IN IN - Renee Bruhl, Patricia Blough & Ann Miller, Indiana Dunes SP, 2 July 1966

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Spud said:
Richard Speck is the ugliest man that i have ever seen. His face was the face of the "Boogeyman".As a 10 year old child in Chicago in 1966 the face of Richard Speck was burnished into my mind as the face of evil and the few days that he was on the loose were the most terrifying days of my life ....... Maturity has helped me to understand that while Speck was indeed an unfortunate looking man ,that i have seen hundreds of equally unfortunate looking men who did not murder 8 young women in cold blood. The ugly bastards that i know were on my baseball team or fixed my car or delivered my mail and once i got to know them they were not ugly at all.My point is that Richard Speck was not nearly as ugly on July 2 as he was on july 14. As i mentioned in an earlier post i don`t think that it would be unusual for 3 healthy women to be confident in their strength in numbers or to give a country boy the thrill of their company in exchange for a boat ride , a cigarette or a cold drink......... Speck was able to attract a wife after all and he dated a nice nurse in Michigan who treated him after surgery, so the man was not without his charms altogether........ Despite the fact that he was the ultimate evil.
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I agree and the same thing can be said about the three women who took a boat ride with Oba Chandler......has anyone taken a gander at his ugly face??? :sick:

Supposedly, he was really "charming" but I would not wanna be alone with him.
 
georgiagirl said:
I agree and the same thing can be said about the three women who took a boat ride with Oba Chandler......has anyone taken a gander at his ugly face??? :sick:

Supposedly, he was really "charming" but I would not wanna be alone with him.
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Well I guess that explains Charles Manson. 'Nuff said.
 
Just want to say these posts have been interesting. This is one of my "haunting" cases, and I agree it is hard to find much on it and people who remember it.

I sometimes drive by where I think Tri_Color Stables was (Now Harper College?) in Palatine, IL and think of this case. I can kind of see both sides, the Jayne side and the Speck side, and of course it could have been a totally random guy(s) who are unknown and may be forever unknown. Very frustrating.
 
You are right Joellegirl, this is a very frustrating case and as an earlier poster said , it makes you wish that you could have been there to warn them not to get into that boat. I mentioned this case to 3 seniors this week and none remembered the case . i believe that it is all because of that stupid letter that Renee Bruhl had written but never mailed to her husband when she was mad. She talked of leaving him because he was spending too much time working on cars with his pals. Any talk of divorce in the heavily catholic Chicago would paint you as a shady lady in those socially repressive days. Further rumors of Ann Miller may be being pregnant was enough to convince the authorities and much of the general public that this was a runaway case . Again, these were the days when pregnant women often left the state to visit an aunt and put their baby up for adoption. Consequently this case did not get all the attention that it deserved. God knows that in today`s world, the vanishing of 3 attractive white women from good homes would draw international attention. Nancy Grace would be camped out on the beach all summer and fall and the investigation would require that every boat be searched thoroughly and that the Navy and Bob Ballard and his submersibles scour the floor of Lake Michigan.
 
There are other articles out there which mention a possible Richard Speck connection. The Biography Channel mentions that Indiana authorities were seeking to speak with Speck about this disappearance; Michigan authorities had questions about four others that occured, but before they could Speck committed the murders for which he is infamous. I suppose its possible that the magnitude of the murder of eight women overshadowed the disappearance of three and authorities never followed up.
http://www.biography.com/notorious/...eId=262943&selectedIndex=1&sectionName=Crimes
 
Richard said:
Here is a link to another unsolved case on Websleuths which has an article discussing the Helen Brach disappearance and the murder of a Cook County Sheriff Deputy, as well as some other unsolved murders:

Ralph Probst - Cook County Sherriff officer shot in home, 4/10/1967 (Illinois) - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
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Richard, I read the Ralph Probst thread with great interest. Thanks for linking it to this thread and the Helen Brach thread. It certainly fits into the time frame of Silas Jayne's reign and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was connected to the Ralph Probst slaying.
 
Cambria said:
This one really gets me, too. Another disappearance of THREE women! Thanks also for posting the link to that article again. I've read it before but other people should read it too. I just really believe Silas Jayne was in some way responsible for their disappearance. One of the business cards for his stables was found in one of the girl's billfold. It may be coincidence, but with all 3 girls being horse enthusiasts, the connection to Silas Jayne must strongly be considered. The number of cases involving murder and disappearances linked to him is astounding. I really believe he had something to do with this.
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Well there is indeed a strong chance that those murders are related to people involved in horse shows although it may not necessarily be linked to Silas Jayne, considering that Jayne appeared to have been unable -or unwilling- to hire professional hitmen, perhaps because he didn't want to deal with the Chicago mob, appearing to have believed that his connections with corrupt LE elements would protect him from the consequences of botched murders committed by some of his associates.

