IL IL - Stanley Skridla, 28, & Mary Jane Reed, 17, Oregon, 1948

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I hadn't heard of this case until this past weekend when I read about it here. Then yesterday I was glancing through the Chicago Tribune at work and saw the two-page article about it. I'm always amazed when that happens--when I've never heard of something and then almost immediately see it again somewhere else.

It sounds to me like there was a cover-up after he murders and that, sadly, there just wasn't anybody with enough interest to pursue justice until it was just too late. Not that the crime couldn't still be solved, but it just gets harder as the years go on.
 
Heard a blip on this story on the Rockford News the other night where it was stated that Mary Jane was buried with a skull that was not hers. I take it things might be picking up a little momentum?

Mike, are you able to say any more on this?
 
TallCoolOne said:
Heard a blip on this story on the Rockford News the other night where it was stated that Mary Jane was buried with a skull that was not hers. I take it things might be picking up a little momentum?

Mike, are you able to say any more on this?
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Hope you hear more. I have been waiting and hoping something will be done about this and it won't just get "buried" again.
 
zelmajane said:
Ok, my Grandfather was a mortician. I've heard some stories, but how on earth can you end up with the wrong head?
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There is perhaps a reasonable explanation for this. Original reports mention that only her head was autopsied. Typically once the tissues have been examined the ME would boil off the flesh to examine the skull for wound patterns. If this was done at a crime lab where remains from other individuals were stored, the skull may have been confused with someone else's when it was returned to the family.
 
KarlK said:
There is perhaps a reasonable explanation for this. Original reports mention that only her head was autopsied. Typically once the tissues have been examined the ME would boil off the flesh to examine the skull for wound patterns. If this was done at a crime lab where remains from other individuals were stored, the skull may have been confused with someone else's when it was returned to the family.
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Well to you that may sound like a reasonable explanation but in Oregon, IL there would not have been a whole bunch of other bodies being autopsied to get it mixed up with. This was in rural Northern Illinois in 1948, not in a big city. I don't really think there would have been any other headless bodies with which to get it mixed up with. As an explanation that is weak at best, IMO.
 
TallCoolOne said:
Well to you that may sound like a reasonable explanation but in Oregon, IL there would not have been a whole bunch of other bodies being autopsied to get it mixed up with. This was in rural Northern Illinois in 1948, not in a big city.
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That is my point. Regardless of the location of a crime, autopsies are typically performed where facilities exists, usually in larger cities, which can sometimes be a significant distance from the crime scene. One can reasonably assume that crime lab staff who are less directly concerned with a case could be more prone to this sort of mix-up.

I think that in this sort of event the most likely explanation is the simplest. Consider this: why would someone put the wrong skull in the casket on purpose, considering that the possibility of an exhumation was very remote at the time?
 
KarlK said:
That is my point. Regardless of the location of a crime, autopsies are typically performed where facilities exists, usually in larger cities, which can sometimes be a significant distance from the crime scene. One can reasonably assume that crime lab staff who are less directly concerned with a case could be more prone to this sort of mix-up.

I think that in this sort of event the most likely explanation is the simplest. Consider this: why would someone put the wrong skull in the casket on purpose, considering that the possibility of an exhumation was very remote at the time?
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That would be great if the body had left Lee County. Have you read the website linked earlier in the thread? It seems that "a significant degree of desecration occurred to the female’s corpse after her body was discovered and while it was under the care, custody and control of Ogle County authorities and/or their agents. (ie; Sheriff, Coroner and/or their on site investigators, doctor performing the post mortum examination and/or mortuary personnel.)"

http://www.maryjanereed.com/
 
TallCoolOne said:
That would be great if the body had left Lee County. Have you read the website linked earlier in the thread? It seems that "a significant degree of desecration occurred to the female’s corpse after her body was discovered and while it was under the care, custody and control of Ogle County authorities and/or their agents. (ie; Sheriff, Coroner and/or their on site investigators, doctor performing the post mortum examination and/or mortuary personnel.)"

http://www.maryjanereed.com/
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Too late to edit, I meant to say Ogle County, not Lee County. Duh on me.....
 
I don't understand why someone took Mary Jane's head? There was such a short time that her autopsy was conducted and the burial, I just don't think that a "swapping mistake" could have occurred with her head.

And why were there nails in her body bag? That seems very odd.

Why did someone go back to Skridla's body and burn his head and neck?

This case really bothers me a lot.
 
Boweneer said:
I don't understand why someone took Mary Jane's head? There was such a short time that her autopsy was conducted and the burial, I just don't think that a "swapping mistake" could have occurred with her head.

And why were there nails in her body bag? That seems very odd.

Why did someone go back to Skridla's body and burn his head and neck?

This case really bothers me a lot.
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I know, the whole thing just leaves you spinning with questions, doesn't it?

It absolutely haunts me.
 
I harve a couple questions and thoughts. 1948 is when this happend right, Was it the norm back then for a 28 year old man to be dating a 17 year old girl. Now they would string ya up for that fact alone but i never heard anything else about it about this couple. Also when did we and i mean we as humans start using fingerprints I wonderd because if it wasn't untill just after this case then dental or facial recognition would be the main way to identify a person and maybe thats the reason for the head being removed .The only other thing i thought was how he was killed a bit of an over kill i thought and taken that this happend while they were on lovers lane first thought is of the girls father maybe or an ex bf and buddies anyway great case ..
 
CanManEh said:
1948 is when this happend right, Was it the norm back then for a 28 year old man to be dating a 17 year old girl.
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I think the age of consent in Illinois is 17. That said, a 28-year old dating a 17-year-old probably wouldn't have exactly been the norm. She was out of high school and working at an adult job.
 
Well I guess to me the age difference is the least of my concerns when it appears that the individual whom they suspect killed them was an Ogle County deputy. This combined with all the other oddities that have been discovered such as the fact that it was found that Mary Jane was buried with someone elses head rather overshadows the age difference in my opinion.

I hope they find the answers they have been seeking for all these years. It sounds like even though the actual murderer has passed that there are still accomplices that were involved that are very much alive.

~TCO~
 
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