Summary: On March 9th, 2000, Leah Roberts left her home in Raleigh, North Carolina. A note to her sister suggested she was going on a free-spirited road trip. But three days later, her credit card would be used for the final time in Brooks, OR (about an hour south of Portland) and then her Jeep Cherokee would be found on March 18th, in Northwestern Washington, badly damaged, but with no evidence that Leah or her cat were in the vehicle at the time of the crash, in fact, not evidence anyone was inside at the time of the crash. Later evidence would reveal that Leah drove I40 to Los Angeles, then I5 to Bellingham, a strange route considering her destination, and possibly rigged her car to crash on its own.

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Leah_Roberts

Unsolved Writeup: https://unsolved.com/gallery/leah-roberts/

Overview of the Route:

Bank card evidence shows that Leah took I40 from Raleigh, North Carolina, to its terminus near Los Angeles, California. While her exact route isn't known, we know that she then took I5 to Brooks Oregon, which would be the last time her cards would be used. It is assumed she took I5 to Bellingham, as on March 13th, she purchased an afternoon movie ticket there and was seen having lunch by two men. This is a trip of ~3,800 miles, which was completed in less than 4 days.

Timeline:

March 9th, 2000: Leah leaves Raleigh in the early afternoon. She purchases a motel room in Memphis Tennessee. She covered about 750 miles the first day.

Midnight March 12th/March 13th, 2000: Leah's bank card is used a final time in Brooks, OR. Security camera footage shows her seemingly healthy, albeit watching something or someone in the parking lot.

March 13th, 2000: according to a ticket found in her vehicle, Leah saw a matinee showing of American Beauty, and according to eye witnesses, she ate a meal in Bellingham WA.

March 18th, 2000: Leah's vehicle is found in Canyon Creek, Washington. There is a semi-credible claim that Leah was seen in a disoriented state at a gas station in Bellingham.

Context from Leah's Life: Leah had lost both her parents before graduating college, been in an injurious crash that damaged her leg, and dropped out of college the spring before she would have graduated (it's not clear to me if she attended the spring semester partially or not at all.) After dropping out, she hung out at a local bookstore and became fascinated with the Beat Generation, in particular, she was inspired by Jack Kerouac's road trips through the west, and his stint at the Desolation Peak Lookout (fire tower.) After she left, her sister found a note that said "I’m not suicidal. I’m the opposite. Remember Jack Kerouac.” Her family believes that she was going to Desolation Peak as a way to connect to his experience. They also believed, until the discovery of her vehicle, that she intended this to be a free-spirited roadtrip, lasting about a month (based on the fact she gave a housemate money to cover her share for about that length of time.)

Problems with the Timeline:

Author butting in here; as a westerner, I do a lot of long trips, and I used to do a multi-day trip 8-10 times a year. I'm typically able to average about 50 to 55 miles of progress each hour I'm actively traveling. For instance, if I leave my morning location, and arrive my evening location 10 hours later, I will have, at maximum, traveled 550 miles from my starting point. The speed limit might be as high a 75 or 80, but due to stops, slow downs, construction, and congestion, I only make 50-55 miles of progress. Once in a while I can get it up to 60 miles per hour of travel, but that's rare. In the right vehicle, in the right places, it's possible to make better average time, but Leah's vehicle was a 1993 Jeep Cherokee. Oddly enough, I've known two people who owned this vehicle, and both said that they were not good highway cars as they vibrate at higher speeds, and really prefer to cruise at a lower speed, say 60-65. Jeeps also suffer from something called a Death Wobble that slows them down. Anyway, back to Leah's timeline problems:

The first day is a long day of 12-15 hours driving. But the next two days would be utterly breakneck travel, as she covered ~2700 miles in less than 48 hours. This gives her an average speed of almost 60 miles per hour, which as I state above, is difficult to do. If she stopped for even a short break of 6 hours, her average speed would have been a 67 miles per hour. More realistically, the vehicle was traveling almost the entire time, averaging closer to 55 miles per hour. I've done 16 hours of driving in a day. It's exhausting. I've never done 18 that I recall. Not by myself. To do a 12-15 hour day sucks a lot, but then it seems feasible she slept it off in Memphis. But then she got up and did nearly non-stop driving in unfamiliar country, for nearly 48 hours, with any rest apparently being in her car.

On the fourth day, she's up an at it early enough to be in town for a matinee movie. I'll be honest, if I'd just driven non-stop for 2 days, had a short rest, and then done almost 8 more hours of driving, all I want to do is sleep, and a movie theatre isn't a cheap or easy place to do that.

I think it's safe to say, Leah was really hauling ass.

How did Leah achieve this aggressive travel schedule and still arrive well-rested enough to apparently enjoy a movie, and not seem worn out on security footage? And why, on a supposedly free-spirited roundtrip meant to last a month, was she hauling ass?

Personally, I think there's really only three good explanations for this rate of speed:

Leah was using substances to stay awake and alert.

Lead was experiencing mania that was allowing her to stay awake.

There was a second driver.

Of these options, I personally feel that only the second driver makes sense. I believe any drugs she may have taken to stay awake and alert would have probably led to erratic or dangerous driving that would have LIKELY attracted notice on these busy routes. If she was experiencing mania, I believe it's even more likely she would have driven erratically. But we don't have records of police stops. I also think if she were on drugs or experiencing mania she'd have gotten off the main road, spent money, or stopped to pass out somewhere along the route.

