Dave worked the drone and Beth wandered off alone to look for a way to capture what Marlene saw that early morning 40 years ago. We felt and processed their profound grief. This time you dramatize the action instead of summarizing it. It wasnt far from where the teens remains were found. No, the bewildered dispatcher said, thats not true, not with children. Actually, the beginning and the ending were the most rewritten parts of the series, as we knew they would be. The time and date stood still: 9:27 a.m. on Dec. 24. Accused of felony theft as a teen, he opted to enlist in the Army and was stationed in Korea, Thailand and Germany, where he worked as a mechanic. This is what we heard at the Youth Club in the early 1970's through to the late 1980's, when most nights were party nights, men were men and girls were girls and you met on the dance floor. Ackroyd would recycle the same stories. Parts of Melissas body were gone, probably dragged away by animals. Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. The state didnt take the case to a grand jury. Kayes gold Timex watch with the vinyl band was there, too. In 1977, Ackroyd raped Marlene Gabrielsen. John Arthur Ackroyd 1903-1914 - Ancestry "This . You felt a tremendous obligation to the victims and their loved ones in telling this story. I listened to them all, some multiple times. He was based in Santiam Junction, about 25 miles from Camp Sherman, and said hed gotten off work at 6:30 a.m. A while later, he drove through the camp, planning to hunt coyotes. They had to get him. Rachanda declined, citing the chores her mother expected her to finish, he said. I found her through Nexis, I think. I also was liberated by knowing the companion photos and video would fill in many of the details in a different way. She talked about her plans to run in Camp Sherman, inviting a friend to join her that morning. Rachanda and Byron Pickle in an undated photograph. I sought to write a driving narrative that relied on detail, dialogue and description with a bedrock of reporting and research. What had led Ackroyd to conclude the items in the ponderosa pine thicket were Kayes? Uncategorized - True Crime But That's None of My Business This is a kicker to the intro and sets up the only survivors story that immediately follows but it surely is the series emotional center of gravity: The dismissal of Marlenes account by police had tragic consequences. Although many versions exist of the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir . Janes heart raced as she crouched over her handlebars and sped toward the nearby country store, listening for the sound of the truck behind her. My footnotes for this passage: Oregonian interview with Byron Pickle: They had paddles. John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer by Ruth Canton is available in these Even before hunters had stumbled upon the teens remains, Ackroyd told a friend: They are assuming its me.. She answered right away and was willing to tell me about her experience so the three of us headed to Salem to interview her. In our meetings early on, I filled every square inch of the board with dates, victims, themes, etc. Shed need evidence so police could find him later. They were turned over to her husband and cremated. In all, five teens disappeared on or around highways in the county from 1984 through 1995. She fought back in every scene, but they all ended the same. Seemed like the most hopeful note on which to end a series that didnt offer much light. Our Apps. This time, the DA and the cops who believed Ackroyd had gotten away with Kaye Turners killing were determined to get the highway worker off the street for good. Rachanda was so uneasy living at Santiam Junction that she routinely brought a change of clothes to school hoping to stay with friends. John Arthur Ackroyd 1892-1953 - Ancestry Dave, Beth and I spent a lot of time deep in the woods where these women were assaulted, killed and abandoned. He read about how Ackroyd had been with an old hunting buddy on the morning of Kayes killing. So you dont know where shes at, he asked. He claimed he invited her to join him on a drive to photograph deer on back roads near the junction. That meant he was on the road unusually late. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in . Ackroyd earned low grades in school; his high school diploma was marked special education. He was a loner, bullied and beaten by classmates. How did you decide which characters to include in the epilogue? The reason for concealing the documents and who insisted on secrecy have been lost to time. I knew those important voices would have their say in the video so it liberated me to write with more authority. A cinnamon candy? Then Rachanda Pickle, Ackroyds 13-year-old stepdaughter, disappeared. Our ride is here, Karen told her friend. This is heartbreaking. The annotated version that ran online was a much shorter version of my own footnoted drafts of this story. 