The Skeleton Key Chronicles

10 hours ago

Robert “Bobby” Bee Jr. was 13 years old when he disappeared in 2016, and for years, there were more questions than answers.

This week, investigators in Pekin, Illinois announced an arrest that may finally start to explain what happened. Keith Brackett, 35, is now facing multiple first-degree charges tied to Bobby’s disappearance, a case that has lingered for nearly a decade.

According to investigators, Bobby and Brackett were close friends, despite the age gap. Bobby had reportedly spent time at his home before, sometimes staying overnight and skipping school. On the morning Bobby was reported missing, Brackett joined in on the search for the boy. Not long after, he left town with a friend for what was described as a job interview trip.

The case took a turn months later in July 2017, when skeletal remains believed to be Bobby were found behind a house owned by Brackett’s aunt. When detectives followed up, the property owner told them her nephew maintained that location and had been living nearby at the time. A search of that nearby residence uncovered rope and tape that investigators say matched materials recovered at the scene.

Brackett denied being near the location when Bobby disappeared, but investigators say digital data places him in that area multiple times between November 2016 and July 2017.

With an arrest made, this now heads into court, where more of the story will likely come out.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

14 hours ago

A North Carolina man whose wife has been missing since 2012 has been taken into custody in connection with a completely separate case from nearly 36 years ago.

Authorities say Robert William McCaffrey Jr. of Manteo, has been charged in the 1990 death of Lisa Marie McBride, a New Jersey woman whose case had remained unresolved for decades. Investigators say she had been out in New York City the night she disappeared, and her remains were later found months afterward in the Delaware Water Gap area.

The case sat for years until 2022, when McBride’s remains were exhumed so investigators could apply newer DNA testing, which ultimately helped move the case forward and led to the arrest.
McCaffrey has also long been connected to the disappearance of his wife, Marjorie “Gayle” McCaffrey, who has been missing from West Ashley, South Carolina area since March 18, 2012.

McCaffrey told investigators he and his wife had a disagreement that night and he left to drive upstate. He later reported her missing and when questioned, claimed he came back home the following day to find a note suggesting she had left on her own, but investigators later said that note wasn’t written by his wife. As the case moved forward, authorities said parts of his account didn’t hold up, and he was eventually convicted on an obstruction charge tied to statements he gave during the investigation.

To this day Marjorie McCaffrey has never been located.

The overlap between the two cases is now drawing renewed attention as investigators take a closer look at McCaffrey's disappearance.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

21 hours ago

Late last month in Anderson County, South Carolina, two kids were down by a creek in the Homeland Park area when they noticed bones along the bank. At first, it didn’t seem like anything unusual, they thought they were animal bones, but once adults got involved, it became clear pretty quickly that wasn’t the case.

Investigators came out and started going through the area more carefully, and over time they ended up recovering more than 70 human bones scattered around that stretch of land. The county coroner said the condition of the remains, along with roots growing through and around them, points to them being there for a long time, possibly more than a decade. A forensic anthropologist from Clemson is now involved, trying to figure out exactly what they’re looking at and how many individuals may be represented.

Based on that estimate, these remains would likely date back to cases from at least the mid-2010s or earlier. There’s no confirmed connection to any specific person right now, but it does narrow the window investigators would be looking at as they start comparing records.

For now, everything comes down to identification and whatever the analysis can pull from the remains. Whether it leads to one name or several is still unknown.

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