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Thread: April Tinsley's (8) killer taunted investigators for 30 years with disturbing notes. DNA ends the mystery of who did it, police say

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    April Tinsley's (8) killer taunted investigators for 30 years with disturbing notes. DNA ends the mystery of who did it, police say



    The 5-year-old girl found the note tucked inside a plastic bag and left in a basket used as a flower pot.

    "Hi Honey I Been watching you," it said. "I am the same person that kidnapped an Rape an kill Aproil tinsely here is a present foR yo you are my next vitem."

    A used condom was stuffed in the bag alongside the note.




    It was March 2004 -- nearly 16 years after 8-year-old April Tinsley was abducted from a Fort Wayne, Indiana, neighborhood, raped and killed.

    Her killer remains at large, and police believe he has surfaced several times, scrawling a message in crayon on a barn in 1990, then leaving four chilling notes for children in the Fort Wayne area years later.

    Indiana authorities are now asking an FBI task force -- the Child Abduction Response Deployment (CARD) team -- to help take a fresh look at the case.

    "Investigators believe the case is 'highly solvable,' and after 21 years, their desire to bring April Tinsley's killer to justice is stronger than ever," the FBI said.

    CARD teams were created three years ago, aimed at bringing together "a variety of experts in child abduction cases who could quickly respond on the ground to help local authorities with time-sensitive investigations," the FBI said.

    April Marie Tinsley was playing outside with friends on Good Friday, April 1, 1988. As the three girls were moving from one friend's home to another's, the first-grader realized she had left her umbrella behind and went back to get it.

    She never returned. Her body was found three days later, in a ditch some 20 miles northeast of the Tinsley home. April's body was clothed, but an autopsy showed she had been raped and suffocated.

    Two years later, a teenage boy called police to report a message scrawled in crayon and black marker on the front doors of a barn about 10 miles from April's home. He never saw the writer, according to the TV program "America's Most Wanted," which profiled the case in May, but each day noticed the print was getting darker and more pronounced.

    Although the message was hard to read, the person wrote he had killed April, and that he would kill again. Crayons were left behind at the scene, "America's Most Wanted" said on its Web site. Police attempted to conduct forensic analysis on them, but came up empty.

    Then, in spring 2004, the four notes appeared at various Fort Wayne homes, several of them placed on bicycles that young girls had left in their yards. All the notes were written on lined yellow paper and placed inside plastic bags along with used condoms or Polaroids of the killer's body, the FBI said. Several notes referred to April.

    Authorities have reason to believe the writer of the 1990 note also left the notes 14 years later, Fort Wayne police said. "That tells us that the person's still around, still out there," said Fort Wayne police Capt. Paul Shrawder.


    DNA evidence was recovered from April's body and from the condoms, Shrawder said. While police have no one to match it with at this point, "things have been resubmitted and retested" as technological advances have been made, he said.


    In addition, the FBI has released a behavioral profile of Tinsley's killer. Police believe he is a white male currently in his 40s or 50s who prefers and desires sexual contact with children, particularly little girls.


    http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/04/indiana.fbi.cold.case/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

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    Olivia
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    Re: FBI joins hunt for killer who leaves taunting notes

    :-o

    This is the stuff of horror movies


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    Re: FBI joins hunt for killer who leaves taunting notes

    Why do people want to do this to children?

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    Re: FBI joins hunt for killer who leaves taunting notes

    This story makes me wanna    I bet when they catch whoever did this they are a half wit or something like that.  The way the notes were written is like they are really illiterate. Damn sickos that like to rape little kids should all be tortured when they are caught.
    American Witch, Crazy Bitch<br /><br />

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    Re: FBI joins hunt for killer who leaves taunting notes

    As scary and horrified that the girl's and their families were to find these notes, at least they know that they need to keep a very close eye on their children.&nbsp;

    What a nutcase!&nbsp; I hope they find this asshole soon.

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    Re: FBI joins hunt for killer who leaves taunting notes

    [quote author=Olivia link=topic=20193.msg1296806#msg1296806 date=1244161474]
    :-o

    This is the stuff of horror movies


    [/quote]

    That is exactly what i was thinking. Reading that note sent chills down my spine. I'm sure the note was misspelled on purpose. It adds a much more dramatic level of eeriness.....At least with me it does.

    Oh and...
    [quote author=aquatwins link=topic=20193.msg1296804#msg1296804 date=1244161252]
    In addition, the FBI has released a behavioral profile of Tinsley's killer. Police believe he is a white male currently in his 40s or 50s who prefers and desires sexual contact with children, particularly little girls.

    [/quote]

    REALLY?? :2huh: How did they come to that conclusion? Man the FBI and local police are very intuitive

    R.I.P April tinsley

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    Senior Member Words Words's Avatar
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    After 30 years, they finally caught the guy who killed April Tinsley

    Police have arrested a man in connection with Fort Wayne's most notorious cold case.

