IL IL - Stanley Skridla, 28, & Mary Jane Reed, 17, Oregon, 1948

According to the AP, Mary Jane Reed was 17 when she and her boyfriend, Stanley Skridla, 28, were shot to death on the outskirts of Oregon. The murders remain unsolved and no arrests were ever made regarding the crime.

Records indicate that the victims were parked on a country road when someone reportedly pulled Skridla from the car and shot him five times. His body was found the next morning. Reed's body was found a few days later, two miles away, with a single bullet to the head.

Despite available information, Arians said he still has several unanswered questions regarding the murders. For example, Arians said he's seen evidence indicating that Reed may have been shot in the chest and that her head may have been severed and is not buried with her body. In addition, there is evidence that Reed was buried in the clothes she was wearing at the time of the murder. If so, these clothes may contain valuable clues, Arians said.

Ogle County State's Attorney Ben Roe said the exhumation has been pending for quite some time. It was originally ordered back in April 2004, but then a motion to intervene was filed on behalf of the county sheriff and coroner. Deborah Ellis, the state's attorney at that time, filed the motion, arguing that the case is an open murder investigation and the county has jurisdiction.

The county was allowed to intervene in the exhumation, and the parties involved then discussed what the parameters should be for the investigation. It was agreed that the Ogle County Sheriff's Department, county coroner's office, and Illinois State Police would supervise the exhumation.

Even so, the parties also agreed that the actual examination of Reed's remains would be conducted by state and federal authorities, likely in Springfield, the Chicago FBI lab, or Washington, D.C., Arians said. Warren Reed and Arians were not comfortable with the sheriff's department having complete authority over the case, since there are unconfirmed rumors that the perpetrator of the crime was someone "in an authoritative position" within the sheriff's department, Arians said. Judge Pemberton ordered on July 26 that the exhumation should move forward.
http://www.journalstandard.com/articles/2005/08/07/local_news/news02.txt

The remains of 17-year-old murder victim Mary Jane Reed were exhumed on Tuesday in Oregon and officials hope DNA samples obtained may shed some light on Reed's unsolved killing. Reed and her boyfriend, Stanley Skridla, 28, were shot to death on the outskirts of Oregon in 1948 and no arrests were ever made regarding the crime.

Arians said the exhumation put to rest some of the rumors going around about this case, including that the body had been buried without the skull, which turned out to be untrue. Also, there were newspaper reports from 1948 suggesting that Mary Jane Reed had been shot in the chest, which does not appear to be true, Arians said.

However, it does appear that Reed was buried in the clothes she was wearing at the time of the murder, Arians said. This includes underwear that appeared to be on inside-out, Arians said. The underwear was taken for additional testing.

Authorities also found Tuesday a bundle of clothing wrapped in newspapers with headlines about the killings inside the vault where Reed was buried. The clothes were found between the coffin and the inside wall of the vault, and consisted of a dress and slip that Reed was to wear at her brother's wedding, which was scheduled to occur shortly after her murder, officials say.

Arians speculated that the clothing was possibly given to a cemetery official by the family to be buried with the body. However, this has not been confirmed. Family members Tuesday did find it odd that the clothes were wrapped in newspaper clippings which included information about the murders, Arians said.
http://www.journalstandard.com/articles/2005/08/25/local_news/news03.txt

Mysteriew

You find some of the most interesting, intriging articles, thanx for posting this one! Very interesting!

lostfaith said:

Mysteriew

You find some of the most interesting, intriging articles, thanx for posting this one! Very interesting!

Click to expand...

You are welcome. I love finding and posting them.

Officials have determined a single gunshot wound to the back of the head was the cause of death of an Oregon teen murdered in 1948, but are unsure whether this murder will ever be solved.
Ogle County Sheriff Mel Messer said on Wednesday morning during a press conference that an autopsy was performed on Reed’s body on Tuesday. He said no other trauma was found to the body, other than the official cause death, and all of Reed’s organs were intact.
He said Reed’s body was in exceptionally good condition, even better than what his office was told to expect after being buried for nearly 60 years, making some of the work easier for pathologists. He reported that a significant amount of tissue and bones were still intact.
Investigation
Messer pointed out that at the time Reed was murdered, a complete autopsy was not performed, although an autopsy on her skull was.
“The samples were taken from Reed’s body to test for DNA, and a sexual assault kit was performed,” Messer explained. “It could take months to get the results back, but even then DNA doesn’t come with a name tag.”
Messer said he would love to be the sheriff who solves the almost 50-year-old crime, but he’s not sure whether the case will ever be solved, partly because all of the main suspects involved in the case are deceased. Adding that he was only 11 years old at the time of the murder, Messer said that for a good period of time, Ogle County had a new sheriff every four years and he himself did not look into the case until recently.
http://www.rochellenews-leader.com/main.php?story_id=2629&page=23

This case is local here. The first time I heard about it was about 20 years ago, from my ex-father-in-law. He had told me that at one time he was questioned about the murder. (Way back when it happened.) No, he is not nor never was associated with law enforcement. And no, I do not believe he was involved in her murder. I remember how it freaked me out tho that he had been questioned in it.