2-7+. Marlene suspects it was rooted in their bias against Native Americans. The details surrounding the assault are terrifying enough. Then he left for home. Karens mother, Violet Gillmore, long believed Ackroyd was behind her daughters disappearance. Didnt do anything to Channy? the cop pressed. Ackroyd was abusive to both Byron and Rachanda. So Dave and I drove a couple hours south to the Turner home Noel had remarried in the years after Kayes death and knocked on the door. Was there ever a concern about libeling Ackroyd before he died and rendered the question moot? Where did it and the other information about Kayes run come from? Did you assume readers would know what a Fireball is? The district attorney said they had enough to take the case to a grand jury. By now, investigators knew who they were dealing with. She didnt talk much about what had happened. How did you locate her? Be a good girl. But those relationships shifted over time. Marlene started this series and it seemed fitting to end with her. Several parts conclude with a cliffhanger, effectively designed to keep the reader reading. Two years later, at age 14, she married Beck. John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer and may have been a serial killer. The home showed no signs of foul play. I tell new reporters not to do what I did; its a ridiculously inefficient way of amassing documents for a big project like this. Marlene had hitchhiked plenty and didnt think twice as she squeezed into the front seat between the men. Do you or any of the detectives have any suspicions why it was sealed? He drew an orange grid, each column dedicated to a victim assaulted or killed, likely by Ackroyd. Both reports are attached to this post. Sandy Turner, Noels wife, answered and greeted us warmly. Maybe they just walked in, seen an opportunity and grasped at it.. Karens case and the others from that era were all but forgotten. At first, shes just taking the info from Linda Ackroyd. Rachanda was a good kid, helping around the house and taking care not to stray far. Ackroyd, too, hung out there. It took 14 years to . The style of the series is elliptical in that it leaves out information, such as dialogue, names of source and other details. She read some drafts early on. We talked to grieving loved ones. Prosecutors said she also had been raped. She invited us in and we waited for Noel to return from running an errand. There was nothing in the record that showed where this request came from or why it had been sought. You should know. Margaret (Haberman) agreed and suggested that we pare them down to a manageable number for publication. My editors advised me at one point to look for ways to mix things up with more complex sentences and longer graphs. He stuffed his cell with food from the prison commissary dozens of packages of processed meats and cheese, candy bars and beans. Ackroyd's step-daughter Rachanda Pickle went missing in 1990. You aim to anticipate the next question theyll have. She asked if she could sleep over. We talked about this stuff pretty much nonstop at work and when we hung out together outside of work. 25 November 2021. John Ackroyd - Address & Phone Number | Whitepages Today, both men insist they should have done more to protect Sheila Swanson and Rachanda Pickle from a killer. She saw it as a way of letting readers know how much work went into this series. Please take me home.. A cinnamon candy? Rachandas green nightgown was on her bedroom floor. Where did it and the other information about Kayes run come from? He had an older and younger sister. Source? The clue bore a chilling similarity to two of Ackroyds earlier assaults: Rape victim Marlene Gabrielsens boots and underwear were sliced and so was the waistband on Kaye Turners yellow jogging shorts. Marlene found a friend to care for her baby, pumped breast milk and wrote out a napping schedule. It felt clunky to me to stop and quote a source. John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. And then there was Ackroyds eerie talk of hunting. He married Emma Richardson on 30 July 1927, in Clayton, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. We went back in our clips. He even pretended to aid in the fruitless search for the girl. Once in a while, Bart Swanson makes his way to the isolated logging road where Sheilas body was found just feet from her friend, Melissa Sanders. Finding no sign of her, he panicked and called police. So instead of hundreds of footnotes, we ran about 150 in a separate version of the story that also links to original source material. A report from the trial in the Bend (OR) Bulletin. My sister was denying it. (Getty Images) If you've been following the five-part story of John Ackroyd, its conclusion might leave you hanging. We talked to grieving loved ones. Just like with Kaye, detectives would never know what had happened to Ackroyds stepdaughter, Rachanda Pickle. This is also the story of John Ackroyd, also