IN IN - Burger Chef murders, Speedway, 17 Nov 1978

[Glace Entertainment PR]

The current lead detective on the Burger Chef murder case has agreed to speak with Toni. She wants to hear any and all questions you may have so that she can compile them and ask them during her interview. She will try to take as many of them as she can and get answers from the detective. The interview is not for another week so please post any of your questions as replies to this post. - GlacePR Social Media Team

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Next In Line: The Burger Chef Murders - Indianapolis Monthly

An empty safe. A missing car. Four dead. After 40 years, the unsolved Burger Chef Murders that rocked Indianapolis during one of its most tempestuous years still puzzle investigators—mostly because some believe they cracked the case decades ago.

 

[Medstudies]

Police release evidence in Burger Chef cold case murders

From the news article posted today...“For the first time, police shared an image of a murder weapon. The four-inch knife blade was found at the scene and police say it was used in one of the four murders in 1978. The photo they shared was taken in 2003. Investigators say the knife's sheath was missing and never located. Police hope someone might recognize that or remember someone who carried such a knife and call CrimeStoppers with at tip.”

So they took a photo of it and are sharing it, 15 years later. Okay...

 

[YESorNO]

 

[CircleCityCrimePod]

The Circle City Crime Podcast debuts in May 2019 and season 1 is a fresh investigation of the Burger Chef murders. We have collected a lot of info and spoken with a lot of folks so far, but if anyone here feels they have any direct information that should be considered, find us on Facebook at by search 3CPodcastIndy or hear our preview episode there now if you're just curious.

 

[meanmaryjean]

Author publishes book on 1978 Burger Chef killings

 

[rob525]

I vaguely remember this when it happened. I would have been 8 years old at the time. This is tthe first that I have read the thread and one thought keeps occuring to me. Was robbery the objective here. I wonder if someone whom had an interest in Miss Friedt had the idea that she and Mr. Flemmonds were involved? Wether it was true or not, in 1978 the idea of inter racial dating was still a sore subject in many peoples minds and could have been enough to set some people off. It just seems there was much more rage demonstrated when it came to Friedt and Flemmonds with Ms. Shelton and Mr. Davis almost appearing to have been witnesses that had to be eliminated. I wonder if LE had looked into anyone that had a love interest in Ms. Friedt? Also wasn't there a guy on the suspect list that went to school with Ms. Friedt? Maybe there was more to it than that.

 

[CircleCityCrimePod]

Nothing has indicated that a firearm recovered from Pruitt matched the BC murders. I do believe this claim originated from propaganda created by Carolyn Ann Shreve's people regarding her defense and/or the rumor mill of cases getting twisted up. Cheryl Pruitt(wife of Pruitt) testified that Shreve had confessed to murdering Julie Ann Seyfried during a night of drinking ten years later. Pruitt's name was injected in the trial pretty regularly from what I've been told by those covering it.

Seyfried was shot in the head, execution style, her clothes ripped off and neatly folded beside her and left in a field. Folks suggested that Pruitt may have been in fact the killer of Seyfried and raped her and a jailhouse snitch and Cheryl Pruitt conspired to "implicate" Shreve as cover for her husband. What the rumor mill claims as "evidence", a .22 was recovered that matched the BC murders and then similarities with the Days Inn murders in 1989. Gill and Gilbert were killed with a .22. Peggy Gill's clothes were neatly folded next to her nude body at Days Inn Merrillville and Jeanne Gilbert was abducted from Days Inn Remington and shot and dumped 20 miles away near Brookston. So, that has been perpetuated as "proof" that Pruitt killed Shreve because of vague similarities between homicides spanning half of Indiana and decades apart.

Shreve was found not guilty. I do think police consider it closed though, as Seyfried had beat Shreve when she was eight months pregnant and shoved her down some stairs, her baby was born with defects and died. So that probably impacted her verdict. I've dug into the I-65 murders for many years and folks on the street implicate Pruitt, but I do think of all suspects he's been vetted the most(three states and about a dozen agencies). Probably why Indiana State Police keeps saying they get the same two tips every year for the last 30 years.

As far as Burger Chef is concerned, Seyfried or even Steven Pressley- Pruitt may have been involved. Don't know. As far as I-65 murders, it's just not there.

