PA PA - Bedford, 'Mr. Bones' WhtMale 30-35, 585UMPA, 30-06 rifle, gold dental wk, camping equip, Oct'58

Wow! Impressive work on this.

Forgive me if this was mentioned earlier in the thread -- Do you know if Connor wore contact lenses? I imagine that's difficult to know without speaking with a friend or family member.
 
Wow! Impressive work on this.

Forgive me if this was mentioned earlier in the thread -- Do you know if Connor wore contact lenses? I imagine that's difficult to know without speaking with a friend or family member.

I spoke to someone who knew Conner in 1951, and he said he did not wear glasses then. We just don't know about the contacts.
 
From one of Richard's earliest posts in the thread:



Unfortunately I can't get the link to work, otherwise I would attempt to contact the reporter and see if it can be determined from where the info came.

I'm certainly no expert on anatomy, but from looking at pictures of human skull structure, I suppose its possible for one to shoot themselves in the mouth and have the bullet exit the back of the skull without other significant bone damage occurring.

I would like to see Mr. Bones identified as much as anyone. When a thought pops into my head, however, I gotta let it out.
I have not seen that info in any original source documents.Richard also theorized that a rifle shot was used to obscure another wound, which I think is possible.

Comparison of Charles Conner's DNA to Mr. B. would make this all a moot point, and that is what we are hoping to get.
 
To all: I have referred to Charles Conner as a homicide victim. Well, according to a judge he was a manslaughter victim. They could not get a murder conviction without a body, though that was the charge.
 
The story in The Lima News ran today, someone please post a link.I can't.

It did not include contact info for the Ohio authorities who can do testing but otherwise a good job that will tell you all more about the Lima end of the story.

I visited the grave of Charles Conner's parents recently when I drove to Lima, and they did indeed put his name on the stone as the story says, indicating that they intended him to be buried with them if he were ever found. Homer Conner lived a long time, into his 90s I believe, so he had a long time to reflect on that. As you know now, I am an engineer. I deal in logical processes and rational thought. These cases respond well to that approach. We are human and do have our emotional moments though, and standing there seeing the name on the stone was one. I did not expect that. I vowed silently to do my best work to find the truth.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that a suitable relative comes forward. They we can know one way or the other.
 
Magnum, Nice job on this. I think you nailed it. They have same time frame, same height & weight. The killer was in eastern Ohio, the next day. Everything fits.
 
Magnum, Nice job on this. I think you nailed it. They have same time frame, same height & weight. The killer was in eastern Ohio, the next day. Everything fits.

Thanks, Eddie. You are right, everything fits.Don't forget the head wound and that video overlay. I looked very hard for something that didn't fit, without finding it. But we need the DNA. There are suitable relatives, and if the story gets a response that results in a match, the long trip will have been worth it.
 
When you posted about pmb being added to nameus I kept checking, then I found Conner listed, after googleing around - I found all the info, a few weeks ago. If this isn't him, I will be shocked. I didn't post it, because this is your show! I didn't want to spoil it. I read that the PA state police are "discounting" your theory. I can't see how that's possible - everything fits. Anyway, great job !
 
Lastly, knowing the investigators traced the weapon to Ft. Wayne and that ft Wayne is down the road from Lima, Ohio - one would think that finding a body, with a weapon would have raised a red flag. Makes you wonder why they didn't have any dialogue about this! O I realize communications were different, but still.... This was a big deal, back then how was this connection not made? Perhaps Mr Forsythe had some friends in Ft. Wayne. I don't think he could have been retried, but he probably wouldn't have gotten out of prison after only 10 years. I also think there is more to the story than shooting a guy in the face over a missing rifle.
 
I hadn't heard the part about him being sighted in Cadiz. I went to Google maps and asked for a map from Lima to Bedford. I asked for a route without highways, since we're talking about the '50s. Three route options came up. The third option goes right through Cadiz. So that makes sense. I also remembered you talking about the gun being bought in Fort Wayne. While I'm sure there were closer places to buy a gun, it wasn't unusual at all when I lived there for people to plan a trip to either Fort Wayne or Columbus to shop. We had two malls there back in the day and people still would do that just because they were bigger cities with a bigger selection of stores. The malls weren't built until '65 (I'm not old enough to know but I googled, lol), so I bet before then it was even more common. I know none of that is evidence of anything, but just throwing it out there.
 