    On Sunday morning, the Fort Wayne Police Department and Indiana State Police arrested 59-year-old John D. Miller of Grabill for the April 1988 homicide of April Tinsley. According to a probable cause affidavit released to the media Sunday, Miller's DNA was matched to DNA recovered from Tinsley's underwear in 1988.

    Thirty years ago, the 8-year-old Tinsley was abducted from her south-central Fort Wayne neighborhood as she walked to a friend's home to pick up an umbrella. The first-grader's body was found by a jogger three days later in a ditch along a road in southern DeKalb County.
    She had been sexually molested, suffocated and dead for at least two days.

    According to the affidavit, police approached Miller after a DNA technology company that was working with Fort Wayne Police narrowed a suspect to two brothers: Miller and another man. After that early July development, police began surveillance on Miller's Grabill mobile home and began to analyze his trash.
    https://www.wane.com/news/local-news...ase/1304158155 More details at the link.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jolly Roger View Post
    Because they are probably not ghetto and hood like me.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Words Words View Post
    After 30 years, they finally caught the guy who killed April Tinsley



    https://www.wane.com/news/local-news...ase/1304158155 More details at the link.
    Familial DNA. I hope a lot of old criminals are pissing themselves right about now.

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    Senior Member Words Words's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by raisedbywolves View Post
    Familial DNA. I hope a lot of old criminals are pissing themselves right about now.
    I know! They all figured that it's been so long that they haven't figured it out by now, then they bring out new ways to find them. It's amazing.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jolly Roger View Post
    Because they are probably not ghetto and hood like me.

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    http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/lo...in-fort-wayne/

    A man accused of the 1988 killing of April Tinsley has been scheduled for a February trial.

    John D. Miller, 59, of the 13700 block of Main Street in Grabill, is scheduled for trial Feb. 11-22 on charges of murder and Class A felony child molesting. He was arrested July 15 in the April 1, 1988, abduction and killing of 8-year-old Tinsley. Her body was found three days after her disappearance in a ditch in the 5000 block of DeKalb County Road 68 near Spencerville. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
    If convicted, Miller would be sentenced according to penalties in effect in 1988, when the crimes occurred. At that time, murder carried a sentence of 30-60 years and Class A felony child molesting carried a sentence of 20-40 years. Indiana has since gone away from a class system for felonies and instituted a level system.

    Churchward said after the hearing that he had met with Miller and has “tons of paperwork” associated with the case. Churchward said he hadn’t assessed Miller’s fitness for trial, but if the defense team had any inkling that he couldn’t help in his defense the court would require a competency evaluation.

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    Child-killer (April Tinsley, 8) taunted investigators for 30 years with disturbing notes. DNA ends the mystery of who did it, police say

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_April_Tinsley

    https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/us/co...rnd/index.html

    (CNN)For three decades, the abduction, rape and murder of 8-year-old April Tinsley in April 1988 had frustrated Indiana investigators.

    The mysterious killer's taunting messages admitting to the crime, scrawled on a barn door and on paper notes threatening to kill again, only added to the desire to solve the cold case. Still, no suspect could be found.

    But thanks to advances in genealogy and DNA technology, the suspected killer was arrested and then confessed to the crime on Sunday -- more than 30 years after April's death.

    John D. Miller, 59, was preliminarily charged with murder, child molesting and criminal confinement of a victim under 14, according to Allen County Court's website.

    "Right now I'm numb," the girl's mother, Janet Tinsley, said Tuesday on CNN sister network HLN.
    She had feared over the years that an arrest would never come. "I can't believe it's finally here," she said.

    In court on Monday, Miller was given no bond and his next hearing was scheduled for July 19, according to online court records. CNN was not able to reach his attorney. Police connected him to the homicide by using DNA from the scene of the murder and from the taunting messages, and inputting them into a genealogical database. That led investigators to two men: Miller and his brother, according to a probable cause affidavit.

    DNA from Miller's garbage matched DNA from the crime scene and from the taunts, and when police brought him in for questioning, he confessed to the disturbing killing, the affidavit states.

    The cold case is one of several that have been solved in recent months because of advances in genealogy and DNA technology. In this case and in the Golden State Killer case, investigators had DNA evidence but could not match it to a specific person using state or national databases.

    But the growth of genealogical companies, where people enter their own DNA profiles, has allowed investigators to connect suspect DNA to an extended family match. That has helped police to narrow down the list of suspects to a much smaller number and allow targeted investigations.

    Death of April

    On Good Friday in 1988, April Tinsley was abducted while walking in her neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and then raped and murdered. Her body was found three days later about 20 miles away in a rural area, the FBI said.

