Blindfolded, Bound, and Walked into Traffic: The Bizarre Death of Stephen Melkey

On December 22, 1939, William Joyce was driving down highway U.S. 20 between South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana. At around 3:00 in the morning, a figure stumbled out onto the snowy roadway ahead of him. Unable to stop in time, Joyce hit the person, sending him flying 40 feet down the road. Joyce jumped out of his vehicle to give aid. When he saw the state of the man, he knew there was nothing he could do but find a phone to call police.

When the police arrived, they found that this wasn’t simply a case of a vehicle versus pedestrian accident. The gravely injured man before them was blindfolded, gagged, and bound. This obviously led to many questions, the main one being…who tied up Stephen Melkey and left him by the highway?

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The Boy in the Box-Unsolved Murder

UPDATE: On December 8, 2022, police announced they have identified “the boy in the box,” as Joseph Augustus Zarelli. More details at the end of this post.

“The boy in the box,” is one of the most heartbreaking unsolved murder cases in the United States. A beaten and bruised child left in a cardboard box among the trash of a dumping ground. The boy’s age had been between three and seven years old. Due to the child being malnourished, it was difficult to determine a more exact age.

Now, over 65 years later, the case remains unsolved. The boy’s identity and who murdered him are still unknown. We will delve into the location that he was found, how he was found, and theories about who he may have been. Please be aware that this post contains post-mortem photos, which may be upsetting to some.

This is the story of “America’s unknown child.”

the boy in the box facial reconstruction — “The boy in the box” facial reconstruction

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The Ruthless Villisca Axe Murders: An Entire Family destroyed

Sometime during the evening of June 10, 1912 or early morning hours on June 11, 1912 in the city of Villisca in southwestern Iowa a family of six and two house guests were brutally murdered with an axe. Though there has been many suspects over the years, even a couple trials, this gruesome case remains unsolved. This is the true story of the horrific Villisca Axe Murders.

The members of the Moore family include parents Josiah (43) and Sarah (39), along with their four children Herman (11), Mary Katherine (10), Arthur (7), and Paul (5).

The Moore family, all killed in the villisca axe murders. — Josiah and Sarah Moore with two of their children.

The other two guests were sisters Ina Mae (8) and Lena Gertrude Stillinger (12) who were invited by Mary Katherine Moore so spend the night at the Moore home.

On the evening of June 10, 1912, the Moore family along with the Stillinger sisters went to a church event which ended at 9:30 pm. Sarah Moore was co-director of this program called “The Children’s Day Service,” in which the Moore children performed in. Afterwards, everyone walked home, the journey being only three blocks long, and arrived between 9:45 and 10 pm. The family then enjoyed milk and cookies together before going to bed for the night.

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What Was the Fate of the Five Sodder Children?

From left: Maurice (14), Martha (12), Louis (10), Jennie (8), Betty (6)

On Christmas Eve of 1945 in Fayetteville, West Virginia, George and Jennie Sodder had been celebrating the Christmas season with nine of their ten children. Their son, Joe, was away in the Army. As the night grew later George retired for the night to bed followed shortly after by his sons John (23) and George Jr. (16). When Jennie decided it was time for the rest of the children to go to bed, they pleaded with her to stay up and play with their toys that their older sister, Marian (17), had gotten for them. After her children promised her that they would get a few chores done before bed, Jennie agreed to let them continue playing and then took her youngest child, Sylvia (3) to bed with her.

The phone ringing awoke Jennie a little past midnight. Jennie answered the phone and a woman asked to speak to someone Jennie didn’t know. When Jennie told her she had the wrong number the woman laughed and hung up. Jennie thought this was just a prank call and didn’t give it much thought. She then noticed that the lights were still on in the house and the doors were unlocked. She found this unusual because her kids were normally very good about attending to these things before bed. She turned off the lights, locked the doors and went back to sleep.

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The Disappearance of Jean Elizabeth Spangler

Jean Elizabeth Spangler was born in Seattle, Washington on September 2, 1923 and was an American dancer, model, and bit-part actress in Hollywood films and early television. She mysteriously disappeared on October 7, 1949 at the age of 26.

Spangler was a divorcee and had a daughter, Christine Louise Benner, with her ex-husband Dexter Benner. Christine was born April 22, 1944 and was five years old at the time of her mother’s disappearance. When the divorce was finalized, Dexter was given custody of Christine partly because of Jean’s infidelity during the marriage and also because he claimed she put her partying lifestyle ahead of the needs of her daughter. Dexter denied Jean the right to see her daughter many times. It’s also been said that Dexter threatened Jean, saying he could make it to where she would never see her daughter again. Jean took him to court and after a long custody battle, Jean won custody of Christine in 1948. The judge had ruled that Jean’s questionable behavior was in the past and that the little girl’s place was with her mother.

On October 7, 1949, Spangler left her home in Los Angeles where she lived with her mother and daughter at about 5 pm. Spangler’s mother was out of town at the time visiting family. Spangler left her daughter in the care of her sister-in-law, Sophie, and told her that she was going to meet with Dexter to talk about a late child support payment and then she was going to do work on a movie set.

A clerk at a store near Jean’s home is the last person believed to have seen her. The clerk said that it appeared Jean was waiting for someone. There has been no confirmed sightings of her since.

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