The Perry Daily Journal (Perry, Okla.), Vol. 74, No. 309, Ed. 1 Friday, December 22, 1967 Page: 4 of 30
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Oklahoma Crime Rate Mounting Again
convict folded into the trunk Harp from the consequences of police said they had not linked P. 4, Perry Daily Journal
of the car. I shooting his mother to death at to the murder - killed himself
No one was harmed, not even [their home at Boise City. A in hjs |10me two blocks away
McCarthy, in either episode, judge ruled the boy had not with a rifle.
Both times, his captives had been advised of his rights be-
Friday, Dec. 22, 1967
By TOM LACEKY
Associated Press Writer
The brand of crime that
shocked, outraged or saddened
Oklahomans in 1967 was no dif-
ferent than the crime of other
years. There was just more of
it,
Statistics released for the first
nine months of the year showed
virtually all types of crime had
increased in Oklahoma during
the year, roughly on the same
scale as the national increase.
But a disturbing facet of the
crimes that made headlines in
Oklahoma was the children who
figured in them, either as vic-
tims or victimizers.
The case that most completely
gripped the hearts and minds of
Oklahomans during the year
was the baffling disappearance
of two little girls in the Oklaho-
ma City area. There is still
such an absolute lack of clues
that police cannot even be cer-
tain the two disappearances are
linked.
Judith Ann Elwell, 5, disap-
peared from near her Oklahoma
City home sometime before sun-
set July 6. Exactly four weeks
later, almost to the hour, Bren-
da White, 6, fanished from near
her Midwest City home, six
miles away. Until last month,
when two quail hunters found
Brenda's remains in a shallow
grave in eastern Oklahoma
County, police were stumped by
a complete lack of information
-no witnesses, no evidence, no
hint of what happened.
And even the finding of Bren-
da's remains established only
one thing — Brenda is dead.
The year had hardly begun
when another mysterious disap-
pearance nudged its way quiet-
ly into the scene Jay Frank El-
sea, 32, an assistant bursar at
the University of Oklahoma,
failed to appear on the job. A
month later Elsea’s body was
exhumed from a pauper’s grave
in south Texas, where it had
been buried after an autopsy by
Texas officials showed no cause
of death. A new autopsy, at the
request of Oklahoma police,
identified the body as Elsea’s
and showed two bullet wounds.
Elsea’s red sports car was
found 10 months later in New
Brunswick by Canadian Mount-
ies, and police produced a
sketch of the man believed to
be the killer. But the man re-
mained at large.
One of the most spectacular
episodes of 1967 began in an Ok-
lahoma City hospital before
dawn May 8. A huge con-
vict. brought to the hospital for
back surgery, leaned out of his
wheelchair and snatched a gun
from his guard. Before that day
was half over, Emmett Ray Me-
As the year drew to a close,
a c the girl’s murder remained of-
A teen-age boy and two young officials that he methodically ficially unsolved.
men were added to death row | loaded a .22-caliber rifle and
shot his mother 10 times, i ”
kind words for him.
fore telling his father and two
Abby gives her advice, daily
in The Journal.
during 1967. Relix Fesmire Jr.,
19, was sentenced to death aft-
Carthy Jr. — 6 feet 10 and 210 er he admitted killing his fath-
pounds — had kidnaped seven er, 10-year-old brother and a
persons, including two law en-teenage friend in the Fesmire
The boy’s father later com-
mitted him to a state hospital.
Another of the young victims
of 1967 was Geneva Sue Hobbs,
forcement officers, had stolen home at Hammon, in Roger a 17-year-old waitress. Her nude
Mills County. | body was found in southwest
four autos and led hundreds of
police on a wild chase that end-
Howard Gaddis, 25, was or- Oklahoma City, beside a road,
dered put to death after he was late in May. An escapee from
ed in his capture in Marietta, usicu pus______________... .
near the Texas border, convicted of killing a coed at the a South Dakota mental hospital
A month later McCarthy was
off on another spree He broke School in Oklahoma City,
out of the Pontotoc County jail, Td d Tond n-
where he had been returned to from 1967 crimes is Ronald
University of Oklahoma Medical i was sentenced to life in prison
for her murder with a shotgun.
The third Death Row inmate
face kidnaping charges from Thomas Koonce, 23. He was con-
the first escape bid, and held an victed early in December of kill-
Ada family hostage in their ing a 24-year-old mother at
home overnight. Before dawn Stroud in June. He also is
McCarthy forced the man to charged with killing her teen-
drive him out of town, but at a age sister at the same time.
roadblock near Roff Highway
Patrol troopers found the big enough, saved 14-year-old Bruce
A blurted confession, oddly
One of the most unlikely vic-
tims of murder during the year |
was 17-year-old Maxine Cum-
mings, a quiet, respected and
deeply religious girl who was
found stabbed, and her throat
slashed, in her Oklahoma City
home Oct. 31. The next day a
young man who had been ques-
tioned in the case — but whom |
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of the
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THE MASONS
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SEASON’S
GREETINGS
The warm wishes we send today
are but a mild expression
of our feeling toward you at this
Holiday Season.
SEARS
BORDENS
Marylou & Chuck Arnold
IA
4
, the glory 0/
Jl 1irth, Le us alo rameml
Oops!
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) -
The alarm sounded and the fire
trucks came screaming around
the corner. But there wasn’t any
fire.
The parents of a 4-year-old
girl explained that they had giv-
en their daughter a coin for the
parking meter, but she pulled
the wrong handle.
Entire Laos Village
Flees Red Guerrillas
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) -
All 785 people of Ban Bo village
in northern Laos have fled to
Muong Maung because of in-
creasing Communist guerrilla
activities, the Lao army an-
nounced Tuesday It estimated
the number of refugees from the
Communist Pathet Lao area is
now about 250,000.
Three Cubans Swim
To U.S. Navy Base
MIAMI. Fla. (AP) - A Cuban
barber says he and his 14-year-
old son and a 34-year-old com-
panion swam three miles across
Guantanamo Bay to the U.S.
Naval Base there.
“We set out in the black of
night, and dodged several Cas-
tro patrol boats,'’ 30-year-old
Rogelio Estrada said. * :
A U.S. naval plane brought
them here, Estrada said.
He added: “I had first es-
caped from a concentration
camp where I served a five-
year sentence for being a guide
to Cubans wanting to go into ex-
ile. I picked up my son and my
friend, waited for my chance,
and plunged into the water."
a taught
that love o/ mankind is the true path to / Pace on Cartl.
O'Halloran Oil Co.
Cliff Robinson
PHILLIPS
Ray Waren
Roy White
Cliff 1 Busse
Bob O'Halloran
hristmas
We join Santa in wishing our warmest holiday greetings to all of you whose
friendship and good will we cherish. Wi th genuine appreciation of your kind pat-
ronage and friendly good will, we extend our sincere thanks and best wishes for
every happiness during the holiday season.
AGAIN THIS YEAR...
In view of the response we received the last 5 years, we are making use of
the facilities of this newspaper to extend Greetings for (hristmas and the
New Year. We consider it proper to continue our policy of using the money
we usually spend in sending individual greeting cards to make a contribut-
tion to the Oklahoma Medical Foundation. It is our sincere hope this money
may be used to help insure better health for those who are ill.
"m. HAYTON
a 78
n
AND A
PHONE RA 5-3690
BILLINGS
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Watson, Milo W. The Perry Daily Journal (Perry, Okla.), Vol. 74, No. 309, Ed. 1 Friday, December 22, 1967, newspaper, December 22, 1967; Perry, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2246753/m1/4/: accessed June 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.