When you posted about pmb being added to nameus I kept checking, then I found Conner listed, after googleing around - I found all the info, a few weeks ago. If this isn't him, I will be shocked. I didn't post it, because this is your show! I didn't want to spoil it. I read that the PA state police are "discounting" your theory. I can't see how that's possible - everything fits. Anyway, great job !

Thanks Eddie. A relative asked Ohio BMP some time ago to list Chuck Conner on NamUs, and when the listing was posted I was not aware of it! Thanks for not posting anything on that. I try to be scrupulous about the rules and protocol, and we absolutely could not discuss him until he was listed as a missing person somewhere.

DNA will tell. We are close to getting it, I hope and pray.
 
I hadn't heard the part about him being sighted in Cadiz. I went to Google maps and asked for a map from Lima to Bedford. I asked for a route without highways, since we're talking about the '50s. Three route options came up. The third option goes right through Cadiz. So that makes sense. I also remembered you talking about the gun being bought in Fort Wayne. While I'm sure there were closer places to buy a gun, it wasn't unusual at all when I lived there for people to plan a trip to either Fort Wayne or Columbus to shop. We had two malls there back in the day and people still would do that just because they were bigger cities with a bigger selection of stores. The malls weren't built until '65 (I'm not old enough to know but I googled, lol), so I bet before then it was even more common. I know none of that is evidence of anything, but just throwing it out there.
Yep Irish, did that last spring. We also had to come up with a timeline to see if it was possible to do it in the time RF was known to be absent from Lima, on 1958 roads. If it was not, the whole theory evaporated.

It was.

The old gentleman who testified at the trial that he saw RF in Cadiz thought it was so suspicious that he wrote down the license plate. Lima police had found a cigarette pack in RF's car that they traced to Cadiz. Defense attorneys could not shake his testimony.
 
Lastly, knowing the investigators traced the weapon to Ft. Wayne and that ft Wayne is down the road from Lima, Ohio - one would think that finding a body, with a weapon would have raised a red flag. Makes you wonder why they didn't have any dialogue about this! O I realize communications were different, but still.... This was a big deal, back then how was this connection not made? Perhaps Mr Forsythe had some friends in Ft. Wayne. I don't think he could have been retried, but he probably wouldn't have gotten out of prison after only 10 years. I also think there is more to the story than shooting a guy in the face over a missing rifle.

Well, 1957-58 was a long time ago and things were done differently. According to newspaper accounts the Ohio police stopped looking at the Ohio border where their jurisdiction ended. The conviction was obtained and RF was sent to prison on the lesser manslaughter charge. Fast forward to October 58 when the remains were found, and RF was in prison with the Forsythe trial a fading memory. When RF got the conviction overturned ten years later, no one in Lima knew anything about Mr. B. I live a lot closer to Bedford and never heard of him either until August 2012. I asked a few people in Bedford about him last summer and no one I spoke to had heard of him there.

LE did not communicate well in the 1950s.
 
When you posted about pmb being added to nameus I kept checking, then I found Conner listed, after googleing around - I found all the info, a few weeks ago. If this isn't him, I will be shocked. I didn't post it, because this is your show! I didn't want to spoil it. I read that the PA state police are "discounting" your theory. I can't see how that's possible - everything fits. Anyway, great job !

Bolded and italicized by me. I read the article, and it really upset me that members of law enforcement would say this. The article quoted a member of LE as saying they have reason to discount, can't discuss, blah blah... As far as I can see, Magnum P.E. has developed a workable theory based on available information, so what's to be discounted? The only information that could discount the theory is that 1) Mr. Bones has been identified, 2) Mr. Conner's remains had been previously found or 3) Mr. Conner has been found alive (and wouldn't that be a little embarrassing for law enforcement.)...

Unless these guys know something solid and are ready to share, I find their lack of support for "civilian" efforts-and Magnum's in this case specifically-really disheartening.
 
Bolded and italicized by me. I read the article, and it really upset me that members of law enforcement would say this. The article quoted a member of LE as saying they have reason to discount, can't discuss, blah blah... As far as I can see, Magnum P.E. has developed a workable theory based on available information, so what's to be discounted? The only information that could discount the theory is that 1) Mr. Bones has been identified, 2) Mr. Conner's remains had been previously found or 3) Mr. Conner has been found alive (and wouldn't that be a little embarrassing for law enforcement.)...

