FL FL - Kipling Hess, 12, Merritt Island, 27 March 1979

New Posts

John McRae's son Marty John McRae changed his surname recently?

Is the RSO entery I found old? It looked current to me, but I am not a great sleuther lol.
 
Sorry, no. I think it's a combination of me, google translate and a site not written that well in its native language.

There is a discrepancy in the news reports - some say Kip never made it to school, another says he attended for the first period; ie, he disappeared FROM school.

Also, one article, interviewing his dad, says Kip left a note in the morning:

Goodbye, Mom and Dad.
 
The Daily Courier on Oct 19, 1997, reports:

'John Rodney McRae, 63, is charged with first-degree murder in the 1987 stabbing death of Randy Laufer. McRae's son, Martin John McRae, 23, is charged with being an accessory after the fact'.

The Assist: Attorney General, Bob Ianni also explained that: 'A witness implicated Martin McRae in the burial of Randy's body'.

That does make son 13 at the time of the murder, by my reckoning.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...1tIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dk4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6625,3163105

I am not attempting to excuse him in any way, but I strongly suspect Martin had anything but an easy childhood, and possibly had a very nasty one indeed. At least at first, he may have had little choice if he was involved with his father's crimes. I really hope LE have approached him recently. He has a 10 to life sentence so there'll be parole hearings, I would have thought? Maybe the thought of being able to say he co-operated with LE during any parole hearings, plus his father being dead now, might encourage him. Having said that, I wouldn't like to see him paroled.

I saw in another article that LE said his mother had a real hatred of LE though, so if she's still alive, there's a problem.
 
Hopefully the son will come forward with info. If he does not and no one just stumbles upon remains, I don't know if it can be solved :(
Long ago I read a book somewhat similar. A little girls best friend disappeared . I cannot remember if she was killed or never found. When the little girl grew up , she remembered that her dad had killed her friend. He was a really violent, sexually abusive man and I guess she had repressed memory or was in denial. She got him convicted with her years ago memory . Hoping something similar happens here.
 
zwiebel said:
His parole hearing was due after 10 years. Could this be him, a Martin McRae, who came up for parole in May last year? I can't see if he got it or not. I hope someone is keeping a close eye on him if he did.

http://parole.nv.gov/sites/parole/files/pdf/agendas/2012/05/North/LCC 05-30.pdf
Click to expand...


I am pretty certain he is out, if the registry is accurate.

The thing is, he was 6 years old when Kip went missing. He cant be held responsible for the death, just like with the MI murder.

But if he can shed light as to where the bodies are of the other boys, that has to be worth some points some where. Why should he continue to live with the horror of those secrets?
 
The son McRae seems to be following in his father's footsteps though, molesting children. He may have love for his father and have the same contempt for LE as his father did and may never be willing to help them find the children. Obviously he abuses children as well so he may not see it as a big deal. Unfortunately if and when he ends up in jail for some awful thing he does to children, that could possibly be a bargaining tool that he could use to get off or reduced time. until then I don't think we'll hear a peep from him. Sad all around.
 
The transcript I linked (which is pretty incomprehensible) covers another case besides McRae. A rapist serving time in jail suddenly offered police info about the supposed murder of his little sister when he was a child. Police were very sceptical because sister's cause of death was listed as pneumonia, and thought he might be looking for a get out of jail card.

He wasn't, and his sister was beaten to death, by her stepmom. He just needed to offload the horrible event he had witnessed as a child.

Interestingly, stepmom's other four adult children stuck by her and refused to accept the verdict - despite the prosecution showing they'd had 150 hospital visits between them, as children.

That's why I'm interested in if Martin's mom, with her expressed dislike of LE, is still alive. His loyalty to her could outweigh any need to offload, if she is. Having faced charges for an event that happened when he was 13, he may well be very wary too. I can't imagine him helping without some guarantee of immunity from prosecution.
 
zwiebel said:
The transcript I linked (which is pretty incomprehensible) covers another case besides McRae. A rapist serving time in jail suddenly offered police info about the supposed murder of his little sister when he was a child. Police were very sceptical because sister's cause of death was listed as pneumonia, and thought he might be looking for a get out of jail card.

He wasn't, and his sister was beaten to death, by her stepmom. He just needed to offload the horrible event he had witnessed as a child.

Interestingly, stepmom's other four adult children stuck by her and refused to accept the verdict - despite the prosecution showing they'd had 150 hospital visits between them, as children.

