March 2018 – The Charley Project Blog

Major facepalm here

March 29, 2018Meaghan17 Comments

The New Mexico Department of Public Safety has a missing persons database, but it is very poorly maintained. Specifically, they have a habit of not removing MPs once they are located.

The problem is so bad that it’s got to the point that I refuse to list MPs from the New Mexico DPS database unless I can verify from another source that they are actually still missing.

Case in point, something I just saw while checking the database for a case that’s on NamUs:

nmdps

Yeah, Michaela? She’s on there twice as you can see. She disappeared on January 15 and then again on February 6. Same person, some photo. Camille has disappeared on November 23, January 18, and February 9.

Sigh.

A bunch of no-body homicide updates

March 28, 2018March 28, 2018Meaghan2 Comments

So I re-posted all the Corpus Delicti lists last night and today (it’s been forever I know) and I took the chance to go through Not Concluded/Unknown Outcomes again to find out some of those outcomes.

The result is fifteen updated cases.

Cynthia Linda Alonzo: Eric Mora pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, got eleven years.
Abigail Estrada: Ruben Torres pleaded guilty to murder, got eighteen years but could be out in ten.
Cari Lea Farver: Shanna Golyer was found guilty, got life without parole plus 18 to 20 years for an unrelated arson.
Jarrod Devlin Green: Brandon Wheeler’s charges were dropped for lack of evidence.
Alice Kristina Wehr Hummel: Bruce Hummel was tried and convicted of the murder a second time, but an appeals court overturned his second conviction and he cannot be retried.
Charles Edward “Mississippi” Johnson: David Lint pleaded no contest to criminal homicide, got seven to fifteen years.
Zachary Matthew Malinowski: No conclusion yet, but suspect Javon Gibbs (allegedly) murdered someone else while out on bail in Malinowski’s murder.
Bernadine M. Montgomery: Tracie Naffziger pleaded no contest to being an accessory second-degree murder after the fact. She will testify against David Mariotti, whose trial is supposed to be early next month.
Sara Jo Mowrey: After alleged misconduct by the prosecution, Michael Baker pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit murder and being an accessory after the fact to murder, and got three years instead of the life sentence he’d have gotten if convicted of the original charges.
Catherine E. Nelson and Charles Martin Russell: Brian Ferry’s trial was early this year. The jury couldn’t reach a verdict and there was a mistrial.
Heath Riley Reams: Amanda Sanders-Bolstad pleaded guilty to manslaughter and got 25 years, with 20 suspended, but the prosecution is trying to get her suspended sentence revoked because she moved without telling the police.
Bret R. Snow: More details have been released about the crime and two additional suspects have been charged. Alvaro Guajardo is charged with murder, and Cheryl Sutton with kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, and leading organized crime.
Aaron Lamar Turner: One suspect, Bryan Byrd pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and got 20 to 40 years. (Also found an article about how Bryan was an academic star in high school and seen as a really great kid who had risen above his poverty and single-parent childhood, then he ruined his life in one weekend.) The second suspect, LaQuanta Chapman, was convicted and sentenced to death, but the sentence was overturned four years later and he got life instead. A third suspect has been identified, but has never faced charges. I think it’s because Chapman isn’t saying boo and they only have Byrd’s testimony to put the man at the scene. Also, not-very-fun fact: Chapman shot one of his dogs dead and dismembered the body in his attempt to cover up Aaron’s murder.
Rebecca Ann Ware: Timothy Johnson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and got nineteen years, with credit for three years’ time served.

MP of the week: Heather Bloom

March 27, 2018March 27, 2018Meaghan3 Comments

This week’s featured missing person is Heather Bloom, a 28-year-old woman with Down Syndrome who was last seen in Berkeley, California on October 1, 2005. She probably disappeared sometime after that though.

People with Down Syndrome have various levels of functionality, and it sounds like Heather was at the lower end: non-verbal, wheelchair-bound and requiring “constant care and supervision.”

