This is a missing persons case.
Ann Miller: 21 years old, owner of a 1955 Buick.
Patricia Blough: 19 years old
Renee Bruhl: 19 years old, married.
The three women, Renee
Bruhl, Patricia (Patty) Blough, and Ann Miller, lived the Chicago area
before their disappearance. The women had bonded over their shared love
of horses, according to one source. Blough and Miller had met at Tri
Color Stables, in Palatine, Illinois, where their horses were boarded.
Both had complained about their "horse people" at the stable in the
past. Bruhl was a classmate of Blough's and the girls just fell in
together. The friendship blossomed naturally with the girls being so
close in age.
Like most women their
age, the trio decided to take a mini-trip for some fun in the sun. Their
destination was the beach at Indiana Dunes State Park. The Park consist
of over 2,000 acres of land that remains primitive. Three miles of
beautiful beach lines the south shore of lake Michigan within the park.
The beauty has been drawing people in since 1925 when the property
became a state park.
On July 2, 1966, the
women left for the beach. Blough was picked up from her house by Miller
in her 1955 Buick. From there, the women stopped at a local drugstore
for sun tan lotion. Once they had purchased the lotion, the women left
for the State Park.
It is believed that on
this particular day more than 9,000 people dotted the shore line. People
came from all over in hopes of soaking up the sun on the holiday
weekend. Witnesses at the beach that day confirmed seeing the women on
the beach. According to the witnesses, Patty Blough was wearing a yellow
bikini with ruffles. Ann Miller was wearing a two piece bathing suit
with a red belt. Meanwhile, Renee Bruhl wore a brown swimsuit with green
flowers and gold details.
One couple on the beach
that day had taken a notice to the girls. This was because the girls
placed their belongings close to the couple. At approximately noon that
day, the couple watched the girls leave their stuff and wonder into the
water. The couple thought that this was odd considering how busy the
beach was that day.
Before long, the couple
noticed that a boat with a young, tan, dark-haired man approached the
girls. He appeared to be in his early twenties. The man helped the girls
into the boat that then went out on the lake. While the couple lounged
on the beach and enjoyed their day, they waited for the girls to return
for their belongings.
As it started getting
dark the couple began to worry about the young women's safety. The
couple found a park ranger and expressed their concerns and informed him
that they didn't just want to leave the belongings on beach to be
stolen. The ranger picked up the girls' belongings and packed them away
for safe keeping until the girls would return. It didn't seem to be
uncommon for people to leave belongings on the beach especially during a
holiday party weekend.
The belongings left
behind varied between the three women. Renee left her beach towel,
shorts, shirt, sun tan lotion, and purse, which contained cigarettes and
$55 in checks. She also left a note in her purse that was addressed to
her husband claiming that she wanted a divorce because she was upset
that he valued time building cars with his buddies over time with her.
Her parents later said that the note to Buhl's husband had probably been
written in a moment of anger and then left in her purse to be
forgotten. Miller left behind denim shorts, a polo shirt, a thermos,
shoes, a comb, and a white bathing cap. Finally, Blough left her yellow
robe, sunglasses, a transistor radio, a towel, and her wallet containing
$5.
Only 18 hours after the
women's belongings had been collected by the ranger did the park
Superintendent, Bill Svetic, received a call regarding the missing
women. Patty Blough's father called because he was very concerned that
his daughter hadn't returned as planned. Due to the women's ages, Mr.
Svetic wrote off the father's concern. He said that it was likely the
women had probably just found some other young people to party with and
would return after a couple days.
The Superintendent
checked the belongings that the park ranger had brought in and confirmed
that they belonged to the missing women. While this was concerning, it
didn't warrant a full blown search in his eyes. An investigation didn't
begin immediately.
It is unclear at which
point authorities decided to treat this case with importance. Search
teams were sent out July 4, 1966. The same day that the first reporter
arrived. Scuba teams, people on foot, and people on horses all searched
for signs of the girls. The searches looked along the 45 miles of coast
with help from the coast guard. Miller's Buick was found in the parking
lot. The search was extend on July 5th and more resources were used in
hopes of locating the women. No indication of the women's location was
ever found.
