A Dream Come True

The crime scene was horrific. The date was April 5, 1963. The victim was 24-year-old Sonja McCaskie. The place - Reno, Nevada.

photo from the S.F. Examiner -
April 7, 1963

Dorothy McCaskie had this to say about her daughter, "She was a good girl. She made mistakes, yes. But she was no different from many other girls who have a hard time growing up. These things people are saying about her .... well, that was not Sonja."

Sonja may have made mistakes but failing to pick up her 10-month-old son Kim after she left work on Friday was not one of them.

Single mom Sonja had a full-time (Mon-Fri) job as a secretary at the Blue Ribbon Meat Company, in Sparks, NV and on weekends she worked as a ski instructor at Slide Mountain Ski School. All of this effort paid the bills but left Sonja very little time with Kim so she'd grab what moments she could and leave him in the care of Sparks resident Mary Nielsen for the larger majority of the time.

It was expected of Sonja to pop over to Mary's on her lunch break or even after work on weekdays.

Every Friday, Sonja would pick Kim up from Mary's place and return him to her before clocking in at the Ski School. She would never not come on a Friday night, it was too important to her, so on April 5th when Sonja didn't come by, Mary was concerned.

Mary phoned Sonja's apartment twice that evening, between 5 and 5:30. Both times a man picked up and said "Hello." At first, Mary assumed she'd dialed the wrong number so she hung up and dialed again but when the same man answered the phone, Mary asked "Is Sonja there?" He replied "No she isn't" and suggested that she had dialed the wrong number. Maybe once but twice?

Hours passed and still no sign of Sonja. Sure that something was wrong, Mary phoned the police.

At 10:30 PM, Police Officer Mort Ammerman arrived at the duplex at 2640 Yori Avenue to perform a wellness check.

photo from the SF Examiner - April 8, 1963

He knocked on the door. Nobody answered. He was about to walk away but decided to test the door handle. It wasn't locked. Ammerman entered and announced himself. No response. The apartment was dark - Ammerman needed his flashlight.

The beam of light landed on several razor blades on the floor and dark stains on the carpet. He flicked the light switch on and proceeded with caution. 

Two feet inside the door was a human heart. Ammerman could clearly see bloody clothes and bedding in the center of the room. He picked up the blanket and out rolled a severed human foot, covered in blood.

Then, as Officer Ammerman would later testify to in court, "I saw a hope chest along the rear wall of the living room with what appeared to be a wax figurine or dummy in it ... it had a waxy appearance."

Photo from the Daily News -
February 28, 1971

Ammerman said he noticed one or two knives in the dummy and first thought it was something used in a fraternity initiation. "Then I began to feel it was human body."

Ammerman phoned it in to the shift captain and the detectives were dispatched.

Police Chief Elmer A. Briscoe described it as "The most brutal murder I've ever investigated" and said that his officers "couldn't help gagging at what they saw."

It was so horrible that the looky-loos showed up to see it for themselves.

Reno Gazette Journal image

As police processed the crime scene, detectives had a closer look at the contents of the hope chest.

Sonja's mutilated, practically nude body had been stuffed inside. She had been decapitated and her head, wrapped in a lace tablecloth, was underneath the body. Sonja had a long gash down the front of her body, from her neck to her abdomen. (To be expected since they'd already found her heart on the carpet.) An attempt had been made to cut off her right leg but, because the work had not been completed, police speculated the killer was interrupted.

Police bagged evidence, impounded her car, dusted for prints, took photos of the multiple bloody footprints on the floor and found a garrote, made from strong 31" baling twine and two clothespins, in Sonja's closet.

Police also left with Sonja's diary (which covered the years 1961 and 1962 only) and a little black book with poetry, written by the victim. Early newspaper reports indicated Sonja's diary contained details of men whom she had been intimate with. Every man mentioned was brought in for questioning. Anyone of them could be the killer. As Chief Briscoe said, "We have to suspect everyone because we have no one to suspect."

There was no sign of forced entry. Her bed, now covered with a huge bloodstain, had been slept in. None of the neighbors heard anything unusual. There was a strong possibility that Sonja knew her killer. They would need to interview her friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, etc. They would collect fingerprint and footprint samples from Sonja's known associates.

The two most obvious people of interest were Sonja's ex-husband Jeff Schmidt, a 31-year-old Physical Education senior at Chico State College in California, and David C. Conrad. The latter, a 24-year-old University of Nevada graduate assistant in the English Dept, was named in a paternity suit filed by Sonja on October 12, 1962.

Sonja was seeking assistance with hospital costs related to the birth plus "reasonable" child support; Conrad denied being the father of Kim McCaskie. Judge Grant L. Bowen had heard the case one week prior but was now holding off on his decision because of the murder investigation.

photo from the SF Examiner
April 8, 1963

Sonja's ex-husband checked in with the Chico police as soon as he had heard about Sonja's death. I'm not sure if their 1960 divorce was amicable, but Jeff said he hadn't seen Sonja in a year and a half. Jeff  told police that he'd been in Squaw Valley with a friend on April 4th, looking for possible summer jobs, but that he said he'd returned to Chico that same evening.

Jeff and Sonja were married in 1956. They had a son together, William Schmidt, born in 1957. At the time of Sonja's death, William was living with Jeff's parents and Jeff was engaged to another woman, Carol Taylor. They were to be married in June.

Jeff Schmidt revealed to police that Sonja was already the mother of a year old baby girl when they became engaged and that a condition of the marriage was that the child be put up for adoption. (Now, I rarely make personal comments on the behavior of those involved in these crimes, but I simply find this wrong. Especially as their marriage didn't work out. Still, Sonja could always have said "No" to this concession and, to be fair, I know next to nothing about Jeff Schmidt.)

Quite quickly, both Jeff Schmidt and David C. Conrad passed their polygraph tests as did another five of Sonja's friends. 

Not only did David Conrad pass the polygraph but he had a solid alibi. On Thursday night, April 4th, David, his wife and a group of their friends had attended a theatrical performance in the University of Nevada's auditorium.

Ironically, all of the suspects in this case sat in the same room and the same chair that Sonja had sat in only 48 hours prior when she submitted to a lie-detection test in connection with her paternity suit.

Attorneys on both sides of the legal battle asked that lie detection tests be administered to Sonja and David Conrad so that the results might be considered in court. Thirty-six hours later, Sonja's body was found stuffed in a hope chest.

The department's polygraph specialist, Assistant Police Chief William Brodhead, was interested to hear what 36-year-old Frank Selmi had to say.

Selmi was a part owner in the Blue Ribbon Meat Company, where Sonja worked, and his name had come up during his interview with Sonja a few days prior.

photo of Frank Selmi
from a 1968 newspaper ad
Blue Ribbon Meat Co

Sonja admitted to Brodhead that she was still in love with David Conrad but was currently dating Frank Selmi who, at the time, was separated from his wife.

While this might make Selmi a viable suspect, he could prove he was out of town when Sonja was killed. 

In fact, it was Sonja who dropped Selmi at the Reno Airport a week prior so that he could board a plane to Arizona. She had also agreed to pick him up upon his return but she was a no show at 7:30 PM Friday, April 5th.

Selmi took a cab home then drove his own car over to Sonja's but didn't stop because of all the police activity. Instead, he phoned police headquarters, identified himself by name then lied about his current location, preferring to place himself, not in Reno but 40 minutes away in the town of Verdi. He later admitted to the deception.

The medical forensics would take at least a week to process. As Dr. James Decker, one of the case's pathologists, stated "It's a pretty messy thing." Another doctor confided, "There's so much mutilation, it's hard to pick one wound."

This much was known, Sonja's hyoid bone was fractured and there were petechial hemorrhages in her eyes. Clearly she'd been strangled but it was unsure if that was what killed her. (Pathologists would ultimately confirm that cause of death was strangulation.)

Investigators had plenty to do while waiting for those reports and to hear back from the FBI, to whom the Reno Police sent 12 sets of fingerprints.

Police Chief Briscoe and District Attorney Raggio show the press a
replica of the garotte used - Reno Gazette Journal photo, 1963

The police tried to establish time of death by interviewing witnesses. Close to 70 individuals had been questioned by April 9th. 

I'll put asterisks after the things that you'll want to be remember.

-Sonja had stopped off at Mary Nielsen's after work on Thursday to see her son Kim. Mary Nielsen had noticed Sonja was in possession of a small, expensive German 35mm camera. (*)

-Sonja had chatted over the back fence with her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Buddy LaPata, around 5 PM Thursday evening.

-Sonja phoned her good friend Beverly Frickstad on Thursday evening around 9:30. They spoke for roughly 35 minutes during which Sonja complained about how bright the new yellow paint on her walls was and she wondered if she'd made a mistake in choosing it. They made plans for the weekend. Sonja said she was tired after hours of painting and would be heading to bed soon.

-Thomas Baskas, who occupied the adjoining duplex apartment, saw Sonja hanging some clothes out to dry around 10:20 PM. (*) Thomas would tell reporter Lehnhoff Furgeson of the San Francisco Examiner, "I don't understand how anybody could do that and nobody hear a thing. She was such a big girl and husky. She could whip a man. This makes Jack the Ripper look like an amateur."

-Thomas's wife Mary Ruth weighed in, "We were here all night. I wondered why her drapes were pulled. She never left the drapes closed. It's ridiculous that we didn't hear anything because we often could hear her hi-fi." (*)

-About 11:30 PM Thursday, ski school operator George Hogan and his wife stopped by Sonja's duplex to deliver her $39.00 paycheck. He knocked but there was no response so he slipped the check under the door. Police found it there the next day and sent it off to the FBI for fingerprint analysis.

-Neighbors reported seeing the lights in Sonja's apartment on at 1:30 AM but they were not on when Officer Mort Ammerman arrived later that night.