I also think her stop in Memphis suggests a second driver. While again, a 12 hour day of driving is a lot of driving, especially for someone who seems to have not done a lot of long haul driving, it's still very doable for a solitary driver. She stopped at a reasonable point and rested on a reasonable human schedule. Her pace only picks up to non-stop after Memphis. Put a pin in this, as a second driver also helps with the next problem. ** Problems with the Route: ** I40 makes sense for a bit, being a direct route west until reaching Nashville but taking it all the way to California added 1000+ miles to the trip. 1000 miles of some extremely repetitive driving, too. It's possible that she wanted to stay off more northerly routes to avoid late season storms, but I80 or I70 would have still been southerly enough to benefit from most of the route experiencing spring. There's only a limited section of possibly dicey driving on that route during the spring, but it seems like if she was on some sort of schedule (and from her non-stop driving habit, it seems she was), it seems like that possibility would have been worth shaving off nearly 20 hours of travel time. But she still took I40 to I5.

Before we argue that it's 2000 and there's no Google Maps, Mapquest existed, as did atlases. Furthermore, road signs would have guided her on a more direct route if that was all she was following. Nothing would have "chosen" this route for her if she was looking for instructions.

The other issue with the route is that if she had intended for it to be a pilgrimage out west, I40 isn't really the classic route for someone headed to Oregon, and then Washington. But, the western portion I40 does overlap significantly with route 66, which may have been her intention. While I think of I70 having the classic pioneer landmarks and stops, the western portion of I40 does have a lot of cachet and charm. But if her intention had been a free-spirited roadtrip on either of these routes, why not you know, stop and enjoy the scenery instead of barreling through like a rocket sled on wheels?

Why did Leah choose this southerly route? And why, if she was on a free-spirited roadtrip that overlapped with famous Route 66, did she never seem to stop to take it in?

Personally, I think this route may have been selected because it was absolutely free of snow, and with a second driver, it could still be accomplished in a tight timeframe. This route also may have suited the second driver. It stands to reason that the second driver appears after the stop in Memphis, but not in Memphis (if they had joined in Memphis, I don't think she would have stopped for the night, because they already planned to swap in and out of driving duties.) I would argue that they joined the trip within 10-12 hours of departing Memphis, because that seems to be when she's too tired to drive again, and if she were alone, she would have again stopped to rest.

It's also possible that this route accommodated the second driver's destination, which may have been in California, or Southern Oregon. Because they didn't report any belongings in the Jeep that didn't belong or feasibly belong to Leah, and Leah appears to have taken a sleep break between March 12th and March 13th that indicated she was again a solitary driver, I think it's safe to say this second driver got out before the Brooks-to-Bellingham leg of the trip. Also, at this point the police mention that if she did have traveling companions at this point, they didn't feel they were in the car with her.

But let me ask the question that isn't directly related to the problems with the timeline or the route, but is tangled up with both: ** Why does Leah seem to be on a schedule?**

I don't have any explanation for why she might have been on a schedule. At best I can say that maybe she wanted to get there fast and then do a slow route home, but that doesn't pay well with the route problems. If there was a second driver, it's possible their own needs contributed to the sense of needing to be as fast as possible, but once Leah dropped them off (which seems to have been in the early hours of the 12th) Leah had no need to maintain the breakneck pace, and yet, she did not stop to enjoy the new Beatnik scene in Portland Oregon, which seemed like it would have been a draw, nor did she enjoy the Columbia Gorge, the Pacific Northwest coast, or anything else, instead beating a fast path to her final destination, only to stop and see a movie when she was less than an hour away from her final destination (and where her vehicle would be found.) I can't say this makes sense to me.

Post Road Trip:

Personally, I feel that if we could answer why Leah chose the route she did, why she took it so fast (and how) that we'd understand where her story seemingly ends. So I think my other questions are more important. But we do have a final sighting, and a vehicle to contend with.

On March 14th, Leah was supposedly seen in Bellingham by two men at a lunch counter. (This is the same day of the movie ticket.) One man claimed he'd seen her but not spoken with her. The other man said that they spike about Jack Kerouac, and that she had a travel partner named "Barry." The police find this man suspicious because the other man claimed that Leah was alone. I'm not sure I find that so odd -- in this subreddit I think we all know that eye witness testimony has flaws, and there's a variety of reasons the man may have believed Leah to be traveling with a partner; Leah herself may have made "Barry" up as a safety mechanism. He may have mistaken the Barry in her story to be the other man at the counter, too. While the man who claimed Leah was traveling with Barry has since left the country, I'm not sure we should consider this as suspicious as some investigators do. (More in a moment.) Investigators still had a sketch artist work up a sketch of "Barry." The sketch is of a remarkably generic white guy. (Does he look like the first guy?)

Could "Barry" have been her second driver?

On March 18th, clothes were found in a tree branch, and further inspection revealed broken branches where Leah's car had darted off the road and tumbled down an embankment. Her clothing, wallet, and jewelry were found in the vehicle. Blankets covered the broken windows as though someone had been staying in the vehicle or protecting the contents. But Leah and her cat were missing.

Why leave money, important mementos, and everything else she'd so carefully chosen to come with her in the car?

