American Monsters: Who Killed Carmen Wagner?
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Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.
Warning, Kind of Murdery contains adult themes, explicit language, and descriptions of violence. It is not suitable for anyone, and we recommend you stop listening now. True crime with a dash of the paranormal, the garish, the strange, in the darkly comic. I'm Zevanodleberg, and you've found your way to kind of Murdery, a place that means more than just murder. It's my very own pocket dimension, home to a curated collection of bizarre and compelling stories. The unsolved, the unsettling, and the unbelievable.
I cover it all just so long as it's kind of Murdery. Hey, everybody, welcome to Kind of Murdery. I'm your host, Zevan Odleberg. Thank you for deciding to be here. Some of you may remember from season two Kind of Murdery the Emerald Triangle that I grew up in Humboldt County, and I didn't just grow up in humbold County. Humble County, by the way, is far northern California is for redwood trees and marijuana cultivation. It is a beautiful wild place, not densely populated, to say the least. The largest town, the county seat of Eureka is about thirty five thousand.
The town where I went to high school, Arcada, is about six thousand. The place that I grew up, a little hamlet called Maple Creek, isn't even really a hamlet. It's just the middle of the woods. I grew up an hour from the nearest town, off of sixteen miles of gravel road, behind two locked gates off the power grid all wood heating, wood cooking, solar and water power. I used to chop a box of wood before dinner every night. We were like a modern day Swiss family Robinson and so you can imagine that in such a wild, sparsely populated place, I don't tend to run into a lot of homies.
When I go other places, maybe I'll meet somebody who's from Humboldt County or more likely went to humbold State University, but it it's super rare for me to meet somebody from Maple Creek who I don't already know. Where am I going with all this? Well, we're starting a new story today, and believe it or not, it takes place in Humboldt and it has an actual, honest to God, Maple Creek tie in. So for my family and my friends who I grew up with way out there in the boonies. Yeah, not just Humboldt, not just Eureka, but actual Maple Creek plays a role in this story.
And what's the story. I'm going to keep it simple. The story you're about to hear boils down to a single question. Who killed the beautiful eighteen year old huntress Carmen Wagner. That's right, who killed the beautiful eighteen year old huntress Carmen Wagner. Now, if any of you got a little burned out on the seventh part, Bonnie and Clyde, I hope you enjoyed it. I love doing it. But in case you got burned out on seven parts, don't worry, folks, this one's just going to be a two parter. You'll hear the first part today Thursday, September fifteenth, and we'll wrap it up this Sunday, September eighteenth.
All right, buckle up, get ready, four Part one of Who Killed Carmen Wagner. You know the drill plug in your peevies, Turn up those fifty one fifties to eleven and lack beloved Eddie Munson. It's time to heavy metal. Kind of murdery starts right now.
One of the strangest cases in California jurisprudence, if not in the criminal annals of the entire country, occurred during the tenure of District Attorney Arthur W. Hill at Eureka, Humble County, California. On the late afternoon of Wednesday, October seventh, nineteen twenty five, a young man and his girl companions suddenly vanished from their homes at Eureka, California. They had gone on a hunting trip together, apparently without the barest premonition of the horrible fate which awaited them in the densely wooded mountain.
After several days of increasing suspense, the young couple had not returned to their homes, and the alarm was spread and a large posse of men was organized to search for the man and the girl. Two members of the posse, poking around in the mountainous regions surrounding a flat plateau known as Coyote Flat in northern California, suddenly stumbled over a grave which had been scooped hastily out of the earth behind a large rock. The searchers stood in horror, stricken at the site which met their eyes.
They had, by the merest chance, found the body of Carmen Wagner, an eighteen year old red haired girl, the owner of a popular beauty shop at Ferndale, who had vanished from her home in the company of Henry's Sweet, a young man to whom she had been reported to be engaged. A terrified Glance told the posse man that the young girl had been cruelly shot to death in a hasty attempt made to cover her body with earth rocks and leaves, before the bloody corpse been placed in a shep sallow grave. Raising his revolver, one of the possemen fired three shots, the signal to notify the other searchers that their worst fears had been realized and that Carmen Wagner had been found dead.
Then, during the silent hours of the night, the possemen stood guard over the body while other searchers made their way to the flat with the coroner to bring the corpse back to Eureka over the steep and dangerous mountain trails. District Attorney Arthur W. Hill was notified by wireless that the girl's body had been found. This was probably one of the first instances where radio had been used in the aid of forces of the law. So rough was the country that one of the possemen had taken his radio into the mountains and kept Hill in touch with every detail of the long search, which had ended with the finding of the corpse.
The district attorneys set about at once to marshal the facts of the case for presentation to a jury should the Sheriff's office succeed in arresting the suspects. What a tragedy this killing was. Carmen Wagner, as a schoolgirl, was a beautiful young child with long braids of tawny red hair. With her parents and a brother, Logan, the girl lived in the mountains on the Wagner Ranch, some few miles from Eureka. The young girl was taught to handle a rifle, and she became an expert shot. Then the Wagner family, when Carmen was about thirteen years old, moved from their ranch to Eureka.
It was with deep regret that the young girl left the ranch home in the mountains, but as time passed, she returned again and again to the locality to hunt and to climb the steep trails which chrisscrossed through the region. As of vocation, Carmen established a prosperous little beauty parlor at Ferndale, which became the meeting place of the bells of the neighborhood for various embellishments which delight the hearts of young women. Carmen became very popular among the younger set for pleasure.
To relieve the hours of work she spent at her beauty shop business, Carmen Wagner went on frequent hunting trips, on which she was accompanied by Henry Sweet, a young man who had lived for years in Eureka. Because of her unusual beauty, with bob auburn locks and a clear, healthy complexion, Carmen was besieged with masculine attentions. And I'll post a picture of Carmen on Instagram in case anyone is curious. But of all the wooers, she had chosen Henry Sweet. She'd been sweet on Sweet if you will, Sorry, can't help myself.
I am compelled to tell every dad joke that presents itself to my obsessive mind. Carmen and Henry liked the same things, especially hunting and long walk through the woods, and often they enjoyed together the pleasures of camping in the mountains, both bringing down game with sure shots from their rifles. On these frequent hunting trips in the vicinity of the girl's old home, Carmen and Henry were always accompanied by the young woman's large yellow, brown colored Collie dog. The dog adored his mistress and answered her calls quickly, which led her to give him the Spanish name of Pronto.
In the girl's last hour of peril, Pronto gave his own humble life in a desperate attempt to save his beloved owner. Not suspecting the danger which lurked nearby, Marie and Carmen made a rendezvous for their last hunting trip together, a rendezvous which ended in the mysterious deaths of both of them. On Wednesday afternoon, October seventh, nineteen twenty five, Henry asked Carmen if she would enjoy going on a hunting trip with him to Coyote Flat. Well, I'll have my car and I'll get some provisions and shells, and we can do a lot of shooting, said Henry, his faith reathed in smiles as he told the girl of his newly made plans.
Oh I'd love to exclaimed Carmen enthusiastically. I'll meet you and we can have the whole day tomorrow to ourselves in the hills. A trysting place was named, and Carmen returned to her home to don her hunting apparel and to obtain her small Boer rifle. She bade her mother a joyous goodbye and hurried quickly to meet Henry. It was the last time that missus Wagner ever saw her daughter alive. As she left home, waving at her mother, Carmen glanced hastily at a small gold wristwatch because she did not want to be late and keep Henry waiting.
The watch was an old fashioned time piece which had been given by missus Wagner to her daughter, who had made of it a risk watch by attaching a leather casing to hold it. This watch later was destined to become one of the most important links of circumstantial evidence in the murders of Coyote Flat. Carmen, thanks to her small watch, was on time for her appointment with Henry Sweet. The rays of the setting sun were slanting across the city of Eureka, as the girl and the young man started out on their last hunting trip together, although of course they didn't know it was their last hunting trip.
Then around the swiftly moving automobile driven by the young man scampered the dog pronto. After watching the girl and the man disappear in the distance, a sinister figure left Eureka and struck out on a trail through the woods. The mysterious figure knew intimately every bypath and shortcut through the mountains, and could overtake any game, animal or human that he stalked. The young couple did not return the next day as they had promised. The girl's mother became uneasy about her daughter's absence, but consoled her mind with the comforting thought that she was in the company of a reliable and trustworthy young man who could take care of her.
Hours passed without any sign of her daughter, however, and missus Wagner's worry increased until it became full blown fear. The family instinct is to return to the fireside at the close of the day, and any unaccounted absence strikes fear to the heart. Even an hour's absence of a beloved one makes his or her relatives apprehensive because of the fear that some harm may have come to the missing person. After hours had elapsed and Carmen had still not returned, missus Wagner told her son Logan that she believed her daughter was in danger and that the authorities should be informed so that a search might be started for Henry and Carmen.
Logan tried to calm his mother's fears with the explanation that Carmen had always returned safely from other hunting trips and doubtless she and Henry would arrive home soon. They learned that sharef A. A. Ross was in the eastern part of the country on a business trip, but the Deputy's share of H. G. Reid was the official to whom they could tell their fears and appeal for aid in locating the missing couple. District Attorney Arthur W. Hill was also informed of the case. Reid paid close attention to the story of the couple, who now had been missing in the mountains for three days.
Several theories were advanced to account for their strange absence. Had the young couple become lost, had they been injured in a fall? Were they starving in the dense woods which clothed the mountains. Had something sinister happened to the girl and the man, something which prevented them from firing three signal shots which would have brought huntsmen to their aid at once. Reid decided immediately to organize a large posse to search through the mountains. He knew that time must not be lost if the girl and the man were to be found and brought home safely.
