Cases from 1970-1979

[JeannieC]

Birth: 1950
Death: May 10, 1978

Unsolved Triple Homicide.

Karen was a loving mother. She was murdered along with her two young sons, Scott and Mark. Her husband, Robert Pretty, says he came home from work to find his family deceased. The county medical examiner, Dr. Jospeh Jachimezek, ruled that the deaths were from a combination of strangulation and suffocation by drowning. The main clue in the three deaths was the family's 1978 Mercury Marquis, which was found in an unassigned parking space at an apartment house. There was no sexual assault or robbery. One theory is that this may have been a hit which was intended on another family. Apparently there was an informant in the neighborhood who caused the arrest of a known drug dealer, Anthony, who is now deceased. The people who committed this crime may have been from another state which might explain them getting the wrong house. However, this is just a theory. If you have heard or know anything that may solve this case, please call the number below. You may even do this anonymously. The family of the victims has been suffering for 20 years now.

Contact: Detective Johnny Bonds (713)755-6140

Family links:
Children:
Scott Pretty (1971 - 1978)*
Mark Pretty (1973 - 1978)*

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19276136

 

[ikoihil]

Georgia Geer - Age 14, Caucasian, brunette. Georgia Geer skipped school on September 6, 1974 and disappeared from a convenience store in Dickinson, close to I-45. Both her and Bracewell had been beaten to death and found were found in an Alvin Swamp.

BELL'S SUPPOSED VICTIM; STILL UNSOLVED.

 

[ikoihil]

Brooks Bracewell - Age 12, Caucasian, brunette. Brooks Bracewell skipped school on September 6, 1974 and disappeared from a convenience store in Dickinson, close to I-45. Both her and Geer had been beaten to death and found were found in an Alvin Swamp.

BELL'S SUPPOSED VICTIM; STILL UNSOLVED.

 

[bessie]

Use this thread to post cases from the 1970's.

 

[bessie]

Originally posted by Ikoihil

Brenda Jones - Age 14, brunette. She disappeared while walking in the East End on Galveston Island, close to I-45, to visit an aunt on July 1, 1971. Her body was found the next day in Galveston Bay, close to Seawolf Park. She had a slip crammed in her mouth and had died of a head wound. BELL'S SUPPOSED VICTIM; STILL UNSOLVED.

Links added by Bessie:
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e0f8fbf234b2e613
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-18559_162-10009885-2.html

 

[bessie]

Adele "Gypsy" Crabtree was a pretty 16 year-old runaway from Ohio. A free spirited flower child, she worked off and on as a gas jockey, cocktail waitress and go-go dancer in Houston. She was last seen alive on November 2, 1971 near her apartment when she got into a two-tone Mercury and drove away with the male driver. Her body was found on 11/03/1971 near some woods NW of Conroe n Montgomery County. Her body was riddled with two loads of buckshot and one load of birdshot from a 12 gauge shotgun. Knoppa first confessed to the murder. Lanham knew Gypsy, and they had picked her up the night before in the Mercury. Knoppa told LE she'd had consensual sex with both men. After driving around for awhile, Knoppa told her he wanted "more loving". Lanham parked the car, and the three got out. As Crabtree and Knoppa headed for the woods, Knoppa stepped aside, and Lanham shot her. Knoppa said he had seen women killed in Vietnam, but "never like that". Lanham allegedly told him to stick around and he see many more. Thirty hours later, they murdered Linda Sutherlin. The two also confessed to the murder of another woman, Pamela Huebner, but her body was never found.

