As I sit in my home, my Western safe haven, where no harm can befall me accept the monotony of every day decisions, I am becoming increasingly despondent with the state of affairs in Saudi Arabia, where a rape victim can be beaten, jailed and even killed, just for being a victim. The crime of rape on a whole regularly goes unpunished in Western countries due to lack of judicial fervour or because the crime itself goes unreported. However in Saudi Arabia they take a different, harsher approach to the matter at hand. If you are raped, forced to do something against your will, which you never asked for and which will invariably have a devastating and profound affect on the rest of your life, according to the male orientated population of judges and police officers in Saudi, it is your fault!
You must have done something wrong. And yet I fail to see how anyone, no matter what they may have done, deserves to be raped; let alone then physically punished for a crime which was committed against them. I was of the opinion that the judicial system of any country was in place to actively protect the citizen's of that country, not however to further humiliate, degrade and punish a person who is completely blameless in their present situation.
If a rape victim can be treated this way in any country across the world, then there is something wrong with that society and with the other countries that let it continue! The problem is two-fold, the strict interpretation of the Islamic Sharia Law and what seems to be a cold contempt, indifference and bordering on a hatred of women. I say this not with malice or a distaste of the Saudi people, but with a distaste for their heinous treatment of another human being, who has been hurt and defiled in possibly one of the worst ways possible, only to be hurt and defiled all over again by those who are supposed to protect her.
In a 2007 case a 19 year old woman who was seated in a car with a man other than a family member, was kidnapped, both she and the man she was with were raped. Despite the two gang rapes, it was only she and her companion who were legally punished by the Saudi courts. The girl originally being sentenced to 90 lashes and a prison term, which was later increased to 200 lashes, her companion also received 90 lashes, for meeting with the girl in private.
The Saudi "justice" ministry, publicly stated that the ruling was legal and followed the "the book of God and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad," despite an international outcry from human rights groups. I find this treatment of another human being absolutely condemnable and frankly paramount with Hitlers treatment of the Jewish people during the Second World War. There is no justifiable way that the Saudi Government can condone their actions regarding this matter. A rape VICTIM is someone who was placed in a vulnerable situation by another person for that person's own twisted gain, a rape VICTIM is someone who had been hurt, humiliated, degraded and who may never recover, a rape VICTIM is someone who needs help, and does not deserve to be beaten and jailed for something which was not their fault. Not to mention that I am sure that the Prophet Muhammad would not want anyone to suffer and that the whole point of the teachings of GOD was 'do unto others and you would have them do unto you.'
I am also outraged at the thought regarding rape and women in general in Saudi Arabia. If a woman can be gang raped for no apparent reason and then be punished for the privilege, this shows that men in Saudi Arabia have absolutely no regard or feeling for women whatsoever. This being the case, I should like to point out that women outnumber men in the world's population, and that women give men life, and without meaning to sound too much of a feminist, perhaps instead of raping, beating and belittling the only chance at survival of human kind on a global scale, (women), perhaps the Saudi Arabian men should try cherishing women for what they are, instead of using them and treating them worse than animals. You may be able to run a country and make laws, but it's women who will bare and raise your children, women who will inevitably ensure that life as we know it goes on, and despite your laws or religion, nothing you can do will ever change that.
I have absolutely no malice towards the Saudi Arabian people or government, however I can not help but feel that they are wrong in their regular course of action pertaining to rape victims, and that they should reassess their laws, if not for the good of their own people, then at least for the good of their international reputation.
Sunday 16 May 2010
The 1957 disappearance of journalist Amelia J Zelko, known as “Molly” to friends was attributed to a number of factors; perhaps the newswoman was mugged for her jewellery? She was wearing a diamond bracelet and a17 ½ carat diamond ring at the time of her disappearance, the ring worth an estimated $38,000 in 1957, now worth over $250,000. Alternatively maybe the 47 year old entered the witness protection programme. Her numerous disparaging articles published in her newspaper the Joliet Spectator, reporting on mobsters, political corruption and illegal gambling. The Spectator took a heavy anti-gambling stance, which proved considerably unpopular at the time, necessitating Zelko’s immediate FBI orchestrated disappearance to ensure her own safety.
