with the handling of DNA evidence and called into question the efforts police had made in previous years to use DNA to rule out other suspects in the case. 

"I am now not satisfied, because DNA in the case was contaminated, that those previously eliminated on DNA evidence were correctly eliminated," said Det-Sen-Sgt Ron Iddles

Suspects

In this case, the problem really isn’t a lack of suspects. With little physical evidence to go on and the sheer number of people Margaret and Seana both came into contact with, police have had a difficult time narrowing the list of potential perpetrators. 

An angry wife: It’s often theorized that a wife of one of the men Margaret dated might have gotten angry enough to commit the murders. Mrs. Bradtke is the most obvious choice in this scenario. However, this theory doesn’t really match the facts. Besides there being no evidence to implicate anyone in arranging a murder-for-hire, the sexual assault of Seana points to a sexually-motivated predator. 

A rejected man or spurned lover: Ian Cook was a family friend who had stayed with Margaret at the house once and had reportedly made unwanted romantic/sexual advances toward her. She later said that he had “come on strong” and she’d told him she wasn’t interested. 

Margaret was also said to be taking driving lessons at the time, and her driving instructor was apparently attracted to her. When the police questioned him, he lied about having ever been in the Tapp home, where his fingerprints were found. 

Since Margaret dated several men and wasn’t committed at the time to any one of them, the idea of a jealous lover or rejected man committing the crimes has been one of the top theories in the case. 

A troubled neighbor: Suspicions in the neighborhood quickly fell on a family that lived across the street from the Tapp home. The family was generally avoided in the community and regarded as troublesome. Margaret, however, had hired one of the teenaged sons to do some yard work for her, despite warnings from concerned neighbors that the boy had a habit of making sexually suggestive comments to older women. 

Sources

The Herald Sun: Sex tape clue in double murder of Margaret and Seana Tapp in Cold Case Files

The Age: A mother, her daughter and a murder case that got away from all

The Sydney Morning Herald: DNA blunder sinks kill trial

News.com.au: Family in shock over DNA mix-up

Million Dollar Cold Case: The Murders of Margaret and Seana Tapp (youtube video of Australian true crime documentary series)

h/t to @kannaophelia for requesting this case

[ohhowpeculiar]

What happened to Audrey Moate and Thomas Hotard?

On November 24, 1956, a trapper named Jack Moneret came across a couple in a blue car parked a few yards from Lake Pontchartrain on Frenier Beach. When the car was still there the following day, he went to investigate and found the dead body of Thomas Hotard inside. Hotard had been shot in the back of the head* with a shotgun that had been pressed against the glass of the back side window. The woman was nowhere to be seen.

Women’s clothing and shoes were found in the car, and the contents of a purse were scattered nearby. Based on what was found, Hotard’s companion could only have been wearing a bra and slip. Small footsteps were found spaced apart in a way that indicated she had been running from the scene. A man’s bootprints followed. There was evidence of a scuffle and both sets of prints stopped at a nearby road, where a single tire track, possibly from a motorcycle, was discovered. 

Within hours, the missing woman was identified as Audrey Moate of Baton Rouge, Lousiana. The divorced mother of three had been carrying on an affair with the married Thomas Hotard for two years.

An extensive search of the area didn’t turn up her body as the police had expected. They then began to float the theory that she had survived the attack and escaped. Two weeks after her disappearance, a woman called Audrey’s former mother-in-law and told her that she was in trouble before abruptly hanging up the phone. A sighting in New Orleans of a woman matching Audrey’s description fueled a search of the city, but she still was not found. 

Many potential suspects were interviewed and some confessions were made, but none of them led to Audrey. Despite years of investigation, no further trace of Audrey Moate was ever found and she was declared dead. 

Theories

1. She was killed by a scorned lover. A man named Jackson Lejeune came forward claiming he had witnessed the murders of Thomas Hotard and Audrey Moate. He said that while driving around with a friend, his companion spotted the couple and muttered, “That’s her!” before pulling a shotgun from the floorboards. The man then shot Thomas through the window before dragging Audrey into the woods, where Lejeune described hearing a few more shots. His friend came back to the car and grabbed a shovel before heading into the woods alone again. The witness claimed he had kept quiet because he had been threatened by the killer. 

Despite the fact that Jackson Lejeune seemed to genuinely believe his life was in danger, going so far as to beg the police for protection, discrepancies in his story caused enough doubt that the police did not arrest the alleged killer. 

The police also poured over Audrey’s address book and some letters that were found at the scene, as well as the contents of a safe deposit box she owned. None of these clues yielded any results. If she had indeed known the perpetrator, there wasn’t enough evidence in her possession to lead police to them.

