Home — Murder, “cold” cases, and mayhem

This website is intended to deal with murder, brutality, corruption and hatred, all falling under what we call acts of injustice. We tell the stories of open and unsolved homicides–what are called “cold” cases. We also memorialize those whose lives have been taken from them in hope that somebody will come forward to tell the truth. So far our efforts center on Michigan.

David B. Schock, Ph.D.

“Somebody knows somethin’.  Somebody ALWAYS knows somethin’.”

That’s the way Jim Fairbanks put it when we made our first film, Who Killed Janet Chandler? Detective Fairbanks (retired) was the lead investigator on the law enforcement team in 1979. What he had to say then still applies today. For nearly every unsolved homicide there is somebody out there who could solve it if she or he would come forward and make a contact.

To call an unsolved homicide a “cold” case is chilling in its own right. Yes, these unsolved cases grow “cold” because there are no new leads; they more or less drop off the social and cultural radar. But they are NEVER “cold” to the family members and friends, they are never forgotten or out of mind. And there is always the hope that justice, however delayed, will be served.

We invite you to visit the We Remember part of this site, a place where families and friends of those whose murders remain unsolved contact us and can help to post details of the victims’ lives and the resultant investigations.

We also invite your view of what we are calling a Primary Documentary Investigation as we tell the story of the murder of Mina Dekker.

Our hope in all the cases we chronicle is that somebody who knows something will say something.

From David — A Weblog of investigation:

April 3, 2025 — A new appeal in an old case

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1101610648665338&set=pcb.1101415505351519

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February 11, 2025 — Dineane Ducharme’s appeal comes to nought

As was her right , Dineane Rochelle Ducharme–convicted of the first-degree murder of her stepfather Roberto Caraballo–appealed. This morning comes the notice that her appeal has been denied.

The case is thoroughly laid out in the document, and while there may have been issues that might have been considered, the three-member Court of Appeals panel–Judges Stephen L. Borrello, James Robert Redford, and Sima G. Patel–ruled unanimously against her.

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June 5, 2024 — Freddie Bass Parker

I obviously have missed some things, things like this: Freddie Bass Parker, convicted of first degree felony murder for the killing of Janet Chandler in 1979 and imprisoned for life, died Oct. 28, 2021. That’s darned near three years ago, and it comes to me now. Wow. May God have mercy on his soul. Of all the defendants in the case, I thought he was the least hardened. But still absolutely guilty.

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May 24, 2024 — Forty to sixty years

Beverly McCallum had her day in court yesterday for sentencing. She had been found guilty of second-degree murder, a contrivance demanded by the European courts before they’d turn over Beverly for extradition to the U.S. from Italy. Judge Janice Cunningham, while handing down the sentence, said that she found no remorse in Beverly. Her entire life had been built around what she wanted, when she wanted it, anyone else be damned. Most moving was the victim impact statements, the last from her own daughter. As an indicator of her solipsistic nature, Beverly asked the judge if she could just leave and not listen. Nope, this time she had to. Good.

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May 1, 2024 — Exhumation today

The body of murder victim Roberto Caraballo will be disinterred this morning, all part of getting him home to the Dominican Republic. He has lain in a grave in a Grand Haven Township cemetery for some 20 years, an unknown until the case was broken.

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