True Crime Stories Volume 4: 12 Shocking True Crime Murder Cases (True Crime Anthology)
Page 1
True Crime Stories
12 Shocking True Crime Murder Cases
True Crime Anthology Vol.4
By
Jack Rosewood
Copyright © 2016 by Wiq Media
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
DISCLAIMER:
This crime anthology biography includes quotes from those closely involved in the twelve cases examined, and it is not the author’s intention to defame or intentionally hurt anyone involved. The interpretation of the events leading up to these crimes are the author’s as a result of researching the true crime murders. Any comments made about the psychopathic or sociopathic behavior of criminals involved in any of these cases are the sole opinion and responsibility of the person quoted.
Free Bonus!
Get two free books when you sign up to my VIP newsletter at www.jackrosewood.com
150 interesting trivia about serial killers and the story of serial killer Herbert Mullin.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE
As you have bought this book soon after it was released you’re eligible for a bonus. After True Crime Stories Volume 3 ends you will be able to find several of my most sold True Crime books. I hope you’ll like them.
Contents
Free Bonus!
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Mysterious Death of Rakhat Aliyev
Rakhat Aliyev
Falling Out of Favor
The Nurbank Murders
Life on the Run
Suicide or Jailhouse Murder?
Chapter 2: The Murder of Meredith Kercher
Meredith Susan Cara Kercher (1985-2007)
The Murder
An Arrest is Made
Foxy Knoxy
The Trials
The Aftermath
Chapter 3: Francis “Frankie” Stewart Silver, a Nineteenth Century Black Widow
The Murder
The Forensic Evidence
The Legend of Frankie Silver
Chapter 4: The Hinterkaifeck Murders
Hinterkaifeck
The Discovery
The Investigation
The Aftermath and New Revelations
Chapter 5: The Murder of Kelly Anne Bates
James Patterson
Kelly Bates
The Torment Begins
The Arrest and Trial of James Patterson
Chapter 6: The Assassination of William Stewart
Turbulent Central America
William Stewart
Covering the Nicaraguan Revolution
A Reporter Brings Down a Dictatorship
Chapter 7: The Cold Case Murder of Ralph Smith
The Murder of Ralph Smith
The Case Goes Cold
Sinatra Dunn
The Arrest and Trial of Sinatra Dunn
Chapter 8: The Disappearance and Murder of Chandra Levy
Chandra Levy
The Disappearance
The Congressman and the Intern
The Discovery of Chandra’s Remains
The Trial of Ingmar Guandique
An Incredible Twist
Chapter 9: The Abduction of Colette Aram
The Abduction
A Kidnaping Case Becomes a Homicide Investigation
Advances in DNA Technology
Chapter 10: The Murder of Manhattan Prostitute Helen Jewett
Dorcas Doyen
A Brutal Murder
A Suspect Emerges
The Trial of the Century
Chapter 11: The Cold Case Murder of Linda Strait
A Quick Walk to Safeway
Spokane’s Predator
DNA: A Predator’s Worse Nightmare
Chapter 12: The Strange Case of the Joan Harrison Murder
The Yorkshire Ripper?
Christopher Smith
Conclusion
More books by Jack Rosewood
GET THESE BOOKS FOR FREE
A Note From The Author
Introduction
Unfortunately, crime is a part of life in the modern world. That is not to say that crime is a purely modern phenomenon, but with the advent of modern technology, criminals have become more mobile. Criminals are able to easily traverse through countries and from one country to another to commit their nefarious deeds.
Because of that, it has become increasingly difficult to run away from crime.
Modern technology has also allowed international audiences to learn about high-profile crimes and in some cases for fan followings of criminals to develop.
In the pages of this book, you will learn about twelve high-profile crime cases from around the world. Some of these cases, such as the Hinterkaifeck murders and the murder of Kelly Anne Bates, attained notoriety due to their brutal and bizarre nature, while others were solved by DNA profiling after several twists and turns.
Many of the cases in this book received considerable media attention while they were ongoing, sometimes earning the often overused moniker “the trial of the century.” The first true “trial of the century,” the Helen Jewett murder case, is profiled here and compared with another notorious case from the 1990s.
Some of these cases looked like they would never be solved, but through a combination of scientific advances and good police work, the killers were eventually caught and justice was served. Unfortunately, some cases, such as the murder of Chandra Levy and the assassination of William Stewart, remain open and unsolved.
So indulged your curiosity and open the pages of this book to learn about twelve of the most baffling and bizarre cases in the annals of criminal history.
Chapter 1: The Mysterious Death of Rakhat Aliyev
Before the 2006 film Borat became a worldwide hit, few people outside of central Asia or Russia knew that that country of Kazakhstan existed. Needless to say, many citizens of the central Asian former Soviet Republic found the movie’s representation of them as backwards, violent, anti-Semitic people to be unfair and for the most part unfounded.
