IL IL - Fay Rawley, Summum, Fulton County farmer and land owner, 8 Nov 1953

[Schoaff]

I was raised in the area and saw much of the mania associated with the excavations and drilling on the mine property under the supervision of Sheriff Ball.

Though I don’t have any direct evidence, I nevertheless used this as a key part of my first novel, “Twin Beeches. - an Illinois love story”. My theory was that a cuckolded husband killed and buried Rawley and the wife of the murderer, burying them, then disposing of the car either by the popular idea of the mine overburden covering it, or simply by cutting it up in his barn, burying the pieces.

More of my speculation is in the book

 

[behindthesugarcane]

Its been a while since you all posted but I wanted to join and add a comment. We are doing a podcast on this case. I am from a small town over there Prairie City. It will be on our podcast by the end of July. Behind the Sugar Cane on Facebook, Buzzsprout, Apple, and Spotify. We hope to take a field trip to the area soon. Anyone been there?

 

[STANDREID]

I did find that he reportedly wore dentures and that his girlfriend was named Helen Wagner. She was the last to see him and admit it.

 

[Quoththeraven]

The Times, Thu, Aug 01, 1957,Page 15, states that Fay and Hazel were married in Petersburg in 1919 on November 8, the same day he disappeared. That's too much of a coincidence, IMO, to not have a bearing on the case. His imminent divorce coming up on November 9, 1953, that I'm sure he knew about, and his girlfriend allegedly breaking up with him might have been too much for him to bear. Maybe he drove his vehicle into the mine himself.​

The article further states that the strip mine was directly across Route 24 from Fay's house. The article states Fay's son Robert, age 32 in 1957, lives in his father's house with his wife and two children.​

The article speculated Fay was worth $250,000 to $500,000, mostly in land holdings.​

 

[Keiri]

How do folks get something like this added to NamUs?