FogHornFiles
Member
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2020
- Messages
- 27
- Reaction score
- 88
This write up began as a attempt to shed light on the obscure unsolved murder into WAC Lieutenant Naomi K Cheney of Sioux Falls, South Dakota on October 5th 1943. Research into the murder quickly hit a wall as investigative techniques at the time were unable to recover much in the way of physical evidence. However a article in the New York based Poughkeepsie Journal references the Cheney murder and its similarities to the murder of Army Nursing Cadet Lucille Elizabeth Lawrence in Poughkeepsie, New York on October 27 1943. These cases with military connections lead to Further articles from the time period describing women killed across the Mid West and East coast in similar fashion. Inspection of similar cases lead me to suspect that Bernard Butler and Harry May, may have been falsely convicted. (Can Skip to “Pearl May Weatherill” description if interested in possible false convictions)
A Brief Summary of both cases:
Naomi Cheney
- At around 5 p.m. Oct. 6, 1943, 10-year-old Val Hill was searching a brush-covered area for sumac leaves near her home at 1202 W. Sioux St. when she happened upon the lifeless body of Army 2nd Lieut. Naomi Cheney. Cheney ate at the officers club at 6 p.m. Oct. 5. She was there to visit her roommate, who was in the hospital on the base. She left the airbase at 9 that evening through gate No. 3, which opened out onto Northwest (now Burnside), where it crosses Western Avenue. She asked the guard if walking home would be safe, and he told her, “Use your own judgement.” She was seen a short way down the road by a cab driver, who mentioned to the guard that he had seen her at the corner of Northwest and Sixth Street. The walk home would have taken around 25 minutes, depending on conditions. Cheney's body was found southwest of the Omaha viaduct, which was what they called the West 12th Street bridge that crosses over the train tracks west of Grange Avenue. This was a little over three blocks from her home. She lay on her back, her uniform intact but somewhat rumpled. Her purse was propped against a nearby boulder, her visor cap a short distance away and her flight cap across her chest. The WAC insignia from her left collar tip was found a foot from her body. Her shoe was scuffed on two sides and the toe crushed, as though her foot had been stepped on. Her face was bloody on one side, and blood had pooled near her head. An autopsy performed during the night by army and civilian doctors disclosed a multiple fracture of the right side of the skull and brain hemorrhages, believed to have resulted from a "tremendous blow with a rock or other heavy instrument." The examiners reported "no evidence of rape," but army officers said Miss Cheney, a second lieutenant, died under "suspicious circumstances." They said they were "wholly without clues." "The doctors estimate that she was slain between 11 o'clock and midnight Monday," Lt. Evans said. "It was about 18 hours before her body was found. There was blood on her face and signs of a crushing blow on the head." She had eaten Peas before her death, however the hospital she had visited did not have peas on its menu.
- Suspect: On Oct. 6, a 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police picked him up downtown as he was preparing to leave town. His name has never been released. He was described as medium build, fairly good looking, with wavy hair and a small mustache. He had a wife and kids in Iowa and had worked as a farm laborer near Worthington, Minn., before coming to Sioux Falls. He was rumored to have at least one girlfriend in town. He had been staying in one of the cabins at Smith’s Auto Court, currently the Nites Inn. The police found blood on his shoe and blood-matted hair near and inside his cabin, neither of which he could explain. He suggested that the blood on his shoe could have come from grass he was walking through, though the blood was not found on the bottom of his shoe. The Argus leader Paper states that a witness two blocks south told police she heard a scream and rustling noises. Soon after the transient was seen stumbling out of the cabin, where he vomited outside. In between the murder and the mans arrest, he made no attempts in the hours between to remove bloody evidence from his cabin or clothing. The police worked to bring Cheney’s killer to justice, but the evidence was not conclusive. Blood and hair samples were sent to the FBI in Washington, D.C., but the samples were not good enough for the forensics of the day. In addition, the man in question was set to be inducted into the Army, and at the time the war effort might have been more important to the military than justice. He was released Oct. 27. He was later killed in WW2. The case remains unsolved.
3 weeks later in Poughkeepsie, a New York Army Nursing Cadet was killed in a similar manner.
Lucille Elizabeth Lawrence
- On October 27th 1943 the body of Lucille Elizabeth Lawrence was found in a wooded
section not more than 150 feet from the Vassar Hospital entrance. The attractive Hospital nurse cadet spent the last hours of her tragically shortened life in the company of Ellen G Owen, a stenographer and secretary. “We met at Nixon and Market,” she said nervously. “We went to the late Stratford where we saw two pictures.” Ellen said that at about 9 o’clock after the show she and Lucille went to the Hotel Campell on invitation to attend the Lions Club’s “Hobo” party and left there at about 9:45 to go to Miss Owen’s home. “I knew mother ‘d be worrying and I wanted to let her know we were alright” She explained. Then, Ms Owens said, she and Lucille returned to Campbell and had a few dances until about 20 minutes to 12”. Upon leaving the Campbell Lucille and Miss Owens walked as far as Tiffanys before parting ways. “Lucille wanted at first to get a Taxi, but she didn't have enough money” “I said ‘I think I have some’ but she said ‘nevermind, I think I can run down”. “I let her take my coat because she only had on only a light dress. The last I saw of her she was running down by doctor Ryders, carrying her umbrella.” “I wanted Lucille to stay all night at my home, but she was on late leave and had to be back at the Hospital by 12 o’clock. She always obeyed the rules, you know”.
Police throughout the state were asked to watch out for a “dark complexioned man about 21 years old and five feet, nine inches tall” James Creighton of Poughkeepsie gave this description of a man he saw standing near a wall of the Hospital soon after he had heard screams. Creighton was waiting in a car for his wife to finish work at the hospital, he told police. Another anonymous description given to police that night was that of a “youth aged 20 to 25 years of age, five feet nine, with black hair and a Foreign Extraction.” Police rounded up many suspects but none were proven to have a connection with the case.
Many potential suspects were tracked down but none led to any useful information being acquired. However in early December a man by the name of Bernard Butler would approach a New York City police officer and confess to the crime.
- Butler walked into a New York City police station in early December. Butler approached a traffic officer at 34th Street and 7th Ave. He told him that he wanted to see Detectives Sullivan and Swander. “The officer called Patrolman James Fountain and the defendant told him that he was from Poughkeepsie where he had murdered a girl and that he wanted to talk to Sullivan and Swander. The Patrolman took him to take the defendant to west 20th street station house and took him to the detectives room and to Sullivan and Swander.” “The defendant told Detectives Sullivan and Swander that he wanted to tell them about the murder of the girl in Poughkeepsie. The defendant had been questioned here by two New York Detectives a week or so after the crime was discovered. The defendant was questioned by Sullivan and Swander and he admitted to them that he committed the murder and he told them how he commited the crime. We returned Sunday morning and Sunday evening accompanied by police officers, we went to the scene of the crime with the defendant. The defendant then re-enacted the crime in detail ... the second time we went to the scene was after midnight yesterday. The defendant admits he left his home in the neighborhood of the scene of the crime (16 Reade Place) and he walked to the Vassar Hospital where he hid himself in a stonewall. The Lawrence girl happened to be the first to appear in the street and he assaulted her with a rock. The girl ran ahead and he chased her down and assaulted her with the rocks and stones.
