When bones washed up on the shores of Lake Michigan near Manitowoc in 1947, folks speculated that the bones might be a clue to a mystery that had been unfolding since the beginning of May of that year. They were wrong as it turned out. The bones weren’t even human. But it showed how prominent the following story was and how far it had spread.

The story began months earlier and over 140 miles away from where the bones washed up. It started on a rainy day near Lake Ripley, Wisconsin. The fact that it was raining on that May 1, 1947 played a big part in what happened later that day.

The Weckler family was well known in the Oakland Center area. In fact, George and his wife, Eleanor were known throughout all of Jefferson County. George’s family lived on the same land for over 100 years and he was very involved in the community. George and Eleanor had served their little community in many capacities throughout the years. And each of those positions had increased folks respect of the Weckler family.

May was always a busy month in a farming community and May 1947 was no different. That May 1st dawned rainy and chilly. The fact that it was raining changed the regular routine in the Weckler household. The three younger children attended the Oakland Center Rural school. The school was about a mile down the road from the Weckler home. Usually, 12 year-old Laverne, 10 year old Joanne and 8 year old Georgia Jean rode their bikes to the school. But since the rain was coming down in sheets, Eleanor drove the children that morning.

Georgia Jean was in the third grade and for some reason her class was dismissed much earlier than the older classes that day. The mother of one of Georgia Jean’s classmates offered her a ride home. It was about 3:30 when Georgia Jean was left at the end of her driveway. The little girl had chatted all the way home about picking flowers for a May basket for the family’s front door. Mrs. Carol Floerke smiled to herself as she watched Georgia Jean stop at the mailbox and then begin to skip down the driveway.

The Weckler’s large house set back about a half mile from Highway 12 and Mrs. Floerke stated that she always left the little girl off at that particular spot when she gave her a ride. Back in 1947, most folks wouldn’t have thought about what might happen to a young child in a half a mile stretch of road.

Inside the Weckler home, Eleanor had no reason to feel alarmed. The children always came home together and Laverne was very protective of his little sisters. Even after Laverne and Joan arrived at the house without Georgia Jean, Eleanor wasn’t worried. She thought that maybe her husband had seen Georgia Jean on his way into town and decided to take the little girl along.

When George came home alone at 6:00 that evening, Eleanor began to panic. She called some of the neighbors to see if anyone had spotted Georgia Jean after school. Mrs. Floerke told Eleanor that she had dropped Georgia Jean off at the end of the driveway. She mentioned that Georgia Jean had picked up the mail and was excited to pick flowers for the May basket she intended to create.

The sun was starting to set as the family began to search the woods around the home. Eleanor called some of their closest neighbors to assist. Georgia Jean spent many hours playing in the woods with her siblings so no one thought she had gotten lost. Their initial fear was that she had fallen or hurt herself somehow. By the time full darkness had settled over the farm, the woods were full of searchers. After a couple of hours without any success, George decided they needed to get the police involved. He had served as a Deputy Sheriff for years and still had many friends on the force.

By the next morning, the word about the missing girl had spread throughout the county. Hundreds of people came from miles around to lend a hand. Policemen from neighboring towns joined in and soon people were walking shoulder to shoulder through the woods looking for some clue of the little girl.

By the end of that first full day, most of the men involved in the search knew that this was not a case of a missing child. Later the next day a truck driver confirmed their worst fears. The driver told the police that he had been driving on Highway 12 about the same time that Georgia Jean had been dropped off. He spotted a dark car pulled off the side of the rode not far from the driveway to the Weckler home. Just as the truck driver was about to pass the car, it suddenly pulled out in front of him and turned into the driveway. The driver had to swerve to avoid hitting the car. He turned back to yell out the window and saw a young girl skipping down the road. It was the last confirmed sighting of Georgia Jean.

When the authorities shared their theory that Georgia Jean had been taken they promised that they would do everything they could to bring her back to them. George went on a Chicago radio station to plead for his daughter’s safe return. The police and the radio station donated money for a reward. The reward quickly grew to over $10,000.00.

The police spread to talk to everyone about the car that the truck driver had spotted. Several people thought they had seen the car driven by the same young man. Fear spread throughout the community.

Schools around the immediate area closed down while everyone waited for Georgia Jean’s safe return. The newspapers interviewed her teacher, Mrs. Miller. She described Georgia Jean as a caring, smart little girl. She also spoke of Georgia Jean being quite the artist. Several newspapers printed the hand-drawn pieces of artwork. The little girl loved to draw pictures of her mother and father and the large farm.

Years later when folks remembered this story, they spoke of the connection they felt with Georgia Jean’s family. They spoke of the amazing strength George showed as he traveled the county speaking to people to help find his daughter.

The family was so touched that many people reached out to help them. Even as hundreds of people walked the wooded areas in the county, other showed up at the Weckler home. The men brought their tractors and the women brought home baked food. They cleared and planted the fields so that George and Eleanor could spend their energy on searching for their lost little girl. Others sheared the sheep and repaired fences for the family.

The little girl’s disappearance eventually faded from the front page even as George and Eleanor worked to keep people looking for their daughter. Days turned into weeks and then months without any sign of the little girl.

Finally, in December word came that there had been a confession. District Attorney Francis Garity of Jefferson County told reporters that a Richland Center man had confessed to taking Georgia Jean. Buford Sennett was only 22 in 1947 when the story broke but his name was well known to authorities. In November, Sennett and his accomplice, Robert Winslow had kidnapped Carl Carlson and a female relative in Madison. They murdered Carlson and dumped his body into the Wisconsin River where he was later recovered. It took only 90 hours from the time that they kidnapped Carl for them to be standing in front of a judge. They were both given life sentences and sent to Waupun.

Sennett confessed that he and another man had taken Georgia Jean because they knew her father was well off. The plan was to return the little girl when the ransom was paid. They held the little girl in the woods outside of Richland Center. Sennett testified that he gave the little girl two sleeping pills before he left for town. He had a date that night back in Richland Center. When he returned in the morning the little girl was dead. The accomplice (who went unidentified) had given her more of the pills.

Sennett stated that they weighed Georgia Jean’s body down with cinder blocks and tossed her from the Blue River Bridge near where they had left Carlson’s body. Though many hours were spent searching the area no body was ever found. Sennett quickly recanted the confession. While some folks believed that Buford Sennett had taken little Georgia Jean, others didn’t believe the story at all.

The months passed and there was no concrete evidence to tie Sennett to Georgia Jean’s kidnapping. Every time a new lead would be revealed the Weckler’s hoped that they would finally learn the truth of what happened that rainy May day in 1947. Every time bones were discovered anywhere in Wisconsin, the family would wait to see if they could finally bring the little girl home. Unfortunately, no trace of Georgia Jean was ever found.

In a further twist to this strange story, Edward Gein was questioned about Georgia Jean’s disappearance when he was arrested in November of 1957. No connection between Gein and Georgia Jean was ever found.

This story was reported in papers all over the country. Many man hours were spent running down every clue but to this day, no solid evidence has ever been found. George a quiet farmer was forced into the spotlight time and again in order to keep Georgia Jean’s story alive. He believed to his dying day that Georgia Jean was alive somewhere. Eleanor carried the agonizing loss of her daughter with her until her death in 1996. Georgia Jean’s name was listed on George and Eleanor’s tombstone in the quiet cemetery where all of the Weckler family was laid to rest close to their family home.

It has been 72 years since the day that Georgia Jean was last seen skipping down her driveway. But folks haven’t forgotten the tragedy of the Weckler family. On the 70th anniversary the news broke that a new cold case task force was looking into the story. Detective Leah Meyers took the case over and was hopeful that she could finally prove that Buford Sennett did in fact kidnap and kill Georgia Jean. Meyers also hopes that she can find the little girl and lay her to rest in the same cemetery where generations of her family are buried.

Copyright © 2020 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events

Originally published in “Rockford Writes”, (2015), edited by Heath Alberts.

“A sick thought can devour the body’s flesh more than fever or consumption.”  ― Guy de Maupassant, Le Horla et autres contes fantastiques 

“We are pained to be called upon to record a terrible and bloody tragedy which occurred yesterday at one and a half o’clock.”  These words begin the newspaper article that described the death of a young man named Banks Dixon, he was 36 years old and he had moved from England to Rockford around 1854.

Life hadn’t turned out quite the way Banks had planned.  He owned a blacksmith shop with his brother in Rockford.  He was married to a beautiful girl named Eliza Jane Lake.  They had a little three year old boy named George, after Bank’s brother. But then their life started to unravel.

According to the newspaper article, at first the only cloud on Banks’ horizon was his father-in-law.  Mr. Lake did not approve of Banks.  In fact, in August 1868, he came to the house and took Eliza Jane and the Banks’ son back to his home in Guilford.  Banks soon tried to get his wife to reconcile, especially when he found out that she was pregnant with their second child.  When that was not successful, he took drastic measures.  Banks waited until Mr. Lake took his daughter to a doctor visit and then he went to the house and took his son back home with him.

