Cold Case Chronicles

With the ladies of the Crew back together for once, they stick close to home.  It's hard to believe there are so many cases that have become cold.

Missing since 1983, Viola Marie Findley left her 3 children with a sitter in Iowa to visit family in Florida and never returned.  Nearly 40 years have passed and there are more questions than answers.

Catherine Diane "Catrina" Mowrey moved to Dallas, Texas for an exciting new life. How could she have known only six years later, she would be murdered, wrapped in a sheet, and stuffed in the trunk of a car as if her life meant nothing? To make things worse... the Dallas Police Department chose to treat her case as if she never mattered, causing a ripple effect of damage through an entire family.

Far removed from the Free Love and Peace of the late 1960s, the late 19970s were pay to play.  In 1978 a body was found in rural Iowa.  She would be Jane Doe for three decades.  This is Unidentified Female – The Story or Wilma June Nissen.  

Sometimes when a case is researched, very little information is found.  In the case of 18-year-old Calab Luckett who was found shot in an abandoned apartment, is no different.  While the crew found little information about his killer, they found a lot of information about a systemic problem of violence among youth. 

In November 1997, 13 year old Ricky Lane Thomas vanished into thin air.  Speculation surrounded a step father and the rural background makes a random abduction unlikely.  Will we ever know where Ricky is?

It takes a special kind of evil to prey on the weak.  Sarah Gibbs had autism spectrum disorder and was the target of someone heinous.  In December of 2014, in Warsaw, Indiana she was murdered and a fire was started to cover it up.  Her case remains cold.  Or does it?

The 1988 Murder of Mary Plummer is nothing short of a travesty.  Taken before her time, her family still suffers.  In cold cases like these, that are still entirely solvable, justice is still to be served. The prime suspect may be long dead, but the preponderance of evidence suggests he likely did not act alone.

The murder of Mary Plummer is not without suspects.  But what do you do when all the people who have motive and opportunity also have alibis?  As we learn this week, no alibi is airtight.  We just have to find the leaks.

Of course, a spouse will always be the first suspect in a homicide. Some will have doubts, especially when a case goes cold.  As we ask who and why would anyone want to kill Mary Plummer, we have to look at everyone, starting with those closest to her.