Orofino Idaho is a small logging town 50 miles east of Lewiston.
It sits on the Clearwater River In the Clearwater Valley surounded by timber covered hills that stretch up to the Camas Prairie.
Every year in September it hosts an annual celebration 'LumberJack Days' where lumberjacks both local and from out of state compete in a variety of competitions that highlight their woods skills.
Axe Throwing,Log Rolling,Sawing Contests ect.
The celebration also features a carnival with rides and games like any country fair as well as livestock and farming exibits and 4-H showings.
Among the throng attending the events in September of 1951 was 13 year old Lonnie Jones.
He was from the small community of Weippe 8 miles up the Greer Grade above Orofino.
He had came down to spend the day at the fair with his Grandmother.
She lost track of him most of the day as he ran around with friends at the carnival.
About 6:30 she ran into him and told him it was time to go.
He asked to be allowed to stay as there were other relatives at the carnival and he could catch a ride home with them.
She relented and gave him $5.00 spending money.
He never returned home that night.
The relatives he was supposed to secure a ride with later told investigators trying to piece together Lonnie's movements after his Grandmother left,that they never saw him.
Later Two teenagers from the small town of Kamiah 30 miles east of Orofino testified that they picked Lonnie up at about 12:30 that night standing at the end of the bridge that connects Orofino to Highway 12 on the other side of the Clearwater River and gave him a ride seven miles east to the tiny sleeping community of Greer that sits at the very bottom of the steep and winding Greer Grade leading to his home in Weippe.
There they left him.
He was never seen alive again.
His relatives reported him missing the next day.
The Fair ended and the carnival left town.
Two days later a truckdriver stoped to releive himself in a small wooded area next to the river about midway between Orofino and Greer.
He saw something laying in the middle of a small rutted road that led to the river.
He jumped into his truck and raced to Orofino to alert authorities.
It was Lonnie Jones.
He was nude with his hands bound behind him with a handkerchief.
He had been sexually assaulted and his throat was cut ear to ear.
The authorities and the town were stunned as this kind of crime was nearly unheard of in those days.
It was almost immediatly announced by authorities that this must be the work of a 'Transient Degenerate'.
The investigation went nowhere fast.
For years there were rumours about a 'Cousin' of Jones' who had the interior of his car upholstred then 'Left Town' authorities branded them just that: rumours.
Several prominent Lewiston businesmen posted a $5000 dollar reward for information leading to an arrest.
Several out of state detectives applied themselves to the case but got nowhere.
Ran afoul of locals or the law.
Most just gave up and left.
For decades afterward there were occasional anniversary recaps in the local paper with quotes from law enforcement asking for anyone with information to come forward.
No one ever did.
And there the case sits to this day.
It sits on the Clearwater River In the Clearwater Valley surounded by timber covered hills that stretch up to the Camas Prairie.
Every year in September it hosts an annual celebration 'LumberJack Days' where lumberjacks both local and from out of state compete in a variety of competitions that highlight their woods skills.
Axe Throwing,Log Rolling,Sawing Contests ect.
The celebration also features a carnival with rides and games like any country fair as well as livestock and farming exibits and 4-H showings.
Among the throng attending the events in September of 1951 was 13 year old Lonnie Jones.
He was from the small community of Weippe 8 miles up the Greer Grade above Orofino.
He had came down to spend the day at the fair with his Grandmother.
She lost track of him most of the day as he ran around with friends at the carnival.
About 6:30 she ran into him and told him it was time to go.
He asked to be allowed to stay as there were other relatives at the carnival and he could catch a ride home with them.
She relented and gave him $5.00 spending money.
He never returned home that night.
The relatives he was supposed to secure a ride with later told investigators trying to piece together Lonnie's movements after his Grandmother left,that they never saw him.
Later Two teenagers from the small town of Kamiah 30 miles east of Orofino testified that they picked Lonnie up at about 12:30 that night standing at the end of the bridge that connects Orofino to Highway 12 on the other side of the Clearwater River and gave him a ride seven miles east to the tiny sleeping community of Greer that sits at the very bottom of the steep and winding Greer Grade leading to his home in Weippe.
There they left him.
He was never seen alive again.
His relatives reported him missing the next day.
The Fair ended and the carnival left town.
Two days later a truckdriver stoped to releive himself in a small wooded area next to the river about midway between Orofino and Greer.
He saw something laying in the middle of a small rutted road that led to the river.
He jumped into his truck and raced to Orofino to alert authorities.
It was Lonnie Jones.
He was nude with his hands bound behind him with a handkerchief.
He had been sexually assaulted and his throat was cut ear to ear.
The authorities and the town were stunned as this kind of crime was nearly unheard of in those days.
It was almost immediatly announced by authorities that this must be the work of a 'Transient Degenerate'.
The investigation went nowhere fast.
For years there were rumours about a 'Cousin' of Jones' who had the interior of his car upholstred then 'Left Town' authorities branded them just that: rumours.
Several prominent Lewiston businesmen posted a $5000 dollar reward for information leading to an arrest.
Several out of state detectives applied themselves to the case but got nowhere.
Ran afoul of locals or the law.
Most just gave up and left.
For decades afterward there were occasional anniversary recaps in the local paper with quotes from law enforcement asking for anyone with information to come forward.
No one ever did.
And there the case sits to this day.
