Regional Murder Mysteries

[sdreid]

If Earp, who in his time also ran gambling casinos, was into running whore houses in Monmouth maybe he could have called it , the "Okay!! Corrall".

Jeff

For true Jeff. Morgan was arrested at the same time. There was an occasional show raid but brothels were pretty much openly tolerated in Peoria until about 1970 when the laws on the books began to actually be enforced.

As I'm sure you know, Wild Bill Hickok was also from Central Illinois. Both birthplaces are approximately 60 miles from me although in different directions. They are probably about 100 miles from each other.

[Zodiac]

Is that a Colt Navy in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

For true Jeff. Morgan was arrested at the same time. There was an occasional show raid but brothels were pretty much openly tolerated in Peoria until about 1970 when the laws on the books began to actually be enforced.

As I'm sure you know, Wild Bill Hickok was also from Central Illinois. Both birthplaces are approximately 60 miles from me although in different directions. They are probably about 100 miles from each other.

Hi Stan,

Ben Thompson, another infamous gunslinger, gambler, killer and sometime lawman of the 'Old West' was born less than 20 miles from myself, in Knottingley, in "Wild West Yorkshire", England!!!

Best wishes,
Zodiac.

[sdreid]

Thanks Zodiac. I didn't know much about Thompson, including where he was born, but he is briefly mentioned in the copy of Newton's The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers that I own, giving his birth year as 1843. It says that he killed 8+ and was slain in a gunfight on March 11 of 1884 at San Antonio.

[Zodiac]

Thanks Zodiac. I didn't know much about Thompson, including where he was born, but he is briefly mentioned in the copy of Newton's The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers that I own, giving his birth year as 1843. It says that he killed 8+ and was slain in a gunfight on March 11 of 1884 at San Antonio.

Hi Stan,

Here are a few links on Ben Thompson from the net. I'm afraid that without trawling through what I, laughingly, like to refer to as my "library", but which actually amounts to vast, untold numbers of books, on diverse subjects, shelved, piled, stacked and randomly scattered, without any semblance of order or reason, throughout my humble abode, I cannot give you much more at the moment!!! Sorry, hope that the links are of some use to you anyway.

Best wishes,
Zodiac.

http://www.frontiertimes.com/outlaws/thompson.html

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1028

http://www.trivia-library.com/b/cowboy-biography-ben-thompson.htm

http://www.imagesofyorkshire.co.uk/famous_people/ben_thompson/billy_thompson.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Thompson

[sdreid]

Appreciated Zodiac. Now I know a little more.

I do have a true-crime/mystery section in my home library

[Mayerling]

If I am correct,wasn't Thompson once part of a small comic interlude with fellow gunslinger John Wesley Hardin and Wild Bill Hickok. Supposedly both gunslingers were in Hickok's town, and were discussing which of them was faster than Hickok with a gun. Each suggested the other take on Hickok (who was present), and nobody did.

[sdreid]

That's interesting Jeff. It would have been unwise to take on Hickock in a gunfight no doubt.

[sdreid]

It seems, every locale has its own set of interesting unsolved murders and that most of them are not that well known outside the area. I'd be interested to hear about yours. Here are my top ten murder mysteries in chronological order within 60 or so miles from me. I'll give a more detailed account on each in subsequent posts.

1-Johnny Cantwell in 1881 near North Pekin
2-George McNear in 1947 at Peoria
3-Bernie Shelton during 1948 in Peoria
4-The evanishment and assumed murder of Fay Rawley in 1953 near Summum
5-Janice May in 1955 at Canton
6-Susan Hendricks and her three children during 1983 in Bloomington
7-The Trick-or-Treat murders in 1984 at Decatur
8-The disappearance and probable slaying of Veronica Blumhorst in 1990 at Mendota
9-Tammy Zywicki during 1992 near Utica
10-Dalton Mesarchik in 2003 at Streator

Here's an updated list with solved eliminated and others added:

1-Johnny Cantwell murder near North Pekin-1881
2-Walter Donley disappearance and presumed murder in Peoria-1943
3-George McNear murder in Peoria-1947
4-Bernie Shelton murder in Peoria-1948
5-Fay Rawley disappearance and presumed murder near Summum-1953
6-Janice May murder in Canton-1955
7-Mary Jane Hanselman murder in Springfield-1958
8-Denise Laack murder near Granville-1979
9-Susan Hendricks and her three children murders in Bloomington-1983
10-Veronica Blumhorst disappearance and presumed murder in Mendota-1990
11-Tammy Zywicki murder near Utica-1992
12-Jennifer Lockmiller murder in Normal-1993
13-Dalton Mesarchik murder in Streator-2003

[sdreid]

Wild Bill Hickok was also from Central Illinois. Both birthplaces are approximately 60 miles from me although in different directions. They are probably about 100 miles from each other.

I checked the map and it likes Earp and Hickock were born 90-95 miles apart.

[sdreid]

A couple more to make mine a 15 list.

Carol Rofstad, 21, was found mortally beaten outside her sorority house in Normal, Illinois on December 23 of 1975. The Illinois State University student died the next day. A piece of railroad tie discovered near her was the suspected murder weapon. Two young white men, one carrying some kind of club, were seen in the area on the evening of the 22nd, the likely time of the attack. Most of the students had already left for the Christmas break but Carol, who was from a Chicago suburb, delayed her trip home because she was working at a store and was helping them make it through the last busy shopping days. The murder is unsolved.

