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

[Cubby]

Another article states LS told the investigator that his wife wore the same kind of boots as Debbie. Now, Debbie was in 5th grade. I don't know how tall she was, but it's likely she was still in childrens size shoes and LS's wife of course wore womens size shoes. I guess it is possible in 5th grade, Debbie could have already been wearing womens size shoes, but I'm not sure how likely that is. Also, not sure kids and adult women would have chosen the same style boots back in the mid 60's.

What is also odd about this, is WHY would LS make the statement about his wife having the same style boots? This was in february, if he had driven her home from school on a regular basis, why not just say that boot print was there from when I drove her home last week, or such and such a day. Why make a point of trying to state that was NOT debbies boot print? And did LE ever determine if LS's wife and Debbie did in fact have the exact same style boot?

 

[karefree]

I wish I knew how to get the rest of these to ya'll so they could be shared in this thread. Sorry I wasn't able to help more.

 

[Cubby]

I wonder if we can find out where LS studied for the priesthood. We might be able to find someone who recalls attending those classes with him and would be willing to share with us, even anonymously, if LS was a little off with younger females back then.

I would also love to know if his female children, or his son(s) had any hesitancy leaving grandpa alone with his grandchildren.

Of course I would also like to know if LS only drove Debbie home from school, or if he ever picked her up for school in the am.

 

[karefree]

Also, was she the only child he gave rides to?

 

[Cubby]

I wish I knew how to get the rest of these to ya'll so they could be shared in this thread. Sorry I wasn't able to help more.

No worries. I think there is another WS member here who I can ask how to do that. I think what you need to do actually is set up a photo bucket account or some account you can upload the document and then paste it or link it here. I will ask and let you know.

if not, no worries. I am pretty close and was planning on going to the library one day next week after I drop my son off at school.

 

[shadowangel]

The case against Schofield seemed to go from red hot one day to completely cold the next. Odd in a way I've rarely seen.

I agree, the story about the boots seems very odd. I'm thinking he first denied ever having Debbie in his car at all....The panicked reaction of the proverbial deer in the headlights.
I tend to doubt that Schofield took Debbie to school, since as a member of the faculty he probably had to report earlier. Just my speculation of course. Its possible the rides home had to do with her involvement with the sports program.

 

[Cubby]

The case against Schofield seemed to go from red hot one day to completely cold the next. Odd in a way I've rarely seen.

I agree. I really think that had to do with the law suit Schofield filed against DuPage County in May 1966 for libel and slander. DuPage county was still quite unpopulated in 1966 compared to today. It hadn't yet hit it's boom. One of the ancestry articles I was able to access had another article on the same page about good news for DuPage Realtors as area expected to boom.

I really think this case went silently cold for two reasons. 1)Not to interfer with the economic growth and development of DuPage County and 2)Because of John Schofield's, (Loren Schofield's father), connection via his elected position in Wayne Township. A position he held for at least 3 years at the time of Debbies murder.

Originally Posted by shadowangel
I agree, the story about the boots seems very odd. I'm thinking he first denied ever having Debbie in his car at all....The panicked reaction of the proverbial deer in the headlights.
I tend to doubt that Schofield took Debbie to school, since as a member of the faculty he probably had to report earlier. Just my speculation of course. Its possible the rides home had to do with her involvement with the sports program.

I agree, but I think he also likely gave her rides home the previous school year when she was his student and in 4th grade. I got the impression it wasn't just that school year 65/66 and not just because of basketball season. Remember one of the articles stated she had made a gift of some kind for Schofields infant son who was 6 months old already at the time of Debbies murder. Basketball season wasn't going on 6 months prior to February 1966. In order for his son to be 6 months old already in Feb 66, he had to have been born about August 1965. Maybe even before the school year started, which means it is possible LS had contact with Deb and her family the summer of 65.

jmo

 

[Cubby]

After I posted the above about my thought the case went silently cold as a result of not interfering with the economic growth and development of DuPage county once the slander/libel lawsuit was filed by LS, I decided to search for the population growth of the county.

Very interesting chart with that data:

http://www.protectdupage.org/planning/profile/pdf/2.1_pop_growth_1900-2020.pdf

 

[Cubby]

Copying the google info since these are pay to view articles.

Here we have a 20 year career, and that was as the incumbent in 1963. I couldn't find anything earlier. How convienent LS then got a job working with daddy with the tax payers paying his salary.

