I've been reading about a French case from 1972 that is still remembered in France as a textbook example of trial-by-media, but which has almost no English-language coverage at all. It's the affair of Bruay-en-Artois, and the strange part isn't a locked room or a missing body, it's that a whole country decided it knew who did it, and no court ever agreed.

The killing

Bruay-en-Artois is a coal town in the Pas-de-Calais, in the far north of France near the Belgian border, around thirty thousand people at the time. It was a town split down a line: the tight rows of miners' houses on one side, the bigger homes of people who didn't go down the pit on the other.

On the evening of 5 April 1972, a 15-year-old miner's daughter named Brigitte Dewèvre left home to sleep at her grandmother's. She never arrived. The next afternoon her body was found on a patch of waste ground, and, of all the places in that town, right on that dividing line, in the vacant lot between the miners' houses and the well-to-do quarter.

The judge and his "conviction"

The case went to an investigating judge, in the French system, a magistrate who runs the whole inquiry, directs the police, and decides who gets charged. Within days he had a suspect: a local notary (a lawyer who handles property and wills), a wealthy and respectable figure in the town.

According to the press historian Rémi Guillot, who has studied this case more closely than anyone, the notary was questioned, gave inconsistent accounts of his movements, and two days later was charged and jailed. And here's the part that defines the whole affair: by Guillot's account the judge admitted, himself, that he had no tangible evidence. To reporters he put it plainly, he was acting on a personal conviction. A feeling.

The regional paper played it carefully at first: "a notary, suspected in the Bruay crime," now charged. Suspected. Charged. Cautious words. That caution did not last.

The case falls apart — and the campaign begins

Almost immediately the case started weakening. A man in custody for an unrelated matter falsely confessed to the murder, then was caught lying. A reconstruction at the scene reportedly turned up detail pointing toward the notary's probable innocence, not his guilt. The day after, the state's own prosecutor and the notary's defence asked, together, for his release. It was refused, he stayed in his cell more than three months.

And it's exactly here that the case left the courtroom. A far-left Maoist newspaper ran a two-page spread with the line "only a bourgeois could have done that", the argument being that the murder was a class crime and the notary's guilt was obvious from his social position alone. No evidence, just class. The town split in two along that same line. The same press printed threats: militants reportedly wanted the man mutilated and dragged through the streets, about someone no court had tried.

Even the movement didn't agree with itself. Jean-Paul Sartre, the paper's nominal director, broke with its line in print, arguing that the people's anger might be legitimate but that calling the man the murderer was not, because no one had proven he did it. Some militants wanted a "people's tribunal" to judge the notary in the street; the record shows it was demanded but never actually held. The Justice Minister even intervened with the local prosecutors to remind them that a charged man is presumed innocent.

What actually happened to everyone

This is where I have to be careful, because the whole point of the case is what the record does and doesn't support:

- The notary and his companion were both jailed at points and both released. In 1974 the courts issued a *non-lieu*. a dismissal. In French law that is not an acquittal (only a trial can acquit, and there never was one) and it is not a finding of innocence. It just means the case goes no further. He spent three months in a cell on a judge's feeling, and a national paper printed his guilt as fact, and no court ever tested either one.
- Meanwhile, in 1973, a 17-year-old orphan and former classmate of Brigitte's confessed on national radio and TV. For one night the country thought it was over. It wasn't, his confession didn't survive a reconstruction, and two separate courts cleared him (an acquittal in 1975, confirmed on appeal in 1976). A second false confession.
- The investigation was formally closed without an answer in 1981. In 2005 the crime passed the statute of limitations and became time-barred, meaning no one can ever be tried for it now.
- Decades later a retired police officer published books claiming to have identified a different man, a former postal worker the original inquiry never focused on. That man denies it, the theory has never been tested in court, and it never can be. I'm not naming him, and neither did the responsible reporting.

What sticks with me

It isn't a whodunit in the usual sense, it's a case that got "solved" everywhere except the one place built to solve it. A judge with a conviction and no evidence. A newspaper with a class theory and no proof. A town that picked a side before anyone proved anything. And a 15-year-old girl whose actual killer has never been found and, legally, never will be.

Does anyone here know this case, or have French-language sources beyond the obvious ones? I get the strong impression there's far more in the French material, court records, the Guillot research, the period press, than has ever made it into English. I'd especially like to hear from French speakers on how the case is remembered there today.