-One neighbor reported hearing a car leaving her apartment shortly before dawn Friday morning. (*) Yet, the vehicle was back in place when police found her body. Although, the car described as Sonja's "pride and joy" had some damage to the right rear tire. (*)

-Sonja failed to show up for work on Friday.

-Sonja failed to pick her son up from the sitter on Friday.

-At 10:30 PM on Friday, Sonja is found dead.

The press had a field day with this case because it had so much going for it.

In addition to the gruesome state of the victim's body, the crime had a sexual component - pathologists would later confirm that Sonja had been raped.

Sonja was a young, attractive blue-eyed blonde and, as the public would soon believe, possibly promiscuous.

D.A. William Raggio announced in a news conference that after reading Sonja's diary it was evident she had "a very disturbed, complex personality" and "I got the impression that she was not too proud of some of her male companions" but he refused to divulge any of the diary entries as he felt it contained things that were unknown to her family. This, of course, left the press and the public to imagine what she'd written and they assumed the worst.

photo from the SF Examiner - April 10, 1963

He did share with the public two of Sonja's poems - one, from July 2, 1960, called "Love" and another, from October 1961, called "Death." 

He also shared the fact that Sonja had at times contemplated suicide. Sonja's diary and poems were being analyzed by experts. 

I'm sure they were just desperate for clues but it does sound like victim blaming.

Those who actually knew Sonja described her as someone who was a nice girl and quiet. A dedicated skier, a good worker, well-liked and respected. She was anything but a loose woman or a party girl.

Much was made of this disparity in the press following D.A. Raggio's press conference concerning the diary.

William Raggio 

There were two articles in the April 9, 1963 edition of the San Francisco Examiner about the crime.

The front page contained the headline "Scores of Men in Sonja's Diary" and attributed that quote to the District Attorney.

The second article was called "The Various Faces of Sonja." In it, Sonja was described as "an enormous puzzle" to Reno Police and they indicated she had a Jekyll and Hyde personality.

It wasn't a complete condemnation of Sonja, most of the article showed Sonja in a favorable light, but it was quite a change from the "Portrait of a Quiet Girl" article that appeared in their paper 2 days earlier.

The District Attorney, who would later deny saying anything inflammatory, tried to undo any damage he may have done but it was too late.

On April 13, 1963, Sonja's reputation was defended, from the pulpit, by Father Frank S. Evans, pastor of the United Church of Christ in Squaw Valley. "I decry what the police and press have done to the character of Sonja," he said after delivering the Easter sermon.

"With her searching spirit, I feel she was on the verge of becoming a Christian," he added. "While not a member of this congregation, this was her church."

Vintage postcard of the United Church of Christ

(The United Church of Christ was built especially for the 1960 Olympics as a non-denominational chapel.)

A special memorial service - "open only to friends of Sonja" was scheduled for April 16th.

Father Evans had recently counseled Sonja and even baptized her illegitimate son, Kim, and was outraged by the news reports attacking her character. "Our purpose," said the minister, "is to try and undo all that has been done in the way of publicity."

Another thing the the press latched on to was the fact that Sonja wasn't just any pretty, 24-year-old, single mom. She was also a minor celebrity. Sonja had competed in the 1960 Winter Olympics games, as part of the British Ski Team.

Scottish-born Sonja along with her two older siblings (Guy and Jennifer) and their widowed mother had lived in the United States since 1946 but Sonja remained a British citizen. Even Sonja's choice of car was decidedly British; she drove a baby blue Triumph Sports Car.

When it announced that the 1960 Olympics would be held in nearby Squaw Valley, she applied for and was awarded a spot on the team. Sonja had been skiing since childhood. She'd hoped to race in the downhill, but they already had those 4 slots filled so she had to settle for the slalom.

Sonja slipped at one point during the race but got up and finished. Mother Dorothy, who was also an avid skier, was proud of Sonja, despite her last place finish. "Many never finish," after falling, Dorothy told reporters.

Following the Olympics, Sonja joined the British ski team, competed internationally and enjoyed more success than she had in Squaw Valley.

photo from SF Examiner -
April 7, 1963

According to San Francisco Examiner ski writer Kit Carson White, who knew Sonja for several years, she'd been given a featured part in a commercially-produced movie on skiing by Warren Miller. I'm not sure which one of the 15 films Warren Miller released between 1950 and 1964 White is referring to.

Sonja had purchased the duplex a few months prior to her death and was in the process of fixing it up

At the time of her death, while still holding out hope that she could compete in the 1964 Olympics, Sonja seemed to be focusing on furthering her education and putting money away for the future.

One man took all of that away from her. That man was Thomas Lee Bean and the key to cracking this case was the camera Mary Neilsen had seen Sonja with on Thurday. Police couldn't find the camera in Sonja's apartment but she'd held on to the paperwork so they had the make, model and serial number.

Investigators visited pawn shops in the area and it was John Peevers, from the District Attorney's office, who finally found Sonja's camera. A young man had brought it in on April 6th and had been given $10.00 for it.

The name on the pawn slip was barely legible but it had only four letters and it looked like "Bean." Police visited the address written on the slip but learned Thomas Bean had moved. It didn't take long to find him though.

Thomas Lee Bean was already in the system.

In June of 1961, while living in Salt Lake City with his family, 16-year-old Thomas had been arrested after he broke into the screened bedroom of a neighbor and tried to strangle a sleeping 15-year-old girl. She screamed, clawed at his hands and frightened him off.

After being picked up by Salt Lake City Police, Thomas spent 15 days in a juvenile home were he was interviewed at length. A psychiatric evaluation showed that Thomas was "fairly sick" and in need of psychiatric treatment. According to Judge Regnal Garff Jr, the tests showed "the youth probably would have additional destructive outbursts and was unable to handle hostile and aggressive impulses."

Since the Bean family was planning to move to Las Vegas anyway, the case was turned over to the Nevada authorities with the understanding that Thomas receive the help he needed. This was fine with Thomas. He, apparently, wanted to be helped.

However, Thomas didn't check-in to the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko until September 1961. He never received that much-needed psychiatric treatment and was back on the street in May of 1962.

Thomas Bean had been described a model student. The Center's superintendent, Oliver D. Forsterer told reporters, "He had one of the finest records of any of our boys." When confronted with the fact that Thomas's record indicated he needed psychiatric care, Forsterer admitted "We could see some disturbing signs when first came here but he adjusted well to the school - and we just can't afford a psychiatrist for the boys."

Less than one year after being released, on Saturday, April 13, 1963, Reno Police drove to the Bean residence at 4135 Neil Road, located 7 blocks from Sonja's duplex, and asked Thomas to accompany them to the police station. They didn't mention Sonja McCaskie at all, just the camera he had pawned. They told Thomas there was some technicality about minors being allowed to pawn items. Thomas Lee Bean was now 18 years old and an Earl Wooster High senior.

Reno Gazette Journal image -
Brodhead, Bean and Raggio

Thomas submitted to a lie detector test and spent 3 hours speaking with Dr. Rudolph Toller, a psychiatrist brought in by the District Attorney.

When Thomas was told they wanted his fingerprints and footprints, he became visibly anxious. News of bloody footprints being found in Sonja's apartment had been headline news.

Police took their samples and began escorting Bean to an interview room, where the Police Chief and District Attorney were waiting to question him. Thomas saw a chance to escape and he took it. Bean bolted down the hallway and out the front door, with 15-20 police officers and the D.A. right behind him.

Two blocks and five warning shots later, Thomas surrendered. Thomas later asked an officer, "Who was that shooting at me? I wish they'd killed me."

Once in the interview room, police didn't have to work too hard to get Thomas to confess to killing Sonja. Apparently, he knew he was sunk when they asked for his footprint.

Thomas Lee Bean told police he was in the habit of prowling the neighborhood at night, looking to steal women's underwear that had been left out to dry on clotheslines. Thomas was doing just that on April 4, 1963. One woman saw what he was doing, shouted and scared him off. He didn't run home though - he just moved on.

Reno Gazette Journal photo

It was Sonja's sports car that first caught his eye and although he saw some of her undergarments on the line, he didn't take them.

He thought he might instead see if her back door was open and it was. Thomas said he knew about fingerprints from watching television so he used a pair of previously purloined panties as a glove to turn the doorknob. He removed his shoes (he wasn't wearing socks), so that he might move about undetected, and proceeded to crawl around the apartment.

Thomas told police that if there had been a man in the apartment he would have left. The only person there was Sonja, asleep in her bed.

For someone who was only on a panty raid, you have to question that fact that Thomas had brought a garrote and a 10-inch butcher knife with him when he left the house that night.

Thomas slipped the rope around Sonja's neck and applied pressure. She woke with a start and begged for her life, telling him she had a young son. Thomas tightened his grip.

Thomas couldn't say for sure if Sonja was dead or alive when he raped her but he was pretty sure that her arm moved at one point and that he had heard her "gurgle." Then he broke out the knife.

Thomas dragged Sonja's body into her freshly-painted living room, turned on her stereo and proceeded to dismember her. (In case you're wondering what he might have listened to during the act - two LPs by The Brothers Four were mentioned in court but in the newspaper article that I read didn't specify which albums. The quartet had released 9 albums between 1960 and 1964.)

Bean wore a pair of Sonja's skiing mittens while carving her up to protect his hands. Finally, he stuffed her body in the hope chest. There were three knives stuck in Sonja's body when it was discovered. One was the knife Thomas had brought with him and the other two came from Sonja's kitchen.

He made a half-assed effort to clean up the blood then left her apartment with her camera and a radio.

Bean took her sports car for a joy ride and to dump his bloodstained shirt at the Windy Hill lovers lane. The right rear wheel of the Triumph was damaged slightly when he hit a rock. Thomas stopped for breakfast before returning the Triumph back to Sonja's apartment. He retrieved his own car, which he had parked a short distance away, then returned home.

photo from the Reno Gazette
Journal, April 16, 1963

After Tom's arrest, his father, Elza Bean, said he and this two sons both had bad colds so he didn't think it odd when Tom left the house Thursday night under the pretext of getting cough drops at the drug store but Tom didn't return home until between 7 and 7:30 Friday morning and he didn't bring home cough drops but rather a radio.

