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u/uleij

r/UnsolvedMysteries r/WilmingtonDE r/HillTopWilmington r/slowerlower r/pittsburgh r/Delaware r/TrueCrimeGenre
▲ 118 r/UnsolvedMysteries

Hazel Mason, strangled in her Milford, Delaware home in 1975. No burglary, no sexual assault, and no suspect ever named.

On Friday, January 17, 1975, Hazel Mason didn’t show up for her shift in the cafeteria at Milford Memorial Hospital. She’d worked there 17 years.

That was so unlike her that the hospital sent a coworker, John Burton, to her house. He knocked, nobody answered, and her car was in the garage. Another coworker, Rae Marshall, called police for a welfare check.

Around 12:20 pm, officers forced their way into her house at 1003 Northeast Front Street. They found Hazel on the living room floor.

Rae Marshall was there and said it looked like Hazel had been sewing when she was attacked. The medical examiner said she was strangled.

There was NO sign of a burglary and no evidence of sexual assault.

She was last seen around 7 pm Thursday. Police put the time of death between 8pm Thursday and 9 am Friday.

Hazel Bernice Pleasanton Mason was 48. She lived alone, was married but separated, and didn’t have children. Coworkers said she went to church and was generous. Her supervisor said she never bothered anyone.

She left behind her mother, Sarah Pleasanton of Camden, a sister, and a brother. Her mother lived to 91 and died in 2000, 25 years after Hazel was killed, never knowing who did it.

No one has ever been arrested or publicly named as a suspect.

Hazel’s case is still open with Milford Police as case 51-75-0247.

If you know anything, you can send a tip through the department’s website or call 1-800-TIP-3333.

My question: Who was her husband?

Sources:
Milford Police Department cold cases: https://www.milfordpolicede.org/cold-cases.htm
Milford Times cold case spotlight: http://milford-times.com/mpd-cold-case-spotlight-hazel-mason/

milfordpolicede.org
u/uleij — 5 days ago
▲ 7 r/slowerlower

More Dover Drama

They're tearing down buildings on South State Street in Kent county while 2 of the 3 parcels are still zoned residential.

With NO posted visible sign.

This is 2271, 2273 and 2275 South State Street. It has a Dover mailing address, but it is in unincorporated kent county, not the city of Dover.

The owner, Ensar Arslan, is proposing to combine the 3 parcels for a roughly 14,625 square foot retail and restaurant shopping center. Two parcels, 2273 and 2275, are still zoned RS1 residential. The third is already General Business.

Kent county has not approved the rezoning.

But demolition is already happening.

And there is another problem.

On September 30, this project received a full review through DE's Preliminary Land Use Service, or PLUS.

There was also a public notice problem. The version of the September 30 agenda posted on the main PLUS webpage listed applications 2026-09-01 through 2026-09-04 and ended with the Greenwood project. Arslan Commercial Development, 2026-09-05, was missing from that version.

After I questioned it, OSPC acknowledged in writing that "the current agenda was not posted to the main PLUS webpage as it should have been" and apologized for the oversight.

She said the updated agenda that included Arslan had been available through DE's Public Meeting Calendar and that the individual application was also posted on the PLUS Project Information Dashboard.

She is right that the updated agenda was posted on the Public Meeting Calendar. But the main PLUS page is the one people actually check, and it had the old agenda.

When the applicant for 2026-09-04 in Greenwood failed to appear, PLUS staff moved on to what they called "the next one," which was Arslan Commercial Development.

The applicant for Arslan was there and the state agencies were ready, so they ran the presentation, the agency review, and the public comment period.

And this wasn't a project that suddenly appeared that morning. The PLUS application was submitted July 14.

During the September 30 review, DNREC said 2 buildings were proposed for demolition and warned that the existing building materials could contain asbestos.

DNREC also disclosed that roughly the northern 2/3 of the property is inside a wellhead protection area, meaning an area intended to protect a public drinking water supply.

The Delaware State Historic Preservation Office identified a structure dating to the 1930s and another bungalow dating to approximately the 1950s. SHPO recommended that both buildings receive an exterior architectural survey if they were going to be demolished.

Now, days after that meeting, the buildings are coming down.

Did anyone document those buildings before they came down? Did kent county issue demolition permits, and on what dates????

I have requested the demolition permit records and the DNREC asbestos and demolition records. I want the dates on the asbestos inspection too.

Those dates should tell us a lot.

The July 14 PLUS application describes the existing use as "vacant property."

There were buildings standing on it.

The state agencies' formal written PLUS comments are not even due until approximately October 21.

