Susan K. Hall Moir Dancer:1971, Greenfield, Indiana

  

  Susan K. Hall was born February 24th, 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Patricia Joan Christy Hall and Charles K. Hall. 

  Susan grew up in Indiana. After her high school graduation in 1965, it seems she set out for the west coast. She was married twice. 

  Jeffrey Alan Moir was born in Oregon on April 4th, 1947. Susan and he married on May 3rd, 1966. They were living in Seattle at 7327 38th Street N.E. The homes on that street are mostly very mid century modern style. It’s a pretty street and very well kept. The couple separated in July of 1968 and were divorced on October 31st 1968 in Reno, Nevada. Reno was known as a place where anyone in the United States could go for a quick divorce. 

  Susan’s second husband, Ryan Earl Dancer, was from Salem, Oregon. He was born November 2nd, 1946. Susan and he married in December of 1968 in Eugene, Oregon. He was 22 and an employee of a furniture store. She was 21 and was a store detective at the time of this marriage. 

  They separated at some point because she had moved back to Indiana and was living at 4800 North Post Road in Indianapolis in the Summer of 1971. She had been working at Rangeline Auto Parts in Anderson, Indiana for a few weeks that Summer. 

 

   On June 29th, 1971, Susan disappeared. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are very suspicious. 

   A man described as her friend and co-worker at Rangeline Auto Parts, Galen W. Gethers Jr., was the last person to see her alive. They had only worked together for three weeks so they likely weren’t acquainted for a long time. 

   Galen W. Gethers Jr.  said that they drove a car from Tom Wood Pontiac at 3215 East Washington into downtown Indianapolis. Susan was test driving the car and considering buying it. He said she came back to the car with $5000 cash but he did not know where she got it. (Let’s assume that she withdrew it from the bank, since that makes the most sense.)

  I imagine Susan asked Galen W. Gethers Jr. to go along on the test drive because he knew about cars and could tell her if this used car she was considering buying was a lemon or not. She probably asked him a day or two before. She likely outlined the plan to him that they would test drive the car and go to the bank for the cash. So he very likely would have had time to think about this itinerary beforehand. If he did kill Susan; then this was premeditated. 

   Galen W. Gethers Jr. said when they were downtown; she returned to the car with the money. He said they went their separate ways for a while at that point. She went shopping; he said. He went to a bar for a few beers. He said he came back to the parking lot and waited for Susan but she never showed up. He drove around a bit and then gave up and took the car back to the Tom Wood Pontiac on East Washington Street. He told the dealership that Susan would be back to buy it the following day.  

  Does wasting all that time downtown seem logical when a person is test driving a car? Doesn’t seem logical to me. Seems to me like she would have wanted to go straight back to the dealership and buy the car. 

  Galen said he then drove Susan’s four year old daughter to Susan’s relatives home and then left. 

  It’s not clear if the four year old girl was with Susan and Galen W. Gethers Jr. during the test drive and trip downtown. That is something I would like to know more about. Could her daughter have witnessed her murder? 

   

   Susan’s relatives called the police the next day. Searches were launched. People were questioned. Months went by and there was no sign of Susan. She had been in possession of $5000. Was she robbed? Did she run away? Was Galen W. Gethers Jr. to blame? He was the last person to see her alive after all. 

   Three boys were hunting rabbits on December 11th, 1971. They stumbled upon Susan’s body in the woods near Greenfield, Indiana in Hancock County. The location is described as 3 miles south of Fortville. Her death certificate says the site was in a field on County Road 50W north of County Road 600N. 

   Susan had been shot in the head. An autopsy would later reveal that she had been shot three times in the head and six times in the body. Sergeant Irwin R. Wilkerson of the city police missing persons division said he thought the angle of the gunshot wounds to the head suggested to him that Susan was on her knees when she was killed. It seemed like an execution style killing to him. All 9 of the bullets were .32 caliber. 

 

   Susan’s death certificate indicates that she was still married to Ryan Dancer at the time of her death. The newspapers call her a divorcee. Perhaps she and Ryan Dancer had separated but were not yet divorced?It seems so. 

   Her cousin, Virginia Lance, was the person who reported information for Susan’s death certificate. I imagine if Ryan Dancer lived in Indianapolis with Susan that he would have been the source of information. 

   

   In the papers it was reported that Susan’s employer was thinking of firing her. Newspapers at the time were all about victim blaming. They said that the Sheriff’s office was investigating her about a drug case. The newspaper reported that the Sheriff asked Rangeline Auto not to fire her so that they could keep an eye on her whereabouts. It seems that Rangeline Auto Parts did indeed let her go, however. 

   Galen W. Gethers Jr. was 22 at the time of Susan’s disappearance. He was a married man of two years at the time. He had grown up in Greenfield, Indiana and worked in Anderson at Rangeline Auto Parts for several years. 

   The spot that Susan’s remains were found raises questions. She was found not far from Galen W. Gethers Jr.’s hometown of Greenfield. The likelihood that she was abducted by a stranger and taken to that spot, out of every other place in Indiana, seems very low. 

   Galen W. Gethers was investigated for the murder of Susan Kay Dancer. His story about her not returning to the car that she was intending to buy that very day seemed suspicious to investigators. Gethers also owned a .32 caliber handgun. I did not find any reporting of ballistics testing taking place. Galen Gethers Jr. was given a polygraph test but the results were not made public. It seems he was never charged. 

   In July 1971, Galen Gethers Jr. took out a room in an Anderson, Indiana motel. What was the reason for staying in a motel? He ran up a bill of $80 dollars. That was big money in 1971. He must have stayed several days, perhaps even a week, considering what a motel room cost in 1971. He left without paying his bill and was then charged with fraud. He later paid the bill in full and got out of any serious charges. 

  About the same time that Susan’s remains were discovered in December 1971; a triple murder occurred that looked like a mafia style execution. The three murder victims were businessmen. I imagine that their murders then took top priority. 

  Galen W. Gethers Jr. was in trouble with the law somewhat in 1972. In January he was driving while intoxicated and on a suspended license. On February 1st he was arrested for public intoxication. He served 60 days at the county farm and paid fines and court costs totalling $38 on charges of reckless driving, driving on a suspended license and possession of dangerous drugs. 

   

   In 1975, Galen Gethers Jr. ignored the flashing lights at an Anderson, Indiana railroad crossing. He drove his car into the path of a Pennsylvania Central train. It was almost 1 a.m. on Monday August 11th, 1975. He died of his severe head injuries about a month later on September 10th 1975. He was buried in Greenfield, Indiana at Park Cemetery. 

  It seems that Galen W. Gethers Jr. was no longer married at the time of his death. He did have two daughters though. 

   

   Susan Kay Dancer is buried in Junction City, Lane County, Oregon. It seems that her husband, Ryan Dancer, claimed her body and brought her back to his home state for burial. Her first husband, Jeffrey Alan Moir, might also have been involved in her final arrangements. Both men were from the Eugene, Oregon area. Junction City is about 25 minutes north of Eugene. We can only hope that Susan rests there in peace. 

   

   Susan Kay Dancer’s case is still considered unsolved. 

   Rest in Peace, Susan.