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

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rpipergirl

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I did not know where to post this since we have no unsolved murders forum.

Debbie stayed after on Feb. 11,1966 at her west Chicago school to keep time at a basketball game. When her mom went to pick her up she was not there. A few hours later her body was found in an icy ditch near the intersection of Fair Oaks and Lies roads.Debbie had been stabbed 19 times. She was just 10 years old. Her younger brother now in his late 40's remembers her going to church with him and talking to him about Jesus. He also fondly remembered her smile and sweetness. Her case is being investigated by the cold case unit of DuPage Co. IL sheriff's dept. by detectives Tim Garlisch and Joe Dalgiudice. According to 1966 articles Debbie's favorite teacher was arrested in this case but the grand jury refused to indict Loren Schofield age 27 saying they had insufficient evidence. The weapon in this case has never been found. http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-301205/Hoping-justice-comes-for-sweet.html

http://www.dupageco.org/sheriff/unsolved murders.htm

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...mIaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yycEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3677,3472666
 
There is precious little info about this case. I can't find anything about it except the links above. Frustrating.
 
Okay, I have to believe this guy got away with murder.....Schofield was the the last person to see Debbie, claiming he found her on a playground swing at 5:30 and ordered her to go home--at which time she informed Schofield that her mother had been called and was on the way to pick her up. When the mother arrived ten minutes later, Debbie was gone.

As detailed in this article, he was one of the first to show up for her search after burning "pornographic photgraphs" he kept in his desk at the school. Schofield reportedly told police he didnt remember what happened and may have done it.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...IBAJ&pg=6831,3245669&dq=loren+schofield&hl=en
 
Curiosity got the better of me, so I ordered one of the articles.

-Debbie had been stabbed 19 times, about the back, chest, face and eyes.

-She may have lived 2 or 3 hours after being dumped in an icy ditch.

-Schofield failed 6 lie detector tests.

-Schofield's wife, Maryann, confessed to the DA that she burned several pornographic photographs that Schofield had in their home.

-Schofield was not Debbie's teacher that year, but had driven the girl home on numerous occasions. When Schofield's baby son was born, Debbie made him little toy boats as a gift.

-Schofield was a gym teacher and coach. Debbie was the timekeeper for the school's intramural basketball games. She stayed late at school that day due to a game.

-Debbie was fully clothed when found. There was no indication of molestation.
 
It appears that Schofield was still alive as late as 2002, I found an obit for his wife in Kansas City. They had three daughters, in addtion to the son who was born 6 months before Debbie's death. I havent found an obit on Schofield himself as of yet.
 
It appears that Schofield was still alive as late as 2002, I found an obit for his wife in Kansas City. They had three daughters, in addtion to the son who was born 6 months before Debbie's death. I havent found an obit on Schofield himself as of yet.

He's listed at veromi with a city in MO, one former city in CA, and two former cities in IL.

I'm not too far from where Debbie was found. I drove by the intersections of Fair Oaks and Lies a few years ago. There is a forest preserve there now. Based on what I have read, I think LS is/was guilty but there was never enough to charge him. I wonder why they couldn't go back and take another look at the evidence with current forensics. I would think there has to be some evidence that could be further tested to either exclude LS or charge him this many years later.
 
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=%22Fair%20oaks%20and%20lies%22&rlz=1R2ADRA_enUS353&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Link to a map with the intersections of Fair Oaks and Lies. I'm 99% sure, none of the homes seen on this map were here in 1966. At least the ones shown on and off Lies Rd to the east. They are all newer developments. Most of this area was still corn fields in 1966. I went to a Barn party in the early 80's a little further east, just east of Kuhn and Lies, on Lies, and it was still all corn fields then.

If you follow Fair Oaks south to St. Charles Rd. just before North ave, you see Benjamin school just to the east of Fair Oaks. One of the articles said she attended Benjamin school. She wasn't found far from her school at all.

ETA: Even in this map there is still something being farmed on one corner of this intersection. Can't tell what it is from the map.
 
With no signs of molestation, its possible there were no fluids to collect (and from the description "icy ditch", its possible Debbie was found in water which would have hampered finding any other forensic evidence). However, I agree that it seems worthwhile to go back over the evidence collected and see what there is to see...

Fibers were collected from Debbie's boots. These were stated to not be a match to fibers collected from inside Schofield's car. Then again, given the state of forensic science in 1966, the only analysis completed was most likely a visual comparison.