The most likely explanation for her disappearance however proved to be slightly more ominous. Rumours circulating at the time suggested that Zelko’s disappearance was a mob hit, initiated due to her articles and anti-gambling stance. Whatever the reason for Zelko’s uncharacteristic disappearance, her fate has remained a topic of speculation for fifty-two years in the city of Joliet.
Zelko left the Cass Street offices of the Joliet Spectator downtown Joliet Illinois on the evening of Wednesday 25th September 1957, for the three minute drive home at approximately 11.30pm, wishing colleagues a good night saying she’d see them tomorrow. She never did. On her way home Zelko stopped off at a local bar for a drink, tipping the bar man a half dollar, she received $4 change and made two telephone calls, before returning to her car to make the short drive home. She arrived home around midnight, parking her car outside her Buell Avenue home, leaving the keys beneath the passenger seat, as she often did. Shortly afterwards three neighbours reported hearing screams at approximately 11.35am, two neighbours who lived in her building heard screams of “oh, no, no, no” (which they dismissed as teenagers fooling around), followed by a car driving away at high speed between midnight and 12.15am. As well as the reports of a man, now in his fifties, who lived in the area as a boy, and supposedly heard a woman’s screams, followed by two cars crossing a nearby bridge, parking opposite each other on Benton Street (an active construction site at the time), followed by further screams apparently from the same woman and two gunshots, after which one car left the scene and a fork lift truck began operation (possibly burying the woman’s body). Notably the boy’s mother told him to keep his “mouth shut”. The only remaining trace of Zelko was her shoes, black open toed pumps, which she told friends she would kick off before running away if she were attacked.
The following day police determined her second floor apartment had not been slept in. Captain John Dillan of the Joliet Police combed the entire area by helicopter, failing to locate any trace whatsoever of the missing woman, police initially believed she had been kidnapped. They pieced together her last day. Her movements leading investigators from her early morning breakfast of a bacon on toast sandwich and black coffee to a violent argument with a uniformed Joliet police officer, so loud it was overheard by colleagues through Molly’s closed office door, which left Molly visibly shaken and close to tears, the day culminating in her disappearance that night.
An unidentified female witness claimed years later that she saw four men with a black car bury a woman’s body near the bottom of an open storm sewer ditch close to Zelko’s home the day she vanished. The men carrying a “bundle in a blanket” out of the boot of the car, an arm falling out, revealing a human corpse. Yet no trace of Molly Zelko dead or alive has been found since that date.
INVESTIGATION:
Robert “Bobby” Kennedy brother of future president JFK, then Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee, travelled to Joliet in 1958 alongside his chief investigator Jim McShane and Convict James Rini (known as the “Green Hornet”) who serving time for breaking and damaging bar coin machines not owned by the mafia, wrote to Kennedy expressing his involvement in Zelko’s murder. Kennedy subsequently removed Rini from Statesville Penitentiary, and on 9th Nov 1959 excavated an orchard on the farm of Mike Kozak on Renwick Road Joliet but to no avail. Rini later admitted the whole episode was a hoax, refusing to testify to the Racket’s Committee regarding Zelko’s disappearance, choosing to plea the Fifth Amendment
The FBI declined to investigate her disappearance at all, despite a petition requesting their intervention signed by 5000 Joliet residents and J Edgar Hoover’s personal interest in the case as indicated in numerous memos circulated throughout the FBI, obtained via freedom of information laws. Her disappearance remains an enigma, there has been no activity on her bank account or social security number since 1957, and absolutely no sightings of her whatsoever, she was declared legally dead in 1964.