know as The Highway 20 Killer. The medical examiner speculated that the young women had been strangled, but the condition of their remains made it difficult to determine a cause of death for either. Had police believed her, none of the subsequent murders committed by Ackroyd would likely have occurred. Why did you open the series this way? Narrative is not typically what Ive done. Then, two decades later, in 2010, another detective picked up the file. In fifth grade, something shifted. Date of Interment 21/Jan/1929, Temuka Cemetery, Section B, Block 5, Plot 335 MI. In your Emmy acceptance speech, you singled out your editor, Margaret Haberman. Yes, we saw Highway 20 as its own theme and character. His name was John Arthur Ackroyd, who would join the ranks of Ted Bundy, Green River Killer Gary Ridgway, and other notorious predators who have trolled the Pacific Northwest for vulnerable and marginalized women. John Arthur Ackroyd (October 3, 1949 December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. Your lead is a classic roundup that focuses on several people or events. He worked overseas as a mechanic and was caught stealing equipment. In a war with the French king Philip II, he lost Normandy and almost all his other possessions in France. It moved around a bit until it landed here. Pronunciation of John Arthur Ackroyd with 1 audio pronunciation and more for John Arthur Ackroyd. Dave listened to a lot of Bruce Springsteen. Marlene glimpsed a .22-caliber rifle on a rack in the cab and a hunting knife stuck in the lid of an old coffee can near the drivers seat. He thought she was pretty, he said, and noticed that shed begun to develop. Now Kaye, Rachanda, Melissa and Sheila are dead. Marlene put them on, holding tight to the waist to keep them from slipping off. She got this sustained ovation from the audience. Ackroyd was raised in the small logging town of Sweet Home, Oregon. What are the chances that two serial killers were active during the same time and place? Their clothes were spattered with so much blood that she got rid of Becks jeans and shirt. I wanted to pick up the watch detail again because we first saw Kaye wearing the watch as she heads on a run and now the watch is a detail in her killing. Those contradictions, discrepancies and outright lies had led him to this moment. Ackroyd was one of many leads they pursued. She couldnt see the house number from the truck. There was so much information to move through. Police had done extensive interviews with his supervisors and friends as well. All these years later, the Turner trial would be the first step in bringing the killer to justice. But, worried about the possibility of parole in the Turner case, they took their chances. I wanted the reader to hear Ackroyds reaction when confronted with the detectives suspicions. She always made the project a priority and didnt make me feel like, Oh, God, Im not contributing or my colleagues are having to pick up the slack. Most of what I came up with centered on Ackroyd. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. During the course of my reporting, I heard several references to this infamous Cline Falls attack, which took place around the time of Marlenes rape and Kayes murder. I had some of these details from my initial interviews with Marlene, but Kelley pressed me to go back for more, to really flesh out that evening in detail. And, most significantly, the teens friends confirmed what investigators had long suspected: Ackroyd had been sexually abusing the girl before she vanished. It seems remarkable in hindsight that he managed to elude police despite such compelling circumstantial evidence and his rape a year earlier of another woman off Highway 20. John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer - Rakuten Kobo The lead prosecutor has a formidable memory and kept meticulous notes that were part of the case file. An ominous lead. At one point, Kelley Benham French was a consultant on the series. Their stories. That was something that kept me up at night, having to describe this landscape, these small towns, how to breathe life into people who died a long time ago, these investigations that were very old. It turned out that Jane Morris had an earlier brush with Ackroyd as well, months before Kaye went missing. And it had not been told, said Bottomly, now the Oregonians editor. The Oregonian has published the 1977 polygraph reports for both John Arthur Ackroyd and Marlene K. Gabrielsen, who credibly alleges that he raped her at knifepoint. It ended with a gripping five-part, 7,000 word narrative, a gallery of haunting photos and a heartbreaking documentary that leave no doubt about the guilt of a serial killer, but precious little solace for his victims. She recounted the attack in detail, how the man cut off her underwear and boots. She had tried to warn police about Ackroyd. Her head slammed into the door frame. I wanted the reader to feel rooted in that time