WI WI - Mary Ellen Kaldenberg, 17, Kenosha, 14 Feb 1967

[rosesfromangels]

Agree stanreid. Doesnt add up.

 

[scorpionsting]

That is interesting especially since it was Thursday and I can't think of any reason why the next day wouldn't have been a school day. I don't know about Wisconsin, but here in IL, if I recall, curfew for individuals under 18-years-old was 9PM on a week night like this. Friday and Saturday, it was midnight. I suppose the date could have been to watch TV or something like that but, even then, I don't think most kids would be allowed to stay up past 10:30 on an evening preceding a school day.

That curfew law might be enforceable in a very small town, but Kenosha's population in 1967 was about 50,000. You also had a mother who had no problem with her under-age daughter dating an 18 year old.

Also, she left her home at 8:30 pm for what would have been a 15 minute walk, back in time for curfew. She was a 17 year old dating an 18 year old with parent's consent. What's odd to me is that the daughter and mother were already drinking soda and watching TV.

Why the need to run out for a soda right before a date? A quote by the mother in a newspaper article shown recently on this thread mentioned Mary Ellen frequently going bowling with her boyfriend.

The last newspaper article on Mary Ellen Kaldenberg's murder was in the Madison Capital Times, Wednesday, May 29, 1968. Nothing else ever appeared about her murder in the newspapers after that, anywhere. That's quite a short attention span from the media for a gruesome murder. Why the disinterest after a year? Who swept that story under the rug, especially when there were numerous unsolved stabbing murders in Wisconsin before and after the Kaldenberg murder?

Other points of interest:

Was the baseball team that was hauled around in the hearse (a macabre means of transportation in the first place) a team sponsored by Frankie's Place, the name on the side of the hearse? Where was Frankie's Place located in proximity to Kaldenberg's residence...or the murder site, for that matter? Did any of those player's work at the factory directly across the street from the Kaldenberg residence? What was the name of that factory, btw, anybody know? I'm sure workers getting off from that factory interacted with the people from the neighborhood on their way home from work. A cold night (10-15 degrees above zero that night), a "Hey, you need a ride?" and next thing you know, a gullible teenager goes missing.

Or was it a juvenile team hauled around in the hearse?

http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/tangledweb55/media/hearse.jpg.html

The media site was located at a police impoundment lot. Who better has access to an impoundment lot than the police? She did disappear around the time of curfew, so who's to say...you get my drift. Was that avenue explored? I'm not casting aspersions, but recently an ex-police officer was arrested in Wisconsin after two bodies were found in suitcases, so it can happen. Iola Police Chief Michael Schertz was tried for the murder of another police officer. It happens.

Thirdly, children played in that impoundment lot and it was children who found the body. The killing could be attributed to a teenager/teenagers exploring their dark side for the first time. Serial killers start their fantasy somewhere. Maybe in a hearse on the way to a ballgame?

Lots of scenarios to consider...

 

[rosesfromangels]

Great post Scorpionsting, and yes, lots to ponder. I hadn't picked up on the factory directly across the street from where they live; and certainly quite compelling depending on what type of factory.
Still bothered by her mothers remarks about her "big nose" and plain appearance. It's a big flag to me. It just seems like the last thing you'd be saying about your daughter if she had just been brutally murdered. I know people say odd things under stress, but this really stands out for me. To me, it strongly hints at some level of animosity towards the daughter, or jealousy.
I would be interested in knowing more about the mother, and her close male acquaintances. Where was Mary Ellien's father in all this? Was he deceased, or? Sorry if this has all been discussed previously.
Something just isn't right about that statement from the mother, and it's standing out for me.

 

[STANDREID]

I don't believe curfew applied here if you were with an individual who was at least 18 but wasn't Mary Ellen still in school?

 

[rosesfromangels]

This thread has referenced remarks posted in Mary Ellen's *advertiser censored*c*st*y.com thread. I just got around to reading them. On the positive side, it's good to see she still has relatives and old neighbors who think about her, and someone who tends her grave. It appears she has a grand niece on the thread, and that her brother is still living and still seeking answers.

