VT VT - Lynne Kathryn Schulze, 18, Middlebury, 10 Dec 1971
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Did not know this!
Not saying this is a smoking gun. It could be coincidental like Carbuff says, the same with anything related to Durst's store being across the street from where it was claimed was a place where Lynne was last seen. Some reports say she was seen eating food, I think it was a bag of prunes that she bought from Durst's store. Wasn't Lynne claimed to be seen waiting for a bus at around the time her exam was to start? Many unanswered questions! However, if I was an investigator, I would want everything checked out. I get the feeling of hidden evidence here.
I think most of us here are convinced of at least one thing. That Lynne did not just take off on her own. Something bad happened to her, and it was a fatal outcome. She may have truthfully had forgotten her exam pen, and had every intention of going back to her dorm to get the pen and go back to the exam. Do we believe that part? Or was the going back to get her pen the opt out to her friends to have a plan to disappear from life?
I believe the former. Lynne was on her way back to the dorm or on her way back to class from the dorm, and something bad happened to her. Maybe not right away, but shortly thereafter. She does not seem like the type who would just choose to leave on her own. She would be concerned that it would hurt her family too much. If she wanted to drop out of school, drop out of society, wouldn't there be some kind of clue such as a letter or phone call to family of her intent to do just that? That call or letter never came. This makes me suspect foul play.
Satch
Zephyranth
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Do we know Otto Schulze continued on to be involved in the hearings?
Either as part of Combustion Engineering's united front, or as an individual renegade, Schulze's testimony would have been key. Whether he testified or didn't is the first question; what he said, if he did testify, is the second. Whether or not he changed what he intended to say, at the last minute, is the third.
The Union of Concerned Scientists was going around and finding individual scientists who were willing to offer personal opinions on the nuclear problem; as one author put it, most of these scientists were in this for the science--they weren't interested in politics, they were interested in what worked and what didn't. A cooling system that was inherently faulty might be something a crooked politician was willing to promote, but scientists were interested in identifying and fixing problems, solving the puzzle and achieving success. By scientists' terms, success means a functioning product. So, they were not necessarily averse to speaking openly about the very issue the public found so alarming: the emergency cooling system just plain didn't work. In every, single test of model cooling systems leading up to the hearings, the safety system failed. There was literally no way any regulatory body could, in good conscience, license any more nuclear plants.
That was pretty huge--and it was the sole reason for the hearings. Otto's and or his company's expert testimony on nuclear plant safety would determine the future (or even the existence) of the nuclear industry.
Before working at Combustion Engineering, Otto was VP and general manager of AMF Atomics; it's unlikely that his move to Combustion Engineering involved dropping down the chain of command, so we can safely assume he was a big player in Combustion Engineering, as well. After Lynne's disappearance, he was dispatched to Iran to start the Iranian and Pakistani nuclear programs; safe to say, his star was rising, not falling.
Point being that his role in the hearings, either directly or behind the scenes, would have been significant.
He graduated in '48 and was immediately employed at Argonne National Laboratory; he is literally one of the fathers of the nuclear industry. His opinion at the hearings, however delivered, would have been essential to the outcome.
In a world where pizza drivers are murdered for 20 bucks, that's more motive than anyone would ever need to kidnap someone's offspring.
Durst?
The public, to date, has zero proof of his residence in Ripton, nor of his owning/renting a storefront in Middlebury. The sudden development of "Durst living near Lynne" is pure hearsay. The prune thing is an unsubstantiated fantasy, and I think it's a safe guess as to who provided the tip.
However--if in fact Durst is the perp, his itinerary is incredibly suspect. He appears in Middlebury/Ripton either simultaneously or just before Lynne starts college; within weeks, she is gone, and he is soon to follow. He just happens to have with him a girl of Lynne's age; someone who would be able to provide a natural connection between Lynne and himself in order to make her eventual abduction easier. This girl, Kathie McCormack, just happens to fall for his charms and move with him to Vermont in time to be present for Lynne's kidnapping, and then leave with Durst back to NY because "his dad was mad."
If it was Durst, it looks very possibly like a hit.
