Author: Cold Cases

It was on April 25th, 2019 when the body of 24 year old Amber Lazenby was found on private property in the city of Muskegon Heights, Michigan.   Her body was found in the rear of a disabled vehicle and drug paraphernalia was reported near the vehicle.  Lazenby had an addiction to drugs and would engage in prostitution.   In 24 years, Lazenby had a tough life. Her mother left her and her younger sister when they were just young children.  They were raised by their father and her aunt.  Family members also believe that she may have been sexually abused by someone related to her.  These factors may have vastly contributed to her drug addiction.   There are questions as to how she died.  An autopsy could not determine a cause of death.  There was trauma on her body but questions remain if they occurred after she had died.  It is possible that she could have died from a drug overdose and even though there was no presence of opioids in her system, cocaine and marijuana were present.  

It looks more likely that it was a homicide.  The autopsy revealed a fractured cervical (neck) bone among other unusual findings including a major laceration on her head.   Law Enforcement is looking at the case but family members express concern about their calls not being returned.    Her Aunt and cousins want answers and if it’s a homicide…. They want justice.    To view Amber’s autopsy click here.  w19-0357_amber_lazenby_autopsy-signed

To view a copy of the Death Certificate.

Once Again, I receive news of another death of a person from the scourge of drug/alcohol addiction. This time it is someone I have never met but yet I would talk to his mother for a newspaper article I wrote about COVID 19 and the effects it had on drug treatment and addiction months earlier. For two decades her child was in the battle of their life. She tried to help him but in the end they lost. And now another family mourns……

I’ve known several people to die from drug overdoses in recent years. One was a mother of a young son looking to find her way in life, another was a musician/artist who designed my music album cover who struggled with drugs/alcohol for years, a third was a former co-worker was a married father of 9 who was not an addict but accidentally took too much pain killers for a medical condition, and the last being a woman grieving the death of her sister only weeks earlier from cancer needing to numb her own emotional pain from that loss. Now, as I write this, I think about how decades earlier of a former classmate from the University of Rhode Island who was a talented jazz pianist was found dead of an overdose. He passed when I was around 20 years of age.

Drug/alcohol addiction may be done at the hands of the user but sadly there are people along the way that provide the drugs, alcohol and reasons too. Drug pushers and abusers are those that I’m talking about. In the end their supply and cause of mental/physical trauma pour the gasoline as the addict lights the match dangerously close every time……

Here are two recent ones. One supposedly from Discover Card (note the sender’s address in both the Discover and beneath it the Apple. Both emails senders do not use official email accounts from the companies, so they make up ones that sound similar. Also pay attention how they don’t address you by name and just by either email address or the generic hello. They both try to get you to click on links to either put a virus on your computer or get you to input your login and passwords for your respective accounts (if you have either an apple or discover account). Be cybersafe everyone…

The Apple Scam has a different destination address then what the link states in the email. (hovering over the hyperlink demonstrates this) Here they are trying to get your billing information which will likely mean they want your checking account information)

They call him “Psycho” and despite the facial tattoos, there’s a good reason why….https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/11/18/adre-psycho-baroz-wanted-remains-3-victims-found-southern-colorado/

UPDATE: 11-20-2020. He is caught and arrested. https://nypost.com/2020/11/19/suspect-arrested-in-connection-to-colorado-human-remains/

LOCATED SAFE 1/1/2024: 

I started Savagewatch twenty years ago as a website about solving cold cases in Connecticut.  I had no experience of having anyone I know go missing or be a victim of a serious unsolved crime at the time.  In the years since, I would learn of a missing nephew (Harmon Shea) of a family friend who went missing.  An unidentified man found in a river in Massachusetts (I looked at a photo of his tattoo when he was an unidentified deceased person) but did not realize that I had met the person in question several times prior to his drowning.  I had no idea that the man was missing until good police work revealed who he was.  

