Derrick Kucera: the faceless man

Source: Framepool

When looking at missing persons from Alabama, I found the profile of 23-year-old man who disappeared without a trace in 1986. This man, Derrick Kucera, was a green-eyed blond who stood at 5’9ft, but no picture could corroborate this description. I looked for an image of Derrick in different places all over the internet to no avail. What’s worse is that his DNA isn’t available on the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), making his identification more complicated in case his body is recovered. 

In 1986, Derrick was living with his parents and with his brother in Hillsboro, Alabama, and attending Calhoun Community College. On October 29, while both parents were out on a trip, Derrick’s brother Darrell left him alone for about an hour to buy something at the store. When Darrell came back, Derrick was nowhere to be seen. His wallet and keys had been left behind, and there were no signs of struggle. Friends of the family claimed to have seen Derrick at approximately 2:00 pm on the Ivy Hollow Road, a dirt road where the Kucera family lived. He was in the passenger seat of a LTD Ford driven by an unidentified blond man. It didn’t take long for the police to suspect foul play and, as a result, to search a rock quarry and 200 or 300 acres of wood. The young man, however, was nowhere to be found.

The lack of any evidence pointing to struggle suggests that Derrick might have left the house on his own accord, probably accompanied by someone that he knew. Witness accounts of him sitting in the passenger side supports this theory. I imagine it would be hard to drive and simultaneously point a gun at someone sitting next to you, therefore, it’s likely that he got into the car willingly.

A detail that caught my attention is that the police “checked” the people “he had problems with”, as mentioned by an article of the Times Daily from November 22 of 1986. While little is known about Derrick, one must wonder if he was involved with dangerous people. If that was the case, it would explain the apparent lack of interest in generating more leads as evidenced by the absence of a picture of Derrick and his DNA in the system. If Derrick’s family has an idea of what could have happened to him, they might see no point in pursuing more publicity for the case and are just hoping to find his body. In any case, I hope his loved ones find the closure they deserve.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office at 256-974-2405.

Sources:

Turner, Winford. 1986. “Nationwide Bulletin Issued for Missing Lawrence Man.” Times Daily, November 14. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pBsrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5MgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1379,4611411&dq=derrick+kucera&hl=en.

Turner, Winford. 1986. “Reward Offered for Missing Youth.” Times Daily, November 22. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rBsrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5MgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4405,6923101&dq=derrick+kucera&hl=en.

Turner, Winford. 1987. “Probe Intensifies to Locate Missing Man in Lawrence.” Times Daily, April 3. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BGIeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5cgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2811,297301&dq=derrick+kucera&hl=en.

NamUS. 2010. “NamUs MP # 7351.” NamUs. https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/7351/0/.

Diana Munyon: a victim of the Green River Killer?

       

Diana Munyon (Source: State of California Department of Justice)

Diana Munyon was a teenager living in Fulton, Mississippi until she took off on an unspecified date of 1981. On May 1 of 1982, the 16-year-old made a call to her family saying that she was in Fontana, California. This was the last time that her family heard of her. The Charley Project mentions that she could have travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada, but it’s not clear whether her trip, if she indeed made it, took place before or after the call.

At some point, her case was transferred to the King County Sheriff’s Office in Washington State because of some similarities to one of the three unidentified victims of the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway. Jane Doe B-10 had been picked up by Ridgway in spring or summer of 1983 while hitchhiking at the Pacific Highway South in Washington. Her body wasn’t found until March 21 of 1984.

According to the estimations of the forensic examiner, Jane Doe was a white woman of about 15 years of age, who stood between 5’2 and 5 feet 7 inches. It’s also believed that she had been a prostitute or a runaway. Being a white female and standing at 5’4, Diana fit the description pretty well. However, it shouldn’t be assumed that this was enough of a reason to send her case to Washington, as thousands of missing women posses similar characteristics. It’s highly likely that there were other convincing reasons that led law enforcement to believe that Jane Doe and Diana were the same person.