Elza said when he asked Tom about the radio, "He told me he got the radio from a man he helped with some horses."

They saw Friday's newspaper coverage of the killing and discussed it like they would any horrific crime but they didn't dwell on it. According to Elza, his son Tom was a slow reader who liked auto mechanics and cars. "He wanted to get his own automobile garage one day."

Elza Bean told reporters that "If (Tom) had gotten psychiatric help in Elko, which he should have, I don't see how this crime would ever have happened."

As much as Elza Bean tried to paint the picture of a happy family and a normal upbringing for his two sons, this simply was not so. Thomas Bean had issues with every member of his family.

Elza and Dorothy Bean, married in 1944 and ended their unhappy union in early 1962. Thomas viewed his petite, blond-haired mother, now living in California, as being weak for having stayed in the disastrous marriage for as long as she did. According to an alienist who would later testify for the prosecution, Thomas also hated his mother for allowing him to be shipped off to the facility in Elko.

Thomas resented his younger brother James for being his father's favorite, despite hating his father. Elza, apparently, could be erratic and cruel at times. Ex-wife Dorothy, now remarried, described Elza as "violent."

Money troubles and bad debts forced the family to constantly be on the move. They never stayed in one place for more than six months.

In March of 1947, Elza purchased a car in Illinois with a bad check in the amount of $595.00. Elza drove the car back to Las Vegas and immediately resold it to a used car dealer before his check bounced. Elza pled guilty to the fraudulent check charge and was sentenced to the state penitentiary for a period of 1 to 5 years.

Because of their nomadic lifestyle, Tom never really formed solid friendships and was pretty much a loner. He worked in the school cafeteria to pay for his lunches but didn't participate in outside school activities. The other children thought him odd. Conversely, Tom's younger brother James was described as popular and gregarious.

And it wasn't just the other children who thought there was something just not right with Thomas Lee Bean. Mrs. Hugo Cavalli, who said she had known Thomas "since he was 3 years old" seemed "to have a mean streak in him."

"It's a terrible thing to say," she added, "but I don't know a nice thing to say about him. He always seemed odd."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Cavalli might have had some valuable insights into the family dynamic because the Beans lived with the Cavallis for seven months in 1959 after the Bean family had returned to Nevada from "one of their numerous trips out of the state."

When Elza was asked what he thought about statements made by his former friends, he said "I think Mr. and Mrs. Cavalli would have been 100 percent better off, I'd have been better off and everybody concerned would have been better off if they'd stayed home and kept their mouths shut."

"Some of the things they said were true," he conceded, "some were not."

One of Thomas Bean's neighbors and schoolmate, Ann Halverson, remembered Tommy once told her he "hated blondes."

Thomas Lee Bean didn't just confess his crimes while in custody, he accompanied the police back to Sonja's apartment to re-enact the crime. All of which was recorded with a "sound motion picture camera." (At the bottom of this page, there's a link to a soundless 31 second video showing Bean exiting the apartment, preserved by British-Pathe.)

Reno Gazette Journal photo

Then Bean showed them where he dumped his bloody clothing.

photo from The Times Tribune -
April 15, 1963

On April 29, 1963, Thomas Lee Bean was charged with murder.

Reno Gazette Journal -
July 8, 1936

Attorney Harry D. Anderson agreed to defend Bean and accepted $1.00 for his fee.

Despite his very detailed confession, Thomas Lee Bean still plead not guilty when asked. His defense would be insanity. The courts approved the payment up to $500, at the public's expense, "to enable the defendant to obtain the services of a qualified forensic psychiatrist."

This would be a battle of the psychiatrists.

The defense presented testimony recounting the early life of a disturbed youth but, as sad as his childhood was, there's no denying the fact that Thomas Bean thought to bring weapons with him when he went out that night and that he took measures to conceal his crime and avoid leaving behind evidence.

The prosecution presented mountains of physical evidence (nearly 100 exhibits including the hope chest) and argued that Bean couldn't be legally insane and still give that much thought to the commission of the crime.

Before the trial began, on May 23, 1963, Thomas attempted suicide by slashing one of his wrists. When Deputy Sheriff Lee Womack asked Bean why he had done it, Bean responded that "He had nothing to live for" and promised to "eventually finish the job."

On June 24, 1963, with Judge Grant L. Bowen presiding, jury selection began.

Reno Gazette Journal photo, July 3, 1963

Bit of trivia - the first juror whose name was drawn was Albert Frost, a former deliveryman for a local appliance store. He was one of two men who delivered to Sonja McCaskie, the stereo system that Thomas Bean played while he carved up her body. Frost said this brief association would not impact his ability to serve as a juror as his only contact with Sonja was when he asked her to sign the receipt. After 30 minutes of questioning, he was rejected.

Curiously, the defense did not challenge the admission of full color photographs of the victim's body. I would think that today, those would be deemed prejudicial.

The prosecution opened it's case on June 27, 1963.

Thomas Bean did not testify on his own behalf.

Defense witness Dr. David Wilson testified that Thomas Bean had never had relations with a woman until the moment Sonja McCaskie was assaulted.

On July 1, 1963, the prosecution read to the jury excerpts from Bean's 66 page confession including these passages -

"You ask the motive, I have none. It's been a childhood dream to rape a girl, and I don't know why. I've tried to kick it."

"I don't know why I cut her up. I don't...I just shoved the knife in and started to cut that's all. I don't know why I cut her heart out. It was stupid."

"I had no reason for doing it. Maybe raping her but not killing her."

Tom had admitted to spending roughly 4 hours with Sonja's corpse.

On July 2, 1963, a fellow schoolmate and cafeteria coworker named Patsy Willis took the stand.

Patsy told the jury that she and Tom had been out socially - three consecutive days following the death of Sonja McCaskie.

Patsy testified that on Monday, April 8th, Tom had mentioned the killing to her and his desire to protect himself because he lived in that neighborhood. They were out driving and Tom stopped by his house to "pick up a couple of guns." She then identified these weapons in court.

On Tuesday, April 9th, they had driven to Lake Tahoe for picnic and some target shooting. Later that day, Tom gave her a pistol, suggesting she keep it for protection.

On Wednesday, April 10th, Tom again took her for a car ride. They traveled along some of the same roads that Tom had driven on in Sonja's Triumph and Tom showed Patsy where he'd gone off the road but he didn't reveal he'd been driving a dead woman's car. Patsy identified this area from photos the prosecution presented to her.

Patsy described Thomas Bean as a pleasant date and a gentleman. She sobbed as she left the witness box.

Later that day, Thomas Bean again tried to kill himself by reopening the wound on his wrist.

The trial continued without delay, although on July 3rd the jury was made aware of the suicide attempts.

The court took a four day recess to celebrate the July 4th holiday and the case resumed on Monday, July 8th. Final arguments were heard, the jury received its instructions from the judge and after 75 mins of deliberation, the verdict was in - guilty of first degree murder.

As the jury members exited the box, Thomas Bean pushed his chair back, looked at them and bitterly muttered "Thanks."

That verdict came with a mandatory death sentence. The jury was okay with that.

Sentencing was set for July 15, 1963. Everyone knew what the judge would say; it was simply a matter of setting a date for Bean's death. Judge Grant L. Bowen set the execution for the week of September 23, 1963 but naturally, the first of many appeals put that on hold.

One year later, Dorothy McCaskie was asked for her opinion. She had this to say, "Personally, without any malice, I hope he gets the death penalty. If not, I'm afraid he might get out after 20 years or so and do something like that again. I'd hate to see anyone else have to go through that."

One of these appeals proved successful. In 1970, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the conviction but overturned the death penalty. It seems that any juror in the original trial who had expressed an opposition to the death penalty was rejected.

Another penalty trial was held. This time the jury took 8 hours to come to their decision but the answer, given on December 2, 1970, was the same - Thomas Bean was to die in the gas chamber.

Fortunately for Bean, he was still around in 1972 when the U.S. Supreme Court decided the death penalty was unconstitutional and overturned all death sentences. His sentence was commuted to life in prison. To this day he remains in a medium-security prison and is Nevada's longest-serving inmate.

2013 mugshot for
Thomas Lee Bean

In 2013, The Reno Gazette-Journal requested to interview Bean but their request was denied. The DOC issued this statement, "The Nevada Department of Corrections does not allow recorded interviews of inmates for entertainment purposes."

The DOC also refused a request to interview Bean without recording it.

The newspaper had to settle for an interview with Joe Elliott, who became acquainted with Bean while working in the prison system as a teacher. Here's an excerpt from that interview on April 3, 2013:

Bean sometimes talked about the motive for the McCaskie murder, although generally he did not like to talk about it. When Bean was 6-years-old, his mother had a lot of male visitors, Elliott said. That's when the seeds of his fantasy were planted.

"When he first had sex with anybody, he was going to kill that person," Elliott said. He said that Bean thought about it for 12 years. Then he finally acted on that fantasy.

Joe Elliott, who had served as an assemblyman in the Nevada Legislature in 1991, said that despite Bean's pleasant demeanor, if he had a say in it, he would never let Bean out of prison.

Today, Sonja McCaskie's hope chest sits in a Reno evidence room and will remain there until Thomas Bean dies.

photo from the Reno Gazette Journal -
February 18, 2002

Sonja Yvonne McCaskie was cremated and her ashes interred in Trail's End Cemetery in Tahoe City, California.

www.findagrave.com photo uploaded by Grave Finder

What became of Sonja's son Kim? Immediately following Sonja's death, her older sister Jennifer and her husband Paul K. Arthur made arrangements to adopt him. And while I can't be 100% certain it's him, I do see a Cal-Davis University student named Kim Arthur mentioned fairly often in the 1984 sports pages as competing in various skiing events. I'd like to think it's him.

