How Unsolved Mysteries Solved The Gruesome Case Of “Gabby’s Bones”
PickPicNewell Sessions was shocked to find a human skeleton in an antique trunk that belonged to his friend “Gabby.”
In the show’s fifth season, the peculiar case of “Gabby’s Bones” involved a man known only as “Gabby” and his generous neighbor, Newell Sessions. When “Gabby” moved out of his Wyoming home in 1986, Sessions stored some of his friend’s belongings in his shed, according to VICE.
One of the items that “Gabby” left behind was an antique footlocker. Locked and disregarded for six years, the trunk ignited Sessions’ curiosity. He eventually opened the trunk with a blowtorch, only to find a complete human skeleton decomposing inside. Naturally, Sessions gave “Gabby” a call.
“He acted probably as surprised as I did when I opened the trunk, that he couldn’t believe it,” said Sessions. “He thought I was kidding him. And I told him, no, I’m not kidding with you. There is a human skeleton in there.”
An autopsy confirmed that the bones belonged to a male in his 50s or 60s. A homicide victim, the man had died thanks to a bullet in his head, which was shot from a .25 caliber weapon that was first manufactured in the U.S. beginning in the early 1900s, as reported by the Des Moines Register.
YouTubeAn x-ray of the uncovered skull and the fatal bullet lodged within.
Both “Gabby” — a man later identified as John David Morris — and Sessions denied knowing anything about the circumstances. Morris went a step further and pointed out that the trunk (which he’d bought at a yard sale) was used in one of the World Wars — which should immediately exonerate him, given that he was a child at the time that World War II took place.
In February 1993, the Unsolved Mysteries episode about “Gabby’s Bones” mentioned a grocery bag from an Iowa supermarket that was found among the items in the trunk. This prompted a young woman named Shelley Statler to wonder if investigators had found the remains of her grandfather, Joseph Mulvaney — who had vanished mysteriously decades prior.
Mulvaney had last been seen in Iowa in 1963. At the time, he was living with his wife, his three children, and his stepson — John David Morris — who was 16 years old when Mulvaney disappeared. After years of urging and a seemingly endless back-and-forth with investigators, Statler succeeded in obtaining a DNA test for the bones. And, in 2017, it was confirmed that Mulvaney was indeed the mystery man in the abandoned trunk.
Though Mulvaney, a World War II veteran, was given a full military funeral in 2019, the mystery of who killed him remains unsolved. However, Statler said that she has some thoughts. “I do believe John Morris knows more than he is saying, but I don’t believe he pulled the trigger,” she said.
