“She had reported being raped in her apartment by a man who had bound and gagged her. Then, confronted by police with inconsistencies in her story, she had conceded it might have been a dream. Then she admitted making the story up. One TV newscast announced, “A Western Washington woman has confessed that she cried wolf when it came to her rape she reported earlier this week.” She had been charged with filing a false report, which is why she was here today, to accept or turn down a plea deal. Her lawyer was surprised she had been charged. Her story hadn’t hurt anyone — no suspects arrested, or even questioned. His guess was, the police felt used. They don’t appreciate having their time wasted.” Read more from ProPublica & The Marshall Projecthere.
Cops can be protective about their cases, fearing that information could be leaked that would jeopardize their investigations. They often don’t know about, or fail to use, an FBI database created years ago to help catch repeat offenders. Between one-fourth to two-thirds of rapists are serial attackers, studies show. -ProPublica & The Marshall Project
Brittany Killgore, a civilian married to a man serving in the US Marine Corps, was initially reported missing on April 14, 2012 but was later found dead near Lake Skinner in California in 2012. Her husband was deployed at the time she went missing. They were stationed at Camp Pendleton and Brittany was in the process of getting a divorce and moving out of her home. On her last night at Camp Pendleton, another Marine named Sgt Louis Perez, offered to not only help her move but asked her to go out one last time before she left. Brittany was acquaintances with Perez, his live in girlfriend Dorothy Maraglino, and another woman named Jessica Lopez, who also lived at the residence of Maraglino.
After a lengthy investigation by civilian police in San Diego, it was determined that Louis Perez lured Brittany and eventually took her to his home where he and his girlfriend (Maraglino) lived. Perez, Maraglino, and Jessica Lopez all engaged in what is referred to as BDSM and they decided that Brittany would join them whether she wanted to or not. In the course of sexually abusing and torturing Brittany, Louis Perez strangled her to death. Maraglino and Perez decided that Jessica Lopez needed to take the fall for her death and they coerced Jessica into not only admitting to the murder but also to take her own life. She was found near death in a hotel room after a failed suicide attempt. In 2015, Perez, Maraglino, and Lopez were all sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The search for a young missing military wife takes NCIS agents into the dark world of master and slave role playing where they uncover the dual life of a Marine sergeant. -A Date with Evil, 48 Hours NCIS
Tonight’s episode of “48 Hours: NCIS” takes you inside the real-life investigation into a missing Marine wife. “A Date with Evil” follows an agent as he pursues the truth behind her disappearance. -48 Hours NCIS
When the battered corpse of a young woman turns up on the outskirts of Fallbrook, California, detectives unravel a secret world where dominance, sadomasochism, and manipulation reign. -Murder Among Friends, Investigation Discovery
Brittany Killgore’s mother’s first thought is always, “Brittany should have been here. Watch episodes of In Ice Cold Blood, only on Oxygen. -Oxygen Media (April 12, 2018)
Yvonne Baldelli and Brian Brimager, US Marine Corps Veteran
Retired Marine Brian Brimager pleaded guilty on February 24, 2016 to murdering his girlfriend Yvonne Baldelli in Panama on November 27, 2011. Brimager admitted in a California US District Court that he had viciously beat, stabbed, dismembered and dumped Yvonne in the jungle. In his guilty plea, Brimager also admitted to obstructing the investigation into her murder by destroying, concealing and disposing of evidence, including a blood-stained mattress, clothes and jewelry; killing Baldelli’s two dogs; accessing Baldelli’s email account after her murder and impersonating Baldelli in emails sent from her account to friends and family; withdrawing money from Baldelli’s bank account in Costa Rica after her death; and providing false statements to an FBI agent in an attempt to make it seem as though Baldelli were alive and well and traveling with another man in Costa Rica. The prosecutor told the court that Brimager killed Baldelli in order to silence her because she discovered he had a girlfriend and daughter in San Diego, California. Brimager was afraid Baldelli would ruin his relationship with his new girlfriend by revealing their relationship to her. In an interesting twist, Brimager married his girlfriend in San Diego two weeks after he killed Yvonne. Brian Brimager was sentenced in federal court to twenty-six years for second degree murder and ordered to pay $11,132 in restitution to Baldelli’s father and a $10,000 fine.
