Rapid advancements in forensic science and crime scene investigation techniques have
made it easier than ever for investigators to capture criminals and ensure that victims
are given the justice they deserve.
There are cases out there that are so strange and bizarre that even forensic science can’t
solve them.
5 - Orlando and Brandon Nembhard 19-year-old Sir Xavier Brooks found himself
at the wrong place at the wrong time on February 12th 2011.
Brooks had found himself in the middle of an altercation outside of the Leonardo DaVinnci
Code nightclub located in Chandler, Arizona.
This altercation went south very quickly with Brooks ending up deceased within a matter
of minutes.
There were plenty of witnesses to the crime and the police believed they had an open and
shut case.
It wasn’t until they examined the forensic evidence that they realised that this case
was going to be anything but straightforward.
The police quickly named 19-year-old Orlando Nembhard as their main suspect after witnesses
came forward and gave a detailed description of the attacker.
Whilst building their case against Orlando, they realised something.
Orlando was an identical twin and the witness reports began conflicting with each other.
One detective told ABC News “Conflicting descriptions were initially given by witnesses
with some witnesses describing the defendant as the perpetrator and others described his
twin brother as the perpetrator.”
The case of Sir Xavier Brooks quickly spiralled into one of Arizona’s most complex unsolved
mysteries.
Police were unable to obtain DNA or seize the weapon used in the attack, complicating
matters further.
Even if police were able to recover DNA from the crime scene, this still wouldn’t have
resolved the case as identical twins share the same DNA code.
Without fingerprints and matching eyewitness accounts, the case against Orlando Nembhard
shattered.
Orlando had initially been arrested and charged with murder and was held on a $500,000 bond
that was later dropped to $10,000.
Since Orlando posted bail there have been few updates in this case, according to Arizona
prison records, his file has been inactive since 2015.
Arizona authorities have made it clear that they are determined to find the person responsible
and bring them to justice once and for all.
Brooks’ father told ABC “I’m angry, very angry.
Now that we’re hearing this other story that maybe you know it’s another brother
or this brother or whatever brother it is, you know one of them did it”.
If you have any information you are asked to contact the Chandler Police Department
on 480-782-4440.
4 - Urooj Khan Urooj Khan had moved from India to Chicago,
Illinois in 1989 looking for a better life.
Khan was a devout Muslim and dedicated his time to caring for his wife and his daughter.
When Khan wasn’t with his family, he was working hard at the dry cleaning business
he owned to provide for his family, putting in long hours to ensure they had everything
they needed.
In 2012, Khan made a pilgrimage to Mecca, a trip that most Muslims make in their lifetime
and it is a trip that is considered extremely important to those who observe the faith.
But in 2012, something inside Khan changed, on a whim, he decided to buy two lottery tickets
and was astounded to learn that he had purchased the winning ticket.
Khan was in line to receive $1 million and his family were elated at the news, imagining
what their new life would be like.
On July 20th 2012 the Khan family's life changed forever when they discovered that Urooj had
passed away as a result of a heart attack.
Investigators initially ruled it as “natural causes” as the first toxicology screening
did not show the presence of alcohol or other substances in his system.
The original autopsy also indicated that Khan had blocked arteries that could have contributed
to a heart attack.
However, his family insisted that the ruling was not correct and after applying the pressure,
investigators agreed to run a more comprehensive toxicology screening.
Khan’s family were horrified to learn that he had a substantial amount of cyanide in
his system.
They were in utter disbelief that someone would want to harm him, however, the forensic
evidence painted a very different picture and their quest for justice began.
On the night before his passing, Khan had eaten a lamb curry prepared for him by his
wife, Shabana.
Investigators quickly pointed the finger at her, however, she testified that it couldn’t
have been her as both herself and her father ate the same meal.
Khan’s body was exhumed in 2013 to perform further testing, however, Stephen Cina, the
medical examiner in charge of Khan’s case found that his body was too decomposed to
be able to analyse.
Khan was not embalmed in accordance with Muslim traditions, making it difficult for more samples
to be obtained.
Cina stated that he was unable to figure out how the cyanide had entered Khan’s body
and that his passing remains a mystery.
Cina did confirm that Khan’s arteries were 75% blocked, but he has been unable to explain
the substantial amount of cyanide found in Khan’s blood.
The case remains unsolved and Khan’s brother is determined to get to the bottom of this
forensic mystery.
