WI WI - Barbara Nelson, 34, Elkhorn, 5 Aug 1982

[Truthbetold1981]

If you go around the corner, about a 1/2 mile away, my great aunt was struck by a car so hard and off the road that she was thrown well into a nearby cornfield and our relatives did not find her body for some time (by then it was too late) . Around 1979-1980. She was a child caregiver, something like a teacher I think? I believe my great-uncle found her body (brother in law). About 3 years before that my uncle's struck a child in the area with his work vehicle and killed him. We much more recently found out that he had molested generations of our family as well as many others. He died in jail during a 7 year sentence for homemade *advertiser censored* at 87 I believe.

For a while i wondered if he had a hand in the jacob wetterling case, since when I was younger he used to take a bus to camp somewhere out there, and could never bribe any of the family children along, because apparently their parents didn't want the kids to go through what they did (but they never told anyone that). But fortunately that killer was found.

Years before those two cases my uncle found a woman's body while driving his work truck. I do not know the name. I only know it was in the area.

So that's two bodies my family found. My cousin found another body while scuba diving in a local like. Suicide.

Scott Barker, Jeff Barker. Leon Barker owned a Studebaker. Both men wore clothing like what is in the pictures. Both men resemble the sketches.

 

[Truthbetold1981]

If you go around the corner, about a 1/2 mile away, my great aunt was struck by a car so hard and off the road that she was thrown well into a nearby cornfield and our relatives did not find her body for some time (by then it was too late) . Around 1979-1980. She was a child caregiver, something like a teacher I think? I believe my great-uncle found her body (brother in law). About 3 years before that my uncle's struck a child in the area with his work vehicle and killed him. We much more recently found out that he had molested generations of our family as well as many others. He died in jail during a 7 year sentence for homemade *advertiser censored* at 87 I believe.

For a while i wondered if he had a hand in the jacob wetterling case, since when I was younger he used to take a bus to camp somewhere out there, and could never bribe any of the family children along, because apparently their parents didn't want the kids to go through what they did (but they never told anyone that). But fortunately that killer was found.

Years before those two cases my uncle found a woman's body while driving his work truck. I do not know the name. I only know it was in the area.

So that's two bodies my family found. My cousin found another body while scuba diving in a local like. Suicide.

Scott Barker, Jeff Barker. Leon Barker owned a Studebaker. Both men wore clothing like what is in the pictures. Both men resemble the sketches.

 

[Quoththeraven]

Scott Barker, Jeff Barker. Leon Barker owned a Studebaker. Both men wore clothing like what is in the pictures. Both men resemble the sketches.

Welcome to Websleuth's, Truthbetold1981. Are these 3 all brothers? I noticed Jeffrey Barker has ties to Walworth County and there's a Scott Barker with an address in Edgerton, WI (1989), which is 5. 7 miles from where Barbara Nelson was abducted.

Google Maps

 

[Quoththeraven]

In case anyone thinks that the Barbara Nelson abduction and murder in 1982 was an isolated incident, it wasn't. Three years earlier, in 1979, the yet unidentified remains of a young man "were located in a corn field near the Village of East Troy in Walworth County, Wisconsin. The remains were badly decomposed and have not been identified."

East Troy, Wisconsin Unidentified | Clearinghouse for Missing & Exploited Children & Adults

On March 26, 2002, the remains of Daniel Marc Walden, age 38, of South Milwaukee, were also found along this stretch of road. He would have been 42 years old on the day he was found in 2002, so I can only assume his obituary implies that he was 38 when he disappeared, which would have been 1998 when he went missing. He died from blunt force trauma to the head. His 1976 Franklin High School photo is below.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/jsonline/name/daniel-walden-obituary?id=3189782

So, here we have three murders right near the Barker Land which was sold for the Alpine Valley Music Theatre.

I don't have the exact locations where the bodies were found on my map, but they're pretty close. If anyone knows the exact locations where the bodies were found, please feel free to post the locations.

Does anyone know how close the two men were found to N6632 Bowers Rd., Elkhorn, WI? I was of the understanding that someone in the area owned a Studebaker truck back in 1982?

The Walworth County Sheriff's Department needs to release more information on these cases. If they have 10 suspects and some lived in the area, why have they not released that information? One can only assume a serial killer is at work here. It's too coincidental that three bodies were found within a 16 year window all about a mile of each other.

