Chalkboard Thoughts

        Linda Sue Dyer was born November 8th 1960. She was the daughter of Dorothy Krebs Dyer and James Dyer. Linda was one of six children. They lived in the College Hill neighborhood.     She and her mother had been shopping for school clothes just before her disappearance. Linda was looking forward to school that year. That was the last afternoon that they spent together.    Linda Sue Dyer had been staying with her best friend, Ernestine, most of that Summer of 1976. I wonder what they did on the 4th of July. It was the Bicentennial year. The Fourth was a big deal that year. I wonder if they went swimming a lot.     On August 22nd 1976 Linda went to a party with friends in the Monfort Heights area of Cincinnati. That’s on Cincinnati’s northwest side. She left that evening with a plan to hitchhike home. She was last seen getting into a vehicle on North Bend Road.    She was abducted, rap...

        Police were called to the restaurant by the morning shift. Earlier, when the employees had arrived they were shocked that the restaurant was unlocked and empty. Two female employees had left their purses and coats behind. Closing duties had not been finished. All the money was gone from the safe. All the cash in the registers had been taken except the coins. An empty roll of tape was sitting on the safe. None of the young employees who closed on November 17th, 1978 could be reached.   The local police concluded that the staff had just taken the money and skipped out. They weren’t worried about it. They took no photos. They did not dust for fingerprints. The police said that the crew probably bought booze with the money and went out and partied. They instructed the opening staff to just clean up and they’d talk to those thieving kids later. The opening staff protested that something was very wrong. The local police dismissed their concerns. The staff...

        Carol Marie Davis Jenkins was selling encyclopedias with a team of other young salespeople. Carol was eager to make money and glad to be part of a team like this. She had on a very fashionable and professional outfit. She was motivated, polite and ready to knock on doors and make some sales.     She and the other young people would park, split up and knock on doors. They would do their sales pitches and then come back together at the car to move on to the next area. They were in Martinsville, Indiana that day. It was to be a long, full day of door to door sales.     Martinsville is known by many as the hometown of legendary Basketball coach John Wooden. He started his career in Indiana before moving on to National Fame coaching legends like Kareem Abdul Jabbar.     In Indiana, Martinsville has a certain infamy because of what happened to Carol Jenkins that day. There’s a lingering shame over...

      Judy Stevenson was born in 1956. She was a graduate of Benjamin Logan High School. She lived with her parents and younger brother in Zanesfield, Ohio in Logan County.     On March 6th 1975, Judy was last seen by her Mother mid-morning at their home near Zanesfield. A friend saw her at noon and Judy said she was going to wash her car in Bellefontaine.     Judy was supposed to babysit at 3 p.m. that day. Her Mom had reminded Judy that she needed someone to watch Judy’s  three year old brother, Richard. When Judy failed to show up she took Richard to her husband’s workplace. She thought she saw Judy’s car and someone waving happily at her while driving to drop Richard off. I wonder if it only appeared as happy waving and not frantic waving. Her mother wondered that later too. She wondered if someone was in the car and hidden and forcing Judy to drive.     No one saw Judy Stevenson alive after noon on Marc...