Reid saw something mysterious in the fact that neither young person had been able to return to Eureka, and neither had they sent the dog Pronto to his home with a message tied to his collar, which would have summoned aid immediately. The theory that they had fallen and suffered severe injuries, or possibly had been killed, was the strongest belief. It was hardly possible that sweet and the girl had become lost, because both knew the mountain trails almost like open books. Deputy Sheriff Reid notified the citizens of Eureka that a large posse was to be formed to conduct the search, and volunteers responded immediately.
Nearly every able bodied man answered the summons. As everyone knew Carmen and Henry, and they were all anxious to do everything possible to find the young people. The district attorneys studied the case and decided to gather all information possible should it be discovered that a crime had been committed, But of course, at this time, neither the DA nor the officers had any intimation of the tragedy which was to come. Meanwhile, the sinister figure, who they were destined to discover later, had followed Sweet and the girl across the mountains, had returned silently and unobserved to Eureka, where he walked the streets in broad daylight and even joined the posse for a short time.
During the search for the girl and the man, Deputy Sheriff Reid took charge of one group of possemen, while Captain Clyde Randall of the California State Traffic Police directed the other group of searchers and outlined the territory for his men to cover. Captain Randall advanced a startling and disquieting theory as to the disappearance of the girl. Well, I believe that Carmen Wagner has been abducted and hidden in a cabin of an insane mountaineer, declared Captain Randall. We must bend every effort to find her, and I hope that we will do so before we are too late.
Wow jump straight to cabin of insane mountaineer. Huh where there are a lot of known insane mountaineers in the area. Based on my own personal experience growing up there, magic eight ball says, signs point to yes. The territory into which the young couple had vanished was composed of steep trails, deep valleys, high mountains, and in some places was almost inaccessible because of the rough terrain. A unique method of communication was established between the posse and the District Attorney's office for possibly the first time.
As I mentioned before, a radio was used to keep the District Attorney's office in constant touch with the POSSE, and the DA received every bit of information as the search progressed. The posse man relaying radio messages to the DA was Kenny Kilburn, a photographer and amateur radio operator who made a hobby of wireless radio. Kilburn carried his small radio sending apparatus into the mountains and sent important news of the search directly to the DA's office in Eureka. Today, of course, radios are almost universally present in police vehicles and even on police uniforms, but it's believed that Kenny Kilburn was one of the pioneers of using the radio to aid the forces of the law.
Meanwhile, the posse continued to search every part of the mountains. In the posse were several young men, including Kenneth Buck, two half brothers, Walter David and Jack Ryan, and Kenneth Walford, who had known Carmen for some time. Sidney S. Pixton was a searcher, and he and Buck kept close together as they searched about the plateau known as Coyote Flat. Walter d David and Jack Ryan were half Native Americans who had lived in the district for years, Ryan at one time having attended the same school with the missing Wagner girl.
The brothers made their living by working odd jobs on their ranches, breaking stubborn horses, and Ryan frequently acted as a guide for tourists who went on sightseeing and hunting trips in the mountains. Jack Ryan was known as the best horseman in the county, and he also was a crack shot with either a rifle or a pistol. Logan Wagner, the young brother of the missing girl, also was a member of the posse. He was an expert woodsman, and his knowledge of the country an ability to find his way through the dense growth and steep trails added impetus to the search.
No traces of the missing couple were found, and fear began to clutch at the hearts of the searchers. They began to feel that something terrible had happened to Carmen and Henry, and the question was asked, will we find them dead? Kenneth Walford, who'd known Carmen for nearly four years, was one of the most tireless of the large army of searchers. Walford was only a youth, being just twenty years old, but he devoted long days to an effort to find the missing girl. He had joined the Posse immediately when she was reported missing, and in his old, battered automobile, he had started out for Coyote Flat, but the machine was aged and it would not climb the steep roads, so Walvard abandoned it and struck out on foot to aid in the search.
Meanwhile, searchers continued to scour the mountain sides, the valley beds of small streams, and the trails, several of which led up to Coyote Flat. After the search had been underway for some time, several of the men one day decided to travel over one of the paths. They started out slowly, poking over every foot of the way. As they walked up toward Coyote Flat, the path made a crooked turn and there lay the body of Henry Sweet. Blood had gushed from his side and mouth, and the body was sprawled as though Sweet had fought in his death agony.
Had he been murdered. The body was examined hastily, and it appeared to the possemen that Sweet had died from a violent hemorrhage caused by packing a heavy deer. What if his death was accidental from his exertion, then perhaps Carmen was still safe, But there's been no mention of there being the carcass of a heavy deer in the pathway next to him. If he had died from an exertion hemorrhage due to a heavy deer, which sounds extremely unlikely for someone who's probably twenty years old, then wouldn't the carcass have said deer be lying right next to him.
I mean that sounds like an absolutely absurd conclusion to leap to, but I suppose when you're desperate to believe that someone you love is safe, you can leap to almost any conclusion. And the possemen hoped ardently that Carmen was still safe. This optimistic outlook raised the hopes of the possemen that the missing girl could be found alive, but these fond hopes were to be dashed to pieces. An autopsy was performed on Sweet's body, and the DA was informed that he had been shot to death, the bullets from the gun striking him in either side and the back.
The mysterious killer or killers had taken the life of their first victim. Kenneth Walford learned of the discovery of Sweet's body with mingled feelings of fear and impotent anger. Because of his helplessness in trying to find Carmen Wagner, he spurned the offer of giving his aid to the posse determined to search alone, feeling that he could cover more territory faster than if he searched the direction of an officer. The Tuesday following the discovery of Sweet's body, Walford left for Coyote Flat at night.
He later would tell the DA how he had set out alone to find the missing girl. Okay, can I just say that sounds super suspicious? Oh yeah, I'm I'm just gonna go searching, which means wandering because it's night. I'm just gonna go searching at night by myself through nearly impassable mountains and forests in search of the possibly murdered girl in the pitch black alone. Okay, So that sounds either simple or really guilty, because if you've got no idea where the girl is, what possible hope do you have of finding her alone at night by yourself in the dark.
On the other hand, if you know exactly where the body is, alone by yourself under the cover of night, sounds like a pretty logical time to go try to dispose of it, doesn't it. Well? Anyway, I shouldn't be convicting Walford in a kangaroo court here, so instead we'll hear his testimony to the DA at the preliminary hearing of one of the suspects in the mysterious murder right after the break. Remember, I said when we returned, you'd be listening to the preliminary hearing testimony, and this is the preliminary hearing for one of the suspects in the mysterious murder.
We don't know who that is yet, but we are going to jump to the testimony of Kenneth Walford, he who left in the middle of the night to go search the woods by himself in the dark. Not for nefarious reasons, sure, but it's not for us to judge yet. Here is Kenneth Walford. He says, I left Eureka at seven forty five PM, and I arrived at the old Wagner Place near Showers Rock sometime between twelve o'clock and two o'clock in the morning. Wow, so we're talking a five to six hour drive combination hike here.
On my way there, says Walford, I met two officers, Deputy Sheriff Reid and Captain Randall, who were going in the opposite direction. I continued to the place where I wanted to search, traveling in all about four miles. No one was near the Wagner Place. It was deserted and ghostly in the dark. I built a fire near the old house to get warm. Then I became thirsty and I decided to go up to the spring in front of the house to get a drink of water. I had a flashlight and I used the light to find the spring, and just as I was leaving the spring, I made a discovery that took my breath away.
I saw dog tracks and the footprints of Carmen Wagner. I knew at once that the missing girl had been at the spring because I recognized the footprints as belonging to the girl, and the dog tracks were made by her Collie dog Pronto. The prints were made by a lady's shoe, and I was pretty certain that they were made by Carmen. I followed the tracks in the direction they were going. They looked fresh because they were in the mud around the spring, and it looked like they were just a few hours old. I followed the tracks up the north side of the house for about one hundred yards, and then they vanished, finding Carmen's tracks, the boy was frantic and don found the young man trying desperately to trace her footprints from the spot where they suddenly disappeared.
The youth had believed that the footprints would lead him directly to the missing girl and enable him to render her his aid if she should be in danger. Walford was unable to repress his intense excitement when he could not discover where the girl's footprints led to, so he hastily joined the Posse and breathlessly explained what he had found. The discovery sent new thrills of hope into the tired possemen, who felt like there was still a slim chance of finding the missing girl alive. Walford again turned to his lone search, being greatly perplexed at the mystery of the girls vanishing footprints.
Then he encountered Jack Ryan near Coyote Flat. While he was resting by a gate near a cabin, Walford noticed a man coming up the hill toward him. Walford had tied his horse to a tree and then sat down to await the man coming up the trail. The man was Jack Ryan. Walford did not know Ryan, whom he supposed to be a member of the Posse, although he had never heard of him. In telling the DA of the incident, Walford said that he observed that Ryan stopped for five minutes to fix something on his horse's saddle.
This action completed, Ryan also tied up his animal and came and sat down on the rock beside Walford. The two men introduced themselves and then smoked together while they recounted the latest developments in the hunt. Ryan explained to Walford that he too was aiding in the search, although none of the officers had asked him, but that nevertheless, he was giving a few hours of his time to help locate the girl with whom he had attended school when they were both youngsters. Walford brought up the question as to whether the nearby Baker Canyon region had been searched thoroughly.
