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Chapter 1: What happened to Melanie Howell in 1976?
All right, everyone, if you have been waiting for the perfect moment to pick up my latest novel, The Missing Half, this is it because it is officially out on paperback and there is more waiting for you inside. There is nothing better than getting cozy and diving into a story that you can't put down.
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If you're ready for a story full of secrets, surprises, and a final turn that will stay with you, grab your paperback copy of The Missing Half now wherever books are sold. Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And Brett, in all my years of not just making true crime stories, but consuming them as well, I have never heard a story that starts like this.
One of our reporters reached out to an LAPD cold case guy to ask him about an unsolved case from the 70s. And he's like, oh, that case, that case is actually solved. But he couldn't tell us who did it. What do you mean he couldn't tell you? Same reaction. So we pressed him, like, how can it be solved if you don't know who committed the crime?
And he said, well, the detective who worked the case when it was solved wouldn't tell him the killer's name, which made no sense to me. Police departments normally want to shout it from the rooftops if they solve a cold case. I mean, it's usually even a matter of public record, but not Here. Here, it's not even an internal record.
So we set out to answer the one question that this detective couldn't. And if you stick with me, I am proud to tell you that at the end of this episode, you'll be one of the first to know who killed Melanie Howell. Before 22-year-old Melanie Howell was found stabbed to death inside her apartment, something weird had been going on.
Her boyfriend at the time, who I'm going to call Dale, told us that Melanie had been really scared in the days leading up to her death. Just two nights before she was killed, Dale says that she called him late at night from her apartment where she lived alone, and she was terrified because there was a man that she caught watching her through her window.
He told her to call the police, and when he rushed over from his place, which wasn't far, he actually saw a man coming out of the bushes across the street. And without a second thought, this dude just takes off after him, like her boyfriend. Now, Melanie's med school boyfriend was also a runner, by the way. But somehow he says that this man still outran him.
And because it was so dark out, he never got a good look at this guy. And he couldn't really describe him to police when they arrived shortly after. Now, Melanie was already planning on moving out of that apartment. She only had two more days left there before she was set to move into a new place with some people that she was going to nursing school with.
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Chapter 2: What clues were left behind in Melanie's murder case?
Oh, this dude did not spend much time in her apartment. Now, is that because his only goal was to come in and kill her and then get out as fast as possible? Or did his real plan go awry because like she put up too much of a fight or something?
I mean, even though he's gotten her wrist bound at one point, I know she has defensive wounds to her left hand, and there was broken glass scattered in the apartment from a smashed window, likely from her trying to escape or fight back. Now, the guy ended up still stabbing her 47 times. Oh, my God.
So even though she hadn't been sexually assaulted, maybe that was the plan, and he just underestimated Melanie. Like once Glass is breaking and she's screaming, he might know that they're drawing attention. This is the middle of the day. And so he like takes off.
And what's the briefcase about? Is that something that he brought with him or took from her place?
They assume it's his because there wasn't anything missing from Melanie's place. And that might have been what he brought the weapon that he used in because they never found a knife at the crime scene. So I think the briefcase potentially served two purposes. One, I think maybe, like I said, he had all this stuff that he planned to use. It was a kit. Yeah. Handcuffs, knife, like whatever.
Two, I think that it might have made him look like a door-to-door salesman. Like it makes me wonder if he pretended to be a salesman or something. Someone harmless. And they have this interaction, right, that the neighbor hears. And then he leaves, like probably putting Melanie's guard down, making her think everything seems fine. And then he comes back and catches her off guard. Right.
But if that's the case, I would guess this isn't the same guy that Melanie saw watching her like a couple nights before. Or she wouldn't have opened the door, right?
I don't know that, though, because I don't think she actually got a good look at the guy. I mean, remember, it was dark when that happened. And her boyfriend told us when we talked to him that she never described the guy to him, which I think she would have done if she could have. So honestly, to me, the idea that it's not the same guy feels like it would be a wild coincidence.
Well, and if that's the case, then it makes me wonder how long he had been watching her, like stalking her out, waiting for her to come back because she hadn't been there for like a couple of days, at least overnight.
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Chapter 3: How did Melanie's boyfriend describe the events leading up to her death?
Yeah. It's like that. Yeah.
Same telltale signs.
And he could have realized that, like, someone in the middle of a move might be more distracted. Like, doors are open a lot as you're coming and going more frequently.
But why, though? Like, now we know it wasn't someone that knew Melanie. Or at least I'm assuming he didn't, right?
No, correct. As far as we can tell, Melanie Howell did not know Paul Bustamante. And neither did Elizabeth Wolfe. It seems like he just targeted these women out of the blue. But I don't have a great answer for why. Because our reporter got Elizabeth's records from Davis PD and she was attacked almost the same way.
It seems like she answered the door to someone and pretty quickly after that, the guy stabbed her 14 times. No sexual assault. Then the guy runs, leaving fingerprints both on the inside and outside of Elizabeth's front door. Now, in Elizabeth's case, it seems like he did take her purse.
But I don't know if we can say that this was the motive for the attack, because it seems like he could have gotten her purse without what he did to her. And now that we know he did the same thing as before.
Yeah, I doubt that was his motivation. But how did they end up linking Paul?
Well, it took a long time. And actually, for years, a lot of people considered Elizabeth's case closed because they believed that serial killer Henry Lee Lucas was responsible. I know.
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Chapter 4: What evidence was found at the crime scene of Melanie Howell?
I'm Yvette Gentile. And I'm her sister, Rasha Pecoraro. Every week on our podcast, So Supernatural, we dive deep into some of the Earth's most bizarre and inexplicable occurrences. We don't just observe them. we actively try to explain the unexplainable.
So if you're ready to have your perceptions challenged and your curiosity ignited, listen to So Supernatural every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts.