Murder isn't just a story

-
Crime and murder stories can be fascinating and intriguing but the shocking memories such events leave behind are with the victims' families forever. They endure loss, shock, and often the public airing of their grief. They deal with police, investigators, reporters...and writers who keep coming back many years after the crimes were committed.
This summer I've been researching the local (Litchfield-Troy-Edwardsville-Mitchell, IL) angle of a vicious, senseless crime spree across the country in 1961. The story of two GIs in their late teens gone AWOL and gone murder-crazy made the national news and kept making it as their story unfolded. The very brief version: Ronald York and George Latham went AWOL in Texas in May 1961 and headed into Louisiana, beginning a two-week orgy of crime that took them east to Florida and then west across the country. They killed seven people, stealing their vehicles and money. Two of their victims were here in the Metro East. Their names were Eugene “Gene” Reed and Martin Drenovac.
Various family members of these two men – Reed and Drenovac – have communicated with me via phone, email, and/or Facebook, and some met with me in person. I've been searching for their stories and elusive photos. The events of June 8, 1961, left their mark all those years ago – a tattered photograph carried since then, a family photo album said to have been thrown away – perhaps in hopes of taking some memories with it, a story of a loaded shotgun at the ready. Sometimes I feel as if I'm intruding. Other times I'm validated by the reassurance that I'm telling the stories of their loved ones.
I've written a two-part article on the Reed and Drenovac murders for Show Me Route 66, the quarterly magazine of the Route 66 Association of Missouri. Part One was included in the Summer issue, and Part Two will be in the Fall issue. I hope you'll consider joining the association and getting this slick, information- and photo-packed magazine. Back issues are usually available as well. Here's the link:  Route 66 Association of Missouri

Get your membership and magazine. Read the stories. I like the thought of more people knowing about Gene Reed and Martin Drenovac.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

June 2017 Route 66 events and adventures with the new van

-
Image
With the 2017 Route 66 event season in full swing, my pertussis quarantine over, and an itch to go places in the new van, June proved to be a busy month. Between St. Louis and Chicago, I gave a program, attended a program, went to the Route 66 exhibit at Missouri History Museum twice, drove across the Chain of Rocks Bridge, sold and signed books, and, with my BCC colleagues, produced the third annual Blue Carpet Corridor festival weekend. Here's a brief rundown of my June: June 1 - At Jubelt's  in Litchfield, I met up with Bill Kelly, Executive Director of Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, and Dave Tucker, Vice-President of Blue Carpet Corridor, for hand-off of materials for Blue Carpet Corridor weekend. Lunch was terrific as always at this long-standing cafe-bakery. June 4 - I drove to Greenville to record a podcast for Creekside with Don and Jan at Owl Creek  with the lively and fun Don and Jan Stover. We talked Route 66, the upcoming Blue Carpet Corridor event, and my ne
Read more

Sixth Annual Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference is planned for October 2021

-
Image
The Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference is back this year with its sixth annual event, to be held virtually Thursday – Sunday, October 21 – 24, 2021. This year's theme is “A Worldwide Celebration of Route 66,” emphasizing the love of Route 66 and its collegiality that is truly an international phenomenon. To that end, this year's slate of speakers and presenters comes to you from across all eight Route 66 states and from locations around the world. Embracing the virtual format, the organizers have created a truly “worldwide” event!  The by-now familiar conference format plus social activities will be followed again this year with a few new twists. The event kicks off with a Thursday evening virtual Happy Hour to meet and greet old and new friends and colleagues from around the globe. Friday and Saturday feature daytime conference sessions, with no need this year to choose from multiple breakout sessions. ROUTE Magazine editor Brennen Matthews will present the keynote speec
Read more

Edwardsville's A&W Drive In - Edwardsville's Route 66 History #7

-
Image
As promised, here we are back to Edwardsville's Route 66 history with the story of the A&W Root Beer Drive-In. This was published in the November 2012 issue of The Prairie Land Buzz and also in an issue of Show Me Route 66. Give an eatery half a century in the same location and it's bound to generate a lot of memories. And when the restaurant is owned by the same family all those years, their story becomes part of the community's story. Mel and Vonney Kaufmann lived in Wisconsin when they started hearing glowing reports of Vonney's sister's successful A & W Root Beer Drive-In franchise in Springfield, Illinois. Inspired to search for a city that needed an A & W, Mel and Vonney decided on Edwardsville. They arrived in 1954 and purchased a lot on St. Louis Street/Route 66 on which to build their A & W. The Kauffmanns' chosen property had once been the location of the grand two-story A. O. French residence, but the now-empty lot had more re
Read more