A September 8, 1963 edition of the National Enquirer, with Sonja's murder as the cover story, included actual autopsy photos and is still remembered as a low point in the publication's history. The headline screamed "I cut out her heart and stomped on it." 

A July 2011 blog entry, concerning this case and in particular some improper behavior on the part of the police, was posted by Dennis Myers, news editor of the Reno News and Review. It can be found here - http://www.newsreview.com/reno/newsview/blogs/post?oid=2902391

It explains how the press got ahold of this photo of Sonja and used it to sensational advantage.

photo from the SF Examiner -
April 10, 1963

No wonder Dorothy McCaskie was disappointed with the way her murdered daughter was being portrayed.

And not that this is relevant to the story, but it's worth acknowledging, if I'm right - Sonja's older brother Guy McCaskie is a highly respected and legendary birder, field ornithologist and author.

photo from www.thedesertsun.com

If you're interested in knowing more, here's a biographical piece on Guy (but only as it relates to his field of study)  -  http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/CAwhoGMcC.html.

It is a bit out of date though. As recently as May 2019, Guy recorded his 500th species of bird, in this country - the Hudsonian Godwit.

And finally, here is the link to the British-Pathe video showing Thomas Bean exiting Sonja's duplex, after describing to authorities how he killed her. He doesn't look especially remorseful, which makes us hate him all the more. -
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA5ON5QIEF6AOW2F0FXKHXPSK68-USA-RENO-YOUTH-CHARGED-WITH-SKI-GIRL-KILLING

Update - I've heard from someone that the British-Pathe video didn't run for her after following the link. Just in case she's not the only one, I've upload it to the As Close to Crime YouTube channel. You can find the video at this address - https://youtu.be/C3SChL5NLW0

Bad Medicine

A respected and trusted doctor with nearly 30 years experience.
A late day appointment.
A prescription written in a hurry.

Welfare recipient Maud Fratz sent her 15-year-old daughter Isabella to Dr. John Raftery's office on Saturday afternoon, January 21, 1939 with a relief medical order. Isabella was suffering from what newspapers would repeatedly and vaguely describe as "a minor ailment" but the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed to be "hemorrhages."

AP photo, 1939

Dr. Raftery dashed off a prescription for a half-grain of strychnine (one 48th a grain per dose), and sent the girl on her way. It was 1 PM.

Yes, strychnine is a poison but back then it was commonly prescribed, in low doses, for a variety of conditions. Athletes had also been known to use it as a stimulant and performance enhancer.

William Fratz, an unemployed hosiery worker with a wife and five children to provide for, had to borrow the cost of the medicine ($1.00) from friends just to his pay for his daughter's prescription.

AP photo, 1939

Within the hour Dr. Raftery began to doubt what he'd written on the prescription. After all, he had been in a hurry to get out of the office when Isabella showed up.

Had he scribbled "SS" or "XX?" If Dr. Raftery had written "SS," he needn't worry but "XX" would indicate 20 grains of strychnine. That would be 40 times the amount he had intended to prescribe.

Dr. Raftery called the drug store, spoke to pharmacist Pearl Borow and learned that the prescription had already been filled, as written - "XX."

Dr. Raftery rushed to the Fratz home to warn Isabella but it was too late. It was now 5 PM. Isabella was already dead. She had died 5 minutes after taking a tablespoon of the bitter-tasting toxic poison. Dr. Raftery notified the coroner's office.

According to a Camden, NJ newspaper The Morning Post, Dr. Raftery, after finding Isabella dead, went to the drug store and "penned a correction over the original pencilling.

That was done, he said, not to try to cover up, but to avoid the possibility someone might call for a reorder of the prescription. That practice often is followed, it was pointed out."

Police arrested both Dr. John Raftery, 56 years old, and Pearl Borow, 26 years old, and charged them with criminally negligent homicide.

Appearing before Magistrate Dogole, AP photo, 1939

To his credit, as they stood before Magistrate Jacob Dogole, Dr. Raftery assumed full blame for the error which caused Isabella's death. His only excuse was that he had been "in a hurry" to leave his office. It was a careless mistake. Dr. Raftery, as far as I can tell, never said what his plans were for that afternoon and why he was "in a hurry."

Pearl Borow, a Temple University graduate and a pharmacist with 6 years experience, said she'd thought the dosage unusually large but that "Dr. Raftery was used to making strong prescriptions."

Moyamensing Prison, Philadelphia

Both were initially held without bail but Dr. Raftery quickly obtained the $5,000 bond money. Pearl Borow was remanded to Moyamensing Prison until her release Sunday evening. No word on who supplied the $5,000 bond for Pearl.

Point of interest - Moyamensing is the same prison that housed H.H. Holmes until he was hanged on May 7, 1896.

An autopsy, quickly performed by Dr. William S. Wadsworth, a Coroner's physician, confirmed that Isabella died from strychnine poisoning. Coroner Charles Hersch announced his intention to hold an inquest.

On February 16, 1939, the facts were presented to a Coroner's jury.

Maud Fratz testified about sending her daughter to Dr. Raftery's office for treatment of a minor ailment.

Detective William Meehan related to the jurors Dr. Raftery's admission of guilt, statements made by Pearl Borow and the chain of events leading up to the arrests.

Six fellow physicians and assorted patients of Dr. Raftery expressed their sympathy for the Fratz family but felt it was simply a tragic mistake and noted that often individuals can survive a dosage of 2 grains or more.

Dr. Charles Nassau, chief of the Department of Health testifying on behalf of Dr. Raftery, admitted the prescription in question was "potentially dangerous."

Some tried to shift the blame to Pearl Borow.

Dr. John McCloskey, Register of Wills, testified that there is a moral, rather than a legal obligation on the druggists's part to call the physician's attention to errors in prescriptions.

"It was a grievous error," said Dr. Wadsworth, who had performed the autopsy on Isabelle. "It is generally understood that pharmacists should use all care in compounding prescriptions, which care would include the noting of any excess amount of any common poisons. Any careful compounder would know, in my opinion, that this prescription was in excess of 24 doses."

Nathan Zonies, president of the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association, in defense of Pearl Borow, said "If the age of Miss Fratz had been on that prescription, the pharmacist would probably have questioned the doctor's prescription." Zonies objected to what he called an attempt to "throw this error, which unfortunately cost a life, into the lap of the pharmacy."

Neither Dr. Raftery nor Pearl Borow testified.

On March 2, 1939, the verdict was read to a packed courtroom. Isabella Fratz's death was the result of "poison taken by mistake." Both doctor and druggist were exonerated.

William and Maud Fratz, the victim's parents, responded violently from the rear of the coroner's courtroom in the City Hall Annex. "I want to protest this! It's an outrage to let these people go," shouted William, rising from his seat. "This is an example of cracked justice!"

Maud sat there sobbing. "They took my child away," she said. "I hope that God will punish them!" Court attendants tried to quiet her.

"No one cares, either, what happens to us," Maud continued. "We're on the welfare so no one cares." Maud Fratz was hysterical as she was led from the courtroom.

Dr. John Shaw, secretary of the Department of Health, who was present at the inquest as an observer, said he would make a report to Governor Arthur H. James looking toward possible corrective legislation.

Out of the hearing came a recommendation by a pharmacist, probably Nathan Zonies, that physicians be required legally to state the age and weight of the patient on all prescriptions as a precautionary measure.

What became of the key players in this tragedy?

William Fratz died in June 1964. I can't find a death record for Maud Fratz.

www.findagrave.com photo
provided by Kate Pitluck

Dr. John Raftery continued to practice medicine and died on August 7, 1946, at the age of 65, following a short illness. His wife Mary Montgomery Gillen Raftery had died only 2 weeks earlier. They had one daughter, Ruth. The day after John's death, his 84-year-old mother Mary Jane Raftery passed away. Dr. Raftery's obituary credits him with having served as vice president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society and mentions he was president of the Northeast branch of that group. John was also president of the Doctors' Golf Association and vice president of the Physicians' Motor Club. Dr. and Mrs. Raftery are buried in the All Saints Episcopal Church Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Pearl Borow resumed her job as pharmacist. She married Carmi Hicks on August 19, 1946 when she was 33-years-old. Carmi Hicks was a 58-year-old divorced war veteran and co-founder of the Lions Club International. Pearl's marriage was short-lived. Carmi died in 1947.

Pearl married again but I'm not sure when or to whom. The 1974 obituary for Pearl's brother Maurice Borow lists her as Pearl Goodman and living in Somerset, NJ. However, when Pearl's brother Henry died in 1956, curiously, Pearl did not get a mention in his Courier-News September 10th obituary. An oversight since remaining brothers Louis, Ben and Maurice are included.

Ben Borow founded New Jersey's Bound Brook Hospital and all four Borow brothers (Ben, Louis, Maurice and Henry) had practices there.

Here is Pearl in a 1985 newspaper photo. If you compare this picture to the last time she was in the newspapers, there's little doubt it's her.

The Courier-News, December 10, 1985

Pearl's life ended at 12:33 AM on November 19, 1987. At approximately 7 PM day before, Pearl had been struck by a westbound car as she was walking towards her apartment building at 173 East Main Street in Somerville, NJ. She'd been out with friends and was being dropped back home but on the opposite side of the street. Pearl made it about halfway across East Main Street before being hit. Charges against the driver, Holly M. Baker, 30 of South Bound Brook, NJ, were unlikely. There was no indication Mrs. Baker had been speeding. Pearl was not only wearing dark clothing but walking in traffic.

According to Pearl's obituary, she moved from Philadelphia to Somerville, NJ in 1957 and was a retired pharmacist. Pearl was survived by three nephews and two nieces. No clues as to her second husband's first name. The obituary lists Pearl's age at the time of her death as 78 but her 1946 marriage license records her birth year as 1913. If the latter is accurate, Pearl would have been 74 when she died. This matches up with news reports following the 1939 death of Isabella that generally list Pearl's age as either 26, although I've her described as being 28-years-old.

