9 Crazy Mysteries Solved On The Internet

Solving a mystery that has been plaguing a family for almost half a decade can sometimes start with something as simple as a Facebook post, and that’s just what happened in solving a 1968 hit and run case that left a child dead.

After going down to the shops on Halloween, four year old Carolee Sadie Ashby was hit by a drunk driver who didn’t so much as stop to check on her. The case had haunted Russ Johnson of the Fulton Police Department for years, as no leads eventually led the case to go cold.

On retiring he took a chance, posting details of the incident to a Facebook page that dealt with local history. From there, a woman reached out to him and they had their first lead in decades. The woman used to live in the area, and told Johnson about how local man Douglas Parkhurst had asked her to give him an alibi if the police were to speak to her. She explains that she rejected his request, not knowing what he might be needing an alibi for but secretly suspecting it could be related to Carolee’s death.

All those years later, the police department reopened the case and questioned Parkhurst again (they interviewed him at the time but just took his word for it when he denied knowing anything). Clearly having a few decades to let his guilt stew had changed Parkhurst’s outlook and he admitted to killing the girl, having been drinking that night before getting behind the wheel.

Unfortunately for the girl’s family, the statute of limitations had long since passed and Parkhurst will face no consequences. But at least they’ve got some sort of closure, right?