2. It was a random crime and the couple were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. A man named Edmond Duhe was arrested after wounding a woman with a shotgun in 1959 not far from the Hotard-Moate crime scene. During the investigation, police found in Duhe’s possession a purse that matched the description of the purse Audrey carried, which had not been found at the original crime scene. Duhe had also shot his victim through a car window, as had Thomas Hotard’s murderer. Duhe denied any knowledge of the Hotard-Moate case and was never charged. 

3. A couple living nearby was involved in the crime. In 1980, a man named Ernest Acosta was on his deathbed and told friends and family that his former common-law wife, Caroline, had killed Audrey and Thomas. Both Caroline and Ernest had violent tempers and carried guns habitually. Ernest was known to run off strangers with a shotgun whenever they got too close to his home, which was one mile from the crime scene. 

Marville, Ernest’s daughter, claims that Audrey and Thomas had visited the home at least twice to see Caroline, who may have had a familial connection with Audrey. She believes that it was Ernest, however, who killed the couple because his accounting of the murders doesn’t match the crime scene. Caroline died in 1979 and Ernest in 1980, and neither were ever questioned by police. 

Sources

“Woman’s Body is Sought Near Where Man Died.” The Enterprise-Journal (McComb, Mississippi). 26 November 1956, page 1.

“Hope Gun at N.O. Will Solve Murder.” Daily World (Opelousas, Louisiana) 24 March 1959, page 31.

“Tryst in the Swamp.” Daily News (New York, New York) 10 November 1957, page 516.

“Purse Linked to Missing Woman; Case Re-Opened.” The Monroe News-Star (Monroe, Louisiana). 20 March 1959, page 1.

“Sheriff Claims Missing Woman May Be Alive.” The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi). 2 December 1956, page 9.

Unsolved Mysteries. Season 1, Episode 19. Originally aired on 15 March 1989. (Season1, Episode 21 on Amazon Prime)

The Charley Project: Audrey Alta Moate

Find-A-Grave: Audrey A. Moate (empty, remains never found) and Thomas Hotard

*Some sources say that Thomas Hotard was shot in the back, but most contemporary accounts report that he was shot in the back of the head. Audrey’s daughter also stated on Unsolved Mysteries that Thomas had been shot in the head, so that’s what I’m going with. 

[ohhowpeculiar]

Did writer Eugene Izzi really commit suicide? 

On December 7, 1996, a doctor in Chicago looked out his window and immediately called the police to report the scene: a man in an adjacent building was hanging from a rope outside a 14th-floor window. That man was pulp fiction writer Eugene Izzi. 

Izzi, known to his friends as “Guy,” was a native Chicagoan from an Italian-American family. Having had a rough childhood, Guy was a high school dropout and an Army veteran who found his passion writing crime stories in the vein of Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane. Despite his talent, he never achieved the recognition for his work that he so craved. 

The scene of his death was unusual. Firefighters had to break down the door of his office, which was locked from the inside, to get to his body. Guy was hanging from a rough hemp rope that was tied to the leg of his desk and then wrapped around his neck multiple times before being tied into a slip knot. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and was in the possession of a set of brass knuckles and mace. A .38 caliber revolver was found on the office floor. He’d reportedly been carrying the gun for several weeks. 

Inside his pockets, he had $481, three computer diskettes, and a transcript of a threatening phone call that was on his voice mail. 

The coroner ruled Guy’s death a suicide, the cause of death was asphyxiation. But some still believe that he was murdered. 

The Suicide Theory

Guy was a talented writer but had a rough few years in the 90s. One of his novels, Tribal Secrets, had been widely panned by critics after a massive PR campaign put on by the publisher, Bantam Books. Bantam pulled much of their support of the book once the bad reviews started coming in. 

As a result, Izzi and Bantam split ways, though it’s unclear if Bantam dropped Guy or Guy walked away from Bantam. Either way, he owed Bantam Books the advance they’d given him and he couldn’t pay it. He’d been contracted for three books with them and for the next few years, published his writing under a pseudonym.

Guy was also suffering from clinical depression, seeing a psychiatrist, and was on anti-depressants at the time of his death. In the weeks proceeding, he’d become unusually jovial, as if wanting to make amends with people who had previously encountered his usually surly personality. 

The threatening message on his voicemail was left by a woman claiming that his infiltration of an Indiana militia had been discovered and that he would die by “a flaming rope.” Police later traced the phone call not to Indiana, but to a pay phone outside Guy’s office building. They also believed that the threats were being read from a script, perhaps one that Izzi himself had written. 

And most convincing of all was what the police found on the encrypted documents on the diskettes. Guy had been writing a long novel in which the hero infiltrates an Indiana militia, has his office broken into and is hanged by a rope outside the window. In the novel, however, the hero manages to climb back into the office and survive. 

At this point, police began to believe that Eugene Izzi had crafted his own suicide as if it were his final pulp story. 

