WI WI - Evelyn Hartley, 15, La Crosse, 24 Oct 1953

[pleasestandby]

September 23, 1974 The La Crosse Tribune

CLYDE PETERSON LA FARGE, Wis. - Clyde (Tywee) Peterson, 53, of La Farge. was found dead Sunday, Sept. 22, along a La Farge street. Death was ruled due to a probable heart attack. Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Johnson Funeral Chapel, Rev. R. A. Pegram officiating, and burial will be in the Star Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p.m. Tuesday. There are no immediate survivors.

I found absolutely nothing on the rest of Clyde's family. SSDI, Family Search, newspaper archives, etc. The last mention of Clyde L Peterson's family on the internet that I found was in the 1930 United States Federal Census. If anyone finds anything on those four other people, I'd love to see it.

Almer L Peterson 29
Velma Peterson 21
Arlene D Peterson 4
Elton D Peterson 9
Clyde L Peterson 9

 

[STANDREID]

Does anyone know if a size 11 shoe is the same size now as it was then? As has been discussed here before Evelyn's Size 16 jeans would (due to vanity sizing) have the same measurements as Size 6 today. A Size 10 back then had the same measurements as a Size 0 today, in other words, whatever size a woman is today just add 10 and that's what you would have worn in the 1950s.
.

 

[Robin Hood]

September 23, 1974 The La Crosse Tribune



I found absolutely nothing on the rest of Clyde's family. SSDI, Family Search, newspaper archives, etc. The last mention of Clyde L Peterson's family on the internet that I found was in the 1930 United States Federal Census. If anyone finds anything on those four other people, I'd love to see it.

Almer L Peterson 29
Velma Peterson 21
Arlene D Peterson 4
Elton D Peterson 9
Clyde L Peterson 9

I may have found something on family members late last night but I'll have to back track later today to see what it was. I think Clyde was a twin? Leave it with me and I'll get to it later.

 

[Robin Hood]

Looks like there was a divorce and maybe a slightly different spelling of Almer

Elmer Peterson
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1940
Event Place: Ward 2, La Crosse, La Crosse City, La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 39
Marital Status: Divorced
Race (Original): White
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Head
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Birth Year (Estimated): 1901
Last Place of Residence: Same Place
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Elmer Peterson Head M 39 Wisconsin
Arlene Peterson Daughter F 13 Wisconsin

There's a couple of Elton Petersons in Minnesota in 1940, one as an employee and another a boarder iirc.

 

[pleasestandby]

You got it. Good find. Clyde's parents got divorced. In the 1940 census, his sister Arlene was living with her father Almer (Elmer). It appears his brother Elton was living as a farmhand in Goodhue County, Minnesota with the Pirkl family, though his birthplace was listed as Minnesota. Clyde Peterson (spelled Paterson here) was living with his grandfather, Malon Wemmer and Clyde's one year old daughter, Karlene in La Farge.

 

[pleasestandby]

Steve Bothun's story on the Pickwick 80-acre farm connection to the Hartley abduction is interesting. The building wasn't on aerial maps before 1954 according to the story. (Could a car be buried with a backhoe and then a building erected on top of it years later?) Would anyone even go to that extreme just to hide a car? Scrapping it at a junkyard would be easier or choppimg it up at an auto repair shop.

Bothun states in his documentary, "...at one time was a homestead of sorts built by a man named Percy Flynn. The remains of an old building still stands but they lay rotting in ruins..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DqJtK7Okcw

Susan Hessel states in her book, Where's Evelyn?, "In 1989, a man on his deathbed reportedly had told police the body had been buried 30 to 40 years earlier in an automobile near Pickwick."

"Ray Flynn, who signed a waiver to allow La Crosse police to conduct the search on and in his land, also was quoted as saying, “Whatever you’re digging for you ain’t going to find it.”

What I can't understand is how someone can bury a car on your property without you knowing about it, especially when it was buried right near the building on the property.

I wonder who the person was who was on his deathbed in 1989 and how he was connected to this case? It wasn't Percy Flynn, who was born in 1912. He died in 1975 and is buried in French Island Cemetery in La Crosse.

