Beth Ellen Vinson Murdered August 1994 N.C.
Over A Decade After Goldsboro Woman's Death, Case Not Forgotten POSTED: 10:45 pm EST March 4, 2006 UPDATED: 11:08 pm EST March 4, 2006 GOLDSBORO, N.C. -- Bill and Penny Vinson are living in the past. It's all they can do, 11 years after the homicide of their daughter. “I try to imagine how she would be now, at 29,” said Bill Vinson. “It's almost impossible.” “I just keep thinking, ‘I'm going to wake up and this is all going to be over,’” said Penny Vinson. “I won't ever give up hope that she'll just someday walk back into my life. Beth Ellen Vinson was Daddy's little girl, headstrong and determined. She always dreamed of becoming a dancer. So much so, she dropped out of high school and left home in the summer of 1994. “She had just decided she was 17 years old, she was going to New York,” said Penny Vinson. “And she was going to Raleigh to work and save enough money to get to New York. Beth Ellen never made it to New York. Three weeks after arriving in Raleigh, she was reported missing. Her car was found one morning in front of a car dealership on Capital Boulevard. A week later, her body was found lying in a ditch off Wicker Drive. She'd been brutally stabbed. Beth Ellen’s killer was never caught. The crime turned the lives of Penny Vinson and her husband, upside down. “He looked at me and said, ‘Let's sell the house. I don't think I can live here anymore,’” said Penny Vinson. “And I'm thinking, ‘Don't take me from this place, because this is where she is.’” Over the years, the case has been passed from detective to detective. Each has applied new ideas to old evidence. ‘Within the last several months, we did go back and look at some physical evidence,” said Raleigh Police Det. J.C. Perry. “We're doing that constantly, to see if there's anything new that science can tell us that, unfortunately, people are not telling us.” Police hope Beth Ellen's jewelry may lead to an arrest. Four rings and a colorful handbag were missing after the crime. It's one of the few things police and her parents have to go on. “It won't bring her back,” said Penny Vinson. “I'm not even sure if it will give me any peace. But it'll put a period at the end of the sentence. North Carolina would not do to him what he did to my daughter. So, justice isn't going to be served.” Raleigh police are offering a reward for information in this case. If you think you can help, call them at (919) 890-3555. Reporter: Gerald Owens Photographer: Greg Clark Online Editor: Dana Franks http://www.wral.com/news/7695716/detail.html

In Memory of Beth-Ellen Vinson Beth, 17, disappeared from Capital Boulevard near Yonkers Road in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 16, 1994. She was last seen alive driving her white four-door 1990 Mazda 626. On August 23, 1994, her body was found on Wicker Drive. She had been stabbed to death, and her purse and four rings were missing from her body. Police believe Beth was murdered in a rage by someone she knew. They have not ruled out her boyfriend as a suspect in her murder; he now lives in Florida. As of April 2004, Beth's murder remains unsolved. Beth was a tap dancer and had been a high school beauty queen. She moved to Raleigh from Grantham, North Carolina shortly before her death, to work for an escort service. She hoped to raise enough money to go to New York and become an actress. http://www.free-webspace.biz/thevictims/vinson_beth.html

FBI Heats Up 12-Year-Old Homicide Investigation POSTED: 11:36 pm EDT October 11, 2006 UPDATED: 7:55 am EDT October 12, 2006 GOLDSBORO, N.C. -- Beth Ellen Vinson, 17, was an aspiring dancer and a pageant queen with dreams of making it big. "She was so full of life, so full of energy," said Penny Vinson, Beth Ellen's mother. Beth Ellen's dreams were cut short in the early morning of August 16, 1994. The Goldsboro teenager, who had moved to Raleigh four weeks earlier, was found stabbed to death. Beth Ellen had been working in Raleigh for an escort service. Her killer was never found. "He may be married, he may have children and he may have graduated from college. Those are the things we get cheated out of like seeing our daughter graduate, getting married, holding her first baby," Penny Vinson said. It's been 12 years of waiting for an arrest. Now, there may be new hope, thanks to a newly released FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Each month, the agency features a cold case. This month, Beth Ellen's case will be circulated to law-enforcement agencies nationwide. "The possibility exists that because of the coverage that this article is generating locally that the news will get out to the right person and that person will come forward to talk to our investigators," said Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue. Sughrue said the police department is never going to give up and never going to stop trying to solve the case. The article in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin gives detail of the investigation and shows pictures and drawings of some of the items that have not been seen since Beth Ellen disappeared. Penny Vinson hopes this will be the turning point in finding her daughter's killer. "Nothing is going to bring her back, so I can live the rest of my life not knowing, but I would like to know," she said. Anyone with information on the unsolved murder is urged to call the Raleigh Police Department. http://www.wral.com/news/10056708/detail.html