21-Years Later, There May Finally Be Justice for Cindy Zarzycki

UPDATE 6/19/08 8:6PM

In the eleventh hour Arthur Ream offered the prosecutors a deal: He would lead them to Cindy Jo’s body in exchange for a guilty plea with a shortened sentence. Cindy’s family agreed but that deal never took place. Prosecutors surmised that maybe it was a ploy to buy time because if in fact had lead them to a body, the trial would have been delayed pending DNA testing. That never took place and today Arthur Ream who was being held on a rape conviction and is a convicted child molester, was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Cindy Jo’s family found the verdict bitter sweet because while justice was served, the family had to finally come to terms once and for all that she was murdered after years of hoping she would be found alive.

Click here for full news story

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Original Blog

In April of 1986 Cynthia Jocelyn Zarzycki, (better known as Cindy Jo to her friends and family) was a 13-year-old sandy haired girl living in Eastpointe, Michigan. Sandy Jo loved playing softball and had even won a trophy for most valuable player on her team. Her parents were divorced and she lived with her father, brother and sister in Eastern Detroit and still saw her mother frequently.

Cindy Jo was dating a boy named Scott Ream at the time who later died in a car accident in the 1990’s, well after Cindy Jo’s disappearance. Scott was never a suspect in Cindy Jo’s disappearance, however his father Arthur Nelson Ream is finally facing murder charges in the murder of Cindy Zarzycki twenty-one years later.

According to authorities, Arthur Ream kept a missing person flyer regarding Cindy’s disappearance in a keepsake box. This intrigued investigators, coupled with the fact that Ream was serving a 15-year sentence for third-degree criminal sexual conduct in the assault of a 14-year-old girl. He also was convicted in 1975 of taking indecent liberties with a child. He was due to be paroled December 27th but will instead is expected to be arraigned January 9th on one count each of first- and second-degree murder in Macomb County in Eastpointe’s 38th District Court.

Although authorities suspected Ream in Cindy Jo’s disappearance, they had no evidence linking him until recently. A friend of Cindy Jo’s told detectives that Cindy had planned to meet Ream at the Diary Queen the morning of her disappearance. According to Cindy, Ream was going to take her to a surprise birthday party for his son Scott. Authorities learned that no such party had ever taken place.

A car like Ream’s was spotted at the same Dairy Queen around the time he was to allegedly meet Cindy Jo. Witnesses put her at the Dairy Queen shortly before her disappearance eating an ice cream cone.

Authorities concede that their case is largely circumstantial and Cindy’s body has never been recovered. “There’s no DNA in this case,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith. “There’s no smoking gun.”

The family of Cindy Zarzycki may finally have some closure. “Sometimes you tend to feel lost and forgotten,” her father, Ed Zarzycki said. “It just gives you hope that no one forgot, that someone cares enough to bring it back.”

Related Links:

The Charley Project - Cynthia Jocelyn Zarzycki
Man accused in cold case had girl’s missing-person flyer

21 Years Later - Jessie Gutierrez’s Story Comes to Life Again

Jessie Gutierrez - 4 Years Old 

On the evening of June 6, 1986 little four-year-old Jessica Suzanne Gutierrez was tucked safely in her bed sleeping in her home in Lexington, South Carolina in a bedroom she shared with her two sisters.

Sometime during the hours of 11:30PM and 9:00AM the following morning, an unknown intruder entered the Gutierrez home through a living room window. Jessie’s sister, six-year-old Rebecca who was sleeping right beside her, awoke to the sight of a man bent over their bed.

Jessie Gutierrez - Age Progressed 21 years

In a recent article she said that scene still haunts her 21 years later. “That man standing over our bed and him bending over to pick Jessie up. I see his face every night before I go to bed.”

Rebecca said her sister Jessie never woke up as the man carried her out of their bedroom. Terrified, the little girl did not tell her parents, but instead pulled a blanket over her head, scared to move. To this day Rebecca regrets that understandable decision that a six-year-old petrified child made.

The next day the child described the man that took her sister as “a man with a magic hat.”

All of these years Gutierrez’s mother Debbie has suspected an unnamed family friend as having taken her daughter. Debbie found fibers in an abandoned car that belonged to this family friend that she states were linked to her daughter.

The unnamed suspect has served time in prison in North Carolina for rape, and in 1987 told his cell mate that he kidnapped Jessie.

