ID ID - Lonnie Jones, 13, Orofino, September 1951

[Psac]

If you have no access to the old files, how do you know that someone was treated in the hospital under the name of the grandma?

 

[Psac]

Hi,

second part ...

Another detail is, that, according to a family member, but one, that didn't know Lonnie (born to late), Lonnie was sexually assaulted already weeks before the fair. The injuries were serious enough, according to that family member, that Lonnie's grandma went with him to the hospital. I have of course no access to the old files and I doubt, they still exist after that time, but what we do know is, that someone was actually treated in this time in a hospital under the name of the grandma. So, this explains, why the MEs weren't sure whether Lonnie was sexually abused the night of the murder. Older injuries, no semen (it had rained before Lonnie was found).
Only, that information changed the profile of the perpetrator. What we're looking here is someone, who decides to rape boys, threaten them to stay silent and when he feared, they would tell someone, felt the need to kill them. That is a variant of general psychopathic-paranoid behavior and it is in this timing quite rare because normally the time between rape and kill is in such cases a lot shorter.
A few weeks after Lonnie was murdered, police arrested a man, who had raped another boy. The boy was still alive, he had been threatened to stay silent and tell nobody. Only the boy told and thus, the perpetrator was apprehended. Same area, same MO, same victimology. WC (not sure whether I'm allowed to write the full name) got for that crime a back then mandatory life sentence. He died decades later in prison.
WC was a carpenter. At the night of the fair, he had earned some money there, helping to break down stuff. He was last seen at the fair at ab. 12:10-12:15. That places him, by time and location about 150 yards from Lonnie minutes before Lonnie spoke to the Kamiah teenagers at the bridge. Remember, Lonnie was upset about something or someone he had seen minutes before, but calmed down, when he got the ride with those teenagers.
Well, WC was a carpenter, and he had tools in his vehicle. His business was to make cabinets and closets using a softer wood used back in the days as a prevention against moths (I'm no carpenter and no expert for wood, so I would have to look the details up). But he used typical carpenter tools, also vices. The injuries on Lonnie's fingertips could be from such a vice (unfortunately local LE isn't willing to give out those photos not willing to take a real look at them or send them to expert labs). The interesting detail is, that a carpenter wouldn't have need to have rope in his vehicle. We know, the perpetrator had no rope, he used other means of restraint.
WC knew Lonnie by sight! He bought wood from a lumber mill just cross the street from where Lonnie lived (another a bit shady operation. His wife's family would be later pretty known for committing the biggest string of thefts in the area too). Unfortunately, LE denies any cooperation into even asking for old bills or IRS records.
A man was watched already in the afternoon by at least two witnesses, offering boys in ab. Lonnie's ages rides at the fair. The rough description could fit. But no photo identification yet. However, LE denies any look in what kind of vehicle WC was driving back then which would be the easiest way to figure whether that man was WC.
So, no forensic evidence accessible for me, LE denies any cooperation (the Sheriff was voted in with the votes from the "OW did it" fraction, the Sergeant lives right next to that fraction. But we have a man there, we can place inside 150 yards to Lonnie at exactly the same time, the perpetrator had to start to follow him, a perpetrator that is, who would have driven back direction Orofino after snatching Lonnie. And Lonnie was found nearer to Orofino, near to the creek, so that is exactly, what Lonnie's killer did. And that man was caught some weeks later for the same kind of crime against a victim in the same age bracket, same gender with the same MO.

... to be continued

If you have no access to the old files, how do you know that someone was treated in the hospital under the name of the grandma?