Lanham and Knoppa were never charged with Crabtree's murder. Instead, James Whittley, another Houston wrecker driver was charged after he failed a polygraph examination. Police at the time did not consider him a suspect in any of the five or six other recent murders of young women.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CpkFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QzMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4529,24440&
dq=turner+bayou+harris+county+texas&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...gYrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IJgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1661,2226148

 

[bessie]

Linda Faye Sutherlin, 21, was a Houston area key punch operator and former bartender. On 11/07/1971 her body was found in a Pearland ditch along County Road 89 about one mile south of FM 518 in Brazoria County. She had been raped, shot, kicked and beaten. A pair of panty hose was tied around her neck. Her roommate had reported her missing on 11/05/1971. Police originally suspected a boyfriend who was known to be violent. In the end, her killers turned out to be a known criminal, 24 year-old Harry Andrew Lanham, and an accomplice, 24 year-old ex-convict Anthony Knoppa.

A witness who knew Linda by sight told LE he had seen her the morning of 11/04/1971 standing by her car parked along the road near the bar where she had stopped after work talking to a wrecker driver. Another witness, after reading the newspaper report of Linda's murder told LE he had seen a wrecker parked near the bridge where Linda's body was found. Two years earlier, a young woman had entered a Houston police station to report a rape by a wrecker driver. She gave his name to a detective and said he was a big man. Before the detective finished writing the report, however, she changed her mind and left. That same detective worked Linda's case. He recalled the earlier incident but could not remember the wrecker driver's name until a week or so later when it came to him out of the blue.

Harry Lanham owned a red wrecker. When questioned, he implicated Knoppa, who was tracked down in Conroe. The two eventually confessed to the rape and brutal murder of Linda Fay Sutherlin. Both men were convicted and sentenced to 25 and 50 years respectively. Lanham died in while awaiting appeal in 1973. At the time, he was a suspect in the murders of eight others, including Adele Crabtree to which he and Knoppa had also confessed.


http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...gYrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IJgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1661,2226148

http://thepolicenews.net/html/tpnmay09.pdf

Henry Lanham and Anthony Knoppa from the Reading Eagle, February 4, 1973

 

[bessie]

Originally posted by Ikoihil

Debbie Ackerman - Age 15, Caucasian, brunette. students Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson both were students from Galveston’s Ball High, both disappeared on November 11, 1971 and they were found dead two days later, 10 miles north of where they disappeared, close to I-45 and Highway 3. They were in Turner's Bayou in Texas, both girls were shot twice and their hands and feet bound and only partially clothed.

Edward Harold Bell was a suspect but never charged because of circumstantial evidence. He later wrote a letter admitting the murders of Ackerman and Johnson, but wasn’t charged. He is in prison on unrelated charges.

BELL'S SUPPOSED VICTIM; STILL UNSOLVED.

Links added by Bessie:

ACKERMAN-JOHNSON
http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Pdf...earch&currentResult=2&currentPage=0&fpo=False Ed Bell Claims Responsibility

 

[bessie]

Maria Johnson - Age 15, Caucasian, brunette. Ball High student disappeared from Galveston Mall on November 11, 1971 and found dead two days later, 10 miles north of where they disappeared, close to I-45 and Highway 3. Their bodies were in Turner's Bayou in Texas City where fishermen saw them floating, both girls were shot twice before being dumped in the water. Their hands and feet were bound and only partially clothed.

Edward Harold Bell was a suspect but never charged because of circumstantial evidence. He later wrote a letter admitting the murders of Ackerman and Johnson, but wasn’t charged. He is in prison on unrelated charges.

BELL'S SUPPOSED VICTIM; STILL UNSOLVED.

Added by Bessie:

A witness saw Maria Johnson and Debbie Ackerman getting into a green pick-up truck on Seawall Blvd, Monday, November 15, 1971. Around noon on the same day, a 19 year-old woman also accepted a ride from a man in a green pick-up truck. When he threatened to rape her, she jumped from the moving vehicle and was later treated for her injuries at a local hospital where she reported the incident to police.