Pickwick is located in the Township of Homer, Winona County, MN. The 1920 census shows Percy Flynn living with his family on Husman Ridge Rd, Homer, MN. The 1930 & 1940 censuses shows him living at 15 Sand Lake Coulee, Onalaska, WI, just north of La Crosse. A 1948 news article shows him living at 1721 Avon St., La Crosse, WI.

A 1955 Winona newspaper shows a personal property assessment for Flynn's property in the Town of Homer, MN. Legal notices in Winona newspapers show delinquent taxes for 1963 and 1974 on his property in the Town of Homer, MN.

Is the Husman Ridge Road property the same property searched by police in 1989? Could they have searched the wrong property?

The 1955, 1963 & 1974 newspaper articles list his address as 2722 George St., La Crosse, WI. He worked at the Moto Meter Gauge & Equipment Corp., La Crosse, WI

March 13, 1950 La Crosse Tribune newspaper advertisement showing that 2722 George St. is an auto body repair shop and was named Halverson & Skadsen Body Shop. Ad shows they did auto painting with lacquer or enamel paints:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/flynnbodyshop_zpsy0i52slt.png

FamilySearch shows Ray Flynn's address as 2700 George St, which was Nick's Conoco Station in the 1950's.

Regarding the paint on the suspect's denim jacket:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AAIBAJ&sjid=oiYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7045,965067&hl=en

Several small spots of paint, of a type used only on metal structures, indicated that the jacket wearer worked with or near paints, but there were not enough spots to indicate that he himself was a painter.

Googling 2722 George St., La Crosse, WI will bring up an interesting current business.

 

[Robin Hood]

Wow, I'll get looking through this later. Great work.

 

[Robin Hood]

Percy Flynn on the 1940 census had income from another source and if I read it correctly sometime ago, it was a considerable amount. IF I had to take a guess I might suggest he rented the homestead out and if the rent was paid on time he never went out there. But then the paint/car body info is interesting.

 

[pleasestandby]

Percy Flynn on the 1940 census had income from another source and if I read it correctly sometime ago, it was a considerable amount. IF I had to take a guess I might suggest he rented the homestead out and if the rent was paid on time he never went out there. But then the paint/car body info is interesting.

The 1940 census shows him living on a rented farm on Sand Lake Coulee, Onalaska Town, La Crosse County, WI, with occupations listed as car accessories and also working at National Gauge and Equipment. Moto Meter Gauge & Equipment Corp merged with National Gauge, I believe and are one and the same company.

I believe Ray was his son. Another son was a teacher in La Crosse according to a newspaper wedding announcement in the La Crosse newspaper.

The police never gave any indication of whether the Flynns were victims of circumstances or suspects. How nice of them to leave their status hanging in the wind all these years. I suppose the farm up in Minnesota could have been rented out and the person who allegedly buried the car was a renter completely unconnected to the Flynns. I'd go with the latter since the Flynns were living in La Crosse in 1953 and when the property was dug up.

Zillow does show a Husman Ridge Road running into Pickwick so there's a good chance the Pickwick dig site and the Flynn's Husman Ridge Rd. property are the same location.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/26077-Husman-Ridge-Rd-Winona-MN-55987/102954184_zpid/

 

[Robin Hood]

I looked at the main players names yesterday and sure enough none fit with a death in 1989. I did find a death for April'90 and totally discounted it (the name wasn't the exact name of one of the players but resembled it) Late last night while waiting for a TV prog to start, I was thinking about what you said and thought maybe the guy called it in when he was sick and probably spent 4 months in and out of hospital, not dying until 4 months later. I tried to re trace my steps but can't find/remember the name again. I wondered, at the time, if it was a son or close relative of a key player, it wasn't Flynn but could have been Driscoll, I did spend time with the variations that appear similar to what Marion/Pat/Earl used. I will look again at some point to see if it surfaces.

 

[scriptgirl]

So, has anyone found out the name of the farmer? Why were those names deleted from the transcript, does anyone know whose names they were? Any luck on locating the names of the couple who did the interview? And re the comment posted here re graves being dug up-someone said the graves were connected to one family. Can you elaborate?

 

[JDuMo]

I was reading every page but it was taking forever. I think I started skimming around page 18. So if this has been brought up already, please disregard.

