Melissa

*Warning – The information you are about to read may include discussions of true crimes, graphic details, and crime scenes, this may be too graphic for some people, please use discretion when reading*

This week is showcasing Wisconsin, today’s True Crime case is very close to home, Melissa Haferman was a girl I went to school with and graduated from high school with, I remember her and I don’t want the world to forget her either. Here is the story of Melissa Haferman (married name – Januskevicius), also known on stage as Melissa Love.

Melissa was born in Madison WI, on December 20, 1978. From an early age Melissa loved to sing and started with nursery rhymes eventually singing the National Anthem. At 13 years old, she and her family moved to Stevens Point, WI, where she eventually graduated from the Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH) in 1997.

After graduation Melissa pursued her future in the country music scene, by going to Nashville TN. She recorded her first CD in 1999, and then had gotten on a bus to come back to Wisconsin. She would never make it.

August 1999, Louisville Kentucky, a body was discovered in a vacant lot near the Louisville bus depot. The victim had died due to strangulation, but the case soon grew cold for investigators. The body was identified as Melissa Haferman.

Melissa had been traveling back to Wisconsin and she had a layover of one hour in Louisville. In that hour’s time, she was abducted. Her partially clad body was discovered a few blocks from the bus depot. Her killer would not be identified for over 4 years.

In 2004 another young woman Amanda Wood, pregnant at the time, went missing and was later found in the basement of Betty Goins. She was wrapped in plastic and duct tape.

This murder was committed in Tennessee, and while in police custody Glenn confessed to the murder of Melissa, four years earlier, when he was 18 years old. Sadly Goins didn’t just admit to the murders of Amanda and Melissa, he admitted to three other killings, and “fuzzy recollections” of four others.

Unfortunately the families would not see justice, as Glenn Goins committed suicide while in police custody awaiting trial.

Be ever alert, make good choices, be safe