Sunday, September 2, 2012
Patch has been featuring missing persons, the unidentified dead and homicide victims with open case files, but today we are honoring the labors of those who work these cases by sharing some solved cases.
When someone goes missing, there's usually a large effort by law enforcement, family and friends to find them. When someone is murdered without a known suspect, police and relatives try to find out who did it. And when a body is discovered and no kin claim it, advocates who work on such cases push to link circumstances or DNA to bring them home. In honor of Labor Day, Patch is recognizing the efforts of all who work to solve these cases, bring the missing and unidentified home, and provide closure to the families or justice for the victims of unsolved homicides. Included in that are the many people who give the missing and unidentified "temporary homes" on websites like the Doe Network or NamUS until they are found or claimed. Here are 10 …
Saturday, June 30, 2012
James Kos of Monroeville left his place of employment in April 2000 and has not been heard from since.
Some people literally disappear one day without a trace. James Kos of Monroeville is one of those people. He was 42 years old the day he left work in Monroeville on April 22, 2000. It was the last time he was seen. He is described by police as a white male; 5 feet, 7 inches tall; about 132 pounds; blond hair; hazel eyes; medium complexion; and wearing glasses. Not much else is known. There's been little publicity about his case and even the information on the missing persons websites is limited. Anyone with information is asked to call Monroeville Police Department at 412-576-3387. For more information about this and other missing person cases, visit Pennsylvania Missing Persons, NamUs or the Doe Network. Follow Dormont-Brookline Patch on …
Saturday, June 23, 2012
The 8-year-old boy disappeared from near his McKees Rocks home in 1991.
Willie Majewski was only 8 years old about 4 p.m. on Nov. 9, 1991 as he gathered his fishing gear and walked toward Chartiers Creek, which feeds into the nearby Ohio River. He wasn't reported missing for several hours after he disappeared. His mother was out playing bingo and didn't realize he hadn't come home. Willie's fishing gear was found later behind the Eat'n Park restaurant—along the banks of the creek, about 100 yards from a camp where homeless people stayed. His equipment had not been disturbed and there were no signs of a struggle at the scene. Witnesses reported seeing Majewski in the McKees Rocks Plaza. One person saw him talking to a scruffy man in a store. Another said an unkempt man pulled him into a burnt-orange Nova. The …
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Each weekend, beginning May 12-13, Patch will review a missing person, an unidentified body or a cold case homicide victim from Allegheny or Washington counties.
The Pennsylvania Missing Persons website features the somewhat-haunting sketch of "Beth Doe" on its homepage. Nancy Monahan of Penn Hills, who started and runs the website, chose the sketch because, in nearly four decades and despite social networking and modern forensics, no one has ever been able to determine where the woman came from or who she was. Monahan was intrigued in part because the woman would have been in her own age bracket. The details of the case are rather disturbing. The young woman had been dismembered and mutilated. She and her full-term, unborn child were stuffed in three suitcases and thrown from a bridge along Interstate 80 over the Lehigh River in Carbon County, PA. Police think the killer meant for the suitcases to…
Erin Faulk
10:53 am on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
It's some of both. All of the links in this article lead to other articles about these cases. In some cases arrests have been made, but that's not so for all of them. more ›