[Music] Jeremy Stoner was born on July 16th 1980 in California he had three siblings two older brothers Jason and Joshua and one younger brother Justin they lived in Vallejo California a city with its own charm and Beauty Jason was a happy and playful child he loved his family and his friends he enjoyed going to school and learning new things he liked to ride his bike play with his toys and watch cartoons he had a bright smile and a big heart on Saturday morning February 21st 1987 6-year-old Jeremy was playing outside with his two older brothers aged 9 and 11 near their house Jeremy and his brothers were being watched by a relative while their parents were at work their relative had to leave suddenly to take her sick daughter to the emergency room the boys were told to stay home until their parents returned instead they headed over to a neighbor's house while there a neighbor scolded jemy for a spilling catchup and they left the boy's mother returned home at 400 p. m. to find the house empty and she assume the boys were playing at a neighbors as they often did but when the two older boys returned without Jeremy 2 hours later the family launched a search effort with Jeremy nowhere to be seen they called the police Vallejo police quickly determined Jeremy had been kidnapped the last sighting of him was believed to be at a Dairy Queen on Springs Road about a 5-minute walk from the family home a worker there told investigators they saw Jeremy with an adult man around 7:30 that evening 4 days later on February 25th 1987 Jeremy's body was found on Sherman Island in Sacramento County four people driving down Sherman Island Road in the Delta found themselves stuck in the mud the driver got out to look for something to wedge under the tires instead she discovered the body of a little boy he had been assaulted stabbed and strangled they called the police and told them about the discovery they made investigators arrived at the crime scene soon after they collected all the evidence they could and stored it for future use the news of Jeremy's demise spread quickly in Vallejo the people were outraged and heartbroken by what happened to him they felt sorry for his family and wanted to support them in any way they could they gave them flowers cards and hugs they searched for Jeremy when he was missing they held a candlelight vigil for him they also prayed for him and his family the mayor of Vallejo at that time was Terry Cura he said that the people of Vallejo became part of the stoner family for 4 days he reiterated that they searched cried and prayed for him it was not long until a suspect walked right into the Vallejo Police Department about a week after Jeremy lost his life an unemployed security guard named sha Quincy Melton told police he may have information about the case by his own admission Melton said he wanted to impress detectives with his amateur investigation he wanted in his own words to be a big shot video of his interrogation though showed the slow transformation of Melton from a swaggering sleuth to a bewildered crime suspect he had a troubled past and a disturbing mindset as evidenced by his authorship of a book titled the Wolf's Den which depicted child exploitation although he claimed it was a work of fiction some doubted that it was entirely detached from his own experiences Shawn Melton voluntarily visited the police station to provide information related to the case he indicated that he had heard rumors and witnessed certain things that might Aid in locating the perpetrator however the police held suspicions about his involvement in the crime their skepticism regarding Shawn Melton was based on a legitimate reason before his visit his psychologist had alerted the authorities and revealed that Shawn Melton had confessed to having disturbing fantasies involving young boys the psychologist expressed concerns that Shawn Melton might pose a danger and could potentially be linked to Jeremy stoner's case the police subjected sha Melton to an extensive 30-hour interrogation during which they posed numerous questions and administered a polygraph test they also created a sketch of him and compared it to a witness's description of the abductor their objective was to obtain information and potentially ascertain his involvement in the case Shawn Melton vehemently denied any involvement in the crime asserting his innocence and claiming no knowledge of the case he successfully passed the polygraph test and the sketch of him did not match the witness's description he maintained that his sole intention was to assist the police in solving the case however the police persisted in their pursuit of Shawn Melton and put forward a new hypothesis they they alleged that Shawn Melton suffered from multiple personality disorders and suggested that one of his alter egos named John Wolf could have been the perpetrator they contended that Shawn Melton had no recollection of these actions in response the authorities arrested Shawn Melton charging him with kidnapping as well as taking Jeremy's life nevertheless they lacked sufficient evidence to secure a conviction two trial were conducted but on both occasions the juries could not reach a unanimous verdict consequently the judge was compelled to dismiss the case Shawn Melton passed away in 2000 without ever admitting to any involvement in Jeremy stoner's tragic fate the case of Jeremy Stoner remained unsolved for many years classified as a Cold Case due to the lack of progress and the absence of fresh leads or evidence however in 2023 a significant development occurred in Jeremy stoner's case the police received a new lead thanks to an advanced technology known as DNA testing DNA a unique genetic code present in every individual's body can be instrumental in identifying a person or their familial connections the police harnessed DNA testing to compare samples obtained from Jeremy's remains with those in a criminal database this breakthrough held the promise of shedding new light on the long-standing mystery surrounding Jeremy's tragic fate the police found a match they finally found the perpetrator the perpetrator's name is Fred Maran Kain III 69-year-old Cain was arrested at his home in Central Point Oregon district attorney Krishna Abram said I am so thankful to have such dedicated Cold Case investigators that no matter how much time goes by they remain steadfast in their commitment to solving these horrific cases media reports from 1984 show Cain then 30 was suspected of assaulting a 17-year-old in San Bernardino County Cain and his roommate were arrested on suspicion of assaulting the Ma at knife Point Kane was charged with forcible assault and use of a weapon with enhancements for four previous prison terms but was found not guilty by a jury later that year the Solano County District Attorney's office said it is not releasing further information due to the ongoing nature of the investigation but kan's arrest has likely drawn the attention of police and Martinez since the the beginning Jeremy's case was often mentioned in the same breath as that of Eric Koy in late January 1987 just a month before Jeremy's disappearance 9-year-old Eric went for a bike ride between his Martinez home and that of a relatives Eric knew the route well and rode it often he left home around 11 a.
