Daniel Davis, 16.
Jayne Friedt, 20.
Mark Flemmonds, 16.
Ruth Ellen Shelton, 17.
November 17, 1978 was
like most fall days in Indiana. It only reached 66 degrees that day in
the Speedway area. The weather was dreary and rainy, more of a drizzle
than a downpour with about an inch of raining falling that day.
At the time, Burger Chef
was a Midwest founded burger franchise. During the peak of franchise,
there were about 1,000 locations nationwide. The founders of the
franchise were the first to patent the flame-broiler device. The company
no longer exists. It was bought out by Hardees. Like most fast food
joints, it was a right of passage first job for most teenagers.
Ruth Ellen Shelton, Mark
Flemmonds, Daniel Davis, and Jayne Freidt were all working at Burger
Chef that night. Jayne Freidt was the assistant manager at the speedway
location that evening. All of the employees were scheduled to work for
an hour or so after close. Just typical prep and cleanup. So it is
believed that everything was going as it should until about midnight.
The theory is that at this time, when one of the boys opened the back
door to take out the trash the evening took a turn for the worse.
Later that evening,
another employee who wasn't scheduled to work that evening had plans to
meet the ones working after they got off to go do something. It isn't
documented what they had planned to do. When this employee arrived, he
found the building empty and unlocked, so he called the speedway police
department.
Upon arrival, the
officers did not suspect foul play. Instead, they thought that the
employees had taken off with some cash from the registers. Only
somewhere between $500 and $581 was taken from the registers, this
varies depending on the publication where you find the information. $500
is close to $2,000 in today's terms. It was believed that the employees
had just taken off on the company dime to party. The only thing was,
why would the girls leave their purses at the restaurant? Why did no one
take their coat? As someone who lives in Indiana, I can assure you that
no one in their right mind would go outside without a coat in November.
The police still didn't
find it to be to be suspicious. No pictures were taken at the Burger
Chef restaurant that evening. The manager was called and the building
was locked up. The next morning, the employees on the next shift came in
and cleaned up the work that wasn't finished the night before. Business
went on at the Burger Chef as usual.
At this point the
families of the Burger Chef employees who had worked the previous
evening had reported their children missing. It was when the reports
came in that the kids were still missing, that the police started to
suspect foul play. They returned to the burger chef located at 5725
Crawfordsville Road in Speedway, Indiana. The location is now a cash
advance business.
The police reconstructed
the scene to the best of their ability. Any critical forensic evidence
would have been erased by the cleaning that had taken place. The same
day, Jayne Freidt's vehicle was found. She drove a Vega, which was found
a few blocks away from the Speedway Police Department. The vehicle was
still not treated like a crime scene. No forensic evidence was taken. It
was noted that the driver side door was locked, but the passenger side
door was not. It was noted that the doors were manual lock.
The bodies of the four
victims were not found until November 19, two days after they
disappeared. The bodies were approximately 20 miles from the Burger Chef
location in Speedway. The victims were found in a field in Johnson
county.
(The picture above,
shows the approximate location of where the bodies would have been
found. Bodies were found close to state road 37, but near Center Grove
High School on 700 East.)
The bodies where in
three different places in the field that they were found. Two of the
individuals, Ruth Ellen Shelton and Daniel Davis, were shot in way
similar to an execution. A short distance from their bodies, Jayne
Freidt was found. She had been stabbed multiple times. The blade of the
knife had broken off in her chest. A distance away from them, Mark
Flemmonds was found. He had been beaten around his head. It appeared as
though it might have been done with a chain. His injuries didn't cause
his death alone.
Mark drowned on his own
blood when he fell to the ground. It is believed that if one of two
other options had happened he would have survived. If Mark had been
found one day earlier or had M fallen the other direction so that the
blood didn't cause him to choke, it is probable that the police would
have a living witness.
Another slew of mistakes
we made at this scene. Some officers that were on the scene claimed
that the Indiana State police department officers had moved some of the
bodies before the forensic technicians or the corner even arrived.
Officers also failed to rope off the field and department vehicles all
over the field, this could have destroyed evidence of vehicle tracks.
With the three departments on the scene, the Speedway Police, the
Indiana State Police, and the Johnson County Sheriff's Department, the
scene was hectic and haphazard at best. One officer was quoted as saying
"too many chiefs and not enough Indians."