The "Accident":

There was no blood inside the vehicle as would be expected after an accident of such scale. A man's fingerprint was found in the vehicle, as was DNA, but the fingerprint did not match the man the police found suspicious. When the case was reopened, the Jeep was reviewed, and it was determined that the Jeep had been "rigged" to accelerate on its own, which suggested that the accident was not an accident. But as Leah's body was not inside, it wasn't an accident that was seemingly designed to cover up a murder or be an actual murder. This also would have required some mechancial know-how, know-how that seems unlikely to have come from Spanish and Anthropology major.

Who rigged the car? If Leah agreed to dump the car, why? Is it possible that this is actually the result of damage the accident caused, and not deliberate?

"Conclusion" and Final Questions:

I believe that Leah was on a schedule of some kind, and I believe she had a second driver who may have added schedule pressures. I believe, however, something happened on the 14th; either she met her schedule or she blew it completely, and that's why she went to a movie. I also believe she temporarily had a second driver, and I'm willing to guess that this was a man. If that's so, she had to have felt safe enough having him driver her car with her asleep, and not deviate from the plan. Either she's very trusting, or she knew him well enough. It's possible the second driver was also female, but that wouldn't play well with the "Barry" detail, nor the male DNA found in the car. (Implied to be spit, but I'm not sure.) I don't know if I think Leah is dead. Honestly, I don't. But I don't know how she could "become" someone else in this day and age, especially since it seems she had neither money nor valuables to sell.

Cindy James was a 44 year old nurse living in the suburbs of Vancouver, Canada. When police found her body on the front lawn of an abandoned house in 1989, her hands and feet were bound behind her back, and she had been strangled. But how she died, and importantly, who killed her is still a mystery.

Cindy claimed she had a stalker since 1982

Four months after separating from her husband in 1982, she claimed got creepy and threatening phone calls. In the next 7 years, Cindy would contact the police nearly 100 times reporting events ranging from being physically attacked by an unknown person to phone calls in the middle of the night with threats or audible breathing on the other end to strange notes and strange letters. Such as:

In 1983, her friend was visiting Cindy and found her outside of her house with a nylon stocking tied tightly around her neck. She claimed that she was going to the garage and was attacked from behind by someone wearing white sneakers. Cindy moved shortly after.

Cindy had hired a private investigator who had given her a two-way radio to keep with her so she and the PI could speak directly. One night in 1984, the PI heard some strange sounds over the radio and went to Cindy's house. The door was locked, but when the PI looked through the window Cindy was on the floor with a small paring knife that was stabbed through her hand. At the hospital she claimed that the same person who attacked her sometimes showed up with two or three other people to harass her. She also claimed that that night, she remembered being poked with a needle. Here's a picture of her face after this attack.

In 1985 she was found in a ditch disoriented with no memory of what happened miles away from her house. She had hypothermia and cuts and bruises all over. She was wearing men's boots and gloves and had a nylon stocking tied around her neck.

In 1986, Cindy was living with her friend and her friend's husband who were there to provide her a sense of security. One night, they awoke to the basement on fire and the phone lines cut. The husband ran to the neighbors house and allegedly saw a man standing on the curb who later ran away. The police claimed that the fire was set by someone in the house, because everything was locked and undisturbed - if someone had come in, they would have had to break in through a very oddly placed and shaped window which would have surely been damaged while climbing through. No fingerprints were found.

That same year, Cindy's doctor had her committed into a psychiatric ward because the doctor believed she was suicidal. After being released, Cindy's family claims that she told them that she knew a lot more about these events than she was telling everyone and the police. She had an earlier stint in a psychiatric hospital in 1985 for depression and anxiety, but it’s not clear if it was voluntary or involuntary.

In October 1988, Cindy said she was almost murdered in her driveway but did not report it to the police. The source is from Cindy’s sister’s blog.

During this time, the police had extended 24 hour surveillance of her house numerous times but would never see anything. Once they left, Cindy would report that the attacks and calls would happen again.

Cindy is found dead

Finally in May 1989 (almost 7 years since the first strange phone calls), Cindy went missing and her car was later found in a parking lot where there were groceries and a wrapped present inside. Blood was on the outside of the driver's side door, and the contents of Cindy's purse were found underneath the car. I can't find any information on whether the blood was Cindy's or not.

Two weeks later her body was found on the lawn of an abandoned house. Her hands and feet were hogtied behind her back. But her cause of death was an overdose of morphine and other drugs. The case was closed as a suicide, but the coroner made no determination of whether the death was an accident, suicide, or murder. ** Theories on what happened ** If you go the murder route, then the theory is that there really was a stalker who had done all of these things and ended up killing her when the time was right. This would also connect Cindy's memory of being poked with a needle in the first attack and then eventually overdosing on morphine. But who was it? Police suspected her ex husband and also her on and off again boyfriend who was also a cop. If it was her boyfriend, it would explain how no evidence was really found and how the police didn't do much, because he would know how to stage scenes a certain way and dissuade the cops.

If you go the accident route, another theory is that Cindy had a mental condition and was faking all of the attacks for attention. She accidentally overdosed on morphine and died when she was actually just trying to replicate the state she was in when she was found in the ditch years earlier. Cindy's faking would also explain the lack of evidence.

If you go the suicide route, then perhaps Cindy was trying to make her suicide as sensational as possible with the hogtying behind her back and her car being found with blood and her purse items scattered underneath the car. How exactly the 7 years' events factor into this, I'm not sure there is a good explanation.

