Criminal Law Stories

She was more than a star, she was a seductive cocktail of glamour and damage. Could a single bottle of pill have erased her from the screen? On August 5th 1962 at 3:50 AM, a living legend was pronounced dead. Inside Marilyn Monroe's body was a massive overdose of sleeping pills. However their was nothing in her stomach that indicated that she had swallowed anything. Did this American Icon die by her own had and if so was it suicide of an accidental overdose and if not who killed her? In this story the scene was recreated in an effort to finally put to rest over 40 years of speculation. An actress takes part in a life and death experiment with a Doctor present to see how long it would have taken Marilyn to take all the pills she reportedly took. The number of pills she will take represents enough pharmaceuticals to kill several people.

Vancouver British Columbia. On the cities outskirts sits Stanley Park. It is one of the Cities largest Urban parks in North America. There are two active cold case files that Detectives are working here, one leading to the other. The first dates back to 1953. Homicide Detective Brian Honeybourn remembers it well. He grew up in the area and remembers "The babes in the woods" case. It is the story of the skeletons of two young children found in the woods of Stanley Park in 1953. At the time the investigators studied the bone structure of the skulls to develop a profile. They believed the children to be between 6 and 10 years of age. Little more was known about the two skulls. Nothing more was ever uncovered. Evidence was eventually packed away and put in the Vancouver Crime lab Museum. Here behind a glass case were some of the evidence found in Stanley Park. The evidence consisted of a children's lunch box, an aviator cap, and a hatchet. Along side were the two skulls.

Keith and Patrice Huntington were newlyweds beginning their life together in Laguna Niguel California in 1980. He was in the last year of Medical school while she was a nurse. On the night of August 19th, the couple went to bed at about 11:00 PM. Later that night a solitary figure slipped over a fence and into the Huntington's gated garden. The young couple had left a window in their bedroom ajar. The intruder found it and climbed through. Two days later, Keith's Father entered the house to find his son and Daughter in law bludgeoned to death in their bed. Patrice had also been raped. The Father picked up the phone and called his eldest son Bruce. He told Bruce that he thought Keith and Patty were dead and would he please come down and help him. By the time Bruce was on the scene, the police were already beginning to investigate. From the start, however, the double murder defied logic. The Harrington's had led a quiet life with no known enemies and no obvious reason for a brutal attack.

DNA, trace evidence, gun residue, and other gains in these forensic sciences help prosecutors make their cases airtight to a Jury. So why is it that some murders remain a mystery? Christopher Wallace, better known as Notorious BIG or Biggie Small, was one of the most influential Hip Hop artists of the 1990s. It was a foregone conclusion that Biggie had something that was going to touch people and the sky was the limit as far as his career was concerned. But his career came to an abrupt on on March 9th, 1997 just three weeks before the release of his third album ironically titled "Life after death, Till death do us part". The New York rapper and Puffy Combs were at an after party following the Soul Train awards in Los Angeles. The party took place at the Peterson Museum. The party ended around 12:35 AM and Biggie got into the passenger seat of his suburban. Puffy Diddy Combs was in the SUV in front of it. The vehicles exited the parking structure and proceeded to the first light at Wilshire and Fairfax.

It's a cautionary tale for every young woman who comes to Hollywood with a dream. It's been called the murder that changed Los Angeles. Betty Short was an aspiring young actress from Massachusetts. She was the perfect stereotype of what you might call prey. She was attractive, young and naive. The year was 1946. 22 year old Elizabeth Short moved to Los Angeles from Massachusetts with visions of fame. She was not a hooker like many in the press claimed. She did dating for dinner which was popular in those days. She was outgoing and beautiful which may have ultimately led to her demise. She was a woman who was trying to survive in a very difficult time in a very difficult place. On the evening of January 14th 1947 Betty Short headed out for a night on the town. Short's mutilated remains were found six days later in a vacant lot by a young Mother who thought at first that it was a department mannequin. It was on of the most grusome slayings in Hollywood history.