At any rate, we are faced with the following statistical conundrum: which is weirder, being kidnapped because your father is about to testify at federal hearings, being accidentally kidnapped by a serial killer just as your father is about to testify at federal hearings, or despite the fact that your father holds the entire nuclear industry in his hands, and the fact that your local grocer is a serial killer--you coincidentally meet a fate related to neither?
There are to date no property records available for the place Durst was allegedly renting in Ripton, and there are no business records (to date, anyway--I realize they could exist) indicating Durst owned or operated All Good Things. There is also, to date, no hard proof that he ever killed anyone; he allegedly confessed to his elderly neighbor's death and dismembering, but there was never so much as a spot of blood physically linked to Durst.
Honestly, the most suspicious thing about Durst right now is the timing of officials' sudden suggestion in 2015 that he's responsible for basically everything from the Cold War to polio.
Another very important track that needs following: of those testifying at the ECCS hearings, did anyone else face sudden personal trauma in the weeks before January 27, 1972?
This is all just my personal working theory--I'm completely open to other scenarios. However, the fact that all known investigation to date has ignored Lynne's dad's unique status is, in and of itself, a huge red flag.
carbuff
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You still didn't answer my question. WHO do you think benefited from this supposed kidnapping? I can see kidnapping for ransom, but that doesn't appear to be what happened and it doesn't appear to be what you're saying.
I also think you're overestimating Schulze's importance in the nuclear industry. Yes, he's an important scientist and researcher, but he's far from the only one. There were dozens of corporations, colleges, foundations, and research programs represented at the hearings, which if I recall correctly were quite tightly focused on the safety issue. It was the only thing that received much media attention, anyway. Changing a few scientists' testimony probably wasn't going to change the outcome. If he were one of the Atomic Energy Commission members who had to make a decision based on the testimony offered in the hearings, blackmailing him might make sense, but just another scientist working for another energy company? I doubt it.
There was nothing controversial about the Iran nuclear program at the time. The Shah's regime was a US ally and the country was striving to modernize as fast as it could. You'd have to be a time traveler to know it was going to turn into a big deal farther down the line.
I also think you're overestimating Schulze's importance in the nuclear industry. Yes, he's an important scientist and researcher, but he's far from the only one. There were dozens of corporations, colleges, foundations, and research programs represented at the hearings, which if I recall correctly were quite tightly focused on the safety issue. It was the only thing that received much media attention, anyway. Changing a few scientists' testimony probably wasn't going to change the outcome. If he were one of the Atomic Energy Commission members who had to make a decision based on the testimony offered in the hearings, blackmailing him might make sense, but just another scientist working for another energy company? I doubt it.
There was nothing controversial about the Iran nuclear program at the time. The Shah's regime was a US ally and the country was striving to modernize as fast as it could. You'd have to be a time traveler to know it was going to turn into a big deal farther down the line.
And on the HBO Special about him, he was being interviewed, and the cameras were still rolling unknown to him and he chillingly said, "I killed them all." These were the crimes he was accused of doing. He was never charged or connected with Lynne's disappeared. I am confused, I thought "All Good Things" was Durst's store though? Was it under different ownership at the time that Lynne vanished? I think that Durst would be smart enough to hide the bodies in places that would probably be very hard, if not impossible to find. His political power was very strong.
It would be interesting to find out where Durst was in December of 1971 to say January of 1972.
Satch
And on the HBO Special about him, he was being interviewed, and the cameras were still rolling unknown to him and he chillingly said, "I killed them all." These were the crimes he was accused of doing. He was never charged or connected with Lynne's disappeared. I am confused, I thought "All Good Things" was Durst's store though? Was it under different ownership at the time that Lynne vanished? His political power was very strong. It would be interesting to find out where Durst was in December of 1971 to say January of 1972. Sorry if this link has been posted, but it talks about Durst and investigators wanting to question him about Lynne's disappearance because of his store near the Vermont Campus where she was last seen:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robert-durst-all-good-things-784015
Satch
It is amazing that some of these threads can go in some very far fetched direction. It seems like there is only one verified fact that we have to go on: Lynne was on her way to a final an then told her friends that she had forgotten her pen, and went back in the dorm. She did not go to the exam and was never seen again.
From this fact, we can assume that she chose not to attend the exam. This is a very drastic move on the part of a first semester freshman. It probably meant she had decided to drop out of college and would result in a confrontation with her parents. In these situations, students do frequently "disappear" for a short period but usually they turn up and explain the situations. Other times the "disappearance" is more serious.
