The Skeleton Key Chronicles

15 hours ago

In late March 1986, the film April Fool's Day hit theaters. It follows a group of friends whose weekend plans start to unravel after a prank on the water goes sideways. One of the actors in that scene was Griffin O'Neal.

Weeks later, O’Neal was back out on the water in Annapolis while working on a Francis Ford Coppola film called Gardens of Stone.

It was Memorial Day and O’Neal was operating a speedboat when it crossed into a towline stretched between two other boats. The line snapped across the boat instantly, leaving almost no time to react.
Also on the boat was Gian-Carlo Coppola, the 22-year-old son of Francis Ford Coppola. O’Neal ducked beneath the line but Coppola was struck and thrown backward. He later passed away.

O’Neal later received 18 months’ probation in connection with the incident. As for Gardens of Stone, the film Coppola had been working on, it was released the following year with a dedication to his son. … See MoreSee Less

The Skeleton Key Chronicles

20 hours ago

In mid-April 1943, four teenage boys slipped into Hagley Wood in Worcestershire, looking for bird nests, when one of them climbed a large wych elm and spotted something inside the hollow trunk that didn’t look right.

At first glance it seemed like animal remains. But when they noticed strands of dark, curly hair and the shape of teeth, it quickly became clear they had found part of a skull. Startled and aware they weren’t supposed to be there, the boys put it back and agreed to keep their discovery to themselves.

That lasted until one of them, Tommy Willetts, told his parents, who contacted authorities. With that, investigators headed to the tree, where they found far more than just a skull. Hidden inside the hollow trunk was a nearly complete set of remains.

Examiners determined they likely belonged to a woman around her mid-thirties who had been there for well over a year. Based on the condition and the confined space within the tree, investigators believed she had been placed there in the not long after she died, before stiffness would have made it difficult in such a tight area.

Then, months later after she was found, mysterious graffiti started popping up on walls and buildings around the town. Written in large, uneven capital letters, asking a question no one could answer: “Who put Bella in the wych elm?”

It was the first time the woman had been given a name and whether or not “Bella” reflected her real identity or something else entirely has never been confirmed.

More than eighty years later no one knows who she was or how she ended up there.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

In 1983, skeletonized remains were discovered in tall grass along I-271 near mile marker 39 in Willoughby Hills, Ohio by a man walking his dog. Investigators determined they belonged to a young woman, but she had no ID, and there was nothing definitive beyond clothing to identify who she was. She would eventually become known as Lake County Jane Doe, a name she has carried now for more than four decades.

Forensic examiners believed she was likely in her twenties or early thirties. Despite authorities circulating a composite of what she may have looked like, there were no clear leads that could move investigators toward an identification, and as the years passed, her case remained largely unchanged.

Then, this past summer, advances in DNA testing and genetic genealogy gave investigators something they hadn’t had before, a possible second cousin.
From there, they began tracing extended family lines as they worked to confirm the connection. The individual identified as a possible second cousin with the last name of Hawkins has spent years researching their family history and is not aware of any missing relatives, adding another layer of uncertainty as investigators continue working through the connection.

Investigators believe someone may recognize the details, or connect them to a relative who was never identified. Until that happens, she remains Lake County Jane Doe, still waiting for her name to be returned.

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