What made the case so shocking was Zelko’s status in society. Coming from a well known financially solvent local family, with a long standing history in the area dating back years , the question asked by friends, family and anyone acquainted with the case was “how could someone so noticeable, so well known just disappear, with absolutely no trace whatsoever?” Disappearances in 1957 were not common place, let alone in the small close knit society of Joliet and certainly not amongst society’s elite. Yet little remains of Zelko’s life or case. Her family, distant relatives, still remain in Joliet, many of her friends since departed, the Joliet Spectator ceased publication in 1965, not even her articles written before her death are accessible, except on microfilm. The only remaining indication that Amelia Zelko ever even existed being in outdated police files, a few obscure articles regarding her disappearance and her entry on missing persons websites such as the doe network and the charley project.
And yet the unfathomable disappearance of a pretty, talented, respected, well off woman still haunts the quiet city of Joliet. Apparently snatched outside her home, no clear motive for her disappearance other than the subject matter of her articles, no suspects were ever identified. And yet Zelko obviously left her mark on someone, namely her killer.
THE CASE DOES NOT END THERE!
A local reporter by the name of John Whiteside, a columnist at the Herald News in Joliet, took up the case alongside his writing partner Lonny Cain in 1978; publishing a 12 part series expose on the case from 24th September to 6th October, precipitating a thirty – four year obsession for Whiteside, who wrote regularly about the case until his death in 2005. Whiteside was instigative in reopening the Illinois State Police case into Zelko’s disappearance in January 1995, interviewing many witnesses throughout the years and actively following up countless leads.
Another journalist who also spent time on the case, was Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Thoedore Link of the St Louis Post Dispatch, who located a recording made two years before her death, obtained by Zelko and in the possession of a male friend proving collusion between several contractors bidding on Joliet public works contracts. Zelko was also in the possession of similar tapes implicating various politicians and gangsters in shady dealings.
In subsequent years, mainly due to Whiteside’s persistence, several leads have come to light supposedly identifying the final resting place of Molly Zelko. Investigators Rick Klimes and Mike Stavola were drawn a map, supplied by a confidential informant of the exact spot where Zelko was buried all those years ago. Coincidentally the spot coincided with that identified by the man who as a young boy lived in the area in 1957 and swore he heard a woman scream twice, saw two cars opposite each other on Benton Street and heard a front loader digging up the ground the night Molly disappeared. As a result of the map from the unidentified witness an expert from the Environmental Protection Agency searched a 170 by 13 ft area with ground penetrating radar, which whilst emitting disturbances in the ground below was never deemed sufficient evidence to fully investigate and dig up the scene.
Another tip received in the 1960’s suggested Zelko was buried in a grave near a flowing well in Pilcher Park Joliet. A tip which turned up empty. While Whiteside remained of the opinion that he would one day find Zelko buried under a storm sewer on Stryker Avenue not that far from her home on Buell Avenue. In 2002 an unidentified construction worker who had worked on Stryker Avenue wrote to Whiteside indicating that he worked on the Stryker Avenue storm sewer in 1957, that he attended work the day after Molly’s disappearance on the 26th September, and that a section of the sewer which had been left unfilled the day before had suddenly and inexplicably been filled in over night. Adding to speculation that Molly Zelko had indeed been disposed of on Stryker Avenue.
A 2004 article published in the Herald News suggested Zelko’s remains would be found in a cement filled bathtub located by Karl and Rebecca Darley buried on the grounds of their 429 Buell Avenue home (close to Molly’s house) on 10th October 2004. However after enlisting the Cook County Bomb Squad to x-ray the concrete with no positive results, Sergeant Dave Stoddard, Officer William Smith and Rick Trafton took to the task of demolishing the suspect concrete grave under the watchful eyes of Chief David Gerdes, Deputy Chief Fred Hayes and Investigations Commander Charles Stien to no avail. Yet again the fate of Molly Zelko proved as illusive as ever.
THE CLUES WERE THERE!
