Chalkboard Thoughts

         On the evening of October 24th, 1974, Karen Miller was worried. A man was loitering around the Foto Fair. She was getting the creeps. Karen was a 17 year old high school junior in Beavercreek, Ohio. (Beavercreek is southeast of Dayton.) She called her Mom to come and drive her home.     Karen’s mother drove over to the photo processing booth in the parking lot of the shopping center in Beavercreek, Ohio. She and Karen headed home at about 8:43.    As they drove into their own driveway and started in the house, Karen was called over to a car that had pulled up. Karen’s mother thought nothing of it and headed in. She thought the car belonged to a friend and Karen would be right in.     Except Karen did not come in. Her mother looked out and Karen and the car were gone. (A neighbor would later describe it as an old, dented white car.) She got into her own car and began driving around looking ...

    Shelia Grigsby was born in October 1949  in Charlottesville, Virginia to Margaret and Adolphe Grigsby.    Shelia and her mother moved to Dayton in 1960. Later, Shelia married Theodore Banks (son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Banks)  but I wasn’t able to find their wedding date. The two had a son who they named Ronald Eugene Banks.    20 year old Shelia Banks and her young son, Ronald Eugene, were at home at 804 Tyson Avenue on Saturday evening January 13th, 1972. Little Ronald was only 20 months old. I imagine that somewhere in the back of Shelia’s mind was a plan for his upcoming second birthday.    Shelia might have done some homework that night before going to bed. She was studying to become a nurse at Sinclair College in Dayton.   Two other children were spending the night in the home as well.     Sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning on the 14th of January, someone ...

        Cherrie Ann Mahan was born on August 14th, 1976 to 16 year old Janice Mahan. Janice had tragically been raped at age 15.  Janice probably could have given Cherrie Ann to an adoptive family but her love for her daughter was so strong. She said that they grew up together.    Janice later married LeRoy McKinney, a Vietnam Veteran, who was happy to have a stepdaughter like Cherrie. The family moved to Cornplanter Road in Butler County, north of Pittsburgh.   Cherrie Mahan was 8 years old in 1985. She might have been reading a chapter book on the bus or practicing multiplication tables. She might have been working on her spelling homework. It was a Friday so maybe she did all her homework on the bus so she wouldn’t have to worry about it over the weekend.    She was just getting off the bus like any normal day on February 22nd, 1985. She and a group of neighbor children got off at the same stop on Cornplanter...