“This murder was particularly cruel and depraved…The lengths Mr. Brimager went to to avoid detection were particularly brazen and ultimately shattering to the Bardelli family. I dare say they will never recover. A day may never go by without them thinking of Ms. Baldelli’s murder and the images seared in to their psyches.” –US District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller
In March 2006, John Needham joined the Army making him the fifth generation in his family to serve in the Armed Forces. In the fall of 2006, John deployed with his team from Fort Carson, Colorado to fight the war in Iraq during some of the most intense combat in the war. Army private John Needham began to downward spiral about eleven months into a deployment to Iraq after surviving multiple IED and grenade attacks. He was injured both mentally and physically. John claims that when he reached out for help his Army command told him to tell the medical personnel that he was fine so he wouldn’t be sent home. John did what he was asked to do. Soon thereafter John began sending alarming e-mails to his family and learned that his deployment was going to be extended beyond the twelve months he was originally tasked with. In September 2007, John contemplated suicide and one of his fellow comrades stopped him but in the struggle the gun discharged. It was at this time that John’s leadership began to shame him and isolate him. They also assigned two soldiers to watch over him twenty-four seven. John felt that eventually his team turned on him as did his command, who recommended him for courts martial because of the incident with the gun.
John’s father became concerned about John’s health and after making numerous phone calls was able to get him sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. John spent one month in psychiatric treatment before the Army pulled him from Walter Reed and sent him back to Fort Carson, Colorado where he was facing punishment. John continued to abuse pills, drugs, and alcohol and as a result was getting in trouble. John’s parents were concerned about his health again and fought for him to get transferred to San Diego for help and to be closer to them. John was prescribed a myriad of drugs to help him cope with the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. During this time, John sent a letter to the Army command at Fort Carson to report that he witnessed war atrocities while fighting in Iraq. An investigation was launched into the allegations yet the Army would determine that war crimes did not occur. Although John’s courts martial quietly went away and John was medically retired and discharged from the US Army. It would only be a few days later on September 1, 2008 that he would be accused of beating his girlfriend Jacqwelyn Villagomez to death with his bare hands. He was arrested for her murder, let out on bail, and awaiting trial for her murder when he learned that PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury may be what led him to overreact and snap during the argument with Jacqwelyn.
In July 2009, ten months after Jacqwelyn’s death, John learned from the Department of Veterans Affairs that he did in fact have a Traumatic Brain Injury. John learned that the TBI can impact brain functioning including memory, speech, and hearing. He came to realize that combat changes who you are and that he may have suffered from a flashback when he attacked his girlfriend. According to witnesses Jacqwelyn became upset after she was asked to leave John’s home. As she was leaving one of John’s female friends stopped by which enraged Jacqwelyn. Jacqwelyn began beating the female friend who was able to escape and flee from the situation. While the friend was on the phone with the police reporting the incident, John was inside arguing and fighting with Jacqwelyn who herself was volatile. It was at this time that John snapped and beat Jacqwelyn to death with his own hands. He was discovered with swollen hands and bloodied after the vicious attack. The prosecution hoped to prove that John got drunk and killed Jacqwelyn in a drunken rage but John and his defense team hoped to prove that he suffered from a flashback, therefore he blamed both the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Traumatic Brain Injury for the frenzied, animalistic attack. John was facing twenty-five years to life in prison for the murder.
In early 2010, as John’s trial got closer, John had another surgery to repair his back injuries from an IED explosion in Iraq. It failed and John continued to suffer with a high intensity of pain. According to his family, John could barely walk. John moved to Arizona for another surgery and to spend some time with his mom. He appeared happy to be back in the desert again. John’s brother drove from California to Arizona to spend some time with John. The next day, February 19, 2010, John’s brother discovered him clinging to life in his room. John’s brother attempted to save his life but John took his last breath in his brother’s arms and died at the age of 26. They would later learn that John died of an apparent overdose on painkillers. The autopsy was considered undetermined yet medical experts believe that the unusually high dosage of painkillers in John’s system could lead one to believe that John committed suicide. To this day it is unclear if John’s death was accidental or a suicide. John’s brother noted that it was ironic that he would make it through months of intense, deadly combat yet die once he gets home. There was no military funeral held for John but he was remembered for both the lives he saved in Iraq and the life he took when he got back home.
On this edition of DTRH Popeye covers the eleven year anniversary of the illegal, and immoral invasion of Iraq. He starts off by getting into the story of PFC John Needham, who witnessed war crimes being committed, and was locked up and tortured by his own command for not partaking in them himself. His story is an example of what happens when we “embrace the dark-side” as Dick Cheney put it in the push for the invasion. -DTHR
Sergeant Brent Burke earned his stripes at Fort Campbell, Kentucky — home base for his division, the legendary 101st Airborne. Once under the command of former General David Petraeus, the soldiers of the 101st have seen more action than most soldiers in the U.S. Army. It is also where Sgt. Burke will learn if he will continue to serve in the Army, or if he will serve out his life in prison, because military prosecutors in the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, known as JAG, will court martial Sgt. Brent Burke for double homicide.