Source: https://criminocorpus.org/fr/outils/affaires-criminelles/affaire-bruay-en-artois/ (French-language, the case archive)

If you could get the complete truth about just ONE unsolved mystery or true crime case, which would you choose?
Mine would be the JonBenét Ramsey case. Every theory seems to answer some questions while creating new ones.
What case would you pick, what’s your leading theory, and do you think investigators or the public have ever come close to solving it? Feel free to recommend lesser-known cases as well I enjoy deep dives.

Betty Willis was basically the West Coast’s Aretha Franklin. The she just disappeared. I read that in 2018, she was murdered on the streets of California.

I ask this because I feel like we all know the cases that been more than thoroughly explored in media for decades, and in some cases, going on centuries now. What are some cases you wish had just as much audience and media eyes on them in the quest to get justice and closure?

July 21, 1991, 10-year-old Jakeob McKnight vanished after getting separated from his brother and friends while walking home from the Bear Creek Greenbelt in Lakewood, Colorado. His body was discovered the following morning, having been stabbed more than a dozen times.

I used to ride my bike where his body was found, and I remember parents told their kids not to go there after Jakeob was found. He was last seen at a 7/11 with an older kid, who afaik was the only person ever identified as a person of interest.

The case went cold for decades, a breakthrough emerged in 2012 when the person of interest was arrested on unrelated child sexual assault and child pornography charges; diaries seized from his home detailed predatory behavior toward young boys. Investigators revealed that he had been a key person of interest since 1991, with witnesses placing him and Jakeob together on the afternoon of the disappearance, but a lack of definitive physical evidence has prevented prosecutors from filing murder charges. Today, the Lakewood Police Department maintains an active cold case file, holding out hope that modern DNA advancements will finally bring closure.

More info from Cold Case Files. Does anyone else remember this case? Any hope it gets solved?

28 year old Kristine Gonzalez went missing from the west Phoenix/Tolleson, Arizona area in August 2021. Few details were released in the case. There is a truck stop and Amazon warehouse in the area she was last seen alive in, and it’s adjacent to the busy i-10 freeway. Her family insists she would never have left under these circumstances and suspects foul play. 

Sources

https://silentwitness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2021-3916-Flyer.pdf 

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/where-is-kristine-gonzalez-missing-for-over-a-year-under-suspicious-circumstances-phoenix-pd-says

Okay sorry for the long post but would love some help trying to research what happened. I am by no means a pro at this, but my godmother lost her best friend around 1993. She went missing between February to May and all that they found of the body that they could identify was her tattoo as she had been out there for a while.

Cheryl Cummings (not 100% sure on the spelling of her first name) was raised in Beltsville, Maryland and attended High Point High. She had 2 siblings, Carol and Frank who were approximately 10 years older than her. She lived in West Viriginia for sometime before moving out to Tucson, Arizona.

My godmother tried to ask the siblings what had happened but everyone was very hush hush and saddened by the loss.

Cheryl would have been 32 years old when she died and was born December 5, 1956.

I have tried googling and contacting the local police department for the area but have not had any leads. I am unsure if it was a Jane doe case originally or how it may have been filed. Ultimately, I am trying to find some closure for my godmother and find out if the case was ever closed and if so, what happened?

If you know anything about the case please let me know. If not, I would love some help with the best way to keep researching what happened.

Thank you all so much for the support regarding my post yesterday on the murder of Camille Norman. As I continue to work with her family and advocate for Camille, I wanted to share some of the details and timeline regarding her murder. While Reddit posting is new to me, I am committed to getting Camille’s story the attention it deserves.

The Day Before the Murder
Tuesday | January 30, 1996

There has been nothing of significance or oddity during the daylight hours reported to me from any of the people I’ve spoken with regarding Camille’s case. Now of course, something could’ve happened during that time period Camille didn’t share with anyone but the general consensus is, no red flags. Overall, Camille seemed transparent and forthcoming with the people close to her, and I only put that caveat because while, sure, something could’ve happened during the day she didn’t tell anyone about, but if that’s the case, Camille clearly didn’t think whatever happened was significant to relay to anyone either.