Kent county told the applicant during the meeting that the rezoning and the actual development still have to proceed through the county's review process.

reddit.com
u/uleij — 11 days ago
▲ 24 r/slowerlower

Dover Drama

Dover spent $50,000 of taxpayer money investigating its own mayor. We got 9 pages.

$50,000. That's what it cost. The city hired 21st Century Policing Solutions after the police union accused Mayor Robin Christiansen of telling union members to "attack the integrity" of two councilmen, Brian Lewis and James Sudler, who had been critical of the police chief.

I read the 9 pages they actually released. Here's what your fifty grand bought:

In a June 2025 meeting, Christiansen told two officers to "publicly attack" Lewis and Sudler. Then in a separate sit-down with union president Tim Mullaney, he told him to "go public with unsavory details" about the two guys' personal lives. Personal lives!!

The conclusion?

No ethics rules broken. "Political speech." First Amendment. Everybody in the room knew it was one politician talking to another politician, so that's fine apparently??

And the rest of the report, the part that might actually explain where $50,000 went? Sealed. Council voted 6-2 Tuesday night to keep it locked up. City attorney says it's an internal affairs investigation, not a public record. DOJ might rule on the appeal by mid October. Might.

So to recap: taxpayers paid fifty grand, got 9 pages that say "nasty but legal," and the rest sits in a drawer. Christiansen says the full report "vindicates myself and the chief." I'm sure it does.

https://spotlightdelaware.org/2026/10/02/dover-releases-partial-investigation-findings-following-pressure/

u/uleij — 11 days ago
▲ 12 r/slowerlower

🤣🤷😂

City of Milford Statement Regarding Data Centers at the Milford Corporate Center

The City of Milford has received questions regarding the potential development of data centers or similar technology-related uses at the Milford Corporate Center. The City is providing the following information regarding current zoning, the development review process, and applicable requirements.

At this time, no formal application has been submitted or is pending for a data center at the Milford Corporate Center.

Certain properties within the Milford Corporate Center are zoned I-1 Limited Industrial, where technical centers, research and data centers, corporate offices, and other professional office uses are permitted under the City’s current zoning regulations. A use being permitted by zoning does not mean that a specific project has been proposed or approved.

Zoning approval also does not guarantee that adequate utility capacity is available. Data centers can require substantial electrical capacity, and that level of capacity does not currently exist at the Milford Corporate Center. Any future proposal would therefore require a technical evaluation of its specific electric, water, and sewer requirements.

Any proposed development would be subject to the City’s established site-plan review process and all applicable Planning Commission, City Council, administrative, and public review requirements. Applicants would also be required to complete a Utility Feasibility Study evaluating the project’s impacts on City utilities. Any infrastructure improvements necessary to serve a proposed development would be the responsibility of the applicant, subject to applicable City requirements and approval.

Development within the Milford Corporate Center must also comply with applicable zoning and subdivision regulations, approved plans, buffer requirements, and recorded deed restrictions addressing matters such as noise, lighting, landscaping, setbacks, stormwater, hazardous substances, and other potential impacts. Additional state, county, or federal permits and approvals may also be required depending on the nature of a proposed project.

The City of Milford recognizes residents’ interest in the future of the Milford Corporate Center and will continue to apply all applicable regulations, development standards, utility requirements, and recorded restrictions to any future proposal. Any proposal will be evaluated based on its specific use, scale, utility needs, environmental impacts, and compliance with applicable requirements.

u/uleij — 24 days ago
▲ 30 r/TrueCrimeGenre+1 crossposts

Heartbreaking news out of Ellendale.

Santos Maria Chilel Soto, 39, of Georgetown, was killed Friday evening walking through an open field near South Old State Road, just north of East Robbins Road with a man and two children. A 74 year old hunter from Salisbury, sitting in a ground blind nearby, mistook her for a deer and fired, according to Delaware State Police.

There is no side to take here. A mother is gone. Two children witnessed something that will stay with them forever. And a 74 year old man now has to live with the knowledge that his shot ended her life.

He has been charged with manslaughter and related offenses, and the investigation is still open.

Thinking of the Chilel Soto family, those kids, and Mr. Moorhead too. A loss like this doesn't belong to one family. It ripples out through all of them and the community. 🙏❤️

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-maria-chilel-sotos-family/

u/uleij — 24 days ago
▲ 10 r/Delaware

MONARCH CLUBHOUSE

Location: 540 Ratledge Road, Middletown, DE 19709

Jurisdiction: Unincorporated New Castle County, NOT the Town of Middletown

PLUS REVIEW TOMORROW

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Approximately 2:00 PM

In person: Haslet Armory, Room 133

122 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. South, Dover, DE 19901

Join by Microsoft Teams:

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/21074077766653?p=Tz4iT8WIGQt9gXv6cB

PLUS agenda:

https://stateplanning.delaware.gov/plus/agenda/2026/20260902-agenda.pdf

Public comment is allowed after the agency discussion, up to 3 minutes per person.