    Police launched a search but could not find a suspect. But two years later, a message scrawled in pencil or crayon appeared on a barn door not far from where her body was found, the FBI said. "I kill 8 year old April Marie Tisley I will kill agin," the message said.

    Fourteen years after that, four taunting notes were found at various Fort Wayne residences, including several on bicycles that young girls left in their yards, the FBI said.

    "Hi Honey I Been watching you I am the same person that kinapped an Rape an kill Aproil Tinsely," the messages said. "you are my next vitem."

    The disturbing notes were found inside baggies along with used condoms or Polaroid pictures of the killer's body, the FBI said. The DNA from those condoms was determined to be consistent with the profile developed from the underwear of Tinsley, the probable cause affidavit said.

    But then the killer went silent. In 2009, the FBI joined in the search and called it "highly solvable," but no major breaks in the case came.

    Arrest of Miller

    In May 2018 -- just two weeks after police in California used genetic DNA testing analysis to arrest the Golden State Killer -- Fort Wayne Police detective Brian Martin arranged for genetic DNA testing in April Tinsley's case. Parabon Nanolabs, a DNA company based in Virginia, was contracted for the tests.

    The testing was able to narrow down the suspects in the case to Miller and his brother on July 2, the affidavit says. Investigators then examined Miller's trash and found three used condoms that matched the DNA evidence from the suspected killer.

    Once the match was established, authorities approached Miller at his residence in Grabill, Indiana. When asked why he thought police wanted to talk to him, Miller said "April Tinsley," the affidavit reads. In the police interview, Miller admitted that he abducted April in 1988, raped her and then choked her to death, the affidavit says. He also admitted that he had sex with her deceased body and then dumped her body, the affidavit says.





    Last edited by up2trouble; 06-14-2020 at 11:19 PM.

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    How DNA evidence linked John D. Miller to April Tinsley kidnapping, murder

    https://fortwaynesnbc.com/2018/12/07...apping-murder/

    FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) – DNA evidence and new technology lead to a breakthrough in one of Fort Wayne’s most notorious cold cases.

    John D. Miller, 59, was arrested on Sunday, July 15, in connection to the kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old April Tinsley in 1988.

    Miller admitted to kidnapping April Tinsley and taking her to his mobile home in Grabill, where he said he sexually assaulted, then suffocated her before dumping her body in a DeKalb County ditch.

    Over the years, April’s killer appeared to taunt authorities, scrawling on a barn in 1990 that he killed her, and would kill again.

    In 2004, police believe he put threatening notes on girls’ bicycles along with other clues that contained his DNA.

    In court on Friday, Miller entered a guilty plea and read a written statement to the courtroom admitting what went down in his Grabil trailer.

    Investigators who worked tirelessly on the case point to advances in DNA technology for the breakthrough, including their work with Parabon Nanolabs.

    Scientists used the suspect’s DNA and compared it to existing DNA databases like Ancestry.com and 23andMe.

    Using a tool called Snapshot, Parabon investigators can predict what people look like with traces of DNA.

    In May 2018, Parabon rolled out a new technology called Genetic Geneology, and linked with Snapshot, these developments helped point investigators to John D. Miller.

    Investigators searched for descendants who were related to the suspected killer, created a family tree going back in history, and then built it forward to find the right present-day branch.They then collected several items from Miller’s home with a search warrant containing his DNA. When those samples matched one of those collected in the past, detectives made their move.

    Steve Armentrout, founder and CEO of DNA technology company Parabon, says it’s rewarding to get an arrest after all their hard work.

    “The Tinsley case is a special one to us here at Parabon. It was the first case to which we applied the Snapshot technology back in mid-2014,” Armentrout said.

    Sergeant Dan Camp, a retired Fort Wayne detective, worked the April Tinsley case tirelessly for years, keeping her picture in his wallet until the day he retired.

    Camp told Fort Wayne’s NBC he knew a suspect would eventually be caught even though it didn’t happen on his watch.

    “They gave us the profile of the person that probably killed April. Matches him to a T. 29, white, single? Yeah, the whole nine yards. They hit it right on the head to what John Miller looks like and his characteristics today,” Camp says.


    The image on the left is Miller’s booking photo from the Allen County Jail. At right is one of the computer-generated images from 2016.

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    Scoopski Potatoes Nic B's Avatar
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    Those notes are terrifying!


    Quote Originally Posted by marakisses View Post
    yes i said i will leave it under you storage he said cuddle with me i said shut up it over??? what am i doing wrong??
    Quote Originally Posted by curiouscat View Post
    Happy Birthday! I hid a dead body in your backyard to celebrate. Good luck finding it under the cement. You can only use a stick to look for it.

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