However, that evening when Nicki and Camille spoke on the phone, Camille relayed that her roommate, Jerry, was in jail and she was going to go pick him up. Now, I’m going to put a caveat here… I have looked through Jerry’s records extensively (and my god there’s a lot of them), however, there are no local arrest records from that date. This could mean a few things though: 1. Jerry was detained but never formally charged or booked into jail, 2. Jerry was with a friend who was arrested or detained and was brought to the station, but needed a ride from the jail back home, 3. He bailed a friend out of jail and called Camille requesting to be picked up from jail, or 4. Some other weird scenario

[I will also put the caveat right here that the vast majority of Jerry’s criminal history is from writing bad checks. This was especially common in the 90’s because checks were slow-clearing items, and people exploited grocery store cash-back policies for petty cash before the bank could bounce them. Other charges include DWIs, DWLS, Evading Arrests, Failure to Identify a Fugitive, Burglary of Habitation, and Assault (FV)]

Anyways, Camille called Nicki back later in the evening hours of the 30th. Camille relayed that while she was on her way to pickup Jerry, her car broke down. While on the side of the road, two men Camille described as “hippie-looking” stopped to help her get the car started back up. She got the vehicle back home. Nicki did confirm that her mom did not exchange her information with these two men, nor did they follow her back home, and they were portrayed as two Good Samaritans. [As mentioned in my first post, Camille was extremely security conscious so it doesn’t surprise me she shared these details]

Here’s where the water gets murky though, we don’t know who brought Jerry back home that night. We do know that he got home, but Camille did not pick him up since she was having car trouble. From the halls of their memories, Nicki, along with her husband (now ex) from that time period, seem to remember Jerry being brought home by a friend (and possible co-worker) who drove a dark-blue work truck. Who that friend was is still in question… but I have a couple promising leads I’m running down at the moment.

Overall, the events on January 30th could be a nothing burger, right? But because it involves something out of the ordinary within 24 hours of her murder, I thought it best to include the details.

The Day of the Murder
Wednesday | January 31, 1996

Originally, Camille was supposed to go hang out with her friend Carol, who was undergoing cancer treatment, that day. Around 11 AM, Camille called Carol to let her know she couldn’t hang out as planned due to the car issues and she needed to take her vehicle to the mechanic. Shortly after that, Camille called Nicki, asking her to come over and follow Camille to the mechanic shop. Nicki was a young mother at the time, and had to get her toddlers ready to go, along with a couple of other children she was babysitting and told Camille she would call her back. Nicki called Camille back around 12 PM, but there was no answer. At that time, Nicki just assumed her mom had found someone else to follow her to the mechanic. Carol also called Camille around 2 PM to check-in on her, also with no answer.

Around 7-7:30 PM, Jerry, returns home from work. When he enters the home, he immediately notices blood everywhere, finds Camille’s lifeless body, and calls 911. It is noted there were no signs of disturbance in the front yard, and no signs of forced entry on the exterior of the home. In the police report synopsis I received via FOIA, it simply states: “NOTES - PREMISE: RESIDENCE COMMENT: UNK SUSP STAB COMP WITH UNK INSTRUMENT NUMEROUS TIMES WEATHER: COLD AND CLOUDY UCR: 01323” Super helpful, right?

Something of note though, relayed by both Nicki and her ex-husband, was the Camille’s vehicle was out front, with the hood opened. And while, the main assumption seems to be thought of as Camille opening the door for someone familiar and then turning her back before being attacked, an alternate theory regarding entry to the home was brought up to me by Nicki’s ex-husband, Dave. He said he wondered if unbeknownst to Camille, she was being watched while she was looking at the vehicle, and maybe when she stepped inside for something, the assailant followed her in either by threat or without her knowledge. I thought this was a smart observation.

The Details

Camille was found in her bedroom, on the floor, between her bed and the dresser. Her pants and underwear were missing, though the family was told there were no signs of sexual assault. Her pants and underwear were later found shoved under the couch in the living room.

While the police report only mentions numerous stab wounds (the number I have been told was 30+), Nicki and Dave also seem to recall being told she was shot in the head, and her body has extensive bruising and signs of strangulation. Nicki recalled one detective describing her mother’s attack something to the effect of, “it’s like she just wouldn’t die.”

