Episode 52 The Burger Chef Murders Part 1
The small town of Speedway, Indiana is world famous for its connection to the Indianapolis 500, but in November, 1978, it would capture headlines for a perplexing quadruple murder known as 'The Burger Chef Murders'. On the night of Friday November 17th, four young workers from a local Burger Chef fast food restaurant were in the process of closing up the store when something went terribly wrong, and they were presumably taken from the store. When the unoccupied store was discovered, and police investigated, they found signs of what appeared to be a robbery with cash missing from the store's safe and registers. All that was left behind were rolls of coins, as well as the purses and jackets of the missing workers.
Incredibly, despite the fact that local fast-food restaurants had been robbed leading up to this event, the authorities believed that the group of employees had taken the money and run off. They didn't investigate the store as a crime scene and instead, told management that they could clean up and open for business as usual. Two days later, the bodies of 20 year old Jayne Friedt, 16 year old Daniel Davis, 16 year old Mark Flemmonds, and 18 year old Ruth Ellen Shelton were found by hikers in a secluded area of Johnson County; 20 miles away from the Burger Chef. Three of the four, Ruth, Jayne, and Daniel had all been shot or stabbed to death. The fourth victim Mark, had signs of bludgeoning on his face, and had died from choking on his own blood. Jayne's Chevy Vega was found abandoned not far from the Burger Chef.
The brutal murders of the four young Burger Chef workers set off shock waves, and police were under tremendous pressure to solve the case in light of them botching the early investigation. Rumors swirled as to who may have been responsible for the murders, and whether the murders were linked to the earlier string of fast-food robberies, or to the 'Speedway Bombings' case; in which as series of bombs exploded in Speedway two months earlier in September. The case eventually went cold, but despite the police failures early on in the case, it seems that there may be physical evidence in this case that may help lead to the identity of the killer, or killers.
In Part 1 of the Burger Chef Murders, the panel discusses what happened, and what evidence may help solve the case. In the next episode, we will discuss potential suspects in the case.
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The Citizen Detective team includes:
Co-Hosts- Mike Morford, Alex Ralph, and Dr. Lee Mellor
Writing and Research- Alex Ralph
Technical Producer- Andrew Gray
Production Assistant- Ashley Monroe
Suzanna Ryan- DNA Expert
Cloyd Steiger- Retired Seattle PD Homicide Detective
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Oct 19 20242 hrs and 11 mins