The Plum Tree Murder

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It’s Halloween night, 1925.

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If you take a drive out on the
west side of Evansville,

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Indiana, today along Harmony
Way, what used to be called West

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Heights Road back in the
1920s, it’s pretty

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easy to picture what it looked
like one hundred years ago.

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Four and a half miles outside
the city limits, it was nothing

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but unpaved dirt, pitch black
darkness, and a few scattered

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farm houses here and there.

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George and Helen Erhard lived

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in one of those farmhouses,

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sharing the place with George’s

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mother.

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Right around 10:15 on

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Halloween night, George’s mother

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was jolted awake by her little

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dog, barking frantically in the

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dark.

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She sat up and listened.

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Just outside, she heard a

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commotion, followed by the roar

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of an automobile engine starting

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up and speeding off down the

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dirt road.

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She peered out the window into
the pitch black, but she didn’t

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see anything and eventually went
back to sleep.

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About an hour later, right
around 11:30pm, George

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Erhard Jr and his wife Helen,
pulled into the driveway after

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returning home from a Halloween
party at a friend’s house.

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As the car’s headlights swept
across the yard, Helen caught

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sight of a dark, strange shaped
dangling near the road.

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At first, she figured it was
just a mannequin or a dummy a

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cheap Halloween prank left by
the neighborhood kids.

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So she stepped closer to take a
look.

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There, hanging from the low

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hanging branch of a small plum

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tree in their front yard was a

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man.

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He was dead, suspended by his
own black necktie, his knees

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practically scraping the dirt.

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He wasn’t a local and not a
single soul recognized him.

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And what unfolded over the next
two weeks turned into one of the

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most baffling mysteries this
area has ever known.

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Welcome back to River City
Mystery.

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I’m your host, Matt Deig, and
we’re going back in time, over

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100 years, to uncover
the unsolved case known as the

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“Plum Tree Murder”.

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Every time we’re together, it’s
overshadowed by the fact that

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someone’s missing someone.

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Very important.

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I want to pry it open.

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And when I kicked the door in.

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Next thing you know was all you
seen was my brother, and he was

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slumped over on the couch.

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And I mean, blood just coming
from everywhere.

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I offered the cops to go and
take them to the exact spot.

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I pulled over him.

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When I turned around, I pulled
over and I called my wife and

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I’m walking him out my rear view
mirror, and he’s walking towards

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the tracks where he went from
there after I left from that

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spot, I don’t know.

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I was there at Saint Joe and

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Diamond working, you know,

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mid-morning, you know, my cell

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phone rings.

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I don’t recognize the number.

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So this woman, I didn’t

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recognize her because she was

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distressed.

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She.

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She says, this man come in and
shot me.

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George and Helen have just
returned home from a party late

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on Halloween night.

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They’re standing in their front

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yard in front of a plum tree

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from which is hanging a dead

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body.

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They don’t know who it is or how
it got there.

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Once the reality set in, Helen
and George sprinted to the phone

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and called police headquarters.

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Sergeant Barrett took the call

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and Sheriff Shelby McDowell,

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along with Deputy Schultz and

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Wentzel, rushed out to West

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Heights Road.

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When coroner Max Lowe and the

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officers arrived, they stepped

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into the yard and were

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immediately baffled by what they

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saw.

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Right across the road from the

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property was a dense, overgrown

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patch of woods, woods so thick

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that you could hide a body in it

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for months and no one would ever

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know.

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But this man wasn’t hidden.

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He was left right out in the

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open, just a few feet off the

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main road, just a few feet off

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the driveway.

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He was not placed there to be
hidden for any period of time.

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Whoever put him there knew he
was going to be found quickly.

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Coroner lo began inspecting the
body and immediately spotted

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signs of violence, deep bruises
and cuts covered his forehead

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with one cut, lining up
perfectly with a rip and the

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brim of his cap.

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Another bad bruise marked his
left cheekbone alongside scraped

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dirty skin on his elbow.

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His formal cause of death was
ruled as strangulation, but it

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was obvious he had been beaten
unconscious before he was ever

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placed in that tree.

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As deputies combed the grass,
they started turning up a trail

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of odd clues.

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A grey crushed cap lying in the
dirt near his feet.

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Out near the front gate, a heavy
brown coat was lying on the

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road, as if someone had tossed
it out the window of a car

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speeding away from town.

