Valentine's Day Mysterious Cases

 

5. The Murder of Billy Trimbach 

Billy was a 26-year-old loving husband and father. He had two children in a previous marriage and an infant daughter with his current wife. He also had a step-son, which belonged to his wife Cindy from a previous marriage. He and Cindy had married in Stoneham, Colorado on Valentine's day, 1992. However, exactly a year later his body was found with multiple gunshot wounds on the side of the road only 50 miles from where he lived. 

The investigators focused their investigation on Cindy, who as they found out had quite the troubled past. She was a meth addict, and she and her previous husband had contracted HIV which by the time of Billy's murder had developed into AIDS. 

Billy is said to have been working extra shifts as a mechanic, to help pay for Cindy's treatments. This included driving all the way to Mexico if some of the treatments were unavailable in the US. 

It was on Valentine's Day, 1993 that Cindy called the police and told them she hadn't seen or heard from her husband since the previous day. Her nine-year-old told police he had seen Billy leave the house with an unidentified man, to help him with his car. Upon investigation of the area, police determined that Billy had been killed somewhere else and that his body had been dumped on the road. When his body was found, Cindy had said she drove by that exact spot, in search of her husband. This confused the police, what was Cindy doing 50 miles from the house when neither of them knew anyone in that area? 

The strangest thing was that the Sheriff himself had driven past this spot and seen several cars pulled to the side of the road, huddled together. Could this mean the Sheriff had witnessed the dumping of Billy's body?

However, upon inspection of Cindy's Chevy Suburban, they found that items matched items they found at the scene, they found small amounts of blood that matched Billy's. And Billy owned a 9mm gun that was missing, and his wounds were consistent with a 9 mm weapon. This led police to believe that either Billy was in the car itself or Billy's killer was in the car before or after the body had been dumped. Could Cindy have killed her husband? 

Things looked a whole lot worse to the police when it was found out that Cindy took an insurance policy out on her husband before his murder. The policy was for $500,000. The strangest part was that she forged Billy's signature on the documents, leading police to believe that Billy was unaware of the price that was now on his head. Police couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Cindy was involved in the death of her husband. 

After the growing speculation on her, Cindy moved to Butte, Montana. When enrolling her son in school there, Cindy expressed concern for adjustment as her son had witnessed her husband's murder. She did not tell this to investigators. 

Then after a Newspaper article came out stating Cindy was a suspect, her son started getting bullied at school. He was already suffering because it had gotten out that both his parents had AIDS. Many kids refused to go near him out of fear of the disease. When the bullying intensified, her son brought her gun to school and killed a classmate. A witness claimed that the child did not intend to kill, only scare. But, after missing the first two shots, the gun's recoil had caused an adjustment in the arm, and the shot hit the student in the head. 

When police questioned the boy he admitted to making up the story about Billy leaving the house that morning. He said he was covering for his mom, who he believed killed Billy. Cindy died due to the virus in 1994. And it wasn't until 1998, that police contacted a second suspect. Cindy's former drug dealer, who made an odd statement saying: "he was going to be the only person prosecuted for the involvement in this case." Shortly after this, he committed suicide. 

Police have had trouble solving this case. This is due to a lack of evidence, and many people involved either were or are addicted to meth. No one's statements can be taken at face value, and the case is just a mess. No one has ever been charged in this murder, police are still urging people with any information to please reach out.  

4. The Murder of the Rundle Family

On February 14th, 1985 Cassandra Rundle (37) and her two school-aged children were found strangled to death in their Colorado Springs home. Cassandra's ex-husband had discovered the bodies on the morning of the 14th. He as well as her first husband, was ruled out as suspects. Cassandra and her daughter were both raped, and the daughter was beaten so badly that her skull had fractured. Her room suggested a major struggle had occurred before her death. It is believed that Cassandra's son walked in on the attack. He was beaten to death in his own bedroom. 

"The problem with the case is that there are multiple numbers of suspects. Some are known. Some are unknown." said Sgt. Reisler at one point. 

