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Speaker 1: This is a true story. All names have been changed.

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Place names and dates remain factual. The place main roads,

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the state highways, and large county roads make little concession

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to the Northern Indiana Prairie. They zip north, south or

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east west across the sun's sparkle land. On smaller local roads,

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you feel the contour of the terrain, the gentle swell

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and dip passed innumerable kettle lakes, the drainage ditches, and

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the creeks that veane this country. You smell the lush,

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loamy soil, but above all the ever changing sky. This

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is a rich country, and people have lived here for

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thousands of years. At a creek rock bar, you may

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be surprised how easy it is to find Indian arrowheads

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and pieces of pottery. The archaic and woodland people settled

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here after the last glacier retreated fifteen thousand years ago.

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Glacial melts left behind moraines lakes and the lazy, meandering

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Kankakee River basin with its chaotic half millionacre wet woodland

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known as the Great Kankakee Marsh. Around the time of Christ,

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the Miami and the Pottawatamie Indians settled this area, The

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Manitau protected their dark forests at night. The spirits of

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men hunted, the spirits of animals. The myeline demons dwelt

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under the earth. The first white men here were French

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voyagers in tent on fur harvest. They left behind only

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place names like Lacrosse, Laporte, and Lapaze. Later, real settlers,

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American and Sidebusters began the epic transformation of the Midwest

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wilderness into the agricultural heartland of the continent. The Pottawatomie

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were driven out in the eighteen thirties. The Grand Marsh

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resisted the plow for hundreds of years, too wet to cultivate,

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too thick to navigate, the marsh and the woodlands saying

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with life. This was the largest inland wetland in North America.

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It was a paradise for waterfowl and hunting flourished. Early

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railroads lay down short sidings. As hoosier guides pulled gentlemen

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hunters from Chicago into the swamp. A barrel anchored in

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the marsh grass allowed them to wait snug for the waterfowl.

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At the end of the day's shooting, the sportsman could

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repair to the luxury of the railcar sleeper, and so

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the slaughter began, shot away the deer and drove away

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the last of the eastern bison. Trappers cleaned out the beaver, mink,

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Martin and other fur bearers. Chains accelerated in the eighteen eighties,

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when flat bottomed steamed dredges bowled in and their iron

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jaws gnawed away at the Kankakee Wetlands. The Grand Marsh,

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once so vast, was reduced to some pitiful holdings and

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the land lay stripped. Now farmers could begin cultivating fields

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of corn and soybeans. A mint thrived in the rich

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monkey soil, and on monkey summer nights, the aroma drowned

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the land. These families built America, and food prices plummeted

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with the bounty grown in the Midwest. Eden Corn and

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port from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois fed America. Little towns

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thrived built around the railroads and grain elevation. It was

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a good time, although a hard one. Getting your back

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into the work was an accepted part of life, and

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while the mechanization enabled the farms to grow, farm work

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was never done. It follows a seasonal rhythm of tillage,

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planting and harvest, and in winter there were animals to

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tend to and equipment to repair. The man Russell Schaeffer

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was born here in nineteen oh one, sky ane of

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the region's old farm families. It was a big outfit,

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and Schaeffer was a respected man in this community. While

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he was known as Russ to most, his family and

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close friends called him Boots. He was nicknamed as a

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toddler when he would climb into his daddy's waiters and

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clump about the farmyard. The Shaeffer family had been on

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this land for generations and were known, like their journ

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and forebearers, for self reliance, thrift, decency, and common sense.

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Russe's grandfather, Erwin Schaeffer, had built the immense Bank barn

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in eighteen eighty. Russell's father Ivan had taken over after

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his grandfather was gone, and now with his passing, the

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farm belonged to Russ. Family was everything to the Shaffers,

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and Russ planned that one day his son Rob would

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take over for him. He and Jesse were thankful their girls,

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Kim and Marylyn, had married local men and their grandkids

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were close. He kept a brown pony called Dot for

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them to ride Saturday August twenty seven, nineteen sixty. Saturday

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dawned clear and cool. It was a golden late August day.

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Labor Day would be the following weekend, and Jesse Shaeffer

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drove the pickup truck to Baths Lake to take her

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widowed sister some blueberries and sweet corn. Alice Bock traded

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with Jesse for garden greens, tomatoes, and peppers. They talked

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about children and grandchildren, and on her drive back home,

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Jesse gasped up at Coffin's Corner Market outside Knox and

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bought two salt blocks. A boy loaded them into the

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pickup truck's bed. Russell Shaeffer spent the morning repairing a

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power take off unit and then repairing a drawbar and

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caring for his animals. It was a clear, warm day

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and he was looking forward to sitting in the shade

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with a tall glass of lemonade before supper. Early that evening,

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Jesse Shaeffer called her husband into their meal of chicken,

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mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans. There was coffee

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in freshly baked blueberry pie for dessert. Shaeffer finished his

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pie and ice cream. He swigged the last bit of

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his coffee, folded his napkin and pushed himself away from

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the table. It was dusk and the cool of the

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day had descended. It was a good time to be alive.

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He told Jesse that he was going to take the

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salt out to the Black Angus cattle herd. He would

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be back in time to help her wash dishes. Shaeffer

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walked out to the truck parked under the trees and

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held the door as his dog, Tarzan jumped in. He

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drove away from the house and he was never seen again.

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The search. The Star County Sheriff Department logged a call

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from a distraught Rob Shaeffer at eleven fifteen that night.

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Shaeffer reported finding his father's truck abandoned and was unable

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to locate his father on their large farm. His mother

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was frantic and insisted he call dispatched. Erected the deputy

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to the scene, and then radio the senior deputy, who

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having just broken up a dust up at a dance

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at English Lake, had monitored the radio traffic and assigned

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himself to assist on his drive out to the Shaeffer farm.

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Deputy Sheriff William Rudd mentally cataloged what he recalled of

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Russell's Schaeffer. He was a church goer, probably in his

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late fifties, married with two no three adult children. Shaefer

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was of average height five foot ten. He guessed he

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was heavy set, not a smoker, probably not much of

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a drinker, aside from an occasional beer at the American

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Legion or the VFW. Most of these farmers were like that.

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Did he wear glasses? Rudd thought so. Shaeffer seemed like

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any other prosperous local farmer, plane modest, perhaps even gruff,

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ruthful and honest, not the impulsive type. You do what

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you can, and you bear what you must. A needle

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in a stack of needles. Schaeffer was renowned, if renowned

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was the right word for it around here, for having

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bought a new nineteen forty seven Indian motorcycle. People said

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it was the only foolish thing the man had ever done.

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Some might dismiss Bill Rudd as a Stark County hill rat,

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but that would be a mistake. Rudd had a keen,

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inquiring mind. He was a veteran of the fierce world

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of death. He had served in a signal unit of

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the forty fifth Infantry Division during World War II, all

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the way from the landing at Salerno in Italy to

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Anzio beachhead, and then the invasion in southern France. Finally,

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the forty fifth had clawed its way into Germany and

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liberated Docowl Concentration Camp. Rudd had seen and done things

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no man should have to see or do. He had

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seen every variety of horror and human frailty. As a

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deputy sheriff, he dealt with more mundane matters petty theft, drunks,

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fighting at a crossroad, tavern, normal ruckuses. The deaths he

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dealt with now were car crashes and drownings and farm accidents.

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Murder in Stark Counting was rare. From time to time,

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one cheating spouse shot the other, but disappearances like this

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were exceedingly rare. Rudd was, in fact a shrewd judge

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of character and a diligent deputy sheriff. It was a

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well known fact if unsaid, that Rudd ran the county

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law department while Sheriff boom Miller cruised toward retirement. Rudd

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was accustomed to being underestimated, and he used that to

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his advance as deputy sheriff. Now at midnight, he was

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speeding to the Schafer form on County Road eight hundred West.