I have been unable to find a photo of the victim Isabella Fratz or her parents.

If you like podcasts and have roughly 34 minutes to spare, I recommend a particular episode of the  Poisoncast by Scott Barnett for a background on strychnine and it's toxicity.
https://www.thepoisoncast.org/episodes/2017/4/30/strychnine-the-poisoncast-12

Leonard Nimoy leaves me In Search of .... the rest of the story

I became aware of this crime thanks to a recently purchased "In Search of .." DVD boxset.

The eleventh episode of season one, which originally aired on May 26, 1977, focused on Psychic Detectives. Of special interest to me was the disappearance of Sally Lucas.

A large percentage of the episode's 23 minutes was devoted to explaining how St. Louis-based psychic Beverly Jaegers sensed what had happened to the 36-year-old woman and where her body might be found but at no time did the show's host Leonard Nimoy tell viewers whether or not Sally's killer was caught. Inexcusable, in my opinion, since the crime had been solved.

Allow me to provide some of the answers to questions you may have if you've also seen that episode.

Marysville Journal Tribune -
Aug 25, 1971

Sally Lucas, a housewife and mother of two daughters, living in Town and Country, Missouri (a suburb of St. Louis) was reported missing on August 16, 1971 by her husband Lawrence.

Sally, quite uncharacteristically, had failed to pick up their 12-year-old daughter Susan from the Medsker's Riding Stables, after dropping Susan and Susan's friend Barbara Willbrand off at that location at 11 AM. It was now 7:30 PM, 4 hours after Sally was expected back at the stables. The stables were located near Babler State Park, off of Wild Horse Creek Road.

Lawrence Lucas gave police a photo of Sally, her vital statistics (36-years-old but she could pass for much younger, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 105 pounds, frosted light brown hair) and a description of what Sally had been wearing when they last saw her (a white culotte skirt and a light-colored print blouse and brown strap sandals). Sally was also wearing a diamond pendant necklace, a Christmas gift from her husband, her wedding ring and an antique ring. The estimated value of the jewelry was $2500.

Police were able to track Sally's movements from the time she dropped the two girls off at the stables until she was last scene driving away from the West County Shopping Center in her light green 1969 Pontiac Bonneville convertible at roughly 2:45 PM.

Sally had visited with her friend Sharon Harding between 11:45 and 1 PM, then headed over to the West County Shopping Center where she used her charge card at 2:30 PM to purchase a tennis dress from the Famous-Barr store. The saleslady told police that Mrs. Lucas seemed in a hurry but not ill at ease.

photo from The Department Store Museum website

Fellow West County Center shopper, Annette Portnoy was able to tell police that she had seen a woman, matching Sally's description, getting into a light green Pontiac Bonneville convertible which had been parked two spaces away from her.

Annette recalled being uneasy as she left the shopping center because she thought a man was following her from the mall's front entrance back to her car. However, once she was safely inside her vehicle and looked around, there was no sign of him.

The Bonneville was leaving the mall's parking lot at the same time as Annette and for awhile it was directly in front of her. In fact, Annette was close enough to see the other woman's face reflected in the Bonneville's rear view mirror; she caught a look of fear and desperation in the eyes of the driver. The convertible's top was down and the car was driving very slowly. Annette saw no other passengers and thought her suspicions were unfounded. Finally, Mrs. Portnoy passed the Pontiac, just west of the intersection of Highway 244 and Manchester Road. This was 2:45 PM.

At 3:50 PM, Vernon Storie was on Wild Horse Creek Road, driving home from work, and found himself behind a slow-moving light green 1969 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. After a mile and a half, Vernon passed on the car's left and saw a woman matching Sally's description behind the wheel. The top was up and his vision obscured but he definitely saw a "fairly good-sized" man in the passenger seat.

At roughly 4:30 PM, two sisters, Dorothy Baumgras and Dora Adams, driving on Wild Horse Creek Road in the vicinity of the Poehlman Road intersection, observed a 1969 or 1970 green Pontiac Bonneville convertible parked about 2 feet off the road. Mrs. Baumgras observed a heavy set white male standing near the partly open door of the car, with one hand on the door and the other "hooked down to the side," apparently urinating. Driving at 5 m.p.h. they passed within 2 feet of the man. He was dark-haired, stout, fat, had a dirty face and wore a dirty white T-shirt.

At this point, the trail went cold. Nobody could recall seeing Sally or her Bonneville after August 16th. The Missouri Highway Patrol had conducted air searches of West St. Louis County in an attempt to find the missing car but came up empty.

One week after his wife's disappearance, Lawrence received a credit card bill showing that one of Sally's cards had been used to purchase a transistor radio at 4:45 PM on August 16th at the Central Hardware store in St, Charles, Missouri. Police retrieved the receipt and while Lawrence thought the handwriting might be his wife's he also stated that it appeared unnatural. Also, the receipt was signed using Lawrence's name and not her own, as was the norm. The address given to the salesman was 10306 Lackland Road. This address meant nothing to Lawrence Lucas. Nor should it have.

Lawrence Lucas was desperate for answers and turned to two noted psychics - Jeane Dixon, who in 1957 had famously predicted that the winner of the 1960 Presidential election would be a Democrat and that he would be "assassinated or die in office," and David Hoy, who in 1967 had foreseen the collapse of the Silver Bridge.

The results of these psychic sessions were published on August 25, 1971 in the Daily Notes, a Missouri newspaper. Jeane Dixon said the only impression she got was that Mrs. Lucas "disappeared while shopping and had driven west." David Hoy was willing to go a little further out on a limb and told Lawrence that he thought Sally was well and somewhere in Florida. David Hoy was closer to the truth. Unfortunately, his ESP was only revealing the location of Sally's car.

At 4 AM on August 27, 1971, Sgt. Charles Buckley, a Panama City, Florida police officer ran the license plate number of a 1969 green Pontiac convertible with Missouri plates that he had seen legally parked in the same location of a camping and parking area near Panama City Beach for three nights in a row. The computer identified the car as belonging to Sally Lucas and there was additional information - "Missing person - foul play feared."

Sgt. Buckley approached the vehicle and found a burly man sleeping inside. Sgt. Buckley woke the man up, asked for identification and then quizzed Anthony Paul Damico about the disappearance of Sally Lucas.

Damico, visibly shaken by the inquiry, "jumped back about a foot and his hands started trembling. His whole body started shaking. He tried to say something but he just stuttered for 30 to 45 seconds." Finally, when he did speak it was to ask for an attorney. Sgt. Buckley placed Damico under arrest. The immediate charge was suspicion of auto theft.

First Damico and then the Bonneville were transported back to the police station.

Officers searched the vehicle. Items of interest included several charge cards, a driver's license and a Social Security card all issued to Sally Lucas. They also recovered a Campbell's Soup hat, a notebook containing handwritten entries with an indication that $60 was received from an Art Buschmann on August 16th, a matchbook advertising the Mini-Steak House on Highway 50 in California, Missouri plus the tennis dress purchased by Sally Lucas at Famous-Barr Co. on August 16, 1971.

A handwriting sample provided by Damico tied him to the notebook found in the car and his meticulous record keeping would help piece together events leading up to and following the abduction of Sally Lucas.

All items of evidence were recorded and then returned to the vehicle before the Bonneville was parked in a storage lot to await the arrival of the FBI.

Lawrence Lucas was notified and he immediately hopped on a plane to Florida. Lawrence Lucas visited Damico in prison. "I tried to play on his sympathy. I showed him pictures of the children  (Susan, aged 12 and Kathy, recently turned 16) and told him they needed their mother." Mr. Lucas needn't have bothered.

On August 28, 1971, Missouri Police officers Sgt. Kiriakos and Chief Hogan arrived in Florida and questioned Damico about Sally Lucas. Damico couldn't deny knowing Mrs. Lucas because he was driving her car and he did accurately describe her to police but Damico claimed Sally and another man had picked him up as he hitchiked from Missouri to Florida. Following behind the Bonneville was a Volkswagon bus driven by another anonymous male. Both vehicles stopped for the night in West Memphis, Arkansas and parked under the Mississippi River Bridge. According to Damico, everyone but him engaged in a sex orgy and took drugs. That not being his scene, he asked to borrow the Bonneville and Sally Lucas willingly gave him the car keys. That was the last he saw of Sally. He then drove from Memphis, Arkansas to Biloxi, Mississippi and from Biloxi to Panama City, Florida.

On August 29th, while transporting Damico back to Missouri, Chief Hogan took the opportunity to tell Damico that they didn't think he was telling the truth the night before when questioned. So Damico altered his story.

In this second version of events, Damico was at a restaurant on St. Charles Rock Road in St. Louis County on August 17, 1971. A Volkswagen bus pulled up and someone he knew as William J. Atler called to appellant, inviting him to accompany that party to Florida. Appellant accepted the invitation. In the back of the bus he saw a woman he identified as Mrs. Lucas, who appeared to be frightened. They started out, with a green Pontiac following them, and went to a Central Hardware store in St. Charles, where appellant was told by Atler to purchase a Sony radio with the credit card provided by Atler. Appellant purchased the radio, using the credit card. From this point the two vehicles traveled south, ending up beneath the bridge at West Memphis, Arkansas. At this location they started playing a stereo tape player and taking pills. Atler told Mrs. Lucas to remove all her clothes, and he and the other male (called Tim) raped her and Atler forced her to perform an unnatural sex act. Appellant then got the keys from Atler, borrowed the Pontiac and drove off as previously stated.

Police were no closer to finding Sally Lucas. While he had now admitted to using her credit card, Damico was sticking to his story that Sally was alive and in Florida.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Aug 31, 1971

On August 30, 1971, Missouri police interviewed Damico in front of a video camera. At one point in the examination Sgt. Kiriakos said, "Tony, once you got the car and you had all of Mrs. Lucas' property, why didn't you get rid of it? If you had got rid of it there could have been no way we could have tied you to this vehicle." Damico answered, "Well, I don't know, maybe I just wanted to get caught."

