Stella Becker:Sharpsville 1976

    

   Late at night on the 29th of January in 1976, Stella Becker, 79, was bent over her sewing machine.  She often stayed up late in her rural Sharpsville, Indiana home and sewed there in front of the window. Her window looked out onto Highway 31. People often saw her in the window sewing as they drove by. 

  That night in 1976, on Thursday the 29th of January, Stella was shot with a .22 caliber gun. Someone stood in her front yard in the dark and shot her in the face, through the window like a sniper. (A newspaper article shows the sewing machine. I wonder what kind of garment she was making.) Then the killer entered the house through the back door and stole her wallet and a mantle clock.  

   And, I think the killer looked at Stella and what his bullet had done.  I also think that the killer was Danny Rouse. Why do I think that? 

  Because in September of 1974, Danny Rouse killed Nellie May Mikesell sniper style as well.

   Nellie was 72, and a retired teacher. She had been born Nellie May Shively December 16th, 1901. She had grown up and lived all her life not far from where she lived now on a rural farm near Culver and Winamac, Indiana. She had been a widow for a few years since losing her husband, Clurel, in 1969.  But she persevered. She kept going. She was strong like so many other women who lived life in rural Indiana.  She had children and grandchildren, some near and some far across the country.   

   She was sitting inside the house in her rocking chair on September 9th, 1974. Her chair was next to the window. As she sat peacefully in her own home, someone crept up close to the house. They aimed through the window at Nellie’s head.  They pulled the trigger.  The shooter then broke into the house. But he didn’t take anything from this house.  Police theorized that he just wanted to see what the .22 caliber bullet had done. Then the shooter left. 

   A delivery person came upon the scene later and called the police.  Shockingly, Nellie still had a pulse.  She was taken to the hospital in South Bend.  She tragically passed away the next day. Decades would pass until her murder was solved. 

  Danny Rouse confessed to killing Nellie May Mikesells in 2006 to save himself from the death penalty after he murdered Stephanie Wagner in Winamac. (A plea bargain was struck because he closed two old cold cases.  Lela Hildebrandt and Nellie Mikesells.)

  I just found Stella Becker’s case while digging through newspaper archives online. I’ve already contacted authorities in Indiana with my theory even before I wrote this blog post.  This was so similar to Nellie’s case…I couldn’t wait. 

  But police in 1976 didn’t know what we know now. 

  The police arrested a suspect in 1976. Randy Lee Landrum was 18. He pled not guilty to first degree murder. Later he pled guilty to 2nd degree murder. The clock and a ring were supposedly found at his home.  They did not find the wallet. But I can’t help but think that he might NOT have been guilty. It was said that robbery was his motive and that he used to be Stella’s neighbor. If he had wanted to rob her and he was a former neighbor…he probably would’ve known other less violent ways to get that ring, clock and wallet. What 18 year old steals a mantle clock? Landrum served a prison sentence for this murder. He was later released and he married. He passed away in 2004.

  We know sometimes people are falsely accused and falsely convicted. That might have happened here. I could be wrong. I could be way off. 

   This crime seems so much like Nellie Mikesell’s murder that I firmly believe that this might be another one that Danny Rouse is actually responsible for.  There’s no such thing as a part time serial killer.  It’s all they think about and all they want to do.

  One of my theories about Rouse is that he liked seeing the devastation and the aftermath. If Rouse did this and Landrum was innocent; imagine Rouse watching the trial of an innocent 18 year old kid all through 1976 as it played out in the newspapers. 

  But, we may never know. 

  Rest in Peace Stella Becker. 

(Sadly, I have not been able to find a photo of her anywhere online.)