I pointed out across the canyon, beyond the old orchard, and I asked Ryan if there are any shacks or cabins in that canyon. Walford told the DA. One of the fearful theories, it will be remembered, that was almost immediately advanced by the head of the traffic patrol, was that Carmen Wagner was held in the cabin of an insane mountaineer. No, there are no cabins in that canyon, Ryan replied to Walford's question, Well, yes, actually, Ryan hesitated yeh, yes, I guess there is an old shack in there, but that country's been all searched out.
The canyon was known as Baker Creek Canyon, and a sinister discovery later was to be made in that region. When I asked Ryan which way he was going, continued Walford. Ryan replied that he was going to the Sibley place, and I said, well, we might as all ride along together because I was going in the same direction. And then I asked Ryan if he knew Carmen Waggon. Several moments of silence followed before Ryan spoke, Oh, yes, he said, in a sad voice. I knew her very well because we used to be in school together when we were kids.
Then Ryan began to ask the questions as he and Walford rode together on the narrow trail. Are you going to search in this same country tomorrow? Ryan asked, with a queer gleam in his dark eyes. No, I don't hardly think so, said Walford, because I don't see anything around here that looks as if it amounts to anything, and I don't believe that the girl will be found around this place at all. Do you think that Carmen is still in this part of the country, was Ryan's next question. He appeared extremely anxious to hear any opinions as to the whereabouts of the missing girl.
I have my doubts that Carmen is still here, said Walford. I'm not certain that she's not somewhere around here, but I am going to stay until I find out. The two men then rode in silence, keeping their thoughts to themselves, for about a half a mile along the narrow trail. Ryan then began to write a little distance ahead of me, said Walford. He began to write at an angle to the right of me, about a distance of six feet ahead. Ryan was riding with his right hand in an odd place position in his pants or white chaps, which were worn by cowboys.
Boy, if this wasn't a grim murder story, and somebody told me that a man was riding with his right hand in an odd position in his pants or his white chaps, I would think this was an entirely different kind of story altogether. But anyway, back to Wolford, I was watching him pretty closely because he was a stranger to me, and some of the things that he'd said had made me suspicious when he said that the country around there, including the cannon, had been searched thoroughly. I could not believe him, because I personally did not think the searchers had covered that territory at all.
Ryan put his right hand from his belt down to his chaps at about the knee. I had been told before that besides a Luger revolver, the man also was in the habit of carrying a small twenty five caliber automatic, but he did not show any signs of reaching for a gun. Then Ryan rolled a cigarette. As we continued to ride along toward the Old Wagner place. I showed him my own revolver, and he examined it critically, and then returned the weapon to me. Finally we came to the Old Wagner ranch, and, not having seen any traces of the missing girl, we parted company.
A week passed, and one day several possemen were making a search near the Frank Bryan homestead. A road ran past the place. Eight feet from the road was a picket fence, which at one point had been nailed to an oak tree. The tree was about eighty five yards from the house. Gilbert Sutherland, a posseman turned his head toward the tree. His glance traveled down the trunk. Between the trunk and the picket fence, he saw an object. Hastily, he stepped to the tree and ran his hand between the tree and the fence and picked up his discovery.
It was Carmen Wagner's hunting rifle. Discovery of the weapon was significant because it meant that the missing girl was without protection. Without the weapon, she was helpless if she'd been kidnapped. Who had hidden the girl's weapon and why had the gun been concealed so hastily behind the oak tree. Apparently the murderer or murderers of Henry Sweet had passed along the very road beside which the girl's rifle had been found. Had the killers dragged the captive girl along this very road and had they discarded her weapon?
When some possemen were sighted, the gun muzzle was pointed up and the side of the weapon away from the tree was covered with rust, leading to the belief that it had been hidden a day or two as it was wet from recent rains. There was no rust the muzzle of the weapon had someone fired it recently. Sutherland looked along the picket fence. There he found a bullet hole through a picket. Had the murderers crouched behind the fence and fired its sweet after he'd been murdered. Had the fiendish killers kidnapped Carmen?
Had they harmed her? Or was she held captive in a lonesome shack in the mountains. These baffling questions were foremost in the minds of the possemen when they resumed their frantic search for the missing girl. Her weapon was turned over to the DA as evidence should the posse capture its elusive querry. Deputy Sheriff Reid, knowing that Carmen was helpless if she was lost in the mountains and without her weapon as a means of defending herself, spurred the searchers onto their greatest efforts. The possemen eagerly climbed the hills and trails until darkness forced them to their campfires in the mountains.
Among the tireless searchers were Kenneth Buck, a youth who did chores and odd jobs near Eureka, and Sidney S. Pixton, a truckman who had volunteered their time in the desperate hunt which had led to the discovery of Sweet's murdered body, but so far had failed to uncover any trace of his young and beautiful girl companion Carmen Wagner. Two weeks had passed since the beautifl young girl had dropped from sights, so mysteriously Buck and Pixton joined the posse on October twenty first. Both had known the missing girl, Buck having attended the Eureka Business College with Carmen Wagner.
Buck and Pixton were instructed to search in the vicinity of Coyote Flat. The two men crossed Baker Creek while they kept their eyes peeled for any sight of the girl. The creek bed was dotted with huge boulders or rocks, around which the men had to walk in their search. The banks of the creek and the ground were covered with leaves and moss, and a few scattered small trees. Other large rocks nested on the banks of the small stream. The plateau known as Coyote Flat was beside the creek, and one of the large rocks stood beside a slope or a decline, which led to the bed of the stream.
On the morning of Friday, October twenty third, just sixteen days after Carmen's disappearance, Buck and Pixton, together with the other searchers, ate an early breakfast prepared over their campfires, and started out to search Baker Creek. The two men kept close together, occasionally calling out to each other a passing comment on the uncanny absence of the young red haired girl who was so well known and her big Collie dog. Then, almost simultaneously they made a startling discovery. They had almost stumbled over the body of the faithful dog Pronto had been shot to death.
Oh jeez, that sucks. Frozen on the spot, Buck and Pixton were so horror stricken that for several moments neither could speak. Slowly, their startled eyes swept over the ground near the body of the dog. Near the dog's body were footprints. Three marks were distinct and appeared to Pixton to have been made by a man's shoe. The princes were about fifteen feet away from the dog's body. The dog lay on its side in a clearing on a gradual slope up from the creek. To pix it in Bucket appeared as though the animal had been shot to death.
Then its carcass carried to Baker Creek and hurled down beside the large boulder. It was now ten o'clock in the morning. Marking the dog's body as the center of a circle, Buck and Pixton gradually moved from the animal to search every foot of the surrounding land. They picked up a leather belt which had belonged to Carmen Wagner. It was a black leather belt and apparently the buckle had been broken from it. Had the two searchers discovered the spot where Carbon had put up a fight for her life against the person or persons who had kidnapped her after slaying Sweet by shooting him in the back.
That was the question that interested them. The searchers noticed a faint and very unpleasant odour in the vicinity, but before they could account for it, they suddenly spied the girl's hat half hidden in the sand. White fur trimming was on the red colored hat, which attracted the glances of Buck and Pixton. An effort apparently had been made to cover the hat with sand as it was half concealed. Another frightening discovery was made in the next few minutes when the searchers saw a large pool of blood.
The blood was some distance from where the body of the dog had been found. Obtaining a stick, Buck scratched the blood and found that it was still fresh beneath the sand into which it had soaked. The two men searched for some distance up and down the creek bed, a terrible premonition making itself felt in their minds. Suddenly they observed a narrow passage only four feet wide, beside the huge rock and the spot where the body of the dog lay. The searchers had passed this path numerous times, but they now observed three footprints leading behind the rock.
Cautiously, and with increasing dread, they started to walk along the narrow path. They took several steps, covering about fifteen feet, when they saw something which almost made them flee from the spot in terror. They had found the decomposed body of Carmen Wagner. The corpse was concealed, and unless a searcher walked directly toward it behind the rock, it would have remained hidden. By the merest chance. Buck and Pixton had made the gruesome discovery. The body had been buried in a shallow grave and was almost completely concealed by a covering of earth.
Leaves, sticks, and rocks. Fearfully, Buck removed some leaves and gazed into the blackened face of Carmen Wagner. Pixton drew his revolver and fired three shots into the air, the signal, which had been agreed upon between the posse men to let the other searchers know that an important discovery had been made. Other searchers, the nearest being a half a mile away, heard the signal and started to the scene over the rough trails. The district Attorney learned of this terrible discovery via Kenny Kilburn's radio.
He began to look into the recent activities of any person or persons who might be suspected in the two brutal and cold blooded murders. The finger of fishing at this time seemed to point to two men, both residents of the immediate neighborhood. Meanwhile, Buck and Pixton did not touch the girl's body. This was partly because of horror the sight of the corpse, which had apparently been exposed to the elements for several days, and partly because they realized that to disturb the body might destroy some clue which the coroner of the Sheriff's office might find.
Buck and Pixton did observe, however, that the girl's wristwatch was missing. Ernest Bull, another searcher, soon joined Buck and Pixton at the grave of the young girl, while other members of the posse slowly made their way in that direction. The day dragged passed until the three men searched the vicinity for other clues. Nightfall came and they lighted a campfire some distance from the corpse and prepared to spend the dismal night in close proximity to the grave. Coroner Swanson was notified that Carmen Wagner's body had been discovered on Coyote Flat, and he set out to bring back the corpse.
He was forced to camp at night about four miles from the plateau, resuming his tedious journey the next day and reaching the grave at nine o'clock in the morning. One glance showed Coroner Swanson that the corpse was in a very advanced decomposition and should be taken to a more without waste of time, with the help of the possemen, who were by this time in a revengeful state of mind against the slayer or slayers. Coroner Swanson carefully removed the girl's body and placed it on a stretcher. It was covered with canvas, and the possemen, who had been friends of the slaying girl, tenderly brought her body back down the trail to Eureka.