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No one called it eight hundred west to the locals,

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it was Shaefer Road. Rudd pulled into the long drive

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that bisected a field of wax beans. A mounted light

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fixture provided illumination. On his left was the Shaefer home,

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a handsome prairie dwelling. Somewhere inside a dog was barking.

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On his right was an old bank barn, probably built

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in the last century. Next To it was a modern

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pole structure with an attached machine shed with a large

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open lot sheltering an alice chambers tractor. Behind that a

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stand of walnut trees, and in front of that a

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disused corn crib and freshly whitewashed henhouse. Another open lot

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held a station wagon, and behind that grew a tangle

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of trees. He was on a dark farm track, passing

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a cattle enclosure, and Rudd could just see the angus

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cattle bunched up defensively. Near the barn and the head

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were towering fields of corn. He concentrated on the rutted track.

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He had never been on this property before, though he

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had flown over it and had a fairly good idea

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of the layout. Dry weeds swished and crackled under the

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vehicle's weight. In the distance, Rudd could make out a

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sputtering red road flare, and he headed toward it. At

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the end of the path, he pulled up and found

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Deputy Richard Young. He opened his cruiser door. Bill Young said,

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rich what have you got? He could see Young's cruiser

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parked a short distance away, and near it a pickup truck.

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We got Russell's Schaefer, Young answered flatly. Wife said, as

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he left the house at dust check his cattle and

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didn't return, she called the sun. Who found this Young

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motion toward the truck. Okay, Rudd answered, let's start with that.

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They walked over to the truck. Is Rod Shaeffer here,

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Young motion toward the dark west. He's down there in

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the creek looking for his dad. Moonlight bathed the landscape

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and an unnatural cold brilliance. It was very quiet, oddly still,

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thought Rudd. August's crushing insect drone was strangely silent. They

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approached Shaeffer's forward truck, parked up hill from the creek.

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The driver door was open and Rudd leaned in with

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his flashlight, and the key was in the ignition the

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state registration strapped to the sun visor. He could make

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out a Remington eight seventy in the small space behind

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the bench seat. On the floorboard. Next to the shotgun

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was an unopened of buckshot. Rudd duck back out of

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the truck. In the weeds, just below the truck's rocker

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panel lay a dented flashlight in the silvery moonlight. Its

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plastic lens cover shone like an open eye. There was

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a muted air of menace about the whole scene. Rudd, Young,

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and the shaffer boy moved out and apart and began

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their search. Deputies. Rudd and Young swung their county issued

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nine volt flashlights slowly from side to side. They called

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out for shaffer Rob Shaefer carried a battered Coleman lantern. Dad,

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he implored Dad. The lantern soon dimmed and then died.

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In his haste, Rob had forgotten to fuel it. He

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was frustrated. Somewhere in the dark to the northwest, an

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owl called the Quiet Wind brought a whiff of something

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tangy and fowl. The search party of three patrolled north

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east and then south until they ran up against the

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weed choked creek bank. They found nothing. The dark land

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was too vast and the searchers too few. Rudd turned

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to Young, any helpful thoughts here? Rich Young shook his head.

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In the night, it was too dark to find anything. Moreover,

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they were trampling the scene. Rudd, as a senior deputy,

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decided to wait for dawn and a larger search party.

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They were accomplishing nothing here. There was a heaviness about

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the air. It was cold now. Young zipped his jacket tighter.

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Rudd felt an uneasy tingle of being watched. You could

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see everything in the moonlight, and yet you could see nothing,

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And he turned to Young. You ready to get out

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of here? Rudd asked Young to stay on the scene.

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Young was accustomed to that. It was standing operating per Seed.