 

[tigerbaby777]

Your take on the Greer Grade being scary is 100% correct.....and your looking at the widened and 'improved' version as to how it must have been in 1951.
Steep and switch back after switch back that if you missed one on the way down you might stop rolling when you hit the railroad tracks by the river.
Meeting a logging truck on its way down is a rare thrill as well.
Yeah,thats one thing I have a hard time wrapping my mind around:OK lets say he's determined to dump Lonnie where he did rather then spending fifteen minutes at the end of some logging road with a shovel and letting everyone speculate that Lonnie ran away with the Carnival for the next 60 years(Hell. we wouldnt even be talking about this if he had.) but rather then just dump a body after he killed him in some remote spot ( to heck with blood in his vehicle, how hard would it be to strangle a twelve year old?) He decides to drive Lonnie to that spot ALIVE having no idea if Lonnies family were driving the road looking for him,and then marches him out to the side of the road and cuts his throat right there???
Why was leaving him there so obviously important?
My initial idea was that he was trying VERY hard to point attention away from the Grade and Pierce and Weippe at the top.
If he had went any further towards Orofino he would have been entering the suicidally reckless zone.
Of course all of that could have been avoided by just making Lonnie disappear...
So much could have gone wrong....It speaks of an extremely confident and cold blooded killer....I have to wonder if a stranger to the area would be so comfortable.
And yeah if the killer lived up on the hill or up river in Kamiah or Kooskia he could drive by that spot quite often and of course its only about twelve minutes from Orofino if that.
And yes I agree his killer had him all that time, God only knows what that poor kid went through.
Hopefully Ill have news soon on getting access to some of the case material.
Keep your fingers crossed.

So, I don't know if any of you are still looking into this in 2017. I've been doing research on a family member from weippe that was born in 1950 and ran across this article.

My question is, why isn't anybody questioning who the real father was? Was he a married man in Weippe that raped or had an affair with this boy's mother? Was the boy or grandparents threatening to disclose that information? Was he brutalized and left where he was as a warning?

It was pretty common for illegimate children to be raised by grandparents. Look at Ted Bundy, he didn't know his sister was really his mother until he was in highschool.

 

[WildMtnMom]

I was born and raised in Orofino and I think there are three key details that are being overlooked here.
First, I don’t see if it specifies where the teenage boys dropped him off, was it on the highway 12 side of the bridge, or did they cross the bridge and drop him at the bottom of the grade? That will make all the difference in the world because no one cross that bridge unless they were going up the hill to Weippe. If he was dropped off at the bottom of the hill it is most definitely someone who was headed up the hill; however, if he was dropped off on the highway side it could be anybody as that highway runs from coast to coast.
Next, a carnival worker would have no reason to go that direction, sure, he could have followed the kid being driven but he would not know how far he was following them, that is a pretty far drive from Orofino for 1951, back then people didn’t just drive all over the place.
Lastly, Weippe was settled by two families and is very remote, there are a lot of incest jokes and rumors, but unfortunately it is true. I have a family member in law-enforcement who has seen some of the families who keep their kids hidden in the back hills and it’s kind of scary. Lumberjack days tends to bring these people out of the hills every year, that is well-known.

 

[WildMtnMom]

What strikes me as strange about this account is that at 5am in September it would have still been dark. This was at the bottom of a deep valley, and the spot where Lonnie was found was along a stretch running north/south. Would, indeed, could the driver have seen a body there unless he knew it was there?

It reminds me of endless discussions around the murder of Annie Chapman by Jack the Ripper, and whether John Richardson could have seen the body had it been there when he said he was, given that the spot where the body lay was in profound shadow at a time when only the very barest signs of morning twilight had occurred at the time.

No, the highway runs east west and the foliage on the river side where the body was found is very low and if you stopped to take a break and pull down slightly off the road you would see it. There is room there for a very large truck and you can see dead animals all the time off the side of the road, so why not a body?

 

[Jaime Alecia]

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile since anyone has posted in this thread but I'm hoping I can get some of your help and knowledge about this case.

I am a film student in Denver, Colorado. I'm currently making a documentary called Who Killed Lonnie Jones?
My Grandfather is Orrin Wood, the man that found Lonnie, I am trying to explore all different angles of this cold case. If anyone has credible facts or opinions based on the facts I would love to speak to you and get any information I can to help aide my documentary.

I don't personally have an opinion formed yet about who killed Lonnie, I want to hear objective points of view. I won't be offended if you think my Grandpa did it. I actually would be very interested to hear your reasoning and thoughts.

Thank you, in advance.

 

[katydid23]

Hey Jaime, welcome to WS.