- The Poughkeepsie Journal writes on December 14th 1943 “Authorities admitted today that a ‘sexula motive’ precipitated the crime. Butler, it was said, confessed to New York detectives Saturday that the killing of the girl was ‘worrying him’ and he couldn't stand it any longer. Butler then repeated his confession for local authorities. He told them numerous incidents that were not previously made public but which authorities admitted were accurate and directly connected with the crime. Butler it was said pointed to the opening in the stone wall where he hid until Miss Lawrence approached him. He pointed out the spot where he picked up the stones and rocks, which he used in the bludgeoning of the face and head of the girl. He led authorities to the wooded spot where he finally left the body of the girl, and he walked through the lot and bushes explaining that that was the course he took as he pursued the girl as she ran and fought for her life.” The defendant appeared nervous as he talked with detectives after midnight. He carefully explained the course he took as he followed the girl. He told of where he threw the rocks after killing the girl. His accounts of the slaying were accurate and in detail. In a statement given by Police Chief Leadbitter, Detectives George Swander and Daniel Sullivan, and other local authorities regarding the finding of the case “It is conceded that he is a paroled patient from an insane institution and it is my opinion reinforced by psychiatrists, that he was insane at the time and still is.”
On the day the girl's body was found both the New York Times and the Poughkeepsie Journal quote Dr Howard P Carpenter deputy county medical examiner cautioned authorities to hasten the apprehension of the killer. He said “The girl was killed by an insane person, a crazy person. And he warned that unless an early arrest was made other victims might be found”. Did they race to a conclusion due to the public pressure to apprehend a killer ? I think there's a definite possibility.
- When cross exclaimed during his trial Bernard’s defence counsel asked detective Sullivan “Is it a fact that the boy's first statement to you in New York was ‘I think I killed the Girl’. Sullivan answered “That was the substance of his remarks”. Mr Mulvey was assigned to defend Bernard and quickly look to pick apart Bernards re enactment. Mr Mulvey pointed out that Bernards re re-enactment of the crime disclosed several discrepancies in that he said in the confession in New York that he hit the girl with stone, however Butler selected a brick as a weapon when taking part in the re-enactment. There were further differences as to the girls as to the girls action in the lot as Bernard said on one occasion he pushed the girl up the hill, on another occasion he said she stumbled up after the attack, and on a third time he said she ran up. Sullivan agreed that these varied accounts were given. Asking if he maintained any check on the youth after questioning him initially on November 16th, Sullivan replied “no”. When asked if he questioned Butler as to what happened to Miss Lawrence's Purse Sullivan said he asked the boy when he talked to him in the anteroom of the jail on December 13th. “Bernard replied”, Sullivan said “I have told you everything else, and I would tell you that if I knew” Asked if he knew when Butler became convinced he committed the murder, Sullivan replied “no”. Mulvey then asked “Did anyone ask him if he had been at the scene of the crime, if he had seen the stakes there and gained his knowledge there ? Sullivan replied that he had not asked these questions and was not aware if these questions had ever been asked. Sullivan described Butler's emotions during the confession as “there were times when he was normal and other times when he would flare up”. Switching to his final flaw with the re-enactment Mulvey asked Sullivan “Did the boy point to the back porch and say “That's the porch where I think I came out of that night. I came out and stood here. I don't know from then. I walked in a Daze.” Sullivan replied that “Yes, such remarks were made by the boy” Upon his initial inspection and interrogation on November 16th, no blood was found present on Bernard. On December 11th Sullivan personally searched Bernard's clothing for blood, but none was found. Later Bernard's clothes were gathered from his residence. No blood was found.
Four members of the Butler family, Butlers Mother and Father as well as his brother (17) and sister (18) testified that Butler was in bed at the time the murder was commited. The Mother Brother and Sister all said under direction examination by Mr Mulvey that
Bernard was in bed and “sound asleep” at approximately 20 minutes until 12 and that they did not hear him get up or go out. Mr Butler said Bernard was asleep when he came home at 12:15 and was still asleep when he went to bed at 12:45.
Bernard's brother Joseph testified that he closed down his fathers store around 10:30pm and that his sister picked him up at 10:45. After arriving home they put the car away at around 11. He said he had something to eat with his mother and sister in the kitchen, that when he went into the bedroom off the kitchen that he shared with his dad and brother, the accused was asleep. He said he awoke at about 7:15 the next morning and found Bernard in the Kitchen. Butler's sister Mary says that Bernard went to sleep at around 8:15pm. He was there when she left to pick up Joseph at 10:30 and he was there when they arrived home at 11. Ms Butler related that Bernard read the papers in great detail when concerning the paper. She recalled that her “son exhibited an un usual interest in the murder when he learned about it. That the morning of the murder Bernard had gone outside after breakfast and talked to the boy next door. The boy told Bernard about the finding of the body and details he had heard around town that morning. The boy then asked Bernard if he would like to go see the body, he replied that he “did not”. Bernard’s mother said she had her son committed to Hudson River about 11 years ago as he would wander away. She replied that he had wandered away to either Albany or New York City nearly 15 times. She said after being boarded about on May 24th of the previous year, Ms Butler admitted that Bernard had wandered away twice that summer for long stretches of time.
Bernard was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years.
- I believe that Bernard Butler was convicted by a Police Department under pressure to quickly solve the case. My reasons are as follows:
- When asked about the nature of the crime Bernard is quoted to have said “I hit her with a stone. She ran across the street, and I hit her again. Then she fell down and kept saying ‘Please Stop, Please Stop’. I hit her until she didn’t talk anymore. Then I tried to attack her but I couldn't. So I went home and went back to bed.” Bernard makes no mention of any screaming. Alleged witness James Creighton said he heard two screams around the time of the murder, as he waited to pick up his wife from the Hospital. Bernard talks
about the pleading for her life but makes no mention of her screams.
- The two descriptions given to police by potential witnesses are for an individual with a dark complexioned , about 21 years old, and about five feet, nine inches tall. The other
description identifies the subject as a youth aged 20 to 25 years of age, five feet nine, with black hair and a Foreign Extraction. On Bernards Military Registration card dated 2 years before the murder he is listed as five six and a half, with brown hair, a Ruddy/white complexion , and at the time of the murder 23 years old. The Age range is exact. However height, skin complexion, and hair is all different then the given descriptions. I understand that a description is extremely difficult to give accurately, especially in the dark.
- Bernard shared a room with his Father and Brother. Both claim he was in bed. Furthermore his sister and mother were also present in the house and heard no noises.
- No blood was found on Bernard. He raised no alarm to his family the following morning. He made no noise in an attempt to clean his clothing. All further inspections of his clothing found no blood.
- No motive. Bernard was a mild mannered man with no history of violence. He was committed to a hospital due to his habit of wandering and slight developmental defiecacies.
- Bernard would seem unsure if he committed the crimes for stretches of time.
- He made many mistakes while re enacting his story.
1) Wrong weapon 2) different
explanation of events 3) not being able to explain a missing pursue. 4) knowing little
about his overall movements and claiming he was in a daze.
- He did not confess to the crime when first questioned. When first questioned on
November 16th he said he had no connection to the murder.
- Told officers “I think I killed the Girl”. Officers could have implanted this idea into the
mind of a man who could be taken advantage of whether intentionally or unintentionally. I look at the claim made by the medical examiner before any facts on the suspect had even been established. “The girl was killed by an insane person, a crazy person. And he warned that unless an early arrest was made other victims might be found”. In the end Bernard Butler was found. A ‘crazy’ man because he had been committed for “wandering”.
