“Unusual Pieces of Evidence That Helped Solve Murder Cases: Todd Lampley, Anna Repkina, Denise Sharon Kulb”

Accident – Death – Obituary News : In the world of criminal investigations, the pursuit of justice often requires piecing together complex puzzles along with the assistance of various types of evidence. While weapons, fingerprints, witness accounts, and DNA are some of the most traditional tools in the forensic arsenal, there also exists a realm of rather unusual and unexpected evidence that has played a pivotal role in solving some of the most perplexing murders. This list dives into the intriguing domain of crime-solving, which has unveiled unusual pieces of evidence that have defied expectations and contributed to the resolution of some chilling cold cases and murder mysteries. From the unexpected to the downright bizarre, these stories demonstrate that in the quest for justice, sometimes it’s the “unusual” that holds the key. Here are ten unusual pieces of evidence that helped solve murder cases and lead investigators to justice.

10 Sweet Potato

On February 27, 2011, Barnstable police responded to a shooting in Hyannis, a village located on Massachusetts’s Cape Cod peninsula. When officers arrived, they found 31-year-old Todd Lampley shot to death in a bedroom. At the scene, investigators found three shell casings on the ground outside the window of the bedroom where Lampley was shot. However, aside from the shell casings, investigators also found two unusual pieces of evidence with ties to the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire. The first was a cell phone registered in the name of Marco Stanfield (the name of a fictional narco-trafficking kingpin on the show). The other was a sweet potato that was cut flat on one end, appeared to have a hole carved through its center, and was “blown out and irregular” on the other end (a sweet potato was used as a silencer on the TV show).

A few days after the shooting, a man named Devrus Hampton was arrested in an unrelated case. Hampton and Lampley had previous ties as during a 2010 trial, Hampton indicated that Lampley played a role in the 2007 shooting death of 18-year-old Jacques Sellers, who was also reportedly killed by someone shooting through a window from outside. Lampley denied any involvement in Sellers’s death and was never charged. Despite the similarities in the shootings and possible motive, Hampton refused to speak to investigators about Lampley’s death. However, Hampton was wearing a GPS monitoring bracelet as part of his probation in another case. Location records from the bracelet not only placed him around the house at the time of Lampley’s death but also indicated that Hampton stopped at a nearby pond on February 28, 2011, where two civilians later found a gun matching the shell casings found at the crime scene.

Yet, even in light of this evidence, it would ultimately be the root vegetable that would connect Hampton to Lampley’s murder. However, it would take over a decade to do so. It wasn’t until 2016, when Hampton spit in a puddle that authorities were able to collect some of the phlegm and obtain a DNA sample without his knowledge. The DNA from Hampton’s spit was later confirmed as a match to a swab of the sweet potato found at the scene. While investigators failed to specify the reason behind such a delay in the case, on February 27, 2023, 12 years to the day Lampley was found dead, 40-year-old Hampton was charged with murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

9 KFC Receipt

Twenty-six-year-old Anna Repkina was described as someone who “loved rock music and cats and had a fun sense of humor.” However, after going through a tough breakup with her boyfriend of seven years, the Moscow native decided to join a Russian social networking site to meet new people. It was there that Repkina met 26-year-old William Hargrove of Oregon, who happened to have an affinity for all things Russian. Repkina and Hargrove hit it off, sharing their love of music, chatting online constantly, and sending thousands of memes, photos, and messages. Repkina thought she’d found everything she was looking for in Hargrove, and in 2016, she decided to fly to the United States to spend the Christmas holiday in Oregon with him.

The 10-day trip seemed to be full of bliss as the couple went to see the coast. Hargrove took Repkina to visit his friends, and the two later rang in the new year together. In fact, things had gone so well that by the end of the trip, Hargrove proposed. However, unbeknownst to Repkina, Hargrove had another girlfriend—33-year-old Michelle Chavez, a married woman whom Hargrove had been renting a room from. Additionally, as a promise to end her failing and loveless marriage and only be with Hargrove, Chavez gave him her wedding ring, the same ring Hargrove later proposed to Repkina with.

