ASHES TO ASH TV

HipKat

HipKat

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A True Crime Show. Dedicated to bringing cold cases back into the light, investigating missing persons cases, and telling true crime stories that have been forgotten. These stories are told through an interview-based concept, in order to not just re-tell what has already been told, but instead, getting the story directly from the detectives, reporters, victims, and families who were there.

The FIRST Season was a case where I live, in fucked up Pekin, IL.

Robert Bee or What is Wrong With Pekin.

I finished watching the Ashes To Ash TV series and did some sniffing around with the help of a friend who grew up in and still lives in and has been involved in that drug community. Funny thing about Pekin, well, that part of Pekin. Everyone is connected by either family or the drug culture or just being generationally a part of the community.

About halfway through, I said to my GF that people know exactly what happened. People are getting away with it. But the people who know aren't just the ones who were there, because drug addicts can't keep their mouths shut.

I have a friend who grew up in that area, still lives in that area, ran with most if not all of those people when that person was involved in that drug culture and I talked to that friend last night who admitted that they know everything. I'm not going to say my friend's name because that person is no longer involved with that culture but still lives right there. My friend knew all those people and said that the truth is known. Told me exactly what happened. Things that weren't in the series and I believe that the final theory is very close to what happened.

And I don't know many people in Pekin, I have no ties to that drug community or that neighborhood - other than my friend, but funny how I recognized some people and some names. Like Theresa Vancil. Never met her but she WAS on my friends list on an alternate FB profile I have and I remember around that time, her being extraordinarily frazzled and then a few years ago, hightailing it out of Pekin, to Havana. I have seen enough of her posts on most of her FB pages to not be shocked by her part in the story

The discrepancy between the two Josh's not difficult. One you can connect all the ties to and the other one doesn't show up in a search.

Most of the theory of the kid dying in the yellow house is definitely true. Whether he fell or got pushed or never did tumble down those stairs is not clear, except to the people that were there. If you watched the series and you think you know what happened, you're probably right.

My question is, according to my friend, what happened to the kid is no secret. Why aren't Pekin Police closing this case? I can understand washing the hands of a kid in the system that they don't have to deal with now - in the beginning, but after all of this, why not just close it?

Why is the kid's mother off to Lasalle, like nothing happened when any other parent would be screaming to get justice?

Why hasn't anyone followed up on the material harvested from under the 474 bridge and compared it to the remains they did ID?

I guess a number of those people are now in jail for other things, have moved on, are dead like the Kendra girl, or still around fully cognizant of being monsters that roam the streets of this city.

The whole thing breaks my heart.

 
I’ve watched the first one, and plan on finishing it. I watch a lot of true crime/interrogation videos. I find it fascinating, wondering why things go down the way they do, why people do the things they do…..

Seems like mom Lisa is a pig, making her kid live in filth. But child services being there 100 times is a TOTAL failure in the system..
 
JC-3122 said:
I’ve watched the first one, and plan on finishing it. I watch a lot of true crime/interrogation videos. I find it fascinating, wondering why things go down the way they do, why people do the things they do…..

Seems like mom Lisa is a pig, making her kid live in filth. But child services being there 100 times is a TOTAL failure in the system..
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I posted about this on the Pekin page on FB and it has blown up!! A lot of people are coming out of the woodwork. I'll fill you in more when you've finished it and thanks for watching it! This is the town I live in, BTW.
 
These stories are always sad, and mostly similar. And for every one that you hear about, there’s many more you don’t.

I’ve watched 3 episodes of the 8, and it’s mostly finger-pointing and accusations, and I don’t know if the mom was medicated during her interview, but she seemed medicated, and couldn’t seem to keep her story straight.

I’m not a fan of documentarians putting themselves in the story, but I might have missed why.

I feel this could have been a one or two hour documentary without all the “on the way to” and “in pursuit of”.

But it was cool seeing the bearded guy with a Buffalo hat on. Do you know why?
 
JC-3122 said:
These stories are always sad, and mostly similar. And for every one that you hear about, there’s many more you don’t.

I’ve watched 3 episodes of the 8, and it’s mostly finger-pointing and accusations, and I don’t know if the mom was medicated during her interview, but she seemed medicated, and couldn’t seem to keep her story straight.

I’m not a fan of documentarians putting themselves in the story, but I might have missed why.

I feel this could have been a one or two hour documentary without all the “on the way to” and “in pursuit of”.

