IN IN - Norma Cramer, 21, Portage, 2 July 1968

Mary Cramer had few unbending rules as the mother of two boys, but checking in was one of them.
She expected her sons to call her regularly when they were out and about while growing up, and heaven help them if they didn’t.
When son Andy, then 17, failed to call one evening, she frantically began calling his friends and friends’ parents. It was only 8 p.m., and he’d simply forgotten to call home after playing football, but the lapse was enough to start her panicking.

Andy is now 23, and her youngest, Shaun, is 17, and she’ll readily tell you she still expects updates on their whereabouts from both of them.
Her sons, she says, know exactly why she wants to know where they are and who they are with at all times.
Had someone done the same for her mother, Norma, when she set off for Indiana on July 2, 1968, maybe investigators would have a better idea of who shot her twice in the back of the head and dumped her body in a swamp.

“It’s not knowing why that is the worst. By all accounts, everyone that knew her said she was sweet and wonderful and kind,” she said. “I cannot understand how she ended up like this — with two gunshots to the head.”

Full article here:

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2013/07/28/cramer-case-seeking-answers/

Satch

Sad and fascinating case. I sure hope Mary will find some answers.

Gilmore and Byrne sold all of Norma’s possessions at a yard sale on July 8 — three days after Norma was supposed to return home. They dropped off Mary to a child welfare agency. Helen, who still lives in her Capel Road home in Grafton where she raised Norma and then Mary, said her daughter never told her that she planned to move. She saw the advertisement in the newspaper for the rummage sale and thought it was odd that Norma’s roommates would sell Norma’s belongings. “I went to it and saw everything that belonged to Norma,” she said. “I didn’t buy anything, but I picked up a picture album and thought that it was strange. Why would she want to get rid of that?” - See more at: http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2013/07/28/cramer-case-seeking-answers/#sthash.dVvP8GNu.dpuf

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These were her roommates and good friends (supposedly) who she was (supposedly) going to move to South Carolina with? (Which her mother knew nothing about.) The same good friends in whose care she left her one year old daughter Mary while she trekked off to visit the ex (supposedly) to win back his love. The selfsame friends who saw her mother at the yard sale, but who chose to ditch Mary with a "child welfare agency" rather than her grandmother? WHAT. AM. I. READING?

Norma was never supposed to come back from this trip. Everyone knew it except Norma and her mother (and, I guess, Mary who was only one anyway). I'm still reading, but OMG!

moo and speculation...

ETA
And I believe she bought the hair dye and cigarettes in PENNSYLVANIA about like I believe Santa Claus bought those items. Grr!

It really doesn't sound like Varasso did it. Except when he says this:

“I threw her out. The last thing she said was if she couldn’t have me, nobody would.” - See more at: http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2013/07/28/cramer-case-seeking-answers/#sthash.dVvP8GNu.dpuf

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How does he suppose that makes sense?

http://whokillednormacramer.com/

Has a photo of Norma.

Turns out that everything Mary had collected was destroyed in a fire. Everything Helen had of Norma's was destroyed in a fire. Norma's autopsy was destroyed in a flood.

This is bigger than the love triangle because that is just way too many coincidences. Add to that Norma is a little late getting home and her roommates sell her worldly possessions then "assume" she'll join them in S.C. where they were (supposedly) all going to be roomies. I guess Norma doesn't need things like clothing or whatever other things living people like to keep around. (sarcasm)
moooooo

Who is red car man? he is the important one.

http://whokillednormacramer.com/images/Crime-Map.jpg

map

the red car is a: 65 or 64 Chevy

the driver was a young white man

These were her roommates and good friends (supposedly) who she was (supposedly) going to move to South Carolina with? (Which her mother knew nothing about.) The same good friends in whose care she left her one year old daughter Mary while she trekked off to visit the ex (supposedly) to win back his love. The selfsame friends who saw her mother at the yard sale, but who chose to ditch Mary with a "child welfare agency" rather than her grandmother? WHAT. AM. I. READING?

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That is what concerns me as well. It sounds like these "Good Friends" may not have been such "Good Friends." I agree with Mary that, although I don't think they were involved with Norma's death, they may know what happened to her.

Satch

Norma Diane Cramer (1946 – 1968)

Norma Diane Cramer, 21
Murdered 2 July 1968

LINK:

Norma Diane Cramer (1946 – 1968) - Defrosting Cold Cases

It seems that there are a lot of unsolved murders and disappearances around the 4th of July in the 1960's. Could there be any connections?