The guys on the taped confession said they took her to their friend's farm. Ed Gein had a farm just two hours west of La Crosse in Plainfield, WI. And you have to cross Rt. 12 in order to get there - isn't Rt. 12 where there was a large pool of blood?

 

[joellegirl]

No, it was RT 14. The farm in question is near LaFarge, WI I believe. I personally do not think Ed Gein was involved. I believe it was someone Evelyn knew, and trusted enough to let him (them) in the house. After that is where things went wrong.

 

[jashrema]

Great work Standby! To me, everything fits Flynn at this point. As far as the property being dug up...it was reported that they only dug for 5 hours and then ended. 5 hours! This was not a 2-3 day dig...this was 5 crummy hours in a very small area, if something is there, I'm not surprised that nothing was found. Isn't there equipment these days that actually can show what is underground now?
The info about Flynn working in the garage with the paint is a slam dunk for me. We now have reason for the striping on his jacket(hooking a plow harness himself, and painting cars) To me...this would be enough at this point for a probably cause arrest and maybe even a circumstantial murder case. If the couple interviewed were talking about Flynn as the man working on their farm...well, that's even more evidence.
I have never believed that Evelyn let her attacker in because she knew him. Evidence shows that there were many footprints in the back of the houses and someone was obviously back there walking house to house, plus the other house a few doors down have attempted break=in signs to their back window. My bet is Flynn right now.

 

[pleasestandby]

Isn't there equipment these days that actually can show what is underground now?

Ground penetrating radar.

To me, everything fits Flynn at this point. As far as the property being dug up...it was reported that they only dug for 5 hours and then ended. 5 hours! This was not a 2-3 day dig...this was 5 crummy hours in a very small area, if something is there, I'm not surprised that nothing was found. Isn't there equipment these days that actually can show what is underground now?
The info about Flynn working in the garage with the paint is a slam dunk for me. We now have reason for the striping on his jacket(hooking a plow harness himself, and painting cars) To me...this would be enough at this point for a probably cause arrest and maybe even a circumstantial murder case. If the couple interviewed were talking about Flynn as the man working on their farm...well, that's even more evidence.
I have never believed that Evelyn let her attacker in because she knew him. Evidence shows that there were many footprints in the back of the houses and someone was obviously back there walking house to house, plus the other house a few doors down have attempted break=in signs to their back window. My bet is Flynn right now.

If we could somehow link Campton, Gaulthair, Driscoll, Peterson and Barclay, previously mentioned in post #716 & #718, with Flynn, then we might have something.

Sadly, as it stands with this case:

1) It happened almost 62 years ago.
2) The investigators, witnesses and suspects are all probably dead.
3) All the evidence was lost or thrown out by the state crime lab, lost by the post office or lost by the police department.
4) The police department is never going to release information, update the case or reopen it. We don't even know where they stand on who's a suspect or who isn't. (They can say the case remains open all they want, but if they never release any update on the case after 62 years, then it's pretty well closed)
5) No one in the La Crosse area who still knows anything about the case wants to say anything.

 

[pleasestandby]

Dr. Stark Hathaway, head of the University of Minnesota Clinical Psychology Department, said he thought the (Evelyn Hartley) crime was premeditated and that the person involved was either someone of low income or someone of high income who had “revolted” against his family. This person could be wearing old or ragged clothing. He felt the culprit was between ages 17 and 22, physically wiry and “may be more intelligent than he acted under the circumstances. I believe that he would fool the officers who question him, but that under pressure you can break him down."

C.P. Hanscom, director of the Department of Protection and Investigation at the University of Minnesota, suggested it was possible that Evelyn was abducted by force because she either knew the abductor or he had characteristics that she could have used to identify him later.

Please read Norma Lee Browning's story in the Chicago Tribune regarding Mr. Hofer's account of what he witnessed near the Viggo Rasmusen home the night of Hartley's disappearance. In fact, he recognized the driver, who was later questioned by the police and released!

Read all of her informative articles.

Mr. X reported a two-toned green car with the ‘smooth rounded back’ which appeared to him to be ‘like a ‘41 Buick.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1954/01/11/page/1/article/heres-mr-xs-story-in-baby-sitter-mystery

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1954/01/13/page/14/article/mysterious-hush-hush-veils-probe-of-baby-sitter

The articles reveal some pretty good detailed references to evidence not found in the local papers. For instance, Browning asked, why were mud and muddy footprints from tennis shoes found on the living room rug but not in the basement?