Whilst Zelko’s disappearance remains a mystery. One for the history books. Is it still possible her remains could be found after all these years? John Whiteside certainly thought so. The clues were all around investigators, yet no one ever seemed to place the pieces together. There were just questions. Who were Molly’s enemies? What was the motive for her disappearance? Who was the uniformed police officer who accosted Zelko in her office that night? Was he delivering a threat or a warning? And what happened to the expensive jewellery she’d been wearing at the time of her disappearance? Most of the answers proved to be in Whiteside’s articles. Articles put together with witness testimony, original police reports and Zelko’s own articles.
The 17 ½ carat ring given to her by her brother Edwin which had been part of a display at the 1934 Worlds Fair in Chicago, surfaced years later in the possession of a local unnamed politician, described as a close personal friend of Zelko’s. The ring, later returned to her family, now takes pride of place in the families safe deposit box. But this just raises one more questions. If Zelko was kidnapped and murdered for whatever reason, how did this “politician” get a hold of her ring? And conversely if Zelko did go into hiding, why would she leave the ring behind in the hands of a politician? Especially considering her obvious contempt for many of the local politicians in Joliet at the time of her disappearance.
The deeper anyone digs into the mystery the more mysterious it becomes. Such as the discovery that in 1937 the offices of the Joliet Spectator were bombed, a single bomb being thrown through the windows, causing considerable damage. The bullet holes in the window next to Molly’s desk at the newspapers offices. Or the fact that Molly Zelko was in fact part owner of the paper, which was not disclosed until after her disappearance. Although even more perplexing than this was the connection between Molly Zelko and 31 year old Joliet police captain Billy Dagget, who had reportedly been “close” to Molly and whom in January 1957, nine months before Molly’s disappearance, killed himself for an unknown reason. He was married just seven weeks before his death.
Adding further flames to fire was the August 5th city council election of candidates. Just one month before Zelko disappeared the Joliet Spectator publicly backed the election of candidates who voted to outlaw pin ball machines. A big money maker for the Mob. Or perhaps the fact that Zelko sent a reporter accompanied by a photographer to investigate a downtown gambling house one week before her disappearance, had something to do with her fate? Yet the most promising clue to unravelling the tale of Molly’s disappearance lies with her business partner, co-owner of the Joliet Spectator, Molly’s ex-boss and ex-county state’s attorney William “Bill” McCabe.
McCabe & Zelko had worked together at the State Prosecutors Office; Zelko employed as McCabe’s secretary, left the prosecutors office together in 1936 when McCabe brought the paper. Zelko worked her way up from Secretary to Reporter, Editor and finally part owner of the paper. Yet she became obsessed, when in 1947 McCabe was attacked, beaten, shot and left for dead close to the offices on Bruce Road. McCabe suffered Ill health after the attack, taking a back seat in the running of the newspaper. An enraged Zelko set out to find out who had orchestrated the attempted murder; prying and asking questions of those she thought could help. She even went as far as to drive past the local mob boss’s home, taking down license plate numbers of his guests, in an effort to find out who he was doing business with.
At the time of her death Zelko believed she was close to finding the attackers of Bill McCabe. Luckily for them however she disappeared into obscurity taking their names with her. McCabe died in August 1958, leaving a sad ending to an even sadder story. Were the same people who were responsible for McCabe’s attempted murder also to blame for Zelko’s disappearance and no doubt subsequent murder? Was it the Mafia or local politicians and law enforcement that brought about her untimely end?
I’m afraid that unless those with the answers come forward the mystery of what happened to Molly Zelko and the whereabouts of her remains may never be revealed.
The conclusion of this “made for TV” real life murder mystery, will never be final. If reporter John Whiteside knew the identity of Zelko’s killers or the whereabouts of her remains, he took it with him to his grave. The one and only thing which remains intact is Zelko’s stringent ideals. Stand up for the little man, say what you believe in and stick to your guns. At least she taught us that much.
The most likely explanation for her disappearance however proved to be slightly more ominous. Rumours circulating at the time suggested that Zelko’s disappearance was a mob hit, initiated due to her articles and anti-gambling stance. Whatever the reason for Zelko’s uncharacteristic disappearance, her fate has remained a topic of speculation for fifty-two years in the city of Joliet.