- He could have read about the crimes in papers, seen the crime scene first hand, or had been told information during his first interrogation that he then passed on as evidence to the second group of detectives.
Both Cheney and Lawrence were members of the United States Army. Cheney as a WAC (Women's Army Corps) and Lawrence a Army Nursing Cadet. Their murders occurred just 3 weeks apart. Interestingly another Army WAC named Maoma L. Ridings was killed inIndianapolis on August 28th , 1943. The case itself is quite a bit different than that of Cheney or Lawrence but the Army connection and timeline do call for possible investigation. I will provide a small summer for the Riding’s case.
Maoma L. Ridings
- At About 8 p.m. on Aug. 28, 1943, in the middle of World War II, a housekeeper at the upscale Claypool Hotel in Downtown Indianapolis found the body of Cpl. Maoma L. Ridings in Room 729.Ridings, 32, was a physical therapist in the Women's Army Corps, stationed at Camp Atterbury. That Saturday night, she was on leave and was to have had a date. Early news accounts described "her half-nude, ravished and slashed body;" later stories said she was clothed in "a slip, regulation WAC shirt, skirt and stockings." She had been beaten and slashed; a large pool of blood was near her head. A broken whiskey bottle was found in the room and was presumed to be the murder weapon. Police determined she had bought the bottle herself. At About 6:30 p.m., Cpl. Emanuel Fisher, also stationed at Camp Atterbury, called Ridings' room from the Claypool's lobby. There was no answer, he later told police. Within days, police were looking for a "dark-haired woman in black" who was seen with Ridings in the room about three hours before the body was found. A bellboy briefly was arrested or detained for questioning, thousands of leads were checked, but the case never was solved. It was known as "The WAC Murder" and was considered one of the city's most notorious murders for decades.
More information for the Ridings murder can be found at:
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2013/10/01/indiana-unsolved-the-1943-murder-of-cpl-mao ma-ridings-at-the-upscale-claypool-hotel-remains-a-mystery/2901193/
A Study of Indiana Cold Cases: Maoma Ridings
Continuing on with my journey down the Rabbithole I stumbled upon the murder of Pearl May Weatherill of Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 13th 1943. This murder takes place just a few months before the Cheney and Lawrence murders. It shares a number of similarities to our previous murders in New York and South Dakota. Furthermore a case involving Ms Agda Moline of Omaha who was killed on January 9th 1944 is connected to the murder of Ms. Weatherill. At one point the police looked at the same man for each crime. We will look at each crime due to their similarities as well.
Pearl May Weatherill
- Pearl May Weatherill, 27 and mother of three, vanished shortly after leaving a dance hall and was found slain five hours later in an empty lot. A doctors examination disclosed that Mrs. Weatherill had been strangled and said that her clothing had been badly torn and injuries on her throat indicated that she struggled fiercely with her assailant before being overpowered. The body was discovered about 75 feet from the sidewalk by her husband Nyal and his brother James after they had been searching for her.
- The dancing group ( Nyal and Rearl Weatherill, Al Goodman and his Lucille and Pearls 18 year old niece Mary) reached the Council Bluffs club at around 10 oclock. The group immediately ordered soft drinks which the men quickly spiked with whisky and rum. The group toasted “Every man to his own poison” before each quickly downing a drink in celebration. Pearl had 5 drinks while Nyal consumed 7. The orchestra began to play and Al Goodman whisked Pearl Weatherill out onto the dance floor. Nyal’s eyes followed the couple throughout the song. As the music broke and the duo returned to their seats Nyal grabbed his wife and hurried her back out onto the dance floor. She asked him what was the matter and he replied “You and Al danced pretty close together that time”. “Nye, you shouldnt be jealous that way!” responded Pearl. The rest of the night proceeded on uneventfully however there was a hint of awkwardness in the air. This was not the first time Nyal had shown his jealous side nor was it the first time Pearl had attracted male admiration. She used to tell Nyal “I just can't help it if men find me attractive”. At About 1 am the group prepared to leave. As the women walked by the adjoining table a young man looked intently at Ms Weatherill and Ms Goodman, and quibbed loudly “There are sure some good looking women”. The girls laughed off the comment while Nyal bristled. “You want to make something of it ? one of those women is my wife” “Nyal !” Pearl exclaimed. “Don't cause any trouble”. Pearl ran out of the club in tears, her friend and niece right behind her. Al stayed inside to calm down Nyal and to de-escalate the situation. A few minutes later Lucille suggested that the trio should return inside and leave with the men. “Let's go back inside and get the men,” Lucille suggested. “No!” said Pearl who was steaming with anger at the behavior of her husband. They walked a block. Pearl staring straight ahead and the others glancing around anxiously. Pearl suddenly said “You go on back and I’ll go on alone”. “No honey you can't do that” replied Lucille. “Oh yes I can, I'll be alright. If I go back it will be the same thing all over again.” Pearl argued back. “Maybe this will teach Nyal a lesson if I let him come after me for once !”. Without another word she broke into a run down the dark street. Lucille and Mary, frightened by Pearl's outburst, ran back to the club to fetch Nyal and Al. The group jumped into the car and returned home. They figured that Pearl may have run home as she had offered up the idea that the group should walk to the club earlier in the night, however her idea had been vetoed and the group drove. In a few minutes the car was back in the Weatherill driveway, however there was no sign of Pearl. The group drove the mile between the club and the home 5 times before Al returned home to acquire his car in order to expand the amount of ground the group could search. (It was later estimated that the group passed the area of Pearls murder at least a dozen times during their search). The women suggested she may have passed out due to the alcohol consumption combined with a night of dancing and running. At 4:55 am the group decided to head to the police station.
They had assumed Pearl had been either more distraught then they had realized and looked to really scare her husband, or that maybe she had suffered some kind of medical emergency. Not wanting to embarrass his wife or tarnish her reputation he asked the police officers on duty to be subtle in their handling of the search for his wife. The Goodmans and Mary returned to bed expecting Pearl to be found with a reasonable explanation. Nyal however was distraught and continued his search. Looking for help he went to the home of his brother James. James awoke and told his brother he knew nothing of Pearl and agreed to help. It was nearly 6am when James would exclaim “There she is”. A bit of white had been seen back 75 feet from the sidewalk. At first the men thought she had simply passed out, however upon closer inspection it was apparent she had been brutally murdered. Pearls long sleeve white satin sports blouse was torn open and pulled down from her shoulders. Her stocking and garter belt were down to her ankles, her skirt up to her waist. Twigs and leaves were clinging to Pearl's torso. Cinders were embedded in her flesh. Pearl's face was lavender in color from what doctors described as “pinpoint hemorrhage” caused by suffocation. There were bruises on both hands and scratches on her thighs. The brothers carried her body to the car. They hoped if they got her to the Hospital on time they would be able to save her. However Pearl May Weatherill was announced dead on arrival. Doctors said Pearl had died from strangulation between 2 and 5 hours before.
- 78 feet from where the body was found police found Pearls items neatly arranged. There were her new brown oxfords tucked one inside the other. There were her step-ins stained with blood. Beside her pocketbook was a rose colored pendant and necklace. A troop of boy scouts had been sleeping only 150-200 yards away from where her body had been found that night, yet no one heard anything.
- Three months went by then police caught a ‘break’ in the case. Dwight Bender, an agent in the Iowa Investigative Bureau was assigned the case. He read over the testimonies of vagrants found in the area, he then compared that list with those who had committed crimes.
