Julia Dawson Gordon, Nancy May Webb, and Anita Barmore:1962, Clark County, Indiana

  Three young Kentucky women were murdered in 1962. They were each murdered in different brutal ways. All three were found near Jeffersonville, Indiana. People began to wonder if a “Jack the Ripper” type killer was at work here. This was decades before the term “serial killer” began to be widely used. 

  On May 21st, 1962, 22 year old Julia Dawson was found on the side of the road near Jeffersonville, Indiana. The coroner would find that she died of Darvon poisoning on May 18th. The side of the road is a strange place to take poison and perish from it. It was quickly assumed that someone had murdered her and then placed her on the side of the road. Julia Ann Dawson was from Louisville. How did she end up murdered and dumped in Indiana? 

  On October 15th, 1962, 21 year old Nancy May Webb was also found in Jeffersonville. She had been beaten to death and strangled. 

  On November 8th 1962, 21 year old Anita Barmore was found just a bit further North of the other two victims. Anita had been strangled and there were rope burns on her neck. The killer had also used a knife to mutilate her body. 

  The murders occurred in May, October and then again in November. The newspapers began reporting that perhaps some  “Jack The Ripper type killer” was on the loose.  But, were all three of these murders actually connected? 

   Julia Dawson was actually Mrs. Julia Dawson Gordon. She was married to Emmett Gordon. He reported her missing on May 19th, 1962.  She was found on May 21st 1962. Her remains were beginning to decompose. Had she really only been missing for a couple of days? She was found without any clothing on or any clothing found in the vicinity. 

    

   Julia Dawson Gordon was found on Hamburg Pike about 2 ½ miles north of Jeffersonville, Indiana by a man operating a road grader on the gravel road. Because he was seated higher than the driver of any normal vehicle, he had a better vantage point. 

   Julia Dawson Gordon was described in life as a pretty brunette. She was last seen in a blue dress with black heels and a black purse. She was described as partially paralyzed on her left side. 

   An autopsy would find that her death was caused by Darvon poisoning. 

   Was her death by Darvon poisoning accidental or was it murder? Certainly the placing of her nude body in the ditch north of Jeffersonville amounted to abuse of a corpse. 

   I didn’t find any articles about charges being filed against anyone. I did not see any articles about her husband or any other suspect being questioned. 

   Nancy May Webb had been born Nancy May Helm. She attended the Ursuline Academy before she married Harold D. Webb of Route 1 in Floyd’s Knobs, Indiana. They had a daughter named Virginia. The two divorced in 1960. 

   In 1962, Nancy was working as a waitress at The Spa, on 218 Breckenridge in Louisville to support herself and her daughter. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Helm of 1629 Bank were close to Nancy and often looked after Virginia. Nancy lived at 1238 South First Street in Louisville. South First Street is a really lovely street filled with old brick homes. Many have been converted to apartment buildings long ago. All the buildings look very well maintained today and the street is lined with mature trees. 

  Nancy May Webb was found in a field off Charleston Pike north of Jeffersonville. The spot was about a mile away from the location on Hamburg Pike where Julia Ann Dawson Gordon had been found in May. 

  Nancy May Webb was found on October 15th, 1962, fully clothed but her shoes and purse were missing. She had rope burns on her neck which led investigators to believe that her cause of death had been strangling. 

   On Thursday November 8th, 1962  Anita Christine Barmore was found. The rope burns on Anita’s body were so similar to those of Nancy May Webb that investigators immediately thought that these two murders were linked. However, Anita was not just strangled. She had been mutilated. The killer had used a very sharp knife to remove her left breast and part of her pelvic region. A man’s rubber coated raincoat and marked hospital towels were also found near the body. 

   It was also found that Anita had known Nancy May Webb. Both were waitresses in Louisville taverns. 

   On November 16th, 1962, a road crew found another woman battered and bruised by the side of the road north of Jeffersonville in Clark County, Indiana. 

   Mrs. Katie Logsdon had been spending the evening in a tavern. She expressed a desire to go to Indiana to visit her daughters. A man said he would take her. She left with him. He sexually assaulted her and strangled her. He must have thought she was dead when he left her bruised and bleeding on the side of the road. Katie Logsdon was only unconscious. The road crew contacted the police to aid this victim. Police, however, treated her as if she was a criminal. They charged her with public intoxication. It doesn’t seem like any medical care was given nor was a rape kit collected. If her attack was connected to any of the others; it seems that police did not pursue it. 

   A suspect came to light fairly quickly in the murder of Anita Barmore. Frank J. Leaver Jr. was seen with Anita on the night she was murdered. 

  Who was Frank J. Leaver Jr?  He was born September 11th, 1912 in Kentucky. He was a truck driver for a fuel company in 1962. 

   In April of 1962, 7 months before the murder of Anita Barmore, he was facing a second trial in the killing of a co-worker. In 1958, he allegedly killed a 17 year old co-worker, L.Q. Robertson, at the Central Overall Company. He was convicted in 1961. However, that conviction was overturned. The second trial fell apart because no witness could be found to testify against him. 

   A woman who had dated Leaver testified that he kept a rubberized raincoat, hospital towels and a knife in his car. 

   Tire track impressions and other biological evidence was also presented at trial. As was a lewd and lascivious letter that the middle aged Leaver wrote to a 15 year old girl in which he wrote “I am guilty but it will take time and money to prove it.”

   In May of 1966 after a lengthy investigation and trial, Frank J. Leaver Jr. was sentenced to life in prison. Unlike many murderers back in the day…Frank J. Leaver Jr. did remain in prison in Michigan City, Indiana until his death from a myocardial infarction in 1981. 

   Who was Frank J. Leaver Jr?  He was born September 11th, 1912 in Kentucky. He was a truck driver for a fuel company in 1962. 

   In April of 1962, 7 months before the murder of Anita Barmore, he was facing a second trial in the killing of a co-worker. In 1958, he allegedly killed a 17 year old co-worker, L.Q. Robertson, at the Central Overall Company. He was convicted in 1961. However, that conviction was overturned. The second trial fell apart because no witness could be found to testify against him.