On July 5, 1980, an 18-year-old named Michelle Jones, known to everyone as Missy, was found in a Fontana grapefruit grove, sexually assaulted and kill…
On the morning of July 5, 1980, an 18-year-old woman was found dead in a grapefruit grove near Live Oak and Santa Ana avenues in Fontana, California. Her name was Michelle Jones, but everyone who loved her called her Missy. She had been sexually assaulted and left in the dirt between the trees, and the … Read more
In November 1987, Phil Hartman married former model Brynn Omdahl, and for a while the Saturday Night Live star seemed to have everything—a career tha…
Phil Hartman was born on September 24, 1948, in Branford, Ontario, Canada, the son of Doris Margarite and Robert Hartman. When he was ten, his family moved to the United States. After high school, he studied art at Santa Monica City College. His first marriage, to Gretchen Lewis, did not last long. In 1972, Hartman … Read more
In 1880, engineers began rebuilding the Washington Monument’s foundation while the 150-foot marble tower still stood on top of it. The original base rested on river clay and sand, and Lieutenant…
In the spring of 1882, a block of marble weighing six tons left the ground at the base of the Washington Monument and began to climb. It rose on a single steam hoist up a shaft of hollow stone toward an iron frame bolted four hundred feet in the air. Once it landed, that entire … Read more
On March 18, 1964, nine-year-old Marise Ann Chiverella set out early for St. Joseph’s Parochial School in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, carrying canned goods she wanted to give her teacher before…
On the morning of March 18, 1964, a nine-year-old girl left her home in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, carrying a small offering for her teacher. She wanted to reach St. Joseph’s Parochial School early that morning, ahead of the usual routine, so she could drop off the canned goods she had brought before going to mass. She … Read more
In 1498, Cesare Borgia became the first person in history to resign as a cardinal—a move nobody understood until they realized he was clearing his path for something far greater. The illegitimate…
The man who lowered himself from the tower window had no way of knowing how the night would end. He had somehow obtained a rope, and now, in the darkness of a Spanish fortress, Cesare Borgia was making his escape. He clambered over the sill and began to descend, the stone wall rough against his … Read more
In October 2003, a county prosecutor called Detective Sergeant Tim Braun about a patient who had died at Somerset Medical Center from an unusual diabetic reaction. There was no sign of foul play,…
The call came on October 3rd, and Detective Sergeant Tim Brawn of the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office knew immediately that something was off. The county prosecutor himself was on the line, requesting that a detective be assigned to investigate the death of a patient at Somerset Medical Center. The patient had died from what appeared … Read more
In 1912, a salmon-pink hotel opened at Sunset and Rodeo Drive in a stretch of dust and abandoned bean fields where Beverly Hills did not yet exist. Its owner, Margaret Anderson, bet half a million…
The phone rang at the front desk, and the night manager answered as he had answered a thousand calls before. A woman was dead in Bungalow 8. The year was 1964, and the Beverly Hills Hotel had built its entire reputation on keeping secrets. Within hours, the room would be cleaned, the police investigation would … Read more
In 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt died as the richest man in America, leaving a fortune larger than the entire U.S. Treasury. His son William Henry double…
When Cornelius Vanderbilt died in January 1877, he was the richest man in America, worth roughly one hundred million dollars in an era when the average worker earned less than five hundred dollars a year. His fortune was larger than the entire U. S. Treasury. His son, William Henry, doubled it within eight years, and … Read more
In 1926, a car accident left young Carole Lombard with deep scars on her face, at a time when Hollywood had little patience for imperfection. Rather t…
Carole Lombard had a way of making people forget that Hollywood was a machine built on illusions. When she died in 1942, screenwriter Edward F. Klein remembered her not as a diva but as a woman of perpetual sunshine, someone who offered a helping hand to everyone she worked with. That reputation, earned during some … Read more
In 1963, Pontiac chief engineer John DeLorean faced a hard GM rule: no mid-size car could carry an engine bigger than 330 cubic inches. Instead of br…
In 1963, General Motors was the largest company in America, and like most giants, it was buried in its own regulations. One rule mattered above all others: no mid-size GM car could carry an engine larger than 330 cubic inches. The logic was simple. Smaller engines meant more manageable cars, fewer lawsuits, and a contented … Read more