- Harry E May 23, was arrested four days after Pearl's death on the charge of choking a small boy and being a “peeping” tom. May had been sent to St. Bernards Hospital for observation and then subsequently was held as insane. Following the report that he was insane Iowa declared Harry Minnesota’s problem because he had only been visiting Iowa to visit his brother Philip. Philip then promised to take Harry back to Minnisota. However Philip only took Harry as far as the main highway and gave him instructions to hitchhike home. Harry had never made it home. This made it very difficult for Detective Bender to track him down. Two months later Bender received a tip that Harry had been working in Minneapolis as a Hotel Porter. Upon Bender's arrival at the Hotel of Harry's employment, he was told that Harry had recently been fired. Harry had been let go due to his tendency to looking insistently at the hotel's women. Within hours Bender tracked down May.
- “A shambling open mouthed, empty headed young man Harry proved to be servile in his eagerness to please the nice important men from Iowa who had come all this way to see him”. Harry then licked his lips. He confessed to not only the murder of Pearl May Weatherill but several other women. The next hours were described as “crazy” by investigators. At one moment May, slowed by his speech impediment, would confess to all. At the next he would deny everything. Sometimes he would utter to himself over and over “Never heard of Harry May”. It was then May told investigators the story of how he killed Pearl. “On the night of May 13th I went to a picture show in Council Bluffs and then visited the nightclub. After 1 am I lay down in the grass of the vacant lot, just thinking about things - women and lights and music, and all kinds of nice things. I was wishing I had a cigarette then a woman passed me. I got up and asked for a cigarette and a match. I put my arms around her, still thinking nice things. She got away and I ran after her. I took hold of her hand, you know. She tried to slap my face. I had to tie a rope I found on the lot around her neck. Gee, her neck was soft and I was mighty careful. But her necklace and locket came off and I guess I jerked the rope too hard. We were near a little tree. She fell down. A mighty pretty flower fell out of her hair. She mumbled. I dragged her back to another tree. She couldn't talk so well by then. But she was strong and fought me. Most of her clothes were torn off. I tried to loosen the rope. Lots of automobiles went by. I was scared but I was nice and warm. May said he attacked Pearl again and all told spent about two hours with the Pearls body while her husband and friends repeatedly drove past and inspected the area. Harry took her pink rose as a keepsake. However when asked to present it later he said he got rid of it and could not give a reason as to why. However Harry did know two details that had not been released to the public. It was not told to anyone that Pearl had been strangled with a rope. Nyal had not been made aware of this detail as well however he had been able to obtain “credible” information that his wife had been raped. Furthermore investigators had not themselves been aware that Pearl herself had been wearing a Flower. A quick call to Nyal by investigators confirmed this detail.
This is where the connection to Ms Agda Moline of Omaha who was killed on January 9th 1944 comes into play. I will give a brief summary of her murder.
Ms Agda Moline
- A 68 year old woman was found bludgeoned to death at the rear of a house at 813 N 20th st. was identified as Mrs Agda Moline of Omaha. Identification of the victim was made by identification of the clothing by a daughter Mrs Violet McCreary of Omaha, who had earlier reported to police that her mother was missing. Mrs McCreary said her mother was returning home after visiting the McCreary home to see her grandson who was home on furlough from the Army, when the slaying occured. At about 8:30 pm Mrs McCreary said she took her son to the railroad station for his Army station, while a daughter named
- Dariene McCreary (16), took Ms Moline to thirtieth and California streets to board a bus for home. Dariene then returned to the railroad station to see her brother off, while Mrs Moline waited for the bus. Police believe Ms Moline boarded an east bound bus, left it at twentieth street, to catch a streetcar home. It was near Twentieth street that her body was found. Mrs McCreary said her mother had about $35 in her purse.
Tellings of May’s exact confession can be difficult to tie down. Dates and times are changed. When it was asked how Harry became a suspect in the Moline case It is said it is because Harry admitted to it. In the Moline investigation Harry's confession is described a bit differently.
- Bender said May had confessed to the entire crime after he had confided his affair with ‘a woman’ and described her in detail to Detective Carlson in a back room where Carlson had questioned him privately. He said May had told of meeting the women who started to run away but he threw a rope around her neck and dragged her back into the vacant lot. He testified that May said he attacked her and then dragged her back from the street into the corner of the vacant lot, away from the sidewalk and passing cars where he attacked her a second time. While he dragged her she kicked off her shoes as she struggled. The shoes which were introduced to evidence were still tied when found. When asked if she yelled, May said “Yes”, but that he pulled the rope around her neck tighter so that the screams were muffled.
- Carlson who testified that Mays description of Ms Weatherills clothes, the incident with the rope, and the flower in her hair was the first he had heard of the details and he had taken May into a backroom and talked with him alone for approximately an hour and a half before he got the story of the first attack. He said he then called Bender and Jackson who came and heard the full story.
- Harry would then confess to killing a Omaha woman. Under cross examination Bender repeated the testimony of Mays confession which he gave to Bender. Bender said May had told police that he had hit the woman in the head with a brick after she refused his advances near the Orpheum Theater in Omaha. Bender testified that May later repudiated that confession after inspector Fritz Franks of the Omaha police department informed him that the murder actually was commitied far away from the Orpheum. When asked why he had falsely confessed he said “it was just a crazy Idea”.
- Before his trial May would shift back and forth between claiming responsibility for the murders and then denying he played any role.
- Mrs Laura Murphy Mays sister, told of occasions when he had stayed in her home and she had been unable to sleep because of her fear of him. Ms Philip May, Harry's Sister in Law, Bender said, told that Harry was sitting on the running board of their car the morning of May 14th with no explanation.
I think police may have fed Harry this story in order to close the case. Harry would be charged in the Weatherill case, however the Moline case remains unsolved. I believe Harry's lying in the Moline case, calls into question his credibility on the Weatherill confession.
- The process in which information was either given or taken from Harry is a bit sketchy. It seems that police may have fed bits of information to Harry in order to solve the case. There were many private and backroom confessions.
- Would a man of Harrys low IQ be able to pull of such a murder ? The murder was not planned. That means Harry found the rope during the struggle with a woman and figured out how to tie her up on the spot. He then was able to conceal the body and struggle from a search party and passer byers ?
- He lied in the Moline case. If police did not force a confession then Harry could have just wanted to create an exciting narrative.
- No Physical evidence tying him to the crime.
Many of these cases have similarities.
Is there an undiscovered serial killer ? Not likely but it is interesting to look at the short time frame in which these murders occurred and how many followed the same pattern. A woman bludgeoned or strangled to death and then dragged into a vacant lot or alley. Robbery was never a confirmed motive and rape was never considered likely on any of the victims. If anything this write up will shed some light on a few unsolved murders that are rarely talked about. I do think it is interesting though to look at the two men who were accused. Bernard Butler and Harry May. Both men may have had their problems, but were they killers ? or were they pushed into a conviction and then whisked away to a hospital unable to fight their case.
- Please let me know what you think. This is my first long write up where I did a bit of deep digging. I know I am not the best writer and have a lot to learn. Their is a lot more information on these cases that could be dug up and I would appreciate any feedback if anyone comes across any interesting information. I took much of this information from Newspapers from the era.
