Showing posts with label NC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NC. Show all posts

Jul 24, 2012

Felicia Coleman - 2001 - Goldsboro, NC

Felicia Coleman

 

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/coleman_felicia.html
http://www.unsolvednc.com/missing/coleman.html
http://www.nampn.org/cases/coleman_felicia.html


Case Report - NamUs MP # 111

Case Information

Missing
Felicia
Dishelle
Coleman

November 09, 2001 22:25
12/12/2008
23 to years old
34 years old
Black/African American

Female
60.0
140.0

Circumstances

Goldsboro, NC
North Carolina
27530-27534
Wayne
Unknown. Felicia was last seen in the vicinity of Holly and Carolina St. in Goldsboro, NC. There has been no bank account activity since her disappearance. Felicia has a medical condition.

Physical


Brown

Brown



Brown

Brown

Brown


Medical

Clothing and Accessories


Black coat, blue jeans, black athletic shoes.
Glasses (description unknown)

Transportation Methods










Dental

Dental information / charting is available and entered

DNA

Sample is currently not available

Fingerprint Information

Fingerprint information is currently not available

Police Information




(919) 580-4243


20010050504

Local
Goldsboro Police Department
PO Drawer A

Goldsboro
North Carolina
27533

Det
Dwayne
Bevell
919 705-6572


20010050504

Local
GOLDSBORO PD


GOLDSBORO
North Carolina
27530-0000

Images

Facial/case ID
Public viewable

Documents

There are currently no documents available for this case.



Frank Acus - 2001 - Hope Mills, NC

Frank Acus

 

http://www.unsolvednc.com/missing/acus.html


Case Report - NamUs MP # 12209

Case Information

Missing
Frank
Alec
Acus

July 07, 2001 00:00
09/02/2011
42 to years old
54 years old
White

Male
73.0
210.0

Circumstances

Hope Mills
North Carolina
28348
Cumberland
Acus spoke with his sister on 7-7-2001 and said he was between NC and VA. He has not been heard from since. His vehicle was found abandoned in Roenoke Rapids on
8-22-01. The last cell phone call was to MA on 7-9-01.

Physical


Brown


Balding on top.


Blue

Blue



Medical

Clothing and Accessories


Right hand pinky diamond cluster.
Gold necklace.

Transportation Methods

Buick
Century
1997

Tan
Passenger automobile (regular plates)
NTK 6347
North Carolina

The vehicle was recovered on 8-22-01 in Roanoke Rapids.

Dental

Dental information / charting is available and entered

DNA

Sample submitted - Tests complete

Fingerprint Information

Fingerprint information is currently not available

Police Information

S/Sgt Detective
Kimberly
Gagnon
910-677-5503
kgagnon@ccsonc.org
ccsonc.org
2001-10470
July 31, 2001
County
Cumberland County Sheriff's Office
131 Dick Street

Fayetteville
North Carolina
28301

Images

Facial/case ID
Public viewable

Documents

There are currently no documents available for this case.



Virginia Lynne Beach - 2000 - Wilmington, NC

Virginia Beach

 

http://www.unsolvednc.com/missing/beach_v.html
http://www.nampn.org/cases/beach_virginia_lynne.html


Case Report - NamUs MP # 12432

Case Information

Missing
Virginia
Lynne
Beach

October 17, 2000 00:00
09/22/2011
37 to 37 years old
49 years old
White
Other
Female
59.0 to 61.0
90.0 to 105.0

Circumstances

Wilmington
North Carolina
28401
New Hanover

Physical


Blond/Strawberry

Blond long hair past shoulders



Green

Green



Mole on left chin area
Mole on upper center chest/neck area

Medical

Clothing and Accessories


Transportation Methods










Dental

Dental information / charting is currently not available

DNA

Samples submitted - Tests not complete

Fingerprint Information

Fingerprint information is available elsewhere

Police Information

Detective Cpl.
Lee
Odham
910-343-3686
robert.odham@wilmingtonnc.gov

2001-003620
January 23, 2001
Local
Wilmington Police Dept.
615 Bess St.

Wilmington
North Carolina
28401

Images

Facial/case ID
Public viewable

Documents

There are currently no documents available for this case.