Eventually, authorities
asked the public for any information regarding the women. If an
individual was at the park that day, it was requested at they take the
time to call in. This led to a man turning over some home video footage
that he shot of his kids on the beach. In the background, the women in
question were seen boarding the boat that the couple described.
The video showed two
boats of suspicious nature that authorities took an interest in. The
first was believed to be between 16 and 18 feet long. The second was a
cabin cruiser that was 26 to 28 feet long with three men and three women
on board. The searched was narrowed to these two vessels that were
never located. Wreckage washed up on shore after the women's
disappearances, but it didn't match the boats that the authorities were
looking for.
Dick Wylie, was a
reporter at the time, became an expert on the case. He became close to
the Blough family. He made a promise to Patty's father to not let the
case go until it was solved. The case has been heavy on his heart since
July 4, 1966, which was his first day working it. Wylie has given
numerous interviews over the years and at point had written a book about
the disappearances in hopes of getting it published. He claims to have
exhausted all leads, but one.
One of the first leads
that he looked into was that the women were taken into a slave ring or
kidnapped. This theory didn't stick over the years only one theory has
stuck.
Abortion. That the time,
in Indiana and Illinois, abortion was illegal. It is theorized that
Miller and Blough might have been pregnant. Both women were believed to
have been dating married men at the time of their disappearances. It
would've been impossible for the women to carry to term and receive
support from the fathers.
It was believed that the
women were going to obtain an abortion from some backdoor abortion
doctors, Frank and Helen Largo. Many women from Chicago would visit the
Largo's house in Gary, Indiana in order to receive illegal abortions.
Wylie theorized that the women had hopped into the boat with the young
man, who was probably the nephew of the Largos, to go to a house boat
somewhere on the lake to obtain abortions. Theory goes that one of the
procedures went wrong and one of the women passed due to complications.
The other two women would have to be killed because they were witnesses.
The there is proof that
the Largo's nephew was at the park on July 2, 1966, but so were 9,000
other people. Ralph Largo Jr., matches the description of the individual
that was driving the boat that the women had left on. The theory seems a
little far fetched, but it really is all that the reporter and police
have to go on. Some of Miller's other friends claimed that shortly
before he disappearance she had talked about entering a home for unwed
mothers.
The stable where Blough
and Miller boarded their horses is also an area of suspicion. Tri Color
Stables had some shady interactions of the years. George the owner and
his brother Silas often had explosive arguments. A year prior to the
women's disappearance, another woman died at the stable when she went
out to move George's car. A car bomb exploded the vehicle. It was
believed that it was possible that the women had witnessed something
incriminating and had to be done away with.
Silas, the stable
owner's brother, once claimed that he had buried three bodies on his old
property. A sheriff took the statement at face value. He had planned to
search the property, but an accident occurred. The sheriff was killed
in a farm equipment accident. Whoever took over the position, dropped
the lead.
Hope briefly glimmered
in 1975, when three bodies were found in the dunes of the park. The
remains were found to be Native American remains. Over the years there
have been many claimed sightings of the women, but nothing confirmed or
concrete.
Anyone with information
regarding this missing persons case is asked to call the Indiana State
Police. They can be reached at (219)696-6242.
--------------------Sources--------------------------------------------------
Ann Miller. The Charley Project. Missing Person Profile. http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/miller_ann.html
"BRUHL, BLOUGH, MILLER: Dunes Disappearance Remains Unsolved 43 Years Later." Northwest Indiana Times.
Susan Erler.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/bruhl-blough-miller-dunes-disappearance-remains-unsolved-years-later/article_3df371d6-0ba6-5611-bfa6-9af13f00f34c.html
"Cold Case Remains Mystery." Anderson Herald Bulletin. https://newspaperarchive.com/anderson-herald-bulletin-aug-18-2002-p-4/
Patricia Blough. The Charley Project. Missing Person Profile. http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/blough_patricia.html
Renee Bruhl. The Charley Project. Missing Person Profile. http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/bruhl_renee.html
"Three Young Women Took a Boat Ride on Lake Michigan in 1966 and Were Never Seen Again." The Daily News. David J. Krajicek. December 9, 2012. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/3-girls-beach-found-article-1.1216303
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