But it was cool seeing the bearded guy with a Buffalo hat on. Do you know why?
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I didn't even notice him!!
The mother is indicative of a very low-income, low-education culture where drugs and alcohol are part of everyday life. Pekin is over-filled with people just like her.
Some of the people in the series, I'm not familiar with, I've crossed paths with. Theresa Vancil, for one, who is a nutcase.

Keep watching, the evidence leads down a completely different path that turns out to be there might one and exposes a hands-off policed dept that refuses to move on the people responsible
 
Well, this one is a tough one to get through for me. Very drawn out, with the producers/documentarians too much in the show.

Having said that, I’d like to know who the two guys were that came over, with one allegedly pushing him down the stairs.

I haven’t found any other reason someone would want to kill him. Am I missing something?
And I know people give their kids nicknames, but Bonzai?

Poor kid never had a chance in that environment , though. That area seems to have a lot of corruption or irresponsibility in law enforcement and Child Services
 
So, Pekin is a small town with a huge drug problem.
The nickname is "Tweakin' Pekin" and that sub-community is populated by a group of people who all know each other.
I know a girl named Shannon very well who grew up right there and has been clean for a few years now, but was very ingrained with those people and knows all of them, including this kid's mother.

I started looking up each of the characters in the story and they're very interconnected. And all lived in that same general neighborhood.
The house where it happened was a well-known drug house where these people partied every night.

I know Theresa Vancil. Not closely, but know her. She fled Pekin about 3 years ago to a small town an hour south of here, right after the series aired, but that woman is like no one you ever met. She's fucking nuts.

The kid came to the party with his 17-year-old friend who was having sex with Vancil.
The idiots at the party thought it would be funny to give him Meth.
He had a seizure and they thought he was fucking with them and that Joshua guy pushed him down the stairs.
He was obviously very hurt so he choked him out and they stuffed him in the freezer until they could figure something out.

Shannon said she wasn't there but druggies talk and the story is well known in that little community. The ONLY thing not known is who pushed him down the stairs. It was either Josh, who I think was already downstairs and Shanon agrees, or Theresa who was reportedly upstairs at the time. Shanon and I agree it was Theresa who pushed him down the stairs

This is one of and the most recently active of her many FB pages.

Bei Facebook anmelden

Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

They ALL have multiple pages, btw.

Here's a few maps I made up

1737539353978.png

A is my house. B is where he died. C is where his body was found, just to show you how small this town is (About 30K population)

1737539497523.png

This is the house where he died. I JUST had one of our vans at the body shop the week before I watched the series and the road on the left is Rt 9, which I'm on several times a week and can look over at that house. It gives me shudders everytime I look at it

1737539647380.png

The view of the house from Rt 9

1737539727049.png

A is where the kid lived. B is where he died

1737539889416.png

A is his house. B, where died. C where his remains were found
 
I was leaning towards the 17 yo boy pushing him, it seems like something a young kid would do. You think it was Theresa? I looked at her FB page, she has “those eyes”.

I used to see women like that in bars, I always avoided ever engaging with them. Scary unbalanced broken-brains.

I imagine because Pekin isn’t a rich tax base, they might not have resources, but, most police departments have cold case detectives, don’t they?

If people talk and the police know the names of potential suspects, they must not feel they have enough evidence for a case.

Or don’t care.

Hey, thanks for taking the time to make maps! 👍😊

It never fails to amaze me how I can look at a satellite view from maybe 400’ high, and say, “That area doesn’t look
too bad”, then see the street view and say, “Holy fuck, this is a shithole.”

I’m curious, does anyone here think it would be bad to bomb Mexican fentanyl manufacturing sites? What about if all other measures fail?
 
JC-3122 said:
I was leaning towards the 17 yo boy pushing him, it seems like something a young kid would do. You think it was Theresa? I looked at her FB page, she has “those eyes”.

I used to see women like that in bars, I always avoided ever engaging with them. Scary unbalanced broken-brains.

I imagine because Pekin isn’t a rich tax base, they might not have resources, but, most police departments have cold case detectives, don’t they?

If people talk and the police know the names of potential suspects, they must not feel they have enough evidence for a case.

Or don’t care.

Hey, thanks for taking the time to make maps! 👍😊

It never fails to amaze me how I can look at a satellite view from maybe 400’ high, and say, “That area doesn’t look
too bad”, then see the street view and say, “Holy fuck, this is a shithole.”