Man, this is sad. I can really picture it in my head, having grown up near Eureka too. Even though I grew up there sixty years later. I bet it hadn't changed all that much. It hasn't changed all that much since I was a kid. While Carmen's body was being removed, threats of lynching rumbled forth, and Sheriff Ross of humbold County made quick plans to take two suspects into custody to prevent their being strung up on the trees by an infuriated mob. He wanted to prevent any violence to the two suspects and let the law and justice provide punishment.
Sheriff Ross believed that he knew the guilty person or persons, and hoped that if they were taken into custody immediately, he could obtain their confessions for the double murder. While the feverish search continent waited for the suspects, doctor J and Chain performed the autopsy upon the body of Carmen. He quickly determined by medical examination how the murderer or killers had taken the life of the girl. The death of Carmen Wagner was caused by two pistol bullets, said doctor Chain. One bullet struck the girl near her left ear and emerged from in front of the right ear.
The second bullet struck her on the left side of the neck, just below the angle of the jaw, and its exit was in front of the temple by the right ear. The second bullet completely went through the girl's neck and partway through her head and was lodged under the skin. The bullet which had passed through her head was lost, but I removed the second bullet from beneath the skin. The second bullet, with its strange and individual markings, was to prove another vital link in the chain of circumstantial evidence that would be woven against the suspects for whom Sheriff Ross was now searching.
In my opinion, said doctor Chain, either shot would have caused death, which would have occurred almost instantly, and would have resulted in a heavy hemorrhage, which probably would account for the large amount of blood which was found a short distance from the girl's body. Doctor Chaine also concluded that miss Wagner had been dead for several days before he performed the autopsy on her corpse. This belief led me to the conclusion that the girl had been slain a few days after she'd been abducted following the shooting death of her companion Henry Sweet.
What occurred during the terrible period in which she had been held captive we'll find out more after the break. So what had happened during that awful time after the murder of Henry Sweet and before the murder of Carmon Wagner. One of the beliefs expressed by the officers who visited Coyote Flat where her body had been found, was that it had been attacked. The corpse was so badly decayed, however, that at this point it could not be determined with a positive degree of accuracy. Another startling and terrifying theory was the Carmen had been offered as a blood sacrifice on the mystic shrine, which some observers seemed to see in the arrangement of tree trunks embarked near her grave.
All Right, that sounds kuckoo bananas, But I guess it's always great to blame the devil where you can. Usually the devil is inside of us. Returning to more practical beliefs, Coroner Swanson had a good hunch as the autopsy was being performed. He reasoned that a young girl facing an attacker would attempt to scratch the man's face, and that beneath her fingernails, perhaps there would be found skin and flesh particles which might enable a criminologist to learn the identity of her attacker or attackers, provided we succeeded in arresting them.
Coroner Swanson therefore caused each fingernail of the corpse to be scraped and the substance from each placed in ten separate envelopes. Faced with the tremendous problem of bringing the slayers of both the young man and Carmen to justice, the DA sought the best criminology assistance that could be obtained. Word was sent to doctor EO. Heinrich of Berkeley, California, that he was wanted to help solve the mysterious murders of Coyote Flat. Doctor Heinrich devoted his life to the study of criminology.
Many of his celebrated solutions of baffling crimes reposed in the records of brilliant detective work. One of doctor Heinrich's clever pieces of sleuthing was in the solution of the and I'm going to mispronounce this doctor Mond case, which occurred in Oregon several years earlier. A training was held up and three robbers killed several of the crew in their desperate attempt to get at the money and valuables in the mail car. The robbers were driven off, but not before they'd ruthlessly killed the trainmen.
Doctor Heinrich was called on the case. He didn't have much to work on, but he took the robbers discarded overalls, and by a clever solution, was able to describe the train bandits, even going so far as to point out that one of them was left handed. With this information, the three doctor Mont brothers finally were captured, confessed that they were the robbers, and each was given a life sentence in the penitentiary. There are several other examples of doctor Heinrich's holmesy and genius, but I'd rather stick to our story as it happened.
Doctor Heinrich was near Eureka investigating a comparatively minor case when his services were sought to help solve the mysterious murders of Coyote Flat. He came at once to Eureka to seek evidence in the murders. All available evidence was immediately turned over to doctor Heinrich. This included the ten envelopes containing the substance taken from beneath Carmen Wagner's fingernails, together with her clothing, hat and belt, and other articles. Placing the articles of evidence in suitcases. Doctor Heinrich returned to his laboratory in San Francisco to inspect the physical aspects of the case and arrive at a conclusion as to the possible identity of the murderer or murderers.
In the meantime, Sheriff Ross had been busy arresting two subjects in connection with the slaying. The two subjects lodged in the jail at Eureka were Walter David and Jack Ryan, the half Native American brothers. Let's hope they weren't only suspected because they were Native American. Fingers crossed that some real evidence is coming. Their arrests were dramatic and had followed quickly. After the discovery of Carmen Wagner's body, Deputy Sheriff Reid placed Jack Ryan under arrest at the Deer Creek Ranch, which was located about six miles east of Coyote Flat, where the bodies of Sweet and Miss Wagner had been founded.
Members of the posse broke into Ryan's cabin and found him in bed. It was ten thirty at night, about twelve hours after Carmen's body had been discovered in the shallow grave. Ryan was told to dress quickly, which he did, but he did not put on the white chaps which he had worn the day he met Kenneth Walford on the trail by the old Wagner place. He tossed the chaps carelessly in the yard of the ranch. Have you got a gun, Deputy Reid asked Ryan, who stood trembling and ready to be taken to jail at Eureka.
Yes, Ryan answered, you'll find it in the barn with my saddle. George Wilder, a member of the posse, hurried to the barn and found the gun a German luger. Wilder handed the gun to Reed and the officer and his prisoner began the horseback ride to Eureka. Handcuffs were slipped around the wrist of the suspect, as the deputy sheriff and the possemen did not want to give their prisoner an opportunity to escape into the darkness. As they followed the narrow trail through the mountains, the da met reading his prisoner upon their arrival at the jail, where Ryan was hustled at once into the private office of Sheriff Frost for questioning, and plenty of questions were hurled at the man.
There was reason to believe he was involved in the double murders. Before he could think of an answer to one question, someone would hurl another question at him in an attempt to confuse him and make him tell all he knew about the mystery. In an effort to frighten the suspect, someone told him that the human eye retained the image of the last thing that had seen before death. An attempt was made to make Ryan believe that Carmen's eyes would hold his image. Ryan only shrugged. Ryan readily admitted that the pistol found in the barn belonged to him, and added that he owned several weapons.
He explained this by saying he often supplied hunting parties with pistols and rifles when he acted as a guide. Added way to the suspicion against Ryan followed the announcement by Deputy Sheriff Reid that he'd found two pistol shells at Coyote Flat, about ten or eleven feet from where the girl's body was discovered, and the shells exactly fitted the Lugar pistol which Ryan admitted owning. Several similar shells were also found in Ryan's cabin at the time of his arrest. Well, that seems awfully conclusive, but maybe somebody else has a luger.
Working swiftly to prevent flight from the country, Reid also arrested Ryan's half brother, Walter David. David's cabin, where Ryan often spent his leisure time, was located only three miles south of Coyote Flat. The posemen, led by reidquickly surrounded David's cabin and called to him to come out and surrender. He responded without resistance and was placed under arrest. The demeanor of the two half brothers as they were placed under arrest for the two hideous crimes was noted, particularly by Deputy Sheriff Reid.
Ryan was very nervous and seemed greatly excited, Reid said, But David did not appear very much excited or nervous either for that matter. In fact, Reid said, David was rather genial about his arrest, even inviting the posseman to have coffee with him because he was at breakfast when the officers arrived. Suddenly, however, Reed and his deputies became aware of something peculiar and sinister about David's face. It had been scratched and clawed, as though by the fingers of a girl fighting desperately for her honor and her life.
Another peculiar incident was the fact that neither suspect asked the reason for his arrest. No protest was made, according to the officers, and each man went meekly to the jail. Other evidence gathered included the white chaps which belonged to Ryan, and most sinister of all, a coat owned by Ryan. The coat bore many deep blood stains on the sleeves, shoulder lapels, and even on the back, and the keen eyes of doctor Heinrich discovered a broken needle in the right lapel of the coat. This needle had been broken, Doctor Heinrich believed by pressure when its wearer lifted a heavy burden in his arms, such as the weight of the corpse.
It was learned that the two half brothers had ridden many times on horseback through the Coyote Flat region while the search for Sweet and miss Wagner was in progress. They admitted having crossed Coyote Flat where the girl's body was discovered. And Ryan said that he'd helped the posse search for a short time, but was not asked by the officers to give all his time to the hunt. The sinister, deep scratches like gouges made by fingernails on David's face had been noticed by several persons. I saw the big braw furrows on David's face, said W. H. Wonderley, a carpenter of Eureka who had been a member of the posse.
David's face was scratched badly, apparently with something which had drawn down toward his chin, and there was one deep mark near his nose. I noticed the scratches on October twenty third, the same day the body of Carmen, who used to live a block from my home was found. Wonderley said that the scratch appeared old and there was no blood on David's face. Missus Mildred McGown of San Francisco also had noticed the scratches on the man's face. Missus McGown each summer resides in Humble County, and she knew David, who had broken wild colts for a time on her husband's ranch.
