Six-year-old Peggy Chappell was last seen on Thanksgiving Day 1993 getting into a van or SUV with a man who witnesses said kissed her on the cheek.
Her little body was found the next day, stuffed in a garbage bag and dumped on a heap of trash in the rubble of a ruined house within a block of her family's Norwood Gardens apartments home. A 12-year-old boy made the gruesome discovery.
The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl was wrapped in a beach towel, her clothes folded neatly beside her in the garbage bag. Her skull was smashed and her hands bound. Her throat was cut and her body bruised.
Investigators have said Peggy was hit on the head with an iron pipe. The blow was forceful enough to kill her, but investigators believed she lived for up to an hour before someone slit her throat.
Peggy's murder is one of 300-plus that remains unsolved in Birmingham dating back to 1951. The Birmingham Police Department in 2005 launched the Cold Case Unit and has made several high-profile arrests since its inception.
"I realized early on that we simply couldn't afford to let the criminals forget that the trauma of homicide lasts a lifetime, and someone has to pay," said now-retired Deputy Chief Herman Hinton, who helped get the unit started, in an earlier interview.
The two veteran homicide detectives currently assigned to the unit - Jonathon Ross and Talana Brown - are now using new tools to try to crack old cases. Two weeks ago, the detectives launched the Cold Case Unit page on Facebook, and already tips are coming in.
"We're trying to reach out to the younger generation, ages 16-30,'' Ross said. "One tip came in this morning."
While the first 48 to 72 hours are the most critical in getting witness information about a crime, investigators believe lapsed time often works in their favor since relationships and circumstances change, and people mature. Ross and Brown think Facebook will get their message, and their need for witnesses and information, out to a broader range of people. "This will be a good tool for us,'' Ross said.
Already, the detectives have loaded about 30 cases on to the Facebook page and will continue to add to the list. The oldest case in their files, which has not yet been uploaded to website, is the 1951 slaying of Ensley store owner Fredrick Bartholomne,
Bartholomne was gravely wounded on March 5 of that year, sometime between 9 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. He was found in the rear of his store at 238 Ensley Avenue and lived for 10 days after the attack. His eye glasses were found in front of the store.
Initially, Bartholomne told detectives from his hospital bed that someone stole $75 to $80 from him, and police believed he was the victim of a robbery. But detectives said Bartholomne's condition prevented him from accurately recalling what happened, and investigators came to believe there was a only a small amount of money taken and they believed the attack was the result of a personal grievance. Bartholomne died March 15, 1951.
The other unsolved cases run the gamut. David Deroncey, 27, was killed Nov. 25, 2012 while he was driving along I-65 northbound at University Boulevard. The young husband was found by his wife, who went out looking for him when he didn't come home. Authorities believe Deroncey got into a confrontation with two people at a service station minutes before he got on the interstate.
Anthony Nelson, 24, was found shot inside his car on Oct. 8, 1986 in the 1300 block of 16th Street in Birmingham's Fountain Heights community. He was taken to the hospital but died a short time after his arrival. Police believe a woman may have been in the car with him at the time of the shooting.
Graylin Lewis, 41, was found dead July 19, 2012 at Green Springs Park. He was inside his Bright House Cable truck, and called 911 to say he had been shot during a robbery. He was able to tell police one of the two suspects had "dreads" before he became unresponsive. He later died.
On Oct. 8, 2011, 29-year-old Luvly Cooper was found partially nude, lying face down in a burned-out garage behind a home on Tuscaloosa Avenue S.W. She died from blunt force trauma to the head.
The list goes on, as does the frustration for detectives. That's why Ross and Brown are stepping up their efforts. In addition to Facebook, they said, they will be passing out cards and flyers at places where crowds gather. They also will take their cause to the police officers in the precincts, and hopefully to prisons. "Wherever we can get the word out,'' Ross said.
Already from a Facebook post, they've heard from a retired detective who worked on the Peggy Chappell case. "He said it was still near and dear to his heart,'' Ross said.
A medical examiner found no evidence that Peggy was sexually assaulted, but police found a pornographic magazine next to the child's body in the garbage bag. Authorities charged Peggy's mother, Katie Chappell, in 1994 with hindering prosecution because she won't help police find her daughter's killer. Investigators insist Katie Chappell knows who coaxed Peggy into the van and why he took her.
Katie Chappell passed one polygraph test, but stumbled on the next three after investigators found more information and made the questions more specific. She pleaded guilty in 1999 and Circuit Judge James Garrett sentenced her to 10 years in prison. He reduced the term to five years of probation on the condition that she cooperate fully with police.
The judge revoked her probation when she refused to help and sent her to prison for three years. Investigators several years ago consulted with FBI profilers in Quantico, Va. Profilers there narrowed the suspects to a short list and say the killer is someone close to the family. They found it significant that Peggy's clothes were neatly folded inside the garbage bag and that her body was dumped close to her home.
Ross and Brown are hoping that their new approach works. "We have our fingers crossed,'' Brown said.
"We can't bring back their loved ones," Ross said, "but if we can bring closure or justice, that means a lot to a family that is hurting.
Crime Stoppers offers up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect or suspects. In many of the unsolved cases, there is also additional reward money from outside sources such as family members, private donors or the Governor's Office.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777, Det. Ross at 205-297-8497 or Det. Brown at 205-297-8490.
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