Cold case detectives seek public's help in grisly killings - WSMV Channel 4
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Metro police detectives have nearly 500 unsolved murders they are investigating, which date all the way back to the 1940s.
But three cases in particular continue to haunt cold case detectives. They are the brutal murders of three little girls during a time when most people had never even heard of the term "serial killer."
After all these years, police said, they think they are just one clue away from solving the cases.
It was the 1960s, and the country was at war. Back at home in Nashville, it was a time of peace and love, but it was a far different city than the one we know today. It was a smaller town with a certain innocence still intact.
You couldn't even find a drink unless you headed into Printer's Alley downtown.
But what was about to happen in the capitol city would leave neighbors wondering whose little girl would be next.
"Can you imagine going 40 years not knowing?" said Sgt. Pat Postiglione, with the Metro Police Cold Case Unit.
The three murder mysteries have left generations of Metro detectives scratching their heads, and the investigators still believe they can crack the case.
"Sex is typically the motive," Postiglione said.
The killings began in 1965 with the death of 11-year-old Wanda June Anderson.
"Blunt force trauma to the head," Postiglione said.
She was babysitting her nieces and nephews when someone lured her outside, raped her and beat her to death with a pipe. Police couldn't find the killer.
Then, just six months later, came another horrible crime scene. Another girl was found dead.
"She was found in her bed, and she had been stabbed one time. In the bed with her was her twin sister when she was stabbed," Postiglione said.
Someone killed 14-year-old Reba Kay Green while her family slept inside their north Nashville home on Nassau Street.
"It was really bizarre for someone to come in, and stab her one time, then leave. That was very unusual," Postiglione said.
In 1969, detectives would once again have to tell a family someone killed their daughter.
"Kathy Jones was reported missing on Nov. 29, and her body was found Dec. 2, 1969," Postiglione said.
Twelve-year-old Kathy headed off for the roller rink but never made it there.
"She was found in the alley on Grandview Avenue in a vacant lot with her roller skates still with her," Postiglione said.
Officers found the girl bound, gagged and sexually assaulted.
Police later arrested Edward Adcox, a convicted rapist, who they said bragged to other inmates about killing her, but the case fell apart when he changed his story.
"I was not guilty on the murder. I've never killed anybody in my life. I just can't stand the sight of blood, myself," Adcox said in a Channel 4 News interview at the time.
Police have had suspects in the Green and Anderson murders, too, but never arrested anyone.
Detectives have even explored the idea the same person may have been responsible for all three killings, but all three slayings remain unsolved.
"Hopefully these three will be made at some point," Postiglione said.
Believe it or not, Metro police continues to get leads on these three cold case murders, and Postiglione said his department follows up on every single one of them.
But he is still asking for your help. If you remember anything or have any information, they still ask that you come forward.
Copyright WSMV 2012 (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
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