Introduction and question about segments

I think that special was aired in 1994/1995.

I checked online and there was a Dennis Mitchell Orbe who was convicted of a 1998 murder and executed by the state of Virginia in 2004. Is this the same guy?
www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/orbe907.htm

Thank you for the information on James Brian Gordon (Capture #489)! He's one of the few direct captures we didn't have information on from archived news reports.

James Leo Russell became Capture #502 on February 14, 1998.

David Bieber was a longtime fugitive AMW first profiled in 1996. Sadly his manhunt ended when he shot and killed a police officer in the United Kingdom. He was arrested quickly afterwards and convicted in the UK.


Very interesting episode, especially from the sheer number of capture updates.

Bad Girls of AMW special, focusing mostly on female fugitives

Crystal Dawn Vigil aka "Goofy" - Part of a trio of Los Angeles women who committed murder, attempted murder, carjacking and armed robbery. The other two have been caught, however Crystal Dawn is still sought. She is a known cocaine user and possible prostitute.

Elaine Parent - Cultured woman who frequently resorts to identity theft and theft, also wanted for the 1990 murder of Florida resident Beverly McGowan, who was decapitated. (Also profiled on Unsolved Mysteries and Swamp Murders)

Margaret Rudin - another airing

Tracey Poirer & Pam Trimble - another airing of the update, essentially, though this one mentions an accomplice of Tracey's named Tammy Upton, who participated in the brutal murder of a dwarf that Tracey was convicted of.

Walentina Knapek - Frequent user of the "till tap", in which perpetrators use sleight-of-hand to take money out of cash registers.

Astarte Davis-Rice - another airing

Sadie Wallace-Nelson - Extremely bizarre case. Added to the CP, literally just a few months ago (link below). Not known if robbery was motive as numerous valuables remained in the house, as well as 30k in money. John Walsh states last airing of segment produced 16 good tips. 
charleyproject.org/cases/n/nelson_sadie.html

Margo Freshwater - Wanted for her part in numerous murders and armed robberies in the south in 1966. Caught and imprisoned, but quickly escaped and has been on the run since then. (Captured a few years afterward in 2002, inexplicably released in 2011 despite having only served roughly a decade for a 99-year sentence. Also profiled on Unsolved Mysteries)

Alden Daniels - Is wanted for raping 3 girls on the sports team he coached.

Martha Gomez - Is wanted for fraud and sexual assault. Standing at just 4'9, she passes herself off as a boy in order to get close to the girls she aims to molest.

Jacob Wetterling -  Very famous case solved just last year. 11 year old boy who was abducted by gunpoint while biking home with  his younger brother Trevor and friend Aaron Larsen from a convenience store by masked gunman in Minnesota in 1989. Numerous suspects surfaced throughout the years and some thought he could still be alive, however he had been molested and killed by a local sex offender who was imprisoned a few years ago. His mother Patty became a victims rights advocate and was also the Democratic nominee for Congress in Minnesota's 6th district in 2004 and 2006, taking over 40% of the vote each time. The perp was also tied to the sexual assault at gunpoint of a boy named Jared Schierl 9 months previous, and he is also believed to be responsible for about a dozen sexual assaults and/or attempts in the Paynesville, MN area in the years previous. (Also profiled on 20/20 numerous times and possibly Missing: Reward. Also the subject of a book entitled "It Cant' Happen Here", which I have read.)

Also, not in this episode, but a one-off segment about the capture of Adrian Rozales closes out this disc. A thoroughly creepy pedophile who attempted to accost a girl at a hotel in the Tyler, TX area was apprehended. 

Yeah, come to think of it, John Walsh stated that it was the 10th anniversary of Jacob's abduction, so that would put it on or around October 22, 1999.



I seem to recall Elaine Parent was at her home when authorities finally closed in on her. 

I don't think AMW would ever really mention Unsolved Mysteries on their show and vice versa. There was probably an unspoken rivalry between the shows in my opinion.

As you may know, the Addis case is one of the saddest fugitives endings in AMW history. He was hiding out in Guadalajara and killed the girlfriend he was living with and the children he fathered with her before killing himself.

Romel & Willie White - Romel is wanted for the repeated molestings of a young relative and selling the youth's body to his friends. His parents, Joan and Willie, repeatedly attempted to get him out of trouble. When that failed, they all fled. Joan was found in California attempting to pass a bad traveler's check. Romel & Willie are still sought.

Willie and Romel were busted in different months of 1998 as Captures #508 and #524, but I'm confused about the details because of how little information I could find about it online. Am I to understand that Romel was suspected of committing lewd acts on a minor (which a court document online suggests was most likely his nephew), then the boy suddenly died and Romel was suspected of selling the remains to either the victim's friends, his own friends, or some friends of the family?

In fact, by any chance, could the indictment against Romel have accused him of elaborately planning those sex violations to be committed as a group, and some other co-conspirators (presumably who were caught quickly) murdered the victim and gave the body back to Romel to dispose of however he thought he could cover it up?

I agree there was probably to an extent a rivalry between AMW and Unsolved Mysteries back in the 80s and 90s. Still Robert Stack was fighting for victim's rights when UM profiled fugitives, missing people, unsolved murders and unexplained deaths. So when he passed away Walsh would have felt very sad as he lost an ally in the fight for justice, once he realized that UM was an actual asset.