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Tucked inside its pockets was a
worn pair of work gloves.

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His pockets were cleaned out
completely.

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He had no cash.

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There was no watch, no
identification.

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The only thing left on him was a
blue bandana, the classic

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hallmark of a railroad worker.

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Physically, the victim was a
solid guy about five seven, one

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hundred and forty five pounds.

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He had gray eyes, and they noted

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he had full lips on his left

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forearm.

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He had a distinct tattoo, an
anchor and a heart woven

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together with the initials “N. M. L.”.
Pinned to his lapel was a

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small enamel button, white with
a red border and gold lettering

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that read “S.M.B.”, likely a badge
from a Sunday school or a local

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club or something.

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Then came a few details that
became crucial.

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First, his shoes and trousers
were caked in thick mud, showing

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he had either been walking
through the rain or dragged

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across the dirt.

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Second, the tip of his right
index finger was missing,

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amputated at the second joint
and long since healed over.

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Finally, Coroner Low turned the
victim’s jacket inside out

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there, sewn neatly into the
inner lining, was a tailor’s

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label Damschroder and Berry
Clothing Company, Toledo, Ohio.

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And just like that,

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investigators had their first

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real lead.

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Local officers wired Toledo
right away.

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By Tuesday afternoon, November

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3, a man named John

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Zakrzewski stepped off the train

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in Evansville.

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John went straight to the morgue

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and he took one look at the

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victim and confirmed it was his

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35-year-old brother,

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Seraphine Zakrzewski.

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Seraphine was single.

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A World War One veteran and
worked as a punch press operator

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in a Toledo factory.

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According to his brother,

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Seraphine was just a quiet, hard

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working guy with no known

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enemies.

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About five days before
Halloween, Seraphine had walked

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out of his home in Toledo.

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He didn’t leave a note, didn’t
say goodbye.

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Nothing.

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His own family had no idea where
he went.

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Yet somehow, in less than a

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week, he traveled nearly four

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hundred miles south, only to

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turn up dead in a stranger’s

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front yard near Evansville,

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Indiana.

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And here’s where the story gets
even stranger.

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When Seraphine was found, he was
dressed in a blue Serge

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pinstripe suit, a gray crush
cap, a brown flannel shirt, a

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sweater coat, brown socks, and
dark high top shoes.

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And underneath all of that, two
full suits of underwear, he was

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layered up like it was the
middle of a brutal winter.

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Except it wasn’t.

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Evansville had been having a
mild weather week, so

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investigators figured he either
came straight from somewhere

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freezing up north, or he had
spent days riding an open

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freight cars, maybe layering up
to survive the cold drafts.

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Deputy Sheriff Harry Rasure took
one look at him and thought he

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recognized the type, guessing
Séraphine might have been a

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railroad worker himself.

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Then came the twist that threw
everyone for a loop.

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Police realized that the clothes

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Seraphine died in weren’t even

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his.

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Someone right here in Evansville

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had given him the clothes after

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he arrived.

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So, I mean, that’s a lot to
unpack here.

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A stranger arrives in town four

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hundred miles from his home, and

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somebody here gives him a

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completely different set of

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clothes.

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So it makes you wonder if he was
staying in, like, a boarding

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house, or if maybe he knew
somebody down here.

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Somebody just felt sorry for
him.

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Or if he fell in with the wrong
people, I don’t know.

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While all of this was playing

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out, the investigators working

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the case couldn’t even agree on

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what kind of crime they were

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looking at.

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Emmett Bell, Evansville’s Chief
of Detectives, was pushing the

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theory that Seraphine was
walking down West Heights Road

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when a car full of drunk
partygoers struck him.

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Prohibition was in full swing,

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and Bell figured they were

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fueled by local moonshine, or

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“white mule”, as it was called

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around here.

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Bell argued that they knocked
Seraphine out cold, panicked,

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dragged him into the yard and
strung him up in the plum tree

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to stage a suicide to cover up
the hit and run.

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But Deputy Sheriff Harry Rasure
and Elba Schultz called the

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accident theory ridiculous.

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As far as they were concerned,

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this was a robbery or a revenge

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Speaker:
motivated hit.

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Deputy Sheriff Rasure had one
lead he couldn’t let go of.