That does not, of course rule out the possibility that she was either abducted by a deranged health food store owner or kidnapped to interfere with her scientist-father's activities but those seem very unlikely possibilities.
From this fact, we can assume that she chose not to attend the exam. This is a very drastic move on the part of a first semester freshman. It probably meant she had decided to drop out of college and would result in a confrontation with her parents. In these situations, students do frequently "disappear" for a short period but usually they turn up and explain the situations. Other times the "disappearance" is more serious.
That does not, of course rule out the possibility that she was either abducted by a deranged health food store owner or kidnapped to interfere with her scientist-father's activities but those seem very unlikely possibilities.
Pettibon Junction
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While I generally balk at conspiracy theories (this case being no exception), I hardly see how it would be far-fetched to suspect a known killer with a history of violent abuse against women of involvement in Lynne's disappearance when the last known sighting of her occurred directly in front of his business. In fact, I'd wager that the more far-fetched notion is that an 18 year old college freshman with limited resources could not only successfully run away on a whim but also manage to remain hidden for the past 45 years.
Mountaingazer
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From what I know and people I have talked too, Durst was in VT for around 2-3 years. He opened All Good Things shortly after moving there (though he had visited and scoped out the area a few times before moving). Even after moving back to new York he continued to be the owner for a while before ultimately selling it.
I am also pretty sure I know the source of at least one of the sightings of Lynne on Court Street that day, if not both. I deem them completely and utterly trustworthy.
Putting pieces together, if Durst is responsible, I think things went like this.
First one of Lynne's good friends from childhood /highschool mentioned their conversations about just taking off and disappearing. It has also been mentioned that she had been kind of melancholy and had trouble acclimating to life at college. I am sure her family placed a high value on education and so admitting she had other goals or dreams for her life might not have been well received. I can see how in a 17-18 year old girls mind how just disappearing for a while would be more appealing than facing disappointment from her parents.
There are reports she told someone she was going to New York that morning, but she had already missed the bus. Feeling defeated she went into All Good Things for a snack and ended up chatting with the owner. What a coincidence! He is actually going to New York to visit family, girl friend, etc. He tells her she is welcome to join him if she wants, just meet him at this time at the gas station across the street and they'll head out.
Lynne goes back to campus thinking about it and at the last moment decides she is going to do it. So she makes the excuse of getting her lucky pen, goes to her dorm and maybe grabs a change of clothes then heads back over to court street.
She is spotted waiting across the street at the garage (this is where the actual bus stop was with a covered bench to wait on outside). Durst comes, picks her up, tells her he just has to run to his house and get his suitcase, and then Lynne disappears never to be seen again.
I am also pretty sure I know the source of at least one of the sightings of Lynne on Court Street that day, if not both. I deem them completely and utterly trustworthy.
Putting pieces together, if Durst is responsible, I think things went like this.
First one of Lynne's good friends from childhood /highschool mentioned their conversations about just taking off and disappearing. It has also been mentioned that she had been kind of melancholy and had trouble acclimating to life at college. I am sure her family placed a high value on education and so admitting she had other goals or dreams for her life might not have been well received. I can see how in a 17-18 year old girls mind how just disappearing for a while would be more appealing than facing disappointment from her parents.
There are reports she told someone she was going to New York that morning, but she had already missed the bus. Feeling defeated she went into All Good Things for a snack and ended up chatting with the owner. What a coincidence! He is actually going to New York to visit family, girl friend, etc. He tells her she is welcome to join him if she wants, just meet him at this time at the gas station across the street and they'll head out.
Lynne goes back to campus thinking about it and at the last moment decides she is going to do it. So she makes the excuse of getting her lucky pen, goes to her dorm and maybe grabs a change of clothes then heads back over to court street.
She is spotted waiting across the street at the garage (this is where the actual bus stop was with a covered bench to wait on outside). Durst comes, picks her up, tells her he just has to run to his house and get his suitcase, and then Lynne disappears never to be seen again.
Zephyranth
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It is also verified fact that her father was a top level nuclear physicist, whose company held the fate of the industry in its hands.