Things got really ugly when Mr. Lake had papers drawn up for Banks to sign that would give Jane custody of George, turn over all their property, and the sum of one thousand dollars.  Banks didn’t sign the papers and when he heard Mr. Lake was coming to take his son, George, he left Rockford to go down south for the winter.

Banks couldn’t stay away forever, though.  He waited until Jane, gave birth to their second son and then he returned to Rockford.

Jane’s life had not been going well since the separation either.  First, she developed some kind of infection in her eyes and then after Banks “stole” their son away, she was always frightened.  She became convinced that he would return to steal their second child and then kill her.

As her sight grew worse and her due date approached, Jane’s father and mother moved her to Rockford.  They settled her into the house of Mr. and Mrs. Worsley, and neighborhood women assisted Mrs. Worsley with Jane’s care.  Extra care was definitely needed, as Jane became almost blind, was severely depressed, and extremely paranoid.  She had terrible headaches and was given laudanum and quinine for the pain.  Mrs. Worsley testified that she would make mustard and camphor compresses to apply to Jane’s head to ease the headaches.  She did this so often, the heat blistered Jane’s forehead and temples.  After the birth of her second child, Jane took over five weeks to recover.

On his returned to Rockford, Banks sent Jane a message that he would like to see her and their new son.  He also asked her to reconsider a reconciliation.   He wrote that if she came back, “he would do anything it took to make her happy if she would just return home. “  Jane agreed to see Banks but her attending doctor ordered them to wait.

In the days that followed, Jane didn’t seem as nervous as she had been, she was actually calmer according to the ladies that cared for her.  She stated to the ladies that helped her every day that she was happy Banks wanted to see his new son, and she wanted the baby to look good for the first meeting with his father.

The meeting finally took place on May 26, 1869, and it had been around 8 months since the estranged family had all been in one room. The family was not alone together, and the atmosphere was tense.  Banks brought the lady who helped him with little George and Jane had a couple of neighborhood ladies attending to her.

Eye witnesses would later say that Banks came in with Mrs. Luke who was carrying little George.  Banks crossed to the bed where the little baby was while Mrs. Luke took George to see his mother.  Mrs. Luke asked George if he would go to his mother and kiss her.  The little boy first said no but Mrs. Luke noticed this seem to anger Jane.  So Mrs. Luke told the little boy to go to his mother and give her a kiss.  The little boy then cooperated and said hello and kissed Jane.

They all sat down and Banks attempted to get Jane to talk to him but she was unresponsive.  He even tried to get her to shake hands but she ignored his outstretched hand.  Banks continued to try to get Jane to speak to him, but after a few minutes with no luck, he turned to Mrs. Luke and said it was time to go.  He picked George up and took him to the bed where the younger boy lay.  Banks mentioned to George that he should meet his baby brother and leaned over to allow the boy to kiss the baby.  

As Banks bent over, Jane raised her hand and the ladies in the room were horrified to see that she was clutching a pistol.  She fired two shots into Banks’ back at point blank range.  She was so close to him that the gun started his coat on fire.

Banks dropped George, turned around and wrestled with Jane for the gun.  Banks then ran out of the room with Mrs. Luke following him, carrying George in one hand and trying to put out Banks’ coat with the other.

Banks made as far as the back yard before he collapsed.  Neighbors helped carry Banks back into the house while the doctor sent for. The same doctor who helped deliver Banks’ second child

The doctor found that the first shot had entered Banks’ back by his shoulder blade and passed through his lung and settled in his chest.  The second shot entered his arm in the shoulder area and lodged there. The doctor could do nothing for Banks and the poor man lingered for forty long minutes.  For forty minutes, he struggled for every breath until he had no strength left. 

In the meantime, Jane was hysterical, crying and wailing about her babies.  Nothing could get through to her until she asked one of the neighbors what was to become of her children.  The lady turned toward Jane and said she should of that before she shot Banks.

Jane was arrested and charged with the first degree murder of her husband.  But no one really thought she would be convicted.  There was a parade of doctors who treated her before and after the shooting who all testified she was suffering from depression and was so paranoid that Banks was going to steal her second son, as he had her first.  This caused her mind to finally snap, causing her to believe she had no other way to protect herself and her child.  The gun, it was reported, belonged to her father.  

Jane told doctors that she was so convinced that Banks was going to break in, steal the child, and kill her that she felt that she had no choice but to kill him first. Jane was examined by a couple of “alienists” as psychiatrists were known at the time.  The trial was delayed several times because of Jane’s physical and mental condition.

Banks Dixon was buried in Cedar Bluff Cemetery in an unmarked grave.  

In February of 1870, Jane was acquitted on the charges of first degree murder due to her “unsound” mind. The courtroom was packed with spectators and they began to applaud and cheer when the verdict was read.  As much as people in Rockford loved and respected Banks, they could not believe that such a broken woman would have killed had she been in her right mind.

Even Banks’s friend Mrs. Luke, when asked about the not guilty verdict of Eliza Jane, replied, “Banks always spoke on her (Jane’s) behalf and Mrs. Luke had never heard him speak one word against her, but always to the contrary.”

In 1876, Jane changed her last name and the name of the two boys, George and Frederick to Lake.  In the 1880 census, Eliza and the boys are living with her parents; George is now called Phillip G. and Frederick is now John F. 

Jane inherited the farm in Guilford when her father became too ill to live there on his own.  She continued to live there until her death in 1910.  She left everything to her sons when she passed away.  It seems that the boys had grown up to be fine men.

Sources:

“Notice to Banks Dixon.” 17 December 1868 Winnebago Chief (Rockford,IL) : 4

“Murder Case.” 27 January 1870  Rockford Weekly Gazette (Rockford, IL) : 6

“Extra Edition-Murder Trial Complete.” 1 February 1870 Rockford Weekly Register Gazette (Rockford, IL) : 3

“The Trial of Eliza Dixon.” 29 January 1870 Rockford Weekly Register Gazette, (Rockford, IL) : 6

“Mrs. Dixon Acquitted.” 3 February 1870  Rockford Weekly Gazette (Rockford, IL) : 1

“Probate Notice.” 10 March 1870   Rockford Weekly Gazette (Rockford, IL) : 3

“Probate Notice.” 12 July 1882   Daily Register (Rockford, IL) : 3

“Mrs. Lake is No More.”  14 March 1910 Rockford Republic (Rockford,IL)

This article first appeared in the anthology “Rockford Writes”, edited by Heath Alberts, (2015); available from the Haunted Rockford online store;  https://www.hauntedrockford.com/product/book-rockford-writes/

Copyright © 2015, 2020 Kathi Kresol.

There is something about stories of the old west that has fascinated people for years.  These tales usually focus on one character who overcame unbelievable obstacles including fighting with Native Americans, the elements, animal attacks or marauding men.  The hero always saved the day and finished the story by riding into the sunset.

These stories grew in popularity until the 1870’s when someone had the idea to turn them into a vaudeville show.  The first acts were small affairs but by the middle 1870’s, they grew into huge, extravagant shows filled with hundreds of participants.  An article in an 1889 Rockford newspaper stated that the Wild West show that was traveling through the area made an incredible $50,000 in 6 days!  Tickets were $.50 a seat and the tent held 12,000 people.  By this time the shows depicted great battles such as the Battle of Little Bighorn where General George Custer and his men were killed by the Native Americans.

Some of the performances were huge, such as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show that traveled all over the United States and even Europe.  Smaller shows also teamed together with circuses or rodeos to provide entertainment for the whole family.  

In September of 1892, Rockford was treated to one of these smaller shows. One of the headliners was Dr. H. B. Hicks, aka “Wild Harry”.   Wild Harry was a real gunslinger who had supposedly killed almost as many men as the famous Wild Bill Hickock.  

One couple that was looking forward to attending the special show at Rockford Fairground’s Park was James and Josephine Fisher.  Their family lived in the small township of Harrison, Illinois where James was a farmer. 

They had each started out just like many people that moved to this area during that time.  Both were born in the East and moved west. Josephine Goakey moved to Illinois with her parents in 1853 when she was 11 years old.  She grew up and married a man named Calvin Johnson in 1858.  Josephine held a new born daughter in her arms as her young husband rode away to fight for the Union in the Civil War. He was killed on the battlefield in Shiloh, Tennessee in April of 1862.  

James had begun life as James Albert Farnsworth.  He grew up in New York and joined the 1st New York Cavalry.  He also married shortly after the war.  The reason for his move and name change has been lost to time.  James chose his mother’s maiden name to begin his new life in Illinois in 1866.  He and Josephine were married on January 8, 1867.  

