NM NM - Patty Pritz, 14, & Mattie Restine, 13, Carlsbad, 11 Aug 1961 - #1

[Sunshine 1950]

Legacy, thanks for all the articles. Good work!

My eyes aren't so great at reading the small print either, so what I do is to save the image as a photo in windows pictures and fax, then I can enlarge the image of the article with that program.

Any clue as to whom the 33 yr. old guy was who had the scratches on his face?

Now I see where the reports mentioning a small caliber weapon came from---a suspected .32. With no bullets retrieved, I'm guessing the impact to the skull was how they later came up with the weapon being a .38. Still, lots of questions here. That bit about finding a mutilated blow up doll a month earlier was truly weird. How do you mutilate a blow up doll other than by punching holes in it or slicing the plastic?

Surely someone knew of someone who owned such a doll.

What kind of credentials did Haynes have to support his findings? Did he have a background in forensics? I feel sure we could find that out.

I'm not sure I buy that the girls weren't beaten. For them to be shot in the temple so close as to leave gun powder residue tells me they had to have been incapacited, likely unconscious when they were shot. I wish we had a diagram of the crime scene with the placement of each girl's body in relation to the road that Melton and Blair were driving on when Mattie's body was spotted.

Estrada told me he felt the girls were drunk..but I just don't believe it. And it didn't say that in the autopsy report. That report say that Mattie had eatten what appeared to be watermelon, apple pie, and she had drank a cherry coke. Patty's autopsy doesnt' say anything about what was in her stomach. So I just thin that report and autopsy are lacking...mainly due to the fact Dr. Haynes did it at the West Funeral Home and they didn't do much back then.
So it makes me think Dr Haynes wasn't that experienced in murder autopsies.

 

[mnegri1973]

Sheriff's Chief Deputy W.C. McGrew (Dan)
Before coming to New Mexico, McGrew lived in Alexandria, Louisana. He served in the Navy from Jan. 1951 to Nov. 1954. During the Korean Conflict. Following his discharge, he worked at the Sandia Corp. in Albuquerque before going to the State Police Academy in 1960. Upon graduation ,he began a tour of duty here in Carlsbad. He began his sheriff's office career in June, 1962. He has been the Chief Deputy under Sheriff Carl Hawkins since Hawkins took office.
McGrew was recognizes as and outstanding officer. Shortly after joining the sheriff's staffe, he was invited to attend the FBI Academy, which is considered an honor by fellow officers.
McGrew and his wife, Gracie, who survives, resided at 2409 Eunice St. They had no children.

THis report was supplied by Charles Titus several years ago.

Is there a tie between McGrew's family and the Titus family? The reason why I am asking or wondering really is the obit for CT's brother, lists that his children lived or are still living in Alexandria, LA. McGrew was stationed there at one time. Just seems odd that Titus was allowed to investigate the scene, when he was not even LE from New Mexico, Titus was the one who was on the phone with McGrew when he died of gunshot wounds to the stomach. Which, btw, would be a horrible way to die, I would think that if someone was going to take their life with a gun, they would shot themselves in the head, stomach wounds would be a slow death I would think and then there is always the chance that they would survive.

I am just wondering if there was a connection between the families prior to the murders taking place. It most likely has nothing to do with the murders or with McGrew dying but just one of those weird connections that is spotted after the fact.

M ~

 

[mnegri1973]

Estrada told me he felt the girls were drunk..but I just don't believe it. And it didn't say that in the autopsy report. That report say that Mattie had eatten what appeared to be watermelon, apple pie, and she had drank a cherry coke. Patty's autopsy doesnt' say anything about what was in her stomach. So I just thin that report and autopsy are lacking...mainly due to the fact Dr. Haynes did it at the West Funeral Home and they didn't do much back then.
So it makes me think Dr Haynes wasn't that experienced in murder autopsies.

I wonder why Estrada would think that when it is not listed anywhere in the actual reports? Did he ever say why he felt that way?

M ~

 

[Legacy]

14 Aug 1961 Oakland Tribune CA Front Page

 

[Legacy]

15 Aug 1961 Bridgeport Post CT Page 29

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

14 Aug 1961 Oakland Tribune CA Front Page

if it was a automatic weapon, then yes there may had been some cartridges found or still there through ejection, but a revolver there would had been none.

