Michelle Kaminsky - Serial Killer Trivia: Cold Cases: Fascinating Facts and Chilling Details from the Creepiest Unsolved Murders Ever

Serial Killer Trivia

Cold Cases

Fascinating Facts and Chilling Details from the Creepiest Unsolved Murders Ever

Michelle Kaminsky

Text copyright 2021 Michelle Kaminsky. Design and concept copyright 2021 Ulysses Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication in whole or in part or dissemination of this edition by any means (including but not limited to photocopying, electronic devices, digital versions, and the internet) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Published in the United States by:

Ulysses Press

PO Box 3440

Berkeley, CA 94703

www.ulyssespress.com

ISBN: 978-1-64604-126-8

ISBN-13: 978-1-6460-4127-5 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020947028

Acquisitions editor: Casie Vogel

Managing editor: Claire Chun

Editor: Anne Healey

Proofreader: Renee Rutledge

Front cover design: Malea Clark-Nicholson

Artwork: shutterstock.com

Production: Yesenia Garcia-Lopez

IMPORTANT NOTE TO READERS: Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

Within the last several years, true crime has become a veritable cultural phenomenon. While it may seem ghoulish that the devastating tragedies of other peoples lives and deaths have become a part of popular culture, this fascination can also feed a larger desire to better understand the human condition, why we are where we are, and how we can move toward a more positive future.

Within this larger true crime genre, serial killer cases indisputably capture the publics attention and imagination more than others. Whether its the horrific violence, mind-boggling gore, total disregard for human life, or psychology behind the killings, we are hooked.

Cold casesunsolved cases that remain open though usually arent being actively investigatedsink even further into our psyches, starting with the very term, which sends a shiver down your spine. Cold cases. Peoples lives frozen in time. Bodies left cold and decaying (or worse) as loved ones left behind deal with the aftermath. Repeat murderers with no faces. Crimes for which no one is serving time for horrendous and unspeakable acts of terror.

Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Edmund Kemper. We know their names well, and all of their stories are terrifying and maddening in their own right, but at least we know they were captured and punished.

But the Zodiac Killer? The Freeway Phantom? The Long Island Serial Killer? Their stories are just as disturbing, but these murderers still remain anonymousand that grips a wide array of our emotions.

Anger. Sadness. Outrage. Intrigue. Excitement. Fear.

Some of us, maybe even most of us, want to see those humans behind the monster facade. Our curiosity is piqued, and we become amateur sleuths, combing the evidence we can readily find on the internet with the far-off thought that perhaps we are going to notice something, make some connection, that no one else has ever pieced together. We are intrigued and excited as we follow each sordid detail. We proceed with the hope that we can be part of securing justice for the loved ones of the dead.

Cold cases take us on a long, bone-chilling ridefor as long as we can stand it, really. Because if youre a true crime follower, you know that once you stumble into a case with no satisfying conclusion, its pretty darn hard to stroll back out of it unaffected. You always need to know more.

Enter this book.

Its packed with information about well-known cold casesfrom Englands Jack the Ripper to New Orleans Axemanand lesser-known ones, such as Los Angeles the Doodler and Detroits Bigfoot Killer. There are also tales of hope about the pathbreaking use of genetic genealogy to both crack cold casessuch as the apprehension of the Golden State Killerand identify Jane Does, victims without names. In some instances, this innovative investigative technique has even linked cold cases to already deceased or executed serial killers.

This factoid-packed true crime trivia book will have you turning pages with both interest and horror. So make sure your phone is charged, double-check those door locks, and settle in for some of the spookiest tales youll ever readespecially since many of the killers in this book are still out there somewhere.

Q: What was the Connecticut River Valley Killers method of murder?

A: The Connecticut River Valley Killer viciously stabbed all of his victims before discarding their bodies near Interstate 91 in Vermont and New Hampshire between 1978 and 1988.

He is linked to at least six deaths, though likely more, and while several victims met their fates while hitchhiking, one murder stands out as especially gruesome and terrifying. In 1986, 36-year-old Lynda Moore was accosted in her white colonial home located between Saxtons River and Gageville, Vermont, during the day. Moores husband found her bloodied body in their living room at 3 p.m. on April 15. She had been stabbed repeatedly.

A year later 38-year-old Barbara Agnew, dressed in blue ski pants and a purple sweater, was found under an apple tree surrounded by a pool of blood that had soaked into the snow on a backroad near a highway rest stop. She was only 10 miles from her home, and her reasons for pulling off the road at all that night have puzzled investigators. Agnews murder shook up the local communityone that had been used to leaving doors unlocked; a gun shop owner told a local newspaper that mace sales jumped 2,000 percent after her death.

In August 1988 the unidentified serial killer struck againbut this time the victim survived, as did her unborn child.

Jane Boroski was 23 years old and seven months pregnant when she was attacked, stabbed 27 times, and left for dead in Winchester, New Hampshire. She managed to escape and drive herself to a friends house. Just as she arrived, she realized her attacker was in front of her. She later identified his vehicle as a Jeep Wagoneer with a partial plate identification that included 662.

From Boroskis description, authorities were able to create one of the creepiest composite sketches in the history of creepy composite sketchesonce you stare into this unidentified mans soulless, light-colored eyes, the harrowing image wont leave your mind anytime soon.

Other likely victims of the Connecticut River Valley Killer include Cathy Millican, Mary Elizabeth Critchley, Bernice Courtemanche, Ellen Fried, and Eva Morseall of whom were brutally stabbed. Investigators dont believe sexual assault was a motive in the crimes as none of the bodies they could analyze for such violations showed signs of sexual assault. Instead, authorities believe the murders were crimes of opportunity anchored in rage and likely a hatred for women.