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He lit a cigarette as he watched Rudd's the cruiser

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pull away. The next morning, Sheriff Miller, Deputy Rudd, and

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the county Search and rescue volunteers returned shortly after first

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light to begin a systematic canvas of the area. For

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a Sunday morning. It was a respectable turnout. Seventeen men

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tumbled out of their four vehicles, some laughing, some grim,

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some stubbing out the last cigarettes Before beginning their search.

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Miller handed Young breakfast in a bag with a plastic

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cup of coffee, and Rudd handed Young a roll of

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toilet paper. Young, grin, Now you're too late with that,

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he said to himself. Rudd decided that Schaeffer had had

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a stroke or a heart attack. Confused and disoriented, he

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had staggered off. He would be found in an adjacent

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field or the nearby creek, and he might still be alive.

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Miller glumly agreed with his deputy, though neither wanted to

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say so to a heart racked to Jesse Schaeffer. Miller

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addressed the search and rescue volunteers and told them the

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purpose of the search, and then Rudd split them up

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into teams and assigned search quadrants. They found out. It

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was a long morning wading through the cornfields and searching

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by the creek, and by noon the sun was hot.

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Search and rescue had turned up nothing. After a fast lunch,

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the search area was extended to the opposite side of

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the creek. An hour into the expanded search, Blaine Smith

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yelled uphill from the creek. He'd found a pair of

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broken steel framed glasses. Rob Shaeffer confirmed they belonged to

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his father, but nothing else was found. It was puzzling, frustrating.

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Rudd thought, sick, people, injured, people don't go uphill. It

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just doesn't happen, and Rudd now doubted this was a

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medical emergency. The search continued, and, buoyed by finding the glasses,

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optimism flared that Schaeffer would be found, but that didn't happen.

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All the rest of that day, nothing more was found.

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Search and rescues scoured for another day, still nothing. Rudd

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shrugged it off and arranged for Boy Scout Troop one

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eighty six to join the search. It was as if

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Shaeffer had vanished into a thin mist, and by now

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the Shaffer case was local and state news. Volunteers made

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sporadic searches. A week went by, and then another, and

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then a month passed, and the search was suspended. Hope

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faded and finally died. Thea became a curiosity, and then

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it was forgotten. It was now the second week of October.

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It's one hell of a thing, Bill, I've never had

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a stone cold. Who'd done it? Boom Miller sat across

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the office desk from Rudd. Miller had been Stark County

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sheriff for nineteen years. Though he had been a county

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lawman for many more, he had never had a missing

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person case like this before. From time to time, teen

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runaways might take off for a romp in Chicago. It

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was rare, but they always returned to shocked and disapproving parents.

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Miller told Rudd he could recall only one similar case

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in Laporte County during the war. A timber cruiser had

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been working north and west of Five Lakes and had

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utterly vanished. Miller didn't know if that case had ever

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been cleared. No, he told Rudd, they never found the guy.

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There's big woods up there, well, there used to be.

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He and his brother ran a sawmill house was the name,

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the lumberyards, still in the family. They dismissed the notion

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that Shaeffer had been kidnapped. The circumstances didn't fit. Moreover,

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there had been no ransom contact. The Shaeffer was not

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the type to just take off. Miller quietly snorted, No,

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he wouldn't do that. It's not like we made a

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hash of this. We've just got no way forward. Bill.

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With the investigation at a standstill, it was time to

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inform the family that the official investigation had ended. Rudd

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volunteered to do that. He met Rob Shaeffer for breakfast

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at Sissy's cavet in downtown Knox. Rob Shaeffer took the news. Well,

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it was what he expected. There's just a few things,

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Rob Brudd said, Did your dad always carry a gun

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in his truck? Now that's unusual for him. Rob siptis coffee.

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But things have been happening that kind of spooked him.

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Rudd raised a quizzical eyebrow. Well, it was little things.

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Someone broke into the barn a couple of times. Dad

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didn't like that. At first we thought it was just kids.

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He put up a locking barn, a yell lock on it.

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That gut broke, tools came up missing, and stuff moved.

