What lay behind this approach? Why? I knew from the time Id spent with her that shes a strong person, and Day 1 of this series didnt capture that. When the men turned them down, Melissa and Sheila said theyd hitchhike instead. Today, both men insist they should have done more to protect Sheila Swanson and Rachanda Pickle from a killer. No one was ever charged. Thats when Ackroyd picked up a woman from the side of the road, dragged her into the woods and raped her. The time had stopped. Marlene started this series and it seemed fitting to end with her. I thought about it, but I never done it.. Was that a conscious decision? Again, he didnt respond. Later that morning, the door to the house opened unexpectedly. 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. The Oregonian has prepared a complete dossier on the crimes of John ACKROYD. Their stories. A few days later, I received a handwritten letter from Noel. He talked his boss into letting him drive 750 miles to California to find out. Highway worker after highway worker said they werent there that night, they couldnt vouch that it had happened. Bill Hanlon, the district attorney in Jefferson County, wasnt surprised when the call came from a prosecutor in Linn County, where Ackroyd lived. For now, I just want the reader to know something triggered their interest in what happened to Marlene and leave it at that. The watch played a key role in helping to pin down when she was killed. We needed to say that. Your lead is a classic roundup that focuses on several people or events. I asked him for an interview. The two spent evenings at a Sharis restaurant along Highway 20, where they hung around with other teens and locals, including a state mechanic named John Ackroyd. Account & Lists Returns & Orders. I wanted the story to be easy on the reader. I read the book while reporting this story and we made a trip to Cline Falls park during one of our trips to central Oregon. After one year, the couple divorced, but they continued to live together with Linda's children. It was one of those details I tucked away knowing Id use it somewhere. He listened quietly and wept. Over two decades, four women disappeared and one was raped along 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. Linda and John Ackroyd left for work, she as a housekeeper at Black Butte Ranch, a resort community about 30 minutes away, and he as a highway mechanic. [4] Ackroyd's step-daughter Rachanda Pickle went missing in 1990. Yes and it was something I struggled with. I had to gut him out.. But as time went on and fresh eyes viewed the case files, investigators finally pursued justice for numerous victims. The nut graf is: One woman was raped, four others disappeared. How were you able to describe the dispatcher as bewildered? Ran into a deer, Ackroyd said. Ackroyd has three brothers and one sister. But the story cant be fully appreciated without viewing Killens gripping documentary; so far its YouTube views top 847,000 hits and 22.6 million minutes of viewing time, Bottomly said. Resources and contacts also are listed at the end of the story. Ackroyd was charged with Rachanda's murder in 2013, and pleaded no contest. I was so bewildered by this I was unclear where this was going and then he said, And when he entered his plea. You can hear me echo him on my recorder, When he entered his plea? I was so stunned that (Ackroyd) had done that, a no contest plea, and that there was no record of that in the court system. From the outside, Ackroyd seemed to lead an ordinary life: Raised in small-town Oregon, he hunted and fished, held a steady job and married a woman with a couple of young kids. But the rape allegation wasnt their priority that day. Like Kayes watch and her hair in the birds nest, this Fireball detail is one I knew I would use. The dishes werent in the dishwasher and the floor wasnt vacuumed. He picked her up 41 years ago at a campground outside Sisters, Oregon. I knew this would be an essential scene. What was the justification to go ahead and use them in a family newspaper?. The project was a true collaboration. I sought to write a driving narrative that relied on detail, dialogue and description with a bedrock of reporting and research. Oh my God, her mother-in-law said, opening the door. Roger Beck was also found guilty in the murder of Kaye Turner at a separate trial. Why did you write it and place it here? Guilty. Two were Jane Does. Ackroyd did little to look for her and later picked up Linda from work. Rachandas brother struggled to cope with the loss of his sister. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Can you describe the collaboration between you, Dave Killen and Beth Nakamura? She wanted to go home to her baby. In our meetings early on, I filled every square inch of the board with dates, victims, themes, etc. This is a crucial moment where Ackroyd is confronted with one of these crimes, in this case Rachandas disappearance. The trial came to a close and Ackroyd, dressed in cowboy boots, jeans and a studded belt with John in silver letters, Linda Ackroyd, who now goes by the last name Monville, says she doesnt know if Ackroyd molested her daughter. What was your greatest writing challenge? A lawyer from central Oregon heard the cases had been reopened and called with a suggestion: Take a look at an old highway worker named John Ackroyd. Did you assume readers would know what a Fireball is? You dont describe the rape, instead skipping over graphic details. She hadnt been out long when a state highway worker named Thomas Hanna spotted her, running south, alone. The reports dont shed light on why they doubted her. Recently read an excellent series by the Oregonian, "Ghosts of Highway 20" on suspected serial killer John Arthur Ackroyd, who was active in Oregon from the late 1970s, operating on a remote stretch of US Highway 20 between Bend and Newport, where he was employed by the State Highway Department. For a long time, the lead was a scene from his cell immediately after his death. Ackroyd had indeed come across Kaye but didnt go to police, even though he saw posters with her picture at the nearby Santiam Junction highway compound, where he lived. This is another of the few times when we read extended dialogue, a hallmark of classic narrative. Cart We talked all along about how graphic to be. Polygraph "test" of Marlene K. Gabrielsen conducted by Sergeant Phil R. Ensminger of the Lane County Sheriff's Office . My mom was yelling at John to stop. My editor tells me I usually write with economy and directness, so it was also more of my natural style to hone and hone some more. At 17, Melissa was tough-talking and independent. The two investigators crowded Bensons office with more whiteboards, scribbling fine points from each case. In passing, the piece mentioned that the killer might have been involved in other murders. 