And just who is Anthony Paul Damoco? Did he have any connection to Sally Lucas?

Police ran a check on Anthony Paul Damico from Hazelwood, Missouri and noticed the strange coincidence that his childhood address was 10306 Lackland Road. This is the same address given to the hardware store clerk for the purchase of the radio using Sally Lucas's credit card.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch -
September 27, 1966

Damico had a criminal record with more than 20 arrests including the September 26, 1966 abduction at gunpoint of  Mrs. David Resheske and her 5-year-old son Philip from the Northwest Plaza Shopping Center parking lot in St. Ann, MO. He really just wanted their car.

Damico released the Resheskes unharmed at the corner of Missouri Bottom and Ferguson Lane in Bridgeton, MO (a mere 15 minutes from the abduction site) but relieved the woman of her credit cards and the $17.00 she had in her purse. Mrs. Resheske and her son walked to a nearby house and phoned the police.

Ninety minutes later, Damico used the woman's Cadillac convertible as a getaway car following his robbery of Schnuck's Supermarket. He'd gotten away with roughly $500.00 then abandoned the car.

Two days later, police arrested Damico for these crimes. He was 19-years-old. This would be his first conviction and prison sentence. Damico served thirteen months of a three year sentence for armed robbery.

Anthony Damico had been incarcerated in the Missouri State Prison on various armed robbery charges between 1967-1970.

At the time of Damico's August 27, 1971 arrest, there was an outstanding warrant issued in St. Louis County three days prior to Sally Lucas's disappearance for failure to appear in court and he had two other court cases pending. One relating to a bogus check charge and another involving auto theft.

Using the notebook found in Sally Lucas' car, police reconstructed Damico's movements and expenditures.

They spoke with Art Buschmann who had been mentioned in the notebook. Art was an old friend of Damico's and the owner of the Mini-Steak House. At approximately 9 p. m. on August 16th, Damico appeared at the Mini-Steak House. He was introduced by Art to a man called C. D. Pipes. Damico was wearing a dark T-shirt with a slit in the sleeve; light blue trousers and a polka-dot Campbell Soup hat. He was unshaven and soiled. Pipes asked Damico if he had been in a street fight, to which he responded, "Worse than that." Damico told Art Buschmann that he needed "some road money." Art replied that he did not have much money and could not help him. Damico took three pieces of jewelry (later identified as the two rings and diamond pendant of Sally Lucas) out of a brown paper, and offered them to Art, who expressed no interest in ladies' jewelry. Damico repeated that he needed road money and said, "We done something in St. Louis this afternoon that we might have got seen at." After further conversation Art said he would rake up $50 if that would help. Damico countered with an offer of $60 for the jewelry. Art took $60 out of the cash register and handed it to his old friend, who took a book of matches on which the name and telephone number of the restaurant were printed, saying, "Art, I'll probably be gone for about six months. When I cool off I'll give you a ring." Art placed the jewelry in the cash register. The next day he showed it to Pipes. Art later sold the jewelry to a man in Eldon, MO who in turn resold it.

Demarco checked into a motel in Biloxi, Mississippi, stayed 2 days and left without paying his bill.

What little money Demarco did have he spent on food, gas, amusement parks and gambling on dog races. He sold the radio purchased with Sally's credit card for less than $5.00, he sold the Bonneville's spare tire for $10. When police arrested him in Florida, Demarco was down to 18 cents and a jar of mixed peanut butter and jelly.

Entering into the story now is Bevy Jaegers. Beverly Jaegers was teaching ESP at a University City, Missouri night school when she contacted the police to ask that they provide her students with a few personal items belonging to Sally Lucas so that they could check their finding against those being reported in the newspapers. Police sent over a powder puff and nightgown.

Bevy Jaegers

When Bev picked up the nightgown, pain radiated from her skull and spread down her neck. She later told the Chicago Tribune, "I felt like I was dying, like I had been hit on the right side of the head." She held the nightgown in her left hand and scribbled down descriptions of what she was seeing.

These notes were turned over the the Missouri State Police and, impressed what what they'd read, they allowed Bevy to sit behind the wheel of the Bonneville. Again she was bombarded with images - horses' heads. A small bridge. The letters C and CC. The numbers 3 and 4. A creek bed. An airport, A poker. An abandoned, decaying church. Pillar mailboxes. Bevy again felt the blinding pain to the right side of her head. She became nauseous, broke into a sweat. Bevy couldn't get out of the car fast enough and then broke into tears.

On Saturday, September 4, 1971, Bevy, her husband Ray and one of Bevy's students named Jim Mueller used these clues to pinpoint an area where they felt Sally's body would be found. Bevy's sense of dread was very strong but the six foot tall weeds made the area impenetrable and the hour was late. They planned to return the following day with the family dog however, a wild rainstorm rolled in that day, making it impossible for Jaegers to return to the area they’d been exploring.

On Sunday, September 5, 1971, at 5:30 PM, after the storm cleared, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Dieckmann pulled their car over on Wild Horse Creek Road to walk their dog. They noticed “a peculiar smell” hanging in the humid September air. They asked property owner Alvin Steines if he had recently buried an animal in that area. He had not.

Alvin Steines began searching his property while the Dieckmann's phoned the police.

At the fork of the creek, which runs adjacent to the road, the odor was very pronounced. Steines followed the creek bed off to the right. Up on the bank in an indentation he discovered some human remains. Steines led the authorities back to the site. The remains were located .2 of a mile north of the intersection of Ossenfort Road and Wild Horse Creek Road, some twenty-five to thirty feet from the road, beyond the creek bed.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - September 7, 1971

The badly decomposed fully-dressed body, later identified thru dental records as Sally Lucas, lay 15 yards from a small bridge, near the junction of Routes C and CC. Nearby were the Spirit of St. Louis Airport, a horse ranch called Poker Flats, an abandoned Assembly of God church, a row of pillar mailboxes. The right side of her skull smashed in and the right side of her jaw was fractured.

Darkness quickly descended on the crime scene so police opted to wait until 8 AM the following morning to remove the body and gather evidence. A guard was placed at the scene to avoid any outside interference. And rightly so. Wild Horse Creek Road soon became clogged with lookie-loos wanting to see the depression where the body was found.

a 1979 image of Dr. Gantner from a
National Association of Counties periodcial

Dr. George E. Gantner, chief medical examiner of St. Louis County, determined Sally Lucas had died from a oval shaped fracture of the right side of the skull. The fractured area was about three inches in diameter. The weapon could have been a rock but Dr. Gantner felt it more likely was the heel of shoe brought down with tremendous force while her head rested on an even surface. Basically, someone had stomped down on Sally's head. The blow would have been so severe as to fracture the skull and jawbone, cause brain damage and massive internal bleeding. One single fatal head injury.

Laboratory tests on Demarco's shoes revealed nothing of evidentiary value.

Dr. Gantner did concede that the body was so badly decomposed that he couldn't say without 100% certainty that there hadn't been a fatal flesh wound delivered before the blow to her head. Judging from the body's unusual position, he felt she had been placed in the ground before rigor mortis occurred and he was comfortable placing her date of death as August 16, 1971.

Police now charged Anthony Paul Demarco with first degree murder in addition to robbery.

Prosecutors asked for the death penalty. The trial was scheduled to begin May 22, 1972 but not in St. Louis county. A change of venue had been granted due to the publicity surrounding the crime.

A nationwide search for "William J. Atler"  who was a key player in Demarco's alibi proved fruitless.

The defense unsuccessfully argued that any evidence seized during the search of the car should be excluded but the police didn't need Demarco's permission to search the car as it didn't belong to him.

The evidence presented at his trial was largely circumstantial but it was sufficiently convincing. The prosecution called 40 witnesses to the stand; the defense called only 5. The jury was allowed to see the videotape of Demarco saying "Well, I don't know, maybe I just wanted to get caught."

Annette Portnoy positively identified Anthony Demarco as the man she had seen outside the mall and in the parking lot on the day Sally Lucas disappeared.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
June 2, 1972

Lawrence Lucas testified that his marriage was a happy one and also that after he'd flown down to Florida to identify his wife's car, he and his daughters were spending the weekend at Lake of the Ozarks just to escape the publicity surrounding the events. It was there that he got the call from police to say Sally's body had been found.

On cross-examination, Demarco's attorney Daniel O'Brien asked Lawrence to explain why he'd phoned several local motels looking for his wife if their marriage was a happy one. Lawrence stated that he was worried his wife might be sick or have amnesia because Sally has apparently failed to recognize a friend that had seen her on the day she disappeared.

Demarco's old friend Art Buschmann helped broker a deal for the stolen jewelry belonging to Sally Lucas. This caused a bit of controversy as the prosecution had spent $2,250.00 to purchase evidence and not all of that money went to person who currently owned the jewelry. The first installment of $1,000 ended up in the hands of an informant, Jerry Miller, who had initiated contact with the prosecution because he had a tip on where the jewelry might be found.

The final witness testifying against Demarco was his now ex-wife Margaret Louise Brett. Anthony and Margaret were married on January 17, 1970 and separated six months later. Margaret had filed for a divorce in September 1970 and the divorce was granted in February 1972. They had no children together but Margaret had 4 children from a previous marriage. Anthony was Margaret's fourth husband, she his first wife. The former Mrs. Demarco helped establish the defendant's familiarity with the area. Before and during their brief marriage, she and Anthony would frequently go crawfishing at Wild Horse Creek. In fact, the area where Sally's body was found was a favored picnic spot. Margaret had even visited Anthony Demarco in prison, prior to the discovery of Sally's remains, in an effort to get him to cooperate with police. She needn't have bothered.