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The cattle were acting weird and other stuff. It wasn't

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just us. Talked to Bud Kridler. He had some things

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going on as well. Anyway, Dad began taking precautions. What

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about the dog, Rudd said, Tarzan, that dog accompanied Dad everywhere.

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That's what really scared my mother. She knew Dad had

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taken him along so when he ran up on the porch,

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she knew something was wrong. That dog never begged to

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be let in, never Betty the house dog. She was

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barking like crazy Tarzan. Why'd you call him that? Rudd asked.

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Shaeffer sighed, he had a funny bark when he was

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a pup. My sister Kim called him that. Rudd and

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Shaeffer talked for a while, and soon Bill Rudd was

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called to break up a dispute over a property line,

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and Rob Shaeffer sat alone in the diner staring out

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the window oblivion. How does a man disappear into oblivion?

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How can he leave his supper table, drive a short

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distance in sight of the home he just left and

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simply disappear? Shaeffer saw or heard something? It was dusk

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and the August light was failing. What did he see?

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What did he hear? The man drives half a mile

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down to beat up farm track. He knows his path

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and the land surrounding it as well as he knows

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every pore in his wife's high cheek bone and her clean,

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sweet lips. This stoic has lived on this land longer

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than he has been married to his wife. In this

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land of grace? How is it that Russell Schaeffer faced

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only retribution? How is it that he stepped into oblivion?

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After math? The Russell Shaeffer case never cleared. Nothing more

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was found. For a few years, people remarked on it,

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and then, as is the way of all things, it

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was forgotten. It became a slim file in a three

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drawer cabinet. Once or twice someone would pull the file

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out and read through it. With nothing to add, it

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was put back boom. Miller hung on and remained county

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sheriff until nineteen seventy two. Bill Rudd got tired of waiting,

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got tired of police work, and got tired of a

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community where everyone knew everyone else's business. He began night

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courses at the local college and got his law degree,

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specializing in criminal law. He was hired by a legal

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firm in South ben There's always good work for a

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good criminal attorney in South ben. Later he was recruited

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by a larger firm in Indianapolis and practiced there until

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he retired. In nineteen ninety eight. He and his wife,

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Doris moved to Panama City, Florida. I interviewed him there

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a few years before he passed away in two thousand

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and sixteen, Rudd remembered the Schaeffer case. It was a

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strange one. We never uncovered anything on that case, he said.

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We never cleared it. We never came close to clearing it.

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I always hoped that someday a body would be found,

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least something, and if that didn't solve the mystery, at

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least it would provide some solace and some comfort to

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that family people around there. I just don't disappear like that,

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you know. The Shaeffer place fell apart after Russell disappeared.

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The son couldn't run it and they eventually sold out

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to con Agra. The fine house and all the outbuildings

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are gone. It's like the way of life disappeared with Shaeffer,

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which run as a factory farm. Now, Rudd paused, you know,

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we've seen things, Doris and I. We've been places. Our

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son met and married a Peruvian girl he met at Purdue.

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His father in law convinced Paul to move down there

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and do an inventory control on his fishing business in Lima.

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It's quite a wealthy family. We visit Paul, Marina and

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our grandchildren down there. It's a beautiful country, wonderful food,

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Lima Kalo and Machu Picchu. I've talked to the Peruvians.

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We've met. Some of them are Amazon people. I told

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him about the Shaefer case and they told me they

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have similar disappearances down there in the jungle. They blame

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it on sorcerers or even monsters. Some of them say,

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maybe the land took your man. Bill Rudd chuckled. Most

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of them have a lot of Indian bloods, you know.

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They believe in some powerful jujuw in Peru, there's still

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a lot of belief in magic and the supernatural. Rudd

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paused again, I don't know. Maybe it's as good an

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answer as any. This story was written for Blanche, Bernice

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and Alice. The author is Gerald Gustuffson. Written in August

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twenty twenty one.