IL The Dardeen Family - Ruby, Keith, Pete, & newborn daughter, Ina, 17-18 November 1987.

[Soulmagent]

Why does the article not mention what the murderer did to the newborn baby that was born in the middle of this attack? That is one of many reason I believe Tommy Sells to have done this crime. Texas refused to let him leave the state after his death row convictions which lead to a lot of cases being left unanswered.

A Couple and Their 2-Year-Old Son Were Brutally Murdered — More Than 30 Years Later, The Case Is Still Unsolved

 

[SophieRose]

I have read they have DNA from victims but none from perpetrator(s). I find it hard to believe there wasn’t any DNA left behind??

Heartland Unsolved: Never Forget part 2

Dardeen. A family name forever tied to tragedy. So many of us remember the horrific events of November 1987.

www.kfvs12.com

What about any new evidence? The family told me about a 2015 police report from the Dardeen’s hometown of Mt. Carmel. It detailed the discovery of some disturbing writing about the case found on the wall of a house, hidden under old wallpaper.

“I tried to talk to the State Police about it,” Joeann said of the strange message on the wall. “Because they’re the ones that come cut it out. And I couldn’t get anything out of him.”

Captain Burge said the wall did not produce any new leads, but remains in evidence.

Keith’s sister Anita Dardeen Knapp added to the list of current questions.

"I just asked her the other day, why haven't they done DNA? Did whoever, did they eat supper with them that night? As long as they were there, surely they opened the refrigerator. There has to be something."

We brought her question to Burge.

“We want to try to do some DNA testing on some items,” he said. “I think we can. But I need to see collectively where it has been before, to where it can go.”

 

[333_OnlyHalfEvil]

Have they ever said what was written on the wall?

 

[LadyL]

Yes, both were. See link in post 7

thanks but post #7 is gone
I'll check out other links

ETA: I found the info - what a terrible case!

 

[bettyboop]

The information about writing on a wall in a house in Mount Carmel is interesting. Supposedly the writing referred to the Dardeen Murders. In the article mentioned above HEARTLAND UNSOLVED:NEVER FORGET, Keith's mother says the writing was cut out of the wall by the police, but did not advance the case. I had not heard of this discovery before. I wonder whose house this was found in. Of course that is not mentioned. The article is a good read . It is in two parts. This case is so disturbing , I hope DNA solves it, it's time the Dardeens received justice. It's been far too long. JMO MOO

 

[SophieRose]

Tommy was very sneaky ,going though windows sometimes ,befriending the victims dogs ,his tactics varied wildly and he also was apt to make split second choices on who an why he was murdering people.
Sellers of the House .
If they had a for Sale sign up , Tommy could have seen that as a sign he was supposed to murder this family. And Tommy was very brutal. He murdered a girl because she had a Tommy Hilfiger shirt on. imo. I Think he did murder this family.

Back around 2000 I had thought it might be the serial killer Angel Maturino Reséndiz but they never found anything that tied him to the murders. I never believed it was Sells, too many inconsistencies in all his stories, and so many other killings he claimed were proven he didn't do.

What is the significance of the watermelon ceramics? Were they unique? Some posters elsewhere say watermelon dishes were common in the 1980s. Were the dishes smashed? Since one of his stories is he was asked to the house for dinner (he took that story back), did LE ask what design was on the dinnerware? It has to be in the police report, maybe in a photo. He's talking 13 years after the murders.


2010 article.

Detective Capt. John Kemp of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has worked on the Dardeen family murder case since 1987.

Family, cop just want closure

A routine welfare check in the late fall of 1987 brought deputies to the Ina trailer and the horrors within: Elaine Dardeen, 30, and her young son, Peter, brutally murdered.

thesouthern.com

Kemp was able to spend hours interviewing Sells after his admission to the crimes. He is almost certain Sells committed the crimes.

"A couple of things he told us were never released to the public, and a couple of things he told us we didn't even know at the time we interviewed him, but we checked on them and found them to be true,"

Kemp said. "I still have questions and would like nothing better than to get him up here, but that is not going to happen because Texas isn't going to turn him loose.

But still, in my mind, he is suspect No. 1."

