5 days later a suitcase was found in a canal … The murder of Gemma McCluskie was a crime that shook Britain. In early March 2012 a young woman goes missing in east London: she’s 29-year-old actress Gemma McCluskie. Crimes that Shook Britain s8e3: Murder of Gemma McCluskie, CI 2017
The relationship between Gemma and her brother Tony is coming under scrutiny. ibid.
Gemma McCluskie: On a cold dark London evening a man [Tony McCluskie] hauls a heavy bag into the back of a cab. Hours later he discards it in a canal. It’s been a struggle … The next day a 29-year-old star of BBC soap series Eastenders is reported missing. A Killer’s Mistake s1e8: Tony McCluskie
Tales of abduction, false trails and subterfuge. ibid.
‘She died as a result of blunt force trauma.’ ibid. rozzer
Sudden, spontaneous, perhaps after a struggle. The picture of the murderer was building. ibid.
‘They had been conflict between brother and sister.’ ibid. forensic scientist
As Tony would use drugs, so he would become violent. ibid.
MCCOWEN, CHRISTOPHER: Killer Trials TV -
A beautiful woman is discovered lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor of her Cape Cod home: she is identified as fashion writer Crista Worthington. It takes police four years to bring her killer to trial, but did they get the right man? Killer Trials s1e14: A Murder on Cape Cod, 2012
Begin analysing the DNA samples that also include the samples volunteered the months before: one of these is given by Truro garbage man Christopher Cowen. ibid.
None of the genetic profiles match McCowen’s. ibid.
The semen found on Crista’s body belongs to McCowen. ibid.
The jury gives their verdict: they find McCowen guilty of all charges. ibid.
MCCOY, RUTHIE MAY: True Crime Recaps 2021 -
The murder of Ruthie Mae McCoy … She was lying in a pool of blood in her bedroom; her apartment was ransacked and she’d been shot four times … How does someone break in through the bathroom mirror? True Crime Recaps: True Stories Behind the Candyman Credits, Youtube 23.24, 2021
It’s believed that her attackers thought she had a lot of money there which is why they broke in and robbed and killed her. Two people were arrested and tried but they were found not guilty. ibid.
McCREA, GARY: Murder My Sweetheart: The Killing of Dolores McCrea TV -
Dolores McCrea was last seen on the evening of January 20th calling in to her estranged husband’s house on the way to a darts match. Murder My Sweetheart: The Killing of Dolores McCrea, news, Channel 5 2022
Would she have ever left her four daughters? No. ibid. dude
When he [estranged husband] was charged he was brought to the courthouse in Donegal town. ibid.
He was no stranger to the use of violence. ibid. psychologist
MCCULLOUGH, JACK [viz Miscarriages of Justice: McCullough, Jack]: Footsteps in the Snow TV - The Coldest Case Ever Solved TV -
This is the tale of a small town changed for ever. A seven-year-old girl abducted off the streets of Sycamore, Illinois, in 1957. Months turned into years then decades, little Maria’s murder left unsolved until a mother’s shocking deathbed confession. Footsteps in the Snow, LMN 2014
On April 26th 1958 a couple hunting for mushrooms near the town of Galena, Illinois, came upon the little girl’s body. ibid.
After her mother’s deathbed confession that her brother was the killer, Jan Tessier became determined to bring him to justice. It took nearly two decades. ibid.
The coldest case in American history ever to be brought to justice. ibid.
In 2016 a post-conviction review of the evidence determined that McCullough could not have been present at the time and place of Maria Ridulph’s likely abduction. McCullough was released from prison and charged against him were dismissed. ibid. captions
People just really love to know how a story ends. The Coldest Case Ever Solved, 2021
1958: The abduction of Maria Ridulph devastated the town of Sycamore and gained national attention. Ibid.
The investigation was intense and bolstered further by nationwide intrigue. ibid.
Janet Tessier made numerous attempts to bring her mothers’ [deathbed] words [John did it] to the attention of someone who might have the power to do something. ibid.
2012: 55 years after Maria’s life was taken, Jack McCullough was convicted of the crime. ibid.
Jack McCullough did not kill Maria Ridulph. ibid.
MCCURLEY, GLEN: True Crime Recaps 2021 -
Benbrook, Texas, February 16 1974: A 17-year-old Carla Walker and her high-school sweetheart sat in his car outside a popular bowling alley: she was suddenly ripped out of his arms. For 46 years this was a cold case. True Crime Recaps: Carla Walker: A 46-Year-Old Tragic Cold Case, Youtube 12.20, 2021
In the storm culverts under some roads and bridges they finally found her … According to the autopsy she was beaten, assaulted and tortured for two days before he strangled the life out of her. ibid.
The DNA evidence … led them to 77-year-old Glen Samuel McCurley. ibid.
MCDONAGH, PATRICK murder: Rough Justice TV -
His crime: murder. His name: Michael McDonagh. McDonagh was convicted in 1973 of stabbing his brother Francis to death. Francis died of a wound from a thin-bladed knife. That knife was apparently never seen nor found. But we have now uncovered new evidence that the knife was seen on the night of the murder, and more importantly, in the hands of a man who subsequently confessed to two people that he had killed Francis. Yet Michael McDonagh and his son Patrick are still serving life sentences for murder. Rough Justice: ‘The Case of the Thin-Bladed Knife’, Michael & Patrick McDonagh, BBC 1982
Michael, Rose and Patrick all say that they saw another tenant at the rooming house, a coloured man, standing in the hallway with a knife. ibid.
A chorus of doubt which the case now attracted. ibid.