The New York Times
The Poughkeepsie Journal
The Knoxville Journal
The Courier (Waterloo)
Argus Leader (South Dakota)
Lincoln Journal Star
Newspapers.com - Historical Newspapers from 1700s-2000s
Cheney Info:
https://www.argusleader.com/story/crime/2015/05/06/naomi-cheney-unsolved-murder/70881412 /
https://www.argusleader.com/story/life/2017/11/17/looking-back-womens-army-corp-officer-fou nd-slain-near-12-th-grange-1943/870073001/
Most of the cases talked about do not have links. If anyone has any ideas on suspects, theories on who’s guilty and who’s Innocent, or if they believe all if any of the crimes are connected please comment.
A Brief Summary of both cases:
Naomi Cheney
- At around 5 p.m. Oct. 6, 1943, 10-year-old Val Hill was searching a brush-covered area for sumac leaves near her home at 1202 W. Sioux St. when she happened upon the lifeless body of Army 2nd Lieut. Naomi Cheney. Cheney ate at the officers club at 6 p.m. Oct. 5. She was there to visit her roommate, who was in the hospital on the base. She left the airbase at 9 that evening through gate No. 3, which opened out onto Northwest (now Burnside), where it crosses Western Avenue. She asked the guard if walking home would be safe, and he told her, “Use your own judgement.” She was seen a short way down the road by a cab driver, who mentioned to the guard that he had seen her at the corner of Northwest and Sixth Street. The walk home would have taken around 25 minutes, depending on conditions. Cheney's body was found southwest of the Omaha viaduct, which was what they called the West 12th Street bridge that crosses over the train tracks west of Grange Avenue. This was a little over three blocks from her home. She lay on her back, her uniform intact but somewhat rumpled. Her purse was propped against a nearby boulder, her visor cap a short distance away and her flight cap across her chest. The WAC insignia from her left collar tip was found a foot from her body. Her shoe was scuffed on two sides and the toe crushed, as though her foot had been stepped on. Her face was bloody on one side, and blood had pooled near her head. An autopsy performed during the night by army and civilian doctors disclosed a multiple fracture of the right side of the skull and brain hemorrhages, believed to have resulted from a "tremendous blow with a rock or other heavy instrument." The examiners reported "no evidence of rape," but army officers said Miss Cheney, a second lieutenant, died under "suspicious circumstances." They said they were "wholly without clues." "The doctors estimate that she was slain between 11 o'clock and midnight Monday," Lt. Evans said. "It was about 18 hours before her body was found. There was blood on her face and signs of a crushing blow on the head." She had eaten Peas before her death, however the hospital she had visited did not have peas on its menu.
- Suspect: On Oct. 6, a 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police picked him up downtown as he was preparing to leave town. His name has never been released. He was described as medium build, fairly good looking, with wavy hair and a small mustache. He had a wife and kids in Iowa and had worked as a farm laborer near Worthington, Minn., before coming to Sioux Falls. He was rumored to have at least one girlfriend in town. He had been staying in one of the cabins at Smith’s Auto Court, currently the Nites Inn. The police found blood on his shoe and blood-matted hair near and inside his cabin, neither of which he could explain. He suggested that the blood on his shoe could have come from grass he was walking through, though the blood was not found on the bottom of his shoe. The Argus leader Paper states that a witness two blocks south told police she heard a scream and rustling noises. Soon after the transient was seen stumbling out of the cabin, where he vomited outside. In between the murder and the mans arrest, he made no attempts in the hours between to remove bloody evidence from his cabin or clothing. The police worked to bring Cheney’s killer to justice, but the evidence was not conclusive. Blood and hair samples were sent to the FBI in Washington, D.C., but the samples were not good enough for the forensics of the day. In addition, the man in question was set to be inducted into the Army, and at the time the war effort might have been more important to the military than justice. He was released Oct. 27. He was later killed in WW2. The case remains unsolved.
3 weeks later in Poughkeepsie, a New York Army Nursing Cadet was killed in a similar manner.
Lucille Elizabeth Lawrence
- On October 27th 1943 the body of Lucille Elizabeth Lawrence was found in a wooded
section not more than 150 feet from the Vassar Hospital entrance. The attractive Hospital nurse cadet spent the last hours of her tragically shortened life in the company of Ellen G Owen, a stenographer and secretary. “We met at Nixon and Market,” she said nervously. “We went to the late Stratford where we saw two pictures.” Ellen said that at about 9 o’clock after the show she and Lucille went to the Hotel Campell on invitation to attend the Lions Club’s “Hobo” party and left there at about 9:45 to go to Miss Owen’s home. “I knew mother ‘d be worrying and I wanted to let her know we were alright” She explained. Then, Ms Owens said, she and Lucille returned to Campbell and had a few dances until about 20 minutes to 12”. Upon leaving the Campbell Lucille and Miss Owens walked as far as Tiffanys before parting ways. “Lucille wanted at first to get a Taxi, but she didn't have enough money” “I said ‘I think I have some’ but she said ‘nevermind, I think I can run down”. “I let her take my coat because she only had on only a light dress. The last I saw of her she was running down by doctor Ryders, carrying her umbrella.” “I wanted Lucille to stay all night at my home, but she was on late leave and had to be back at the Hospital by 12 o’clock. She always obeyed the rules, you know”.
Police throughout the state were asked to watch out for a “dark complexioned man about 21 years old and five feet, nine inches tall” James Creighton of Poughkeepsie gave this description of a man he saw standing near a wall of the Hospital soon after he had heard screams. Creighton was waiting in a car for his wife to finish work at the hospital, he told police. Another anonymous description given to police that night was that of a “youth aged 20 to 25 years of age, five feet nine, with black hair and a Foreign Extraction.” Police rounded up many suspects but none were proven to have a connection with the case.
Many potential suspects were tracked down but none led to any useful information being acquired. However in early December a man by the name of Bernard Butler would approach a New York City police officer and confess to the crime.
- Butler walked into a New York City police station in early December. Butler approached a traffic officer at 34th Street and 7th Ave. He told him that he wanted to see Detectives Sullivan and Swander. “The officer called Patrolman James Fountain and the defendant told him that he was from Poughkeepsie where he had murdered a girl and that he wanted to talk to Sullivan and Swander. The Patrolman took him to take the defendant to west 20th street station house and took him to the detectives room and to Sullivan and Swander.” “The defendant told Detectives Sullivan and Swander that he wanted to tell them about the murder of the girl in Poughkeepsie. The defendant had been questioned here by two New York Detectives a week or so after the crime was discovered. The defendant was questioned by Sullivan and Swander and he admitted to them that he committed the murder and he told them how he commited the crime. We returned Sunday morning and Sunday evening accompanied by police officers, we went to the scene of the crime with the defendant. The defendant then re-enacted the crime in detail ... the second time we went to the scene was after midnight yesterday. The defendant admits he left his home in the neighborhood of the scene of the crime (16 Reade Place) and he walked to the Vassar Hospital where he hid himself in a stonewall. The Lawrence girl happened to be the first to appear in the street and he assaulted her with a rock. The girl ran ahead and he chased her down and assaulted her with the rocks and stones.
