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Pictured: Lacey Fletcher
Lacey FletcherEditorial use

Tour·7 stops·spanning the 1960s to the 2020s

When the ruling changed

Deaths first recorded as accidents or suicides, and the reviews that later called them something else.

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A cause of death is an official finding — written down, signed, and filed. The cases here began with one such finding: an accidental fall, a drowning, a runaway. Each ended with another, after a family refused to accept it, a body was re-examined, or an investigation was reopened years on.

Bernice Novack's death was logged as an accidental fall until her son was murdered three months later. Don Henry and Kevin Ives were ruled to have fallen asleep on railway tracks before a second autopsy found otherwise. In each file, the revision is the story.

These are not conspiracy theories. They are records of how a first conclusion can harden, and of what it takes to reopen one.

§ The route

7 stops, in order

  1. Stop 1 of 7· opened

    COLD AudioKilling of Don Henry and Kevin IvesAlexander, Arkansas, United States · 1987 · 1 thing to watch or hear

    Why it’s hereFirst ruled an accidental death on the tracks; a second autopsy found homicide.

  2. Stop 2 of 7· opened

    Bernice Novack with Ben Novack Sr. — Credit: HistoryMiami (via CBS News)Editorial useSource
    SOLVED AudioMurders of Bernice and Ben Novack Jr.Fort Lauderdale, Florida · 2009 · 1 thing to watch or hear

    Why it’s hereBernice's death was ruled an accidental fall, then reinvestigated as homicide.

  3. Stop 3 of 7· opened

    SOLVED AudioMurder of Una CrownMagazine Lane, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England · 2013 · 1 thing to watch or hear

    Why it’s hereInitially dismissed as accidental; a post-mortem found she had been stabbed.

  4. Stop 4 of 7· opened

    UNSOLVED AudioDisappearance of Jo Jo DullardMoone, County Kildare — Jo Jo Dullard's last confirmed location · 1995 · 1 thing to watch or hear

    Why it’s hereReclassified from a missing-person inquiry to murder on the 25th anniversary.

  5. Stop 5 of 7· opened

    Lacey Fletcher — Credit: UnknownEditorial useSource
    SOLVED AudioKilling of Lacey FletcherSlaughter, Louisiana, United States · 2022 · 5 to watch & hear

    Why it’s hereA death from long neglect, later ruled a homicide by the coroner.

  6. Stop 6 of 7· opened

    SOLVED AudioMurder of Dennis JurgensWhite Bear Lake, Minnesota, United States · 1965 · 1 thing to watch or hear

    Why it’s hereAn 'undetermined' child death reclassified as homicide after a 1986 re-examination.

  7. Stop 7 of 7· opened

    SOLVED AudioDeath of Tammy HomolkaSt. Catharines, Ontario, Canada · 1990 · 1 thing to watch or hear

    Why it’s hereRecorded as an accidental choking before the truth emerged at a later trial.

End of the route. Listen to it end to end, or walk it on the map.

Map tour