Monthly Archives: August 2015

Why Did Two girls Want to Kill For Slender Man?

Slender Man copy

I previously posted about the Slender Man hoax and how it went viral on the internet and led to the attempted murder of a young girl by two of her friends. The post centered around a Psychology Today article titled “Murder By Meme: Slender Man and the Wakefield Anti-Vax Hoax” by Travis Langley, PhD. An interesting article.

Thankfully, Bella, the victim of the murder attempt, survived the attack but now the Slender Man case is moving along. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, the two young girls charged with the crime, have apparently plead not guilty so a trial will likely be forthcoming. It will be an interesting ride as there are so many aspects to this story that just make you shake your head.

More details of the bizarre, yet sad, case are revealed in an article in New York Magazine by Lisa Miller. Chilling and then some.


Stupid Criminals: Man Attempts to Gnaw Off His Fingerprints

Damaged Print

If you have a record or an outstanding warrant or two, you might not want the police to ID you when you’re arrested for driving a stolen vehicle. I truly hate days like that. But, what to do? Maybe just gnaw off your fingerprints and they won’t be able to determine your ID. Probably painful, and probably won’t work. It looks like Kenzo Roberts gave it a whirl (no pun intended) anyway.

And he’s not alone. Many folks have tried to alter their fingerprints with cuts, burns, scrapes, and other painful procedures. Even Public Enemy #1 John Dillinger tried. Besides having plastic surgery to alter his face, he also attempted to burn away his fingerprints with acid. That didn’t work either.

John Dillinger

John Dillinger



John Dillinger was one of America’s most notorious criminals, once named Public Enemy No. 1. In an effort to evade the cops, he underwent facial plastic surgery and tried to remove his fingerprints with acid. After his betrayal by the famous “Lady in Red,” Dillinger was shot dead outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater. Prints taken at the morgue proved that the dead man was indeed Dillinger. The acid had damaged only a portion of his finger pads, leaving enough ridge detail for matching with his prints on file with the police.

Howdunnit 200X267 copy


Meow Meow: The Walking Dead

Meow, Meow.



No, not that kind.

This kind:




A new “club drug” has appeared on the scene. Straight out of India. Meow Meow is also called MCAT, drone, white magic, and mephedrone. And it’s bad news. Even those who use cocaine and MDMA say Meow Meow is “bad f-cking news.” That says a to coming for these folks. And it’s led to a number of tragic deaths.

How do you spot users? “Look for the zombies,” is one young man’s opinion. “They look like dead on they feet.” They are “pale, thin, like sick people.”

What is Mephedrone?”

Meow Meow Crisis:




Posted by on August 20, 2015 in Poisons & Drugs, Toxicology


Q and A: Can a Crochet Hook Be Used For Murder?

Q: I’m wanting the victim in my next mystery novel to be murdered with a crochet hook. The attacker and victim would be facing each other. The hook would be grabbed off a table and could be either hook end out the thumb side of the hand or out the pinky side of the hand (depending on what you would determine to be the easiest for delivering a fatal blow). It is an impulsive act. The victim is a 5ft. 11in., 157lb. female. Murderer is a 6ft. 1in., 298lb. male. He is a chef.

What would be the most likely spots for inflicting a fatal wound? Would the hook need to be removed (the victim bleeds out)? Can the hook be left in and the wound still fatal?

The hook is a size F 3.75mm crochet hook made of Brazilian bloodwood by the Furls Fiberarts company. I know the different woods they use have different strengths as some do not come in the smaller diameter sizes. (For example: the olivewood hooks start at 4.00mm while the blackwood starts at 3.25mm.)

Pearl R. Meaker, Lincoln, IL.

Crochet Hooks

A: Since this style of hook is made of wood rather than metal, the attack would have to be to a relatively “soft” area. Not likely this could penetrate the chest and reach the heart or get thru the skull without breaking or shattering. But grabbing the thick end and using the pointed (hooked) end as the weapon could prove deadly.

Two areas could work:

The eye–the skull behind the eye is thin and fairly easily penetrated. So a stab to either eye could reach the brain cavity and cause bleeding into and around the brain that could prove deadly. Here there would be some external bleeding from the eye wound but most would be internal within the skull. Here it makes little difference whether the

device is removed or left in place after the attack.