And, as mentioned on this thread before, there is someone "R.C." claiming to know what exactly happened to Mary Ellen. While these remarks can not be legitimized by virtue o the sheer cruelty of posting them in someone's family thread, this "R.C." does make one point that I do believe has some potential merit. RC speculates Mary Ellen had another male she was seeing quietly. The fact that she slipped out at 8:30 at night, before a date, to go get a soda (?) speaks to a teenager up to something else. The rest of RC's theories may have some basis of truth, but can not be considered by me since since the manner of disclosure was so unbelievably thoughtless to the family.
If RC has anything of substance to share, he should send his research to the family. The family designated someone he could contact. Until proven otherwise, RC is a cruel troll. I hope he proves me wrong and legitimately helps the family.

 

[STANDREID]

Her mother's comments do sound uncaring.

She was a junior at Tremper High School and her father was deceased.

 

[scorpionsting]

Great post Scorpionsting, and yes, lots to ponder. I hadn't picked up on the factory directly across the street from where they live; and certainly quite compelling depending on what type of factory.
Still bothered by her mothers remarks about her "big nose" and plain appearance. It's a big flag to me. It just seems like the last thing you'd be saying about your daughter if she had just been brutally murdered. I know people say odd things under stress, but this really stands out for me. To me, it strongly hints at some level of animosity towards the daughter, or jealousy.
I would be interested in knowing more about the mother, and her close male acquaintances. Where was Mary Ellien's father in all this? Was he deceased, or? Sorry if this has all been discussed previously.
Something just isn't right about that statement from the mother, and it's standing out for me.

Some quotes from post#168...

Daniela Kaldenberg, Mary Ellen's mother, was widowed in 1956. (KALDENBERG, CECIL was born 22 January 1896, received Social Security number *advertiser censored* (indicating Wisconsin) and, Death Master File says, died June 1956. The 1940 U. S. Census shows him being born in Illinois. It appears they lived in Chicago at one time, as did their family)

Cecil and Daniela Kaldenberg are mentioned in Daniela's parent's golden wedding anniversary in Mitchell County, Iowa, below:

http://iagenweb.org/mitchell/marriages/marrag6a.htm

Mrs. Kaldenberg said, "Mary Ellen was not popular. She had a big nose. She talked of getting plastic surgery when she got a job when she got out of high school. She usually stuck with her boyfriend. They were going out together all the time. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night she went along with him to bowling. And that awful Thursday night she spent at home."

The residence was located at 2007 64th St, Kenosha, WI 53143. Google maps shows the railroad tracks 10 blocks west of the house and a factory just east across the street from the house.

---------------------------------

I only wish we knew where the drugstore was located. A Kenosha city directory from 1967 would help.

 

[scorpionsting]

Thank you for compiling this, it's very helpful Scorpionsting!
My first thought is how horrid for those boys that found her. I'm sure they will never shake off that image as long as they live.
My second thought is that her date seemed very late in the evening for a teenager, and especially in that era. She was just going to run an errand at 8:30 and her date was later? That seems odd, unless the boyfriend was working until then?
I wonder wat she was going t the drugstore for? If she was going on a date maybe a new lipstick or cologne or hair accessory?
Or, I wonder if she used that as an excuse to go meet someone else she didn't want to tell her mother and brother about?
The death of the other girls with no sexual molestation before the killing makes me go back to my hypothesis that this was a "virgin sacrifice". The concrete is related to some pagan ritual, or some ancient burial practice I think. I'm still researching that.

If one were to wonder what may have influenced the killer, I'd nominate the cult-classic 1965 movie Who Killed Teddy Bear starring Sal Mineo as a psychopathic stalker serial killer and Jan Murray, a cop obsessed with sexual deviants and whose wife was the victim of an unsolved murder. She was raped, killed and mutilated by a stalker. Another actor in the movie was Kenosha-born Daniel Travanti (who lived in Iowa at one time) and whose father was an American Motors factory worker in Kenosha. Read some of the online write-ups for this movie and you might agree. This was Daniel J. Travanti's first movie. If that factory by Mary Ellen's house turns out have been a part of American Motors, I'd freak.