"The odds are we are talking about someone she knew, but we don't know who did it at this time," said Sgt. Kenda. 

It is known that Cassandra had taken out a personal ad, in which she received 80-85 responses. Reisler had a suspect and they were brought before a Grand Jury. But, there wasn't enough evidence to convict. It was reported by a neighbor that she had someone over and that she might have picked him up in a bar. That same neighbor had said that Cassandra and her son had arrived home from a function at 8:00pm on the 13th. And that Cassandra's daughter was dropped off at 8:30pm. 

According to articles written at the time, the killer attacked Cassandra first. Beating her with a hockey stick, he tied her up with her own clothes and proceeded to rape her, then he strangled her to death. This happened sometime between 5 and 8 am. He moved on to her daughter who fought for her life, then he took out the son. 

Investigators say the problem is that they have too many suspects, and they can't rule them all out. Then there is the fact that they don't even know who some of the suspects are. 

3. The Discovery of Julie Valentine

It was the morning of February 13th, 1990, in a field behind a mall in Greenville, SC. Glenn Hayward was walking through this field to find his wife some flowers for Valentine's Day. The site was known as an illegal dumping ground, where people would come and dump their unwanted junk. It was in this field that Glenn discovered the cardboard box. He noticed that a foul odor was coming from the box and when he investigated the box he was shocked by what he found. 

The dead 6-pound newborn was wrapped in a Newspaper and a blanket with the umbilical cord still attached, with the placenta along with it. It was assumed that the child was born about five days before her discovery, and died two days after her birth. The child was born healthy, and food found within her stomach indicated that the child had been tended to up to a certain point. The investigators on the case had been unable to find a cause of death and had no idea who the baby was let alone who she belonged to. The police named her "Julie Valentine". 

However, in 2019 there was a break in the case and police arrested the child's mother, Brook Graham who was 53 at the time of the arrest. She is being charged with homicide because there is enough evidence that the child was breathing outside the womb. The police said that the baby was not delivered in a hospital and that everything involved in the childbirth was found in the box with the child. 

Using DNA and genealogy tracing, police were able to track down the baby's father and therefore were able to find the child's mother. The father has not been charged up to that point. It has been stated that Graham and her ex had been on the police radar from the start having purchased the same vacuum that came in the box that "Julie Valentine" was found in. Graham is said to have other children now grown, and police had investigated details of those children's lives. Which led investigators to deem child abuse as the reason behind Julie's death. 

2. Who killed Jodine Serrin? 

It was Valentine's Day 2007 when Art and Lois went out to celebrate. They had dinner and then caught a movie at the local cinema. Yet, Lois couldn't shake off the feeling that something was terribly wrong. The movie ended at 10 PM, and the parents decided to check on their independent mentally disabled daughter, Jodine. The last time they heard from their daughter was the night before, and this was unusual as they often had communication at least once a day. 

As the parents knocked on the door of their daughter's home, there was no reply. They decided to try the spare key, but the chain was on the door. All the lights were on, and so they called out to her, but still no answer. Art broke the chain, and they entered the house. 

They went straight to Jodine's bedroom and found a semi-naked man on top of their daughter. Thinking they had interrupted something, they quickly moved to another part of the condo. Minutes passed and there was still no movement from the room, concerned they returned. This time they knocked on the door, and when they received no reply, they opened the door again. 

The man was gone, and Jodine laid motionless in the bed. Art moved his daughter to the floor and tried to give CPR, but this was useless. Jodine had been dead for hours, and she was ice cold. She had been viciously bludgeoned and strangled. The man they had seen on their daughter moments before was not a boyfriend, but her killer. The sex that they saw was not consensual, but necrophilia. 

The investigation was baffling. Police could not identify an entry or exit point for the killer. No windows in the bedroom had been broken or forced open, nor were there any signs of this on a door in the condo. They did not however rule out forced entry. Art and Lois admitted that they had gone to a part of the condo where they couldn't see the bedroom or front door. So, it's possible that the killer snuck out the front door. A robbery gone wrong was ruled out. There was also some unknown male DNA found on the scene but they were unable to find a match. 