m. with the expectation he would call as he always did once he reached his relativ home a few blocks away when he did not call home a search was undertaken his body was found close to Martinez Junior High School he had been stabbed nearly a dozen times and succumbed to his injuries to this day Eric's case remains unsolved anyone with information regarding the case is asked to call the District Attorney's Cold Case unit at 707 784 48477 Cain made his first appearance in court in Solano County on September 28th 2023 the family of Jeremy Stoner was in the courtroom as Cain was brought in Jeremy's mother Karen Tabler said I do not know if it is relief not feeling good that is for sure she added that it was hard to be in the same room as Cain Paul secur the chief Deputy district attorney for Solano County said well I do not think you ever get closure I have been around a long time I have never seen families get true closure but I feel like it will be some comfort that someone will be held responsible Carrie an Cummings Carrie Anne Cummings was a 25-year-old transient from Eureka California in 1997 Carrie was in a mental institution but decided to not get treated further she did not want to go back to her family even though they begged her to come to them she informed her family that she decided to rather couch surf in Eugene Oregon that was the last time that they heard from her car's parents tried to reach her and went to the police to file a missing person case they also hired a private investigator carer's sister Kathy said that they were told that Carrie was an adult that she had chosen the lifestyle and that if she was not a threat to herself or others there was nothing they could do she also had the following to say about her attempts to find her sister through the years as the internet expanded I took to searching the name Us website when I was missing her scanning for mention of her tattoo in searching through the pictures of the Jane Do's she was dearly loved in November 1998 a year after Carrie Anne went missing Wayne Adam Ford entered a police station in Eureka California with a Bible in his one hand and a woman's body part in a plastic bag in the other hand he confessed to taking the life of four women but he did not know any of their names three of his victims were identified 26-year-old Tina Renee Gibbs she was born on April 20th 1972 her life was taken on May 16th 1998 near Las Vegas her body was found on June 2nd near button Willow California Lynette Dion white 25 years old of Fontana executed on September 25th 1998 in Ontario California then dumped in an irrigation canal near Loi Patricia an Thomas 29 years old her life was taken in hpua and her body was found on October 23rd 1998 in an aqueduct in San Bernardino but one woman remained unknown investigators interviewed Ford and obtained descriptive details of the female Ford's encampment was also searched as part of the investigation and more body parts were found using DNA the detectives were able to match the body part Ford brought in with a torso found by Duck Hunters north of Eureka in October 1997 the previous year and the additional remains found by officials on clam beach in January 1998 9 months before as well as in his encampment DNA samples were run through the California missing person's DNA database and the national unidentified person's DNA index but no profile matches were ever made Ford was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2006 8 years later and is currently serving that sentence at San Quenton State Prison in California this is a very unusual case as the detectives know who committed the crime but not whom the victim is in 2021 Sheriff William hunel created a Cold Case unit which specifically reviewed humbold County Sheriff's Office unsolved cases for new leads in December 2022 they partnered with a forensic genealogy lab called oam to determine if Advanced forensic DNA testing could could help establish the identity of the unknown female or a close relative using a technique called forensic genome sequencing the company was able to create a profile for who they thought may be a close relative by creating a family tree at last they found a match to a close relative of the unknown female the detectives contacted the relative and she confirmed that she had a family member that went missing in the late 199 90s she then put them in contact with the sister Kathy of the missing person Carrie an Cummings Kathy provided investigators with a DNA sample which was then compared to the DNA sample from the unknown females remains and finally after 25 years they identified the missing woman in 2023 Kathy had the following to say about her sister Carrie was beautiful funny smart and an artist she was great at making us laugh it is devastating what mental illness can do in a span of only two short years Sheriff William Hansel commended his team by saying while we cannot take away the pain of loss we hope that this identification can help bring closure to car's family and the community I am thankful for the dedication of our investigators who never gave off bun kery and continued to seek resolution for the outstanding cases that remain to be solved the Humble County coroners division is now in the process of releasing carer's remains so that she can be buried with the rest of the family in the 80s Katherine spacito attended high school in Brooklyn New York after school she relocated to Prescott Arizona to attend Prescott College she was an avid hiker and artist who had made many friends in her new home on June 12th 1987 23-year-old Kathy went out with her friends for dinner she told them she planned to go hiking in the morning the next day June 13th at around 700 a. m.
