OH OH - Ronald Tammen, 19, Oxford, 19 April 1953

[Ohio Mysteries]

We just released a podcast episode we did on Ron Tammen. Ohio Mysteries is on most podcast apps and we've set up a Ron Tammen page and links at Ohio Mysteries. At the end of the episode we invited an 'armchair detective' to chat about what he thought of the case and he had some great observations. Anyway, give a listen if this story interests you

Personally, the one thing that stops me from believing any planned departure on Tammen's part is the bedsheet. If you were planning on leaving, why would you worry about going to pick up new sheets and changing them?

 

[Alleykins]

We just released a podcast episode we did on Ron Tammen. Ohio Mysteries is on most podcast apps and we've set up a Ron Tammen page and links at Ohio Mysteries. At the end of the episode we invited an 'armchair detective' to chat about what he thought of the case and he had some great observations. Anyway, give a listen if this story interests you

Personally, the one thing that stops me from believing any planned departure on Tammen's part is the bedsheet. If you were planning on leaving, why would you worry about going to pick up new sheets and changing them?

For me personally, I have two reasons why I might do something like change the sheets if I were planning on leaving:

1. I would change my sheets if I thought I was leaving something embarrassing behind on the sheets that I didn't want someone else to find. At work, before I go on vacation, I neaten up my work station, just in case.
2. If there's something I don't want to do, or have second thoughts about doing, I'll drag my feet. I'll do everything but that thing, and try to come up with a 100 different things to do in the meantime. Even things I don't like doing move down in the hierarchy of things I don't wanna do so all of a sudden, I have to do them. It's like when you're getting ready to go somewhere you don't want to go, and you noticed there are dishes in the sink. Normally, you might not give them a second thought, but all of a sudden, you feel compelled to do them before you walk out the door to go somewhere you just don't wanna go.

Not saying either one of those are what happened here, but I wouldn't use him changing the sheets to negate a planned departure, based on my own experiences/habits. This is just my opinion, I know what I do will sound weird to some, normal to others.

 

[Ohio Mysteries]

For me personally, I have two reasons why I might do something like change the sheets if I were planning on leaving:

1. I would change my sheets if I thought I was leaving something embarrassing behind on the sheets that I didn't want someone else to find. At work, before I go on vacation, I neaten up my work station, just in case.
2. If there's something I don't want to do, or have second thoughts about doing, I'll drag my feet. I'll do everything but that thing, and try to come up with a 100 different things to do in the meantime. Even things I don't like doing move down in the hierarchy of things I don't wanna do so all of a sudden, I have to do them. It's like when you're getting ready to go somewhere you don't want to go, and you noticed there are dishes in the sink. Normally, you might not give them a second thought, but all of a sudden, you feel compelled to do them before you walk out the door to go somewhere you just don't wanna go.

Not saying either one of those are what happened here, but I wouldn't use him changing the sheets to negate a planned departure, based on my own experiences/habits. This is just my opinion, I know what I do will sound weird to some, normal to others.

Yes, I get that. I guess it would depend on your personality. If I'm leaving forever, I'm not changing the sheets, haha.

 

[wdmcmahan]

For me personally, I have two reasons why I might do something like change the sheets if I were planning on leaving:

1. I would change my sheets if I thought I was leaving something embarrassing behind on the sheets that I didn't want someone else to find. At work, before I go on vacation, I neaten up my work station, just in case.
2. If there's something I don't want to do, or have second thoughts about doing, I'll drag my feet. I'll do everything but that thing, and try to come up with a 100 different things to do in the meantime. Even things I don't like doing move down in the hierarchy of things I don't wanna do so all of a sudden, I have to do them. It's like when you're getting ready to go somewhere you don't want to go, and you noticed there are dishes in the sink. Normally, you might not give them a second thought, but all of a sudden, you feel compelled to do them before you walk out the door to go somewhere you just don't wanna go.

Not saying either one of those are what happened here, but I wouldn't use him changing the sheets to negate a planned departure, based on my own experiences/habits. This is just my opinion, I know what I do will sound weird to some, normal to others.

If one were an extremely tidy person, and/or the type of person that didn't want to burden anyone else with his own chores, I can see changing the bedsheets before a final departure. It may have just been something he felt compelled to do. Or not. We may never know.

 

[Alleykins]

Yes, I get that. I guess it would depend on your personality. If I'm leaving forever, I'm not changing the sheets, haha.

That cracks me up.

 

[Elainera]

I just read the whole thread - what a mystery!

Normally I'm not one for conspiracy theories but in Ron's case I'm inclined to say it is not unlikely that the CIA recruited him and whisked him away that night.

He might just have carried on as usual in order to not arouse any suspicion, changed the sheets, studying at his desk, just a normal evening for a normal student.

If the CIA theory is true, could the visit to the coroner and the blood test have been a smokescreen to do some covert snooping around, or get some information about the coroner or someone else working there, or the premises, or have a look at some files or something the CIA needed to know. I don't know. Maybe I watched too many spy movies!

 

[dogperson]

I just read the whole thread - what a mystery!