_____

New Castle County itself called this plan “Unacceptable at this time” and identified unresolved traffic, building size, open space, parking and water recharge issues.

Then it gets more concerning.

Schell Brothers’ attorney, Shawn Tucker, previously handled New Castle County land use matters, helped rewrite the County’s Unified Development Code and later managed the Land Use Department.

He challenged the County’s interpretation of the clubhouse use. After reviewing his correspondence, the County said it “reconsidered” its position and withdrew three objections.

The project engineer, KCI Technologies, is also doing government engineering work for New Castle County and DelDOT while representing Schell on this project.

None of this automatically proves corruption.

But when a developer’s attorney formerly ran the department, the County reverses its position after his intervention, and the project engineer is simultaneously working for agencies involved in development review, the public has every right to ask about conflicts, disclosures, recusals and the appearance of impropriety.

I’m sending this to the New Castle County Ethics Commission for review.

u/uleij — 1 month ago
▲ 21 r/slowerlower

Milford settles lawsuit after barring man from public comment

Milford taxpayers are now on the hook for $25,000 because Culotta, Jason James and, for some bizarre reason, Police Chief Cecilia Ashe decided Lance Tressler wasn’t allowed to speak during public comment.

The Delaware Attorney General’s Office found Milford violated FOIA by denying him the right to speak. Then a federal judge rejected the city’s attempt to get his lawsuit dismissed.

Now the city settled for $25,000.

Amazing how easy it is to play authoritarian when someone else’s money pays the bill.

delawareonline.com
u/uleij — 2 months ago
▲ 0 r/slowerlower+1 crossposts

THIS IS HOW MAYOR TODD CULOTTA HANDLES MILFORD’S PLANNING COMMISSION

​

Shelby DiCostanzo wanted to continue serving. She was not resigning. She was not stepping away. She says she received no warning, no conversation, and no courtesy from Mayor Todd Culotta. She learned she was being replaced only after Representative Bryan Shupe sent her a news article.

Now look at the residents who volunteered to serve:

• Jennifer Cinelli Miller, a 20 year Milford resident, former DelDOT state planner, certified planner, certified public involvement specialist, former statewide planning task force representative, and project manager for major transportation planning studies. She has also advocated for Delaware students with disabilities since 2010.

• Francis Regan, from New Jersey. States in his application he likes the urban feel of Milford and wants to see it to continue to progress. Who has a master’s degree in urban planning, worked as a licensed planner for 16 years, and was a real estate lawyer.

• Robert Longo, a retired police chief who currently serves with the Delaware Capitol Police, with experience in public leadership, construction planning, and community service. It lists no degree, certification, employment or direct experience in land use, zoning, municipal planning, development review or environmental planning

And what happened when City Planning Director Rob Pierce asked Mayor Culotta whether he wanted him to meet with Jennifer Cinelli Miller?

Culotta’s entire response was:

“No.”

That is it. No interview. No discussion. No explanation. Just “No.”

What an arrogant little display of power.

This is not Todd Culotta’s private club. These appointments affect every resident, every neighborhood, every development project, and the entire future of Milford. Qualified applicants deserve a fair and transparent process, and sitting commissioners deserve enough basic respect to be told directly when they are being removed.

Culotta blindsided Shelby, embarrassed her publicly, and now apparently cannot even be bothered to speak with an extraordinarily qualified applicant.

Milford deserves leadership, not one word orders from a mayor playing king.

Email council and tell them we need Jennifer Cinelli Miller and Shelby DiCostanzo on the planning commission.

Go to the next meeting, Monday, August 10, 2026 at 6pm.

mkalesis@milford-de.gov; dmarabello@milford-de.gov; nzychal@milford-de.gov; dperez@milford-de.gov; jjames@milford-de.gov; kwilson@milford-de.gov; npletcher@milford-de.gov; mayorculotta@milford-de.gov

u/uleij — 2 months ago
▲ 9 r/slowerlower

Delaware Flock cameras: Protest, praise over AI plate readers - WHYY

“These technologies are frightening,” Glassner said. “Not to call that stuff out is the equivalent of being a German citizen and seeing what was going on in the 1930s and sitting on their asses, and then when the war was over going, ‘Oh gee, we didn’t know what happened.’”

whyy.org
u/uleij — 3 months ago
▲ 5 r/slowerlower

On Probation

This is great!

"I wonder what it will take?