“I would say that the tough part of any case like this is the fact that it was four years old … and it was mostly circumstantial evidence and when you put all that together it certainly makes for a difficult case,” JAG prosecutor Lt. Col Matthew Calarco told “48 Hours” correspondent Richard Schlesinger. Lieutenant Colonel Matt Calarco’s mission, after four civilian trials failed to get a verdict, is to finally prove Sgt. Burke shot and killed his wife, Tracy, and her ex-husband’s mother, Karen Comer, on Sept. 11, 2007.
Pinyon Pines – It’s a Triple Homicide Investigation Gone Cold. It’s been six years and still no arrests. Now the family is taking action to find answers. -KMIR (August 6, 2012)
KMIR’s Elizabeth Beaubien investigates an unsolved triple murder case. -KMIR (April 26, 2013)
Elizabeth Beaubien’s EXCLUSIVE reporting on the 7th anniversary of the triple murders at Pinyon Pines in 2006. -KMIR (September 17, 2013)
New Angle in Pinyon Pines Murder Investigation. -KMIR (February 4, 2014)
It’s been over seven years since three people were brutally murdered and set on fire in the community of Pinyon Pines just up Highway 74. Now, the father of the youngest victim, 18 year old Becky Friedli, wants justice. -KMIR (February 4, 2014)
Although, we have uncovered another connection to this triple murder that brings to light many more questions of a possible conflict of interest. That connection is the death of 18 year old Danica Denton. She was killed in a hit and run in Cathedral City February 11, 2009. She was 8 months pregnant at the time and the baby did not survive. -KMIR (February 12, 2014)
KMIR News was the first to report two men have been arrested in the 2006 triple murders in Pinyon Pines. -March 11, 2014)
The latest information on the Pinyon Pines triple murder cold case. -KMIR (March 13, 2014)
Supporters of the suspects and friends and family of the victims are taking to Facebook to post their opposing views of the arrests in the 2006 Pinyon Pines triple murders. -KMIR (March 14, 2014)
DA Paul Zellerbach speaks with Elizabeth Beaubien about the Pinyon Pines triple murder investigation. -KMIR (March 17, 2014)
Opening statements were delivered in a trial for the triple homicide that happened in September 2006 in a Riverside County area known as Pinyon Pines. -ABC7 (April 17, 2018)
A tragic set of horrible circumstances brought jurors to a Riverside County courtroom to hear the grim details of a 12-year-old murder case. -ABC7 (May 22, 2018)
True Crime Daily:
A home burns to the ground high above the Coachella Valley in California. The triple-homicide made headlines, and may finally be solved. But it’s not the first time investigators have thought they had their men. -True Crime Daily (October 19, 2016)
The blazing fire left a cold trail for years — but now a suspect might come to light in the triple-homicide. -True Crime Daily (October 19, 2016)
Over half a decade after the unsolved murders of on Jon Hayward, his girlfriend Vicki Friedli and her daughter Becky Friedli, suspicions turn to Cristin Smith and Becky’s ex-boyfriend, Robert Pape. -True Crime Daily (October 19, 2016)
Seven years after the triple-homicide, Becky’s ex-boyfriend and his friend were arrested for the crime — but not for long. Things get complicated. -True Crime Daily (October 19, 2016)
Becky Friedli, her mom Vicki Friedli, and Vicki’s boyfriend Jon Hayward were living high above California’s Coachella Valley in a secluded neighborhood called Pinyon Pines. -True Crime Daily (June 19, 2019)
48 Hours CBS:
A family murdered in their home. Years later, an arrest but then the two suspects are unexpectedly freed. “48 Hours” Troy Roberts reports. -CBS New York (January 16, 2015)
Drew Friedli recites a poem her sister, Becky, left on Myspace, before her murder in 2006. Drew feels the poem, “If I Knew It was the Last Time,” encompasses who Becky was because she always let people know that she loved them. -48 Hours (January 16, 2015)
Saturday, Aug. 1 starting at 9/8c on CBS: A triple murder, a young woman set afire in a wheelbarrow. Police have suspects until a courtroom twist changes everything. Then at 10/9c: Was an alleged religious cult responsible for a young bride’s death? -48 Hours (July 28, 2015)
The new district attorney for Riverside, California, has promised to look at the Pinyon Pines murder cold case with “an open mind.” “48 Hours” correspondent Troy Roberts discusses the case with CBSN. -CSBN (July 31, 2015)
A triple murder, a young woman set afire in a wheelbarrow. Police have suspects until a courtroom twist changes everything. “48 Hours ” has the latest on the case including an emotional verdict Saturday, July 28 at 10/9c on CBS. -48 Hours (July 27, 2018)