Zelko left the Cass Street offices of the Joliet Spectator downtown Joliet Illinois on the evening of Wednesday 25th September 1957, for the three minute drive home at approximately 11.30pm, wishing colleagues a good night saying she’d see them tomorrow. She never did. On her way home Zelko stopped off at a local bar for a drink, tipping the bar man a half dollar, she received $4 change and made two telephone calls, before returning to her car to make the short drive home. She arrived home around midnight, parking her car outside her Buell Avenue home, leaving the keys beneath the passenger seat, as she often did. Shortly afterwards three neighbours reported hearing screams at approximately 11.35am, two neighbours who lived in her building heard screams of “oh, no, no, no” (which they dismissed as teenagers fooling around), followed by a car driving away at high speed between midnight and 12.15am. As well as the reports of a man, now in his fifties, who lived in the area as a boy, and supposedly heard a woman’s screams, followed by two cars crossing a nearby bridge, parking opposite each other on Benton Street (an active construction site at the time), followed by further screams apparently from the same woman and two gunshots, after which one car left the scene and a fork lift truck began operation (possibly burying the woman’s body). Notably the boy’s mother told him to keep his “mouth shut”. The only remaining trace of Zelko was her shoes, black open toed pumps, which she told friends she would kick off before running away if she were attacked.
The following day police determined her second floor apartment had not been slept in. Captain John Dillan of the Joliet Police combed the entire area by helicopter, failing to locate any trace whatsoever of the missing woman, police initially believed she had been kidnapped. They pieced together her last day. Her movements leading investigators from her early morning breakfast of a bacon on toast sandwich and black coffee to a violent argument with a uniformed Joliet police officer, so loud it was overheard by colleagues through Molly’s closed office door, which left Molly visibly shaken and close to tears, the day culminating in her disappearance that night.
An unidentified female witness claimed years later that she saw four men with a black car bury a woman’s body near the bottom of an open storm sewer ditch close to Zelko’s home the day she vanished. The men carrying a “bundle in a blanket” out of the boot of the car, an arm falling out, revealing a human corpse. Yet no trace of Molly Zelko dead or alive has been found since that date.
INVESTIGATION:
Robert “Bobby” Kennedy brother of future president JFK, then Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee, travelled to Joliet in 1958 alongside his chief investigator Jim McShane and Convict James Rini (known as the “Green Hornet”) who serving time for breaking and damaging bar coin machines not owned by the mafia, wrote to Kennedy expressing his involvement in Zelko’s murder. Kennedy subsequently removed Rini from Statesville Penitentiary, and on 9th Nov 1959 excavated an orchard on the farm of Mike Kozak on Renwick Road Joliet but to no avail. Rini later admitted the whole episode was a hoax, refusing to testify to the Racket’s Committee regarding Zelko’s disappearance, choosing to plea the Fifth Amendment
The FBI declined to investigate her disappearance at all, despite a petition requesting their intervention signed by 5000 Joliet residents and J Edgar Hoover’s personal interest in the case as indicated in numerous memos circulated throughout the FBI, obtained via freedom of information laws. Her disappearance remains an enigma, there has been no activity on her bank account or social security number since 1957, and absolutely no sightings of her whatsoever, she was declared legally dead in 1964.
What made the case so shocking was Zelko’s status in society. Coming from a well known financially solvent local family, with a long standing history in the area dating back years , the question asked by friends, family and anyone acquainted with the case was “how could someone so noticeable, so well known just disappear, with absolutely no trace whatsoever?” Disappearances in 1957 were not common place, let alone in the small close knit society of Joliet and certainly not amongst society’s elite. Yet little remains of Zelko’s life or case. Her family, distant relatives, still remain in Joliet, many of her friends since departed, the Joliet Spectator ceased publication in 1965, not even her articles written before her death are accessible, except on microfilm. The only remaining indication that Amelia Zelko ever even existed being in outdated police files, a few obscure articles regarding her disappearance and her entry on missing persons websites such as the doe network and the charley project.
