[Music]
thank you [Music]
hello everyone and welcome back to another True Crime Mysteries video thank you all for
being here today we're discussing three more recently solved cold cases let's get into it
number one Lena Reyes jeetys on April 20th 1998 a couple was hiking in Maiden water spring when
they came across something on Highway 276 in Garfield County Utah they found a body and
both park services and the Garfield County Sheriff's Department arrived on the scene
they found a woman wrapped in plastic bags duct taped put in a blue sleeping bag then rolled in
a carpet tied with rope authorities believed she'd been strategically placed to be found during the
autopsy she was determined to have been between 32 and 45 years old with brown hair and brown eyes
she weighed approximately 110 pounds she'd been shot in the back of the head execution style and
the killer had removed the tips of the fingers post-mortem it was also noted that the body had
Frozen due to the below freezing temperatures the day before the body had been found
authorities had not been able to identify the victim she would be called Maiden water victim
Jane Doe the case would go cold the case would eventually be handed to the Utah State Bureau
of Investigation Utah Bureau agent Brian Davies did a press conference in 2018 trying to identify
the maiden water Jane Doe in October 2018 the Utah Department of Public Safety released a
press conference asking for help identifying the victim this press release also stated that they
had considered serial killer Scott Kimball as a suspect and had yet to rule him out
this case had similarities to Kimball's other victims but he denied involvement
unknown to the Utah authorities but around the same time as this press release Ohio authorities
were updating pictures of their missing persons database a California True Crime Enthusiast it's
all the pictures of the missing person database and felt the connection to photos that had been
released of the maiden water victim he got in contact with Davies saying that he should look
into this missing person case they reviewed both cases and both Davies and the Ohio authorities
confirmed that they looked very similar and had a similar mole they believed they
might have found the victim's identity and had two family members come up and take DNA tests
in a November 28 press released 20 years after the body was found the Utah DPS confirmed the
victim as missing 37-year-old Lina Reyes chidis Lena had gone missing in 1998 when she left for
a trip from her home with her husband Edward gedes visit family in Mexico it was supposed
to travel through a Texas airport but there was no record of forever getting on any flights that day
she was reporting missing five months later by her husband Lena was a ballerina when she first met
her husband in New Mexico and they got married in 96 and moved to Youngstown Ohio six months later
now that they had identified Lena they kept working on who her killer might be Davis started
looking back at the evidence specifically at the Rope she'd been tied in with advances in DNA
they could use a technology that allowed them to extract DNA from a difficult surface like a rope
they did find two male samples of DNA one was ruled out as the not expert they had used
previously to see if a special knot had been used the other sample made them look back at Lena's
husband Edward in 1998 Lena's husband had been the primary suspect during her disappearance because
it had taken so long for her to be reported missing he was brought in for questioning with law
enforcement in October of 98 where he talked about a blue sleeping bag she was bringing as a gift the
last time he had seen her dropping her off at the airport saying he didn't go in with her and that
she was planning on paying for the reserve ticket in cash the warning Wednesday morning April 8th
when she made the reservations from Pittsburgh she made it from the house she called yeah you know a
flight with flight company was playing I thought it was a U.S Air flight that I gave you US Air
now at that point she made the reservation did she pay for the ticket how did she
she was gonna pay cash for the tickets at the airport okay so you make reservations
unfortunately Edward took his own life in 2001.
