Detective Writer

Murder Mystery Storytime: Digna Ochoa!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you about another unsolved murder in Mexico, the assassination of human rights lawyer, Digna Ochoa.

Ochoa was born in Veracruz, Mexico on May 15th, 1964. Prior to becoming a human rights lawyer, Ochoa was a nun. However, in 1999, without taking her vows, she left the Dominican convent of the Incarnate Word where she had been studying since 1991. In 1984, Ochoa entered law school and by 1988, she had already been involved with opposition groups.

On August 16th, 1998, Ochoa was kidnapped in Veracruz she was alleged to have been raped, and the individuals who abducted her were state police; however, there were no investigations into her case.

Unfortunately, that horrific incident would be the first of several for Ochoa. In August 1999, Ochoa was kidnapped and held in a car while in Mexico City. In October 1999, while still in Mexico City, Ochoa was abducted again and had been interrogated the whole night while placed next to an open gas cylinder. In August 2000, she went into exile in Washington, DC.

Although, in March 2001, when she returned to Mexico City, her court-ordered protection was lifted in August 2001. By October 2001, she was already working in law offices in Mexico City.

On October 19th, 2001, while in her law office in Mexico City, Ocho was murdered by a gunshot to the head. A note had been found in her body warning her members/coworkers that they could be next. Initially, her death was ruled a homicide by the Mexico City police but by March 2002, it was ruled a suicide despite numerous objections from human rights activists. According to the autopsy report, her body had two .22 caliber bullet wounds with the entry on the left side of her body, but she was right-handed. Her case was later reopened in 2005. While it is still unknown what exactly happened or who could have killed Ochoa, in 2021, Mexico admitted there was wrongdoing in her death investigation. Perhaps we can finally figure out the clues to this mysterious case and Ochoa can receive the justice she deserves. Let me know what you think, DETECTIVES!

I hope you have enjoyed this storytime as much as I did, DETECTIVES! Please let me know in the comments if you want to have more storytime! Have a great day, night, afternoon, or evening, DETECTIVES! Stay tuned for next week’s post; until then, keep on sleuthing, DETECTIVES!

Murder Mystery Storytime: Victoria Cafasso!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about an unsolved crime in Australia, the case of Victoria Cafasso.

Victoria Cafasso was a twenty-year-old woman born on June 8th, 1975 in Surrey, England. Cafasso was a dual citizen of both Italy and England because of both her birth and that she was living in Italy with her parents and younger sister. Her mother worked in a travel agency and her father was a lawyer. She was trilingual in French, Italian, and English. She went on vacation to visit a cousin in Tasmania and a grandma in England after choosing not to attend school for a bit.

On October 6th, 1975, she arrived in Launceston and she was received by a cousin and friend also visiting but from Sydney. She was seen leaving her cousin’s house a few times to go to Beaumaris Beach over the few days of her visit.

On the morning of October 11th, 1975, at around 9 A.M., Cafasso went out for another walk on the beach. Allegedly, around 10 A.M., she was sunbathing. Around 1:30 P.M., her body was discovered partly in the water, a bit undressed, and some of her items were found about fifty meters up the beach. It was estimated her time of death must have been around 11:30 A.M. and 12:35 P.M. A few other belongings of her such as her towel, shirt, bikini bottoms, and the murder weapon have never been found.

In 2005, the coroner stated that she suffered over seventeen stab wounds and had been brutally attached on the beach. Although, she had tried to defend herself with a blunt object that had broken three of her teeth but not from the multiple stabbings. To this day, the murder has never been solved and the police response was viewed as controversial because Cafasso’s body had been moved, forensic investigators did not arrive at the scene, no photos nor videos were taken, and she was covered by a waterproof cloth and not the scene, and it was not immediately blocked off from the public which reportedly had been over fifty people. Whoever took Cafasso’s life, has never been identified.

The Mystery of María Belén Bernal!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about a mystery that has recently spooked Ecuador, the case of María Belén Bernal.

Bernal was an Ecuadorian lawyer who went missing on September 2022 after she went to visit her husband in Quito who was working at Gral. Alberto Enríquez Gallo Police Academy. On September 11th, 2022, she had been delivering a burger to him and was not seen afterward. Her husband was released on September 13th, 2022 after being asked questions regarding his wife’s disappearance. He had driven off in a BMW motorcycle that his wife had purchased for him. However, he soon also went missing.