Walter McGown, a San Francisco attorney, had taken up the defense of David, whom he believed to be innocent of the Fiendish slayings. I first saw the scars on David's face sometime between the middle of August and the time of the Fortuna rodeo held about August twenty first, said Missus McGown. At that time, David came to our summer residence at Forest Lake with his face scratched and bleeding. I watched his face with Witch Hazel during the time he was there in the afternoon. The scars are quite deep, one rock cut running down under his left eye.
David said he was anxious to have the scars treated so they would heal and permit him to ride his horse in the rodeo or the scars which Miss McGown observed on David's face before the murders of Swede and Miss Wagner the same marks found on David's face after the girl had been slain. David contended that the marks were the same and he denied any knowledge of the murders, and he also emphasized that he was at the McGown place at the approximate time Carmen was believed to have been slain. The DA believed, however, that the mass of circumstantial evidence against the two suspects was overwhelming, and he made preparations for presentation of the facts to the court.
The half brothers were arraigned for their preliminary hearing before Justice of the Peace J. T. Fraser. The evidence was assembled. Many witnesses had observed the deep scratches on David's face and were ready to testify others who had seen the two suspects in the vicinity of Coyote Flat, the luger shells found at the scene of the crime, which fitted Ryan's revolver, Ryan's blood stained coat with the broken needle in the right lapel, and finally Carmen's tiny wristwatch had been found concealed in the right knee of the white chaps which Ryan had worn.
Oh that is damning. Overwhelming evidence appeared to point conclusively to the guilt of the two brothers. The evidence, of course, was circumstantial. No one, as far as we knew, had seen Sweet murdered, nor had there been any witness to the cruel death of Carmen Wagner. The suspects regarded against any possible violence from the many friends who had known and respected Sweet and miss Wagner in their lifetimes. Their preliminary hearing began before Justice of the Piece J. T. Fraser, at Eureka on November twenty fifth, nineteen twenty five, about one month after the bodies had been found.
Among the experts summoned by the prosecution was the previously mentioned criminologist, doctor EO. Heinrich. Upon his arrival in Eureka, Doctor Heinrich, accompanied by Sheriff A. A. Ross of Humble County, at once made his way over the narrow trails and rough territory to the spot where Carmen's body had been found on Coyote Flat. The criminologist stood in deep thought at the scene of the terrible crime Endeavoring to visualize the actions of the slayer or slayers who had killed Carmen. Near the shallow hole from which the girl's boody corpse had been removed, Doctor Heinrich's keen eyes suddenly discovered a tree trunk which apparently had been cut and fashioned by someone.
The tree appeared to be a shrine. Wait, it really is the devil's fault. Had a religious fanatic or possibly a pair of demented men, made a sacrificial offering of Carmen Wagner before she was slain. This terrible theory was pondered by doctor Heinrich. The tree and the arrangement of the slabs of thick bark had every appearance it was thought of having been made as a crude shrine for the blood offering of its beautiful victim. Jeez, Louise, isn't this story bad enough? Perhaps the girl had been offered to some dark god or to Satan as a sacrificial offering like a goat or a sheep.
Possibly she had escaped a more horrible ritualistic death when her desperate resistance caused her to be shot down with the lugar pistol, the two bullets piercing her head and causing almost instantaneous death. Perhaps some fiend who lived somewhere in the inaccessible mountains had taken the girl prisoner after slaying Henry Sweet, and had dragged Carmen for five miles along the bed of the stream so that her footprints could not be followed. This theory was partly verified when the autopsy over the girl's body disclosed a rope burn.
The burn seemed to point to the fact that a horseman had dragged the girl along behind his animal to the mysterious shrine fashioned from the tree. Oh my God. All the evidence gathered by Sheriff Ross and his deputies was turned over to doctor Heinrich. The criminologists devoted considerable time to the study of the evidence, including the lugar, pistol and the shells found at the scene of the murders, the bullet taken from the girl's head, and the bloodstained coat belonging to Jack Ryan. Then came the preliminary hearing of the two suspects before Justice of the Peace Fraser, to see whether the circumstantial evidence was strong enough to justify both men being held for trial in Superior Court on charges of murder.
Sheriff Ross hustled David and Ryan from the jail to an outer room just beside Judd Fraser's court room. By stipulation, both of the accused men were placed under guard in the outer room and the DA prepared to show enough of the evidence against them to cause them to be held for trial on murder charges. One of the most important witnesses was doctor Heinrich, and the evidence he had gathered was vital to the case. At the preliminary hearing of the brothers, the defense attorneys made strenuous efforts to block any testimony offered by doctor Heinrich.
The qualification of doctor Heinrich to testify on the state's behalf was questioned by the defense, who contended that only a physician could determine the nature of the matter from beneath the victim's nails. But doctor Heinrich was easily qualified when the DA asked him how many years he had been engaged in criminal research. Fifteen years, replied doctor Heinrich, who was then ordered by Judge Fraser to tell what he had found. I found in the particles from beneath the girl's fingernails after it had been dried and separated, grains of earth mixed with twelve tiny particles of a substance which I identified as the outer skin of a human person, and one large particle of flesh without any skin attached, said Doctor Heinrich.
I also examined the bullet taken from the girl's skull. I compared the caliber of the bullet with the caliber of the pistol by direct measurement. The pistol in question was the weapon which one of the two brothers, Jack Ryan, admitted that he had owned. I compared the markings of the rifling upon the bullet with the riflings found within the barrel of the pistol, and found them to be the exact same in number, with and depth, testified Doctor Heinrich. Doctor Heinrich had conducted an extensive experiment with the bullets in his laboratory.
He had arranged a target of paraffin nine inches in depth, and into this substance he had fired the bullets from Ryan's pistol. Then doctor Heinrich dug the bullets from the paraffin and compared them with the bullets which had been taken from Carmen's skull. Doctor Heinrich then testified, over the heated objections of the defense that, in his opinion, the lugar pistol owned by Jack Ryan fired the bullet which had caused the death of Carmen Wagner. Next, the heavy coat owned by Ryan, a garment made of leather and heavy canvas, was introduced as evidence.
Doctor Heinrich had examined the garment. I found the coat liberally marked with blood stains, testified the criminologist. The stains were in the front of the coat and particularly on the left sleeve. I found a series of more recent stains upon the right side of the coat, starting with the collar and extending in small spatters all over the area of the left front of the coat. In particular, the blood had soaked through the outer material and had stained the corner of the pocket through a depth of three inches.
Then doctor Heinrich pointed out the sinister significance of the broken needle upon the inside of the coat lapel. I found a needle, and it had been there for a long time, he said. I examined the needle and found that it had been broken in the center very recently. The needle was fastened in the coat lapel by old rust. The needle had been broken, Doctor Heinrich believed when the wearer of the coat had lifted a heavy object in his arms, such as Carmen Wagner's corpse. The defense attorneys stubbornly and repeatedly attacked the testimony and the qualifications of doctor Heinrich, whose testimony was damaging obviously to the two accused men.
The defense's attempts to impugne doctor Heinrich's expert testimony more less than successful. Answering more questions from the DA, doctor Heinrich next told of the deep scratches he'd observed in the face of Walter David. When the suspect was held in jail. A powerful light was shone directly onto David's face as he was subjected to countless questions by Sheriff Frost and the other officers. I observed deep scratches on David's face, extending along the right cheekbone down into his beard, said doctor Heinrich.
The scratches had been extremely deep and had been made through both layers of the skin into the raw flesh. The scratches indicated to me that David had been clawed at least three times, and from beneath Carmen Wagner's fingernails, bits of skin and flesh had been scraped. Another steel and the chain of circumstantial evidence was added with the discovery of miss Wagner's tiny wristwatch hidden in the lining of the white chaps, which Ryan had discarded so carelessly beside the barn when the posse placed him under arrest.
The discovery of the watch was made by Kenneth Walford, obeying a strange hunch. Walford had walked up to where Ryan's chaps had been thrown on the ground beside some horse saddles. The posemen looked at the chaps, then turned and started to walk away. Guess I'll search the chaps, Walford remarked, suddenly picking them up. Other possemen looked on while Walford raised the chaps at arm's length. I questioned young Walford as to how he had searched the chaps. Well, I picked him up, I held him out and I looked at him, said Walford.
I looked down through the lining. Then I held them by the belt and felt them all the way down with the flat of my hand, but I did not discover anything. Then I laid them down and I started to go away. A strange thought flashed through my mind. I remembered having ridden along the trail with Ryan near the old Wagner place, when Ryan had told me that the Baker Canyon had already been searched out in the vicinity of where Carmen Wagner's body was found. Ryan at that time, Walford recalled him, made a mysterious motion towards the knee of his chaps as they were riding together along the narrow trail.
I wasn't satisfied after I laid the chaps down, Walford continued, So I again felt through them inside and out, and at the bottom seam of the chaps there was an object which felt hard. I commenced working it toward the top and upper part with my fingers and forced it along between the lining and the outer part of the chaps. At last I worked it out to a rip in the lining, and it was Carmen's watch. Miss Wagner's parents and her brother identified the watch as having belonged to the girl. That watch was an old fashioned one.
Missus Wagner said with tears in her eyes when she was asked to identify the time piece. It had three scratches on the back cover. It had been made into a wrist watch with a sort of leather covering, and that watch belonged to my daughter. Doctor Heinrich examined the watch, which no longer had the leather covering when found in Ryan's chaps, and determined that attempts had been made to scratch off the markings and initials on the back cover. Then the defense sprung a surprise. It showed that a bitter hatred was held by Walford against the defendant, Jack Ryan, and that Walford at one time had rushed from the posse camp with a rifle in his hands and avowed his determination to get that Ryan.
