IL IL - Debbie Fijan, 10, DuPage County, 11 Feb 1966 - #1

[shadowangel]

<snipped> It wouldn't be Rt. 1 From wiki Rt. 1 runs parallel to the IL/ Indiana state border.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Route_1 Also, fair oaks is between Rts 59 & 53. I think it would have said if he lived on Fair Oaks in one of the articles...... I'm wondering if what you saw was a typo. There seems to be a lot of typo's in some of those older articles.

The article I purchased states the same thing, worded slightly differently, though of course the info may have been 'borrowed' by several reporters from an AP/UPI article.

Debbie's address is given as "28W 524 Wynn St".

 

[Cubby]

I wonder if they knew for certain the clothes he turned over were in fact what he was wearing that night. Did the students see him in those clothes that day? If he was a basketball coach and gym teacher, did he keep a change of clothes at school? Since this school included both grade school age and junior high age, did it have a locker room where he could have changed?

 

[Cubby]

I found a Wynn Avenue.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=West%20Chicago&hl=en&ned=us&tab=nl

It is still pretty 'rural'/country there, for this area anyway. St. Charles Rd and North Ave cross about there..... and the Prince Crossing Stables on North ave just directly south of Wynn Ave have been closed forever. It was open when I was a kid, that I recall, but now there is only an old building from the 1800's that is boarded up. Nice building too, red brick. It's not in bad condition, so it is surprising the town, village or county hasn't done anything with it. Most of those older buildings have been turned into museums or moved.

 

[shadowangel]

Thinking back to my days growing up in West Virginia, I'm fairly certain the address given for Schofield refers to a rural postal delivery route, not a road. Instead of a street address in rural areas, addresses were referred to by the postal route (which might be several miles and include several different streets or roads) and a box number (referring to the mailbox, not a PO box as is common today).

In other words, "RR1 Box 25" might refer to a house on "Main St" while "RR1 Box 50" might be a house on "Elm St" within the same carrier route.

 

[shadowangel]

I wonder if they knew for certain the clothes he turned over were in fact what he was wearing that night. Did the students see him in those clothes that day? If he was a basketball coach and gym teacher, did he keep a change of clothes at school? Since this school included both grade school age and junior high age, did it have a locker room where he could have changed?

I think that is an excellent question. I'm thinking that his "pornographic photographs" may not have been the only thing that went into the school's incinerator.....

 

[Cubby]

There has never been an RR addresses here that I know of. There are two homes listed at the map.. so I assume they are 1 & 2.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&s...code_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ8gEwAA

I thought perhaps whatever was at address 1 might have been demolished when North Ave was widened, but it is not close enough to the North Ave intersection according to the map.

I think the school may have been pretty new in 1966 too. There are only 2 schools in that district 25 now, so it is very small.

 

[Cubby]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=6047,3649854&dq=1+fair+oaks+road&hl=en

In the above article, LS is quoted as saying. "Yes, I could have done it. I'm capable of it. I won't deny it. I'm sick and need help."

If that isn't as close to coming to confessing, I don't know what is. Clearly he was saying he is sick in relation to a young girl, not pornographic pictures taken between two consenting adults.

Since this is a pay article, it says LS's father lived on a farm on Fair Oaks Rd.


SEEK KNIFE IN DEBBIE DEATH
[SIZE=-1]Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - ProQuest Archiver[SIZE=-1] - Feb 16, 1966[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]1,. m. LAB TESTS CHARRED CLOTHES OF TEACHER. Punish Killer, ... Mr. and Mrs. John Schofield, at their farm on Fair Oaks road near Carol Stream. ... [/SIZE]

This article says his father worked for Wayne Township as road commissioner.


'We've Got Our Man,' Sheriff Says
[SIZE=-1]Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - ProQuest Archiver[SIZE=-1] - Feb 16, 1966[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]His father, John Schofield, of Fairoaks road, is Wayne township road commis- sioner, and Loren had worked for him on the highways[/SIZE]

Wayne is now a small very expensive area. Very very pretty and still has that small town feel. I can't help but wonder if LS's fathers position had any influence on this.

ETA: Why would an innocent person burn their clothes?

 

[Cubby]

MATCH BOOT PRINT IN CAR TO SLAIN GIRL
[SIZE=-1]Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - ProQuest Archiver[SIZE=-1] - Feb 17, 1966[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Schofield's father, John Schofield, refused to let Sgt. Milton Rowe search his farm home in Fairoaks road, within sight of the place where Debbie's body was ... [/SIZE]


The above is just from the google search and copied since it is a pay per view article.

Interesting. We don't know if they ever went back with a search warrant. The farm was in sight of where she was found. I still wonder how far. And there is STILL something farmed on the NE corner of Fair Oaks and Lies.

