When Lea Porter goes missing in Prison Valley her family turn detective to try and find her. Their investigation leads to a shocking discovery – the killer’s true identity. As the killer evades arrest, Lea’s brother devises a plan to make him confess. -Killer Confession, Valley of the Damned (S1,E3)
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.
Rich doctor and devoted Mormon, Martin MacNeill begins a torrid affair with fiery vixen, Gypsy Willis while his wife Michele tends to their children. But when Michele finds out and demands Martin end the affair, someone is bound to get burned. -The Doctor and the Beauty Queen, Scorned: Love Kills (S5,E4)
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.
Lea Chali Porter of Pueblo Colorado disappeared on June 3, 2014. She was last seen in the Westminster area of Denver, Colorado; her car was found abandoned at a friend’s house. The friend said Lea received a text late at night, left the apartment, hopped in a pick-up truck, and was never seen or heard from again. Police discovered the last known person to see Lea was Army veteran Christopher Waide. Waide would eventually confess to murdering Lea and placing her body in a dumpster near his apartment.
Police looked for Lea and found her belongings at the landfill but her body was never located. In a plea deal, Waide pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 48 years in prison. But Lea’s family was disappointed with the plea because they felt Waide should have told them where the body was before prosecutors agreed to the plea. If you have any information about this missing persons case, please contact the Westminster Police Department in Colorado at 303-658-4360.
ABC News:
Lea Porter’s brother Maxx Porter said he knew something was wrong when he couldn’t get in contact with her. -ABC News (October 22, 2016)
Christopher Waide, who went to high school with Lea Porter, said he was her self-appointed accountability partner. -ABC News (October 22, 2016)
When Lea Porter disappeared, suspicion fell on high school classmate Christopher Waide, who said she was staying at his apartment. -ABC News (October 22, 2016)
True Crime Daily:
When Lea Porter went missing, her big brother Maxx went on his own mission to find out what happened to her – which included confronting the last man to see her alive. -True Crime Daily (February 26, 2016)
When Lea Porter went missing, her big brother Maxx went on his own mission to find out what happened to her – which included confronting the last man to see her alive. True Crime Daily (February 26, 2016)
A Crime Watch Daily Update on the murder of Lea Porter, the Colorado woman killed by her high school friend, Christopher Waide. -Crime Watch Daily (April 25, 2016)
A Crime Watch Daily Update on the murder of Lea Porter, the Colorado woman killed by her high school friend, Christopher Waide. -True Crime Daily (April 25, 2016)
Robert Wells didn’t know it at the time, but his knowledge of his former criminal justice pupil Christopher Waide would soon make him a key player in the search for missing woman Lea Porter. -True Crime Daily (March 12, 2020)
In the News:
Investigators have isolated a portion of a landfill as they continue the investigation into a missing 19-year-old and her suspected killer. -The Denver Channel (June 14, 2014)
The man accused in the disappearance of Lea Porter pleaded guilty Friday to murder and child sex exploitation charges. -The Denver Channel (September 25, 2015)
Martin MacNeill, a respected physician, calls 911 after finding his wife Michele clinging to life on April 11, 2007. The beauty queen and the doctor had been married for nearly 30 years and had eight children. -True Crime Daily (October 31, 2016)
“Investigators traced Martin [MacNeill’s] first lie back to when he got into the military at age 17. He was put on disability leave two years later when a medical officer deemed him a ‘latent schizophrenic’ with ‘other mental and psychological infirmities,’ according to documents Utah County investigators obtained in their research. Rachel and Alexis never saw signs of schizophrenia in their father and they do not believe he ever had such tendencies. Witney and even U.S. District Judge Dee Benson questioned whether or not Martin’s schizophrenia was real. But Martin had been receiving Veteran’s Administration and Social Security benefits for his alleged disability — even after he became a doctor and a lawyer with a six-figure income. He had been receiving VA benefits up until January 2010, Alexis said.” -Deseret News (December 4, 2010)
Remembering Michele Somers MacNeill:
Michele married Martin MacNeill, who became a doctor, and quickly built a big family with eight children. When he turned 50, he made some big life changes, and convinced his wife to get a facelift. -ABC News (June 15, 2019)
Read “Die for Me” by Don Lasseter while camping this past weekend.