Though I havent found it stated anywhere, I have to wonder if the Schofield home was searched and whether any other 'pornographic photographs' were located. Schofield's primary interest on the evening of Debbie's disappearance seemed to be destroying the photos he had in his desk (and later, his wife had the same concern with the photos at home).
The photos are repeatedly described as just that, photos, not clippings from magazines or other media. Who were the photos of? How did the wife know of them? Were they of her? If they were of other people (children possibly), was the wife involved in the taking of the photos?
Schofield drove Debbie home on several occasions...Were the photos of her? Schofield said of himself that he was "sick" in regard to a "sexual problem". Would he (or his wife) be so concerned with photos taken of the wife, photos taken between two consenting adults? Would that warrant being called a "sickness"?

I don't think so.
 
Having read only the bits of the paid newspaper articles that are free, one mentioned LS burned the clothing he wore that day. His comment, he "could have done it", and that he was "sick" in regard to a "sexual problem" are odd. Why would anyone say that during an interogation? What was he feeling "sick" about? One article also mentioned LS studied for the priesthood. I can kind of understand some kind of sexual guilt having grown up Catholic during that time frame, but it still doesn't make sense to share that with LE during an interogation. Also, why would his wife help him destroy the photo's?
 
LE was very quick to charge LS. Only two days after the murder occured and mostly made on his statements. And that he failed 6 lie detector tests all taken willingly. A bit of a paid article ( didn't read the whole thing ) said LS gave conflicting statements about his route to and from the school.

I sure wish we knew what his address was back then. I'd love to look at a map and see what looks logical for the drive. Especially being local to the story.
 
another article: Which includes LS not being able to account for his time for several hours on the day Debbie was murdered.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...N0jAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wCcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7195,2601323

The above article says the clothing LS said he wore that Friday evening was turned over to the state crime lab, while another article says he burned the clothing. Perhaps it was the photo's that were burned and not the clothing?
 
Ok, it's just weird that LS happened to 'find' the body of an infant boy which he turned over to LE. Why not call LE? Also, one of the articles indicates he said he found the box on Klien. Klien is the north south running street just west of Fair Oaks (which also runs N S) on the other side of what is now a forest preserve.

Also, just because Debbie was fully clothed doesn't mean her attacker made a pass at her that she fought off or declined causing the person to get angry and kill her. Even if no sexual assault occured, clearly the perp had to know her and the risk existed she would have reported the attempted assault.

I'd love to know what if anything DuPage is currently doing with this case. I've lived in DuPage since the late 60's and crime here is pretty low. It's not like Chicago, or Cook county with a much higher crime rate. I wonder if any of the newspapers would be willing to do an article on Deb's unsolved murder.
 
One of the articles mentions "Loren Schofield, of Rt 1 Fair-oaks Rd near West Chicago", if that means anything.

Another article states that a muddy boot print was found in Schofield's car which matched the sole pattern on Debbie's boot, but fibers on the boot didn't match fibers from the car (as previously mentioned).

I've seen the article blurbs which mention clothes being burned (though Schofield reportedly turned over the clothes he claimed to have been wearing the night Debbie disappeared).
 
It wouldn't be Rt. 1 From wiki Rt. 1 runs parallel to the IL/ Indiana state border.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Route_1 Also, fair oaks is between Rts 59 & 53. I think it would have said if he lived on Fair Oaks in one of the articles...... I'm wondering if what you saw was a typo. There seems to be a lot of typo's in some of those older articles.

It's also 'weird' that, that part of town is West Chicago. It is actually unincorporated West Chicago. Most people wouldn't know that West Chicago actually went that far north. If anyone looked at a map, the city limits of West Chicago is much further south. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=West%20Chicago&hl=en&ned=us&tab=nl

I only knew that area included unincorporated West Chicago because I used to get my hair done there in someones home....

The street view on Fair Oaks shows an address of 2 Fair Oaks Rd right there, but I don't see a 1. If there was a 1, it would be almost at the intersection of North Ave which is Rt. 64 and Fair Oaks. If LS lived that close, it almost wouldn't make sense for him to even drive to the school, it is that close.
 
This article (scroll up for the Schofield article) states that he (Schofield) turned over a small penknife which had been forwarded for testing. Law enforcement authorities felt it was "too small" to be the murder weapon (even though other articles quote these same officials as saying that the murder weapon was small knife with a blade of perhaps 3 inches). We can only hope that knife is still in evidence somewhere, though it was likely returned if no evidence was discovered (which could easily have missed detection in 1966).

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...IBAJ&pg=4748,2601441&dq=loren-schofield&hl=en

The stabbing injuries Debbie would seem to mean something...No wounds to her arms are mentioned, so possibly no defensive wounds? This could, I suppose, indicate she was being held while she was stabbed and couldn't defend herself...But why the face and eyes? The killer couldn't stand the look of utter betrayal on Debbie's face? He knew Debbie could identify him?
 
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