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

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I cant imagine what happened to the point that authorities 60 years later would still tamper with evidence? And the Sheriff at the time was married, in a relationship with a 17 year old, and had his wife sign the death certificate? I just cant believe a group of people could tamper with evidence, rub it in your face, and get away with it.
 
Thanks for your comment and insight. I urge members of web slueths to visit this site www.maryjanereed.com and use the password, oldsmobile, to view the investigative overview link and also view the other associated links.

After doing so, it would be interesting to have your input from the perspective as being an investigator on this case, or even more interesting would be your input as if you were a jury member, should this case go to trial?

We feel that the Reed and Skridla families civil rights have been violated as they are truely victims of a violent crime.

Your opinions could be of great value to give these families closure.
 
YES! Without a doubt, this needs to go to trial. There was a crime and the perpetrator needs to pay their dues and the families deserve answers. And that those who are to enforce and uphold the law are in this up to their ears is beyond the pale.

OMG! OMG! OMG! This is the worst of the worst. Talk about corrupt. And the fact that the Good Old Boys club is still enforce to this day, Wow. I tell ya, this area never ceases to amaze me in that regard.

There are so many emotions running through me right now, I can't imagine how this made the families feel, knowing those who held the keys to this investigation were so deeply involved. This is beyond the pale.

This wrong needs to be righted. The lives of two innocents were extinguished and the guilty parties went on to live their lives with no repercussion. That the current investigators are attempting to continue with this endeavor to thwart justice is unacceptable.

Thank you Mike Arians, for being Mary Jane and Stanley's voice and bless Warren Reed for not giving up on getting the answers they so rightfully deserve.

I have a lot of questions in regard to the investigative report and I have to leave for work in 15 minutes so most of them will have to wait until time permits. One quick question tho before I depart. Why would Stanley's head have been black as stated in the report? I find that perplexing, am I missing something?
 
That's messed up.


A lot of circumstantial evidence but honestly, I think enough to lead to a conviction. No hope for extracting DNA?

I can't believe they tried to trick her brother into cremating her.
 
Sorry to ask, this may have been stated already..... But are any of the men who are responsible still alive today? They surely would be very old if they are.

Either way it would be great to get the story out and have these people recognized as the corrupt murders that they are.
 
At the very least the person(s) who committed this crime need to be known to their families as the monster they were. Nails all in the body and withholding evidence is the most pathetic thing ive ever seen, and its scary to know LE now is still continuing this trend. Maybe someone should look into situational deaths in the 50's, mostly the ones signed by said sheriffs wife. This is the kind of story that keeps me up at night.
 
At the very least the person(s) who committed this crime need to be known to their families as the monster they were. Nails all in the body and withholding evidence is the most pathetic thing ive ever seen, and its scary to know LE now is still continuing this trend. Maybe someone should look into situational deaths in the 50's, mostly the ones signed by said sheriffs wife. This is the kind of story that keeps me up at night.
My sentiments exactly! This is far too horrifying to just let it be forgotten. Just gives me the shivers. It's an awful lot to try to absorb.
 
I contacted some individuals regarding this case several years ago asking the possibility that this crime could be related to the Texarkana Phantom Murders from 1946. If I remember correctly, the chap I talked to on the telephone thought that Reed was killed in the building that his restaurant currently occupied. He did call down to Texarkana and get some information from, I believe, the police. I sent him a map in the mail because he was interested if a horse track was near one of the Texarkana murder sites, which was the case. After that, I had no further contact.
 
I think Mike was the fellow I talked to. It has been 7 years.

Looking at Miss Reed's skull and the bullet track, I don't really see that the shot would necessarily be fatal. Possibly it could be I suppose, especially if she bled to death.
 
Brother demands $1.5 million

By Vinde Wells - Editor

The brother of an Oregon teenager murdered in 1948 is demanding that Ogle County pay him $1.5 million for violating his rights for the last 63 years.

Attorney Jeffrey Hammerlund, Algonquin, wrote a letter to county officials May 20 in behalf of Warren Reed, 69, Rock Falls, the only surviving sibling of Mary Jane Reed, who was shot to death in June of 1948. Her murder has never been solved.

More at link....

http://www.oglecountynews.com/articles/2011/06/30/83186738/index.xml
 
"Investigators tracked down the friend last year, and she picked McCullough's photo out of a montage, the statement said."

One wonders if they did that back in the day and if not, why. If she could pick him out now she certainly could have then.
 
Is it possible the clothing found tucked inside the vault were the ones given the funeral home for her burial? If so, being buried in the clothing she was killed in would have hidden them and the evidence forever, or so it may have been hoped. I wonder if the funeral home/mortician had any ties, familial or otherwise, to the sheriff's department.

Very interesting case. Fiction is INDEED much stranger than fact; keep it simple does not work for all cases.

The clothing probably was intended for her to be dressed in for the funeral. Since it was a closed coffin the funeral home might have gotten lazy and decided to just leave her as they got her.

A family member might have wanted the newspapers in the coffin for some reason. Historical value if she was ever exhumed.

It is strange that LE didn't take her clothes though. I would have thought that was standard even then.

Le seemed to be covering up something or everything!

Next question, if that wasn't her head then where is it and where is the body that goes with the head she was buried with.

I wonder who else was buried around the same time she was. Any other murders?

Really strange.
 
I think Mike was the fellow I talked to. It has been 7 years.

Looking at Miss Reed's skull and the bullet track, I don't really see that the shot would necessarily be fatal. Possibly it could be I suppose, especially if she bled to death.
Thing is, they say that skull is NOT Mary Jane Reed's skull. There is now speculation that perhaps her skull is buried with Stanley Skridla's remains.

The more information that comes out, the more bizarre it gets.
 
"Investigators tracked down the friend last year, and she picked McCullough's photo out of a montage, the statement said."

One wonders if they did that back in the day and if not, why. If she could pick him out now she certainly could have then.
I'm sorry to ask, but is this perhaps meant to be posted on the Maria Ridulph thread?
 
Thing is, they say that skull is NOT Mary Jane Reed's skull. There is now speculation that perhaps her skull is buried with Stanley Skridla's remains.

The more information that comes out, the more bizarre it gets.

Its hard to imagine so many people are involved in covering up two murders and even after all these years people are still doing the same thing. I can't imagine that many people willing to keep quiet and lie when they do speak up.

I wonder what else they covered up.

I don't understand removing their heads and burying them in the wrong graves. Those are some sick people!
 
The only thing that would make sense is that there is something about Mary Jane's head/face/skull that implicated someone. So someone switched it out. Or could they be so disorganized and sloppy they didn't care what went where? I don't think logic can be applied to this one. Sounds more like some sort of strange (maybe drug induced) game to someone.
 
Did they DNA test the skull? If not, there are no hard lines between Asians and Caucasians nor between males and females when you are just going by appearance and even less so with a young person. Did Reed have any Native American ancestry? If so, she might have retained some Asian characteristics, such as the shovel shaped teeth, due to that.
 
FYI There has been recent updates added to the www.maryjanereed.com web site. Please click the link titled "Investigative Overview". It will ask you for a password, the password is "oldsmobile"

The link is a bit cryptic as far as using actual names and speciffic dates, but most will get the gist. Hopefully this will aswer many of the questions that several of you have had over the past several years.
Bumping this post. If you have not taken the time to go here and read this site, try to do so. There is a lot of information that I don't want to try to repeat for fear of missing important details.

This will answer many of your questions also.

Thanks!!
 

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