Check out another video from my true crime archives. On Nov. 29, 1985, a couple walked into The University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson, Arizona and ripped a priceless painting from the walls. 37 years later that painting is found in an antique store. A quiet couple had hidden the painting behind their bedroom door for more than three decades and it was only found after their estate was sold after they passed away.
Check out this story and others in my casefiles book titled, Snatched: The FBI’s Top 10 Art Crimes & More
Sit back and relax as Synova regales you with tales of master art thieves, bumbling criminals, and multi-million-dollar art heists from around the world. There will be stories of mafia-commissioned heists, of Daredevil art thieves, and of the brave men and women of the FBI Art team who are trying to stop this multi-billion-dollar industry of art crime. Enjoy. This book is the first in Synova’s Case Files series. Every year Synova takes the top cases previously highlighted on her blog and compiles them into a case files book. 2017 Synova was researching the FBI’s Top Ten Art Crimes and following the cases of the FBI Art Crime Team.
The case of Alexis Patterson was just getting the kind of publicity it needed when the nation’s attention was diverted to the abduction of Elizabeth Smart. While the power of media can help solve cases, it can also destroy others. What happened to beautiful little Alexis Patterson on the morning of 05/03/2002?
She was a bright-eyed 1st grader walking to the Hi-Mount Public School four houses down the street from her home. It was May 3, 2002, and the child would be out of school for the summer break soon.
Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be enjoying the upcoming summer activities. Fellow students reported seeing her in the playground before school, but she never made it to class and hasn’t been seen since. Seventeen years have passed, and sweet Alexis still hasn’t returned. Who snatched her? Where is she now? Did she actually make it to school that day?
Alexis Patterson was walked to school by her stepdad, LaRon Bourgeois and was seen by other kids in the playground. Everyone assumed she would be in class. She had a perfect attendance record, but it would be broken on this fateful day in May. When she didn’t return home from school, her family reported her missing.
Within 24-hours of the call, the Milwaukee P.D. set up a mobile command unit in a nearby park. It would stay there for the next five weeks, while the entire community searched for the girl. A month later Elizabeth Smart was found alive, and I’m sure the news gave Ayanna Patterson hope that her daughter would be found as well. While the news found many other missing girls, her daughter’s name was never among them.
Three months later the authorities received a tip that she might be in the Milwaukee River near Estabrook Park. They had already checked the area but rechecked the place just in case. She wasn’t found. Many new leads poured into the case files, but not one of them lead to anything.
In 2009, the case was sent to Milwaukee’s Cold Case Unit. Everyone hoped this would heat up the case and bring in some new information, but it remained cold. Fast forward a grueling 14 years and the authorities had been all over the country chasing leads in this case. One lead seemed promising in 2016.
A man from Ohio called in claiming he thought his ex-wife was the missing child. She couldn’t remember anything before the age of ten, she had no photos of her childhood, she couldn’t remember how she ended up in Ohio, and she had several of the characteristics of Alexis Patterson. As usual, the police keep a few details private to help determine the truth in these cases. When this woman had a physical characteristic that wasn’t publicly known, the police made a trip to Ohio to get a DNA sample.
While everyone in the Wisconsin community waited and hoped, the DNA test came back negative. It was not Alexis Patterson. The mother put on a brave face for the cameras and said she would never give up, but it was apparent she was struggling with the new information. She had so desperately hoped that this woman was her child, and now that hope was gone.
Every year the community leaders show their support for this family by re-tracing the route Alexis took to school that day in 2002. The solemn assembly walks the four blocks down a shady sidewalk to the school. There they place a wreath in honor of the missing child. No one in this community has forgotten the bright-eyed baby girl.
If you Google Alexis Patterson, you will find yearly updates on her story, but they all say the same thing. There haven’t been any new developments in this case in the last three years; at least none that the police are sharing publicly. I did find one YouTube video of Sheriff David Clark. He has been working this case from the beginning, and he made a startling confession. He doesn’t believe Alexis ever made it to school and that her mother’s now ex-husband knows what happened to the little girl. Of course, LaRon vehemently denied this from his jail cell. Yes, you read that right, LaRon Bourgeois was jailed for dealing drugs and weapons charges both before and again after the disappearance of Alexis Patterson.
In 2009, The Milwaukee News reported that LaRon Bourgeois had failed his polygraph test. The police weren’t releasing the questions that he failed. This makes me think he failed some questions about an unrelated topic. If he had failed the questions about Alexis, I’m sure he would have been arrested. Maybe? Who knows. The sheriff still thinks he knows more than he’s saying, but they obviously don’t have enough evidence for an arrest. Meanwhile, this poor mother is trying to continue living despite not knowing the truth.
Alexis’ biological father, Kenya Campbell was no Prince Charming either. He was reportedly in jail at the time of her disappearance. Records show he was released on the 6th, but later scrutiny showed he might have been released two days beforehand. If this is true, then maybe he could have taken the little girl. The only problem with this is where did he put her and where has she been for all of these years?
We hear about children being abducted by family members in the news all the time. If this were the case, she would have turned up.