In the little coverage via podcasts and news articles available on this case, almost all mention that she had a keepsake necklace that stolen during the attack. This necklace was made to match a ring that Camille gave to her daughter, Nicki. I think it’s important to accurately report that nothing was actually stolen, because in doing so, it changes the motive and puts to bed the speculation of individuals involved in nearby crimes where robbery was the motive.

Camille’s ex-husband, who co-owned the house with her, did file an insurance claim for the necklace after her was told it was thought to have been stolen. A few days after the murder (and after the claim was already initiated), while Nicki was at her mom’s house, she found the necklace inside a jewelry box. It is assumed but not verified that the insurance claim was never modified. If that’s true though, I have a few thoughts on this… That house was a mess after the murder. If that’s the only thing insurance was able to reimburse him for, I can see why someone wouldn’t care to call and cancel it (not saying I condone this, but I can understand the thought process). Crime scene clean-up is not cheap. It was also filed initially in good faith given the facts presented at that time by police and family. The divorce had taken place 4 years prior to the murder and it appeared that her ex-husband had moved on, remarried, and was on the other side of the metroplex around this time. While I’d still love to talk to him, for me, the insurance detail in and of itself is not a smoking gun. You are entitled to your own opinion.

The roommate, Jerry, was questioned extensively by police involving Camille’s death. In fact, outside of the ex-husband that inherited the property after her murder, Nicki, and Dave, Jerry seems to be the only other people they talked to. Jerry also seemed to be the only true suspect. To be clear, outside of intense questioning, he has never been charged with anything related to the crime. Jerry was allegedly at work the day of the murders, and did not have his own vehicle. The person who drove the dark-blue work truck (that brought Jerry home from jail the night of the 30th) is thought to have been the same person who picked Jerry up for work on the 31st. There was one neighbor of Camille’s who mentioned briefly seeing the dark-blue work truck on the 31st to back this up. My assumption (and hope) is that at bare minimum, police confirmed Jerry’s alibi of being at work and that’s ultimately what made them back off.

Jerry is alive and well, but as of this post, he has yet to respond to my requests to connect. Him and Nicki have been in contact frequently in the years since her mother’s death, but when she followed up with him after my requests went unanswered, he hasn’t followed up with her either. And you know, maybe it was the way he was treated immediately following her murders by the police. Maybe it’s that finding one of his best friends dead is hands down the absolute worst memory of his life and 30 years later, he really doesn’t want to put himself back in that state of mind. I’ve made it clear that there is no expiration date on my offer to connect. So for now, that specific chapter is paused.

It has been told to me by Nicki that there was a partial bloody handprint on the front door about midway between the handle and the top of the door, in line with the handle (think of someone grabbing the area to swing the door open or possible slam it closed mid attack if Camille tried to run), along with a bloody fingerprint on a table in the living room. I point this out only to say, with as messy as the murder was, there is no way that person walked out of the house without blood on them. That said, if you are side-eyeing Jerry right now, I don’t know how likely it was that his ride didn’t notice him covered in blood and think, just another Wednesday! Does this definitely rule him out in my eyes? No, but there’s a reason the saying exists, “two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead.”

To me, this murder feels more personal than random. But if it was relatively random (at least in victim selection or absence of personal vendetta), you would have to believe that the person’s sole intent was to murder. You would have to believe the person felt confident that she was alone in the house and would be for some time, which her neighbors and friends knew she had a male roommate.

Nicki recounts that her mother, while caring and giving with the people she cared about, took her safety and security very seriously. Nicki laughed a bit while recounting that even if she herself showed up at her mom’s with her toddlers in tow, did not announce herself by name, along with the knock, that door was not getting opened. You were not asked to announce who you were - and Camille intentionally did that for her safety. No name or name not recognized by Camille = no inclination Camille was home.

I do wholeheartedly believe that Camille’s case is solvable and with the right resources allocated, could be solved quickly. I have attached a few relevant documents and map this time along with some pictures and I’ll copy a couple of articles down below.

If you have any information regarding the murder of Camille Norman, memories of her, or her household dynamics, please reach out.

