The 1958 Cold Case of Dennis Down

Murder, She Told

Kristen Seavey

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1958 - Falmouth, Maine. You won’t find the name Dennis Down featured on the Maine Unsolved Homicide List. You also won’t find anything on his murder on the internet. Buried deep in the memories and archives of 1958, sits a brutal unsolved murder of a man who still hasn’t received justice. At 63, Dennis and his wife Edith, both of England, had just purchased a new grocery store in Portland, ME’s Munjoy Hill neighborhood. They had recently become grandparents, and they were looking forward to the golden years of life. But on a cool morning in late June of 1958, somebody took it all away. Dennis was found beaten and stabbed in his home—a horrific crime that left police and everyone who knew him baffled. Despite extensive efforts to find the person responsible, nobody was ever arrested for the crime. Pulled from the archives, this is the cold case of Dennis Down. Support Murder, She Told: https://www.murdershetold.com/support Detailed sources and photos: murdershetold.com Connect on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok Pre-order Lay Them To Rest Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lay-them-to-rest-laurah-norton/1143031658?ean=9780306828805 Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qGPMuw Sponsor: Shopify - https://shopify.com/shetold use code shetold for a $1-per-month trial period. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This one's for all my true crime book lovers.
0:02.8	Lay them to rest.
0:04.1	Out this October from Hatchet Book Group, vividly opens up the world of forensic science.
0:09.4	Lay them to rest, brings readers to crime scenes, labs, and law enforcement offices,
0:14.7	all in the name of identifying John and Jane Doe victims.
0:18.3	It's written by a seasoned, cold-case researcher and a friend of murder she told,
0:22.8	who also hosts the popular podcasts One Strange Thing in the Fall line.
0:27.6	Readers immersed in lay them to rest will even follow along as a victim is identified
0:32.4	for the first time, and her family, decades later, finally get some answers.
0:37.6	I have read this book and you do not want to miss it.
0:41.0	Heartbreaking, hopeful, and insightful, lay them to rest will show you how far we've come
0:46.1	in solving the cases of the unidentified dead and how far we have yet to go.
0:51.0	Check the links in the show notes and pre-order lay them to rest now wherever you get books.
0:57.2	I'm Kristen Ceevy, and this is Murder She Told.
1:15.2	On the morning of June 23, 1958, Edith Down closed the door behind her as she left the home
1:29.0	that she shared with her husband, Dennis. Their modest home was nestled in the woods
1:33.6	of a sleepy two-lane country road. That summer morning, the sun fought against an unseasonal
1:40.0	chill that had settled in overnight. Edith had a busy day ahead of her at the grocery store that
1:45.9	she and Dennis had recently purchased in downtown Portland, Maine. Though Dennis and Edith were
1:51.2	both in their early 60s, they still possessed the energy necessary to run Emerson's market.
1:57.3	The enterprise they had purchased just five months prior. They were still settling into their
2:02.5	new rhythm of life. Since they both worked the floor, it wasn't unusual for one or the other to
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