10 Insane True Crime Stories That Deserve
Their Own Netflix Shows
10) The Disappearance of Bobby Dunbar
In 1912, four-year-old Bobby Dunbar disappeared
in Louisiana. 8 months later, a lookalike
child had been found in Mississippi, with
a man named William Winters.
Winters affirmed the boy was his nephew, Bruce,
travelling with him with the permission of
the boy’s mother, Julia Anderson. But the
Dunbar family were CONVINCED that it was Bobby.
The court found the boy to be Bobby and awarded
custody to the Dunbars. Meanwhile Winters
was found guilty of kidnapping and spent 2
years in jail while the boy was raised as
a Dunbar.
In the 21st century, Bobby's son, Bobby Dunbar
Jr., took a DNA test. It showed he was NOT
related to the Dunbars - meaning Bobby WAS
Bruce all along.
That means William Winters was wrongfully
convicted of a crime, Julia Anderson had her
biological son taken from her, and the fate
of the REAL Bobby Dunbar is still a mystery.
9) The Double Life of Lawrence Bader
In 1957 Lawrence Bader disappeared after taking
his boat out on Lake Erie. He left behind
three children and a pregnant wife.
But 8 years later, Bader’s doppelganger
was found in Chicago. The man’s name was
John ‘Fritz’ Johnson, a well-known television
personality.
Johnson insisted that he wasn’t the missing
Bader. He claimed he was brought up in an
orphanage and was in the Navy before he moved
to Nebraska where he married and had children.
He took a fingerprint test and, guess what,
Johnson's fingerprints matched Bader's.
Johnson lost his television job and, when
his SECOND wife found out, she annulled their
marriage. Not only that, but being brought
back to life meant the life insurance company
wanted their $40,000 payout back from his
FIRST wife.
Johnson stated he had NO memory of being Bader.
He said he had amnesia which had not only
wiped his memory, but had also created false
ones.
8) The Love Story of Dr Carl Tanzler
In 1930 Dr Carl Tanzler was working at a hospital
in Florida when he met patient Maria Elena
Milagro de Hoyos - the woman of his dreams
- and with whom he soon became obsessed.
Maria had tuberculosis and, despite Tanzler’s
best efforts to save her, she eventually died.
Tazler visited Maria’s grave most nights.
Then, after two years, he dug up her body
and took it to a new resting place - his home.
Using a clothes hanger wire, he joined her
skeleton, put glass eyes in her sockets, made
new skin with wax-coated fabric and plaster,
dressed her in her own clothes.
After keeping her in his bed for SEVEN years,
the jig was FINALLY up and Tanzler was arrested
and charged with desecration of her grave.
But as the crime had passed the statute of
limitations at the time, the case was dismissed.
Maria’s body was finally returned to a proper
resting place.
7) The Marriage Of Valerie Spruill
Valerie Spruill was made to live with her
grandparents when she was 3 months old. She
was told that her grandfather was her father
and that a woman who was simply a family friend
was her mother. But this was a lie.
Later in life, Valerie married a man named
Percy who was 15 years her senior.
In 1998, Percy died at the age of 60. But
it was only SIX years LATER that the rumours
and hearsay about the true nature of their
relationship she’d heard throughout her
marriage was confirmed.
In 2004, Valerie’s uncle informed her that
the rumours WERE true and a DNA test confirmed
it. But what did it confirm? That Percy, Valerie’s
husband, was in fact her biological father.
Percy Spruill was just 15 when he met Valerie’s
biological mother, who was a well-known ‘night
lady’. It remains unknown whether Percy
knew who he was marrying.
6) The Liquid Matthew Case
In December 1983, a man was found dead in
a parking lot in Florida.
A note was found nearby reading: “Now the
motive is clear and the victim is too. You’ve
got all the answers. Just follow the clues.”
It contained a riddle which led police to
another note reading: “Yes, Matthew is dead,
but his body not felt. Those brains were not
Matt’s because his body did melt. For Billy
threw Matthew in some hot boiling oil. To
confuse the police for the mystery they did
toil.”
While this may seem like the murderer was
DELIBERATELY trying to tease the police, there
was in fact a surprisingly innocent explanation.
On Halloween, local churches had organized
a murder mystery game where cryptic clues
were placed in the vicinity - but they hadn’t
been removed AFTER the event.
By complete coincidence, a REAL murder had
taken place in the exact same area, the motive
for which was believed to have been related
to drug smuggling.