Others have theorized that it was actually an accident. The coroner noticed deep bruises on Guy’s inner thighs that indicated that he’d be straddling the windowsill for quite some time. Could he have sat there, trying to summon the courage to jump? Or perhaps he was simply rehearsing the scene from his book and slipped? 

The Murder Theory

While his family accepted the suicide theory, friends and fans have had their doubts over the years. 

Guy was known for going above and beyond to research his novels, and the idea of infiltrating a militia was something he absolutely would have done, according to those who knew him. Could he have done it and really been caught? But how could his murderers have known about the scene in his novel that so eerily echoed the scene of his death? 

People also point to his overwhelming fear of heights as an inconsistency with the suicide theory. Wouldn’t a man who was scared of heights have chosen a less harrowing way of ending his life? Especially since he had a revolver in his possession? 

Guy’s career was also on an uptick. He’d just received the advance copy of a novel, one of three, that he was writing for Avon Books. He was reportedly extremely excited about this new series he was writing, and some have said that it was the best work he’d ever done. Being so close to the recognition he so desired, why kill himself? 

Guy was also displaying paranoia beyond what was usual for him. Always cautious and distrustful of strangers, he changed his phone number constantly. He had begun carrying a gun. He moved his wife and children from their home into a hotel the month before he died. Many believe he was afraid of something, but what exactly that was is still unknown. 

So did Eugene Izzi craft his own death or was he murdered by persons unknown? While the bulk of the evidence seems to indicate suicide, we may never know for sure. 

Sources

Schmich, Mary. “Author's Sad Irony: Death May Prove To Be His Best Story.” The Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois). 15 December 1996. 

Fountain, John W. “The End of His Rope.” The Washington Post (Washington, D.C.) 2 February 1997

Caputo, Philip. “Dangling Man.” Esquire. May 1997.

[ohhowpeculiar]

Who killed TV news reporter Jennifer Servo?

On September 18, 2002, a worker at the Hunters Ridge Apartment complex in Abilene, Texas, found the battered body of 22-year-old TV reporter Jennifer Servo on the floor of her bathroom. She had been dead for at least two days. 

Jennifer, a Montana native, had only lived in Abilene for a few months. She’d recently graduated from the University of Montana before landing a job at KRBC-TV, where co-workers described her as ambitious and hard-working. Jennifer dreamed of one day working for a major network, envying the career of Katie Couric. 

On the night Jennifer died, she’d been in the company of a new love interest - Brian Travers, a weatherman at KRBC. They’d been to WalMart and she had dropped him off at his house before going home at around midnight. Shortly after arriving at her apartment, Jennifer was murdered. 

Based on the blood evidence left behind, the initial assault on Jennifer began in her bedroom, with marks on the floor indicating that she was dragged into the bathroom where she died. Jennifer’s cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation. There was also bruising consistent with sexual assault, though she was found fully-clothed.

The police gathered plenty of trace evidence but soon found that it had been contaminated by Jennifer’s cat. By the time they managed to sort the human evidence from the feline, it became clear that the physical evidence didn’t point to a specific suspect. 

Theories

Since her door wasn’t forced open, police believe that she knew her killer, and friends say that it must have been someone she knew well for her to open her door for them after midnight. But with no eyewitnesses, the police could only speculate as to who that might have been. 

The number one suspect in Jennifer’s murder is an ex-boyfriend named Ralph Sepulveda. Jennifer met Ralph while still living in Montana and they soon began dating. When Jennifer got the job at KRBC, Ralph decided to move to Texas with her, despite the fact that they had only known each other for a short period of time. 

Once they got to Texas, Jennifer discovered that Ralph had left a fiancée behind in Montana, and also had a child, neither of which he had told her before they got involved. Jennifer ended the relationship, and, according to friends, was relieved to be rid of him. 

Ralph Sepulveda claimed that he was at his apartment on the night Jennifer died, an alibi which cannot be verified by the police. Jennifer’s family has stated repeatedly over the years that they believe Ralph killed Jennifer out of jealousy when she began moving on with her life. Sepulveda has stopped cooperating with the police investigation. 

Brian Travers is also considered a suspect in Jennifer’s murder, though it seems that he remains so only because the police haven’t been able to rule him out. 

Detectives working on Jennifer’s case believe they know who her killer is, they just don’t have the evidence to make an arrest. 

Sources

Crum, Brooke. “Abilene police cold cases await new evidence, leads.” Abilene Reporter News

Moore, Michael. “Slain reporter’s case goes cold.” The Missoulian (Missoula, Montana). 8 July 2005. Page A1-A2. 

"New Leads Spark in Abilene Reporter's Murder.” CBS7. 6 February 2016.

“11 years later, former Abilene TV reporter Jennifer Servo's murder remains unsolved.” KTXS ABC12. 19 September 2013. 

“Deadline For Justice: The Murder of Jennifer Servo and Patricia Scoville.” 48 Hours. 