Davies could not get a sample as he had been cremated after his death
authorities then reached out to his living relatives asking for DNA samples two came forward
willingly and one had to get a search warrant the DNA came back as a familial match in June of
2022 law enforcement announced that the case was closed and that they had discovered Lena's killer
her husband Edward genies after 20 years she got her name back and after 24 years her family got to
know what happened and who killed her in a January 2019 press release Lena sisters quota saying I'm
very grateful for all your work I felt like for 20 years no one would listen to me but now I know
what happened I'm here to bring her home not like I expected but I'm bringing her back home with me
number two Benny Scruggs on July 17 1985 at 3am a man called 9-1-1 from a trailer home
on Travis Drive in Wisconsin Rapids Wisconsin saying that his neighbor had been stabbed he
was still alive but was bleeding heavily the 911 dispatcher told him that they should put
pressure on the wound and help us on the way during the phone call the neighbor said that
the wife of the man who'd been stabbed had called him and asked for him to come over there quickly
he told the dispatcher that he was holding a knife the dispatcher said to put it down
this was when the dispatcher could hear a female voice saying one of my knives is missing and the
man told the woman hey Yvonne go back there and apply pressure when the Wisconsin Rapids
Police arrived they found a man identified by the wife as Benny Scruggs on a waterbed of the
trailer home covered in blood with a towel over the wound when the ambulance arrived the man was
pronounced deceased at the scene Benny shruggs was 28 years old he married Yvonne koshaw on
May 15 1982 and they had one son together named Matthew he worked as a baker at the Foodland East
an autopsy was performed with the cause of death being a single stab wound to the chest on the
upper left hand side the wound had gone through his rib into his lung and almost out the back
the medical examiner was quoted as saying one hell of a big knife like a butcher knife and
another three quarters of an inch and there would have been a hole in the waterbed please
at the time interviewed surrounding neighbors Yvonne and the Scruggs babysitter the couple had
been out the night before and the babysitter had reported that they came home in better spirits and
average around 1am on the other hand during her three interviews that evening Yvonne would give
different versions of What had happened during her first interview with detectives Yvonne said
that the babysitter had left then she and Benny went to bed him falling asleep right away and
her lying awake then their two-year-old son was crying she went to his room for about 10 minutes
before feeling something was off when she went back to bed she noticed a shovel was up against
the fridge and the trailer door was open that was strange because she always had a habit of
locking the door she then went to look for Benny and found him covered in blood she then called
the neighbor for help in a second interview only a few hours after the first she said that they
both fell asleep after the babysitter left and that their two-year-old came into their bedroom
she then took the toddler to his bedroom for about 10 minutes then noticed the shovel in the open
back door on the way back I checked it on Benny and then called the neighbor for help during the
second interview Yvonne had stepped away for a moment a detective overheard her talking to
her friend with her stating I was asleep next to him he got stabbed I don't know during her final
interview she had said that they both fell asleep she woke up to her two-year-old crying and Benny
throwing up she took her son to his room and then went back to Benny he was covered in blood and
she called the neighbor detectives at the time believed that she was being uncooperative with
their investigation police decided to drain a nearby pond in hopes of finding the missing
murder weapon but they did not find it in the pond the alleged knife that Yvonne claimed was missing
from the home was never found over the next few weeks the authorities would interview neighbors
including Donald Meyer who lived in a trailer just down the way with a woman and her child
Meyer would tell authorities that he'd previously had a sexual relationship with Yvonne when they
worked together four or five years earlier he also told police that Yvonne had a temper and
that she probably killed her husband he would continue to tell the police that he had not
seen Yvonne again till the February of 1985 and that was about a week before Benny was stabbed
Yvonne had invited him over Benny was not home and they had sexual intercourse in the living
room and it was then that Yvonne had told him that if he wanted her he knew how to get rid of Benny
Yvonne in an August 1985 police interview would confirm the sexual relationship with Meyer saying
that she didn't tell the police because she didn't think it was important and that she
was embarrassed to tell anyone she did however deny saying anything about getting rid of Benny
after 1993 the case would go dormant until 2012. at that time Donald Meyer
would stack up a lengthy criminal history and Yvonne would go on to get remarried
Donald Meyer was on trial for 10 counts of stalking jurors who had convicted him in a 2006
trial for threatening a judge knowing this would mean adding time to his sentence he reached out to
the Wisconsin police department and asked to speak to someone about Benny scruggs's murder in this
interview Meyer would implicate Yvonne saying that she was trying to set him up for Benny's murder
he would also go on to say that he'd been over multiple times and that one time she took him into
the bedroom so his fingerprints would be there he also Drew an intricate diagram of the trailer
and new facts about it like the bedroom door would open and the trailer's back door was screwed shut
after this interview detectives would interview other people who were around at the time of
the murder so remember talking to Yvonne about the murder in the following weeks or years one
witness said Yvonne had told them that she knew who killed Benny and another said Yvonne had asked
if she thought she had killed him the witness asking well did you and Yvonne never answered