Podcasts:
The Friedli family home in Pinyon Pines, California was burned to the ground in 2006. This was no accident. Inside, investigators found the charred remains of Vicki Friedli and her boyfriend, Jon Hayward. Out front, posed grotesquely in a wheelbarrow, were the remains of 18 year old Becky Friedli. She, too, was burned beyond recognition. This terrible crime went unsolved for years even though family and friends of the victims had no doubt who was responsible. Finally, justice may be in sight. -True Crime Brewery (November 6, 2016)
The Pinyon Pines Murders Part 1 -California True Crime (February 14, 2019)
The Pinyon Pines Murders Part 2 -California True Crime (February 21, 2019)
US Air Force Colonel Philip Shue died of what appeared to be the result of a violent car crash until one took a closer look at the scene of the car crash and observed the injuries inflicted on Col. Shue’s body unrelated to the crash. After erratic driving, Col. Shue’s car veered off a highway driving away from San Antonio, Texas in the opposite direction of Lackland Air Force Base where he worked. The car crashed into a tree making impact on the driver’s side and Col. Shue was found dead at the scene with duct tape on his wrists and ankles, a six inch knife wound in his chest, and his nipples were removed. Local investigators and the U.S. Air Force all concluded that this was a deeply troubled man experiencing a psychological breakdown that led to suicide. But Col. Shue’s wife Tracy believes otherwise and shares that her husband was happy and lived life to the fullest until he started getting anonymous, threatening notes. Tracy wants justice for Col. Shue because the incidents leading up to the day in question definitely raise red flags and lead one to believe that this death was in fact more likely a homicide.
Tracy Shue believes that indeed there is a person of interest in the case and that all avenues of justice should be pursued in the death of her husband. Tracy revealed that Philip had been married before and as a stipulation of a divorce agreement, his ex-wife Nancy Shue was granted ownership of a one million dollar life insurance policy in Col. Shue’s name. Prior to Col. Shue’s death, he started receiving alarming letters including one that indicated the writer of the note overheard plans to commit his murder for the life insurance money; this person led the reader to believe they wanted to warn him that he was in danger. This did cause concern for Col. Shue because he knew that his ex-wife had a significant life insurance policy in his name. He attempted to cancel the life insurance policy but was unable to because he didn’t have the authority to do so. It wasn’t until around this time that he started to become stressed because he felt like he had lost control of his very own life. Tracy shared that Col. Shue was not the person that investigators and the Air Force tried to portray. Col. Shue was planning to retire and had paid a down payment on a new home in another state.
Was US Air Force Colonel Philip Michael Shue’s death a suicide or murder? Learn more from LordanArts’ BrainScratchers in depth analysis of this cold case. John Lordan is thorough in his examination and makes some interesting observations. Watch the 48 Hours Mystery ‘The Curious Case of Col. Shue’ on YouTube here. Please follow the case of Colonel Philip Shue with author Cilla McCain here.
Petty Office Dennis Ott, US Coast Guard, and Phonthip Boonack Ott (photo: 48 Hours)
Phonthip (Boonack) Ott, 33, disappeared from her home in California on May 17, 1992. A couple months later, Phonthip Ott’s dead body was discovered in the Sacramento River near Sacramento. Phonthips body was stuffed in a large nylon duffle bag about 5 feet tall. It was held down with H-shaped cement anchors. The day their mother disappeared, Phonthip’s daughters, Tippy Dhaliwal, 14, and Jeanette Marine, 10, spent the day with their grandparents. Upon their return home, the two girls sensed something was wrong when their mother wasn’t home and immediately suspected their stepfather of killing her. Dennis Ott was an active duty petty officer in the U.S. Coast Guard and his relationship with Phonthip was tumultuous. There was interpersonal violence and adultery on both sides but it appears the domestic violence escalated with Dennis; he was jealous and possessive of Phonthip and didn’t like that she was having affairs. At one point in the relationship, Dennis threatened her life and this is when Phonthip decided to file for a restraining order and a divorce. It would be this same day, May 17th, that Phonthip would disappear.
