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

[Abbey5]

LS's wife was Mary Anne Schlugen (unless you mean EMK was JS's wife).

Yes, that is what I meant. Sorry.

 

[rpipergirl]

I just did some research on Russell Charles Dewey. He was already in jail when Debbie was killed having been convicted in August. http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1373189557/Aug-21-1966-Dewey-found-guilty-of-murder
This rules him out. I am still interested to know what LS 2 year old died from.

 

[Cubby]

I was looking into info on serial killers who may have been active in the area and came upon someone of interest...Only to then realize that Cubby had posted about the same person (without mentioning the name). I went through a lot of sites, and news articles, so I'm not positing every link--and, since family and friends are reading here, I'm not posting certain details. I will however provide one link that provides a sufficient overview for those interested.

Richard Otto Macek was born in '47 or '48 in Chicago, making him 18 or 19 at the time of Debbie's death. While he was in elementary school in Elmwood, IL (near Peoria) he was caught stealing his neighbors' panties.
In 1966, he was arrested for peering into womens' windows with a small hand telescope.
As referenced by Cubby above, in 1972 he beat and stabbed 14 year old Sally Kandal to death near her home in Carol Stream. Though another person was convicted of the crime, that conviction was overturned in 1994 when a reevaluation of the forensic evidence implicated Macek.
In 1974 Macek murdered Nancy Lossman and her 3 year old daughter Lisa in Crystal Lake.
A criminal profiler who interviewed Macek extensively believed he was responsible for at least 8 murders, maybe more, in Illinois and Wisconsin. While serving sentences for 2 murders and 2 attempted murders, Macek hanged himself in his cell in 1987. He was 39.
Macek was known as The Mad Biter due to the nature of his attacks on his victims. Macek went so far as to have all his teeth removed, but LE were able to locate the dentist who pulled Macek's teeth and create a reconstruction exact enough to secure a conviction.

Macek was around Chicago and its suburbs for most of his early life into adulthood. Though I dont know the area, Carol Stream, Crystal Lake, and McHenry County all appear close enough to the West Chicago area (by map) to make it possible that he was in fact passably familiar with the area.

One other "signature" of Macek's attacks which stood out to me when thinking of the descriptions we've read of Debbie's wounds...Not only did Macek strangle some of his victims, he also was known to attack the eyes with a penknife.

USA - Macek, Richard Otto - The Mad Biter - Truly Unusual

Thank you Shadow! I did find the information on Macek regarding the bite marks and having his teeth removed, and how LE found the dentist to prove they were his bite marks.

I did not get as far as finding anything on Macek regarding part of his MO using pen knifes. I'd like to know more about Maceks use of pen knives during his crimes. Never mind, I see that info regarding Maceks use of pen knives is in the link you provided Shadow'.

One other thing I would like to point out, especially with the many errors we have found in some of these older news articles. The above mentions he lived in Elmwood, which you posted is near Peoria. There is also an Elmwood Park, near Chicago; a near west suburb. I'd like to find out if Macek was actually from Elmwood, or Elmwood Park IL. Elmwood Park would make more sense to me as the link states he was from the Chicago area. Also, Elmwood IL is a very small community, with a population of 1945 in 2000. I really think it was most likely Elmwood Park, but would have to verify that...

And yes, Crystal Lake, McHenry are both fairly close to West Chicago. Not super close but within a 40-50 or so min drive ( guessing ) and maybe less on rural roads with less traffic. Those areas would not stick out as too great of a distance from West Chicago. Nor would Lake Geneva, WI (I was at the Abbey as a kid, IIRC) as it is a close popular place for Chicagoans to visit for a weekend, or even the day.

Also, the school was very close to North Ave. (Rt. 64) which was/is a main road. IIRC it was 2 lanes then, but is 6 now. It may be easier to think Debbie could have been picked up by a stranger solely due to the schools proximity to North Ave. I think it is very unlikely, but not impossible and there is always the chance Macek knew someone who knew Debbie.

I think we need to explore the possibility Macek was in the area when Debbie was attacked.
Did he have a white car? Could he have known anyone that Debbie knew? -

No stone left unturned.

 

[Cubby]

I just did some research on Russell Charles Dewey. He was already in jail when Debbie was killed having been convicted in August. http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1373189557/Aug-21-1966-Dewey-found-guilty-of-murder
This rules him out. I am still interested to know what LS 2 year old died from.

I saw and ruled him out too since he was jailed when Debbie was murdered. IIRC he was also picked up in California when he was arrested so that put him at too great a distance.