ACKERMAN-JOHNSON
Ed Bell Claims Responsibility

 

[bessie]

Originally posted by Ikoihil

Colette Annise Wilson - Age 13, Caucasian. She was dropped off by her Band Leader at a bus stop in Alvin on June 17, 1971. She disappeared, her nude body was found close to I-10 and HWY 6 near Addicks Reservoir in west Houston, some 35 to 40 miles from where last seen 5 months earlier. She had been killed by a gunshot to head and her band instrument was never located. The remains of Colette Willson were found within 35 yards from where the body of 19 year old Gloria Gonzales was later discovered BELL'S SUPPOSED VICTIM; STILL UNSOLVED.

Added by Bessie:
The body of Colette Wilson was found without a head. Her crushed skull was later discovered about 45 feet away from where her body was found.
Missing skull of Girl Found in a Briar Patch
http://thepolicenews.net/html/gcpnoct06.pdf
http://thepolicenews.net/html/gcpnaug07.pdf
Ed Bell Confessed to 11 Murders Article includes a map.

 

[bessie]

Gloria Ann Gonzalez was a 19 year-old bookkeeper from Houston who was last seen near her apartment on Jacquelyn Street on 10/28/1971. Her torso was found on 11/23/1971, and her severed skull was located about a week later near the remains of Colette Wilson in Addick's Reservoir in west Houston near Katy. A 2' long cord wrapped around a 4" piece of wood was around her neck. Cause of death might have been blunt force trauma to the head because her skull had been crushed.



Officer Hunts for Body Parts
Victim's Skull Found
http://thepolicenews.net/html/gcpnjune06.pdf

 

[bessie]

Originally posted by Ikoihil

Rhonda Johnson – Age 14. On August 5, 1971, two 14-year old Webster girls, Rhonda Johnson and Sharon Shaw, disappeared from an outing in Galveston. An investigation was launched the same day by the police department in Webster in Harris County. Their skeletal remains were discovered about five months later in the Taylor Bayou near the community of Shoreacres in southeast Harris County.

Michael Lloyd Self confessed, but recanted the confession he made to Officer Tommy Deal & Chief Don Morris (both whom are now incarcerated for bank robberies in Texas during this time). Self is the only person convicted solely on a confession in America. Ed Bell is also a suspect.

http://thepolicenews.net/html/gcpnoct06.pdf

STILL UNSOLVED.

Added by Bessie:Some Suspect Serial Killer in 1971 Galvesto Deaths
Self's Appeal
RHONDA RENEE JOHNSON-SHARON SHAW

 

[bessie]

Originally posted by Ikoihil

Sharon Shaw – Age 14. On August 5, 1971, two 14-year old Webster girls, Rhonda Johnson and Sharon Shaw, disappeared from an outing in Galveston. An investigation was launched the same day by the police department in nearby Webster in Harris County. Their skeletal remains were discovered about five months later in the Taylor Bayou near the community of Shoreacres in southeast Harris County.

Michael Lloyd Self confessed, but recanted the confession he made to Officer Tommy Deal & Chief Don Morris (both whom are now incarcerated for bank robberies in Texas during this time). Self is the only man in America convicted solely on a confession. Ed Bell is also a suspect.

http://thepolicenews.net/html/gcpnoct06.pdf

BELL'S SUPPOSED VICTIM; STILL UNSOLVED.

Added by Bessie:
RHONDA RENEE JOHNSON-SHARON SHAW
Some Suspect Serial Killer in 1971 Galvesto Deaths
Self's Appeal

 

[bessie]

Alison Craven - Age 12, Caucasian. Her mother returned home from after running errands for 1 hour on November 9, 1971. Her daughter was missing from their apartment near I-45. Police later found partial remains in a nearby field, two hands along with bones from an arm and some teeth. On Feb 25, 1972 the rest of her skeleton was found in a Pearland field, also near I-45 and 5 to 10 miles from where she was last seen.

STILL UNSOLVED.