(I would think that someone coming in through the window would have the most amount of mud coming off their shoes in the basement, yet there was none in the basement)

 

[Robin Hood]

This must be a different location to Percy Flynn's homestead.

On Oct. 24, 2003, the Tribune published a story about the book to be authored by Thompson, Lovejoy and freelance writer and former newspaper reporter Susan T. Hessel......

Thompson himself visited the house where Peterson claimed Gaulphair killed Hartley.

The historian knocked on the door. A man answered.

"There was a 50-year-old murder that may have taken place in your house," said Thompson. "May I come in?"

And in he went.

"He poured me some coffee, and we walked around together."

I saw something in the La Crosse newspapers dated 1951 when 'Donna' must have gone to LE about her experience. It's either a miss type or somebody called John Peterson, was listed along side Driscoll and Gauthair for delinquency of a minor. Was this a different Peterson or was it Clyde and the papers miss spelled his name? Whatever it was he didn't appear in the court records that followed. See below

The La Crosse Tribune » 1951 » October » 3 Oct 1951, Wed » Page 15

Marion Drescoll, contributing to the delinquency of a minor; Luther Sovade, non-support; John Peterson, contributing to the delinquency of a minor; Garland Rhodes, drunken driving; Edgar Johnson, sale of mortgaged property; Jack Gaulthair, contributing to the delinquency of a minor;

 

[Robin Hood]

From Pleasestandby's post above, sorry if I cut in with the flow.

Car Owner Cleared

Please read Norma Lee Browning's story in the Chicago Tribune regarding Mr. Hofer's account of what he witnessed near the Viggo Rasmusen home the night of Hartley's disappearance. In fact, he recognized the driver, who was later questioned by the police and released!

Read all of her informative articles.

Mr. X reported a two-toned green car with the ‘smooth rounded back’ which appeared to him to be ‘like a ‘41 Buick''

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1...sitter-mystery


Cont'd

''Police refused to discuss the case with this reporter except to say the cars owner had been a suspect and was cleared.

When the Tribune reporter called at his home, his parents refused to let him come to the door, saying he had not been feeling well lately''

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/...ous-hush-hush-veils-probe-of-baby-sitter#text

''There is also the possibility the boys got the wrong baby sitter. Mrs. Rasmusen often hired a classmate of Evelyn's, Janice C****y, whose father is also on the faculty of La Crosse State college. Altho Evelyn had accepted the job a week in advance, the boys might have expected Janice to be there....

 

[pleasestandby]

This must be a different location to Percy Flynn's homestead.

On Oct. 24, 2003, the Tribune published a story about the book to be authored by Thompson, Lovejoy and freelance writer and former newspaper reporter Susan T. Hessel......

Thompson himself visited the house where Peterson claimed Gaulphair killed Hartley.

The historian knocked on the door. A man answered.

"There was a 50-year-old murder that may have taken place in your house," said Thompson. "May I come in?"

Yes, Percy Flynn's homestead was up in Pickwick, Minnesota. The house mentioned in Hessel's book was in La Farge (or Viroqua?), southeast of La Crosse, in Wisconsin.

It's either a miss type or somebody called John Peterson, was listed along side Driscoll and Gauthair for delinquency of a minor. Was this a different Peterson or was it Clyde and the papers miss spelled his name?

Driscoll & Gaulthair appealed their case all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. There was no mention of a John Peterson (or a third person, other than Richard Campton) being affiliated with the case.

 

[pleasestandby]

''Police refused to discuss the case with this reporter except to say the cars owner had been a suspect and was cleared.

When the Tribune reporter called at his home, his parents refused to let him come to the door, saying he had not been feeling well lately''

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/...ous-hush-hush-veils-probe-of-baby-sitter#text

Now there's a suspect who's name I'd like to get a hold of. Those "boys" may have been "men".

'

'There is also the possibility the boys got the wrong baby sitter. Mrs. Rasmusen often hired a classmate of Evelyn's, Janice C****y, whose father is also on the faculty of La Crosse State college. Altho Evelyn had accepted the job a week in advance, the boys might have expected Janice to be there

That's a very good possibility.