The same day that the
four victims were found, Burger Chef held a press conference in front of
the Speedway location. This particular location was closed on this
Monday due to the tragedy at hand. The company offered a $25,000 reward
for any information leading to an arrest in connection to the murders.
Steak n' Shake added another $1,000 to the fund. The state wouldn't
approve a reward until September 15 equal to that of Steak n' Shake.
When the quality of work
of the Speedway Police Department came into question, the Speedway
Police Chief at the time, Bill Burger, stated that it would be
inappropriate for him to question the work his officers had done. He
admitted to not being present at either scene, the Burger Chef or the
field where the bodies were found. The chief also claimed that allowing
the business to open without collecting evidence was the right decision.
All of the departments gave statements claiming to be cooperating with
the other one another, but anonymous officers came forward to say the
lack of communication was sending the investigation into a tailspin.
Officers were not
allowed to give statements to the media at the time the bodies were
found due to the orders given by the Johnson County Prosecutor, Charles
Gantz. Ken York is a retired detective turned private eye. He was on the
case from the beginning. He didn't have anything to say nice about the
way the scenes were handled during the numerous interviews he has given.
He believes that all scenes should be treated as if the worst case
scenario is at hand.
A witness came forward
stating that on November 17 he had seen two individuals in the Burger
Chef parking lot at about ten o'clock in the evening. At the time, it
didn't seem suspicious until the bodies were found. He described the men
as one being fair-haired and the other had a beard. Based on the
witness description, the State Police had sketches made up. When the
sketches were released to the public and didn't generate new leads, the
Police had 3D clay models made up.
It is believed that this
crime escalated from burglary or robbery to murder because one of the
employees recognized one of the perpetrators. Police speculate that the
employee was Jayne Freidt. She had only been working at the Speedway
location for a short period of time, before that she had worked at the
Plainfield location. It has been suggested that one of the assailants
was probably a regular at the Plainfield restaurant.
Over the years many
suspects have been vetted. In 1978, the same years of the murders, there
was a report that a man had been bragging in a bar to his buddies about
how he had committed the murders. When he was questioned by police, he
passed his polygraph. The man did give up the names of individuals in a
fast food robbery group.
Ken York was one of the
officers that helped looked for the suspects that were given by the man
from the bar. The search led them to Franklin, Indiana. The officers
found a man that fit the description and didn't have an alibi, but this
did not constitute enough evidence to take him. This man, who had a
beard, was threatened with a lineup. This resulted in him shaving. York
had known the man for five years, he had never shaved.
The bearded suspect's
next-door neighbor was another suspect in York's opinion. This suspect
later served time on a charge related to a shotgun, thus earning himself
the nickname SHOTGUN. The third suspect fit the description of the
fair-haired man. He also served time on unrelated charges. Both of these
suspects were offered a deal if they would give up information in the
Burger Chef murders, they held their ground saying that they knew
nothing about the case.
March of 1979 led police
to checking Roger Dale Stafford. He was convicted of murdering fast
food workers in Oklahoma. This led police to checking to see if he had
been in the state at the time of the murders. He was cleared of any
suspicion.
Two men that were
convicted of a double murder in Milwaukee were added to the suspect pool
in April of 979. They were ruled out without much effort.
In 1983, a Marion County
inmate claimed that a man he had served time with admitted to be
responsible for the murder. The suspect was in custody at the time. The
evidence was substantial, but not conclusive. The inmate claimed that
the suspect had said he was a drug enforcer and had gone to collect a
debt from one of the employees, but then another employee had recognized
him and there was no choice, but to get rid of the witnesses. No name
was ever given to this suspect. This lead appears to be another dead end
where there is no evidence to connect the suspect to the murders.
A year after the
murders, State Police Superintendent John Shettle gave a press
conference. That conference has been called a disaster. It was obvious
that he was not familiar with the details of the case or how the case
was making progress. He stated that there were no leads on the case.
In January of 1980, Ken
York and another officer were on a special task force set up to solve
this case. They approached the Johnson County prosecutor requesting
arrest warrants for two suspects and were denied.
On the 35th anniversary
of the killings, many local stations ran stories about the case.
Sergeant Bill Vann of the Indiana State Police stated that he felt that
the case was closer to getting closed. The clay 3D models that the
department had made are still located at headquarters hoping that
answers may still come forward.
