When the body of Mark Foster was found by the side of a road on 18 July, 1997, he was dressed head to toe in white stained only by the red bloodstain which indicated he’d been murdered.
The 45-year-old man had been shot in the chest and the circumstances around his death raised all sorts of questions for police, who wanted to know why he was dressed in all white and his killers hadn’t bothered trying to hide his body, instead leaving it by a Wisconsin roadside.
Searching his body resulted in the discovery of a note tucked into his shoe which read: “Jack Frazier isn’t here but it’s Jimmy Bailey? Or look alike? Geez It’s 3 toughs. Hope I’m OK.”
Investigators told Oxygen’s Framed By The Killer that they spoke to Foster’s new wife, Sarah Phillips-Foster, who he had only married four months before his death and was now pregnant.
Jack Frazier and Jimmy Bailey were Sarah’s exes, but when detectives investigated the case they found that both men had solid alibis for the time Mark Foster was being murdered.
Upon searching Foster’s house detectives found significant amounts of pornography and sex toys, as well as an altar in the attic.
The investigation eventually revealed that Foster was living a strange double life where he seemed to have an alter-ego that was the high priest of a voodoo cult.
Detectives learned that the murdered man had developed an idea that he could transfer his consciousness into that of another person, with the switcheroo occurring when that person killed him.
Investigators learned that Foster was in serious financial trouble, and Framed By The Killer said that shortly before he died he took out life insurance with payouts worth $300,000 for three beneficiaries, his wife Sarah, his nephew Brent Thompson and a man named Gregory Friesner, who lived with the Fosters and was Foster’s right-hand man in his voodoo cult double life.
Detectives theorised that Foster might have arranged his own murder with the intention of passing his consciousness onto Friesner and getting the payout from his life insurance while framing his wife’s exes in the mix, but they couldn’t prove it.
However, Thompson later confessed his part in the crime, telling police he had driven Foster and Friesner to a remote location where Foster had allowed Friesner to shoot him dead.
Thompson confessed that he’d disposed of the gun by throwing it in a river and lied to officials to prevent them from learning the truth, he would end up being sentenced to three years in prison.
Friesner was the man who pulled the trigger and killed Foster, he received a sentence of 10 years behind bars.
This bizarre story was previously told in the TV series Nothing Personal: Murder For Hire in an episode titled ‘Voodoo Sex Cult’.
Man who bought unused storage unit discovered entire murdered family inside
Instead of finding something valuable, a horrifying discovery was made
A man who was hoping to find some valuables in a random storage unit was, instead, left with the bodies of a murdered family.
Back in 1992, George Gennai purchased the storage unit near Seattle, US, with the intention of finding some hidden gems.
Expecting to find a heap of unwanted belongings, Gennai wondered why the paid-for unit had been untouched for 12 years.
Eventually deciding to take a look, he clipped open the lock and raised the doors to start digging.
After getting inside, he noticed some heavy plastic covering the contents of the unit.
Along with a three-feet thick layer of old clothes, Gennai started whiffing up an awful smell.
After reading the headline, you can guess how this ends.
While continuously looking for clues, the poor man soon discovered a large bin bag – containing a human skull.
Obviously, he alerted the police straight away.
Eventually, the medical team were able to identify the bodies of 36-year-old Barbara Bender and her two sons, who had been missing for 12 years.
Bender, along with 15-year-old Mark and eight-year-old Brian, had been killed by blows to the head.
Police also found a hatchet with blood and hair on it inside the locker.
Barbara had filed for divorce from her husband the day before she disappeared and was last seen loading up a van.
The police investigation immediately turned to her husband Mark.
He was the person who had rented the locker, though it only came to light after his second wife stopped paying for it.
Mark was arrested and eventually confessed to the murders, receiving three life sentences for the three counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to at least 80 years.
Speaking about the gory scene that he discovered, Gennai said: “I was in Vietnam, I’ve seen this before.”
The news of Barbara’s discovery – while tragic – did offer some comfort to her mother, who had spent 12 years not knowing what happened to her or whether she was alive or dead.
She had thought that maybe her daughter had entered a witness protection programme and was unable to contact them, until her body was discovered.
Bette Jones said: “I’ve been waiting for word from her so long.
“But at least this is better than not knowing what happened to her.”
Barbara’s cousin, Mangen, added: “Now at least they can be buried and rest in peace.”