I personally believe she really did have a stalker, exactly who I'm not sure. But I don't think all of Cindy's reports were legitimate. I think she was frustrated at the lack of progress and fabricated some events to get the police to pay attention to her case again. I don't think the major instances of her being beaten/attacked were fabricated, but perhaps some of the phone calls and threatening letters. Exactly who her stalker was is anyone's guess.

More detail is at the unsolved website.

An excerpt of a book written by Cindy's sister provides more details Here's her sister's blog which provides more details

Bill and Peggy Stephenson were two halves of a loving elderly couple known in Florence, Kentucky, for their church work and generosity. Bill had founded the Trucker’s Chapel Ministry, a spot where traveling transporters could gather and pray. Peggy played organ at Union Baptist Church.

They led quiet but impactful lives, according to their loved ones – which made the disturbing crime scene police discovered in May 2011 all the more unfathomable.

On May 29, 2011, the Stephensons were slain in brutal fashion – bludgeoned and stabbed – and then, whoever killed them staged a bizarre scene. Detective Coy Cox, who’s headed the Boone County Sheriff’s investigation since Day 1, told me he’s been “guarded and careful” about the details he’s released from the start. What he will say is that the bodies had been posed. Items inside the house had been moved around. “There wasn’t one room in that house that wasn’t staged,” Cox said recently on a podcast called Just the Tip-sters, in which host Melissa Morgan features unsolved cases.

Investigators have long believed that whoever killed the Stephensons knew them. This is based on a few things: There was no sign of forced entry at their condo, and the couple would have had to buzz in any visitors. Neighbors were situated quite close, yet reported nothing out of the ordinary. The killer(s) also seemed comfortable in the environment, staying hours after the couple was killed to inflict a postmortem injury on one of them and stage the scene.

There also was a message left by the killer(s), Cox said, though he wouldn’t share the details.

Detectives state this case is an old case not a cold case. They have continued to work hard and follow up on any and all leads.

Backstory: Detective vows brutal slayings of Florence couple won't go unsolved

Brandon Swanson was born to Brian and Annette Swanson o January 30, 1989. He was born and raised in Marshall, Michigan. Brandon had recently graduated from Marshall Senior High School in 2007. He was enrolled in a one-year program in Wind turbines at Minnesota West Community and Technical College located in Canby, Minnesota. The day Brandon went missing. Leading up to Brandon’s disappearance, he was celebrating the end of his program at Minnesota West Community and Technical College. His friends threw him two parties on May 13, 2008. The first party Brandon went to was located in Lynd, Minnesota which is 7 miles away from his home. Around midnight, Brandon left the first party and drove approximately 40 minutes to Canby, Minnesota to attend the second party. Friends who went to both parties, recall that Brandon had consumed alcohol but he was not intoxicated.

By 1:45 a.m. Brandon crashed his Chevy Lumina in a small ditch. Thankfully, Brandon is not injured, but he does call his parents to help get out of the ditch. At this point, he was in between Lynd and Marshall. His parents set out to find Brandon, they recall that they thought they knew exactly where Brandon was. However, when they arrived there was no car or sign of Brandon. Brain called his son again to see if he could see headlights or hear the car horn, but Brandon could not see or hear anything. His parents were aware that Brandon had the wrong directions. Brandon was confident that he was giving his parents the correct directions, which led to frustration but nevertheless, he stayed on the phone with his mother.

Brandon told his mother he would stay on the phone but would leave his car and attempt to walk toward the lights he could see in the distance. Brandon had assumed that it was towards the town of Lynd, he did this all while on the phone with his parents. He remained on the phone with his parents for 47 minutes. Around 2:30 a.m on May 14, 2008, Brandon screamed “Oh Shit” before the call ended. His father tried to call him back several times but Brandon never picked up.

His parents reached out to Brandon’s friends for help and they searched all night, driving through farmland and dirt roads, but unfortunately, there was no sign of Brandon. By 6:30 a.m. Annette reported her son missing to Lynd Police Department, and it wasn’t long before officers joined the search for Brandon. There was still no sign of Brandon. According to a CNN article, the search response was delayed because it was not unusual for a 19-year-old to stay out all night after finishing school. One officer also told Annette Swanson that her son “had the right to go missing”. Police were able to locate Brandon’s car roughly 25 miles from Lynd and were unclear as to which direction he was headed while on foot.

Brandon Victor Swanson stands at 5’6” and weighs 125 pounds. He has brown hair, and blue eyes and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a white or black hat twisted to the side, and a white short-sleeve shirt.

Brandon’s case remains unsolved. On July 1, 2009, Brandon’s Law went into effect in Minnesota. The law requires that authorities conduct a preliminary investigation once a missing person report is received. If anyone has information about Brandon Swanson please call the Lincoln County sheriff at (507) 694-1664.