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

15 Aug 1961 Bridgeport Post CT Page 29

this doll, do they still have it in there possession?
there may be a tag on it, or on the back side there may be the makers mark that had been branded on the material........if so, with today's technology, they could perhaps determined whom made it, where it was sold, and even perhaps, if it was mailed to someone there in the area, they could tell whom ordered it, and what address it was sent to.

add on...



are we talking about a manigun, like in a department store that was cut up into parts.......is that the type of life size doll we are talking about here?
​

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

Titus.............these maps that he sent you, i don't know if they were sent to you through regular mail, or through the internet etc........
​

but on this maps, was there anything on them, anything that looked out of place as far as a marking of some kind......usually when one receives or sends a map, sometimes i should say, its to find some treasure etc...........where x marks the spot, but in this case it may not be so obvious, it could be anything, without coming right out and showing on the map something of interest...........

addon...

this park, where they have the rides........and patty used the phone to call home/called from the office there, where they have the rides............was any of the POI working at this fair, part time, for the summer etc......that she may went there to see........was this a out of town carnival that came to town every year, hired locals etc.

this guy with the scratches on his face, did her work there??

 

[fish1966]

Mr T, all I can tell you about your last post is that the rides were owned and operated by the city of Carlsbad and all of the workers were local people. It was a good place for summer jobs for teens. I really don't remember older people working there but perhaps city payroll records would still be available to see exactly who was working there at any given time. We know one of Patty's friends worked there,,, see the posts about Ben Wade Gaines.

 

[Legacy]

27 Aug 1961 Albuquerque Journal NM Front Page

 

[Legacy]

14 Sep 1961 Albuquerque Journal NM Page B-7

 

[Legacy]

14 Aug 1961 Albuquerque Journal NM Front Page

 

[Sunshine 1950]

I wonder why Estrada would think that when it is not listed anywhere in the actual reports? Did he ever say why he felt that way?

M ~

I don't know why he said it. But I have to say that he said that when he thought the Rabe, McCaskey, Howard guys were a good lead. The Lee Cathey guys...maybe because Cathey said that Robert Rabe told him that when he was in town he and the two other guys would cruise and pick girls up a nd go get drunk...maybe thats it.
But after he told me that he thought Mattie might have been drunk...I told him he was wrong...of course I got my dander up and I could tell he noticed. So he didn't talk about it again. But after I read the autopsy reports I couldn't tell if they had been drinking so who knows.

 

[fish1966]

Post #178 says DB car had a spotlight on it. People passing on the highway reported bright light in the crime scene area.

 

[Sunshine 1950]

Titus.............these maps that he sent you, i don't know if they were sent to you through regular mail, or through the internet etc........
​

but on this maps, was there anything on them, anything that looked out of place as far as a marking of some kind......usually when one receives or sends a map, sometimes i should say, its to find some treasure etc...........where x marks the spot, but in this case it may not be so obvious, it could be anything, without coming right out and showing on the map something of interest...........

addon...

this park, where they have the rides........and patty used the phone to call home/called from the office there, where they have the rides............was any of the POI working at this fair, part time, for the summer etc......that she may went there to see........was this a out of town carnival that came to town every year, hired locals etc.

this guy with the scratches on his face, did her work there??

Mr. TT I don't know if there is anything out of the way in the maps or not...it would take someone that knows where the bodies were found. Titus sent me a CD of stuff...all of his thoughts on the case...is what I call it...I asked him if he could send me what he had and he sent me the CD...it has over 400 pgs of stuff...he told me he had been working on it throughout his law enforcement career and after...I haven't had any correspondence with Titus in two years...

 

[Sunshine 1950]

Post #178 says DB car had a spotlight on it. People passing on the highway reported bright light in the crime scene area.

Yes, that is correct fish. Bonnie said that David always had a spotlight on his cars...

 

[fish1966]

Actually in physical appearance the map from Titus looks lame. I don't know where it came from or when it was made. At the time of the crime the Hamilton Station was on 285. But now Hamilton Station is on the north side of 185. And the Brantley Lake Dam in kinda just a dark line drawn in. And why all the marker kinda lines showing road looking places over by Loving?

 

[fish1966]

Then again it could be just kind of map that has been traced over. It just looks odd.

 

[fish1966]

Excuse me... to correct post#32 Hamilton Station foundation is now on north side of highway 285. The highway is new since 1961

 

[Sunshine 1950]

if it was a automatic weapon, then yes there may had been some cartridges found or still there through ejection, but a revolver there would had been none.

I have always wondered how the killers retrieved the slugs from the murder scene. But they would also have to know how to clean up the scene so well. How could they find the slugs in the dark? Also...what about the footprints of the girls...wouldn't there be footprints from them out there if they were killed there? How about the stick or rock that was used on Patty...where is it? I have so many questions about this being the actually murder scene.
If the projectile of the head shots were not straight down into the ground wouldn't that make the slugs more out in the area? I'm not the smartest person about how guns work or what they leave behind...but I just have trouble thinking they couldn't find something out there.