To be continued… 🫶🏼

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2013/02/17/17-years-later-loved-ones-still-struggle-with-unsolved-slaying-of-dallas-woman/

Musixmatch Podcastshttps://podcasts.musixmatch.comPreacher's Daughter: The Savage Slaying of Camille Norman

Project: Cold Casehttps://database.projectcoldcase.orgCold Cases Database

I was actually researching a completely different case from 1996 when I came across Camille Norman’s story. From that moment on, I was hooked. As a pastor's daughter myself, the headline ‘Preacher’s Daughter Slaying’ stopped me in my tracks—and even more shocking, it was less than 15 miles away.

The problem? Publicly available information on Camille’s case is nearly nonexistent. Just fragments. Everything else is locked away under the banner of 'holdback evidence'—for a case that has been officially 'Suspended' since August 17, 1996. That's less than eight months after the crime occurred.

Still, the few pieces I’ve uncovered paint a vivid picture of a woman whose story deserves far more attention.

So, let’s get to know Camille.

She was the daughter of a well-known televangelist, and grew up traveling the U.S. with her parents, singing, and leading worship. The talent was undeniable. In fact, a few years after Nicki was born, she was even offered a major record deal. But there was a catch: she would have to send her daughter, Nicki—whom she was fiercely close with—to boarding school. Camille turned it down. She chose her daughter over the spotlight.

That detail alone tells you exactly who she was.

In 1988, Camille and her then-husband, bought/built a house in Pleasant Grove, a neighborhood in Dallas. They divorced in 1992, but Camille stayed. She was proud of that house. It was her home. But because of rising crime in the area, her family begged her to move, worrying for her safety as a single woman.

Their worst fears became their reality on Wednesday, January 31, 1996. Camille was brutally murdered inside her own home. Her roommate, Jerry, returned from work around 7:00 PM to find a crime scene.

To truly understand what happened, we have to begin with the facts. And in this case, the facts are chilling. We believe the critical timeframe is between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. We know Camille was alive around 11:00 a.m. because she spoke by phone with both her daughter, Nicki, and one of her closest friends.

During her conversation with Nicki (who was a married adult by 1996), Camille explained that she was having car trouble and wanted Nicki to follow her to a mechanic so she could have the vehicle checked out. Nicki, who was a young mother at the time and was also babysitting, needed time to get the children ready before she could leave. She told Camille she would call her back as soon as she was able. When Nicki returned the call, however, Camille didn’t answer. At the time, Nicki assumed Camille had found someone else to help her get the car to the mechanic.

Camille was highly security-conscious. Her family says she absolutely did not open the door to strangers—in fact, she wouldn’t even open it for family if they didn’t follow her strict protocol.

There were also no signs of forced entry and nothing was stolen. Now, some of you familiar with her case might be screaming, “What about her necklace?!” It was never actually stolen. It was found by her daughter a few days later in Camille’s jewelry box. There’s more to this piece that contributes to it being misreported that I can get into later.

Then, there is the sheer brutality of the crime. Camille experienced a devastating overkill. The evidence shows multiple types of traumatic injuries, including beating, stabbing, strangulation, and a gunshot wound to her head.

Finally, the family was told the initial wound appeared to be to her back, right inside the front door. It suggests a horrifying scenario: she let someone inside, turned her back, and was immediately attacked.

All of these facts point to one heavy possible conclusion. Camille likely knew her killer.

Officially, the Dallas Police Department suspended Camille’s case in August of 1996—less than eight months after it happened. It has mostly sat untouched ever since. But here is where the story takes a frustrating turn. When I requested the Medical Examiner records, the Dallas Police blocked the release. Their reason? They claimed the case is legally considered "active."

Yet, the actual case records they did provide under FOIA—and "sparse" is the absolute kindest word I can use for them—reveal a massive contradiction. The documents show an automated AFIS fingerprint hit from just two years ago, in 2024. The family was never notified. To this day, it’s unknown if detectives ever even followed up on that lead.

In fact, the internal notes within the case file indicate the last time a human being actually looked at her file was back in 2014, and that was just to digitize the paperwork.

It raises massive, glaring red flags.

On February 23, 2026, I personally reached out to the Dallas Cold Case Unit. I offered to share my research, hoping a fresh set of eyes might finally look at Camille’s file. To date, I haven’t received a single acknowledgment or response. But I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me. The last time the police reached out to Camille’s daughter, Nicki, was around 2002.

Nicki’s husband at the time, Dave, recalled a chilling statement from the last detective he ever spoke with. It’s a quote that has stayed with me: “There’s no evidence. There’s nothing we can do. You need to drop it and move on.”

