An update on those reporters who came last month

I had written about how a reporter and photographer came to my house and spent seven hours there over two days, interviewing and filming me and taking pictures, for a future piece on the Charley Project.

Well, I thought I’d update y’all on that. I contacted the reporter to ask about the progress on the story and he said it will be coming out on Longreads, which specializes in long-form journalism. He has submitted a draft to his editor and predicts a late July/early August publication date. I know he’s spoken to least six other people besides me for this story.

I’m pretty excited about it.

There’s been a social media storm these last 24 hours

For those who haven’t heard, there’s a woman who claims she is Jennifer Klein who disappeared in 1974. This story has been floating around the internet for about a month, but yesterday there was a YouTube video published where the woman claimed she had DNA testing done and it proved her identity.

This woman also claims her abductors were members of a Satanic cult and that they kidnapped Kurt Newton and Etan Patz (who both disappeared in the 1970s, across the country from Jennifer) as well. She says she was brainwashed and didn’t start remembering what happened until after she was injured in a car accident.

As for what I think, well, I didn’t write this editorial but it pretty much sums up my own position on the matter.

Hopefully the truth will come out over the next few days or so. Until then, that’s all I’ve got to say.

40-year-old disappearance finally resolved

Margret Dodd disappeared from Beckley, West Virginia on September 7, 1977 — nearly forty years ago (I won’t quibble over two months). She was 27 years old and was witnessed being dragged, screaming, into someone’s car. James Hendree subsequently demanding a $10k ransom for her safe return. An FBI agent posed as Margret’s dad to meet Hendree for the handoff, and wound up shooting him after an altercation.

Margret’s body was found on Bolt Mountain in 1993, but it wasn’t identified until now. According to this article, her family recognized the clothes and jewelry found with the body, and mitochondrial DNA confirmed the match.

I’m happy for her family. The police are still investigating the case and there might be prosecutions in the future, as it seems unlikely that Hendree acted alone.

MP of the week: Lucia Perez

This week’s featured missing person is Lucia Chilel Perez, who disappeared from Worthington, Minnesota sometime in late June 2011, possibly June 27. A mother of three, she left with a guy to go looking for work. The man subsequently returned without her. He has a history of violence and gave an explanation for Lucia’s disappearance that turned out to be false. The police are understandably calling him a person of interest.