Decatur, Illinois real estate agent, Sherry Lewis, 30, was discovered beaten and strangled on the kitchen floor of a home she'd been scheduled to show on August 5 of 1994. Carol had told coworkers that she was going to show a house but hadn't told them which one. She wasn't missed until the evening when she failed to meet with a family member. The slaying is still a mystery.

[sdreid]

My current foremost 15 local murder mysteries:

1-Johnny Cantwell murder near North Pekin-1881
2-Walter Donley disappearance and presumed murder in Peoria-1943
3-George McNear murder in Peoria-1947
4-Bernie Shelton murder in Peoria-1948
5-Fay Rawley disappearance and presumed murder near Summum-1953
6-Janice May murder in Canton-1955
7-Mary Jane Hanselman murder in Springfield-1958
8-Carol Rofstad murder in Normal-1975
9-Denise Laack murder near Granville-1979
10-Susan Hendricks and her three children murders in Bloomington-1983
11-Veronica Blumhorst disappearance and presumed murder in Mendota-1990
12-Tammy Zywicki murder near Utica-1992
13-Jennifer Lockmiller murder in Normal-1993
14-Sherry Lewis murder in Decatur-1994
15-Dalton Mesarchik murder in Streator-2003

[HollyDolly]

Regional Murder mysteries

Hi Stan,

Here are a few links on Ben Thompson from the net. I'm afraid that without trawling through what I, laughingly, like to refer to as my "library", but which actually amounts to vast, untold numbers of books, on diverse subjects, shelved, piled, stacked and randomly scattered, without any semblance of order or reason, throughout my humble abode, I cannot give you much more at the moment!!! Sorry, hope that the links are of some use to you anyway.

Best wishes,
Zodiac.

http://www.frontiertimes.com/outlaws/thompson.html

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1028

http://www.trivia-library.com/b/cowboy-biography-ben-thompson.htm

http://www.imagesofyorkshire.co.uk/famous_people/ben_thompson/billy_thompson.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Thompson

I read about this on a book on San Antonio and its ghosts.I'll have to look again,but I think Thompson or one of the men involved haunts the are where this took place.Also, King Fisher,Ben's friend is buried west of here in Uvalde Cemetary,which is about 60 or so miles west of San Antonio.And there is in Bandera ,Texas, up in the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio, The Pioneer Times Museum, which may have something about some of these old time bad men would be a good place to check out.
And John Wesley Hardin's wife, Jane, is buried in the Mound Creek Cemetery around the Gillette-Denhawken area.The state of Texas used to have a highway sign pointing to the town of Mound Creek,but not any longer.Guess the place is now a ghost town.That was way back in the 1980s,early 90s.

[Andrew Gable]

Some local Pennsylvania murder mysteries.

1. Norman R. Bechtel, killed in Philadelphia in January, 1932, and found lying on the grounds of an estate near death. He was found to have several shallow cuts on his face that seemed to form some sort of symbol to the discoverers (as a result of this, his murder was referred to as a 'hex murder') and seven stab wounds encircling his heart. A suspect was arrested after only a week, but must not have been the guy because it was seven years until another suspect, William Jordan, was arrested. Although I'm not 100% certain whether this was truly an unsolved case, I believe it may have been, for there were no details forthcoming in the papers about Jordan's trial, arrest of other gang members he implicated, etc.

2. Shaun Eileen Ritterson, the body of this 20-year old woman was found in a wooded area just off Holicong Road on Buckingham Mountain in 1977. She had been stabbed, her abdomen opened and mostly disembowelled.

3. A suitcase containing the dismembered remains of a woman were found in a creek along Valley View Road south of Downingtown in July, 1995. The following year, some clothing and two legs believed to have belonged to the woman in the suitcase were found in Bucks County. Eerily, the body was found near a tunnel referred to in local urban legends as a portal to Hell.

4. David Shearer, a Lock Haven bricklayer found dead in his home in July, 1915. Shearer and his "wife" (actually mistress) were preparing to move to nearby Emporium - the wife went ahead, and he would join her in a few days. After she hadn't heard from him for a few days, she sent a relative to check on him. At first, he was presumed a suicide as an empty envelope that had contained cyanide was found beside his bed and there was a hole in his head. When his body was examined at the morgue, however, it was found that both of his eyes had been removed, that a long, sharp instrument had been inserted through his nose, brain and out the top of his skull, and that he had been castrated. It was generally assumed that a jealous husband had killed him, but no one was ever captured.

5. A cardboard box containing human bones was discovered in a bale of scrap paper at a factory in York in 1948. A few days before, a dog had found a human arm with flesh attached and other bones along the Susquehanna River near Airville.

[sdreid]

Thanks Andrew. Were the bones in your last case those of an adult?

[Carol]

Hi Stan,

Would you be interested in a probable murder? My great-aunt, Emily Maria Trigg, in her early 20's, went missing in 1917. She was a maid and on her free afternoon she set off to walk home to visit her mother but never arrived. Her remains were eventually found in woods on the route she had taken. She was unrecognisable but for a necklet she wore. This took place in Kent, England, at Bluebell Hill. My mother, who was born in 1919, was named after her. The police believed that she had been murdered, probably by sailors. Chatham, the nearest town, was not only a Dockyard town but also home to the Army and Navy, and, of course, the First World War was still on at the time. Emily Maria was engaged to be married and was a quiet, respectable girl by all accounts.

Carol