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Searching for justice - The Iola Register
Betty Lou Cantrell was 28, married and a waitress at the Dine-Out Cafe in Iola, Kansas, in September 1969. On the overnight shift on Tuesday, September 30, she was working alone. She was seen sitting at a table having a cup of coffee around 4:30 am by a policeman driving by on patrol. By 5 am, when her coworkers arrived, she was nowhere to be seen. The doors were unlocked and a small amount of blood as well as a bloody handprint was found at the table at which she had been sitting. Around $25-30 was missing from the register.
Later that day, her car was found with the keys still in it, south of town. Though the police theorized she had run off, a search was begun. Three days later, on Friday, Oct 3rd, a female body was found beaten beyond recognition, in a ditch northeast of town. They thought they had found her. BUT IT WASN'T BETTY. The night before, 14-year-old Sally Hutton had disappeared after attending a junior high football game in the park. Some people said they saw her with others in a blue Chevrolet. Sally was a quiet homebody, unlikely to go off with strangers. But that was whose body was found in the ditch.
Later that same day, another body was found, this time floating in Elm Creek South of town. She had also been severely beaten. This was the missing Betty Cantrell. Neither she nor Sally had been sexually assaulted. The police in Iola, an eastern Kansas town of about 6500 people at the time, could not find any links between these two young women who were beaten to death 3 days apart.
The next year, Jack Shoemaker, the "town drunk", confessed to the murder of Betty after police plied him with alcohol to "keep him talking." He recanted his confession but was tried for the crime and acquitted. No suspects were ever named for Sally's murder.
Can we find justice for these two women 55 years later?
Betty Lou Cantrell was 28, married and a waitress at the Dine-Out Cafe in Iola, Kansas, in September 1969. On the overnight shift on Tuesday, September 30, she was working alone. She was seen sitting at a table having a cup of coffee around 4:30 am by a policeman driving by on patrol. By 5 am, when her coworkers arrived, she was nowhere to be seen. The doors were unlocked and a small amount of blood as well as a bloody handprint was found at the table at which she had been sitting. Around $25-30 was missing from the register.
Later that day, her car was found with the keys still in it, south of town. Though the police theorized she had run off, a search was begun. Three days later, on Friday, Oct 3rd, a female body was found beaten beyond recognition, in a ditch northeast of town. They thought they had found her. BUT IT WASN'T BETTY. The night before, 14-year-old Sally Hutton had disappeared after attending a junior high football game in the park. Some people said they saw her with others in a blue Chevrolet. Sally was a quiet homebody, unlikely to go off with strangers. But that was whose body was found in the ditch.
Later that same day, another body was found, this time floating in Elm Creek South of town. She had also been severely beaten. This was the missing Betty Cantrell. Neither she nor Sally had been sexually assaulted. The police in Iola, an eastern Kansas town of about 6500 people at the time, could not find any links between these two young women who were beaten to death 3 days apart.
The next year, Jack Shoemaker, the "town drunk", confessed to the murder of Betty after police plied him with alcohol to "keep him talking." He recanted his confession but was tried for the crime and acquitted. No suspects were ever named for Sally's murder.
Can we find justice for these two women 55 years later?