To date, there is no proof of Durst's residency either in Ripton or in Middlebury; that doesn't mean he wasn't there, but the "proof" he was there is legally only hearsay.
Zephyranth
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Really appreciate your thoughts here, carbuff. You are the only person I've run into who is even remotely aware of Otto A. Schulze's status and connection to the ECCS hearings.
I'll have to beg to differ on one point: Otto Alvin Schulze wasn't just another scientist working for another nuclear company. On the contrary, he was handpicked by Admiral Rickover, the "father of the nuclear navy," straight out of grad school, to go to Oak Ridge and help Rickover set the nuclear navy's course, to use Oak Ridge historians' description of the era. Otto's subsequent employer (after Argonne), Combustion Engineering, was integral to the US Navy nuclear sub program.
At the time of the hearings, the entire nuclear industry was under siege by "hippy protestors" and concerned scientists alike. The big question here is what role Otto was planning to play as a concerned scientist. Otto was pleasant but taciturn--all business. He came from a 100% German family in Milwaukee, WI, and was perfectly wired for the scientific field. No drama, no politics--he was a scientist. Considering that it was openly acknowledged by scientists in 1971 that the nuclear reactor emergency cooling systems just plain didn't work, it's hard to imagine that he was planning to claim they worked just fine.
As Rickover's protege of 22 years, Otto would have been under unbelievable pressure, no pun intended. To suggest that his daughter's disappearance weeks before the most important hearings in nuclear regulatory history to date is "far fetched" is--well, far fetched.
It doesn't mean it was related; she could have fallen into a ravine and simply never been found. These things happen. But, again, in a world where murder is committed during mere custody battles or to rob pizza guys of a couple bucks--the motive to influence, threaten, or somehow pressure Otto A. Schulze in December of 1971 is incredibly strong.
After Lynne's disappearance Otto--by some accounts--"quit the nuclear industry," and went to Iran to work with the Shah's brother.
The Schulze's were no average family; it is premature to claim that Lynne's was an average disappearance. At the very least, in a case this cold, there is no reason I can find to ignore this apparently unexplored motive, and quite a few reasons I can think of to pursue it.
The ECCS hearings went very well for the industry. In the end, the threatened shutdown evaporated, and companies were given new, easily-skirted "regulations" which somehow satisfied the public that this critical national safety emergency had been completely turned around--nuclear power was now acceptably safe.
Pettibon Junction
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He owned the business across from which Lynne was last seen. What further proof do you need?
Zephyranth
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To date there is actually (surprisingly) zero evidence I'm aware of that physically connects Durst to any murder. Yes, he's on record saying he did in his neighbor--but there isn't so much as a spot of blood which has been forensically linked to Durst.
Literally, to date, there is no more evidence connecting Durst to any other human's death than there is for you or I.
I absolutely agree with you that the fact Lynne (deceased or alive) has remained undiscovered for 45 years is significant. You'd sure think that if there's a body, it would have been discovered by now.
Zephyranth
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Actually, we have absolutely no evidence, to date, that anyone named Robert Durst ever owned or rented All Good Things. Hundreds of college students and visitors would have bought things there over the years; no one but the Israels has ever stated they know or remembered Durst (that I'm aware of). We have no property or tax records, to date, indicating he did business in Vermont.
As far as shopping patterns indicating a perpetrator, Lynne also shopped at the Israels' store, Wild Mountain Thyme, according to the Israels. Nonetheless, everything we know about Lynne's shopping in downtown Middlebury is, to date, hearsay.
Her father, on the other hand, published that she was 17 years old, wearing hiking boots and a backpack, that she had her ID card, and was last seen walking along Route 7. This contradicts the "prune" version on a number of points.
I'm not sure how or why journalists deviated from this description to a different version (and victim age) altogether, or whose version should be taken more seriously. Doesn't mean the prune version isn't the correct one; but, again, we don't even have proof Durst was living in Ripton/working in Middlebury in 1971.
Why did Otto wait to announce her disappearance until 3 days before the ECCS hearings? One thought is that delaying the announcement would provide him with a sympathetic excuse to withdraw from testifying, at least for the immediate future. But as it would turn out, the hearings lasted 135 days; any pass he might have gotten initially would have eventually expired, and he'd likely have had to testify anyway.
