Madeline Stalker:1964, Toledo

  

  Madeline Stalker was born in 1905. Her maiden name was Madeline E. Rogers and she went by the nickname “Betty”. I haven’t found a photo of her yet but I will continue to look. 

  Madeline married Dale Stalker in 1926. She was a cashier and he was an assembler. 

  They had a son in 1927 that they named Kennard R. Stalker.

   All three of them survived the Great Depression. That’s a big accomplishment for a family coming through such incredibly difficult times. 

  Kennard served in the Navy in World War 2. He survived that too. Worrying about Kennard’s safety must have been difficult for Madeline and Dale throughout WWII. But, he made it. Over 400,000 soldiers and sailors did not come home. 

   In 1954, their only child, Kennard R. Stalker married Barbara Owen. That must have been a very joyful day. 

  Their joy would be short-lived, however. Life has its ups and downs. But 1956 brought far too much misery for one family. Kennard, Madeline’s only child, died in May. Madeline’s husband of 30 years, Dale, passed away in September. I was unable to find the cause of death for either man. Madeline was suddenly all alone in life at only 51. 

   She kept going though. She persevered and made it through that unbelievably difficult year. Time marched on. The 1950’s ended and the 1960’s began. 

   In early May of 1964 neighbors noticed that the newspapers and mail were accumulating. They began to worry about Madeline. She had not mentioned any plans to go away. They called police to perform a welfare check at Madeline’s apartment. Police entered through the unlocked front door. 

   On April 28th 1964 Madeline Stalker had been murdered in her Toledo home at 5458 Falla Court near Whitmer High School. That’s on Toledo’s northwest side.  Someone stabbed and strangled the 59 year old widow. A pillow was placed over her face. The stab wounds were reported to be to the left side of her neck. (That might indicate a right handed killer.) A great deal of blood loss is mentioned in the newspaper articles. This killer would have presumably gotten quite a bit of blood on his clothes. 

   None of the newspaper articles mention sexual assault. That doesn’t mean that she wasn’t assaulted. Some newspapers just didn’t mention it out of a sense of modesty for the victim. Newspaper articles did mention that robbery did not seem to be a motive. There was no sign of a break in. Nothing of value seemed to be missing from the home. Madeline likely simply answered the door not expecting a killer would be the one knocking. 

   Did her killer know she lived alone? Was she killed by someone she knew? What was the motive? Ordinarily, there is a clear motive. In the 1960’s through the 1990’s, sometimes the killer just wants to rape and kill a woman. Sometimes that is a young and pretty woman. Sometimes it’s an older woman that is perhaps weaker and vulnerable. 

   What was driving this surge in violent crime? Drugs might have had something to do with it. But, why so many serial killers? One theory that I tend to look at over and over is lead poisoning. Lead was in cheap paint. If you grew up with wood paneling on your walls; thank your parents. They made a design choice that limited your lead exposure. Lead was also in gasoline as an additive to make your engine run smoother. It was an additive in some plastics to make them more pliable. It was sometimes in the glaze on ceramic dishes. Some homes even had lead water pipes. (Lead was already known to be toxic when companies manufactured all of those things. But, lead was cheap and the profits soared.) When the United States started passing laws to eliminate lead in all these everyday places violent crime rates began to fall as well. 

   Who would have had the most lead exposure? In those days it was rarer for a woman to pump the gas. Most gas stations were full service and a man did the job. The person mowing your lawn was most likely a boy or a man. The person who might paint your house or your fence would be a boy or a man. Males were getting a great deal more lead exposure for decades. Did high lead levels make them more impulsive and violent? Perhaps.  More scientific studies will have to be done in order to prove the theory. 

   Who killed Madeline Stalker in Toledo in late April of 1964? 

   Presumably, Eugene William Gall is still in the military in North Carolina. In July of 1964 he would be arrested for being a “peeping tom”. The military would send him to Portsmouth Receiving Hospital for treatment over the arrest. It seems like he was up to more than just peeping. 

   If not Gall, who was it? Sadly, it could have been a great many men. Rape was not considered a very serious crime. Juries were often all men. Men made all the laws. Read the post about Karen Kern’s 1967 abduction, rape and murder. Even with a great deal of evidence against Mark David Hodges; he was acquitted. He attacked and shot another young woman. She survived and testified against him.  He was acquitted of that crime too. Finally, after more attacks, he would face a trial by three judges, instead of a jury.  Those judges looked at the evidence fairly and sentenced him accordingly. 

  The theory about lead poisoning as a contributing factor in violent crime makes sense when you look at how widespread the violent crime was. It was happening everywhere in the United States. 

   So, who killed Madeline Stalker? At least one man was given a lie detector test and passed. Those aren’t fool proof though.  The suspects name is not mentioned. It would have been interesting to see what else he got up to in his lifetime. I wonder if his name is in an old police file somewhere. 

   There were quite a few similar murders in 1964. On June 13th, Idessa Hennings was raped and strangled in her apartment in Cincinnati. On June 30th 1964, Jessica Minter would be stabbed to death in her Lawrenceville, Ohio home. On December 28th, 1964, someone would strangle and stab Beverly Jarosz in Garfield Heights near Cleveland. Those murders are also unsolved. 

   If you have information about the murder of Madeline Stalker please submit a tip using the link below.

https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Law-Enforcement/Investigator/Cold-Case/Homicides/Stalker