The Speedway Murders: Australian filmmakers attempt to solve 1978 US cold case
Photo: Supplied: NZIFF
At the end of their Friday night shift in 1978 four young workers at a burger restaurant in Speedway, Indiana went missing.
At first police thought they'd taken the petty cash and gone partying. But they didn't appear the next morning. By Sunday, the bodies of Jayne Friedt, Daniel Davis, Mark Flemmonds and Ruth Ellen Shelton had been found in the woods 30km away.
The Burger Chef Murders, as the case came to be known, was never solved - although there were suspects.
45 years on Australian filmmakers Luke Rynderman and Adam Kamien have tried to piece together what happened that night, interviewing witnesses, police officers and family members in an attempt to turn up new evidence about the case.
And they may have found something. Their film, The Speedway Murders, recreates the Burger Chef scene - with young Kiwi and Australian actors portraying the victims and running through the main theories of what happened that night. It's playing as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival.
Luke (left), on set. Adam, right. Photo: Supplied: NZIFF
The Speedway Murders: Australian filmmakers attempt to solve 1978 US cold case
Photo: Supplied: NZIFF
At the end of their Friday night shift in 1978 four young workers at a burger restaurant in Speedway, Indiana went missing.
At first police thought they'd taken the petty cash and gone partying. But they didn't appear the next morning. By Sunday, the bodies of Jayne Friedt, Daniel Davis, Mark Flemmonds and Ruth Ellen Shelton had been found in the woods 30km away.
The Burger Chef Murders, as the case came to be known, was never solved - although there were suspects.
45 years on Australian filmmakers Luke Rynderman and Adam Kamien have tried to piece together what happened that night, interviewing witnesses, police officers and family members in an attempt to turn up new evidence about the case.
And they may have found something. Their film, The Speedway Murders, recreates the Burger Chef scene - with young Kiwi and Australian actors portraying the victims and running through the main theories of what happened that night. It's playing as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival.
Luke (left), on set. Adam, right. Photo: Supplied: NZIFF