The "job" with the girls on the beach has a pro feel to it that is different from the amateurish MO's of the men he (Si Jayne) was in the habit of hiring. I imagine it wouldn't be that easy for amateurs to dispose of three bodies in such a way that no trace of them has ever been found, and no one ever came forward with any info pertaining to the crime.

Like the articles mention, horse shows are highly competitive events involving wealthy, socially ambitious parents showing off their daughters. One can conceive that it wouldn't necessarily be above a small number of such individuals to resort to extreme methods in order to eliminate the competition if they could afford it, and some certainly could.
 
KarlK said:
Well there is indeed a strong chance that those murders are related to people involved in horse shows although it may not necessarily be linked to Silas Jayne, considering that Jayne appeared to have been unable -or unwilling- to hire professional hitmen, perhaps because he didn't want to deal with the Chicago mob, appearing to have believed that his connections with corrupt LE elements would protect him from the consequences of botched murders committed by some of his associates.

The "job" with the girls on the beach has a pro feel to it that is different from the amateurish MO's of the men he (Si Jayne) was in the habit of hiring. I imagine it wouldn't be that easy for amateurs to dispose of three bodies in such a way that no trace of them has ever been found, and no one ever came forward with any info pertaining to the crime.

Like the articles mention, horse shows are highly competitive events involving wealthy, socially ambitious parents showing off their daughters. One can conceive that it wouldn't necessarily be above a small number of such individuals to resort to extreme methods in order to eliminate the competition if they could afford it, and some certainly could.
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Karl, I agree it may have been someone else responsible for the girls' disappearance. I feel about 90% it was Jayne...but I could be wrong. I think the thing that clicked in my mind and sort of convinced me that he was involved was when I read that the girls rode at George Jayne's Tri Color Stables and Cheryl Rude was killed there by a car bomb meant for George. I mentioned it in post #58 above. It was suggested that maybe one or more of the girls saw that happen. I just think it was more than coincidence that the girls were connected with the Jayne stables. But you're right, those involved in the horse world are highly competetive and it may have been completely unrelated to Jayne.

And of course, it could have been totally unrelated to horse business altogether. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like we will never know...:(
 
Indeed I doubt the case will ever be solved.

Of course I'm not 100% sure that Si Jayne was not involved, he may very well have been behind the deed and I agree he's the most likely suspect. But I think it's a possibility that someone not linked to him may have been involved be it just because Jayne wasn't the only prominent shadowy figure involved in the business.
 
I had a life changing incident happen at the Indiana state dunes when I was young –I was born in 58
And when I was 8 years old around July 4, my mother took me and my sister/brother there, and since that day, I always felt I was lucky to escape with my life -I have to check with my mother and brothers and sisters on the timeframe, but I doubt they will remember as well as I do -I am reasonably sure these are the correct times, as the incident is burned in my mind forever –living in calumet city, my mother took us to the dunes, where the sand butted up to some woods –I had lost track of my brother, and went into the woods looking for him –a ways up, I saw a flash of someone running, and called for my brother and kept walking till I came upon a naked man (excited, if you know what I mean), but at the same time, looked mad, and was pursing his lips and spitting, and I got the feeling he had been watching us all along (some things had been stolen from our car, which wasn’t far from where we were playing) -I’m not going to go into anymore detail than this for now, but suffice it to say, I always felt that I easily could have been killed that day –I think my keeping calm and what I said, helped me to get away –even at 8, I had a good sense of the world –for my whole life, I’ve always thought that whoever that guy was, he didn’t stop with me, and had most likely killed one or more people after this (maybe before? Maybe that weekend?) -when I got older and with the advent of the pc, I’ve always meant to look on a computer and put in the search words “Indiana state dunes murder” –so today, after 40 some years, I do just that, and to my shock what comes up on the very first page? This- as I said earlier, I am reasonably sure this is the very weekend that this happened to me –it for sure was the summer of that year –I’m going to agree with another poster about the 3 missing girls being a sexual predator –more often than not, that’s just what it is, rather than some sensational story as the above, and I can tell you from my own experience, there was a sexual predator there at that park during that time –I’m still shaking to find this information, and have to wonder if instead of my mother getting us out of there and never talking about it again (remember, it was 1966), if she would have gone to police, if it would have helped in some way, though at 8 years old, I had no control over this –believe me when I tell you this is no made-up story, as it changed my life forever and my heart still beats fast everytime I think of it 40+ years later
 