I too am curious about the cause of death of the 2 yr old also, especially on her 2nd birthday. I'm hoping it was just an unfortunate illness or accident. The only way we could find out is if someone ordered her death certificate, it should list the cause of death. I am not curious enough to order it myself though.

 

[Cubby]

This would have been his wife not his Mother.

This even further states how this families roots are to the community.

I saw that too. Thanks for correcting me, yes, Edna would have been JS's wife. I noticed the name the Klein family, in the family JS married into, and I am pretty sure Klein Rd (the NW street one block west of Fair Oaks) was named after this family.

One of the witnesses mentioned in one of the articles, who made a positive statement about LS, (the neighbor to the north, Mrs WS) is also still alive. I did a little research on her, and she is or was within the last few years, very very active in the community as well. A lot of historical community events.

It appears, based on the combination of the above LS was associated with people highly regarded in the community. It may not have only affected the investigation, it also may have influenced the members on the grand jury. Of course that is speculation, put possible.

 

[Cubby]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...J&pg=6938,2069687&dq=richard+otto+macek&hl=en

according to the above article Macek was 29 in 1977 giving him a birth year of about 1947 or 1948. That puts him at 18 when Debbie was murdered, not too young in March 66 to rule him out based on age.

whoops, I see Shadow included ROM's age information. I should read more carefully.

 

[Abbey5]

*The original magistrate who released Schofield on $50,000 bond, James Fitzgerald, was removed (or removed himself) from the case and Magistrate Marvin Johnson took over (the grand jury proceedings). He continued the bond for LS over the objections of Hopf. I can't find the reason as to why the magistrates were switched.

LS's atty said that LS could not get a fair trial in Dupage County. He said that Magistrate James Fitzgerald should be disqualified because he was the one that signed the search warrants on LS's and JS's house.

 

[Cubby]

I just noticed an interesting fact from the link Shadow provided regarding Richard Otto Macek. Both his victim from the Abbey Motel and the 14 year old Sally Kandel from Carol Stream had the same type of attack done to their eyes. Since we know more than one victim had those same marks to their eyes, it is likely LE could determine whether the wounds to Debbies eyes were similiar to those of Maceks victims.

However the difference being there was no sign of sexual molestation of Debbie. At least none that we knew of based on newspaper articles.
Macek sexually attacked his victims.

We don't know if Macek was incarcerated or not at the time of Debbies murder.

I can't find much on Macek outside of the criminal proflier Dr. Helen Morrison's info...
Maybe someone else will have some better luck.

Would it be too far out there to wonder if Debbie could have been one of Maceks earliest victims? Would it make sense if he was unsuccesfull at sexually asssaulting her he would still murder her?

 

[Cubby]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=1290,1865776&dq=sally+kandel&hl=en

A bit about Maceks conviction based on teeth marks. At the very end of the above article it states Macek served three years in the Joliet Penitentiary for the 1968 stabbing of an Elmwood Park women.

I'm 99% sure he was from Elmwood Park, IL and not Elmwood IL.

 

[Cubby]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=6774,3334177&dq=sally-kandel&hl=en

This article gives a little more information on an approximate location Sally was found. The article talks about her often visiting two locations on Kuhn Rd and two locations on Lies Rd which had horses and ponies.

Sally was found on Lies. Macek confessed (?) to and was convicted of Kandels murder.
So Macek no doubt knew something of the area at least in the early 70's and
this places him 2 miles away from where Debbie was found 6 years later.

According to mapquest it is 1.8 miles from the intersections of Fair Oaks and Lies to the intersections of Kuhn and Lies. Kuhn being east of Fair Oaks.


http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=West+Chicago&1s=IL&1a=%5B3n300-3n399%5D+Fair+Oaks+Rd&1z=60185&1y=US&1l=41.921405&1g=-88.17482&1v=BLOCK&2c=Carol+Stream&2s=IL&2a=Kuhn+Rd+%26+W+Lies+Rd&2z=60188&2y=US&2l=41.93037&2g=-88.14011&2v=INTERSECTION#b/maps/m:map:11:41.92588:-88.157502::::::1:1:::::::::/l::3+Fair+Oaks+Rd:West+Chicago:IL:60185:US:41.929359:-88.174702:address: Dupage:1:::/l::Kuhn+Rd+&+W+Lies+Rd:Carol+Stream:IL:60188:US:41.93037:-88.14011:intersection::1:::/io:1:::::f:en_US:M:/bl:/e

Since some of the neighbors, AV and WB, were close to Maceks age, I can't help but wonder if they knew him, knew of him, or someone they associated with knew Macek. I'm not suggesting either AV or WB knew what kind of animal Macek was and brought him near Debbie, just wondering aloud if they knew of him.