Sheriff James Metts says they’ve felt like they’ve had a case since the beginning against the family friend but still twenty-one years later there have been no arrests. “That’s what’s frustrating about the case. We’ve felt we knew who it was pretty much a day or two into that case, but we’ve been not able to convince the solicitor that we need to move forward as far as prosecution in concerned.”

Sheriff James Metts

Solicitor Donnie Meyers stated that “we have some evidence at the FBI as we speak that we hope may turn up something on this case, that will give us some additional probable cause that might enlighten the solicitor to move forward with the prosecution in this particular case.”

Solicitor Donnie Meyers

Meyers also went on to explain that twenty-one years ago “most of the evidence was inadmissible. The little bit of evidence they had there was an explanation for.”

With no body Meyers states that there needs to be “a mountain of evidence” in order to move forward.

As far as new evidence that Sheriff Metts spoke of, Meyers said “If an investigation is going on, I don’t know anything about it.”

Jessie’s family however hopes that finally they will move forward. “We want them to follow through with what they should have been doing back in 1986. We want justice, closure. This is something we’ll have to live with all of our life, but it would be a little easier knowing the person who did this goes to jail and pays for what he’s done to my sister, our family,” stated Rebecca.

Links and Articles:

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Sister of girl missing 21 years speaks about the abduction

Solicitor responds to accusations of holding up 21-year-old case

New Clues Regarding the Disappearance of Amber Wilde?

Update 12/6/07 8:16PM

Weather has suspended the current search in this disappearance of Amber Wilde today with temperatures reaching 13 below zero. The hole is now the size of a large swimming pool and investigators say they will be back out as soon as possible, as cadaver dogs were hitting on a scent.

Click for News Article

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Original Blog 

More than nine years after 19 year old Amber Wilde went missing from Green Bay, Wisconsin, police are searching a field in Shawano County that may contain evidence related to the missing girl.

Amber Wilde was 4 ½ months pregnant when she went missing September 24, 1998. The previous day Amber had a fender bender on her way to school. She asked her father to call her the next morning to make sure she was up for her 1:00PM class at the University of Wisconsin. He did but there was no answer.

Steve Wilde, Amber’s father then went to her apartment and found her apartment locked and her car gone. A week later police found her 1988 Subaru in the parking lot of a sports bar near Lambeau Field. The keys were in the ignition and her purse and cell phone were in the trunk. Investigators also found that her seat was rolled back too far for Amber to be able to reach the pedals.

The father of Amber’s unborn child and former boyfriend was being investigated. However, the disappearance of Amber Wilde went cold until April 2001 when police searched an eight acre farm field along Highway 29 in Shawano County for four days. The search turned up no clues and once again the case went cold.

There has been speculation that Wilde’s disappearance was connected to 32 year old missing naive of Thailand, Areerat Chuprevich.

Chuprevich was last seen by her husband at their residence at the Mariner Motel in the 220 block of Riverside Drive, when he said goodbye to her before going on a fishing trip up north. Later that day, Chuprevich sent an email to her sister in Detroit, Michigan. She has never been heard from again.

When her husband returned the next evening, his wife was missing. She had left her makeup behind, and her cellular phone, which her husband says she never went anywhere without. Chuprevich did not show up for classes at St. Norbert College on April 28, two days after she was last seen.

There has been no indication as to why after nine years authorities are again searching a field for clues of Wilde. However, they have stated that Amber’s former boyfriend had a connection to one of the work crews that rebuilt segments of Highway 29 in Shawano County during that time.

Click here for latest News Article

A Vanishing in Del Haven - Where is Mark Himebaugh?

Pictured: Mark Himebaugh at 11 years old

Mark Himebaugh was 11 years old back in November 1991 living in Del Haven, New Jersey. He left his home at his mother’s permission to watch firefighters extinguish a small brush fire about a quarter mile from his home around 4:00PM on the afternoon of November 25, 1991.

His mother ran an errand and forty minutes later she returned but Mark was nowhere to be found. At first she thought he was playing with neighborhood children somewhere close by, but when he did not return, she reported Mark missing around 5:00PM.

A search of the area turned up one of Mark’s sneakers as well as his footprints on a beach about 75 yards from his home. Sixteen years later investigators still have no clue as to what happened to little Mark Himebraugh.

