NY NY - WNYT COLD CASE #13 Kimberly Wade, Looking for WS Member to Help, dumpster, Albany, Aug 2002

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Tricia

Tricia

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WNYT News is featuring cold cases on their newscasts.

Let's help them solve some of these cold cases, shall we?

WNYT News Cold Case # 13 is Kimberly Wade. The murder took place 18 years ago in Albany.

Kimberly Wade, also known as Kimberly Merwitz, was found dead behind a dumpster in August 2002.

Wade, who'd been a promising student at Shaker High School and pursued nursing, had been abused as a child and struggled with addiction -- eventually turning to prostitution to support her habit.

She was 41 and a mother of three when she was killed.


To find out more info CLICK HERE and it will take you to the WNYT Cold Case page with more info on Kimberly.

I would really like a member to adopt this case and keep this thread updated with info.

Any takers?
 

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I think by watching the two Albany detectives speak, they genuinely are wanting to solve this case. It's a shame, so much time has passed between 2002 and now. Someone out there knows who the monster is who took Kim's life and I believe this crime will be solved. It's heart wrenching she had 3 young children that have had to endure this. I'd like to see the bank video, that may bring some tips in.
 
Surely this has got to be one of those “follow the money” cases? It’s stating the obvious but heavy drug users invariably run up debts to their dealer, and dealers invariably consider bad debtors to be entirely expendable.

I’m sure detectives have investigated this aspect in great detail, but this would easily explain the run to her mother’s house to steal check books and jewellery the week before her death, which could’ve been a last ditch effort to clear some of what she owed to an increasingly impatient supplier. Probably not the street dealer she regularly dealt with IMO but the king pin, or the areawide distributor sitting between the street dealers and the king pin in the supply chain (who, like a bank, takes a mortgage - except this one is over your life).

I hope they resolve this case.
 
A hard core user of( say Meth) could
easily run up and or steal for their
own demands and or drug needs
I saw a user write over 30000 dollars
in bad checks that were traced back
to her, to feed her habit.
 
New leads in the case are always good, however , old leads are better. “Time” in this case will probably be the investigators friend, relationships change and judging by the people involved and there’s probably a past girlfriend / boyfriend or other relationship that didn’t end so well since then. The people that used to be afraid to talk about what they knew about this might not be So afraid anymore .
 
In no way am i an expert in any forensic or psychological field, but heres an opinion of mine i'd like to share.
In the report it says she was found strangled and partially clothed, this would be highly atypical of a murder by a drug dealer and both of these aspects imply some form of sexual gratification for the killer. These types of killers are known as sexual sadists and following the nature of a typical sexual sadist, it's likely that he has other victims but unfortunately it is incredibly difficult to impossible to determine a pattern based off of a single victim. To find other potential victims one should look through other unsolved murders dating back a few years prior and from 2002-present. It is shown by the fact he left the body in a public dumpster that he either wanted her to be found (less likely) or is inexperienced and needed a quick solution (more likely). Combining this knowledge, one should either look for prior/later victims following a very slight trend of being middle aged women with high-risk lifestyles killed by strangulation (likely a fetish) in NY state or look (in the same timeframe) for high-risk women killed in personal, sexual methods such as stabbing or strangulation. Methods that fit this trend will likely align with some form of touch between the killer and the victim with the stabbing example being the penetration of the knife into the body that would arouse a killer.
 
bancam said:
Surely this has got to be one of those “follow the money” cases? It’s stating the obvious but heavy drug users invariably run up debts to their dealer, and dealers invariably consider bad debtors to be entirely expendable.
I hope they resolve this case.
Click to expand...

The article also mentions her sex work to support her addiction... may also be stating the obvious but police are not always too motivated to quick to try to solve cases involving someone involved in sex work... as I once heard it, "its like seeing a criminal kill another criminal" given the illegal nature of sex work (not in any way saying that I agree with this mentality, strong from it actually.). I agree it is very likely this had something to do with debt to suppliers...
 
ellislav said:
In no way am i an expert in any forensic or psychological field, but heres an opinion of mine i'd like to share.
In the report it says she was found strangled and partially clothed, this would be highly atypical of a murder by a drug dealer and both of these aspects imply some form of sexual gratification for the killer. These types of killers are known as sexual sadists and following the nature of a typical sexual sadist, it's likely that he has other victims but unfortunately it is incredibly difficult to impossible to determine a pattern based off of a single victim. To find other potential victims one should look through other unsolved murders dating back a few years prior and from 2002-present. It is shown by the fact he left the body in a public dumpster that he either wanted her to be found (less likely) or is inexperienced and needed a quick solution (more likely). Combining this knowledge, one should either look for prior/later victims following a very slight trend of being middle aged women with high-risk lifestyles killed by strangulation (likely a fetish) in NY state or look (in the same timeframe) for high-risk women killed in personal, sexual methods such as stabbing or strangulation. Methods that fit this trend will likely align with some form of touch between the killer and the victim with the stabbing example being the penetration of the knife into the body that would arouse a killer.
Click to expand...
This sounds more like an anger excitation killer to me. The sadistic killer tends to take more time with their victims by torturing them before they kill them.the anger excitation killer will either rape the victim or assault them and kill them . This killer also seems unorganized because of the way they just put her behind a dumpster. The throwing away the body also could be how they see their victim as trash. This person will most likely have had many run ins with the law, but may not have any convictions for murder. I hope this is helpful, my prayers go out to her family.
 
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SuzyySaurus said:
Has anyone found any info on active serial murders in that same area around that time? I think it might be worth looking in to.[/
Click to expand...
Michael Mosley killed a couple in Troy in 2002, which is close to Albany. He stabbed the couple with knives he found in the couple’s apartment. The woman was also beaten.
 
It is a shame that her children have had to grow up without seeing justice for their mother. I pray they are able to find peace.
 
Murders of sex workers can be a nightmare for investigators, due to so many factors.

Few questions if anyone has the answers

So was she found clothed or partially clothed?, the report only indicated that her shirt had been pulled up over her head

Strangulation as a cause of death, by ligature of manual ?

Sexual assault is always difficult to determine in these types of cases, as is trace evidence such as fiber, or DNA.

Covering the victim or their face is sometimes what we call "undoing" in which the offender, feels some type of remorse , and by covering the face of the victim, he no longer has to look at them. Thats usually indicative of a personal connection to the victim (IE they knew them) ,
 
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