 

[Cubby]

How interesting? that this Morrison has half of John Wayne Gacy's brain according to news articles. A lot about serial killers, but nothing on Maceks criminal record prior to his 1972 murder of Sally in Carol Stream. Nothing outside of that tiny blurb that he spent time in Joliet for that 1968 stabbing in Elmwood Park. I can't even find an article detailing the stabbing in 68. Frustrating.

 

[Abbey5]

I caved in and bought the article from the Chicago Tribune 2/12/66-"Sift Child Slaying Clews". What the heck is up with that title? Anyway, I have to say that this article really bothered me. It had a photo of where Debbie was found...it showed her books and the duck on the ground.

I would love to provide a link but with this being a pay per view article and not being able to find a way to save it at this time, I'll give a brief summary.

Terry Yehling, 22, janitor told investigators he left the school at 5:35 p.m. and saw no one around at the time.

Debbie's mom had been watching two kids for friends and went to pick them up at the school at 3:00 p.m. When Debbie wasn't home by 5:30 p.m she went back to the school. She notified the sheriff's office at 6:45 p.m. that Debbie was missing.

Dr. Samuel Lewis said there were 19 stab wounds inflicted with a 3" blade such as that of a pocket knife. One knife wound pierced the heart. Dr. Lewis stated that Debbie could have lived for 2-3 hours after the wounds were inflicted. The stab wounds went through her blouse but not her overcoat and virtually all were made with a upward thrust.

Sgt Clarence Heim said that the right side of Debbie's face was swollen. She may have been beaten or she may have been thrown out of a car while she was still alive and struck the ground.

Mrs. Marval Perkins (third grade teacher at Benjamin school) said her husband saw a car when he went to pick her up after 5:00 p.m. He saw a little girl with a dark coat and boots standing alongside a car with a man inside the car.

Boot tracks that matched up with Debbie's are found leading from the school playground into and along St. Charles Road towards Fairoaks Road.

Wayne Shimp, Dupage county investigator said the tracks end at a point where they turn toward the center of the road and there are tire tracks left by a car that stood there.

Shimp said a lab test comparison would be made of the soil on Debbie's boots and the soil on the road where the boot tracks end. And plaster casts were made of the tire marks left on Lies road were Debbie was found.

 

[shadowangel]

<snipped>
Since some of the neighbors, AV and WB, were close to Maceks age, I can't help but wonder if they knew him, knew of him, or someone they associated with knew Macek. I'm not suggesting either AV or WB knew what kind of animal Macek was and brought him near Debbie, just wondering aloud if they knew of him.

I was wondering the same thing. AV went to college (at least for a time) in Wisconsin, and ROM was attacking women in Wisconsin...As Cubby said, this is not meant to imply in any way that AV knew anything about ROM's activities, but he may have been aware of the guy.

 

[shadowangel]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=1290,1865776&dq=sally+kandel&hl=en

A bit about Maceks conviction based on teeth marks. At the very end of the above article it states Macek served three years in the Joliet Penitentiary for the 1968 stabbing of an Elmwood Park women.

I'm 99% sure he was from Elmwood Park, IL and not Elmwood IL.

That makes much more sense than his being in the Peoria area. Its so helpful having people working a case who know the area

 

[shadowangel]

<snipped>
Dr. Samuel Lewis said there were 19 stab wounds inflicted with a 3" blade such as that of a pocket knife. One knife wound pierced the heart. Dr. Lewis stated that Debbie could have lived for 2-3 hours after the wounds were inflicted. The stab wounds went through her blouse but not her overcoat and virtually all were made with a upward thrust.

Sgt Clarence Heim said that the right side of Debbie's face was swollen. She may have been beaten or she may have been thrown out of a car while she was still alive and struck the ground.

(bolded by me) This would be consistent with a right-handed person holding Debbie around the neck and face with his (or her) left hand, from behind, and swinging the blade upward and back (holding the blade "overhand"). I can't readily wrap my mind around upward thrusts otherwise.

The fact that her overcoat was not penetrated could indicate that either she was not wearing it at the time (the attack took place indoors, in a place she felt comfortable enough to take her coat off) or that her coat was unfastened and open.

 

[Cubby]

I'm trying to put a timeline together here based on what we know from various news articles. Due to the conflicting times and info given within the articles some info may overlap.

5:00 - 5:15 pm: Husband of 3rd grade teacher sees a young girl with a talking to a man in a car appx .5-1 block from the school. Some articles indicate this was a white car.