- The Poughkeepsie Journal writes on December 14th 1943 “Authorities admitted today that a ‘sexula motive’ precipitated the crime. Butler, it was said, confessed to New York detectives Saturday that the killing of the girl was ‘worrying him’ and he couldn't stand it any longer. Butler then repeated his confession for local authorities. He told them numerous incidents that were not previously made public but which authorities admitted were accurate and directly connected with the crime. Butler it was said pointed to the opening in the stone wall where he hid until Miss Lawrence approached him. He pointed out the spot where he picked up the stones and rocks, which he used in the bludgeoning of the face and head of the girl. He led authorities to the wooded spot where he finally left the body of the girl, and he walked through the lot and bushes explaining that that was the course he took as he pursued the girl as she ran and fought for her life.” The defendant appeared nervous as he talked with detectives after midnight. He carefully explained the course he took as he followed the girl. He told of where he threw the rocks after killing the girl. His accounts of the slaying were accurate and in detail. In a statement given by Police Chief Leadbitter, Detectives George Swander and Daniel Sullivan, and other local authorities regarding the finding of the case “It is conceded that he is a paroled patient from an insane institution and it is my opinion reinforced by psychiatrists, that he was insane at the time and still is.”
On the day the girl's body was found both the New York Times and the Poughkeepsie Journal quote Dr Howard P Carpenter deputy county medical examiner cautioned authorities to hasten the apprehension of the killer. He said “The girl was killed by an insane person, a crazy person. And he warned that unless an early arrest was made other victims might be found”. Did they race to a conclusion due to the public pressure to apprehend a killer ? I think there's a definite possibility.
- When cross exclaimed during his trial Bernard’s defence counsel asked detective Sullivan “Is it a fact that the boy's first statement to you in New York was ‘I think I killed the Girl’. Sullivan answered “That was the substance of his remarks”. Mr Mulvey was assigned to defend Bernard and quickly look to pick apart Bernards re enactment. Mr Mulvey pointed out that Bernards re re-enactment of the crime disclosed several discrepancies in that he said in the confession in New York that he hit the girl with stone, however Butler selected a brick as a weapon when taking part in the re-enactment. There were further differences as to the girls as to the girls action in the lot as Bernard said on one occasion he pushed the girl up the hill, on another occasion he said she stumbled up after the attack, and on a third time he said she ran up. Sullivan agreed that these varied accounts were given. Asking if he maintained any check on the youth after questioning him initially on November 16th, Sullivan replied “no”. When asked if he questioned Butler as to what happened to Miss Lawrence's Purse Sullivan said he asked the boy when he talked to him in the anteroom of the jail on December 13th. “Bernard replied”, Sullivan said “I have told you everything else, and I would tell you that if I knew” Asked if he knew when Butler became convinced he committed the murder, Sullivan replied “no”. Mulvey then asked “Did anyone ask him if he had been at the scene of the crime, if he had seen the stakes there and gained his knowledge there ? Sullivan replied that he had not asked these questions and was not aware if these questions had ever been asked. Sullivan described Butler's emotions during the confession as “there were times when he was normal and other times when he would flare up”. Switching to his final flaw with the re-enactment Mulvey asked Sullivan “Did the boy point to the back porch and say “That's the porch where I think I came out of that night. I came out and stood here. I don't know from then. I walked in a Daze.” Sullivan replied that “Yes, such remarks were made by the boy” Upon his initial inspection and interrogation on November 16th, no blood was found present on Bernard. On December 11th Sullivan personally searched Bernard's clothing for blood, but none was found. Later Bernard's clothes were gathered from his residence. No blood was found.
Four members of the Butler family, Butlers Mother and Father as well as his brother (17) and sister (18) testified that Butler was in bed at the time the murder was commited. The Mother Brother and Sister all said under direction examination by Mr Mulvey that
Bernard was in bed and “sound asleep” at approximately 20 minutes until 12 and that they did not hear him get up or go out. Mr Butler said Bernard was asleep when he came home at 12:15 and was still asleep when he went to bed at 12:45.
Bernard's brother Joseph testified that he closed down his fathers store around 10:30pm and that his sister picked him up at 10:45. After arriving home they put the car away at around 11. He said he had something to eat with his mother and sister in the kitchen, that when he went into the bedroom off the kitchen that he shared with his dad and brother, the accused was asleep. He said he awoke at about 7:15 the next morning and found Bernard in the Kitchen. Butler's sister Mary says that Bernard went to sleep at around 8:15pm. He was there when she left to pick up Joseph at 10:30 and he was there when they arrived home at 11. Ms Butler related that Bernard read the papers in great detail when concerning the paper. She recalled that her “son exhibited an un usual interest in the murder when he learned about it. That the morning of the murder Bernard had gone outside after breakfast and talked to the boy next door. The boy told Bernard about the finding of the body and details he had heard around town that morning. The boy then asked Bernard if he would like to go see the body, he replied that he “did not”. Bernard’s mother said she had her son committed to Hudson River about 11 years ago as he would wander away. She replied that he had wandered away to either Albany or New York City nearly 15 times. She said after being boarded about on May 24th of the previous year, Ms Butler admitted that Bernard had wandered away twice that summer for long stretches of time.
Bernard was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years.
- I believe that Bernard Butler was convicted by a Police Department under pressure to quickly solve the case. My reasons are as follows:
- When asked about the nature of the crime Bernard is quoted to have said “I hit her with a stone. She ran across the street, and I hit her again. Then she fell down and kept saying ‘Please Stop, Please Stop’. I hit her until she didn’t talk anymore. Then I tried to attack her but I couldn't. So I went home and went back to bed.” Bernard makes no mention of any screaming. Alleged witness James Creighton said he heard two screams around the time of the murder, as he waited to pick up his wife from the Hospital. Bernard talks
about the pleading for her life but makes no mention of her screams.
- The two descriptions given to police by potential witnesses are for an individual with a dark complexioned , about 21 years old, and about five feet, nine inches tall. The other
description identifies the subject as a youth aged 20 to 25 years of age, five feet nine, with black hair and a Foreign Extraction. On Bernards Military Registration card dated 2 years before the murder he is listed as five six and a half, with brown hair, a Ruddy/white complexion , and at the time of the murder 23 years old. The Age range is exact. However height, skin complexion, and hair is all different then the given descriptions. I understand that a description is extremely difficult to give accurately, especially in the dark.
- Bernard shared a room with his Father and Brother. Both claim he was in bed. Furthermore his sister and mother were also present in the house and heard no noises.
- No blood was found on Bernard. He raised no alarm to his family the following morning. He made no noise in an attempt to clean his clothing. All further inspections of his clothing found no blood.
- No motive. Bernard was a mild mannered man with no history of violence. He was committed to a hospital due to his habit of wandering and slight developmental defiecacies.
- Bernard would seem unsure if he committed the crimes for stretches of time.
- He made many mistakes while re enacting his story.
1) Wrong weapon 2) different
explanation of events 3) not being able to explain a missing pursue. 4) knowing little
about his overall movements and claiming he was in a daze.
- He did not confess to the crime when first questioned. When first questioned on
November 16th he said he had no connection to the murder.
- Told officers “I think I killed the Girl”. Officers could have implanted this idea into the
mind of a man who could be taken advantage of whether intentionally or unintentionally. I look at the claim made by the medical examiner before any facts on the suspect had even been established. “The girl was killed by an insane person, a crazy person. And he warned that unless an early arrest was made other victims might be found”. In the end Bernard Butler was found. A ‘crazy’ man because he had been committed for “wandering”.
- He could have read about the crimes in papers, seen the crime scene first hand, or had been told information during his first interrogation that he then passed on as evidence to the second group of detectives.
Both Cheney and Lawrence were members of the United States Army. Cheney as a WAC (Women's Army Corps) and Lawrence a Army Nursing Cadet. Their murders occurred just 3 weeks apart. Interestingly another Army WAC named Maoma L. Ridings was killed inIndianapolis on August 28th , 1943. The case itself is quite a bit different than that of Cheney or Lawrence but the Army connection and timeline do call for possible investigation. I will provide a small summer for the Riding’s case.