This has been in our local papers a lot of late. I hope they are able to solve this for her brother's sake. Every one deserves justice.

http://www.wrex.com/News/index.php?ID=11323

Attorney in Mary Jane Reed Case Says Evidence is Missing

...13 minutes of the audio on a recording of that autopsy are missing.

...moments before the officer hits the off button, an examiner sees what could be critical evidence. "The examiner turned to the detective in charge of the case and said, 'I've never seen this before, this is unusual. I can't turn this over.'"

I live about 15 minutes from Oregon, I have been to the bar where she was last seen. Haven't seen or heard anything new about it. It is interesting to see that there are others on websleuths posting whom live close to me.

I don't know much about terminology and police work but it sounds like with the boyfriend being shot 5 times isn't that an overkill, maybe it was someone who wanted to date the girl and was angry that she was seeing someone else, and that audio tape evidence that's missing is quite strange I wonder if the family ever had any theories on who it might have been. And I am also wondering if that was a common practice to bury the victim in her clothing that she was shot in, I don't think it was and it sounds like someone maybe thought as long as the evidence is burried maybe nobody would ever find out who did it. just a thought.

The mysterious killing of Mary Jane Reed took another unusual turn Wednesday.

Mike Arians, a former mayor of Oregon, called a news conference in which he announced the skull buried with Reed in 1948 may not be hers.

The 17-year-old Oregon girl and her companion, Stanley Skridla, were shot to death on June 25, 1948. Their bodies were found along separate country roads near Oregon, and their killings have not been solved.

Arians and Reed's brother, Warren Reed, of Rock Falls, have spent years trying to solve the whodunit.

http://www.saukvalley.com/articles/2007/12/20/news/local/299188586185742.txt

Wow this is a strange case.

Rle7 said:

The mysterious killing of Mary Jane Reed took another unusual turn Wednesday.

Mike Arians, a former mayor of Oregon, called a news conference in which he announced the skull buried with Reed in 1948 may not be hers.

The 17-year-old Oregon girl and her companion, Stanley Skridla, were shot to death on June 25, 1948. Their bodies were found along separate country roads near Oregon, and their killings have not been solved.

Arians and Reed's brother, Warren Reed, of Rock Falls, have spent years trying to solve the whodunit.

http://www.saukvalley.com/articles/2007/12/20/news/local/299188586185742.txt

Click to expand...

Hmmmm....... why was I thinking that the exhumation had occurred a few years ago? And if so, why has it taken this long to come out with this information? This story just gets stranger and stranger.......

So sad that so much time has gone by and they don't seem any closer to solving this crime.

BTW - Hiya BAD BUTTERFLY, how's it going, 'neighbor'????

Anything more on this case?

Dang, this is one of those cases where the truth is way more stranger than fiction!

Sly

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the deaths of these two teenagers. It would be nice to know more specifics. Perhaps the case can now be solved by looking for other similar cases.

MARY JANE REED LEGAL BATTLE UPDATE

A sixty year old murder case is making headlines once again. Here's a look back at the mysterious murder of Mary Jane Reed and the latest on a legal battle to make Ogle County investigators release their evidence.

http://www.wifr.com/home/headlines/25839374.html

Dang, that figures. My ex-father-in-law passed away just a few months ago. If he were still alive, I would contact him and see if he knew who the high ranking official was that Mary Jane was involved with.

The part about the skull belonging to someone else is way beyond wierd. Gotta wonder what the heck was going on there. And also, if this is true, who's skull was it and what happened to that person? Not to mention, what happened to Mary Jane's skull?

Man, the questions this raises are beyond numerous.

Given the history of this case, it seems that there may have been some protection and manipulation done. You have to wonder the people involved and their relatiionships to the victims.

It smells corruption. So, where did it begin? I question strongly any LE that is against exhumation of a victim to find more evidence. There is a very big problem here and I believe someone wanted many years to pass in hopes it would all go away or possible evidence "fades" with time.

IMVHO....

I agree...this just reeks of a coverup. LE not wanting the family to exhume the body, then a skull and vertebrae that wasn't hers; Mary Jane's supposed involvement with a high-ranking member of the sheriff's dept. Then the original 1948 autopsy report missing. I realize in many cases original files and documentation get lost over the years but it just seems fishy in this case. I hope her brother can find some answers.

Ok, my Grandfather was a mortician. I've heard some stories, but how on earth can you end up with the wrong head?

How could she have been buried in the original clothes and not embalmed (was this ever clarified?)

Even in 1948 all murders should have still gone to a state medical examiner, right?

They should be able to find someone who was around then who knows something.

I think the problem here isn't finding someone who knows something........it's finding someone who will tell what they know.

This is a very small rural area and the good old boys are still in charge. The town of Oregon has approx. 5,500 people or so, but back in 1948 was smaller yet.

I hope they are able to get someone to spill the beans, but after this much time and from what we are reading I'm not going to hold my breath.