Ten days later, Bernal’s body was found near the slopes of a dormant volcano Casitahua. Her husband still has not been found to this day and there was a reward for his whereabouts.

Murder Mystery Storytime: The Stockton Serial Killer!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about a series of unsolved crimes currently going on in California, the case of the Stockton Serial Killer.

Starting from April 2021, California officials revealed multiple homicides with the fear there are more victims. In Stockton, there have been over seven shootings with over six fatal. The shooter still remains at large, hence no one knows who the individual is, nor if the person is working with someone else or additional people, or even the motive why these killings are happening.

On April 10th, 2021, a fourty-year-old Hispanic man was gunned down in Oakland, California.

On April 16th, 2021, a forty-six-year-old black woman was shot in Stockton. Thankfully, she had survived. Unfortunately, she is the only surviving victim but she managed to describe her shooter as about 5’10 to 6 feet tall, wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over his head, dark pants, and a black face mask, slim, and she said she was not sure of his race.

However, despite a recording of the suspect in question walking around, he or she has yet to be known. California police urge anyone with information to please come forward and finally place an end to this reign of terror. They are also offering a reward of over $85,000 USD. Please feel free to check out this video to learn more information, DETECTIVES!

What we know about the possible serial killer in Stockton | To The Point

Police have reported that all seven victims were men and each was also Hispanic/Latino.

Murder Mystery Storytime: Octavio Rojas Hernández!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about another unsolved crime in Mexico, the murder of Octavio Rojas Hernández.

Octavio Rojas Hernández was a Mexican man who was a reporter for El Buen Tono or otherwise known as “The Good Tone” for the crime section. However, before Hernández’s death, El Buen Tono had gone through a series of attacks with robberies, threatened arson, and even the Vanegas police chief was murdered by unidentified assailants while drivng his police car in April 2015.

On August 11th, 2014, a man arrived to Hernández’s house, requesting to purchase his vehicle that was parked outside his home. Hernández had just come back home and was about to relax when the man asked to speak with him. Hernández’s wife was inside their house when she heard gunshots but when she ran outside, the assassin had already run away. Hernández was shot over 4 times, twice in the head, once in his abdomen, and once in his left arm. To this day, the killer has never been found and no leads have gone far.

Murder Mystery Storytime: Marisela Escobedo Ortiz!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about another unsolved crime in Mexico, the murder of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz.

(Ortiz holding a photo of her daughter Rubi who was murdered).

Ortiz was born on June 12th, 1958 and she was the mother of a 16 year old girl named Rubí Frayre. In 2008, Frayre went missing, and soon afterward in 2009, she was found dead with her remains burnt and dismembered inside a trash bin in Ciudad Juárez. Her parents claimed that their daughter was murdered by her boyfriend, Sergio Rafael Barraza Bocanegra. After being located and arrested by police and taken to Juarez, Bocanegra confessed to the crime and burial of Frayre’s remains; however, due to a lack of evidence, he was acquitted.

Ortiz was understandably outraged and began multiple protests, demanding her daughter’s killer be retried and jailed. Eventually, a circuit court had finally overturned the appeal, and Bocanegra was soon sentenced for murder while still remaining a fugitive from justice. Basically meaning he had previously tried to flee from law enforcement to avoid persecution or giving testimony so not exactly receiving jail time.

On December 16th, 2010, Ortiz was at a vigil for her daughter when she was suddenly shot in the head by a masked man. She was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital. A brother-in-law’s corpse was also found on the street two days after Ortiz’s murder. While it was suspected Bocanegra was the assassin or at least had a hand in it; although, in 2012, he was killed in a fight with the Mexican military. To this day, the unknown individual has never been identified and a family’s grief continues to grow to this day. Perhaps one day the case can finally be solved and both mother and daughter can finally rest in peace.

Murder Mystery Storytime: Elisabeth Mandala!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about an unsolved crime in Mexico, the murder of Elisabeth Mandala.

Elisabeth Mandala was born in 1992 and she lived on a ranch in Texas. Her parents were divorced when she was a young girl. Her family was unaware that she had been working at the Moments Cabaret nightclub in Pasadena, Texas as an erotic dancer. She had also allegedly paid money into an online scam that was not specified.

On April 27th, 2010, Mandala had gone down to Mexico from Texas in a car. While she had told a few friends, her mother did not give her permission to go and found messages saying she was in Mexico but would return soon.