Maoma L. Ridings
- At About 8 p.m. on Aug. 28, 1943, in the middle of World War II, a housekeeper at the upscale Claypool Hotel in Downtown Indianapolis found the body of Cpl. Maoma L. Ridings in Room 729.Ridings, 32, was a physical therapist in the Women's Army Corps, stationed at Camp Atterbury. That Saturday night, she was on leave and was to have had a date. Early news accounts described "her half-nude, ravished and slashed body;" later stories said she was clothed in "a slip, regulation WAC shirt, skirt and stockings." She had been beaten and slashed; a large pool of blood was near her head. A broken whiskey bottle was found in the room and was presumed to be the murder weapon. Police determined she had bought the bottle herself. At About 6:30 p.m., Cpl. Emanuel Fisher, also stationed at Camp Atterbury, called Ridings' room from the Claypool's lobby. There was no answer, he later told police. Within days, police were looking for a "dark-haired woman in black" who was seen with Ridings in the room about three hours before the body was found. A bellboy briefly was arrested or detained for questioning, thousands of leads were checked, but the case never was solved. It was known as "The WAC Murder" and was considered one of the city's most notorious murders for decades.
More information for the Ridings murder can be found at:
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2013/10/01/indiana-unsolved-the-1943-murder-of-cpl-mao ma-ridings-at-the-upscale-claypool-hotel-remains-a-mystery/2901193/
A Study of Indiana Cold Cases: Maoma Ridings
Continuing on with my journey down the Rabbithole I stumbled upon the murder of Pearl May Weatherill of Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 13th 1943. This murder takes place just a few months before the Cheney and Lawrence murders. It shares a number of similarities to our previous murders in New York and South Dakota. Furthermore a case involving Ms Agda Moline of Omaha who was killed on January 9th 1944 is connected to the murder of Ms. Weatherill. At one point the police looked at the same man for each crime. We will look at each crime due to their similarities as well.
Pearl May Weatherill
- Pearl May Weatherill, 27 and mother of three, vanished shortly after leaving a dance hall and was found slain five hours later in an empty lot. A doctors examination disclosed that Mrs. Weatherill had been strangled and said that her clothing had been badly torn and injuries on her throat indicated that she struggled fiercely with her assailant before being overpowered. The body was discovered about 75 feet from the sidewalk by her husband Nyal and his brother James after they had been searching for her.
- The dancing group ( Nyal and Rearl Weatherill, Al Goodman and his Lucille and Pearls 18 year old niece Mary) reached the Council Bluffs club at around 10 oclock. The group immediately ordered soft drinks which the men quickly spiked with whisky and rum. The group toasted “Every man to his own poison” before each quickly downing a drink in celebration. Pearl had 5 drinks while Nyal consumed 7. The orchestra began to play and Al Goodman whisked Pearl Weatherill out onto the dance floor. Nyal’s eyes followed the couple throughout the song. As the music broke and the duo returned to their seats Nyal grabbed his wife and hurried her back out onto the dance floor. She asked him what was the matter and he replied “You and Al danced pretty close together that time”. “Nye, you shouldnt be jealous that way!” responded Pearl. The rest of the night proceeded on uneventfully however there was a hint of awkwardness in the air. This was not the first time Nyal had shown his jealous side nor was it the first time Pearl had attracted male admiration. She used to tell Nyal “I just can't help it if men find me attractive”. At About 1 am the group prepared to leave. As the women walked by the adjoining table a young man looked intently at Ms Weatherill and Ms Goodman, and quibbed loudly “There are sure some good looking women”. The girls laughed off the comment while Nyal bristled. “You want to make something of it ? one of those women is my wife” “Nyal !” Pearl exclaimed. “Don't cause any trouble”. Pearl ran out of the club in tears, her friend and niece right behind her. Al stayed inside to calm down Nyal and to de-escalate the situation. A few minutes later Lucille suggested that the trio should return inside and leave with the men. “Let's go back inside and get the men,” Lucille suggested. “No!” said Pearl who was steaming with anger at the behavior of her husband. They walked a block. Pearl staring straight ahead and the others glancing around anxiously. Pearl suddenly said “You go on back and I’ll go on alone”. “No honey you can't do that” replied Lucille. “Oh yes I can, I'll be alright. If I go back it will be the same thing all over again.” Pearl argued back. “Maybe this will teach Nyal a lesson if I let him come after me for once !”. Without another word she broke into a run down the dark street. Lucille and Mary, frightened by Pearl's outburst, ran back to the club to fetch Nyal and Al. The group jumped into the car and returned home. They figured that Pearl may have run home as she had offered up the idea that the group should walk to the club earlier in the night, however her idea had been vetoed and the group drove. In a few minutes the car was back in the Weatherill driveway, however there was no sign of Pearl. The group drove the mile between the club and the home 5 times before Al returned home to acquire his car in order to expand the amount of ground the group could search. (It was later estimated that the group passed the area of Pearls murder at least a dozen times during their search). The women suggested she may have passed out due to the alcohol consumption combined with a night of dancing and running. At 4:55 am the group decided to head to the police station.
They had assumed Pearl had been either more distraught then they had realized and looked to really scare her husband, or that maybe she had suffered some kind of medical emergency. Not wanting to embarrass his wife or tarnish her reputation he asked the police officers on duty to be subtle in their handling of the search for his wife. The Goodmans and Mary returned to bed expecting Pearl to be found with a reasonable explanation. Nyal however was distraught and continued his search. Looking for help he went to the home of his brother James. James awoke and told his brother he knew nothing of Pearl and agreed to help. It was nearly 6am when James would exclaim “There she is”. A bit of white had been seen back 75 feet from the sidewalk. At first the men thought she had simply passed out, however upon closer inspection it was apparent she had been brutally murdered. Pearls long sleeve white satin sports blouse was torn open and pulled down from her shoulders. Her stocking and garter belt were down to her ankles, her skirt up to her waist. Twigs and leaves were clinging to Pearl's torso. Cinders were embedded in her flesh. Pearl's face was lavender in color from what doctors described as “pinpoint hemorrhage” caused by suffocation. There were bruises on both hands and scratches on her thighs. The brothers carried her body to the car. They hoped if they got her to the Hospital on time they would be able to save her. However Pearl May Weatherill was announced dead on arrival. Doctors said Pearl had died from strangulation between 2 and 5 hours before.
- 78 feet from where the body was found police found Pearls items neatly arranged. There were her new brown oxfords tucked one inside the other. There were her step-ins stained with blood. Beside her pocketbook was a rose colored pendant and necklace. A troop of boy scouts had been sleeping only 150-200 yards away from where her body had been found that night, yet no one heard anything.
- Three months went by then police caught a ‘break’ in the case. Dwight Bender, an agent in the Iowa Investigative Bureau was assigned the case. He read over the testimonies of vagrants found in the area, he then compared that list with those who had committed crimes.
- Harry E May 23, was arrested four days after Pearl's death on the charge of choking a small boy and being a “peeping” tom. May had been sent to St. Bernards Hospital for observation and then subsequently was held as insane. Following the report that he was insane Iowa declared Harry Minnesota’s problem because he had only been visiting Iowa to visit his brother Philip. Philip then promised to take Harry back to Minnisota. However Philip only took Harry as far as the main highway and gave him instructions to hitchhike home. Harry had never made it home. This made it very difficult for Detective Bender to track him down. Two months later Bender received a tip that Harry had been working in Minneapolis as a Hotel Porter. Upon Bender's arrival at the Hotel of Harry's employment, he was told that Harry had recently been fired. Harry had been let go due to his tendency to looking insistently at the hotel's women. Within hours Bender tracked down May.
