Chalkboard Thoughts

         Dawn Magyar had a one year old baby.  She had been married to Donald Magyar Jr. for just about two years. They lived in Chesaning, Michigan.     Michiganders tell people where they live by using a left handed mitten basically.  Imagine a left handed mitten.  Chesaning is close to where the thumb meets the rest of the mitten. Chesaning is not too close to Lake Huron but it would be the closest Great Lake to head out to on a hot day.    It was not a hot day however when Dawn borrowed her Father-in-Law’s truck to head about 30 minutes south to Owasso to do some shopping. It was January 27th 1973 and Dawn headed first to J.C. Penney for some clothes.  I wonder if she had some Christmas money that she had been saving for this trip.     Dawn was a Mom who loved her 1 year old baby.  But I bet she was excited to have a quick shopping trip by herself.  It’s nice to get ...

        On April 8, 1964 Tomika Hassenbein left the house early to head to the bus stop.  She worked at the RCA factory as an instrument operator and was always very punctual.      Her husband, Hyman, had left for work even earlier around 5 a.m.  He worked at the post office.     Tomiko’s son Allen,12, would be seeing himself off to school. Her daughter Alice was grown and married and did not live nearby.     Tomiko did not make it to the bus stop that morning.  The driver was surprised that she wasn’t there. She was always on time and very serious about getting to work.     Tomiko was 36.  She had grown up in Japan.  She met her husband there when he was serving in the armed forces. The newspaper’s liked to describe her as a “War Bride”. Tomiko had not been home for a visit in 20 years.  She was working and saving for the trip though.   ...

         Pamela Ann Smith went for a walk on the evening of August 24th, 1975.     She was a newlywed of just six months. She and Gerald Smith had been married earlier that year in February. They owned a dairy farm along Indiana Highway 31 east of Greensfork, Indiana.     Originally from Covington, Kentucky Pamela had moved to Indiana with her family and graduated Highschool in Richmond, Indiana. She was the daughter of June and William McAllister. Pamela was born on September 24, 1951.  On the day she went missing she was 30 days away from her 24th birthday.     Pamela was 5 ft. 1in, 110 pounds and had long brown hair.  Seven agonizing months would pass before Pamela would be found “in a cornfield” by a Highway worker. Immediately I had questions.  How was she not spotted at harvest time in October/November of 1975? How was she not spotted during Spring planting of 1976?  Ma...

     Lori Ann Brickley lived in Markle, Indiana. It’s a tiny town south of Ft. Wayne.  It is just east of Interstate 69.     Lori Ann was the daughter of Patricia and Robert D. Brickley. She had an older brother, Gregory, when she was born in 1960. Her parents had another daughter in 1965 but she passed away shortly after her birth.     On Thursday March 21, 1974, Lori went to mail a letter.  It should have been a short walk. Lori should have returned quickly but she never made it back home. Her parents and neighbors searched for three days. Ivan Ormsby, 74, decided to check the outbuildings of a house next to his home. In the backyard of 208 Logan Street the weeds were a foot tall or more. There was a shed and an old outhouse. Lori was found in the outhouse. She had been stabbed. She was fully dressed.     This is a very small town.  In an article about the murder it is said she took a sho...

  Debra Lynn Dusing    Debra Lynn Dusing was born on October 7, 1956 to Dale and Juanita Dusing. She had a sister Cathy Lou Dusing. The Dusing family lived in Ft. Wayne.    In 1973 Debra had just had a birthday and turned 17 when she was brutally murdered and left in a field a few miles south of Fort Wayne. She was found October 30th 1973.     She was found fully clothed in a field on  Hartzell Road by Kenneth Niemeyer. Just as in other cases Kenneth was a farmer and it was time to harvest the corn. There should be a support group for farmers who have found bodies that way.      Debra had not been dead long when she was found. She was only gone overnight.  She was found on a Sunday.  Had she gone out with friends or on a date the night before? Who was the last person to see her alive?     I could only find one newspaper article about her body being found and one about her murder....