Mid-West Cases

Savage Murder of Married Couple Still Haunt Town and Family

It was October 21st, 2005 when a family member made the shocking discovery at about 7:21 am, the deceased bodies of Terry and Darleen Anderson. The married couple had been beaten to death inside their Mongo, Indiana home in Largrange County of Indiana. It appeared to be a robbery as several items were taken. 57 year old Darleen had been attacked as she down in her house. Her 59 year old husband, Terry was bludgeoned to death in a nearby barn pole. Some of the family members of the Andersons, believe that the items taken were done so to make the crime look like a robbery. They feel that the items taken were known by the killer(s). The nature of the crimes were brutal and some family believe that killings were personal and very sinister.
If you have any information about this double murder please contact the The LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department at (260) 463-7491. All calls can be confidential. There may still be a reward for information leading to a conviction or closure of this case.

Murders of 5 Women Still Haunt Tinley Park

It is still regarded as one of the worst single crimes in the history of the state of Illinois. On the morning of February 2, 2008, a gunman walked into the Lane Bryant store at the Brookside Marketplace plaza located on 191st Street and Harlem Avenue and shot 6 women execution style. Only one of the women survived in the brutal attack in the town of Tinley Park.
A black man around 6 foot 2 with a large build posed as a delivery man and tied up the 6 women before he committed his brutal massacre. The store manager Rhoda McFarland managed to call police before she, Sarah Szafranski, Carrie Hudek Chiuso, Connie Woolfolk and Jennifer Bishop were slain.

There is a $100,000 reward for information in this multiple murder case. If you have any information about this case please call 708-444-5394 or you can email a tip at lanebryant.tipline@tinleypark.org.

Murder of Father Motivates Son as Professional Mixed Martial Arts Champion Fighter

It wasn’t easy for brother Anthony and his younger brother Sergio growing up in the tough streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But the two now make a living as Mixed Martial Artists. They have fought in various promotions including Anthony who at one time won the lightweight Championship in the UFC.
The two brothers had their father Eugene Pettis Jr. as a role model and guide to help them. But it is his death that haunts and serves as motivation.

Eugene Pettis at one time had gang affiliations and was known as a street fighter. However, he moved on from the lifestyle so he could support his family with legitimate work. On November 12, 2003, Eugene Pettis was stabbed to death in a robbery at a friend’s house near Layton and Burnham in the southern part of the city. Two masked men broke into the home and pistol whipped a woman that was there. A twelve year old child was shot in the knees yet survived. One of the intruders stabbed Pettis several times in the chest. Pettis made it out of the house only to die moments later across the street. The murder remains cold but with the popularity of Anthony as champion, it is assumed that people will start to talk. If you have any information about who killed Eugene Pettis please call the Milwaukee Police Department at 414-935-1212. You can remain anonymous.

Daytime Assassination Leaves Many Questions

It was a bad day on January 11, 1984, when two unidentified white men walked into the real estate office of Jack Brown at around 11:15 am in the town of Ypsilanti, Michigan. One of them forced several workers into a bathroom while another shot the 47 year old married father. Brown would die hours the next morning at a nearby hospital. Police were baffled as to why? Brown was not known to engage in any criminal lifestyle. Witnesses describe one male with a height of around five foot ten inches wearing a blue knit cap and blue coveralls.

The other was around six foot three inches tall and wore a beige jacket. The taller of the men was the one that shot Brown. It is possible that someone held a deadly grudge against the broker and real estate agent. Other theories pointed out that Brown may have exposed some corruption among several influential people in the area. If you have any information about this case please call the Ypsilanti Police at (734) 483-9510.

Woman Seeks Justice in Homicides of Family

Losing a family member to homicide is traumatic. For Kala McCrayer, she has had to deal with it three times. First her 45 year old mother Rhonda Beers disappeared from the city of Lansing, Michigan on May 15, 2001. She was last seen at 11:30am in the area of Kalamazoo Street and Francis Street. She is described as being five foot three, weighing 120 pounds, auburn colored hair with blue eyes. She also was missing all the teeth in her upper mouth and only a few in her lower jaw. It is believed she is the victim of a homicide. Eleven months later, Kala’s father was stabbed to death in his home in Lansing. An individual was arrested and convicted in that case.

Tragedy would strike a third time when Kala’s twin brother, 25 year old Kyle Baldwin was run over by a vehicle on March 29, 2014 in the town of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. While the driver of the vehicle that ran him over was identified. Questions persist as to who put Baldwin in the road. Was he hit by another vehicle or assaulted and left to die on Broadway Road just east of Summerton around 3 a.m. Saturday.

The Lansing Police Department is handling the case of the disappearance of Rhonda Beers and can be reached at (517) 483-4600. Roy Cranz from the FBI at (989)895-5712 and Detective Mata of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police at (989)775-4700 are handling the mysterious homicide of Kyle Baldwin. If you have any information about these two unsolved cases, you are urged to call.