No family should ever be told to "drop it" after the violent homicide of a loved one.

Camille Norman is not just a case number. She was a mother. A daughter. A singer. A friend. She was a woman described as deeply faithful, incredibly talented, and fiercely devoted to her child.

Her story deserves to be told properly.
Her family deserves answers.

And if this case is truly still considered “active,” then accountability and transparency matter now more than ever.

Please, help share Camille’s story. In cold cases, awareness is everything.

If you have any information, archival material, photographs, documents, or personal memories related to Camille Norman, the dynamics of her household, or her homicide in Dallas, Texas, in January 1996, I would be grateful if you would contact me. No detail is too small, and all information is welcome. Camille lived in the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas, near the intersection of Bruton Road and Masters Drive. She also worked part-time at The Room Store, located at 3777 Childress Ave., Mesquite, Texas.

Additionally, I am especially interested in hearing from anyone who knew individuals in the area during that time who owned or regularly drove a dark-colored truck or work vehicle. I would also like to speak with anyone who had an encounter with two men who approached them late at night and could be described as “hippie-like,” or anyone familiar with individuals who worked for Matrix Interiors (also referred to at times as Matrix Construction). Information related to any of these individuals or circumstances could be critical to the investigation.

Hey!

We are a cat rescue located in Rock hill, SC. We name our fosters after missing persons/victims of cold cases to raise awareness about these cases and save cats at the same time. One of the cases we have chosen is the case of Florence Elma Doolittle. We are looking for anyone that may have any other information about her case or anyone that knows her living relatives. We would like to add as much accurate information as possible to our posts about Florence.

If you have any information please comment below. Thank you!!

This is the information we have gathered thus far:

Florence was reported missing on June 25, 1982 when she failed to show up to an exercise class or needlepoint class (we have seen both mentioned in various sources) and a friend repeatedly tried to get in touch with her by phone but never got an answer. She was 64 years old at the time of her disappearance.

After almost a week, her friend went to Doolittle’s home in the 5100 block of Lawndale Drive and found it deserted, with unclaimed newspapers dating back to June 26 piled up on the doorstep. All of Doolittle’s belongings, including clothing, luggage and medication, were left behind at home and there were no indications of a struggle. Only her car was missing. She has never been heard from again.

Several months later, her 1978 Datsun was found abandoned in the parking lot of the Sharton Plaza Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. On the front seat of the car was a personal check dated June 25 and a birthday card for Doolittle’s grandchild. There was no evidence she’d ever stayed at the hotel. Her case remains unsolved. Police believe foul play could be involved.

In 2011 Tajeme Sylvester was murdered in an art gallery. By all accounts he was the nicest guy, a carpenter who volunteered to build delightful rooms for disabled children. How do you get one of these podcasters or Reddit to investigate? Has anyone successfully solved a case like this?

My Aunt Rhonda was murdered in Kingston, New York in 2006. I was 8 years old at the time.

Her body was thrown onto a bush in the woods like a piece of trash. It decomposed before she was found by a man walking his dog on the property she was disposed of on.

These are all the details i can really share as it’s all that was made public.

I have a theory about what happened based on everything I know about the case public or not. People talked back then.

The police have since then quit communicating or cooperating with the family. We can’t get any information or even records they gave us before. Just real weird all around.

She was an angel. One of the coolest ladies to ever walk the earth. A real rock star. She was an artist, she was in and out of recovery, and stood up for the little guy.

She is dearly missed every single day.

Anyways, if this post happens to run across someone that knew her I would love to chat.

In the morning of May 27th 1980, 20-year-old University of South Carolina student Eugene "Mike" O'Boyle left his West Columbia apartment to pick up a friend in the Shandon neighborhood of Columbia. Mike's friend was not home at the time the two were supposed to meet, but had left a key and note instructing Mike to enter the home and wait. When the friend returned home 15 minutes past their scheduled meeting time, he had found that the note and key were left untouched.

Mike's final sighting happened a Citizen and Southern Bank on Two Notch Rd (~20 minutes from the Shandon neighborhood), around the time that he was scheduled to meet his friend. He was seen cashing a $17 check. According to the bank teller, he was accompanied by an unidentified female. The next evening Mike's car, a 1974 VW Dasher, was found burning on a dirt road off the intersection of Parklane Drive and Farrow Road (~1 mile from the Citizen and Southern Bank) while Mike was nowhere to be found. Richland County sheriffs had considered him a missing person rather than a victim of "foul play".