The movie, as it progresses, shows close-ups of book covers and titles through the different scenes. One such book is Sadism and Masochism by Wilhelm Stekel which describes sixty four of some of the most disturbing, violent, and extreme instances of sexual perversion ever recorded. It would be interesting to see if any of those sixty four descriptions are similar to the Kaldenberg murder.

Scene from Who Killed Teddy Bear:

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h337/tangledweb55/sal.jpg

 

[scorpionsting]

http://boards.rootsweb.com/thread.aspx?o=20&m=48.3.2&p=surnames.kaldenberg

Maybe posting it on a genealogy board was unorthodox but the many answers he got from family members showed they weren't offended. In fact, several of them gave names of people in Kenosha who have first hand information about the case. Those are some pretty good leads that could be pursued just by emailing them.

I would think he would need evidence or some sort of theory to back up his statements. The majority of the wounds weren't in the stomach, for one, and, if he did go to the police, as he stated, they would have investigated his statements.

Coroner Edward Wavro said the girl was stabbed six times in the neck, three times in the abdomen and on her right arm. Another statement reads: She had been stabbed 12 times in the neck, chest, forehead and back with a "blade-type" weapon. Two stab wounds had pierced her heart. Death was due to internal bleeding by stabbing.

I would like to find out who that elderly gentleman was who he said was linked to the Kaldenberg case

 

[scorpionsting]

Mary Ellen's killer thought she was carrying child. He was seening Mary Ellen on the side and she made a mistake and told him she was pregnant. I interviewed the cops that were involved in the case they had their story together, Word for Word. Mary Ellen was seeing a cop when she was killed there was also another murder that was involved with Mary Ellen's death. The cops were covering that up to. I've done a lot of research and I believe the police were covering for another cop who had been sleeping with Mary Ellen. The majority of Mary Ellen's stab wounds were in her stomach but the autopsy said she was not with child. I hope that clears some of the mystery up.

I'd have to have more proof for the above theory put forth by rcrane49 on Rootsweb in 2012.

http://boards.rootsweb.com/thread.aspx?o=20&m=48.3.2&p=surnames.kaldenberg

Also, I don't know of any guy who uses the term "with child". The above theory is also put forth in a fictional story online by a female writer.

http://hulagurl2590.wordpress.com/

I don't doubt they are one and the same.

Another poster there (at Rootsweb) stated the murder site was near 63rd & 25th, which is five blocks east of a railroad siding at 63rd & 30th. Now all we need is the name and address of the drugstore where Mary Ellen was headed to when she disappeared.

Mary Ellen and her brother Eddie were Lincoln Park neighborhood people as were my family. They lived about 3 blocks away from us and they were members of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Chruch (now a charter school) on 63rd and 25th, very close to where her remains were found.

I posted a map at the following WS website in Post #27 in which I show another murder suspect (Dennis Brantner), named by the police in the murder of Berit Beck, living in close proximity to Mary Ellen Kaldenberg's home in Kenosha. Whether he lived there in 1967 and whether he has any connections to this murder is unknown to me. Maybe he worked at the Jupiter Discount Store in Kenosha, too?

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?240384-WI-IL-Berit-Beck-18-Fond-du-Lac-17-July-1990/page2&highlight=kaldenberg

As far as news on this murder goes, there have been no newspaper articles written about Mary Ellen Kaldenberg's murder since May 9, 1967. That's 47 years ago! Not even an update. In fact, the Kenosha Police Department doesn't even mention this case on their website:

http://www.kenoshapolice.com/

Even the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team's Unsolved Murders website doesn't list Kaldenberg's murder:

http://php.wisinfo.com/mktg/unsolved_apc/

How's that for being forgotten?