another witness came forward after seeing an article in a newspaper in 2013 about Benny
scruggs's murder saying her son had dated Yvonne between 1989 and 1990 while she was married to her
new husband who is now deceased the witness said Yvonne said she loved both men with the witness
saying something like you can't have it both ways according to them Yvonne's answer was I killed one
husband I can kill another the son who was also in this interview said that he had asked where
the father of her child was her answer being he's not with us anymore he asked what happened and
she answered well I killed him she also said that she was drunk that night and didn't remember much
in 2013 detectives interviewed some of Meyer's fellow inmates those inmates said that Meyer
liked to talk about how he'd been in an ongoing relationship with Yvonne around the time of the
murder that Yvonne had instructed him to throw the murder weapon in the garbage so we picked
up in the morning by trash collection Yvonne died in 2015 of acute alcohol poisoning it was never
formally accused or charged with murder more years would pass before any further progress
on Betty scruggs's murder investigation in 2017 an inmate would tell detectives that Meyer had
told him he had committed the murder that he had done it because Yvonne had refused to be with him
till her husband was dead the same inmate had overheard him talking to someone on the phone
about the murder police obtained the recording of the phone call in 2022 Donald Meyer now 60 years
old was charged with the murder of Benny's drugs in September 2022 he refused to come out of his
cell for his preliminary hearing and refused to work with his public defender in December
Meyer's public defender tried to get him a new preliminary hearing but the judge said that they
would not reward bad behavior Meyer was present for this hearing and pleaded not guilty his trial
is currently set up for a video conference in April 2023 is during this trial we will find
out what evidence law enforcement has against Meyer however regardless of the circumstances
he either perpetrated the murder or helped Yvonne cover up a murder case for four decades
number three Jennifer Brinkman on March 24th 1998 in Marysville Washington a father returned home
from vacation with his girlfriend to find his 19 year old daughter deceased in her bedroom
the girl was Jennifer Brinkman who was supposed to be on this vacation but last minute had decided to
stay home an autopsy would later show that she'd been hit in the neck by an ax news reports from
98 would say that they didn't find the murder weapon but more recent reports say that the ax
was found at the crime scene authorities at the time also collected other evidence and DNA samples
Jennifer was described as a social person known to walk around Marysville to strike up conversations
with strangers she often used telephone dating and chat lines which were used frequently in the 90s
to chat and connect with strangers she was also known to use Library computers to access online
chat rooms the Marysville Police Department would send in the evidence to the crime lab but they
were unable to get any matches to anything and DNA was not as advanced as it is today
Jennifer's case would eventually go cold and the case would move from detective to detective
but the Marysville Police never forgot her as DNA Advanced they were able to get a DNA sample that
didn't belong to Jennifer individual a but they didn't have anyone to compare the sample to the
Marysville Police Department eventually partnered with virginia-based parabon Nano labs they would
use genetic genealogy and publicly offered profiles to find a potential list of suspects
one of these suspects had already been on their radar for years the suspect had been a person of
interest Jennifer had talked to on one of the chat lines and the suspect had sent a letter
to Jennifer just prior to her death but when the suspect had previously interviewed earlier
in the investigation he denied ever knowing or having contact with Jennifer with this Advanced
DNA analysis they could get a search warrant for the suspect's DNA with the warrant he volunteered
his DNA willingly and it was an exact match he was arrested in November 2022 with first degree murder
in November the Marysville Police Department held a press conference announcing that they
had arrested a suspect a 52 year old man they did not reveal his name at that time the police said
that they are still getting all the pieces together in this press conference they said
that the letter had wording that implied that they had met before The Suspect lived only three miles
from Jennifer's mother's house but they didn't know if they had met in the past while Jennifer
visited her mother the suspect would have been at 28 years old at the time of Jennifer's murder
they said that the suspect had used his right to remain silent and that they may never get an
answer to the motive since a murder he has worked and lived as a Hermit and he is not
suspected in any of their murders nor evidence that he is connected to any other crimes after
24 years they could tell Jennifer's mother that they had found who did this the press conference
revealed that Jennifer's mother was extremely emotional she cried and was very thankful for
the work that was put into her case Jennifer's father passed away in 2013. there may never be
answers as to why this happened but the family can hopefully find some justice for Jennifer
suspect is currently being held on charges of first degree murder in Snohomish County Jail at
this time there are no further announcements on the next court dates or when his identity
will be released to the public well that is it for this video thank you so much for
sticking around to the end as always if you want to support the channel the easiest way
to do that is hit the like button you can also subscribe and hit the notification Bell if you
don't want to miss my next upload other ways to support the channel is by joining my patreon or
Channel membership I also have merch and you will find links to all that in the description
box plus a few extras don't forget to follow me on Instagram Tick Tock and Twitter for more but
with that being said thank you so much for being here and supporting when I do it is very much
appreciated that's it for me I will see you on the next one bye for now [Music] foreign [Music]