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. Biography. Her father, Richard Sanders, kept her jewelry box, which looked like a miniature china cabinet, under a counter in the old trailer where he lived outside Sweet Home. They were critically wounded but survived. The details surrounding the assault are terrifying enough. What was the justification to go ahead and use them in a family newspaper? Local police didnt put much stock in the accuracy of the trackers findings. Ackroyd was spotted there at least three times after they went missing. Read "John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer" by Ruth Canton available from Rakuten Kobo. It was so essential to the chronology that the cash-strapped county that tried Ackroyd years later flew in a Timex exec from the East Coast to testify about the watch and its timekeeping. We talked about this stuff pretty much nonstop at work and when we hung out together outside of work. I dont think we talked about that because he died so early in my reporting. Ackroyd obviously is the catalyst of destruction. The process compounded his grief. Plus reading it aloud again and again and producing a condensed online timeline helped uncover themes and discrepancies. Wasnt it strange that he was the last person to see Kaye and Rachanda alive? Something bad happened to her. She saw it as a way of letting readers know how much work went into this series. I would describe it as unsatisfying and extraordinary. 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. We relied on each other for support. I also wanted to touch on the idea that this story served as a form of justice for Marlene. Bottomly teamed up Crombie with Killen and Nakamura to run the mystery to ground. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison John Arthur Ackroyd - Episode podcast teratas Rachanda and Byron Pickle in an undated photograph. Yes! We spent time with Marlene, the lone survivor. Her mother noticed the girls hairbrush, makeup and earrings were still there. We needed to say that. John Arthur Ackroyd (October 3, 1949 December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. Vulnerable and adrift, Melissa and Sheila knew nothing of Ackroyds sinister background when he entered their lives. Her head slammed into the door frame. Crombies lean prose, set off by stretches of staccato dialogue between investigators and their elusive suspect, relentlessly draws the reader into the mystery and misery behind Ackroyds killing spree. They located the woman who had introduced Melissa and Sheila to Ackroyd. Why do these victims matter now? That day, she tied her hair back and pulled on her green Levis. Her description provided a distinct sense of place. I wanted the story to be easy on the reader. They kept their exasperation in check, rarely raising their voices as they combed fine details for any new revelation. The teenagers had met six months earlier. They were thin slats of wood. The annotation: Storyboards questions are in red; Crombies responses in blue. Its ugly to describe and imagine these killings. A few days later, I received a handwritten letter from Noel. Kindle Edition. The lead prosecutor has a formidable memory and kept meticulous notes that were part of the case file. How do we create a person's profile? Oh, I think you do, Harmon said softly. What was your reaction when you discovered it? 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. After the rape, Ackroyd slapped the knife against his grimy jeans held up by orange suspenders. The aging killer headed to the door and returned to his cell. This was looking forward. The girls mother eventually moved to California and remarried. The dispatcher asked: Who was the last person that saw her, do you know?. It was late spring. Constant references make Highway 20 a character in its own right? My mom was yelling at John to stop. I wasnt sure what to call it. They noted in their report how the original officers had failed to pursue the rape case even though physical evidence corroborated Marlenes account. Ackroyd, now 63, went over the timeline of the day Rachanda disappeared, spinning the same old lies. Would he give up the body? They had to be named first it should be a shock to the conscience that women were vanishing like this and someone was getting away with it. This story is complicated and confusing. Its also a newspaper story, not a book. Investigators believe he killed an unknown number of other victims whose remains are scattered off Highway 20, a two-lane road that crosses central Oregon west-to-east, often disappearing into the shadowy maw of dense evergreen forests. I was working with a massive amount of information, a long span of years and a huge slice of Oregon geography. That beating she got was over, over the top. On Christmas Eve morning in 1978, she went out for a run in Camp Sherman, where she, her husband and friends planned to spend the holiday. They matter because some of their stories have never been told. He wondered aloud if Rachanda had been dumped and buried in the woods or threatened with a knife, tied up and gagged, her body rolled in plastic. A state police sergeant and a lieutenant from a local sheriffs office tracked down Marlene at home. The jurors listened attentively and scribbled notes. Great verb choice! Im not sure what the reader gains from reading a detailed description of a rape. The men heard a truck pull into the yard. Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian/OregonLive. Didnt do anything to Channy? the cop pressed. She understood how ambitious we were trying to be and was really supportive of that. So here: Whos responsible for this carnage? They show similarities with the other attacks off the highway in the woods, restraints or some sort of overpowering, abuse and then stashing the womens bodies out of the way, leaving them for the elements and animals to destroy. Ackroyd heaved his body out of the chair. How were you able to describe the dispatcher as bewildered? He picked her up 41 years ago at a campground outside Sisters, Oregon. It was Marlene Gabrielsens first night away from her baby girl. During his school years, he was a loner who was bullied. Its got humanity and poignancy but it also lets readers know that ultimately some questions about the Turner murder were never answered. Sandy Turner, Noels wife, answered and greeted us warmly. Showing : Public Libraries K-12 Schools Library Name Distance. Ackroyds explanations of his encounter with her never added up, but detectives found no physical evidence directly tying him to the killing. It was the first time shed seen him since that summer morning.
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