The Skeleton Key Chronicles

14 hours ago

A funeral home owner who hid nearly 200 bodies and gave grieving families ashes that were not connected to their loved ones has been sentenced to 40 years.
Authorities say Jon Hallford kept the remains at the funeral home for years without carrying out the services families expected. He and his wife, Carie Hallford, entered guilty pleas in December, and she is still awaiting sentencing.

According to prosecutors, the funeral home opened in 2017 with the promise of an eco-friendly approach for families. But it was later determined the money families paid wasn’t used for the services at all and instead went toward luxury items instead.

You may remember this case being featured on the ID series The Curious Case Of…, hosted by Beth Karas, which, incidentally, just dropped a second season earlier this week.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

Earlier this week, the woman known for years as “Vandy Jane Doe” was identified as Yadezia Jones, a 25-year-old from Nashville whose identity had remained unknown for the past seven years.

She was given the nickname after investigators first encountered her along Sulphur Creek Road on September 8, 2018. At the time, the only consistent detail they had was what she was wearing. She was dressed in Vanderbilt University clothing, and with no identification and no immediate leads, that detail gave investigators a way to refer to her publicly for years. At the time, very little was known about who she was, and early efforts to connect her to missing person reports came up empty.

Over the years, investigators continued working to identify her, including releasing a forensic rendering through NCMEC in hopes someone might recognize her and help fill in the missing pieces, but to no avail.

Then in 2022 a breakthrough came through genetic genealogy. Working with Othram, investigators were able to develop a DNA profile and use investigative genetic genealogical research to trace family connections, eventually leading them to Yadezia Jones and confirming her identity years after the case first began.

Investigators have said Jones' case remains active, and work is ongoing to understand what happened in the days leading up to her being discovered. Authorities are asking with information regarding Jones to contact Nashville authorities.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

2 days ago

It has been 25 years since 12-year-old Steven Earl Kraft Jr. disappeared from Benton Township, Michigan.

Steven was born in Milwauke and eventually moved with his family near Benton Heights. On the evening of Thursday, February 15th, 2001, his mother Chyrille Kraft was preparing dinner when he went outside to play with the family’s two dogs, telling his mom he'd be back. When he didn’t return in time for dinner, his parents were not immediately concerned. He often walked the dogs to his older sister Jodi’s house just around the corner, where he spent time with his young nephew and sometimes stayed to eat dinner. Around 9:00 p.m., when his mother called to check Jodi told her she hadn’t seen Steven at all that day.

Chyrille called authorities to report Steven missing and the family's concern grew by the hour with temperatures expected to drop overnight. Officers, neighbors and family members searched the surrounding area and eventually found footprints and paw prints leading toward a nearby building on Irving Street, just a few blocks from Steven's house. Search teams checked the immediate area, but no further tracks or physical evidence were found that showed where Steven or the dogs went after that point.

Eventually more than 100 volunteers joined search efforts over the following days, covering fields, wooded areas, and nearby ponds. In the months that followed it even spanned into other states where Steven had ties like Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Lexington, Kentucky.

The two dogs were eventually located separately and returned home, cold and hungry but in overall good health. Steven was never found. Despite extensive searches and hundreds of tips received in the years since, Steven Earl Kraft Jr. has not been seen since that night, and his case remains open.

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