In 1998, a gifted Philadelphia graduate student is found murdered in her bed. The hunt for her killer forces police to reevaluate a series of unsolved crimes, turning the city upside down. Will her killer be caught or will he strike again? -Terror in Philadelphia, People Magazine Investigates (S3, E2)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
An army surgeon, Jeffrey MacDonald, is the lone survivor of a brutal 1970 home invasion that claims the lives of his wife and daughters. But authorities doubt his story of murderous hippies and believe MacDonald is the culprit. -Jeffrey MacDonald: The Accused, People Magazine Investigates (S1,E11)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
“On July 19 the perfect picture shattered. After a loud argument that was overheard by neighbors, Brandon Floyd shot his wife Andrea, then turned his gun on himself. The double slaying was the fourth domestic tragedy at Fort Bragg in recent weeks. On June 11 Sgt. First Class Rigoberto Nieves, 32, shot himself and his wife, Teresa, 28, two days after returning from Afghanistan. Over the next six weeks Master Sgt. William Wright, 36, allegedly strangled his wife, Jennifer, 32; Sgt. Cedric Griffin, 28, allegedly stabbed his estranged wife, Marilyn, 32, and set fire to her home; and Maj. David Shannon, 40, was shot while sleeping in his home, a killing in which police have said that the wife remains a suspect.” Read more from Peoplehere.
Offender: Troy Graves, 29, US Air Force service member Victims: Shannon Schieber, 23, University of Pennsylvania student (rape/homicide), multiple rape victims in Pennsylvania & Colorado
Circumstances: Shannon Schieber was enrolled as a Phd. student at the Wharton School of Business, on May 7, 1998, Shannon was studying for exams when a neighbor heard what sounded like cries for help, he called 911 to report that his neighbor was asking for help, the police arrived but no one answered the door and the neighbor backed off his statement, they searched the property and the neighbor said it could have been outside so they left, Shannon’s brother showed up the next day and Shannon didn’t answer the door, the neighbor told her brother what he heard the night before, they broke into the apartment and found Shannon naked on her bed, Shannon was strangled to death and it appeared she tried to fight off her attacker, police found DNA at the scene, DNA ruled out those close to Shannon, Shannon’s parents were outraged that the man who killed their daughter was in the apartment when the police knocked on her door, but the police did their job right and by the book, a few days before the murder, Shannon reported being followed home one night, she was scared, so police started investigating the stranger angle, perhaps this is a serial rapist, they look into sex crimes in the area, they want to match the DNA to other sex crimes in the area.
In February 1999, they got a DNA match, 2 other sexual assaults had occurred but they were coded as misdemeanors, the assaults occurred just a few blocks from Shannon’s apartment, in June and July 1997, two more sexual assaults were connected to the offender bringing the total to 5, the PPD coded these sexual assaults as misdemeanors as well, they downgraded the offenses because it lessoned the load for the police, and made the arrest rate look better than it was, Shannon’s case helped enact change in Philadelphia, if they had investigated these cases, everyone would have known there was a serial rapist, Shannon would not be dead if she knew what was going on, the DNA still didn’t have a match to the offender, in 1997, a sketch was drawn from the recollections of the first victim, they got a new composite, this offender would enter the home, hold the victim down on the bed, rape them or make them perform oral sex, it was about control and domination for this guy and he was also somewhat of a romantic, once they acquiesced, he would treat them like a date, he would get comfortable with the victims, they determined he was a light skinned black male based on information he shared with one victim about his life growing up with bi-racial parents.
He was dubbed the Center City rapist, in August 1999, no other cases were reported since Shannon’s murder, the case went cold, the police got a bulletin in 2001 from Fort Collins, Colorado, the offenders modus operandi sounded familiar to the Philadelphia PD, on June 13, 2001, one victim was home when she was attacked from behind and raped, after she acquiesced, the rapist became gentle as if he was a boyfriend, after he left, she called 911, she was his third victim in Fort Collins, they were all blitz attacked, FC police were investigating a serial rapist, a fourth & fifth rapes were reported, he made a mistake and left behind a ball cap at the fifth victims home, Fort Collins DNA was matched to the rapes in Philadelphia, PPD gave FCPD the composite drawing, police received a letter in the mail from the suspect, he was taunting them, in the fall of 2001, the attacks in Fort Collins stopped, meanwhile the PPD started focusing on cross referencing names of suspects with the two geographic locations, they got a match for Air Force service member Troy Graves, he was in Philadelphia, Fort Collins, and now at Warren AFB in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 2002, the police had the new suspect in their sites.