The carotid arteries—there are 2 carotid arteries–one on each side of the neck in the soft area on either side of the trachea–windpipe. This device could easily penetrate one of them. These arteries supply 90% of the blood to the brain. If punctured, the blood would spurt out in great pulses. Here it would be best if the device were yanked back

out after the stab so the blood would have a clear path.

In either case, the victim could die in a couple of minutes or, in the eye stabbing scenario, it could take some time—even 30 to 90 minutes or longer. Anything is possible.


Getting Rid Of A Body Isn’t Easy

Killers often think that disposing of a corpse is easy. And important. If there is no body surely they can’t be charged with murder. Right? Fortunately, they’re wrong on both counts.

A case in point: 23 year-old French art history student Eva Bourseau.


Seems that three of her classmates killed her over a dispute about a drug debt. Drug debts are never good things.

So okay, now they have a body. What are the going to do about it? As good students of Breaking Bad, they decided to dissolve the corpse in acid. At least they did use plastic rather than a metal tub, as, yes, acid loves to eat up metal.


But they also discovered that acid doesn’t always do the trick. Jeffrey Dahmer discovered the same thing.


Hell, even Dexter tried it.



The Plague—Yes That Plague—Is Alive and Well

Black Death

The Black Death. It hit Europe in the mid 1300s and killed millions—-some say 100 million or between 1/3 and 1/2 of Europe’s population. It changed history. It altered mankind’s view of religion. It disrupted travel and trade. It helped bring on the so-called Dark Ages.

The Black Death marches through Europe

The Black Death marches through Europe

In truth there were several plagues. caused by several different diseases, but the Black Death was especially destructive. Though it has been challenged by some, the Black Death was in all likelihood caused by a nasty little critter called Yersinia Pestis.

But that was centuries ago. Now we know what causes plague and we know how to treat it. It’s passed to humans by bites from infected fleas and can be eradicated with antibiotics. At least in most cases. So like small pox, isn’t it a relic of the past? Not really. The bug is out there and every now and then it raises its head as if to say—-Remember me?

Several cases have cropped in Colorado in the past couple of years, with two recent deaths: high school athlete Taylor Gaes and an as yet unnamed adult. Last year there were other cases of this infection.

And now another case has occurred in California–a child camping in Yosemite National Park.

So the plague is not just of historical significance, but rather is still with us.

I’ve blogged about this before and here are the links to those posts:


Posted by on August 7, 2015 in Medical History, Medical Issues


Francis Craig: Another Jack The Ripper Candidate?


Perhaps the most famous serial killer of all time is Jack the Ripper. Part of his popularity resides in the fact that he has never been positively identified. Many folks, including best-selling author Patricia Cornwell, have made claims that they have uncovered Jack’s identify, but each theory remains controversial. Cornell, among others, named Walter Sickert as the likely Ripper. Other candidates have been John Pizer, George Chapman, and Aaron Kosminski, to name a few.

3 Jacks

Now a new candidate has entered the picture—Francis Craig.

Dr. Wynne Weston-Davies, in his book THE REAL MARY KELLY, postulates that Francis Craig, the estranged husband of Mary Kelly, is the mysterious Jack. Mary was apparently Jack’s fifth and final victim. Weston-Davies suggests that Craig killed all the women when in fact Mary was his intended victim—-the others were to provide cover for the killing of his wife. Well, that has indeed happened before.

Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly

For those who study Jack, Mary Kelly’s murder has always been problematic. She was the only victim killed indoors, in her home, and she was mutilated much more so than were others. It has been suggested that Jack was able to “do more” since he was indoors and less likely to be interrupted in his work. Maybe. It might also mean that the killing of Marry was indeed very personal. More so than his other victims. Such as a spouse might do. So, yes, all the killings could have been done to cover the real target—-Mary Kelly.

Or, perhaps, Craig knew of the other murders—-how could he not if he lived in London at that time?—and seized an opportunity. He could kill his estranged wife and make it look like Jack did it. It’s not like that’s never happened before either.

The overkill of Mary could fit either of these scenarios since her killing seems more personal than the other four. Plans are to exhume her corpse for examination. I doubt much useful will come from this but I hope I’m wrong. Regardless, it will interesting to watch.

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