True Crime On This Day August 24th

Last Updated on September 27, 2022 by Ben Oakley

August 24th

On August 24th in true crime, cheerleader in the trunk, mystery body, cold cases, missing persons, double murder, unsolved true crime.

1978

In Sumter County, South Carolina, 28-year-old Maxwell ‘Maxie’ Allen Graham vanished without a trace.

The only lead investigators had to go on was that he may have left his home with a man identified only as Scott and that he may have been met with foul play.

Aside from that tentative link to another person, Maxwell’s disappearance was never solved. As of 2022, his disappearance remains a mystery.

1979

In Georgetown, Colorado, 21-year-old Norma Jean Halford vanished without a trace. Her car had been found abandoned and tagged by Colorado State Patrol but there was no indication of what happened to Norma Jean.

It is suspected that she had been the victim of foul play, but no suspect has ever been found. As of 2022, it is an active cold case investigation.

1980

In Moore County, North Carolina, 26-year-old Shelly Diane Chalflinch, and her daughter, nine-year-old Christine, were brutally stabbed to death in a frenzied attack.

They were killed in the living quarters of the Pinehurst Hotel by kitchen worker David Junior Brown. He had followed the victims to their quarters where he stabbed them both over 100 times.

He mutilated Shelly’s body and disembowelled her. Brown left overwhelming evidence at the scene and was caught shortly after. He was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on November 19^th 1999.

1981

In Summit County, Colorado, 23-year-old Tereasa Knuth vanished without a trace. She had been camping with her boyfriend, Fred Calkins, staying in a converted school bus at a squatter’s camp when she was reported missing.

She left behind all of her personal belongings including identification and cigarettes.

In 1986, convicted murderer Duane Eugene Owen confessed to Knuth’s murder in a letter to Colorado police from death row.

Police later excavated the land where he claimed to have buried her, but no evidence of a body was unearthed.

Owen later retracted his confession, and despite him living in the area where Knuth disappeared, has never been charged due to lack of evidence. Knuth’s disappearance still remains unsolved.

1982

In Frederick, Maryland, the skeletal remains of an unidentified female between the ages of 17 to 25-years-old was discovered in a storage chest by two hikers.

She had been murdered at some point between 1972 and 1979. Due to specific stress fractures on her spine, it was determined she may have been a gymnast, dancer, or ballerina.

She also had extensive dental work on her teeth but no match has ever been made. Investigators have followed up on numerous leads since her discovery and have since ruled out at least ten missing persons cases.

Her identity remains a mystery, and her killer has never been caught. She became known as the cheerleader in the trunk.

1983

In Ventura, California, the decomposing remains of an unidentified adult white male was discovered floating in the ocean.

He was found by fishermen, approximately one kilometre from the shore around Seacliff on the Pacific Coast Highway. Due to the decomposition, he had no recognisable features.

It remains unclear if the man had died as a result of an accident or foul play. No one came forward to claim him, and his identity remains a mystery to this day.

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