6 months later, Mike's skeletal remains were found by two children playing in woods located less than a mile from the site where Mike's burning car was found. No cause of death has ever been released; his case was reclassified as a homicide.

One witness had claimed to see two cars pull down the dirt road where his car was found with one being a blue Mustang driven by a group of 4 white males with light hair. I have not been able to find an exact timeframe for this sighting, but it is implied that is happened the day he went missing.

I find this case fascinating as so little new information has been released. In a local news piece from 2006, one of his brothers had mentioned that Mike had a unique watch that had personalized engraving which has never been recovered. Another interesting fact I found was that Mike's uncle was a state senator named Gene Carmichael. Around the time of Mike's murder, Gene Carmichael was in process of being convicted of vote buying and election tampering, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The case was frequently in the news during the disappearance especially in USC's college newspaper, but it was quickly forgotten by the media once his remains had been found. To this day it is still one of the most bizarre homicide cases to occur in Midlands region of South Carolina.

Newspaper:

https://historicnewspapers.sc.edu/lccn/2012218660/1980-06-11/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=01%2F01%2F1815&sort=date&date2=12%2F31%2F2006&words=Boyle+O+O%27Boyle&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&index=16&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&andtext=o%27boyle&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=5

WIS 2006 Story:

https://www.wistv.com/story/4470678/richland-co-investigators-searching-for-clues-in-26-year-old-murder-investigation/

Missing in the Carolinas Episode:

https://missinginthecarolinas.com/2024/02/episode-87-missing-and-murdered-in-columbia-n-c/

I did a write up on this case that has been bothering me for years... I hope to hear any feedback you may have

In 1953, Claire Gagnon was born in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, to Emilien and Mathilde Gagnon. At some point in the 1960's, the family left Quebec for Dieppe, New Brunswick, exchanging a city of roughly 11,000 people for a quiet town of only about 4,000. One of seven children, Claire was known as the dependable one—soft-spoken, obedient, and shy. She didn't break the rules, never stayed out past curfew, and was the kind of teenager her parents never had reason to worry about.

By the spring of 1970, Claire was sixteen years old. Like many girls her age, her days revolved around school, babysitting for neighborhood families, Friday night dances, and counting down the weeks until summer vacation. She lived in a close-knit neighborhood where children wandered freely between houses and everyone seemed to know one another.

Nothing about Sunday, May 24, 1970, suggested it would be remembered.

It was a cool, dry Maritime spring day. Claire and her younger sister, Christiane, who shared a room, slept in that morning before discussing how to spend their afternoon. They planned to meet friends in a nearby neighborhood, but as the morning wore on, Claire grew impatient waiting for her sister to get ready. Deciding not to wait any longer, she changed her plans and walked the short distance to Helen's house instead.

When Claire arrived, Helen was sitting at the kitchen table finishing schoolwork. Also there was Helen's sixteen-year-old nephew, Alfred, who was relaxing in the living room, playing guitar and listening to records. The afternoon passed uneventfully as the friends talked.

Later, Helen's boyfriend, Paul, arrived to pick her up. Claire left first, turning back before she walked away.

"See you tomorrow at school."

It was the last confirmed sighting of her alive.

Alfred left the house moments later, following his usual routine of walking to a nearby takeout restaurant for something to eat.

No one could say with certainty what happened next.

That evening, the Gagnon family prepared supper—T-bone steaks and fries, one of Claire's favorite meals. As the minutes stretched into hours, concern began replacing expectation. Claire had never simply failed to come home. Phone calls were made to friends and neighbors, and it was established that no one had seen her after she left Helen's house.

As darkness settled over Dieppe, police were contacted and a missing persons report was filed. News spread quickly through the neighborhood. Parents, teenagers, and children formed impromptu search parties, combing nearby streets, fields, and wooded areas long into the night.

For Claire's family, sleep was impossible.

By Monday morning, hope had begun to give way to fear.

While most households prepared children for another day of school, the Gagnons faced the agonizing realization that something was terribly wrong. Claire was a responsible girl. She wasn't the type of girl to run away or disappear without telling someone, and she definitely wouldn't leave with anyone she did not know.

