Category Archives: Homicide

Insane

Posted on July 20, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 20, 1957Riverside A maid at a Riverside hotel found the battered, nude body of 5-year-old Hiedrun “Heidi” Nicholson bent over double and stuffed into a closet. It looked “as if someone had been pounding her with a hammer,” The … Continue reading →

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He’s here!

Posted on July 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 19, 1957Los Angeles Minda Lee Birnbaum, 15, and her mother, Blanche Lewie, 46, had spent most of the day with the divorce lawyer, Murray Chotiner. In the late afternoon, as Blanche made some phone calls from the law offices’ … Continue reading →

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You, the jury, Part II

Posted on July 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 19, 1957 Los Angeles The jury convicted Wallace LeRoy Schiers of second-degree murder on July 18, 1957. But Schiers continued to insist that he did not kill his wife. He said: “I have nothing on my conscience. Somewhere along … Continue reading →

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You, the jury, Part I

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 16, 1957 Los Angeles Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the witnesses and seen the evidence. Now you must decide whether to find Wallace LeRoy Schiers, 34, guilty of second-degree murder in the killing his … Continue reading →

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Sea bag murder

Posted on July 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 12-13, 1957 Los Angeles Two men from the Harbor Department were picking trash out of the main channel at Terminal Island when they saw the big canvas bag–twice the size of a Navy sea bag–drifting against the pier … Continue reading →

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A bill of goods

Posted on July 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 12, 1957 Los Angeles Harold D. Jensen was apparently quite a salesman, because he certainly sold his fiancee a bill of goods. Before marrying Barbara Jean Burton, 26, 8343 Clarence Ave., Jensen wrote a prenuptial agreement promising her … Continue reading →

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Hipperson suspect

Posted on July 9, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 9, 1957 Los Angeles Detectives investigating the killing of nurse Marjorie Hipperson are questioning a con artist with ulcers who was an orderly at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, where Hipperson and her fiance, Dr. Walter Deike, worked. Monte Melvin … Continue reading →

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Woman strangled

Posted on July 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 5, 1957 Los Angeles What we have is a dead woman and a man who says he strangled her–except he doesn't remember it.  Or he did remember it and then he forgot. No, it doesn't make any sense. Her … Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on July 2, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 2, 1957 This is a twist story–a reverse mystery. I’ve been presenting, for the past few months, weekly missing persons cases on file with local sheriffs and police. Each started with a living, active person, surrounded by apparent normalcy. … Continue reading →

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Dead end

Posted on June 24, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 24, 1957 Los Angeles Police Capt. Walter R. Koenig was out walking his dog in the 5500 block of Green Oak Drive, where it dead ends in the Hollywood Hills, when he found Baby Boy Doe.  He was … Continue reading →

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Refugees

Posted on June 23, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 23, 1957 Pasadena John, 42, runs a health food store on North Lake Street in Pasadena and lives at 861 Elizabeth St., The Times says in a feature story. Born in Holland, he is like many Europeans who came … Continue reading →

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Kill crazy

Posted on June 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

    June 14, 1957 Los Angeles Charles Hilbert Dodd was eager to kill someone. If he couldn’t find his estranged wife, Dolores, then he’d shoot whomever he could get. Armed with a 16-gauge shotgun, Dodd, 47, of 6415 Balcom … Continue reading →

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Sex slaying suspect

Posted on June 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 12, 1957 Los Angeles An illegal U-turn at Sunset Boulevard and Virgil Avenue at 1 a.m. led to the arrest of Charles Lawrence Dahlquist, a 6-foot-5, 211-pound fugitive from Chicago wanted for questioning in the sex slayings of three … Continue reading →

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Strangler attacks

Posted on June 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 11, 1957 Los Angeles We’re parked outside a two-story apartment house at 3737 Los Feliz Blvd. It’s late, after 1 a.m. I’ll warn you before we go in: I hate this case. I can’t say I like any … Continue reading →

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Killing in Alhambra

Posted on May 30, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Photographs by Larry Harnisch Los Angeles Times22 Champion Place, Alhambra, Calif.     May 30, 1957Alhambra Yeah, we’re back in Alhambra, parked on the pinched, narrow street outside 22 Champion Place, a quirky, old two-story house built in 1910. … Continue reading →

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Maid held in murder

Posted on May 28, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 28, 1957 Los Angeles Former Nazi prisoner 33822 sat at the defense table, her hands clasped tightly.  Her light blue cotton dress was wilted from the heat and her dab of lipstick only accented her jail pallor. Police said … Continue reading →

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Child killer

Posted on May 24, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Photograph by Larry Harnisch Los Angeles TimesAbove, 425 Isabella St., Highland Park, May 19, 2007. May 24, 1957 Los Angeles His mother’s boyfriend can’t hurt him anymore. Little Donald Butler Jr., 3, said: "I love you, Mommy," and died … Continue reading →

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Boyfriend kills waitress

Posted on May 21, 2007 by lmharnisch

  To Whom It May Concern: My name is Linda Pyne and I am writing on behalf of my husband, Richard D. Pyne. As an infant he was abandoned by his parents. He did know that his mother was murdered … Continue reading →

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Tough prosecutor

Posted on May 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  May 16, 1957 Los Angeles While L. Ewing Scott uses every possible ploy to delay his extradition from Michigan, the district attorney’s office has appointed top prosecutor J. Miller Leavy to handle the case. Leavy has just finished the … Continue reading →

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Voices–the Albert Dyer case

Posted on May 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Note: The murders of three little Inglewood girls was one of Los Angeles’ most notorious case of the 1930s. Madeline Everett, 7,  her sister Melba, 9, and their playmate, Jeanette Stephens, 8, were lured to the Baldwin Hills by … Continue reading →

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