5:10 - 5:20 PM: LS claims to have seen Debbie sitting on a swing in the schoolyard and sent her home. According to LS Debbie told him her mom was on her way to pick her up.

5:30 pm: Debbies mom drives to the school to pick up Debbie.

5:35 pm: Janitor locks up and leaves school, sees no one in the area at the time he left.

6:00 pm: Neighbor directly to the north of the Schofield farm sees the Schofield family car in the drive way. It is unknown if this car belonged to LS or his father.

6:30 pm: LS claims to have received a telephone call at his home on Gary Ave indicating Debbie is missing. People start gathering to search for Debbie.

6:45 pm: Police are notified Debbie is missing

*

10:30-11:00 pm: Debbie found on Lies Rd near Intersection of Fair Oaks and Lies within view of the Schofield family farm.

*Sometime during the evening hours LS leaves the search party to go back to the school and burn pornographic photo's kept in his desk.

If there are any additions or corrections to this timeline please let me know (preferably via PM or visitor mesage so I don't miss a post). I'm not limited to the 24 hour edit rule so I can add or correct anything and bring the post current as we edit, rather than a bunch of quotes making it more difficult to read.

thank you.

 

[Cubby]

I did a drive by of the are today. No camera today, but I will hope to borrow one so I can post pictures over the spring break holiday.....

Some of my observations:

Benjamin School: The area is much more hilly than I remember. The school is at the bottom of a hill and from the front of the school facing Fair Oaks road, the stop sign at the intersection of Fair Oaks and St. Charles can barely be seen. Debbie had to be about half way between the school and FO if someone saw her from the school parking lot. I did not drive around to see the playground as it is a school day. I will do that over spring break. Hoping my sons SB coincides with the public schools SB. Otherwise I will have to check calendars for a day both schools have off.

The Roads: St. Charles, Fair Oaks, Klien, Smith ( these make the circle of the area surrounding the farm, school and Debbies home. They are narrow and no shoulders. Ditches of varying depths in some area's, some deep enough to need a tow to get out with one miss... It would be easy to get distracted and end up in the ditch, unless someone was driving down the middle of the road. Very wooded near the farm, much more so along Klein.

The Farm/Currently part of the West Branch Forest Preserve: I walked around for a half hour or so. From the current parking off Fair Oaks: The entire area is hilly enough there would have been plenty of area's on the property not viewable from another area of the property. In some places I was looking across at the tops of trees at eye level. Definately not like driving through farm land that is flat and one can see all the way (miles?) to the horizon.

Fortunately it was cool enough last night I could walk off the trails without walking through too much mud.

I picked up a brochure regarding this FP and it reads the land was purchased by the district for flood control during the 70's. It was open to the public in 1989.

The entire FP encompasses 631 acres and includes marsh, wet prairie, tall grass meadow, immature wetland forest and lake....

Deep Quary Lake is 40 acres, so am unsure how much of that was unfilled quarry at the time of Debbies murder. It was still being mined for gravel in 1966.

Not sure if this helps, but thought I would share with the hopes it gives other WS members and readers a better idea of the area.

 

[Cubby]

I found a blog with a few pictures from the north side of the FP near the lake. Not the best pictures but still not bad for an idea of the area.

http://natureinquiries.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/the-west-branch-roost/

 

[LisaWilliams]

Cubby, Benjamin school has been added on to quite substantially since 1966. The playgrounds and surrounding areas were quite different then than now. I can be a bit more specific if you need me to by looking at google maps and comparing to my memory. Let me know.

 

[Cubby]

Cubby, Benjamin school has been added on to quite substantially since 1966. The playgrounds and surrounding areas were quite different then than now. I can be a bit more specific if you need me to by looking at google maps and comparing to my memory. Let me know.

It looked to me like what is now the Administrative offices for District 25/Benjamin was most likely the original school building and resembles a home rather than a school. It looked like the newer portion of the building which was added on is the west side of the building. In either case, the stop sign at Fair Oaks was still visible in front of the east end of the building but by the time I reached the newer west side only a small portion of the top of the sign was visible.

I also noticed at the community church, the larger area which was Sidwell pond is nicely landscaped and looks like a retention pond. Just to the east was another almost adjacant water area which was still natural looking.

Also, not that this is relative to Debbies case, but if you recall that tiny shack like looking house just across from the school and a little to the east on a very wooded lot. It is still there...... very dipalidated looking but still there and still occupied. I once thought it was abandoned, parked in the church lot only to have the owner come out and then follow me a ways west. Just thought I would share.....