Description:“They killed for thrills… It began with a shoplifting arrest. it led to a search of a remote California hamlet called Wilseyville that yielded six bodies, 45 pounds of burned bone fragments, and a child’s liver. Then, horror-struck investigators made the most chilling discovery of all: the videotape that showed what Charles Ng and Leonard Lake did to their handcuffed female victims before snuffing them out. Here is the the terrifying story of one of the most notorious serial killer teams in American history – a pair of maniacs whose orgy of sex crimes, torture, and murder took the lives of at least sixteen victims. From Charles Ng’s strange Hong Kong childhood to his twisted friendship with co-conspirator Leonard Lake, DIE FOR ME is the graphic portrait of two monsters who walked among us – Lake, who took his own life, and Ng, who will die by lethal injection.”
Here’s my thoughts:
This book was a tough read because both of these guys were manipulative. They lured their victims after gaining their trust. It was nauseating but an educational read. California spent millions of taxpayer dollars prosecuting one of them because the military made a fatal mistake.
Marine Corps Veteran Charles Ng Sentenced to Death for Role in Murdering 11 Californians with Fellow Veteran Leonard Lake; Lake Died By Suicide at Arrest (June 30, 1999): https://wp.me/p3XTUi-63f
“Milwaukee, Wisconsin, police officers spot Tracy Edwards running down the street in handcuffs, and upon investigation, they find one of the grisliest scenes in modern history: Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment.
A forensic examination of the apartment turned up 11 victims–the first of whom disappeared in March 1989, just two months before Dahmer successfully escaped a prison sentence for child molestation by telling the judge that he was desperately seeking to change his conduct. Dahmer later confessed to 17 murders in all, dating back to his first victim in 1978.”
Investigators Probing Whether Accused Killer Had German Victims With AM-Body Parts, Bjt (AP, July 26, 1991):
“BONN, Germany (AP) – Police across Germany on Friday reopened files of unsolved murders and disappearances, seeking possible links to an accused mass killer in Milwaukee who served with the U.S. Army here. Dahmer was stationed from July 1979 to March 1981 with the 68th Armored Regiment in Baumholder in central Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state, where officials say five unsolved murder cases were being re-examined to seek any connection to Dahmer.
But four of the five murder victims were women, and no links to Dahmer have been made, said Christiana Kleinschmidt, a federal police spokeswoman in Wiesbaden. In addition, federal authorities said they were reviewing all cases of unidentified male murder victims or missing men during the time Dahmer was in Germany. Dahmer joined the Army in 1978 after dropping out of Ohio State University. He was discharged from service early because of alcohol problems.” Read more from AP here.
Little-Known Fact #5 about Dahmer from The Lineup:
#5 He served as a combat medic in the U.S. Army
“In January 1979, Dahmer enlisted in the U.S. Army. He trained as a medical specialist in San Antonio, Texas, and was deployed to Baumholder, West Germany. From 1979 to 1981, Dahmer served as a combat medic, during which time he reportedly raped two soldiers; the first victim claimed Dahmer raped him once after drugging him. The second, who was Dahmer’ roommate, stated that he was raped repeatedly while they shared a living space. Dahmer’s alcoholism followed him to West Germany as well. In 1981, after being declared unsuitable for military service, Dahmer was honorably discharged and sent back to the United States.” Read more from The Lineup here.
Six weeks after the murder of Steven Hicks, Dahmer enrolled at Ohio State University with hopes of majoring in business. However, his alcoholism meant that he only achieved low grades and he dropped out after just three months. In 1979, his father then encouraged him to join the U.S. Army where he trained as a medical specialist.
During his time in the army, two soldiers came forward with claims they had been drugged and raped by Dahmer. In 1981, he was deemed unfit for military service and received an honourable discharge.
Preston Davis, who was in the military service at the same time as Dahmer, recalled, “Jeffrey had killed his first victim a year before joining the military, and he would get drunk in the barracks and say, ‘I killed the guy in Ohio,’ and we’d say, ‘You didn’t kill nobody!’ He became a monster once he started drinking. Alcohol is what turned him into a monster.”[5] Read more from Listverse here.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 