Carla Anne Chunchick Mason:1977, Bunker Hill, Indiana

   

  Carla Anne Chunchick was born on April 25th, 1947 in Rochester, Pennsylvania. The little town of Rochester lies along the Ohio River a short drive Northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It’s not far from Youngstown, Ohio. 


  Carla’s parents were Margaret Lee “Peg” Morris Heymann and  Peter Chunchick. Carla’s parents had quite a few children but ultimately they did not stay together. Her mother married Harry Paul Heymann. He was also from Pennsylvania. Carla’s half sister Nikki Elaine Heymann was born on April 23rd 1960. I wonder if they had to share a birthday party and a cake like my brother and I did when we were kids. Our birthdays were about a week apart. 


  Rochester, Pennsylvania, the town of Carla’s birth, is an industrial sort of town like many along the Ohio River in the Midwest. Carla went to Monaca High School across the River from Rochester. She graduated in 1965. 


  Then, this family and extended family with Pennsylvania roots made a move to California. (Peter Chunchick and the Heymann’s including Nikki all are buried there.) 


  Carla’s father, Peter Chunchick, also remarried a couple of times in his life and had more children. So, Carla had a large extended family and it seems that they all kept in touch.


  Carla Anne Chunchick married Richard Mason on August 21st, 1965 in Los Angeles. How did she end up in Indiana? There is an Air Force Base near Bunker Hill, Indiana. It’s named for the astronaut Gus Grissom who was also an Indiana native. I imagine that Carla’s husband, Richard, was an airman. 


  Not far from that area is a spot along the Missessinewa River called the Seven Pillars. It is revered by the Miami Native American tribe. The river carved seven pillar-like structures out of the limestone. Large beautiful sycamore trees line the banks of the river there. 



  I am a big fan of geology and my family and I visited that spot a few years ago. I didn’t know about Carla then. It was a sunny winter day and the river had many bald eagles nesting there. It was amazing to see eagles that close. Indiana has done a marvelous job of conservation of its natural resources. I don’t remember seeing an Eagle or hearing of anyone seeing an Eagle when I was a kid in the 70’s. 


  On that same day we went to see Fairmont, Indiana where the actor, James Dean grew up and was buried. I wonder if Carla ever went there. I would imagine that she would have likely been a fan. 


  Carla became a beautician. She had three children that she loved very much. 


  On November 6th, 1977, Carla did not make it home. Her family was immediately worried as this was not like her. She was dependable. They knew something terrible must have happened. 


  On November 10th, 1977, Carla’s body was found by hunters. She had been left almost on the Cass County and Miami County Line. 


  She had been murdered after leaving Woody’s Steakhouse on November 6th, 1977 near Grissom Air Force Base which is close to Bunker Hill in Miami County, Indiana. I imagine that she was probably working as a waitress there or working somewhere nearby. 


  She was stabbed in the left upper side of her chest. The stab wound lacerated the upper lobe of her left lung and her pulmonary artery. She would have bled to death in just a few minutes. Contusions on her forehead are also noted on the death certificate. 


  Not long after the murder a man named John Thomas Gardner, who went by the nickname J.T., boasted to others about having killed Carla. He had a history of molestation and rape of women and girls in the area. It’s a shame that he had not been prosecuted for those crimes before. Maybe Carla would have been safe that night. John Thomas Gardner said he offered her a ride to Kokomo after they met at Woody’s Steakhouse. 

  

  He confessed to pressuring her for sex. She refused. He stabbed her in the chest with a steak knife. (Had he taken it from the restaurant in order to use it to force her to have sex with him? I think so.) She begged him to take her to the hospital but he did not. The car was traveling along State Road 35. Carla died in his car. He sexually assaulted her body. Then he put her in a sleeping bag and left her body in a ditch east of Logansport near the Cass and Miami County Line. 


  He was tried and convicted. John Thomas Gardner was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 40 years. The judge also gave him an additional 20 years which was allowed under certain circumstances.  The judge decided he was a violent and sexually deviant individual and added the additional twenty years. 


  That was unusual in 1977 and 1978. In many states in the Midwest the sentences were shorter. I was worried that he might have gotten paroled or released early. Thankfully he did not. He died in prison in 2005. 



  Carla’s younger sister, Nikki, graduated from high school in 1977 just about six months before Carla’s murder. Nikki later had a daughter that she named Carla. 


  Carla Anne Chunchick Mason is buried in Kokomo, Indiana at the Kokomo Zion United Methodist Cemetery. It’s a lovely, peaceful looking cemetery with a pretty white wood framed church. 


  Rest in Peace, Carla.


Shareable YouTube Video here:


https://youtu.be/9Isb69hWrKo?si=8e82AJsrZPKcPfJC


 


   


  


   


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