Murder That Rattled Major City Still A Cold Case

Fifty years is a long time. But there’s always time to bring a killer to justice. The brutal killing of Beverly Jarosz horrified even the most hardened of police investigators. Jarosz was a popular, pretty student at Marymount High School, (Catholic girls school — now co-ed and named Trinity High in the small city of Garfield Heights in Ohio. Boys liked her and police think that one took a fatal attraction to her. It was on December 28th, 1964 that the sixteen year old was found slain in the bedroom that she shared with her younger sister. It was her sister that discovered the murder scene where Beverly had been strangled with a rope and stabbed 42 times. The crime was major news in Ohio for weeks. Police immediately surmised that the crime was an assassination. The family recounted the numerous hung up phone calls, anonymous gifts of jewelry left at the house addressed “To Bev”. There was even a case of her father chasing an unknown man from the front lawn that was peeping at Beverly’s room. Numerous people were questioned but the case is still unsolved.
If you have any information about this case please contact the Garfield Heights Police Department at (216) 475-6607.

Is There Hope in Cold Case Slaying of Young Married Co-ed?

It was January 5, 1981, the 21st birthday of Oklahoma State student Tracy Nielson but instead of celebrating her life, her family was mourning her brutal death. It was in her apartment in Moore, Oklahoma, that the married co-ed was stabbed to death and found by her husband around 5pm that day. Her husband had gone shopping that day to buy her a gift for her birthday.
There are two clues that could break open this case, first a Southwestern Bell cable ticket book found inside the apartment with someones initials. Second a key chain with her name on it was missing from her apartment and the killer may have taken possession of it.
There is a $100,000 reward offered, raised mostly from Tracey’s family, for information that will result in a conviction. If you know anything about the murder of Tracy Nielson please contact the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation hotline at 1-800-522-8017. Every lead helps.

Murder Investigation Results in Wrong Conviction, Who is Real Killer

It was a brutal horrible crime. 18 year old Pamela Willis was asleep in her bedroom at 427 SW 39 when a killer invaded the house she was in and stabbed her to death on December 11th, 1982. The murder of the daughter of a police officer shook the community of Oklahoma City. She had been raped, strangled and found with a knife in her chest. Several suspects were looked at. A drug dealer who sold Willis LSD days before, was eventually convicted of the murder. He was sentenced to death but in 2005, DNA evidence would exonerate him from the crime. The murder is still unsolved. If you know anything about the murder of Pam Willis, please contact the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation hotline at 1-800-522-8017.

Another Lottery Winners Cursed With Murder

Winning the lottery is often a life changing event. Most of the time winners of giant jackpots seem to live the rest of their lives in relative happiness. But there are many stories of winners losing all their money as well as their happiness. Jack Whittaker is one person who lost several family members and most of his most money to alcohol, drugs and bad luck. There is also the solved murder of Abraham Shakespeare which was committed by the sinister Dee Dee Moore. But it is perhaps the untimely death of Urooj Khan who was a 46 year old Chicago, Illinois married man who died a supposed natural death just days before he was to collect a $425,000 lump-sum, after-tax winnings prize. Months later it was revealed by medical experts that Khan was poisoned from cyanide ingestion. His estate is now in limbo as family members have traded accusations as to who killed the lottery winner for the high priced ticket.

A Phone Call, a Murder, and a Killer Unidentified for Decades

It was February 12, 1978 when a reporter at the newspaper company the Saginaw News received an eerie phone call. A male voice told the reporter that there was a dead body at 1616 Walnut in Saginaw, Michigan. The caller stated that the female victim was strangled, raped and stabbed. Police went to investigate the phone call and found the caller was telling the truth, they found the body of Charlene Johnson-Lane in her home. On February 15th, the killer called the Saginaw newspaper again and confessed but would not reveal who he was. The killer promised that he would turn himself in but never did. He called one more time but the case has gone cold. Charlene Johnson-Lane was 28 years old and separated from her husband at the time but her ex-husband has never been identified as a suspect. It is likely that he is not the killer.
If you have any information about this case, please call the Major Crimes Unit at 989-759-1289, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-422-JAIL (5245). You can remain anonymous.

Acquaintance of former United States President Obama Murdered

Donald Young was a 47 year old man who was a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ which was attended by President Barack Obama and had Jeremiah Wright as the pastor. On December 23rd, 2007, he was discovered dead inside his South Side home at 2320 E. 69th Street in Chicago. He was shot multiple times. Young was a well known member of the congregation as he was a Sunday School Teacher and the Choir Director. His murder is a cold case and remains a mystery. This murder as well as the deaths of two other alleged members of the Reverend Wright’s church has become the fodder of many conspiracy theories. But what remains clear is that someone murdered Donald Young. Who that person is, remains a mystery.
If you have any information about this cold case please call the Chicago Police Department at (312) 744-5983

Murder of Stepmother and Son Still Haunt Detectives and Family

It was a brutal crime, one that detectives in the town of Franklin, Indiana are determined to solve. It was on July 24, 2006, when 26-year-old Chynna Dickus and her 10-year-old step-son Blake, who were found stabbed to death in a town famous for it’s high school basketball exploits and championships. Sean Dickus, the husband and father of the victims has been cleared as a potential suspect and police are looking at the possibility of a robbery gone wrong.
If you have information about this case, please call the Franklin Police Department at (317) 346-1142. There is a $25,000 reward that is being offered for any information that leads to an arrest of the individual(s) involved in this crime.