Source 1: https://uncovered.com/cases/brandon-victor-swanson-marshall-mn Source 2: http://immelman.net/brandon-swanson Source 3: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/01/18/grace.coldcase.swanson/index.html

In 2013, A college sophomore returns to school after spending the entire summer with his parents and within two weeks he disappears without a trace. According to his roommate and his girlfriend, his behavior had significantly changed and they were both worried about him. Bryce had been mixing alcohol with an ADHD medicine (that was not prescribed to him.) After giving some of his possessions to his roommate and breaking up with his girlfriend, he was driving home to CA to where his parents live. Pretty soon his parents get a phone call from their insurance company stating that the car that Bryce is driving has just requested road side assistance. His parents check their credit card records and find that the card was used in a small town 3 hours away from them called Buttonwillow. His mom gets a hold of the company that serviced the car and they stated that the car had run out of gas and they had filled it up enough so the driver could get to a station. Bryces mom had asked about the state of the driver and they said he seemed coherent and fine. They even volunteered to go back to where the car was located to see if it was still there. Karen, Bryces mom, asked if they could do that that would be great. Carlos, the service man, arrives and calls Karen and says that the car is still there and Bryce is still in it. She asks if she could speak with him since Bryce had been refusing her calls. Bryce gets on the phone and tells his mom he is fine he just ran out of gas is all. She tells him to go fill up and drive home. He agrees and everyone goes on their way. Bryce was only 3 hours away from home and his parents were expecting him around 3:00 PM. 3:00 PM comes and goes. 5:30 PM. Nothing. He is still not answering his phone.

Karen calls the police and they end up finding Bryce sitting in his car only 8 miles away from where the car was serviced. The police tell Bryce to call his mom and he is very reluctant to do so but eventually he does. His mom asks him what he’s doing and he doesn’t have any sort of real answer for her. That he is just blowing off steam. She tells him he needs to come home asap. After speaking with the cop, who did a field sobriety and searched his car, they inform Karen that Bryce seems totally fine. He is answering all of their questions, he’s alert, coherent. Nothing out of the ordinary. So the cop leaves. Carlos, the service man, after his shift returns a missed call from Karen. She tells him how the cops found Bryce only 8 miles away when he should’ve been on the highway heading home. Carlos offered to go check on the new location and see if he was still there. He was. Bryce has now been in the town of Buttonwillow for nearly 13 hours just sitting in his car. Eventually Bryce is convinced to start driving home and Carlos follows him for up to 30 mins until he sees Bryce get on the freeway. After that Carlos calls Karen to say Bryce is on the freeway heading home. While he’s driving on the freeway he is in contact with his parents a few times and eventually he tells them he is going to pull over because he is too tired to drive, mind you it is now 2:30 AM. They agree and he pulls over on the next exit.

Bryce pulls over near a cell tower where there looks to be a large body of water right in front of him. It’s deceiving though because once you go forward there is some brush and then a 25ft drop to a street below before you get to the water. Bryce drives forward towards the water and drives off the cliff. From the car tracks in the brush, he had accelerated his car. There was no sign of him braking so he intentionally is driving, fast, towards this body of water. Eventually his car crashed to the road below first landing on the front bumper and falling on its side. The back passenger window was broken out from the inside and all of the belongings were left in the car. His laptop, his phone, wallet, clothes. Everything. Two spots of blood were located in the car that were Bryces blood but that’s it.

Two bloodhounds tracked his scent on a route that was away from street view to a truck stop and there is where his scent ends. And that’s it. Bryce has vanished.

I should mention that when Bryce broke up with his girlfriend, Kim, Kim had called Karen to say that she took Bryces keys away from him because he didn’t seem like himself and knew he had drugs and alcohol in him and didn’t trust him to drive. Karen spoke to Bryce and offered to fly to him so she can be with him and help him get home. He told her to not book a flight, he was okay, and that he had a lot to talk to her about. Karen told Kim that Bryce seemed okay and to give him his keys.

People now wonder what Bryce had to tell his mom. He had only been back at school for 2 weeks (actually in class for 4 days) and what could have happened in those two weeks. Was he stalling in Buttonville so he didn’t have to confront whatever he had to tell her? Did he have so much alcohol and the ADHD drug in him that he had a psychotic episode and drove off the cliff with intentions on killing himself? Did the car accident give him a concussion to the point where he doesn’t remember who he is?

What happened to Bryce Laspisa?

charley project

Black the Ripper is an rumoured blaxploitation horror film that may have been released around 1974 or 1976(no one is sure of the release date) movie was a re imagining of infamous Jack the Ripper and his blood soaked story.

It is thought that Frank Saletri (the writer of another blaxploitation horror film Blackenstein) might have been the director. It is also possible though not confirmed that Antonio Fargas (previously best known as informant Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch a cop show from back in the day) played a character named Sideback.

Due to the highly obscure nature of the film even genre specialist and film historians are uncertain, If Black the Ripper was finished then an extremely limited theatrical release or was finished and never released or is completely lost.

Here are a few know confirmed details Black the Ripper was first mentioned in a brief note in the May 8th, 1974 issue of Variety magazine that named Saletri and a cast of unknown actors, and indicated the film was two months into it's production.

Later that December, an advertisement touting a future release was included in an issue of Monsters of the Movies magazine. On February 25th 1976 another issue of Variety claimed that the film was planned to hit theaters that Memorial Day

A two still frames have been rumored to of cropped up.

This frame apparently may be a scene where a group of characters are hanging out together.

This frame supposedly shows a character labelled Mike in black jacket interrogating the character Sideback who is wearing an orange outfit Supposed still frame from Black the Ripper.