Despite the links between the two, both women have been listed on NamUs as unidentified and missing for far longer than it takes to complete the DNA tests. Therefore, I assume that they’re two different persons or, if there’s been a match, LE is withholding the information for some reason. Nonetheless, it should be noted that Diana isn’t in this Jane Doe’s list of rule-outs.

In the best-case scenario, Diana is still out there living under another name and completely unaware that she’s being investigated as a potential identity of an unidentified victim of a serial killer.


If you have information about this case, please contact the Kings County Sheriff’s Office at 206-296-3311. 


Sources:

Good, Meaghan. 2004. “Diana Ladene Munyon.” The Charley Project. http://charleyproject.org/case/diana-ladene-munyon.

King County Sheriff’s Office. 2018. “The Green River Homicides Investigation.” King County Sheriff’s Office. Accessed March 1. https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/sheriff/about-us/enforcement/investigations/green-river.aspx.

Mulick, Stacey. 2003. “Ridgway’s Victims.” The News Tribune, November 6. http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/special-reports/article25855165.html.

NamUs. 2012. “NamUs UP # 9927: Case Information.” NamUs. https://identifyus.org/cases/9927.

NamUs. 2012. “NamUs MP # 14231: Circumstances.” NamUs. https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/14231/0/.
 
The Doe Network. 2012. “3287DFCA - Diana Ladene Munyon.” The Doe Network. http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3287dfca.html.

Christina Carter: the girl who vanished into thin air

Christina Carter (Source: The Charley Project)

In 1973, Christina Lynn Carter was the 3-year-old daughter of Janet Carter, an employee at an insurance company in Birmingham, Alabama. Her mother was divorced and her father was seeking the custody of their child. The little girl was last seen on September 17 in Hueytown, Alabama, where she lived with her mother, but wasn’t reported missing until later.

On October 7, the body of a woman was found in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Tennessee. She had been bound, suffocated and put inside a duffel bag. When the victim was identified as Janet Carter one month later, the people close to her realized that Christina was missing.

So why did it take so long to report the disappearance of Christina and Janet? The most likely reason is that everyone believed that they were hiding from Christina’s father amid the custody battle. WebSleuths user MartieLee, who claims to be the cousin of Janet’s ex-husband, explained that Janet was seeing a married man with whom she had planned a trip to the national park. She also mentions that her lover is possibly the person responsible for Janet’s death. Although I’m very careful with what I read on message boards, I thought that MartieLee’s post was worth of consideration. However, despite this information, the death of Christina’s mother remains officially unsolved.

The question that’s boggling my mind is: where the heck is Christina? At some point, the police believed that the child was left with someone to be taken care of. If this was the case, why hasn’t her caretaker come forward? Given the circumstances of her disappearance, three theories cross my mind:

A) Christina was killed or abandoned in the park by the same person who killed her mother, but her remains haven’t been found.

B) Janet’s killer gave up Christina to someone who raised her as their daughter.

At some point, it was theorized that Christina was Sharon Marshall, but this theory has been proven wrong when Sharon turned out to be Suzanne Sevakis. Whether Christina is dead or alive remains a complete mystery.


If you have information about this case, please contact the Hueytown Police Department at 205-491-3587.


Sources:


Good, Meaghan. 2004. “Christina Lynn Carter.” The Charley Project. http://charleyproject.org/case/christina-lynn-carter.

MartieLee. 2008. “AL - Christina Carter, 3, Hueytown, 17 Sept 1973.” WebSleuths. https://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?61845-AL-Christina-Carter-3-Hueytown-17-Sept-1973/page2.

Peters, Dean Marie Pyle. 2010. “Christina Lynn Carter-Missing 37 Years.” Dean Marie Pyle Peters & Cold Cases. http://deaniepeters-missingangels.blogspot.ca/2010/06/christina-lynn-carter-missing-37-years.html.