Norma Jean Tharpe Turner:1971, South Bend

   

   Norma Jean Tharpe Turner was born on June 19th, 1947 to June and Mack Cecro Tharpe in Tennessee. 

  Her father, Mack Cecro Tharpe, served in the U.S. Navy as a Steward’s Mate Second Class. After the war he returned to his hometown of Paris, Tennessee.

  They appear in the 1950 census living in Paris, Tennessee. The little family lived with Mack Tharpe’s uncle, Willie G. Hudson. Mr. Hudson was a widower and was no longer working. He was 53. Mack Tharpe worked hauling coal at the Retail Coal and Lumber Company. Norma Jean’s mother, June Reddick Tharpe, likely kept house, cooked for all in the home, and took care of three year old Norma Jean. Mack and June Tharpe were both 24 years old. A lodge also resides in the home; Ruth J. Palmer was 29 years old and worked as a Secretary in a funeral home. 

  The June and Mack Tharpe family moved to Illinois in 1951. Norma Jean Tharpe would have been about 4. She would have grown up there; perhaps in Maywood, Illinois where her father and stepmother lived in 1971. 

  I could not find any other mention of Norma Jean. I don’t know where she went to school. Usually I can find yearbooks. That is rarer for African Americans that I research. It seems like photographers and the big yearbook companies didn’t even try to do business in African American schools. Her school graduation gets no mention. Her marriage isn’t in the papers. Racism makes everything worse. It makes it terribly difficult to research thoroughly. Half of the people are erased from the historical record. 

  Norma Jean Tharpe Turner’s 1971 death certificate says she was married to Mr. Mack Turner. Again, I wasn’t able to find a date or a photo of the wedding. It also says that she lived in Gary, Indiana. I wasn’t able to find an address. 

   Approximately May 23rd in 1971, she was murdered. Her death certificate could not provide an exact date but only an approximate date. Was that date based on a day she was last seen alive or was it based upon n the condition of her remains. 

   Norma Jean was found June 6th, 1971 by a man walking his dog. Norma Jean was “wrapped in a plastic bag” “tied with wire” in a “field” near Prairie Avenue and Swygart Street. Her body was covered in blood according to the newspaper article. The reporter also mentions in that short article that police think it might be a murder case. Perhaps they were a young, new and inexperienced reporter. 

  Norma Jean Tharpe Turner was found wearing a class ring from Horace Mann High School from Gary, Indiana. The ring had the initials JCRC on it. No mention of a graduation year or description of the ring was given. 

  The article also mentioned that she was wearing a wig. That was probably not unusual for an African American lady. 

  That spot where Norma Jean was found could be the vacant lot on the north side of Prairie Avenue. That lot has large mature trees. Or it could be the corner where a small store is now. It looks like the houses have been there since before WW2 or built shortly after. I would guess that the spot is the vacant lot with the mature trees. 

  On June 24th, 1971, Norma was identified by her fingerprints by the FBI. It seems that at some point she had been fingerprinted in Indianapolis and in Chicago. That may be for an arrest but it could have been for a job. I’ve been fingerprinted in order to get several different jobs. The newspaper reported that it was because of an arrest but that may or may not be accurate. 

  Her body was taken to Indianapolis for an autopsy and further tests. She was taken back to South Bend for burial. 

  Her stepmother, Ernestine Tharpe, provided information for the death certificate. Earnestine and Mack Tharpe lived in Maywood, Illinois. That’s a community west of downtown Chicago in the sprawl of western suburbs. Maywood is just west of Oak Park. 

  I wasn’t able to find a date of death for Norma Jean’s mother’s death. I didn’t find a marriage certificate for Ernestine and Mack C. Tharpe. So I don’t know how those events might have impacted Norma Jean’s life growing up. 

  Clark’s Funeral Chapel on West Washington Street in South Bend handled the funeral arrangements. 

   Norma Jean Tharpe Turner is buried in St. Joseph County Home Cemetery. Another young woman, Victoria Vickie Lynne McDonough is also buried there. Both of their cases are unsolved. The cemetery is a peaceful place northwest of the Notre Dame Campus. It is the burial place of unclaimed bodies for South Bend, Indiana. It looks like a quiet and undisturbed but also well maintained place. 

   Why did her husband, Mack Turner, not report her missing? Perhaps he and she were separated at the time. He may have been deceased. Or, perhaps he played a part in her murder. 

   What was with the class ring? I thought JCRC might stand for Josten’s Class Ring Company. But, I wasn’t sure. I looked into whether that was a standard company engraving. It doesn’t seem to be.

   Where was she murdered? How did she come to be wrapped in a plastic bag and laying in a vacant lot in South Bend if she was from Gary?  Had she been staying in South Bend recently?

   There’s no article at all looking into the investigation. No mention of whether her husband was questioned. No obituary was printed. Leaving African American out of the paper really makes it impossible to investigate a cold case like this one.

   Was any evidence preserved in her case? Did investigators find any fingerprints on the plastic wrapped around her body? Was the wire saved? What kind was it? That might indicate the killer’s workplace or neighborhood. DNA could still be on the wire. Were her fingernails clipped and saved? 

    Her cause of death was not listed on her death certificate. No follow up articles appeared in the paper after the June 21st article confirming her identity. 

   Norma Jean’s father passed away just seven years after Norma Jean, in 1978. He had lost his first wife and then his daughter. That’s a lot of loss in a short time. 

   If you have a tip please call the South Bend Police Department at (574)235-9201 or Michiana Crime Stoppers at (574)288-STOP