Please read back through this thread. It is very enlightening. I think two very very strong potential suspects have been written about, upthread.

 

[Richard]

Lonnie Jones, 13, murdered September 1951












LINK:

Who killed Lonnie Jones?

 

[TeakeanIdaho]

If they are trackable I will find them.

Lonnie’s mother married, when Lonnie was about a year old. She married Lincoln Clyde Rich, whose mother was a
Broncheau. It is possible Lincoln was Lonnie’s birth father, due to cultural customs. It is also highly probable Lonnie experienced several stigmas related to his circumstances. I am from the area and am actually connected to you via the Bloom family. His mother passed in 1985 and there was a half-brother who passed in 2005. Her obit mentions several grand-children, someone may have info.

 

[katydid23]

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile since anyone has posted in this thread but I'm hoping I can get some of your help and knowledge about this case.

I am a film student in Denver, Colorado. I'm currently making a documentary called Who Killed Lonnie Jones?
My Grandfather is Orrin Wood, the man that found Lonnie, I am trying to explore all different angles of this cold case. If anyone has credible facts or opinions based on the facts I would love to speak to you and get any information I can to help aide my documentary.

I don't personally have an opinion formed yet about who killed Lonnie, I want to hear objective points of view. I won't be offended if you think my Grandpa did it. I actually would be very interested to hear your reasoning and thoughts.

Thank you, in advance.

CHECK THIS OUT^^^^

Looks like that documentary is being released TOMORROW!

Graduate To Debut Idaho Boy's 1951 Brutal Murder Documentary

In just a few days, a 2020 University of Colorado graduate will release a documentary based on the case of a brutal murder committed more than 70 years ago in a rural northern Idaho town. A 12-year-old boy had his throat slit, was blindfolded, and left on the side of a roadway.

Read More: Graduate To Debut Idaho Boy's 1951 Brutal Murder Documentary | Graduate To Debut Idaho Boy's 1951 Brutal Murder Documentary

A trailer for the documentary was released by film student Jamie Zurzolo. Zurzolo traveled to Weippe between 2018 and 2020 to conduct interviews with police and family, and will release her new documentary on Saturday, April 23.

 

[kline]

If you have no access to the old files, how do you know that someone was treated in the hospital under the name of the grandma?

CHECK THIS OUT^^^^

Looks like that documentary is being released TOMORROW!

Graduate To Debut Idaho Boy's 1951 Brutal Murder Documentary

In just a few days, a 2020 University of Colorado graduate will release a documentary based on the case of a brutal murder committed more than 70 years ago in a rural northern Idaho town. A 12-year-old boy had his throat slit, was blindfolded, and left on the side of a roadway.

Read More: Graduate To Debut Idaho Boy's 1951 Brutal Murder Documentary | Graduate To Debut Idaho Boy's 1951 Brutal Murder Documentary

A trailer for the documentary was released by film student Jamie Zurzolo. Zurzolo traveled to Weippe between 2018 and 2020 to conduct interviews with police and family, and will release her new documentary on Saturday, April 23.

You can watch the documentary for free by going to the ' Clearwater Tribune ' website find the article '
' Who Killed Lonnie Jones?' and click on the link.
Very well done and the camera work capturing Weippe and Orofino is awesome.
Check it out.

 

[SianaTheSeer]

Why was Lonnie's granny's name used at the hospital instead of Lonnie's name?

Hi, new member here and completely not sure if anyone is still active on this thread but the granny’s name would have been used to prevent Lonnie from experiencing shame. Back in those days whenever a male was unfortunately the victim of an homosexual attack, the mother would take said child to the hospital and check in under their own name and beg a nurse/dr to help the boy without reporting it. Seeing as Lonnie was living with his grandma,it would then make sense that the visit would be under her name and not his bio mom or his own. I’ve been researching this case after finding out about Lonnie while reading into another case involving a young boy from Illinois by the name of Billy Desousa that was killed after last being seen watching a carnival be set up but I believe the perpetrator was actually named as a Charles Pierce due to a confession. Praying Lonnie will receive justice some day soon.