The circumstances of the youth's desire to avenge the murder of Carmen Wagner, whom he believed had been slain by Ryan, were dramatic. The posse was camped at night around a fire, waiting for dawn to resume the search for the girl. Walford was restless and anxious to pursue the hunt single handed in the darkness and over the twisting trails. He could not even wait for daylight to start out by himself, hurriedly preparing some sandwiches. Young Walford, who was only a boy of twenty years, set out on foot alone.
The boy was a good shot, as he had hunted many times through the region. He grabbed two weapons from the armament of the posse, one a hunting rifle, in the other a pistol. Walford's anger had increased because he had known the Wagner girl for about three years, and he had liked her very much in his boyish way. In fact, the names and initials of the young couple had been carved in trees and on a wooden shack near Coyote Flat. I'm going to get that bastard, Jack, Ryan, Walford, cried passionately.
Several possemen attempted to detain the youth, but he shook them off angrily. I intend to get Ryan and find out for myself from him if he knows about the murder of Sweet and the disappearance of Carmen. Walford told the other men, I believe Ryan knows something about the murder of Sweet. Walford then broke away and ran toward coyote flat. He had been gone for several minutes when the possemen, after talking over his impulsive action among themselves, decided that they'd better overtake and disarm the boy.
They set it on horses and soon overtook the youth, who was on foot. Riding their horses around him, they forced him to stop and grabbed his weapons from his hands. Against his vehement protests, Walford was led forcibly back to Posse camp. Early the next morning, the boy set out again, carrying a pair of field glasses and a hunting rifle. Some distance away from the camp, he halted and turned around, observing the other posseumen watching his movements. Then Walford focused the powerful lens on a hill three miles away across a deep valley.
A figure suddenly leapt into the youth's vision. Walford raised his rifle, although he knew there wasn't the barrest chance of hitting the mysterious figure, which crouched on the distant hillside, because the rifle bullet would not carry that far. The district attorney, wishing to obtain every bit of evidence to assist him, asked Walford the reason for his angry attitude against Jack Ryan. I saw the tracks of Ryan's horse in that neighborhood. The youth said the tracks could be seen plainly, although I never saw Ryan, who said he was in a different part of the country when we were searching.
I know the tracks were made by his horse because he rode a cult which had not been shot, and the right front foot made a peculiar large track. These strange tracks had been made by the horse going in two directions, and some of them led into a box canyon, which Ryan told me had been thoroughly searched out. The colt had recently been broken, but still maintained many of its wild bucking habits. Remember this fact. A great amount of evidence was presented against David and Ryan at the preliminary hearing on the murder charges.
It seemed that the case made by the state was sufficiently damning, but of course both accused ben also had their opportunity to tell their side of the case through their attorneys. But could David give a logical, convincing explanation of the terrible claw like scratches on his face, The scratches which appeared to have been inflicted by Carmen Wagner and her attempt to escapes ape a fate worse than death. And could Ryan explain how his coat had been soaked by blood which appeared to have every indication of having been shed by a human being, And how could he explain the girl's watch being in his chaps?
The district attorney almost felt smug. It seemed as though the conviction was in the bag, when suddenly the court hearing took a turn as the two half brothers offered their startling alibis. David's attorney quickly called Gilbert Sutherland and Charles Grisback as the chief witnesses to establish an unshakable alibi. Both witnesses declared positively under oath that David had been attacked and terribly beaten and scratched on his face during a furious fight with Henry Cox. We were on a fishing trip, myself, Charlie Grissback and Henry Cox a Bridgeville, said Sutherland, after he had been sworn in as a defense witness.
It was in August and we were camping at a place known as Cold Springs. After we'd camped there one day, the defendant and Walter David arrived on horseback. David and Cox then got in some kind of an argument and a fight started. They fought furiously. David's face began to bleed and was soon all covered with blood, which was running from the deep scratches. The scratches had been made all over David's face, on his right cheek, near his nose, and beside his left eye. The blood ran all over his clothes.
After the fight was over, David left our camp, but the next day he returned and I noticed that the blood had been washed off his face, so we could distinctly see about eight or ten deep scratches. David and Cox then talked over the fight and they agreed to shake hands and to say nothing about it. So I asked him how he could explain about the scratches, and he said he could tell anyone who asked him that a horse threw him off as he was breaking it. The defense attorney to clinch the testimony then asked Sutherland if the scratches on David's face were the same as those inflicted by Cox.
Well, I'm satisfied they are, Sutherland answered. Greasebock next took the witness stand. Well Cock scratched David up pretty bad, Greasebock tests Cock did it with his fingers like a wildcat would, And the next day David's face looked like a war map. But the scratches run in every way. But they both agreed to shake hands, and David said he would say he was thrown from a horse into the brush. To account for the scratches. Was David's alibiological Could Ryan present a similar explanation to account for the great amount of blood on his coat?
Well, my horse tossed me off by suddenly rearing when I was riding in the trail, said Ryan. I got a deep cut over my eye and it bled a lot. The only thing I could do was wipe the blood off on my coat sleeve. I got covered in the blood. But how the district attorney asked him, how do you account for the broken needle in the pel of your coat and the shells from your gun found near the grave of Carmen Wagner. I was near where the girl's body was later found Hunting deer, Ryan replied, I saw an animal on the hillside and I started to shoot at it.
It was running up the hill and I fired several shots at the animal. About eighteen in all before I hit and killed it. Then I lifted the deer's carcass and got some more blood on my coat. I probably broke that needle by lifting the deer. With the evidence and the two men's alibis before him, the judge pondered the case deeply. The responsibility rested on his shoulders. Everyone waited anxiously for his official ruling. It is ordered by the Court, said Justice of the Peace Fraser, that Walter David be discharged and that Jack Ryan beheld to answer on charges of murder.
David walked from the court room a free man, but never in the wildest stretch of the imagination could he possibly have foreseen the horrible fate which was soon to overtake him. Meanwhile, Ryan prepared for his trial, which began February seventeenth, nineteen twenty six, four months after Carmen Wagner and Henry Sweet had been murdered. The trial was to be fought bitterly over a period of six weeks. One of the DA's witnesses was W. R. Shields, a rancher who had resided in humbold County for many years, and who was believed to have been the last man to see Carmen Wagner alive, except, of course, her slayer or slayers.
Under my direct examination on the witness stand, shield testified substantially as follows. On the ninth day of October, which was two days after Carmen Wagner had left her home in Eureka to go hunting with Henry Sweet, I was in the vicinity of Coyote Flat, said Shields. I remember seeing Carmen Wagner that day about a mile and a half or two miles from Coyote Flat on what is known as Hind Palm Trail, on the top of the ridge. I spoke to her as I met her on the trail. It was about eleven o'clock in the morning.
My wife and I were camping at Government Springs, within three quarters of a mile from where I met Miss Wagner. Shortly after we saw Miss Wagner, we saw someone else in the same country. Who was this mysterious man? Was he the slayer or one of the killers who killed Carmen Wagner and Henry Sweet so ruthlessly. A mystery man was seen by Shields near an old unfinished cabin some two hundred yards from Government Springs, I was standing on the trail when I first saw the man who was right behind the old cabin by a rock.
Shields testified the man was not a very large man, although I could not see his entire person. He was wearing blue overalls of some kind of wool or or a khaki shirt of bluish or greenish color. The man was then standing on the top of the rock by the old cabin. Just forty five minutes before he saw the strange man, Shield said he'd seen Carmen and her Collie dog on the trail, and the sinister looking man had gazed after the girl as she walked along the trail, then he vanished. Later that same day, Shield said he'd discovered tracks of two men who had traveled along the same path where miss Wagner had been walking.
Two days later, Shield said he'd learned of the murder of Henry Sweet, who'd been shot to death in front of the little shack at Coyote Flat by the slayer or slayers who hid behind the large rock which stood some distance away. Then Shields joined the posse which began the search for Carmen Wagner. As Shields testified the questions, he answered brought out vague hints, but nothing more as to the rumored sinister shrine for human sacrifice which some persons believed they'd seen at Coyote Flat, where the girl's body had been buried after she was slain.
Doctor Heinrich, at the same time of his investigation into the killing of the girl, had expressed a theory that Carmen had been held as a sacrificial offering for a phallic religious ceremony planned at an Indian altar on the top of Coyote Flat. Was there anything at all to support this startling theory of a sacrificial offering of a beautiful, young, red haired girl, a human being given to a strange deity like a goat slaughtered for blood sacrifice. The da questioned Shields as to what he had observed in the vicinity of the girl's grave.
Well, there was a piece of bark line on a tree stump, he answered, right east of the stump, but an easterly direction. There was a log, and the bark had been taken from that log. Then the place from where the bark had been removed and a stick and the log lined up almost perfectly with the location of the girl's body. A fire had been built there in a small space which was only about fourteen or sixteen inches across. The ground was very hard, with a few scattered leaves lining around, but by the tree there were the tracks of a horse opposite where the fire had been.
In my judgment, the tracks had all been made by an unshod horse. Ryan previous admitted that his colt was not shod. Shields then told of finding red hairs and white hairs from chaps near the scene of the murder. The hares were found on the trail on bushes from a foot or so to three or four feet above the ground. The red hares, the DA emphasized to the jury, were torn from the head of Carmen Wagner, while the white hares were from Ryan's chaps as he dragged the girl along the trail to the place where she was shot to death and then buried.