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A few neighbors reported seeing
a beat up touring car idling on

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Speaker:
the side of the road near the
Erhard farm on Halloween night,

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Speaker:
right between 10:30pm and
11:00pm. Inside were

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three suspicious looking men.

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To make matters worse, police

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Speaker:
already suspected that exact

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same car was involved in a

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string of violent armed

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robberies and road hijackings

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Speaker:
popping up across Vanderburgh

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Speaker:
County while deputies chased the

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Speaker:
car.

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Officer John Heeger rolled

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Seraphine’s fingerprints on Monday

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morning and rushed them off to

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Speaker:
Washington, D.C..

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Speaker:
Now, remember, Seraphine was a
World War I veteran.

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Speaker:
His prints should have been on
file with the military.

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Speaker:
Matching them should have been a
slam dunk.

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Speaker:
But when Washington wired back,
the news stunned the department.

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Speaker:
No hits, no criminal record,
nothing.

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Speaker:
With that trail going cold,

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Speaker:
detectives doubled back to the

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Speaker:
farm.

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Speaker:
They brought in George Erhard
and his wife, Helen, putting

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Speaker:
them through a relentless
14-hour interrogation.

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Speaker:
But after 14 straight
hours of grilling, police came

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Speaker:
up empty handed.

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Speaker:
The couple was completely unable
to shed any light on how the

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Speaker:
body got there.

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Speaker:
They were just innocent folks

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Speaker:
who happened to pull into their

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Speaker:
own driveway and discover a

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Speaker:
nightmare.

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Speaker:
By mid-November, frustration was

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Speaker:
boiling over in the local press,

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Speaker:
and then the trail just went

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Speaker:
completely dead.

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Speaker:
The headlines stopped, the leads
dried up, and the story vanished

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Speaker:
from the front pages entirely.

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Speaker:
In the end, no one was ever
arrested.

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Speaker:
No one was ever charged.

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Speaker:
The investigation simply ground
to a halt, frozen in time.

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Speaker:
John Zakrzewski loaded his
brother’s casket onto a train

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Speaker:
and took him back home to Ohio.

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Speaker:
If you visit Mount Carmel
Cemetery in Toledo today, you’ll

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00:11:21,059 –> 00:11:24,379
Speaker:
find a simple red granite
headstone resting in the grass.

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Speaker:
It reads “Serafin Zakrzewski”,

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00:11:27,490 –> 00:11:29,029
Speaker:
1889 to 19

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Speaker:
25.

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Speaker:
A full century later, those same
haunting questions still echo

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00:11:34,250 –> 00:11:36,110
Speaker:
down Harmony Way.

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Speaker:
Why Seraphine walked out of his
life in Toledo so suddenly.

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Speaker:
Who gave him those clothes after
he arrived in Evansville?

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00:11:43,309 –> 00:11:44,649
Speaker:
And who was sitting in that beat

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00:11:44,649 –> 00:11:46,190
Speaker:
up touring car, idling in the

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Speaker:
dark on Halloween night time,

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Speaker:
almost managed to bury the plum

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Speaker:
tree murder.

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Speaker:
But a hundred years on, it still

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00:11:52,669 –> 00:11:54,149
Speaker:
stands as one of the strangest,

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00:11:54,149 –> 00:11:56,029
Speaker:
most lingering unsolved cases in

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00:11:56,029 –> 00:11:58,190
Speaker:
Tri-State history.

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Speaker:
If you have any family lore or

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00:12:00,230 –> 00:12:02,309
Speaker:
photos or news clippings or

292
00:12:02,309 –> 00:12:03,350
Speaker:
information about the West

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00:12:03,350 –> 00:12:04,470
Speaker:
Heights neighborhood back in the

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00:12:04,470 –> 00:12:05,870
Speaker:
twenties, you’re welcome to join

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00:12:05,870 –> 00:12:07,629
Speaker:
my discord server and share what

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00:12:07,629 –> 00:12:08,750
Speaker:
you know.

297
00:12:08,750 –> 00:12:12,870
Speaker:
You can join it at
rivercitymystery.com/discord.

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00:12:12,870 –> 00:12:14,629
Speaker:
I want to thank you for
listening to the episode and

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00:12:14,629 –> 00:12:16,509
Speaker:
until next time, take care.