Normally I'm not one for conspiracy theories but in Ron's case I'm inclined to say it is not unlikely that the CIA recruited him and whisked him away that night.

He might just have carried on as usual in order to not arouse any suspicion, changed the sheets, studying at his desk, just a normal evening for a normal student.

If the CIA theory is true, could the visit to the coroner and the blood test have been a smokescreen to do some covert snooping around, or get some information about the coroner or someone else working there, or the premises, or have a look at some files or something the CIA needed to know. I don't know. Maybe I watched too many spy movies!

I never thought of that, that the blood test was a ruse to visit the coroner's office. We've spent time wondering what he needed the blood test for, but as you have pointed out maybe he didn't need one but just used it as an excuse to gain entrance.

 

[Ozoner]

I just read the whole thread - what a mystery!

Normally I'm not one for conspiracy theories but in Ron's case I'm inclined to say it is not unlikely that the CIA recruited him and whisked him away that night.

He might just have carried on as usual in order to not arouse any suspicion, changed the sheets, studying at his desk, just a normal evening for a normal student.

If the CIA theory is true, could the visit to the coroner and the blood test have been a smokescreen to do some covert snooping around, or get some information about the coroner or someone else working there, or the premises, or have a look at some files or something the CIA needed to know. I don't know. Maybe I watched too many spy movies!

I have a very hard time with that theory. People who join the CIA don't vanish without any word to their families, never to be heard from again. Some kind of cover is created. If he died while working as a CIA operative, his parents would have been notified. And I've never heard of CIA handlers leaving fish in people's beds. The only possibilities I see are:
1) Hazing gone wrong
2) A hate crime if he was a closet homosexual
3) Punishment for something like not paying a gambling debt, getting a girl from the wrong family pregnant, etc.
-
I believe that he was the one who knocked on a woman's door and went to wait for a bus that never arrived. Regardless of how things started out, I think that he was abducted and received a beating or roughing up that wasn't intended to be fatal but eventually got lost and died of hypothermia or from his injuries.

 

[Kodiak]

I have a very hard time with that theory. People who join the CIA don't vanish without any word to their families, never to be heard from again. Some kind of cover is created. If he died while working as a CIA operative, his parents would have been notified.

Yes, with the CIA, a person can just vanish. The Price is Right game show model, Janice Pennington, was married to German mountain climber,
Friedrich "Fritz" Stammberger, who disappeared in Afghanistan in 1975 while mountain climbing, never to be seen or heard from again. After years of searching, she finally discovered that Fritz was actually helping the CIA establish mountain bases along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and had died during a battle with USSR forces. She wrote a book about it years ago. From her search for the truth, the CIA always denied that Stammberger was not an operative, but they admitted so years later.

And I've never heard of CIA handlers leaving fish in people's beds.

The truth about the fish was discovered not long ago from Jennifer Wenger. She located Ron's classmate that left the fish in his bead. You can hear her interview with him about it on her Ron Tammen website.

 

[Ozoner]

Yes, with the CIA, a person can just vanish. The Price is Right game show model, Janice Pennington, was married to German mountain climber,
Friedrich "Fritz" Stammberger, who disappeared in Afghanistan in 1975 while mountain climbing, never to be seen or heard from again. After years of searching, she finally discovered that Fritz was actually helping the CIA establish mountain bases along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and had died during a battle with USSR forces. She wrote a book about it years ago. From her search for the truth, the CIA always denied that Stammberger was not an operative, but they admitted so years later.



The truth about the fish was discovered not long ago from Jennifer Wenger. She located Ron's classmate that left the fish in his bead. You can hear her interview with him about it on her Ron Tammen website.

So Stammberger disappeared because he died during a mission.
Has there ever been a case of a CIA operative disappearing from US soil, never to be heard from again?
Either way, if the young man with no coat who knocked on the woman's door was Ron, then the CIA scenario doesn't fit.

 

[Kodiak]

Jennifer Wenger posted another blog entry last night. Others have wondered the same. I never really thought about it, but she provides some serious insight into the matter:

Your Thanksgiving dinner icebreaker: Was Ronald Tammen gay?

Also, be sure to read her last post from a few weeks about the Spivey's late-night encounter:

A late-night knock at the door

 

[dotr]

Jennifer Wenger posted another blog entry last night. Others have wondered the same. I never really thought about it, but she provides some serious insight into the matter:

Your Thanksgiving dinner icebreaker: Was Ronald Tammen gay?

Also, be sure to read her last post from a few weeks about the Spivey's late-night encounter:

A late-night knock at the door

Interesting article, to be gay at that time must have been terrifying and could well be a reason to run away, be victimized and/or commit suicide.
Wondering if there was a possibility that he was not gay, but a cross-dresser?
imo, speculation.

 

[Kodiak]

Wondering if there was a possibility that he was not gay, but a cross-dresser?
imo, speculation.

After reading it late last night, I was wondering about the cross-dresser possibility too. I knew of a married neighbor man who was highly educated from Princeton. He also went to our church and later became a pastor for another church. The shocking thing was is that he was a cross-dresser. No one ever knew about it except his family and us. We knew about it because a neighbor lady saw him all dressed up one day in the afternoon, screaming and running down the street in high heel shoes. He ran and his inside his house. That was just one incident. But, it's usually the ones who you never suspect. Perhaps Ron too.