And yet the unfathomable disappearance of a pretty, talented, respected, well off woman still haunts the quiet city of Joliet. Apparently snatched outside her home, no clear motive for her disappearance other than the subject matter of her articles, no suspects were ever identified. And yet Zelko obviously left her mark on someone, namely her killer.
THE CASE DOES NOT END THERE!
A local reporter by the name of John Whiteside, a columnist at the Herald News in Joliet, took up the case alongside his writing partner Lonny Cain in 1978; publishing a 12 part series expose on the case from 24th September to 6th October, precipitating a thirty – four year obsession for Whiteside, who wrote regularly about the case until his death in 2005. Whiteside was instigative in reopening the Illinois State Police case into Zelko’s disappearance in January 1995, interviewing many witnesses throughout the years and actively following up countless leads.
Another journalist who also spent time on the case, was Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Thoedore Link of the St Louis Post Dispatch, who located a recording made two years before her death, obtained by Zelko and in the possession of a male friend proving collusion between several contractors bidding on Joliet public works contracts. Zelko was also in the possession of similar tapes implicating various politicians and gangsters in shady dealings.
In subsequent years, mainly due to Whiteside’s persistence, several leads have come to light supposedly identifying the final resting place of Molly Zelko. Investigators Rick Klimes and Mike Stavola were drawn a map, supplied by a confidential informant of the exact spot where Zelko was buried all those years ago. Coincidentally the spot coincided with that identified by the man who as a young boy lived in the area in 1957 and swore he heard a woman scream twice, saw two cars opposite each other on Benton Street and heard a front loader digging up the ground the night Molly disappeared. As a result of the map from the unidentified witness an expert from the Environmental Protection Agency searched a 170 by 13 ft area with ground penetrating radar, which whilst emitting disturbances in the ground below was never deemed sufficient evidence to fully investigate and dig up the scene.
Another tip received in the 1960’s suggested Zelko was buried in a grave near a flowing well in Pilcher Park Joliet. A tip which turned up empty. While Whiteside remained of the opinion that he would one day find Zelko buried under a storm sewer on Stryker Avenue not that far from her home on Buell Avenue. In 2002 an unidentified construction worker who had worked on Stryker Avenue wrote to Whiteside indicating that he worked on the Stryker Avenue storm sewer in 1957, that he attended work the day after Molly’s disappearance on the 26th September, and that a section of the sewer which had been left unfilled the day before had suddenly and inexplicably been filled in over night. Adding to speculation that Molly Zelko had indeed been disposed of on Stryker Avenue.
A 2004 article published in the Herald News suggested Zelko’s remains would be found in a cement filled bathtub located by Karl and Rebecca Darley buried on the grounds of their 429 Buell Avenue home (close to Molly’s house) on 10th October 2004. However after enlisting the Cook County Bomb Squad to x-ray the concrete with no positive results, Sergeant Dave Stoddard, Officer William Smith and Rick Trafton took to the task of demolishing the suspect concrete grave under the watchful eyes of Chief David Gerdes, Deputy Chief Fred Hayes and Investigations Commander Charles Stien to no avail. Yet again the fate of Molly Zelko proved as illusive as ever.
THE CLUES WERE THERE!
Whilst Zelko’s disappearance remains a mystery. One for the history books. Is it still possible her remains could be found after all these years? John Whiteside certainly thought so. The clues were all around investigators, yet no one ever seemed to place the pieces together. There were just questions. Who were Molly’s enemies? What was the motive for her disappearance? Who was the uniformed police officer who accosted Zelko in her office that night? Was he delivering a threat or a warning? And what happened to the expensive jewellery she’d been wearing at the time of her disappearance? Most of the answers proved to be in Whiteside’s articles. Articles put together with witness testimony, original police reports and Zelko’s own articles.
