The Skeleton Key Chronicles

17 hours ago

Sixty-five years ago today, 8-year-old Ann Marie Burr disappeared from her family's home in Tacoma, Washington. It was in the early morning hours of August 31, 1961, when Ann woke her parents because her 3-year-old sister, Mary, was crying. Her brother Greg and sister Julie were downstairs, sleeping in a makeshift fort they had built in the basement. It was around 1:30 a.m. when Mrs. Burr came upstairs to settle Mary back down and returned to bed. A few hours later, just after 5 a.m., she woke again and discovered that Ann was missing.

A search of the home turned up nothing, but downstairs there were several things that immediately stood out. The front door was ajar. A living-room window normally left open only a couple of inches was now wide open, and outside, a garden stool had been moved beneath it. Investigators would also find what appeared to be a shoe print and a single red thread caught on a brick below the window.

The search for Ann began immediately. Police, neighbors, soldiers and volunteers combed the surrounding area, while Ann's father and uncle checked construction sites at the nearby University of Puget Sound. At the time, there were deep ditches and excavations around several buildings which were under construction, and Ann's father urged police to search them. When investigators went to check them several days later, the ditches had already been covered with cement and the roads reopened.

Ann remained missing, and more than two decades would pass before another familiar name became attached to her disappearance. Ted Bundy had been 14 years old in 1961 and was living in Tacoma at the time. By the 1980s, Ann's parents were well aware of the speculation surrounding him, and in May 1986, her mother finally wrote to him herself and asked about her daughter. He denied having anything to do with Ann's disappearance and told Beverly Burr that he had been a normal 14-year-old boy at the time.

Later that same year, however, criminologist Ronald Holmes had a very different conversation with him. Holmes, who interviewed Bundy extensively, later said he spoke in the third person about an 8-year-old girl who had disappeared from her Tacoma home and described a location near the University of Puget Sound. Holmes believed he was talking about Ann, although there was never a direct confession.

Decades later, investigators tried another avenue. After obtaining a DNA profile from Bundy, they hoped evidence preserved from Ann's case might finally allow for a comparison. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough usable genetic material to connect him to Ann or rule him out. To this day, the whereabouts of Ann Marie Burr remain unknown.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

22 hours ago

More than a week has now passed since an Illinois man was last seen at Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and despite a growing search, there is still no sign of him. Marcin Bachleda-Blaszczak's car was found in the visitor center parking lot and despite a growing search, there is still no sign of him.

According to his family, Marcin's wallet, backpack, extra shoes and cash were still inside the vehicle. Investigators place his last known location at the Sugarlands Visitor Center parking lot on August 22nd, although he wasn't reported missing until two days later.

And if you know Gatlinburg, you know why finding his car at Sugarlands still leaves investigators with a lot of possibilities. The visitor center sits just a couple of miles from downtown at one of the main gateways into the park. There are trails all around it, the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River nearby, and several ways to head farther into the Smokies. Investigators may know where he started, but that doesn't necessarily tell them where he went.

The search has grown considerably over the past week. Dozens of rangers and volunteers have been searching both on and off established trails, with drones also being used to cover the surrounding area.

Now Marcin’s family back home in Illinois is asking anyone who was around Sugarlands at or around 4 p.m. on August 22nd to look back through their photos and videos. That includes cellphone pictures, dashcam footage and GoPro video. With the number of people who pass through the Smokies on an August weekend, it's possible someone captured something without ever realizing it.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

Nearly 50 years after 22-year-old Shari Lynn Roth left her home in North Conway, New Hampshire, for an afternoon hike and never came back, investigators are hoping a handful of photographs that have never been made public might help someone remember her.

Shari left alone on Sunday, August 21st, 1977 and headed for the Sawyer Brook Trail in the White Mountains. When she didn't return that evening, her friends reported her missing. Her car was found in the trailhead parking lot, and three days later, Shari was found deceased along the trail. Her case has remained unsolved ever since.

But there's another piece of this mystery investigators have been trying to figure out since 1977. A red Volkswagen Beetle was reportedly parked at the entrance to the Sawyer Pond Trail on the same day Shari disappeared. Police were trying to identify the people associated with that car within weeks of Shari's death, and nearly 50 years later, investigators are still looking for them. They stress that the person connected to the Beetle is not considered a suspect, but believe whoever was there that afternoon may have information that could help.

And investigators are asking people to dig pretty deep into their own history. If you hiked around Sawyer Pond Trail or Mount Carrigain in August of 1977 and kept a hiking log or journal, they would like to see it. They're also interested in hearing from anyone who was around Livermore, Bartlett or Lincoln between August 20th and 24th, or who lived or worked around North Conway that summer.

After 49 years, investigators are hoping these new photographs finally reach someone who remembers something about that day. Even a detail that seemed insignificant in 1977 could matter now.

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