Ch:41:Monika Maria Mason:Stranger in a Strange Land

    

  Monika Maria Mason was originally from Brilon, West Germany. She was born in 1945 to Maria Deppe and Klaus Schon. Her life began in the tumult and terror of World War Two and ended in the unprecedented violent crime tsunami of the late 1970’s. 

   We know she had been married to William Mason but was now divorced. Monika was the manager of a restaurant in Hammond, Indiana. 

   Because she had no family here in the U.S.; it’s difficult to know much of her story. Most of what we know comes from her death certificate and from newspaper articles surrounding her death. Unlike Ann Harmeier, who would be abducted later that year; Monika did not have the benefit of growing up in a small town in Indiana that mobilized with billboards and bumper stickers and numerous interviews and articles.

  We don’t know Monika’s favorite song.  We don’t know her favorite food.  We will never know what made her laugh. We don’t know what the future held for her. 

   Monika was raped and murdered and dumped naked in a field in Zionsville in late June 1977. She was not found until July 3rd 1977. Her death certificate lists no major or obvious injuries. Could she have been strangled?  With decomposition and discoloration, an inexperienced or uncaring coroner or medical examiner might not have recognized the marks. I say “uncaring” because victim blaming was extremely common then. “She went and got herself killed. What was she doing out that late? She went to bars; what did she expect? What was she wearing?” 

   Coroners were still an elected position and did not have to have any medical, forensic or law enforcement training at this time. In bigger cities they might have that kind of training but in smaller towns…you could just be the owner of a hardware store with enough friends to get you elected.

   Monika was dumped without any of her belongings nearby. Without clothes or a handbag containing ID; It was not easy to identify her. Obviously someone did come forward and inquire about the unidentified body found in Zionsville and view the body and identify her as Monika. Her death certificate indicates this and  lists her home as being in Hammond which is several hours North, near Chicago. 

   She had such a small circle of friends in the United States. Her coworkers at the restaurant would have possibly reported her missing. Her death certificate lists a friend, Frank Wilders, as the person who identified her body and provided information about her address and family back in Germany. 

   We don’t have information about the circumstances leading up to her death. Who dumped her in that field and what happened? How did she get to Indianapolis?  Was she taken from Hammond and brought all the way to Zionsville?  

   Jeffrey Hand is still loose at this point.  He could be a suspect. He abducted and killed Pamela Milam in 1972.  He abducted the Thomases in 1973 and killed Mr. Thomas before he was caught.  He was in a mental hospital for the crime until mid October of 1976. He was free at the time. 

   Possible perpetrators: Donald Forrester, Jeffrey Hand, Steven Judy, Thomas Williams and Robert L. Avery. Sadly, there were a lot of possible suspects loose at this time. 

   

   Forrester would be convicted of rape many times, including against female members of his family, but ultimately would be given a life sentence for the brutal rape and attempted murder of a victim in 1979.

    This April 1st 1979 victim had gone out to a club that evening and ran into an old friend. They left the club and went to Denny’s on East 82nd street to talk and catch up on each other’s lives. After chatting for a good long while they each headed home.  V notices that a car is following her.  She makes several turns and even runs a red light to see if it really is following her.  It is.  She doesn’t want to lead them to her home so she drives into a residential neighborhood in Noblesville and pulls over thinking they will pass her by.  The car instead blocks her in.  Two men are in the car. Donald Forrester tries to convince her that they know each other and even shows her his driver’s license. She insists they don’t know one another. He then pulls a gun and forces her at gunpoint into the backseat.  Donald instructs his cousin, Dale Dawson to drive.  He rapes V in the backseat as the car is moving.  He tells his cousin to go to a field somewhere. V realizes they are going to kill her and dump her.  They get lost.  As they approached a rural field; they brake suddenly for an animal. As this happens, V reaches up and opens the car door and escapes.  She is completely naked running through a field.  She runs for her life, likely injuring her feet on rocks, thorns, and sticks.  She manages to hide in some bushes. Donald and Dale give up and go home.  

   The victim goes to a nearby home and knocks on the door asking them to call the police.  They turn her away.  She goes to the next house and they don’t let her in but they do call the police.  The local Anderson, Indiana police do not believe her story.  They doubt that she could get out of the back seat of a two door car and escape so easily.  So, they initially dismiss her claims of stalking, kidnapping, rape and attempted murder. 

   This is what women who reported rape were up against in 1977 (and even today in most places). This victim is battered, completely naked, scratched from running for her life, she has the name of her attacker and a description of his car, and they doubt her story. What does a rape victim have to look like before you believe her story?  Did police think a woman would knock on a stranger’s door in the early morning hours battered and naked just for fun or for attention? 

   Luckily the state police DID believe her.  They put effort into the investigation and arrested Donald Forrester and Dale Dawson. Dale is terrified of his cousin but does testify against him. Together with other witness testimony; Forrester was convicted in November of 1979. He is then sentenced to life in prison. 

  Forrester was out on parole in 1979 when he committed this rape.  Was he incarcerated in June of 1977 when Monika was killed? 

   Certainly there could be other causes of death for Monika.  Perhaps drugs were involved and she died of an overdose.  Perhaps she had a heart attack and her companion panicked and dumped her body. But, looking at what was happening to young women in the 70’s in Indiana…assuming she was abducted, raped and murdered is not outlandish. 

  Sadly,  I could not find a photo of Monika to include with this post.