Jeanne Marie Melville:1970, Darke Co. Ohio

 



  Jeanne Marie Melville was from Green Bay, Wisconsin.  


Jeanne was born on August 3rd, 1952. Her date of death is estimated to be September 24th of 1970. She was only 18. 


  How did she end up so far away from Green Bay in a cornfield 4 miles Southwest of tiny Arcanum, Ohio in 1970?

  Jeanne had travelled by bus from Green Bay, Wisconsin to Richmond, Indiana to visit family. She was due to arrive September 24th, 1970. Her Aunt went to Richmond to pick her up. There was no sign of Jeanne. Her Aunt assumed the bus was late and came back later but Jeanne was not on that bus. 

  Local police at the time told Jeanne’s Aunt that Jeanne was an adult and could disappear if she wanted to. 


  A man who was horseback riding found a woman’s body in the field about 60 feet from Frazer Rd. on October 10th,1970. She would go unidentified until 2008 when her Aunt thought a facial reconstruction might be her niece, Jeanne Marie Melville. 


Arcanum is northeast of Richmond,IN.  and New Madison Ohio on the upper right of the map. 


  It is a shame that the news of a body discovered only a few miles away did not make it back to her Aunt in 1970. The story only got a small mention in the newspapers. 

 


  This murder seems related to the October 1970 murder of Arletta Sue Remley of Connersville. She was abducted while walking to a shopping center. She was raped, stabbed and strangled. Could these two murders be related? 

Connersville, IN. is on the right. Richmond is N.E. Of Connersville. Hillsboro, Ohio is on the center left on the map. Arcanum is between Richmond, IN and Troy, Ohio if you draw a line between the two. 


   Eugene William Gall was free up until December 15th 1970. He had been committing a series of rapes in the Ohio area and had been given the name “The Friday Night Rapist”.  He could have easily travelled into Indiana and abducted and killed these women.  He committed scores of abductions, rapes and murders in Dayton, Lima, Cincinnati and Kentucky. He was incarcerated from December 1970 until 1977 when he was paroled. He immediately began abducting, raping and murdering women and young girls including Beth Ann Mote and Lisa Janson.  Gall is currently incarcerated serving a life sentence since 1978.

  Gall did a lot of driving. One thing he did was volunteer to drive older people to doctor’s appointments. In 1978 he was driving one person to Dayton twice a week. Did he drive someone to Richmond, Indiana to the bus station that day in 1970? Did he take that opportunity to abduct Jeanne?

   Another possible suspect to consider here is Ralph Richard Howell. He would have been 20 in 1970. He died in 1985 but was connected via DNA to the murder of Cheryl Thompson and by other evidence to the murders of Victoria Hinscher, Nancy Ann Theobald, Charmane Stolla and is suspected in the murders of many more victims in the 1970’s and 1980’s in and around Cincinnati. 


  If you have information about the murder of Jeanne Marie Melville you can call 937-222-STOP or 800-637-5375. 



Watch and share this unsolved case on YouTube at:


https://youtu.be/_-M-ZfP487s?si=X-nXznTdv4RlM5nx


  


  


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