That's why I'm interested in if Martin's mom, with her expressed dislike of LE, is still alive. His loyalty to her could outweigh any need to offload, if she is. Having faced charges for an event that happened when he was 13, he may well be very wary too. I can't imagine him helping without some guarantee of immunity from prosecution.
Click to expand...

If they were going to give McRae immunity for closure, they will give it to Marty.
 
All the ground around the institution where McRae worked and the site where he had his trailer, were thoroughly searched. A 'new fangled' ground penetrating radar was used and found nothing.

Do those radars actually work though? They don't seem to be used much now.

One article said a clown suit was found in his home. That gave me the shudders. And also made me think he might have told young Kip he would help him run away to the circus - hence Kip's goodbye note.
 
Charles Collingwood doesn't seem to have a namus listing, so I don't know how anyone will know it's him even if his body has been/ were to be found?

Is that omission likely to be because he is still officially wanted, rather than missing?
 
So could Charles be on here somewhere? Using his search terms throws up an awful lot of people but I suppose it is worth looking through. I used the terms:
Age 20
male
age range 21-35 (those directly above and below the range are included)
1979-12-12 date of disappearance

http://www.fluiddb.com/advanced_search_form.htm
 
My fiance is related to Rodney McRae. I believe McRae was his mother's cousin or something? I'm not really sure and my future mother-in-law doesn't like to discuss it for obvious reasons. I DO know that once McRae decided to beat it out of Florida, he drove back to Michigan, meaning there's a long stretch of interstates in between, lots of places to dump bodies. My fiance and his brother recall meeting McRae, as McRae decided to stop and visit his family on the way back to Michigan. He just remembers McRae being creepy and that his mother didn't invite him in the house; she seemed extremely uncomfortable with the surprise visit. And he remembers a woman and young boy waiting in the car for McRae. None of this really means anything. Just pointing out that these boys, if McRae is responsible for their disappearances, could be anywhere between Florida and Michigan.
 
Kipling Randolph Hess III
  • kipling_randolph_hess_iii_1.jpg
    hess_kipling2-1.jpg
    hess_kipling3.jpg
  • Kipling, circa 1979
  • Missing Since 03/27/1979
  • Missing From Merritt Island, Florida
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Male
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth08/02/1966 (53)
  • Age 12 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'4, 90 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Kipling's nickname is Kip.
Details of Disappearance

Kipling was last seen on his way to school in Merritt Island, Florida on the morning of March 27, 1979. He never arrived for classes that day and has never been heard from again. He left behind a note at home that simply said, "Goodbye, Mom and Dad."

John Rodney McRae is the prime and only suspect in Kipling's case. A photograph of him is posted with this case summary. He and his son met Kipling at a church carnival a few days prior to the child's disappearance, and McRae later assisted in the search for the missing boy. Several years later, police also found a missing person flier for Kipling taped inside McRae's locker at his workplace.

McRae murdered and dismembered an 8-year-old Michigan boy in the 1950s, when he was only sixteen. He served twenty years in prison for the crime. From 1976 to 1980, he worked as a guard at the Brevard Correctional Institution in Florida; the institution houses mostly teenagers. While McRae was working there, three local boys disappeared.
  • kipling_randolph_hess_iii_4.jpg
  • John Rodney McRae in 2005

One of them was a 20-year-old inmate, Charles Collingwood, who escaped from the prison shortly after allegations were made that he had an inappropriate relationship with McRae. McRae is considered a suspect in that case, and also in the 1977 disappearance of 13-year-old Keith Fleming. None of the boys were ever found.

McRae was convicted of the 1987 murder of a 14-year-old boy, Randy Ray Laufer. His conviction was later overturned on appeal, but he was convicted again in May 2005 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 70 years old and wheelchair-bound at the time of the retrial, he was found in his cell only two weeks later, dead of intestinal ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Investigators strongly believe that McRae committed more murders than he was convicted of, including the murders of Kipling, Keith and Collingwood. They even offered him immunity from prosecution if he would reveal where the boys' bodies were, but he always maintained his innocence. His wife, however, stated he had admitted the Hess and Collingwood murders to her.

Kipling was a student at Edgewood Middle School in 1979. He was involved in church activities and the Boy Scouts, and took piano lessons. His case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency
  • Brevard County Sheriff's Office 321-264-5201
Source Information
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 84 more.
Total: 2,934 (members: 85, guests: 2,849)

Online statistics

Members online
85
Guests online
2,849
Total visitors
2,934
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
592,627
Messages
17,972,076
Members
228,845
Latest member
butiwantedthatname
Back
Top