50 years ago...
- Oct. 18, 1971:Madelyn Summerer, 17, and her friend, Lynne Pionk, sophomores at Port Huron Northern High School, are walking to the high school about 7 p.m. through a wooded area near the Black River Canal when they are attacked. Summerer dies six days later of head injuries sustained in the attack.
24 years after deadly beating, all who knew teen still ask, 'Why?' MADELYN SUMMERER
By DENISE VALENTI Times Herald
Lynne Pionk had nightmares as a child. She dreamed about being beaten. Sometimes, she was alone. Sometimes, someone was with her. "My grandmother would tell me to be careful, that it was going to happen," she said. But Lynne Pionk would never have predicted the best friend she affectionately called "Maddy" would die after a savage beating in a wooded area off Holland Avenue.
On Oct. 18, 1971, 15-year-old Lynne and her 17-year-old classmate, Madelyn Summerer, missed a ride to a Girl's Athletic Association meeting at Port Huron Northern High School. At about 6:35 p.m., the two sophomores left Lynne's house on-Maple Street to walk to the school. They decided to take a well-known shortcut through a wooded area off Holland Avenue near Pine Grove Avenue...
As they neared a floodgate that once spanned the Black River Canal, the girls were ambushed and beaten by at least two other people. Lynne needed 11 stitches to close a wound on her head. She was treated for cuts, bruises and a broken thumb. Madelyn suffered a fractured skull and other head injuries. She died six days later. "I would just like to know why it happened," said Lynne, who is now married and living in Marysville...
Time Line:
- Girls leave 2525 Maple St at 6:35 p.m
-They decide to take a shortcut through a wooded area north of Holland and Pine Grove avenues, near the rear of Mary Maxim.
7 to 7:20 p.m. - Just as the girls approach a floodgate that crosses the Black River Canal, Lynne is hit on the head from behind. -Before she blacks out, she feels someone brush by her on the right side.
-Lynne regains consciousness when she hears Madelyn scream.
-Lynne runs to the parking lot of Mary Maxim, where she finds a man and woman getting into a car. .
-The woman, Rosemary Schattler, sees three boys run out of the woods behind Lynne, then run back in.
-Ms. Schattler and Ray Barton return to the crime scene with Lynne, where they find Madelyn unconscious, with cuts all over her head.
-Police arrive and find no clues as to what happened.
Oct. 24, 1971 Six days after the attack, Madelyn dies of massive head injuries. She suffered a fractured skull during the attack.
The assault becomes a murder. The murder remains unsolved...
LINKS:
Area has its share of unsolved murders
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http://sites.rootsweb.com/~mistcla2/Su3.htm