She was being cared for by her sister, Shari. After Heather’s parents reported her missing, the police tried to check on her welfare, but Shari wouldn’t let them in the house and they never actually saw Heather. The neighbors also said they never saw Heather either. Last I knew, Shari had moved to Norway — without her sister, presumably.

I did find this 2017 article which has more info about the case and additional pictures of Heather. Though the police are saying there’s no evidence she’s dead or in danger, honestly, to me it doesn’t look good. I mean, a person with those medical conditions would presumably have had to see doctors regularly. She was probably on Medicaid and Social Security disability. They should be able to track her if she was still alive.

Make-a-List Monday: Fighting with a Significant Other

March 26, 2018March 24, 2018Meaghan9 Comments

A lot of people, when they disappear, their spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend claims the MP got into some kind of argument with them, and one of the parties involved stormed away angrily, and the MP was never seen or heard from again.

I’m not saying it never really happens like that. I’m sure it does. But not always.

So I’m doing a list of people who disappeared after an argument with their significant other. I’m only doing fights with spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends and exes, not fights with other people. I am counting cases where the “left after an argument” story was later proven to be a lie. I am not counting cases where the MP was seen alive by a third party AFTER the alleged argument.

It’s quite a long list. And take note of the gender disparity.

Select It Sunday: Roxanne Sims

March 25, 2018March 25, 2018Meaghan1 Comment

I haven’t done one of these in quite awhile, but Lisa D. asked me to write about Roxanne Marie Sims, an eighteen-year-old who disappeared from Portland, Oregon in 1977-ish.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all I know of this case — not even the exact year of her disappearance, never mind the day — or her eye color for that matter.

I checked her NamUs page to see if any more info had been added, and only found something about a possible scar. I checked Newspapers.com and found no mentions of her.

Roxanne must have a family out there who’s looking for her, or friends. I would love it if someone could come forward with more information on her disappearance. She might well be still alive and have no idea she’s missing.

Ooh, this is a problem

March 24, 2018March 24, 2018Meaghan14 Comments

So I just added the case of Charles Edward Tear, missing from Fargo, North Dakota, to Charley. And there’s an issue. Namely this:

Tear’s NamUs profile gives the date of disappearance as June 29, 2011. But this article has it as June 29, 2001.

One or the other of them is clearly wrong, but I’m damned if I know which. The difference is simply the slip of a finger, a typo. Oh, and ten full years.

I’m going with what NamUs says for now, but I wish I was more certain that was accurate. NamUs isn’t always correct. (Case in point: Tejin Thomas is still listed as a girl on there.)

Executed Today: Two guys in Cheyenne

March 21, 2018MeaghanLeave a comment

Another ET entry: two men were lynched on this day in 1868 in Cheyenne, Dakota Territory (it didn’t become part of the state of Wyoming till 1890). One had shot a man; the other rustled livestock. They didn’t seem to have anything to do with each other and I think it’s just a coincidence that they were both hanged on the same night.

Picture dump

March 21, 2018March 21, 2018Meaghan6 Comments

Yeah, so I’ve added a bunch of photos to casefiles. They all come from the same source. I’m happy to get a few pictures, especially of the women, where the MP is not looking their best.

I’m planning to add more, but this website keeps cutting me off for using it too much. Shrug.

MP of the week: Destry Rhinehart

March 20, 2018March 20, 2018Meaghan5 Comments

This week’s featured missing person is Destry Richard “Pig” Rhinehart, a sixteen-year-old boy who disappeared from Orlando, Florida on August 1, 2004. He’s classified as a runaway and the police basically refused to investigate at all for two years, because he was a “troubled teen.”

Destry’s family, which includes seven siblings, misses him and put up a Facebook page for him, but the page hasn’t been active in six years.

All better!

March 20, 2018Meaghan1 Comment

They had said to expect a two- to three-day wait on Orville’s repair as they were backed up, but Jamie sneaked it in this morning. And your donations, from as far away as Argentina, covered the repair! Thank you so much!

He’s home and set up again and working fine.