The police learned that Troy was also investigated by the Office of Special Investigations, it was over charges of harassing a female colleague, the charges were dropped but there was still something suspicious there, Graves has a clean criminal record and no finger prints on file, the case was circumstantial, they reached out to Graves to come to the police department and do an interview, Troy Graves and his wife showed up to the Fort Collins PD, the police immediately separated the couple, his wife admitted that he had insomnia and went for walks and drives at night and that honestly she thought he was having an affair, meanwhile Troy denied knowing anything about the crimes, the police confronted him about the rapes in Fort Collins, he denied being arrested for any sex crimes, he denied being investigated by the Air Force, he did not want to provide his fingerprints but a warrant was issued to compel him, the fingerprints were a match, Troy Graves was arrested and booked into custody on April 23, 2002, this case changed the PPD policies on sexual assault to include how evidence is handled and how the victims are treated and interviewed.
Disposition: Troy Graves feared a trial would not go in his favor in Fort Collins, Colorado, he pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole; Pennsylvania wanted to seek the death penalty but Shannon’s family did not want that because Shannon wouldn’t have wanted that, Graves entered into a plea agreement and got life in prison plus sixty years
Notable Quotes: “We have to change the system but not put people to death.” -Vicki Schieber (Shannon’s mom)
In 1998, a gifted Philadelphia graduate student is found murdered in her bed. The hunt for her killer forces police to reevaluate a series of unsolved crimes, turning the city upside down. Will her killer be caught or will he strike again? -Terror in Philadelphia, People Magazine Investigates (S3,E2)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
On this day, the bones of AWOL Army soldier Dannie Boy Edwards, 25, were found in a cemetery near his home in Burton, Ohio on April 13, 1997. Hunters discovered the human remains in a field next to the cemetery in Troy Township. Edward W. Edwards, 77, and his wife, Kay Edwards, took Dannie Boy into their Ohio home in the mid-1990s. Ed and Dannie were so close that he legally changed his name from Dannie Law Gloeckner to Dannie Boy Edwards. Authorities confirmed the bones belonged to Dannie Boy and deemed the case a homicide. Ed appeared to be terribly distraught after learning Dannie Boy was murdered and obsessed about solving the case for years.
It wasn’t until years later, Ed Edwards’ daughter came forward after connecting the dots between the cold case homicides dubbed the ‘Sweetheart Murders’ in Wisconsin and her father. Ed Edwards was eventually confronted by authorities and confessed to five murders in an attempt to get the death penalty: William ‘Billy’ Lovaco (1977), Judith Straub (1977), Timothy Hack (1980), Kelly Drew (1980), and Dannie Boy Edwards (1996). Ed Edwards admitted to luring Dannie Boy to a secluded cemetery near their home in June 1996 and shooting him twice in the chest with a 20-gauge shotgun. He buried the body in a shallow grave in a field nearby. His motive was the $250,000 life insurance pay-out.
Ed Edwards persuaded Dannie Boy to join the Army because it would be good for his character. Dannie Boy joined and after training was supposed to get stationed in Korea. But at some point during training, Dannie Boy was injured so the Army was going to medically discharge him instead. Ed Edwards convinced Dannie Boy to sign up for the maximum amount of coverage offered by the Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI) benefit. Dannie Boy signed up for $250,000 dollars worth of life insurance coverage and Ed was the sole beneficiary. Ed Edwards knew if Dannie Boy was let out on a medical discharge, he would no longer be eligible for the benefit.
Ed Edwards talked Dannie Boy into going Absent Without Leave (AWOL) two days before his discharge. Ed told investigators that he killed Dannie Boy because he wore out his welcome by stealing credit cards and other belongings from his children. But the truth is he stood to make $250,000 dollars in life insurance benefits if Dannie Boy died and he wanted to collect on it. Ed Edwards set up the insurance fraud scheme and took advantage of an opportunity before it expired. In August 2010, Ed Edwards was sentenced to death. Ed Edwards was already in poor health when arrested and as a result died of natural causes in 2011, one month before his execution date.
If you have information pertaining to additional crimes related to Edward Wayne Edwards, please call 800-FBI-TIPS.
Horror strikes a small Wisconsin town in 1980 after a young couple disappears and is later discovered in a field. Dubbed the Sweetheart Murders, it’s almost 40 years before a woman comes forward saying her family holds the key to unlocking the case. -People Magazine Investigates
