The Skeleton Key Chronicles

15 hours ago

A 36-year-old mystery in Pennsylvania has finally led investigators back to a 19-year-old from the Louisville, Kentucky, area. Last week authorities announced that the young woman known for decades only as Penny Doe had been identified as Windy Buchanan.

Windy’s remains were discovered on July 22nd, 1990, after four children came across them in a stream near an old railroad culvert in western Pennsylvania. A penny was found in each of the front pockets of her jeans, eventually giving the unidentified young woman the name Penny Doe. Now, with Windy finally identified, investigators are focused on finding the person responsible for what happened to her.

Windy was the oldest of five siblings and grew up in a family that moved around quite a bit, and after her father took custody of them the often stayed in tents and vehicles. Some of the children eventually went to live with relatives, family friends or others who could take them in. The last time her family remembers seeing Windy, the family had stopped off an exit to rest and find something to eat. Windy told her father, “Bye, Dad. I’m leaving,” and they never saw her again.

Authorities have not revealed exactly where that happened. Investigators say they now have more information about where Windy was last seen by her family, but are keeping that location private as they continue working the case.

For more than three decades, investigators tried just about every avenue available to identify Penny Doe. More than 100 possible identities were considered and ruled out as they compared fingerprints and missing-person reports, released facial reconstructions and followed tips.
DNA and forensic genetic genealogy finally led investigators to a woman believed to be Penny Doe’s sister. She provided a DNA sample, and the comparison confirmed that the young woman found in Pennsylvania all those years ago was Windy.

And there was one small detail about those pennies that no one could have known while her identity remained a mystery. Windy’s sister said she had always believed that finding a penny heads-up meant good luck.

Pennsylvania State Police are now continuing the investigation into what happened to Windy and are hoping her name will bring forward people who knew her or remember something about that period of her life. Anyone with information about Windy Buchanan or her case can contact Pennsylvania State Police.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

22 hours ago

What started as a bunch of creepy Cat in the Hat sightings across the pond has somehow made its way to the U.S., where schools and police are now getting involved, so if you're wondering what on earth is going on, here's the backstory.

The whole thing seems to have taken off in the UK and Ireland, where videos and images supposedly showed a life-sized version of the character wandering through neighborhoods, appearing outside homes and even turning up on doorbell cameras. Much of it wasn't real though. Apparently the bulk of the images were AI-generated or manipulated, but that didnt keep the stories surrounding the clips from becoming increasingly elaborate.
With that police eventually found themselves reassuring people that there wasn't actually some rogue Cat in the Hat roaming the countryside.

But things didn't quiet down. Instead, the internet did what the internet does, and people began running with the idea… bringing the Cat into their own communities, with accounts naming real towns and schools as places the Cat was supposedly headed next. Eventually, some posts began naming individual students and sending direct messages, turning what had started as internet nonsense into something schools and police felt the need to address.

The trend has now spread across the U.S., where schools and local officials are responding to posts connected to the craze. Some schools have moved classes online, canceled activities or taken additional precautions while officials try to sort through what’s real and what isn’t. While many of the posts investigated so far have not been found to pose an actual concern, once real schools and individual students start being named things changed.

So, there you have it, that's how a bunch of mostly manufactured Cat in the Hat sightings across the Atlantic somehow became a law enforcement story in the U.S. And if this is all giving you creepy clown craze of 2016 vibes, you're definitely not alone.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

Update: The parents of 5-year-old Saylor Hayes have been taken into custody in connection with her disappearance and death, according to deputies.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding what happened to 5-year-old Saylor Hayes. The search for her came to an end yesterday morning when the little girl was discovered in the Waccamaw River. But the investigation into how Saylor ended up there is far from over.

The Georgetown County coroner says there were no visible signs of trauma, and Saylor’s cause and manner of passing remain undetermined. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday morning at the Medical University of South Carolina.

And there are a few details emerging that suggest investigators are looking well beyond simply finding Saylor.

Shortly before Saylor was found, her mother, Geordyn Hayes, told volunteer searchers that investigators had taken both her and her husband’s phones. She also said they had been instructed not to leave the home and that police had asked her not to discuss the ongoing investigation.

There is also some recent history involving Geordyn back home in Virginia. Court records show that she faced two charges involving a child following an incident in February of this year. One felony charge was later amended to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, with the court granting a deferred disposition in August. Prosecutors declined to proceed with a separate felony charge.

There’s also a significant new development involving Saylor’s Project Lifesaver transponder. During the search, her mother said Saylor was wearing the device and that authorities were trying to obtain the correct frequency to track it. We now know the transponder was never in South Carolina. According to Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis, deputies in Virginia picked up Saylor’s assigned frequency and traced her device to a vehicle parked at the family’s home in Washington County, Virginia.

Of course, none of this means Saylor’s parents were involved in what happened to her, and authorities have not publicly accused either parent of wrongdoing. But it does provide some important context as investigators work to determine exactly how a 5-year-old little girl ended up in the Waccamaw River.

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