On July 1, 1972, following a 12 day trial, the jury found Demarco guilty. One sole juror refused to assign the death penalty to a man convicted using circumstantial evidence. Demarco was sentenced to life in prison.

Our story doesn't end there though.

On Friday, April 13, 1973, Lawrence Lucas, now 42-years-old and recently married to a 42-year-old divorcee named Theresa Marie Million, was arrested and charged with "lewd and lascivious behavior" involving six girls, all between the ages of 14 and 18. Lawrence was accused of repeatedly exposing himself, fondling the girls and committing statutory rape.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 4, 1973

Lawrence Lucas was freed after posting a $1000.00 bond. A Grand Jury was convened after a month long investigation into the allegations. The jury voted to proceed through the sexual psychopath statue which seeks to treat criminals rather than punish them.

Neighbors were shocked and disbelieving. One neighbor told a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter, "I'd like to think that if these things happened, that they were after Sally's death. After all, a thing like that could really alter your senses."

However, according to police, most of the alleged offenses occurred in Lucas's own home and the crimes had take place over a period of six years. Sally Lucas would still have been alive.

The offenses reportedly came to light after a runaway girl related the incident to juvenile authorities.

On April 30, 1973, one of the six girls and her father sued Lawrence Lucas for $1,050.00 in damages because the girl and her father had been "dishonored and disgraced" and because the father had been required to provide medical and psychiatric care for his 15-year-old daughter. Their suit alleged Lawrence had been engaged in sexual activities with the girl since she was 9-years-old.

On August 15, 1973, after being examined by two psychiatrists, Lawrence H. Lucas was declared a "Criminal Sexual Psychopath" and sent to the Fulton State Hospital by St. Louis Circuit Court Judge George E. Schaaf. Lawrence's being legally declared a "psychopath" allowed him to avoid criminal prosecution.

Daniel O'Brien
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
May 19, 1968

Anthony Paul Demarco's attorney was delighted.

Daniel O'Brien immediately expressed his intention to file paperwork for an appeal on the grounds that Lawrence Lucas had perjured himself on the stand when he testified about the happy state of his marriage and that Sally's possible knowledge of her husband's deviant behavior gave Lawrence motive to kill her.

O'Brien went a step further and claimed the prosecuting attorneys knew about this sordid side of Lawrence's personality and withheld this information from the defense. The District Attorneys office denied these allegations and said they knew nothing of Lawrence Lucas's molestation of young girls.

Daniel O'Brien's appeal on behalf of his client was denied and the conviction upheld.

Lawrence was released from the Fulton State Hospital after a mere two weeks of confinement but Judge Schaaf, who had placed Lawrence there in the first place, revoked Lawrence's freedom ASAP. Lawrence would remain confined in the Fulton State Hospital until late in February 1974 when he was placed on parole with the condition that he receive psychiatric treatment from a private physician at least once a week for the first five years of his parole.

And while we all know that "Life in Prison" often means convicted criminals will be eligible for parole at some point, I'll be citing "Murder at Pope's Cafeteria" written by Ronald Martin and published in 2018, for information regarding Anthony Paul Demarco life behind bars. According to the Ronald Martin, Demarco "was released after serving only approximately five years in prison for Sally Lucas's killing." I can neither confirm nor deny that.

Bevy Jaeger's reputation as a reliable psychic grew. By 1973, her U.S. Psychic Rescue Squad (the world’s first psychic detective unit) was assisting on other cases. In 1974, Bevy obtained her private investigator's license. What had started as the U.S. Psychic Rescue Squad soon became the U.S. Psi Squad after the group was overwhelmed with telephone calls from little old ladies who had lost their eyeglasses or their cats. The squad laid down ground rules: to only accept cases from law enforcement, and only when approached; to never accept money for their work; to never contact a victim’s family; to keep all cases confidential; and to avoid publicity at any cost. Bevy authored multiple books on ESP and Palmistry and died on December 20, 2001. - Thanks to Stefene Russell and St. Louis Magazine's July 2007 for the update on Bevy and her Psi Squad.

I've uploaded the portion of the "In Search of..." episode directly relating to this case to my As Close To Crime YouTube channel. You can find it here - https://youtu.be/7_aED8tlUek

"The Lord will forgive you, but the public won't."

It has been said that "there's no such thing as bad publicity."

Ned York would disagree with that.

As Ned told Associated Press writer Virginia L. Tyson, "Being an actor, I always wanted to be famous. I never wanted to be infamous. God knows it wasn't a publicity stunt. Who the hell would want that kind of publicity?"

It's probably fair to say that Ned York wasn't destined to be one of the greatest actors of his time, but by 1978 he was working fairly regularly and earning $400.00 a day whenever he did land a role.

Ned's first on screen performances were in a pair of films by Albert Zugsmith, both released in 1966. Since then credits included bit parts on "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" and "Starsky & Hutch." He supplemented his TV and film work with theatrical productions, most notably with the Christian-based Hollywood Free Theater.

As active as he was, Ned was far from a household name until February 8, 1978 when he was held for questioning in the death of Kristina Weckler. He was 32-years-old.

Kristina Weckler



On November 20, 1977, the nude body of 20-year-old Kristina Weckler had been found by two hikers on a hillside between Glendale and Eagle Rock, California. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled and dumped. In life, Kristina had been an honors student at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design. LAPD detective Bob Grogan described Kristina as a "loving and serious young woman who should have had a bright future ahead of her."

There were ligature marks on her wrists, ankles and neck. Also present were two puncture wounds in her arm but no indication that Kristina was a drug addict or living a "high risk lifestyle." It would later be revealed that the needle marks were left when Kristina had been injected with Windex.

In all likelihood, Kristina was another victim of a man whom everyone was calling The Hillside Strangler. There were no solid leads and it was believed that the Strangler had so far killed as many twelve women.

On February 8, 1978, Ned York phoned the LAPD. He was rambling and incoherent but police responded because he claimed to have information about the murders and Kristina Weckler in particular. One day earlier, police released to the press a portion of a 6 page handwritten letter Mayor Tom Bradley had received from someone claiming to be The Strangler.

The LAPD couldn't ignore any lead, no matter how improbable. Ned was taken into custody but he passed out before he could be questioned.

The media was on it like a shot - "Strangler Suspect Arrested." A press conference was called just so police could tell people not to get their hopes up. They didn't honestly believe Ned to be the Strangler but he was he was conscious he interviewed extensively. Numerous samples of blood, hair and saliva as well as dental impressions, nail clippings and fingerprints were taken.

They searched Ned's home and car, finding nothing but marijuana in the form of a Thai stick.

photo from Florida Today, Feb. 10, 1978

photo from Press and Sun Bulletin, Feb. 9, 1978

Thai Stick, circa 1978
photo from Nectarball.com site

At the press conference, police Commander William Booth confirmed that Ned York "has claimed responsibility for the murders." However, he still wasn't considered a serious suspect. "This is rapidly developing into nothing," Booth told reporters.

There was nothing tying Ned York to any of the victims except statements he had made to police. Ned's car had a sticker on it that read "Peace with Christ" and the frame around his license plate advised people to "Read the Bible."

After 12 years of working in film and television, well-known gossip columnist Marilyn Beck finally mentioned Ned in her column. While Ned was still in custody, Marilyn wanted to tell her readers that Ned had recently been fired from his guest starring role on the TV series "Alice." He had rehearsed with the cast for 4 days but was fired because, according to Marilyn, "it became apparent he simply couldn't handle the role.

"The role called for York to portray a uniformed policeman who comes to Alice's apartment in response to her complaint that she has been the victim of a flasher. He's of the opinion that she must be one of "those women" who encourages men to commit sex crimes and humiliates her with questions such as "Were you dressed the way you are now, in that tight sweater, in those same tight jeans?""

For those who care about such things - this was the first episode of the second season, it aired on October 2, 1977 and the role of Officer Hertzig ultimately went to Lewis Arquette.

Ned's termination from the set of "Alice" came one month prior to the first murder that was attributed to the Hillside Strangler. This was Yolanda Washington. Her body had been found on October 18, 1977.

Marilyn wanted to remind everyone there was a theory floating around that the Strangler may have lured women into his car by posing as a policeman.

On February 11, 1978, after three days in prison, police released Ned, charging him only with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Cmdr. William Booth announced that "Ned York is no longer a suspect" but the damage to his burgeoning career was done.

Ned tried to make the most of a terrible situation by using his arrest and subsequent release as way to inform people of the dangers of smoking PCP. He even hoped he'd be able to convince the real killer to turn himself in.

You see, the night before he was arrested, Ned had been sitting in his living room, smoking PCP (aka angel dust) and talking to friend who knew Kristina Weckler. This (unnamed) individual had been interviewed by police as part of their investigation after finding his name in her diary.

It was a combination of Ned's drug use and the depression he was feeling since the break up of his marriage to that lead him to call police the following morning. He wasn't even sure what he told them when they showed up at his house on February 8th.

Estranged wife Leah joined Ned at a February 13, 1978 press conference, following his release. Ned told reporters, "I hope people will realize I made a terrible mistake and am sorry for it. The only good thing I hope comes out of it is that the real strangler will realize people want to help him. The police were kind to me, very concerned," York said. "I know they'll treat him the same way."

When AP reporter Virginia L. Tyson caught up with Ned in June 1978, she learned that for the first time in 8 years, Ned was unable to find work; he had been forced to file for unemployment and move out of the Hollywood Hills home he had rented for the last three years. Unemployment benefits were $104.00 a week and his rent was $475.00 a month. 

Since his arrest, Ned's agent dropped him and a friend punched him. Ned felt that people on the street still suspected him of being the strangler and believed the police only released him because they didn't have enough evidence to prosecute. 

"I know it's my fault," York said. "You're sitting in your own living room smoking angel dust and you think the worst that could happen would be this stuff could kill you.

"I'll never smoke again, unless someone ties me down and forces me to."