I agree with a lot of what you say here, but I’m curious what would lead you to say Pruitt May have been involved in the murder of Steven Presley?

 

[Annbv5]

I remember hearing about it on the news,I was in High School.Viscous crime.
It would be wonderful to see this resolved.

Most detectives who were involved in this case, are fairly certain that Donald Forrester and his associates committed these murders. He had information that wasn’t widely known, and le had retrieved .38 shell casings which his ex-wife had hidden, that were removed from the murder scene. He confessed to the crime, while in prison for a rape charge.

 

[Annbv5]

Author publishes book on 1978 Burger Chef killings

I went to hear her discuss her book on Sunday at Indy Reads. She did a good job of providing a historical account of the crime. I was a teenager at the time of the killings. I grew up on the far east side of Indianapolis. It was a very big and sensational case then and now in some respects. Julie doesn’t come to any conclusions about who she feels wo a doubt had committed the crime, but I think based on all the information collected over the years, it points to only one man; Donald Forrester, who died in prison from cancer in 2006. But even though there wasn’t a court conviction, most of the detectives who worked the case believe that Donald Forrester and his associates, murdered these 4 individuals. He confessed while in prison, and knew details that only the murderer would know. There were also shell casings found from the murder weapon where he said they’d be. The impetus for the crime was drug money that was owed, and an altercation after the fact, that got out of hand. Very sad and senseless, that it had ever occurred.

 

[CircleCityCrimePod]

I went to hear her discuss her book on Sunday at Indy Reads. She did a good job of providing a historical account of the crime. I was a teenager at the time of the killings. I grew up on the far east side of Indianapolis. It was a very big and sensational case then and now in some respects. Julie doesn’t come to any conclusions about who she feels wo a doubt had committed the crime, but I think based on all the information collected over the years, it points to only one man; Donald Forrester, who died in prison from cancer in 2006. But even though there wasn’t a court conviction, most of the detectives who worked the case believe that Donald Forrester and his associates, murdered these 4 individuals. He confessed while in prison, and knew details that only the murderer would know. There were also shell casings found from the murder weapon where he said they’d be. The impetus for the crime was drug money that was owed, and an altercation after the fact, that got out of hand. Very sad and senseless, that it had ever occurred.

The shell casings found in the septic tank Forrester led them to were .22 casings, but the victims were shot with a .38 caliber gun. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved but I thought that was important to note.

 

[Onesweetday]

The first 11 years, I either called the State Police or went to the Post Road ISP every year asking if they wanted the information. I was told by people at Indy star and all the news stations that if they wouldnt talk to me, the info was probably no good. When I suspected ,in 1989 the Remington and merrillville rape /murders were committed by the bearded man, I called because at the time ,I had a suspect for them. 1 or 2 days prior to the 11th year anniversary of the BC killings. Det Jim Cramer, contacted me. I thought it was about at that point the remington /merrillville suspect. He refused to take any info I had on the Bearded suspect. He only wanted to know about Burger Chef. I drove around with him and he taped and asked mundane questions about what I saw that night at the Burger Chef. But , he refused to ask about the I-65 murders. About three days later, the man who drove the Green van started approaching me asking about ,Why was I talking about him, to the police."? At that time, in all those years I had only mentioned his name to Det .Jim cramer. He had infomation that only was on the tape Jim cramer had taped at the time in the police car. I know two of the men ,the other I just happen to run into , in Nov/89 The Ky state police was also offered this info when I found out the Elizabethtown murder was related, to this day there has been no calls or emails from them either. And, that is the basic facts of the story

I want to say something here, one of those suspects step sons was stationed in the army Elizabethtown in 1989.

 

[dotr]

Welcome to Ws to all the new members here!
Hoping that one day soon, there will finally be answers and justice for the victims and their families!

 

[dotr]

December 10th, 2019
Burger Chef Murders Composites
Burger Chef Murders Composites

Witness composite of the “Bearded Man” in the parking lot of the Burger Chef in Speedway, Indiana shortly before the murders.

Witness composite of the “Fair haired Man” that was with the “Bearded Man” in the parking lot of the Burger Chef in Speedway, Indiana shortly before the murders.