Added by Bessie:

EdBell

 

[bessie]

Mildred Knighten left her family's home in Pasadena during the evening of Friday, October 20, 1972. She left with an unidentified friend to visit her sister in LaPorte. Her body was found a few days later in an industrial area of County Road 225 near Galveston. She was the victim of a vicious stabbing with 61 wounds in the back and nine in the face. Her throat had been "slashed repeatedly". She wore only a brown corduroy shirt.

No suspect was charged and this case has never been solved.

Girl Found Knifed
Victim Was on Her Way to La Porte

 

[bessie]

Kimberly Rae Pitchford was last seen after her first driver's ed class at Frank Dobie High School, 11111 Beamer Rd, Houston, about 6 pm on Wednesday, January 3, 1973. Her parents were expecting a call when she was ready to be picked up, but it never came. Two days later a couple of teenage boys discovered her body in a dranage ditch along CR 65 about a mile north of CR 63 near Iowa Colony in Brazoria County. She was partially clad and had been strangled with a rope. Her murder has never been solved. Ed Bell has claimed responsibility and says he picked her up near Gulfgate Mall in Houston.

Found Slain
37 Years Later: Where is Kimberly's Killer

Bell identified another of his victims as a reddish-blond Houston teen named "Pitchford," kidnapped near Gulfgate Mall. Harris County medical examiner's records and newspaper archives show Kimberly Rae Pitchford, a 16-year-old who lived near Hobby airport, never returned home after taking a driver's education class at Frank Dobie High School in Houston. Her body was found in a thicket in Brazoria County in January 1973.

Ed Bell's Confessions
Find A Grave: Kimberly Rae Pitchford

 

[bessie]

Jo Anne Harrison, 25, stabbed six times. Her body "dumped" in an industrial area of Houston. She had been killed elsewhere.

JO ANNE HARRISON
(I can't find anything else about this victim. If anyone has more information, please post it or pm me so I can edit my post. Thanks.)

 

[bessie]

Nina Lynn Kluge left her home in Cypress on the night of October 22, 1975 and headed 60 miles north to watch a World Series game with friends in Rosharon. That was the last time she was seen alive. Her car was found abandoned with dead battery the next day by Fort Bend deputies along Hwy 6. Two men hunting for rabbits on Thanksgiving Day along Hwy 382 in the vicinity of Darrington Prison Farm found her nude body atop a pile of clothes in a ditch next to a rice field. Her head showed a large wound from a gunshot. Nina might have been one of Ed Bell's victims.

Deputies Identify Body of Missing Girl p1
Deputies Identify Body of Missing Girl p2
Police Exhausting Clues p1
Police Exhausting Clues p2
Ed Bell

 

[bessie]

First posted by Ikoihil

Suzanne Bowers – 12 years old. May 21, 1977 disappeared from Galveston - Medical Examiner said Bower's dental chart matched that of a skeleton found Sunday 03/25/1979 in a field near Avenue P1/2 in Alta Loma. The Galveston girl disappeared May 21, 1977 while walking from her grandmother's home in the 4000 block of Avenue S1/2 to her own residence in the 3100 block of Avenue P. Authorities Tuesday said the cause of death is still unknown. "She had a skull fracture. The cause of death has not been determined.

It was about 10:30 a.m. May 21, 1977 when the seventh grade Lovenberg School student left her grandmother's house, Mrs. Bowers recalls. "She was going home first to get her bathing suit. She wanted to go to the beach. Suzanne walked that same route many times. She never did reach home," said Mrs. Bowers. "The case has been turned over to them because it originated in Galveston. There are no suspects. There appeared to be gunshot holes in her skull."

Added by Bessie:
Photo of Suzanne Bowers

Skeleton Identified as Missing 12 Year-Old
SUZANNE BOWERS

 

[bessie]

In a case from March 1979, a motorist discovered the body of Angela Desiree Kelly on the curb in the 7800 block of Red Bluff Road. She had been strangled and her hands were tied behind her back.

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/2005_3901421/pasadena-applies-for-txdot-grants.html

This is all of the information I can find on this case. Does anyone else have more to add?