Chalkboard Thoughts

         Gerald, Linda and four year old  Deborah Bricca lived at 3381 Greenway, Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s in a western suburb of Cincinnati called Bridgetown. They had only been in town three years. The neighborhood was only about ten years old. It was a desirable neighborhood to live in. It was quiet and neighbors often had backyard barbecue parties.     Sunday September 25th, 1966 was a rainy day.     Gerry Bricca worked on Sunday September 25th, 1966.  He often worked on Sundays.  He took the garbage out to the curb sometime between 9 and 10 p.m. The rain had let up for a little while. He spoke with a neighbor briefly then.     Linda Bricca’s Dad called her on that Sunday night around 10 p.m.  He said it was a normal conversation. He wanted to tell her about an upcoming vacation that he and Linda’s Mom were getting ready to take the next day.    No o...

         Marvin Lee King was born on July 30th, 1960 to Monica King. He was called “Beau” by all those who knew him. He was a typical student at Northwestern Elementary School in 1973.     The King family lived at the Rose Garden Mobile Home Park at 2744 Upper Valley Pike in Springfield, Ohio. They were parishioners at St. Theresa Catholic Church.       On Thursday, January 25th, 1973 Beau called his mother at work in the evening. She worked at a local cafe. She was too busy to take the call and said she would call him back when she got a break. Later when she called back; he wasn’t home. She rushed home to see what was going on and to look for him.    Beau had seemingly disappeared. His mother, Monica, reported him missing sometime after 8 p.m. when he was not home as she expected him to be.    A neighbor later reported seeing Beau get into a “dark colored car, possibly a 19...

         Theodore Alan Carey was born on May 27th, 1937 to Virginia and William Carey.      He was born during the Great Depression in the United States. He would have grown up during World War 2. Those years were difficult economic times for everyone but especially for African Americans.     Sadly, Theodore’s father passed away when Theodore was young. I couldn’t find the exact date.  But his mother remarried and in the 1950 census the new little family is living in Indian Hill. That’s a tree lined suburb east of Cincinnati. Theodore’s stepfather, Shanklin, was the caretaker of a private home there. This meant that Theodore was able to go to school in a very nice school district in the Cincinnati area.    Theodore graduated from Indian Hill High School in Indian Hill, Ohio in 1957.         Then he joined the U.S. Air Force. He served in Vietnam, the ...