This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Forensic Files Now A Mechanic Preys on His Kids and Makes His Wife Disappear(‘A Daughter’s Journey,’ Forensic Files) The Marlene Major case is a study in both the grimly expected and the pleasantly surprising After Marlene, a 25-year-old mother of two, went missing, Bill Major gave the classic Forensic Files “my wife just got in her car and drove away forever” explanation (Jack Boyle, Richard Nyhuis) And sadly, a revelation toward the middle of the story isn’t out of the ordinary either: Bill was sexually abusing the couple’s kids (John Schneeberger, Fred Grabbe) But two other aspects of the case were unusual and uplifting the stepmother whom LaLana and Donald Major acquired after Marlene disappeared was not only kind to them but also placed them ahead of her husband in importance LaLana began investigating the cold case herself and helped to solve it I looked into whatever happened to Bill Major So let’s get started on the recap of “A Daughter’s Journey,” along with extra information from online research: Marlene and Bill Major lived in a trailer in the tiny Kentucky town of Verona and made a cute couple on the surface She had shoulder-length blond hair and pert features would later describe his son as a “charmer” who could “talk the pants off anybody” — but “you couldn’t believe a word he said,” according to South Coast Today Only a few bits of intelligence on Marlene surfaced. She came into the world in Lincoln County, Kentucky, on Dec. 7, 1955, the daughter of Willie “Billy” Craig Oakes and Lorraine Mildred McQueary, according to Find a Grave whatever luster the Majors’ marriage once had was gone Marlene became romantically involved with Glenn St a former welder who lived in his camper on the Majors’ property and did some work for Bill’s business told Cold Case Files that Bill actually encouraged the affair it gave Bill more time alone with the children Or perhaps Bill was planning to kill Marlene all along and wanted to set up Glenn as a suspect Like many other deadly Forensic Files spouses, Bill didn’t keep his story straight. He told Glenn that Marlene took the children and left — but told a neighbor that she had gallivanted away with Glenn, according to court papers that their mother was a prostitute who ran off and didn’t care about them Glenn went to the Florence police department to report that he suspected foul play in Marlene’s sudden absence A newspaper article about her disappearance noted that Marlene had hazel eyes and was last seen in jeans and a blue-and-green plaid flannel shirt Bill quickly got rid of his guns and sold his tractor then scooped up his kids — but abandoned the family dog — and headed to Rhode Island to be closer to his parents Bill bought a trailer and settled with the kids in Pawtucket a city known for having a high crime rate by Rhode Island standards One year after Marlene’s disappearance identified only as Pauline in a media account that their father had been beating and sexually abusing both of them He also would coerce them into obedience by threatening one sibling that he would kill the other she confronted Bill and he promised to stop LaLana and Donald got to witness law officers pull up in cars with flashing lights A court sentenced him to up to 15 years in a Rhode Island state prison for his sex crimes against his children He served about 12 years before winning release reportedly believed Bill’s time in prison resulted from an armed robbery conviction Donald and LaLana had moved in with their maternal grandmother Lorraine told LaLana that Marlene was dead including Marlene’s diary — Marlene had told her sister as well as Glenn to look at it in case anything happened to her LaLana found a passage Marlene wrote about the sexual abuse suffered by Donald “He tried to hide what they were doing but I know what I saw,” Marlene wrote Marlene learned that Bill had a 1975 conviction for molesting two boys Marlene also noted in her journal that Donald said Bill had been molesting him for four to five years She wrote that she planned to use the allegations to gain custody of the kids in a divorce A number of YouTube commenters criticized Marlene for not going to the police immediately But if Forensic Files got its numbers right the societal framework for discussing and reporting sexual abuse of children hadn’t developed as it has today Hilaire told investigators Bill said that if Marlene ever tried to leave and take the kids he would kill her — and that he knew how to commit the perfect crime Bill had even told people of how he would dismember Marlene’s body and destroy her teeth to prevent identification Detective Tim Carnahan said during his Forensic Files interview about a mile