Murder of 18-year-old Marilyn McIntyre by Curtis Forbes investigated by ID

Investigation Discovery is examing the cold case of a murdered young mother from Columbus, Wisconsin; Marilyn McIntyre was killed in her own home by Curtis Forbes, a long-time friend of her husband’s.

On March 11, 1998, Lane McIntyre returned home from work to find his 18-year-old wife Marilyn lying dead on the floor of their apartment with a knife sticking out of her chest.

As well as stabbed, Marilyn had been bludgeoned and strangled. An autopsy would later reveal that she had also been subjected to a sexual assault.

Their 3-month-old son Christopher was lying in his crib nearby; thankfully, he had been unharmed in the attack.

A lack of evidence meant that the case lay cold for over 15 years, despite Lane suggesting to police that Forbes might be a possible suspect.

A cold case unit began reexamining the case in 2008 and even exhumed Marilyn’s body to retrieve DNA. Forbes was arrested after his DNA appeared to be a match. However, this DNA was later ruled admissible, and the prosecution was not allowed to use it as evidence against him.

The cops gathered circumstantial evidence against Curtis Forbes

In the meantime, the police gathered what evidence they could against Forbes. A key piece of the puzzle came from his wife Debra Forbes, who had been his girlfriend at the time of the murder; she recalled how she’d seen blood on her future husband’s shirt.

Forbes had fled to Florida shortly after the murder, and he’d sent letters to friends and family members claiming he was “scared and confused.”

Ultimately, the prosecutors used Forbes’s own words against him; he had told at least three different people that he had gotten “away with murder.”

The police believe that Forbes had been denied sexual relations with his girlfriend, so on the night of March 10 had prowled around Columbus looking for a sexual partner. He had already made advances towards a married friend and the sister of a friend before he ended up at the McIntyre’s home.

At Forbes’s trial, the defense argued that the evidence was mostly circumstantial and tried to blame husband Lane McIntyre for the murder. However, in November 2010, Forbes was found guilty of first-degree murder.

More from Investigation Discovery

Follow the links to read about more murders profiled on ID.

In 2009, Greg Cook went on a murder spree in rural Oregon. He first killed and dismembered Shannon McKillop and left her head in a canvas bag before luring Frank Sccaramuzzi and Jeremiah Johnston into the woods and killing them. He then fled the state with his terrified girlfriend sparking off a search.

Lisa Graham hired Kenny Walton to murder her own daughter Stephanie ‘Shea’ Graham because she had become an annoyance. Walton drove the 21-year-old out into Alabama wilderness before shooting her dead as she relieved herself at the side of the road.

Ice Cold Heart airs at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.