The Skeleton Key Chronicles

8 hours ago

Those mysterious messages that have been the basis of much speculation in the Nancy Guthrie case, including the latest one that made headlines just yesterday, have all been dismissed by the FBI. Federal investigators have concluded that all three of the widely publicized notes were fake. That includes the two early messages that surfaced shortly after Nancy disappeared, along with the more recent message sent to TMZ claiming the sender knew who took Nancy and even had video from the day she went missing.

Of course every time one of these messages appeared, people wondered if it was finally the break everyone had been waiting for. Now the FBI says none of them were real so back to the drawing board. If those messages are out of the picture, it brings the attention back to the touch DNA and other forensic evidence investigators collected from the house. If this case is eventually solved, there's a good chance that's where the answer has been all along.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

14 hours ago

The stakes just got a whole lot higher for Alex Murdaugh based on the fact his new trial could look very different from the first one. For starters, prosecutors could seek the the maximum penalty this time around (☠️), something they chose not to pursue during the original trial.

During a court hearing Monday Murdaugh's attorneys asked for additional testing on DNA recovered from underneath Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails, claiming it contains genetic material from an unknown man who isn't related to the Murdaugh family. They're also asking for the evidence to be sent to forensic genealogy company Othram for further analysis at Murdaugh's expense.

Prosecutors aren't on board. They came back with the fact the DNA was already tested by SLED and say the additional profile is far too limited to identify anyone, making further testing unnecessary.

Of course, none of this would be happening if Murdaugh's original convictions hadn't been overturned because of misconduct by former Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill. Now both sides are preparing to try the case all over again, but with years of hindsight and a very different legal landscape.

The hearing also set a tentative retrial date of April 5, 2027, although that could change depending on if whether or not additional forensic testing is done. For now, the venue is also up in the air as the judge has not yet decided whether the trial will remain in the same area or be moved to another county.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

Las Vegas police have released a new surveillance image of 26-year-old Australian tourist Sally Grace Contarino as the search for her enters its second week. The Melbourne woman had been traveling alone across the western United States with plans to visit the Las Vegas area and Southern California. She had been staying at Bungalows Hostel on South Las Vegas Boulevard for five days leading up to her disappearance.

The manager of Timbers Bar & Grill, where she was last publicly seen, later described the neighborhood around the hostel as "terrible." Surveillance cameras captured Sally returning to the hostel during the early hours of June 20th after leaving the restaurant. According to her family, she was later last seen in the Mount Charleston area, and Australian media report the last photo she shared from her trip was taken there.

Sally was scheduled to return to Australia on June 21st. She had reportedly purchased a bus ticket from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to catch her flight home, but the ticket was never scanned. She never boarded the bus, never got on her flight, and hasn't been heard from since.

In the latest update, Las Vegas police released additional CCTV footage showing Sally walking with a shoulder bag and wearing a jacket. Authorities have continued asking anyone who may have seen her or knows where she is to come forward.

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