Jul 21, 2012

Truth trackers: APD's cold-case sleuths defy the odds

http://www.mountainx.com/article/44264/Truth-trackers-APDs-cold-case-sleuths-defy-the-odds

 


They know each case by name.

Jake Burrell,” he recalls.

Virginia Olson,” she adds.

Glenn Zachery,” he replies.

Zeke Penland in ’76 and Oscar Davis in ’77,” she says.

The two detectives continue their alternating cadence, exchanging nods and exasperated sighs after every name. For Kevin Taylor and Yvonne Cobourn, Asheville’s 24 cold cases are an all-too-familiar story. But the plots are not conventional: Cold cases don’t have endings. Instead they consist mostly of interviews, evidence and theories — and if they end in anything, it’s typically a question mark. By definition, a case becomes cold when all the leads have been exhausted.

“If they were easy, they would have already been solved,” stresses Cobourn. “But that challenge is what we embrace.”

The Asheville Police Department established its official Cold Case Unit in July 2008, and Cobourn and Taylor got the nod. Across the country, such entities seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

In a 2010 National Institute of Justice survey of cold-case investigations, researchers queried 5,000 police departments; 1,050 responded. Only 20 percent of those agencies had any protocol for cold cases, and even fewer (10 percent) reported having dedicated cold-case investigators like Cobourn and Taylor.

When the Asheville unit was created, these cases were the duo’s primary assignment. Nowadays, however, they must divide their time among active, cold and missing-person cases, working out of a second-floor office at police headquarters.

“That’s your Catch-22,” notes Cobourn. “That’s two detectives that are full-time; that’s two salaries that aren’t [contributing] toward that everyday caseload.”

“We don’t have the luxury of doing cold cases full time anymore.” Taylor adds. “We’re working on them on our own initiative, with time being the key factor.”


Methodical work

The last case they solved was the Sandra Proffitt homicide. That was more than three years ago, and it took the detectives about six months to get a confession. Proffitt was murdered Jan. 17, 1990, in her Deaverview apartment. Nineteen years later, Cobourn and Taylor charged her then boyfriend, Terry Spivey, with second-degree murder. More importantly, they were able to get a conviction, which happens in only about 1 percent of cold cases nationwide.

Even when police “clear” (solve) a cold case, it doesn’t always lead to an arrest. The prime suspect, for example, could be missing, incarcerated or dead. But when someone is convicted of a crime — cold or otherwise — the case is closed.

Still, cold cases don’t get solved by accident, and the process is nothing like what you see on TV. “I wish I could say that every day working on a cold case is filled with excitement and drama and,” here Cobourn pauses for effect, “is sexy.”

“It’s not,” Taylor interjects. “It’s very methodical.”

Getting Spivey’s crucial confession, for example, required a rigorous re-examination of all the case’s files, including documents, photos, drawings and notes. And though all such materials have been scanned into the department’s working database, these cases also still reside in big 3- to 5-inch binders that detectives will thumb through from time to time.

Those notes may help them consider cases with a fresh approach and an open mind. But some aspects of such investigations remain pretty standard. From former detectives to witnesses, Cobourn and Taylor try to interview everyone involved — even those who are listed in the case files but were never brought in for questioning.

“You never know when that person is going to give you some small key or insightful information that can start pointing you in a totally different direction,” says Cobourn. It’s also one of the few instances when the passage of time may work in law enforcement’s favor. “Relationships change, Taylor explains. “People that were close 20 years ago may not be so close anymore.”

Geographic distance can also be a factor. “Once upon a time, you would live out your entire life within 50 miles of where you were born,” notes Cobourn. “Now, it’s nothing for people to jump up and move across the country without any thought.”

Deteriorating evidence

But even independent of any idea, theory or lead, time itself can become a formidable obstacle when it comes to evidence. Before switching to investigations, Cobourn spent a year in the APD’s Forensics Department.

“Whenever you start pulling evidence out to send to the labs and it’s older than 20 years, how things were packaged and kept was different then, because we didn’t have the knowledge that we have now about biological fluids and things of that nature,” Cobourn reveals.