I picture the true Milton citizenship ceremony being something like this: an 83 year old man in line at the Quick Stop squints at you, pauses for 12 uncomfortable seconds and then exhales and says, “So …. You still here?” And as long as you answer correctly, (not “yes” and not “I live here”) but with a “Yup, ain’t left yet”, then he’ll lightly nod, roll his eyes and say “Ok, you can stay”.

That’s when I feel I’d be promoted from a “Come Here” to a “Come Here (Accepted, But We’re Watching You)”.

Until then, I’m just a long-term taxpayer with full civic responsibilities.

Waiting for Milton to issue me my official resident badge.

And on my tomb stone it might read, “Came Here and the dates I lived in Milton” "

becausejimsays.com
u/uleij — 3 months ago
▲ 17 r/slowerlower+1 crossposts

Milford Delaware

The newest official Delaware Statistical Analysis Center report is countywide rather than Milford specific, so it cannot establish Milford’s precise ranking. It nevertheless reports that Sussex County violent offenses rose 16% from 2020 through 2024, assaults rose 16.6%, aggravated assaults rose 21.6%, and aggravated assaults involving firearms rose 29.6%.

Kent County changes from 2020 through 2024:

Robbery: up 27.1%

All assault offenses: up 26.4%

Aggravated assault: up 3.7%

Other assaults, including simple assault, harassment and intimidation: up 32.5%

Serious property offenses: up 14.9%

Total serious offenses: up 14.2%

Police documented at least five separate homicide incidents involving six victims inside the municipality:

Aaron L. Jackson, June 2022

Mauricio Hernandez-Arias, October 2022

Mercedes Ortiz and three-year-old Aloni Truong, June 2024

Rose-Lourdes Gerson Garcon, September 2024

Kyle Tribble, July 2025

This is primarily a travel and lifestyle article dressed up as a statistical safety ranking. Milford may compare favorably in certain categories, but this article does not provide the figures or methodology necessary to prove it is one of Delaware’s eight safest small communities.

https://sac.delaware.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/64/2026/01/CiD-20-24-Main-Report-final-010726.pdf

u/uleij — 3 months ago
▲ 53 r/HillTopWilmington+3 crossposts

Wilmington residents will gather on Sunday, July 19th, at 2 PM to demand justice for Kadir Skinner

u/A-Nani-Mess — 3 months ago
▲ 28 r/slowerlower+1 crossposts

Milford Delaware sees sharp drop in crime as police celebrate historic milestone | Latest News | wboc.com

​

A year without a shooting inside Milford’s corporate limits would certainly be positive news.

But the way this is being promoted is misleading and incredibly tone deaf!!

The coverage of Chief Ashe’s City Council presentation described the milestone as a year without shootings or gun deaths. WBOC has now expanded that into a claim that Milford went an entire year without “a homicide or shooting.”

Those are not the same statement.

On July 5, there was a murder-suicide at a home with a Milford address. Because Sugar Maple Farms apparently sits outside Milford’s corporate limits and Delaware State Police handled the investigation, her death disappears from Milford Police Department’s municipal statistics.

We have also had recent pedestrian deaths, including an 81 year old woman who died after being struck on North Rehoboth Boulevard in an incident investigated by Milford Police. Those deaths are classified as traffic fatalities.

That may make the department’s statistic technically defensible, but it does not make the public presentation honest or complete.

When ordinary people hear that Milford had “no homicides,” they do not interpret that to mean no deaths that met a particular FBI classification, occurred within a particular jurisdictional boundary and were investigated by a particular police agency. They hear that nobody in the Milford community was murdered.

That is plainly not what happened.

The article also repeats a 30% reduction in Part I crime without giving the public the actual numbers, the precise comparison dates or a category by category breakdown. Percentages without the underlying data are public relations, not transparency.

Recognize legitimate progress in reducing shootings, but do not use carefully selected jurisdictional and statistical definitions to take a victory lap immediately after members of the Milford community have died.

Their lives should not be erased by a technicality.

wboc.com
u/uleij — 3 months ago
▲ 61 r/Delaware

Delaware law requires police to wear body cameras.

But here’s the part most people do not know:

You can ask for the footage through FOIA and still be denied, even if the investigation is closed.

That means the camera can record what happened, but the public may never get to see it.

Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, when 16 year old Ma’Khia Bryant was shot by police, body camera footage was released just hours after it happened.

Hours.

Not years.

Not after a lawsuit.

Not only if someone in power decides we deserve to see it.

So the question for Delaware is simple:

Are body cameras for transparency, or are they just evidence stored in a government vault?

If the public paid for the cameras, and the footage shows public officials doing public work, there needs to be a clear path for public access with privacy protections and redactions when needed.

Transparency should not end where police footage begins.

reddit.com
u/uleij — 5 months ago