 

[Quoththeraven]

I just stumbled across this post and realized you're talkin about the body (the man) my grandfather found in his Valley at the house where I'M LIVING RIGHT NOW. I had forgotten about that. It was creepy because my mother and my grandfather and others walked right by there weekly if not daily walking up to various farms for chores, and never saw it. Not even buried - but sitting upright against a tree. I thought they'd never ideal, but eventually they did. Still no idea what happened though. We thought maybe he got hit by a car after a concert, but the blunt force trauma didn't lend itself to that possibility

Yeah, that guy was ID'd as Daniel Marc Walden. The other guy hasn't been ID'd. So, if Daniel Marc Walden went missing two days after Christmas, 1998 and was found March 26, 2002, this would mean he was propped up against this tree on the side of the road for 4 years while people daily walked by and didn't notice him? The smell of a decomposing body for several weeks and a couple feet away from such a highly traveled road surely would have attracted someone's attention. What exactly did the blunt force trauma look like on the skull of the skeletal remains? It must have been pretty noticeable.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/jsonline/name/daniel-walden-obituary?id=3189782

 

[Quoththeraven]

This is a little more accurate map of where the three bodies were found.

Unidentified East Troy's remains were located in a cornfield along County Trunk I, .5 mile north of Highway J, near East Troy, Wisconsin.The exact location on County Trunk I is unknown. The attached news article reads "one or more gunshot wounds to the chest". That death is also on Websleuths.
Time of death June/July 1979
Body found October 11, 1979

WI - WI - East Troy, Male 20-35, 1552UMWI, in cornfield, unusual shoes, Oct'79

Daniel Marc Walden went missing 2 days after Christmas, 1998
Time of death unknown
Body found March 26, 2002

Barbara Nelson was found 5 Aug 1982, several days after her abduction from Mini Stop-N-Shop convenience store off of Highway 51 in the Town of Albion, Dane County, Wisconsin, which is near Edgerton, Wisconsin.

 

[Quoththeraven]

Scott Barker, Jeff Barker. Leon Barker owned a Studebaker. Both men wore clothing like what is in the pictures. Both men resemble the sketches.

A great uncle, Loren B. Barker, not Leon Barker, owned a Studebaker. He lived on Bowers Road just north of where Barbara Nelson was found on Bray Road and where the still unidentified man with the head injury was found by dogsearch's grandfather near Bruce T Barker's residence. This is also where Bruce T Barker hit Wade Kadlec according to dogsearch's previous post in this thread. The Walden guy who was shot with a shotgun was found just north of Loren's residence on Highway I, 1/2 mile north of Highway J. If you go up Bower's Road to Highway D, this is where Kathleen C Barker, dogsearch's great aunt, was struck and killed by a hit and run driver 5/5/79. That driver was never caught. Dogsearch also said his cousin found a weighted down body in Lake Beulah just up the road in East Troy. He says it was a suicide, but, I don't know how that was determined. And what was the person's name? That body found is attached. Dogsearch also said his uncle found another body driving his work truck. "Years before those two cases my uncle found a woman's body while driving his work truck." Does anyone know about that case? There are sure a lot of murders and bodies turning up in this general location, don't you think? And none of them solved.

THe Walworth County Sheriff's Department needs to release more information. The uncle worked for the Walworth County Highway Department.

 

[Quoththeraven]

After finding this article I had to update my map to reflect that Daniel Marc Walden was found adjacent to N7173 Bowers Rd., just north of I-43. This was property owned by James Joseph Freimoth, not Bruce T Barker. Bruce's sister, Jeanne E Barker was married to James Joseph Freimoth. Six year old Wade Kadlec was hit and killed by Bruce Barker near his residence, N6586 Bowers Road. Bruce Barker's sister-in-law Kathleen C Barker nee Aldrich was killed by a hit and run driver April 30, 1979, at about 11 pm. That homicide, which occurred on Highway D just east of Bowers Rd. has never been solved. The news article above was from Saturday, May 5, 1979.

Daniel Marc Walden's death was due to blunt force trauma to the head and is being investigated as a homicide. He disappeared 2 days after Christmas in 1998 at age 38 from South Milwaukee and was found seven years later on the side of Bowers Road on March 26, 2002, sitting upright against a tree. Hard to believe the ex-Marine was propped up against that tree for seven years on the side of Bowers Road, 36 miles from South Milwaukee. 1978 Franklin High School Class of 1978 graduation photo below.

 

[Quoththeraven]

It's interesting that there was no real attempt to hide the bodies of the two men, and the body of Nelson, found by the side of the roads. Sure, one (Unidentified East Troy Male) (1979) was in the cornfield, but it would have eventually been found when the corn was harvested. Nelson was shot in broad daylight and left where she died (1982). The other victim, (Walden) (1998), was propped up against a tree alongside a road. All within 14 miles of each other.

"Disorganized Offenders

Disorganized crimes, in contrast, are not planned and the criminals typically leave evidence such as fingerprints or blood at the scene of the murder. There is often no attempt to move or otherwise conceal the corpse after the murder. Disorganized criminals may be young, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or mentally ill. They often have deficient communication and social skills and may be below average in intelligence.


The disorganized offender is likely to come from an unstable or dysfunctional family. Disorganized offenders often have been abused physically or sexually by relatives. They are often sexually inhibited, sexually uninformed, and may have sexual aversions or other pathologies. They are more likely than organized criminals to be compulsive masturbators.