5) The Reappearance Of Bobby Worley
In 1968, ex-convict Bobby Worley disappeared.
While his family presumed him dead for over
two decades, in 1993 they finally got the
answers they were looking for. The answers,
bizarrely, came following the death of famous
New York Drag Queen, Dorian Corey.
When Dorian’s apartment was being cleared
out after his death, a large trunk was discovered.
Inside was a partially mummified body and,
as you can probably guess, a fingerprint check
confirmed that it was Bobby Worley.
An autopsy revealed that Worley had been shot
and was believed to have been dead for between
FIFTEEN to TWENTY-FIVE years.
Exactly how the murder happened still remains
a mystery but before Worley’s disappearance,
his brother recalled him talking about a relationship
with a transvestite named Dorian.
The most widely-believed rumour is that Worley
was shot by Corey in self-defense and that
his mummified body was concealed in the trunk
to avoid a scandal.
4) The Crime of Antoinette Frank
In New Orleans in 1995 a robbery took place
in a restaurant and an off-duty police officer
was shot. Police arrived on the scene and
immediately arrested one of the culprits.
Pretty standard, right? Well not in this case
since the person they arrested was one of
their OWN officers.
Officer Antoinette Frank and friend Rogers
Lacaze [La-car-zee] were responsible for the
robbery. A fellow colleague of Frank, Officer
Williams had been working at the restaurant
that night as security but ended up being
shot by Lacaze, along with a restaurant worker,
during the seize.
After the pair fled the scene, another restaurant
worker called 911 which Frank heard through
her portable radio. Posing as a responding
officer, she returned to the scene, planning
to kill the remaining witnesses. She entered
the back of the restaurant, but, luckily,
the witnesses were waiting at the front when
other officers arrived.
Frank was immediately arrested and is now
one of two women on death row in Louisiana.
3) The Friend of Ann Rule
In 1971 crime writer Ann Rule was volunteering
as a suicide hotline operator when she quickly
became friends with a fellow colleague, so
much so, that he shared extremely personal
details and stories with her.
A few years later, Rule was investigating
the unsolved murders of women in when she
discovered that one of the women had heard
the killer call himself ‘Ted’ - the same
name of her close friend. And he ALSO matched
the killer’s PHYSICAL description. Turned
out, it was notorious serial killer Ted Bundy.
So Ann informed the police but no immediate
action was taken - Bundy continued to kill
and Rule continued to be his friend.
When he began a prison sentence in 1976, Rule
STILL corresponded with him, visited him and
even sent him money.
He was found guilty of murder in 1979, confessing
to 30 killings, and was sentenced to death
via the electric chair.
2) The Vampiress of Barcelona
In early 20th century Barcelona, Enriqueta
Marti [En-ree-ketta Mar-tee] was working as
a prostitute at night and beggar during the
day. She also made children on the street,
ranging from infants to up to 9 years old,
follow her own agenda and introduced them
to prostitution.
Enriqueta would lure the children back to
her house, kill them and drink their blood,
earning her the name ‘The Vampiress of Barcelona’.
Also a witch-doctor, she received large sums
of money for her potions. But what people
didn’t know was that the ingredients came
from the remains of the children that she
killed.
She was finally arrested in 1912 after a life
of crime spanning a decade. Forensic experts
managed to number her total killings to AT
LEAST twelve children with the evidence form
her lair. They also found 50 jars of children’s
remains.
Marti died a year after her arrest at the
hands of her fellow prison inmates by lynching.
1) The Arkansas Ghost Trial
In 1929 a man named Connie Franklin and a
woman named Tiller Ruminer left town to get
married, but Ruminer came back alone.
Months later she told the police that she
and Franklin had been attacked by 4 men who
then burned Franklin alive, but forced her
to keep quiet.
The four men were charged with murder but
a twist came in the form of the defense’s
primary witness - Connie Franklin.
Yes a man claiming to be Connie Franklin showed
up saying Ruminer told him she didn't want
to get married, so he left and never came
back.
But a fingerprint test showed that ‘Connie
Franklin’ was in fact a man named Marion
Rogers.
Now, bear with me here, while this proved
he wasn’t Connie Franklin by name, it DIDN’T
prove to the jury that he WASN’T the person
that Ruminer was supposed to marry and the
one who had allegedly been killed.
The four defendants were eventually acquitted
as the jury couldn’t be absolutely certain
that Marion wasn’t Ruminer’s ‘Connie’.
