The Skeleton Key Chronicles

8 hours ago

Today would have been Patsy Cline’s 94th birthday. Instead, the country music star’s life ended before she ever saw her 31st.

In those thirty years, though, Cline became a familiar voice far beyond country music. “Walkin’ After Midnight” gave her a national breakthrough in 1957, and by 1961 she had another major hit with “I Fall to Pieces.” That same year, a car accident in Nashville sidelined her for several weeks, but by August she was back in the studio recording “Crazy,” which would become one of the songs most closely associated with her.

By March of 1963, Cline was in Kansas City for a benefit concert for the family of radio disc jockey Jack “Cactus” Call, who had died several weeks earlier. Also performing at the benefit were fellow Grand Ole Opry stars Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas.

Two days later, on March 5, the three performers began the trip home to Nashville together aboard a small Piper Comanche. Randy Hughes was Copas's son-in-law and Patsy Cline's manager, was at the controls.

Weather along their route had been deteriorating, with low clouds and storms moving across Tennessee. And there was another problem. Although Hughes held a pilot’s license, he was not instrument-rated, meaning he was not qualified to fly solely by instruments when conditions made it impossible to safely navigate by sight. Despite the worsening conditions, the flight continued toward Nashville, but it never made it there.

Later that evening, the aircraft came down in a wooded area outside Camden, Tennessee, about ninety miles from the city. It was located the following day. Cline, Hawkins, Copas and Hughes had all lost their lives that night.

Patsy Cline was laid to rest back home in Winchester, Virginia, where fans still visit her grave today. She had only thirty years, but she left behind a voice that has lasted for generations.

Patsy Cline
September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963 … See MoreSee Less

The Skeleton Key Chronicles

13 hours ago

For nearly 49 years, no one knew the name of the young woman whose skeletal remains were found in the woods near a North Carolina tire plant. Now, she has finally been identified as Cindy Marcell Blizzard, a 15-year-old girl who disappeared from Monkton, Maryland, in the spring of 1977.

So how did Cindy end up more than 250 miles from home in eastern North Carolina? That’s the part investigators are still trying to figure out.

On December 29th, 1977, several months after Cindy disappeared, skeletal remains and clothing were discovered in a wooded area near the Firestone plant in Wilson, North Carolina, about 40 miles east of Raleigh. At the time, of course, no one there knew they had found a missing teenager from Maryland.

Investigators could only estimate who the young woman might have been. They believed she was white, somewhere between 16 and 23 years old, and that she may have been there for anywhere from six months to two years. But nothing they had could tell them her name. Her identity would remain unknown for decades.

As forensic technology improved, however, investigators eventually had new ways to revisit the evidence. In 2010, DNA was recovered from her teeth and added to national databases, but it still wasn't enough to identify her.
The case got another look in 2024, when the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's Cold Case Investigative Team returned to it. A bone sample was submitted for more advanced DNA testing, which produced the type of genetic profile that could be used for forensic genetic genealogy.

And this time, the trail began leading away from North Carolina.
Investigators found connections in Maryland and, with additional work and assistance from agencies there as well as the FBI, were finally able to establish that the young woman found near the Firestone plant in 1977 was Cindy.

But putting a name to her hasn't explained what happened to her.
Cindy disappeared from Maryland sometime in the spring of 1977, and she was found in North Carolina that December. Investigators still don't know what happened in between, when she arrived in North Carolina, who she may have been with or how she ultimately ended up in those woods.

Officials classified her manner of death as undetermined, and investigators are still working to piece together what happened to her. Now that Cindy has finally been identified, investigators are especially interested in learning more about those missing months.

Anyone with information about Cindy Blizzard’s movements or the people she may have been with during the spring of 1977 is asked to contact investigators.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

20 hours ago

A case out of Illinois is drawing attention because of its similarities to the Lindsay Clancy case. But there is another detail that makes the timing particularly unusual. The fact prosecutors say the mother at the center of it had been closely following the Clancy trial herself.

It was Tuesday, September 1st, and the Clancy jury was still deliberating when Corie Walsh, a mother of four, was exchanging messages with friends about the trial. According to court documents, Walsh had become “very invested” in the case, and those conversations reportedly continued until around 12:30 that afternoon.

Just three and a half hours later, police were called to Walsh’s home in Frankfort, Illinois, after it became clear that something was terribly wrong with her two-year-old son, Barrett “Bear” Walsh. The little boy was rushed to a nearby hospital, but sadly, he didn’t make it. Corie was taken for treatment as well, while her three other children, including an infant who had been inside the home that afternoon, were all found safe.

As investigators began trying to understand what had happened, the similarities to the trial Corie had been following so closely became even harder to ignore. Corie reportedly made a number of unusual statements about her son, and according to prosecutors, some indicated that she believed there was something "evil" about Barrett.

Her attorney, Andrea Lyon, has since said Corie was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time, much like Lindsay Clancy’s attorneys had argued about her during the trial. That similarity is particularly notable considering Corie had apparently been so invested in watching the Clancy case unfold.

And the timing between the two cases was remarkably tight. When Corie was discussing the Clancy trial with friends that Tuesday afternoon, Lindsay’s fate was still in the hands of the jury. They had not reached a verdict.
Three days later, the Clancy trial ended in a mistrial when jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision.

There is no evidence at this point that the Clancy trial influenced what happened in Illinois. But Corie’s interest in the case was apparently significant enough that prosecutors included it in court documents in her own case. She is now facing multiple charges and currently being held at the Will County Adult Detention Facility. She is scheduled to be in court today.

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