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

[shadowangel]

5:30 in the evening on a mid-February day. It had to be cold, dark....Schofield had given Debbie rides home on numerous occasions before.
This day, this cold dark evening, he finds her outside on the swings, and tells her to go home.

He doesn't offer her a ride?

Is this the same school? The address seems correct...
http://www.bendist25.org/schools_benjamin.html

 

[shadowangel]

Details of Debbies injuries.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OuotAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pzEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2111,4333023&dq=fijan&hl=en

The above article also states the right side of her face was badly beaten. Wouldn't those injuries have to come from a left handed person if they were facing Debbie? A right handed person would have inflicted injury on the left side of Debbies face rather than the right side. Unless, she was on his left facing him and turned her face to the left.

I wonder if LS was left handed or right handed.

Grabbed or hit from behind possibly? Maybe backhanded?

 

[Cubby]

5:30 in the evening on a mid-February day. It had to be cold, dark....Schofield had given Debbie rides home on numerous occasions before.
This day, this cold dark evening, he finds her outside on the swings, and tells her to go home.

He doesn't offer her a ride?

Is this the same school? The address seems correct...
http://www.bendist25.org/schools_benjamin.html

Yes that is the correct school address.

I agree, 110% with your post. He told her to go home, ya right. Right now it is just kind of light until 5:30 -6:00pm, but noticably light now at 5pm. I haven't paid much attention at 5:30 but I don't think it is fully dark out yet, still dusk.

I also think LS's dads elected position in a very republican DuPage (this county has been republican since it's inception) could have been influencial. LS's dad was not challenged in the 63 election in Wayne Township. That same elected official refused to allow his farm/home to be searched within sight of where Deb was found, not getting the indictment in March of 66', (LE today would not charge anyone in a few days unless they were certain they could convict) AND LS's law suit for libel/slander in May of 66 after he was not indicted, then nothing for a long time.

Ok, the above is NO SLAM to current LE...... :angel: But being here since 68, thats how I see it. (and yes, I was still in diapers in 68). But that is exactly how I see it.

There is no statute of limitations on murder. There was never a trial in this case. There is NO reason todays forensics can't close this case, like a Michael Jordan slam dunk.

I think this is a dusty puzzle waiting to be put together.

JMVHO

 

[Cubby]

Grabbed or hit from behind possibly? Maybe backhanded?

Good point. Maybe put in the trunk? that would explain why the boots didn't have carpet fibers from the car? Access to a vehicle his JS used for work? Did LS always drive the same car to school?

I would really really love to know who the other witnesses were who saw Deb talking to a man in a white car. We then have LS's word against the witnesses who saw that other man in a white car, no?

I need to get to the library so we can get access to those pay sites. Make a list of which we need, dates, and I will do that within the next week.

 

[shadowangel]

Good point. Maybe put in the trunk? that would explain why the boots didn't have carpet fibers from the car? Access to a vehicle his JS used for work? Did LS always drive the same car to school?

I would really really love to know who the other witnesses were who saw Deb talking to a man in a white car. We then have LS's word against the witnesses who saw that other man in a white car, no?

I need to get to the library so we can get access to those pay sites. Make a list of which we need, dates, and I will do that within the next week.

We have to wonder how many vehicles did Schofield have access to...Not to mention that aftermarket mats can be purchased, which may have been tossed after the murder, or Schofield may have had some other material on the floor at the time to cover the vehicle's carpet. There are numerous possibilities to account for the fibers not matching.

I totally agree, if law enforcement authorities took a closer look at this case with today's forensic technology this case could be closed.

 

[shadowangel]

I checked the dates in the Farmer's Almanac. The temps had been in the mid 50sF for the few days prior to the 11th, and the high on the 11th was 42F. Temps at night were in the low 30sF, with the night of the 11th going down to 28F. Rain had fallen the previous day, but no precip on the 11th.

 

[rpipergirl]

Good point. Maybe put in the trunk? that would explain why the boots didn't have carpet fibers from the car? Access to a vehicle his JS used for work? Did LS always drive the same car to school?

I would really really love to know who the other witnesses were who saw Deb talking to a man in a white car. We then have LS's word against the witnesses who saw that other man in a white car, no?

I need to get to the library so we can get access to those pay sites. Make a list of which we need, dates, and I will do that within the next week.

wow! TY so much. I can't wait to hear what you find. Do you want me to PM you the stories to look at?

 

[Cubby]

wow! TY so much. I can't wait to hear what you find. Do you want me to PM you the stories to look at?

Yes please do! the name of the paper and then the dates. I haven't used microfice in ages, but sure I can find it at one of the local libraries here.

I was going to try and drive by this weekend, but my son wasn't feeling good so was home all weekend. Now we are having a winter storm, so will have to do that another time.