 

[BugsMoran]

I grew up very close to Mary Ellen (65th Street and 18th Ave in Kenosha, and she was a member of my family's parish (St. Thomas Aquinas on 63rd and 25th). A few things I'd like to point out. The Drug Store Mary Ellen was heading towards was the Hub Drug on the corner of 63rd and 22nd Ave, about 2 blocks from her home. She could have made the entire trip in 15 minutes. Her remains were found in the hearse inside of the car pound on 63rd and 30th. There was a back exit to the car pound on 63rd and 26th, so it was only about a 5 to 10 minute walk from Hub Drug. I think she headed to the drug store around dusk, which would have been between 5 and 6 during the month of February. People are saying 8.30 but I think that is a mistake. I honestly think the Hub Drug closed well before then. I remember her as being tall and sweet. She always said hello to everybody. I felt sorry for her because she dressed very poorly as the family was hard-pressed. Somebody has since told me that she sometimes had to wear hand-me-down men's clothing. She was teased because of her clothing and her looks. I think the mother mentioned it in the newspaper. to make her torturers at school feel bad. Her body was found frozen and after a heavy snow fall. I think the snow covered up tracks and the cold made it hard to determine times and clues. Don't forget: this was almost 50 years ago, and the forensics were pretty primitive. Now the lab people could determine more: like if she was pregnant, had been drugged and the time of her last meal. I don't believe she was pregnant, but Kenosha in 1967 was very conservative and it could have been left out of the newspapers to save her family more grief. There were theories galore! And for years! The most consistently stated one was that it was a creep that she had dropped and he wasn't going to let it go. The cops pulled him numerous times for questioning, but he wouldn't crack. They even followed him all over the city to make him sweat. I don't know if I heard his name before, but allegedly he left Kenosha years ago to escape the hounding of the police. The phantom truck driver was another one! A crazy sailor from Great Lakes was another.

 

[BugsMoran]

The creepiest tale that made the rounds was that Mary Ellen was the victim of a witches coven that was nested above a tavern over on 60th, a very close walk to the car pound. According to this yarn, she was sacrificial lamb offered up during a satanic ceremony. She was stabbed 12 times: one time by each of the twelve member of the coven. I think this theory sprung up when "The Exorcist" became a best seller. It is stuff of urban legends. The murder has haunted me for years as I felt a great evil had been done to a good person. I attended St. Thomas School right across the street from the car pound, and our class enrollment dropped from 50 to 35 after Mary Ellen's death. I have always felt there was an underlining but spoken connection between the two. Finally there was a tiny diner at the intersection of 22nd & Roosevelt that Mary Ellen was known to patronize. It was always felt that place was connected with her death. I'm glad Eddie went on to have a new life and a family.

 

[pleasestandby]

Thank you for your valuable insight, BugsMoran. It helps put the locations in perspective and may eventually help jog someone's memory. The Google Maps link below shows the most logical route from Mary Ellen's home at 2007 64th St. to Hub Drugs at 6300 22nd Ave. (a four minute walk one way according to Google) and would have taken her right by the diner at 22nd Ave & Roosevelt St. Since she never did make it to Hub Drugs, could the diner have factored into her disappearance?

And, of course, the impound lot was about eight blocks west of the drugstore at 30th Ave & 63rd St. It also appears that Mary Ellen was held alive a number of days in an unknown location before she was found in the hearse. Was the impound lot fenced in, I wonder? Didn't the kids who found her have to climb under the fence to get in? Wouldn't the killer (or killers) also have to do that?

It appears she was dragged to the hearse (probably unconscious), according to news reports, so there must have been some sort of impression in the snow showing the drag marks. I wonder how far the hearse was from the fence line and if detectives reenacted dragging someone of her weight in the snow to determine if one person could have done it or whether it required two people? Whoever did it sure went to a lot of trouble to drag her there and then kill her and then stack the blocks around her body. Was that all done to hide her body or was he/they sending a message? For some reason, he/they couldn't kill her where she was being held.

https://goo.gl/maps/2vawR

If anyone knows the answers to any of the below questions feel free to answer.

The diner you mentioned wasn't named Frankie's Place (the name on the hearse), by any chance, was it?
Did Frankie's Place sponsor the baseball team that was carried around in the hearse?
Did any member of that team go to Tremper High? (depending on the age group of the team members)
Did any of those team members work at the factory directly across the street from the Kaldenberg residence?
What was the name of that factory? Was this American Motors?
Did any of the windows in the factory face the windows of the Kaldenberg residence and did any of the detectives go to the factory to determine whether someone could see into the Kaldenberg residence from the factory windows?

 

[Ausgirl]

Her being held for a number of days pretty much discounts a non-local, IMO.