The film would be forgotten a victim of time that us until 2013, when an unknown user of a unnamed website for obscure films claimed to have Black the Ripped it once while browsing some torrent files. Another user of the same website released what are supposedly the only known screenshots. Viewers who claim to have seen it say that the film seems rushed seemingly throw together. With several apparently missing scenes. There is a reported opening credit sequence over a song credited to singer Mara Farmer, But no ending credits. In the opening credits, alongside Saletri as director, Michael Finn is listed as writer. While not confirmed, it is possible that this is the same Michael Finn who directed the 1974 genre film The Black Connection - especially given that movie was filmed in Las Vegas, where Saletri was known to have lived.

http://dailygrindhouse.com/

https://britannica.com/art/blaxploitation-movie

Terry Brisk was a 41-year old, Married father of 4. He was killed while deer hunting, alone, on his parent's property on November 7, 2016. The murder occurred between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30 pm on property located at Belle Prairie Township, northwest of the intersection of Hawthorne Road and Jewel Road, northeast of Little Falls Minnesota

Terry had taken the day off work, unknown to his wife, but not shockingly, as the Minnesota Firearms Deer season had just started 2 days prior to his death. Terry's family had done fairly well hunting over the weekend, but he still wanted to get a deer on his license - and the weather that day was perfect, unseasonably warm, clear skies and little to no wind.

Terry was found dead in the woods that afternoon by his oldest son, who had came out to join him in the hunt after school.

Terry was found dead, from a single gunshot wound inflicted by his own rifle. Police have ruled out suicide as the rifle was found hidden some distance from his body, and the particular model of rifle he hunted with has safety features which make it difficult if not impossible to commit suicide. Also the angle and impact suggest someone who was close to him, but not himself as the shooter.

Speculation has ranged from a trespasser on the property looking for Agates (rocks) or possibly another hunter - again on the property illegally. Terry's family have repeatedly said that he would never have threatened or shot at anyone first and strongly suspect that he encountered someone unexpectedly.

Law enforcement have recently (2022) indicated that they are looking for a Blue Van or Mini Van that was possibly in the area on that day.

There is a $30,000 reward being offered for any information that results in an arrest or conviction in the case.

https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2022/03/24/new-details-2016-murder-little-falls-hunter-terry-brisk/7159962001/

https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2017/01/23/deer-hunters-death-remains-such-mystery/96941874/

On April 15, 2005, Ray would tell his girlfriend, Patty, that he was taking the day off of work and going for a drive- maybe even do some shopping. This was not too out of the ordinary for Ray, so Patty didn't think too much about it.

Patty would speak to Ray around 11:30am that morning as he told her he was heading to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania to do some shopping.

Patty would not hear - nor see- Ray again.

Patty reported Ray missing at 11:30pm that evening when she failed to reach him.

Ray was 59 years old, and months away from retiring. He was the district attorney for Centre County, PA, and during his 20-years in that position had put his fair share of criminals behind bars.

As 'one of them', the police jumped on the case and began searching for Ray immediately. The next day they would locate his red Mini Cooper in the parking lot of an antique mall in Lewisburg. Ray loved antique shopping, so that seemed understandable he would've went there. However, there was no sign of Ray, his car was locked, and interestingly they found cigarette ashes on the floor of the passenger side of the vehicle. The car also smelled of cigarettes and they found discarded cigarette buts on the ground outside of the passenger door. Ray was not a smoker- in fact- he loathed everything about it, especially the smell.

DNA proved no useful results from the cigarette butts.

Some witness thought they recalled Ray in the antique mall with a tall, brunette, woman.

Ironically, in May 1996, Ray's brother Roy was reported missing. His body was found a week later in the Miami River in Ohio, near where they found his car. Roy's death was ruled a suicide.

Some people noted the similarities between Ray and Roy's case, as his car was found near the Susquehanna river.

Months would go by with no sign of Ray. Until, some fisherman discovered his laptop under a bridge in the Susquehanna river. The laptop was in poor condition and the hard drive was missing. This was Ray's county issued laptop. When the FBI searched Ray & Patty's home computer, the found searches for 'How to erase a hard drive'. They also found software in his office for erasing a hard drive. Patty said this was because he was going to be retiring soon, and planned to make sure all his personal information was off of his county issued laptop.

Shortly after, a woman walking her dog found the hard drive in a different part of the river. It was destroyed and no useable data could be recovered.

Was this a suicide? Ray had no signs of depressions, in fact everyone said he was happily looking forward to retirement.

Did Ray go off to start a new life? There have been a few 'sightings' of him through the years, but none were confirmed.

Recently, an inmate told a cell mate that he knew what happened to Ray. He said they were contracted to kill him, and dispose of a body. He had two accomplices, a man and a woman. Is this a possibility, considering he likely had some enemies as a D.A.?

What do you think happened to Ray Gricar?

Sources:

https://wherearetheypodcast.medium.com/the-unsolved-disappearance-of-ray-gricar-20a299e6a13a

https://charleyproject.org/case/ray-frank-gricar

https://anchor.fm/wherearetheypodcast

Jordan resided in Salt Lake City and was 36 years old at the time he went missing in 2021. It appears that at the time of his disappearance there was very little coverage and the majority of known information has been taken from his family’s Facebook appeal page, which is run by his younger sister Shelby.

Jordan and his younger sister Shelby were incredibly close. In a letter she wrote to her missing brother, she talks about the joys of their childhood, and memories of driving around and listening to Rilo Kiley or Bright Eyes at full blast. She describes him as a talented writer, musician, artist and photographer. Jordan was a caring person; he was an advocate for the LGBTQ+ and homeless communities and would take the time to make sure that people knew how loved and special they were. Unfortunately Jordan had struggled with depression throughout his teenage years and into his adulthood. In 2017, at the age of 31, he moved to Australia with his young family and it was during this time that he suffered his first bout of mania. His second occurred in 2018 along with an episode of psychosis. Jordan returned to America and his mania began to shift into further depression and suicidal thoughts. It is unclear if Jordan was officially diagnosed, but it appears accepted by his family that Jordan was suffering with bi-polar disorder and psychosis.