On May 1st, 2010, her mother reported her as a missing person after not hearing from her for some time. However, it was also the same day she would be found dead at 6 A.M. inside a pickup truck registered to Texas in a Mexican highway. She was only 18 years old. Two Mexican citizens, 38 year old, Dante Ruiz Siller and 44 year old, Luis Angel Estrella Mondragón were also inside the truck she was in as well. One of the men had a criminal record and both had false IDs. It was unknown why they were even with Mandala or what their relationship to her even was. The media had speculated that she was trying to smuggle the men into the U.S. but it was never proven and her family has continued to deny it.

The pickup truck was discovered after colliding with another truck. The other truck’s driver had no injuries. All three individuals were beaten to death. Houston police refused to investigate the case because she was found dead in Mexico, hence lacking jurisdiction. Mexican police had no leads as to who killed her, the motive, and no further leads. They also reported the crash was not intense enough to cause death. Mandala’s family also refused to pay a private investigator for the case because they had already spent so much money sending Mandala’s body back to the U.S. Her case remains unsolved to this day.

Murder Mystery Storytime: Dr. Friedrich Ritter & Dore Strauch!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about an unsolved case surrounding the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, my family’s native country back in the 1930s, the case of Dr. Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch!

In 1929, Berlin Dr. Friedrich Ritter and his former patient, Dore Strauch both left their spouses behind to be together in the paradise of the Galapagos Islands. They were considered the modern day of their time, Adam and Eve together because they both shed their clothes, removed their teeth, built a house from scratch, raised chicken and other farm animals, and only allowed themselves to wear boots for protection from the ground.

After some time living on the islands, a German family, The Wittmers, became inspired by the couple’s journey and soon set off for Floreana, an island in the Galapagos Islands as well. However, the neighbors were not so chummy with one another and rarely spoke to one another. Until a baroness named Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet arrived on the island with two male companions, Robert Philippson and Rudolf Lorenz. The relationship between all neighbors didn’t really improve and they didn’t seem much in common except a love for the island and a deep dislike for one another.

Suddenly on March 27th, 1934, Baroness Bosquet and Philippson mysteriously disappeared and were never heard from again. Soon afterward, Lorenz decided to return to Germany but the strangest thing was that his mummified remains along with a Norwegian fisherman he convinced to help him get to San Cristóbal, were both found inside a boat on Marchena Island- they did not get so far away.

In November 1934, Dr. Ritter passed away from food poisoning after eating spoiled chicken and it was believed that he may have been poisoned to death because accounts claimed he looked at Dore with such hatred and wrote a piece of paper before dying to Dore, “I curse you with my dying breath.” Soon after his death, Dore returned to Germany and died there in 1943. There have been several speculations as to what really happened. But what do you think occurred? Let me know your thoughts and opinions.

Murder Mystery Storytime: Bishop Benjamin de Jesus!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about another unsolved crime in the Philippines, the murder of Flipino priest, Benjamin de Jesus.

Bishop de Jesus was born in the National Capital Region on July 25th, 1940. On December 29th, 1967, he was officially ordained as a priest as a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. On February 4th, 1997, with no known motive nor known assailants, Bishop de Jesus was shot to death six times outside the Jolo Cathedral. Multiple individuals were wounded and one woman who was close by was killed as well. Although police suspected the Muslim group, Abu Sayyaf of being responsible for the murders, the crimes still remain unsolved. Bishop de Jesus was the first Filipino priest to be killed in the entire history of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

Murder Mystery Storytime: Fernando Solijon!

Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about another unsolved crime that has remained a total mystery to the people of the Philippines. In 2013, another radio journalist named Fernando Solijon was mysteriously assassinated and the case has never been solved to this day.

Fernando Solijon was born in 1966, his exact birth date is currently unknown but prior to his death, Solijon was a radio commentator of DXLS love radio for the Love Radio Network in Iligan City, Philippines for the past seven years.

On August 29th, 2013 around 10:30 P.M., Solijon was shot and killed by two assailants riding a motorcycle after he had been drinking with some friends. He was immediately rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead there from gunshot wounds to the forehead. Prior to his murder, his wife Melly Solijon said that her husband had received dozens of death threats, some of which were extremely brutal. A few threats advised Solijon to take caution while going outside and he prayed to God in thanks for allowing him to turn 47 years old. Melly even got a few phone calls asking if her husband was dead just hours before his murder. He was survived by his daughter, Jed, and wife, Melly and despite their best efforts, the police do not have any strong leads to solve the crime. Solijon was the 159th journalist to be assassinated in the Philippines.