Following his passing, Khan’s daughter received 1/3rd of the winnings, whilst his wife Shabana
received the other 2/3rds along with the dry cleaning business and properties.
If you have any information about Urooj’s case you are asked to contact the Chicago
Police Department on 312-746-6000.
3 - Kathy Mabry At around 7 pm on March 22nd 1997, Judy Mae
Wilson said goodbye to her 39-year-old daughter, Kathy Mabry.
Kathy stepped out of her home in the small town of Isola (eye soh lah), Mississippi,
never to be seen alive again.
At the time, Kathy was in a relationship with 48-year-old James Earl Gates and their relationship
was anything but stable.
According to Judy, Kathy’s mother, Gates was “no good” and was abusive towards
her, alleging that he once broke Kathy’s arm and took over the house, doing whatever
he wanted.
Judy didn’t approve of the relationship but felt powerless to do anything about it.
When March 23rd 1997 slowly crept around, Judy knew something was wrong.
Kathy hadn’t returned home and whilst she had battled with her own personal demons,
she was always there to take care of her children and would always phone home if she was going
to be out for the night.
Judy’s worries worsened when Gates phoned the house asking if she had seen or heard
from Kathy.
Judy had assumed that Kathy had been with Gates throughout the night and panic set in.
Kathy’s family and friends went around the small town of Isola as well as going to the
neighbouring town of Belzoni to see if anyone had seen her.
It wasn’t until later that day that they received the terrible news.
A workman had discovered Kathy’s body in an abandoned house in Belzoni.
During the autopsy, Hayes discovered bite marks on Kathy’s body and called in the
help of Michael West, a dentist and forensic odontologist who claimed to have developed
a new technique called “The West Phenomenon”.
He told investigators working on Kathy’s case that he could take photographs of the
bite marks and make moulds of a suspect's teeth to see if they matched.
West obtained a dental mould from Gates and claimed that the bite marks found on Kathy’s
body were a match.
Gates was subsequently arrested and charged in connection with the crime.
Gates protested his innocence and claimed that he was not the one responsible.
Thankfully, his legal counsel requested DNA testing on fingernail scrapings that were
obtained from Kathy’s body.
The DNA analysis proved that Gates had not been Kathy’s attacker and that he had been
falsely accused and imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit.
Gates was officially cleared of all charges against him in January 1998 but now investigators
were back at square one.
They now had a DNA profile of the person responsible, however, it wasn’t a match to anyone on
their database.
24 years have passed and investigators are still no closer to solving the mystery.
They have a wealth of forensic evidence in Kathy’s case but have been unable to find
a match.
If you have any information about Kathy’s case you are asked to contact the Isola Police
Department on 662-962-6132.
2 - Debbie Linsley 26-year-old Debbie Linsley had her whole life
ahead of her, Debbie was born in Bromley just outside of London and spent her teenage and
adult years working hard to secure a good career for herself.
By 1988, Debbie had moved to Edinburgh where she had taken a job as a hotel manager, something
she had worked very hard for.
In March 1988, Debbie was sent on a training course in Hertfordshire, England by her bosses.
As Hertfordshire was close to Bromley, her manager allowed her to take a few days off
after the course to visit her family.
The timing was perfect as Debbie’s brother, Gordon was getting married in 2 weeks and
Debbie needed to be back home for her final bridesmaid dress fitting.
Debbie attended her course as planned and then spent a few days with her family, cherishing
every moment before she had to head back up to Edinburgh over 424 miles away.
March 23rd 1988 was Debbie’s last day at home before she had to travel back to work,
the family said their goodbyes and her brother, Gordon dropped her off at the Petts Wood train
station.
Debbie caught the 2:16 train headed for London Victoria where she could catch a connecting
train to Edinburgh.
According to Debbie’s father Arthur, Debbie was never supposed to be on the 2:16 train.
Arthur told newspapers “She was here 3 nights and was due to leave late in the afternoon
to Edinburgh for work.
But on the course she met the manager of the Sherlock Holmes hotel in London and she left
earlier to speak to him about a job.”
Just before the train reached London Victoria, Debbie was attacked by an unknown person and
a French au pair who was in the carriage next to Debbie reported hearing a commotion coming
from her carriage.
It wasn’t until the train pulled into London Victoria that the conductors realised that
Debbie had been attacked.