- “A shambling open mouthed, empty headed young man Harry proved to be servile in his eagerness to please the nice important men from Iowa who had come all this way to see him”. Harry then licked his lips. He confessed to not only the murder of Pearl May Weatherill but several other women. The next hours were described as “crazy” by investigators. At one moment May, slowed by his speech impediment, would confess to all. At the next he would deny everything. Sometimes he would utter to himself over and over “Never heard of Harry May”. It was then May told investigators the story of how he killed Pearl. “On the night of May 13th I went to a picture show in Council Bluffs and then visited the nightclub. After 1 am I lay down in the grass of the vacant lot, just thinking about things - women and lights and music, and all kinds of nice things. I was wishing I had a cigarette then a woman passed me. I got up and asked for a cigarette and a match. I put my arms around her, still thinking nice things. She got away and I ran after her. I took hold of her hand, you know. She tried to slap my face. I had to tie a rope I found on the lot around her neck. Gee, her neck was soft and I was mighty careful. But her necklace and locket came off and I guess I jerked the rope too hard. We were near a little tree. She fell down. A mighty pretty flower fell out of her hair. She mumbled. I dragged her back to another tree. She couldn't talk so well by then. But she was strong and fought me. Most of her clothes were torn off. I tried to loosen the rope. Lots of automobiles went by. I was scared but I was nice and warm. May said he attacked Pearl again and all told spent about two hours with the Pearls body while her husband and friends repeatedly drove past and inspected the area. Harry took her pink rose as a keepsake. However when asked to present it later he said he got rid of it and could not give a reason as to why. However Harry did know two details that had not been released to the public. It was not told to anyone that Pearl had been strangled with a rope. Nyal had not been made aware of this detail as well however he had been able to obtain “credible” information that his wife had been raped. Furthermore investigators had not themselves been aware that Pearl herself had been wearing a Flower. A quick call to Nyal by investigators confirmed this detail.
This is where the connection to Ms Agda Moline of Omaha who was killed on January 9th 1944 comes into play. I will give a brief summary of her murder.
Ms Agda Moline
- A 68 year old woman was found bludgeoned to death at the rear of a house at 813 N 20th st. was identified as Mrs Agda Moline of Omaha. Identification of the victim was made by identification of the clothing by a daughter Mrs Violet McCreary of Omaha, who had earlier reported to police that her mother was missing. Mrs McCreary said her mother was returning home after visiting the McCreary home to see her grandson who was home on furlough from the Army, when the slaying occured. At about 8:30 pm Mrs McCreary said she took her son to the railroad station for his Army station, while a daughter named
- Dariene McCreary (16), took Ms Moline to thirtieth and California streets to board a bus for home. Dariene then returned to the railroad station to see her brother off, while Mrs Moline waited for the bus. Police believe Ms Moline boarded an east bound bus, left it at twentieth street, to catch a streetcar home. It was near Twentieth street that her body was found. Mrs McCreary said her mother had about $35 in her purse.
Tellings of May’s exact confession can be difficult to tie down. Dates and times are changed. When it was asked how Harry became a suspect in the Moline case It is said it is because Harry admitted to it. In the Moline investigation Harry's confession is described a bit differently.
- Bender said May had confessed to the entire crime after he had confided his affair with ‘a woman’ and described her in detail to Detective Carlson in a back room where Carlson had questioned him privately. He said May had told of meeting the women who started to run away but he threw a rope around her neck and dragged her back into the vacant lot. He testified that May said he attacked her and then dragged her back from the street into the corner of the vacant lot, away from the sidewalk and passing cars where he attacked her a second time. While he dragged her she kicked off her shoes as she struggled. The shoes which were introduced to evidence were still tied when found. When asked if she yelled, May said “Yes”, but that he pulled the rope around her neck tighter so that the screams were muffled.
- Carlson who testified that Mays description of Ms Weatherills clothes, the incident with the rope, and the flower in her hair was the first he had heard of the details and he had taken May into a backroom and talked with him alone for approximately an hour and a half before he got the story of the first attack. He said he then called Bender and Jackson who came and heard the full story.
- Harry would then confess to killing a Omaha woman. Under cross examination Bender repeated the testimony of Mays confession which he gave to Bender. Bender said May had told police that he had hit the woman in the head with a brick after she refused his advances near the Orpheum Theater in Omaha. Bender testified that May later repudiated that confession after inspector Fritz Franks of the Omaha police department informed him that the murder actually was commitied far away from the Orpheum. When asked why he had falsely confessed he said “it was just a crazy Idea”.
- Before his trial May would shift back and forth between claiming responsibility for the murders and then denying he played any role.
- Mrs Laura Murphy Mays sister, told of occasions when he had stayed in her home and she had been unable to sleep because of her fear of him. Ms Philip May, Harry's Sister in Law, Bender said, told that Harry was sitting on the running board of their car the morning of May 14th with no explanation.
I think police may have fed Harry this story in order to close the case. Harry would be charged in the Weatherill case, however the Moline case remains unsolved. I believe Harry's lying in the Moline case, calls into question his credibility on the Weatherill confession.
- The process in which information was either given or taken from Harry is a bit sketchy. It seems that police may have fed bits of information to Harry in order to solve the case. There were many private and backroom confessions.
- Would a man of Harrys low IQ be able to pull of such a murder ? The murder was not planned. That means Harry found the rope during the struggle with a woman and figured out how to tie her up on the spot. He then was able to conceal the body and struggle from a search party and passer byers ?
- He lied in the Moline case. If police did not force a confession then Harry could have just wanted to create an exciting narrative.
- No Physical evidence tying him to the crime.
Many of these cases have similarities.
Is there an undiscovered serial killer ? Not likely but it is interesting to look at the short time frame in which these murders occurred and how many followed the same pattern. A woman bludgeoned or strangled to death and then dragged into a vacant lot or alley. Robbery was never a confirmed motive and rape was never considered likely on any of the victims. If anything this write up will shed some light on a few unsolved murders that are rarely talked about. I do think it is interesting though to look at the two men who were accused. Bernard Butler and Harry May. Both men may have had their problems, but were they killers ? or were they pushed into a conviction and then whisked away to a hospital unable to fight their case.
- Please let me know what you think. This is my first long write up where I did a bit of deep digging. I know I am not the best writer and have a lot to learn. Their is a lot more information on these cases that could be dug up and I would appreciate any feedback if anyone comes across any interesting information. I took much of this information from Newspapers from the era.
The New York Times
The Poughkeepsie Journal
The Knoxville Journal
The Courier (Waterloo)
Argus Leader (South Dakota)
Lincoln Journal Star
Newspapers.com - Historical Newspapers from 1700s-2000s
Cheney Info:
https://www.argusleader.com/story/crime/2015/05/06/naomi-cheney-unsolved-murder/70881412 /
https://www.argusleader.com/story/life/2017/11/17/looking-back-womens-army-corp-officer-fou nd-slain-near-12-th-grange-1943/870073001/
Most of the cases talked about do not have links. If anyone has any ideas on suspects, theories on who’s guilty and who’s Innocent, or if they believe all if any of the crimes are connected please comment.
