Normally, since this has the marks of a hit, you'd say that it had something to do with Steve Avery's going to testify on behalf of Gary Longfellow at a paternity hearing the next day, and that would send you looking for someone else who might be implicated as the father, who had a lot to lose if the truth were known. Makes you wonder what kind of testimony Steve was going to give. I see from the Topeka Capitol-Journal above indicates that other people testified that the "McLouth woman" suing for paternity support had declined Longfellow's offer to marry her, wanting financial support instead, and indicated to other people that he was not the father. On the basis of that testimony, the court found in favor of the deceased defendant.
But in this case, the hit man would have had to have known where to look for the two young men, and that's a puzzler, as noted above, because Steve called from the road for a ride, and Mrs. Avery asked Longfellow to accompany her, leaving at about 10:30 pm. Two other points seem significant in this regard. The first is Mrs. Avery's feeling she'd be safer with Longfellow in the car with her. I know it was raining, but unless she had a night vision problem or something like that, it seems a precaution that most people, even 60-year-old ladies, wouldn't take, unless they had a reason to feel insecure. Second, Steve had set out hitchhiking because Dianne, his wife, didn't want him taking the car. Why not? It seems unlikely that the mother of a young daughter would absolutely need a car at night. Perhaps she didn't want him to testify in the matter, because she felt it would put him in danger. It would seem that if they'd receive threats, they would have mentioned it to other people, at least after the fact, unless Steve's widow believed that the threat persisted even after he was murdered.
Then there's the question of the hippie, mentioned above, found murdered several weeks later and a few miles away. Law enforcement was reluctant to tie the triple homicide together with that, though it seems that the condition of the UID's body makes it possible he was murdered at or about the same time. However, if he were murdered at the same time, or by the same hand, it's a puzzler why he ended up with a skull fracture from a blow that may not have been sufficient to kill him all by itself. Though he was found in a creek bed, we don't know whether or not there was evidence of drowning. If he were slain by the same person, you'd think it likely that he, too, might have been dispatched with a shot to the head, unless there was a reason to vary the method of execution.
From the religious artifacts he's got with him, one has to conclude that hippie guy is a Jesus freak, which makes him an unlikely assailant or collaborator with the assailant. If he were killed by the murderer of the other three, then you'd have to imagine that the murderer would have been well served to have left the murder weapon with him, in order to make it seem that hippie guy was maybe tripping on acid or whatever people thought might make counter-cultural types resort to random violence back in 1973. So, imagining that he was killed by the same person or persons, the reason the weapon wasn't left there might have been that it would be traceable.
Now, whenever I see that someone disappeared or was killed on the eve of giving court testimony, I think there's likely a connection. None of the deceased seems to have much contact with the criminal justice system. Somehow, though, the KBI seems to have determined that these murders had nothing to do with the court date, even though they can't seem to find an alternative motive, having ruled out robbery. At the same time, if hippie guy had any form of ID on him, it was taken.
Whatever other rumors were going on about the McLouth woman's pregnancy at the time, who knows, but it would be interesting to know whether she had any known connections with law enforcement. Something caused Hazel, Steve and Gary to stop their car. We can speculate about another hitchhiker, but a couple of people reported having seen Steve hitchhiking, and they apparently didn't mention seeing anyone resembling the murdered hippie. Then, either before or after they were shot to death, their car was deviated onto a less traveled road.
The only scenario I can think of is that they were murdered by cops on patrol. I don't know the caliber of the bullets that killed them, so I don't know whether they'd match with a usual police service revolver. I also don't know enough about handguns to know whether 7 shots generally would have required reloading.
What would make them stop? Well, to pick up a hitchhiker or hitchhikers, who performed a random act of triple homicide without robbing them. Or, they're stopped by a patrol car. They've either picked up a hitchhiker, or the cops have him in their car. One of them wants the guys whacked before they testify. Is he the father of the McLouth woman's child, or somehow otherwise related to her, believing that Longfellow is bailing on his responsibilities?
None of the three murdered in the car is found in the driver's seat. Did a cop, brandishing his gun, force the hippie to drive the Chrysler while his partner followed in the police car, so they could be shot in a more private spot? Did the hippie then get smacked on the head and drowned a little further down the road? Hazel was in the front seat passenger side. Steve and Gary were in the back. It seems unlikely that a woman who was so concerned about the safety of the drive would have driven herself, rather than let one of the two young men do the driving. I hate to find myself considering law enforcement as the perps, but it's the only way I can make any sense of the circumstances.