The residents of the condominium complex where Jodine died were quite upset. But, police assured them that this was not an intruder and that Jodine likely knew her attacker. A neighbor named Samantha Raymond told police that she had seen a man running down an embankment the night that Jodine was murdered. But, because of the speed, he was running, she could not get a clear enough glance at the man's face. 

Art had told police that he recognized the man as someone Jodine knew. He told them if it was this man he didn't own a car. This man provided a DNA sample, and it did not match that of Jodine's killer. In 2017, Parabon Nanolabs was able to change the genetic material found on the scene into a profile image of the killer. 

The suspect is said to have fair or light skin, green or blue eyes, blonde or brown hair, with some freckles. They say that he is likely between 30 and 40. According to Art and Lois, the man is heavyset, with a large stomach, and messy hair. 

David Mabrito was named as the likely suspect in the murder. Investigators believe that David (who committed suicide in 2011) is Jodine's killer because the DNA was a match. 

1. The Disappearance of Maureen Fields

In 2006, Maureen lived in Pahrump, Nevada with her husband Paul. She worked as a bank teller. On Valentine's day, Maureen showed up at work like any other day, but something seemed to be bothering her. She refused to go into details, but continued to insist, "Something's going to happen,". The next morning, Maureen did not show up for work, at her usual time of 8:30. So, her co-workers decided to call her house. It was Paul who answered the phone, and he claimed that Maureen had left the house at 8:00 like she did every morning and that he didn't know where she could be. 

Paul went to the police station and asked if there were any accidents involving a 2004 green Hyundai, later he insisted that he attempted to report his wife missing but was told he had to wait 24 hours. However, according to the deputy he talked to, Paul only asked about accidents. 

On February 16th, Maureen's car was found. It had been left abandoned in the Mojave Desert, which was 20 miles away from Maureen's home. The car itself was parked 120 feet from the highway, and near what is called Death Valley. Inside the car, police found the strangest assortment of things. The keys were still in the ignition, the driver's seat was reclined, her purse was there containing her wallet and credit cards, still in it. There were her eyeglasses and slippers that were found under the gas pedal, as well as a .22 caliber rifle, which they found in the back seat of the car. There were also multiple bottles of prescription medication, which included an empty bottle of Xanax. Police also found a blanket that contained small amounts of blood and vomit was found on the ground outside the car. At first glance, it looked as if Maureen had come here to commit suicide and wandered into the desert to die. However, upon further investigation, it was determined that the Xanax bottle had been wiped clean of fingerprints. There was also unidentified male DNA, inside the car on a pair of pantyhose. 

The police focused their investigation on Paul. It was known that the couple's marriage was falling apart, and Maureen was even afraid of him. Maureen had even often told friends and family that "If I ever disappear, tell police Paul did it,". Paul claimed that Maureen had faked her own disappearance, the only problem was that no one could confirm seeing Maureen after leaving work on Valentine's Day, other than Paul. His only alibi was that he had spent the evening at home with Maureen but his cell phone records pinged his phone, and this led police to believe Paul was on the other side of town. 

Paul was the prime suspect in the case, until 2012 when the DNA from the pantyhose matched the DNA of an 81-year-old sex offender. Keith Wayne Holmes. When Holmes was arrested police found a newspaper clipping about Maureen's disappearance, under the mattress in his camper. Multiple witnesses placed Holmes in Pahrump in 2006. When he was questioned, he claimed that he and Maureen had consensual sex, but that he had left her in the desert alive. The problem with the interrogation is that Holmes was suffering from Dementia and couldn't answer polices questions fully. Holmes told police that he believed he knew Paul Fields but couldn't remember how he met him. Holmes passed away in 2014, but police believe that both Holmes and Fields had something to do with Maureen's disappearance.