Somebody had a 'safe' place to stash her for days on end.

Somewhere no-one would look, somewhere she would not be heard/looked for/discovered by others.

VERY good point, re WHY the killer could not, or didn't wish to, kill her where she was being held. Was his family on vacation, for example... If he *lived* or *worked* there, that could be a very good reason.

I really think the covering points to a "If I can't have you, no-one can" scenario. I agree, it's a LOT of effort to go to, a LOT of 'unnecessary' risk to go to, to stage her body that way. So it must have meant *something* very important to her killer. What that may be, who knows... but it's significant to him, that is for sure. Again, pointing to a local IMO.

 

[pleasestandby]

Her being held for a number of days pretty much discounts a non-local, IMO.

Somebody had a 'safe' place to stash her for days on end.

Somewhere no-one would look, somewhere she would not be heard/looked for/discovered by others.

VERY good point, re WHY the killer could not, or didn't wish to, kill her where she was being held. Was his family on vacation, for example... If he *lived* or *worked* there, that could be a very good reason.

I really think the covering points to a "If I can't have you, no-one can" scenario. I agree, it's a LOT of effort to go to, a LOT of 'unnecessary' risk to go to, to stage her body that way. So it must have meant *something* very important to her killer. What that may be, who knows... but it's significant to him, that is for sure. Again, pointing to a local IMO.

Great observations. His "place" where he kept her hostage was only temporary. Discovery of the location was probably imminent (and possibly right nearby)

When you click on that Google map link and put it in "street view" mode, you can actually retrace Mary Ellen's steps from her residence to Hub Drugs. The 360 degree panoramic view of the houses and businesses along the route is amazing as you click on the arrow. It's just as if you were "walking" down the street 47 years ago. Virtual reality. Just add some traffic/people background ambient sounds and a person could really freak themselves out. Witnesses could use it to recall forgotten/suppressed clues.

 

[BugsMoran]

The diner was called the Frost Top. In the 70's a driver spun out on the ice and crashed into it and basically destroyed it. The Frost Top had a parking lot behind it that many people used to cut through to get to the lights on Roosevelt Road, 63rd Street and 22nd Avenue. There were 4 set of lights that you had to navigate to get to the Hub Drug so it was game to see which lights you caught. If Mary Ellen was abducted by somebody inside of a car (or if she entered a car willingly), this spot would have been an ideal place. The Frost Top catered to neighborhood people but cab drivers and truck drivers hung out there. A 'rougher' element went there after dark. I'm sure it closed before 9. The rumor I heard (stemming from a person who worked there who told my mother) was that Mary Ellen hung-out there, and had the habit of 'taking up' with the 'wrong' sort. This could just be a case of blaming the victim.

The railroad tracks were not used as a passenger line but as a source of 'shipping' for American Motors cars outward bound. The car pound had a link fence that I believe was very easy to crawl under at the front gate or to scale over. However, 30th avenue was very busy with the various shift workers at the American Motors. It was also heavily patrolled by the police. The car pound also bordered the backyards of many houses so it probably could have been accessed easily from many points. I'm not sure but it could just be empty space these days.

I believe the boys who found the body were in the 7th grade at McKinley Middle School, maybe about a half of a mile from the car pound. I went to high school with them but I didn't know them. I was told by others that they didn't want to talk about it. One boy was treated for shock. When they found the body they ran next door to a building that I believe was run by the Water Department. They brought a worker to the hearse and he then phoned the police. I have heard that the body had turned blue.

The factory across the street from the Kaldenberg home was very tiny. I think it was more of a store that sold fixtures for homes. In the back of the store there were all sorts of pipes that I believe were for plumbing. I think it probably employed less than a dozen people...if that. Could have been as few as 2 or 3.

 

[BugsMoran]

The business wasn't part of American Motors, and it was there years after the murder. There were no windows facing towards her home. When I walked past there over the years, you rarely saw anybody back there, and they were usually older guys. The police basically went to every business in the area to ask questions. They also checked out the bowling alleys, movie theatres and pizza parlors. Very little was open in Kenosha after 9 at night. Curfew was maybe 10.30 but it was usually only enforced during the warmer months and if kids were walking on the streets or causing trouble. Two teenagers around 17 inside of a car would probably not have been bothered. Really, it was lights out well before midnight in those days. I doubt if any movies even started any later than 7 or 8. My sisters both went to Tremper with Mary Ellen, and they thought she was nice and quiet. The feeling is she was lonely and insecure and maybe did things that weren't in her own best interests. One of my sister still contends that there was a cover up because the murderer's parents had money and influence. I rather doubt that.