In December 2013 Campbell was arrested for brutally beating his new 8- month-old baby daughter. If you have any information on this case, please contact the Milwaukee Police Department at (414) 278-4788.
Youtube has started restricting my videos because of their true crime content. This hinders my channel’s monetization, sure, but more importantly it makes it hard to get these stories the publicity they need. Please consider following me on Rumble to help avoid these issues and to raise awareness about these unsolved cases.
If you enjoy this content don’t forget to sign up for Synova’s Weekly True Crime Newsletter. You will receive exclusive content directly in your inbox. As a gift for joining you will also receive the Grim Justice e-book free.
Shattered: Behind Every Story Is A Shattered Life (Synova’s Case Files Series)
Follow the heart-rending cases Synova first wrote about on her blog in 2018. Filled with missing persons’ cases, unsolved homicides, and even serial killer cases, this book will give you a greater insight into the shattered lives behind every story. Cases Included in this book: Jayme Closs, Haley Owens, Josh Robinson, Timothy Cunningham, Carol Blades, Pam Hupp, Arthur Ream, Angela Hammond, The Springfield Three, Jennifer Harris, Danny King, Angie Yarnell, Jack Robinson, Madelin Edman, Alexis Patterson, Amber Wilde, Sandra Bertolas, Jennifer Casper-Ross, Crystal Soulier, Jody Ricard, Carmen Owens, Brandon Tyree McCullough & The I-70 Serial Killer
Each week Synova highlights obscure cold cases on her blog as a victim’s advocate. She never charges for her services. If you’d like to help support Synova in this worthy cause please check out the affiliate links below. By purchasing one of her books or using these links, you will be supporting Synova’s work on cold cases and will ensure her ability to continue to give a voice to the victim’s family. Thank you.
You can forget about boring coffee when you try Bones Coffee!
She was kidnapped while on a pay phone talking to her boyfriend. Jumping in his truck and tearing down the street towards the payphone, Rob sees Angela in the kidnapper’s truck. Dropping a U-turn in the middle of the road the hero tries to chase down the kidnapper, but tragically this story is still looking for it’s happy ending 34 years later.
The disappearance of Angela Hammond, 20 has tormented Rob Shafer for nearly three decades. In April 1991 Shafer was a high school senior engaged to the beautiful Angie Hammond. She was four months pregnant and they were both looking forward to their life together. Both the Shafer’s and the Hammond’s families were eagerly awaiting the marriage and the birth of the new grandbaby. Life was going to be great.
Reality struck hard, however, on the night of April 4, 1991. Angie and Rob spent the evening at a BBQ before Rob had to return home to babysit his younger brother. The couple planned on meeting up again later. Angie promised she would call in an hour and left Rob on his doorstep. Back in the day before cell phones, Angie would call her fiancé from a local payphone. Today with all the crime shows on TV, no woman in her right mind would be alone at 11 pm talking on a payphone, but things were different in the rural town of Clinton, Missouri.
The entire community population was less than 8,000 people. Most were farmers, factory workers, or owned a small local business. Teenagers would cruise around the town square for fun and hang out in the parking lots of the local grocery store. The police station was only two blocks away and violent crime was unheard of. This naïve environment would be shattered before Angie and Rob’s phone call was completed.
Standing in the grocery store parking lot, the 20-yr-old Angie was chatting with her fiancé. She mentioned to Rob that a strange truck kept circling around the square. It was a late 60’s early 70’s model Ford F-150. Being a native of Clinton, she knew most of the vehicles that usually cruised the square. Neither caller thought much about it and their conversation continued. Angie stated that she was getting tired and decided to go on home instead of waiting around for Rob. Moments later Angie described the strange man that emerged from the two-toned truck. She said he was a dirty looking old white guy with a white beard and mustache. He had used the phone next to her and then returned to his truck, but he didn’t leave. This made Angie nervous. Suddenly the man returned, and Rob hears Angie scream. Dropping the phone in a panic, Rob runs out to his car and barrels down the road the seven blocks to the payphone. As he approaches the scene the old Ford pickup passes him on the road. Angie screams “Robbie” and Rob shoves his car into reverse and spins around in the road to give chase.
The hero saves the girl, beats down the bad guy, the police come and arrest the kidnapper, and everyone lives happily ever after, right? No. Reality is grim, and those sudden spins you see cars do in the movies are not real. When poor Robbie slammed his car into reverse and spun, it also destroyed the car’s transmission. The older model car gave chase for about two miles but died in the middle of the street. Robert Shafer was left to watch the truck disappear down the dark rural lane. Helpless and alone he made his way back to the police station to report what happened.
It is here that Rob discovered the sad truth about an inexperienced police department. With the low crime rate, the police had little experience dealing with violent crime. This would stall the process, but the case went forward. Of course, Rob was the first suspect, but after a week-long investigation, he was cleared. They ran checks on all the trucks in the area that might fit the description, but that too came to no conclusion. Rob was able to add to the truck’s description the fact that it had a window decal covering the back glass. The decal was of a fish jumping out of the water. Still, with this added info the truck seemed to vanish into the night. Rob gave details to the police sketch artist about the truck’s driver. This is where details seem to differ from Angie’s description over the phone. This discrepancy caused some people to look narrowly at Rob, but investigators came to a different conclusion. Below is pictured the composite sketch of the driver as remembered by Rob.