 

[Cubby]

A little OT, but this is an article about John Schofield from 1963.

HOPEFULS VIE FOR POSTS IN 7 TOWNSHIPS
[SIZE=-1]Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - ProQuest Archiver[SIZE=-1] - Mar 14, 1963[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]... candidate for high- way commissioner. Wayne. The only Wayne township candidate is John Schofield, Wayne, incumbent highway commissioner and a Repub- lican. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Related web pages[/SIZE]




TEACHER HELD IN DEBBIE CASE FINDS A BODY
[SIZE=-1]Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - ProQuest Archiver[SIZE=-1] - Apr 3, 1966[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]John Schofield is road com- missioner of Wayne township. His son, Loren, reportedly has been working with him on road maintenance since he was freed in ... [/SIZE]

 

[Cubby]

Another article with more information. Says Debbie was last seen talking to a man in a white car at the school and that the tire tracks from the white car matched the tire marks near where her body was found.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...84,6626732&dq=edward+birdwell+principal&hl=en

 

[rpipergirl]

I am so glad you all have gotten into this case with me. I have googled and binged Debbie's case and can find nothing.
Also did I miss the blurb in one of the pay articles. I thought it said the parents of Schofield found the baby. It is frustrating that the article are Pay,Pay,Pay.

 

[rpipergirl]

Another article with more information. Says Debbie was last seen talking to a man in a white car at the school and that the tire tracks from the white car matched the tire marks near where her body was found.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...84,6626732&dq=edward+birdwell+principal&hl=en

Did they ever check Schofield's car against the tire impressions and also did he drive a white car? Interesting article ,TY, Cubby

 

[Cubby]

No idea if he drove a white car.... and everything from the Chicago Trib is pay-pay-pay.

 

[Cubby]

One more thing I can add being local, it is not a 10 minute drive from Debbies home to the school. At best it would have been a 5 minute drive from walking out the door of her home to getting to the school and parking. In reality probably only a 3-4 min drive, unless there was a lot of snow on the ground that day. Nothing I've read indicated it snowed that day.

I'd like to know how Debbie called her mom after the game was over. Did she use a school pay phone or was she allowed to use a phone in the school office and who allowed her to use the phone? She would have had to get permission from an adult to make a call on a school phone.

Who was it that said she was seen talking to a man in a white car? LS? or where there other witnesses?

ETA: I don't recall pay phones in my grammer school, but I also did not attend public grade school. There were no pay phones that I recall in schools until High School.

 

[Cubby]

I was wrong, Benjamin is not a newer school. It actually dates back to the 1840's and is one of the oldest districts in DuPage county. The building however, I don't know the age. I don't know the age of the current school, although the building looks newer, what it looks like means nothing. I was trying to determine if the building had an incinerator in 1966.

http://www.bendist25.org/docs/Newsletters/District_Newsletter/District_Newsletter_Summer2008.pdf
A little info above about the history of the school district.

 

[Cubby]

I would love to hear from someone who went to school with Debbie, and what they recall of her, the accused teacher. Events of the day she went missing.......

 

[Cubby]

Details of Debbies injuries.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OuotAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pzEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2111,4333023&dq=fijan&hl=en

The above article also states the right side of her face was badly beaten. Wouldn't those injuries have to come from a left handed person if they were facing Debbie? A right handed person would have inflicted injury on the left side of Debbies face rather than the right side. Unless, she was on his left facing him and turned her face to the left.

I wonder if LS was left handed or right handed.

 

[rpipergirl]

WOW! Cubby, you give a lot to think about. I am so grateful to have a local on here. I agree that pay phones in an Elementary School would be odd. We didn't have until JR/SR highschool. In my opinion they were a bad idea as kids abused the privilege. About the incinerator. I don't think they'd have one in a school. Maybe in a High School to dispose of dissected animals from bio classes. Having said that when I read burnt I got the impression that they ment just with a lighter or something. Maybe I am wrong.

 

[Cubby]

It could have been a back yard bon fire.... lots of them around here. Back when Debbie went missing locals burnt their yard waste. There was no bagging leaves, they were all piled and burnt.

It depends on the age of the school. My grammer school was built in the early teens, twenties? so it had an incinerator. I vaguelly remember it. Though I don't remember if it was actually used or not. I do remember the door for it, which has now since been removed and the bricks replaced.

I will drive by over the weekend. My son will be at his dads.... I don't have any way to take pictures... not yet, but will look at the buildings. Maybe get a better idea for the age of the school.

 

[shadowangel]

One of the articles I read mentioned that Schofield burned the photos from his desk in the school's incinerator.