Jeffrey Lynn Hand: Serial Killer?

    

  It was that driving from Terre Haute down toward Evansville that stuck in my mind. In the Summer of 1973; Jeffrey Lynn Hand picked up a couple on Highway 41. He had just been fired from two different Evansville jobs in the months before.  What was he doing driving from Terre Haute? It made me think that he probably drove around a lot out of a feeling of uneasiness, boredom, or restlessness. 

   Jeffrey Lynn Hand grew up in Washington, Indiana. It’s a nice little town in southwest Indiana. Yearbook photos of him look so typical and all American. He looks so much like every other kid in those photos. He resembles child actor Jay North from the old Dennis the Menace television show.  

    In 2019, Parabon Nanolabs solved the long cold 1972 murder case of Indiana State University student Pamela Milam. Her killer, Jeffrey Lynn Hand was infamous in Indiana in the 1970’s.  But most people would not recognize his name today. It’s a tangled story but let’s start at the point that the public in Indiana first becomes aware of Jeffrey Hand. 

   In 1973 newlyweds, Carol and Jeffrey Wayne Thomas were traveling back to their home in Evansville after visiting family in Chicago.  Like so many young people in those days; they were hitchhiking.  For young people it seemed an easy and cheap way to get around. The trip to Chicago had gone okay and now they were headed back home.

   They got a ride from a young, blonde, white man south of Terre Haute.  Jeffrey Lynn Hand said he lived in Gibson County but he could take them all the way home to Evansville as it was not that much farther.  They were very grateful. Carol and Jeffrey Wayne had had some trouble getting rides as they were an interracial couple and there were a lot of racist people in the world.  But they were kind people and they thought if they were nice to people they could change minds and work toward educating people. 

  The ride south on Highway 41 went fine. But then Jeffrey Hand turned off toward his farm in Gibson county saying he needed to get something before they continued south to Evansville. The Thomases were not too concerned. It was only a quick detour and they were thankful for the ride. They couldn’t complain. 

  As they pulled up to the farmhouse Jeffrey Hand pulled a gun and said that he was robbing them. They laughed at first thinking it was a joke.  Hand fired the gun through the roof of his car.  No one was laughing now.  He told them he wanted money.  The couple had $1.17 on them.  They were hitchhiking home because they had nothing. This is 1973. They didn’t have credit cards. Being newlyweds and young; they had no valuables. They said they might be able to borrow money from family and friends in Evansville if he took them there. 

  Hand didn’t want to take them both so he tied Carol’s hands and feet and left her a grain bin. 

  I don’t think that Hand really wanted money. Maybe that was part of it. He had just been fired from his job at Koch and Sons.  But I think his primary motivation was that he wanted to keep Carol for a while. To do that he would need to get rid of her husband, Jeffrey Wayne Thomas. 

    Hand did not take Mr. Thomas all the way to Evansville to get the money. Instead he murdered him just a few miles away by shooting him and stabbing him in the chest. He also cut Mr. Thomas’s throat. Hand then turned back toward Carol and the farm. 

    Meanwhile, Carol had been struggling to free herself and managed to do so. She ran to the nearest farmhouse and they called the police.  The police then had Carol take them back to the farm.  Jeffrey Hand drove up just at that moment and was taken into custody.  He later led police to the body of Mr. Thomas. 

   Mr. Jeffrey Wayne Thomas was only 22 when he died.  He and his wife were just starting their lives together.  They had plans and dreams that were taken away in an instant.  Mr. Thomas was beloved by his community in Evansville and people were in an intense state of grief and shock. They were also outraged. Mr. Thomas’ brother Willie Thomas spoke out on behalf of the family calling for peace in the community and peace between blacks and whites. 

   Justice would not be fully realized. Jeffrey Hand would plead not guilty by reason of insanity.  The jury did indeed find him not guilty by reason of insanity and he was to be held for life in the State Hospital.  I hate to think that if his victims had been a white man and woman instead of a black man and a white woman that the jury would have seen things differently. But it’s hard not to think that.  

   Jeffrey Hand would not stay in a mental institution for life, however.  Due to an error by the State Hospital officials; he was released in August of 1976. Even with Carol Thomas bravely testifying against him in court; he was free. Even with the severe brutality of the murder of Mr. Thomas; he was free. Even though he had been violent while in custody and severely injured other inmates; he was free. 

