The Skeleton Key Chronicles

18 hours ago

Today would have been Azaria Chamberlain's 46th birthday.
When she disappeared at just nine weeks old during a family camping trip in Australia's Northern Territory in 1980, her mother said a dingo had taken her from the family's tent near Uluru. To many people, the explanation sounded impossible. The idea that a wild dingo could enter a campsite and carry off an infant was something much of the public simply refused to accept.
The disappearance itself was only the beginning.

What happened to Azaria was one question. Whether people believed her mother's account of what happened that night was another situation entirely. For years, the case became as much about that question as it was about what happened to Azaria. As investigators searched for answers, the family found themselves facing intense public scrutiny over what really happened that night continued long after the camping trip was over.

More than three decades later, a coroner formally concluded that a dingo was responsible for Azaria's disappearance. Looking back, what stands out isn't just the mystery itself. It's how long it took for an explanation many people dismissed from the beginning to become the accepted one. In the end, one of the most disputed parts of the case turned out to be the very thing officials ultimately concluded had really happened.

Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain
June 11, 1980 ~ August 17, 1980

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

23 hours ago

Five years ago this week, 5-year-old Summer Wells disappeared from her family's home in the Beech Creek community of Hawkins County, Tennessee. She was reported missing on the afternoon of June 15th, 2021. Earlier that day, she had been with her mother, Candus Bly, and her grandmother, Candus Bly, better known to followers of the case as "Grandus." After returning home, Summer was reportedly helping plant flowers before she went back toward the house. A short time later, she was gone.

An extensive search began almost immediately, with local, state, and federal agencies searching the rugged, wooded area surrounding the family's property. Despite all the searches and years of investigation, no trace of Summer has ever been found.

In the years since, there have been searches, television specials, public statements from family members, age-progressed images, and no shortage of theories. People have watched interviews, studied maps of the property, and broken down nearly every known detail from that day. Yet after all this time, no one has ever been able to explain what happened to Summer.

Today, Summer would be 10 years old. The age-progressed image released last year shows a child who is now twice the age she was when she vanished, a reminder of just how much time has passed without answers.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

Usually, when we hear about a case, we're only seeing a piece of it. Maybe it's the day someone disappears. Maybe it's years later when a Jane Doe gets her name back. Most of the time, we're coming in somewhere in the middle. The case of Navy sailor Angelina Resendiz is one of those rare exceptions.

Last spring, people across the country were sharing flyers for the 21-year-old after she disappeared from Naval Station Norfolk. For nearly two weeks, her family searched for answers while fellow service members and investigators worked to figure out where she was and what had happened. A year later, they do.

Nearly two weeks after she vanished, Angelina was found in a wooded area not far from the base. The investigation that followed eventually led to a fellow sailor entering a guilty plea, setting the stage for this week's sentencing.

On Tuesday, one year to the day after Angelina Resendiz's body was found in Norfolk a 44-year sentence was handed down, bringing the legal process to a close and marking the end of a chapter that began with a missing-person flyer and a family desperate for answers. During the proceedings, Angelina's mother, Esmeralda Castle, spoke about forgiveness while continuing to advocate for changes she hopes will better protect service members in the future.

For Angelina's family, no sentence can bring back the daughter they lost. But after a year of questions, court proceedings, and waiting, they were finally able to see some measure of justice.

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