They had a little farm not far from her family home outside of Harrison along Moate Road.  The couple had three sons, Samuel Edward in 1868, George Albert in 1870 and Thomas in 1873.  James and Josephine must have been devastated when the little boy who they nicknamed Tommy died in 1879.  He was only 6 years old when they buried him in the small cemetery in Harrison.

By the time the Forepaugh’s Wild West show was rolling into Rockford on September 8, 1892, James and Josephine had been married 25 years.  The newspapers of the day state that they were well known in the county and well respected by all who knew them.

The show that James and Josephine attended had advertised famous outlaws and authentic lawmen of the old west.  The main show would take place in a large tent that was set up for the occasion.  Painted murals of deserts were hung on the inside of the tent to help set the scene.  Several of the participants in the show were performing outside prior to the beginning of the show.  They are described as real cowboys with faces tanned by the sun. They had long flowing hair, fringed leather jackets, and spurs on the heels of their boots that would thrill the children with their jingle as they walked.

Wild Harry was outside warming up the crowd as James and Josephine approached.  They must have been thrilled to see him.  Wild Harry was billed as one of the main attractions of the show that year.  He was entertaining the crowd with his lasso throwing before he began the shooting portion of the show.  For his finale, Wild Harry was known to amaze the crowd with his signature move.  He would spin his six shooters around and then throw them over his shoulder, spin completely around and catch them.  Then Harry would shoot the target and according to the advertisement, he hit the mark every time.   Wild Harry had performed this trick thousands of times in over a hundred cities before that September day.  But for some unknown reason, things didn’t go as planned.

James had maneuvered Josephine to the front of the crowd to make sure she had a good spot to see.  As Wild Harry twirled the guns and released them into the air, his finger must have pressed the trigger.  A shot rang out.  

Josephine gasped and cried out, “My God, I am shot.” As she fell into James arms, a bullet fell from the folds of her dress.  Josephine was rushed to the City Hospital and two of Rockford’ best doctors, Dr. Richings and Dr. Clark treated her but there was nothing to be done.  The .44 caliber ball had passed through her abdomen and exited from her hip causing great internal damage.  

James was completely devastated by the shooting of his wife.  But as a testament to his gracious nature, he didn’t hold the man who wielded the gun any blame.  Dr. H. B. Hicks was the man’s real name.  Dr. Hicks never called at the hospital but his wife came to pay her respects and to share her husband’s remorse over the affair.  James assured her and the men gathered later for an inquest that it had all been a horrible accident.

Josephine asked the doctors if she would recover and they had tears in their eyes as they told her the truth. She asked James to hold her funeral in the little red school that had been used by her family in the past for such occasions.  Josephine died surrounded by family at 4:00 a.m. on September 9, 1892.  She was buried next to her beloved son Tommy in the Harrison Cemetery. 

The papers spoke of Josephine as a dedicated mother who was the kindest woman you could ever hope to meet.

James Fisher would eventually move to Shirland where he married again.  He also decided to become a specialist in internal medicine.  Thomas might not have been able to save his wife but he spent the rest of his life healing others.  He died in 1914 and is buried in Shirland Cemetery next to his third wife, Alice.

Copyright © 2020 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events

Originally published in The Rock River Times.

When the weatherman on January 9th of 1948 promised that the warm temperatures would continue, Albert Larson was glad.  He was a trapper by trade and wanted to use these warm days to his advantage.  His plan was to take his boat along the Kishwaukee River and set his traps.  Albert got more than he bargained on that particular January day.

He was setting the traps on the south bank of the Kishwaukee River when he spotted the frozen body of a man floating face down in the water.  When Albert flipped the body over, he was startled to see a bullet wound in the man’s forehead.

Albert had a pretty good idea who the dead man was.  The newspapers had been filled with updates about the missing man for the past month.  Albert ran to the nearby cabin in the Camp Rotary Park (the present day Rockford Rotary Forest Preserve) to seek help.  He had no idea that his discovery would set in motion a mystery that has gone on for decades.

Andrew Sorenson was 57 years old in December of 1947.  His family owned the Chemung Tavern in Chemung, Illinois.  He was described as the perfect tavern owner, friendly and outgoing.  On December 3, 1947, 21 year old Andrew Sorenson Jr. showed up at the tavern to help his father over the lunch hour.  He noticed his father’s car parked in its usual spot and that the blinds in the bar had been raised.  So Andrew Jr. was perplexed when he found the front door still locked.  He made his way to the back door.  Andrew Jr. later stated that an eerie feeling came over him as he entered the bar area.  His father’s key chain hung from the key still in the lock on the front door.  Andrew Jr. rushed to the cash register.  His heart sank as he realized it was completely empty except for a few checks.

Andrew Jr. realized in that moment that his mother’s greatest fear had been realized.  Ever since his father opened the Chemung Tavern five years before, Dagmar Sorenson had predicted that this would happen.  Everyone who was close to Andrew told him that he kept too much money in the tavern.  Andrew usually had $700.00 to $1,000.00 in the cash register at any time.  Even the McHenry County Sheriff Fred C. Bau warned him about it.  

 Andrew Jr. notified the police and his family that the tavern had been robbed and his father kidnapped.  The authorities told Dagmar and her children that they were sure that Andrew would be found unharmed.  In those days, robbers sometimes held people hostage so they could get away.  But the despair in Dagmar’s eyes told the police that she did not believe them.

Many of Sorenson’s friends filled the tavern over the next few days.  They gathered there before heading out to search the roads and woods surrounding the little village.  At first, it was a few people, then a few dozen.  Day by day the numbers grew until over a thousand people were searching for Andrew Sorenson.  The searches spread out from Chemung into several of the surrounding counties.

Two days after Andrew was reported missing in Chemung, another story was unfolding in Rockford.  Police Chief Folke Bengston was walking behind the police station when he noticed a man driving past.  He waved the man over and knelt down to talk to him.  Bengston knew the man very well and greeted him by name.  But this was not a social visit.  “John, I have bad news,” Police Chief Bengston began.  The man Bengston had waved over had actually been a Rockford Police officer for years.  John Provancher was 32 years old in 1947 and had served under Bengston. He had worked his way up through the ranks until he gained recognition as a plain clothes detective.  Provancher gained quite a reputation for being a tough investigator.  Men who worked with him on the force claimed that Provancher had an uncanny ability of thinking like the criminals they were trying to catch. 

These same men said that Provancher also had expensive tastes.  Provancher liked nice cars, tailor made suits, and flashy jewelry.  He was living beyond his means and had received several warnings about passing bad checks from his supervisors.  When Provancher failed to heed these warnings, Bengston was forced to let him go from the department.

Now on this December day, Bengston was once again forced to reprimand the man.  An arrest warrant had been issued by Provancher’s current employer.  Provancher had been working as a liquor salesman for the past three years.  A few weeks prior to December 6, 1947, the owners of the liquor company realized that Provancher had embezzled $1,000 (over $11,000 in today’s money).  The company offered not to press charges if Provancher agreed to pay them back.  He had given them $700.00 two days prior but had missed the deadline for the balance, so they pressed charges.  Provancher accompanied Bengston inside the police headquarters.

While Provancher was being questioned about the embezzlement charge, Bengston ordered other officers to search his car.  He hoped the remainder of the money would be found in the car.  When they asked Provancher for his car keys, he turned over a  large key ring with several keys on it.  He also explained that the trunk key had been lost.  

The officers searched the main part of the newer model Nash sedan that Provancher drove.  They didn’t find anything in the inside of the car and decided to try the other keys on the ring to unlock the trunk.  They all were surprised to find one of the keys actually fit. What they found in the trunk truly shocked them.  Inside the trunk was blood and clumps of grey hair.  The men hurried inside to inform the men questioning Provancher.  Captain Roy W. Johnson, who knew Provancher for years, was in charge of the questioning.  

The tone of the questioning changed when Johnson returned to the room after receiving the news about the results of the search.  The news had reached Police Chief Bengston and he joined the men.  When Johnson asked Provancher about the blood in the trunk, Provancher stated that he had killed a couple of pheasants and put them in the car to bring home.  Bengston told Provancher that there were tests that could tell if the blood belonged to an animal or a human.  Provancher seemed startled at first by this news.  Then he changed his story about the pheasants. 

Provancher claimed that he was in one of the Chicago suburbs making sales stops and had accidently hit a pedestrian.  He was scared so he threw the man in the trunk of his car and left the area.  When he reached a more deserted part of town, he stopped, took the man from the trunk and left him.  When Johnson asked him if the man was badly hurt, Provancher stated, “I don’t know.”  The men in the room had a difficult time believing the story.  Provancher must have felt their disbelief because he refused to discuss the case any further.

The Andrew Sorenson case was foremost in everyone’s mind at the time so the questioning turned toward that case quickly.  Johnson asked Provancher if he knew the missing man.  Provancher admitted that Sorenson bought liquor for his tavern from him.  In fact, Provacnher knew the entire Sorenson family.

