That’s it for now — Joe
From the Charleston, South Carolina, Clarion, June 2, 1980:
With no leads in the investigation into the heinous murder of Candice Tucker, 18, the lovely blond bar hostess found raped and butchered in her Magnolia Street apartment last week, Charleston Police are turning their attention to two identical killings committed in different states throughout the past fourteen months.
On April 18 of last year, Kristine Pasquale, a go-go dancer, was found raped and dismembered in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment. Wilma Thurmann, a Des Moines, Iowa, prostitute, was found identically devastated in a feed bin outside Des Moines on October 1, 1979. Physical evidence, Charleston Police told newsmen, is identical in all three cases. At a press conference held yesterday, Charleston District Attorney Timothy Kleist said, “In the interest of public safety and crime-fighting efficacy, we’re keeping our liaison investigation with the Louisville and Des Moines P.D.’s under wraps, but I will tell the media this: It’s a baggie. All three killings are most certainly the work of one man, and we intend to apprehend this fiend!”
In a related note, City Councilman Michael Cleary accused D.A. Kleist of using the Tucker case as a political football. “We all know Tim is getting ready to run for the Senate, and a nice juicy murder conviction would sure look good on his record. Let’s hope he doesn’t pull any railroad jobs in his haste to get to Washington. His party is famous for them, and I sure would hate to see innocent men get rousted.”
Supplemental Memorandum, filed on 6/6/80 as part of Charleston Police Department Case File # 80-64-Rape/Homicide, Canvassing and Physical Evidence sub-files.
To: All Investigating Officers
From: Det. Sgt. W. W. Brown, 19th Precinct
While re-canvassing Magnolia Street area, I questioned a male negro named Steven “Sterno Steve” Washington, a transient with no visible means of support. He told me that on the night of the Tucker killing he was drinking wine under the stoop directly across the street, and that “about midnight” he saw “a white man with a cop vibe” enter the vestibule wearing gloves & carrying a wadded-up plastic trash bag. Washington left the stoop then, as the man pressed a buzzer and went upstairs. (Washington said he was afraid the man would take away hi s wine when he returned downstairs.)
Since shredded plastic was mentioned among trace elements found at crime scene, I think this is a major lead. (Washington being held at 19th Pct. drunk tank in case further questioning deemed necessary.)
From the Kalamazoo, Michigan, Standard-Leader, September 10, 1980:
The body of a Kalamazoo resident known for his eccentricities was found in the shallow water of Lake Michigan near the Benton Heights Pier three days ago. Although decomposition was close to complete, bullets embedded in the skull pointed to shooting as the cause of the man’s death, and a teletyping of his unique dental bridgework to local dental labs yielded a rapid identification. The victim was Rheinhardt Wildebrand, 72, of Kalamazoo.
Wildebrand, a lifelong Kalamazoo resident, was an inventor who lived off of royalties from tool and die devices he developed back in the 1930’s. He was a local “character” who lived in a big gingerbread house at 8493 S. Kenilworth, flew the flag of his ancestral Austria on American holidays, seldom left his block and kept a 1953 Packard in his driveway — but never drove it. He was assumed to have no living family (his parents and one sister having died in the ’40’s), but recently a man who he told neighbors was his “nephew” was staying with him — and Benton Heights and Kalamazoo Police are now searching for that man as Wildebrand’s presumed killer.
The retired inventor’s neighbors told police that the nephew arrived sometime in early August, and that they often saw him with Wildebrand on the latter’s front porch, but that the man, like his alleged uncle, kept to himself. Neighbors described him as being “tall and strongly built, early thirties, dark hair and eyes and full beard.”
Lieutenant Loren Kelleher of the Kalamazoo Police Department, which is aiding the Benton Heights P.D. in its investigation, told Standard-Leader reporter Bob Shaeffer: “We’ve checked out the records on the Wildebrand family. The old man had one sister, a spinster, who died in 1941, which in all likelihood is before our suspect was born. So we know the ‘nephew’ stuff is baloney. We think robbery is the motive. The so-called nephew in all likelihood gained Wildebrand’s confidence, then stole his money and killed him. The old man was rumored to have large sums of cash hidden in the cellar. Right now we are going over the house for physical evidence and showing mug shots of Michigan, Illinois and Ohio criminals to neighbors in an attempt to identify the ‘nephew.’ ”
As for the neighbors themselves, they mourn the fact that there seems to be no one mourning the late inventor. “Rheinhardt was a strange old bird,” a Kenilworth Avenue resident told our newsmen. “But nobody — not even a weirdo like that — should have to get shot and dumped in the drink.”
Details on the investigation will be forthcoming.
Liaison Memorandum, sent to the Homicide Squad, Benton Heights Police Department by Lt. Loren Kelleher of the Kalamazoo Police Department.
9/15/80
Officers—
On the Kalamazoo end of Wildebrand, Rheinhardt J. — a big zero along with some interesting stuff.
A. — Victim’s bank accounts not hit — savings balance $41,000, checking balance $12,000 (R. W. Sent out large checks to credit-card companies before he disappeared).
B. — No turn-up on stolen or sold .38 with defective parts & no matchup on the shells (I ran statewide).
No ID on the “nephew,” & no one saw suspect with a vehicle.
C. — Canvassing of local res. — zero.
D. — Victim’s house searched, no wallet or ID found (probably floating in Lake Mich.). No money found, which confirms robbery as motive.
E. — The clincher on “nephew” as our man — all 3 stories, 12 rooms of house completely wiped clean of latents — washcloth marks everywhere. Nephew knows his stuff.
F. — Will you call me with feedback from your end soon? — Lt. L. Kelleher.
From the Baltimore, Maryland, Sun, May 19, 1981:
The shocking murder of Carol Neilton, found raped and brutally hatcheted in her apartment last week, appears to be the fourth in a series of slayings that began in Louisville, Kentucky, over two years ago.
In April of 1979, Kristine Pasquale, a nude dancer, was discovered in her Louisville apartment, butchered exactly like Ms. Neilton; Wilma Thurmann was killed in Des Moines, Iowa, similarly, on October 1 of that year; and last May 27, Candice Tucker of Charleston, South Carolina, met an equally gruesome end in that city. The physical evidence is identical in all four homicides — and there is an identical absence of clues. Baffled, the four police agencies involved in the investigations are discussing pooling their information in the hopes of avoiding a fifth death.