okeefe58 said:
I had a life changing incident happen at the Indiana state dunes when I was young –I was born in 58
And when I was 8 years old around July 4, my mother took me and my sister/brother there, and since that day, I always felt I was lucky to escape with my life -I have to check with my mother and brothers and sisters on the timeframe, but I doubt they will remember as well as I do -I am reasonably sure these are the correct times, as the incident is burned in my mind forever –living in calumet city, my mother took us to the dunes, where the sand butted up to some woods –I had lost track of my brother, and went into the woods looking for him –a ways up, I saw a flash of someone running, and called for my brother and kept walking till I came upon a naked man (excited, if you know what I mean), but at the same time, looked mad, and was pursing his lips and spitting, and I got the feeling he had been watching us all along (some things had been stolen from our car, which wasn’t far from where we were playing) -I’m not going to go into anymore detail than this for now, but suffice it to say, I always felt that I easily could have been killed that day –I think my keeping calm and what I said, helped me to get away –even at 8, I had a good sense of the world –for my whole life, I’ve always thought that whoever that guy was, he didn’t stop with me, and had most likely killed one or more people after this (maybe before? Maybe that weekend?) -when I got older and with the advent of the pc, I’ve always meant to look on a computer and put in the search words “Indiana state dunes murder” –so today, after 40 some years, I do just that, and to my shock what comes up on the very first page? This- as I said earlier, I am reasonably sure this is the very weekend that this happened to me –it for sure was the summer of that year –I’m going to agree with another poster about the 3 missing girls being a sexual predator –more often than not, that’s just what it is, rather than some sensational story as the above, and I can tell you from my own experience, there was a sexual predator there at that park during that time –I’m still shaking to find this information, and have to wonder if instead of my mother getting us out of there and never talking about it again (remember, it was 1966), if she would have gone to police, if it would have helped in some way, though at 8 years old, I had no control over this –believe me when I tell you this is no made-up story, as it changed my life forever and my heart still beats fast everytime I think of it 40+ years later
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What a horrible experience. If it was the July 4th weekend of 1966 that you were there, it very well could have been on July 2nd when that happened. It's entirely possible the girls could have met up with a sexual predator. Do you still remember what he looked like after all this time? I imagine you would never forget his face! Thanks for sharing your experience.
 
yes, I remember it like it was yesterday (every bit of it) problem is I have astigmatism to the point of being legally blind in my left eye, not much better in my right, and wasn't wearing my glasses (playing) -also tried not to look at him -but when I first saw american psycho, the way christian bale looked in that movie reminded me of him, but in-between 21-27 years old -same thin, but muscular body type -I can't imagine being able to do a police sketch, though, and feeling it would be accurate to the real guy -in other words, if he was standing in front of me, I don't think I could say without reasonable doubt, after all these years -thanks for the replies
 
Thanks to Okeefe58 for reliving and relating this horrendous event so as to shed a different light on the loss of the three women from Illinois. It opens the mostly unexplored possibility that the women were not taken by boat but that they may have been lured "Bundy style" to a remote spot.It would be helpful to know if the attack took place in the woods, or in a car or in a tent. A tent would indicate that the assailant may have been registered as a camper...... You must have been shaken up when you realized that lives were taken that weekend . You can be especially thankful that you were not. Good luck.
 
thanks spud for knowing its not an easy thing to relate, but felt I had to -wish I could have sooner -I always knew I was lucky to get away with my life, but yes, reading it actually happened to three others sent adrenalin thru me like you wouldn't believe -if you look at what happened to me, you can see a person doesn't necessarily even have to be lured for it to happen -can be a scary world out there and sad to say there are those few looking to prey on the young, weak, etc -I only wish I could have had some time with this guy when I wasn't a vulnerable eight year old
 
I found an old article dated from Nov of 1966 in which a young womans badly decomposed remains were found in the Gary, Indiana area. Gary is less than 20 miles from the park where the 3 girls disappeared according to Google maps. Im trying to find out if this victim was ever identified but knowing how things were back in those days I doubt she ever was. The body was more specifically found in the rural area North of US 20 & along County Line Road that separates Lake & Porter Counties. A knife was found a short distance away.
 
It still should be remembered that the three women were seen - and filmed - getting onto a boat. I think that is the biggest clue of all. It would probably have taken more than one individual to subdue all three women and such an act might have been better accomplished out on the water. There would have been less chance of escape there as well as a minimal chance of someone witnessing what took place. Just a few thoughts while not trying to minimize other theories.
 
I appreciate what you are saying. That makes sense to me too. But on the other hand it also seems that if they had been killed on the boat & their bodies disposed of in the water, one of the bodies eventually would have rose to the surface. Of course they may have weighted them down too. But because of the time frame & geographic proximity to the area of abduction I still think this warrants a closer look. I also found another article about this victim & the coroner made one of the oddest statements I have ever read come out of the mouth of a coroner. I cant post attachments yet but I will try to find the time to transcribe it later. Dena
 
Any information is always welcomed. It's good to see that this topic is receiving the interest that it is since it happened so many years ago. With regard to what may have happened to any bodies, Lake Michigan probably has many deep places. Also, whose to say that the boat could not have pulled close to shore at a location away from where people were and any bodies could have been transferred to a truck or other form of transportation and taken elsewhere? Regardless, I feel there had to have been at least two or more individuals behind what took place.
 
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