[ohhowpeculiar]

Where is Edward H. Maps and who killed his family?

On January 21, 1962, the fire department was called out to the home of Edward and Christine Maps in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The house was filled with smoke, and Christine was found unconscious in the rubble. The couple’s infant daughter, Julie, was dead from smoke inhalation and hidden under a pile of blankets. 

Edward Maps was nowhere to be found. 

Christine died 7 hours later from blunt force trauma to the skull. She never regained consciousness and so was unable to tell the police what happened. Edward was immediately under suspicion and the authorities began a manhunt. 

Two people in town reportedly got phone calls from Edward after he disappeared. One, a woman who has never been identified, said that Edward called her and told her, “You’re next.” The other call recipient was Henry Evens, who said he tried to persuade Maps to turn himself in, but Edward said he had things to do. 

Edward Maps ended up on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List until 1967. In 1971, he was declared dead and the FBI destroyed his fugitive file in 1977. 

However, the PA State Police continued to seek information from the public regarding Edward Maps until the early 1990s. 

It seems like a pretty cut-and-dry case, but things are far more complicated under the surface.

Theories

Edward did it: The phone calls, if they actually came from Edward, suggest that he was on the run. Edward was described by some as “emotionally disturbed” and had served in WWII, but was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and discharged from the military. 

Some believed that the marriage and mortgage were too much for him to handle, as he’d previously led a very bohemian, unstructured life. However, if he really felt such strain, it would have been far easier for him to just leave and start over. There is no obvious motive for him to have killed his wife and child, and the evidence against him is entirely circumstantial. 

The most damning evidence against him is his disappearance, but it has been speculated that he was also a victim and his remains have just never been discovered.

Many people later came forward to say they had seen Edward Maps, but the location of the sightings spanned the globe. The most plausible sighting of Maps came in August 1962 when he was identified as the perpetrator of a bank robbery in Little Falls, NJ, which was just a short distance from his place of birth. Did Maps actually rob the bank or could it have been a mistaken identification? 

Christine’s father did it: The Maps had lived with Christine’s parents, Robert and Julia Wolbach, when Christine was pregnant. The living arrangements led to tension between Robert and Edward, and Robert reportedly threatened to kill Edward if he didn’t leave. Julia also left, saying that she was afraid of her husband and thought he was mentally ill. 

Robert also accused Julia of having an affair with her son-in-law, which Julia denied. Robert reportedly blamed Edward for the collapse of his marriage. 

Robert claimed that he was on an Alaska Airlines flight from Miami to NYC at the time of the murders, but Alaska Airlines didn’t have a Miami to NYC flight on the day in question. It is possible that he mixed up the airline name, but given the violent behavior on the part of Robert Wolbach, it’s surprising that he was never considered a suspect. In fact, the police didn’t even interview him until three weeks after the murders. 

Robert Wolbach owned property along the Delaware River, and it’s been speculated that Edward’s body could have ended up in there, never to be found. It is also unclear if the police ever searched the Wolbach family farm.

But if Robert was so angry with Edward, why kill his daughter and granddaughter? There is also no evidence to put him in Stroudsburg that night, as he had moved to New York City and left there by bus as soon as he was notified of the crimes on January 22nd. 

Robert Wolbach died several decades ago and Edward Maps would be in his 90s if still alive. While murder cases are never closed in Pennsylvania, there is little chance this mystery will ever be solved. 

Sources

The Pocono Record: 46 years later, Maps murder remains unsolved mystery, 1/21/2008

The Pocono Record: Was Edward Maps innocent? 4/13/2008

Pennsylvania Missing Persons: Edward Howard Maps

[ohhowpeculiar]

A Digital Reconstruction Reveals the Face of Famed Murder Victim 'Bella in the Wych Elm'

More about Bella’s case here.

[ohhowpeculiar]

Who Killed Linda Weldy?

On February 24, 1987, 10-year-old Linda Weldy disappeared from her bus stop in LaPorte, Indiana. Three weeks later, her body was found along some abandoned railroad tracks. She had been strangled.

Her killer has never been identified. 

Linda was assumed to have gone to a friend’s house but was reported missing when her mother came home from work that evening. An extensive search of the area turned up few clues before her body was found. 

Linda’s family believes she may have been the victim of suspected serial killer Larry Hall. The police, however, remain skeptical. They believe she probably knew her killer. 

In 2014, evidence from the area where she was found was handed over to Indiana State Police for further testing. While the police haven’t said precisely what came of those tests, one detective on the case has said it will allow them to “pursue different avenues.” 

Sources

Northwest Indiana Times: Who killed Linda Weldy? The LaPorte 10-year-old was kidnapped and killed after the school bus dropped her off.

Northwest Indiana Times: Mom tormented by daughter's unsolved killing

WSBT 22: COLD CASE FILES: The kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Linda Weldy