True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

For such a shocking case, I'm surprised at the limited amount of information and pictures available but I will do my best to bring you this story from my research that I have conducted this week. So this case involves the horrific murders of a 37 year old accountant by the name of Phillip Fager (his full name was Melvin Phillip Fager) and his two daughters in Wichita, Kansas back in December (the 31st) 1987. The murders took place at the family home and Mary Fager (wife and mother) had been visiting relatives over the holidays and returned to her family to find the shocking discovery that someone had killed her family. 

Phillip had been shot twice in the back and her daughters were found in the basement hot tub. At first it wasn't clear how nine year old Sherri and 16 year old Kelli had died but it was assumed at first that they had been drowned. Kelli had been found naked with her hands bound with electrical tape. 

It was later determined that the girls had been strangled, some semen had been found at the scene too. Due to the girls bodies being in the water, a lot of evidence had been destroyed. Investigators had a struggle on their hands wondering who could be capable of such a thing. The family car appeared to be missing and Mary had mentioned that a workman had been attending the house to create a sun room but this man had gone missing himself. In amongst all of the horror and confusion a letter arrived addressed to the police by someone claiming to be the serial killer BTK 

At the time the police were still on the hunt for BTK who had still managed to avoid capture at that point but they began to believe there could be a possible connection to him and the Fager murders. BTK (who was later identified as Dennis Rader) had written in the letter that he had not been responsible for the Fager murders but that he did admire the real murderer. When Dennis Rader was eventually brought to justice he confirmed that he did indeed write the letter and again claimed no responsibility for the Fager killings. 

The police quickly turned their attention to the workman who had disappeared and went in search for the family's missing car. Soon enough, both the car and the workman known as William Butterworth were both tracked down. William had taken the Fager's car and claimed that he had been suffering from amnesia for he had no idea why he had the family's car or how he had gotten to that particular location in which he was found. 

Eventually during questioning, William began to piece bits of what had happened previously together, to some extent. According to him, he came over to the Fager's home as usual to work on a sun room and on that day things appeared to be normal. He claimed to have noticed that Kelli had a male friend with her and with the pair coming back and forth it was beginning to disrupt his work so he decided to leave and come back a bit later. 

He then claimed that he later returned and found the deceased bodies of Phillip, Sherri and Kelli. The last thing he claimed that he could remember was running out of the house in a panic and getting into the Fager's car and driving off. 

The police were not buying his story and the more they looked into their investigation the more they believed him to be their suspect. William, who was married with children and had always been well respected and liked in his local community, continued to swear his innocence but he was put on trial. 

The limited evidence that investigators had was presented at the trial and it was there that it was discovered that the semen that had been found in the hot tub did not match William Butterworth. So either he had an accomplice or somebody else was there entirely. It was a difficult case with a usually well admired and hardworking man claiming his innocence but on the other side looking guilty because he had been at the scene and ran off with the family car. The other side is that there were no witnesses, a lack of evidence and the DNA that they did have, did not match William. With everything being looked at the jury decided that William Butterworth was not guilty even though the police believed him to be responsible.

Outside of the courtroom after William was allowed to leave, he spoke to the media with his wife and proclaimed his innocence again. He said that he couldn't wait to put the whole ordeal behind him and for him and his family to be able to move on with their lives. 

Just for the record, the DNA found in the hot tub did not match BTK either, just incase you were wondering. 

So, William Butterworth was a free man and he and his family soon vanished, obviously not planning to hang around incase the cops showed up again (just saying). 

This may be the first time you've heard about this case or you might be familiar with it if you have ever done any research into Dennis Rader (BTK). The fact that there's nowhere else to go with this case is truly heartbreaking, the cops won't even consider looking or wasting police resources as they see it, looking for a non-existent killer when they felt confident that they had their guy. 

So who's DNA was in that hot tub? Could it be that someone else had visited the house that day? A secret boyfriend of Kelli? Could it have simply played out the way that William Butterworth described? And why would someone murder a father and his two daughters? Phillip was an accountant, could he have possibly gotten involved with the wrong people? Or is it all so simple, that William Butterworth was 100% responsible?

