Doreen Pickard's Murder, Susan Laferte's Assault - What Happened After the "Unsolved Mysteries" Episode

By: Shane Lambert

On May 18th, 1988, "Unsolved Mysteries" aired an original episode. One of the mysteries ("Rhode Island Amnesia") included the murder of Doreen Picard and the assault of Susan Laferte. Laferte, as a surviving witness to the murder, unfortunately, went into a coma from her injuries and could not remember the attack when she came out of it.

03 Apr 1998, Fri The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) Newspapers.com

More modern versions of the "Unsolved Mysteries" episode indicate that one Raymond Tempest was convicted of the crimes, was sentenced to 85 years in prison, but has since been released. Naturally, that should raise some questions for fans of the television series: why was he convicted, and if his sentence was for so many decades, how is it that he could be released already?

The episode was the 7th "Special Edition" of "Unsolved Mysteries." This was a time period in the show's history when they appeared to be feeling out the ratings. The following preview of the show appeared in the News-Press out of Fort Myers, Florida on May 18th, 1988.

18 May 1988, Wed News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida) Newspapers.com
With the newspaper databases I used, Raymond Tempest's name starts to enter journalism related to the crime in June of 1991. The following article is the earliest journalism I found that associated Raymond Tempest with the case.

09 Jun 1991, Sun The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

Later journalism suggested that Raymond Tempest benefited from having family ties involved in law enforcement in the community that Picard was murdered in:

 

21 Apr 1992, Tue Record-Journal (Meriden, Connecticut) Newspapers.com

The conviction came in what would have been late June of 1992.

05 Jul 1992, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

The conviction was vacated in July of 2015:

 

14 Jul 2015, Tue The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

After the vacation of the conviction in July 2015, I did not find any more newspaper coverage. However, there are online news articles as this saga appears to be ongoing even in very modern times.

Wilda Jean Cross -- Missing Since March 1982 in Louisiana

Details from NamUs**: 

The case involves the disappearance of Wilda Cross, a record-setting competitive water skier who lived in Webster Parish and operated Cross jewelry store in Bossier City with her husband. State Police took over the investigation as a "cold case" sent to them by the Webster Parish Sheriff's Department. The Crosses were living in Sibley when she disappeared on March 23, 1992. "The last time she was seen was 7:30 that morning, and hasn't been seen since," State Police Trooper Phillip Krouse said. "It's almost like she fell off the face of the earth." Cross had been gone for three days when her husband told her family she had disappeared, Krouse said. The family contacted authorities. Krouse said Mrs. Cross has not contacted family members or friends since March 23, 1992. He's asking for friends with information about Cross to contact State Police.

Missing Person: Wilda Jean Cross
Last-contact date: March 23rd, 1992 at 730 AM
The area where the MP was last seen: Sibley, Louisiana
Link to government source: NamUs MP

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 39 years old
Birthdate: February 24th, 1953
Hair: Sandy blond
Eyes: Brown
Scar: Right ear
Height/weight: 5'3" and 140 pounds
BMI*: Wilda Jean Cross was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Wilda Jean Cross had no tattoos associated with her profile.

Wilda Jean Cross has not been seen since March 23rd, 1992 when she was 39 years old. This individual has now been missing for about 33 years as of 2025.

What stands out in this case is that she was having an affair at the time of her disappearance. The day she disappeared she was supposed to attend a marriage-counseling meeting to try and reconcile with her husband. The husband showed up to this meeting and Wilda did not. Three days later, the husband reported Wilda missing to the family who, in turn, reported her missing to the police.

I found what I believed to be her mailing address on Ancestry in 1992 to be RR 1 POB 499 which I am interpreting as Range Road 1 Post-office box 499 with a zip of 71073. That sounds like a roadside mailbox kind of address as opposed to her home address, which would be her last-known location in this case.

The missing person did not have any articles or items associated with her missing person's reports, at least of the sources that I consulted. Thank you for reading. If have any information about this case, consider contacting the authorities.

Author: Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on Websleuths)

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on Websleuths) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of March 2021.

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*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources.
Disclaimer: To determine whether a person is missing or not, this site relies heavily on government sources. If you are described as missing when you are not, I recommend simply having your missing person report updated or removed. When that happens, updates at this site can follow.