Answering the DA's question, Shields then related how he'd helped to disarm young Walford when the boy ran from the Posse camp with the avowed intention of gettin' Ryan. That boy acted to me like a man in a frenzy in about half crazy, said Shields. The boy testified, trying with apparent earnestness to be truthful about every detail, and told how he had searched for his missing friend Carmen. Then Walford related in detail how he had discovered the girl's missing wristwatch hidden in the chaps owned by Jack Ryan.
Walford told the jury he believed Jack Ryan to be guilty of murdering Carmen. It seemed that the evidence was gradually accumulating against Ryan. The next witness for the prosecution was doctor Heinrich. He related his tests which had been conducted with the bullet found in miss Wagner's head and how its measurements coincided exactly with the riflings of bullets fired from the Lucar pistol, which Ryan admitted was his weapon. Doctor Heinrich told in vivid detail of the blood stains on Ryan's coat and emphasized his belief that blood flowing from a cut in the suspect's forehead could not possibly have found its way into the inner side of the man's pocket, where a stain was found on some cigarette papers.
Doctor Heinrich said the blood on Ryan's coat was that of a human being and not of a deer, as Ryan had claimed. Bit by bit the circumstantial evidence accumulated against Ryan. Would the evidence prove strong enough to convict the man of the fiendish murders and send him to the gallows or to prison for life? Or was Jack Ryan merely the victim of circumstances so strange that he only appeared to be the murderer of both Henry Sweet and Carmen Wagner with an air of innocence. Ryan himself took the witness stand in a desperate effort to save his life.
He was sworn and is a witness for himself before Superior Judge Denver Sevier. Could his testimony overcome the almost overwhelming weight of the evidence against him? We'll find out after the break. What follows is the sworn testimony of Jack Ryan, accused murderer of Carmen Wagner. My name is Jack Ryan, began the accused man. I am twenty three years old, and before my arrest, I lived at Maple Creek with my mother. Okay Zevin jumping in here. When I found this story, it blew my mind that Jack Ryan grew up in Maple Creek.
That is where I'm from. It is a place in Humboldt County that's behind fourteen miles of gravel road, basically one lane gravel road like KOs Rika, a couple more miles of dirt road, and there are no stores, there, no gas stations. There's a school, and there are some homes, but it is really, really in the middle of nowhere, far northern California. I grew up an hour from the nearest town, off the power grid, all wood heating, wood cooking, solar and water power. If you've never lived that rural you wouldn't believe it didn't have Internet, none of that.
Didn't even, like I said, have power. And even today there's hardly anybody out there. So to stumble across a story where one of the central characters, the accused murderer no less, was from my little wooded island, speaking metaphorically, of course, of the world Maple Creek, California, just kind of blew my mind. Although it is true that in the twenties when the logging and timber business was really booming, there were a lot more people out there, there was a mill out there, there was more to it in Jack Ryan's day.
But still it's incredible, all right, Sorry, let's get back to the story. My name is Jack Ryan. I am twenty three years old, and before my arrest, I lived at Maple Creek with my mother. I worked at various places in Humboldt County. Previous to the tenth of October. I worked about three and a half days at Deer Creek. I was cutting weeds. I began this work on Monday evening, October fifth. I worked half a day Tuesday, all day Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday. Ryan talked crisply and answered quickly the questions put to him by his attorney.
The jury paid strict attention to the witness, and the crowded courtroom also listened attentively. Was the accused man telling the truth or would he attempt to lie about his whereabouts at the time Sweet and Carmen were believed to have been slain. The jury was to decide the clear answers might be the result of Ryan having drilled himself as to the dates and places to establish an unimpeachable alibi, or the direct frank answers might mean that he was telling nothing but the truth. How have you ever made any moonshine liquor?
Ryan's attorney asked, no, I never did. Ryan answered frankly, do you know how to make it? No, I don't know anything about it. Now, when you're not working, where do you usually spend your time? At my mother's house at Maple Creek. Now, going back to the tenth of October, the day Carmen Wagner is believed to have been murdered. What time did you leave Deer Creek Ranch that morning? At about seven and a half past and what horse were you riding? I was riding a roan. I bought the horse on September seventh, and from then until October tenth, i'd ridden the animal about three weeks steady.
But on October tenth the horse was only about half broken to the saddle. When I left that morning, I was going up to my brothers to see about trading horses. When I started out, the horse was feeling pretty good and frisky, and when I was running him down a road by the river, he fell. There was something in the road and he kind of stumbled and fell. He threw me off, and I got a bad cut on my forehead. It bled a little bit, and when I came to the river, I washed the blood off then I got back on the horse and rode on the trail up to the old Wagoner place.
Meanwhile, my forehead continued to bleed. I never tied any cloth around it, but I wiped off the blood a couple times on my coat sleeve. Was there any brush along that trail that you had to dodge under to get through, the defense asked Ryan. Yes, sir, he answered, there is brush upon the trail that a fellow has to go under to get through. How could Ryan account for the heavy stains of blood found in his right coat pocket. Did you get your hands sore while you were working at pulling weeds? The defense lawyer asked Ryan.
Well, yes, I got sore hands, and I bought a bottle of iodine. I put the bottle in my right coat pocket, and later the bottle was broken and it stained my cigarettes, Ryan said, in a straightforward voice. Ryan then related how he had continued to ride past the trail leading to the wagon Or place and onto Shower's Rock, where he tied his horse to a low bush and went hunting. He shot at a deer several times, he said, finally killing the fleet footed animal as it ran swiftly on the slope of the hill.
The two luger shells found near Carmen's body might have ejected from his gun when he passed the spot shooting at the deer. So now, all of a sudden, Zeven interjecting here he's hunting deer with a nine millimeter German handgun. Okay, back to the story. When he lifted the deer carcass to his saddle, Ryan said, blood float onto his coat, and the pressure from handling the three point animal might have broken the needle in his right coat lapel. Ryan vigorously denied any knowledge of the double murder and claimed that if Carmen Wagner's wristwatch had been found in his chaps, the time piece must have been planted there by some person who hated him bitterly and wished to see him accused of the brutal slayings.
So, of course, now here it seems that Ryan is indirectly accusing Walford not only of framing him, but probably of being the murderer, since how else would Kenneth Walford have gotten his hands on Carmen's watch. Back to Ryan's testimony, I first heard of the death of Henry sweet On October thirteenth, said Ryan. On the nineteenth, I remember meeting Kenneth Walford on the trail. He asked me if I was acquainted with the country, and I told him that I used to live up there. Vinnie asked me about some cabin in the canyon, and I told him there was a cabin down there someplace.
Now, the DA questioned Ryan about the mysterious movement of his hand to his chaps, which had seemed strange to Walford. It was merely a motion in my hand to get some cigarettes in my pocket, replied the defendant. Walford. It will be remembered, intimated that Ryan had made a motion as though to conceal something in his chaps. Ryan then told how the officers had arrested him late at night, after the murdered girl's body had been found. I'd gone to bed about nine o'clock, Ryan testified. I fell asleep and was awakened about ten o'clock when the officers arrived.
They asked me to get up, saying they'd come from the Sheriff's office for me. I got up and I dressed, and they put handcuffs on me. The officers told me that they'd found out I'd killed the girl and the dog, and said they'd seen where I'd buried the girl, and they told me to come through with everything. I told them then I don't know anything about it. Then, about an hour later, still wearing the handcuffs, I mounted my horse and we all rode to the jail Eureka. The DA hammered the man's testimony, trying to shake it.
He brought out that although Ryan was regarded as one of the best horsemen in the country, he still wanted to get rid of the colt, which he claimed had thrown him and cut his forehead. Ryan was also regarded as a good pistol shot. Ryan asked the DA how many shots did you fire at the deer you killed? Between fifteen and eighteen shots, he answered, at the same deer. The DA asked, incredulously, how many shells where your luger holed? Nine shells, said Ryan. I fired a full clip of the deer which was running on the hillside, but I missed it and had to slip in another clip of cartridges.
I finally got the deer. Wow. I'm surprised he didn't claim to have hit the deer at least once with that first clip to explain how in the heck it didn't get away tons of California white tailed deer out in Maple Creek up where I'm from where all this happened. And let me tell you, those animals are faster than Olympic sprinters and can jump way higher than professional basketball players. So the idea that he emptied an entire clip then had time to reload, and in that entire time the deer neither removed itself from sight nor got far enough away to make the pistol ineffective.
Beg some belief. But hey, I'm not on the jury, so here we go, nine shells, said Ryan. I fired a full clip of the deer which was running up the side of the hill, but I missed it and had to slip at another clip. I finally got the deer. The DA fired question after question it Ryan in an attempt to upset his testimony as to the various places he claims to have been at the time sweet and miss Wagner was slain and during the time of the hunt for the girl after the body of her companion had been found.
The jury paid strict attention to each bit of testimony for and against the accused man. Finally, all the evidence had been presented at once. The defense attorney made a motion to Judge Sevier for a directed verdict of acquittal for Ryan, on the ground that the evidence was not sufficient to establish that the defendant had committed the murders. The motion was denied. The DA began his argument. His final argument to the jury, He said that the evidence, although admittedly circumstantial, was so strong as to the point of conclusive guilt for Ryan.
He asked the jury to find the defendant guilty with punishment severe enough to suit the fiendish crimes with which Ryan was charged. The long and bitterly fought trial had lasted about six weeks, and the jury was given the case at five o'clock on the afternoon of March eleventh, nineteen twenty six. After Judge Sevier had instructed the jury as to the degrees of guilt in the case or a verdict of innocence, the jurors retired to begin their deliberations. And here we're going to hear from the DA in first person picture my feelings.
