James Ellroy - Silent Terror

Crime(s) — Murder (1st Degree), Aggrav. Sex Asslt.

Place of Occurrence — R.F.D. # 71-A (near Sagamore Truck Stop-Exit) East Des Moines

Victim — Thurmann, Wilma Grace, W.F., blond, blue, 5'1", 105 lbs., D.O.B. 7/3/60

Time of occurrence — approx. 2100 hours, 10/1/79

Disposition of victim at time of occurrence — victim found by youths B&Eing. Catching officer stated in crime scene rep. # 79-14-H: “I entered the bin carrying a five-cell from my patrol unit and saw a young white female with her arms and legs chopped off and her throat cut. I examined the body up close and determined it to be Wilma Thurmann, a local hooker. I checked out the rest of the bin and found her arms and legs lying on top of mounds of hay.”

Forensic disposition — raped before death. Blade marks behind right ear indicate rapist/killer held knife there while performing intercourse. Semen found in victim’s vagina at time of autopsy (O+ secretor) differs from semen traces found in victim’s stomach (AB+ & O-). Victim’s police record shows five convictions for soliciting sex acts, and she was known to use bin for performing oral sex acts on customers, hence O+ secretor is probably rapist/killer’s blood type.

Exact cause of death — asphyxiation caused by choking on blood from throat wound.

Evidence found at crime scene — none. Dirt leading to, from & inside bin brushed free of footprints. Latent fingerprints at scene — none (absence of viable print-sustaining surfaces accts. for this).

Eyewitnesses — none

Prev. area crimes with corresponding M.O. — none since 1947, connection implausible

Disposition of weapon — not found during search of area, canvassing of local retailers being conducted. All units watch for: single-edged knife, 7" long, cadmium steel hacksaw, blade teeth 1/32". Detain all male suspects harboring or known to harbor.

Current status of investigation — unsolved, no hard suspects, eight detectives assigned full-time. All officers who have arrested or otherwise interrogated Wilma Grace Thurmann or any of her known associates are instructed to phone in salient information to Det. Lt. H. V. Miller, Squad Commander, East Des Moines Precinct.

For further information regarding the progress of this investigation, see case file # 79-14-H. All reports under that designation are available to all D.M.P.D. personnel wishing to acquaint themselves with this assault/homicide.

From the Lincoln, Nebraska, Plains-Advocate, December 10, 1979:

It is now a week since Russell Luxxlor was found shot through the head in a wheat field outside Lincoln. Leads are few, and police are baffled.

At first, the authorities thought the killing was part of a bungled robbery attempt. Luxxlor’s wallet was in his pants pocket, picked clean of identification and credit cards, while three hundred dollars in cash remained untouched in a “secret compartment” in the victim’s windbreaker. That theory was then abandoned when it was learned that Luxxlor was a homosexual and a long-term denizen of Lincoln’s “gay” scene.

Lincoln Police Department spokesman Lt. Mills Putnam told Plains-Advocate reporters: “We base the homosexual theory on a fact pertaining to the way Mr. Luxxlor was shot. We are not disclosing the fact in order that we may save it for interrogation purposes.”

In a later press release, Lt. Putnam stated: “We have now slightly amended our homosexual hypothesis. We think Mr. Luxxlor was killed for the identification he was carrying. We base this on the fact that all his ID was gone when his body was found, and he was last seen in a bar in Lincoln with a man who matched his own physical description. We are now looking for a white man in his early thirties, 6'2"-6'4", 190–210 lbs., dark hair and eyes and large build.”

Mr. Luxxlor was buried in a Methodist service yesterday, and the victim’s father, the Reverend Maddox Luxxlor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, told a group of reporters and police gathered at the funeral home: “You people have no right to defame my son! Your job is to catch his killer, not judge him!”

The effort to apprehend the killer continues.

Addendum Report, submitted by Detective Sergeant Joseph Stinson to Detective Lieutenant Mills Putnam, both officers attached to Homicide Sector Three, Lincoln Police Department.

10/18/79

Lt.—

Here’s another wrap-up on the Luxxlor job. 1. — Mugs have been shown to gay-bar people — no ID on the guy Luxxlor was seen with.

2. — Friends, relatives, K.A.’s — goose egg. Statewide query on the weirdly striated .38 slug — ditto, but if this thing doesn’t crack soon I’ll run a nation wide bulletin. Gun in mouth M.O. the same, I’ll draft an “urgent” on that one soon and hit the surrounding states and the feds with it.

******!!!!!! — Man matching description of Luxxlor & suspect seen last night — trying to sell “cold” credit cards at Henderson’s Hot Spot Bar (11819 Cornhusker Road). Informer phoned in tip anonymously, said suspect was 6'3", 200, brown eyes, dark hair — “big and intense-looking.” The suspect got hinky and left when the tip man asked the name on the cards. Tip man said suspect may he driving a metallic blue van. I’ve issued an A.P.B. & vehicle detain order county-wide, and I’ve told the men on the squad to shake down their informants.

That’s it for now — Joe

From the Charleston, South Carolina, Clarion, June 2, 1980:

With no leads in the investigation into the heinous murder of Candice Tucker, 18, the lovely blond bar hostess found raped and butchered in her Magnolia Street apartment last week, Charleston Police are turning their attention to two identical killings committed in different states throughout the past fourteen months.

On April 18 of last year, Kristine Pasquale, a go-go dancer, was found raped and dismembered in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment. Wilma Thurmann, a Des Moines, Iowa, prostitute, was found identically devastated in a feed bin outside Des Moines on October 1, 1979. Physical evidence, Charleston Police told newsmen, is identical in all three cases. At a press conference held yesterday, Charleston District Attorney Timothy Kleist said, “In the interest of public safety and crime-fighting efficacy, we’re keeping our liaison investigation with the Louisville and Des Moines P.D.’s under wraps, but I will tell the media this: It’s a baggie. All three killings are most certainly the work of one man, and we intend to apprehend this fiend!”

In a related note, City Councilman Michael Cleary accused D.A. Kleist of using the Tucker case as a political football. “We all know Tim is getting ready to run for the Senate, and a nice juicy murder conviction would sure look good on his record. Let’s hope he doesn’t pull any railroad jobs in his haste to get to Washington. His party is famous for them, and I sure would hate to see innocent men get rousted.”

Supplemental Memorandum, filed on 6/6/80 as part of Charleston Police Department Case File # 80-64-Rape/Homicide, Canvassing and Physical Evidence sub-files.

To: All Investigating Officers

From: Det. Sgt. W. W. Brown, 19th Precinct

While re-canvassing Magnolia Street area, I questioned a male negro named Steven “Sterno Steve” Washington, a transient with no visible means of support. He told me that on the night of the Tucker killing he was drinking wine under the stoop directly across the street, and that “about midnight” he saw “a white man with a cop vibe” enter the vestibule wearing gloves & carrying a wadded-up plastic trash bag. Washington left the stoop then, as the man pressed a buzzer and went upstairs. (Washington said he was afraid the man would take away hi s wine when he returned downstairs.)