CASE 291Washington
2020
Dioneth Lopez
Dioneth Lopez disappeared during a trip in 2020 and was later found dead in Washington woodland. Surveillance recordings helped investigators identify her and reconstruct her final movements.
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Showing 1–14 of 14CASE 265Seattle, Washington
2015
Celina Petersen
Celina Petersen's body was found in an alley in Seattle's South Park neighborhood in February 2015. Investigators pieced together recordings from the surrounding neighborhood to examine her killing.
CASE 256Clarkston, Washington
2014
Ina Clare Richardson
Ina Clare Richardson, 69, was found murdered in a Clarkston park in November 2014. Video from the surrounding area helped investigators reconstruct her movements before her death.
CASE 277Tacoma, Washington
2013
Larry Howse
Larry Howse was shot in the parking garage of his apartment building in August 2013. Surveillance footage showed two people connected to the attack and became central to the investigation.
CASE 267Skyway, Washington
2010
Alajawan Brown
Twelve-year-old Alajawan Brown was shot outside a convenience store in April 2010. Investigators examined nearby shootings and security recordings to establish how he became a victim.
CASE 240Lynnwood, Washington; Colorado
2008–2011
Marie / The Unbelievable Investigation
A young woman identified in reporting as Marie reported a rape in Washington in 2008, but police doubted her account. A later investigation in Colorado uncovered evidence supporting her report. Investigative journalism, the book A False Report and Netflix’s Unbelievable explore the failures and breakthroughs.
CASE 056Washington, United States
1998
Ronda Reynolds
Former Washington state trooper Ronda Reynolds was found shot in her home in 1998. Authorities initially treated her death as suicide, but her mother challenged that conclusion and pressed for further investigation. Conflicting evidence and later proceedings made the manner of death a prolonged public controversy rather than a straightforward, resolved murder case.
CASE 055Washington, United States
1997
Dawn & Nick Hacheney
Dawn Hacheney died in a Washington house fire in 1997 that initially appeared accidental. Investigators later concluded that her husband, minister Nick Hacheney, had killed her and used the fire to conceal the crime. His affairs and claims of religious authority became part of the evidence leading to his murder conviction.
CASE 170Washington
1990s
Mary Kay Letourneau & Vili Fualaau
Teacher Mary Kay Letourneau sexually abused her student Vili Fualaau when he was a child. Her 1997 conviction and violation of a no-contact order drew extensive coverage. Later accounts examine the abuse, the children they had, and their eventual adult marriage without erasing his age when it began.
CASE 031Washington, North Carolina
1988
Lieth & Bonnie von Stein
Lieth von Stein was killed and his wife, Bonnie, seriously wounded in their North Carolina home in 1988. Investigators traced the attack to a plan involving Bonnie’s son, Chris Pritchard, and accomplices. Money and inheritance were central to the prosecution. Coverage also focused on the young defendants’ social circle and role-playing interests.
CASE 020Washington, United States
1986
Stella Nickell & the Excedrin poisonings
Bruce Nickell and Sue Snow died after taking cyanide-laced Excedrin in Washington in 1986. Investigators determined that Bruce’s wife, Stella Nickell, poisoned him and placed tampered bottles in stores to disguise his death as part of a random product attack. Her scheme killed a second person and led to a federal conviction.
CASE 039Washington, United States
1985
Brenda Gere
Twelve-year-old Brenda Gere disappeared from her family’s Washington home in September 1985. The search devastated her parents and drew investigators toward Michael Kay Green, a man with a history of violence. The case followed the family’s struggle to learn what had happened after an ordinary afternoon became their daughter’s disappearance.
CASE 082Washington
1980s–1990s
Gary Ridgway · “Green River Killer”
Photo credit
King County Sheriff's Office, 2001 / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (U.S.). Cropped/resized.Gary Ridgway killed women and girls in Washington, many of whom were vulnerable or working in the sex trade. Advances in DNA testing helped investigators arrest him in 2001. His guilty pleas resolved dozens of murders associated with the Green River investigation.
CASE 057Lopez Island, Washington
1980
Rolf & Ruth Neslund
Retired ship’s pilot Rolf Neslund disappeared from Washington’s Lopez Island in 1980. His wife Ruth offered explanations for his absence, but investigators assembled evidence that she had killed him and disposed of his remains. She was convicted even without a recovered body, ending years of uncertainty surrounding his disappearance.
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