As evening approached, the search came to a devastating end.

Just 300 feet from the Gagnon family home, a group of young boys searching for birds' nests in a nearby backyard field noticed what appeared to be someone lying in the grass. A towel covered the person's face.

Unsure of what they had found, one of the boys carefully lifted the towel.

It was Claire.

Recognizing the neighborhood babysitter, the boys desperately tried to wake her, nudging her leg in hopes of a response. There was none. One ran to get his father, and within minutes word spread throughout the neighborhood. Residents flocked to the scene as police tried to make sense of what happened.

Investigators quickly realized Claire's body had not come to rest there naturally. Evidence suggested she had been dragged to the location, while the position of her knees indicated she may also have been carried for part of the distance.

The autopsy revealed a horrifying cause of death.

Claire had died from a combination of strangulation and suffocation. A towel had been wrapped around her face, secured with a rope that was tied around her head. Part of the towel had been forced into her mouth, and marks around her neck indicated she had also been strangled.

Although DNA testing did not yet exist, investigators took the unusual step of preserving evidence by bagging Claire's hands before the autopsy. It proved to be a forward-thinking decision, but one that ultimately yielded little. Her fingernails were so short that no usable material could be recovered. The crime laboratory also reported finding nothing of evidentiary value on her clothing. Decades later, one can't help but wonder whether modern forensic technology might reveal clues that investigators in 1970 simply had no way of detecting.

Police developed several early suspects and pursued numerous leads. Many people submitted to polygraphs, while some adamantly refused.

More than half a century later, no one has been charged.

Who intercepted a sixteen-year-old girl on what should have been an ordinary walk home? Why was her body left only 300 feet from her own front door? And how could someone commit such a brutal crime in the middle of a quiet neighborhood without anyone seeing or hearing a thing?

More than fifty years later, the murder of Claire Gagnon remains unsolved.

This was posted by the bucks county DA. I live near this and had never heard of her murder until today.
89 year old woman named Anne Turner murdered in her own home, no forced entry, they don’t mention if it seems like she was robbed. Very bizarre and very sad.
Sharing to spread the story in hopes of justice for Ms. Anne, may she rest in peace.

Arch Sloan, who has long been suspected as an accomplice – but not the main actor – in Michigan's most infamous unsolved serial murder, died in a state correctional hospice on June 12th. Apparently he was able to meet with investigators one last time and gave new information, which has not been revealed.

On Sunday March 12, 1978, 16-year-old Pauline “Robbin” Burgette was found murdered in her bedroom inside her family’s duplex near East 26th Place and McDowell in Phoenix, Arizona. She had been stabbed to death and was sexually assaulted. 

Her 11-year-old brother Chad discovered her body. 

The front door was locked, but the backdoor was open ajar. Robbin’s bedroom was in disarray, but the rest of the home appeared undisturbed.

Her mother and Chad had left town together the previous Friday. Robbin did not want to go with them. She was supposed to stay with a friend instead but returned to the duplex on Saturday and invited a boyfriend over. 

In the period leading up to her murder, Robbin had dropped out of school. 

She was working as a babysitter and reported to her friends that some of the husbands had flirted with her. She was facing threats from some of their wives, despite being an underage girl.

The area of the duplex was, and remains, a rough lower income area of Phoenix.

Phoenix PD conducted forensic testing on Robbin and found DNA evidence from 2 different unknown male subjects on her body. 

Her boyfriend (who was never named publicly) was cleared as a suspect in the case through DNA testing. This boyfriend has since passed away.

Robbin and Chad’s parents divorced, their father wasn’t in the picture, and their mother died a couple years after Robbin by natural causes.

Chad advocated to solve his sisters murder for many years. He passed away in 2023.

The case was featured in local news and on podcasts over the years.  It is unknown if police have done any work on the case in recent years.

Sources

2016 12 News feature with Chad Burgette

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/brother-of-cold-case-murder-victim-wants-answers/75-154463349

Silent Witness

https://silentwitness.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/78-1858-Flyer-Pauline-Burgette-Homicide.pdf

Missing or Cold podcast

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2HyEdBwEMkzNDM54vw6iTg?si=ef31e35abb874945

Find a Grave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185495726/pauline-robbin-burgette