In March 2017, Repkina moved to the United States, assuming she would be planning a wedding and living out a peaceful life with Hargrove. Unfortunately, when Chavez saw a Facebook post about the relationship between Repkina and Hargrove and realized he had given Repkina her ring, she was furious. She gave Hargrove an ultimatum—choose between her and Repkina. Sadly, he did just that. On April 17, 2017, just one month after moving to the United States, Repkina was found dead on a lodge road near Alsea, Oregon, having been killed by a single shotgun blast to the back of the head. Tragically, her body had been discarded among a pile of cigarette cartons, candy wrappers, fast food bags, and trash.

Following Repkina’s death, Hargrove went on to withdraw a total of $800 from Repkina’s bank account, which he used to pay off his car’s insurance, buy candy and cigars, and purchase Star Wars-themed LEGOs from Walmart. Hargrove’s strange behavior only escalated, and he later began researching time travel online and messaging strangers on WhatsApp asking for advice on how to travel back in time and correct a “horrible mistake,” going so far as to offer his soul as a reward to anyone who could help him. Despite all this, it would be the trash discovered with Repkina’s body, specifically a KFC receipt, that would finally tie Hargrove to Repkina’s murder. The receipt listed a date and time and a debit card number linked to Kevin Thomas, Hargrove’s brother, who stated they ate together at KFC every Friday. It was then that Thomas revealed that Hargrove had asked to borrow his shotgun in order to “go up to the woods and blow off some steam.” In November 2019, Hargrove was found guilty of second-degree murder, identity theft, and two counts of second-degree theft. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years.

8 One Yellow Sock

On October 1, 1991, 27-year-old Denise Sharon Kulb moved into her boyfriend, Theodore Dill Donahue’s, apartment in the Wissahickon section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, just two weeks later, Kulb moved out. On November 12, 1991, her body was found badly decomposed in a wooded, undeveloped cul-de-sac in what was known at the time as Birmingham Township (it has since been renamed Chadds Ford Township). Troopers found Kulb dressed only in a sweater, with the rest of her clothing—two pairs of pants, a T-shirt, a jacket, and a pale yellow sock—piled on top of her.

Donahue was naturally a suspect, but during his initial interview, he told Pennsylvania State Police the last time he saw Kulb was during a drug-fueled incident on October 18, 1991, when he and Kulb had purchased and ingested crack cocaine before being robbed at knifepoint. He claimed Kulb ran to get help, but he never saw her again. However, Kulb had been seen by family members at a funeral on October 19, 1991.

On November 15, 1991, troopers searched Donahue’s apartment and found one yellow sock that matched a sock found at the crime scene, along with a job application that had Kulb’s name on it. Donahue, however, denied any involvement or knowledge of Kulb’s death and admitted that his nickname was “Ted Bundy.” Over the course of the next few days, Donahue called the police multiple times to ask about Kulb’s autopsy results and reportedly asked police in a “nervous manner” if he could help with the investigation.

Unfortunately, the case went cold. In 2015, Pennsylvania State Police reopened Kulb’s case, but when Donahue was interviewed, he remained tight-lipped and uncooperative. However, advances in forensic technology allowed investigators to retest the evidence found at the scene, including the yellow sock. This time, they were able to extract DNA from the sock, and in 2018, the DNA was linked to Donahue. On November 8, 2019, Donahue was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. In September 2021, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison.

These cases serve as a reminder that in the world of criminal investigations, no piece of evidence should be dismissed as insignificant. From a sweet potato to a KFC receipt to a single yellow sock, these unusual items have played a crucial role in solving murder cases and bringing justice to the victims and their families. As technology and forensic techniques continue to advance, it is likely that even more unexpected pieces of evidence will come to light, further unraveling the mysteries surrounding unsolved crimes..