Accordingly, much of the evidence in Asheville’s cold cases has since been repackaged to today’s standards to help stave off deterioration. If biological evidence such as blood, semen and saliva samples isn’t kept in a dry environment protected from sunlight and ultraviolet radiation, the unique DNA profile could be compromised. This makes it difficult for forensic labs to find a match in CODIS (the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System database). Only state labs can submit DNA profiles into CODIS.

And for local law-enforcement agencies, submitting cold-case evidence to state forensic labs can pose a number of problems. Forensic science is constantly evolving, with new techniques introduced every year, but thanks to tight budgets and other issues, they’re not filtering down to the state or even federal labs, says Cobourn.

“We have evidence in these cases that could potentially solve the case if we had the money to send the evidence to these private labs,” she laments.

Financial constraints aside, there’s also a logjam at the State Bureau of Investigation labs. “We’ve got cases where we feel like we’ve got some good leads and re-submit evidence to the lab, and we’re waiting 12 to 14 months to hear anything back,” says Taylor.

“If not longer,” adds Cobourn.

“But in the eyes of the state lab, it’s a cold case: They think, ‘What’s the hurry?’” continues Taylor. “So it goes to the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak.”

Meanwhile, the Asheville team has no choice but to wait patiently and keep investigating and researching.





For the families

Still, it’s not the kind of work the detectives can simply leave at their respective desks. It follows them home — sometimes in unexpected ways.

“I might just be going to a place by coincidence where the crime occurred, and then I just start thinking about it,” Taylor reveals.

“Or driving by it,” says Cobourn. “With some of the cases that I have, I live in the geographical area, so I drive by them on my way to work and on my way home.

But it’s not just the crime scenes that embed these cold cases in the lives of the detectives trying to solve them. For Cobourn and Taylor, the families are a key motivation to keep going.

“If we’re not doing it, nobody else is going to be doing it, and those families are still going to be waiting for answers,” says Taylor. “We, unfortunately, can’t always give them the answers they want, or the outcome, but at least we’re making the effort.”

Cobourn also works closely with Families Pursuing Justice. Founded in 2009 by people affected by cold cases, the local nonprofit works with law enforcement to give families emotional support while they wait for justice for their loved ones. The group also tries to raise money to help continue the investigations.

“It’s not about patting ourselves on the back: It’s about the families, and it’s about the victims,” Cobourn asserts.

Denise Vlahakis is one of the nonprofit’s founding members. After leaving work at the Hendersonville Road Wal-Mart at 9 p.m., her son, Zebb Quinn, went missing on Jan. 2, 2000. Two weeks later, authorities found his light-blue Mazda Protege in the parking lot of the Little Pigs Barbecue restaurant; a pair of lips with two exclamation marks was drawn on the rear window in lipstick, and inside the vehicle was a live black Labrador puppy.

The case garnered national attention when it aired on the Investigation Discovery Channel show “Disappeared” recently. But even without that increased exposure, Cobourn says she feels a strong attachment to this high-profile case and to Vlahakis as a mother.

“I have kids, and I’m not sure, if I was in her shoes, if I’d even be able to breathe. So I kind of take that approach to Zebb,” confesses Cobourn.





An abiding passion

Taylor, who’s worked in the APD’s Criminal Investigations Department since 1994, has a different style. “She’s a little more outgoing than I am,” he remarks.

Cobourn, an investigator since 2006, agrees. “Where I’m pretty much like full-steam-ahead, Kevin will say no. Where I may want to charge forward, Kevin will slow me down.” She pauses. “He knows when to slow down, whereas I’m still learning that boundary.”

Nonetheless, the two share an abiding passion for what they do. “I always aspired to work these types of cases,” Taylor explains. “I enjoy working other cases as well, but I find the challenge of these to be the most intriguing.”

It isn’t glamorous. Rather than riding around in a squad car, these detectives spend most of their time ruminating over cases, their two desks separated by a little blue rug.

“It may mean months of going through cell-phone bills. It may mean weeks on this computer trying to find a witness that was never interviewed,” Cobourn emphasizes. “I spend a lot of time sitting right here.”

Currently, the pair are investigating about six cold cases.

