Decades before conspiracy rumors swirled around the unsolved 2016 murder of Seth Rich who worked for the Democratic National Committee, there was another DC murder that entertained various theories and conspiracies. The bizarre murder of Raymond “Nels” Nelson.
Claiborne Pell was a legend in Rhode Island politics. The former Senator grew up a child of privilege who didn’t like to flaunt his enormous wealth. When he was elected to his first term as a US Senator, he was viewed as a political outsider. Through the help Raymond Nelson, who was a (former bureau chief of the Providence Journal and Evening Bulletin Newspaper) Pell won in an upset. Nelson, was a skilled strategist and campaigner who ended up being the administrative assistant for Pell when he was in Washington DC. He eventually joined the staff of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. In 1976, the married father of three made a controversial decision and came out as a gay man. It damaged him politically but he refused to hide his sexualityfrom the public anymore.
However, things would take a dark turn for the Political Insider when on June 1, 1981, the 59-year-old was found murdered at his apartment at 701 Quincy Street, NE in Washington DC. The former professional typist turned political staffer had been bludgeoned to death with one of his own typewriters in his residence. For years there have been rumors about why he was murdered. Various comments and blog posts on the internet speculate that heavy political pressure play a part as to why the case remains unsolved.
The unsolved murder is still under investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department. If you have information about this case please call the police at 202 727-9099 or contact them via email at unsolved.murder@dc.gov. Nelson left behind three children and friends and family that are still looking for answers.
For additional information about this case please visit http://www.defrostingcoldcases.com/guest-post-in-loving-memory-raymond-nelson/
(Other Sources include the Providence Journal)
It was on the morning of January 28, 2012, when a skull and other skeletal remains were located at a trailer park on Hurst Street in the town of Opelika, Alabama, It was later determined that the remains were believed to be those of a young black girl of African ancestry. She was believed to be between 3 to 7 years of age. Police believe that this young child was likely physcically abused and malnourished. They believe her death likely resulted from a homicide sometime between 2010 and 2012.
Local authorities believe that they may actually have in their possession, pictures of what the child may have looked like before her death. The child pictured was at an event from the Greater Peace Baptist Church Vacation Bible School located in Opelika. The young girl pictured has never been identified and has blindness (defect) in one eye and a scar. Not much is known about the child in the picture but that she was withdrawn and had a hard time interacting socially with other children there.
Rodney Alcala was conniving and sadistic individual. He once even appeared on the legendary TV Show “The Dating Game”. He has five known victims in California from 1977 to 1979 and two victims in New York in 1971 and 1977. Law Enforcement belives the his victims might be higher and in more states. Alcala was a photographer and used his skills of taking pictures to lure victims in. When arrested, police found thousands of pictures. some of which included people that had been murdered. Other people recognized themselves as being in his stash of pictures (and were fortunately not any of his victims). Police are still trying to recognize all the people who were in Rodney Alcala’s photo collection. Please view them 
Created in 1980, the movie Friday the 13th scared and horrified movie audiences. The movie spawned a dozen sequels and it’s main villain, “Jason Vorhees”, has become a major part of American Culture. The movie took place at the fictional Camp Crystal Lake where, several camp counselor and visitors would lose their lives in horrible deaths. The movie was actually filmed in New Jersey at a Boy Scout camp named Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in the town of Hardwick. Several of the scenes in the first movie that took place in town were filmed in the town of Blairstown, New Jersey. Four decades later, the movies, especially the original are cult classics.
The town of Blairstown takes pride in the fact that many of the scenes of the classic slasher movie was filmed there. However, the town has a real life murder mystery in their hands. A murder that occurred just two years after the showing of the movie. Even though the murder did not occur on Friday the 13th, the victim was found in the town of where the original movie was filmed. It is a brutal crime that has never been solved.
It was July 15, 1982 when the horrible discovery was made in a forested area near the northern portion of the Cedar Ridge Cemetery on Route 94 in Blairstown. The victim was a caucasian female and was believed to have been dead for around a week. She sustained horrible injuries to her face and died from being bludgeoned. To date she has never been identified nor her killer(s) ever found. She is believed to be between the ages of 14 to 20 year old. 90 to 100 pounds (47.5 to 50 Kilograms) and five foot two to five foot four ( 1.5 to 1.67 meters). She had straight, shoulder-length hair that was brown. Here eye color is unknown. her left ear was double-pierced but the other ear is unknown to the decomposition of her body. Teeth were in good condition with some dental fillings. She had an unusual object in her position, a gold colored chain that had small white beads with a fourteen karat gold cross with an ornate design.
On June 12, 2006, 72-year-old Rhode Island native Edward “Eddie” Pollitelli arrived at the at Mama Mia New York Style Pizza and Pasta located in Stevenson Ranch, California. , a restaurant he had worked at before his retirement. Around 8:30 in the morning, Politelli was violently confronted by a still unidentified attacker who was carrying a machete. A co-worker told Police that he had heard Pollitelli say “don’t hurt me.” The co-worker thought that Pollitelli was joking around.
James Lee Jacobs grew up on the rough streets in Dorchester, Massachusetts, yet he managed to graduate high school in Marblehead and go on to serve in the military. He would attain the rank of Sergeant and would go off to war in Iraq. Despite suffering from the trauma of war, he was working full time and going to college to be an electrical engineer. On March 30th 2007, Jacobs was outside of his Range Rover on McLellan Street in Dorchester (Boston). He was waiting for a tow service because the tires on his car had been slashed. While he waited, a person in the neighborhood said that Jacob had 3 men approach him. An argument started and Jacobs was shot 18 times in the back. He was brutally murdered, just a few miles from where he grew up.
It was on October 27, 1996, when then thirty-nine year old Tony Valera was riding his bicycle at night and his life was robbed from him by a hit and run driver. The popular kick-boxing instructor had been riding on darkened portion of Alessandro Boulevard in Moreno Valley. He had been heading east on Alessandro Boulevard close to the dirt extension of Morrison Street which is a half a mile from his home. Around 7:30pm a large, white four-door sedan hit him from behind. To this date, the driver who killed Tony has never been identified. Following his death, roadblocks were set up in hopes of getting information but nothing panned out. His siblings are still very much dedicated to getting answers as well as justice for their deceased brother.
Savagewatch - Unsolved Crime 