IN IN - Richard Sweeney 8, Jeffrey Burkett 15, & Donald Abell 19, Henryville, 1977

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Just checking in to see if there is any news on these boys. Being that all these cold cases are getting solved left & right (thankfully!) I was hoping there would be movement on the DNA end of it.
 
mahoneys07 said:
I am going to list some info that I can remeber...The Sweeney murder he was 8 yrs old found straglked and sexually assaulted in the families barn...I personally think this had to be someone in or very close to the family to know the layout of the barn

The second Murder Jeffery Allen Burkett was 15 Found severly beaten hands wired together stagulation... Victime had been drug quite a ways. I have talked to the retired officer on this case and he says there was a suspect but the never had enough to convict.
Suspect moved to florida shortly after murder

Finally Donnie Abell was 19 found of the roadside by a family hunting for walnuts...His body was severly decomposed shoes were missing and had be dumped there. His only noticable injury was a skull fracture caused by a blunt object.

Also these bodies were all found with in a 5 mile radius

There are articles at newpaperarchives.com I do not have access to them.
This is a very small town of maybe 1000 people and even after 30-35 yrs everyone is very tight lipped about them.

I have called state police who were in charge and the will not release any type of info what-so-ever.

I am so frustrate with these cases and needed someone to look and see if there is something that I should be looking at that I am not
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Very interesting to me!
 
No one that has any idea about it will talk. The younger people in the town had never heard of the case and the older ones don’t really want to talk about it, it’s sorta a tabu subject. The only person I could really get to say anything told me they think the Sweeney boy was an accidental and that they think his brother did it. But that was just there speculation. I’m going to go talk to someone who I think will know something and be willing to talk about it soon.
 
If you get any new information, please post. These murders have always fascinated me.
 
mahoneys07 said:
I would Love to see these salved also cook book....Can you recall who the guilty was that left town??You can Private messege me and tell me..
Also I Need to know where are Donnies Parents??? Are they still around...I know where Jeffs Parents are ..But can't find Donnies..You seem to be very familar with these case and would love to talk further with you...Please Pm me and we will exchange Email addys..
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mahoneys07 said:
there are 3 cases from the 70's that have never been solved...There is a group of us trying to find info on these.
We have found the newspaper articles and such but have hit a dead in as the police will not release any info because they are considered to be still open. I have seen the great work many of you have done and was hoping you would share some insights on where to look for info and how to obtain more info. I am in no way connected to these but as a mother of 2 children of my own I want justice for these families. I do not think they are all connected but the last 2 have more simalarites that the first one. I really hope someone can direct me on how to proceed with these cases

I am gonna Provide some quotes on each one directly out of the paper.
Sweeney Murder
 Found In upstairs loft of The Blue Lick Auction Barn covered with rags and a tarpulin
 Died around 11:00 am 4/28/74 of asphyxation by strangulation


Burkett Murder
 Found June 10th about 30 yards in the CSF in washington county
 Hands Had been wired above his head,He had been beaten,His skull was fractured and he had been strangled
 appeared the body had been dragged for some distance through the woods
 Founds by 2 trail bikers riding along the fire lane


  • Donnie Abell
    • Last seen Sept 27 leaving Henryville High around 9:00 am
    • Found On Bartle Knob road 3 miles north of Willis Chapel Rd. By a family hunting for nuts
    • Body was badly decomposed
    • shoes were missing
    • Only apparent injury Skull fracture induced by a blunt object
    • Body was dumped where it was found police theorized

    Also in another article Police had strong leads in the Abell case School lockers were searched but nothing was ever told if anything was found
    Students and Employees were interveiwed
    Both boys were last seen at school the day they disappeared
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So no break throughs yet but a few things to mention that y’all that ain’t local probably won’t know. There’s legends of an old witch house of the highway heading towards Salem. I went there once but all that’s left is a stone walkway leading up into the hills. I cant remember the name of the witch off hand. I also don’t know when she was living but the state the house was in it was probably the 1800s. I don’t think the murders are a result of witch craft Especially since I don’t know of any current witch doctors around, but I figured I’d just throw it out there.
 
I've lived in Henryville for a few years now and this is the first I've heard of this case. I've spent an obscene amount of time pouring over every available detail of this case. Its wild to see so many well known last names mentioned. Even though I recognize names, and live here I am an outsider. I don't have all the juicy details, but I'm trying to connect some dots. I've tried to contact mahoneys, but all emails are no longer active. It would be awesome to bounce ideas off someone who has been working this for while. I think I about have it all straight, except the doctors. I noticed on this site Dr. Greene and Dr. Carr are mentioned. In an article I believe was put together by someone here mentions a Dr. Hines and Dr. Carr. I can't find record of a Dr. Hines in Henryville. I didn't know if that was a mistake, or if I'm not looking hard enough. That definitely makes or breaks my theory. Please tell me others are still active on this thread!
 
My dad grew up in Henryville and I recently asked him if there were any small-town scandals he remembered (I currently work in a small town and recently learned about its history of making some wealthy by mistreating workers.) He said that the summer between his junior and senior years of high school, three boys had been murdered horribly, tortured to death really. He said that one of the boys was in his class, one was a younger brother of someone in his class, and one was a young boy. He also said that the boy his age wasn't part of my dad's friend group, but since it was such a small area, everyone knew everyone. He also said that the high school yearbook that year had a memorial to the boys who had been killed. I asked him if the murders had ever been solved and he said they hadn't. I found this forum while I was trying to look up more information about the case.

My dad is very sensitive to violence and would probably not be willing to talk about this further, but if I find out any more information from him or his siblings, I will happily share it.
 
Saddens me that no one has come forward with information. My siblings, cousins, other family member along with myself attended school with these three victims that deserve justice.
 
attempting to delete the message body that was inadvertently entered/copied
 
surroundme said:
Saddens me that no one has come forward with information. My siblings, cousins, other family member along with myself attended school with these three victims that deserve justice.
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Hi, I am a IT professional who spent the majority of his life growing up in Clark county spending huge swaths of my young adult life all over Memphis, Henryville, Charlestown, New Washington, Clarksville, Jeffersonville and New Albany. I currently reside in FL but I am flying back to IN in a couple weeks with the intentions of moving back soon. While I am currently going there for family purposes, I intend to meet with anyone connected to this I can and intend to make future trips to do so as well. Currently I am building a data collection specific to this case using all technology as my disposal, I intend to make it public and involve others in this project as well. I have ideas about garnering public sentiment toward this case and forcing the hard questions to be asked.
I welcome assistance so long as it isn't speculation or conjecture with the exception of first hand testimony from residents of the time or siblings of those residents who have been passed along information.

The question I have to you is this, do you have year books (assuming they were published) from the school years you attended with any of the 3? I would like to secure scanned pages of yearbook photos for the data collection.
 
For future reference I have created a Facebook group for this discussion to continue. As of now there are at least 4 different discussions on various forums. I will be making this same post on all available forums with similar discussions. This effort is to consolidate information, renew interest and attract people interested in or connected to the cases.

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SirSleuth-A-Lot said:
For future reference I have created a Facebook group for this discussion to continue. As of now there are at least 4 different discussions on various forums. I will be making this same post on all available forums with similar discussions. This effort is to consolidate information, renew interest and attract people interested in or connected to the cases.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
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Thank you!! Just joined.

V
 
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