“There are those days when it’s like you look at it and you look at it and you still think you’ve missed something,” Cobourn explains. “It’s like I have lived, slept, eaten and breathed some of these cases,” she says softly.

Taylor nods. Glancing at his partner in solving crimes, he says in a low echo, “I’m always thinking about one of them.”

If you have any information about these and other cold cases, call Det. Cobourn at (828) 259-5923 or Crimestoppers at 255-5050.

— Caitlin Byrd can be reached at cbyrd@mountainx.com, or at 251-1333, ext. 140.


Jun 13, 2012

Phyllis Powell - 1963 - Woodlan, NC

Phyllis Powell

 

Case Report - NamUs MP # 1781

Case Information

Missing
Phyllis
Lorain
Powell

1137005
January 11, 1963 11:30
04/02/2009
5 to 5 years old
54 years old
Black/African American

Female
44.0
0.0

Circumstances

Woodland
North Carolina

Northampton
January 11,1963 started out as a beautiful day in Woodland, North Carolina. Phyllis Lorain Powell age five left out her home on Ashe Street to play. At 11:00am Phyllis was watching I Love Lucy at a Lewis and Bernice Vinson house at 310 Ashe Street, by 12:00 Phyllis was gone. The last sighting was Phyllis skipping down Ashe Street headed towards NC35 to Molly Lassiter̢۪s home. That was the last time she was ever seen.


Phyllis has been ruled out as 12/26/1983 Christmas Jane Doe found in Northampton County NC by DNA.

Physical


Black

Medium length



Brown

Brown



Medical

Clothing and Accessories


Brown Coat, She had a white diper wraped around her head like a scraf, pants

Transportation Methods










Dental

Dental information / charting is available and entered

DNA

Sample submitted - Tests complete

Fingerprint Information

Fingerprint information is currently not available

Police Information

Sheriff
Wardie
Vincent
252-534-7101




County
Northampton County Sheriff's Office
PO Box 176

Jackson
North Carolina
27845

Images

Other
Public viewable
Other
Public viewable
Facial/case ID
Public viewable
Image reconstruction

Documents

1 documents available for this case.

Jun 12, 2012

Family Hopes Billboard will Help Missing Jamie Fraley

http://charlotte.news14.com/content/video_stories/622229/family-hopes-billboard-will-help-in-missing-person-case?ap=1&MP4



GASTONIA, N.C. – The Kristen Foundation paid for a new billboard along I-85 in the hopes of sparking some tips in the 2008 missing persons case of Jamie Fraley. She'll turn 24 this march, and her family is continuing their search for her.
The I-85 billboard is the second one the Kristen Foundation has put up to help find Fraley.
The foundation is working about 100 cases, and the organizer decided to profile about three cases a month. They chose this month to profile Fraley, who went missing from Gastonia in 2008.
"The families are very alone," Joan Petruski, of the Kristen Foundation, said. "They don't have the finances to do this kind of thing, so that's what we do."
The foundation is also bringing to the forefront the cases of Kristen Modafferia, a Charlotte native who went missing in California, and a missing person case from New Jersey.
For families the Kristen Foundation helps, they say billboards can really make a difference.
“We have to keep doing every little thing that we can do,” Jamie Fraley's mother, Kim Fraley, said. “We can't just give up.”
But the foundation needs donations to continue missing persons campaigns, and there are other families out there with the same kind of hope.

Jun 11, 2012

Angela Hudson - 2001 - Ruffin, NC

Angela Hudson
 
 http://www.facebook.com/BringAngieHome
http://www.officialcoldcaseinvestigations.com/showthread.php?t=3192
http://www.rceno.com/RCENO/featured/information-sought-on-cold-case-angela-hudson-now-missing-ten-years/
http://boardreader.com/thread/Angela_Whalen_Hudson_missing_9_20_01_fro_1gq2X1crk.html
http://www.nampn.org/cases/hudson_angela.html

Case Report - NamUs MP # 1301

Case Information

Missing
Angela
Whalen
Hudson
Angie
September 20, 2001 00:00
12/12/2008
33 to 33 years old
44 years old
White

Female
67.0
120.0

Circumstances

Ruffin
North Carolina

Rockingham
Last seen at approximately 10:00am by a family member while at her residence of the 9700 block of NC700 in Ruffin, NC. Angie informed the family member she needed to go somewhere and never returned. Her vehicle, purse and two young children were left at the residence.