He says, I had presented every bit of evidence I could obtain against Ryan, for I believed the man to be guilty of the two foul crimes. The defense had fought equally hard as to establish the innocence of Ryan or to instill a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors as to the defendant's guilt. After electing a foreman, the jurors deliberated solemnly until ten o'clock at night. At that time, no verdict had been reached, and the jurors were locked up for the night. I retired to my home, confident that the verdict would be against the defendant.
The next morning, the jurors went to breakfast, and then they returned to the jury hall to resume their deliberations. Half an hour later, a court bailiff was summoned hastily. The jury had reached a verdict. The foreman stood up, hesitated perceptibly with the apparent responsibility of delivering the verdict, and then he cleared his throat with a sound audible throughout the room, and began to speak. Wi the jury find the defendant, Jack Ryan, not guilty. A stun silence swept over the courtroom.
No one spoke a word, nor was there any demonstration of any kind either favorable or against Ryan. Then excited whispers swept through the audience that the unexpected verdict was discussed outside the courtroom. When Ryan walked forth a free man, an entirely different scene took place. Many women swarmed around Ryan, and it was reported some of them offered him work for the coming summer as a guide. And now it's the da speaking again here. Of course, my astonishment was so great at the verdict that I could hardly find words to express my amazement.
And Judge Sevier, who had weighed every bit of the evidence as it was offered, remarked to me quietly outside the courtroom regarding the reaction to the acquittal of Ryan. Said the Judge arm As stounded at this verse. Automatically the case had reverted to the status it was before anyone had been arrested for the murders of Henry Sweet and Carmen Wagner. Were the murderers to go unpunished, had the guilty persons escaped and fled from the country while the officers and District Attorney's office were gathering evidence against Walter David and Jack Ryan, where the trails of the real murderers so cold as to be untraceable?
Would justice be cheated? Dun, dun, Dunn. Sorry, I couldn't help it. After David had been discharged at his preliminary hearing and Ryan had been acquitted at his trial for murder, the two half brothers returned to their regular existences of working odd jobs for persons in Humboldt County. Some eight months later, District Attorney Arthur Hill, who had served from nineteen thirteen through nineteen twenty six, retired to his private practice as an attorney of Eureka. He disliked greatly to have the word unsolved written on the records beside the murders of Henry Sweet and Carmen Wagner, but held a cherished hope that time would aid the law in bringing the guilty persons to justice.
There is a saying murder will out, and he hoped that would prove true in the case of the murder of young beautiful Carmen Wagner. The DA turned all the records in evidence of the Sweet Wagner cases over to his successor in the office, District Attorney S. E. Metzler. Time passed, and gradually the two Fiendish crimes became but horrid memories to the citizens of Humboldt County, but the murderers were always in the minds of the officers. Then, after a year and eight months had gone by, the country was shocked by another horrible crime.
On November one, nineteen twenty seven, Ernest Porter, a ranch foreman, was traveling along a trail near Coyote Flat, when his attention was attracted to the huddled form of a man lying in some dense bushes. The still silent form at once showed Porter that the unknown man was dead. Hurriedly, Porter summoned the officers at Eureka, and Jack Runner, now share of the county, arrived at the scene. He at once turned the body over and gazed with horror atas the dead face of Walter David, none other than the half brother of accused murderer Jack Ryan.
David had been dead for many days. He had been cruelly choked to death by a cowboy's lariat, which had been tightened around his neck. Sheriff Runner reconstructed the crime from the trampled bushes and marks of a rope on the limb of a nearby tree. An assassin had watched David as he rode over the trail through the mountains. As David's horse passed near a tree, the assassin, lurking hidden in the bushes, had twirled his lariat over his head and swung the rope in twisting circles toward David. The rope circled over David's head, tightened around his neck, and the bloodthirsty assassin jerked his victim from his horse and dragged him along the trail for several yards to an oak tree.
Here, the killer threw his lariat over a strong limb and dragged the struggling David off the ground. The mysterious and merciless assassin hang David by the neck until he was dead. When David struggles ceased and his face became black from the strangling, the assassin lowered his victim to the ground and removed the rope from around his neck. Then the killer escaped. Broken ferns and bushes beside the trail showed clearly how David had been dragged to the tree where he was hanged. Then his assassin had thrown his corpse into the dense bushes.
There were no knife or bullet wounds on the victim's body. A medical examination disclosed that he'd been choked to death by the rope and the vertebrae in his back were stretched. Apart from the violence with which the assassin had yanked him off the ground, One front tooth found near the body had been knocked from David's mouth, as though the slayer had struck him a heavy blow in anger. Several drops of blood were found on David's hat from the seer caused by the knot in the rope as it was tightened around his neck.
So who killed Walter David? Was he slain so viciously because the murderer feared that he knew too much and had threatened to reveal his hideous secrets. After David's murder, three crimes were marked against the unknown fiend or fiends who were also believed responsible for the murders of miss Wagner and Henry Sweet. But more than ten months passed without the authorities being able to find the solution to the perplexing murder puzzle. During this time, the sinister figure, the murderer of Walter David and prosus zumably of Carmen Wagner and Henry Sweet, walked the streets unmolested with taunting bravado.
Then he began a series of other brutal crimes. In succession, he attacked several girls during the first part of September nineteen twenty eight. The officer set a trap for the criminal and cutting though he was he walked unsuspectingly into the net. A merciless grilling followed at the hands of District Attorney Metzler, and finally the suspect weakened. Confronted by the young girl victims whom he'd attacked, the suspect offered to plead guilty to charges of criminal assault on two of the girls.
The penalty in California for such a crime by force is one to fifty years in the state penitentiary. The suspect was sentenced to San Quentin, but instead of having the prisoner taken immediately to the penitentiary, Metzler determined to submit him to further questioning. The grilling began at seven o'clock on the evening of Wednesday and continued without let up throughout the night. The officers working in relays and firing a broadside of questions at the suspect. DA Metzler made sensational accusation after accusation against the suspect.
His dark eyes glowered in anger. The suspect replied to the questions in a surly tone. He admitted he was guilty of the attacks on the young girls, but of any other crimes he knew nothing. Jim Sage, a deputy sheriff, aided Metzler in the grilling, and as dawn broke over the jail, the suspect said he wanted to talk to the deputy alone. Metzler readily consented it at once left the room. A moment later, Sage called to Metzler and asked for a paper and pen. The suspect, sobbing bitterly, then broke down and signed his name to a confession, startling in its cold and ruthless brutality.
So horrible were the facts in the confession that the district Attorney Metzler himself broke down and wept. You knew all the time, cried the suspect in a sobbing, choking voice, as he gazed through tear stained eyes at the DA Hurriedly. Other officers in the jail were summoned to act as witnesses to the signed confession. They grouped about the suspect as he signed the paper. The confession was brief, less than two hundred words in length. Word for word, it read to whom at may concern. On October tenth, nineteen twenty five, I was on my way from Deer Creek to Walter David's cabin.
I met Henry Sweet on the trail. I asked him for some money that he owed me for whiskey. He told me that if I wanted it, I had to take it out of his hide. Then we went to Sweet's camp and had some hot words. Sweet had a pistol on him. He said he would get me. I worked around till I got his rifle. Then I shot him in the side. The girl, Carmen Wagner, came in when I was ready to leave. I told her to keep right on going. I took her gun away from her and put it behind the fence where it was found. Then I took her along down the ridge to the canyon.
Then she wouldn't go any further. She said she was going to go back to town and tell the officers. Then I forced her down into the canyon and I shot her and the dog. Then I went on and ran across some hogs and hunted them for a while. From there, I went down to the old Fort Baker Barn and stayed there all night. In the morning I went to David's and traded horses. The next day I went hunting. Then I went down in the canyon and buried the girl. The confession was signed by Jack Ryan. Wow, that's heavy.
He killed his own brother and then went right back to assaulting women. You know what the grand irony is. There's a law called double jeopardy, which says that you cannot be tried for the same crime twice. Who knows why Jack Ryan killed his half brother Walter David. Perhaps David threatened to expose him as the murderer of Carmen Wagner and Henry Sweet. But Jack Ryan had already been found innocent in a court of law for that exact crime, so he may not have known this. But even if Walter David came forward and said, my brother, Jack Ryan is the killer, and even if they found more evidence that was not circumstantial, that was entirely conclusive, Jack Ryan under double jeopardy still could not have been retried or convicted or punished for the specific crime of killing Carmen Wagner and Henry Sweet.
Of course, once he murdered his brother in a to other women, then, of course, of course he can be tried for those crimes. But had he not killed his brother, had he not assaulted other women, and if it was the fear of exposure that caused him to kill his brother, he need not have feared that, at least not in terms of consequences from the law, whether he may have been lynched by the citizenry or in other acute physical danger. Certainly, the fact that he was half Native American in those times would have played a significant role as well.
Who's to say, but he could not have been found guilty for that specific crime. Is it at all possible that the sheriff and his deputies beat a confession to the Carmen Wagner and Henry Sweet murder out of Jack Ryan so that they could close a case that they knew at this point they would never solve. I don't think so. I think he did it all. Why else would he kill his own brother, although and confess to that one. I'm Zevan Odleberg, and this has been kind of murdery. If you've enjoyed today's kind of Murdery.
Please tell your friends and family, tell strangers, leave a review. It's the best way to ensure that I can keep telling that special brand of bizarre and terrible tales that you'll only find here on Kind of Murdery.
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