Captain Johnson also knew something else about Provancher.  The two men considered each other friends and Provancer had approached Johnson about borrowing a .38 caliber gun for target practice.  He borrowed it December 1st and returned it late in the day on December 4th, the same day that Sorenson had gone missing.

It was at this time that Johnson decided to take himself off Provancher’s embezzlement case. He left the interrogation room saddened by the thoughts that kept running through his mind.  Johnson contacted the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office to discuss the information that had been gathered up to that point..  

Sheriff Fred Bau told Johnson that he had statements from two men who had stopped by the Chemug Tavern shortly after 9:00 a.m. to cash a check.  One man entered the building while the other waited in the car.  The man that entered said that Andrew (or Andy as his customers called him) was in the bar with another man.  He didn’t really get a good look at the other guy. When Andy opened the register the man noticed that there was a lot of money in the cash drawrer.  Andy chuckled when he called his attention to it.  Andy stated that the day before had been a good day.  The man took his money and left.  The man that stayed outside noticed that the car in the parking lot was a very nice, newer Nash sedan.  The man noticed it because most folks in Chemung did not drive cars that nice.  As Johnson hung up the phone, he was very concerned for the man that he considered his friend.

The rest of 1947 was spent looking for clues in the Sorenson disappearance.  Huge groups of volunteers gathered every day before spreading out to search for the missing man.  Hope faded quickly that Andy would be found alive.  The family was so desperate for information that they even consulted local psychics.  The psychics all said the same thing; that Andy was dead and he would be found in water somewhere southeast of Chemung. Later, some found the accuracy of the psychic’s visions to be quite chilling.

During this same time, Provancher was in and out of jail on the embezzlement charge.  Detectives searched his house for more clues in the Sorenson disappearance.  They reportedly found a brand new snow shovel and more importantly, .38 caliber bullets.  The papers did not explain why the snow shovel was of interest but it played up the fact that the bullets had been found in a baby carriage that was stored in the garage.  Provancher had a 16 month old daughter at the time.  It seemed a strange place to keep the bullets.

When Andrew’s body was pulled from the Kishwaukee River, the police and family hoped that it would provide more clues for them to go on.  In reality, it created more questions.  The one good thing about the discovery was that the family no longer had to live with the uncertainty of whether Andrew was alive or dead. 

Andrew’s autopsy was conducted by Dr. Matthews.  His death was caused by three bullet wounds to the head. Though the kidnapping and robbery had taken place in Chemung which was located in McHenry County, the jurisdiction was transferred to Winnebago County.  Authorities theorized that Andrew could have been put in the river anywhere, even a smaller stream that was a tributary of the Kishwaukee River.  The only thing they knew for sure, was that Andrew Sorenson was dead by the time his body was brought from the river.

Albert Larson was given a reward for finding the body.  At first, he declined the money, but Andrew Jr. told him that the family believed that Larson was chosen by God to relieve the family’s pain.  Andrew Jr. was quoted in all the newspapers when he stated, “Justice will come to my dad’s murderer.”  The family was grateful that they could lay Andrew to rest in the little Jerome Cemetery on the outskirts of Harvard, Illinois.

The case against Provancher was further substantiated when fibers that were found in the trunk were linked to the pants Sorenson was wearing when his body was pulled from the river.  This case happened long before DNA testing of course, so the only evidence was that the blood in the trunk of Provancher’s car matched Andrew Sorenson’s blood type.

Though the evidence and Provancher’s statements should have led to a simple verdict in this case, that is not the way it happened.  Provancher was found guilty by a jury of his peers.  On April 24, 1948, the six women and 6 men jury declared the guilty verdict to a very stunned Provancher.  He was sentenced to 25 years in prison by Circuit Judge William Dusher.

But Provancher maintained his innocence and fought the verdict from the Circuit Courts all the way to the Supreme Court. His wife, Elizabeth was his biggest advocate.  She began to study ballistics in order to fully understand the evidence against her husband.  She must have been an impressive woman because Provancher’s lawyer won a hearing for her to present what she had learned about ballistics to a judge.  Elizabeth claimed that the gun Provancher had borrowed was a .38 caliber and the wounds in Sorenson were too small for that caliber of gun.

John Provancer was granted parole in December of 1956, having served 8 ½ years of his 25 year sentence.  Though many saw this as a travesty of justice, there were also those who believed that Provancher was innocent.  Provancher turned his life around and from all accounts contributed much to his community in Hinsdale, Illinois.  He died at the age of 94.

In a tragic side note to this story, Andrew’s beloved son, Andrew Sorenson Jr. was killed in a freak accident while serving in the Navy on January 24, 1961.   He and the other four men on board were killed when their P2V Neptune Patrol bomber crashed during a training exercise.  Andrew was survived by a wife and three sons.  

Unfortunately, this case left too many questions for anyone to know what really happened to Andrew Sorenson on that December day so long ago.  

Copyright © 2020 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events

Originally published in The Rock River Times.

When the telegram arrived at the cottage on Brown Street, everyone in the family was surprised. The telegram announced the visit of one of Sarah Sherman’s daughters, Hattie. Hattie lived in La Crosse, Wisconsin since her husband’s death six years ago. Hattie’s husband left her in good financial state but she liked working so she found a job as a purchaser for a large department store in La Crosse. It wasn’t the fact that she was coming to Rockford to see her mother and sister that was so surprising. It was the fact that the telegram mentioned she would be accompanied by her new husband, William Coffey.

Sarah Sherman lived with her daughter, Anna and Anna’s husband, William Holdridge. Sarah was eighty-seven years old in 1926. Though she was in very good shape for a woman her age, she felt safer living with her daughter and her family. Anna and William ran a small grocery store in town. Anna’s son, Gerald helped with both the store and with his grandma.

No one knew anything about Hattie’s new husband when they arrived at Anna and William’s house in the middle of October 1926. They only knew that Hattie seemed happy about this new chapter in her life. William Coffey didn’t smoke, swear or drink. He went to church and read the Bible regularly. In fact, the couple met at church in La Crosse. They both sang in the church choir.

The family could see that Hattie was quite taken with William. William and Hattie were planning a honeymoon road trip. They were going to take in all the fall colors of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. The trip would include some nights of camping in a tent and others at hotels. Hattie was almost giddy when she spoke of it.

Sarah didn’t show it on the outside but on the inside, she was very concerned. Her daughter was fifty-three years old but Sarah didn’t like the fact that Hattie had married this man she had only known for six months. Sarah felt concerned enough to discuss it with Anna. They decided to speak to Hattie one evening when the women had some privacy. Hattie just laughed off their concerns. “He is just the man for me, Mama.” Hattie told her elderly mother. Sarah and Anna watched Coffey closely looking for a clue of his true nature.

Coffey claimed to have a successful business. He had also had a big house in Madison that he invited them to visit. He was charming and quoted Shakespeare. He attended church with the family and had a very nice voice while he sang the hymns. Hattie thought he was the perfect partner for her.

Sarah and Anna tried to focus on the fact that Hattie was happy. But there was fear in Sarah’s heart as she watched the couple load their car for the trip. Sarah just couldn’t shake the feeling that she would never see Hattie again. Anna would say later that she felt the same way.

The family received a letter from Hattie a few days later. The couple stopped in Galena for a night and moved on to Dubuque. They were headed toward Maquoketa State Park to see the caves. They stayed in a hotel that night but would soon be camping right in their car.

The next letter came a few days later. Sarah and Anna were surprised when they realized that the letter was from William. He told them about their adventures at the caves and explained that Hattie was seated right beside him as he wrote the words. After several letters, all written by William, Anna asked why they didn’t hear from Hattie.

More letters arrived, this time from Hattie. At least they appeared to be from Hattie. They were typewritten and the signature didn’t seem quite right. The family grew concerned about the letters. That concern turned to fear when they received the final letter. This one was written by Coffey. He explained that he and Hattie were in Asheville, North Carolina. He had terrible news. Hattie had left him and ran off with another man. Coffey had no idea where she was. He finished the letter with ”my heart is broken.”

That set off red flags for the family. Sarah told her daughter and son in law, “something inside me warned that all was not well with Hattie.” Anna and William contacted Hattie’s other siblings and the family discussed their options. Anna came up with a plan to trap Coffey. Hattie owned stocks and bonds in different companies. The family knew that Hattie owned stocks in the Elroy Oil Company in Elroy, Wisconsin. The family lived there when Sarah’s husband Leander was alive. The Elroy Oil Company was having their annual Board of Director’s meeting. Anna wrote Hattie a letter reminding her about the meeting. She mentioned that if there were any changes to be made that Hattie would need to attend the meeting.

Coffey took the bait and attended the meeting. He carried a letter supposedly typed and signed by Hattie turning over the $500.00 worth of stock to her husband. The family alerted the authorities and they were there to take Coffey into custody. He was arrested for forgery. The family felt that they would finally get the answers to Hattie’s whereabouts. They had no idea the twists that the story would take.

