The Parke County Massacre:Hollandsburg
Parke County Indiana is known for picturesque historic covered bridges, beautiful state parks like Turkey Run State Park and Shades State Park. People canoe and go tubing on Sugar Creek. There are lots of opportunities for camping and recreation. It’s a truly beautiful corner of Indiana.
In the Fall huge crowds flock to the Covered Bridge Festival for handmade crafts, antiques, apple butter and fried biscuits.
The word “massacre” doesn’t come to mind for most people when they think of Parke County. “Massacre” seems the polar opposite of that idyllic place.
I was shocked to find that an unidentified torso was found there in 1974. I was even more shocked to find that a second unidentified torso was found there in 1992. No other body parts were recovered.
But those crimes are not the subject of this post.
In 1977, in rural Parke County, a terrifying home invasion massacre would shock everyone.
Hollandsburg, Indiana is a few miles east of the county seat of Rockville. It sits on the shore of Raccoon Lake State Recreation Area. It’s surrounded by rural farmland. On Google Earth it is a tiny town in a sea of green. There are suburban style homes there on the lake shore amid mature shade trees. They all appear to have been built later than 1977. Things have changed since then.
On Monday, February 13th, 1977 Mrs. Betty Spencer was at home with three of her four sons. It was cold and snow was on the ground outside. That evening one stepson, Marc Raymond Spencer, 17, was still finishing up his shift cleaning up the Raccoon Lake Restaurant after closing. Raymond had a birthday coming up in a few days. Betty’s oldest son Gregory Brooks, 22, was her son from her first marriage. Reeve, 16, and Ralph Spencer, 14, were her youngest stepsons. It was a school night and the three youngest boys had classes at Turkey Run High School the next morning. Betty, Greg and Reeve were watching television. Their Dad, Keith Spencer, left for work around midnight and headed to Indianapolis for his shift as a technician at the WTHR transmission station.
It seems that four home invaders were waiting for him to leave. Did they choose these victims in advance? Did they know the father’s work schedule or was their arrival a coincidence? Or did they simply wait until after midnight so that the murders would happen on Valentine’s Day, for the notoriety? At trial, the perpetrators would say they chose that home because it had “nice looking cars in the driveway”.
Two of the intruders came through the unlocked front door and two came in the back. They forced Betty and Gregory to lie on the floor and tied their hands. They woke the youngest boy, Ralph, and brought him into the living room as well. They forced him to lie down and be tied alongside Betty, Reeve and Greg.
Raymond arrived home from his job after 12:30 a.m. not realizing what was happening and the intruders tied him up as well. How could he have possibly guessed that anything so horrible would be happening in his home? Not long after that they shot everyone in the back of the head execution style.
A little after 1 a.m., a bloodied Betty Spencer struggled through the cold and snow and onto a neighbor’s porch. She asked Harold Escue to call the police and an ambulance. She told them that all her sons were dead and that intruders had broken in and shot them all.
Her neighbors could hardly believe what they were hearing. Betty asked them to keep talking to her because she feared she would pass out.
Soon State Trooper Frank Turchi arrived as well as an ambulance and other police officers. As emergency medical personnel tended to Mrs. Spencer, who had wounds to her shoulder, head and neck; State Trooper Turchi approached the home. He found the rear door wide open. Inside he found all four young men lying face down on the living room floor. Their hands were tied behind their back. All four had fatal gunshot wounds to the back of their heads.
Betty Spencer had avoided a fatal head wound because she had been wearing a wig. It had a rather full, tall style and the shooters had basically aimed too high and the larger amount of shotgun pellets missed her skull. She still sustained some injuries from the spray of shotgun pellets but these were not fatal.
Her four sons had been killed execution style. The home invaders had taken their wallets and other valuables from around the house.
I cannot imagine how much money these thieves thought they would come away with from a double wide trailer home. Three of the five occupants that night were teenagers. How much money could they have on them? Certainly not the kind of money worth killing for.
The killers had picked up the shotgun shells before they left as if they were used to this type of crime. Had they done this before? Many of their actions pointed to this being a premeditated crime rather than some sort of drug fueled spree killing.
But, what in the world could have been the motive?