At first, it appeared Dennis Ott was not going to be held accountable as he continued to go to work at the Coast Guard station day after day. Then one day, a 16 year old Tippy, wrote a letter to the district attorney and the Coast Guard about her mother’s case. It would be this letter that reinvigorated interest in the homicide case and after further investigation, Ott was arrested in November 1994. The duffel bag found at the crime scene was issued to Coast Guard personnel only. The H-shaped cement anchors at the crime scene matched those found in Ott’s backyard. And there appeared to be a history of escalating domestic violence that ended in murder because Phonthip wanted to leave him (rejection). In 1995, Dennis Ott was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The two sisters hope Dennis Ott remains in prison for the rest of his life and plan to attend all the parole hearings in the future. After 20 years in prison, Dennis was eligible for parole in California. His first parole hearing was denied because the parole board felt he was too evasive and wouldn’t admit culpability.
Dennis Ott has always maintained his innocence and continues to say he did not kill his wife. Dennis Ott is up for a parole hearing again in October 2017, only two years after his last parole hearing. Both sisters share that every parole hearing re-victimizes them because they have to re-live the traumatic events of the day they lost their mother.
“I don’t believe I will be a danger to society.” -Dennis Ott
A stepfather sits in prison for killing his wife. Her daughters vow to keep him there. Does he deserve parole? -48 Hours
July 17, 1988: Julie McGhee, 30, Cathedral City, California
Marine veteran Andrew Urdiales is accused of murdering eight women from 1986 to 1996, five in California and three in Illinois, and raping and abducting 19 year old Jennifer Asbenson who escaped and survived. Urdiales was indicted for three murders in Illinois and was sentenced to death but the death sentence was commuted after Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois abolished capital punishment in 2011. Instead he received three life sentences for the murders of Laura Uylaki, Cassandra Corum, and Lynn Huber. A gun confiscated in a separate incident linked the three murders in Illinois together and during an interrogation, Urdiales admitted in detail to five cold case murders in California too.
After years of legal wrangling, Urdiales was eventually extradited to California and indicted in 2009 on five counts of first degree murder. He was accused of killing Robbin Brandley, Julie McGhee, Mary Ann Wells, Tammie Erwin, and Denise Maney while stationed at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. On May 23, 2018, Andrew Urdiales was convicted of five murders by a jury that deliberated for about a day before recommending in June 2018 that he be sentenced to death for each of the five murders. On November 2, 2018, corrections officials said they found Urdiales unresponsive during a security check at San Quentin State Prison; former Marine and serial killer Andrew Urdiales died by suicide.
In the News:
The murders occurred when Andrew Urdiales was stationed at various Marine Corps facilities in Southern California. -CBS Los Angeles (October 5, 2018)
January 18, 1986: Robbin Brandley, 23, Saddleback Community College, California
Marine veteran Andrew Urdiales is accused of murdering eight women from 1986 to 1996, five in California and three in Illinois, and raping and abducting 19 year old Jennifer Asbenson who escaped and survived. Urdiales was indicted for three murders in Illinois and was sentenced to death but the death sentence was commuted after Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois abolished capital punishment in 2011. Instead he received three life sentences for the murders of Laura Uylaki, Cassandra Corum, and Lynn Huber. A gun confiscated in a separate incident linked the three murders in Illinois together and during an interrogation, Urdiales admitted in detail to five cold case murders in California too.
After years of legal wrangling, Urdiales was eventually extradited to California and indicted in 2009 on five counts of first degree murder. He was accused of killing Robbin Brandley, Julie McGhee, Mary Ann Wells, Tammie Erwin, and Denise Maney while stationed at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. On May 23, 2018, Andrew Urdiales was convicted of five murders by a jury that deliberated for about a day before recommending in June 2018 that he be sentenced to death for each of the five murders. On November 2, 2018, corrections officials said they found Urdiales unresponsive during a security check at San Quentin State Prison; former Marine and serial killer Andrew Urdiales died by suicide.
Robbin was murdered in a dark, dangerous, poorly guarded and unlighted parking lot at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo. She was viciously stabbed over 40 times. She was not robbed or sexually molested. –Who Murdered Robbin Brandley
In the News:
The murders occurred when Andrew Urdiales was stationed at various Marine Corps facilities in Southern California. -CBS Los Angeles (October 5, 2018)
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 