The person responsible was now long gone, lost in a sea of commuters.
Several witnesses came forward and gave descriptions of two men they saw in or near Debbie’s
carriage that day.
The first man was described as being 40 to 50 years old with long ginger hair and a moustache,
it was also noted that he walked with a limp.
The second man is described as stocky, around 30 years old with white-blonde hair and he
was wearing a pale jacket.
The Metropolitan Police rushed to the scene and began their investigation, amazingly,
they recovered a DNA profile from an unknown male on Debbie’s body and ran it against
the UK’s database which has more than 6 million entries.
Unfortunately for the Metropolitan Police, no match could be established and their investigation
quickly ran cold.
In 1999 the Metropolitan Police created the “Murder Review Group” and Debbie’s case
has taken high priority ever since.
The UK does not currently use forensic genetic genealogy and many people are petitioning
the government to change this.
If you have any information about what happened to Debbie Linsley you are asked to contact
Susan Stansfield of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Case Work Investigation Team on 020
7230 4294, alternatively you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
1 - Bitter Creek Betty/Sheridan County Jane Doe
On March 1st 1992, Barbara Leverton pulled into a layby at Bitter Creek in Sweetwater
County, Wyoming for a much-needed rest stop.
Barbara hopped out of her truck cab and took a small walk along the layby, as she was walking
she spotted a rubbish bag at the bottom of the embankment.
As she got closer, she realised that it wasn’t a rubbish bag but the body of a female, lying
face down in the snow.
Barbara jumped into her cab and used her CB radio to call for help and ask her fellow
truckers to contact 911.
Thankfully, truckers heard her message and the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office arrived
at the scene.
The Sheriff’s Office believed that the woman’s body had been dropped out of a truck and had
rolled down to the bottom of the embankment.
The coroner determined that the body belonged to a White and Hispanic female between the
ages of 24 and 32 with dark brown or black hair and dark brown or black eyes.
The coroner also noted that the woman had a vertical cesarean section scar on her abdomen,
a one-inch scar on her left calf and a tattoo of a rose on her right breast.
Investigators appealed to the public for any information as to who the woman they have
dubbed “Bitter Creek Betty” could be.
One tip came in that identified the possible artist of the tattoo and after some investigation,
the Sheriff’s Office found out that the tattoo had been done at a tattoo shop near
the Triple T Truck Stop in Tucson, Arizona.
The artist told investigators that he remembered tattooing the woman, but he didn’t know
her name.
Under hypnosis he was able to recall that the woman was a hitchhiker and spoke without
an accent, he also told investigators that Bitter Creek Betty had worn a brown peasant
dress with yellow flowers when she came into the shop.
Despite all of this information, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office is still no closer
to discovering who Bitter Creek Betty is.
There was renewed hope in Betty’s case in 2014 when DNA taken from the crime scene was
analysed and produced a match, but it wasn’t the kind of match you’d expect.
The DNA results didn’t yield a name but instead, it confirmed a match to another unidentified
woman found on April 13th 1992 in Sheridan County, Wyoming.
The DNA found on Bitter Creek Betty matched the DNA found on a woman only known as “The
Sheridan County Jane Doe” leading investigators to believe that this was the work of a serial
killer.
The Sheridan County Jane Doe is described as a white female between the ages of 18 and
21 and is 5 '5 `` to 5’6”, 110 to 115lbs with brown shoulder-length hair.
She was found wearing a light blue and white check midriff shirt with pearl/jewelled buttons
down the middle, a light blue size 38C bra, size 5-6 blue jeans and pink underwear.
Much like Bitter Creek Betty, The Sheridan County Jane Doe has remained unidentified
for almost 3 decades.
In 2020, Clark Perry Baldwin was arrested for the murders of Bitter Creek Betty, The
Sheridan County Jane Doe and Pamela Rose McCall.
The case against Baldwin is ongoing and he is currently being held on a bond of $1 million.
Whilst we now know the identity of the person responsible, we still don’t know the identities
of our Jane Does.
Advances in forensic science have allowed us to capture their killer, but we are still
left without knowing their true identities.
If you have any information about Bitter Creek Betty you are asked to contact Detective Michelle
Hall of the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office on 307-352-6720 quoting case number
92-0763.
If you have any information about The Sheridan County Jane Doe you are asked to contact the
Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office on quoting case number 1992-0119.