Police soon found out that everything that Coffey had told Hattie and her family was a lie. Even their marriage was a lie. Coffey had a wife and three children that lived in Madison, Wisconsin. They had been married for twenty three years. The papers referred to her as Mrs. Coffey number one. When Mrs. Coffey heard of her husband’s arrest in Elroy, she contacted the police. Her husband traveled for his job and she wouldn’t see him for months at a time, so his absence didn’t arouse her suspicion.

When the police searched Asheville for Hattie, they could find no signs that she had ever been there. Coffey told police that Hattie had run off with a man named St. Clair. Police found no one by that name at any of the hotels during the time Coffey claimed they were there.

But police found all of Hattie’s suitcases in the trunk of Coffey’s car. They also found that Coffey’s first wife had some of Hattie’s clothes and jewelry in her possession. She claimed they were gifts from her husband. When Anna and Sarah were shown pictures of the jewelry, they identified them as Hattie’s. “I knew then that she was dead” Sarah stated. “Those rings were precious to her.”

Police started to pressure Coffey for the truth of what happened to Hattie. But still Coffey wouldn’t budge on his story that Hattie had deserted him in North Carolina. Hattie’s sister, Anna who was praised in the papers for her strategy to catch Coffey now stepped forward once again. She offered to attempt to get the truth from the man she believed killed her sister. The police agreed and Anna went in the interview room. She sobbed and begged Coffey to tell the truth. Anna told him that her aged mother was heart-broken and needed to bring her daughter home. Coffey was moved to tears himself when Anna reached out and grasped his hands. He was still crying as she slipped from the room. It took two more hours but finally Coffey weakened. He admitted that he had killed Hattie.

Coffey said that they were camping by the Mississippi River in Dubuque on October 11, 1926. He had spent part of the day visiting clients (mostly women). For some reason, this made Hattie jealous. When he returned to the camping spot they argued and she slapped his face. Then Hattie picked up a large bat that they kept in the tent and tried to hit Coffey with it. This angered him and he took it away from her and swung out with it striking Hattie in the head. She was dead before she hit the ground.

Coffey stated he panicked and put her body in the car. He drove unto the bridge, got out of the car and threw Hattie’s body off the bridge into the river below. When authorities pressed him for the exact location, they thought it strange that he kept insisting that they camped in Wisconsin. It all became clear when Coffey announced that he thought they were trying to trick him into saying that the camp was in Iowa. Iowa had the death penalty but Wisconsin did not.

Coffey stuck with his story for a couple of days. Authorities searched up and down the river. It had been a cold January and some of the river was actually frozen on the banks. By January 27, police had found no body. They had found a baseball bat in the Eagle View Park in Dubuque. They told Coffey that since there was no body to prove otherwise, they would have to believe that Hattie had been killed in that park. The park was in Iowa so things did not look good for Coffey at that point. Coffey once again changed his story.

This time Coffey claimed that on October 9, he and Hattie were in the car driving across the Mississippi River heading along the river in Wisconsin. They pulled over to make camp in some woods about six miles south west of Platteville. It was here that they fought and he struck Hattie, not with a bat but with a small axe. The police found the axe wrapped in a grass mat hidden in the basement of his home in Madison. Coffey confirmed he hid the axe there when he had returned to spend Christmas with his wife and children.

Coffey also changed another part of the story. He hadn’t thrown Hattie in the river as he first claimed. He now said that he had used a butcher knife and the axe to dismember her. He buried her in twelve different graves in the woods. Word about this leaked from the interrogation room. Folks around Platteville heard of the horrible killing that had taken place in Riter’s Woods as the location was called at that time.

People decided to drive to those woods. Soon two hundred cars lined the road leading to the wooded area. Though a couple dozen sheriff’s deputies had been sent to secure the scene they were unable to stop the sea of people that wandered through area. One man, a farmer named Frank Olsen spotted a mound of loose soil covered by snow. He kicked at it. A policeman noticed his actions and brought a shovel. He began to dig and about three feet down he found part of a women’s torso.

While the townsfolks had been wandering through the woods, Coffey was being transferred from the jail in Mauston. District Attorney R.M. Orchard and Sheriff Lyall Wright accompanied him the next morning. They also told him that his wife of twenty three years had filed for divorce.

When the small group of men arrived at the woods, they saw a shocking sight. More than seven hundred cars lined the road and over three thousand people were standing in a large circle. Coffey kept his head down and began to lead the men from place to place revealing body part after body part. District Attorney Orchard grew frustrated by the pushing and shoving of the crowd as they jockeyed for the best position to see each body part. Finally, he turned to the huge group and asked what they wanted. They answered they wanted to see Coffey. Orchard made Coffey get up on the running boards of a nearby car so that everyone could get a look at him.

Police found the butcher knife that Coffey had used along with some of Hattie’s internal organs under the snow. They now believed that Hattie had been killed there in the woods outside of Platteville.

It took quite a while to unearth all of the body parts. They had all been wrapped in paper or canvas material. Hattie’s head was the last piece to be found. The police knew that the head would reveal critical evidence of how Hattie had been killed and they were desperate for it to be recovered. There was a gasp that washed through the crowd as the last part was brought up. The head was wrapped in newspaper and appeared to be burnt. Later, Coffey would explain that he tried to burn it to keep Hattie from being identified.

In a gruesome twist, the police placed all of the body parts on tarps and the onlookers passed by to see them. Women with their own daughters and men with their sons walked by the paper wrapped body parts of Hattie.

Anna was called on once again. She bravely agreed to look at the head to see if she could identify the grisly remains as her sister. Her strength and dedication to her sister touched even the most veteran of policemen.

The autopsy proved that Hattie had been struck in the head. Instead of a baseball bat, the medical examiner thought that the weapon might have been a hammer. Coffey claimed that he struck Hattie as she slept and that she never knew what or who had hit her. One can only hope that at least this time, his words were true.

Later many asked why Coffey confessed. The authorities believed that Coffey was aware of how the law worked. He adapted the story to give himself the best odds. Coffey mentioned that his own father had become insane and was institutionalized laying down the grounds for a possible insanity plea. He also was smart enough to know that if they didn’t find a body it would be hard to prove that Hattie was dead. It was only when faced with the possibility of the case being handled in Iowa with a death penalty involved that Coffey decided to divulge where he had placed Hattie.

Hattie’s family laid her to rest in the Elroy Cemetery next to her father. As her funeral was taking place, the man who murdered her was standing in front of the judge. The judge asked Coffey if he was guilty or innocent. “Guilty” said Coffey. The whole trial took eleven minutes. Coffey was sentenced to life in prison. He was transferred to Waupun to serve his time. He died there in 1962.

The townsfolk of Elroy who knew the Sherman family so well paid tribute to Hattie. They wrote a beautiful letter to Sarah and the rest of the family. They spoke of Hattie’s big heart, friendly smile, and dedication to her family. They spoke of the loss of one so dearly loved by all who knew her. Sarah would state that the letter helped her remember the way that Hattie had lived and not dwell on the way she died.

Copyright © 2020 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events

Originally published on Rockford Buzz.

The Knight family was like a lot of people in Rockford in 1927. They moved here to get a fresh start.  Rockford had a great reputation for job opportunities across the country and drew many people here. 

Isaac Knight was 43 years old in 1927 and desperately needed a new beginning.  His family had lived in the Red Boiling Springs Tennessee area for years. Isaac had run into some trouble and spent some time in prison. After he finished serving his sentence Isaac wanted to leave the past and Tennessee far behind them.

Isaac came to Rockford in December of 1926 and secured a job as a salesman at the L.B. Price Mercantile store.  Isaac’s wife Myrtie and their five children joined him in the beginning of January. Everyone was settling nicely into their home on Elm Street.  On January 23, 1927 Isaac decided to take the family on a Sunday drive to visit some of the sights of their new city. They just finished touring Black Hawk Park along 15th Avenue and Black Hawk Park Road.

Black Hawk Park of 1927 was very different than it is today.  It had a beautiful pavilion that overlooked the Rock River and a zoo was there for a time.  

The family left the park and was driving east on Blackhawk Park Avenue.  The car was approaching the Mattison Machine works factory and the train crossing there. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul passenger train was traveling through Rockford due at the station at 5:00 p.m.  It consisted of an engine, a tender and two passenger coaches. Sam Boldock who worked at the Mattison Machine Company was a witness to what happened that day. 

Sam was leaving the factory and saw one car rush over the tracks. The next vehicle was not so fortunate. According to Boldock’s statement, he believed that Isaac Knight had no idea that the train was so close.

The train hit Isaac’s vehicle right in the center.  The automobile was thrown to the right toward the factory. Boldock heard the sounds of the metal crushing metal and the screams of the victims as the car was pushed 60 feet down the tracks.  He also heard the eerie silence when the train and the wreckage finally came to a stop.