I’m curious, does anyone here think it would be bad to bomb Mexican fentanyl manufacturing sites? What about if all other measures fail?
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All those characters in the series are easy to find on FB and most of them have a lot of FB pages
 
Damn Hip, that map reminds me of the house I grew up. Right across the street was the Gilham Park Strangler. That guy murdered several hookers in Gilham Park and it must have absolutely devastated his mother. I remember the day he was arrested. All the news stations in Kansas City were there, and as mom and I were getting home from Church, a reporter asked her did you know the Gilham Park Strangler lived right across the street from you? About 18 months later, just about four and a half blocks away they arrested Bob Berdella. While Mrs Jackson's son was killing hookers, Berdella was killing and cutting up young men, and I think there was a third within about three miles of there, but I can't remember. The late 80s were a terrifying time in Kansas City, and only Mayor Lucas' city is as bad or worse.
 
herodotus said:
Damn Hip, that map reminds me of the house I grew up. Right across the street was the Gilham Park Strangler. That guy murdered several hookers in Gilham Park and it must have absolutely devastated his mother. I remember the day he was arrested. All the news stations in Kansas City were there, and as mom and I were getting home from Church, a reporter asked her did you know the Gilham Park Strangler lived right across the street from you? About 18 months later, just about four and a half blocks away they arrested Bob Berdella. While Mrs Jackson's son was killing hookers, Berdella was killing and cutting up young men, and I think there was a third within about three miles of there, but I can't remember. The late 80s were a terrifying time in Kansas City, and only Mayor Lucas' city is as bad or worse.
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You know, back in the 90's I got to be really good friends with a guy who worked the dock at a Pork Processing plant in Lenexa, KS (QPI Pork).
Real tall dude with longer hair than mine at the time which was pretty fucking long.
Anyway, I laid over for a weekend and crashed at his house. Hung out in Westport at a bar next to another one where Tommy Chong was appearing!
So this dude lived in a house that was once lived in by a local serial killer. I wonder if it was the same one.
 
HipKat said:
You know, back in the 90's I got to be really good friends with a guy who worked the dock at a Pork Processing plant in Lenexa, KS (QPI Pork).
Real tall dude with longer hair than mine at the time which was pretty fucking long.
Anyway, I laid over for a weekend and crashed at his house. Hung out in Westport at a bar next to another one where Tommy Chong was appearing!
So this dude lived in a house that was once lived in by a local serial killer. I wonder if it was the same one.
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Berdella used to have a shop in the Westport Flea Market. Did your friend live at like 43rd and Charlotte?
 
Heh, the fact that I may have seen you in the neighborhood where I grew up makes me say small world. There was also someone on like 45th and Campbell or Harrison who had a lovely rod iron fence and flew a Bills flag at least a few times in the late 90s. South Hyde Park was full of colorful and interesting people. Yeah the 90s were my Wonder Years. Miss those times as they went by way too damn fast
 
herodotus said:
Heh, the fact that I may have seen you in the neighborhood where I grew up makes me say small world. There was also someone on like 45th and Campbell or Harrison who had a lovely rod iron fence and flew a Bills flag at least a few times in the late 90s. South Hyde Park was full of colorful and interesting people. Yeah the 90s were my Wonder Years. Miss those times as they went by way too damn fast
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90's were the best. It was the 80's when I took the step from boyhood to young man in the world, but the 90's were magical. A decade where I felt like I could do whatever I wanted and get away with it.
 
HipKat said:
90's were the best. It was the 80's when I took the step from boyhood to young man in the world, but the 90's were magical. A decade where I felt like I could do whatever I wanted and get away with it.
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80s: too young to remember much before 1987 so years of beginning. I was 4 in 1987.

90s: Years of growth, youth and joy. Childhood and adolescence were happy, family was very poor but we were happy

2000s: optimism, hope

2010: cynicism

2020: Finally coming into my own
 
MIne was 70's youth.
80's out of the Army and into the Live Music world
90's, in my late 20's/early 30's - I realistic, gonna change the world because I OWN the world!
Mid '00's - Shit!! Fucked up royally at 40 - life is over!
'10's - get me the fuck out of Illinois
2020 - I'm never getting out of here, buy a house instead.
2025 - 60, back and shoulder issues, I guess I'm not invincible after all..... And goddamn it, PLEASE let me wake up tomorrow back in my N. Buffalo Apt, it's 2002 and it was all a bad dream
 
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