 

[BugsMoran]

The Frost Top was kitty corner (and to the south) to the Hub Drug. The Hub Drug was on the west side of 22nd and the Frosty Side was on the east side. You could easily hit the Hub Drug with a snowball pitched from the Frost Top. There was also a drug store across the street from the Hub Drug on 63rd Street and a but north if 22nd called Bernnachi's, and it had an old fashion soda fountain inside it. The Dutch Maid was maybe a few buildings from Bernnachi's, and it was a popular hamburger place. None of these businesses saw Mary Ellen that night. Nobody is cars on 22nd reported seeing Mary Ellen walking down the street. Was it stated by the police report that she died a few days after she went missing? I always had the impression she was killed sooner and that her body was left in the hearse for several nights. It was just by chance those boy's found the body.

 

[BugsMoran]

The factory that was directly east of the Kaldenberg residence was the American Brass. It ran north to south from 63rd to 65th street and east to west from 14th avenue to 20th avenue. The Kaldenbergs lived in the side street between 20th and 21st street, so it wasn't facing the Brass but the tiny piping place. The part of the Brass on 20th avenue was a huge parking lot for the workers. There were 3 shifts there, and the blowing of the whistles signaled the end and start of every shift. If you walked along the sidewalk next to the Brass the workers could talk to you through the window. Sometimes they said rude things to the girls. I'm not sure if the cops investigated the factory. It would seem likely. It has been gone these past 10-15 years.

The car pound was a very makeshift and slap dash affair. It seemed to be more of a service road in the land sandwiched between the railroad tracks and the homes along 63rd street. It was not very wide, but it was rather long. There were no city roads that actually cut through there. To get to 6oth to 63rd you still have to drive to 30th. I also don't believe there's any city streets from 26th and 30th. You have to use 60th or 63rd to get from 26t and 30th. It's a real industrial waste land. If you are from Kenosha you know that 22nd avenue is one of the only roads in town that goes through the entire city north to south and 60th is one of the few that goes completely through from east to west. Streets disappear and then reappear miles away. There are dead ends galore.

The car pound was for abandoned cars. The only worth these cars had were for their tires and parts. I think the gates were actually open during the day. I don't recall it being heavily monitored. It was more like a junk yard. I have heard that the hearse was seeable from 30th avenue and was maybe within 50 yards of the gate.

I think there's a Jackson-Hewitt Tax Service where the Hub Drug used to be. The address is 6207 22nd avenue. I saw a picture of the 3 businesses there and it looked like Roosevelt Road was slanting in from the southwest. The grid system in Kenosha was usually very accurate but there are unexplainable numbering sequences. I grew up on 65th street and our neighbors next door lived on 66th Street but their was no street running through there.

 

[pleasestandby]

Was it stated by the police report that she died a few days after she went missing? I always had the impression she was killed sooner and that her body was left in the hearse for several nights. It was just by chance those boy's found the body.

The most specific news article I've read on the time of death was from the Madison Wisconsin State Journal. The February 21, 1967 article stated Mary Ellen Kaldenberg did not die on the night she disappeared, according to a preliminary State Crime Laboratory report.

The laboratory's investigation shows death came later than the Thursday night of Feb 9. Officials said no specific date of death had been determined but that a substantial period of time passed before she was slain.

She was found by the children on the following Monday, February 13. After school, I assume. Depending on what day the snowfall occurred in between Thursday and Monday might help. Defining a "substantial period of time" would help even more. I assume they can tell how long it takes a human body to freeze at a certain temperature and the rate of decay at those temperatures.

I'm guessing if she didn't die the night she disappeared, the earliest would have been Friday night under cover of darkness. It would be taking a huge chance of discovery to drag her out there in the daytime and kill her.