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WARNING!: Description below may be disturbing to some readers.
This view peers under the north side of the Edgewater Creek Bridge at West Mukilteo Boulevard in Everett, Washington. It was here around 3pm on April 14, 1993 that 15 year old Melissa Lee was found deceased in the vegetation, having been strangled as desheveled clothing along w/ signs of sexual assault & ethyl ether + heptane were found in her system. It was likely she was already dead when she was thrown over the bridge. At the time the case was cold & would remain so for the next 27 years. In 2020 with the emerging concept of genetic genealogy, which uses traditional genealogical methods to infer relationships between people, a match of relatives who submitted their DNA pinpointed to a potential suspect named Alan Dean, who was now 62 in 2020. He had a history of assault similar to the case of Melissa Lee & was even questioned at the time of her murder, however there was little evidence to pinpoint. On April 21, 2020, undercover detectives monitored him at his residence & observed him discard a used cigarette butt on the side of the road, to which they seized & identified a match. It appeared just before Melissa's death, she had met Dean on a date line, which was a number you would call to connect with strangers, a popular trend during the 1990s (perhaps the equivalent of Tinder today). She even had a handwritten entry on her planner from March 14, 1993 stating "Met Alan on the Nite Line over the phone." Her last entry on April 12, 1993 would say, "I hope to god we get back together!" When Melissa's mother Sharon had returned home the day of her daughter's murder, she found the house to be disorganized with the front door open & the strong chemical smell of ether. Since Alan's arrest, there has been closure for the Lee family & genetic genealogy has since been paving the way in solving many more cold cases.
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The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
