The Deck

Our card this week is Patricia Allen, the Queen of Hearts from Washington.

On October 3, 1995, Patricia Allen was asleep on her couch when she was stabbed once so precisely that it nearly cut her heart in half. So begins one of the most mysterious homicide cases out of Yakima, Washington. With no shortage of suspects – including a woman who some believe wanted to become Patty – this case is truly stranger than fiction. 

• Or, if yo...

Our card this week is Jodine Serrin, the 7 of Diamonds from California.

In 1995, Marisa Patti met David Mabrito on the beach in Oceanside, California – it was love at first sight. Twenty-three years later, he would be found responsible for the brutal murder and desecration of 39-year-old Jodine Serrin in her own bedroom. 

In the wake of the solve, Marisa and her son were left on their own to figure out how this man they loved, truste...

Our card this week is Maria “Mary Faye” Mendez, the Wild Card from Texas.

Maria “Mary Faye” Mendez walked out of the duplex she shared with her family in Odessa, Texas, on Aug. 2, 1985, and seemingly vanished without a trace. Her sister-in-law watched Mary head in the direction of a local bar after fighting with her husband, who they knew as Arnuldo Mendez. Mary had asked her sister-in-law to watch her 5-year-old daughter, Virginia,...

Our card this week is Lawrence Riegel, the 5 of Spades from Washington.

When Lawrence was reported missing on January 10th, 2010, he didn’t exactly vanish without a trace. Between mysterious phone records and strange theories from a recluse who lived in an isolated trailer park , police had a good idea what his last movements were and with whom he interreacted – and specifically, they honed in on two people who seemed very suspiciou...

Our card this week is Gregory Fickess, the Jack of Diamonds from New York. 

On a summer night in 1993, 19-year-old Gregory Fickess had just gotten out of his car in downtown Rochester when he was jumped in a seemingly unprovoked, fatal act of violence. A case with no motive and few cooperating witnesses is tough to get very far. But when detectives find out that one of the few cooperating witnesses they did have dies… suddenly… and ...

Our card this week is Jonathan Garcia-Valladares, the 7 of Diamonds from Arizona.

Being a 13-year-old kid can be tough, to say the least. But it seemed as if Jonathan Garcia-Valladares had it figured out. He was an overachieving student. He was a chess player. And on a crisp fall day in 2010, Jonathan was trying to get in shape for the football team, a sport he’d just joined. But on that day, his short life would come to an end. 

In ...

Our card this week is Robert Gene Jones, the 10 of Diamonds from Louisiana. 

Robert was known as a quiet man who stayed out of trouble, so when he was found shot to death in his home one morning in the winter of 2002, police were initially stumped when it came to both motive and culprit. That might’ve been because Robert was never the intended target in what’s now become a mystery that investigators hope one of you may hold the key ...

Maurice – or Melissa, as they sometimes introduced themselves – was 22 when they were shot and killed in Phoenix, Arizona. They were just starting to build a name for themselves as a performer, making it to the regional final for American Idol and acting in dozens of local productions, including The Wiz, Westside Story, and Alice in Wonderland. But the curtain fell too soon…

According to friends and family, gender identity was fluid...

Our card this week is Roger "Unkle Rog" McCall, the 2 of Spades from New York. 

If you lived in the Rochester area back in the day, you might recognize the smooth voice of “Unkle Rog.” As a late-night radio host and DJ at WCMF for almost 30 years, perhaps he kept you company past midnight, maybe helped you stay awake during a third shift. By 52, Roger had already survived a terminal cancer diagnosis, only to be gunned down on Decemb...

Our card this week is Blanca Acevedo, the 7 of Clubs from Arizona. 

In June 2010, 50-year-old Blanca Acevedo was navigating a life of quiet chaos when she was found murdered in a building set aflame. The brutal case of overkill quickly went cold for the detectives on the case… But could a letter found on Blanca’s bedside table have held the key to finding her killer all along? It’s one of several clues new investigators are chasing ...

Our card this week is Luther Meshell, the 9 of Hearts from Louisiana. 

On a mild spring night in 1991, Luther’s teenage son found him lying dead on his bedroom floor next to his overturned wheelchair and a knife. With a locked door and no signs of forced entry, police believe his killer could have been someone he knew and trusted… but when they zoom out, investigators notice a series of other crimes with eerie similarities… and they...

Our card this week is Carmen "CJ" DeLuca, the Wild Card from Connecticut. 

When a man stopped to get gas in the middle of the night in 1985, he had no idea he was walking into the scene of a murder. The 23-year-old gas station attendant, Carmen “CJ” DeLuca, had been shot to death for seemingly no reason. But with no witnesses and no clear motive, police had no idea who killed him. He was a good guy with no known enemies, engaged to ...

Our cards this week are Michael Adams, Lachelle Powell, Michael Royal, and Jennifer Leasure, the 9, 10, Jack, and Queen of Hearts from New York. 

In the dead of winter, a fire consumed a home in Rochester, New York — but what firefighters discovered inside wasn’t an accident. Four bodies, bound, shot, and left in a scene so brutal it stunned even experienced detectives. Nearly a decade later, with no arrests and few answers, the que...

Our card this week is Sharon Glover, the 6 of Spades from Louisiana. 

Early on November 14, 1993, just two weeks before Thanksgiving, Sharon Glover was found viciously stabbed to death on a rural backroad in northwest Louisiana. Rumors led Sharon’s family to believe the killer was someone close to them. But detectives are now releasing new information in this case for the first time, and they believe there’s been a different prime s...

Our card this week is George Jares, the 6 of Clubs from Wisconsin. 

From the outside, 43-year-old George was a family man: a former greeting card salesman turned restaurant owner who loved his kids, the outdoors, and working hard. But after George was shot three times and left for dead in his restaurant’s parking lot, details of his life began to emerge that painted a rather different picture... And the surprising twists that detect...

Our card this week is Owachige Osceola, the 8 of Diamonds from Oklahoma.

Recently divorced and living on her own in a new city, 27-year-old Owachige Osceola’s life was in a season of transition before she was killed in the bedroom of her Norman, Oklahoma apartment in September 2013. While the medical examiner who performed her autopsy concluded her cause and manner of death were “undetermined,” a detective who remains on the case to...

Our card this week is Sandra Ann Burris, the 5 of Spades from Louisiana. 

On a hot summer night in 2005, Sandra Burris and her best friend went clubbing in their small Louisiana town. The night started out like any other, but the friends went separate ways later in the evening, and sometime after that, Sandra vanished—and there’s been no trace of her since. 

As the 20th anniversary of Sandra’s disappearance approaches, her oldest dau...

Our card this week is Marjorie "Christy" Luna, the 4 of Spades from Florida.

From the outside, Greenacres seemed like a picture-perfect place to grow up, with a park, school, and corner store stocked with sugary sweets and arcade games all within walking distance.

For Christy Luna and her friends, weekends were spent roaming the neighborhood and playing outside barefoot. But this storybook community had darkness lurking just under th...

Our card this week is Lisa Staes, the Jack of Diamonds from Wisconsin. 

In the winter of 1976, Lisa Staes was trying to figure out what exactly she wanted to do with her life. Like so many 20-year-olds, she’d just moved out of her parents’ house and started classes at a community college. She was embracing her independence as a young adult. 

But no one ever got to see how Lisa’s life would unfold. Because that same year she disappear...