 

[Jennyw]

Hi -- I've visited this thread numerous times, but this is my first time posting. For the past 9 years (and counting), I've been conducting a search for Ronald Tammen and I'm in the process of writing a book on the topic. My latest blog post where I discuss who I think was responsible can be found at the following link: The ‘I&I’ guys: Why I think Ronald Tammen’s psychology professor had a hand in his disappearance. It's kind of 'out there,' but sometimes the simplest answer doesn't apply. Also, please note that, even though the blog is on hiatus until I receive word from an interagency panel about my theory, my search/research will continue.

 

[dotr]

Hi -- I've visited this thread numerous times, but this is my first time posting. For the past 9 years (and counting), I've been conducting a search for Ronald Tammen and I'm in the process of writing a book on the topic. My latest blog post where I discuss who I think was responsible can be found at the following link: The ‘I&I’ guys: Why I think Ronald Tammen’s psychology professor had a hand in his disappearance. It's kind of 'out there,' but sometimes the simplest answer doesn't apply. Also, please note that, even though the blog is on hiatus until I receive word from an interagency panel about my theory, my search/research will continue.

Welcome to Ws Jennyw!
Very interesting blog, although admittedly it makes my head swirl.
Reminded of the experiments conducted in Montreal, Quebec by the infamous Dr Cameron.

The Secret Montreal Experiments They Don't Want You To Know About

 

[Jennyw]

Thank you! And yes, Dr. Cameron's experiments were especially horrific.

 

[dogperson]

The story of Richard Colvin Cox is quite similar to Ronald Tammen's. His family never got any answers either but after reading a lot about his case I feel fairly certain he joined the CIA.

As far as why Ronald would change his bed sheets if he planned to disappear, maybe he was just being considerate and didn't want to leave a smelly fish rotting in the bed for someone else to deal with. I would probably change the sheets too if I had time before pulling my disappearing act.

 

[Jennyw]

I agree that the two cases have interesting parallels, plus there was a reported sighting of Richard Cox in Oxford, Ohio, sometime in the Jan.-Sept. 1950 timeframe, which makes the similarities especially interesting (see: Did Ronald Tammen cross paths with Richard Colvin Cox?).

As for why Ron would bother to change his sheets before going off the grid, I have a few thoughts: first, I don't think he knew he was going off the grid that day--I've read that the CIA does surprise 'kidnappings' (so to speak) during trainings. I'm guessing they would have done it that way so that Ron wouldn't act any different than normal. Second, I believe the fish had been there since at least one day before Ron disappeared and possibly two days prior (see: The fish in Ron’s bed), so it was probably smelling up the room pretty badly. Lastly, I've been told by Ron's brother John that Ron was a neat freak, so I think it was in Ron's character to change his sheets as soon as he realized the fish was there.

 

[RedBeard]

Does anyone know more about this case? Just in reading through it, I would ask a few questions.

- What kind of grades did he have? Was he doing well in school or on the verge of flunking out?

- Was he pledging a fraternity? His quick disappearance sounds like something that might be done as part of a fraternity initiation or a prank by other students.

- Was he facing induction into the Army? At age 19 and at the height of the Korean War, perhaps he left to avoid the draft.

- Why would he be interested in learning what his blood type was? Had he been involved with a girl, and was he facing a paternity suit?

- Was he a member of the Air Force ROTC? They are mentioned as assisting in the search for him. Was this something they did as a regular service (searching), or was he one of theirs?

- Have any unidentified bodies turned up over the years in Ohio, Indiana, or Kentucky, which might be his?

I think for the selective service you had to know you blood-type back then.

 

[Jennyw]

I can address a few of your questions:
-- I've posted his transcripts on my website: https://ronaldtammen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/tammen-transcripts.pdf. As you can see, he was juggling to keep things at a B average. I believe it was to maintain his scholarship. However, as he withdrew from classes, he was no longer carrying a full load, which would have affected his college deferment from the draft.

-- He was already active in the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Personally, I don't think it was a fraternity prank gone awry because he was an active, not a pledge, and he lived in a dorm as opposed to the house (his fraternity brother said they occasionally did that to people who lived in the house). Also, every fraternity brother I've spoken with has been extremely interested and open with me. There's no evasiveness.

-- I think he may have been subject to the draft, since he was no longer considered a full-time student and falling more and more behind in his credit hours.

-- I cover these topics on my website. Long story short: I think the blood type test may have been so he could donate blood to earn money, which was something that was always on his mind. Why did Ron Tammen get his blood typed?

-- He wasn't in ROTC. He tried out for the Naval ROTC but failed the physical, I think because of his eyesight. I think the Air Force ROTC (which was the biggest ROTC unit) just volunteered to help in the search, as did other people/orgs.

-- The Butler County cold case detective investigated a couple cases of unidentified bodies/remains, including one that turned up in Georgia several months after Ron disappeared. In the Georgia case, they conducted DNA testing of the remains and compared that DNA to his sister's DNA, but there was no match.