Chalkboard Thoughts

        Norma Jean Tharpe Turner was born on June 19th, 1947 to June and Mack Cecro Tharpe in Tennessee.    Her father, Mack Cecro Tharpe, served in the U.S. Navy as a Steward’s Mate Second Class. After the war he returned to his hometown of Paris, Tennessee.   They appear in the 1950 census living in Paris, Tennessee. The little family lived with Mack Tharpe’s uncle, Willie G. Hudson. Mr. Hudson was a widower and was no longer working. He was 53. Mack Tharpe worked hauling coal at the Retail Coal and Lumber Company. Norma Jean’s mother, June Reddick Tharpe, likely kept house, cooked for all in the home, and took care of three year old Norma Jean. Mack and June Tharpe were both 24 years old. A lodge also resides in the home; Ruth J. Palmer was 29 years old and worked as a Secretary in a funeral home.    The June and Mack Tharpe family moved to Illinois in 1951. Norma Jean Tharpe would have been about 4. She would have ...

      “Anne”    He had forgotten to tie her up this time. “Anne” had been repeatedly raped since he and the other man had abducted her. He would tie her tightly to the tree after.  But that morning, after raping her, he fallen asleep. His gun was right there. She could run away but what if he woke up and caught up to her? What if the other man came back and the two of them tracked her down? They had already killed two of her friends. She knew that. No. She couldn’t risk running with them around. She quietly and slowly got up and reached for the sawed off shotgun.    This sounds like a work of fiction but it was the reality of one fifteen year old girl in Kentucky in April of 1990. She did manage to reach the gun and eliminate one of the men, Phillip E. Clopton, who had abducted and repeatedly assaulted her for three weeks in a remote wooded area.    She then hiked out of the woods and reached a road around 12:30 p.m. She...

         Debra Colliander was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1954. She grew up in Waukesha, Wisconsin and graduated from Waukesha high school.     In 1980 she was living in Aurora, Illinois. She was smart, young and independent.    One night in 1980, she was abducted and assaulted by Bruce Everitt Lindahl. She managed to escape when he fell asleep. She reported the rape and abduction to the police. Luckily, the police actually believed her and they arrested Lindahl.    Bruce Everitt Lindahl was a serial rapist and serial murderer. He had absolutely no conscience. He had no empathy. He was simply a predator.   In October 1980, in the weeks after filing charges against Bruce Lindahl; Debra Colliander went missing after work. Two years would pass before she was found. In those two years Bruce Lindahl would pass away as well.     Bruce Lindahl was cruising for a victim at a bowling alley on April 4...

        Robin Fuldauer managed the Payless Shoe Store next to the Speedway Gas Station on Pendleton Pike in Indianapolis in 1992. Some things have changed since then. The Speedway Gas Station is still there. The Payless is now a battery store. But back in 1992 the Payless Shoe Store would have been getting ready for a very busy few weeks.  Easter was coming up and shoe sales always climb before the holidays. Spring occasions like prom and graduations also drive new shoe sales. The store would have been full of sandals, pumps, flats and dress shoes for the whole family. Payless would have also stocked lots of affordable tennis shoes all year long as well. This location on Pendleton Pike on Indianapolis’ eastside was just off 465 and not far from Interstate 70.     Robin Fuldauer was born December 16th, 1965 to Carole Lucas Fuldauer and Elliott Fuldauer. She was a graduate of Lawrence Central High School and later Indiana University as we...