It appears we may never know the truth unless William turns up one day and confesses but is that likely to happen? You would think that as a so-called innocent man who was apparently falsely accused, that he would want to stay close to the case and help find the person or persons responsible? Not only to further clear his name in the public eye and in the eyes of the law but to also help Mary who basically had her family taken from her in such a devastating way. 

Could it be that William committed the murders as a first time killer and the trauma wiped out his memory of what he had actually done? Some murderers speak of 'blacking out' during their crimes but half the time you don't know if this is them being genuine or they are just trying to get out of being held responsible for their actions. 

This is certainly a case that divides opinion, will it ever be solved? The case is closed as far as the police is concerned and I fear that we may never see proper justice for the Fager family, your heart really goes out to Mary and I can't imagine how she must have felt all of these years. It's one thing to not know who is responsible for the shocking murders of your loved ones but what about the situation in which the cops believe they had the guy but the guy portrays himself as innocent and declares his innocence to the media and walks out of court free? That must be very difficult to come to terms with. 

I hope wherever Mary is now that she was able somehow to have some sort of positive path in life. And to whoever is responsible, possibly William Butterworth? or some unidentified killer, I hope they have lived every day with that huge burden of what they did and I hope that one day they find it in themselves to come forward and speak the truth, face what they deserve because in the end they will have to answer for their sins at the end of their life or lives (I sound all preachy here but you know what I mean). 

RIP Phillip, Sherri and Kelli.

Further Reading & Sources:

- Encyclopedia of Unsolved Murders | Book by Michael Newton

- The Fager Family Murders: Article | Genealogy Trials

- The Fager Family Murders | Reddit Discussion

- The Fager Family Murders: Article | Wichita Eagle

- BTK - Dennis Rader: Article | True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

- 10 Facts You May Not Know About Serial Killer...Dennis Rader: Article | True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

What are your thoughts on this case? Please leave your comments below or email me in confidence at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

Thanks as always for your amazing support with my weekly content, I hope you will join me next time for the fifth instalment. In the meantime you can keep up to date with my latest posts or choose to buy me a coffee and help support my work on my Kofi page. 

Hopefully I will also see you for a chat on my socials

Take care and I hope you will join me next time x 

(Collage created by Caledonian Kitty. Picture credits: The Movie Database, 24 Femmes Per Second)

She was held in high regard as one of the most promising up and coming actresses to have ever graced the small screen, but Barbara Colby's name might not be familiar to a lot of us. Why is this the case? Well, sadly she is no longer with us because of a cruel, heartless and almost 'execution' like attack that took place involving Barbara and a fellow male actor just as they were leaving an acting class (of which Barbara was a Drama coach) on the 24th of July 1975 in Venice, California. To this day the case that shocked America remains unsolved. 

Barbara was just 36 years old and already had a glittering career behind her with many highlights to be proud of. Having shone on Broadway she found her comfortable place on the small screen and appeared in everything from The Mary Tyler Moore show to Columbo. She was a hit with TV viewers and it was not an unusual occurrence for Barbara to be asked to appear in a small acting role only to be offered a more prominent one or another opportunity elsewhere. She was versatile, professional and a joy to work with. She was married to the son of the famous stage legend Ethel Merman but at the time of her death, she and her husband were taking some time apart. 

Despite being a seasoned actress who'd starred both on the stage and small screen, Barbara was 100% committed to her craft and was always dedicated to growing as an actor through not only taking acting classes but also teaching drama sessions. 

At the time of her death she was on the cusp of becoming more well known with exciting opportunities that sadly she never got to pursue. 

On the 24th of July 1975, Barbara had been teaching an acting class with fellow actor and good friend, James Kiernan. As the pair headed out of the door along with other members of the class, they stopped to have a conversation which was often the case after they'd attended class. This was a regular routine and nothing seemed out of the ordinary on this day until out of nowhere, a car pulled up close to them and two African-American men suddenly pulled out a gun and shot them, Barbara was shoot once and so was James, nothing was said, it happened so fast and before anyone knew what was happening the two men sped away in their car.

