Tuesday, October 17, 2017

The Dunes State Park Three

This is a missing persons case.
Ann Miller: 21 years old, owner of a 1955 Buick
Ann Miller: 21 years old, owner of a 1955 Buick.
Patricia Blough: 19 years old
Patricia Blough: 19 years old
Renee Bruhl: 19 years old, married
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

Originally published on Wattpad.com 

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