The 17 ½ carat ring given to her by her brother Edwin which had been part of a display at the 1934 Worlds Fair in Chicago, surfaced years later in the possession of a local unnamed politician, described as a close personal friend of Zelko’s. The ring, later returned to her family, now takes pride of place in the families safe deposit box. But this just raises one more questions. If Zelko was kidnapped and murdered for whatever reason, how did this “politician” get a hold of her ring? And conversely if Zelko did go into hiding, why would she leave the ring behind in the hands of a politician? Especially considering her obvious contempt for many of the local politicians in Joliet at the time of her disappearance.
The deeper anyone digs into the mystery the more mysterious it becomes. Such as the discovery that in 1937 the offices of the Joliet Spectator were bombed, a single bomb being thrown through the windows, causing considerable damage. The bullet holes in the window next to Molly’s desk at the newspapers offices. Or the fact that Molly Zelko was in fact part owner of the paper, which was not disclosed until after her disappearance. Although even more perplexing than this was the connection between Molly Zelko and 31 year old Joliet police captain Billy Dagget, who had reportedly been “close” to Molly and whom in January 1957, nine months before Molly’s disappearance, killed himself for an unknown reason. He was married just seven weeks before his death.
Adding further flames to fire was the August 5th city council election of candidates. Just one month before Zelko disappeared the Joliet Spectator publicly backed the election of candidates who voted to outlaw pin ball machines. A big money maker for the Mob. Or perhaps the fact that Zelko sent a reporter accompanied by a photographer to investigate a downtown gambling house one week before her disappearance, had something to do with her fate? Yet the most promising clue to unravelling the tale of Molly’s disappearance lies with her business partner, co-owner of the Joliet Spectator, Molly’s ex-boss and ex-county state’s attorney William “Bill” McCabe.
McCabe & Zelko had worked together at the State Prosecutors Office; Zelko employed as McCabe’s secretary, left the prosecutors office together in 1936 when McCabe brought the paper. Zelko worked her way up from Secretary to Reporter, Editor and finally part owner of the paper. Yet she became obsessed, when in 1947 McCabe was attacked, beaten, shot and left for dead close to the offices on Bruce Road. McCabe suffered Ill health after the attack, taking a back seat in the running of the newspaper. An enraged Zelko set out to find out who had orchestrated the attempted murder; prying and asking questions of those she thought could help. She even went as far as to drive past the local mob boss’s home, taking down license plate numbers of his guests, in an effort to find out who he was doing business with.
At the time of her death Zelko believed she was close to finding the attackers of Bill McCabe. Luckily for them however she disappeared into obscurity taking their names with her. McCabe died in August 1958, leaving a sad ending to an even sadder story. Were the same people who were responsible for McCabe’s attempted murder also to blame for Zelko’s disappearance and no doubt subsequent murder? Was it the Mafia or local politicians and law enforcement that brought about her untimely end?
I’m afraid that unless those with the answers come forward the mystery of what happened to Molly Zelko and the whereabouts of her remains may never be revealed.
The conclusion of this “made for TV” real life murder mystery, will never be final. If reporter John Whiteside knew the identity of Zelko’s killers or the whereabouts of her remains, he took it with him to his grave. The one and only thing which remains intact is Zelko’s stringent ideals. Stand up for the little man, say what you believe in and stick to your guns. At least she taught us that much.
Thursday 29 April 2010
There are several macabre shows on television nowadays detailing infamous and not so infamous cases, pertaining to missing persons, murders, suicides, robberies, fraud, extortion and organised crime. And occasionally an interesting, and by interesting I mean unfathomable case comes to light, which intrigues our dark side and riles our imagination. We call this entertainment. And I myself am guilty of watching such shows, to find out how they caught the bad guy! Unfortunately, when we turn off the television, the people featured in these cases are still missing, still dead and for a lot of them still without justice!
Here are some of the cases that had a profound effect on me! See if you can help? Do you know any of these people or what became of them?