Barbara sadly passed away at the scene but James was able to hang on just long enough to tell the police what had happened, James too, sadly passed away at the hospital. It all made no sense, two well respected and well liked actors who were not widely known but getting to an exciting phase in their careers, just attending their usual class which was routine, no bother to anyone and no hidden pasts or troubles with the law, why would two men just kill them? No robbery, no words were said and James didn't recognise the men. It was as if this was a targeted attack, like they knew that Barbara and James would be there at that time? Did someone pay hitmen to kill Barbara and James? Not to sound cheeky but why did the cops not look more into Barbara's husband? Could it be (and I'm just sharing a thought here) that he possibly thought that Barbara and James were seeing each other? Barbara and her husband had been going through a difficult patch at the time. Was he or someone else jealous of how successful Barbara was continuing to become in her career? Or was it just a case of mistaken identity or a random act? 

To me this case screams 'targeted' but who would set this up? It still baffles me to this day how cavalier the police used to be about certain murder cases in the past. For example, if they had a similar type of case which proved to have no leads but a wife was mysteriously murdered in what looked like a random, possibly targeted hit but the estranged husband happened to be a pillar of the community, there would be this attitude of that it couldn't have possibly been him. There was this attitude at times of not bothering to chase up any possibilities because a potential suspect or just someone of interest might be a famous person or someone with a lot of money. We have seen so many people get away with so much over the years simply because they have money (as I type this, rapper and record producer Sean 'Diddy' Combs is currently sitting in a jail cell after being denied bail on drug-trafficking charges after getting away with horrendous crimes for years due to his status and wealth). 

When news broke out about what happened to Barbara and James, everyone was shocked, scared and confused wondering why and who would do such a thing to two lovely, talented people?

As decades rolled on, the case just grew more and more colder to the point that (it's sad for me to say) it was mostly forgotten about. When we see documentaries about horrible things that have happened to celebrities over the years and a list of shocking stories is talked about, we never see any mention of what happened to Barbara and James. 

I hope that more people in the true crime community talk about this case and who knows, maybe one day we will finally get some answers.

Barbara was cremated and her ashes were reportedly scattered a sea but she does have an online memorial where people can leave virtual flowers and little notes: Barbara Colby: Find A Grave

I can't find any information about James's final resting place or if he was cremated but our hearts go out to him and his family too. It's very sad to think of what could have been for both of these talented people who's lives were so coldly taken. 

I hope one day that there is justice finally for Barbara and James and that their families finally have answers after all these years. I always say it is important to never give up hope, we've seen decades-old cases finally being solved in recent times let's hope that this case is finally closed soon. RIP Barbara and James. 

Further Reading & Sources: 

- Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes | Book by Michael Newton

- Barbara Colby Memorial | Find A Grave

- Barbara Colby | Wikipedia

- Barbara Colby & James Kiernan | Reddit Discussion

- Barbara Colby | IMDb

- James Kiernan | IMDb

Thank you for taking the time to read this third instalment of my unsolved cases series, I hope you found it informative and I hope you will join me for part four in this series. 

If you would like to help support my weekly content by buying me a coffee, that would be amazing (thank you), all donations can be made here & here

Take care until next time & I hope to see you on my socials x

 (Collage created by author of this blog. Information posters are credited to Philadelphia Police Department. Picture of Joseph's original grave stone: Credit: witf)

*Please be aware that I will be discussing child a*use and murder in this post. I always aim to be as sensitive as I can be in these posts without taking away from the facts of the case*

It was an unsolved murder case that haunted Philadelphia (USA) for decades, the heartbreaking case of the little unknown boy who's crumpled, nude body was found in a cardboard box covered by a faded blanket. Nobody knew his name, nobody knew what happened to him but for 65 years Philadelphia and anyone who came across this case never forgot about this child. Thanks to tireless efforts, constant investigation and modern forensics, we now have a name for this little boy who for decades was called ''Boy in the box'' and ''America's Unknown Child''. 