Boldock joined the men from the train as they rushed forward to search for the victims.

They found six of the family members and quickly loaded them into two ambulances.  One of the little girls, Nellie was only four years old. A policeman, John Anderson cradled her in his arms during the trip to Swedish American.  He was devastated as he witnessed her take her last breath.

Physicians and nurses were put on alert at the hospital and had prepared for the large number of casualties.  Unfortunately, there was not a lot that could be done for some of the family members. Myrtie, listed as 32 years old, five year old Zola and Nellie were all pronounced dead when they arrived at the hospital.  

When the crew members returned to the train they were horrified to see a young girl laying on the cattle guard in the front of the engine.  Thirteen year old Zella Knight was carefully lifted from the engine. She fainted when the men lifted her. She was placed on the train and taken to the nearest depot.  She was rushed to Rockford Hospital away from the other members of her family.

Back at Swedish American the rest of the Knight family was slowing losing their fight to survive.  Elease, 11 years old died a few hours after her arrival. Isaac and 8 year old Clinton were unconscious and barely clinging to life.  

Zella appeared to be the least injured of her family.  She suffered from a broken hip and pelvic bone and numerous cuts to her body and face.  Somehow she was thrown from the car and up onto the train keeping her from the most of the damage during the crushing of the car. 

Isaac and Clinton died early the next morning just hours apart.  All of the family members except Zella had suffered skull fractures and other broken bones. Coroner Fred C. Olson had the deceased family members taken to his undertaking rooms.

Olson would conduct an inquest into the accident.  Several of the men who had helped gather the victims immediately after the crash testified for the proceedings.  Many of them broke down on the stand and could only answer the questions by nodding or shaking their head. They indicated that the train had blown the whistle but that the line of sight was blocked by the Mattison factory.  They mentioned close calls with other vehicles in that same spot. 

Zella was able to tell authorities about where her extended family could be found.  Isaac had a brother Cecil who lived in Decatur, Michigan. Cecil had followed in his father’s footsteps and was a minister of a church in Michigan.  He and his wife traveled to Rockford to attend the inquest. Fred C. Olson worked as a liaison between the family and representatives of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul line.  

The local newspapers continued to tell the Knight’s family story over several weeks.  They told of Zella’s recovery and of her fears of being left an orphan. The papers also told of the support from the folks of Rockford.  The offers came from all over the city and included assisting with medical bills, funeral expenses and even offers of adoption for Zella. Her hospital room soon became full of flowers, fruit baskets, home-made cards from local school children and donations. The offerings of all kinds of support touched Cecil and his wife greatly.  They were stunned by the generosity and care offered by these townspeople who didn’t even know Isaac and Myrtie. 

Fred C. Olson helped arrange the funeral and burial of the Knight family at Willwood Burial Park.  He also arranged for the payment of all of the funeral expenses through the railroad company.

The funeral was attended by hundreds though the family had only been in the area a short while.  The sight of the four small caskets of the children next to the larger ones of the parents touched the hearts of all who attended the proceedings.  The family was laid to rest in one large grave in the quiet little cemetery.  

Reverend Cecil also filed a claim against the railroad company for damages for each victim.  The case would be settled later that same year for $6,000 to be used in the support of Zella. 

The Rockford community helped in other ways, too.  When Zella healed enough to leave the hospital the family of Reverend and Mrs. B. E. Allen offered to let her stay with them until she was well enough to make the journey to her new home in Michigan. Her Uncle Cecil and his wife had no children of their own and promised to care for the girl as their own.   

Before they left Rockford for the last time, they expressed their appreciation for all of the caring support that folks here had given them.  They stated that they would never forget the people here who offered all they could to assist Zella and them through the monumental loss they had suffered.  

It was a proud moment in Rockford’s history that would become a tradition of caring for those who need it the most.

Copyright © 2020 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events

Originally published in The Rock River Times.

Grief affects all of us differently.  It can rob some of us of the very spark to live while others use it to propel themselves to reach out and comfort others.  Some, like the family in this story turn it into a family commitment.

Lillian Olson Anderson was born in Rockford and seemed to live a charmed life.  Her father, Nels had come from Sweden and settled in the New Milford area to begin his life as a farmer.  But fate intervened when another Swedish immigrant known as Ugarf invited Nels into the funeral home business.  Nels expanded the business to form the Rockford Furniture and Undertaking Company on Seventh Street in 1888. It was the beginning of five generations (so far) of his family serving the Rockford Community.

The Olson family grew to include seven successful children.  One daughter, Lillian or Lillie as her family called her,was born in 1890.  She would later be described as a beautiful, intelligent girl with brown hair and big blue eyes.  Lillie was described as being a favorite among her friends known for a kind heart and a positive attitude.  Lillie, along with her parents and siblings, felt it was their duty to help those less fortunate than themselves.  She even volunteered to help care for those who became ill with the Spanish Influenza during 1918.  

No one was surprised when the delightful young woman married the successful Bert Anderson in 1918.  The couple rented an apartment on Charles Street. Bert sold suits to business men and Lillie continued her work in the community. The future looked very bright for the hard working couple. But that all would change in December of 1921.  

No one was sure what happened but they soon noticed that Lillie’s whole personality changed. She became easily frightened and confused.  Lillie would wander the streets for hours before finally making her way back to the apartment on Charles Street. By the end of the year, she had suffered what was then called a nervous breakdown.  She would cry uncontrollably and suffered from horrible dizzy spells. Her family was devastated but as was their custom, they rallied behind the young woman. They took turns caring for her and hired women to sit with her when they could not be there..  

But, unfortunately, Lillie used her charm and her intelligence to sway those women to allow her to step outside unaccompanied for “just a breath of fresh air”.  She would use these unattended moments to steal away from the house on Charles Street and would be gone for hours. The family would search for her for hours at a time.  Many times, the family found her sitting on the bank by the river watching it flow past. 

Neighbors and friends knew of Lillie’s condition and would call if they spotted her and her older brother Fred would race to the location to bring her back to the house. The family’s fears grew as the winter months turned to spring and Lillie’s wanderings increased.

Fred had followed his father into the funeral business in 1910.  He went a step further when he decided to serve as the Winnebago County Coroner from 1920-1928, one of the most turbulent times in Rockford due to gang activity during Prohibition.  Fred had gained a reputation for really caring for the dead and reaching out to the families.

On April 14, Lillie’s mother, Selma called the house and suggested that she and Lillie take a walk in the spring air.  Lillie was excited and told the young woman sitting with her that day that she wanted to meet her mother and not to worry if they returned later than her husband.  “Just remind Bert that I have that errand we discussed.” Lillie stated as she grabbed her coat and rushed out the door. 

The girl thought all was well until Selma Olson showed up at the door a few minutes later asking for her daughter.  The search started almost immediately. Mrs. Olson alerted the family and they spread to look for her. Friends joined the search and then others showed up at the door. Strangers, friends and former clients came to help.  They spread throughout Rockford first and then outward to the county. Eventually the search would spread nation-wide. Two of the Olson girls had moved to California when they married. There was hope that Lillie might go to visit them.

Nels and Selma were devastated by their daughter’s disappearance.  Fred and his siblings followed every reported sighting. Henry Baldwin was the Winnebago County Sheriff at the time.  He suggested the family contact a local psychic in the Dekalb area that had assisted in other missing person cases. The family sent a representative for a meeting with the woman.  She told them she could see brown hair floating in the water. The search was expanded down the Rock River south to Grand Detour.

One week after Lilli’s disappearance her mother entered her daughter’s bedroom and noticed the girl’s Bible on the stand next to the bed.  Hoping to find some words of comfort, Selma opened the book. There on the inside cover Lillie had written a line from John 14: “I go to prepare a place for you” and addressed it “Father and Mother”.  Selma stated later that she knew that she would never see her daughter again.

On May 4, 1922, a local farmer, John Moore was approaching his field west of Roscoe by a big bend in the river.  He saw something swirling in the water about twenty feet from the shore. He said it took him a few minutes to realize that it was a body floating there.  He and another man brought the body to the shore.

One doesn’t even want to imagine what it must have been like for Fred Olson as he and the sheriff made their way to Rockton.  Unfortunately, they had made similar trips in the weeks prior to this sighting. Previously it always had been someone else’s sister that was pulled from the water.

But not this particular time.  Fred recognized his sister’s clothing right away.  He also identified the wedding band that she still wore.  The initials carved on the inside of the gold band confirmed that this time they had found Lillie.

Fred C.Olson handled death on a daily basis for years by this point.  He had comforted many family members through their loss of loved ones.  This time it was his grief that overwhelmed him and he sank to his knees.  The men who had accompanied Fred to that field stepped forward to do for Fred what he had done for countless others.  They brought Lillie’s body home for him. They also stayed by his side as he told his distraught parents the news that would break their hearts.