Unconfirmed witness reports state Mark was seen at an entrance to a local park with an unidentified little girl around 3:40PM. If indeed the reports were true, that would be the last time anyone saw Mark.

Pictured: Sketch of unconfirmed little girl seen with Mark Himebaugh at the park

A description of the little girl was that she was nine or ten years old in 1991 and had dishwater-blonde hair. She weighed approximately 70 to 75 pounds and was wearing a three-quarter length dark blue ski parka with a hunter orange stripe on the back.

A massive search insued for Himebraugh that included land and air searches with infrared cameras and canines. The dogs were never able to pick up a scent.

The case baffled investigators from the outset.

It has been classified in the category as other local missing person cases: Craig White, gone since 1989. William Gerald disappeared in 1978. Their bodies, likewise, have never been discovered. (I could find no information on either of these children. Please email me if you can provide more information on either of them)

Pictured: Mark Himebaugh- Age Progression Photo - 27 yrs old

Police and Mrs. Himebaugh are convinced Mark was abducted, and feel the new photo could bring new leads and perhaps closure.

If anyone has information about Mark’s disappearance or whereabouts please contact authorities at 609-465-8700 for Middle Township Police Dept. or 1-800-843-5678 (Center For Missing And Exploited Children).

Links and Articles:

Missing N.J. Boy Still A Mystery 16 Years Later
Still No Trace of Mark Himebaugh 16 Years Later
The Charley Project - Mark Joseph Himebaugh

Devlin Possibly Linked to Disappearance of Steven Kraft

As I blogged earlier, LE is focusing on other missing and murdered children as possibly connected to Michael Devlin. One of them is Steven Kraft.Possible link between missing boy and charged abductor

UPDATED:

BENTON TOWNSHIP (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – There is new information in the six-year-old case of a missing West Michigan boy.

Steven Kraft was only 12 years old when he disappeared back in February, 2001.

He was last seen walking his dogs in his Benton Township neighborhood in Berrien County.

For days after Steven vanished volunteers and police searched for him, but to this day he’s never been found.

The FBI says it’s investigating to see if Michael Devlin, an accused kidnapper whose arrest captured national headlines earlier this year, could be connected to the case of the missing West Michigan boy.

In St. Louis the FBI announced the case of the missing West Michigan boy is among several the agency is focusing on as they learn more about the world of Michael Devlin.

Devlin was charged earlier this year with kidnapping multiple boys. Police captured Devlin with the boys in Missouri.

In the past, the FBI says Devlin traveled the road where I-94 meets 196 in Berrien County to get to his parents cottage in Pentwater in Oceana County.

This is very near where Kraft disappeared.

“They’ve done a travel time line of Devlin and they’ve put him in West Michigan,” said Special Agent Al DiBrito of the FBI.

For Kraft’s family the new lead offers new hope.

“I actually think it’s a good thing, it can’t hurt keeping his face in the media keeping his name in the news,” said Kraft’s sister, Jodi Bopp.

“We haven’t found anything saying he’s dead, we haven’t found any remains. On the other hand we haven’t found anything saying he’s alive, so you just got to keep the hope and wish for the best,” said Bopp.

“All we do is hope for the best and hope someday he’ll walk through the front door or police will find him and release him and he can come home,” said Kraft’s father Steven.

New tips in this case can be phoned into the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.
Article Sited

Update on Arlin Henderson

In following the story of Michael Devlin and whether he had been involved in other disappearances in the area of other missing children, I mentioned in previous blogs the fact that I thought that he may have had something to do with the disappearance of Arlin Henderson. (see my previous blogs michael-j-devlin-could-there-be-more and photos-may-be-arlin-henderson and did-michael-devlin-join-search-for-Bianca-Piper )

I found some really strange things with this case. The first one is that “Arlin’s bike was found found three months later in October on Ethlin rd and we searched that area several times not to mention the helicopters that flew over that area for several days after he went missing. ” this quote was taken from the Court TV boards on Arlin’s thread by a poster named “tka05” but the basic information regarding his bike reappearing has also been published in many articles.

The second strange fact is that the person that started that thread went by the handle “invreporter1105” who also gained national exposure when he came out with pictures of Shawn Hornbeck that no one else had seen. (See article ). I am sure all remember that Shawn Hornbeck himself posted on his own site twice as Shawn Devlin. This poster was asked straight out of he was Arlin but has not responded to that question.