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 [/SIZE]
Rubin Loses Close Evanston Race
[SIZE=-1]Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - ProQuest Archiver[SIZE=-1] - Apr 3, 1963[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]John Schofield was reelected h i g h w a y commissioner of W a y n e township, Du Page county. Schofield received 194 votes, and Louis Humbracht, ... [/SIZE]

Illinois Appellate Court Reports - IN RE APPLICATION OF DU PAGE CTY …
[SIZE=-1]Pay-Per-View - Illinois Appellate Court Reports - Loislaw[SIZE=-1] - Sep 28, 1983
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]The appeal concerns objections to taxes extended for Wayne Township "for town ... Highway Commissioner John Schofield explained to the electors that the ... [/SIZE]
[/SIZE]

 

[yosande]

Does anyone know if LS won his lawsuit?
Does anyone know if LS was a certified teacher, and if so, did he lose his teaching certificate d/t the pics in his school desk drawer?

Jmo, but the stab wounds on her face, and especially eyes, says to me that she "saw" something.
Do any ofthe articles say whether the wounds to her back were made before her chest, face, and eyes, or after?



I find where Debbie was found to be interesting, since his dad owned 90 acres, and LS must have known it like the back of his hand. If he was the perp, he could have put her in the incinerator, or anywhere on daddy's land.
So why place her there, unless he wanted her found.

So if theories are allowed at this time, and if LS is responsible, Debbie may have seen him with someone else, and being a witness is what caused her demise, and well as shutting up the other victim(s).
I say this because she was found dressed, and found in a place where she wasn't hidden, so the perp not only didn't care if she was found, but wanted her to be found.

Since, LS was only 27 years old at the time, the perp could even have been another child who thought he/she was "in love" with LS, and didn't want him to go away b/c of what Debbie saw, after everyone else went home.
That might explain the upper body, 19 stabs, being passionate, and personal. jmo of course.

LS statements, then lawsuit, makes little sense. However, if LS was attempting to lure LE away from a child victim/lover/murderer, only to sue b/c he didn't kill her and LE never figured it out.

Imo, it's unlikely that LS had an ongoing picture session, molestation relationship with Debbie, so that opens the door for her being a witness as well. fwiw.

How old were the students in the basketball team?
Were they male or female?
Did Debbie have any brothers or sisters, and if so, were they on the team? tia.
all moo.

 

[yosande]

I like to know if any other unsolved murder victims in this county went to the same school as Debbie.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dupageco.org/sheriff/images/images2/unsolved%2520murders/Fijan.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dupageco.org/sheriff/unsolved%2520murders.htm&usg=__yQ2OJVRo6BMoT6hajkRmfUtu--4=&h=223&w=150&sz=9&hl=en&start=1&itbs=1&tbnid=olm-PjPznhmwjM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=72&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDebbie%2BFijan%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1
Lorraine F. Beize
Age 21
Date of homicide: August 31, 1982




Kristina Wesselman
Age 15
Date of homicide: July 22, 1985


Patricia Sue Early
Age 17
Reported missing to Aurora PD
August 1, 1979

all blonds, same county as Debbie.



and one male who would have been 12 when Debbie was killed. Did any of these people go to the same school as Debbie, and/or the same time as Debbie?
Just asking, and wondering.

Roger Dickson
Age 20
Date of homicide: November, 1974

imo, that's a lot of young blond people dying in one county.

 

[Cubby]

None of the above victims on the DuPage cold case site attended the same school.

 

[Cubby]

Yosande your theories are interesting. The only thing that leads me to believe an adult is involved, is because Debbies body was not found within walking distance of the school. It was closer to a mile away and none of the students were of driving age.

I don't know if LS had a teaching certificate or not. I do know that he did not return to the school as a teacher after he was charged.

The place Debbie was located was very close to the intersection of Fair Oaks Road and Lies Rd. Someone would have left her there in the ditch because they needed to get her out of the car quickly without being seen. At least the west side of Fair Oaks Road at that intersection was wooded. Currently Lies dead ends at Fair Oaks.. continuing west past Fair Oaks on Lies would lead someone directly into a forest preserve. Someone would have smelled a burning body in the schools incinerator. No wooded area on the farm, it was winter, most likely everything was cleared and it was wide open land. Either place would have been too risky.

A for the rest of your theory, there were no signs of molestation, Debbie was fully clothed. I have a little bit of a different thought, but it is your post that got me to think about this possibility.