Lillie’s body was badly decomposed and the medical examiner declared that he believed that the young woman died the day she went missing. Later her pocket book was found on a bridge that crossed the river. Lillie’s doctor testified that she had likely suffered a dizzy spell as she attempted to cross the bridge.  Her death was ruled an accident.  

The family gathered together to say goodbye to the beautiful young woman.  She was laid to rest at Scandinavian Cemetery.

The Olson family continues their legacy of serving the Rockford Community even today.  They have helped many families through the grief process in their five generations of service.  Perhaps it brings comfort to the families they serve to know that the Olson’s family has known the heartbreak of burying family members taken much too soon.

Copyright © 2020 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events

Originally published on Rockford Buzz.

Alice and Clemen Schneider were at first confused by the phone call from their daughter, Terry. Terry called to tell them that her sister Rae Ann, called Birdie by everyone, hadn’t shown up to Terry’s house for the Christmas holiday.

The couple had left their home in what was then known as North Park (now the Machesney Park area) to spend the 1972 Christmas holiday with Clemen’s father in North Dakota. Two of their daughters, Terry and Birdie lived in the Bloomington, Illinois area.

Birdie joined Terry and her husband in Bloomington in August of 1972. She was excited to have a fresh start in a new place. She graduated from Harlem High School in 1971. Birdie was painfully shy and hadn’t made a lot of friends in school. She was diagnosed with epilepsy and that kept her from being outgoing and approachable. Though she hadn’t had a seizure in a while, it was always in the back of her mind. It kept her from doing so many things that other young people her age took for granted. She had never had a job before and couldn’t get a driver’s license. It also kept her from being open to relationships, especially with men. It felt like everyone in North Park and possibly all of Rockford knew about her seizures. Bloomington-Normal was an exciting college town where no one knew anything about her or her seizures.

At first, Birdie stayed with her sister’s family but by September she had found an apartment and two room- mates. Birdie also got a job. She worked as a waitress at a Steak and Shake restaurant. Her room-mates and co-workers would later say they didn’t know very much about Birdie, just that she was very quiet and a home body.

Her maternal grandmother Beryl came to visit toward the middle of December 1972. Terry, Birdie and Beryl went Christmas shopping, cooked together, and laughed as they wrapped the presents they bought. Beryl tried to convince Birdie to return to Rockford with her for the holiday. But Birdie was adamant that she was the new girl at work and had to cover the holiday hours. Terry assured Beryl that Birdie would be with her family for the holiday. Beryl couldn’t know that this would be the last time she would ever see Birdie alive.

One of the things Birdie liked about her apartment was that it was really close to work. It was about a mile away and most days she could walk it in less than 20 minutes. When she got the job at the end of the summer it was still light out at 5:00 p.m. when her shift ended. But by winter, it was dark by the time Birdie left the restaurant. Her co-workers watched her push open the door and step out into the dark on December 22, 1972. It would be the last time anyone would see Rae Ann Schneider alive.

Her room-mates started to worry about her when she hadn’t returned that night. They knew that she didn’t know many people. She had met a couple of young men but neither of them could be considered a boyfriend. They also knew that Birdie would not leave for a long period without her seizure medicine. The room-mates decided to call her sister.

Police during this time period usually waited 48 to 72 hours before even taking a missing person report, especially in a college town like Bloomington. But the fact that Birdie was on medicine put them on alert. Lt. Kenneth Morgan was put in charge of her case. When Birdie hadn’t contacted anyone by Christmas day, Morgan said he grew fearful. Another girl, Marie Burchie, had gone missing from the area back in April and was found buried in a shallow grave. Birdie’s family tried to hold onto hope. Her grandma Beryl offered a $1,000.00 reward for her safe return or information leading to the arrest of the person who took her.

They would have no answers for nine long months. When another girl went missing in the area in May 1973, Birdie’s parents were resigned to the fact that their daughter would not return home to them. They wouldn’t know the truth until the beginning of August 1973.

The case blew wide open when Jesse Donald Sumner was arrested in July 1973. He had beaten his third wife when she confronted him about molesting his step-daughter. After Sumner’s arrest, the wife had some information for the police. The wife told of Sumner’s involvement in the cases of the missing girls. When the police confronted Sumner with his wife’s allegations, he decided to confess. He led the authorities to two more graves. One was a shallow grave on the road south of Stanford on Old Danvers Road. It was where he took Dawn Huwe when he kidnapped her in May 1973. She had been hit on the head and buried alongside the road.

The other grave held Birdie’s body. She was buried in Sumner’s garage under the dirt floor. She had been beaten on the front of her head by a blunt object. On her finger the authorities found her class ring with the Harlem Huskies 1971 insignia on the side. Police theorized that Sumner buried Birdie in the garage because the ground was too frozen in December when she was kidnapped.

Jesse Donald Sumner was tried first for the April 1972 murder of 20 year old Marie Burchie. She, like Dawn Huwe was a student at Illinois State University. Sumner was found guilty and sentenced to 50 to 100 years for the murder of Marie.

Sumner was put on trial for Dawn and Birdie’s murders in October of 1974. Before handing down the sentence Circuit Judge Calvin Stone read a statement, “Cruel, bizarre, unmerciful, despicable are all understatements for this man.” He also stated that he didn’t believe that Sumner could ever be rehabilitated and sentenced Sumner to 100 to 200 years in prison. Judge Stone said he hoped that Sumner would never walk free again.

Judge Stone would get his wish. Sumner died in Joliet Prison in 2005 at the age of 68. He is buried in his family’s plot in Stanford, Illinois.

Birdie was brought back home and buried in Sunset Memorial Gardens. Her parents were laid to rest near her when they died a few months apart in 2011.

Copyright © 2019 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events

Originally published on Rockford Buzz.

Some people say that they don’t sense ghosts. But there are some who claim to know just by walking into a house that there are spirits lingering there. The family that moved into a house on the corner of School Street and Central Avenue knew almost immediately that they had some unseen presence in their new home.

The house was around one hundred years old when the couple moved in with their six children. It was moving day and the young wife was cleaning the house with her sister. The previous tenants had left some old furniture in several rooms. The front room had an old arm chair that had seen better days. The women moved the chair into a hall way so they could wash the floors. They moved on to another room to start the next cleaning project. Later when they returned to the front room, the chair was back in the original spot.

The women said they knew from that moment on that something was not quite right about the house. In an article written for the Register Star from 1987, the family claimed that though they were startled at times, they were never really scared by their spirit. It was rather unsettling though when they were home all alone and the stereo would turn on and off. They were also frustrated several times when something that they had just set down would be moved to a completely new location. One time the young wife had arrived home and set her keys on the counter. When she went to leave a little while later, the keys were no longer on the counter. She found them several hours later in the basement, a room she hadn’t gone into since she arrived home.

The young family claimed that they thought the ghost was a man who must have had children. He seemed to like to spend time in their youngest child’s room. They had a rocking chair in the room and sometimes it would begin to rock by itself. It made a distinctive sound as the runners moved back and forth on the carpeting. They would often hear their daughter talking to someone though no one happened to be in her room at the time.

The young couple did a little digging into the history of the house and found out that the haunting had started years earlier. They questioned several of the previous owners about their experiences in the home. It was soon clear that these strange encounters had gone on for decades.

Most of the stories were similar, footsteps coming down the stairs, things moved from place to place including heavy pieces of furniture. One family that had lived in the home during the early 1970’s had trouble with their attic light going on by itself. Apparently, the father thought his sons were trying to play tricks on him. He decided to end their fun by removing the light bulbs from the sockets. No one laughed when they came home late one night to see the light shining in the attic. The dad marched the boys right up those stairs all the way to the attic. They ran down quickly when they realized the light sockets were still empty.

One elderly lady that lived in the house in the late 1960’s claimed that she too was visited by the spirit. She would often hear the heavy footsteps walking on the second floor. They always seemed to stop by the front bedroom. One day she was alone in the house and heard the footsteps walking across the hallway to the front bedroom. She went up to find the room completely empty. She sat down on the bed for a while. She had decided that she imagined the whole thing and was just about to get up when she felt a presence sit down on the bed next to her. She said she saw the bed move like a large adult had sat down.

The older lady had questions of her after that incident. She found out from the neighbors that a family built the house in the 1890’s and generations of the same family lived in the house. The elderly woman always felt that the ghost was the head of one of those generations. She felt he looked after the families that stayed there.

The young couple that purchased the house in the 1980’s felt the same protective spirit. They soon got used to items moving around and sound of footsteps walking through the fourteen room house. The young wife even named him Henry. She decided to leave the armchair in the front room just where Henry liked it.