A closer look reveals that Kazakhstan is actually a complex place where modern ideas and sensibilities are woven together with centuries old traditions. The people of the land-locked nation are proud of their heritage, which can be traced back to the horseback riding Huns of the fifth century. During the Middle Ages, the majority of the people converted to Islam, which is the majority religion today. As part of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan suffered at times, particularly during the famine of 1932-33 when over 60% of its population died. Kazakhstan was also home to many of the notorious Soviet gulags where political prisoners were sent, often to die.
Although Kazakhstan has had a difficult history, today it is far from the backwards country portrayed in Borat. Economically speaking, it is the dominant central Asian nation thanks to its rich oil reserves and deposits of other valuable minerals. Kazakhstan repaid all of the debt it owed to the International Monetary Fund seven years ahead of schedule and today its people enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the region.
Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet economy may be relatively strong, but its political system is another story.
Technically, Kazakhstan’s government is a constitutional republic, but it has been plagued with accusations of human rights abuses and political violence. Nursultan Nazarbayev has been the country’s only president s
ince independence in 1991, which critics point to as evidence for Kazakhstan being a republic in name only.
Democracy activists and critics of Nazarbayev argue that Kazakhstan’s secret police service, known as the KNB, which is essentially the local successor to the Soviet KGB, has manipulated every election since independence through a combination of coercion, threats, and at times out right violence against opposition groups. The Economist lists Kazakhstan as an authoritarian regime and points to the courts as being the primary reason. There is no equivalent of “Miranda rights” in Kazakhstan and there is no independent judiciary— all Supreme Court judges are appointed by the president.
Truly, contemporary Kazakhstan is a sometimes bizarre mix of the old and new worlds where it is not uncommon to see former KGB agents rub elbows with multi-millionaire businessmen at upscale restaurants in the country’s capital of Astana or the largest city of Almaty.
It was within this sometimes volatile social and political milieu that a series of the most mysterious deaths in Kazakhstan’s modern history took place.
Rakhat Aliyev
Rakhat Aliyev was born in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Kazakhstan in 1962. His early years were spent like most children around the world at the time: playing soccer with his friends and spending time with his family. But by the time Aliyev was a young adult, the winds of change were in the air.
The concepts of Glasnost and Perestroika that Mikhail Gorbechev and the Communist Party introduced to modernize and save the crumbling Soviet Union ironically led it to a quicker demise. With the total collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the old constituent republics such as Kazakhstan scrambled to find their place in the new world order. The 1990s became a period of great transition in the former Soviet republics, where large amounts of money could be earned and an even greater number of enemies could be made in doing so.
Rakhat Aliyev found his place in the new system.
Aliyev obtained a law degree in 1997 and a PhD in economics in 2005, which prepared him for a lucrative career in post-Soviet Kazakhstan’s often shady worlds of business and government. He made several lucrative investments and inserted himself into the functions of many government industries. Aliyev also was a member of the KNB and worked his way through the ranks of the organization, thanks in part to his relationship with the president.
Aliyev was married to President Nazarbayev’s daughter, Dariga, for many years. The couple had three children over their decades-long marriage and by all accounts looked happy. They were one of Kazakhstan’s top power couples and it was rumored that Aliyev would be his father-in-law’s successor.
But in 2007, Rakhat Aliyev found out that even the bonds of matrimony were not enough to protect him from the wrath of the president.
Falling Out of Favor
2007 was a bad year for Rakhat Aliyev. Up until that time, he had led a charmed life: he was a millionaire and was at the pinnacle of power in the Kazakhstan government. His wife was the favored daughter of the country’s leader and every business deal he made seemed to end favorably. Before 2007, Aliyev must have felt that the sky was the limit.
But as easily as the gods can give one power, they can take it away!
Aliyev began to fall out of favor with the president when he was accused of laundering money embezzled from government corporations in Kazakhstan to off shore accounts in the Mediterranean. The charges were bad enough alone, but President Nazarbayev soon learned that his son-in-law was questioning his rule and possibly collaborating with the opposition.
Rakhat Aliyev was living on borrowed time.
Aliyev was next served divorce papers from his wife via fax. He later claimed that his wife told him that she was pressured to do so by her father, but Dariga has been reticent to talk about the divorce in the years since.
Rakhat was then given the post of ambassador to Austria where he would ostensibly be out of the president’s hair and the government could move forward making a case of treason against him. With few friends left in Kazakhstan, Aliyev married his former assistant and moved to Austria where he took his post.
While Aliyev was out of the country, Kazakhstan authorities worked to make sure that he could never return a free man—or alive.