 

[333_OnlyHalfEvil]

Back around 2000 I had thought it might be the serial killer Angel Maturino Reséndiz but they never found anything that tied him to the murders. I never believed it was Sells, too many inconsistencies in all his stories, and so many other killings he claimed were proven he didn't do.

What is the significance of the watermelon ceramics? Were they unique? Some posters elsewhere say watermelon dishes were common in the 1980s. Were the dishes smashed? Since one of his stories is he was asked to the house for dinner (he took that story back), did LE ask what design was on the dinnerware? It has to be in the police report, maybe in a photo. He's talking 13 years after the murders.


2010 article.

Detective Capt. John Kemp of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has worked on the Dardeen family murder case since 1987.

Family, cop just want closure

A routine welfare check in the late fall of 1987 brought deputies to the Ina trailer and the horrors within: Elaine Dardeen, 30, and her young son, Peter, brutally murdered.

thesouthern.com

Kemp was able to spend hours interviewing Sells after his admission to the crimes. He is almost certain Sells committed the crimes.

"A couple of things he told us were never released to the public, and a couple of things he told us we didn't even know at the time we interviewed him, but we checked on them and found them to be true,"

Kemp said. "I still have questions and would like nothing better than to get him up here, but that is not going to happen because Texas isn't going to turn him loose.

But still, in my mind, he is suspect No. 1."

They were not unique at the time. Everyone and their momma had watermelon ceramic something in their mauve and country blue kitchen with ruffled curtains and a cartoonish duck themed wallpaper border. She probably also kept a basket on the floor of the living room for old magazines, random toys and the TV Guide and had furry covers for the toilet tank and lid.

 

[morf13]

This case is one of the most brutal, and cold blooded murder cases, and I want to see it solved badly partially because I want to see the face of the person evil enough to do this.
Some people think that a stranger/serial killer committed this crime, but I don't. I think this was personal, and this person had a true hatred for one or both of the adult victims.

Shame it's not solved due to the likelihood of physical evidence.
I keep expecting to get a Google alert that the case is solved. One of these days hopefully

 

[cenazoic]

@morf13 can you comment on whether the additional details of the mutilations are accurate?

The first paragraph (of two) mentioning the Dardeens’ injuries starts with “Keith Dardeen’s body was found in a field a mile away from the trailer where he and his family called home.”

https://www.investigatinginnocence.org/Missouri-Governor-Frees-Rodney-Lincoln-based-on-Work-of-Investigating-Innocence

Just curious, as they seem to be a legit organization (associated with Innocence Project?) but also seem all in on Sells as drug mule/contract hit on Dardeens, which I find ludicrous (of course I don’t know all the facts they do, presumably).

 

[morf13]

@morf13 can you comment on whether the additional details of the mutilations are accurate?

The first paragraph (of two) mentioning the Dardeens’ injuries starts with “Keith Dardeen’s body was found in a field a mile away from the trailer where he and his family called home.”

https://www.investigatinginnocence.org/Missouri-Governor-Frees-Rodney-Lincoln-based-on-Work-of-Investigating-Innocence

Just curious, as they seem to be a legit organization (associated with Innocence Project?) but also seem all in on Sells as drug mule/contract hit on Dardeens, which I find ludicrous (of course I don’t know all the facts they do, presumably).

From my recollection, that's correct.

 

[333_OnlyHalfEvil]

@morf13 can you comment on whether the additional details of the mutilations are accurate?

The first paragraph (of two) mentioning the Dardeens’ injuries starts with “Keith Dardeen’s body was found in a field a mile away from the trailer where he and his family called home.”

https://www.investigatinginnocence.org/Missouri-Governor-Frees-Rodney-Lincoln-based-on-Work-of-Investigating-Innocence

Just curious, as they seem to be a legit organization (associated with Innocence Project?) but also seem all in on Sells as drug mule/contract hit on Dardeens, which I find ludicrous (of course I don’t know all the facts they do, presumably).

If this is true, do mules not get paid well?

 

[333_OnlyHalfEvil]

thanks but post #7 is gone
I'll check out other links

ETA: I found the info - what a terrible case!

Absolutely one of the worst.