Research into the house on School Street proved that some of the history was true. The house was built around 1893 by Julia Ginders. Julia and her husband Joseph had arrived in Rockford around 1878. Joseph passed away and Julia built the large house on School Street for her daughters. Mary S. and Fannie lived in the house on School Street with their mother until her death in 1904. Mary would marry Harry B. Andrews in 1892 in the home on School Street. The newspaper articles describe a very fancy wedding for the young couple.

The couple stayed in the home after the wedding and eventually would raise their two children there. Harry would become a prominent lawyer in Rockford and open his own firm in the Brown Building downtown. Later his son Charles would join him in the firm. The Andrews family was well known on the West Side of Rockford and Harry donated a large parcel of land to build a park in his father’s name. Andrews Park still exists a few blocks up from the house on School Street.

Harry Andrews died in the house on School Street on August 5, 1941. Mary lived in the home until the time of her death in 1961. She left her children an estate worth $170,000 when she passed away. Harry and Mary’s children built successful lives of their own and moved out of the house on School Street. Mae never married and Charles became a lawyer like his father. Harry would be proud to know that Charles’ daughter also became a lawyer.

Though there would be no way to prove that the spirit felt in the house located on School Street is Harry Andrews, the home owners certainly felt that they knew who they shared their house with. Harry was proud of his family’s legacy to Rockford. He also was proud of being a protector for his family and maybe he still watches over those who live in the big house he once called home.

Copyright © 2019 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events

Originally published in The Rock River Times.

Anyone reading Ralph Middleton’s obituary printed in the Register Star on July 30, 1998 would have been impressed by his life. The article mentioned his 62 years of employment at Ingersoll and that he served in the National Guard. Ralph was also voted Rockford’s Father of the Year in 1950. By all accounts, Ralph led a successful life filled with many accomplishments.

But it is what wasn’t written in his obituary that makes Ralph Middleton truly astonishing. Ralph suffered a personal tragedy that would have crippled most people. The fact that he went through this dark period and continued his success is nothing less than inspirational.

In the mid 1950’s Ralph lived on the west side of Rockford with his wife Dorothy. Ralph worked as a field supervisor at Ingersoll Milling Machine. Dorothy, who had been a dedicated teacher to children with cognitive and mobility issues, stayed at home to care for their three children. The oldest, Richard was enrolled in Harvard University working on a degree in Biology. Thomas who was 18 in 1956, recently graduated from West High School. Their only daughter, Judith was 12 years old and enrolled at Roosevelt Junior High School. Neighbors would later speak of the close bond that was evident between the family members.

Thomas Middleton

Ralph’s life wasn’t perfect, of course. There were some bumps in the marriage, typical things that all young couples face. But as the years passed, different troubles appeared. Dorothy would sometimes be overcome with depression. She became confused in her thoughts and on really bad days would speak of harming herself. Luckily, Dorothy’s parents and siblings were close and helped with the the children. Eventually, Ralph had no choice but to admit Dorothy into a mental health facility for a few weeks.

Dorothy suffered another spell several years later. Ralph must have felt helpless as he watched his wife fall into utter despair. When he returned home from work one day to find Dorothy with her head submerged in the bathtub, he once again committed her.

These incidences had taken place years before and the summer of 1956 promised wonderful things. Richard was a junior at Harvard and made high marks in all of his classes. Thomas had taken a competitive examination for the Air Force Academy and was accepted. Judith showed all the signs of being as brilliant as her brothers.

Judith Middleton

But by the beginning of September there were clouds forming on the horizon that threatened the Middleton family. Thomas had decided to take leave from the academy to think about his future. Ralph and Dorothy wanted Thomas to return to the academy but he held firm and made the decision to enroll in the University of Wisconsin at Madison instead. He was interested in becoming a dentist and Madison had an excellent program.

Ralph was obviously disappointed but wanted to show his support for his son. Dorothy on the other hand, began to think that there was something lacking in Thomas. Ralph pointed out all of Thomas’ successes during high school. Thomas was a star athlete, made the honor roll consistently, was inducted to the National Honor Society, and had passed the very tough exam required to be accepted into the Air Force Academy.

Dorothy spoke with Ralph and her sisters about the negative effect she was having on her children. They were quick to deny that claim and tried to reassure her that was not the case. Dorothy’s sisters grew very concerned. They pleaded with Ralph to return Dorothy to the mental facility that had helped in the past. They offered to take Judith until Dorothy recovered. But Ralph was certain that his wife would eventually support Thomas’ decision.

Ralph woke up on Saturday, October 13, 1956 feeling hopeful that Dorothy would change her mind. Dorothy seemed in good spirits that morning and got up early to make Ralph breakfast before he left for work. They drank coffee and discussed the plans for the day. Ralph mentioned that he was only working a half day and should be home by noon. Dorothy seemed happy as she kissed him goodbye. Ralph would later state that he had no warning of what was to come.
Ralph arrived home after noon to find a note addressed to him on the kitchen table. His hands were shaking as he tore open the letter. The letter started with the words, “I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

Ralph dropped the letter and raced to the master bedroom. He was stunned to see the rifle that he used for target practice placed on the bed. The gun had obviously been fired. Ralph raced to Thomas’s room where it took a moment to understand what lay before him. There was blood on the pillow and a hole in Thomas’ temple.

Terrified now, Ralph raced into Judith’s room. There was more blood and Ralph realized that Judith had also been shot. Ralph slowly returned to the kitchen. He picked up the phone and dialed the number for the police.
Detectives arrived quickly along with the Coroner Sundberg and States Attorney Canfield. When they questioned Ralph about Dorothy’s location, he stated that he did not know. They decided to check the house and went to the basement with Ralph following behind. They found Dorothy on the floor in the basement. She was curled into a fetal position and gasping for air. They later found evidence that Dorothy had ingested a solution of lye and carbolic acid after shooting the children.

Dorothy was rushed to the hospital as Ralph tried to answer the detectives many questions. Though Dorothy had extensive burns to her mouth, trachea and esophagus, she survived. She was placed under arrest for the murder of Thomas and Judith as soon as she regained consciousness.

Richard came home to assist his father in securing counsel for his mother. The defense attorney believed that they could get a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict. The state was just as sure they could prove murder. The trial turned into a battle of the psychiatrists as the state worked to prove that Dorothy knew what she was doing was wrong because she waited until Ralph left for work before killing the children.

While Ralph and Richard dealt with Dorothy’s medical care and arrest, they also had to plan a funeral for Thomas and Judith. The children were laid to rest at Wildwood Burial Park on West State Street. The service was held at St. John’s Evangelical Church. Besides friends and family, the church was filled to capacity with many who were unknown to the family. These strangers came to show support for the family that had suffered so much.

The state decided to try Dorothy for the murder of Judith first. Dorothy, still weakened by the damage inflicted in her suicide attempt, attended the trial in a wheel chair. The jury deliberated for 2 hours and 25 minutes before returning with a guilty plea. The courtroom exploded with emotion as family members broke into tears. Dorothy became distraught and Ralph reached to comfort her. His stoic demeanor cracked a little as reporters rushed to snap photographs of Dorothy in her despair. In an act completely out of character, Ralph lunged for one of the cameramen.

There was no feeling of resolution in this case, even the thought of bringing the family justice gave no comfort. The judge called Ralph to the front of the courtroom after announcing the verdict. He expressed sympathy for Ralph for the tragedy and spoke of how this case had rocked the entire community. The judge explained that though he felt compassion for Ralph and his wife, his job was to speak for the victims. Dorothy was sentenced to 30 years at the Illinois Reformatory for Women in Dwight, Illinois. The family was devastated and filed an appeal immediately.

Dorothy was re-assessed in the prison and quickly transferred to the Kankakee State Mental Hospital on the recommendation of the prison psychiatrist. While incarcerated, Dorothy made several suicide attempts. During one attempt Dorothy damaged her hands which had to be wrapped in gauze. On April 7, 1957, she removed the gauze wrapping from her hands and used them to hang herself. The newspapers carried the news of Dorothy’s death and her funeral. The articles mentioned the pastor offered hope to the family that Dorothy could at last find peace. She was laid to rest near Judith and Thomas.

Ralph continued to fight to have Dorothy’s murder verdict overturned. In May 1957, he filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to grant a Writ of Error. Ralph spoke of the stigma the conviction brought upon his remaining son. The court denied the request.The same church that held all of the funerals for the family hosted a fund raiser to help Richard to continue his studies at Harvard. Richard eventually received a doctoral degree. He moved to New Jersey where he worked in Biology and raised his own family.

Ralph moved forward from this unbelievable tragedy. He remarried and worked at Ingersoll until his retirement in 1988. He continued to honor Dorothy’s memory whenever possible. When Richard got engaged the announcement mentioned both Ralph and Dorothy as parents. His long time commitment to the company he worked for and his service to this community brought Ralph great pride. But Ralph would probably take more pleasure in being remembered for his dedication to his family.

Copyright © 2019 Kathi Kresol, Haunted Rockford Events