Unless these guys know something solid and are ready to share, I find their lack of support for "civilian" efforts-and Magnum's in this case specifically-really disheartening.
Thanks Shadow. I have high regard for the PSP, they are second to none and in any dealings I have ever had with them they have been nothing less than professional. If they have something that makes it impossible for Chuck Conner to be Mr. Bones I have no idea what it is at this time.

Here is a timeline gleaned from the trial coverage by Anna:

Conner was shot at about 9PM at Ralph Forsythe's home at 224 E. McKibbon St. Lima, Ohio, after a day of drinking celebrating his 37th birthday.

Later that night Larue "Tex" Arrington talked at the Pioneer Bar of seeing RF shoot Chuck Conner (The Pioneer Bar was very close to the McKibbon St. Address. It's still there.) Other witnesses were Harry Smith and James A. Fitzgerald. They were questioned by police and released.

8AM Sunday - June Forsythe (Ralph's wife) was found asleep in the Canton apartment of John Tampacompulus, friend of RF. Shortly afterward RF showed up, picked up his wife and left.

Early Sunday AM - Conner's car was removed from the Pioneer Bar parking lot by police.

10 PM Sunday - RF showed up in his panel truck (Ford Courier wagon) and was taken into custody. The truck was still wet from being washed out. June Forsythe appeared in a car about an hour later and was also taken in. Blood was found in the truck and on a glove in the truck. It was type O.

RF was arrested early Monday morning.

So, could one drive from Lima to Bedford and back in 24 hours or so on 1958 roads, allowing for loading and dropping off "cargo", a sleep break in Canton, and washing out the truck in Cadiz?

I will let the sleuths on this thread work it out. Let me know what you find.
 
Even without doing much sleuthing, I'm fairly confident that the trip could have been made in that time frame--and fairly easily. The distance, as the proverbial crow flies, appears to be around 350 miles. I know from previous research that the PA Turnpike was completed, border to border, in 1956, and Im sure many other main arteries were in use by then. The OH Turnpike, which is the same highway (I-76) was completed in 1955. That highway by itself could account for some 220 of the total miles.

If the exact location where Mr. Bones' remains were found could be determined, and it now isn't a parking lot or someones' subbasement, it would interesting to check the area with metal detectors (including any nearby tree trunks) to see what may have been missed back then.
 
Even without doing much sleuthing, I'm fairly confident that the trip could have been made in that time frame--and fairly easily. The distance, as the proverbial crow flies, appears to be around 350 miles. I know from previous research that the PA Turnpike was completed, border to border, in 1956, and Im sure many other main arteries were in use by then. The OH Turnpike, which is the same highway (I-76) was completed in 1955. That highway by itself could account for some 220 of the total miles.

If the exact location where Mr. Bones' remains were found could be determined, and it now isn't a parking lot or someones' subbasement, it would interesting to check the area with metal detectors (including any nearby tree trunks) to see what may have been missed back then.

Bingo, Shadow...check back a few posts for the GPS coordinates, which may be approximate but surely are close. Satellite views will show you what is there now. I'll leave you in suspense, you all have Google Earth.
This time line was crucial, if RF could not have traveled that far in that time, CC could not be Mr.B. We established at an early point that he could have, and proceeded from there. The time was about what one would expect.
 
Bingo, Shadow...check back a few posts for the GPS coordinates, which may be approximate but surely are close. Satellite views will show you what is there now. I'll leave you in suspense, you all have Google Earth.
This time line was crucial, if RF could not have traveled that far in that time, CC could not be Mr.B. We established at an early point that he could have, and proceeded from there. The time was about what one would expect.

Awesome job Magnum! I grew up in Lima and had never heard about Conners. So happy that all the work you guys have done may answer two long mysteries!

jmo

O/T - when you go to Lima, don't forget to stop at Kewpees :)
 
Awesome job Magnum! I grew up in Lima and had never heard about Conners. So happy that all the work you guys have done may answer two long mysteries!

jmo

O/T - when you go to Lima, don't forget to stop at Kewpees :)

OMG I forgot all about Kewpie burgers!
 

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