On a cold evening in February 1957, a young male college student had been out for a drive and decided to park his car at a regular spot where he would try and catch the attention (or spy on - depending on what story you believe) of some local girls that had been staying at a boarding house. On that particular night the girls where nowhere to be seen so he wandered around for a little while and saw what he thought was a cardboard box with a doll inside. On closer inspection he realised that the 'doll' looked to be very human like and very much like a little boy. In a panic and unsure of what to do he didn't contact the police straight away because he claimed that he didn't want to be painted as a suspect or dragged into the case. After an alleged talk with a priest and viewing a news report on the TV about a missing girl, he finally contacted authorities. 

The young man had nothing whatsoever to do with the young deceased child in the box, the police did a thorough investigation into him and his background and found that he was just a young guy who panicked. As I mentioned before, the weather was very cold at that time of year in Philadelphia so when investigators examined the body it was unclear at first what the exact cause of death was or when it happened. 

No stone was left unturned in this case which in 1957 was quite remarkable considering the limited resources they had. They didn't have the technology or the breakthroughs in DNA and forensic science that we have today. Nobody could fault the investigators at the start of this case because they contacted anybody and everybody trying to find out the boy's identity as well as trying to track down any piece of material they could find in the box. The cardboard box was traced and so was the blanket to their original locations (ie stores, factories) which ended up producing no results because these items had been purchased by numerous people which would have been impossible to have tracked down each and every person especially as they paid in cash for the items. 

(Information poster. Picture credit: Philadelphia Police Department)

An autopsy was performed on the child and his body was so malnourished that it was quite the task also of trying to determine his exact age but the medical examiner estimated that the boy was possibly aged between four and six years old. Various factors such as severe bruising to the left side of the boy's body and various scars both fresh and old determined that this child had been severely mistreated and beaten. Head trauma was also noted as well as signs that the boy had been placed in water for a period of time. 

As mentioned before, the police did everything they could in their aims to identify this young boy, even cleaning the boy's body up and dressing him in clothing so that they could take pictures of him to share with the public in hopes that somebody may recognise him. The police together with local businesses sent out thousands of information flyers, posters were all over the Philadelphia city but still nobody could identify the boy. 

Eventually the child's body was placed in a grave with a headstone reading 'Heavenly Father Bless This Unknown Boy. February 25, 1957'. The police and general public of Philadelphia had taken this unknown boy to their hearts and they never gave up hope that one day he would be identified and that whoever was responsible for his death would face justice. Decades went by and nothing but theories remained. There was various stories that the police were aware of but none of these stories could be proven. Even today the police have various avenues of possibility and ideas of who could be responsible for his death but due to lack of evidence, witnesses and proper information there's nothing they can do but they are adamant that this case remain open and that they finally get to the bottom of it. 

Some positive news came around in 2021 (but was not revealed to the public until 2022) when investigators finally identified the boy after 65 years. It was an amazing breakthrough in the case. The child's name was 'Joseph Augustus Zarelli' and as I post this article, the investigation is still on-going into everyone possibly connected to Joseph. 

Joseph's grave which was once a sad, heartbreaking headstone without a name has since been replaced with a beautiful memorial stone featuring a picture of him. Members of the public visit the grave often and leave little toys, flowers and balloons for Joseph. Just because his name is now known doesn't mean that it's the end of this very sad story, the continued search for justice remains.

(Joseph's beautiful new grave. Picture credit: ktvl)

It's been nearly 50 years since the horrific murders of 4 innocent children shocked Oakland County, Michigan. The four children who are confirmed to be the victims of the same perpetrator (or perpetrators) were 12 year old, Mark Douglas Stebbins, Jill Robinson (also 12), Kristine Marie Mihelich (aged just 10 years old) and 11 year old Timothy John King. Snow was heavy on the ground at the time each of the children's bodies were found, each had been abducted, held, either strangled, suffocated or shot. The boys had been sexually assaulted and the children had been cleaned thoroughly (investigators believe the children were bathed to remove evidence) before being disposed of in similar poses and patterns in the snow within 19 days of their abduction. 