Physical


Blond/Strawberry

Blonde



Blue

Blue

Blue


Red scorpion on back. Chinese dragon on upper right shoulder. Egyptian hieroglyphics on right ankle.

Medical

Clothing and Accessories


Transportation Methods










Dental

Dental information / charting is available and entered

DNA

Sample submitted - Tests complete

Fingerprint Information

Fingerprint information is currently not available

Police Information

Lt.
Tammi
Howell
(336) 634-3238
thowell@co.rockingham.nc.us

01-4557-9

County
Rockingham County Sheriff
PO BOX 128
1088 NC 65
Wentworth
North Carolina
37375




336 634-3232





ROCKINGHAM CO SO WENTWORTH


WENTWORTH
North Carolina
27375-0000

Images

Facial/case ID
Public viewable

Documents

There are currently no documents available for this case.



April Pickens - 2011 - Asheville, NC

April Pickens

 

Case Report - NamUs MP # 13971

Case Information

Missing
April
Michele
Pickens

December 27, 2011 00:00
02/23/2012
29 to 29 years old
30 years old
Black/African American

Female
64.0
155.0

Circumstances

Asheville
North Carolina
28806
Buncombe
April was last seen in the Pisgah View apartment complex. She had told a friend that she was waiting for a ride. It is unknown who picked her up or what type of vehicle.

Physical


Black

Short



Brown

Brown



Upper right arm
Right breast chinese letters
Upper back "Eric"
Right Thigh Gemini sign
Each ear was pierced one time.

Medical

Clothing and Accessories


April was known to tie a torn tshirt around her head.

Transportation Methods










Dental

Dental information / charting is currently not available

DNA

Initial inquiry underway

Fingerprint Information

Fingerprint information is available and entered

Police Information

Detective
Yvonne
Cobourn
828-259-5923
ycobourn@ashevillenc.gov

12-002959
February 01, 2012
Local
Asheville Police Department
PO BOX 7148

Asheville
North Carolina
28802

Images

Facial/case ID
Public viewable

Documents

There are currently no documents available for this case.



David Bartlett - 2009 - Buncombe County, NC

David Bartlett

 

Case Report - NamUs MP # 7759

Case Information

Missing
David
Sam
Bartlett
Beetle Juice
August 18, 2009 09:10
07/27/2010
36 to years old
38 years old
White

Male
72.0
155.0

Circumstances

Swannanoa
North Carolina
28778
Buncombe
David Bartlett was alst seen leaving his mother's home at 219 Max Metcalf Rd. He was with a subject only identified as "Don". "Don" and David Bartlett left the resdience in a green colored Pontiac Grand Am.

Physical


Brown

Hair is straight and commonly cut to the neck line.


Goatee

Blue

Blue



scar on abdomen
scar on left and right knees
Cross on left hand
Skull and Bat on right forearm
Skull on right forearm
Skull on upper left arm
Flower and Egyptian Cross on upper left arm
Heart on right shoulder
Skulll with flames/stars/bars on left forearm
tribal heart on left chest
tribal vampire bat on right forearm
cross and "13.5" on left shoulder
chili pepper on left calf
Harlican Masks on right calf
Confederate flag with skull on left arm

two piercings on left ear

Medical

Clothing and Accessories


blue jeans
Black Cowboy Boots with silver tip and chain on heel

Transportation Methods










Dental

Dental information / charting is currently not available

DNA

Initial inquiry underway

Fingerprint Information

Fingerprint information is available and entered

Police Information

Detective
Josh
Rayment
828-250-4449
josh.rayment@buncombecounty.org

2009-008319
August 28, 2009
County
Buncombe County Sheriff's Office
202 Haywood St.

Asheville
North Carolina
28801

Images

Facial/case ID
Public viewable
Tattoo
Public viewable
Tattoo
Public viewable
Tattoo
Public viewable
Tattoo
Public viewable
Tattoo
Public viewable
Tattoo
Public viewable
Tattoo
Public viewable

Documents

There are currently no documents available for this case.