The next in my list of Lincoln's most infamous crimes.
9. Patricia McGarry and Catherine Brooks
The bodies of these two friends were found in a Northeast Lincoln duplex in August, 1977. Their murderer, Robert E. Williams, was the subject of a massive midwest manhunt during the following week. Before his capture he committed a third murder in Sioux Rapids, Iowa; and raped, shot and left a for dead a victim who survived in Minnesota. He is the last man to be executed in Nebraska, sent to the electric chair in 1997.
The Sereies:
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
23 comments:
It looks like this guy didn't do well at robbery up in Omaha, so he moved down here after he was paroled and tried it again, with pretty much the same result.
Congratulations on your significant honor Chief Casady. We are all proud of the work you do.
Congratulations Chief.
Police Hall of Fame!!!! Most people don't make it into a Hall of Fame until they are deceased or at least retired. Is someone trying to tell you something?
Congratulations Chief!! Well deserved!!
Chief-Congrats on your induction. That is a great honor.
Kudos to the officer that spotted Boston after the Days Inn robbery.
Since "Old Sparky" hasn't been used for a few years, is it in a museum somewhere?
It will be interesting to see the next 8 crimes. Should spark (no pun intended) some interesting debate on the rankings, the ones you leave out, and your Number One choice.
Thanks for all you've done over the years. I'm proud to be a friend.
256
I think one of the most impressive attributes of the Chief is how he handles his critics.
Keep up the good work, Tom.
10:57, Deputy D, Steve, et al. -
Thank you so much. I hope no one minds too much if I defer that dying part.
256-
Good question. I wonder where the electric chair is now. Oh, and don't get ahead of me on this series. You'd be amazed at what many people today don't know, that you and I take for granted. Those of you under 45, please complete these sentences, without using Google:
Brylcream,....
Ralph: "To the moon, ....."
Sock it to me, sock it to me, .....
I can't believe I ate....
Chief-I won't spoil the party by guessing any of the remaining crimes. I'm just looking forward to the ensuing debate by all the armchair sleuths.
I had a tour of the pen as part of a criminal justice class in the early 70's. At that time, I recall the chair being in the Asst. Warden's residence or office. I actually sat in it. Wish I had a photo.
256
@ Tom 8:19
Hah! I got all of them! What do you say to -- um, wait a minute... just let me check my driver's license....
50?! When did that happen? Never mind.
You can list the crimes, but please tell us why you consider them the most infamous.
Chief, you could string those answers together, in order, add some punctuation, and you would have the following sentence:
A liite dab will do it, Alice, sock it to me--the whole thing!
That list reminds me of the silly game we played in high school. Just add "in between the sheets" after the titles of songs on the jukebox. It would work with your list also Chief.
Gun Nut
Are you sure this was in northeast Lincoln? I thought it happened in southeast Lincoln, maybe just northwest of 48/Calvert. If you're correct, were there two women murdered that worked or volunteered at a church in the College View area? Thanks.
8:28-
Different case, in which Randolph Reeves murdered two victims in the Quaker Meeting house, SE corner 46th & Calvert.
In the 80s, the Chair sat just off the photo lab, located in the main building of the old Pen. It was moved to the new facility just behind the front entrance desk and also had a separate room used by witnesses.
Currently, the chair is in storage in an undisclosed location. For history purposes I would love to see it end up at the State Historical Society, along with the Westinghouse equipment that powered the chair.
As for claims of having sat in the Chair, that is most unlikely unless it wasn't physically wired to anything. Being the 70s, it is most likely that now power ran to it, and likely that then folks could sit in it.
When working at the Pen, just before the move to the new Pen, as a correctional officer I was given a tour of the Death Chamber by Capt. Mike Konn of Corrections. Having stood in the actual execution chamber, I can honestly say that a chill ran through me, thinking of all the men who sat in that chair for execution.
Interestingly enough, for some reason I wanted to be part of the execution team, though I wised up and left employment of the Pen for work in the computer field, which I found much safer and better paying.
Oh, and congrats on your award Tom!
Gun Nut, my friends and I do a similar thing with Chinese fortune cookies. Add the words "in bed" to the end of every fortune cookie.
Dave-You're right, the chair wasn't hooked to anything when I sat in it as it hadn't been used for several years. The tour was arranged by an Asst. Warden who was also a student in the class. That's how we had access. I have no idea what the configuration of the pen is today, but back then I believe the Warden and Asst. lived on the premises.
And, it WAS spooky.
256
8:43:
Thanks for helping my memory out. It's appreciated.
Congratulations, Chief Casady, on making it into the Police Hall of Fame. It appears well deserve to us. Thanks for your SERVICE.
256
You are correct, the Warden and Deputy Warden both had homes on the Pen property. The homes stood pretty much where the new main building of the Pen stands now.
The old Pen was a spooky place indeed. I remember my interview, walked through the front entrance which was a former house, to the admin building... as I entered turnkey the barred door slammed shut behind... it was a chilling experience for having never been in a correctional facility before.
Actually the Quacker Meeting House was on the Northwest corner of 46th and Sherman, two blocks North of Calvert
Post a Comment