Well, it looks like someone got away with murder

55-year-old schoolteacher JoAnn Nichols disappeared from Poughkeepsie, New York back in 1985. She’d been depressed at the time, ever since her only child had accidentally drowned. The cops looked into the theory that she’d taken her own life, but they couldn’t find any evidence and the case went cold.

Well, JoAnn’s husband James died back in December. He was in his eighties and still living in the same residence. They found his body two days after Christmas; he’d been dead for days. They hired a private contractor to clean out the house, which was full of junk, and the contractor has found human remains behind a false wall in the basement.

No prizes for guessing who it is.

[UPDATE: Yup, it’s JoAnn.]

Executed Today: a Dutch resistance fighter

As told by me on Executed Today: Willem Arondeus, a 48-year-old artist, was executed by the Nazis on this day in 1943 for his activities in the Dutch Resistance. Arondeus was openly gay at a time when everyone was still very set against that, and he said he hoped that his resistance activities and his death would show the world that gay people weren’t cowards.

You can see some of his artwork here. He also wrote books, but it seems none of them have been translated into English.

MPs with rare medical conditions

This week’s list is of missing people who have medical conditions that are little-known enough that I felt I had to explain what they were and what the symptoms are. Most, but not all, of these conditions are rare. It’s my purely subjective opinion that many people won’t know what these conditions are or what symptoms they present.

Patrick Jason Beavers: retinitis pigmentosa
Mary June Comiskey: Graves Disease
Rosemary Cosgrove: Pick’s Disease
Haleigh Ann-Marie Cummings: Turner Syndrome
Vickey Carolyn de Laurier: Barrett’s Disease and Crohn’s Disease
Julie A. Earley: adhesive capsulitis
Christian Taylor Ferguson: citrullimenia
Jeremy Wayne Goodwin: Crohn’s Disease
Jyrine Kyese Harris: ostogensis imperfecta
Annie Laurie Swaim Hearin: ileitis
Bobby Dale Jamison: spinal stenosis
Stacy Renee Lester: cholesteatoma
Gabriel Lopez Duarte: neurocysticercosis
Amber Shawnell Hoopes: vitaligo
Tiana Neshelle Martin: Graves Disease
Mary Elizabeth Nunes: arteriovenous malformations
Timothy Scott Parry: Angelman’s Syndrome and porphyria
Jaliek L. Rainwalker: Reactive Attachment Disorder
Evelyn Throsby Scott: diverculitis