By journalistic and legal standards, the entire Durst scenario is unsubstantiated. If in fact there are property or tax records linking Durst to Ripton and Middlebury, VT, hopefully they will turn up.
I'm just so grateful that people--including all of you here--care enough about Lynne, and other missing loved ones, to continue looking into her case so many years later. I still have hope that this case can be solved. Secretly, of course, I hope she's living in some small town in northern Canada or Bhutan, lol. What a wonderful outcome that would be.
Zephyranth
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Valid possibility, and under the circumstances--young college students protesting both war, and nuclear power, throughout the country--how hard would it be to be the daughter of a guy who was directly responsible for both the nuclear submarine program and the (now evil) nuclear reactors? Maybe her friends knew; maybe Lynne was embarrassed, conflicted, both. Middlebury students were not just any families' kids; Lynne's then-hometown of Simsbury, CT itself was full of peers whose fathers worked at Combustion Engineering. Was it known, among the Middlebury crowd, that Lynne came from a family (father) who was directly involved in the very thing the peace movement was rebelling against?
If you read through the Middlebury College publications from that year, you see a campus alive with critical thinking, social commentary, rebellion against the status quo...it would have been a very heady time to be the daughter of America's "first nuclear scientist," if in fact Otto was known as such at that point in history.
I was a student at a west coast University know for activism. Anti War activity was front and center and Anti Racism activity was close second. Opposition to nuclear bombs and their testing was certainly there but nuclear power generation was not that much of an issue. That only came with Three Mile Island. I really doubt her fathers career was a factor
Zephyranth
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Combustion Engineering was not just involved in nuclear power generation--it was directly responsible for creating the United States' nuclear weapons arsenal.
http://coldwar-ct.com/Combustion_Engineering.html
Much of what Combustion Engineering did post-1970 is still classified. How much of this Lynne and her classmates would have known, though, is a good question.
Suffice it to say that it would have been a pretty uncomfortable time to have parents working directly for the nuclear weapons industry. But, coming from out of state, there's no reason Lynne would have had to mention anything about her dad's position if she didn't feel like it.
Zephyranth
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Here's a tidbid to follow up on: All Good Things advertised itself in the publication "Middlebury Campus," in 1972, as being "formerly O.M. Health Foods."
Has anyone found a reference to this and a date at which the name change took place?
Has anyone found a reference to this and a date at which the name change took place?
Zephyranth
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As it turns out, the nuclear power generation topic was a hot one in 1971, at least in Vermont. Middlebury College newsletter, Middlebury Campus, ran an article shortly after Lynne's disappearance describing the threat that the proposed Hough Crossing nuclear plant posed for a beloved state landmark, Mount Independence. Page 4-5 here:
http://middarchive.middlebury.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/underpub/id/14104/rec/1
Summarized better here: http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/...o-proposed-northern-nukes/Content?oid=2143122
"In Orwell, the fledgling Vermont Public Interest Research Group aided locals opposed to a later plan by the same utility and by the Vermont Electric Power Co., aka VELCO, for what would have been known as the Hough Crossing nuclear plant. One of the key objections involved its potentially destructive impact on Mount Independence, which was then gaining recognition as Vermont’s most important Revolutionary War site. The Orwell plant was “the first project of its kind defeated for reasons of historic preservation,” says Shoreham attorney Ron Morgan, a leader of the Mount Independence Coalition."
Of course one question this raises in my mind is whether Otto's team was directly involved in the Hough Crossing (Orwell) plant, and whether there were factors in addition to "reasons of historic preservation" that factored into the plant's defeat.
A little more insight into attitudes at Middlebury:
"For Middlebury students in the 1960sand 1970s, nuclear power suddenly transformed from a hypothetical presence thousands of miles away to their very own nuclear power plant mere miles away, catalyzing the individualist environmental movement at Middlebury College."
https://omeka.middlebury.edu/fyg/items/show/410
Note: "Their very own nuclear power plant mere miles away" referred to the Vernon plant, completed in 1971. In that same year, notice was made to the public that VELCO execs were prowling around Mount Independence looking for a site for a new plant, the Hough Crossing one--it's the Hough Crossing plant that was defeated ostensibly for reasons of historic preservation.