Nothing Is What It Seems: The Unsolved Murder of Donna Emmel

If you look up this case online, you’ll see one version of events repeated over and over: A young girl leaves a hangout spot to walk home, takes a cut-through trail, and never makes it back. Her body is later found in a nearby ditch, and a witness claims they saw a man follow her into the woods. That’s the story I first read, and it’s the one most people believe. But in recent years, Donna’s cousins have worked to unravel the truth. And what they’ve uncovered shows that very little in this case is what it seems. They’ve tracked down old friends, spoken with locals and law enforcement, and carried out their own boots-on-the-ground investigation.

One name that comes up repeatedly is one you may recognize from the Netflix documentary “Making A Murderer.” It’s a violent rapist who Donna was acquainted with and lived in the area at the time she was killed. For this episode, I sat down with three of Donna’s cousins, who share what they’ve learned and separate out fact from fiction. This year marks 50 years since her murder. And her family is not giving up because they believe the answers are still out there and that they are hidden in this small town.

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Source Material:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MakingaMurderer/comments/dc27pv/gregory_allen_his_rap_sheet_and_being_up_for/
https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2016/02/19/rapist-linked-avery-case-get-parole-hearing/80612368/
https://www.reddit.com/r/MakingaMurderer/comments/4hx2e8/the_1995_crime_for_which_gregory_allen_was/
https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/local/steven-avery/2016/03/14/rapist-avery-case-suspected-gb-attacks/81452156/
https://www.wral.com/story/two-ex-carteret-deputies-plead-guilty-in-embezzlement-case/8057748/
https://www.wnct.com/on-your-side/crime-tracker/cold-case-files/cold-case-files-newport-teen-found-dead-in-ditch-in-1975-murder/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24895563/donna-marie-emmel
https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/local/steven-avery/2016/03/14/rapist-avery-case-suspected-gb-attacks/81452156/
https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2016/02/19/rapist-linked-avery-case-get-parole-hearing/80612368/
https://medium.com/@jennbaxter_69070/north-carolina-cold-case-who-killed-donna-emmel-916bb8617958
https://www.newspapers.com/article/goldsboro-news-argus-girls-body-found-in/179211261/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sentinel-2500-reward/179211531/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salisbury-post-seeking-killer/179211307/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-herald-embezzlement/179526301/

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