The Nurbank Murders
The crimes that brought Rakhat Aliyev to the front of the international news cycle were not embezzlement or treason, though, but a double murder that took place in Kazakhstan. The details of the crimes remain sketchy and will probably never be totally known, but based on a combination of eye-witness accounts and circumstantial evidence, some of the important details and a reasonable chronology can be reconstructed.
As mentioned above, Rakhat Aliyev used a combination of his skills, education, and Soviet era connections to enrich himself both monetarily and in terms of power in the post-Soviet Kazakhstan government. One of the ways he did this was by using his influence in the government to land lucrative business deals, one of which was with the Kazakhstan based bank, Nurbank.
By January 2007, Aliyev owned 75% of Nurbank, but to him it was more than just another revenue stream or job—it was a family operation. His father owned a small percentage and his son was on the board.
Essentially, Nurbank was Aliyev’s fiefdom and if things did not go as he liked, trouble was bound to happen!
According to the testimony of the victims, on January 18, 2007, Aliyev had Vice President of Nurbank, Aholdas Timraliey and Chairman Abilmazhen Gilimov, kidnapped and threatened. The two men were nabbed in broad daylight as they left work for the day and then driven around Almaty where they were threatened with death if they did not go along with Aliyev’s investment ideas.
The two men were able to escape their captors and both promptly quit work at Nurbank the next day.
But apparently Aliyev had other recalcitrant Nurbank executives to target.
Less than two weeks later, on January 31, Timraliyev was kidnapped once more along with Aibar Khasenov, who was chairman of the bank’s board. The two men were beaten and tortured over the course of several days, but during the course of the ordeal Timraliyev was able to call his wife to alert her of the situation. Although Timraliyev’s wife phoned authorities to find her husband, it was too late—he and Khasenov were killed, placed in metal drums, and dropped off in a dump.
Once the bodies of the two men were found, Aliyev became the prime suspect.
But the slick bureaucrat was still in the good graces of the president, who gave Aliyev diplomatic immunity and a chance to start over in Austria.
Life on the Run
Aliyev’s flight from Kazakhstan proved to be only a temporary remedy to his legal problems. Not long after he left the country, the divorce from his wife became final and the government began to investigate him for a slew of charges ranging from embezzlement to treason and murder.
But the fallen businessman did not help himself much.
From the perceived safety of such locations as Austria and Malta, Aliyev began to give interviews to the international press in early 2007. He said that he thought Nazarbayev should not be president for life and that the government of Kazakhstan was inherently corrupt. Aliyev would later put all of his thoughts about his former father-in-law into a tell all - 2013 book titled, Godfather-in-law.
Aliyev’s ungrateful attitude proved to be too much for President Nazarbayev, who in May 2007 allowed the government of Kazakhstan to charge his former son-in-law with murder and kidnapping in relation to the Nurbank case. Aliyev was promptly stripped of his diplomatic immunity and an international arrest warrant was issued for him.
By late 2007 Rakhat Aliyev was a man without a country.
For a time, Aliyev found safety in Austria. The Austrian government refused to extradite Aliyev because it argued that he could not receive a fair trial there and that if convicted he would be punished in a way that would violate his human rights. Despite this, the government of Kazakhstan pushed ahead with the prosecution and convicted Aliyev in absentia of murder, treason, and
kidnapping in early 2008 and sentenced him to twenty years in prison.
The Austrian government continued to refuse to recognize Kazakhstan’s extradition requests, which gave Aliyev the chance to travel around Europe relatively unencumbered.
But the heat was on and Aliyev was quickly running out of options.
The Austrian government revoked Aliyev’s special passport in 2013, which left the embattled Kazakhstani with few countries that would accept him. After a failed attempt to find sanctuary in Cyprus, Aliyev ended up in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta in 2014. While in Malta with his new wife, Aliyev turned himself in to Austrian authorities.
Time was running out for Rakhat Aliyev.
Instead of fighting the case in Malta, where he probably would have been turned over to the Kazakhstanis at some point, Aliyev surrendered to the Austrians on a host of international charges he was facing. He reasoned that an impartial Austrian jury would see through the charges as politically motivated. All he needed was a good lawyer.
As his defense, Aliyev would put the Kazakhstan government on trial!
Suicide or Jailhouse Murder?
Due to the severity of the charges leveled against him and the fact that he was a flight risk, Aliyev was placed in a maximum security prison to await trial. He was involved in altercations with other inmates, so he was placed in a cell by himself. The details of the altercation he had with the other inmates remain sketchy, but it is said that the two men did not like Aliyev’s arrogant attitude. They later claimed that the altercation had nothing to do with his ties to the Kazakhstan government. Whatever the reason, Aliyev was beaten up pretty good by the inmates, which is what got him thrown into solitary confinement. The guards found Aliyev’s lifeless body hanging from the bars of his cell on February 24, 2015.
Due to his background and the circumstances of his incarceration, conspiracy theories immediately began to surface about Aliyev’s death.