from the Majors’ old homestead a hunter had found a human skull with a bullet hole and missing jaw in November 1981 After digging in the ground near the skull site Forensic scientists had developed mitochondrial DNA testing so LaLana spearheaded a fundraising drive for the $20,000 lab fee Her aunt offered to donate her retirement fund to the cause The DNA from the skull matched LaLana’s DNA LaLana said she wanted the whole world to know that her mother didn’t abandon her kids And in another action to restore some faith in humanity They set up a secret recording on which Bill confided in dad Jim Major that he murdered Marlene pushed her 1972 Ford Pinto into the Ohio River Bill also said the homicide didn’t bother him one bit Investigators used an airplane to search for the blue car and Bill had only laughed at LaLana when she asked him what he did with the rest of Marlene’s body he switched to blame-the-victim mode and told police that Marlene had threatened him with a gun and he lost his temper and shot her twice in the face and four times in the torso By the time the case went to trial in Boone Circuit Court in July 2003 He used a wheelchair because of a 1995 stroke Judge Jay Bamberger declined a request from Bill who authorities extradited from his home in Fairhaven with LaLana describing how Bill pointed a gun at her and said he would kill her if she didn’t keep it a secret Donald told the court that Bill’s sexual assaults on him took place “in the trailer defense attorney Edward Drennen argued that Bill’s earlier confession wasn’t entirely valid because the stroke scrambled his memory Drennen suggested that Bill acted out of “extreme emotional distress” because of jealousy over Marlene The Cincinnati Enquirer described the courtroom scene in the trial’s final hours: “After Drennen’s closing arguments Major leaned to his attorney and complimented him on a job well done. Major then wheeled around in his wheelchair and smiled at his two children who were in the gallery. As the guilty verdict was read a short time later [Donald] Oakes leaned to his sister and said LaLana “pumped her brother’s hands a satisfied smile on her face,” the Cincinnati Post reported I hope you spend the rest of your life behind bars,” Lalana Bill got a life sentence and went off to Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange in August 2003 although the balance of her body was never found whose full maiden name was Helen Marlene Oakes “You just couldn’t believe how hard it was for us to know our daughter’s skull was sitting in a forensic lab somewhere for all those years,” Lorraine Oakes told the Cincinnati Enquirer So where is Bill Major today? The Kentucky Department of Corrections no longer lists him as an inmate, and according to a reader comment — possibly written by Donald — on the Raving Queen blog Donald and LaLana have kept a low profile over the years They both long ago jettisoned the “Major” from their personal identification LaLana was last known as LaLana Bramble and her brother began using his mother’s maiden name A 2003 article mentions Donald was living in Washington state A 2004 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer notes LaLana’s occupation as beauty shop manager It’s sad that their mother never got a chance to experience life on her own and away from Bill but the diary she left behind helped make it possible for her children to escape him forever The Cold Case Files episode about the homicide “Daddy Knows Best,” is no longer on YouTube Thanks to reader Sean in Tampa who emailed with a tip that you can watch “Daddy Knows Best” on the Cold Case Files Presented by A&E channel on Pluto TV That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR Watch the episode on YouTube Even his own father thought he deserved to die on the app “Pluto TV” on the Cold Case Files channel Samsung TV also has a whole channel that’s just for the show Cold Case Files I’ve seen this episode multiple times on it Dying in prison was too easy a death for the monster that was Bill Major I am so impressed with her determination to find the truth I’m glad Marlene’s family got some closure after all that time am thankful their stepmom found a way to protect them from their evil dad Many thanks for your comment and for letting other Forensic Files watchers know about the Ion Mystery Channel — now that FF is off Netflix it’s good to know about all the other options Lalana really was a star in the midst of the tragedy of her mother’s murder and her father’s depravity I hope she and her loved ones are blessed She should’ve been rewarded by the state for her fundamental role in solving this crime and enabling justice Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Privacy Policy