The third thing strange about this case, is that a site in which Shawn made while in captivity held a picture that I have seen over and over and thought at first glance was Shawn. However, as Irobert pointed out on the Court TV thread, it certainly bares a striking resemblance to Arlin’s aged progressed photo.

Here is Shawn’s site where the pic is

The Pic itself

The first picture comes from Shawn’s site, the second photo is an aged progression photo of Arlin.

If you right click on the photo from the link From the Pic Itself link (see above the photos for links), you will see that the photo is named me2.1 and it could very well be Shawn. (This site looks to be a picture hosting site and and I am not sure who owns it - the link was posted on the Court TV board)

I have seen pics of Shawn at certain ages during his captivity where he looked similar. I tried to find the photo I am referring to, but there is so much out there on the Internet I couldn’t find it. It is the photos of Shawn and his little buddy at the Apartment complex. The one that he spent Christmas’ with. If anyone can find those pics, let me know.

Anyway, it is all strange indeed. There was a partial print on Arlin’s bike that was recovered. I am sure if would have led to Devlin, LE would have said so by now.

One other interesting fact, the poster “tka05” that posted on the Court TV thread does seem to have some sort of personal ties to the case as he stated:

To answer some of the questions here, Arlin’s bike was found three months later in October on Ethlin rd and we searched that area several times not to mention the helicopters that flew over that area for several days after he went missing.

We believe he is alive and we do not understand why he will not come back now. Maybe he has changed and become someone else. We dont know. I wish he would come forward. He would not have to change his life, but we would just like to see him and know what happened.

You can find transcripts on the record with Greta on FOX. Debbie did a lot of interviews with Greta.

There was a partial print on the bike that has never been matched to anyone yet. The bike was pretty clean.

we are waiting for the police ti investigate Devlin further about Arlin. It takes time and they are being quiet about their investigation.

Arlin would be 27 today. You have to think. Shawn did not run. Shawn stayed because he was so scared, lived and grew up in such an unimaginable environment. What if he were never found? What if today Shawn was Arlin’s age? Would he come home? Would he stay in hiding?

What if Arlin were alive right now (it is a possibility) and he saw everything that Shawn has been through, with media and never having a normal life then, and now having a not normal (better but different life) now.

Would he want to come out of hiding? Maybe he feels guilty even though he shouldn’t. Maybe, like Shawn helped in abducting Ben, Arlin helped in abducting Shawn and he is now scared, thinking that there is no turning back.

Is Arlin Henderson living out there. Hidden in plain site - just like Shawn had for so many years?

Arlin, if you are out there, please come home!

Link to the Court TV Thread discussed in this blog

Other interesting links to this case:

Friends of Arlin Henderson
Article/Timeline on Arlin Henderson
The Charley Project - Arlin Henderson
Brian’s Prediction - Arlin Henderson

Dalton Mesarchik Slaying Connected to Michael Devlin?

In researching new information in the Michael Devlin case in which he abducted Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownsby, I found that tonight they are investigating the link between the murder of 7 year old Dalton Mesarchik in 2003 and Devlin.

However, tonight I also saw some disturbing photos of Shawn (purportedly of Shawn) looking like a gangster and brandishing a gun with a bandanna around his face. When I saw these photos, I thought so many things. First thing that came to mind was that damn, the media will have a field day with this one. Shawn has been massacred in so many ways, by being abducted and stripped from all he knew, terrorized and brainwashed for years, and now this.

What makes a CHILD that has been abducted turn into whatever? There isnt much research because most of them don’t survive it. Therefore, I more sorry for Shawn and his family more than ever that this is just another devastating hit on Shawn. I debated back and forth on even blogging about it, but I thought that at least I can hopefully tune people into the fact that no matter what, Shawn was a victim. Period. Whatever happened and whatever he did after being abducted was this child’s way of dealing with it.

What about Michael Devlin? What about he MONSTER that did this to him? I bet his lawyers are having a field day with this entire media event, one after the other convicting the victim over and over. I so hope that Shawn doesn’t actually have to testify against Devlin. It will be brutal to say the least.

Authorities are now looking into a case from 2003 in which little 7 year old Dalton Mesarchik disappeared from his front yard in Streator, Illinois while waiting on a church bus that never came. He was found beaten to death with A three-pound Benchtop Pro hammer.