The real Hillside Stranglers, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, Jr. were still at large when Ned gave this interview. Together they abducted, raped and murdered 10 women, including Kristina Weckler. After the dissolution of their partnership, Bianchi killed an additional 2 women. They never did take Ned's advise and turn themselves in.

Good friend Pat Boone, had warned Ned "The Lord will forgive you but the public won't."

Ned expressed disappointment with the press. "The media really chewed me up and spit me out," he said. "I didn't strangle anyone.

"The reaction really hurt. I'm not a violent person. They made it look and sound like I'm a terrible weirdo."

Ned's career never did rebound. While he is in the cast of one of my favorite TV Movies from 1978, "Go West, Young Girl," this aired on April 27, 1978 and was probably work he had done prior to the arrest.

IMDb lists only 2 more appearances from Ned - "The Mystery of Willoughby Castle" (1979) and "Super Christian II" (1986).

If Ned is remembered today it is mainly for his false confession. This incident even appears in two of Roddy Piper's autobiographies as Roddy was good friends with Ned's brother Jay York, a Hollywood stuntman and professional grappler who wrestled under the names The Masked Terror and The Alaskan.

photo from The Town Talk - Feb. 11, 1978

Ned died of a heart attack on December 31, 1998, he was 53-years-old.

There's plenty of information available about Bianchi and Buono, online and in books, so I'm not going to rehash the crimes that occurred between October 16, 1977 and February 16, 1978. This blog post is just about Ned York and his false confession.

YouTube user Rocketman 1984 has uploaded nearly two hours of NBC news coverage relating to the Hillside Strangler cases. I've isolated the broadcasts concerning Ned York and uploaded that footage to the As Close to Crime channel. Here's the link - https://youtu.be/Rpl2jTH2ZKI

Glory Days of Hollywood - my eye!

Just a quick film recommendation.

I've uploaded the trailer to the As Close to Crime YouTube channel in case you want a glimpse of what's in store for you should you chose to see this 2007 documentary. Here's the link - https://youtu.be/9s9ZDh-Y0FM

Here's the cover art from the DVD followed by a brief synopsis.

In 1937, Patricia Douglas was Girl 27 of 120 chorus girls invited to attend a sales convention for MGM. During the course of the evening she was raped. Patricia's attempts to seek justice fell flat due to the power of the film studio, the corruption of the District Attorney, the willingness of the newspapers to blame the victim and eventually betrayal by her own mother.

More than 50 years later author David Stenn reads about the crime in archived newspapers, becomes intrigued and spends the next 10 years investigating the story.

On screen interviews with Patricia Douglas and her daughter drive home the reality that this one evening ruined several lives.

Greta Van Susteren is as outraged as anyone can be 70 years after the fact.

Diana Serra Cary at the 2011 Cinecon Festival

Diana Serra Cary aka Baby Peggy, who was working as an MGM extra after her own career as a child actress was over, is as insightful as ever.


For more on Baby Peggy, I absolutely recommend her 1996 autobiography "What Ever Happened to Baby Peggy?"

The Price of Friendship

It's not unusual to hear gunshots in West Virginia but having bullets crash through the front window of your home or residence is cause for concern. This was certainly true for Lanham "Doc" Pratt at 10 PM on July 31, 1945.

Doc Pratt was the owner and operator of a beer garden/tavern located in front of the family home on Route 92 in Newburg, WV and he was there, closing up the business for the night, when the first shot rang out. Even if Doc had heard the shot, he didn't realize it had been aimed at his house but he learned all about it from his 15-year-old daughter. Less than 30 minutes later, just as he was about to settle down and read the newspaper, a second bullet came crashing through the glass, embedding itself in the wall opposite the window.

Doc grabbed his shotgun, ran outside on the porch to investigate and perhaps return fire, if necessary. Right behind Doc was his wife and daughter. Maybe he should have taken a moment to turn off the porch light. All three were well illuminated and easy prey.

Daily News,
12-23-1945

A third shot struck Darla in the chest and she dropped. Doc carried his daughter back in the house and immediately went into town for assistance. The Pratts had seen the getaway car, a small sedan, but hadn't seen the driver. Nothing could be done to save Darla, she had died immediately.

Police wondered who could have had a problem with Doc. Maybe an angry drunk who had been ejected from the tavern? Mr. and Mrs. Pratt could think of only one person - William Turner. He had threatened their daughter that afternoon. There was no way this was a coincidence.

It seems Darla Dean Pratt didn't think William Turner was the right man for her friend Betty because he "was too old."

Daily News,
11-13-1945

Never mind "too old." At 27-years-old he certainly shouldn't be dating a 15-year-old, more worrying was the fact that William Turner had been released from prison two months prior after serving time for having kidnapped a young girl.

The police wanted to have a word with William Turner. Unable to locate their suspect, police took Turner's parents and sister Jesse into custody, charging them with aiding a fugitive because they'd given William money, food, clothing . Turner was somewhere in the woods hiding out.

Police also arrested but didn't charge an unnamed 17-year-old local as an accessory. He admitted he and Turner were in the car that was seen driving away from the Pratt home on July 31st but he claimed to have no knowledge of the crime, denying he'd seen a rifle or heard shots.

An intensive manhunt involving state troopers, local police and bloodhounds, began. It was six days later that Turner was discovered, sleeping in an abandoned schoolhouse a mere 2 miles from the scene of the crime. Newspapers report he was half-starved and feeling the effects of sleeping rough for 5 nights.

The rifle found in Turner's possession at the time of his arrest and the bullets found at the crime scene were sent to the police lab in Charleston for comparison. It was a match. Turner also had three knives, a shotgun and ample ammunition for both weapons.

On August 7, 1945, William Turner admitted to shooting Darla Dean Pratt but insisted he had only meant to scare her and was shooting at her feet. Hardly likely since Turner had been squirrel hunting with a .22 rifle most of his life. He apparently resented Darla's interfering with his romantic pursuit of Betty and held a grudge.

The trial began on October 29, 1945. Turner never took the stand but his mother testified to a history of mental illness within her own family.

Two days later, on October 31st, Turner was found guilty. There was no recommendation for mercy from the jury which automatically qualified Turner for the death penalty. However, sentencing was delayed so the team of defense lawyers could file the appropriate motions to have the verdict set aside.

On November 4, 1945, Judge Charles P. Wilhelm, the same judge who presided over the trial, rejected the defense motions and imposed sentence. William Turner was ordered to hang from the Moundsville gallows on December 28, 1945. Turner was to stay in the Preston County Jail until his transfer to the Moundsville State Penitentiary on November 14th.

At 8 AM the morning of November 14th, Sheriff Hobart Spindler and Deputy Sheriff J.H. Benson found Turner's cell empty. During the night, Turner and his cellmate Paul Henry Hahn had escaped using keys made from their metal food trays. A hacksaw enabled them to get through the bullpen bars and their homemade keys allowed them to open 4 door locks and exit the building. No word on how they got their hands on the hacksaw although the Chicago Tribune reported it had been smuggled in to them. The men broke in to the jail's garage, stole the sheriff's car and drove away.

Hahn, 21 years old, was also scheduled to be transferred to Moundsville that morning to serve out his sentence of 1 to 15 years for burglary.

An alert went out. It was believed the men had a 4 hour head start.

The car was eventually found, abandoned, two miles east of Clarksburg, WV. Why Clarksburg? William Turner's sister Myrtle was living in Clarksburg but she was not home when the two men came calling at 9 AM that morning.

A heavily armed posse of state and county officers converged on the scene. Back were the bloodhounds and the authorities even used a low flying airplane to try to spot the fugitives. Radio stations broadcast the news of the jail break.

Turner and Hahn had been seen about midnight by three state troopers on Buckhannon-Clarksburg Road, 10 miles outside of Clarksburg, near a roadhouse called the Chicken Inn, but they dashed into the woods and separated after being shot at by the posse.

At noon on November 15th, a tip came in from school children who had seen Turner. Later that afternoon, Turner emerged from a clump of bushes and surrendered to State Trooper William Boyles. Hands held high, he said "I've had enough. I don't care what happens to me now." The rain, hunger and cold were too much for him. He'd been on the loose for 35 hours.

Paul Hahn was found later that day at the Tunnelton, WV home of his sister Mrs. Louise Rose and he too surrendered without resistance. He was exhausted and badly bruised from tumbling over a cliff.

William Turner was contained at the Harrison County Jail and, after managing to slip out of his leg shackles, was handcuffed to the bars of his cell to prevent further escape. On November 16, 1945, Turner was transferred to the Moundsville Penitentiary to await his execution.

Governor Clarence Meadows refused to halt the execution, pointing out in his prepared statement that the psychiatrists who examined the prisoner found him to be sane, that the killing of Darla Dean Pratt had been a cold-blooded, premeditated ambush and he further reminded people that Turner had at least four previous charges for crimes of a sexual nature.

Sheriff Hobart Spindler, William Turner, WV State Trooper A.M. Hurst 

On December 28, 1945, wearing a new suit, Turner walked the 13 steps to the hangman's noose without assistance. When asked if he had any last words, Turner said "My Father, my time has come. Good Bye and good luck, and thank you to all you officials." He spent 3 minutes praying before the hood was placed over his head.

Thirty-five persons had been granted permission to witness the hanging but only 25, including a few state policemen, were present. No one from either the Turner or Pratt families were present.

If you're interested in this kind of thing - Turner's last meal was oysters, coleslaw, tomatoes, celery, french-fried potatoes, coffee and ice cream but he apparently ate very little of the requested food.

With regards to Paul Henry Hahn. I assume he served out his sentence with maybe a few years tacked on for the jail break. Hahn is listed in the 1950 US Census as a prisoner in the WV State Penitentiary.

I should acknowledge that, although the newspapers and the victim's death certificate spell her name "Darla," the headstone reads "Dorla."

Find-a-Grave photo, uploaded by Nathan Plum

William Howard Turner is also buried in Preston County - in the Damon Cemetery, located in the town of Newburg.