and place. This is the area where Marlene Gabrielsen was raped off Highway 20 by John Ackroyd. I understood how painful it could be to have us revisit this traumatic time in his life so I respected his decision. Secondary trauma from reporting stories like this is real. I knew those important voices would have their say in the video so it liberated me to write with more authority. One of those visits stood out: Shed discovered him fondling himself while looking at Oui, an explicit mens magazine sold at the store. Rachandas brother struggled to cope with the loss of his sister. She was married to one suspect and romantically involved with the other. She thinks those factors played a role in their handling of the investigation. Ackroyd returned to the periphery. By then, Ackroyd was a suspected killer who had frustrated police for more than a decade. Police and court records. Investigators Ron Benson and Linda Snow, with the Lincoln County District Attorney's Office were preparing to present the evidence against Ackroyd for the murders of Swanson and Sanders to the grand jury when Ackroyd passed away. How did you locate her? He told police he was poaching when Kaye was killed. She had been drinking and her husband was known to local cops in their small town. In a separate call, his old coworker told the same story. Showing : Public Libraries K-12 Schools Library Name Distance. Reporting on this series was emotionally grueling. She was a bright and witty woman who seemed destined to live a full life. Then Rachanda Pickle, Ackroyd's 13-year-old stepdaughter, disappeared. This section could perhaps have served as a nut graf, placed much higher in the story. John Arthur Ackroyd (died December 30, 2016 at age 67) was an American murderer and a serial killer. How did it affect you and your colleagues? One man committed all the crimes and he is held responsible for the first time here. What the heck happened to you? Laront asked. I wanted the reader to feel rooted in that time and place. Hes a grandfather now. Rachandas brother, Byron, still sees her so clearly, her sweet features framed by brown hair. The familys kittens were curled up on the girls lap, he said. Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian/OregonLive. He had raped a young woman, led detectives to a runners remains off an isolated road in central Oregon and was the last person to see his stepdaughter alive. The 1974 horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with it's chainsaw-weilding killer Leatherface, who wears the skin of his victims as a mask, was famously inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein.Director Tobe Hooper, a Texas native, was just 14 when Ed Gein was arrested. Ackroyds name emerged early on. The Turners lived in Eugene, where Kaye, 35, had worked at Planned Parenthood and then as a manager at a local public health agency. A Forest Service rangers account of seeing Ackroyd that day in a sno-park near Santiam Junction hours later than Ackroyd claimed blew a hole in the highway workers alibi. Dave listened to a lot of Bruce Springsteen. He was raised in Sweet Home, a modest logging town along Highway 20. In prison that day with Ackroyd, the detective took one last shot. It provided readers with a sense of place but also helped propel the story along. A new prosecution would be too expensive. Yes and it was something I struggled with. It took a lot of force to break them. If I put 50 dollars on a gamble that there wasnt punishment in a week I would lose that 50 dollars. When John snapped, it was scary. When I outlined each days story, I focused on cliffhangers, kickers and which scenes could propel the narrative. I was working with a massive amount of information, a long span of years and a huge slice of Oregon geography. It seemed like decent shorthand for conveying the remoteness of this area. They werent expected back until afternoon. Both were present for almost every interview. What was your greatest writing challenge? I know from watching Dave Killens powerful documentary that much of what you summarize in the story, especially peoples voices, appears there instead of the print narrative. They were thin slats of wood. I wanted the reader to grasp the precarious position these women were at the time they disappeared. You mentioned the watch earlier. ACKROYD John Arthur | Serial Killer Database Wiki | Fandom G4E1 - Origins of Northern Soul & Disco - The Beginning While recordings from his earlier police interrogations on the Kaye Turner and Rachanda Pickle cases filled hours of tape, Ackroyd was silent on Melissa and Sheila. And Harmon hadn't uncovered any physical evidence linking Ackroyd to Rachanda's disappearance. He was caught trying to steal equipment and supplies. The Oregonian has prepared a complete dossier on the crimes of John ACKROYD. John Arthur Ackroyd was a state highway mechanic whose route took him along Route 20 from the Cascade Foothills to the Pacific Ocean's