Bob Crane was the beloved star of Hogan's Heroes. His easygoing personality and quick wit won him friends and fame but what he did behind closed doors led to quite a few enemies. The first blow opened up Crane's head at the scalp. The second strike to the head crushed the actor's skull. The killer than strangled him with a VCR cord around the neck but Crane was dead by that time. He was 49 at the time of his death. This was a case of anger and rage as it was a bit of overkill. It was truly a horrific scene and his head was an absolute mess when they found him. On the 28th of June 1978, Police found a lot more than just a grisly murder scene. 50 pornographic video tapes were discovered in a closet along with photo equipment in the bathroom. They would use the equipment to photograph themselves making love with women.. Lots of women and at the same time. He had one of the first home video camera's ever marketed and he liked to tape himself having sex with lots of women.

A beautiful young actress with a promising career. A jealous ex-boyfriend with a volatile temper. On fatal encounter. Dominique Dunne was destined to enter show business. Her Brother was actor Griffin Dunne and her Father was writer Dominick Dunne. In 1981 Dominique's acting career was certainly on the rise. The future costar of "Poltergeist" was about to hit the big time. According to costar JoBeth Williams she was an aspiring actress and had an innocence about her that was amazing. That same year she met executive chef John Sweeney at a birthday party. The two quickly became inseparable. Sweeney was known as having a hot temper and a lot of Dominique's friends didn't care for him very much. By the summer of 1982 Dominique became the target of Sweeney's violent outbursts. Miguel Ferrer says he beat the crap out of her, banged her head on the floor, and choked her unconscious to the point he thought she might die. He was furious.

A powerful labor leader with mob ties. A kidnapping with few clues. A who done it that stumped Investigators for three decades. Jimmy Hoffa was one of the most influence and yet notorious figures in American history. If you tried to imagine someone today as well known as Jimmy Hoffa you would have Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump all rolled into one you would be getting close but Jimmy had much more power than that group combined. In his teens Hoffa joined a small Detroit Local in the Teamster's Union of truckers and warehousemen. Truckers had begun hauling more and more freight as America's highway system expanded. As a fearless organizer he helped engineer dozens of strikes to improve working conditions. James Riddle Hoffa organized his first Labor Union and went on strike at the age of 17. Violence was common in the working place Jimmy entered in the late 1920's. Police and strikebreakers battled fiercely with Union workers as the labor movement gained momentum.

It's the stuff of legends. A single man with a supposed weapon, his skills, and an ridiculous escape plan makes off with $200,000 and is never seen again. It happened November 24th 1971. A middle aged man dressed in a business suit paid $20 for a ticket on Northwest Orient flight 305. Back in those days they didn't check for ID nor did they check baggage. Hijacking wasn't even heard of in those days. The man boarded the flight in Portland Oregon. On his ticket was his name Dan Cooper. He approached the Stewardress who was walking by shortly after the flight had taken and gave her a note. The note said, although no one knows for sure because he took the note back, "I have a bomb in my briefcase and I am prepared to use it". Coopers demands were $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. FBI and police scrambled to collect the money from 10,000 $20 bills from several local area banks. Every serial was recorded on microfilm.

A large and gracious riverfront mansion, a Southern Socialite, and all the signs of a violence. Jaqueline Levitz was a furniture heiress. Her sister, Gerri Brown, says she was a wonderful person who was very kind, beautiful and lived a life of luxury for the past 25 years. People would have noticed her and known that she was rich and living alone. In the late afternoon of November 18th 1995, 62 year old jaqueline picked up wallpaper samples for her new home. Her family and friends never saw her again. She would usually call every day but the weekend she went missing she didn't call. Her Brother-In-Law decided to go to the house and check on her. Her Jaguar was parked in the driveway and the front door was open. He went inside and found signs of a violent struggle. And Jaqueline Levitz was gone. He called the police and all the family members knew that something was wrong.