GUILTY IN - Karen Hodella, 45, & Christine Whitis, 75, murdered, 2002 & 2012

[laini]

In Corydon, Indiana - bloody woman's clothing was found in trash with photo of unknown girl/teenager (photo posted at the link below). Police are releasing photo in hopes of identifying girl in photo and blood. No body was ever found.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/10706726/detail.html

 

[Paradise]

This caught my attention, it's sort of like Hot Case #1 on the Doenetwork. They have this picture but no evidence that someone was killed. Hopefully someone comes forward and claims to be the person in the picture.

 

[outofthedark]

There's actually 2 girls in that photo- unless it's a duplicate shot of the same girl or if she has a twin

Telling by her hairstyle, I'm guessing the photo was taken in the mid 80s to early-partially mid 90s

 

[annemc2]

It was a popular (and cheesy, imo) style to have the two views in one photo. I have some like that from 8th grade, ca. 1987.

 

[outofthedark]

I think it's more than one girl in that photo because one has her hair up and the other has her hair down, plus they're looking in opposite directions

 

[txsvicki]

I think it's late 80's to early 90's too and the same girl in the pic. The same earring on the right side, same shirt, and same hair, and exact same placement of the couple of highlights in the bang area. I think the hair is up in both pics but you just can't see the off center ponytail in one of the pics. It's too bad the article didn't say more, such as how much blood was found, if the pic was mixed in with other articles, in a bag with clothes, etc.

 

[julianne]

It was a popular (and cheesy, imo) style to have the two views in one photo. I have some like that from 8th grade, ca. 1987.

You are right. This particular style of photo was called "Reflections". It was a popular style of school photo back in the 80's. There is only one girl in the photo. Reflection photos are done by taking two different photos. Her hair is the same in both photos, it is just hard to tell that in the relection (face only) part.

I do believe that this photo was really only popular in the Eastern portion of the US back then---I could be wrong, but I don't think this sort of photo was all the rage in the Southwest. Hmmm.

 

[Stella]

No, we had them here in the Southwest. My children had them done at school from the early 80's to the early 90's. I know someone who had a wedding photo done in the same style back in 1969.

 

[sissy's mom]

I have a few photos like this taken at Walmart and K-mart in the late 80's.

 

[docwho3]

I too remember school pics being available in the double view or "reflections" mode in Illinois.

 

[Beyond Belief]

I think this needs to be broadcast on Foxnews. Maybe someone needs to send it to Greta.

 

[Rhett]

I have pictures of myself that are like this (unfortunately) that are from the late 1970's and very early 1980's. I live in the south.

 

[Jdee]

I am normally a lurker but wanted to comment on the picture of the girl and what struck me about it. The shirt with the green stripe she has on reminds me of a cheerleader's sweater. Might be worth looking to see what schools have green and white as their school colors and if any cheerleaders went missing back in the 80's.

 

[LisainWV]

I wondered about contacting photographers who did school pictures in the area about her. I know in my area, one photographer did a big area of schools. Maybe not every photographer offered the "reflections" photo?


Judging by the clothes and the hair, i think this was probably 1980 to 1985 (just thinking about my hs years).


It seems she should be easy to id unless that photo is way out of its "home town."

 

[annemc2]

They sure do - and Thorntown (where Shannon disappeared from) is less than three hours away from Corydon. However Shannon was just six years old when she disappeared 10/15/86. This photo looks like an 11, 12, or 13 year old to me, which would make the styles off a bit by that time. I wonder if LE has thought about the photo possibly being of Shannon Sherrill?

 

[rpipergirl]

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/itsreenw/Neat%20Pics/SHERRILL.jpg http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/itsreenw/Neat%20Pics/INDIANA.jpg
Shannon Sherrill

That is a different kind of reflection than we had here in the N.E. in the 80's. ours had the reflection part as a profile view. Ours also had a soft fuzzy oval shape around the reflection. Got me currious.

 

[Tom Friendly]

Solved!

Although the original news story link is gone, this one from 2007 still stands: http://www.tribstar.com/local/x1257...-girl-in-photo-found-in-Dumpster-near-Corydon
In the link you can see this photo found among bloody clothes that police were trying to identify in October 2002:

Fast forward to April 2012, police are questioning a man on a separate homicide who implicates himself in the cold case murder of Karen Hodella, murdered in October 2002 but found in January 2003. A recent photo of Karen shows that she was in fact the woman in the photo found in the dumpster:

William Gibson III has been charged in 2 murders and

Articles about the arrest are here: http://www.newsandtribune.com/local/x164320597/New-Albany-man-facing-two-murder-charges and here: http://www.wave3.com/story/17755911/man-being-questioned-about-murder

But it doesn't end there... After the arrest of William Gibson III police searched his property and unearthed the remains of 35 year old Stephanie Kirk who went missing in March 2012. He was sentenced to die for the murder of Christine Whitis and plead guilty to the murder of the girl in the photo, Karen Hodella and he is currently (July 2014) in court for sentencing for the murder of Stephanie Kirk. In prison he got a tattoo inked onto the back of his head that says "Death Row X 3" so I guess he is very proud of himself for whatever reason.

Here is an article from just yesterday that discusses his sentencing trial for the Kirk case: http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...eath-penalty-weighed-william-gibson/13263539/[/QUOTE]

 

[annemc2]

Whoa! Amazing follow up - thanks, TF!