coast. Tagged: The Oregonian. It wasnt long before teenagers Melissa Sanders and Sheila Swanson disappeared from a camping trip to the coast. The Life Summary of John Arthur. It was my way of saying the state felt they had enough to prove this case and thats as close as this case would get to justice. John, byname John Lackland, French Jean sans Terre, (born c. 1166died October 18/19, 1216, Newark, Nottinghamshire, England), king of England from 1199 to 1216. At the same time, a dozen investigators working the Turner case seized on Ackroyds shifting accounts. That beating she got was over, over the top. This is the story of, Rachanda Pickle, Kaye Turner, Marlene Gabrielson, Melissa Sanders, Shiela Swan, and potentially many others. Why? If you have experienced sexual violence and need support, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE. He didnt respond. It seems clear that for many of those involved, including most importantly the victims and their families, the system (and to a larger extent society) failed them. The two friends had gone camping with Melissas family at Beverly Beach State Park, a windswept strand of sand and headlands on the central Oregon coast. Yes! Why? Great details, especially the belt. They led her into a small room with a desk. We spent time with Marlene, the lone survivor. Was it difficult to learn about Kaye Turners husband since her murder? He picked her up 41 years ago at a campground outside Sisters, Oregon. Noelle Crombie knows that. You use just 67 words to effectively condense the details of a crime that must have been full of detail. Hed stopped by a half-dozen times since Kaye had gone missing. Her husband was abusive and she drifted from Ackroyd. I relied on hundreds of pages of transcripts from police interviews with Ackroyd for some of these details. Show All. john arthur ackroyd childhood Ackroyd stopped. Thats when it got broken, over her rear. That beating she got was over, over the top. It was shocking. How to pronounce John Arthur Ackroyd | HowToPronounce.com carteret county, nc arrests She was calm as she told the dispatcher that her daughter, a homebody, had gone missing. We will go through the lives and deaths of Kaye Turner, Rachanda Pickle, Melissa . John Arthur Ackroyd Free Company Director Check Pretty bleak. Why? He worried hed become a burden for his family. Another, a young woman from Lebanon named Elizabeth Mussler who disappeared when she was 22, was discovered in a shallow grave. It was as close to a breakthrough as theyd get. For Kaye. Beautiful scenery but what this man did was not beautiful in any sense. She admitted it could have been her. Melissa Sanders was 17 and from Sweet Home. In late 2016, then-director of news Therese Bottomly was presented a freelance story about a retired prosecutor who ran every Christmas Eve in memory of a murdered jogger whose killer he helped put behind bars for life. Over two decades, four women disappeared and one was raped on the same stretch of road in rural Oregon. For more than a month in late 1993, Ackroyd sat impassively in a courtroom at the historic Jefferson County Courthouse in downtown Madras, about an hours drive across the high desert from where Kaye had disappeared. The annotated version that ran online was a much shorter version of my own footnoted drafts of this story. Within months, without a body or physical evidence implicating Ackroyd, so did the investigation. I have the audio of this conversation. Was he ready to talk? But it works for me. Unsatisfying because he pleaded no contest but his sentence was suspended as part of the plea so he was never formally convicted and his plea deal didnt require him to reveal what hed done with Rachanda. Word reached police in Lebanon, Sheilas hometown, that she, too, hadnt shown up. Prosecutors didnt have a body. Had Ackroyd left a note telling them where to find her? Why did you include a trigger warning at the top of the story? I knew I wanted to use this somewhere in this series. The two camps on the ending: Stop at Ackroyds death with a scene of a cop looking around the killers cell for a confession but finding nothing. Buy John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer by Ruth Canton at Mighty Ape Australia. Explore genealogy for Arthur Ackroyd born 1882 died 1929 New Zealand including research + children + more in the free family tree community. What was your reaction when you discovered it? Lucinda Williams The Ghosts of Highway 20, One of the victims, Terri Jentz, wrote a book. Local police didnt put much stock in the accuracy of the trackers findings. Linda Ackroyd, who now goes by the last name Monville, says she doesnt know if Ackroyd molested her daughter. Their stories. And narratively, the detectives and their work showed connections among all the cases. You know, he said, both of you sitting there pointing your fingers at me, and I didnt do nothing..
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