I am not sure whether or not Devlin had anything at all to do with little Devin’s murder but authorities have now searched his previous residence that he lived at around two years before he abducted Shawn, and they searched his current apartment again. Maybe they found something that we don’t know. I believe Devlin had his toes amputated at the time due to his diabetes, so was this murder possible or not?

One thing that I believe is that this man did do something to some child way before the age of 37 when he abducted Shawn. People like this build up to this sort of crime.

Photos may be Arlin Henderson?

UPDATE AT END OF BLOG

If you see my previous blogs michael-j-devlin-could-there-be-more and did-michael-devlin-join-search-for-Bianca-Piper, I stated that I thought both Arlin Henderson as well as Scott Kleeschulte could have also been victims of Michael Devlin.

Since then, many media articles have came out to say that Devlin could have been connected to Arlin. They have said very little about Scott. They must know something we don’t about Scott because the location and MO look the same. However, today’s news about Arlin Henderson may shed more light on his whereabouts and whether Devlin was involved in his disappearance:

Detectives investigating accused kidnapper Michael Devlin have shown photographs of a teenage boy to the family of Charles “Arlin” Henderson, asking if the pictures resemble the then-11-year-old who disappeared in 1991, Arlin’s relatives said Wednesday.

Arlin’s mother, Debra Henderson, and his uncle, James McWilliams, were both shown the pictures this week by Lincoln County Sheriff’s detectives. McWilliams said detectives told him the pictures came from someone who claims to know Devlin and who said the teenage boy pictured was an acquaintance of Devlin’s from years ago.

Detectives were investigating whether the source did in fact know Devlin, McWilliams told The Associated Press.

Both relatives said the photos are roughly 10 years old and show a boy around 17 years of age. Arlin would have been 17 in 1997.

Debra Henderson said the teen was wearing a ball cap in one picture. He appeared to be standing with someone else, who was torn from the photo, she said.

He looked like he could be her son, Henderson said. “Yeah he really did,” she said. “But I am not getting my hopes up.”

McWilliams said there was a “strong, strong” resemblance to Arlin, but he couldn’t say for sure if it was him. “There are some characteristics there that are the same. We’re keeping an open mind,” McWilliams said.

Arlin disappeared while riding his bike on a rural road in Moscow Mills, about an hour’s drive north of St. Louis. Devlin, 41, is charged with kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby in similarly remote areas. Shawn, now 15, and Ben, 13, were found Jan. 12 at Devlin’s suburban St. Louis apartment.

If the photos are indeed Arlin, the question begs, where is he now? Perhaps Devlin isn’t a killer after all. Maybe Arlin is still alive and living somewhere under another name. Perhaps not. It is hopeful information though, and hope is all his family has.

Source for Article

Update 1/24/07 11:16PM

(I started putting the updates on the ends of blogs instead of the beginning. It seemed to flow better. Sorry if you are looking at previous blogs and were confused)

I went on to the Court TV Board to see if there were any news or more info on this bit of information, and the posters were discussing that Arlin’s mother was on Greta Van Susteren discussing the pictures. A poster on the board posted the following:

The woman who supplied the photos was just interviewed on KSDK… Ms. McElroy… she says the boy in the photos was called “Chucky” and that “Devo” (Devlin) said he was the son of a friend… she hasn’t seen “Chucky” since about 1995.

If this is true, that is quite a coincidence that the boy’s name was “Chucky”. Arlin’s first name is Charles.

UPDATE 1/25/07 7:18AM

According to this mornings article, the photos and the source of the photos may not be credible. Sniped from the article:

Authorities believe that two photographs provided by a woman who knows accused kidnapper Michael Devlin are not a credible lead in the investigation of Arlin Henderson’s disappearance in 1991, sources familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.

Also:

Last week, the Kirkwood police said the woman who provided the photos had fabricated a claim that she had reported to police years ago that Shawn was living with Devlin.

Full Article Quoted

UPDATE 1/25/07 4:48PM

Regarding the previous update. I am still not sure about the photos, nor about the article above in the last update that states the photos are not a credible lead. I have read a lot of articles since then, and have not found another article stating that, but instead stating that Arlin’s mother thinks the photos look very much like him.

According to articles I have read, in one photo he has a ball cap on and in another photo he is photographed with someone, although that other person has been torn from the photo.