 

[cnmccarthy]

There are some very interesting, recent posts on topix.com if you look for the Indianapolis site and Burger Chef murders.

Do you know of anywhere else this info could be? I just found out about this case and apparently topix is no longer a website?

 

[cnmccarthy]

It's probably the biggest problem in the whole True Crime genre.

Vast majority of folks are not well versed in facts- as for many it's about being right or at least bolstering their theory. Often baseless accusations and bizarre circumstances are peddled as proof and evidence. Facts and evidence are dismissed as cover-ups and plants. Not sure if you ever went to some of these towns and spoke to folks about some cases you follow, they are worse than the internet. As I said, either people get their head set on someone or they mix up cases.

Since '97 I kept hearing that the bearded guy who was involved in the Burger Chef robbery/homicide was the same guy in the Days Inn murders. I try to just start with the bare facts. Then fill in the question marks with a theory and eliminate it, instead of trying to prove it.

I figured outside of a vague description of suspects and being notorious cases in Indiana, they had nothing in common. The only thing connecting the bearded guy to Burger Chef was a witness who saw one prior to the robbery. Finally, after a long break I went at this one. I will have to face it one day. So, the very first bearded guy I found to be an actual suspect by police and eliminated as the Days Inn killer was Forrester. He had written a 1,200 page confession and the few detectives who are certain he did Burger Chef because he got details right, I figured a confession the size of an encyclopedia is probably going to get details right quite a bit. So I found a few people who would talk and spent a week in Indiana. Several of them named Forrester as "the bearded guy" and then went on to tell me he was the I-65 killer. I already knew this was impossible. Then at the start of this year, an old friend who worked this case connected with someone who was in the know, gave me his info and I took a trip to North Vernon. This guy claimed to have contacted ISP about Pruitt in the 90s, but then I also learned the other guy's name that went to federal prison after the bar tip. It can't be him.

The whole "it must be Pruitt" deal sounded suspect just based on how it was handled by police from the start. Narrative sounds like many "wrongful convictions". Nothing connects him to the Days Inn murders aside from his loose connection to Burger Chef based on his beard.

The one thing that sticks out the most, is the palm print of Flemmonds' brothers friend on the trunk of Friedt's car. It could be explained that Flemmonds' brother and this guy went to Burger Chef to mess with Mark and they leaned on her car while they were talking in the parking lot or maybe she gave them a ride and they had something in the trunk. Seems that police believe it was the product of one of the two robbery crews. Now the one criminal organization that the one gang was affiliated with, it doesn't seem like they would be this sloppy.

What is unsettling is why in the hell they would abduct them and not kill them on the spot with shots rapidly and flee? Even if they went into elimination mode, abducting four people and driving with them not only increases the chances of getting caught, but the longer they can leave evidence in the car. The more risk they might jump out of the car or fight you and you shoot them driving down the street. I'm far from well versed in this case, but it's intriguing. The theory I've seen put out by law enforcement is pretty far from being grounded or rational. Certainly not pros. Organized crime certainly has never been happy when a crew starts killing kids and potentially bringing that kind of heat.

I wonder how far they followed the friend of Flemmond's brother? Did they consider an inside job gone wrong? Also, if you got firearms, why are you running down victims and beating and stabbing them? Thinking about it, maybe one or two of these killings were personal?

Very strange.

My thoughts exactly. It bothers me so much how long the robbery gone wrong belief was held onto. If that’s what it was, don’t you think they would’ve just shot them all in the store? Or if heaven forbid they were panicked and kidnapped ALL FOUR OF THEM wouldn’t they have shot all four of them in the field? No. This was a planned kidnapping and murder. The two that were stabbed and beaten were the reason for this and the other two were silenced. Taking the money was an afterthought. IMO

 

[dotr]

Dec 2019 rbbm.
"On the night of November 17, 1978, four young employees at the Burger Chef in Speedway, Indiana, began to prepare for closing time.

Around midnight, a coworker stopped by to help the night crew clean up. He found the place empty, the restaurant's back door still open. The employee called the police, and a search for the missing workers was set in motion.

That search ended tragically two days later and 20 miles away, when hikers stumbled upon the bodies of all four employees in the woods, the Indianapolis Star reported.