 

[GracefulD1an]

With each bit of research I have done on the case the more convinced I am the answers lie in Keith’s past. He was scared for some reason and wouldn’t say why. I suspect Keith Dardeen had major skeletons in his closet and those skeletons, those secrets, finally caught up and he and his family paid with their lives. Look at the mutilation of his body as a key, the way his genitalia was mutilated and positioned. That doesn’t feel like something a serial killer with no personal connection to their victims would do but rather what someone who knows the dark secrets of a person would do. I think his mother knows more than she has let on. Her wording is one of the keys to finding who killed this family. Something occurred in the past involving Keith, probably something covered up or buried, but it got out in the end. I have been saying this on comment sections for YouTube videos covering this case but I have never been convinced it was Sells. The mutilation feels a bit too personal in nature and that message might be a clue to the true motive behind the deaths. We need access to the contents of that message.

 

[airportwoman]

Why does the article not mention what the murderer did to the newborn baby that was born in the middle of this attack? That is one of many reason I believe Tommy Sells to have done this crime. Texas refused to let him leave the state after his death row convictions which lead to a lot of cases being left unanswered.

A Couple and Their 2-Year-Old Son Were Brutally Murdered — More Than 30 Years Later, The Case Is Still Unsolved

I know this is an old post, but chances are, they have left that unpublished because it's one of those things that "only the perpetrator would know."

 

[cckp72]

With each bit of research I have done on the case the more convinced I am the answers lie in Keith’s past. He was scared for some reason and wouldn’t say why. I suspect Keith Dardeen had major skeletons in his closet and those skeletons, those secrets, finally caught up and he and his family paid with their lives. Look at the mutilation of his body as a key, the way his genitalia was mutilated and positioned. That doesn’t feel like something a serial killer with no personal connection to their victims would do but rather what someone who knows the dark secrets of a person would do. I think his mother knows more than she has let on. Her wording is one of the keys to finding who killed this family. Something occurred in the past involving Keith, probably something covered up or buried, but it got out in the end. I have been saying this on comment sections for YouTube videos covering this case but I have never been convinced it was Sells. The mutilation feels a bit too personal in nature and that message might be a clue to the true motive behind the deaths. We need access to the contents of that message.

Could you kindly provide the details as to what Keith's mom said?

 

[GracefulD1an]

Could you kindly provide the details as to what Keith's mom said?

What she said:
“I think someone wanted Keith to sell drugs and he refused.” Also “Or there's a possibility someone liked Elaine and she wouldn't accept his advances and he took out his rage on both of them ... We just don't know.” I suspect what she omitted, her other suspicions, might be a key to finding the motive. Like I said this felt too personal in nature to be the work of a random person. I think Keith did something as a teen/young adult and it came back to bite him, hard, with his family paying the price as well for his actions. Now what that could be I don’t want to say anything as it is just speculative but I imagine something sexual in nature based on the mutilation of his genitalia.

 

[Lebowski]

I hate this case. it's one of the ones I wish I'd never heard of.

the possibility that it's someone's from keith's past is interesting. but if it were revenge for something, does that type of murderer typically kill the wife and children too??

for some reason I find it easier to imagine a pure sadist who just liked brutally murdering.

 

[GracefulD1an]

I hate this case. it's one of the ones I wish I'd never heard of.

the possibility that it's someone's from keith's past is interesting. but if it were revenge for something, does that type of murderer typically kill the wife and children too??

for some reason I find it easier to imagine a pure sadist who just liked brutally murdering.

Well if they saw him living the “good life” after getting away with what I suspect he possibly did then yes. Also if they view the entire family as “tainted”.

 

[Rikissa]

What she said:
“I think someone wanted Keith to sell drugs and he refused.” Also “Or there's a possibility someone liked Elaine and she wouldn't accept his advances and he took out his rage on both of them ... We just don't know.” I suspect what she omitted, her other suspicions, might be a key to finding the motive. Like I said this felt too personal in nature to be the work of a random person. I think Keith did something as a teen/young adult and it came back to bite him, hard, with his family paying the price as well for his actions. Now what that could be I don’t want to say anything as it is just speculative but I imagine something sexual in nature based on the mutilation of his genitalia.

Please, provide a link to this.