It was a terrifying time in the late 70s where parents were on tenderhooks wondering what was going to happen next. Each of the cases had startling similarities that were impossible to ignore and took place from February 1976 to March 1977. After March of 1977 everything seemed to have all of a sudden ceased. The case was one of the most covered and highly investigated at the time. In an effort to help find the killer, public appeals were made and a psychologist (Bruce Danto) published an open letter to the killer which was shared in the local media. There was an overwhelming response to the letter but most of the leads were useless until one particular informant raised some eyebrows. A man calling himself 'Allen' and identifying himself as a Vietnam war veteran, claimed that had been a roommate of the killer that the press were now referring to as 'The Babysitter'. The killer was given this nickname because of how he carefully abducted his victims then kept them in captivity in a manner which saw him feeding and washing the victims before disposing of their bodies. 

'Allen' told Bruce Danto that the murders were an act of revenge for the war and that 'The Babysitter' wanted to teach wealthy parents a lesson by targeting children from well to do backgrounds in an effort to bring war on home soil. At the time it was hard to know if this 'Allen' character was legit but with investigators being desperate to get to the bottom of the case they couldn't afford to not pay attention to every little thing they could get. 'Allen' mentioned the snow and even told Bruce not to hope for more snow as if to indicate that more murders would happen. 

Communication between 'Allen' and Bruce continued for some time before Bruce suggested that they meet. Everything seemed to be on track and 'Allen' seemed to be on board for the meeting but all of a sudden he vanished, no letters, no phone calls, not a word and there hasn't been a word from 'Allen' since. Who was this man? Was he really the killer or was he some loner who realised that the trail back to him was getting too hot so he decided to stop lying and just fade into the darkness? who knows, the real identity of 'Allen' remains a mystery to this day. 

So much had been going on around the time that each of the bodies were found that investigators originally suspected 'The Babysitter' to have been responsible for a lot more murders and incidences that had been going on at the time. Some of these suspected murders have since been disproved and there is still a big question mark hanging around the others. 

One of the facts that investigators found was that the killer not only had a thing for cleanliness, but was also obsessed with snow. Parents were fearful every time the winter weather would roll around in case the murderer struck again but things continued to be silent. 

As well as 'The Babysitter', the serial killer is also known by the nickname 'The Oakland County Serial Killer' and 'The Snow Murderer'. This case has remained unsolved for decades and it's heartbreaking after so long you try to keep hopeful that a new lead will come but there is nothing to go on. 

The case remains open to this day and one of the sad facts of the case was that the heartbroken father of Timothy John King, passed away a few years ago never finding justice for his son. Timothy's father, Barry had spent decades trying to keep the case alive and did everything he could to find information. He dedicated his life to finding his son's killer and never got that moment of justice and glory. Bruce reminds me a lot of Winnie Johnson (the devoted and late mother of 'Moors Murders' victim, Keith who was murdered by Ian Brady & Myra Hindley in 1964. I wrote about this horrendous case last year, you can find the post here) who never gave up looking for Keith's remains, she may have seen the day her son's killers were brought to justice but she did not have the closure of being given that last bit of comfort to have her son's remains for herself and her family to pay tribute and give a meaningful burial or cremation. Brady and Hindley were so evil to the core that they denied giving Winnie that information about where keith was. 

I've written about cases that have been solved decades later but a case that is nearly 50 years old? Could it be possible a miracle could happen and we could still get some sort of closure for these poor families who've been through hell for decades? I can never imagine the pain of losing a child and then not knowing where they were or that the murderer has escaped justice for decades. 

It brings to mind another case from my home town in Scotland which was finally solved last year after 27 years!! The Caroline Glachan murder shocked my home town for years and rumours were rife but nobody spoke up. Caroline's mother Margaret went through hell for years not knowing if the person she passed on the street was responsible for her daughter's murder. It was a case that never went away for us, every chance that Margaret could get she was looking for her daughter's killer. Regular updates and reports on the case were shared nationwide along with newspaper articles appealing for information and the case featured on many true crime documentaries. I seemed to be the only one in the true crime community who had written about the case back in 2019 but that might have been down to the fact that it was a murder that happened in a small town who knows? But when the three murderers were finally caught the news went world wide! Everyone was elated and astonished that after all this time that a case could be solved and justice finally done. 

