Darlene Lausman: La Porte 1974

    


   Darlene Lola Procter Lausman was born on the 9th of November in 1945. (Find a Grave says her birthday was in September but her death certificate says November.) She was the oldest of her siblings. In the 1950 census her family lived at 1021 Farrand Ave. in La Porte, Indiana. I found her photos in 1963 and 1964 Ellston Senior High yearbooks from Michigan City, Indiana. She married Carl William Lausman in 1970.  He had a son from a previous marriage. Darlene and Carl Lausman lived at 920 ½ Lincolnway. 

   

   On October 19th, 1974 Darlene Lausman was at the Golden Lion Tavern on Michigan Ave. in LaPorte, Indiana. Witnesses said that Joseph Pointon left with her.  There’s nothing in the paper about whether she left willingly or if she was sober enough to consent.


   She was found the next morning just before 6 a.m. by a motorist at Jefferson Ave. near Boyd. She had been raped and stabbed 69 times. Her body was left in plain sight. She was dumped like garbage.


   Joseph Bentz Pointon Jr.  of 244 Marquette Street in La Porte was 31. He had been seen by numerous witnesses leaving the tavern with her. When police showed up he handed them his car keys and said, “The knife, her clothes and her purse are in the trunk.”   

 


  Joseph Bentz Pointon Jr.  was married with three children at the time of the murder. He claimed to be working two jobs putting in about 96 hours a week. He had served two years in Vietnam. He claimed temporary insanity. 

  It is unclear whether the two had a prior relationship or met that night. 

  He claimed that they had consensual sex. He claimed that after he and Darlene had sex that she demanded money and threatened to tell his wife. 

  He was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 15 to 25 years in prison.  I am not sure how long he actually served. His name doesn’t come up at all in the Indiana Incarcerated Database. It is as if he never spent any time in prison at all. If he did it was probably not the full 25 years considering how that usually went for murderers in the 1970’s. 


   I wonder what he did when he got out.  


   He would be 81 in 2024. I have not found an obituary. 

   

 

   In July of 1974 his younger brother, James Edward Pointon raped and murdered Mary Ellen Doll. On February 10th, 1975 they both had court appearances together on the same day and the same court. I wrote about Mary Ellen Doll in my last blog post.  James Edward Pointon served less than 20 years. (He was sentenced to life plus 21 years.) He died a free man. 

  

   Darlene Lausman was brutally murdered. She was stabbed 69 times. 


   Darlene was only 29. She deserved a long life. She deserved to still be here with us. 


Rest in Peace, Darlene Lola Procter Lausman


  


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