The stillness of a warm September morning in the South was broken by something that didn’t belong: a bright red Jeep, abandoned and half-submerged in the murky edge of a quiet creek. Not far from it, drifting in the same dark water, was a young mother of two. What should have been a peaceful start to the day instead became the beginning of a mystery as clouded as the water itself.

For the detectives called to the scene, nothing about this case came easily. The deeper they looked, the more the details seemed to twist. Unanswered questions, unsettling circumstances, and relationships that were far more complicated than they first appeared. But as the truth slowly surfaced, it revealed something far more disturbing than anyone had been prepared to face.

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Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/244437525/?match=1&terms=18%20years%20later%3A%20What%20to%20know%20about%20Lee%20Ann%20Mangrum%27s%20killing
https://www.newspapers.com/image/276089133/?match=1&terms=%20Lee%20Ann%20Mangrum
https://www.tncourts.gov/press/2013/03/27/supreme-court-affirms-convictions-upon-finding-no-prosecutorial-misconduct
https://law.justia.com/cases/tennessee/court-of-criminal-appeals/2011/m2009-01810-cca-r3-cd.html
Snapped Season 24, Episode 25

The danger of a predator that stalks their victims online, the one that moves silently through glowing screens, is that they use cunning to trap those they prey upon. They study the patterns of their victims, learn their rhythm of life through late night posts and quiet confession. To them vulnerability isn’t a tragedy but rather a signal. With unsettling precision they are able to step in and be or say whatever they need to to become whatever their target needs. They lead with understand, compassion. They listen, they mirror, they comfort. They are exactly what their target craves or needs.

Pieces by piece they build trust, an assurance of safety. But behind the carefully chosen words and curated personas lies something sinister. It had been orchestrated in a way that by the time the illusions cracks their victim has already been trapped and the cage that has been so meticulously built around them has consumed them. The greatest weapon of the 21st century against the safety and sanctity of our homes is the internet, because it has allowed predators an opportunity to be stealthy enough to prey on your children and infiltrate your home…from the comfort of theirs.

Sources:

Newspaper articles accessed through Newspapers.com from 2002-2021. Papers include:
The Sun and The Mountain Echo
https://arkansasgravestones.org/view.php?id=821033
Caught in the Web: Four Part Series by Cathy Frye for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Investigation Discovery: Web of Lies Aired 1/15/2014
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-07-na-slay7-story.html
https://www.fbicollector.com/historybaltimoreinnocentimages.html
https://katv.com/community/good-morning-arkansas/officer-shares-personal-tragedy-to-warn-families-and-children-about-online-dangers?fbclid=IwAR3TIHuLlb56dvkRSQ9xaLc0LXJHrz8OmNrIs4LdxOIF8AA2UIv00U84ByE

Two screams pierced the silent, unseasonably warm and windy night of October 13, 1997 in Lawrenceville, Illinois. The first, was that of 10 year old Joel Kirkpatrick as he desperately sought help against the person who had entered his room in the black of night and had attacked him with a knife. The second scream was that of his mother’s as she ran to her neighbors house and pounded on their door desperately seeking help. She begged for them to open up. “They’ve got Joel”, she bellowed into the closed door, “They took Joel.”

Once the shock of what had happened settled, and the years went on the question that lingered was whether or not the person that hurt Joel was the least likeliest suspect or the dangerous stranger that had rolled into town with that warm wind.

Trigger warning: violence against a child

Sources:
https://www.greatnorthinnocenceproject.org/news/bloodstain-pattern-analysis-another-subjective-science-convicting-innocent-people/
https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2004/06/26/court-overturns-rea-convictio/118184118/
https://www.uis.edu/illinoisinnocenceproject/julie-rea
https://nationalpublicdata.com/people/r/julie-rea/tn/martin/pd06p1qslq5zi0nmlilw2zf05nyb8p17/
https://www.illinoistimes.com/news/who-killed-joel-11440266/
https://www.propublica.org/article/bloodstain-pattern-analysis-jury-wrongful-conviction-acquitted-exonerated
https://www.newspapers.com/image/84706396/?terms=Joel%20Kirkpatrick
https://www.newspapers.com/image/84742918/?match=1&terms=Joel%20Kirkpatrick
https://www.newspapers.com/image/84769767/?match=1&terms=Joel%20Kirkpatrick
https://www.newspapers.com/image/84769827/?terms=Joel%20Kirkpatrick
https://www.illinoistimes.com/news/who-killed-joel-11440266/
https://www.facebook.com/ABC2020/videos/julie-rea-recalls-what-happened-night-her-son-was-killed-2020-goodnight-mother/854470515223652/
https://wwws.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/documents/nulawreporterwparticle.pdf
Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells by Diane Fanning