Family members of the
victims were also interviewed and they talked about how they have lost
hope. Ruth Ellen Shelton's mother passed away before the interviews
aired. In her interview, she told the killers that she hoped they would
ask God for forgiveness. She didn't need justice, but they needed saved
by the grace of God. Flemmond's father spoke similarly.
Ken York has stated that
he believes that the three individuals that were involved in the
murders have already been questioned and let go on lack of evidence. He
believes that the bearded suspect from earlier played a part in the
slaying. This suspect has passed away due to a heart attack. There have
been claims that this man's son has confirmed that his father was
involved in the slaying. The fair-haired man and Shotgun have never been
charged.
This case hasn't been
solved and is considered active. It doesn't have a happy ending, but it
does still yield hope. In January of 2015, a young man, Jake Query,
discovered that Mark Flemmonds didn't have a headstone. The family
simply couldn't afford one. So Jake took to twitter. He and his
followers raised enough money to purchase a headstone.
Anyone with information
regarding this case is encouraged to still report that to the police.
Call the Indiana State Police if you have any information in regards to
this case (317) 899-8508.
___Sources___
"Authorities Report a Possible Lead in the Still Unsolved.." UPI.
November 19, 1983.
http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/11/19/Authorities-reported-a-possible-lead-in-the-still-unsolved/7692438066000/
"Burger Chef Murders, a 25-year Old Mystery." 13 WTHR. Warren Mills. November 12, 2003. http://www.wthr.com/article/burger-chef-murders-a-25-year-old-mystery
"Detectives: Errors Hurt Investigation." The Daily Journal. November 17, 1988. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/154878563/
"Headstone Donated for Burger Chef Murder Victim." WISHTV. Abby Llorico. January 19, 2015. http://wishtv.com/2015/01/19/headstone-donated-for-burger-chef-murder-victim/
Jayne Friedt. Indiana State Police Case Overview. http://www.in.gov/isp/2551.htm
"Leads Sought in Local Cold Cases." Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. Leslie L. Fuller. February 13, 2015. http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/news/article_be470d62-b38c-11e4-a482-cfad2996ea37.html
Mark Flemmonds. Indiana State Police Case Overview. http://www.in.gov/isp/2549.htm
"Police Seek Clues in Kidnap-slaying of 4." The Chicago Tribune. November 21, 1978. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1978/11/21/page/5/article/police-seek-clues-in-kidnap-slaying-of-4
"Retro Indy: The Burger Chef Murders." The Indy Star. Dawn Mitchell. November 17, 2013. http://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2013/11/17/burger-chef-murders/3588927/
"Unsolved: Burger Chef Murders." 13 WTHR. Sara Galer. November 14, 2013. http://www.wthr.com/article/unsolved-burger-chef-murders
Weather Information.
November 17, 1978.
https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KIND/1978/11/17/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=
All Posts were originally posted on my wattpad account. https://www.wattpad.com/427499657-cold-cases-of-indiana-a-study-of-unsolved-cases-in
I think I know the guy in the sketch. His brother had a white work van. These memories are pretty old. But at a bar I worked at, the conversation turned to the Speedway Burger Chef murders. One of the gals said she let off a guy we all knew him. Around 10pm on that fateful night. He was supposed to his brother there to take him home. This guy was very robust,handsome,and a womanizer. The photo/sketch of suspect is a splitting image of him. I'm just a armchair detective and have only begun to look this case up.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing wrong with being an armchair detective. Authorities never publicly named suspects, but if you dig around you can find the names of a few. I didn't name names because of liability reasons, but names can be found in other individuals speculating. This case is a great case to start with because there is a lot of information available and many theories as well. Feel free to provide your information to law enforcement, the worst that can happen is that they brush it off and ignore you.
DeleteGreat blog post, this post helped me to write my blog post. i would be grateful if you read over it..
ReplyDeleteyou do an amazing job of writing about this case, well done on your work.
https://solvedandunsolvedcrimes.wordpress.com/2019/09/01/the-burger-chef-murders-1978/
That knife is a survival hunting knife made of flimsy steel painted black. The handle was tubular and had a screw off top with a compus and came with matches inside to keep them dry. The handle was camouflage. Came with a leather jacket and a thin strap. I got mine at Kmart back then.I still have it although it is very rusty due to it's age. My only question is who was Jayne's live in boyfriend she had broken up with that summer. There has been conversation about him, but no name was given. Might be helpful to know.
ReplyDelete