At some point after his return to Utah, Jordan believed that if he got to California he would be able to find a path to the other side of the world, where his daughter still resided in Australia. Jordan believed he could send a signal to her, and shot 11 flares into the sky. When these signals went unanswered, Jordan lit a fire to a garbage can and port-a-potty, which extended to the brush around them. Jordan was arrested for arson and was jailed for six months, with a requirement to be a part of a mental health programme upon his release. Jordan was due to end his probation on 6th August.

August 2021

Jordan had recently purchased a van that he decked out for camping, and on August 1st 2021 left with the van to head to the San Rafael swell. He had taken his own dog Lily, a Pitbull mix, but also his brother’s dog Cooper, whom he took without permission. Jordan’s family contacted law enforcement in the area and asked them to keep an eye out for him, knowing he was experiencing mania. Shortly after arriving, Jordan’s van got stuck in a desolate area due to flooding that the area was experiencing. Police have never revealed publicly where they located his van, but confirmed that his wallet and computer were located inside.

On August 3rd a couple on an ATV located Jordan and his dog Lily, and gave them a ride to Huntington, Utah. He was described as being dehydrated and wearing a wetsuit, and was checked out by EMTs. One of the attending officers told Jordan his family was looking for him, and offered to get him a room at a local hotel until someone could pick him up. Jordan’s family were informed that he had been located, and although Jordan’s probation officer was due to attend the following day, the family told the officer they were concerned about leaving Jordan alone. Unfortunately the officer was unable to stay, and sometime after the officer left, Jordan left the hotel.

After leaving the hotel, Jordan walked to a nearby convenient store where he spoke to a woman at the counter. She provided some water to Jordan’s dog, Lily. After 15-20 minutes, Jordan left the convenient store and located a garbage truck to the rear of the store which still had its keys in the ignition. Jordan reportedly stole the truck and abandoned it in Price, Utah, where it is believed he then stole a Jeep Renegade. Jordan pulled onto the drive of a private property, which led to an altercation with the resident. It is reported that during this altercation, Jordan hit this male with the vehicle and fled. The male chased after Jordan but ultimately lost sight of him.

Jordan made his way to Moab and attended a Verizon store where he attempted to purchase a mobile phone. This was unsuccessful due to Jordan not having any money or ID on him. Officers reported that they located a structure nearby which they believed Jordan had broken into and taken some water from; dog prints and Redwing boots prints were located in the mud nearby. The Jeep that Jordan had stolen was later found out of gas on the side of the highway at mile marker 21 in Cisco. There are reports that Jordan was sighted walking in Fruita, Grand Junction, Montrose and Nucla, Colorado, but I have no further information on these sightings.

On August 11th, Jordan’s dog Lily was believed to have been seen walking alone on a trail in Montrose County. This was the last sighting of Lily and she has not been located.

Jordan’s brother’s dog, Cooper, was located alive 3 weeks later, approximately 30 miles away from where Jordan’s belongings would ultimately be found.

Sadly, as Jordan went missing in the area of Moab during this time, there was speculation that he could have been responsible for the murders of Kylen Schulte, Crystal Turner, and Gabby Petito. We now know this is not the case, and the family confirmed that law enforcement never treated him as a suspect.

In March 2023 Shelby confirmed that there were no updates. She reported that there had been no official missing persons report listed for Jordan for an entire year after he went missing, allegedly due to some sort of Police error. Despite some strained relationship with the Police, they were able to get Jordan listed on NamUs and the family hired a private investigator, however there were never any further leads as to where Jordan might be, or what happened to him.

Discovery of Jordan’s belongings

Tiktok user (Ryan) @ ry_of_the_desert is a self-described adventurer, posting videos of his adventures outdoors, largely in desert environments. On 22 May 2023, Ryan posted a video of his exploration in the desert of Sevier County, Utah. During this exploration, Ryan discovered some unusual belongings; some clothing, backpacks, and an electric guitar. He posted this video to tikok and it immediately went viral. I’m unable to post the link for Ryan’s Tiktok, but I would highly recommend having a look - he has created a playlist for videos relating to Jordan Boone’s case.

Someone who had seen this video forwarded this on to Jordan’s family, asking if they recognised any of the belongings. They immediately recognised the guitar,

which had been customised by Jordan’s daughter before he went missing. The family have since confirmed that all the belongings found belong to Jordan.

Ryan continued to search the area, and found further belongings that have also been confirmed as belonging to Jordan. These include another backpack, a phone, phone charger, lighter torch, and window chalk paint.

On 30th May Jordan’s family drove out to meet Ryan, and he took them to the spot where he found Jordan’s belongings. Ryan continues to assist the family, and has plans to launch a drone over the area in the hopes of discovering more.

He has provided videos with maps detailing where certain items were found, and I’d recommend having a look so that you can get an idea of the location and its distance from Moab and other sightings.

Conclusion

This is a newly emerging update, and there could well be further updates in the coming days/weeks/months. I intend to update this post with any further updates or discoveries.