Assistant manager Jayne Friedt, 20, had been stabbed to death. Ruth Ellen Shelton, 17, and Daniel Davis, 16, had been shot execution-style with a .38 caliber gun. 16-year-old Mark Flemmonds, the youngest victim, had been bludgeoned to death.

Indianapolis Monthly reported that police allowed the restaurant to reopen the day after the crews' disappearance, despite initial worries that the group had been kidnapped. Crucial evidence may have been wiped away when Burger Chef employees cleaned up the restaurant."

•Jul 2, 2019

 

[Onaliv]

My thoughts exactly. It bothers me so much how long the robbery gone wrong belief was held onto. If that’s what it was, don’t you think they would’ve just shot them all in the store? Or if heaven forbid they were panicked and kidnapped ALL FOUR OF THEM wouldn’t they have shot all four of them in the field? No. This was a planned kidnapping and murder. The two that were stabbed and beaten were the reason for this and the other two were silenced. Taking the money was an afterthought. IMO

I tend to agree that this wasn’t just a robbery but not sure how to theorize the “why” for the kidnapping since all four ended up killed. Also wonder how they were able to contain all four at the BC, into their vehicle, to the kill site without one of them escaping. It’s probably in here somewhere but I never saw whether sexual assault was part of this, if it was then that might also explain some things. Too bad this was 1978, some high res security cameras might have helped solve this case. Side note, I grew up a half hour from Speedway so am familiar with the logistics but moved before this happened.

 

[dotr]

I tend to agree that this wasn’t just a robbery but not sure how to theorize the “why” for the kidnapping since all four ended up killed. Also wonder how they were able to contain all four at the BC, into their vehicle, to the kill site without one of them escaping. It’s probably in here somewhere but I never saw whether sexual assault was part of this, if it was then that might also explain some things. Too bad this was 1978, some high res security cameras might have helped solve this case. Side note, I grew up a half hour from Speedway so am familiar with the logistics but moved before this happened.

The whole thing is peculiar, but what i find especially strange is that each of the victims were murdered in a different fashion, almost like the victims were used as experimental guinea pigs to see which is the best way to kill somebody. Rehearsal?
speculation, imo.

Next In Line: The Burger Chef Murders – Indianapolis Monthly
"There also didn’t seem to be a clear reason why someone would want to murder one or all of these young people. Indeed, the fact that the kidnappers had murdered them in three different ways seemed to suggest they hadn’t planned on murdering anyone in the first place. The kidnappers had shot Davis and Shelton multiple times in the head, neck and shoulders, and stabbed Friedt twice in the heart with a hunting knife whose handle had broken off and was now missing.

What happened to Flemmonds was a little harder to figure out. “There were contusions on his face, but that’s not what killed him,” Young says. “He died of asphyxiation; he choked on his own blood.” One theory was that Flemmonds had escaped from the kidnappers and accidentally knocked himself out by running into a tree. Another was that the kidnappers had beat him and he fell down in the woods from his injuries and died. “But bottom line is, if he would’ve fallen any other way, it’s possible they would’ve had a living witness,” she says.

Investigators wondered if the kidnappers had only meant to rob the store and had taken the employees hostage when one recognized them. Because Flemmonds was covering another employee’s shift that night, investigators speculated the kidnappers hadn’t planned on him being there, and he was the one who recognized them. This could explain why the kidnappers singled him out to beat him, if that’s what happened. Flemmonds was also the only black employee working that night (the three others were white), but the police didn’t investigate this as a racially motivated crime."

 

[Onaliv]

If robbery was the motive, in my opinion the killer(s) would have got the money and either split the scene or injured/killed/incapacitated the victims at BC then fled. Going through the motions of kidnapping seems either like an afterthought or perhaps there really was a desire to get (at least) one of the victims for some reason. My opinion/gut feeling indicates a drug connection (maybe settling a score?) to one of the victims with the others killed because they were witnesses to the original interaction at BC. Also, the appearance of robbery might help throw off any suspicion to the real motive. Here’s where I really get confused - the shooting of the two was like a mob style execution and maybe that did prompt the other two to flee and their killings were different (stabbing on one, beating with a chain on other) and that’s why there were different manners of killing? Without a witness coming forward we’ll never know.