Charges dropped but questions remain

Murder charges against Paul House may have been dropped, but questions about his involvement in the rape and murder of Carolyn Muncey remain. Muncey went missing from her rural Tennessee home on July 13, 1985. Her body was found a day later in a wooded area. She had been beaten and raped. A friend of …

A cold case closed

Police in Los Angeles have caught a break on a decades old cold case. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Westside Rapist claimed dozens of victims, mostly older white females. At the time, police were unable to narrow down their list of suspects and lacked the technology to make a conclusive identification. But in …

Exonerations make good television

Some of the most popular shows on television are crime dramas. In almost all cases, the stories focus on teams of intrepid investigators using wit, guile, and technology to capture bad guys. Now there’s a new show on the air. But it’s not fiction, and the bad guys — if there are any — have …

Loopholes in the Law

Pennsylvania is one of 46 states with laws providing post-conviction DNA access. That means that individuals convicted of a crime can request — and must be granted — access to DNA testing that could prove their innocence or guilt. Unfortunately, what the law allows and what actually happens are two different things. Anthony Wright has …

Thatcher still claims innocence … and may have the book to prove it

Back in 1983, former Saskatchewan cabinet minister Colin Thatcher was convicted in the murder of his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson. Thatcher maintained his innocence, but still served 22 years in prison. He was paroled in 2006 and moved to his family’s ranch near Moose Jaw. There he began writing a book, Final Appeal: Anatomy of a …