It is very very likely Debbie walked in on him viewing the pornographic pictures and possibly more, LS pleasing himself. The incredibly freaked out reaction LS had to having . His odd guilty feelings about it, comments about it and having to get rid of the in his desk at school and at home quite quickly. I think it was very very likely she saw him doing something he was ashamed of, and very embarrased of doing, not to mention being caught. It likely caused him humiliation and he lashed out at her face and eyes because she 'saw' what he was doing. I mean, think about it. What would happen if a teacher was caught masturbating to pornographic pictures and a young female student whom the teacher had a close relationship walked in on that? His reputation at school, among his peers, the students parents would have been completely ruined. If he studied for the priesthood, I don't think he could get over the shame. I can easily see him saying "I'm sick" because he was disgusted with himself for not being able to refrain from pleasuring himself at his place of employment. Not sick in a mental health way, sick in an addict kind of way.

If he had kept the at work, it is possible he was pleasing himself at various times throughout the day, when he didn't think he would get caught. Maybe he thought everyone was gone after the basketball game that day, and didn't realize Debbie's mother was late picking her up. Maybe Debbie walked into his office asking to use the phone and saw that.... if so, she would have not said anything to her mom on the phone right then and there -or- he offered her a ride home.....

And she never had a chance to get home and tell her mom what she saw.
jmo

 

[shadowangel]

Or....He decided to pleasure himself in front of Debbie, thinking that, due to their "relationship", she would enjoy it. When she reacted negatively, he became upset that Debbie didn't appreciate the "show" he was putting on. Thus the attack on her eyes...She didnt like what Schofield was showing her so he stabbed her face and eyes.

 

[shadowangel]

At least two of the articles I read state the opinion that Debbie was alive when she was dumped/dropped off. Is it possible that she was dumped/dropped off elsewhere and crawled to this location? I would think that this information would be released, but then again it might be one of those details that law enforcement hold back.

 

[karefree]

According to one article, Debbie was a frequent visitor in the Schofield home.

 

[shadowangel]

]<snipped> [/i]
I agree, but I think he also likely gave her rides home the previous school year when she was his student and in 4th grade. I got the impression it wasn't just that school year 65/66 and not just because of basketball season. Remember one of the articles stated she had made a gift of some kind for Schofields infant son who was 6 months old already at the time of Debbies murder. Basketball season wasn't going on 6 months prior to February 1966. In order for his son to be 6 months old already in Feb 66, he had to have been born about August 1965. Maybe even before the school year started, which means it is possible LS had contact with Deb and her family the summer of 65.

Very good points. I had forgotten that Debbie was Schofield's student the previous year.

 

[rpipergirl]

Dose anyone know what happened with the civil suit? In one article Karefree sent me it said it was being delayed a year to a year and a half. I wonder what if anything came out in the trial? Also what came of the case with the baby's body Schofield found? There are just so many questions left unanswered in this case.

I also saw that I can only read 5 of the articles Karefree so generously sent and only for a limited time. Oh well at least I got to see some of them. TY again,Karefree.

 

[Cubby]

Regarding the civil suit, I don't know... some of these questions I will have to wait and see when I go to the library.

I really couldn't find any pay-to-view snippets on the civil case. Did anyone find any? Even the stuff you can copy and paste like I did above? we can still get a little out of that, imo.

Karefree, I hate to bug you, since you were so kind to send us those articles. is it possible you can maybe take another look at them as you have time and see if you can find any of the answers to our questions? If not, no worries... I think I can make it to the library sometime this coming week while my son is at school, and I have a few uninterupted hours.

 

[Cubby]

Or....He decided to pleasure himself in front of Debbie, thinking that, due to their "relationship", she would enjoy it. When she reacted negatively, he became upset that Debbie didn't appreciate the "show" he was putting on. Thus the attack on her eyes...She didnt like what Schofield was showing her so he stabbed her face and eyes.

Could be. I still tend to think if she did find him pleasuring himself, she did so accidently and it wasn't planned on his part. I do think the attack on her eyes was a result of her seeing something he was upset about her seeing. Maybe he did think she was at an age to know about sex, or something like that. I think he was a sex addict... just my opinion based on what I read about his statements and reaction about the ....

I really think when he said "I am sick", he meant "I am sick because I can't stop this addiction to ". Clearly it was out of hand if he couldn't limit viewing it in the privacy of his own home and had to bring it to a school, where young children were around. Plus, I don't think 'sex addict' or the term was viewed as such back in the 60's. In the 60's it would have been considered a perversion and a lot was lumped into perversion, including pedophilia.

I doubt those investigating the case back in the 60's would have considered him being caught viewing and pleasuring himself as a motive. I'd really like to know what the investigators thought of the being at the school. Especially since LS admitted to it being there and his destroying it promptly that evening. There was a strong sense of urgency with getting rid of it that night. If it had nothing to do with Debbies case, why the urgency right then?