One of the sad facts about cases such as Caroline's and others that I have covered on this blog, is that by the time these cases are solved the celebration is bittersweet because the person is still no longer with us plus the years of anguish and hell that their loved ones have gone through, years wasted. It is like a torture for the families of the victims and it's another heartbreaking aspect of unsolved cases. 

So there are a lot of broken hearts in the Oakland County case, innocent children being murdered, taken from their families with nobody facing justice for these horrendous crimes. Investigators still suspecting there could be more victims tied to the same killer. I guess all we can do is hope and pray that someone, somewhere comes forward and that this case (for the sake of the victims and their remaining loved ones who are still alive) will finally be closed. 

RIP to the little angels (who are confirmed to be victims of this unidentified monster. We can but hope that one day all of this will be solved, it's important to never give up) Jill Robinson, Kristine Mihelich, Timothy King & Mark Stebbins. Thinking also of the other potential victims, survivors and their families. 

If you have any information or could pass the phone number/email on to someone who does, please get in touch with the Oakland County Police Dept on 248 858 5000 or email osco@oakgov.com 

Further Reading & Sources:

- The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes | Book by Michael Newton

- The Snow Killings | Book by Marney Rich Keenan

- Oakland County Child Killer | Wikipedia

- Oakland County Child Killer Case : Article | Click On Detroit

- Oakland County Child Killer: Article | Fox 2 Detroit

- Oakland County Child Killer: Case Discussion | Reddit

- Children of The Snow | TV Mini Series 

- Oakland County Michigan | Wikipedia

- Oakland County Police Dept

Well, this heartbreaking story was the first instalment of my Unsolved series here on my blog. I will be covering five more cases in the coming weeks that you may not have heard about before and I hope that you will join me for them. Just a reminder that I publish a new post every Sunday evening, to keep up to date with when i share my latest content, check out my Linktree for all of my social media platforms. 

Take care & I hope you will join me next time x

I've been writing about true crime for quite a while now (since 2019 to be exact) and every case that I have covered has left a mark on me. I've been asked many times what cases have disturbed me the most and it's really hard to pick because each story has been a heartbreaking journey to research, innocent people losing their lives in the most horrendous ways. In some cases we have seen justice served and in other cases we have seen perpetrators literally getting away with murder. 

In this post I have chosen just five disturbing cases I have covered here on this blog. Of course, if you take a stroll through my archives you can see that there are hundreds of cases that are the stuff of nightmares so it's pretty hard to narrow it down. The cases included below are the ones that just jumped out to me and you may remember them, you may not. You may wish to revisit the cases or you may be new to them. Whatever the situation, I hope that you find them informative but please keep in mind that the details included in these posts are pretty tough to take, hence why I don't even have to look at the posts to re-fresh my memory - some things just stay with you, even when you don't want them to. 

Next week I will be starting a new series on my blog so I hope you will join me for that. As always, please feel free to comment below or contact me via email (jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com) with any of your thoughts, comments or case requests. 

- Beyond Evil: The Murder of Jessica Lunsford

- The Horrific Murder & Torture of Sylvia Likens (Four Part Series)

- The Abduction & Murder of Cherish Perrywinkle

- Dr Josef Mengele: The Angel of Death (Two Part Series)

- The Evil That Some Men Do: The Judy Malinowski Story

I always think about each of the victims in these cases and I still receive emails from time to time from people who've just come across my blog or knew the victims personally. I care about the cases I cover and hope that people will see beyond what happened to these innocent angels and remember who they were when they were alive and the love that they left behind with family, friends and complete strangers like you and I. RIP to all and continued prayers for the survivors and their families. 

I hope you will join me next week for my new series, remember to take care of yourself and I hope you'll join me next time. In the meantime I hope to see you for a chat on my socials.