His sister Shelby wishes to point out, quite rightly, that Jordan is more than his illness, and he should be seen as a whole person with a family that loves him immensely. He was an exceptionally kind and caring person, and is a loved father, brother and son.

The family have always been open around Jordan’s mental health, and don’t shy away from the fact that this played a huge part in his disappearance. The family have always advocated for education on mental health, and their hope is that others may start to recognise the signs of mental health in others and in themselves, and seek help before any further tragedies occur. They also encourage others to spread love and compassion, and have often asked for empathy for those with mental health issues or criminal histories, like Jordan, and to remember that these are real people with real families and emotions.

Sources

Apologies for the lack of sources, but there is very little official coverage around Jordan’s disappearance or discovery of his belongings. As more information is received, I will add further sources here.

I’m unable to post the Facebook Appeal page, but this can be found by searching “Missing: Jordan Boone and Lily the pit mix dog".

Ryan’s tiktok can be found at @ ry_of_the_desert

https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP95074

On July 14, 1976, 42-year-old John Grey, a courier for Indianapolis, Indiana’s Bankers Dispatch Corporation, made an unexpected and startling discovery during his route. At 9:30am, John turned down a secluded lane just off of Spring Mill Road in nearby Carmel, Indiana to relieve himself when something caught his eye. Lying in a wooded area approximately 40 feet off of the road, John saw what initially appeared to be a roll of opaque plastic. However, upon closer inspection he noticed a pair of feet slightly protruding from one end. Using his car’s radio, John notified his dispatcher who in turn, contacted police.

The unidentified person was found just northeast of the intersection of West 116th street and Spring Mill Road in a small densely wooded area. A sparsely populated area at the time, the only residence nearby was an abandoned farm. The unidentified body, found wrapped in several layers of thick construction grade plastic and tied with three electrical cords, was taken to a nearby Noblesville, Indiana hospital for autopsy.

Beneath the plastic “shroud,” was the severely decomposed body of a young man estimated to be in his early 20s. He was completely nude and wore no jewelry. The autopsy revealed that he suffered a blow to the head that had caused a bruise on his skull, however the injury was not severe enough to cause death. No other injuries were found. While the hospital’s pathologist awaited the results of a toxicology test, police set out to learn the identity of the unknown victim, who for “health reasons,” was quickly buried in a Carmel cemetery.

Three days later, the body was identified through dental records as 22-year-old Michael Dean Riley, a psychology student at Muncie, Indiana’s Ball State University. Michael had been reported missing by Ball State University staff on July 9th after he failed to attend the start of his summer classes. Police learned on July 2nd, Michael had finished his shift at the United Consumers Club then caught a ride home from a fellow employee. After changing clothes, the employee dropped Michael off along Interstate 69. Michael then hitchhiked to a friend’s home in Indianapolis.

According to the unnamed friend, Michael stayed at his house that evening and the following night. On the night of the 4th, the pair attended a Fourth of July party together. Michael supposedly left the party on foot, presumably to hitchhike back to his Muncie home. After that, Michael dropped out of sight until the discovery of his body 10 days later.

Several witnesses came forward claiming they had smelled a strong odor in the area for several days. They had, however, written the smell off as nothing more than a dead animal. Another person told investigators they had seen an older car parked near the lane about a week prior. According to the witness, two men were inside the vehicle. One got out, opened the trunk, and took something into the woods before emerging a short time later.

When the toxicology results became available, it was determined that Michael had overdosed. Alcohol, along with a large quantity of Doriden, a sleep aid normally given to people with insomnia, was found in Michael’s bloodstream. It was estimated he had consumed between 10 to 13 1mg tablets of the medication.

Michael excelled academically and was considered a model student at Ball State. He had no disciplinary problems, and had never been arrested. Though Michael was known to occasionally drink, acquaintances denied having ever witnessed Michael consume drugs of any kind.

Michael had gotten married two years prior to a woman named Rebecca, however I could find no additional information about their relationship. Michael’s father had passed away in 1960. His mother, Mary, and stepfather, Forrest, lived in Florida at the time of his death, however returned to Indiana for a short time during the investigation. After Michael’s body was exhumed and moved to a cemetery in West Lebanon, Indiana, the pair returned to their home in Florida.

The investigation into Michael’s death continued for a short time. However despite conflicting stories from party goers that evening, no arrests were made. Michael’s case was eventually taken before a grand jury. The final report read in part;

“After interrogating some 17 or 18 witnesses, it is the consensus of the grand jury that Riley died of an overdose of drugs, either self-induced, accidentally taken, or by a prank played on him. The jury concludes that because of the drug use going on among the deceased associates an election was made for disposal of the body……someone thus conceived the plan to mysteriously dispose of the body in a secluded place. There is little doubt assistance was required in ‘packaging’ the body.”

The report concluded by determining that because the drug use had occurred in Indianapolis, the case would be turned over to the Indianapolis Police Department for further investigation. Unfortunately, no suspects were ever named and no arrests ever came.

The murder of Michael Dean Riley remains unsolved.

Sources

Photos, Death Certificate, Clippings-

https://imgur.com/a/e6kVcrW

Find A Grave Michael- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27606213/michael-dean-riley

Find A Grave Mary (Michael’s mom)- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150471518/mary-elizabeth-scott

Find A Grave Forrest (Michael’s Step Dad)- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150471485/forrest-lavern-scott

Find A Grave- Virgil (Michael’s Dad)- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27606245/virgil-d-riley