Lost In Lima Ohio - A true crime blog

The following cases will be airing this weekend on America's Most Wanted. Get more information on these and other cases on their website- www.amw.com Unknown Ben Novack Jr. Killer - A huge murder mystery surrounds the small town of Rye Brook in upstate New York. Detectives say South Florida millionaire Ben Novack Jr. was beaten to death as he slept in his hotel bed. Ben, the son of the former owner of Miami's famed Fontainebleau Hotel, was the second-largest Batman collector worldwide. Rye Brook police are hot on the trail of Ben's killers but are looking for that one last tip to bring them in. Happy Tran Pham - Houston police have been searching for 24-year-old Happy Tran Pham for more than two years. They say Pham was unhappy because the girl he was dating got back together with her ex. Houston detectives believe Pham's jealousy led to the murder of 29-year-old Pierre Mai, and they have surveillance video of the crime. Unknown Dorothy "Dot" Gay Howard Killer...

Matthew Calek evidently thinks its cute that as he gets older, he thinks the age of the males he's attracted to might get older to. Sadly for some teenagers- his current attraction seems to be boys in their teens. Calek was sentenced to five years in prison in Iowa in 2002 after a conviction for enticing a 15-year-old boy to engage in sex. Seven months after his release from prison while still on supervised release, Calek posed as a 14-year-old named "Josh" on MySpace and befriended a Philadelphia boy, 15, who was having family problems, prosecutors said. At Josh's invitation, the boy flew to Chicago in July 2006, but Calek sexually assaulted him in a secluded area and abandoned him, the charges alleged. Three months later, Calek posed as an MTV producer and enticed a 17-year-old boy to read a script for a possible movie role, according to his plea agreement. The script had a sex scene. The boy balked at first but later agreed to engage in sex with Calek while being v...

Dr. Earl Bradley, the Delaware pediatrician police believed to have sexually abused possibly 100 children, recieves complaints about his odd behaviors for almost a decade. A decade of jokes among colleagues who hinted at the strangeness of his practice, concerns voiced to his sister who was employeed by him, and even a few investigations into his actions by police. The case has shocked the close-knit coastal community of Lewes and the central Delaware town of Milford, where he closed an office in 2005 after police investigated him. The case is even more chilling because some alleged victims are no more than 6 months old. The governor is not the only one calling for a review. The state attorney general's office also has asked for an investigation. What they are likely to find is a lot of fingerpointing, but few willing to accept much, if any, responsibility. For example, officials who oversee the Board of Medical Practice claim they never received any complaints until after the ar...

For those without access to a police scanner in St Louis, you can listen live online at Radio Reference.com The ABB Power Plant in St Louis came under attack this morning, when at 6:30 a man walked into the transformer plant entered with a AK47 and opened fire. The employees still in the plant are being told by police and rescue workers to stay put via text message and phone calls. It is presently unclear if the shooter was injured, his current whereabouts, but he is believed to be a disgruntled worker who possibly had worked at the plant for 25 years. Neighbors of Power plant saying they heard shooting this morning. That a man with gun shot two employees in the parking lot this morning, at a range of about 8 feet away. About 6:30 a.m. today, police got a call from a woman, very upset, who said that someone came in to the east side of the building and started shooting. "They are still shooting," a dispatcher told police officers rushing to the scene at 6:34 a.m. The scene w...

Rodney Earl Key was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2001 after pleading guilty to child abuse by a parent. After being denied parole twice, it was granted and he was released in April and put "under supervision". We can only assume that the supervision didn't involve enough of the supervision that Key needed (and would have certainly found while behind bars) since he once again has been arrested for charges involving a child. Police said Rodney Earl Key, 46, was in the sanctuary at the St. James Church in the 200 block of S. Augusta Ave. with an 11-year-old girl on Jan. 3 when he put her on his lap and put her hand up her dress, records show. The girl asked Key what he was doing and he said he was "going to give her a spanking but he couldn't because she was too sweet," according to charging documents. He then told her that she was to keep the touching to themselves Source: The Baltimore Times

Ted Bundy was described as charming, smart, good looking. John Wayne Gacy used to throw block parties for his neighbors and dress up like a clown. BTK was said to be efficient, friendly, and a regular nice guy. Yet they were all serial killers. Which is why it always strikes a nerve with me that people can assume serial killers can seem like "normal nice people" but sex offenders should be nasty, easy to spot creeps. Especially sex offenders who prey upon children, and need the trust of others in order to obtain a victim. Yet, once again- we've got a group of people just plain out dumbfouned that the whole "sex offender" picture they have in their head didn't match up with the "nice guy" in the neighborhood. I guess the new charges against him came as a shock... or would have if he was still live to be charged. According to arrest records, Ballance was a registered sex offender. He was convicted in 1998 of taking indecent liberties with a child an...

If the name Gilbert H. Escobedo doesn't mean a lot to you, then you might want to pick out at least one of the many books that cover his reign of terror in the 80s and 90s. The man dubed "the ski mask rapist" has been mentioned in numerous books over the last few decades, and with good reason. Escobedo, confessed to 48 rapes, although many people believe that the number is closer to double that. The plight of one of his victims is unfolded in Whispers of Romance, Threats of Death by Carol Cook (who, it is worth mentioning is one of the victims of Escobedo. Just the overview of the book gives a glimpse into the truly disturbing mentality of Escobedo, despite its assumed purpose of highlighting the fight of his victim to ensure justice: After Carol Cook was raped in her Dallas home, she had trouble trusting new people. Then she met Gilbert Escobedo, a respected member of the Christian community. He became her trusted business partner, and eventually her lover. But as Carol...

When I first came across the murder of Andrew Burd , it seemed a simple enough case. The murderer had already been discovered, charged, tried and convicted. It was an open and shut case. Hannah Overton, Andrews foster mother, had given the small child a lethal dose of salt. The resulting death, would have been painful and slow in coming. But the case was over, and we could at least grasp an instant of relief knowing that she would be behind bars for a long time, paying for the heinous crime she had committed against Andrew. Except that Hannah and her church were bound to protest, to put the blame for Andrews death on Andrea himself- and they were taking their fight all the way to the appeals court. They enlisted the onesided, often bias help of a national TV show, started websites in support of Hannah and attempted to discredit the prosecution. I encourage you to take a moment and revisit the link above, to remind yourself of this case, if only to remember Andrew for a moment and sha...

Its been too long....