You can clearly see that this man does not have a white beard and mustache. I would argue that the facial hair was fake. I will give you my theories later.
Almost immediately after Rob Shafer was ruled out as a suspect, the officials began to try to link this disappearance with two other missing women from Missouri. One woman was Trudy Darby from Macks Creek, Missouri. Darby worked at a local convenience store. On January 19, 1991, she had been robbed, kidnapped, and murdered. Her body was discovered two days later.
The second woman was Cheryl Ann Kenney. Like Darby, Kenney was robbed, kidnapped, and presumed murdered, but her body hasn’t been found as of this writing. Kenney was kidnapped from Nevada, Missouri. Now it’s time for a geography lesson. It is 69 miles from Clinton, MO to Macks Creek, and 74 miles from Clinton to Nevada, MO. If you were to plot out a giant triangle on a Missouri roadmap the final side would be 83 miles from Macks Creek to Clinton. Although these aren’t great distances to travel, the way in which these crimes took place it makes me think they are not connected.
Two years later the case of Trudy Darby was solved. Two brothers, Jesse Rush and Marvin Chaney confessed to robbing, raping, and murdering Darby. After intense investigations, they never found any links between Angie Hammond and the brothers.
So who could have taken Angie Hammond from the phone booth that night in Clinton, Missouri? Some wondered if a serial killer was on the loose in rural Missouri. Although these cases weren’t necessarily related there was indeed a serial killer hiding out only 70 miles up the interstate. This brutal slayer of women was wanted by Texas authorities and was flying under the radar by using the alias of Richard Fowler. His name was Kenneth McDuff. This serial killer was featured on America’s Most Wanted in April 1992. He was recognized by a coworker and arrested on May 4, 1992. Some say that McDuff was responsible for many more victims than he was given credit for. Others wonder if those reports are inflated. Below is a mugshot of McDuff.
Could this be the man behind the disappearance of Angela Hammond? There’s a good possibility. He was in the area. He had a habit of picking random women and brutally killing them. And if you look at the specific details of the composite sketch you will find eerie similarities.
Ok now, look at the individual characteristics of the face. Look at the bridge of the nose. Notice the small indention? It is visible in both photos. Notice the marking under the left eye and the dark brows. What do you think? Could this be the man behind Hammond’s disappearance? Could he have worn a fake beard and during the struggle to get Angela into his truck it came off somehow?
I would like to see investigators check out his alias, Richard Fowler to see if he owned a pickup like the one witnesses seen in Clinton, MO. We may never know for sure. McDuff was executed for his heinous crimes on November 17, 1998. If Hammond’s body could be found and DNA extracted then there might be a chance of tying it back to him, but after nearly three decades finding the DNA of a killer on the bones of a victim might be impossible.
As with every case I highlight, if you have any information on the disappearance of Angela Hammond please contact the Clinton Police Department at (600) 885-2679.
Youtube has started restricting my videos because of their true crime content. This hinders my channel’s monetization, sure, but more importantly it makes it hard to get these stories the publicity they need. Please consider following me on Rumble to help avoid these issues and to raise awareness about these unsolved cases.
If you enjoy this content don’t forget to sign up for The Racketeer, Synova’s Weekly True Crime Newsletter. You will receive exclusive content directly in your inbox. As a gift for joining you will also receive the Grim Justice e-book free.
Each week Synova highlights obscure cold cases on her blog as a victim’s advocate. She never charges for her services. If you’d like to help support Synova in this worthy cause please check out the affiliate links below. By purchasing one of her books or using these links, you will be supporting Synova’s work on cold cases and will ensure her ability to continue to give a voice to the victim’s family. Thank you.
Shattered: Behind Every Story Is A Shattered Life (Synova’s Case Files Series)
Follow the heart-rending cases Synova first wrote about on her blog in 2018. Filled with missing persons’ cases, unsolved homicides, and even serial killer cases, this book will give you a greater insight into the shattered lives behind every story. Cases Included in this book: Jayme Closs, Haley Owens, Josh Robinson, Timothy Cunningham, Carol Blades, Pam Hupp, Arthur Ream, Angela Hammond, The Springfield Three, Jennifer Harris, Danny King, Angie Yarnell, Jack Robinson, Madelin Edman, Alexis Patterson, Amber Wilde, Sandra Bertolas, Jennifer Casper-Ross, Crystal Soulier, Jody Ricard, Carmen Owens, Brandon Tyree McCullough & The I-70 Serial Killer
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David Harrington, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, were found on the evening of Jan. 9, 2024 frozen to death in the back yard of their friend. These three KC Chiefs fans started the night watching football and would be found two days later dead. How could such a thing happen? Was it a horrific accident or something more sinister?
Check out this disturbing update in the Natalie Holloway case! If nothing else is done, the murderer is going to face no further consequences and will walk out of prison at the age of 57! How is this possible? He killed two women, that we know of, and he was caught running drugs through the prison.
