IN IN - Renee Bruhl, Patricia Blough & Ann Miller, Indiana Dunes SP, 2 July 1966

I believe it could be a hit, but I don't believe they went on a boat. As I had stated in a previous posting, leaving all their stuff behind doesn't make sense as they wouldn't know if the boat could get them back to where they started. Plus you could never be sure if they would all get on the boat. Suppose one of them was afraid of boats, or deep water or got seasick. I think it would be too risky.

My belief is that it's more likely they grabbed one of the girls who had left the other two - to maybe go to the restroom or get something to eat. Someone came to the other two girls to tell them their friend was sick and needed them right away. They would probably jump and leave without taking anything.

Eyewitness testimony is not very reliable and I'm not sure anyone who didn't know the girls could say that they got on a boat. Just looking at the pictures of the three girls, they all resemble each other and probably looked like thousands of other girls who were getting on and off boats that weekend.

I think it's a good guess that anyone who had an association of any kind with Silas Jayne and ended up missing or dead could look back to him as the source.
 
I believe it could be a hit, but I don't believe they went on a boat. As I had stated in a previous posting, leaving all their stuff behind doesn't make sense as they wouldn't know if the boat could get them back to where they started. Plus you could never be sure if they would all get on the boat. Suppose one of them was afraid of boats, or deep water or got seasick. I think it would be too risky.

My belief is that it's more likely they grabbed one of the girls who had left the other two - to maybe go to the restroom or get something to eat. Someone came to the other two girls to tell them their friend was sick and needed them right away. They would probably jump and leave without taking anything.

Eyewitness testimony is not very reliable and I'm not sure anyone who didn't know the girls could say that they got on a boat. Just looking at the pictures of the three girls, they all resemble each other and probably looked like thousands of other girls who were getting on and off boats that weekend.

I think it's a good guess that anyone who had an association of any kind with Silas Jayne and ended up missing or dead could look back to him as the source.

I think your theory makes the most sense with the possible exception of the last sentence. My guess would be that it was a serial killer or a serial killing team and essentially random. If it was Jayne, then he was really keeping close ties with this party.
 
I think your theory makes the most sense with the possible exception of the last sentence. My guess would be that it was a serial killer or a serial killing team and essentially random. If it was Jayne, then he was really keeping close ties with this party.

I also believe it could be a serial killer, but I think there would have been 2 guys instead of just one.

I think the reason people like Jayne as a suspect is because so many people around him were murdered.

They would have probably only been watching one of the girls. It was a holiday weekend, it could be Jayne's people just stumbled across them at the beach, just because you're a murderer and doesn't mean you don't go out and have fun. They decided this might be their best shot. Doing something in plain sight of thousands of people does work sometimes.
 
This has been a fascinating read, particularly with Robb 2014's input.
What if the girls knew that they were in trouble because they saw something, and they arranged to 'disappear', to start life over? Perhaps they used a shady character that they knew from the stables. They made arrangements to meet the man on the small boat, leaving their things behind, and perhaps were transported elsewhere back onto the shore, where they escaped? But something may have gone wrong somewhere.... after all, shady characters can be bought off too.
That would explain any fore knowledge of being in trouble and wanting to 'make a will', and a secret. It would explain the unlikely scenario of them leaving their things and getting onto a small boat, but with no bodies ever found.
If their problems, and their planned escape, ended in abduction and murder, they could have been killed anywhere, not just on the lake.
Less probably is that they did, indeed, move on to new lives, but it would be terrible to think that they callously left their families in limbo forever after.
 
Does the Indiana State Police have jurisdiction in this case? I thought since the disappearance took place at a state park, it might be considered in their jurisdiction. Where might be any evidence (such as the home movie taken on the beach the day they were last seen) still be kept?
 
Does the Indiana State Police have jurisdiction in this case? I thought since the disappearance took place at a state park, it might be considered in their jurisdiction. Where might be any evidence (such as the home movie taken on the beach the day they were last seen) still be kept?

I believe that there were several different agencies involved and that there were overlapping jurisdictions. A state park might come under Natural Resources police, or State Police. The County Sheriff or County Police might have jurisdiction. The fact that there were some boats seen in the area, and the possibility that the girls went on Lake Michigan, might mean Illinois or Michigan or even the US Coast Guard might have some interest in the case as well.

The FBI could also have a stake in it depending on state lines, or other issues which would make it of federal interest.

It would be nice to know where the evidence is kept and whether or not that movie film is still available to investigators.
 
While having all of those various county, state and federal offices might look good from a numbers standpoint, there are obvious problems, too. Just who is running the operation - especially now after almost 48 years? It still poses the question again. Which one is keeping the gathered evidence - particularly the home movie film?
 
I agree that's it easy to think Jayne was involved since there was a connection of sorts, and like Dragonfyree said, so many people around him were murdered. Sometimes, I'm not completely sold on Jayne myself. It just seems to be the most plausible explanation to me. But after reading the first post by Robb2014, I really think that whatever happened to the girls, the wheels were set in motion when they went to the Dunes the previous weekend before they disappeared. Whoever they met seems to have gained their trust and convinced them to come back. Not saying it was those guys for sure, but they could have been involved with whoever was responsible for the girls' disappearance. JMO.
 
It is interesting to learn that the three women had gone to Indiana Dunes State Park the weekend before the one that they disappeared. I don't recall ever hearing that until Robb2014's his first post. I wonder if that was something they did a number of times during the year?
 
Thanks for posting the link to that article, Twitit. I don't think I've ever seen it before. I know from what I've read before that Dick Wylie has always believed the girls all went missing due to a botched abortion. I never gave much credence to that theory before, but he has done very extensive research on this over the years and he may be on the right track. I wish he could get his manuscript published. I would love to read all of his notes on the case.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk
 
Help please, where is the story on that link? All see is a bunch of celeb crap.

I think I know the article you are referring to though and the guy's explanation for leaving their belongings on the beach is not believable to me; beyond the fact that virtually all the rest of the piece is conjecture as best I can tell. Myself, I wouldn't leave belongings out of my sight on a beach for more than a couple of minutes unless I was trusting someone to watch them and I haven't heard anything about the women doing that.
 
The aspect that they may have been caught on film that day is fascinating. Hopefully it was kept and properly stored, but I have my doubts about the latter. Still, if it is around somewhere, now is the time to preserve it before it's too late.
 
I too find it hard to believe that the ladies would leave their belongings on the beach like that, unless they intended to return within just a few minutes. People steal stuff off the beach all the time, even something as simple as a nice beach towel or tote bag, so it seems odd that they would leave their things. It makes me think they didn't intend for their belongings to be out of sight for very long.
 
The aspect that they may have been caught on film that day is fascinating. Hopefully it was kept and properly stored, but I have my doubts about the latter. Still, if it is around somewhere, now is the time to preserve it before it's too late.

What would be a way of reaching out to possible film owners from that weekend?

Mark.
 
What would be a way of reaching out to possible film owners from that weekend?

Mark.

I can't find the article where I read this at the moment, but I remember reading that the Indiana State Police had the films. I'll keep looking.
 
Sorry, everyone, about the link being wonky for some. I posted it from my phone, and it still works for me when I click on it.
 

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