Sharon Marshall (aka, Suzanne Davis and Tonya Dawn Tadlock)who was kidnapped between Jun 1973 - Aug 1975 at the approximate age of 4-6, by paedophile Franklin Delano Floyd and raised as his daughter. This young woman was given a scholarship to Georgia Tech to study Aerospace Design and had an above average IQ. She was eventually forced by Floyd to marry him, and to have plastic surgery/work as an exotic dancer. Floyd murdered a fried of Sharon's, another dancer Cheryl Anne Commesso, when she threatened to report him to the authorities for abusing Sharon's young son Michael Anthony Hughes (born 1988), who was not Floyd's biological child! Sharon, was hit by a car one night in April 1990 in mysterious circumstances and having survived the crash later died in hospital after a late night visit from Floyd. Michael was eventually put into care, and was overcoming his developmental difficulties, when Floyd kidnapped him and his principal at gun point in 1994, leaving the principal tied to a tree in a wooded area. Michael was never seen again. Floyd is currently on death row for the 1989 murder of Cheryl Anne Commesso. The case is detailed in Matt Birbecks book a Beautiful Child. Despite the extensive efforts of law enforcement agencies, Matt Birbeck and many private individuals, the real identity of the girl and woman known as Sharon Marshall, has never been discovered, and the fate of her son has also never been discovered. DO YOU KNOW WHO SHE IS OR WHERE HER SON IS? PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE THEIR PICTURES.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/8ufok.html
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1061dmok.html
Another bizarre case is that of Gordon Collins, who after a boating accident during a storm off of the coast of Santa Rosalia in 1991 with two Friends and his girlfriend, during which his girlfriend and male friend died, the body of the friends girlfriend never being found, was sighted in numerous locations around Mexico and even arrested for stealing food, but later released. When sighted Gordon, known as Gordy, was half naked wearing just shorts and stated that he was waiting for Friends whom he had gone on a fishing trip with. He was disorientated, probably suffering from some form of Amnesia and drifting from place to place lived on the kindness of strangers, but he was still alive! In three months Gordon was spotted 50 times in 7 different locations and then disappeared and has not been seen or heard from since. Have you seen Gordon? Do you know where he is?
Pictures of Gordon and a more detailed case history can be found from the link below.
http://www.unsolved.com/missing.html
Tami Lynn Leppert a young aspiring actress, capable of winning roles in films such as Spring Break and Scar Face, disappeared from the face of the earth, in 1983 aged 18, after months of displaying seemingly irrational behaviour, stating that she'd seen something she wasn't supposed to at a Hollywood style party in Florida, which she'd attended unchaperoned and that someone was out to kill her. Although she refused to say who. Tammy, a beauty queen who won 280 beauty contests by the age of 16, was last seen in Cocoa Beach Florida, exiting the car of a mail acquaintance after a disagreement between the two, wearing no shoes and not i possession of any money. Tammy's mother died not knowing what had happened to her daughter, and her sister is still searching for her! Do you know what happened to Tammy or why she was apparently frightened for her life?
To find Tammy's case please visit http://www.unsolved.com/missing.html
Cindy James, a Nurse, from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was found dead in mysterious circumstances, on 8th Jun 1989, drugged and strangled, her hands and feet tied behind her back, in the garden of an abandoned house, after having been missing for several days. This was the tragic culmination of 7 years of hell for the nurse who was stalked by an unknown assailant(s). Threatening phone calls and notes becoming the norm, she was even physically attacked and almost killed several times, as well as her home being set alight while she was sleeping upstairs. Cindy reported 100 separate incidences of harassment to police during the 7 years before her death. Yet no real explanation for the harassment or her death ever materialised, police choosing to believe that the 44 year old, drugged, strangled and tied herself up in what turned out to be a successful suicide attempt. But is there someone out there who holds the key to what really happened to Cindy? There is no way this was a suicide! It's far too elaborate. Who murdered Cindy James and why?
The link to her sister's website relating to her death is;
http://www.melaniehack.com/
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