Larry Suel : 1972, Ft. Wayne, Indiana

 

   All the murders and disappearances that I write about are horrible and tragic.  The murder of a child is always harder to read about. 

  Larry Suel was five years old.  He had just had a birthday only four weeks before, on February 6th. Larry was walking to his Headstart Kindergarten at the East Wayne Street Opportunity Center in southeast Ft. Wayne by himself on Monday March 6th, 1972. I imagine he was very proud to be going to school like a big boy. He was probably looking forward to playing with his friends. 

  Tragically, he did not make it to school and the officials there called his home at lunchtime to inquire about his absence. They wanted to speak to his Mother, Dorothy, but she had gone to her Mother’s funeral in Mississippi.  His older siblings called their Mother and she returned to Ft. Wayne as quickly as possible. My heart breaks for Dorothy and the whole family.  She had gone to her own Mother’s funeral and her five year old was kidnapped. One cannot imagine the anguish. 

  Meanwhile groups of volunteers, more than 200 people, searched diligently for little Larry. Those volunteers found Larry on Wednesday March 8th, 1972 just a few blocks from his home. 

   In an abandoned building at the intersection of Coombs and Cochran, once home to the American Coal and Supply,  Larry was found under a couple of old doors amid other debris. His hands were tied behind his back. He had been strangled with rope that was still tightly wound around his neck. He was lying face down and was fully clothed. Investigators did not believe that he had been sexually assaulted according to the newspaper reports. 

  The building is next to the Maumee River. It has been home to many businesses in the decades since 1972. 

  Was the killer someone from the neighborhood or was this the work of a stranger?  This seems like a killing just for the sake of killing.  It looks like the work of a predator who had experience.  That’s just my opinion.  But, this killer managed to take this child off the street and murder him and get away with it in a busy neighborhood of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. 

   (One nearby serial killer was Danny Rouse.  He is incarcerated currently in Indiana.  If evidence is still stored in the case; it might be worth testing it against Rouse’s DNA in CODIS. He is known to have killed one other child.  He also killed two young women and an older lady. He strangled, stabbed and shot victims. So, there’s a diverse victim group and diverse methods.  He killed pretty much just to kill.)

   I’ll be looking for other old cold cases in the area.  Perhaps there are similar cases in Indiana or Northwest Ohio or even Michigan. 

   Larry Suel was laid to rest by his family at Lindenwood Cemetery in Ft. Wayne. He is in the Garden of Paradise section. My condolences to his family and his community.  He should be here with us today.  He had his whole life ahead of him. 

   

   

 Rest in Peace Larry James Suel.