All of the boys were well liked in the community. Raymond, Reeve and Ralph had done seasonal work at the Raccoon Lake Restaurant and the owner spoke very highly of them. Their older brother and the parents were well thought of. No one could think of a single reason why someone would want to do this.
Suddenly two loving parents of four hardworking, polite young men were left alone. But they were not the only grieving parents. Raymond, Reeve and Ralph’s biological Mother, Carolyn, was also grieving. Greg Brooks’ Father, David Messersmith had also lost a son.
The outraged community grieved along with them. Everyone questioned how such a thing could happen here in quiet, rural Hollandsburg.
The motive turned out to be so incredibly senseless. It wasn’t robbery, jealousy or revenge. The killers were bored and restless and just wanted to try killing. They wanted to see if they could pull off a Manson family style killing.
Michael W. Wright, Daniel Stonebraker, Roger C. Drollinger and David Smith were all young men in their early twenties. They all lived in or near Crawfordsville which is about a 25 minute drive North of Hollandsburg.
The shooters said they were inspired by the book “Helter Skelter” by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. I don’t blame the book. I blame a great many other things. The economic slump of the 1970’s for one. There was a huge lack of opportunities for young people in rural places.
There’s also the high lead levels of people in this age. Lead was in the gasoline that they were pumping into their cars and lawnmowers and tractors. Lead was in the cheap paint that poor people could afford. That cheap paint was flaking off the walls and window sills when this generation were babies. High lead content in your blood causes impulse control and anger issues. It makes learning more difficult. It makes decision making and reasoning more difficult. There is a startling statistical correlation between high levels and the rise in violent crime in the 70s.
Combine that with drug use, alcohol use and the fact that this generation of kids in the 50’s and 60’s was raised by the most traumatized generation of people in American history. Their parents grew up in the Great Depression and lived through World War 2. There was no therapy for them. Then they started having babies. They produced the largest generation; the Baby Boomers. Traumatized people who are untreated don’t always make great parents.
When you look at crime from this era; I think people should thank the hippies for choosing peace, love and non-violence. They should thank Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other Civil Rights activists for preaching nonviolence. Violent crime potentially could have been a lot worse.
In the case of perpetrators under the age of around 26; you have to consider the fact that the frontal lobe is not yet fully developed. Their brains are not yet fully formed. But, they made the choice here.
All the factors I mentioned may have been some of the reasons why four young men decided to head out into the cold and snow and make a terrible, stupid, cruel and impulsive choice. But, it was definitely their choice. They were entirely responsible for their actions.
Two of the four men were caught only hours later. The other two were apprehended weeks after the murders. Wright and Stonebraker turned on the other two and served as prosecution witnesses against Drollinger and Smith.
Roger C. Drollinger was said to be the ringleader. It was his idea to go find someone to kill. He was given four life sentences. He died in prison in 2014 at the age of 61. No foul play was suspected in his death.
Daniel Stonebraker was also sentenced to life. All of his appeals have been denied. His last parole hearing was in 2021 and parole was denied. He has another parole hearing in 2026.
Michael Wright appealed his conviction in 1986. It was denied. He is still serving a life sentence.
David Smith was 17 at the time of the murders. The same age as Raymond. He has appealed his conviction numerous times. In January of 2024 his most recent appeal was denied again. He continues to serve life in prison.
Keith and Betty Spencer’s marriage did not survive this grief just like so many parents of murdered children. Betty advocated for victims rights in Indiana and kept busy until her death at age 71. Keith passed away in 2015. The Spencer boys’ Mother, Carolyn, passed away in 2019.
Greg, Raymond, Reeve, and Ralph had so much ahead of them. Greg was only 22. He was just at the beginning of adulthood. Raymond would have turned 18 just two days after the murders. He was looking forward to graduation that Spring. Reeve and Ralph were enjoying their teenage years. So much was stolen from them. So much was taken from their friends, family and their community.
What conclusion can you draw from this? How do you ever make sense of something so senseless? I don’t think we can ever make sense of this.
But if you grew up in the 1970’s and you were a bit fearful; you had some anxiety around strangers…you weren’t wrong. Your fears were not irrational.
Rest in Peace Greg, Raymond, Reeve and Ralph. Rest in Peace Betty, Keith, and Carolyn.
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