 

[Cubby]

I checked the dates in the Farmer's Almanac. The temps had been in the mid 50sF for the few days prior to the 11th, and the high on the 11th was 42F. Temps at night were in the low 30sF, with the night of the 11th going down to 28F. Rain had fallen the previous day, but no precip on the 11th.

Thanks! I had completely forgotten about checking the Farmers Almanac!

 

[Cubby]

Maybe a little OT, but I heard this on the radio this morning.

DuPage county had a 10 million dollar budget SURPLUS for 2009, despite the economy. Imo, there is no good reason to NOT get this case worked on. Can't use the we don't have any money excuse.

"Chicago - In these tough economic times, DuPage County is reporting a $10 million budget surplus"

a little more at link

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/dupage-budget-surplus

 

[karefree]

I don't know if this would help or not but I have an membership to Ancestry and there are several articles posted from newspapers that I have access to. I don't have a clue how to post them here but I believe I can email them to myself and then to another who may know how to post them. If this would be of help in this case, please let me know and I'll be happy to do it.

 

[karefree]

There are many, many articles available from Ancestry.com on this case and Loren Schofield himself. He evidently tried to sue for defamation of character and they did collect some of his "girlie pictures" with a warrant. I have not read all of the articles. There seems to be page after page of them but I have emailed all articles found on the first page to myself. I would be glad to email them to whoever would like to post them here. There may be many more if you are interested.

 

[rpipergirl]

Karefree, I will pm you my e-mail. i am sure I can figure out how to post them. ty so much for looking them up for us.

 

[karefree]

You are very welcome. I'll look for your PM.

 

[karefree]

rpipergirl, the emails are sent. Be warned, there are a lot of them. I'll be glad to help with the other name if you send it to me. I like to feel like I am getting my money's worth from Ancestry.:twocents:

 

[Cubby]

I'm going to send you a pm too. Then we will see what I still need to go to the library for, as I can't go until next week.

 

[Cubby]

I'd be very interested to know if LS had a criminal record of any kind. Especially after Debbies murder.

I don't know when he moved after 1966. How long he stayed in IL, and if he actually had his own home, or if he and his wife lived with his father John S there on Fair Oaks as the articles indicated. I'm also not sure if the farm John owned had a West Chicago, or Carol Stream address.

We know LS lived in both Illinois, and Missouri. According to veromi.com his cities are listed in order as follow:

Kansas City, MO
Genoa, IL
Chatsworth, CA
Kinston, IL

We need to see if this guy has any other criminal history. Convictions or not, even charges that were dropped......

 

[karefree]

He once studied for the priesthood. . . .

 

[Cubby]

I wasn't able to read all the news articles due to not having an ancestry membership. It cuts off at 5.

Of what I saw, this is what I was able to make out with......

LS did not live with his father. One of the articles listed LS being from "Cloverdale, Bloomingdale Township". Cloverdale is not a town, if it was, it is a little tiny area that has a sign reading Cloverdale but no population is listed. It is near Bloomingdale, IL and about Army Trail road. and a little east of Gary. I think you can see it in the lower left corner of this map.
bloomingdale il - Google Search
I couldn't see Cloverdale anymore after opening the map, so posted like I did.

Army Trail runs east and west and is the first major east west road north of North Ave (Rt. 64) which also runs east west.

His dad JS's farm was listed as the "S family farm" in Wayne Township on Fair Oaks Rd. So two different townships, they obviously did not reside together. however, this is likely the farm LS grew up on, so he would have been very familiar with the area. I am still looking to see if I can find the S family farm on any of the old maps... but I may have to do that at the Library. The article states the farm is 90 acres, so a pretty large area of land.

 

[Cubby]

MapQuest driving directions from "Cloverdale" - bloomingdale township to Benjamin School. The directions take him right down Fair Oaks Rd.....

Any other route would have been longer. North Ave runs on an angle and is further south at intersections east of the school. Thus he would have had to drive further south to reach North Ave taking an alternate NS street such as Gary or County Farm and going back west to the school.

If anyone knows how to take this map and put it in a post, please do. I don't know how to do that. Thanks!

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Bloomingdale&1s=IL&1a=%5B23w000-23w798%5D+Army+Trail+Rd&1z=60108&1y=US&1l=41.93635&1g=-88.07366&1v=BLOCK&2c=West+Chicago&2s=IL&2a=28w300+Saint+Charles+Rd&2z=60185-1454&2y=US&2l=41.912308&2g=-88.171293&2v=ADDRESS#b/maps/m:map:10:41.919719:-88.122523::::::1:1:::::::::/l::S+Gary+Ave+&+Army+Trail+Rd:Bloomingdale:IL:60108:US:41.93939:-88.11873:intersection: Dupage+County:1:::/l::28w300+Saint+Charles+Rd:West+Chicago:IL:60185-1454:US:41.912308:-88.171293:address::1:::/io:1:::::f:en_US:M:/bl:/e