   1977 would see an explosion of young women being abducted and murdered in Indiana. Jeffrey Hand was not the only perpetrator.  We know of several who were in and out of custody.  I’m trying to put together a timeline of those known perpetrators and the months that they would have been free to offend. 

   On January 24th 1978, Jeffrey Hand would attempt to abduct a woman from a Kokomo shopping mall and would die in a shootout with police. One police officer was wounded. The woman, luckily, escaped unharmed. Jeffrey Lynn Hand would pose no more danger to the world. 

   At the top of this article I mentioned Pamela Milam.  In 1972 she was a student at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. On September 15th, she disappeared. Her roommate, friends and family knew that this was not like her. Her father drove to Terre Haute to search for her.  He found her red 1964 Pontiac Tempest in a campus parking lot. He had the spare key and so he searched the car.  He found her body in the trunk.  She had been strangled and her hands were tied behind her back. Her mouth was covered in “an excessive amount of adhesive tape”.  Investigators did not believe she had been sexually assaulted at the time.  

   They did seem to believe that the killer may have driven her car around quite a bit after abducting her and published a photo of it in an effort to get tips from potential witnesses.  They were hoping someone may have seen him driving. 

   Her case would sadly go cold until 2019.  Parabon Nanolabs would collect DNA from Jeffrey Hand’s sons and make a 99.99 percent match. 

  The details of how Pamela Milam was tied and strangled immediately made me think of Ann Harmeier in 1977.  Tragically, she also had her hands tied behind her back and was strangled. Could she be another victim of Jeffrey Hand?  He was free in 1977 and he would be alive until 1978. 

   Jeffrey Lynn Hand definitely murdered Pamela Milam in Terre Haute in September of 1972 when he was 23.  He kidnapped Mr. and Mrs. Thomas  and murdered Mr. Thomas in June of 1973 in Gibson County. He was free from mid August of 1976 until he attempted a kidnapping in January of 1978 in Kokomo and was killed by police. That tells us that he got around. He wasn’t staying at home. 

   What about murders before 1972? What about murders in 1977 like poor Ann Harmeier? What about Kristine Kozik near Purdue in 1977?  What about Linda Sue Ferry who was locked in her own trunk in 1977 much like Pamela Milam? What about Julie Ann Seyfried of Indianapolis? Did he kill Vickie Lynn Harrell in Bloomington in 1972? Did he kill college professor Ann Cline in the Old Courthouse in Evansville in January of 1973? 

   There’s no such thing as a part time serial killer. They think about this all the time. 

   

   Back to the scene of the kidnapping of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas. Jeffrey Lynn Hand had two cars at that farmhouse. Why did he have two cars?  In 1973 he had a Chevy and a Pontiac, neither very old.  Were they stolen?  He had been fired from two different Evansville jobs between March and June when he committed the Thomas murder. How was he affording two cars? 

 He had two guns on his person and a knife. 

 What was with the trip back from Terre Haute?  What was he doing up there?  If he needed money and was out of work; why drive around like that?  Did he commit other crimes like robbery?

 Many of the unsolved murders I mentioned above took place on college campuses or in college towns.  If you were a restless serial murderer looking to abduct a young woman, a college town would present lots of opportunities.  

  A young man hanging around on campus would not attract suspicion.  College students regularly sit on steps or in hallways while waiting for their next class.  They sit in their cars and pass the time if they are commuters. There are a lot of people just hanging out.  It would have been easy to blend in. Hand could look like a nice guy.  

  We know that Ted Bundy often found his victims in college towns.  Perhaps there was a serial predator hunting victims in Indiana’s college towns?

   Hand’s known murders are of Pamela Milam in September of 1972 and Jeffrey Wayne Thomas in June of 1973. He was in custody after the Thomas murder in 1973 until August of 1976 when he was freed on a technicality.  Hand was killed in a shootout with police in January of 1978 in Kokomo after he attempted the abduction of another young woman.  I think a great many Indiana cold cases could be solved with the aid of that DNA sample from Parabon nanolabs.  

   My personal theory is that he is responsible for many more abductions and murders than we know about.  There is no such thing as a part time serial killer.  This is all they think about.