But now, there is an active missing person case in Oregon of a person who I have known since he was a young child.  His parents and my parents are friends.  His older brother I still talk to and he currently works in Law Enforcement  But since February of 2020, no one has seen 44 year old Dave Merkelson.  

Dave had struggled at times during his life with mental health issues .  He moved to Israel and wandered the desert there only to be taken in by members of a Bedouin Tribe.  Dave would soon find purpose out in Israel by joining the military.  After serving his time which did involve being in armed combat, he took up martial arts.  He competed professionally in a few matches as well as partaking in amateur tournaments in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Dave would get married and open up his own Mixed MArtial Arts school (his name is also spelled Markleson).  Years later, looking for other opportunities, he would move to the United States.  Things would not progress for him there as job opportunities didn’t pan out and his wife and him broke up.  

Life would eventually find him in a motel in Beaverton, Oregon.  Struggling with anxiety, he would leave his car behind with his wallet, phone and personal identification inside.  It is possible that Dave could be living off the grid.  He had done that before while in Israel and has the life skills to do that which he learned in the Israeli Military.  

Dave if you read this, please contact your parents or brother and let them know where you are.  You can also contact this website.   

David considers himself a primate in that he thinks people should live in a hunter and gather society. He is upset with the damage that Climate Change has done. He is non-religious. 

If you have any information about the whereabouts of Dave Merkelson contact the Beaverton Police Department at (503) 526-2260.

Dave competing in an MMA Fight  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkXpZriUoC0&list=LL&index=3&t=168s

Dave at his wedding with his wife dancing to “Time of My LIfe” hit song

Always look at the last few letters of the sender email’s address. This webpage linked below will tell you what country the sender (scammer) may be from…. Be alert and be careful. Have questions? Call Law Enforcement or research it on the internet. http://theemailfinder.com/emailcountrycodes.html

It may have been self defense against a gangster threatening a star athlete, his family and businesses. But did former Superbowl winner Marvin Harrison have something to do with the homicide of a man harassing him or did someone else in the neighborhood commit the murder.

For decades the Golden State Killer did not have a name. Now we know who he is. Former police officer/military man Joseph D’Angelo. Here is his prison mugshot.

Case submitted and narrated by Jessica Borreson (Daughter of Theresa)

Theresa Ann Davidson-Murphy was born in California (USA) on 5/15/65. She would go missing on (October 7th, 1999) in Rainier, Oregon (USA) after my mom and I moved from Washington . She left her job house everything to live where Richard wanted to. Well I had just turned 13 years old and my mom took me to Richard’s (her husband) cousin’s house so his daughter and I could go to Washington to play volleyball. That was Thursday, my mom said she would be back on Tuesday to pick me up…she never showed up i last spoke to my mother that Saturday when I called the house and she said everything was fine. Richard said he was up north camping .. I called the house over and over trying to get a hold of my mom..no answer the following week on Sunday Richard answered the phone said he would be over to get me he didn’t know where my mom was.. He still didn’t come until the next day.. He owned a construction and pest control business and if you have ever seen one you know there vans aren’t clean well. When he showed up his can was spotless clean, only a green rain coat. He automatically started to bad mouth my mom saying she used drugs. My mom is not the type to up and just leave .. When Richard and I pulled up in the driveway at our house, my mom’s truck was there and all the camping stuff was still at the bottom back of the storage shed.. He told me he contacted hospitals, police and everyone to try to find my mom. He told me I could go love with my dad or he could pay $5000 for me to stay with him… He wouldn’t let me take any of my mothers stuff. His words were. If she comes back she will need it..

He refuses a polygraph, he has a new girlfriend a month later. He is no help neither, are the detectives.

Written by Reddit user Exiemack.

Their friend Ben Jernigan was murdered in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2016 in a still unsolved murder. The loss of him still burns for his family and friends.

Who killed my friend Ben?
byu/exiemack inUnresolvedMysteries