They are often isolated from others, live alone and are frightened or confused during the commission of their murders. They often do not have reliable transportation, so they kill their victims closer to home than organized offenders.

Significantly, disorganized killers will often “blitz” their victims—that is, use sudden and overwhelming force to assault them. The victim’s body is usually left where the attack took place and the killer makes no attempt to hide it."

Serial Killers: Modus Operandi, Signature, Staging & Posing

Understanding and classifying serial killer crime scenes.

www.psychologytoday.com

 

[Quoththeraven]

A great uncle, Loren B. Barker, not Leon Barker, owned a Studebaker. He lived on Bowers Road just north of where Barbara Nelson was found on Bray Road and where the still unidentified man with the head injury was found by dogsearch's grandfather near Bruce T Barker's residence. This is also where Bruce T Barker hit Wade Kadlec according to dogsearch's previous post in this thread. The Walden guy who was shot with a shotgun was found just north of Loren's residence on Highway I, 1/2 mile north of Highway J. If you go up Bower's Road to Highway D, this is where Kathleen C Barker, dogsearch's great aunt, was struck and killed by a hit and run driver 5/5/79. That driver was never caught. Dogsearch also said his cousin found a weighted down body in Lake Beulah just up the road in East Troy. He says it was a suicide, but, I don't know how that was determined. And what was the person's name? That body found is attached. Dogsearch also said his uncle found another body driving his work truck. "Years before those two cases my uncle found a woman's body while driving his work truck." Does anyone know about that case? There are sure a lot of murders and bodies turning up in this general location, don't you think? And none of them solved.

THe Walworth County Sheriff's Department needs to release more information. The uncle worked for the Walworth County Highway Department.

Speaking of the Walworth County Highway Department...according to the below article, Barbara Nelson was also found by a Walworth County Highway Department employee. What are the odds this is the same employee? That's sure a lot of bodies he found. Did he ever mention to the police that his uncle, who lived just up the road, owned a Studebaker pickup?

 

[Quoththeraven]

I included the location of the Beulah Road murder victim which was about 15 miles north of where Barbara Nelson was killed.

 

[Richard]

Barbara Nelson, 34
Murdered 5 August 1982

 

[Quoththeraven]

According to this excerpt from an Edgerton Reporter news article from 2013 (31 years later!) by Jeff Brown, a teacher saw the two suspects struggling with Barbara Nelson on Bray Road the day after the abduction, It was a few hundred feet south of Highway 11 and 40 miles from where she was abducted.

We can pretty well assume that between the time she was abducted and the time she was seen struggling with the suspects that they weren't driving around with her all night up until that time the next day. Logically, then, we can assume they were holed up in the immediate area until that time the next day to minimize getting caught. The article doesn't say what time this struggle occurred. So why were they out of the truck? Because they were going to kill her and she knew it. They had to kill her because she could identify them. That's why she was struggling to get away. I surmise that during the time they stayed somewhere in the immediate area was when Barbara took off her earrings and hid them in the hopes that it would leave a clue to where they held her. I doubt the two suspects took them because they left a ring on one of her fingers. Why take the earrings and not the ring?

As she struggled to get away, the teacher happened to show up and drove by. The suspects assumed that the person driving by was going to report the incident to the police as soon as that person could, so they had to kill her immediately and get away. Enraged that Barbara was resisting and to subdue her, they beat her severely about the face and head and then shot her. One of the earlier news articles said she was shot in the head but then that was changed to being shot in the back and arm with a .25 cal automatic. Four shell casings were found.

The article continues that a blouse belonging to Barbara was found in a field along Bass Creek Road and a pair of woman's shoes and duct tape was found in another area. I would assume those items were disposed of after the execution and were left in the truck. Why drive down to the Afton area and then back to Bray Road, especially disposing of the duct tape that was used to hold her?

I believe the suspects lived in the area of Bowers Road and were disorganized killers based on their actions. (see four posts above)

"The disorganized offender is likely to come from an unstable or dysfunctional family. Disorganized offenders often have been abused physically or sexually by relatives. They are often sexually inhibited, sexually uninformed, and may have sexual aversions or other pathologies. They are more likely than organized criminals to be compulsive masturbators.

They are often isolated from others, live alone and are frightened or confused during the commission of their murders. They often do not have reliable transportation, so they kill their victims closer to home than organized offenders."

And just because Barbara Nelson hd no signs of being sexually assaulted doesn't mean she wasn't. Some sexual assaults don't leave traces. She wasn't in her underclothes for nothing.

I also believe these two were responsible for other murders in this area.

 

[Quoththeraven]

If I interpret the attached Nov 20, 2013 Edgerton Reporter news article right, the route taken by the killers would have been Bowers Road to Potters Road to State Road 120. Where they went from there is anyone's guess.

The link to the whole article is below which I forgot to add to my above post.

http://truecrimediary.com/uploads/file/Edgerton%20Rerpoter%2011_20_2013%20Front%20Page.pdf