 Stephanie Hogland and Michael Dowell |
Justice awaits.
Posted on 12/18/2006 12:23:33 PM PST by newgeezer
LINCOLN COUNTY, Missouri — Almost 16 years ago, a worker clearing ice from Highway W found the partly clothed body of 18-year-old Stephanie Hogland face down in a ditch. She had been bludgeoned to death.
On Friday, investigators announced an arrest in the case — saying it is the oldest case matched by DNA in the state lab.
Michael Edward Dowell, 44, of the 9700 block of Newton Drive in Ferguson, was charged Friday with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and forcible rape. He had submitted a DNA sample on Oct. 30 as part of his probation for an unrelated assault case in St. Louis.
On Nov. 30, the Missouri Highway Patrol's crime lab reported it had a match. The DNA sample taken from Hogland's underwear in 1991 was the first to be submitted to the crime lab, patrol spokeswoman Julie Scerine said Friday.
"Never give up," said Maryland Heights Police Capt. Bill Carson, commander of the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis. [...]
Hogland, a 1990 graduate of Fort Zumwalt North High School who lived in Wentzville, was last seen in the early morning of Jan. 6, 1991, after attending a wedding reception with friends in Old Monroe. At some point on her way home, she got a flat tire and pulled her 1977 Pontiac Firebird into a driveway along Highway W north of Highway 47.
The owner of a nearby house found the car later that morning and called the Sheriff's Department, but deputies found no sign of Hogland. More than a day passed, and the highway worker found her body about 15 miles away from her car in a ditch along Highway W north of Highway B. She had been raped and beaten on the head. [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
| Stephanie Hogland and Michael Dowell |
Justice awaits.
I so hope that DNA will help solve some of the string of seemingly unrelated disappearances of women that date back I think almost 40 years now.
The girl that disappeared in Clinton and the 3 missing women in Springfield never stray far from my mind. The Springfield case really changed the way I view my surroundings especially after dark.
We still think about all the dozen or so young girls who were found murdered in the area between Houston and Galveston over the last 35 years. To my knowledge they were never solved. God Bless the families of those girls and the heartache they have had to live with.
Here in the Galveston County area, there are a number of unsolved murders of young women, their bodies' dumped in remote areas, following the route from Houston to Galveston Island.
Mr. Dowell,
.50 cal.
One shot, One kill.
I'll pull the trigger myself.
Thank G-d for cell phones.
I was just remembering a high-school self-defense lecture where the speaker started the demonstration saying:
"Girls. If you really want to get raped and don't have a lot of time; Hitchhike.
Poor girl.
Maybe Mr. "Round Peg" Dowell will end up fitting into a "Square hole" electric chair?!
They may have caught themselves a serial killer there with Michael Dowell.
TG for DNA analysis!
I moved to Rolla right before the Springfield kidnapping happened. That case was pretty scarry (and still is.)
Unfortunately, Missouri doesn't use Old Sparky anymore.
Prosecutors have to demand more of this.
About 30 years ago, there were two or three young women who were hitch hikers and were murdered, along Rt. 20 near Morrisville, NY. They had a suspect (found his business cards next to the body!) but could never prove anything. A state trooper saw him in a fast food place several years ago, got his DNA off a straw he threw into the waste bin and they convicted him of the one death but believe he was responsible for others. Another woman who died was the ONLY name in his card file. What a coincidence, huh? He had a large family, a lovely wife, and lived a 'normal' life for all these years. Now he's sitting in jail for life. It took all these years to get him there.
RIP Stephanie, justice awaits your killer.
remind us all about the Springfield murders/kidnappings...thx
Mary, back in my wilder days, my girlfriend and I hitch-hiked from Utica, New York to the Boston area, or just north of there, I forget, late winter when the days were not long, so most of it was at dusk or night-time...that was just north of Rt 20 .......I shudder sometimes when I think what could have happened....
...But a murderer still walks the streets in Florida free. You know his name.
"He had submitted a DNA sample on Oct. 30 as part of his probation for an unrelated assault case in St. Louis."
It's likely that this guy has been involved in crimes his whole life. Just like countless others than never got caught. DNA is a good thing.
Three women, mother and two daughters, went to gas station, paid and then left. That was the last anyone ever saw them. They just vanished.....
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