I remember that case! Truly horrible what the victim went through, and no justice. If there's a place worse than Hell, I hope he goes there. Some people are just too evil for Hell.

What ever happened to Mary Ann Shore? I assume she worked a plea. Sometimes, and far more often that I care to admit, the system fails. This case being on of them.

Mary Ann Shore-Inlow died in August, 2004. I'm sure most folks here in Louisville mourned her almost as much as they do Mel Ignatow.

I'm a writer here in Louisville, and I can tell you the city nearly came unglued when Mel was found not guilty. I never believed a jury as stupid as the one responsible for the verdict existed. Here you had Mary Ann Shore describing how Ignatow had killed her, the girl was still missing, and apparently everyone "knew" Ignatow killed her except the fools who decided his fate. It was truly unbelievable.

Here are some related facts: My mother used to live in the same building as Ignatow's uncle, and she used to tell me how embarrassed he was of the entire situation, as they too believed he was guilty.

The Schaefer family had suffered the loss of a son even before Brenda disappeared. I can't remember his first name, but he was a Louisville Police detective who was killed along with his partner I believe about 10 years before Brenda was murdered.

While researching another case a few years back, I had the chance to speak with the lead detective who worked the Schaefer case, and he told me that he knew Ignatow was guilty from the moment he first spoke with him and, of course, that Brenda was already dead.

Thanks for posting this...
interesting that this creep tied his victim to a glass table to torture and kill her...
and now, we learn that he died when he fell through a glass table and bled to death.
Some sort of karma at work.

I'm sure that there are some retired detectives and a few others in various law enforcement that are going to be toasting the strange coincidence of a glass coffee table being the demise of such an evil man who has probably already meet up with Ms. Shore in hell. However, I hope the fires of hell were stoked up for Ignatow. What goes around somehow finds it way back. I hope it was a slow death.

I just happened to read the book "Double Jeapardy" by Bob Hill. Brenda wasn't killed on the coffee table, she was killed in the bedroom. The coffee table was a key part in her sexual torture before she died, however it didn't break and kill her.

The book is factual and extremely frustrating b/c the bastard got away with her torture and murder. The Court System and the jurors completely failed this case. The jury just wanted to go home for the holidays. Several of them (read the book) didn't really care and were unbelievably unattached to what happened in this case.

It's a travesty of justice. That poor, poor woman - Brenda was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Ignatow

May Ignatow burn in hell forever.

I took a criminal justice course where we studied this case. I got way too involved. I am from the Louisville area and actually ended up talking to Melvin. It was tough to track him down and get him to talk but I got him to. Then, about three weeks later, he died.
He kept telling me on the phone that he had "fallen and could not get up." I didnt beleive him. I guess he was telling the truth. He kept saying he was a "reborn Christian" but I dont beleive that. He called me "baby" and "sugar" on the phone. Talk about hairs standing up on your neck...creepy.

the jurors of the ignatow case prove there are to many stupid people in the world, do you know how dumb you have to be to find him not guilty, and 12 of them at that, wow!

I hope that each of the jurors have a miserable existance. I have lived in Louisville, KY my entire life. That jury deserves to be found guilty and they all deserve to have recurring nightmares of their own painful demises. No rest for the wicked, jurors. I hope you all realize that you are just as guilty of murder as Mel Ignatow!!

I agee with Catherine, my mom was murdered in 1992 by a friend of my son's, he confessed and is on death row in Texas, he went back to court today and the judge is going to rule on a new trial based on DNA evidence, he was convicted because he confessed and ther were witnesses putting him in the area. I am afraid he may be set free too.

Just finished reading the book, and was appalled at 'simplistic law' which seems to have been applied by every legal officer in charge of every venue for prosecution. Everybody had avenues to investigate: Nobody did a good job. In fact, the criminals were smarter than the police force, the FBI, and about the only thing that really did "work" was the cadaver dog they should have brought in at once, years before they did: And didn't.
"Gentlemen's Law" seems to apply, the "Good Old Boy" crap that's stymied the South since pre-Civil war days, loses one for the home team once again. Makes you want to vomit.

The police should have found that film and that jewelry... Why didn't they find it??? Justice was lost along with that evidence so it wasn't the jurys fault. But they still should have said guilty...!!!!!

How was this confirmed?

I agree with Stanley Harris. Evidence is of ultimate importance in a court trial. Police investigators rely too much on deception, trickery and false assertions and they ignore the presumption of innocence.

We ought to be very thankful for the Bill of Rights and all AMERICANS should be familiar with it. Defense attorneys as well as prosecutors sometimes misrepresent facts & fiction which, although sustained by the judge, have insidiously influenced the jurors minds. They should be held accountable and remonstrated for improper conduct. Our Bill of Rights is just, humane and fair. Only humans are unjust and biased and dumb.!

Anne Brewbaker-Dallas.